Viking Graffiti

Inspiring Illustrations - The Tree of Crows

5) The Tree of Crows

On the shores of Hyperborea the lost fleet of Erik the Red came ashore long years ago. Only Ullr, the god of glory, was able to make the journey through the mists which cut off Hyperborea from old Earth. It is said that Ullr blinded the eyes of Erik and lead him to this place, lost to the All-Father and the reward of Valhalla.

Erik's people landed among a chain of islands they named Vikland, but Erik himself was never found. The skalds say that Erik turned back toward the mist when his eyes were opened and he saw how he had been tricked by Ullr, but an island rose from the sea and his ship was raised unto a great height. From the wood of this ship sprang a tree and this tree is the birthplace of crows, the eyes of the All-Father,

When the tree is found again by Erik's people the crows will come to Vikland, great death, glory and the return of heroes, for the All-Father has never forsaken his people or the harvest of heroes he needs for the last battle. 

Inspiring Illustrations - Horse in a Boat

3) Horse in a Boat

The people of the north still venerate the ancient pictograph drawings of their ancestors and the drawings still have power even though the stories they told have been forgotten.

The skalds and priests can draw power from these drawings and commune directly with the various northern deities; the Raven King, the Stormhammer, the Fox-God, the Green Goddess, etc... so while each of these locations is considered holy no single deity claims them as their own.

Shamans are said to have been able to draw forth visions of the events depicted in the crude drawings so that their entire tribe could experience them. Some individual creatures or items of power or even heroes from the past could be brought forth, for a time, to help the shaman or the tribe before fading away to their place in the long ago.

Part of the early path to power for a shaman is said to have been through waking quests that involved stepping into the past or to dreamscapes whose gateways were these carvings and paintings on the ancient rock walls.

Riddles of Gest the Blind

I should wish to have
That which yesterday I had
Try to know what it was,
Peace-maker among men!
Tamer of words
And starter of words.

Ale changes the temper
And quickens prattle,
But in others the tongue is wrapped
around the teeth.