Avirl

Avirl
Name:	Avirl
Other names:	Thunderfoe the crying god stormfoe rainbreaker riderfoe The demon bane
World:	Gyllenheim
parents :	Lif and Halfrid
siblings :	Fir
Consorts :	None
Children:	None

Avirl is one of the gods of thunder and lightning in the holy chronological faith and is the eternal foe of Asarl and their battles in the sky is the cause of thunderstorms. While Asarl is the better warrior of the two so are Avirl a more sneaky man that prefers more tactical approaches to battle. He is also known not to be above such things like ambushes and trickery to win battles.

He is the wielder of the bow "sorgedråp" and is also known as a fierce foe of all demons and often do he ride out from Gyllenheim to hunt them down brutally when they reaches midgard itself. He is also described as an archer that all but lack peers.

Birth

Avirl is the son of the spirit Halfrid and the goddess lif and as such is he known as the mourning god that mourns the death of not only his mother but also the death of his love Grynhilda. It is said that the spirit Halfrid once offered lif a great hoard of wealth if only she would spend the night in his bed and so she did.

She became with child from this encounter and Halfrid swore that he wanted nothing with either child nor mother to do and kicked them both from his halls and Avirl grew up with his mother in Gyllenheim. However when he reached adult age did he ask for [[Arkar}}'s aid to get his inheritance from his father and Arkar advised him to attack the lands of Halfrid which he did and not to hold up until his father handed him a guard of a hundred warriors and a place under him.

So Avirl did and attacked his father's land until his father gave him a hundred men to defend his lands instead of attack them. With this new force did Avirl on Arkar's advice continue his attacks with renewed force.

When called upon to explain himself did he say that Halfrid had not given him enough men and they needed to collect food and money to support themselves, and if Halfrid would just give him more men and gold they would be able to defend Halfrid's realms more properly. This Avirl continued and when called back by Halfrid he shouted that he needed more gold and more men to do his job and only the lacking support of Halfrid forced him to attack. Until one day Halfrid got enough and gathered his men to ride out and bring Avirl to justice. They had not gotten far though before Avirl attacked Halfrid and slew his men before Halfrid had even managed to meet up with merely one vassal. With Halfrid as a captive did they ride back to Halfrid's hall and forced him to recognise Avirl as his son and heir.

Avirl in the sagas

He is most famously known as the foe of Avirl though and their eternal battles is said to be the cause of thunder and lightning as the hosts of Avirl and Asarl clashes in the skies. The beginning of this eternal conflict is said to have started when they both fell in love with the princess Grynhilde. Who is described as the purest woman in all of creation and one who's beauty put even goddesses to shame. They were however not the only ones that tried to court the woman and the half spirit half demon Gryn did also court Grynhilda and in the end kidnapped her and took her to his hall.

Asarl and Avirl that had jet to become foes gathered their armies and marched upon the halls of Gryn and both decided to assault the fort from two directions. Asarl decided to strike at the main gates while Avirl decided to gather his best fighters and dressed them in the heaviest armour he owned and attacked from the back. Avirl managed to break through the enemy's forces and engaged Gryn in his own dining hall. However lying dying did Gryn use his last energy to strike down Grynhilda and to curse her so that her spirit would follow him into the deepest reaches of Mörkerheim.

This is how Asarl found Avirl. Holding their dead love amongst the bodies of Gryn's personal elite. They both flew at one another and ten men were needed to pull them apart. They both blamed one another for the death of Grynhilda arguing if the other had just aided them in their attack so would they have saved her. In a fit of rage did Avirl order his men to attack Asarl and they struck down many of his best men and stole Grynhildas body to burn it where Asarl could not see.

Raging from this final insult did Asarl gather his forces and marched upon the halls of Avirl in Gyllenheim to prepare a siege. This was however once more twarted by Avirl that called upon a great ting with all the gods and demanded that Asarl would leave him and his halls be. With the aid of Arkar did Arvil win once more and Rasmer ordered Asarl to stand down. Shaking with fury did Asarl ride home but not without taking his vengance upon Avirl. He took the shape of a bullfinch and flew into the halls of Arvil where he quickly broke into Asarl's personal quarter when he had rode out to mourn their lost love. Asarl in a fit of jealous vengance broke all the letters that Grynhilde had sent Arvil and stole a lock of her hair that she had given him that he prised above all jewels and treasures that he owned.

When Arvil finally returned home and saw the theft did he cry out in rage and gathered all his men to charge upon Asarls halls. But Asarl had expected this and had drawn up his own battle lines upon the skies of midgard. With a thunderous clash did the two armies meet upon the sky and thunder and lightning rolled over the world. Many a time have the two since then gathered their hosts and clashed in the skies which is from where lightning and thunder comes.

Children

Arvil have neither married nor fathered children.

Worship of Arvil

Arvil is rarely worshipped but sailors, travellers, and other men like these sometimes ask for Avirl and Asarl not to do battle when they are travelling. Avirl is also from time to time worshipped to give good aim in archery competitions and in battle asking for an arrow to hit it's mark. However due to the historical importance of the crossbow in Scanderan warfare so did most soldiers not pray to Avirl when firing. Template:Chronological gods