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-Aesir, 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 Aesir 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.

Birth of Rune-Midgarts

Shortly after the truce, a new evil emerged, bringing rampant destruction and chaos to Midgard: Jormungandr. Countless people were killed and the destruction was almost overwhelming for the Normans, who had only just come out of the nightmare that had been the Thousand Year War. After Jormungandr killed his father, Tristan Gaebolg I gathered six other warriors and led them into combat against the massive serpent. After managing to slay Jormungandr, the seven warriors came together and established the kingdom of Rune-Midgarts, crowning Tristan as the first ruler of their new kingdom and decreeing the seven warriors as royalty. They also agreed that rather than having a single lineage for the monarchy, potentially facing corruption of the crown, the seven families would compete with each other for position of Rune-Midgart's ruler when the previous one fell.

At around 400 A.W., Satan Morroc attempted to destroy Midgard once again. As he laid waste to the world, he found himself opposed not by Odin or the other Aesir, but by a single knight of Midgard: Thanatos. Believing this was going to be an easy fight, Satan Morroc engaged the knight in single combat. They fought for ten days and nights in epic battle. Their strikes shook the heavens and their blows made the very earth tremble. On the last day, Thanatos managed to defeat Satan Morroc and imprison the Giant by sealing him into the earth, over which a shrine was built in order to maintain the seal. The Thanatos Tower still stands to this day, though the information on the tower, its construction, and even its namesake faded into history. The only thing that is known about the tower is that it commemorates the knight's triumph over Satan Morroc. Thanatos himself vanished as well, never to be heard from again.

In an effort to keep a balance between the Giants, Aesir, and Normans, and in order to prevent another Thousand-Year War, a group of Normans formed the Assassins Guild some time later.

Royal Madness

In 440 A.W., the princes of Rune-Midgarts, descendants of the original seven warriors, began to become discontent with the way their ancestors established the government and the royal succession process. They led a revolt against the Rune-Midgartsan government. During the revolt, Prince Lakhan Lugenburg defeated and killed Prince Eyck Von Walter, who had started the revolt. The Walter family lost most of its power in the Royal Court ever since the revolt and have been treated as a second-class royal family and has even been removed from the royal succession competition.

In 509 A.W., King Ouzel Richard died. His brother, Max, was a candidate to succeed the throne but was ultimately not chosen as he lacked the support of the Royal Court.

In 511 A.W., Schmitz Von Walter ascends the throne. Originally born of the disgraced Walter family, Schmitz was adopted and raised by the Gaebolgs as a legitimate heir to the family. Originally an amicable ruler, loved by the people, Schmitz was admittedly wanton when it came to spending the taxpayers' money on frivolous expenses, such as rebuilding his castle. When his biological father, Braham Von Walter, died, Schmitz learned the truth about his lineage and seemed to have been driven mad by it. He murdered most of the Lugenburg family out of revenge since Lakhan Lugenburg killed his grandfather, Eyck. All surviving members of the Lugenburg family were banished from Rune-Midgarts. King Schmitz became increasingly careless and erratic and went so far as to relocate the Royal Family to Glast Heim, rebuilding his castle yet again, with significantly more lavish and expensive designs. He immediately moved into the new castle upon its completion, living a decadent lifestyle that was paid for entirely by taxpayers and adventurers. In his later years in life, he became an insane tyrant. Rumor spread throughout the kingdom about the king sacrificing his citizens to demons in order to gain immortality. His cousin, Grenholm Von Gaebolg, deposed Schmitz and removed him from the throne, claiming it himself and moving the Royal Family back to Prontera. Schmitz, himself, had vanished through a mirror that he had kept in his room. It is said that he sacrificed all of his citizens that lived in Glastheim to the demons, transforming them into grotesque monsters that can still be seen in the ruins of the castle.

Formation of the Republic

In the midst of the political upheaval in Rune-Midgarts, activity began occurring in the region to the north of the country. The Republic of Schwartzvald was founded at around 500 A.W. in an area that was mostly arid and dry in comparison to its neighbor's lush and fertile lands, but what it lacked in green terrain it made up for with abundant minerals and capabilities for technological and scientific advancement. Around the same time of the Republic's foundation, the Zenit Zerter Research Center was founded, named after its chairman. In 560 A.W., a man known only as Mr. Rekenber became the chairman of the organization and began massive changes to the group. He renamed the research group to the Rekenber Corporation and began rapid expansion of not only the organization's purposes, but funding and locations as well.

Shortly after taking over the organization, Rekenber initiated the Lighthalzen project, creating the state-of-the-art research center Regenschrim Laboratory and the illustrious and prosperous city of Lighthalzen around it. From there, the corporation's achievements increased exponentially. In 700 A.W., Professor Varmundt joined the corporation.