Item# 55 The Troll-riða blað or the Earth crusher

For context on the world, please see the Intro post and context on the Excalibur collection please see Item #51.

The next sword in the Excalibur collection is the The Troll-riða blað or the Earth crusher. This one was forged and given to the Immortal known as The Troll King.

The Troll King is the Immortal in charge of protecting the earth and the treasures and resources within it. He is mostly worshipped by dwarves, miners and as his name suggests, trolls.

The Troll King originally went by the name The Mountain Dweller. But when The Troll King worked with Mother Nature to create new creatures to be the guardians of the earth realm (much like Mother Nature’s guardians of her realm, such as gnomes, elves and fairies), he changed his name to The Mountain King, for he ruled over these new beings.

But as the Humans’ population grew and the other Immortals expanded their realms and gained their own guardians, The Troll King’s people were being pushed out of their homes, ostracised and attacked for their appearances. They were also attacked because they stopped the Humans from exploiting the earth and over mining.

The Troll King’s guardians fled and sought protection from The Troll King and his kin. Now I should note that a troll isn’t a specific race or creature, instead it is a name given to beings that are deemed to be very ugly. For The Troll King’s guardians consists of bigfoots, goblins, ogres, etc.

Some of these beings were also giant and thus presented a threat to other magical creatures, animals and Humans. For this they were attacked, not only by the Humans, but other Immortals as well. An example would be that The Mighty Phoenix, placed a curse on some of the ogres that prevents them from coming out during the day time, because if they stand in the sun, they will turn to stone.

Or Mother Nature who created a special type of moss that infects The Troll King’s guardians if they come too close to her domain. This moss, once on an earth creature, doesn’t stop growing until it renders the victim immobilised. 

Displeased on how his guardians were treated and how they couldn’t fulfil their duty to stop the earth’s resources from being exploited, The Mountain King became The Troll King. Basically taking back the word “troll” which was used as a derogatory term to not only the creatures in his domain but to anyone who was alienated because of their appearance.

The Troll King even changed his main form, which was a giant stone dragon, to an ogre. But to distinguish himself from ordinary ogres, The Troll King gave himself four stone horns. Each horn is placed in a circle around his head, giving him the appearance of wearing a crown.

The Troll King even waged a war against the other Immortals. The Troll King gathered an army of his largest guardians, known as Titans and attacked. Some of the other Immortals’ children also joined The Troll King, like Cronos, the son of Mother Nature and Father Time.

But as the war went on, the cyclopes (human-like giants with one eye) and hecatoncheires (giants with fifty heads and a hundred arms) switched sides. Tired of seeing their kind killed on the battlefield, the cyclopes used their knowledge of blacksmithing to make weapons for Zeus and his army (who were chosen to fight on the behalf of the other Immortals). And the hecatoncheires joined Zeus’ front line.

After a long time, Zeus won. But the other Immortals understood The Troll King’s actions and instead of punishing him, they let his guardians live underground and let them carry out their duties of protecting the underground world.

But The Troll King must first ask permission from the other Immortals and Humans before he sent out his guardians to a specific place they must protect.

Because of this The Troll King has isolated himself and only interacts and converses with the creatures in his domain. But what is interesting is that The Troll King specified that he hates Humans the most, but has taken a few Human lovers and has had many children with them, like his son Atlas who was born from the Human woman Clymene, who was a follower and adopted daughter of Oceanus (the son of The Lady of the Lake). Funnily enough Clymene is also the mother of Prometheus, the son of Brother Life!     

The Troll King also shared his disdain for the other Immortals, but like with the Humans, The Troll King didn’t hold that strong of a grudge as he had many children with them as well. Such as Huldra (a beautiful woman with an ox tail), his daughter whom he had with Mother Nature and Nøkken (an evil water spirt) a son he had with The Lady of the Lake.

Anyway, long story short, The Troll King is very powerful and his domain reaches far and wide.

But now let’s get into the main reason for this document, the Excalibur collection’s fifth addition: The Troll-riða blað or the Earth crusher.

Starting with the blade, which is made out of two materials.

The first part of the blade is the metal. Hephaestus chose to make the blade a giant broadsword, but chose to alter it in a way that there is no point, meaning it has no thrusting ability. This is because The Troll King’s primary weapon is the Earth Hammer. So, Hephaestus decided that it would be best to create a sword that is big and accommodates The Troll King’s fighting style, which is to use a weapon that he can just swing around.

This means that most of the cutting power will be focused in the sides and the blade must be wide. For this Hephaestus had to find a metal that was strong enough to withstand the stresses that big swords are prone to. Such as: shattering, due to a large surface that struggles to absorb shock. There is also the problem of possible wobbling, an off-centre balance, lack of wind resistance, prone to turn blunt quicker and because of the lack of thrusting ability, the sword would be less versatile.

Hephaestus went to work finding a metal that was very strong, shock absorbent, sturdy and thin enough to counter wind resistance. This almost seemed impossible, until Hephaestus came across the story of the Rainbow Serpents.

The story goes that in the very early days of Magusterra, before the dream realm was in a different dimension. At the beginning it was decided that the dream realm would be created on a landmass far south in the real world. This land is known today as Yolgnu. This time period was known as the Dreamtime.

During this time The Sandman asked The Troll King (who went by the name The Mountain Dweller) to help them construct and shape the land of this “Dream Island” (as The Sandman called it).

But The Troll King was busy at this time shaping the other larger landmasses. The Troll King compromised with The Sandman and impregnated them. The Sandman gave birth to twin snakes/serpents. These twins were named Aido-Hwedo (brother) and Ayida-Weddo (sister). Their scales also glowed with the colours of the rainbow everytime the sun reflected off of them, thus giving them the nickname of the Rainbow Serpents.

The twins worked with their birth giver, The Sandman, to shape the land, create pathways for rivers and make mountains. Eventually this Dream Island was complete, but immediately The Sandman realised the problem of having the dream world and the real world in the same dimension: Lucid Dreamers.

It turns out that the Lucid Dreamers were not only able to use their reality changing powers when they sleep, but they were also able to use this power when awake. This caused chaos, so The Sandman decided to abandon the Dream Island and moved the dream realm into another dimension. This angered the Rainbow Serpents, for since they were born in the real world, they couldn’t go with to this new dimension.

The twins decided to make what was once the Dream Island their home. And once the Humans moved in and started settlements, such as the Bundjalung Nation, the Rainbow Serpents went on the attack. The Bundjalung people were losing the war against the two serpents and pleaded with the Immortals for help. The Troll King agreed and sent a giant lizard, known as Dirawong.

Dirawong and the Rainbow Serpents fought in a battle of epic proportions. The fight went on for a while, but Dirawong overpowered them and killed Aido-Hwedo. Shocked at the death of her brother, Ayida-Weddo, ran away. After that, Dirawong was made the guardian of the Bundjalung Nation and Yolgnu.

Ayida-Weddo swam across the oceans and ended up in the Kingdom of Dahomey. There Ayida-Weddo was hunted by her half-sibling Mawu-Lisa, a two faced being that was both male and female. When Mawu-Lisa caught up with Ayida-Weddo, the Rainbow Serpent begged for forgiveness. Mawu-Lisa captured the serpent, and feeling bad for her, they pleaded with their father, The Troll King, to let her live. The Troll King agreed, but as punishment, Ayida-Weddo was to be a servant to Mawu-Lisa.

Mawu-Lisa used the Rainbow Serpent to help finish forming and shaping the Dahomey Kingdom. Eventually Ayida-Weddo was accepted by the locals and even settled down and married Damballa a large black and white serpent, who is the son of Brother Life and The Lady of the Lake.

But when The Troll King went to war with the other Immortals, The Lady of the Lake was displeased with the union between Ayida-Weddo and Damballa. The Lady of the Lake also thought that it would be a fitting punishment for The Troll King to lose his biggest supporter, the Dahomey Kingdom.

The Lady of the Lake raised the sea level and tried to sink the kingdom. To prevent this, save her home, husband and appease her father, Ayida-Weddo dove into the sea, went underneath the landmass and picked the country up. Everytime the water rose, Ayida-Weddo lifted the land higher. This worked and she was able to save her home and people from drowning.

When the war ended The Lady of the Lake stopped raising the water level. But she didn’t lower it, meaning that if Ayida-Weddo lowered the land, it would be submerged in water. This meant that she had to hold the Kingdom of Dahomey up for the rest of her existence. To help her, The Sandman bribed the merpeople, with the promise of letting them dream. The merpeople secretly took special iron bars, given to them by The Troll King, to Ayida-Weddo. Ayida-Weddo would then eat these iron bars, which increased the strength of her scales, turning them into an unbreakable armour.

This is to help her hold up the land, but also if she dies, her body will be 99% iron and will still be able to hold up the land, like a pillar.

With this, Hephaestus figured that the scales would be perfect for the blade. The special iron bars are one of the strongest metals in all of Magusterra and if they are absorbed into Ayida-Weddo’s skin, that means her scales must be just as strong. Since Ayida-Weddo holds up a landmass, that means the scales can take any blow or shock dealt to it, seeing that it can withstand the vibrations from the movement above ground and in the ocean. Then there is the fact that scales are quite thin. This can help with counteracting against wind resistance.

Hephaestus told The Troll King about this. The Troll King was pleased with this idea. For not only are the scales powerful, but like The Mighty Phoenix, The Troll King can use it to honour his daughter’s sacrifice. As well as use it to exact revenge on The Lady of the Lake when the time comes! So The Troll King commanded a mermaid to retrieve a few scales.

Now it was just figuring out how to balance the blade. For this Hephaestus forged the blade and cut it into two halves. This seemed to help with the balance issue. But now there was a gap in between the blades, which could hinder The Troll King’s fighting style.

This lead Hephaestus to figure out what to fill in this gap and also help The Troll King gain an advantage over his opponent. And there was only one thing Hephaestus could think of: The Mongolian Death Worm!

The Mongolian Death Worm dwells in the deserts of Mönkh khökh tengeriin oron. Also known as the Allghoi Khorkhoi, the Mongolian Death Worm is a giant red worm, that can grow up to 5-7 feet. They live mostly underground and drink water from the desert plants and eat small mammals and other insects.

They are considered to be very dangerous, due to their ability to travel at high speeds through the sand. They also have a row of sharp teeth that they can retract.

The worm can travel fast through the sand due to its ability to store up static electricity. It uses this ability to move sand out of its way, allowing it to tunnel through the desert. It can even use the stored up static electricity to create sandstorms and dry quicksand.

It also uses static electricity to see, because the Death Worm has no eyes. Instead it detects objects and enemies through the static movement of the sand when it is disturbed. But that is not all this ability can do. Another use for the worm’s electrical power is to stun enemies or pray, by firing small amounts of electrical currents at them. This paralyses the unlucky soul who comes across them.

If that isn’t bad enough, the Death Worm is also known to have acid saliva, that can burn though skin in mere seconds!

Hephaestus believed this to be a good weapon for The Troll King to use, but it is also perfect to fill in the gap between the blades and can be used to connect the hilt to the blade. But there was one problem: the older a Allghoi Khorkhoi gets, the less power they have.

The Mongolian Death Worm is weak when young and becomes stronger as it grows. And when it is in its young adulthood it is at its most powerful. After that it becomes weaker as it gets older. So Hephaestus had to find one that just turned into an adult.

Hephaestus went to the deserts in Mönkh khökh tengeriin oron, there he met with a Böö (a shaman). With this Böö, Hephaestus was taken to a Haloxylon tree, a tree that holds a lot of water and a favorite of the Death Worms.

The Böö advised Hephaestus to bring a lot of water with him, because that is the worm’s weakness. Hephaestus did as the shaman advised and poured the water around the tree, making the sand wet and waterlogged. This forced the worms to surface because they can only move in dry sand. The water also protected Hephaestus because if they used their electrical powers, the water would cause them to get affected by it as well. The only threat now was their spit.

To avoid it Hephaestus stood at a safe distance and waited for the worms to emerge. When he spotted a young adult Death Worm, Hephaestus used a paralyzing spell to freeze it. Some say this spell was given to Hephaestus by the Immortal One, because this spell paralysed the worm in a way that it would never age. Hephaestus also used a spell that would allow The Troll King to use the worm’s abilities for himself.

After Hephaestus found his worm, he waited for the others to leave before going in to collect. Once acquired, Hephaestus put it in the gap of the blade. The Death Worm’s head was placed at the top, so that its acid and electrical powers can be used against any enemies. And the tail is at the bottom so that Hephaestus can attach the hilt.

Speaking of the hilt, Hephaestus wanted to not only increase The Troll King’s strength, but also his agility. Because when The Troll King changed his main form to an ogre, he lost speed and maneuverability. This is because ogres are large lumbering creatures, that are pure muscle. Which could make The Troll King an easy target for the other swords in the Excalibur collection.  

But this was an easy fix. All Hephaestus needed was a warrior that was turned to stone. Specifically turned to stone by a Gorgon.

Quick story time: The Gorgons are, as mentioned in the creation of Lady Wisdom’s sword, creatures with a human body, a snake’s lower half, bat wings and snakes for hair. And if a living being looks into their eyes they instantly turn to stone.

They are the guardians of The Troll King’s most precious treasures. These Gorgon’s were once Humans, who were chosen by The Troll King to serve him. But there are pure blood Gorgons, for the Humans-turned-Gorgons, mated and gave birth to other Gorgons, making them pure and an official race.

And even though The Troll King hates Zeus, he grew fond of Athena, for she empathized with The Troll King’s creatures. While helping Athena forge her shield he gave her the eyes of a Gorgon and even taught her how to turn Humans into one, which she used on Medusa (more about her on a later date).

But the Gorgons also have one special ability that only The Troll King can use. And that is when a person is turned into a statue, The Troll King can touch the stone and gain their memories, powers and fighting abilities.

But as I said only The Troll King can do this and he can only gain their abilities when holding a piece from their stone body. If he lets go, he loses it.

So Hephaestus went in search for a great warrior that was unlucky enough to run into one of these monsters. But Hephaestus ended up with nothing. For most people that were frozen in stone were common thieves, bandits and innocent people in the wrong place at the wrong time.

All other great warriors either died from other causes or managed to kill the Gorgon (or at least one did, Perseus). Hephaestus asked The Troll King if he knew any fighters that were turned to stone, to which he answered: “Only one. My poor unfortunate son, Atlas…”

I wrote earlier that Atlas was the son of The Troll King and Clymene. Atlas was The Troll King’s strongest and best warrior. Atlas was also The Troll King’s top general and lead the Titans into battle. But after they lost, Atlas was punished by Zeus. Zeus made Atlas use his strength to hold Mt. Olympus up for all eternity. To Zeus’ surprise Atlas did this with ease. I say surprised because contrary to popular belief Atlas wasn’t a giant, he was barely even six feet!

Even though Atlas was able to fulfil his task, the isolation took a toll on his sanity. Eventually The Troll King compromised with Zeus, to free Atlas. The Troll King told Zeus that he will turn Atlas to stone, that way Atlas is free from his torture and since his statue will be strong enough to hold up Olympus, Atlas will still be carrying out his punishment. Zeus agreed, but only if Atlas can hold Olympus up with one hand.

The Troll King told Atlas about the deal. Atlas didn’t hesitate to take on Zeus’ challenge and with some help from his father, he was able to hold the mountain up with one arm! After that, Zeus sent his son Perseus. Perseus used the head of the Gorgon Medusa, to turn the son of The Troll King into stone. Even today, Atlas in his statue form still holds up the home of the Olympians, with one hand.

Hephaestus figured that Atlas would have been not only very strong, but also agile. And since The Troll King allowed him to use the scales from his daughter, Hephaestus was confident that The Troll King would want to honour his son as well.

Hephaestus was right and The Troll King personally went to his son’s frozen body and broke off the hand that was not holding up the mountain. Hephaestus used the Death Worm’s tail to bind the hand to the blade.

But then Hephaestus realised two problems. One agility requires the ability to read your opponent’s moves, which The Troll King never had to do because of his thick skin. But the other swords in the Excalibur collection, will be able to cut through it. The second was that although The Troll King gained his son’s agility, he also got his strength. Atlas’ strength added to his father’s, thus making him even more of a heavy-footed fighter.

But Hephaestus already had two solutions: one was to add a crystal ball for reading the enemy and the second was to add a feather from a Roc.

A crystal ball is a specula, an object used to see the future. There are many different types of specula, but the crystal ball is the most famous and reliable. The first one was created by The Troll King, who stole some sand from Father Time’s hourglass. The Troll King wanted to use it to predict whether his plan to use guardians will work. He was given a vision that showed it would be successful.

But as I mention a lot, Humans have the ability to disrupt the plans of the Immortals. It seems that it was intended for The Troll King to have his guardians prosper, but the Humans felt differently and changed that. The Troll King thought that his invention was useless. But he did make more crystal balls and sold it to the Humans, thinking that it could lead them into destroying themselves with false predictions of the future and make a profit. 

But Hephaestus did some research on the crystal ball and found that although the predictions they give can be false, it doesn’t mean that they are useless.

For you see dear reader, the crystal ball doesn’t give precise readings, only a likelihood or statistic. And the further in the future you look the more the likelihood of it happening goes down. What I mean by this is that let’s say you look into ten years ahead. The vision shown has a statistic of 1/1000 to actually happen and the further you go the more that number increases, making it even more less likely to happen.

But if you say look five minutes, it decreases to 1/10. So Hephaestus told The Troll King that the crystal ball is mostly affective to see things that will happen from a few seconds from now. Making it perfect to help The Troll King read his enemies next move, because he can use the ball to see what attack they will use against The Troll King. And since the attack happens so fast, the crystal ball’s reading will be accurate to at least 96%!

The Troll King agreed and understood, he was also pleased to see that his invention wasn’t a complete failure and handed Hephaestus the first one he made. Hephaestus placed the crystal ball in the hand of Atlas.

Now to solve the second problem, making The Troll King lighter. For this Hephaestus used something that he and the other dwarves already had, the feather from a Roc.

A Roc is a giant eagle, that can pick up and eat elephants! They were created by The Troll King, after he and his guardians were forced underground. The Troll King feared that since some of his ogres can’t be out in the sun light, that the tops of the mountains were vulnerable and unprotected.

So, The Troll King evolved some eagles to protect the mountains. But there was one problem, since the eagles increased in size, they lost their ability to fly. For this The Troll King gave their feathers the ability to make whatever they touch lighter. Allowing them to soar the skies once more. Hephaestus already had one on hand because he and the other dwarves use them to move giant boulders when they mine.

But the sword was still missing something…

Hephaestus felt that it needed something extra to help protect The Troll King. So it was back to the books for Hephaestus. Luckily it didn’t take long, for Hephaestus came across a special metal known as thogcha.

Thogcha is an ancient metal that came from a meteorite. It landed in Tu-fan and the Bonpos (healing practitioners) found that they had the ability to create a “wall of wind” or in other words a force field. The Bonpos also believe that it not only can give temporary protection from physical objects but also spiritual, such as ghosts. Thus giving The Troll King an extra layer of armour.

Hephaestus went to Tu-fan and got a piece of thogcha. In his workshop, Hephaestus turned it into a ring and placed it on one of Atlas’ fingers.

Then Hephaestus tied the Roc feather to the ring and the sword was complete. Hephaestus named it The Troll-riða blað or the Earth crusher and presented it to The Troll King in his underground kingdom of Agartha.

To keep it safe The Troll King put the sword at the top of the tallest mountain: Chomolungma. The Troll King also made the cousins of the Bigfoots, the guardians of the sword. These guardians go by two names, The Abominable Snowman or the Yeti.

The ark sent me just a few meters away from the top of Chomolungma. There I had to wait for a Yeti to lead me to the sword and help me take it back. It was only a few minutes, but with the freezing temperatures on the mountain it felt like forever.

Eventually my guide appeared, a large white ape-like creature. It took me to the sacred cave where the sword was held.

As I entered their village I was given a warm coat that helped me withstand the snowy climate.

They were friendly enough, but I could feel that if I stepped one foot out of line they wouldn’t hesitate to attack. To be honest it was quite nerve-racking. But then we made it to the cave, where I had to present the letter from The Lady of the Lake (that was co-signed by The Troll King) to the elders, that confirmed that I was sent to pick it up.

The Elders gave me a nod of approval and the Yeti guide carried and placed the sword in the ark. As a thank you for the coat I gave the Yeti a bowl of fruit to share with the village.

A few days went by and then I was told to collect the next sword in the Excalibur collection: Item #56 Zeit Verkürzen or the Time Piece.

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