I. The genesis of the Celestial Bride

In the dark days when the serpent folk still slithered on the earth and the lich-lord ruled, The Great Harr and the Earth Mother allied with one another and indeed married. They had three children: Gorm the Thunderer, Ing the Blessed, and the Celestial Bride. Harr, Gorm and Ing all took human form and were kings of men at one time or another, but Harr realized that this was limiting to the gods, and not good for men. Harr and his two sons also sired many children by mortal mothers, and these children grew to be famous and powerful personages. Indeed, most Northmen today can trace their ancestry to one or more of these god-kings.

The Fate of the third child of Harr was different from her brothers' fate. She married a mortal man, and that marriage was accompanied by strange omens and manifestations of magic. Harr rent the veil of the cosmos to gaze upon the flow of Fate directly and issued a prophecy that any son of the Celestial Bride would be proof and sure against the witchcraft of the Abominations. Furthermore, when such a son would challenge the darkness or reach for the heights, he would change the world. Finally, all daughters of the Celestial Bride would give the same gifts as the Celestial Bride. The meaning and import of this prophecy caused a rift between Harr and the Earth Mother and resulted in their parting of ways. Eventually, the Celestial Bride returned to her mother and was set to rule over the Mountains, where today the Druids call her Tyra the Lady of the Mountains. But her daughter was the new Celestial Bride, and the line of daughters has remained unbroken ever since.

What mortals know: the Northmen claim Harr, Gorm and Ing as ancestors. They quite matter of factly say that the Earth Mother was once Harr's wife, and she is the mother of Gorm and Ing. But, they have no knowledge of the Celestial Bride in any form. The Druids deny all of it. They name no father for any of the Mother's offspring. The Church of Bor makes no comment "on the ruttings of demons and witches."

II. Bor, the Prophets, and the Celestial Bride

When Bor decided to give his law onto the world again he decided to use mortal prophets as his means. While the history of the Church of Bor states that he simply picked the wisest person in each generation to speak forth the Great Law to the people of the Empire of Dawn, there was more to it than that. The Prophets were all either Celestial Brides themselves or the Sons of the Celestial Brides. The first prophet was St. Guthlac. He was the son of a Celestial Bride and of Bor himself. He also married another Celestial Bride (for the line was numerous and varied at that age). It was from St. Guthlac's daughter that all the mothers of the remaining prophets were born, so they are descended from the ancient divine line and from Bor as well. Guthlac could strike the works of the Abominations without fear, and by his spreading of the law of Bor, changed the world, one of many sons of the Celestial Bride to do so.

But, there was a plot against the prophets. Agents of the Abominations turned some powerful secular lords against the saints and the last of them, St. Mirabel, was killed and the office of prophet abolished. When Bor withdrew his blessings, and since the prophets who could so well resist the magic of the Abominations were gone, the Empire of Dawn fell to the wickedness of Acherousia. During the ages of Acherousia, all of the various lines of the Celestial Bride were hunted down by cultists of the Feaster and exterminated, except only that line of Guthlac, for his line was also protected by the blood of Bor.

What mortals know: the bloodline of the mother of Guthlac was never published in Dawnian times. While Bor found the magical qualities of that lineage useful, its connection to the other divinities was embarrassing. It was also never broadly known that Guthlac was the son of Bor. Guthlac himself refused to make the claim for fear that he would become seen as a god on earth and become an absolute tyrant when his true goal was to improve the lot of men through spreading the law.

III The Order of St. Guthlac

After the fall of the Empire of Dawn, a band of warriors and priests spirited away one last Celestial Bride. She was married off to a minor chieftain in the hills. These priests and warriors formed an order called the Order of St. Guthlac which watched and protected the generations of Celestial Brides during the madness of the age of Acherousia. They kept the secret of the bloodline closely and only the highest and mightiest of the order ever knew the whole truth. They used many code words, such as "The Chain of Guthlac" where Chain was a metaphor for lineage.

The order itself urged the man who would be the first Imperial Prelate to call the great crusade against Acherousia. The first Emperor was, unknown to even himself, a son of the Celestial Bride, he challenged the darkness and changed the world. During the great Crusade, the secret masters of the Order arranged for it to "go public." A band of stalwart paladins proclaimed themselves the Order of St. Guthlac and led the warriors of Bor in many a grand campaign. They were given honors, lands and privileges as a result. The Order became wealthy and powerful, but always dedicated to preserving the line of St. Guthlac.

It was not to last. About two centuries ago, one of the Prince Electors grew covetous of the lands of the Order in his province. He searched long and hard for an excuse to move against the order. Finally, in an obscure Gnomish text (the Commetarium Obscuratum by Theophrastus McNasty), he found references to a secret ceremony of the Order at which they worship a young girl as the child of Bor, the child of Harr and the child of the Earth. He bandied about the charges, convinced the Church that they were true, and the whole order was swiftly and brutally suppressed.

One chapter house of the Order was warned in time and managed to escape en masse to the Northlands. They managed to take with them a young Celestial Bride, the only one they had clear proof of lineage for. The Church of Bor, on its own authority, sends agents now and again after these heretics and so does the Feaster Cult and the Assassins of the Dark God, at the beck of their dark masters.

What mortals know: everyone knows that the Order of St. Guthlac were heretics. If someone looked hard in church records or managed to find a copy of the Commentarium Obscuratum, the charge of worshipping a child of Bor, Harr and the Earth could be discovered.

IV: Shef Greenshield

The exiled Order of Guthlac reorganized itself into a band of hardy warriors and magicians. Each one vowing to guard the bloodline until death, each one also vowing to see to it that the Bride and the Sons would live up to their destiny. They prepared the way, spreading a tale about the power of the Chain of Guthlac.

At last the order, using a prophecy current among the Asclings, arranged for Shef Greensheild (a son of a Celestial Bride) to make his miraculous appearance. Their goal had been to make him king of the Asclings, but the result was still good. Shef reached for the heights and challenged the darkness. He slew the Grumbol-Lord of the North East and founded a new kingdom of men where only the hell on earth of the Abominations had been.

The sequel was less good. The members of the order were surprised and scattered during the kin-strife that followed Shef's death. They lost all track of the Celestial Brides of that generation, except for one. She would one day be known as the Maid of the Tower of Black Flame, because in such a tower she was imprisoned by foul sorcery when the servants of The Crawling Death found her true identity before the order could. Afraid to act directly against her, the Crawling Death sealed her in by sorcery and she has remained there ever since.

The other Celestial Bride of that generation was Siggerde the Rose Maid. She was found as an abandoned orphan and reared in an Earl's hall. Her astounding beauty marked her out for the world, and she married well. Her daughter was Sighilde, her daughter was Siglind, and hers was Hilda, wife of Rathgar and mother of Einar.