Outer Reach

**Outer Reach** (Danish: *Ydergård*), formerly the **Land of Nod**, is the area surrounding Hell. A massive, almost tangible darkness envelope Outer Reach, making it impossible to see out there. The region is untraced, and monsters known as the accursed, live in the close darkness. It was Now that Cain was banished to by Jehovah. Here he met Lilith whom he fell in love with, and together they became the ancestors of the accursed.

Outer Reach was originally supposed to be Paradise, but the conditions proved too difficult to work with for Jehovah.

## Geography

Outer Reach is an untraced area. It is shrouded in a close, almost darkness. It takes about fiteen minutes to get accustomed to the darkness of Outer Reach, and even then you can barely see anything. Above Outer Reach there is a black sky, which is the exact same sky above Hell. The nature in the land there is hideous, almost incomprehensible and should be impossible. There are deformed trees that looks like they have been pressed inside out by something, so that the trunks are a tangle of splinters. There are warped plants that seem to writhe in pain and reach out for things around them. Something has ploughehd the barren land, leaving vast furrows filled with a darkness more intense than the sky above, and through these deep ravines blows an icy wind and the constant sound of a distant storm. A slow-running river filled with a concoction of mud and blood flows through the distorted landscape until it reaches the edge of a bottomless pit, but instead of draining into it, the river rises like a gigantic snake and stretches int othe black sky as far as the eye can see. The nature is pure chaos, and it even proved difficult for God to work with, when he attempted to create Paradise out of the place, however the place is far from dead, as it is inhabited by nurmerous monsters, the accursed.

## Appearances

### *The Great Devil War*

* *The Devil's Apprentice*
* *The Die of Death*
* *The Wrongful Death*
* *The Ange of Evil*

## Religious background

The Land of Nod (Hebrew: ארץ נוד, *eretz-Nod*) is a location mentioned in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament, which is found "east of Eden" (*qidmat-‘Eden*), and is where Cain was exiled to by God after Cain had murdered his brother Abel. Almost every interpretation of the Land of Nod has been used by Kenneth B. Andersen in his version of the land in *The Great Devil War*, including that the world is "under the earth" (close to Hell) and that it is shrouded in massive darkness, that it is home to several supernatural beasts and monsters, and that it is outside of God's sight,</ref> Early commentators treated it as the opposite of Eden (worse still than the land of exile for the rest of humanity). In the English tradition Nod was sometimes described as a desert inhabited only by ferocious beasts or monsters. Others interpreted Nod as dark or even underground—away from the face of God. where God has literally said that he "can't see through Outer Reach's massive shadows" in *The Wrongful Death*, that it is the home of Cain after his exile, and the idea that Cain built a city there, here with Lilith, who together became the ancestors of all of the accursed (the monsters). A big detail that goes against the religious texts and interpretations is that Nod/Outer Reach originally was to be Paradise, but the warped nature proved very difficult for God to work with. The idea that Cain and Lilith became the original parents of monsters originates in the Zohar, where Lilith is said to have forced herself on Cain and born several spirits and demons from the encounter.

According to the Book of Genesis 4:16:

— Book of Genesis 4:16, the Bible

### Name

"Nod" (נוד) is the Hebrew root in the verb "to wander" (לנדוד). As such, to live in the Land of Nod is normally interpreted as living a nomadic life. The Book of Genesis 4:17 tells that after having arrived in the Land of Nod, Cain's wife bore a son for him named Enoch, in whose name he built the first city.Wikipedia:da:Wilhelm Gesenius defines (נוּד) as the follows:

> TO BE MOVED, TO BE AGITATED (Arab. ناد Med. Waw id.), used of a reed shaken by the wind, 1Ki.14:15; hence *to wander, to be a fugitive*, Jer. 4:1; Gen. 4:12, 14; Ps.56:9; *to flee*, Ps. 11:1; Jer. 49:30. Figuratively, Isa. 17:11, Template:Hebrew "the harvest has fled" ["but see Template:Hebrew ," which some take in this place as the subst.].
>
>

Just as Cain's name is connected to the verb "to get" in the Book of Genesis 4:1, the name "Nod" is reminiscent of "nad" (נָ֖ד), usually translated as "vagabond", in the Book of Genesis 4:12. (in the Septuagint's version of the same passage God curses Cain to τρέμων, "to tremble".)

A Greek version of Nod written as *Ναίν*, which appears in *Onomastica Vaticana*, possibly originates from the plural נחים, which refers to resting and sleeping. This derivation, coincidentally or not, connects with the English pun on "nod".

### Interpretations

The Jewish historian Josephus wrote in *Antiquities of the Jews* (c. AD 93), that Cain continued his wickedness in Nod by resorting to violence and robbery, establishing weights and measures, transformed human culture from innocence into craftiness and deceit, established property lines and built a fortified city.

Nod is said to be outside of the presence or face of God. Origen defined Nod as the land of trembling and wrote that it symbolized the condition of all who forsake God. Early commentators treated it as the opposite of Eden (worse still than the land of exile for the rest of humanity). In the English tradition, Nod was sometimes described as a desert inhabited only by ferocious beasts or monsters. Others interpreted Nod as dark or even underground—away from the face of God.

Augustine described unconverted Jews as living in the Land of Nod, which he defined as commotion and "carnal disquietude".

## Referencer fra *Den Store Djævlekrig*

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Kenneth B. Andersen. *The Wrongful Death*. Høst & Søn, October 19, 2018 (English print-on-demand paperback) (Original Danish version published April 30, 2009 by Høst & Søn)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Kenneth B. Andersen. *The Angel of Evil*. (Publication House) October 20, 2019. (Original Danish version published April 29, 2010 by Høst & Søn)
3. ↑ Kenneth B. Andersen. *The Devil's Apprentice*. Høst & Søn, October 19, 2018 (English print-on-demand paperback). Høst & Søn, October 11 2018 (English e-book). (Original Danish version published September 30, 2005 by Høst & Søn)
4. ↑ Oliver F. Emerson, "Legends of Cain, Especially in Old and Middle English", *Publications of the Modern Language Association of America* 21(4), 1906; po. 865, 871.
5. ↑ Patai, Raphael. *The Hebrew Goddess*, 1967. "Or according to the Zohar, two female spirits, Lilith and Naamah — found him, desired his beauty which was like that of the sun disk, and lay with him. The issue of these unions were demons and spirits"
6. ↑ *Gesenius's Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures*, translated by Samuel Prideaux Tregelles; London: Samuel Bagster & Sons, 1846; p. DXXXVIII.
7. ↑ Origen, Jeremiah Homily; quoted in Delaney (1996), pp. 116–117. "Let us interject something of a mystery, which is said concerning the sinner Cain, who 'having gone out from the face of God, lived in the land of Nod opposite Eden.' 'Nod' in the Greek language means trembling. Whoever indeed forsakes God, who abandons understanding, whose thinking is continually 'in the land of Nod' dwells there today also, that is, that person remains in wicked unsettlement of heart and in commotion of mind."

## Andre referencer

1. ↑ Book of Genesis 4:16, the Bible
2. ↑ Asimov, Isaac. Asimov's guide to the Bible : the Old and New Testaments. 1981 Wings Books New York. isbn=0-517-34582-X. Edition=Reprint [der Ausg.] in 2 vol. 1968 - 1969.
3. ↑ Byron 2011, p. 101. "Some authors carried the groaning and shaking interpretation over to Gen 4:16 when they commented on Cain's dwelling place. In the Hebrew version we read that Cain lived in the land of Nod. The name Nod is related to the participle נָ֖ד in 4:12 which the LXX translated as τρέμων (trembling). This led some interpreters to understand the Land of Nod as the 'land of shaking.'
> Now Cain dwelt in the land of trembling, in keeping with what God had appointed for him after he killed Abel his brother. (Pseudo-Philo, L.A.B. 2:1)
>  The land of Nod is so called because it was the land in which Cain wandered about in fear and trembling. (Ephrem, *Commentary on Genesis* 3:11)
>  Cain left God's presence and went to live in the land of Nod, opposite Eden, Nod means disturbance. (Clement of Alexandria, *Strom*. 2.51.4–5)
>
>
4. ↑ Howard Jacobson, "The Land of Nod", *Journal of Theological Studies*, New Series, 41(1), April 1990. "Since the early part of the eighteenth century (according to the *OED*) the phrase 'Land of Nod' has been used to mean 'sleep'. Scholars seem in agreement that this is a play on the Biblical place-name grounded in the use of the verb 'nod' in the sense 'sleep' (first in the early seventeenth century, according to the *OED*). But we have now seen that 'Land of Nod' as 'Land of the sleepers' goes back centuries and more, and to Graeco-Hebrew etymologies. What are we to think? is this nothing more than utterly remarkable coincidence? Or has our Onomastic etymology influenced the English usage? I leave the question to students of the history of the English language."
5. ↑ Titus Flavius Josephus, *The Antiquities of the Jews*, Book I (on Wikisource), Chapter II; quoted in Delaney (1996), p. 56.
6. ↑ Byron (2011), pp. 125–126. "Consequently, Cain's activity as a builder serves two purposes in Josephus. First, it demonstrates that Cain has not learned the lessons of his previous crime and his greed has developed to the point that he now marks off property that he has obtained so that it might not be stolen back from him. Second, the founding of a fortified city not only adds to the protection of his property it also concentrates his power by causing his family to live in one place. In the end, Josephus's Cain is still a greedy grasper who, rather than repenting from his original crimes, has actually managed to perfect them. Thus, the building of a city becomes a lasting monument to Cain's ongoing evil activity."
7. ↑ Oliver F. Emerson, "Legends of Cain, Especially in Old and Middle English", *Publications of the Modern Language Association of America* 21(4), 1906; po. 865, 871.
8. ↑ Augustin, *Contra Faustum* XII:13; quoted in Delaney (1996), p. 169.