Order of Odin
The Order of Odin is a shadowy organization of Scandinavian wizards that is a possible adversary of the Order of Hermes.
Existence of the Order of Odin
The Order of Odin is optional (that is, it's even more optional that everything else in canon: see Robbie's Mantra). What the sourcebooks describe are ideas and possibilities, not in-game facts. The Order of Odin is a wild card for troupes to use if they wish.
The Order of Odin in Fifth Edition
The Order of Odin is mentioned in a couple of supplements: it was first mentioned in Guardians of the Forest (page 113, inset). Several options for how covenants of the Rhine Tribunal might come into contact with the Order of Odin are described.
Ancient Magic describes (pages 134-136) the conflict in which the Order of Hermes first fought against the rune wizards they came to call the "Order of Odin".
Hedge Magic Revised Edition states (page 121) that the "Order of Odin" is a term used by magi to collectively refer to non-Hermetic Scandinavian wizards, but leaves open the question of whether those wizards are really organized, or how numerous and powerful they are.
The Lion and the Lily has similarly ambiguous mentions.
Rival Magic describes the Muspelli in detail in its Chapter Four (pages 75-109), with a lot of Nordic Myth background. Pages 106-109 describe The Raudskinna Compact, a Scandinavian alliance of magi of various traditions (most of which are detailed in HMRE) that in some ways parallels the Order of Hermes and may have inspired the legends about the Order of Odin.
Several specific traditions are named:
- The Vitkir (singular vitki), rune magicians
- The Seithkonur (singular seithkona), folk witches
- The Volur (singular volva), diviners
- The Galdramen (singular galdraman), the Norse version of the mathematici
- The Trollsynir (singular trollson or trolldottir), Norse gruagachan.
The Order of Odin in Previous Editions
Second Edition
The Order of Hermes treats the existence of the Order of Odin as established fact (p. 58), but that has since been disregarded.
Third and Fourth Editions
The Order of Odin received similar treatment in Third and Fourth Editions: its existence was presented as a possibility, never confirmed.
The first mention of the Order of Odin was in the Third Edition Tribunal book, Lion of the North.
Icelandic Wars, the free supplement to Land of Fire and Ice, uses the concept to great effect.
Ultima Thule offers an "official" stance about its actual existence, and proposes alternate scenarios (p. 57).
Relations with the Order of Hermes
Rune wizards accompanied the Vikings on their invasion of Britain in the early ninth century. The most powerful of them became allies of Damhan-Allaidh and so fought against Pralix and the Order of Hermes. Thus, the Order of Odin was first encountered as an adversary.
There has been little contact with the putative Order of Odin since Damhan-Alliadh was defeated. Ancient Magic says that "[m]ost magi believe the Order of Odin is dead and buried" (page 134, inset). However, Hedge Magic Revised Edition points out that "[i]t's generally accepted that the Order of Hermes is still at war with [the Order of Odin], should any of them reappear" (emphasis added).
Magic of the Order of Odin
In Hedge Magic Revised Edition, there are rules for a fairly powerful and flexible form of run magic whose practitioners are called vitkir. These are the same non-Hermetic wizards who are considered to be part of the "Order of Odin." However, HMRE does not rule out the possibility that the "Order of Odin" includes non-Hermetic magicians from other traditions in addition to the vitkir.