Wulfgár Seaxnéating — Sunnanfolc Heorþ

Disclaimer: This is a poetical work made upon historical sources. All the informations available (to me) about these characters were primarily used. Some characters are influenced by Norse and Indo-European mythologies. However, I had got the care of preserving the Anglo-Saxon ethos as much as I could. All links made between characters and the narrative facts involving them that were NOT attested in any source at all were made with the care of not contradicting early English sources. This is an endeavour of imagining an Anglo-Saxon-like world with the information still available and to give it life. You certainly imagined it different than me, so, if you disagree, take this as a kind invitation to produce your own version.

Watch out! I shall tell you the wyrd of the creation of the worlds according to the offspring of Hengest and Horsa. Before the beginning, there was only the frost darkness or Hrímdeorcnes. Thence the most ancient female being came, the first ribbon-yearner, and her name was Niht. Not so long after that a male bright being also came from Hrímdeorcnes, Dæġ was his name. Niht soon mothered a daughter to Dæġ which she called Tíd. So, the days and nights began to exist.

Tíd herself gave birth later to three daughters: Wyrd, Weordende and Scyld, collectively known as wyrde.

In an occasion Tíd was too hungry of feeding her daughters, therefore she began to dig in Hrímdeorcnes soil with her own hands until she discovered a well of water which she used to feed herself; a spring which would be later known as Well of Wyrd. That liquid was filled with a supernatural energy or power known as mæġen or cræft, and was thus enough to keep them alive.

As time passed, the wyrde grew and noticed that from that well a kind of thread, soft as the fiber produced by silkworms, came out of the surface of the water, from which the sisters have got spinned a quite long yarn, called Orlæġ, the one they later began to weave a fabric with. This fabric would be known as Wyrd's Web. They used some of its parts to make clothes and to protect themselves from the cold.

The wyrde weren't feeling enough warm, though. They then took sticks and began to spin them upon Wyrd's Web, producing heat, embers, and finally, flames. From this primordial house-slayer came Sunne and Móna, the first fire-éotenas, both beings plenty of cræft. The wyrde gave them their Orlæġ thread, which their lives had been determined with, but they fled from the wyrde, and began to build a reign in another region of that world not so dark and frozen anymore. As Tíd, Sunne was already pregnant and there she mothered a son and named him Syrt, and the fire-jewel also split her own Orlæġ thread, giving part of it to her son.

But the woof of Wyrd was enlarged, reaching far places in Hrímdeorcnes. At one place Wyrd's Web was touched by the drops of a freezing kind of water, and an icicle began to be formed. It wasn't noticed neither by the wyrde nor Tíd, until it became a high mountain, emanating huge amounts of cræft. When she awakened, the wyrde called her Eorþe, giving her the thread of her Orlæġ. She was a quite kind womanly being, and she, as Tíd and Sunne, was already pregnant when she was born. Thus, from her womb an abyssal being came to life, the first ice-éoten, Éomer was his name, also receiving the thread of his Orlæġ from the wyrde. Eorþe fed him with the milk of her breasts. As the warm cræft of Myspell touched Éomer's bone-house, it was his wyrd that the first ice-éotenas and þyrsas came from his sweat, who began to populate Hrímdeorcnes.

In the liminar region between the abode of the ice-éotenas, which would be known as Nifolhám, and the fiery region of Sunne and his offspring, whose name was Myspell, the ice began to melt and thence a fungus settled upon a body, and that bone-house became alive when the mushroom sprouted. That being was bright and full of cræft, and as he was hungry he took and ate the mushroom from his own body, shouting the word which would become his name: Ġéat. He was the first ós. The wyrde gave him his Orlæġ thread and made him the protector of the Well of Wyrd, as he was quite respected by his large amounts of war-cræft and ġealdorcræft.

Ġéat met Tíd and his wyrd was that he had got three sons with her: Godwulf, Tíw and Hell, all of them also receiving their Orlæġ thread directly from the wyrde.

Tíw's wyrd was that he should be elected as the ealdorman who had got the mæġen to mediate between the ése and the éotenas, chosen by both.

It was also according to wyrd that Godwulf have found a wife among the ice-éotenas and fathered Finn, Finn married to one of her sisters and fathered Friþuwulf. They also were gifted with the thread of the Orlæġ by the wyrde.

As Ġéat's offspring was growing more and more numerous, with an abundant friþ among themselves, the fire and ice-éotenas became worried and planned to attack them and control the Well of Wyrd, that startling source of cræft. But Tíw revealed to the ése the plans of the éotenas, and then they held the first witenaġemót and elected Ġéat as the first cyning of the ése. That's why the éotenas hate the offspring of Tíw.  Ġéat made the ése his þeġnas, and a bond of loyalty and gifts was created among them. To him were given the duties of protecting his people and organising them in order to resist the attacks of the éotenas.

Thus Syrt discovered the iron and forged his flame sword Meltendewrǽþþu, and organised a massive assault against the ése.

Friþuwulf also married to one of her sisters and fathered Wóden, who received the lenghtiest thread of Orlæġ from the wyrde. When Wóden was a young man, wyrd wasn't pleasant to him as Syrt finally made his attack, releasing a serpent called Níþhéawere to destroy the Web of Wyrd. But Éomer became enraged as he thought that he had been betrayed by Syrt and attacked the ése alone first, but he hadn't got enough mæġen to subdue his enemies and this spear-din was won by the offspring of Ġéat, as Wóden achieved the great wyrd of slaying the abyssal ice-éoten by ripping his flesh and enabling Hell's invasion of Éomer's bone-house, dragging his life-cræft, making Wóden the first hæleþ of the ése. By doing so, however, a flood of the éoten's wound-sea fell upon that world, killing almost all of the ice-éotenas, excepting by a couple of them, who had to live exiled in the land that was later known as Éotenhám. Níþhéawere also attacked but the ése confined it as well, as they can't kill it.

Nevertheless, Sunne and Eorþe were tired of that irrational bloodbath and sealed a peace with the ése, as they were not pleased by that wyrd. The ése were obliged to build a reign for Eorþe with the body of her son, and they did so. Eorþe thus went to the inner part of that world and made her living; there she received many gifts as sea-fire and symbels which enhanced her cræft in the place where she still can be found today. The ése were thus kept as the wardens of the only source of cræft, the Well of Wyrd.  Sunne and Móna also came to the Hrímdeorcnes, bringing the Iron from Myspell, as a way of ending the strife by equating the mæġen of the ése and the fire-éotenas. They were received with friþ and were given many cræft gifts.

As Eorþe was too sad by the death of her first son, a tear fell down from her eyes, and this was actually the first seed. It sprang and became the mighty tree known as Eormensýl. As it grew, it linked the whole world, suiting the role of the symbol of peace among all kinds of beings. Wyrd, nurturing compassion and love for Eorþe, every Dæġ went to Eormensýl, pouring the water of her well upon its roots.  The ése thus fashioned the world known as Middanġeard above the Well of Wyrd: from Éomer's bones they've made the mountains, from his flesh the soil, from his body hairs the trees, from his blood the fish-forests and whale-roads, and from his skull they've made the heaven vault. This process lasted for many time though, and it wasn't completed in the sight of a week or so. Sometime during this quite long process Ġéat renounced his throne and gave it unto the æþeling Tíw, his oldest son, whom was also given the rule of the birds-world. The new cyning of the ése then met Eorþe and they had got a son called Tíwisċe. From Éomer's rotten flesh came Éostre, the first ælf, Motsogn, the first dweorh, and from his blood came Grendelsmódor, the first orc. These first wihta and all wihta of that world were also gifted with their Orlæġ thread by the hands of the wyrde themselves.

The stars have got many origins, but one of the most important of them, Éarendel, is one of Tíw's most beloved þeġnas, to whom was given the mæġen of protecting Éastre, as she was the one who should announce the dawn of Dæġ.

It was Sunne's wyrd that she had got a son with Tíwisċe whom they called Mann, who was the first of the human kind. As Éastre soon became an ælf beloved by the ése, and was invited to live among them, her loyalty was also given to the heaven-candle in the truce of the ése and Sunne. Also Eorþe married to Wóden and had got a son with him who was called Þunor, the red ós of thunder, not against wyrd's will. They also received the Orlæġ thread from the wyrde at the moment of their birth.

But in Éotenhám, in the misty region of Isernwudu, the ice-éotenas continued to multiply themselves and to develop hatred cræftas, creating and interbreeding with wolves whom they shared Orlæġ and mæġen with. The strongest of these éoten-wolves was Fenndwellende, which lead a warband of these harmful wihta against the ése. Tíw, however, fought him and it was a hard strife; Tíw then deliberately placed his right hand into the jaw of the wolf who bit it and Tíw beheaded him, blowing Fenndwellende's necklace stand with his axe Ġerihte, putting an end to his toxic wyrd. But Fenndwellende also cut Tíw's hand with his sharp teeth.

Therefore, as Tíw wasn't so able to fight as he was before that, he decided to follow his wyrd and give his throne to the æþeling Tíwisċe, going to Éomer's skull as the North Star. Wóden then got Tíw's cut hand and buried it in Middanġeard, and chanted ġealdru, pouring his scíncræft above it. He then placed upon that pit a short blade made by the dweorhas called Ealleseht and yelled: "get your seax!". The ring-land thus came out of Éomer's flesh and took the seax, and it had an arm, and the hawk-fell had a body, and the bone-house had a head, and the helmet-land had a mouth, and his word-house shouted out "Seaxnéat!" and this was his name. The wyrde came unto that new ós born from Tíw's hand and gave him his Orlæġ thread. It was Seaxnéat who later organised the ése around the fire and created their meadhall, where they held symbels and shared stories and songs.

It is a sad wyrd, however, that as Eormensýl's root grows deeper in the elk-sea, it reached the place where Níþhéawere was confined, and the wrathful serpent gnaws it, weakening the world-tree.

Motsogn is the father of a dweorh called Durin, who had got many sons, all of the first of them receiving their Orlæġ thread by the hands of the wyrde themselves. Four of them, Éasterne, Westerne, Norþerne and Súþerne, however, always fed rivalry against one another, so Motsogn sent them far away from each other, in equal distances. However, until this day they keep their fight, blowing mæġen against one another, and that's the reason why the winds come from the four cardinal points.

A fun wyrd was that Sunne fell in love with Seaxnéat but the seax-ós wasn't really interested in her. He got away from Sunne, hiding in the tree-seas among the horse tribe of Seolforwind, the cyning of the saddle-beasts. He disguised himself as a white stallion, but Sunne came to Middanġeard and asked the birds, reptiles, fishes until she discovered him among the mammals, and also disguised herself as a wondrous golden mare. Seaxnéat couldn't defy her anymore, and thus they had got two horse sons: Hengest and Horsa, who also were gifted with the Orlæġ thread by the wyrde. Sunne got her sons and went to the sea-hall.

Éarendel is the first star that can be seen during the dawn: he escorts Éastre, who announces that Dæġ is coming and that Sunne is going to cross the heaven. Sunne then travel with her chariot pulled by Hengest and Horsa, from Éasterne to Westerne. Niht, by her part, follows Sunne from afar, covering the constellation's path with her dark mantle when the fire-jewel reaches Westerne. Móna also began to walk around Eorþe with his chariot after Niht, producing the months.

But, under Tíwisċe's rule, Mann, as an æþeling, and his kind became angry and disobedient, conspirating for his death and aiming to rule over all the worlds. Mann even achieved the shameless wyrd of feeding the ravens with his father to get his mæġen and throne, the reason why Wóden intervened and expelled Mann and his sons from Ósġeard and confinated them in Middanġeard.  Wóden made Seaxnéat the guardian of mankind, and assumed the Highest Throne.

But as the þéaw of men is corrupted towards the natural world around themselves, it is their wyrd that the landwihta who were living in Middanġeard way before than the kind of Mann are many times unfriendly to them, what can be changed with respect and good offerings, in other words, sharing cræft with them. The ylfe, however, are more suspicious with men, and they have got the mæġen of countering them with a poisonous arrow known as ælfġesċot.

As the ylfe blamed the ése for the infortunes did by men against them, they began a bloody weather of weapons that endured for so long that no one of the sides could really submit the other. The question was settled when the ése and the ylfe exchanged hostages and a great piece of land was given unto the kin of Éastre, and almost all of the ylfe moved there.

The ése thus followed their wyrda and fashioned the boundaries of the seven worlds: Ósġeard, Ælfhám, Middanġeard, Hell, Myspell, Sweartælfhám and Éotenhám.

Ósġeard and Ælfhám were placed at the top of the ruler of the forest and are the abodes of the ése and the ylfe respectively.

Middanġeard is the region just above the ground were Eormensýl grows, and it was the abode of many plants, fungi and animals.

Hell, Myspell, Sweartælfhám and Éotenhám are in the underworld, the roots of Eormensýl. Hell is the place where the dead are sent, the world receiving the name of its ruler, and being divided into two main places: the Neorxnawang, the fields where the honoured deceased can live merrily with their kindreds, and Wyrmsele, where the ése confined the serpent Níþhéawere and the oath-breakers, betrayers and liers were sent after their death to feed it and avoid that Níþhéawere leave that enclosure or destroy completely Eormensýl's roots. Myspell is the land of the fire-éotenas. Sweartælfhám is the dwelling place of the dweorhas.

That's how women and men came to Middanġeard and why they have got to deal harmoniously within their own heorþ, þéod and wiċ, as well as with the ése, the landwihta around them to ensure their cræft and protect themselves from the éotenas who seek vengeance for the deeds of Tíw against them.




Sources:
To avoid visually polluting the text, I'm going to make reference here to the most important (attested) assumptions:

- Niht as one of the first beings: Under the Shroud: Reconstructing Niht Wódgár Inguing (Sundorwíc) bit.ly/2GDYMYq

- The name "wyrde" for the fates: bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/036952

- The many usages of the word "wyrd" replacing action, fate, deed, choice: bosworth.ff.cuni.cz/036952

- In the Helgakvida Hundingsbana I, the (familiar) Nornir came and gave the threads of fate (ørlǫgþattu) of the newborn.

- The usage of the word "cræft" as a kind of power akin to mana comes from G. Storms, Anglo-Saxon Magic. All cræft compounds are taken or inspired by Storms.

- The usage of the word "mæġen" as a sinonym of cræft comes primarily from We Are Our Deeds, by Eric Wódening, but is attested in the Anglo-Saxon poem Judith as well.

- "Myspell" is a loosely Old English neologism based on Old Norse "Musspell", the Old High German "muspilli" and the Old Saxon forms "mutspelli" and "mudspelli". The last three forms denote a Christian final judgement, but, as the etymology is clearly Germanic, it was interpreted as a Christianisation of an original Germanic idea.

- "Nifolhám" is a loosely Old English neologism based on Old Norse "Niflheimr". It isn't, however, the same as the Norse concept.

- Ġéat was given this authoritative position based on: a) Asser's biography on king Alfred the Great who says that Ġéat was an ancestor long ago worshipped by the Heathens; and b) Royal Genealogies that almost invariably place him as Wóden's oldest ancestor.

- Wóden's fatherly genealogy is drawn from Anglian Collection V, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Abington B 547 annal, Prose Edda. The Historia Brittonum, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Otho B 547 annal, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Parker 855 annal, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle Abington & other 855 annal Anglian Collection T and Langfeðgatal present versions quite similar with minor differences.

- Éomer is loosely an Old English form of Ymir, as attested in the Prose Edda.

- Níþhéawere is loosely based on the Old Norse Niðhǫggr as attested in the Prose Edda.

- Eormensýl is loosely reconstructed from Yggdrasill as attested in the Prose and Poetic Eddas and the Saxon Irminsûl, attested in Einhard's Vita Karoli Magni.

- Motsogn and his sons are all loosely Old English forms of dwarf names attested in the Vǫluspá.

- Éastre is taken from Bede's Temporum Ratione. His attributes as an elf are influenced by Norse goddes Idunn, attested in the Prose Edda.

- Éarendel is reconstructed through the Prose Edda and the Anglo-Saxon hymn Eala Éarendel.

- Tíw as the North Star is reconstructed via the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem in the description of the rune Tir.

- Tíwisċe is loosely based on Tuisto/Tuisco from Tacitus' Germania, as Mann is on Mannus.

- Isernwudu and Fenndwellende came from Prose Edda's Jarnviðia and Fenrir.

- The names of the worlds are based on the Norse description.

- Wyrmsele is a kenning attested in the Anglo-Saxon Judith. It is arguable, however, whether it is a purely Christian idea since serpents doesn't seem to be really the matter of Christian eternal punishment place. So, it was somewhat merged with the Old Norse Niðhǫggr.

- Tíw is loosely based on Dyeus Pter from PIE reconstructions of Ceisiwr Serith (ceisiwrserith.com/pier/deities.htm) and the Roman inscription RIB 1593 in an altar dedicated to "Mars Thincsus" in Britain.