Aedil
The Norsemen
The Norsemen were among the highly successful miners on Troy before that small battle which was the sundering. Now, the mines run dry and men dig deeper to find prescious ore. Now, the Aeneans have conquered our planet, but we fight them still underground. One day, a Noreseman hero will find the Horn of Thor. And on that day the Gods will return, and then there will be a sundering like the Aeneans have never dreamt in their darkest nightmare. On this day, true and honorable warriors will rise up and fight with the Gods to devour the Aeneans and Loki’s puppets of chaos. Only then will the second golden age begin……
Aedil - youth
When Aedil was a child, his father would tell him bedtime stories of the Golden Age past:
“Ginnungagap is the vast emptiness that lay between the worlds, bridged only by Yggdrasil, the world tree. When men made great ships that bore them across the Ginnungagap, they met the gods in Asgard and Vanaheim. They also met the strange ones that some call elves in Alfheim, but of these we do not speak. And so men lived side by side with the Aesir and the Vanir (the two races of gods). It was the First Age of Glory. Such was Odin’s power that the forces of Loki were trodden underfoot. Men lived long, and when they died, they died in glorious battle against chaos. Victory was to the men and the Aesir and the Vanir.
As the season turns, so the Norns (the fates) weave different fates into their tapesty. Such was it predestined that Loki would gain strength. And such was it destined that in the First Ragnarok order would fight chaos and the world and the universe would be destroyed. Children ask if “the sundering” was the First Ragnarok. Only a child could be so naïve, for the sundering was but a cloudy day compared to the blizzard and hellfire that was Ragnarok, so long ago. Great was the battle between chaos and order, between Loki and Odin; such is the destiny of Ragnarok. And amidst the battle, the greatest fight of them all was between Thor, the son of Odin, and the Jurmungandr, the spawn of Loki. It is said that Jormungandr, the great serpent that surrounds the known universe, rose up and fought tooth to hammer with Thor, the mightiest of the gods. Blow for blow they fought amongst the carnage until they slew each other. Before he struck the final blow, and was in turn stricken, Thor gave his mighty Horn to Lif, a mighty human warrior, so that one day Lif’s sons might call him back. In the end, all was destroyed and the universe descended into chaos.
Only one man and one woman (Lif and Lifthrasir) survived to repopulate the world, and so they did, but the old ways were lost. Men floated through the winds of the Ginnungagap and were lost to each other. Men lived without honor or battle and when they died in their sleep they went to Hel instead of the glorious Valhalla. But a few keep the old ways of honor and glory alive. Only the rejoining of men with the gods can put the universe back to right. For although they were defeated and died in the First Ragnarok, gods never truly die. They have been reborn, somewhere across the Ginnungagap, waiting for men to find them once again. They wait there for a son of Lif to call them back with the Horn of Thor. Then will come the Second Age of Glory in which men and Aesir and Vanir will again prepare for the inevitable Raganarok.”
Grandfather spoke differently: “Aedil, some few Gods walk among us still, but in secret. They are the hand behind good fortune which befalls the honorable. They are the heel within the boot that trods upon the dishonorable. Remember when your father fell in battle and all the tribe thought him in Valhalla? But he appeared two weeks later, bandaged and mostly healed with no memory of his rescue. It was one of the Gods who bore him from that cavernous battlefield, personally, I suspect it was Freyja upon Odin’s steed Sleipnir. But it may have been Tyr himself, only the Gods know.”
“Grandfather, why do the Gods hide from us?”
“Hide, Aedil, no! The remaining Gods in the Gemini are few, they work subtly while the rest of the Gods increase in strength and await the call back to the Gemini – the call of the Horn of Thor. Aedil, do you know who will find the sacred Horn?”
“Only the greatest of all warriors!”
“Indeed. And the seer has foreseen this great warrior. His name….is Aedil son of Gunnlod.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Aedil believed his grandfather, and sought the seer himself, who reiterated her vision to him, “The line of Aedil, son of Gunnlord, in the Norns weave is the very thread that draws the Horn of Thor and blows upon it and calls the Gods back to Gemini. Aedil will find the Horn through three virtures: honor, mind, and will. And it will not be easy.”
“I have honor, it comes from my spirit, it swims in my blood. I have will, it sings from the very depth of my being. If all things were so easy to come by, the Horn would be have been found long ago. But how can I turn my back on our people, on our fight?”
“Aedil, my grandson, as you say, the warriors blood flows through your veins as it runs through every Norseman’s veins. The seer has placed before you a true test of will, and mind and honor. Mind: to see that the path lies not always through direct attack. Will, to have the courage in your heart to follow the path: walking away from this losing fight is the only way to win. Honor: to hold true always to your destiny.”
“MIND. The seer said it would not be easy. I must be great of mind, and that will require hard work. Only through three virtues will the Horn be found and the one I must strive for is mind. I will set out to quest for the Horn. And it will be though Mind, Honor and Will, that I will find it.”
Aedil - Quest
And so it was that Aedil set out, leaving behind the tribe of the Norsemen and their losing battle. Aedil set out to the most difficult task of all: he went to school. Every ounce of will was required to study books and learn about the past and the old places while his brothers fought and died. This was his fate, and to deny fate would be dishonorable. But where to begin?
He wandered to the heart of civilization, unsure where to go or how to learn. He had a small income from his people, who sent some of the mining proceeds to support his quest. So he lived off the small sum and scoured the cities of . One day, he came upon an old man being accosted by young thugs in search of easy money. Such dishonorable treatment of an elder, Aedil decided to teach these hooligans the nature of strength. And so he met a man named Platacrates, who turned out to be an archaeology professor at Diomedes University in the Diomedes capital city of Syracuse. Such good fortune is bestowed upon the honorable by the Gods alone! Platacrates, impressed with Aedils strength, at first hired him as a workman. But soon Platacrates found that Aedils time was wasted on menial labor, it was his mind that Platacrates truly respected. To nurture this treasure, Platacrates sponsored Aedils application to the University.
At the academy Aedil studied with Dr. Platacrates, the Gemini expert in ancient things and places. He learned this art, studied the texts. Yet Ragnarok was so long ago, that Gemini historians had forgotten. Only those of knowledge before the Sundering might know of the Age of Glory. Aedil set out to find ancient sites with “K-Tech” for there perhaps he could find a library with more accurate histories of Ragnarok and perhaps what became of the Horn of Thor. It may be enshrined in a now lost pre-sundering museum or vault for safe keeping. But if so, why was it not sounded long ago?
In his studies with Platacrates, Aedil learned of a lost site, legendary as a place where the precursors kept artifacts ancient even then. Aedil and Platacrates together traced obscure clues and identified a likely spot, Andromache, where this site may be. Unfortunately Platacrates was too old to be traipsing around the galaxy, and thus Aedil set out alone and hired a transport, and did not return.
The ancient site was small, but contained clues that lead Aedil to Andromache 3, another small moon in the outskirts of the system. He directed the transport there and they found a vast ancient site. And then there was darkness…….
Five years later, Aedil awoke on a this strange moon amidst ancient ruins. On his right arm was the Jarn Grieper. In his right hand was Mjolnir. Mighty was Mjolnir, but not so mighty that it could fly. The wreckage of the transport was nearby, along with the skeletal remains of the dead crew. Aedil lived off the land. Aedil studied the ruins. Aedil waited patiently. There was no sign of where Mjolnir had been housed in the ruins, though obviously Aedil had found it once, he could not find it again. A year later, another archaeological mission arrived, send by Platacrates. It had been six years since Aedil disappeared and Platacrates assumed him dead and had sent another mission. This second mission had taken five years to decipher the clues that lead to the moon _______.
So Aedil was returned to the world of men. Age of 45 years, and again he studied and searched, for surely he was on the right track. To some, being stranded for six years on a desolate moon would seem bad luck. But Aedil held Mjolnir in his hand, an easy exchange for six years. Surely the Gods were watching over him and blessing his path.
Aedil's Virtues
The nature of honor….
On Charity. Aedil was accosted by a beggar, “please strong man, give alms to the poor.” Aedil gazed upon the man with disdail for his weakness, “Feed a man today and he will die of starvation tomorrow. Only a man who can feed himself can walk tall with honor. Get off your lazy ass and get a job you worthless curr!”
On Weakness. Aedil was asked once, “You value strength, yet your people fight a losing battle against the Aeneans, how can you walk with your head high?” With fire in his eyes Aedil replied, “To die in battle is the only path to Valhalla. A warrior of honor and courage and faith will engage in a losing battle because it is the right thing to do! It matters not if your foe is stronger in numbers or better equipped. You fight because you must. You fight even though you die. You fight because when the Einherjar are called forth from Valhalla to do battle in Ragnarok, you will fight by their side as one of them. The Einherjar will lose to chaos in Ragnarok, but with the Gods they will fight and I will fight with them!”
On Free Will. Aedil was asked, “if all is fated to be, then how can a man have free will to exercise and demonstrate his honor?” To which Aedil laughed and replied “For an honorable man, the Norns will weave a thread of honor. For a curr, the Norns will weave a thread of weakness and chaos.”
On Patience. Aedil was once told “Be patient, we will arrive soon enough,” to which he replied, “The Gods wait for no man, only a fool waits when there is work to be done.”
On Humility. “Aedil, you boast that you are the strongest warrior in this city, you should be more humble.” “BOAST!? I never boast, I state facts as they are. To hide behind humility is to lie in the face of the Gods!”
