Viklins

Everybody knows a viklin or at least knows someone who knows. A viklin is an unofficial healer, a wise man or wise woman, a shaman maybe. The viklin is ears and eyes of a community, the source of gossip - but this gossip may be true. Some think viklins are the priests of a secret religion, but they are not. They are no priests and have no other connection to the gods than any ordinary person. They are no healers like those found in universities and clinics, but have the ability to keep people alive until a doctor arrives and the viklin will linger the pain as good as possible. Viklins are usually found in small, tight communities.

However, the viklin is seen as a bit odd. The man or woman usually lives alone, outside society. It is probably the distance to their community that makes them see things more clear than those who are in the middle of it all.
Listening is something the viklins are very good at. They listen to what happens in the settlements, they listen to what every single person has to say. Combining this knowledge gives the viklin more understanding of things than an ordinary person. By listening, viklings might know a lot more than others, so much more it looks like magic. Many people thus believe the viklins do not only listen to humans, but can hear and understand animals, splinters, and plants - basically everything in nature. Others think viklings might have a close relation to Vindel, the God of the Winds, and that Vindel whispers the secrets in the viklin’s ears.

Viklins know a lot about healing herbs. “It is as if Gräins tells them which plant they should use for a disease,” one patient from Arhym once said. Observing and learning is probably the key. Viklins who have proved to be valuable to the community and thus have a relation of solid trust with the community, might pick out one or two children from the community to learn them the art of healing. The children can be taught how to be a viklin themselves, but there seems to be more to be a viklin than just learn to do a job. It is expected that, if the viklins are ainawahair, the pupils are recruited among the other ainahawair in the community, or the children born out of the relation between a viklin and a woman. Some viklins have been known to help out women who wanted children, but did not get any from their husbands.

Anthropologic explorers from the University of Altheizar made the suggestion that the Viklins might be the remains of the forgotten religion of the Ainahawair; it seems many viklins are actually Ainahawair.

“What I do as a viklin,” one of them wrote in a note to the University of Ciniz, “is keeping the balance in the community. It is not my job to do good, it is not my job to be bad, it is my job to balance this. A community that does not know evil is a community that is defenceless when evil strikes. A community that does not know good will not fight the chaos in this world.
I look and listen and try to understand. With my knowledge of my community, I have to make a decision, what do I tell, what not, who do I help, who not. It’s all about balance.”

Viklins in times of war had good reasons to be afraid, they knew a lot more than others. Taken hostage and being tortured, they might be a source of secrets for the enemy. Those who could not run away, either were killed by the community or committed suicide - all in order to protect the community. Arhym, Angrazn, and some smaller settlements in the Weslanan still have monuments for the viklins who have died to protect the community.