Ulric - Revision history

Rigil Kent at 17:13, 18 January 2024

2024-01-18T17:13:46Z

Rigil Kent: Rigil Kent moved page Religion and Belief to Ulric

2024-01-18T17:04:35Z

Rigil Kent moved page Religion and Belief to Ulric

Rigil Kent at 18:46, 17 January 2024

2024-01-17T18:46:20Z

Rigil Kent: Rigil Kent moved page WFRP-Religion and Belief to Religion and Belief: Fixed the name

2024-01-17T18:33:07Z

Rigil Kent moved page WFRP-Religion and Belief to Religion and Belief: Fixed the name

Rigil Kent: Created page with "The people of the Old World recognise many deities. Some are worshipped across the whole of the Old World; some are restricted to one nation or region; and some are patrons of..."

2024-01-17T18:31:53Z

Created page with "The people of the Old World recognise many deities. Some are worshipped across the whole of the Old World; some are restricted to one nation or region; and some are patrons of..."

New page

The people of the Old World recognise many deities. Some are worshipped across the whole of the Old World; some are restricted to one nation or region; and some are patrons of just a single town or occupation.

== Gods of the Empire ==

In the Empire, the pantheon of gods is split into three broad categories: the Old Gods, the Classical Gods, and the Provincial Gods. Standing apart from these is Sigmar, the first Emperor, and
patron deity of the Empire as a whole.

== The Old Gods ==

The Old Gods refer to the pantheon of deities worshipped when the Empire was unbroken forest populated by wandering tribes of barbarians. Many Old Gods stood as patrons to one of the tribes, and to this day some are still associated with the old geographical hunting grounds of those ancient peoples. Although few say so out loud, many citizens of the Empire regard the Old Gods as the true deities of the Empire, and the Classical Gods as relative newcomers.

As time passed, five gods rose to prominence amongst the Old Gods, worshipped by dominant cults spread from one end of the Empire to the other: Ulric, Taal, Rhya, Manaan, and Morr, representing the primal spheres of war, nature, fertility, seas, and death.

== The Classical Gods ==

The Classical Gods spread from the southern lands of Tilea, Estalia, and the Border Princes through trade and diplomatic contact. Today, their worship is popular in the cosmopolitan towns and cities, and some nobles and townsfolk secretly regard them as more sophisticated than the Old Gods — though few would risk voicing such opinions aloud!

The most widespread cults of Classical Gods in the Empire are dedicated to Verena, Myrmidia, Shallya, and Ranald, patrons of wisdom, strategy, mercy, and trickery. Hiding behind these, there is also Khaine, the God of Murder, though his cult is outlawed in most places.

== The Provincial Gods ==

The Empire hosts a wide variety of deities — patrons of provinces, towns, forests, lakes, rivers, crafts, and much more besides. Formed into complicated pantheons by local legends and myths, the Provincial Gods often have small cults dedicated to them, but few have much influence. However, there are exceptions: standing high above other Provincial Gods, worship of Handrich, the God of Trade, has spread significantly with commerce and now boasts a significant cult-presence amongst the Empire’s rising merchant class.

== Sigmar ==

Sigmar founded the Empire over two-thousand years ago, and his legend recounts how he conquered unthinkable foes and overcame impossible odds. Reigning for fifty years, he eventually abdicated and turned east to return his magical warhammer, Ghal-Maraz, to its forgers: his old allies, the Dwarfs. He was never seen again. Not long after, oracles and prophets claimed Sigmar had ascended to godhood, invested by Ulric before the entire pantheon of old gods and new. Today, many centuries later, the cult of Sigmar, patron of the Empire, has spread to such an extent that its leader, the Grand Theogonist, is arguably more powerful than the emperor himself.
[[Category:GURPSHammer | GURPSHammer]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The people of the Old World recognise many deities. Some are worshipped across the whole of the Old World; some are restricted to one nation or region; and some are patrons of just a single town or occupation.
+[[Image:Ulric.PNG|200px|thumb]]
-== Gods of the Empire ==
+Having been worshipped since the earliest days of Human occupation of the lands of the northern and central Old World that became the Empire, there are many local names for Ulric that honour a particular aspect of his nature. Some minor, regional deities are aspects of an official Imperial deity like Ulric, and thus tolerated by the official Imperial cults. For instance, Ulric "Blood-hand", the personification of berserk fury, is popular with footmen and templars who lose themselves in rage on the battlefield and often become a danger to their friends as much as their foes. The domain of Ulric "Snow King", by contrast, is winter, and his followers, scattered throughout the colder regions of [[Nordland]], [[Ostland]], Kislev and southern Norsca, are ascetics more focused on the struggle to survive the rigours of winter than battle.
-In the Empire, the pantheon of gods is split into three broad categories: the Old Gods, the Classical Gods, and the Provincial Gods. Standing apart from these is Sigmar, the first Emperor, and
+There existed a bloodier interpretation of Ulric among the Norscans called Olric, a name also often used among the poorest citizens of the northern Imperial province of Nordland. A purely Norscan sect venerated Ulric as a hunter of bears, which often raid Norscan farmsteads, known as Ursash. There was also potentially an early aspect of Ulric in the form of the predator god Lupos the Wolf, which was undergoing a resurgence in [[Hochland]] and possibly tied Ulric back to the ancient nature deity Ishernos.
-== The Old Gods ==
+Ulric is sometimes called "Lord Ulric", "Ulric the Wolf", "Great Wolf", the "White Wolf", the "Wolf God of Winter", the "Winter God", "Lord of Winter", "God of Battle", and "God of War". In the days of [[Sigmar]], Ulric was known to be personified as the "Wild Wolf". As Lupos, he is known as the "Lord of Predators" or "God of Predators" rather than god of winter or more specifically the god of wolves. According to Ulrican lore, he was the "King of the Gods", although other cults dispute this.
-The Old Gods refer to the pantheon of deities worshipped when the Empire was unbroken forest populated by wandering tribes of barbarians. Many Old Gods stood as patrons to one of the tribes, and to this day some are still associated with the old geographical hunting grounds of those ancient peoples. Although few say so out loud, many citizens of the Empire regard the Old Gods as the true deities of the Empire, and the Classical Gods as relative newcomers.
+While it is true that the highly organised [[Cult of Ulric]] is limited to Middenland, specifically its capital city of Middenheim, let there be no mistake: Ulric is a powerful and important god, prayed to by every man or woman who has to do battle, and in the Old World, sooner or later, that is everyone. Ulric the mighty, Ulric the proud, Ulric the wolf as white as snow, is the god of battle and destruction and the patron of soldiers and wolves, and his followers fight with their ferocity.
-As time passed, five gods rose to prominence amongst the Old Gods, worshipped by dominant cults spread from one end of the Empire to the other: [[Ulric]], [[Taal]], [[Rhya]], [[Manaan]], and [[Morr]], representing the primal spheres of war, nature, fertility, seas, and death.
+Southern folk often mock the devotees of the White Wolf for their bestial nature, but Ulricans pay little heed to such sentiments. Indeed, Ulric is a harsh god, but so too is the mortal world a harsh one, and when the winters come and icy storms grip the land, it is the wolves who survive while the lambs perish. It is little wonder then, that such a place as Middenland has a deity as harsh as Ulric for its patron. The Wolf God is as unforgiving as the country he watches over, demanding of his followers the strength they need to survive there, such is the simple reason behind their veneration.
-== The Classical Gods ==
+Ulric is also the divine spirit of winter, and is known to be personified as the savagery of the piercing winter's chill. By the autumn equinox celebration of "Less Growth," his brother [[Taal]], the god of nature, animals and the wilds and Taal's wife [[Rhya]], the goddess of agriculture, love, fertility and nature, are said to hand their power over the land to him. A portion of the harvest and some form of animal were quietly sacrificed to Ulric to keep his wolves at bay in the bitterness of winter. Around this time frost begins to creep over the land, and in ancient Teutogen folklore, Skoll, the legendary wolf companion of Ulric himself, soon chases away the sun to allow the onset of winter.
-The Classical Gods spread from the southern lands of Tilea, Estalia, and the Border Princes through trade and diplomatic contact. Today, their worship is popular in the cosmopolitan towns and cities, and some nobles and townsfolk secretly regard them as more sophisticated than the Old Gods — though few would risk voicing such opinions aloud!
+By the winter equinox, also called "World Still," Ulric is at his height in the Old World, and hungry wolves begin searching for easy meals of livestock and the occasional Human victim. Bonfires are lit in hopes of guiding Taal and Rhya back into the world, and in the farthest reaches of the Empire, the pelts of wolves are raised on sticks outside village perimeters, both as a sign of respect for Ulric and a warning for his "children" to stay far away. During Sigmar's time the people waited for Ulric to return to his frozen realm in the heavens, and for Taal to bring balance to the world in the spring. By the spring equinox or "Start Growth," Ulric's reign of ice and snow ends[1e][9c] and he returns the world to Rhya.
-The most widespread cults of Classical Gods in the Empire are dedicated to [[Verena]], [[Myrmidia]], [[Shallya]], and [[Ranald]], patrons of wisdom, strategy, mercy, and trickery. Hiding behind these, there is also [[Khaine]], the God of Murder, though his cult is outlawed in most places.
+Yet, some Ulrican myths do not portray all this as a smooth or certain process. There exist invocations to Rhya to intercede with Ulric to force him to relinquish the land when spring comes,[16a] and it is said that if the Sacred Flame of Ulric in Ulric's Middenheim temple were to ever go out, then the next winter would last a whole year or possibly even forever. Ragnarites, followers of Ulric in his aspect as the "Snow King," believe that winter is simply a training ground for Evernacht, an eternal winter that will choke the life from Ulric's greatest enemies, the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. Some extremists of the order believe it is their duty to prepare the mortal world for this imminent cleansing, and so sacrifice food raided from silos across the north in Ulric's name, a practice few appreciate.
-== The Provincial Gods ==
+[[Category:GURPSHammer]] [[Category:Religion and Belief]]

← Older revision	Revision as of 17:04, 18 January 2024
(No difference)

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 The Old Gods refer to the pantheon of deities worshipped when the Empire was unbroken forest populated by wandering tribes of barbarians. Many Old Gods stood as patrons to one of the tribes, and to this day some are still associated with the old geographical hunting grounds of those ancient peoples. Although few say so out loud, many citizens of the Empire regard the Old Gods as the true deities of the Empire, and the Classical Gods as relative newcomers.
-As time passed, five gods rose to prominence amongst the Old Gods, worshipped by dominant cults spread from one end of the Empire to the other: Ulric, Taal, Rhya, Manaan, and Morr, representing the primal spheres of war, nature, fertility, seas, and death.
+As time passed, five gods rose to prominence amongst the Old Gods, worshipped by dominant cults spread from one end of the Empire to the other: [[Ulric]], [[Taal]], [[Rhya]], [[Manaan]], and [[Morr]], representing the primal spheres of war, nature, fertility, seas, and death.
 == The Classical Gods ==
@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 The Classical Gods spread from the southern lands of Tilea, Estalia, and the Border Princes through trade and diplomatic contact. Today, their worship is popular in the cosmopolitan towns and cities, and some nobles and townsfolk secretly regard them as more sophisticated than the Old Gods — though few would risk voicing such opinions aloud!
-The most widespread cults of Classical Gods in the Empire are dedicated to Verena, Myrmidia, Shallya, and Ranald, patrons of wisdom, strategy, mercy, and trickery. Hiding behind these, there is also Khaine, the God of Murder, though his cult is outlawed in most places.
+The most widespread cults of Classical Gods in the Empire are dedicated to [[Verena]], [[Myrmidia]], [[Shallya]], and [[Ranald]], patrons of wisdom, strategy, mercy, and trickery. Hiding behind these, there is also [[Khaine]], the God of Murder, though his cult is outlawed in most places.
 == The Provincial Gods ==
@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 == Sigmar ==
-Sigmar founded the Empire over two-thousand years ago, and his legend recounts how he conquered unthinkable foes and overcame impossible odds. Reigning for fifty years, he eventually abdicated and turned east to return his magical warhammer, Ghal-Maraz, to its forgers: his old allies, the Dwarfs. He was never seen again. Not long after, oracles and prophets claimed Sigmar had ascended to godhood, invested by Ulric before the entire pantheon of old gods and new. Today, many centuries later, the cult of Sigmar, patron of the Empire, has spread to such an extent that its leader, the Grand Theogonist, is arguably more powerful than the emperor himself.
+[[Sigmar]] founded the Empire over two-thousand years ago, and his legend recounts how he conquered unthinkable foes and overcame impossible odds. Reigning for fifty years, he eventually abdicated and turned east to return his magical warhammer, Ghal-Maraz, to its forgers: his old allies, the Dwarfs. He was never seen again. Not long after, oracles and prophets claimed Sigmar had ascended to godhood, invested by Ulric before the entire pantheon of old gods and new. Today, many centuries later, the cult of Sigmar, patron of the Empire, has spread to such an extent that its leader, the Grand Theogonist, is arguably more powerful than the emperor himself.
 [[Category:GURPSHammer | GURPSHammer]]

← Older revision	Revision as of 18:33, 17 January 2024
(No difference)