Norse Pantheon

## Profile

### Nicknames

The Aesir of Asgard and Midgard, Norse Gods, Scandinavian Gods, Germanic Gods, Gods of the Norse, Gods of Vikings

### Identity

Public Identity
(Believed Not to Exist By Many People)

## Membership

### Current Members

Odin, Thor, Hel, Baldr, Hodr, Heimdall, Loki, Týr, Vídar, Hermod, Bragi, Skadi, Forseti...

**The Vanir Gods**
Dellingr, Gullveig, Njörd, Skadi, Freyja, Freyr, Sif, Ullr, Kvasir, Elli...

## Origins

### Place of Formation

Ancient Northern Europe

**The Aesir of the Norse** are the divinities of Norse mythology. Their Godrealm in the Overworld is called Asgard, while their Underworld is named Helheim. Their chieftain god is Odin, God of Wisdom, War, and Death.

## Summary

Forged from fire and ice, the Aesir and the Jötnar clashed the moment they met. It had to be done. The Aesir were born into a world with nothing and no land to call their own.

In order to survive, Odin and his brothers ripped the Primordial Ymir asunder, and with his flesh, bones, brains, and blood, they created the mountains, the ocean, the clouds, and the lands of Midgard (a name used to refer to the Norse Phase where humans lived).

As Fate would have it, Ymir's descendants survived and fled to Jötunheim - A wild place filled with giants and ancient beasts. Relentlessly battered by the Aesir and the storms alike, the Jötnar had a choice - to live and mate with the Aesir or exist to torment their enemies until the great wheel finally turned.

The Aesir dwelled in Asgard, a civilized and law-abiding land, surrounded by a thick wall. Eventually, a second tribe of gods appeared, calling themselves the Vanir. They hailed from Vanaheim - A land with sacred halls, woods, and fields. The tribes coexisted in peace, until it was discovered that the Vanir practiced the art of *seidr*, a magic of incredible potency. Odin, seeker of all things mystical, sought to take the knowledge by force.

Odin had his people capture a Vanir goddess by the name of Gullveig and interrogate her for the secrets of seidr. Three times they asked, and three times she refused to answer and was burned alive by the Aesir. On the third time, Gullveig managed to escape back to Vanaheim and pleaded to her father, King Dellingr, for vengeance. A great and terrible war then broke out between the two tribes of gods. In the end, the war proved one thing - Each tribe could gain the upper hand, but neither could truly succeed. After much bloodshed on both sides, a sudden ambush by the Jötnar devastated the gods. The Aesir then absorbed their rivals into their ranks, and thus, preserved themselves in difficult times.

Born in the wastes and ruins of Northern Europe, among Germanic warriors and Nordic pirates, the Aesir are the product of this shotgun wedding millennia ago, and the dichotomy still shows today. The Aesir do not regard the past as better than the present. In fact, they appear more at ease these days, for they are bound by Fate, and look to Ragnarök - the prophesied Twilight of the Gods - with both hope and dread alike.

## Cosmology

### Nine Worlds of Yggdrasil

The Norse cosmology is composed of nine worlds that are divided up into three sets of three - Three worlds in the heavens (Asgard, Vanaheim, Alfheim), three worlds in the mortal plane (Midgard, Jötunheim, Nidavellir/Svartalfheim), and three worlds beneath the earth (Helheim, Niflheim, and Muspelheim). The nine worlds are connected together by Yggdrasil, a great cosmic array that the ancient Norsemen visualized as a great ash tree.

#### The Overworld: Asgard

Asgard is the paradisiacal Godrealm where the Aesir rest and reign. It was created by Odin and his brothers, Vili and Vé, from the remains of the Primordial Ymir. Connecting Asgard with Midgard is the Bifröst, a most beautiful Ascension Chain made of multicolored adamant and mithril with a retractable anchor that only Heimdall, the Gatekeeper of Asgard, could control. During Ragnarök, the Bifröst is prophesied to be destroyed by the Jötnar's machinations and Asgard shall burn to ashes by Surtr's flaming sword.

#### The Underworld: Helheim

The Norse Pantheon have many afterlives: Valhalla, the home of the Einherjar under Odin's command; Fólkvangr, where warriors battle and live under Freyja's watchful gaze; Helgafjell, the holy mountain where souls are purified to await reincarnation... but almost all can agreed that Helheim, the kingdom of Hel, is the most dreaded among the abodes of the dead.

This is the home for the unworthy dead, those who didn't die a glorious death in Norse culture (i.e. outside of the battlefields and on their sickbed), and stuck forever in the dark and misty underworld. The most notable resident of Helheim - aside from Hel herself - is Baldr. Or rather, Baldr shall be Helheim's most notable resident in the future, as he is prophesied to end up in Helheim after being killed by Mistilteinn and his death would bring forth Fimbulwinter, the harbinger of Ragnarök. Worried not, however, as he is also prophesied to be among the gods who are born after the apocalypse, becoming the glorious sun of the new world and leader of the remaining and future Aesir gods.

### The Primordials

There are three main Primordials within the Norse Pantheon: Ymir, Father of the Jötnar; Jörd, the Mother Earth; and Surtr, King of Muspelheim. According to Norse mythology, in the beginning, there was nothing but an empty void known as Ginnungagap, with Niflheim (realm of mists) in the north and Muspelheim (realm of flames) in the south. Eventually, the fire and heat of Muspelheim took the form of a great giant called Surtr. Surtr's flaming sword then touched the darkness of Ginnungagap and warmed the ice of Niflheim to reveal Ymir. The creation of the gods soon followed.

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

#### General

* Virtues: *Fatalism* and *Audacity*
	+ The Aesir remain bound by Fate, knowing the significance of every encounter to come. Odin willingly sacrificed his own eye to see the future unravel. In time, he hung himself for nine days and nine nights to learn the secrets of magic from the Norns. *Fatalism* is the understanding and acceptance of events: The Aesir cannot escape Ragnarök. Nothing can change that, regardless of which path they venture down. Fatalism is the act of knowing the Fate is being woven, which in turn implies that every life of every man is threaded into a tapestry, and that every action has been decided from the day of that man's birth.
	+ *Audacity* is the Virtue of the valiant and the bold. Audacity is having the courage to step past the desire of Fate - To force a *jarteign* ("miracle") to occur. To move against this Virtue is to be a *Nidr*, or a coward, the worst of all insults.
* The Aesir are among the least ethereal of the pantheons, having to heavily rely on the golden apples grown by Idunn to remain youthful and vibrant. Their ichor is notably thinner than other daimons, such as the Theoi or the Devás (who also rely on their own forms of divine sustenances to sustain their immortality), and can easily burn out if they overuse their divinity.
* Many of the older pantheons do not see the Aesir as 'proper gods', due to their heavily reliance on the aforementioned golden apples to keep age and death at bay, as well as their doomed fate at Ragnarök. Some pantheons, such as the Theoi and Tzevaot, even refused to acknowledge them as 'gods' entirely and consider them as a cabal of immortal magicians.

#### The Vanir

* The Vanir were an ancient coalition of gods originally worshiped by the peoples of Germania for millennia before the Aesir. The majority of them are nature and fertility, with many being faeries, nature spirits, or totemic daimons that attained godhood as their worship rose to prominence.
* Many of the Vanir practiced *Seidr*, their term for sidhean magic, or magic of the faeries. It is a form of magic of great potency and incredible unpredictability, and could not be easily put in any classification. Seidr-weavers who have mastered their craft are greatly revered (and feared) by their fellow gods. Among the Vanir, Freyja is said to be the most powerful and skilled Seidr-weaver, and according to mythology, she was the one to teach the craft to the Aesir goddesses.
* Unlike the Aesir, the Vanir practiced incest between siblings, cousins, uncles and nieces, and aunts and nephews. However, after being absorbed into the Aesir Pantheon, this practice has become banned.
* The Vanir have a greater tolerance to homosexuality than their Aesir counterparts, and have no qualm with men showing traditionally feminine traits or women showing traditionally masculine traits.

### Notes

* The singular form of Aesir is Aes, while the singular form of Vanir is Vanr.
	+ The feminine form of Aesir is Asynjur (singular Asynja).