Guardians

A Grimaktir is an ancestral spirit of the wild, born of the World Tree itself, as its roots grew and consumed the remaining embers of the world that was.

Legends says they gave shape and name to all that is, and will be. They delve in the clouds above the world, in the shadows of the dying fires, the space between raindrops on a storm. They move through the world unseen, ever vigilant.

First Clans
It's said that the grimaktir saw the pitiful creatures of the midlands, and sought to help them. Before their intervention the Ortlas knew not of kin, of craft, nor tool. They frolicked through the world, living and dying without care. Until Yra saw fit to give them the gift of secrets.

As the seed of distrust grew as bramble in their hearts, the ortlas turned against one another. Parent against child, sibling against sibling. The Goddess laughed as they died, and the ash began to cover the world once more.

The grimaktir, displeased, sought to end the whisperer's scheme. Herfroskr, eldest of the grimaktir, sought the council of Freya, who had taken Yra as consort long ago. Together they concocted a pact which would change the ortlas fate.

As such, each of the grimaktir would choose from the ortlas their own, to form clans, and guide them. In turn, Freya and her own would teach them of law, kin, and rule. Others came to aid as well. Vilgerd gave to them tools to build, and Lambi taught them of seeds. But Yra was displeased, for has fun had ended too soon. Bested, but not yet defeated, she whispered one last time, and returned to her hall. Never to speak of what she said to the wind on that fateful day when the first clans came to be.

Reverence
Each clan reveres and fashions itself after it's grimaktir, and it's said the laws of the clan are their own will made truth. To swear the oaths is to bind oneself to the clan, yes, but also it's guardian. To break the laws is to insult one's protector.

Temples and shrines to the clan's grimaktir are always the firsts one to be built, and each ritual performed by the clan is oversee by it's guardian. Much like the gods and spirits, the grimaktir are subject to sacrifices, often made at times of great importance, such as the naming of a jarl of the birth of a child. Offerings vary from clan to clan, since each guardian has its own preferences.