History

Overview

The following information contains all of Midgard's history, arranged in chronological order. Dates are listed as either "Before War" (B.W.) or "After War" (A.W.). Some events have been documented but have not been given a specific date; scholars and historians have been trying to find information regarding the time the events took place but nothing concrete has been found. The events have been included in order to provide as complete a picture of Midgard's history as possible.

The Beginning

At the center of the cosmos is The World Tree, Yggdrasil. Within its roots and its branches lie nine worlds: Asgard, Muspelheim, Alfehimr, Vanaheim, Midgard, Jotunheim, Svartalfheim, Nidavaellir, Niflheim, and Hel.

Long before there was any ground, or sky, or any form of life, there was the gaping abyss called Ginnungagap, a place of perfect stillness and darkness. On one side of it was the homeland of elemental fire, Muspelheim. On the other side was the homeland of elemental ice, Niflheim. Frost from Niflheim and fire from Muspelheim slowly crept toward each other, eventually meeting in Ginnungagap. In the midst of the sputtering and hissing of element meeting with element, the fires of Muspelheim melted the ice of Niflheim. Ymir, the first of the godlike giants, was born from the droplets of water from the collision.

Eventually, Ymir used his sweat to create more giants. Generations later, Buri, the first of the Aesir tribe of gods was born and later begot a son named Bor. Bor married Bestla, the daughter of the giant Bolthorn, and they had three half-god, half-giant sons: Odin, Vili, and Ve.

One day, Odin and his brothers slew the giant Ymir. From his corpse, they created the world of Midgard. From Ymir's blood they made oceans, from his skin and muscle they made soil, his hair became vegetation, his brains became clouds, and his skull became the sky. Four dwarves, one in each cardinal direction, continuously hold Ymir's skull above the earth. The last piece of Ymir's body left was his heart. Odin shattered the heart, breaking it in to many fragments, scattering them across Midgard. It is said that these fragments maintain the world and fuel its growth and some even believe that they have the potential to regrow into a full, whole heart. The fragments alone are capable of immense and unfathomable power.

From there, Odin created the Normans, the race of man, and placed them in Midgard to grow and thrive.

The Thousand Year War

As the Normans flourished, conflict emerged between the giants and the gods in what became known as the Thousand-Year War. The giant Satan Morroc led an army of fire giants from Muspelheim in an attack against Midgard; their destructive force was so great that the continent collapsed.

Odin, the leader of the gods, and his fellow Aesir stood up against Satan Morroc and his legion of fire giants and defeated them. The war was supposed to culminate into a cataclysmic event known as Ragnarok, in which the world would begin anew amidst the ashes of its former destruction. Such an event would signal the end of the Age of Gods and begin the Age of Man. Somehow, the goddess Freyja managed to delay Ragnarok, which extended the Age of Gods for another 1,000 years. The war ended at 0 A.W. when the Giants, the Aesir, and the Normans entered a truce and forged a fragile time of peace that would last for the next 1,000 years.