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Freya

Freya, The Hidden Lady

Runa, Lady of the Flower Gate, She Who Wanted Proof

Goddess of Devotion, Love, and What People Prove Rather Than Say

  • Alignment: Neutral Good
  • Favored Weapon: Unrecorded
  • Domains: Love, Fertility, Devotion
  • Divine Skill: Diplomacy
  • Edicts: Prove devotion rather than declare it, enter difficult places together rather than alone, give what you take
  • Anathema: Swear hollow devotion for gain, abandon a partner at the threshold, take without ever giving back

Freya's Role in Valkair

Freya's temple hides under the Hollow Coin in Richeri — a tavern and fighting pit that was, ten thousand years ago, a place called Galanthas, the Flower Gate. The party found the old name and the old temple the same night: a heavy door under a worn flower symbol, a circle of hollow coins, and a story cut into the wall in dancing elven script.

The story was The Lay of Hrafn and the Hidden Lady — Freya's own account of the one time she stepped out of being worshipped. Tired after ten thousand years of flowers and knee-bent devotion, she took off the cloak that lets a woman fly, called herself Runa, and walked into the worst tavern she could find. She let a thief named Hrafn steal her purse and didn't call for anyone. Three gods placed bets on what he'd do next — Odin watched him choose the harder road rather than a checkpoint, Thor watched him stay with her in the dark rather than find the exit alone, Heimdall watched him turn down land, a name, and a woman of better family rather than hand her over. Hrafn paid every bet without knowing he was being tested, and Freya — watching her own thief prove himself three times over without being asked — rewrote what she wanted from worship after that. Not gold. Not ceremony. Not devotion sworn on knees. Proof.

That's the rule the party had to clear to reach her rune. Enter as one or do not enter. Choose your partner before the threshold. Devotion is your currency and Freya will test your wealth. Two bodies were already on the floor when they arrived — proof that the temple enforces its own terms. Gunnar and Riven crossed together and faced wardens carved with the same face, merging into a single towering shape that hit like falling masonry, and held the line as partners rather than as two separate fighters. When the trial broke, the sanctum opened onto a fountain untouched in a hundred years, and the eighth and final rune of the Pilgrimage waited on the altar beyond it. Every pair that touched the water felt the same thing: their partner's opening becoming visible the instant it appeared — Freya's Blessing, still active, still felt more than explained.

Freya has not spoken to the party outside that story on the wall. She didn't need to. The trial said everything the goddess wanted said.

Followers & Worship

  • Holy Sites: Galanthas, the Flower Gate, sealed beneath the Hollow Coin in Richeri; once a place of spring rites in Dres Elas where elven noble families offered willing sacrifice for children and blessing.
  • Worshippers: Historically the elven noble houses of Dres Elas. Current worship, if any survives above ground, is unconfirmed — the temple itself had sat undisturbed for a century before the party opened it.
  • Rituals: Entry by pair, never alone. Three hollow coins seat the circle that opens the way in. The temple's own trial — facing the paired wardens together — functions as the rite itself.

Blessings & Curses

  • Freya's Favor: Freya's Blessing, granted at the fountain to both pairs who cleared the trial — fighting alongside a partner now hits harder, the bond made tangible rather than symbolic.
  • Freya's Wrath: Unconfirmed directly, but the two bodies already on the floor of the entry chamber when the party arrived suggest the temple does not forgive those who try to enter, or to claim its proof, alone.