Ragnarok: The Time of Reckoning

According to Norse mythology the world will have a time of great reckoning and cataclysmic events, starting with the melting of Hel.

Hel (in Norse mythology) is a barren hostile wasteland of ice where only the dead live. It is essentially the Arctic. According to the myth of Ragnarok the North Pole / Hel will melt, the world will become flooded, and all the peoples of the earth will be forced to move farther inland. (In Christianity we tend to think of Hell as being an underworld place and describe it as hot instead, but in Norse myths Hel is an actual place and very cold instead.)

This flooding will be but the first of a series of cataclysmic events and "very treacherous weather" which will cause mankind to fight against each other over land and resources.

The myth of Ragnarok also says the Norse gods (Odin, Thor, Freyr, Heimdall and Loki) will all be killed in the cataclysm. Odin is basically the Norse version of Zeus, Jupiter, Jehovah, Allah or Shiva. The other gods have corresponding deities in other myths and religions too (including Christian angels / demons). The names may be different, but they're essentially the same gods with a Norse flavour.

After Ragnarok is over, the flood waters will retreat and the surviving humans will repopulate the world's fertile regions.

The word Ragna means gods and Rok means both origin and ending, so Ragnarok essentially means a time of godly destruction and rebirth.

Ragnarok is said to begin with three roosters crowing, the crimson rooster Fjalar (which means liar), the golden rooster Gullinkambi who lives in Valhalla and the unnamed soot-red rooster in Hel. Obviously like all prophecies these are meant as metaphors.

Then Garmr (the immortal dog) will howl and be set free, and all the gods will begin to fight in a great religious war.

Then Fimbulvinter (a very long winter that lasts for three years) and many wars will follow, including an invasion of giants. The fire giants end up setting fire to the earth and there is a huge slaughter as almost everyone is killed.

Norse mythology is rather unusual compared to other religious myths because it actually foretells the death of the gods.

Remember years ago how a lot of people were fussing about 2012 and the changing to the Mayan calendar, with some people thinking it signaled the end of the world. Well it was not the end of the world. Its just a cyclic calendar. In comparison Ragnarok is a much more interesting prophecy and has direct ties to what is currently going on with global warming, climate change and rising sea levels.

Weird D&D Encounters in Villages

I didn't write this. I found this on the blog: http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.

d100 Weird Village Encounters
01 Two headed d4 1=kitten 2=lamb 3=dog 4=turtle
02 A goat eats a rat with frog like adhesive elongated tongue
03 Huge spider webs around trees and roof tops
04 Giant fly snatches a baby or cat and flies away
05 Giant rat runs under a building
06 Cow eating a rabbit
07 A dog vomits up some fingers
08 A horse tears a shred of flesh of a farmers leg and eats it
09 Bats fly out of a chimney
10 Old woman talking to cat who whispers answers back in her ear
11 Children chanting in strange elder language
12 Child sucking on headless squirrel
13 Child with overgrown fang sticking out of mouth
14 Children playing with pet black rats
15 Children running from giant bed bug
16 Siamese twin baby googling sweetly
17 A child asks if visitors are the chosen ones elders speak of
18 Bulging eyed pudgy child drawing demon sigils on walls with chalk
19 Baby bites a dog which runs away in terror yelping
20 Staring silent children each holds a pet familiar
21 Statue made from animal skulls covered in blood
22 Villagers frolicking in masks some not really wearing a mask
23 Villagers performing a puppet show for the kids full of heresy and treason
24 Child with a creepy straw doll drops it in visitors belongings
25 Elaborate totems of wood, horn and herbs on every house for the old gods
26 Regional odd hat that all the locals wear
27 Local metal work features a strange design and unfamiliar characters
28 Villagers torturing a local who broke the local code by some bizarre means
29 Villagers have welcomed a strange clever man from a foreign city to live here
30 Villagers all wearing jewelry (metal, wood. horn, stone) with a sinister face design
31 Butcher selling strange creature parts he gets from local cave
32 Baker seems to have a supernatural fire spirit his oven
33 Highly skilled craftsman making amazing diabolic designs
34 Local drunk tries to arrange to meet you about something sinister and is never seen again
35 Tavern keeper offers vices and narcotics on par with the debauched cesspits of the city
36 Storekeeper uses quite a few odd coins "adventurers found" JD Jarvis Hellcoins handy
37 Beer tastes funny and the brewer also uses strange body parts from local cave for local flavour
38 Strange figure designs on fabric woven and knit by local old women
39 Locals in bar playing strange game with large monster teeth
40 Roof repair man often attacked by stirge owls living in the attics of local houses
41 Street covered in sawdust over a rancid pool of gore they say was a wagon accident
42 Headless corpses suspended by pole by the executioners block, heads missing
43 Church has had a cheap facelift on the outside, cobwebbed mess inside
44 Pile of large beast heads near a bonfire ready to burn, no bodies present
45 Wanted posters from the city law have been painted over and torn down
46 Border stones and official signs have been wrecked or vandalized
47 Local tax collectors don't want to stay here the night and afraid of witches
48 Free stew and village having a party, someone asking about missing friend
49 Naked villagers drunkenly asleep wearing nothing but robes or goat leggings
50 House burning down with new family that sadly didn't fit in trapped inside
51 Swine like fat greedy merchant or friar who everyone seems to love is a devil swine
52 Mayor often seen in regalia, a gold necklace with magic medallion and hooded cloak
53 Attractive progressive and tolerant holy person beloved by villagers border on public heresy
54 A local sorcerer with a d4 "students" have been teaching locals esoteric arts and drug abuse
55 A formerly famous adventurer gives map to local dungeon he now secretly serves
56 A hideous old woman stares at you lots, locals fearful but all sworn to protect her
57 A wizard tower with vegetation surrounding it affected by chaos or necromancy
58 Large old graveyard with a few prehistoric monoliths run by a necromancer working as mortician
59 A famous prostitute linked to royalty from the city has come to stay but seldom takes visitors
60 Rugged muscular priest is actually a werewolf, outsider animals hate him
61 Root vegetable crops squeaking and wiggling underground
62 All the farm work is done overnight by something and the villagers lazy
63 All the farm animals have same eyes and often stare at visitors creepily
64 Goats dancing on hindlegs and bleating being encouraged by shepherds
65 All the large and healthy animals have some colouring and markings
66 Farm animals being beaten with sticks or clumsily killed sound almost human as they scream
67 Scarecrows in the fields look very creepy and strange, curfew after midnight
68 Animals all act the same and come and go without herders
69 Farm hands beating one of their own into bloody pulp while chanting
70 Farmers preparing a wickerman with animals in cages in the limbs already
71 Iron bar sealed old well that allows water be drawn out but not monsters
72 Stone plug sealing an ancient sinkhole into caves
73 Squat ancient idol in village centre with food, burnt offerings and bone sacrifices
74 Short wall section is forgotten foundations and old chambers exist under the village
75 A creepy prehistoric mound nearby is used for dancing on by drunken locals
76 A statue with a missing head and odd physiognomy het highly detailed and realistic
77 A fountain from a lost age with worn but quality art, 1in6 works and has a man size drainhole plug
78 A statue of a notorious cult leader from many generations ago who founded village
79 Locals point at the elder monolith with fear and warn you not to sleep near it
80 Standing stones seem to move at night and occasional fall on someone
81 Creepy trees in woods sway in unison without wind being felt
82 Strange howls heard from the woods
83 Strange fetishes on the borderland with the forest
84 Spirits in the forest make it unsafe at night all locals say to strangers
85 Snakes are seen everyday outside by everyone and locals unafraid
86 Villagers have a pump that draws water by itself with a switch the locals say is a bound demon
87 A huge ancient tree looks thousands of years old and has secret passages and chambers
88 Several sinkholes and caves are known to be in the area but villagers publicly shun them
89 Colourful toadstools rumoured to be associated with a evil god are commonplace
90 People and animals are sometimes swallowed up by the earth if they stray far from village
91 Robed order perform rituals in ruins or groves or caves publicly
92 Some local sport being played with grisly body parts used ass the ball
93 Drunken festivities grow wild with eventual fighting and orgy in the streets
94 Lynch mob flailing a prisoner with whips till they drop over crime they wont mention
95 Lynchmob forcing a prisoner to run a gauntlet of villagers with rocks
96 Village come out to watch a execution on old strange blackened tree stump here since olden days
97 Villagers chasing and beating a apprentice cleric preaching in the country for his studies
98 Village choir and folk dancers singing, then they get drunk and start ritual castrations
99 Village militia practice targets are old painted wooden statues from a run down church
100 Villagers having a funeral where locals sing strange song about fate of persons soul