Brief Description[]
Dallgrim, also known as [poetic name] is the dwarven god of judgment and decisions. He wields the greatsword Yff, with which he renders his judgment, choosing either the flat or the edge of the blade depending on the situation that calls for his attention. Dallgrim's sigil is rough depiction of Yff, blade pointing downwards, with the eye in the pommel open and looking outward.
Yff[]
When the world was younger and Dallgrim kinder, he found himself trapped within the fever dreaming of an ancient aboleth called Yfflotherax. The twisted hellscape of the psi-dream existed to fulfill one sole purpose - fling the beings it had captured against each other until only one was left standing. Realising quickly that his only hope of surviving was to find comrades, Dallgrim formed an alliance of convenience with the harlequin Darkshard and the Cowled Maid. Together they were able to stand firm amidst the slaughter and emerge wounded and near death, but having survived the terrible gauntlet of the dream. Honouring their alliance, they refused to attack each other, instead entering Yfflotherax's lair and slaying her while she thrashed in the throes of her nightmare. They each took a piece of her body - Dallgrim claimed her single eye, while Darkshard took her tongue and the Maid her heart. They parted ways there, and though Darkshard and the Maid traveled together for a time, those stories will not be told here.
Dallgrim took the aboleth's eye to Sindri, who forged for him a massive two-handed greatsword with the eye set, alive and blinking, into the pommel. Dallgrim named the sword Yff, after the aboleth which came so close to killing him.
Dawnstone Hall[]
Even in his youth, Dallgrim was known for the simplicity of his judgment. The story goes that the human warrior Sebastian and the gnomish trader Lassita came before Dallgrim, asking him to resolve their shares of ownership over a mine they had jointly discovered. Lassita had financed the expedition into the caves in the bowels of the great mountain Oddfang, but it was Sebastian who had lead the expedition and fought off the dire beasts that they encountered on their journey. When they found a great lode of Dawnstone within the depths of the caves, Sebastian quarreled with Lassita, wanting a greater share of the spoils.
Dallgrim heard out their bickering and arguments for three whole days without comment. Then, while they slept, he drew Yff and clove the great mountain Oddfang in twain, exposing the deposit of Dawnstone to the world. When the quarreling partners awoke the next morning, there was nothing they could do; Dallgrim's judgment had been rendered and could not be undone. Being the first, they did each become fabulously wealthy, but so did many others who were also able to access the Dawnstone. Oddfang's supplies of Dawnstone are almost completely exhausted, meaning that the value of Dawnstone through Loorou has steadily increased to nigh-astronomical levels.
Dallgrim built Dawnstone Hall in the foothills of Oddfang. It is possibly the only structure in the lands made entirely of Dawnstone.
Followers[]
Very few of the people of Loorou follow Dallgrim as a primary deity, although almost all of them believe in him and seek out his priesthood when they require matters adjudicated.
Priesthood[]
Dallgrim's priesthood, known as Speakers, are less priests and more arbiters of disputes and disagreements. It must be stressed that they do not administer temporal law - this is left to the temporal authority of their particular region. The disputes brought to the Speakers are rather of the type that written law is not able to easily adjudicate - matters of the heart, matters of principle and ethics and morals. The Speakers base their rulings on the decisions of Dallgrim, recorded in the many volumes of the Books of Yff. The Speakers wear around their neck an amulet in the shape of Dallgrim's sigil.
The origins of the Books of Yff are lost in the mists of time. It is unclear who originally began following Dallgrim around and recording his decisions, as the oldest of the Books are very sketchy in their detail. It is only much later that the Books began to follow a consistent format in recording Dallgrim's judgments. Many of the earlier Books are also lost, although their existence can be surmised from references in other, later Books. The most comprehensive collection of the Books is maintained at Dawnstone Hall, although the Arcaeum also owns an archive that is almost as extensive.
The more recent volumes of the Books contain hardly any decisions of Dallgrim himself. They mostly contain decisions of the Dawnstone Council - the highest echelon of his priesthood, who largely reside at Dawnstone Hall.
Shrines[]
In keeping with the nature of his following, the shrines to Dallgrim act less as places of worship and more as halls of adjudication. Most are at least partially constructed of Dawnstone, and hardly, if ever, bustle with followers or worshippers. While the larger shrines are able to maintain copies of the Books of Yff (at least the ones containing the most significant decisions), most lesser ones will make do with the official Concordances issued by Dawnstone Hall periodically.
Large temples are present in Xarth, Cordonis and Orvain, while smaller shrines are present across the lands.