There was little to no nightfall on the Empyrean Sea Beach this time of year, nor in the nearby Kingdom of Skyfall, only the constant presence of daylight brought by Gaia's three local stars. The first star, Sigittae, provided magnificent light in the form of bright whitish blue and pinkish purple, resembling a cosmic magical flame or bow-shaped nebula. The second star was Atargis, the twin sun, a brother of Sigittae, though not entirely an exact replica for Atargis was much brighter and white as a dove, with brilliant blueish white rays of sunshine resembling the outstretched wings of a dove or flying fish. The Empyrean Norsemen viewed these two stars as gods and goddesses. The former star Sigittae they referred to as Dagr, the god of daylight and the son of Dellingr, the god of dawn, armed with a golden bow and arrows to light the world by day. Similarly, they viewed Atargis as the goddess Sól, the sun goddess with a golden chariot riding the star across the skies, reflecting the sun's rays with her magical shield. The Vikings also referred to Atargis as the Eastern Star, with Sigittae being its twin brother in the west.
The third star which could barely be seen from Gaia's surface was called Eras, a dead star or brown dwarf star which looked more like a very distant blood red moon than an actual sun. Hardly any light shone at all from that distant star, whom the Norsemen called Dellingr, the god of dawn and dusk according to their own mythology, when the least amount of light shown over their kingdom, allowing Gaia's moons and several star constellations to be seen. Gaia's first moon was Colossa, a dull red moon, larger but similar to Eras, whom the Norsemen knew as Nott, the goddess of night, or Skoll, a treacherous dark wolf which mocked the sun and chased it across the daylight sky. Gaia's second moon was Skygem, a brilliant white sparkling moon made of quartz which the Empyrean Norsemen referred to as Mani, the moon god who they viewed was followed by a pitch black darkness in the form of Hati, another wolf who chased the moon at night. There was also a third moon which the Norsemen knew not of, for it was often masked by Gaia's three suns. Of all the celestial bodies that they knew of, however, Atargis/Sól and Skygem/Máni were viewed by the Norsemen as the most important and significant lights in the sky, and it was when both of these lights became visible on opposite ends of the horizon, when the second sun Eras/Dellingr was high in the sky at mid-day and all the constellations in the heavens came into view, that Goffre Alvisson and his crew of 500 men, women and children boarded the Stjornhestr longship and launched their horse-prowed vessel into the sky, doing what no Viking on Gaia's surface had ever done before since the beginning of time.
They were going to outer space...
Goffre Alvisson had come from a long line of distant heroes and kings whose names had become immortalized in sagas and legends over countless centuries, some of them almost forgotten, whose deeds became nothing more than Norse mythology. Since the time of Wylfrec the Savage, whose bloodline extended far far back, predating King Trygvir by more than a century, long before Ellrulf Trygvirsson, long before Ungrulf "Ulfric" Ellrufsson, long long before King Harald Wartooth, before King Sigurd Hring, before King Ragnar Lothbrok, long long before Hrollaug the Walker and Ivar the Boneless, that bloodline extended and stretched to a time long since faded and forgotten. Yet their descendants and kinfolk still remained, a pure lineage who still bore the same phenotypes and genotypes of those very distant ancestors. Many of those descendants were now aboard the Stjornhestr as it hovered above the ground and took off sailing for the stars.
Their longship took off north from the Empyrean Sea Beach over the Empyrean High Seas, gaining speed as it entered the clouds. Many a Norse onlooker watched and gazed silently from below, observing that flight with speechless awe as the Stjornhestr disappeared out of view. King Halfdan Svensson smiled and nodded quietly, a look of mixed pride and humility, as he watched Jarl Goffre and his longship disappear into the clouds, heading high above the heavens northbound over Ellaria, passing from the southernmost tip of the continent all the way over the northernmost end past Iskjerne Bay as it ascended high above the surface, bringing the entire continent into view from the air.
Goffre Alvisson looked down at the planet's surface, gazing out of one of the air-locked gold plated reflective mirror windows and smiling at the continent below. For him and his crew, they had just confirmed what they hadn't always known but had always believed to be true for a long time, that the maps of their forefathers were incredibly accurate, despite never having been able to look down upon the land for themselves. This was a moment of great inspiration and hope for the Norsemen aboard the Stjornhestr, as Jarl Goffre turned from the window to his round table to look at the star charts that his great grandfathers had drawn. There on his map were many constellations and stars, with the four cardinal directions to lead them. Goffre Alvisson would be heading for one of the nearer constellations, shaped like a white horse on his map. This was Hethelfaxi, a constellation that according to Gaian Norse mythology, had been placed in the sky long ago by a sea dragon named Urakena, whose likeness the Stjornhestr longship had been constructed after. According to legend, King Hethel Svensson had befriended the sea monster by offering her a white horse as an offering. After accepting the King's sacrifice, Urakena had placed the image of the white horse high in the sky so that it would always guide their way, thus the horse itself became immortalized, and the dragon was remembered ever after.
Little did he know at the time, but Goffre Alvisson's star chart was leading their horse-prowed dragon ship far away from home, to a distant world which also had dragons, the likeness of which the Gaian Norse astronauts had never seen before. The map he was following would take them beyond the Sirius System, beyond the Norma Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, and far away to the Outer Arm of that galaxy, to a place called AC-430, wherein they would descend upon the Kos System and into uncharted territories. Their journey would be very long and dangerous, but the Norsemen were well prepared. Ironically, their longship was large enough to provide adequate housing for 500 crew members, but the Stjornhestr was still quite smaller than other spaceships of the time, which would make it harder to detect, and because they did not have radios, it would be impossible to track them by radar. Without even knowing it or planning it, Jarl Goffre was piloting a ghost ship.
The third star which could barely be seen from Gaia's surface was called Eras, a dead star or brown dwarf star which looked more like a very distant blood red moon than an actual sun. Hardly any light shone at all from that distant star, whom the Norsemen called Dellingr, the god of dawn and dusk according to their own mythology, when the least amount of light shown over their kingdom, allowing Gaia's moons and several star constellations to be seen. Gaia's first moon was Colossa, a dull red moon, larger but similar to Eras, whom the Norsemen knew as Nott, the goddess of night, or Skoll, a treacherous dark wolf which mocked the sun and chased it across the daylight sky. Gaia's second moon was Skygem, a brilliant white sparkling moon made of quartz which the Empyrean Norsemen referred to as Mani, the moon god who they viewed was followed by a pitch black darkness in the form of Hati, another wolf who chased the moon at night. There was also a third moon which the Norsemen knew not of, for it was often masked by Gaia's three suns. Of all the celestial bodies that they knew of, however, Atargis/Sól and Skygem/Máni were viewed by the Norsemen as the most important and significant lights in the sky, and it was when both of these lights became visible on opposite ends of the horizon, when the second sun Eras/Dellingr was high in the sky at mid-day and all the constellations in the heavens came into view, that Goffre Alvisson and his crew of 500 men, women and children boarded the Stjornhestr longship and launched their horse-prowed vessel into the sky, doing what no Viking on Gaia's surface had ever done before since the beginning of time.
They were going to outer space...
Goffre Alvisson had come from a long line of distant heroes and kings whose names had become immortalized in sagas and legends over countless centuries, some of them almost forgotten, whose deeds became nothing more than Norse mythology. Since the time of Wylfrec the Savage, whose bloodline extended far far back, predating King Trygvir by more than a century, long before Ellrulf Trygvirsson, long before Ungrulf "Ulfric" Ellrufsson, long long before King Harald Wartooth, before King Sigurd Hring, before King Ragnar Lothbrok, long long before Hrollaug the Walker and Ivar the Boneless, that bloodline extended and stretched to a time long since faded and forgotten. Yet their descendants and kinfolk still remained, a pure lineage who still bore the same phenotypes and genotypes of those very distant ancestors. Many of those descendants were now aboard the Stjornhestr as it hovered above the ground and took off sailing for the stars.
Their longship took off north from the Empyrean Sea Beach over the Empyrean High Seas, gaining speed as it entered the clouds. Many a Norse onlooker watched and gazed silently from below, observing that flight with speechless awe as the Stjornhestr disappeared out of view. King Halfdan Svensson smiled and nodded quietly, a look of mixed pride and humility, as he watched Jarl Goffre and his longship disappear into the clouds, heading high above the heavens northbound over Ellaria, passing from the southernmost tip of the continent all the way over the northernmost end past Iskjerne Bay as it ascended high above the surface, bringing the entire continent into view from the air.
Goffre Alvisson looked down at the planet's surface, gazing out of one of the air-locked gold plated reflective mirror windows and smiling at the continent below. For him and his crew, they had just confirmed what they hadn't always known but had always believed to be true for a long time, that the maps of their forefathers were incredibly accurate, despite never having been able to look down upon the land for themselves. This was a moment of great inspiration and hope for the Norsemen aboard the Stjornhestr, as Jarl Goffre turned from the window to his round table to look at the star charts that his great grandfathers had drawn. There on his map were many constellations and stars, with the four cardinal directions to lead them. Goffre Alvisson would be heading for one of the nearer constellations, shaped like a white horse on his map. This was Hethelfaxi, a constellation that according to Gaian Norse mythology, had been placed in the sky long ago by a sea dragon named Urakena, whose likeness the Stjornhestr longship had been constructed after. According to legend, King Hethel Svensson had befriended the sea monster by offering her a white horse as an offering. After accepting the King's sacrifice, Urakena had placed the image of the white horse high in the sky so that it would always guide their way, thus the horse itself became immortalized, and the dragon was remembered ever after.
Little did he know at the time, but Goffre Alvisson's star chart was leading their horse-prowed dragon ship far away from home, to a distant world which also had dragons, the likeness of which the Gaian Norse astronauts had never seen before. The map he was following would take them beyond the Sirius System, beyond the Norma Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, and far away to the Outer Arm of that galaxy, to a place called AC-430, wherein they would descend upon the Kos System and into uncharted territories. Their journey would be very long and dangerous, but the Norsemen were well prepared. Ironically, their longship was large enough to provide adequate housing for 500 crew members, but the Stjornhestr was still quite smaller than other spaceships of the time, which would make it harder to detect, and because they did not have radios, it would be impossible to track them by radar. Without even knowing it or planning it, Jarl Goffre was piloting a ghost ship.