Working with the gods: Andvari

As you all may know, the Duergar are the race of beings from Svartalfheim, but people know them better today as Dwarves. There is one particular spirit of the Duergar called Andvari, which i want to refer here as an important being. He is a great crafter and Smith so his teachings go directly with craft and money and also the worth of things. Blacksmithing has always been a profession with great value throughout human history, the forging of weapons, armour, tools, and all the things we need by working with fire and metals, so Andvari is the right spirit to work with if you love the art of making something, crafting it, the sound of the flames and the hammer beating the hot metal in the anvil.

There isn't much lore about Andvari, only the stories with Loki and how he stole Andvari's hoard and a cursed ring, or about Andvari being different from other Duergar, a dwarf very fond of humans, also being a traveller, wandering to and fro between realms. But he has many valuable lessons to teach, especially nowadays. We live in a world where most things lost their worth, our societies are filled with wastefulness, we consume everything we can get our hands on, and things seem to be granted, objects you get so easily today, we dont give them the proper worth, things that in ancient times were so valuable, we were careful not to ruin or break those things, even today there are lots of people in need of so many tools for their daily needs but they dont have the chance to get them and most of the times is because of money, and because we take everything for granted, and we lack of consciousness and we are so ignorant when it comes to the worth of things, we spent money in objects we don't really need, in a world of overconsumption. These are the things Andvari teaches us, and we in turn must teach our children, the worth of money, mindful consumption, the importance of things and how we benefit from them, the making of things and crafting them, the value we must give because some one had the work and the trouble to make them, and we must preserve these things, for exemple the tools to help farmers in their hard works, which in turn without those tools they wouldn't have food for themselves, their families and to the people they sell those products, and also those who buy the vegetables and fruits, must have conscious in where to spend their money, in what kind of things, would they rather spend the money in a television than in food for their survival? This is a very trivial exemple, just to make sure you follow the logic of Andvari's teachings. Having an appropriate resource management. never wasting food and other resources, always keeping in mind the worth of things and your money, buying and exchanging what you really need, balancing things, exchanging a pack of cigarettes for fruit, applying your money in the education of your children instead of buying a very expensive boat and so on...

We are all consumers, but most of the time we forget to give the proper value and worth, and we end up spending money on things that we do not really need.

Svartalfheim & Nidavellir

Svartalfheim is a dual land, divided above and below by the two races that live there - the Duergar, who claim primary ownership of the world, but who choose instead to live underground in mountain caverns; and the Dark Alfar, who are immigrants and live partially above the earth and partially under it.

Some people call these immigrants the Dokkalfar or the Svartalfar.

When the worlds broke apart in the great deluge, the Duergar found refuge on a piece of Ymir's body, supposedly his lower spine, and excavated themselves a world. Although trees did grow on the surface of their dark, windy, spine-mountainous world, the Duergar hardly cared. Instead, they dug out amazing halls under the earth, carved with stunning artwork and architecture. When the Dokkalfar moved into the upper surface of the world, they and the Duergar struck a truce deal, with separate territories. Although the Dokkalfar do live in underground dwellings as well, theirs are generally surface caves and mounds, while the Duergar halls extend a mile or more under the surface. They call the Duergar-inhabited part of their world Nidavellir, as opposed to not-Nidavellir, which is what they call anything controlled by the Dokkalfar.

Time and Seasons:

Svartalfheim is said to have the longest year of any of the worlds, discounting Helheim where all time and seasons are artificially maintained by Hela. A Svartalfheim year is equal to several Midgard years. There is little variation between summer and winter, and nothing in the way of spring and fall. The only variations seem to be a greater propensity to rainfall (or snowfall in the higher altitudes) during winter, and more high winds during summer. Days, like years, are two to three times the length of days in other realms; the ratio depends on the realm in question. Even in summer, days are shorter than nights - maybe a little less than half the time - and in winter, the Sun barely shows Her face in Svartalfheim. The Dokkalfar have adapted wonderfully to an almost entirely nocturnal existence, and indeed find the extensive daylight of other worlds oppressive.
The Duergar venture out of their tunnels only during daylight, and most of their lives are spent underground in a world of cavern-cities, which they can make just as bright as they choose, so the outside time and season hardly matters to any of them. The are aware of the seasons, though, in a rather idealized way; when they picture them in carvings and art, they show the lush beauty of the seasons in other worlds such as Vanaheim, Asgard, or Jotunheim. Indeed, the Duergar live almost as if they are pretending they are somewhere else; only a few goatherds venture out during the summer, and a few others on pilgrimages to shrines.

Geography:

Svartalfheim is more difficult to get into. The dwarves operate by their own rules and have a great many more visitors and travelers going in and out of their realm than the elves do. Once you are inside the elf lands, moving about is actually easier than in Ljossalfheim, as the Svartalfar don't usually care where you go once you've earned their permission to enter in the first place. Svartalfheim is just as magically potent as Ljossalfheim, but it's also a colder, scarier and creepier place. The dark-elves are often malicious and untrustworthy, and few spirit-workers who wander into their realm want to hang around longer than necessary.

Supported by RavenKaldera and Elizabeth Vongvisith ( Spirit-Worker )