Lorebook: Songs of the Norrin
Songs of the Norrin
LORE
Faere Fall and Fallow Tyde
(Excerpt from the Norrin epic, The Lay of Faenir)
Faere fall and fallow tyde, Friggid wynds blow winter-chill; Dusk-hearth lande Faenir rydes, Brusk alofte in frosted hande.
Hoofe-beats tremble steppe and stone, Wylde-hunt quakes the earth belowe; Skys are cloaked in stormes unborn, Tempers sharpe, hearts bounde in wrothe.
Iron-rimed whispers, rune-carved stones, Shadows stryde neath black-moon watch; Wolven-song spills twysted pynes, Somethynge dark beneath the frost.
Faenir rydes through blackest nyghtes, Burning Brusk—a flayming brande; Held alofte, unyielding fyre, Starless firmament doth quake.
War-cry swalled in wynter's throate, Deathe swift comes, but silence swifter; Bodies strewn cross ice-bound lande, Warriors proude now bones unmade.
Cold-haft plung’d in hearts of men, Braeking bodies, unmending souls; Yet beneath this silent fielde, Murmurings—old Yggthr breathes.
Wayting pacient, wyse and olde, Still as fyrst-star’s distant gleame; Faere fall and fallow tyde, Faenir’s name the ravens calle.
Historical Context and Meaning
This verse comes from the revered Norrin epic known as The Lay of Faenir, which chronicles the mythic deeds and battles of Faenir, a legendary hero-king of the Norrin people who was said to have united disparate clans during the harshest winter in memory, known as the "Faere Fall" (literally: "the falling of fear").
Often recited during the darkest months of winter, it serves both as a cautionary tale and a ritualistic invocation meant to honor Faenir, a mythic figure believed by the Norrin to be a divine harbinger of change and calamity. Faenir, astride his great steed and wielding his burning brusk (an archaic term meaning "torch" or "brand"), symbolizes the raw, untamable force of nature itself, arriving as herald of a great and inevitable upheaval.
The "faere fall and fallow tyde" referenced repeatedly in the text points to an ancient belief in cycles of renewal through destruction: lands must lie fallow, blood must nourish the frozen earth, and change is born through violence and sacrifice. Winter, represented vividly in the text as both enemy and ally, embodies both a literal and spiritual trial, where humanity is tested and often found wanting.
The recurring imagery of runes, wolves, ravens, and starless skies is deeply significant in Norrin spirituality, drawing from their long-held reverence for omens, ancestral memory, and communion with the primal forces of their harsh northern homeland. The whispering stones and singing wolves serve as symbolic echoes of the land’s own voice, hinting at a hidden magic that once ran through the bloodlines of the Norrin before its suppression by southern conquerors.
Notably, the piece culminates in a quiet moment. A murmur beneath silence, representing Yggthr, the great, primordial spirit of the northern wilds. This symbolizes the Norrin belief in an ever-present, watchful natural world, patiently awaiting the opportunity to reclaim what was once lost.
Thus, The Lay of Faenir serves as both cultural remembrance and spiritual instruction, reminding listeners of the delicate balance between mankind’s ambitions and nature’s enduring, patient might.
Stormcall to the Shield-Wall
Harke ye waves ashore, breathe life anewe, From frigid depths where Thalrik dreams; Seabourne whispers rise to spewe, Forgotten songs from Ulthar's streams.
Salt-mist shrouds the Isle of Karr, Where Brannor's stones in silence stand; By lightless moons, beneath the star, Wyld windes bless old Vaelmar's land.
Eldarr runes in driftwood lie, Echoes borne on tidale breath; Mysteries taught by gods on high, In whysper'd rites to cheat the deathe.
Hulda walks the blackened shore, Spear of Yldir raised in pride; The waves recount what came before, Saga bounde to ebbing tyde.
Mounds stir gently, moss and stone, Belowe, olde bones begin to wake; Anveir's horn, in somber tone, Calls warriors forth from earth’s embrace.
Rise ye, Norrin, shield-wall forme, Proud beneath dark skies anew; From depths of sea and heart of storme, The olde blood calls ye homeward true.
Harke ye waves, awaken ye, Vaelmar’s sons and daughters ryse; Breathe life anewe, reclaim the sea, Till stars reclaim their ancient skies.
Historical Context and Meaning
Stormcall to the Shield-Wall is an ancient Norrin war-chant and invocation believed to date back to the earliest legends of the Vaelmar Isles. It is recited during rites of renewal and before battles, calling upon ancestral heroes and forgotten gods to rise and lend their strength.
The poem references Thalrik, the slumbering god beneath the northern seas, and Hulda, the warrior-maiden whose valor shaped Norrin martial tradition. "Brannor's stones" signify sacred sites scattered across the Isle of Karr, often associated with ancient rites and the Eldarr runes, symbols believed to preserve wisdom lost to time.
The recurring theme of awakening and rebirth symbolizes the enduring Norrin belief in cyclical renewal, resilience, and their profound connection to both sea and land.
Torvald’s Lament
(Excerpt from Of Waves and Wylde Hearts, the Norrin saga of the lovers known as Torvald and Sigrun)
Traveler, harke, and sit ye neare, A tale I'll weave of Sigrun deare; Across ice-wastes my harte did seeke, Her voice more sweet than fayre-bird's speeke.
Through froste-clad lands I tred aloyne, Guided by dreams old Thalrik's shown; Where thorne-ways cut through flesh and boyne, Skyfyre burned to gyde my waye, To finde my love ere end of daye.
My cloak in tatters, wyndes did teare, My beard as white as vaelwarg-haire; Yet hearte as hotte as Brusk aflame, Did pulse and call aloud her nayme.
I faced the wyrme of Eldgrim's laire, With teeth as swords, a gaze of feare; Its scales as harde as runic stone, Yet courage helde my blade alone.
Through marshes darke, I waded deepe, Where spiryts lost their vigil keepe; Their mournful cries called me to stray, Yet thoughts of her kept me my waye.
I crossed the bridge of Yldir’s fyre, Whose flames consume each foule desyre; Yet my true love burned bright and cleare, No flame could take what I held deare.
Within darke woods, 'neath starveiled skeine, Her whispers stirred through snowe-softe reine; Her face, a vision sylver-brighte, Yet lost againe each fleeting nyghte.
Stone-fanged peaks loomed colde and steepe, Ancestral paths where secrets sleepe; Yet onward pressed my weary feete, Through shadow-vales, my love to meete.
On cliffes of sea stood Sigrun feyre, Eyes glistening with grief-held care; Anveir's horn mourned through the aire; Her teares encased by winter's breath, I raced to her past realms of deathe.
Till dawn-breake, traveller, brought me peace, My footsteps neare, her sorrow cease; At last embraced, brief joye we helde, Yet cruel fate our love dispellede.
A single touche, a kyss of payne, The seas reclaimed my forme againe; Yet traveler, knowe this lore is true, Though lost to waves, my hearte she knewe.
Historical Context and Meaning
Torvald’s Lament is an excerpt from the Norrin saga, Of Waves and Wylde Hearts, a revered epic that tells the bittersweet tale of the legendary hero Torvald and his beloved, Sigrun. According to ancient tradition, Torvald, a famed warrior from a long-forgotten northern fjord-clan, undertook an arduous journey across the perilous Vaelfrost Sea and through the haunted wilderness known as the Whyspring Wastes, all to reunite with Sigrun after fate cruelly separated them.
This excerpt captures a poignant moment in the saga: Torvald recounting his memories of Sigrun to a weary traveler, recalling vividly her striking Vaelwarg-haire, or hair likened to the ethereal Vaelwarg, a ghostly beast of legend said to wander frozen wilds beneath aurora-lit skies. His trials mentioned in the poem symbolize profound devotion amidst impossible odds, invoking the watchful presence of the gods: Thalrik, keeper of storms and trials, and Anveir, deity of hearth and home, whose favor Torvald sought during his journey.
Among the Norrin, Torvald and Sigrun's story holds significant cultural resonance as a meditation on both the strength and cost of love in defiance of destiny itself. It is often recited by skalds at gatherings, reminding listeners of the enduring power of memory and love's capacity to outlast even death and divine decree.