Rungholt

The Town And The Gods

It were the earlier days of civilization. People were spreading over the world, but life was yet hard and simple.

All, people could do, was to work hard and pray to the higher beings for their blessings and mercy.

Of course there were ones who lead a hard, poor and short life despite doing their best and giving their all in the daily struggle to get by.

And there were those who were assumed to be blessed by one deity or the other. Who were lucky or smart enough (or both) to purchase the best patch of land, make the most profitable deals or find the best spots for hunting and/or fishing.

The lot was always fair, fate didn't favor people for one reason or another. Fate was indifferent if you were a good person or a bad one, the lucky and the unlucky were among both of those groups.

Rungholt started as a small settlement of fishermen and maybe some sailors, who used the island as a gateway between the Sea and the Mainland. Acting as a transshipment point between the Mainland and the Norse folk who lived on the other side of the Northern Sea, Rungholt thrived and expanded.

Over time the once small fishermen village became a bustling town, covering almost the entire island, and overflowing with people.

But.

Maybe the folks of Rungholt had a too good life since the youngest generations lacked any kind of compassion for the less fortunate and also were disrespectful and arrogant.

They dismissed the warnings of their elders to heed the old ways.

Pray to the deities for mercy and their blessings.

Sacrifice and say your Thanks when the higher beings are generous.

Leave the bycatch to the sea as an offering when you haul in a good catch.

To catch and kill one of the talking creatures of the sea is a sin and will anger the deities of the sea, so leave them be and release them if one should happen to get trapped in the nets.

The younger ones laughed at the words and warnings and continued on their way of taking advantage of the weaknesses of others, keeping everything they caught in their nets, mocking the elders for them beleiving in gods and deities and they never saw any talking sea creatures.

Those were rare and wary of the fishermen since they stopped leaving their bycatch. If they kept fish they didn't really want or need, they might be capable of taking them, should they ever get entangled in their nets or fishing lines.

So they kept their distance.

---

Dream was sad.

He had been for quite some time now.

He and his brother Nightmare were the gods of the Northern Sea, and while his brother stayed passive most of the time, slept and regulated the tides with his slow breathing, was Dream always busy actively watching over the land dwellers, listening to their prayers and pleads and helping them as best as he could.

Dream liked to make those little land creatures happy and in the beginning the mortals had been overly grateful and offered and sacrificed.

They had been fearful of the rage of the sea at the same time and Nightmare left them be when they prayed for forgiveness or begged for mercy for any transgression. He actually didn't really care what those puny mortals did, as long as they left the merfolk alone.

Those were their natures, you prayed to Dream for help and begged Nightmare for mercy. Dream was helpful and forgiving, Nightmare was mostly indifferent but when, on rare occasions, angered, unlimited vengeful.

So, now Dream was sad. The land dwellers had left the old ways. Only the elders still prayed to the 'Guardians of the Sea who protected the island', as they called him and his brother since they didn't know the real nature or identity of the higher beings they worshipped.

The younger generations had begun to lack in their faith in the gods. First they stopped praying and sacrificing outside of special occasions like the harvest moon or other traditional celebrations. Then they stopped expressing their gratitude and praying for mercy and forgiveness for their sins.

Eventually the fishermen stopped leaving their bycatch. Before, Dream had used the offered bycatch of the fishermen to keep the fish population stable and healthy and to help feed the merfolk.

Now, without that the fish population had started to drop dramatically in the past years and while the land dwellers practically emptied the fishing grounds, the merfolk was starving. Some had already decided to move to find other places to live, but some species couldn't do that.

So they starved slowly.

Dream told his brother all this and all, Nightmare had to say to that was that they should act if the land dwellers should proceed in their false ways and really bring harm to the merfolk.

Yet despite everything Dream couldn't bring himself to abandon land dwellers and kept helping them. He still hoped.

Until that fateful day when he watched the ships and boats come and go and noticed with horror what the fishermen had done.