Eira

Jump to navigation Jump to search
Eira
FriggSpinning.jpg
Name: Eira
Other names: The painter
she with the brush.
World: Gyllenheim
parents : Unnamed princess from an unnamed pre migration nation, Bel (in theory at least, the god of war never mentions them as his children as he does with children he birthed of fathered himself)
siblings : Arie
Iera
Consorts : Arie
Iera
Driknavar
several mortals
Children: several

Eira is the goddess of painting, dyeing clothes, armour painting, calligraphy, sewing, embroidery, tapestry making and dye making. With her sibling spouses so is she also one of the gods of fun and amusement. In the holy chronicles are she and her sister often follow their brother around, the only exception to this is when Arie is fulfilling his aspect as the hornblower in battle.

Birth

Once in far off days did there exist a princess that were known as the most wonderful artists in the history of all Scanderan people, her skill with the brush was unmatched, it was said that with a chisel so could she create statues that all but lived and she could with her voice and instruments make whole halls of mighty warriors break down and cry. It was said that even mighty Bel travelled long and wide only to hear her sing and many a night did the Silver forged god of war stay with the princes only to admire her and her work.

However she grew older and older as all mortals do while the silver forged god remained as he had always been. One day did the princess speak to the god and asked for immortality, not for her but for her gifts as she did not want them to be wasted. Bel thought long and hard about this as the golden apples were said to kill mortals that tried to eat them. So he asked Rasmer for advice and Rasmer spoke. The princess were to create three eggs, one she would paint into existence with paint mixed with the blood of the mightiest deer, dolphin and eagle, one she would sing into creation on an instrument forged by gold and with strings made from the thunder of a cat's paws, and the last would she carve out of the heart of a mountain guarded by an ancient dragon.

Together did Bel and the princess find all the tasks, Hunters and fishers gathered the blood, Smiths forged the harp while the princess gathered the thunder of a cat's paws and Bel with a few chosen dwarven companions slew the dragon and took the heart of the mountain.

For nine years did the princess labour, with her harp did she sing an egg into existence. With the heart of the mountain did she chisel an egg into existence and finally did she also paint one into existence. When the final egg was done so was also the princess that died that very night, the eggs however all hatched when she drew her last breath and out came three triplets; Arie, Eira, and Iera.

Eira in the sagas

In the sagas so is Arie a cheerful goddess but not one that does much, she is when seen often described as painting dressed in naught, however much like most other gods so did this change during the purification era after which she wore more conservative clothes. She is however often happy to bring gifts and she was the one that painted Bel's armour and according to the legends did she take one of the earlier Stjärnkhrone kings as her lover and painted his armour so that no sword would be able to break it nor would any axe be able to slide through it. If this is a myth or reality is debated as the king is not mentioned by name only "the fifth of his line holding the title king". What also makes this a bit suspicious is the fact that people only started to paint armour with the invention of plate armour in the late 14th century which would make it far from the fifth man of the line, king or high king included. However so have some people argued that it could just have meant the helmet or a leather armour which could be painted but were rarely done so.

Children

While Eira is described as a woman with several children and quick to bed people so is her children named in the holy chronicles.

Worship of Eira

Eira is a very minor god and there are very very few prayers dedicated to her, however so is it common for painters and seamstresses to sacrifice a bit of textile or paint over a fire asking for her blessing when painting or sewing. Template:Chronological gods