Bragi is a deity in the Norse pantheon. He is a god of poetry and music, and husband of the goddess Idun.
Description[]
Appearance and personality[]
Bragi is a jovial, fun-loving deity, and prone to fits of manic activity and wanderlust. He constantly seeks to improve the art of music and poetry.[1]
Bragi stands six feet tall.[2] He appears to his followers as an old man with a long white beard and a twinkle in his eye.[3]
Titles[]
Bragi is called Skald's Friend.[1]
Abilities[]
Bragi's musical talent is legendary. He has played at the World Serpent Inn, where he regaled an audience of modrons, frost giants, drow, astral devas, erinyes, adventurers, and deities with epic tales, poetry, and rowdy drinking songs.[4] He has written songs with the Celtic god Oghma that are sung across the upper planes.[1]
When he sings, all who stand near him are compelled to join him in song. He is known to deploy this power for as long as five hours at a time. Bragi is immune to magic while he sings, but this power cannot function while he possesses violent thoughts.[2]
Bragi can play the song of life. It can make plants grow, and charm animals into doing his bidding.[3]
Bragi's avatar has all the powers of a legendary bard.[3]
Portfolio[]
Bragi is a god of poetry and music.[1]
Worship[]
Dogma[]
Bragi is said to become more powerful any time one of his followers sings or recites poetry.[1] All song and verse are considered to be a form of prayer to Bragi, even if the performer does not realise it.[3]
Bards who revere Bragi, when they first perform before an audience of more than fifty people, will occasionally be granted a "great legend" by Bragi, revealing the knowledge of some great lost treasure.[2] If the bard interrupts his song, he will immediately lose this knowledge.[3]
Worshipers[]
While the people of Midgard typically worship the Norse pantheon as a collective group, Bragi is particularly followed by bards.[2]
Clergy[]
Priests of Bragi are often village storytellers. Their duties include preserving knowledge from generation to generation through word of mouth, usually by skaldic poetry and heroic ballads. Many of his clerics are also bards.[3]
Priests of Bragi are famed for their strong memory, and can often recall anything they've ever heard.[3] All priests can play at least one musical instrument, and eschew the use of shields. They prefer to avoid metal armor, as its bulk and noise can interfere with musical performance.[5]
Bragi's followers prefer charm and enchantment spells, a trait shared by followers of Balder and Freya.[6].
Holy sites[]
Temples of Norse gods are typically heavily fortified.
Holy symbol[]
Bragi's holy symbol is the harp.[1]
Favored weapon[]
Bragi favors the broadsword.[7]
Relationships[]
Family[]
Bragi is the son of Odin and Gunlod.[3]
Bragi's wife is the goddess Idun.[1]
Enemies[]
Bragi is popular, and has few enemies. However, he has a dislike of the giants, after his wife Idun was once kidnapped by the frost giant Thiassi, father of the goddess Skadi.[1]
Allies and minions[]
Bragi is popular, and has many friends among the gods. He has produced music with the Celtic deity Oghma.[1]
Bragi has more than once used Merratet, realm of the Egyptian cat-goddess Bast, as a hiding place.[8]
Bragi and other deities who make their realms in the plane of Elysium have a tendency to come to each other's aid.[9]
Bragi is thought to know the secret purpose and motivation of the mysterious deity Stillsong, a roaming sphere of music which travels the river Oceanus.[10]
Bragi has a divine proxy, a female human bard named Thariisa Harpchord. She is known for her strong, clear voice and her skill with a golden harp which affects listeners as if by a friends spell.[9]
Artifacts[]
Bragi's harp of calm causes any human who listens to cease fighting for a week. Its other powers include the ability to uncharm anything, and to prevent a creature's attack.[2]
Bragi's avatar also carries a lesser harp which weakens a creature's resistance to magic and other effects while it is played.[3]
He possesses and unlimited supply of the apple of Bragi, which can cure weariness, decay of power, ill-temper or failing health.[11].
Bragi is described as carrying a sword, though it is not particularly noteworthy in magical power.[2]
Realm[]
Bragi makes his home in the plane of Elysium. The World Ash, Yggdrasil, connects to this plane.[10] Bragi's realm in Elysium is named HarpHearth, and consists primarily of a high, windy mountain peak from which Bragi listens to the music of the wind. He has a relatively small cottage on the mountain's slopes.[1]
Bragi also has a home at Asgard, where his wife Idun lives.[1]
Bragi frequently wanders the planes in and ongoing quest to improve his music and share its gift.[1]
History[]
Origin[]
Bragi is the son of Odin and Gunlod.[3]
It is said that Bragi was born in a cave, with stalactites hanging from the roof. He was placed into a boat crafted by dwarves and given a magical golden harp, whereupon he was set adrift and floated out of the cavern. Bragi took the harp and began to play the song of life.[3]
Conflict with the giants[]
The frost giant Thiassi, father of the goddess Skadi, once kidnapped Bragi's wife Idun. Thor killed Thiassi.
Cultural significance[]
"Bragi" is used in some worlds as a male human name. A bartender named Bragi works at the Wandering Wyvern inn, in the city of Iriaebor.[12]
Publication history[]
Original D&D[]
Bragi first appears in Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976), p.27.
Basic D&D[]
The apples of Bragi are mentioned in the Master Rules (BECMI) (1985).
AD&D 1st edition[]
Bragi appears in Legends & Lore (1e) (1984), p.100 and Deities & Demigods (1e) (1980). He is a lesser god.
He makes a cameo in OP1 Tales of the Outer Planes (1988), p.72, in the adventure module To Hell and Back.
Bragi is mentioned in Special skills, special thrills, Dragon #85 (May 1984), p.14 and Plane facts on Gladsheim, Dragon #90 (Oct 1984), p.38.
AD&D 2nd edition[]
Bragi is detailed in Legends & Lore (2e) (1990), p.179 and the Planescape sourcebook On Hallowed Ground (1996), p.142, in both cases as an intermediate god. A follower of his appears in Uncaged: Faces of Sigil (1996).
The apples of Bragi are mentioned in The Magic Encyclopedia Volume One (1992), p.21. Encyclopedia Magica Volume One (1994), p.58 reprints it Encyclopedia Magica Volume Four (1995), p.1332, mentions Bragi's harp and Bragi's harp of calm.
D&D 3rd edition[]
Bragi does not appear in Deities and Demigods (3e) (2002). His portfolio of poetry is adopted by Balder, and bards adopt as their patron Balder, Freya, Hermod or Odin.
D&D 4th edition[]
The Norse pantheon does not appear in D&D 4th edition.
D&D 5th edition[]
Bragi does not appear in D&D 5th edition.
Creative origins[]
Bragi appears in Norse myth.
In the Poetic Edda, according to the poem Grimnismal, Bragi is the best poet. He is compared to Bifrost, the best bridge, and Sleipnir, the best horse.
In Lokasenna, it is Bragi who first tells Loki that he is unwelcome at the feast. Loki insults him by raising a toast to all the gods except Bragi. Seeking a peaceful resolution, Bragi offers him payment of a horse, a sword, and a ring if he will not insult the other gods. When Loki calls him a coward, he threatens that he would slay Loki if he was not already in the feasting hall, where perhaps killing would be taboo. Bragi's wife Idun attempts to calm him, and refuses to insult Loki herself.
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 On Hallowed Ground (1996), p.142.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Legends & Lore (1e) (1984), p.100.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 Legends & Lore (2e) (1990), p.179.
- ↑ OP1 Tales of the Outer Planes (1988), p.72.
- ↑ Special skills, special thrills, Dragon #85 (May 1984), p.14.
- ↑ Plane facts on Gladsheim, Dragon #90 (Oct 1984), p.38.
- ↑ Hammer of Thor, Spear of Zeus, Dragon #115 (Nov 1986), p.40.
- ↑ Planes of Chaos, Book of Chaos (1994), p.118.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Planes of Conflict, Liber Benevolentiae (1995), p.50.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Planes of Conflict, Liber Benevolentiae (1995), p.6-7.
- ↑ Encyclopedia Magica Volume One (1994), p.58.
- ↑ The Elder Elemental Eye, Dungeon #214 (May 2013), p.104.