Odin's Conquests

Despite Jord's supposed betrayal of Odin, he still believed in her dream of Unity. He believed the best way to obtain this was to unite the realms under his rule. Odin's conquest refers to the decades long acquisition of the nine realms by the Aesir.

## The Aesir-Vanir War

The Aesir-Vanir war had been going on for decades before Odin became leader of the Aesir. Odin's own father, Borr, died in the war. The two sides were locked in stalemate with no one being able to achieve victory. The war started because the goddess Gullveig visited Asgard decades before. The Aesir were quite taken by her magical powers. Gullveig tried to teach the Aesir how to use techniques in Vanir magic in improving crop yields and producing bountiful harvests, which would be enough to feed all of Asgard. However, because the Aesir were too impatient and not well disciplined in Vanir spell-craft, their attempts at using magic ended up going wrong. Blaming Gullveig for their own shortcomings, the Aesir attempted to murder her by burning her. She survived however and was able to sneak away back to Vanaheim. Njord immediately begun planning their revenge due to Gullveig's treatment and attempted murder. Ever since the Vanir and Aesir had been at war. Though the Aesir initially dominated the battle through brute force and Borr's leadership, they were eventually repelled by the Vanir's magic.

Once Odin turned his eyes to Vanaheim, he knew that a straight forward battle could never be fully won with the vanir. Instead he and his personal advisor Mimir began to scheme. Odin offered the Vanir peace and through that peace, he sought a way to control the Vanir. When Vanahiem and Asgard decided their negotiations, they elected to exchange individuals. Odin used a false disguise of good nature to gain Njord’s trust by vowing he was not his father. Using that trust, Odin manipulated the Vanir king to step down and take his child Freya to Asgard, to live amongst the Aesir. Njord even allowed Hoenir of the Aesir and Mimir to rule the Vanir in his stead given that Hoenir, with the wise Mímir at his side, appeared unfailing. Odin used Hoenir to allow the Aesir to gain political power and to poison the very land the Vanir lived on. Causing them to become more and more dependent on the Aesir over time. This didn't fully win Vanaheim but it set the foundation for an Aesir coup. Njord would met the Aesir goddess Skadi soon after the exchange and have Freyr, who was considered to be Freya’s twin as they looked extremely alike.

## The Dwarven and Elvish Annexation

He turned his sights on Svartalfheim and Alfhiem next. The dwarven realm of Svartalfheim was the first to fully fall to Aesir rule. Despite being strong willed and held dangerous powerful inventions, the dwarves were no match for the pure brute force of the Aesir. The conflict stopped when a dwarven king bent the knee to Odin. Eventually they were indoctrinated and fully became loyal to the Aesir. The conquest was lead by a younger Thor and Tyr. Odin attempted to separate Thor and Freyr to make sure they remained focused in the role and purpose that Odin was creating for them. Thor proved to be a powerful warrior and exactly what Odin intended.

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(Thor is married to Jarn. Arranged marriage but Thor and Tyr take a liking to her anyway)

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The efforts in Alfheim were led by Freyr himself. Freyr was given an army to conquer the realm. Instead he attempted to unite the dark and light elves. He was actually successful which earned him the title, the god of light. He was revered in Alfhiem and was given lordship in the realm. This growing love for Freyr made Odin jealous and fearful. In turn he called back Freyr from the realm. Without Freyr present, the elves began to war again. Odin failed in replicating the peace that Freyr had done. Sequentially Tyr and Thor were sent in with an army. Tyr decided to aid one side of the elvish civil war. He sided with the light elves against the dark elves. In turn the light elves swore fealty to Odin and accepted Aesir rule. Especially given all they cared about was making sure the Light of Alfheim was able to shine freely and all the Aesir cared about was having the realm under their control. While the light elves were able to secure victory with the help of the Aesir, they could not fully get rid of the dark elves. They would continue to resurface from the dark deserts of Alfhiem.

## Midgard's Propagandism

While Thor and Tyr raged their conquests, Freyr, Njord, Bragi were tasked in spreading their influence throughout the realms. They visited mortal settlements and taught shamans about the Gods. These shamans would then go out and spread the ideas and stories that Odin wanted to be told. In turn mortals grew more dependent on the Gods and feverishly loyal to Odin and the Aesir. Odin used the fear of giants to his advantage, especially since Jormungandr was growing larger and larger causing chaos throughout Midgard. The mortals begged for help and Odin sent Thor to deal with Jormungandr, someone Thor already had. bitter rivalry since their childhood. They fought for days on end and yet despite Thor's strength, he couldn't kill Jormungandr. Instead he opted to throw Jormungandr into the sea. Everyone simply assumed Jormungandr drowned.