Grimnir

The Allfather

Areas of Concern: history, prophesy, runes, scholars

Edicts: offer guidance to those in authority, learn from your mistakes, hide your true intentions, seek out knowledge

Anathema: destroy or alter historical records, attempt to avert a prophesy, use magic irresponsibly, encourage self-harm

Divine Attribute: Intelligence or Wisdom

Religious Symbol: a rune composed of three interlocking triangles

Sacred Animal: Raven

Sacred Colors: Black, Blue

Grimnir is the god of magic, knowledge, and the invisible threads of fate — the Allfather who peers beyond the veil of time itself. Wisest among The Nine and often regarded as their patriarch, he is invoked in matters of foresight, arcane mastery, and mortal ambition. His most well-known avatar is that of a hooded, one-eyed shaman with braided silver hair. According to legend, Grimnir was once mortal, unjustly sacrificed on the gallows of the World Tree by a forgotten cult. But death did not take him — instead, the tree whispered its secrets, and he ascended as a god, trading his eye for sight beyond sight and his mortality for knowledge eternal.

His followers rarely rule directly but wield immense influence in the background — as advisors, court mages, and stewards. Grimnir’s worshippers include oracles, magical theorists, and philosophers who ponder truths others dare not touch. Temples dedicated to him often double as great libraries or repositories of forbidden lore. In times of great uncertainty, many seek his favor to gain prophetic insight, though his blessings are rarely without cost. For Grimnir teaches that all power must be tempered by wisdom, and that one’s destiny, once seen, becomes a chain. He alone understands that knowing the future offers no promise of changing it.

Though revered for his intellect and feared for his foresight, Grimnir bears a private burden: he knows how the story ends. Tormented by visions, he has glimpsed the end of all things — a final battle which neither mortal nor deity can survive. He has seen his own death, played out across countless futures, and knows with perfect certainty that it cannot be avoided. Some say this drives him to act in strange, circuitous ways, bending fate where he can, delaying the inevitable. Among scholars of the divine, Grimnir remains the most studied and least understood. In His silence lies both power and pity, for even the Allfather cannot outrun time.

Holy Day of Grimnir — The Rhymester’s Recitation, traditionally held on Candlemas, is a lively celebration of wit, verse, and clever wordplay that brings cheer to the end of winter. Bards, poets, and everyday revelers gather beneath tents to share sonnets, limericks, riddles, and rhymes. One winning piece is chosen for its charm or craft and recorded in the annals of the Allfather’s temple to be honored all year. Even the most serious scholars are encouraged to set aside their tomes and join in the festivities.

Taboo Practice — The Sisterhood of the Sibylline Sight is a hidden sect of Grimnir’s faithful who reject the fatalism of prophecy. Rather than revere his visions, they work in secret to unravel, mislead, or divert the outcomes he has foreseen. Members believe they serve Grimnir’s truest will by challenging what he has already accepted: that the end cannot be stopped. Shunned by mainstream clergy, the Sisterhood persists in shadow, convinced that the greatest tribute to their god is to defy his doom.

Devotee Benefits

Cleric Spells — 1st: Anticipate Peril, 3rd: Hypercognition, 6th: Phantasmal Calamity

Divine Font: Harm or Heal

Divine Sanctification: Holy or Unholy (optional)

Divine Skill: Arcana

Domains: Fate, Knowledge, Magic, Time
Alternate Domain: Secrecy

Favored Weapon: Spear