Hero Wars
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Kalikos Icebreaker

"I know why Orlanth is weak, and it is not a short story.

"Each earth season, when the rest of the world is fat and happy in their harvests, there are a band of warriors and would-be heroes who worship the god they called Icebreaker. They outfit themselves with magic and trek northward upon magical paths, set to the tracks first made by their hero god.

"Icebreaker was a human who lived in the darkness and who aided humans others of that time. Some say he is a Silver Age Hero, but I think he is far too far north to count among them. Icebreaker's particular foe was Valind, god of winter. In many battles they met, but the furious ice god could not stand before his enemy. Icebreaker's first victories shattered the huge icepack which covered Peloria, and made more land for Icebreaker's people. Then he mage a huge hammer of adamant and iron, and set to driving long golden spikes deep into the ice along a path moving ever northward towards Valind's own stronghold.

"Valind was a great god, even after a defeat like Icebreaker struck him. He mustered his own army, unafraid of any metallic beams of light. He had snow trolls and Himili and reindeer shamans and haunting things which make the night sky dance with colors, and met Icebreaker for another battle.

"Valind was greater this time, and Icebreaker was struck down and his army slain like naked bears upon ice. Since then most of the lands past the north have remained impassable ice. And since that time each winter Valind has swept southward in triumph.

"In winter, icy Dark and Storm and Sacred Seasons in the north, the battleground of Valind and Icebreaker is covered with ice and surrounded by battling snows which torture the ghosts there. The rest of the year the forces of Icebreaker rise up and melt the ice upon it and stills the air overhead. The great mound, a dry mound of dark brown earth, can be seen for many miles all about. In the warmer time there are even plants, and small animals like hares, and a fox or two which wakes to eat.

"Valind, we all know, is kinsman to Orlanth, enemy of the Red Goddess. Though there is little love between the two gods they answer the challenge of the moon goddess equally. Alas, both have met similar fates. Orlanth is driven southward and to the tops of mountains while Valind is driven northward and to the tops of glaciers.

"Each year the Icebreaker cult prepares a band of warriors while the rest of the world is fat and happy with their harvests. These hungry warriors head northward, and their track leads them to the burial mound of their god, Icebreaker. There they take his great weapons and sally onward, northward, and they carry an adamant hammer with an iron handle which drive great golden spikes into the ground. Each earth season, amid a deathly howling of ice and cold, the warriors meet Valind again.

"Sometimes the cold god wins, for he is still strong and cruel in his winter fastness. Sometimes the Icebreaker wins, for his people are powerful with strength and will and magic. Sometimes neither wins, though the field may be littered with broken heroes and dead foes. Whatever the event may be of the battle, the final story is the same for Valind is weaker, unable to plunge southward with his bitter cold and killing snow.

"One time, before the Icebreaker cult was great, all of Peloria was numbed by annual snowfall. People crawled into tents and holds and houses with stores of food and fuel, grimly counting days until spring arrived to free them. Since the Icebreaker grew strong the winters have grown milder, less severe, so now people do not need the great furs they once coveted, and everything has time to grow and to ripen.

"So the shortened winter aids the red goddess by fattening her people and making their lives easier. And they deny Orlanth and Valind their annual brawl in the high chill winter airs which rejuvenates all of the atmosphere and keeps the gods strong. So our god is cut off from his kinsmen, his dance, and his strength as well.

"There is a wily old troll shaman witch who is said to be the daughter of ancient Boztakang himself, and she lives in the ice in the palace of Valind. She cursed the Icebreaker cult long ago and brought his death. Now she has cursed his cult, but with a secret curse which only she knows and which she says cannot be beaten. She defends the winterlands with her own life if need be, but she is always cheerful that her curse is working.

"I doubt that her curse, should it work, will come to aid us. Trolls have no love for Orlanth, and they have no kinship with him either.

"We must seek elsewhere for our future."