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Forum URL: http://www.eyrie-productions.com/Forum/dcboard.cgi
Forum Name: Symphony of the Sword/The Order of the Rose
Topic ID: 550
Message ID: 20
#20, RE: RCFR 3: Persistence of Memory
Posted by Gryphon on Jul-03-22 at 00:27 AM
In response to message #16
>The fact that she is (or was?) apparently over the kanmussu (and
>they're still being raised by her Gift, so signs point to 'is') of
>Valhalla is Doing Me a Heckin Concern, as the kids say.

If it helps, the time when Freyja was personally and directly responsible for anything to do with Einheri affairs was a very long time ago. The daily blessing that revives and restores those who died or were wounded (or, as we've seen, partied their asses off :) the previous day/night is still called Lady Freyja's Gift, because it's traditional, but it hasn't actually come from her in ages. In the modern age it's fully automated, part of the World-Engine's program--it happens regardless of where she is or what she's up to.

For background: There was a time, long ago, when there were two separate places in Asgard where the honored battle-fallen went: half of them went to Valhalla, which was ultimately ruled by Odin, and the other half to Fólkvangr, which was Freyja's domain. This dates back to the time before the pantheons of Asgard were unified, when Odin's Æsir and the Vanir (who, as their name suggests, are native to Vanaheim) were rival bands of gods. This was ultimately resolved by a war, at the end of which the surviving Vanir joined the Æsir. (You can tell which modern-day Asgardian gods are Vanir because they have pointed ears and the OG Æsir do not, assuming no shapeshifting is involved.)

Since that time, Valhalla and Fólkvangr have been basically the same thing. Technically, half of the honored dead who come to Asgard are still allocated to Fólkvangr, but in practice this basically just means that their ID numbers end in F instead of V. (A bit amusingly to the old-timers, in the old runes these are both the same letter, áš .) They all go to the same (meta)physical place, they're all called Einherjar (a name originally used only for those who went to Odin's half), and they're all under the same department of the celestial bureaucracy.

TL;DR: The 25th-century afterlife for warriors is sort of like modern-day Major League Baseball. :)

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
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