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Hel is cold,
Muspel is hot.
Down in Sheol, spirits rot.
Jotun giants grind your bones,
Midgard's where we build our homes.

Val is high,
Mer is deep,
Fae is where the Faeries sleep.
Nifl where the Vandir fall,
Kleos which surrounds us all.

One more place we dare not speak,
Where old foes rule their kingdoms, bleak.
- Ygrgre children's rhyme

I've begun writing an epic fantasy novel. This is the conworld in which it takes place. I hope to release the first book within a year, so I'll leave some details out. The concept behind the conworld is to create nothing new, merely reinterpret real-world lore.

You may have noticed more than nine proper names in the rhyme. This is because Midgard, the Vandir and the Shattered Kingdoms referenced at the end do not count as worlds. The nine proper worlds can be thought of as existing in their own dimensions of reality. Midgard is the place inbetween. They are paints, and Midgard is a canvas. The Vandir are inside-out worlds which exist within Nifl. The Shattered Kingdoms exist wholly within Kleos. I'll speak of them another time, or I may not speak of them at all.

The Origin of the Universe which we call Norn
In a time before time, in a place before places, tyrannical giants ruled. The largest and worst was Yr. To escape his tyranny, creatures known as the Ursa folded the lands and tore them like cloth, creating discrete Worlds where Yr could not reach. Incensed, Yr stretched his enormity across the void between Worlds to pull them back together, but he overexerted himself and fell, whereupon his enemies slew and dismembered him. His bones we call bedrock, his teeth we call mountains, his flesh we call soil, his blood we call water. Thus was created what is commonly called Yrth or Urth or Earth or earth, and properly called Midgard, the Place Inbetween Worlds. The whole of this cosmos is called Norn.

The Interaction of the Worlds
A World is a contiguous physical space, but is expressed in a non-contiguous manner in Midgard. When you enter a forest, you are entering the world called Fae. There are seemingly numerous forests throughout Midgard, but they can better be thought of as discrete portals to the single forest that is Fae.

Typically, moving about Midgard and through the Worlds works the same way as moving through different landscapes in the real world. It is also possible that one might enter a forest from Midgard and travel through Fae in such a way as to emerge from a different forest on another continent back in Midgard.

Midgard is directly connected to seven of the nine worlds. It is cut off from Sheol by passage through Hel or Muspel, and from Kleos by Nifl.

Hel and Muspel are connected. At the place they meet is Jotun.

Mer and Fae are connected wherever water and forest meet, as are Mer and Val. One must travel through Midgard to move from Val to Fae.

Nifl is connected to all four overworlds; Mer, Fae, Val and Jotun.

The Vandir are inside-out quasi-worlds which travel through Nifl as celestial objects in the sky. It is impossible to travel to or from the Vandir.

Kleos surrounds all the other worlds but is only directly connected to Nifl.

The Nine Worlds
The Underworlds
So called because they have no sky.

Hel: The world of ice. When it snows in Midgard, that's Hel expanding its borders during its coldest months. Two of the sides of Hel are joined together, forming a loop, making it easy to get lost. Giant Wyrms predate this world.

Muspel: The world of fire. The landscape is blasted. The air is sulfurus. No green things grow. Terrible lizards reign, the worst of which are Drakes, often mistakenly called Dragons. They are mindless animals. Volcanoes are passages from Val to Muspel.

Sheol: The world of darkness. A vast expanse of black nothingness at the bottom of reality. There are no sides, no ceiling and no features. Caves touch the surface of Sheol but are not part of it, for Sheol is nothing. The spirits of the dead sink down through the Yrth to eventually rest in Sheol, becoming Shaeds.

The Overworlds
So called because they have a sky, which is Nifl.

Mer: The world of water. Every ocean, sea, lake and river is part of Mer. It rains in Midgard because the edges of Mer are frayed and leaks are common. Its denizens may collectively be called the Merfa. There are multiple layers of Mer, of which the topmost is the surface of the ocean. The lowermost is the kingdom of the True Dragons, whose girth cannot be supported on dry land.

Fae: The world of the forest. Even a single tree is an outpost of Fae. Its denizens are the Faer, the most dimunitive of which are called Faeries. The oldest trees in the deepest parts of Fae are older than the oldest living creatures in any realm. Their fruit is said to grant eternal life.

Val: The world of mountains and stone. Its denizens are the Valalla, among which are the Valkyrie who slew Yr, built the Shattered Kindoms and keep Drakes from Muspel out of Midgard.

Jotun: The world of wetlands, marshes and swamps. It's located at the intersection of Hel and Muspel, and is filled with steam and mist. The creatures of Jotun are massive. Chained moons, formerly Yr's molars, hang in its sky, to keep them from careening through Nifl.

The Upper World
So called because it forms the sky of the Overworlds.

Nifl: The world of the sky. Clouds crawl across its bottom. Home to ethereal creatures known as Ljosa. Their bodies are semitransparent. They are sometimes mistaken for Shaeds.

The Outer World
So called because it encapsulates all other Worlds and stretches to the outer edges of Norn.

Kleos: The world of space. A vast black territory whose flowers we call stars. Home of the Kleosi, the oldest living creatures, who live in castles of crystal and advise the Ljosa, who advise the Valkyrie.

I'll stop here for now. In the next post I'll describe some of the lands, peoples and creatures of Midgard, collectively called the Midra.

I love this! I do have a few questions:

Everything else is from Norse mythology, so why include Sheol from Semitic lore? Especially when you already have Hel(heim).

Why Anglicize Alfheim as Fae? Also, if you're drawing from traditional lore, shouldn't Faery be the place and Fae the being?

I am impressed by this, particularly the rhyme. I feel, however, that the meter could be improved by removing the 'is' on the second line. Hel is cold, Muspel hot. But yeah, that poem is awesome.
Using known terms for unknown fantasy worlds can be problematic, but I'm sure you're already aware of that.

Apologies for the delay. I've been unwell.

The Aelf
When Yr was slain, his spirit was too great to fall to Sheol, and too heavy to rise to Kleos. Thus it rotted in place. In time, tiny fragments began to crumble away, like gobs of flesh falling from the carcass of a whale. Being incomplete, when these spirit fragments fall to Sheol, they cannot take form as Shaeds, and instead rise back up through the Worlds. Those that reach Kleos are captured by the Kleosi, bottled, and hurled back towards Urth to burn up in the sky as shooting stars.

Occasionally, a rising bit of spirit will become attached to an object or living creature and inhabit it, forming an Aelf.

There are many kinds of Aelf. As certain objects and creatures are more common than others, there are several common types of Aelf. None have an intellect greater than a human child. All are humanoid, because Yr was humanoid.

Water Aelf: When a fragment of Yr's spirit lodges in a fish, the result is a Water Aelf. The species of fish affects the appearance of the Aelf. The smooth-scaled, feminine Water Aelf of rivers and lakes are called Nimphs. They enjoy luring human men to water's edge, whereupon they strip them naked and steal their belongings, sometimes to wear and play at being human, sometimes to decorate their homes, sometimes just to scatter in the depths.

The large, rough-scaled Water Aelf of the sea are called Nikr, and sometimes mermaids, sea-hags, or sea-witches or sea-wenches. They also enjoy luring men into the water, but to drown them. As their appearances are not alluring to human men, they hide behind rock or coral outcroppings and sing in beautiful voices. This is mimicry, like a parrot. They also enjoy harassing sea life and driving sharks and whales onto beaches.

Wood Aelf: When a fragment of Yr's spirit lodges in a tree, one of two types of Wood Aelf result. If the tree is standing and living, it will twist and bend to form a hunched figure and a crude face will emerge from the bark. This is called an eran or uran. If the tree is young or small enough, or fallen or uprooted but still alive, the Aelf may dislodge itself and move about as a dryad.

Eran will talk for as long as possible with any intelligent creature that happens by, using incessant questions and riddles to keep their attention. They occasionally moan into the wind in loneliness. Dryads are skittish and will flee in fright from their birthplace and any living creature until they die or find an eran. If they find an eran, a dryad will form a range around it and spend its days gathering berries and nuts for them both to eat. The sap and leaves of dryads are considered medicinal, and the wood valuable. If captured by humans, most dryads are dismembered for their parts. To dryads, humans are monsters.

Earth Aelf: When a fragment of Yr's spirit lodges in vegetable matter, the result is an Earth Aelf, commonly called a brownie, dwarf or gnome. Earth Aelf have less intelligence than other Aelf. They spend their lives eating bugs, rooting around the dirt and collecting shiny objects which they hide in holes in hills or the countryside. Some humans consider them pests for digging up the dirt. Others consider them useful for combating insect infestations.

Fire Aelf: When a fragment of Yr's spirit becomes lodged in a rock, a Fire Aelf is born. Most Fire Aelf die shortly after forming, which is why some rocks look like faces or human figures. Only Fire Aelf comprised of igneous rock and which form near magma thrive. Fire Aelf have internal fires which they constantly feed by consuming coal or recently-cooled surface lava. Like Earth Aelf, they possess miniscule intelligence.

Bronze Aelf: When a fragment of Yr's spirit lodges in a metal vein, a Bronze Aelf forms. Bronze Aelf appear more human than any other type of Aelf aside from Aelflings (see below) and are the most intelligent. They often form deep underground and are stuck in place for centuries before being uncovered, typically by Earth Aelf or Fire Aelf, whom they then rule over in imitation of human kings. Bronze Aelf are named because in order to move, their bodies must remain nearly molten. They actively court relations with human rulers and wish to be seen as equals.

Aelflings: At some point in the distant past, a species of very humanlike Aelf were formed in an unknown process. They exist only in pairs; one male, one female. These pairs eventually mate, dying and producing one male and one female offspring, who will one day repeat the process. Both are the size of human children, have hair like humans, horns, tails and catlike eyes. Males are blue-skinned and gray-blue haired and have two horns and spade-like flanges at the tips of their tails. Females are red with gray-red, one and heart-shaped.

Aelflings are shunned by humans but often adopted by other denizens of the Worlds, particularly Faer Folk.

I'll describe the Faer Folk in the next post.

Zaarin wrote:I love this! :D I do have a few questions:

Everything else is from Norse mythology, so why include Sheol from Semitic lore? Especially when you already have Hel(heim).

Why Anglicize Alfheim as Fae? Also, if you're drawing from traditional lore, shouldn't Faery be the place and Fae the being?

Thanks. There'll be more to come soon.

The cosmos as a whole is based on Norse mythology, but individual parts of the conworld are based on other mythologies. The denizens of the Vandir are based on Hindu Asuras, for instance. Though I picked Sheol because it sounds neat.

Fae is not Aelfheimr. My Nine Worlds do not directly parallel the Norse Nine Homeworlds, they borrow and rearrange. For example, Nifl is closer to Aelfheim; Hel is similar to Niflheim.

Ryan of Tinellb wrote:I am impressed by this, particularly the rhyme. I feel, however, that the meter could be improved by removing the 'is' on the second line. Hel is cold, Muspel hot. But yeah, that poem is awesome.
Using known terms for unknown fantasy worlds can be problematic, but I'm sure you're already aware of that.

Thank you. I hope you'll enjoy what's to come, as well.

In the word "Muspel," the second syllable is emphasized. Removing the "is" may lead readers to emphasize the first to maintain meter. In song, there's a principle where excess leading syllables are softened to fit a rhyme scheme with fewer syllables. I don't know what it's called, but it applies here.

HEL is COLD
mu SPEL is HOT

Observer wrote: In the word "Muspel," the second syllable is emphasized. Removing the "is" may lead readers to emphasize the first to maintain meter. In song, there's a principle where excess leading syllables are softened to fit a rhyme scheme with fewer syllables. I don't know what it's called, but it applies here.

Aha. That makes sense. I didn't even realise the assumption I'd made when I assigned stress.