Jordmangundir is the name of the Serpent, the wisest of Beast Lords. According to the legends of the Rune Casters, the All-Father wandered far into the frozen wastes of the North seeking Jordmangundir and found him at the base of a great Ash Tree. Well did the foul snake remember the bite of the All-Father's spear, and cowed before him. "Teach me, cowed beast, the last secret of the Making and Unmaking," the All-Father demanded. "You will know it," hissed the Serpent, "but the learning will take you to the very edge of death, and no knowledge is without its price." The All-Father stood firm. "I am not afraid, Beast Lord," he said, his voice like thunder, "I will pay your price." And so the Serpent lashed out and bit the left hand of the All-Father. The Serpent's venom raged through the All-Father like a fever, and he writhed on the ground and cried out in agony. For three days he raved in his madness. As he raved, signs of fire burned before his eyes, jagged lines that crept and crawled like snakes. When at last his vision cleared, the All-Father was alone. And the All-Father looked, and saw that in his madness he had clawed the signs of fire into the bark of the ash tree, where they shone red with the blood from his fingers. The All-Father looked, and read them, and saw how the names of things control them, and how the shaping of runes shapes the world in turn. And the All-Father laughed, for his dominion over the things of the world was complete. But he had forgotten the Serpent's price...".

• Beast Lords, The

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