The most well known period in the ancient
history of the scandinavian peoples is the viking age. Unmatched
explorers of the seas and oceans, traders and feared warriors, they
they have a distinct place in today's view of the old times.
Even though most of our image of the Norse
is formed from on the it, the viking age doesn't cover the whole
antiquity of this people. This period begins rather recently,
in the second half of the first millenium AD, and it represents
the peak in the development of the Norse. The ancient history
of the scandinavians has two more periods, preceeding the viking
age. The oldest is their prehistory, which starts around the first
millenium BC, when the formation of the norse tribes and language
began, after their separation from the rest of the indo-european
peoples. These times also mark the birth of the religion and
the fundamental myths of the Norse, the same myths that have become
quite well known (and used) in our time. The second period, just before
the viking age, has been called the "heroic age" and during it many
of the fascinant norse heroic poems and sagas have been written.
The action in
Cult of the Elders happens
during the oldest of these three periods, when the scandinavian religion
was still very young. Still, as you'll have the chance of seeing
for yourself in the following section, as well as in the game,
the norse myths and pantheon were anything but primitive in those times;
even from the beginning, the spiritual world of the Norse has been
complex and filled with meanings.
The country of the Norse is unlike any other
world of their contemporary peoples, appearing as both beautiful
and odd in the eyes of a stranger. The scandinavian lands, frozen
almost the whole year, with long months when the sun doesn't set,
with their sky lit by the aurora borealis which seems like an unearthly
manifestation to anyone who isn't used to it, have given birth to
a norse man with feelings apart from the rest of the world. Living in
these places, dominated by the might of the Universe, the Norse have
been an equally mystic and majestic nation and sought to take their
glorious place in the world, rather than trying to understand the laws that
rule the world. As opposed to the Dacians, the norse magic doesn't try
to convince Nature to offer better life conditions to the man; instead,
the scandinavians are more interested in predicting the future and
giving man more strength in his confrontation with Nature or other men.
Their character is that of adventurers and invaders, and their lack of
commitment to a place lead to the desire to dominate the nature, and
not to a relation of brotherhood or balance with it, like in the celtic
or dacian cultures, respectively.
