Völsung

The Völsunga Saga is a late 13th-century set of stories recorded in Old Norse, detailing the origin and decline of the Völsung clan. Its notable stories include a legendary sword retrieved from the tree Barnstokkr, the defeat of the dragon Fáfnir, and the cursed ring Andvaranaut.

Völsung himself was said to have been born a full-grown man via a blessing from the wish-maiden Ljod — an early epithet of Angrboða, who was still then a trusted servant of Odin’s court. With him Ljod founded the semi-divine bloodline of Völsung, which over the generations would go on to produce some of the most notable heroes in Norse legend, even inspiring Beowulf himself. It was an act she was never credited with, and today’s Atharim do not remember her in its histories at all beyond the telling note that both heroes and monsters spring from the Völsung line.

Instead they are remembered for their heroism, and for the tragedy of a curse they suffered at the hands of Loki, whom it’s said engineered for the ring Andvaranaut to come into their possession and supposedly ended them for good.

An Atharim Legacy

The Völsungs are one of a handful of bloodlines with long ancestral ties to the Atharim cause.

It is said they were great heroes during the godwars and in the times after — that they even went on to become the trusted caretakers of a legendary god-killing blade, though the weapon itself has long since been lost to the turn of time. But it’s also said that their line was cursed by the same gods they had helped to end, a belief that persists to this day. Each of the surviving Norse sagas is indeed twisted at the end by some tragedy, suggesting that the line was ended entirely. Though this was not actually the case, even today Völsung family trees are rare and sparsely-branched, for it does seem as though the bloodline is beset by an unusual amount of tragedy.

Children are sent to the Vatican Historical Society for training and a close guard at thirteen, but often come from strict families before that. As such the Völsungs have produced some of the most lauded Atharim hunters and scholars in living memory, yet it is a legacy clouded for how often its members turn out to be one of the very monsters they are sworn to hunt.

It seems there are only two paths for a Völsung. Hero, or monster.

Prophecy

Esoteric prophecy suggests there is a reason the Atharim nurture rather than eradicate all those who claim Völsung’s heritage: it states that one of them will be responsible for recovering a legendary god-killing blade, and more importantly, return it to Atharim hands. It is a mythical weapon now much sought after in the wake of Apollyon’s foretold return.

The Legendary Sword

Though all agree that a Völsung will be integral to its recovery, scholars disagree on most other details.

The saga names the sword as Gram (or sometimes Balmung or Nothung), but offers little in the way of description beyond it being “all decked with gold and gleaming bright” and possibly being emblazoned with a dragon. As the sword in the tale is at one point broken, some believe it is not a literal sword at all, but the hidden pieces of a greater weapon.

Other possibilities include it being the weapon Freyr bargained away for Gerðr’s hand, though some believe it to have been destroyed at Ragnarök after it was used by the jötunn Surtr to slay Freyr himself. Some declare it to be the Celtic Sword of Light of Nuada.

Modern Völsungs

• Athrian; an acclaimed Atharim hunter, well respected, with an impeccable kill-list. His name was blacked from the histories after he succumbed to the family curse and had to be put down by colleagues. He was Bastian’s much older brother.
• Bastian; a former Atharim hunter who defected in favour of the CCD’s amnesty. He currently serves as a Dominion.