Post by Bananasaurus on Feb 18, 2014 22:12:33 GMT -5
The Origin of the Jötunnhundar and Eldhundar
In the beginning, there was only Muspelheimr, realm of primordial fire, and Niflheimr , realm of primordial ice, with the Void, called Ginnungagap, separating them.
In Muspelheimr, fire giants, called Eldjötnar, roamed freely in their bright, fiery realm. Their canine-like companions, the Muspelhundar, were always at their side as they roamed the endless fields of molten earth, and mountain ranges that spewed flame.
On the opposite side of the Void, Niflheimr was small, cold, and dark. The Niflungar ("Children of the Mist"), were elementals of ice that fed on the suffering of the frost giants, called Hrímthursar. When the Hrimthursar battled with the Niflungar, the frozen breath of the Children and the flesh of the frost giants melded to create the Niflhundar, the ice hounds. The Niflungar were furious that their precious frost breath had been stolen from them, and attacked the new creatures. Grateful for their creation, the Niflhundar joined forces with the Hrímthursar and battled endlessly with their common enemy.
But they were no match. Even combined, and even with the power of frost breath, the frost giants and ice hounds were cast into the Void. They made their new home on Jötunheimr, realm of the mountain and storm giants. For a time, they were content in the place they had carved out for themselves, and the other giants welcomed them as brothers. The frost giants became known simply as Jötunn, and their canine companions as the Jötunnhundar.
It was not to last long, for the chaos of the world they left behind would cause Niflheimr to cross the Void and collide with Muspelheimr, destroying both realms. The Children were smote in this collision, as were the flightless Eldjötnar. The Muspelhundar, however, were able to fly from their home to combine with the mountains of smoke and fire that rained down upon Midgardr, the world of man. What we knew as Earth in the year 2020 was cast in shadow as ash rained from the skies all over the world. Crops failed, starvation, disease, and the anguished Muspelhundar wreaked havoc on humanity until man was almost entirely eradicated.
The Muspelhundar, in their grief for their companions, changed their names to the Eldhundar, and looked to the Jötunnhundar with hate. They envied the Jötunnhundar for their companions, for their new homeland, where the Eldhundar no longer had either (to their satisfaction, at least, for Midgardr was a poor substitute for their cherished homeland). Many stayed upon Midgardr to make a home for themselves amongst the ruins of men, but some daring and particularly vitriolic Eldhundar left for Jötunheimr and crafted a scheme that would turn the original inhabitants of Jötunheimr against the newest additions. It caused the massacre of the Jötunnhundar's companions and the Jötunnhundar's own banishment to Midgardr.
In the end, the wars of the Jötunnhundar and the Eldhundar seem to pale in comparison to the struggles the humans and animals of Earth, who were innocent in all of this, must make every day to stay alive in an unkind, chaotic world.
?
, not