Svartalfheim & Nidavellir - 2nd part

Little is known about the conflicts and the great war between the elven kind, but it is certain that a group of elves were exiled and came to Svartalfheim when they were expelled from their homeland in Ljossalfheim. It appears that this race of elves weren't welcomed anywhere else, only in the dark lands of the Duergar (Dwarves).
The Duergar granted shelter to these elves and since today, a tenuous peace and reasonable harmony lingers. The dark elves, or Dokkalfar as I have written on the previous post, couldn't live any other way, the Duergar outnumber them and control most of their homeland. There are many terms and conditions for both races to live in the same realm, however, none knows for sure which of those are.
As it would be expected, there is trade between the two races, but not as much as anyone might think.

Few are the deities that live in this dark land, one of those deities is the goddess Niorun, the goddess of dreams. Despite from being a goddess little-known to many, both the Duergar and the Darkelves honor her a great deal. As I have written on the previous post, Svartalfheim is a dangerous place to travel into or dwell during the day, and at night its impossible to be safe. However, the hall of this goddess, Niorun, is one of the few places (if not the only one) that a travel might take shelter, be safe and not being bothered by any of the outside realm. Apart from being a relatively safe place, it isn't beautiful, the very sight of it often makes people uncomfortable and the sense that it isn't safe at all.

The Goddess of Dreams Niorun

Dreams are an important part of our lifes, the realms of fantasy, the places where our most wildest dreams come true. In dreams we are free, such as the shaman is when freeing his/her soul in a altered state of consciousness, sometimes all of us do the same, but we aren't aware of that and most of the time we can't perceive or distinguish what is a dream and a journey of the soul, it all seems the same, nonetheless dreams helped us understanding the world around us, they give us the imagination to create art, they even give us clues to understand the most complex scientific matters, when we reflect on something and fall asleep with those questions in mind. As dreams are an important thing is our daily lives, there is a Norse goddess for dreams, her name is Niorun.

From the old Norse lore, practically nothing is known about this goddess, actually i had a difficult time trying to search something about her, for i am a dreamer and personally i have lots of great stories and journeys to talk about since i was a baby, but this post i will dedicate exclusively to this goddess and a special thanks to Raven Kaldera, whithout him, i wouldn't get much of the information i have about this goddess and i wouldn't share with you how important she is.´

Niorun or Njorun, lives in Svartalfheim, and she is an important goddess of dreams and of the night to the Duergar ( the dwarves ) and to the Dark Elves, from whom most of the knowledge about this goddess, comes. Svartalfheim is a dangerous realm, if one must cross it, there aren't much places to hid, or get shelter, a safe place.. traveling fast, straight to the destination is the best thing to do, however, where Niorun dwells, is the only place one might find peace and stay without being chased, haunted or stalked by anyone. They might find protection there, although, as soon as anyone leaves the place, that protection is over and they must carry their journey on their own again. Her face is seldom seen, she walks in her halls as a shadowed figure, she speaks with people of course, but most of what she says, no one can remember ( for me that wouldn't be a surprise, most of the deities i speak with, i can rarely remember what they told me, fortunatelly i remember everything else and i learn valuable lessons just with the things and places they show me ) it is like living a dream inside those halls, and it can be dangerous to fall asleep. She can be called to have prophetic dreams, to find answers while you sleep, but those dreams might not be clear, but at least you might learn something new, something that might prove useful in your life, the dreams can inspire you in all the you do.