The seas had retreated during the deep cold but when the ice finally melted there were great floods. The retreating ice left lakes and meltwaters covering the land struggling to find a way to the seas which grew in size again until they over topped and flooded into each other. Stories passed down through the ages told of people spreading out over the world from the flanks of the great volcano after the flood.
During the coldest phase sparse grass replaced rich forest and desert dunes replaced grassy hills but when the great rivers flowed serenely once more, from a height their gently meandering courses looked like branches spreading across the bare plains. As regular rains returned new trees sprouted like leaves along their many branches slowly clothing the land in green once more. Away from the rivers the return of the rain was sufficient to allow fresh grass to reclothe the barren plains. Following this animals returned to graze and people were then able to exploit these vast roaming herds. It was the dawn of a new age – the age of man.
The cold and hot realms as described in the Norse creation myth are close to each other and the mixing of the of hot and cold and light and dark in Ginnungagap was where the world was created and Yggdrasil grew from a seed in Mimmisbrunnr. The cold realm therefore cannot be in the far north but in the highest mountains, which is why I have located Niflheim, Nidafjoll and Hvergelmir in the High Caucasus. The elemental nature of the hot realm is more contradictory and could be located in the desert to the east or the volcanic region to the south. I have associated Muspelheim, the home of the fire Gods, with the active volcano of Mount Ararat. It is equal in height to the High Caucasus but with relatively little snow and the two regions stand facing each other overlooking the the Lesser Caucasus that lies in between. It is in this range of lower but rugged volcanic mountains that I chose to place Mimisbrunnr, which I have associated with Lake Sevan. I chose to place Helheim however to the east just across the Caspian Sea in a barren land of sand, salt and rocks.
Yggdrasil and Middle World 