3011 The Boar

The Boar of the Anvilbeards.

The Mythology and Symbolism of the Boar

To truly understand the prolific use of the symbolism of the Boar within Clan Anvilbeard one must first look at its origins within Clan Anvilbeards Mythology, there is no account more fundamental to the adoption of the Boar as the Clans standard than the biographical account of Olsen ‘The Humble’ in his own work entitled;

‘From here to there and back again, Journeys under the golden sun’

The Gifts of Gullinnbustadr

‘Gullinnbustadr’

(Gold Within Dwells)

The tale of Olsen the Humble and Gullinnbustadr is the cornerstone of Clan Anvilbeards Mythology and ultimate adoption of the Wild Boar as its standard.

In these passages are an overview of the events and how they impacted of the future of Clan Anvilbeard.

The first Gift.

In what Olsen believed to be his tenth year of exile he was set upon by a band of brigands on the edge of a great plain, being vastly outnumbered (twelve to one by his own account) Olsen dispatched those that had roused him from his nightly slumber and after taking several wounds was forced to flee the battlefield leaving his possession behind him. Olsen sort refugee within a local wood and from his vantage point he witnessed with great sorrow the ransacking of his possessions and murder of his mule at the hands of the brigands. As the sun rose shortly thereafter he was forced to seek further refugee deeper in the wood as the brigands began to hunt for him in the morning light.

Armed only with a light hammer and sporting wounds to his shoulder and head he fled deeper into the wood growing weaker with each stride. So it was that after several hours of pursuit the brigands finally gave up the chase. Olsen found himself soon lost within the great woodland and weariness was pulling at him, the wound on his shoulder being deep and the blow to the head causing little damage but for an ever present flow of blood into his eyes. Parched of thirst Olsen soon found himself in a desperate situation, with the sun now high in the sky and weariness overcoming him he found a small glade and rested there, if he fell into a slumber or passed out due to his wounds he could not tell.

Olsen was roused violently from his slumber some time later by the call of a great beast, staggering to his feet Olsen first thought that the day was still young as the golden light of day was all around him but he soon realized that night had fallen for away from him all was of the blackest night. Turning expecting to see the brigands with torches aloft he was dumb struck by what his eye beheld.

I spake aghast, ‘What enchantments are these I behold before mine eyes, creature of the greatest stature, a light doth appear  from within thee liken to the gold of our sun and doth  illuminate the very lands about us?’

Before him, as tall as he and just as wide stood a great wild boar, a golden light emanating from its very being, dazed as he was by weariness and injury, feeling the starvation in his stomach and dire thirst in his throat he saw in that miraculous creature his salvation, he lunged for the beast grabbing it by the mane on its back, but the beast got the better of him and tossed Olsen aside with effortless ease.

It bested me with such ease and the beast cast me aside, throwing me from thy feet and I fell to the ground with such a terrible tumult that I felt it unto my very brain pan

Lying once more in the turf Olsen looked across at the creature that was for unknown reasoning standing by and watching him. Gripped in his hand Olsen found seven of the beast’s great spine like hairs that had been torn free in the melee.

Oh Great beast, Doth thou wishest these, your mighty spines to be returned to thee?

Olsen laughed as he offered the spines back to the Great Boar for his will was fading and he knew his end was near, but to Olsen’s astonishment the Boar lowered itself upon its front legs as if to bow to him. Straightening once more the creatures’ great head swung as if pointing off into the darkness. Confused Olsen looked once more at the Great Boar and sighed to himself,

And angered greatly I spake thus wise unto the beast, ‘What mockery is this? Be gone greatest of the Boars, for I am undone, my end is upon me and I wish not to spend my final moments under this here sky at your mocking pleasure’.

Again the Great beast moved as if to bow to him then swung its head away into the darkness, they stared at each other for some time before the creature once more motioned into the darkness.

And before thine very eyes the great creature of such enchantments did bow unto me and bid me follow with nothing more than a shake of its great head as if bestowed of great understanding and knowledge within its mind.

And with that Olsen got to his feet, as he stood the beast walked away some yards and stopped, turning its great head as if to make sure Olsen was following. Olsen staggered after the beast but was soon left behind, it was then surrounded by darkness and following the glow for the distant beast that Olsen realized the spines he held in his hand too shone with a golden light. Holding them close to the ground Olsen used their light to follow the Boars hoof prints as they wound their way through the trees.

And so Olsen received the first of his gifts, the gift of light.

The Second Gift.

Before long the Boar in the distance stopped moving as if to wait for him and encouraged by this he increased his speed as best he could. Rounding a great tree Olsen saw before him the huge form of the Great Wild Boar standing rampant atop a bolder over a small brook. Olsen fell headlong into the brook in his eagerness for water for his throat felt as if made of sand, and there he drank for an age as the Great Wild Boar stood sentinel above him.

The shame upon me is liken to that of a broken promise, for you have assuredly done me great favour and I am accursed now for striking at thee a whiles back

With his thirst sated and filled anew with great vigor the Great Boar pranced away once more into the darkness and Olsen followed. The sun rose high in the sky and yet Olsen was still trailing the Great Bore, now using the light of the sun to follow the hoof prints of the beast. Finally rounding a great vine covered boulder he saw once more that the Great Boar awaited him and so Olsen took his rest against a fair sized stone set atop another greater boulder. Sitting there as he desired he noted by accident that the smaller stone rang as if of metal when struck by Olsen. Taking great interest he removed the vines and weeds to behold an ancient and rusted anvil. On closer inspection Olsen discovered a stone imbedded within the anvil of such beauty that it defied the words of any of the races of the world and took away the very breath from his lungs. Bringing himself back to the now and matters at hand Olsen looked carefully upon the stone, there about the stone upon the anvil itself Olsen could make out many a cuts and grazes as made by tools, it appeared to Olsen that many hands over many years had tried to remove the stone from its anvil housing.

Olsen in an attempt to better view the beautiful stone tore a strip of cloth from his clothes and began to clean the anvil, in doing so his hand accidently brushed the stone and to his utter astonishment the stone rose from its home and sat loose upon the anvil. Taking into both his hands for the stone was large he looked deeply into it, feeling from its depths a great power vibrating in his hands and seeing a faint glow with his eyes. Turning to the Great Boar he said

‘Thank you again Great Boar, thus far you have given me light with which to chase off the dark, and now you present we with a stone of such beauty and power that I know not how to repay you.’

The absence of a reply was not unexpected and indeed the Great creature simply just walked around in several small circles before it settled itself down upon the boulder and took its sleep.

And so Olsen received the second of his gifts, the gift of the stone.

The Third Gift.

The sun rose and fell twice from that point and all the while Olsen followed the Boar, each day upon his awakening he would find fruits and berries waiting for him, each afternoon as the sun dropped below the horizon Olsen would finally catch up to the Great Boar and find before it a carcass for his dinner,

What! Wouldst thou thus present unto me the body of thine own for thy consumption?

Over those days of travelling Olsen grew unnaturally stronger until on the last day of their travels together he could run alongside the beast.

With the rising of the Sun on the third day the Boar led Olsen to the edge of a wood and before him he saw a small town of wooden palisade defence and thatched roofs. As he stood in wonder the great boar gave him a gentle shove in the back with its mighty head yet for some reason he could not bring himself to leave the creature, once more the great boar pushed him towards the town, turning Olsen spoke to the creature.

Thou art graced with such enchantments as to liken thee to the Sun, and thus I shall bestow on thee the name of Gullinnbustadr for Gold Dwell within thee, and from hence forth until the remaking of the world, I Olsen shall count thee as greatest of friends.

With that the great and majestic creature turned and faded into the woodland as if its light had been extinguished.

Olsen remained at the small town for just under ten years, here too he discovered the wonder that was the Anvil Stone, for it made even his most clumsy of crafting into an ornament of beauty, and this was indeed a gracious gift.  Had it not been for the return of Gullinnbustadr the boar to this town Olsen had a mind to remain there until his last days, but one night whilst Olsen was atop the Palisade there in the distance the great boar reappeared. Over the palisade he leapt and once before the Great creature he gave it a great hug.

‘My friend you have returned, to what do I owe this pleasure?’

The Great Boar turned is head as it did those years ago and bade Olsen to follow, returning once to the village to collect a travelling pack Olsen hurried back to the creature never more to return to the town he had called his home. For many days they travelled together through the woodlands and fields of the fertile lands until they reached the bottom of a great mountain range, there they made camp and slept as they had all those days prior but upon awakening the following day the Boar was nowhere to be seen. Once more taking to the tracks Olsen followed the hoof prints for an age until they entered a small cave set in the hillside. From within the cave itself a Golden glow could be seen and into the cave Olsen plunged giving chase to his friend Gullinnbustadr.

The chase led on for what Olsen himself said must have been several days. Until one day a great cry went up as if the king of all the fell beast of the underdark was to cry out in sadness. Following the sound as it was the direction the hoof prints of his friend had taken he eventually came across a great chasm within the mountains, and there across the chasm and accessible by a single bridge lay the Southern wall of Muttugr-Fell, it was from here that the great sound was coming for upon the Southern wall sat a multitude of horns that sounded as the winds within the chasm blew. It was here that the Great Boar Gullinnbustadr his friend reappeared to him and in the same ways as old pushed out towards the city wall.

And so Olsen received his third and final gift from Gullinnbustadr,

The gift of sanctuary.

The Anvilbeard Rite of Passage

Known as the trials of Olsen

Within Clan Anvilbeard there is a Rite of Passage performed by the young of the Clan when they reach the age at which Olsen was when he underwent the trials and gained the Gifts from Gullinnbustadr. This Rite of Passage is of great importance for it is from the results of this trial that the Clan will advise the initiate as to which Guild they were to be sent.

The Trials of Olsen are as follows.

The initiate is exiled from the Clan Home for the evening prior to undertaking the Trials, that evening the initiate is to reside in the Great Hall. Upon Sun rise members of the clan would rouse the initiate with violent intent, mimicking the acts of the brigands. As the initiate flees the Hall he is met by the Steward who at the time is wearing a headdress fashioned like a head of a great Boar with a great fur cloak from his shoulders, this is symbolic of the meeting. The Steward then leads the initiate into the Clan home and there presents him with a light breakfast and a tincture fabled to invigorate and strengthen.

The Steward then leaves the initiate via one of the doors and disappears into the corridors beyond extinguishing all the torches as he went, behind him however he leaves a lite touch, the gift of Light.

The initiate must then, using the torch follow a series of Gladdringgar left in the darkened passages by the Steward until he finds an item of workable material, symbolizing the discovery of the Anvil and the Stone, the second gift, the stone.

Now with item in hand and still using the torch the initiate must continue to follow the Gladdringgar until they lead to a room outside of which the steward stands awaiting. Within the room and this room is never the same is hidden the Clans most hallowed, the Stone within the Anvil.

This is where the actual trial begins; all other aspects of this trial thus far are purely symbolic. The true Clan Anvilbeard trial is to use the tools and Anvil within the room to craft an item; it is upon this item that they and their trial are to be judged.

During the trial the Steward remains outside of the room and periodically would bring the initiate a dinner of roasted Boar.

Once complete the Steward leads the initiate back to the Clans feasting Hall and there he is judged by the elders of the Clan and the initiate’s future Guild chosen.

The Gladdringgar of Clan Anvilbeard

Here we see an example of the Gladdringgar of Clan Anvilbeard.

Although some claim it represents a Demon with great horns in truth it represents the hoof print of a Wild Boar.

The symbolic nature of the Boars Hoof print is plain to see from Olsen’s own texts as it is through these hoof prints that he was delivered safely firstly through the great wood unto the Human settlement and then again through the myriad of tunnels within the underdark unto the walls of Muttugr-Fell and sanctuary.

Wild Boar symbolism is writhe throughout Clan Anvilbeards home, but the symbolic nature of the Boar persists outside of the Clans home in items the Clans elders carry upon them. The following Boars head cap piece is fashioned from Gold and adorns the end of the Clans War Horn. When blown the horns cry emanates from the mouth of the Boar cap piece

The Cap piece of the Anvilbeard War Horn, the horn itself being made from the Dragon claw Corson brought back with him from the underdark.