Candlekeep Forum
Candlekeep Forum
Home | Profile | Register | Active Topics | Active Polls | Members | Private Messages | Search | FAQ
Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?

 All Forums
 Forgotten Realms Journals
 General Forgotten Realms Chat
 Fate of Gerti Orelsdottr

Note: You must be registered in order to post a reply.
To register, click here. Registration is FREE!

Screensize:
UserName:
Password:
Format Mode:
Format: BoldItalicizedUnderlineStrikethrough Align LeftCenteredAlign Right Horizontal Rule Insert HyperlinkInsert Email Insert CodeInsert QuoteInsert List
   
Message:

* HTML is OFF
* Forum Code is ON
Smilies
Smile [:)] Big Smile [:D] Cool [8D] Blush [:I]
Tongue [:P] Evil [):] Wink [;)] Clown [:o)]
Black Eye [B)] Eight Ball [8] Frown [:(] Shy [8)]
Shocked [:0] Angry [:(!] Dead [xx(] Sleepy [|)]
Kisses [:X] Approve [^] Disapprove [V] Question [?]
Rolling Eyes [8|] Confused [?!:] Help [?:] King [3|:]
Laughing [:OD] What [W] Oooohh [:H] Down [:E]

  Check here to include your profile signature.
Check here to subscribe to this topic.
    

T O P I C    R E V I E W
farinal Posted - 17 Feb 2018 : 19:33:03
Does anyone know what happened to the Frost Giantess Gerti?
21   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First)
sfdragon Posted - 23 Feb 2018 : 08:41:26
think he may be more illamter these days instead of mielikki
AuldDragon Posted - 23 Feb 2018 : 07:22:17
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay

There is that, in the 'broader D&D sense', but we also have it from Ed that in the Realms, everyone pays lip-service to just about all the gods, and its not entirely unknown for someone to choose as a 'personal patron' a deity not of their own race. Look at Drizzt. He should have been following Eilistraee, but he chose Mielikki (of course, I think they're the same being, just different aspects, but what do I know). Unless a 'god' is an ascended mortal - and most aren't - then its kind of absurd to even think of gods as having a 'race'. They might have favorites, but that's as far as it goes.


I feel that is very anachronistic for pantheistic societies. Why didn't the mainland Greeks worship Ra and Isis? Why didn't the Romans worship Thor and Loki? It's because they weren't part of their culture. In cases where there was cross-over, there was substantial alteration to fit them within their culture (Mithras and Isis among the Romans, for example, or in-world example, Tymora among the halflings).

Drizzt's adoption of Mielikki represents a full cultural break with his people, and a rejection of the elven deities, for what I would say is a similar reason Meriadar rejects alliances with the deities of elves, dwarves, etc. It would represent an alliance with cultural enemies and undermine any arguments he might make with other drow. It doesn't represent the sort of cultural mixing or unitary pantheon you're arguing for.

Jeff
Markustay Posted - 23 Feb 2018 : 04:30:27
There is that, in the 'broader D&D sense', but we also have it from Ed that in the Realms, everyone pays lip-service to just about all the gods, and its not entirely unknown for someone to choose as a 'personal patron' a deity not of their own race. Look at Drizzt. He should have been following Eilistraee, but he chose Mielikki (of course, I think they're the same being, just different aspects, but what do I know). Unless a 'god' is an ascended mortal - and most aren't - then its kind of absurd to even think of gods as having a 'race'. They might have favorites, but that's as far as it goes.

quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas

You know, if anything this makes me feel like Othea is very similar to Skadi (a Jotunn associated with mountains, snow, skiing and bowhunting) and Ulutiu similar to Njord (a god of the sea, wealth, and fertility... who was also a Vanir rather than an Aesir, and father of Freyr and Freyja). However, Skadi and Ulutiu were not happy together, as one was the mountains and the other the sea, so they broke up and Skadi married Odin, the All Father. If Annam = Odin in this storyline, we have the 3 main players, but it would be that the story we've heard that Othea and Annam were not happy together but Othea and Ulutiu were happy together is the part that doesn't mirror the norse tale.
This is a really good catch! Nice mything!

I hadn't thought of this, and I've been spinning Annam as a sort-of proto-Odin (Woten) for awhile now. What if the Norse myth was fabricated by Annam and/or the giants? What if she liked Uluitu/Njord better, but was forced to stick with Annam? The giants wouldn't like that version, so they'd retell it that she left Ulutiu (Njord) for Woten (Annam). Then when the myths get handed down to the Norse (and other, similar fantasy races), they get the re-spun version.

Oh, and I stopped equating Annam with Odin himself - I now have it where Odin is his son. This means Annam is also known as Borr on other worlds (and on each world, he has a different jotun-wife that he sires his terrestrial children on). So I repurposed Odin's older name - Woten - to have really been his dad, and things just got mixed-up in the years of retellings.

And for some weird reason, all these Jotun females like their boyfriends better. I know there's a joke in there somewhere about 'giant' and Annam.
LordofBones Posted - 23 Feb 2018 : 01:58:31
quote:
Originally posted by farinal

I also think Auril fits very well with Gerti and I don't see any problems religion wise since Gerti, along with rest of the Realms is not a monotheist.



That's true, to an extent. However, racial pantheons exist for a reason.
farinal Posted - 22 Feb 2018 : 16:53:47
I also think Auril fits very well with Gerti and I don't see any problems religion wise since Gerti, along with rest of the Realms is not a monotheist.
AuldDragon Posted - 22 Feb 2018 : 06:50:53
quote:
Originally posted by LordofBones

I'd say that Auril's cults among the frost giants LOATHE Kostchtchie's cults with a frozen passion. One would have mostly female giants, while the other is infamous for misogyny.



Indeed; priests of Kostchtchie would not allow any other faiths to be worshiped either, and would probably try to forcibly "convert" other frost giants, regardless of who they worship. The same would probably apply to Cryonax, as well, but I imagine his worship would be much rarer, and generally in the "secret cult" type position.

Thrym's priests would generally allow other giantish deities to be worshiped, as well as a handful of others that don't threaten their power, such as Auril.

Jeff
LordofBones Posted - 22 Feb 2018 : 06:32:18
I'd say that Auril's cults among the frost giants LOATHE Kostchtchie's cults with a frozen passion. One would have mostly female giants, while the other is infamous for misogyny.
AuldDragon Posted - 22 Feb 2018 : 05:44:35
quote:
Originally posted by Dalor Darden

There are "fey" giants after all: Firbolg and Voadkyn...so Auril isn't too far off base.



Fomorians and verbeeg work well as "unseelie" to those two being "seelie." That said, I would treat it as a platonic relationship, rather than familial.

As for Auril and frost giants, she's a goddess of cold and winter, regardless of anythign else about her. So are frost giants. It's a natural fit. I would treat it more as a rebellious choice for mostly female giants, which is frown upon but not outlawed by their tribes, which worship Thrym for the most part. Note that frost giants also have Kostchtchie as a deity, and I could see cults of Cryonax, but these would both be outlawed in tribes that worship Thrym.

Jeff
Lord Karsus Posted - 22 Feb 2018 : 01:03:20
-And just because she's a Giant doesn't mean she has to worship a Giant deity. Being a frost giant, she's kind of cold, evil and malicious. Auril is cold, evil, and malicious. Perfect match.
sleyvas Posted - 22 Feb 2018 : 00:29:54
You know, if anything this makes me feel like Othea is very similar to Skadi (a Jotunn associated with mountains, snow, skiing and bowhunting) and Ulutiu similar to Njord (a god of the sea, wealth, and fertility... who was also a Vanir rather than an Aesir, and father of Freyr and Freyja). However, Skadi and Ulutiu were not happy together, as one was the mountains and the other the sea, so they broke up and Skadi married Odin, the All Father. If Annam = Odin in this storyline, we have the 3 main players, but it would be that the story we've heard that Othea and Annam were not happy together but Othea and Ulutiu were happy together is the part that doesn't mirror the norse tale.
Dalor Darden Posted - 22 Feb 2018 : 00:15:00
There are "fey" giants after all: Firbolg and Voadkyn...so Auril isn't too far off base.
Markustay Posted - 21 Feb 2018 : 20:07:23
Definitely NOT the right thread for this avenue of conjecture, buuuuut...

In my Overcosmology musings, I have been trying to work-in primal spirits, and I am thinking about this now because of Auril and giants, which immediately makes me think of Annam, Othea, and ulutiu. I think Ilutiu was a primal spirit. I think Othea was a Jotun (Primal Giant, also called Empyreans now). But all of this made me think that when Corellon and the Seldarine created the Elves (first Eladrin, and later the Sylan Elves) form the 'planestuff' of Faerie, they took the spirits from their to make their creations. Now, when left alone, these spirits (just balls of energy - basically Feywild Will-O-Wisps) would form into the lesser Fey - the small kind. By adding a little 'juice' to the mix, the Seldarine created the more statuesque and beautiful Eladrin (so think of it as Corellon injecting some 'cosmic rocket fuel' into their natural evolutionary cycle). The more powerful ones became Archfey Eladrin (LeShay). We can assume the (powerful) ones that were not 'turned' by the Seldarine would have continued on and also become archfey, but of the 'lesser fey' variety (because there ARE small archfey). Some of this is 4e canon ladled with a heavy spoonful of my homebrew.

So what if these theoretical 'more powerful' proto-fey were actually the Primal Spirits? Their nature fits with the feywild. And just last night I came across a reference to Greater[ Will-O-Wisps that could not only control other Will-O-Wisps, but could possibly control mindflayers as well! Could unformed proto-Archfey be these giant Will-O-Wisps - these 'Primal Spirits'? Anyhow, I see Ulutiu being one of these - he was an archwisp (new term!) that evolved without any interference from the Seldarine. His form in the one short story featuring him described as something very much akin to a seal (I know he is described differently elsewhere, but thats through the eyes of human worship, and the story was in-setting involving Annam and Othea. From Twilight, by Troy Denning, in Realms of Infamy -
quote:
The world was young.
And on the shores of Cold Ocean sat the woman, and she had the size of a mountain and the shape as well. She had great hips as large as hillocks and she had a bosom of craggy buttresses. The woman had also a sharp chin and a crooked nose, and cheeks as flat as cliffs. She had eyes round and black, as are caves, and white billowing hair, like snow blow­ing off the lofty peaks.
Ulutiu, the Ocean King, knew not the woman's name, nor did he care, as long as she came often to dangle her feet in his sea. Then he liked to climb to her shoulders and come sliding back down, to twirl his sinuous body around her peaks, to slip down her stomach and glide along the cleft where her thighs pressed together, then to leap off her knees at journey's end and splash back into the freezing waters. So much did the Ocean King like this game that he would climb onto the icy shore and do it again and again, doing it for days with no thought of hunger or fatigue or any­thing but joy, temporal and fleshly.
And the woman, who was called Othea, also loved the game well. The feel of Ulutiu's slick hide slithering over her skin she craved as her lungs craved air. She liked to brace her hands against the frozen ground, lean back, close her eyes, and think only of the icy pleasures ravaging her body. Deep into torpor would she fall. She would sink into a stupor as blissful as it was cold, and at last she would collapse in utter ecstasy. Then would her body quake, rocking lands far away, ripping green meadows asunder and shaking the snow from the mountains to crash down into the valleys with a fury as great as her rapture.
All this Annam the All Father saw. Mighty was his wrath, and mightier still because it was his curse to hear their thoughts and feel their lust. He raised himself from the canyon where he had lain, and even the crashing flood waters when the river flowed again were not as fierce as his temper. The All Father spat out his disgust, and a storm of sleet raged across the gray waters of Cold Ocean.
Annam strode forward. So heavy were his steps that the creatures of the air forsook their nests and flew, geese and harpies together, eagles beside dragons; so many were there that they darkened the sky with their wings. The beasts of the land also fled, hooves and claws tearing the plants from the meadows, and also the monsters of the sea, their fins and flukes churning the ocean into a cold froth.
Then did Ulutiu know he had transgressed against a high god. He peered over Othea's knee, and his whiskers twitched and his ears lay against his head.
"Othea!" Annam's voice howled across the shore like the blustering wind, and truly there had never been a tempest so terrible. "Have I not spoken against your dalliances?"
Ulutiu's dark eyes grew wide with terror, and he disap­peared behind Othea's bulk. Annam heard a splash in Cold Ocean and was not pleased. He rushed to the sea in two quick bounds and there he knelt, and when he spied a dark figure slipping from shore he stretched out his long arm and scooped the Ocean King from the icy waters.
"Annam, harm him not!" Othea's voice rolled across the icy shore as the rumble of a fuming mountain, and it was plain that she spoke in command, not supplication. "Ulutiu bears no blame in this. He was playing, nothing more."
"I know well enough what his games beget!" The All Father rose to his exalted height and faced Othea, and the cold water that dripped from his hand fell over the land like rain. "Firbolgs, verbeegs, fomorians, ettins!"
"Nay, not the ettin," Othea corrected, and when she spoke she showed Annam no fear. "That one you sired."
"Perhaps, but that is not the matter here."
Surely, it would have pleased Annam to deny the ettin's paternity, but the All Father knew he had sired the monster, and Othea would not say it had been someone else. That she denied him even this boon made his anger greater, and he thought that her punishment would be very hard indeed.
Othea paid no heed to Annam's ire, for she was not happy to have her game interrupted. "What is the matter, Hus­band?"
"I took you as Mother Queen of the giants," Annam answered. "You are to people Toril with my progeny—true giants—not with Ulutiu's bastard races!"
"Toril is as empty as it is young," Othea responded. "There is room enough for giant-kin."
"Did you not claim the same defense after your dance with rat-faced Vaprak?" Annam demanded. "And now ogres over­run Ostoria. Everywhere, they plague the empire of my children, gnawing at its seams like vermin."
"Perhaps your children are weak and Vaprak's are strong."
"I should have drowned the ogre when first you bore it!" Annam stormed, and a blizzard swept across the shore on roaring winds. "I should have crushed Vaprak's skull for dar­ing to cuckold me. I shall not make the mistake twice."
The All Father made tight his grip. Though the shriek that rose from the Ocean King's throat was long and loud, it was a mere gust against the tempest of Annam's anger. Ulutiu saw he would soon die, so he pulled with hands that were like flippers and he kicked with feet that were like flukes. But Annam was the strongest of the strong, and nothing could escape his grip.

Notice the descriptive text - sinewy body, 'slippery skin', whiskers, flippers! The dude was a Seal-god!

So, in a way, the giantkin (Jotunkyn) were sired by a proto-fey on a proto-giant. which is what i was getting at in the above post.

All things are connected, if you look for the connections. Not that Frost Giants are giantkin - they are True Giants. I just wanted to make a point of how the giants hatred of fey may have stemmed from Annam's own loathing of Ulutiu. On the other hand, maybe that conflict already existed, and that's why he was harsher on Ulutiu than he was on Othea's other lovers. Anyhow, getting back to the topic - I can see some giants turning to a god that is also enemies with the fey, and once Aurilandur became the Queen of Air & Darkness, she was just that. So it all makes a weird sort of cosmic sense.
sleyvas Posted - 21 Feb 2018 : 13:15:20
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay

Auril? Thats an odd choice for a giant (especially since we now know Auril if Fey, and Fey and giants don't like each other).

I just don't see Thrymm being very active in The Realms. Maybe he lost a bet to Auril a LONG time ago.

And now you have me thinking of Giantkin as 'fey giants'. That could work...



FROST giant. Yes, Thrym makes sense, but I could definitely see Auril, especially for a female frost giant priestesss. WE only know Auril is "fey" after nearly 30 years of the game being out and someone making her so in a dragon mag article. The vast majority of Faerun probably has never even heard of Aurilandur. She's also a runecaster under 3e rules. You can find more on her in the epic level handbook.

Similarly, while I could see most fire giants worshipping Surtr, I wouldn't be surprised to find some worshipping Kossuth or the "new more evil fire god" Imix.
Markustay Posted - 21 Feb 2018 : 10:38:48
Auril? Thats an odd choice for a giant (especially since we now know Auril is Fey, and Fey and giants don't like each other).

I just don't see Thrymm being very active in The Realms. Maybe he lost a bet to Auril a LONG time ago.

And now you have me thinking of Giantkin as 'fey giants'. That could work...
Lord Karsus Posted - 20 Feb 2018 : 00:03:13
-She was a priestess of Auril, so that would be a little problematic. I know she was in the Hunter's Blades Trilogy, but I don't remember if that changed her in any way. I barely remember anything from those books, other than the cover artwork being pretty nice.
Markustay Posted - 18 Feb 2018 : 20:06:33
I am toying with the idea of making her a Chosen of Thrym, if for no other reason than to counter Gruumsh's influence (Chosen?) over Obould, and how Obould would like to fold giants - particularly the Frost Giants of The Spine of the World mountains - into his armies and kingdom.

In other words, Thrym - like most deities with an 'evil' mindset - doesn't really care about those giants in those mountains. What he does care about is another god gaining influence over them, because thats a direct attack on 'his turf', and would definitely take counter-measures, if he became aware of the problem.

So maybe Gerti is now like a 'lesser Chosen'. Since Chosen now fall-out within the exarch category, and that's just a fancy word for 'demigod', that gives us 6 'tiers' within the category to play with - DVR 0-5. So lets say Gerti is DvR 0 - she basically has very little power over what she already did, but now she's immortal (the very first step to 'godhood'). Someone like Elminster should be DvR 5 (he's been 'invited' by Ao to be the God of magic, which means he could easily have been DvR 20 if he chsoe that). he probably could rise higher any time he wishes, but chooses to remain in 'the mortal world'. He can probably create at least one distinct (and separate) Avatar of himself though, so there could be two of him at the same time (which would explain a lot), and that's not something a demipower normally has access to (even though the rule is 'one avatar per DvR point').*

I'm only bringing up El to help explain the differences I see between the two ends of the spectrum. Although the two of them can be 'Chosen', there is a world of difference from one end of the spectrum to the other. All I see happening in Gerti's case is that Thrym 'touched' her, and now she is immortal, which should be enough for the other Frost giants to be in awe of her, and thus thrym's power.

Of course, that's all pure homebrew, but it would help us keep her around - exactly as-is - indefinitely. Even if someone kills her, she should be able to respawn... I think. Not sure how that works. An artifact needs to be involved to kill any god-tier being 'permanently', IIRC.


*Talking about 1e/2e/3e here, NOT the Spellplague and 4e era. It 'might' work this way in 5e as well, but thats depends on how much 'old Elminster' you want back.
farinal Posted - 18 Feb 2018 : 19:38:39
Really strange that she was not even mentioned in a 5E product that specifically deals with Giants and is set in the North. ie: The Storm King's Thunder. Or did I miss something?
Lord Karsus Posted - 18 Feb 2018 : 06:50:55
-Assuming something didn't happen to her, she'd still be alive since the average Frost Giant lifespan is like 250 years. Nothing ever mentioned her age, but I don't think she was anywhere near that in the 3e material she was featured in.
sfdragon Posted - 17 Feb 2018 : 23:16:37
last we heard anything she lead shining white, and that there was a male giant gong to challenge her for leadership.

she is not mentioned, she is either dead, exiled or worse
Markustay Posted - 17 Feb 2018 : 20:10:11
She's not mentioned in the Storm King's Thunder?

Just checked... she's not. Weird. I have to assume that since RAS used her once, they are avoiding talking about her (because whatever they do with her, he will immediately write a novel that contradicts all of it).
The Masked Mage Posted - 17 Feb 2018 : 19:44:19
Never anything as far as I know - like every other character from then. :P

Candlekeep Forum © 1999-2024 Candlekeep.com Go To Top Of Page
Snitz Forums 2000