The Wyrd

Written by The Mad Professor

The wyrd is a feeling of knowing where one should be at a given time. It is a rare phenomenon, rarely occurring among the population of Adylheim. However, the general opinion is that when it does occur it should be heeded. Similar, but not appearing to be related to the wyrd is a phenomenon known as the wyrdlings, wherein a select group of individuals seem to interact more than chance might seem to allow. The wyrd is known under many names many names: fatestrings, fate, providence, the gitchy, the straining, destiny and several more besides. The wyrd generally the most commonly used name throughout Adylheim. The wyrdlings however, are less commonly mentioned, yet they have still managed to attract several names, foremost among which may be the fated. The less known are such names as the fatelings, the chosen ones, the compatriots and many others more esoteric. A wyrdling is generally taken to mean both the group in which a person might find himself and the group itself, dependent on the specific context.

Extent
Every individual in Adylheim has the potential to get the wyrd. It is not restricted to any race, gender or person. Nevertheless, the wyrd is a rare occurrence. While some may be more sensitive to it than others, the ones who have seen it are rare individuals for the most part. The wyrd is a subtle thing; it has little connection to telling the future. It is nothing more than a small niggling feeling that one should be at a certain place at a certain time. Once the window of time in which one should be in a place has passed, the feeling will pass. While many believe that not following one’s wyrds may result in some disaster, either through divine displeasure or fate rearranging itself in ways that are unpleasant for the person involved, there is no evidence of this. Where the wyrd serves to put people on a specific path, the wyrdlings signify a group of individuals who constantly chance upon one another. One might say that one's family and friends are part of their wyrdling, however the phenomenon stretches beyond ties of family and friendship. People who are in the same wyrdling might be strangers, with only chance encounters here and there throughout their lives, yet these encounters will be the ones that shape and guide their lives. The relationship between persons who are in the same wyrdling might not always be amicable; they are just as often adversarial, and one's greatest enemies can often be found among ones wyrdlings.

Effect
The purpose behind the wyrd and the wyrdlings is unknown. Some suggest it is the multiverse arranging itself according to the rules around which it has been created, others say it is the gods manipulating the minds of mortals on their giant playing boards. Most just shrug and accept it for what it is. The wyrd nonetheless serves to put individuals in the path of things that may cause them great harm, great benefit or perhaps no noticeable change in their lives at all. The encounters they come across when fulfilling their wyrd may seem entirely insignificant or filled with terrible purpose and everything and anything in between. Specifically why a person should be at that place at that time has never been understood by even the most astute of scholars. Exactly what effect wyrdlings may have upon one another is unknown, nor is it known why these individuals constantly circle each other for these purposes. Sometimes they may guide each other's lives, sometimes they may simply be two ships passing in the night and have no more effect on each other. Sometimes they may enrich the other's lives; sometimes they may destroy it.