Blendingar (Hybrids)
Excerpt describing Blendingar (Old Norse term, Hybrids in English) from Úlfheimr: The Tenth World.
Before the beginning of time, where Múspellsheimr and Niflheimr meet in Ginungagap, fire melted primeval ice, and as it began to drip, started to take the shape of a many things, including that of a giant cow, Auðumbla. On the evening of the first day, some hair started to appear from the blocks of ice Auðumbla was licking for nourishment. On the second day, a white head with blue eyes and a thick golden beard came out of the ice. On the third day, a big, powerful, and fair-skinned jǫtunn emerged. His name was Búri. He was strong, exceptionally attractive, and he smelled very good. He had a son, Borr, who fathered many offsprings with his woman Bestla, including Óðinn, and later another descendant, Áskunnr, with a mortal from Miðgarðr (home of menn), one of the newly created Níu Heimar (nine worlds).
Áskunnr, half jǫtunn and half man, and also half brother of Óðinn, was the first Blendingr, or hybrid. He went on to conceive hundreds of liðsmenn (warriors) in his image, renowned for their handsomeness, physical strength, sexual prowess, purity of soul, wisdom, and most importantly of course, war fighting prowesses. All driven by an extreme and raw expression of Óðr, the frenzy, passion, and spiritual ecstatic state associated with both sex and battle.
To this day, Blendingar remain exceptional beings, akin to the gods, with very unique and distinct body and mind characteristics. They are taller than any man, always well over seven fœtr (feet), and in some instances nearly one and a half faðmar (nine feet). They are identified by extraordinarily defined lean muscles, hardly ever seen in mere mortals. Despite their size, and weight well over thirty fjórðungar (about three hundred pounds), Blendingar are particularly agile. They tend to move like Álfar (Elfs) and are capable of leaping over great lengths and heights. Their strength is mythical, and they are known to have been able to unroot giant trees in Nýnorðrlönd (a region later known as British Columbia) with their bare hands, to crush femurs with their thumbs, or in the case of hybrids of Danish descent, to overturn large things at least twenty times their own weight.
Blendingar also surpass all in raw and natural handsomeness, including Baldur, áss of beauty. Their skin is whiter than that of the fairest of all Æsir, Heimdallr, and blends completely in the snowy and icy landscapes of the north, and of Jǫtunheimr (home of the Jǫtnar or Giants) too. Their eyes are bluer than the summer skies, the alpine lakes of the homeland, the deep oceans of the north and the south, and the ice fields of Helluland put together. Their blonde or red hair parallels the pure gold of Draupnir, Óðinn’s gold ring manufactured by the Dvergar or elves, or the fires of Múspellsheimr (realm of eldr or fire). Hybrids are also known for their spectacular long, straight, and soft beards. The chest of Blendingar is as bare as the landscape of Svalbard, with no more than a handful of individual hairs. Hybrids, however, have a peculiar amount of hair on certain parts of their body, including the top of their feet, their groin as well as their underarms, with the latter both presenting unusual density and thickness. Hybrids, and this is odd, smell strikingly good as well. The musky scent of their skin and sweat is unusually pleasing and intoxicating for any man, with a mere whiff believed to prompt unusually wild and uncontrollable expressions of Óðr among true vígmenn (warriors). Many believe that the Ásynjur have cast a spell on mere mortals to prevent them from looking away when faced in fascination with a hybrid. The reality, however, is that Blendingar simply are the nicest thing any human could possibly ever lay his eye on, or breath for that matter.
Furthermore, Hybrids can see with a much wider angle of view, and in slow motion, providing them unequaled reactivity to anticipate their enemies’ every move, and greatly contributing to their combat superiority. It isn’t uncommon for Blendingar to neutralize or kill several men at the same time, sometimes with just one strike. They are also famed for being able to see as far and as clearly as an eagle eye can see, allowing them to detect threats even in the darkest of forests. Hybrids can hear a snowflake fall on moss, or the breathing of any and all things. Their sense of smell is more developed than that of a regular Úlfheðinn and they can detect and respond to scent, including male fear and sexual pheromones, from many rastir (miles) away. Moreover, hybrids have an innate capacity to naturally perceive threats and other dangers, and a protective drive that is so strong that they have been known to engage in unspeakable and unimaginable violence in order to protect or avenge their own. Blendingar also display acute resistance to extreme cold, high levels of discomfort, privation and pain, making them even immune to the most gruesome tortures.
As masters of Óðr, Blendingar also have legendary sexual needs (as well as legendary göndlar). They have been reported throughout history as having at times raped hundreds of enemies to death in a single day during the rut season. Some hybrids are even known to have mated with up to thirty four Leðrhalsar over the course of only a few hours.
Blendingar are the archetypes of transcendent masculinity and they are the embodiment of ultimate víglið (warriors). They are so close to gods that they were often mistaken as such throughout the history of the worlds.