Asgardians

The Asgardians refer to all of the major known inhabited realms of their cosmology as the "Nine Worlds". Only four of the Nine Worlds are located on the main Asgardian landmass: Asgard, home of the Gods, Vanaheim, home of the Asgardian's sister race, the Vanir, Nidavellir, home of the Dwarves, and Alfheim, home of the Light Elves. The remainder of the Nine Worlds are on separate landmasses isolated from one another by interdimensional space. (For the sake of creating a comprehensible diagram, the Nine Worlds of Asgard are placed in a multi-leveled configuration. These levels do not represent any real physical distances or relationships between the realms.). Midgard, our Earth, does not appear to be physically affected by the motions of any of the other physical bodies in the Asgardian cosmology, although Earth's axis (the imaginary pole around which it rotates) is in alignment with one of the roots of Yggdrasil, the comsic ash tree that stands in Asgard. Jotunheim, the world of the giants, is a flat ring-shaped realm with high mountains along its inner edge. It is apparently on its own separate dimension plane, discrete from Asgard's and Earth's. Svartalfheim, home of the Dark Elves, is another asteroid-like landmass, small than Asgard. There are numerous nexus-portals between the mountains of Asgard permitting easy passage by denizens of each realm. These passageways make Jotunheim and Svartalfheim seem like "underworlds" of the Asgardian continent itself. The eighth of the Nine Worlds is Hel, realm of the dead, and its sister realm, Niffleheim. In the Asgardian scheme of afterlife, the heroes and honored dead go to Valhalla, a special region of Asgard, the common dead go to Hel, and the dishonored dead (murderers and other evil-doers) go to Niffleheim. Hel, Niffleheim, and Valhalla possess the necessary conditions to permit the astral forms of the deceased to exists there for indefinite periods of time. At one time, Hela, goddess of the dead, usurped the rule of Valhalla, despite the fact it was on a different dimension plane than Hel. Odin has since reclaimed the land. The ninth of the Nine Worlds is Muspelheim, land of the fiery demons. Until his recent disappearance, the primordial demon Surtur ruled Muspelheim. Muspelheim is on its won dimensional plane, separate from all the other Nine Worlds. In the Asgardians' account of the origin of their cosmology, Muspelheim, the land of fire, and Niffleheim, the land of ice, were said to predate recorded time, separated from one another by Ginnungagap, the Yawning Void. Asgard is honeycombed with nexus-portals to the various extradimensional realms of the Nine Worlds, making the worlds (with the exception of Earth) sometimes seems like they are on a contiguous plain. (Indeed, early cartographers of Asgard mapped it this way). The only permanent portal to Earth is Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge. There is a special passageway from Asgard to the extra-dimensional realm of Olympus, home of the Greek gods. Since Olympus is not a part of the Asgardian cosmology, this nexus-portal is believed to be an artificial rather than natural phenomenon. Another unique feature of Asgard is the Cave of Time, an apparently natural phenomenon through which passage to other time eras is possible. It is probable that somewhere in Asgard's outlying Sea of Space there are floating nexus-portals to Earth's space. Beings of the Earthly dimension have in certain instances been able to travel from Earthly to Asgardian space. There may indeed be an edge to Asgard's Sea of Space, perhaps at the perimeter of the "Dome of the Sky" extending from the outer edge of ringed Jotunheim. At the edge of the Sea there would exist "dimensional borderlands" which serve as transitional areas between discrete dimensions. Asgard and its sister realms are populated by six distinct humanoid races. The Gods: The origin of the gods is shrouded in legend. It is believed that they are not native to the dimension of Asgard, but were born on Earth and relocated there at some point in the

distant past. A typical Asgardian will have the following stats: Fighting: Remarkable Agility: Good Strength: Incredible Endurance: Incredible Reason: Good Intuition: Good Psyche: Excellent Health: 120 Karma: 40 Known Powers: Body Resistance: Good The Giants: The second race of Asgard is the Giants, whose dwelling place is Jotunheim. The Giants are basically humanoid in appearance and color, although they tend toward the neanderthalic in body and bone structure. Their most distinguishing feature is their height. The average Giant is twenty feet tall, although some reach up to thirty feet. All Giants known to reside in Asgard have the following abilities: Fighting: Remarkable Agility: Typical Strength: Amazing Endurance: Amazing Reason: Typical Intuition: Poor Psyche: Typical Health: 140 Karma: 14 Known Powers: Dense Flesh: Excellent Body Resistance Additional Powers Based on Type of Giant Fire Giants: +1CS on Strength and Endurance Invulnerability to Fire Growth: Amazing Weakness: Cold based attacks receive a +1CS Frost Giants: +1CS on Strength and Endurance Invulnerability to Cold Growth: Monstrous Weakness: Heat based attacks receive a +1CS Storm Giants: +1CS on Agility, Strength and Endurance Weather Control: Remarkable Growth: Unearthly Hill Giants: Growth: Incredible The Dwarves:The third race of Asgard is the Dwarves. Dwarves are smaller in stature than the gods, and have squat, stocky bodies. Their average height is four feet. The Dwarves tend to be craftsmen and farmers who maintain friendly trade and peace relations with the Gods. Dwarves dwell in the land of Nidavellir, which is part of the landmass where Asgard and Vanaheim are situated. The following represent a typical Dwarf of Asgard: Fighting: Excellent

Agility: Typical Strength: Excellent Endurance: Excellent Reason: Good Intuition: Typical Psyche: Good Health: 66 Karma: 26 Known Powers: Resistance to Aging and Disease: Unearthly The Elves: The fourth race of Asgard is the Elves. There are two types of Elves, the Dark Elves and the Light Elves, and each dwell in their own separate world, Svartalfheim and Alfheim, respectively. Elves of both kinds vary greatly in size, from four to eight feet. They tend toward slender bodies with proportionately long limbs, although there are exceptions. The Light Elves tend to be lighter in color than the Dark Elves, and dwell on the surface while the Dark Elves dwell underground. Both typically possess the following ability ranks: Fighting: Good Agility: Incredible Strength: Poor Endurance: Good Reason: Good Intuition: Good Psyche: Good Health: 74 Karma: 30 Known Powers: Resistance to Aging and Disease: Amazing Infravision: Excellent The Trolls: The fifth race of Asgard is the Trolls, the least human-looking of the denizens of the worlds of Asgard, possessing body characteristics that are almost simian. Trolls are stocky and massive, have thick body hair, and tend toward a ruddy orange in color. They live in scattered settlements throughout Asgard, Vanaheim, Jotunheim, and Svartalfheim, mostly underground. The following represents a stnardard Troll.. Fighting: Remarkable Agility: Poor Strength: Incredible Endurance: Remarkable Reason: Feeble Intuition: Poor Psyche: Poor Health: 104 Karma: 10 Known Powers Body Resistance: Good Infravision: Excellent Resistance to Disease: Unearthly Equipment: Club- +1CS to Strength for damage purposes Limitation-Cowardice: Trolls will not attack unless they outnumber an opponent or can take them by surprise. They are more courageous when given firm leadership. The Demons: The sixth race of Asgard is the Demons. The Demons are beings of fire who dwell in Muspelheim, but sometimes venture to the other worlds in the name of war. A nomadic

race, the Demons are the offspring of the great fire demon Surtur, whose existence is said to preceed that of the Gods. A typical Muspelheim Demon possesses the following: Fighting: Amazing Agility: Remarkable Strength: Monstrous Endurance: Remarkable Reason: Typical Intuition: Typical Psyche: Good Health: 185 Karma: 22 Known Powers: Invulnerability to Fire Body Resistance: Amazing Heat Generation: Amazing Energy Sheath-Fire: Typical Lorelei of Asgard Fighting: Excellent Agility: Remarkable Strength: Incredible Endurance: Incredible Reason: Good Intuition: Remarkable Psyche: Incredible Health: 130 Karma: 80 Resources: Remarkable Popularity: 20 (-5 in Asgard) Powers: Body Resistance: Lorelei's Asgardian physiology provides her with Good resistance to physical and energy damage. Seduction: If she so chooses Lorelei can cause any man to fall in love with her. Lorelei can make a Psyche FEAT roll and the target must make a FEAT roll equal to or better to avoid her commands. Petrifying Kiss: If annoyed Lorelei may kiss a member of the opposite sex and transform them into a granite statue. The target must be willing and may make an Endurance FEAT roll to avoid the effects of the kiss. Equipment: Elixir of Lofn: Lorelei can increase the effects of her seduction powers by +3CS by drinking this potion which would make it difficult for a God to resist her power. Talents: Hunting, Seduction, Occult Contacts: Loki History: Lorelei's is a member of the race of Asgardians, and thus possesses superhuman strength,

endurance, and resistance to injury. She has studied certain magic spells to aid in her seduction. If she so chooses, she can cause any man to fall in love with her. She can raise the effectiveness of her seduction with magic potions. Lorelei also possesses a petrifying kiss, transforming victims into a granite statue. Lorelei is the younger sister of the sorceress Amora the Enchantress. The two sisters share an interest in using their beauty and wiles to dominate any male as they wish. However, unlike Amora, Lorelei has had no interest in mastering sorcery apart from learning certain skills to aid her in her amatory pursuits. Loki, the Asgardian god of evil, chose Lorelei to seduce his longtime enemy, his stepbrother Thor, god of thunder. Needing no persuasion, she went to New York City on Earth where she claimed to be a mortal human being named Melodi. There she confronted Thor's old enemy, the dragon Fafnir. Fafnir used his hypnotic abilities to overpower Lorelei, capturing her as bait to lure Thor into a trap at the construction site where he worked in his secret identity of Sigurd Jarlson. As Jarlson, Thor saved Lorelei from death, and then fought the dragon in his godly identity. Hence Thor and Lorelei first met in their false identities as the humans Jarlson and Melodi. Jarlson and Melodi became friends, and Melodi was clearly attempting to deepen the relationship into a romance. Circumstances, however, prevented her from getting Jarlson to drink the love potion she had prepared originally for Thor. Lorelei was then kidnapped by Thor's foe Malekith the Accursed, leader of the Dark Elves. Malekith used sorcery to cause a stick of wood to take on the appearance of Melodi and this magically animated false Melodi gave Jarlson the potion to drink. Under the spell, Thor fell uncontrollably in love with Melodi (since the first "woman" he saw bore her appearance). Malekith then revealed to Thor that the real Melodi was his prisoner. Thor, enraged, rescued Melodi from the Dark Elves. Soon afterward the demonic Surtur began his war against Asgard. Amora was infuriated by Lorelei's refusal to join in fighting Surtur's demonic hordes, and decided to take vengeance on her. Odin, monarch of Asgard, vanished along with Surtur at the war's end. Loki then planned to use Lorelei to influence Thor to throw his support behind Loki's bid to become Asgard's new ruler. Loki gave Lorelei the elixir of Lofn, which, when Thor inhaled its vapors, would made Thor fall so deeply in love that he became Lorelei's slave. To take revenge on Lorelei, the Enchantress cast a spell on Odin's scepter of power, knowing that Loki would pick it up, as indeed he did. Due to the spell, when Lorelei next saw Loki, she fell madly in love with him. The Enchantress believed that loving the heartless Loki would eventually destroy Lorelei emotionally. Loki naturally responded to Lorelei's new interest in him. Thor's friend Heimdall realized that Thor was under Lorelei's control, and devised a plan to save him. He had the Enchantress urge Thor to visit Loki when she knew that Loki and Lorelei were in each other's arms. Thor's rage at seeing them together made him realize he himself was under a spell. He forced Loki to release him from the spell on pain of death, and then left the two of them together. As the Enchantress predicted, Loki grew tired of Lorelei eventually. Lorelei broke free of the spell and now lives alone in a palace somewhere in Asgard.