Niflheim (realm)
| Divine Realm | |
|---|---|
| Plane: | The Gray Waste |
| Layer: | Niflheim |
| Powers: | Hel |
- In the land of the dead, there's little point in seeking happiness. Dour reflection is the best a body can hope for, the pale shadows of life flitting through his eyes. Valor is for the living; the dead simply do their duty.
Little distinguishes Niflheim the realm from Niflheim the layer, though this area seems even darker and gloomier than the rest of the layer. The land descends slowly to a great cavern, through which a traveler must make his way. The journey through the cavern is fraught with danger and perils, both physical and mental, and it's only when a body reaches the great river that he knows he's truly in Hel's land. Though she's the daughter of Loki, she has none of her father's merriment. Instead, she broods about death and disease constantly. She's cold and emotionless, though she's said to have a sadistic sense of humor.
The river Gioll flows in a great circle around the realm, with only one way to cross it: a bridge guarded by the giantess Modgud. The river flows too fast and powerful for anyone to swim across it; the current rushes ever downward, forcing a sod against the riverbed until he drowns. Even flyers are sucked down by the power of the river. A body should have real business here, or else the power to overwhelm the giantess with words, wits, or strength of thews.
Once across the brigde, a body can remain on the road or travel across the country. If he remains on the road, he passes Garm the Hound, chained at a gate near the cave of Gnipa. Garm, a huge dog with an oversized head, likes nothing better than devouring passers-by. A body might be able to destroy Garm, but Hel would just revive it again, so there's really no point. Besides, the dog's destined to kill Tyr come Ragnarok, and a creature that can kill a god is something mortals had best leave alone.
The petitioners of this realm died dishonorable deaths from old age or disease. They're all a little bitter about their fates; they're granted knowledge of their past lives, so they can ruminate on their failings. Many of the warrior residents didn't have the fortune of falling in battle; they were too good or to careful, and so could not ascend to Asgard.
It's said that when the day of Ragnarok comes, the gates of Niflheim will be thrown wide and the spirits of the dead will take to the field to avenge their bitter afterlives. They are, frankly, aching for it. Anything's got to be better than sitting in Hel's version of a banquet hall. Some petitioners have managed to make a life outside of Hel's hall, but they're even worse off than those trapped lifelessly in the Palace. These vicious and grasping souls seem to exhibit bestial or monstrous tendencies. Skalds of the Norse pantheon claim that these eventually become the beasts of legend and myth that populate the wastes of Niflheim's outer reaches.
Sites and Cities
The roads eventually lead to Hel's Palace, a mirror image of its counterpart in Valhalla, at least from the outside. No valkyries hover about this realm, and no color stains this death-full and stench-ridden place, but otherwise it looks similar. Inside, however, the floor crawls with poisonous snakes of all varieties, apparently unaffected by the cold and misty weather. Poison drips from the ceiling, and woe to the sod who decides to look up and see what's dripping on his head!
Arranged around a central table in the Great Hall are huge banquet tables, all laid out with sumptuous feasts that slowly rot - the poison dripping from the ceiling should dissuade any berk with sense. Most of the petitioners of the realm sit around the tables, looking with hungry eyes at the food laid out before them. When a petitioner finally gets hungry enough to eat, the food causes terrible pain, and he usually ends up vomiting until he dies. But he's back again the next day, sitting at his accustomed spot at the table.
Hel rests on a throne at the back of the hall (which is past literally hundreds of miles of petitioners), watching over her charges. It's said that anyone seated in her chair can see through the entire domain, but he also suffers her immediate retribution. Unless a berk can avoid her gaze and her knowledge, he'd best not even risk the throne.
Hel's banquet hall is the only "town" in the whole place, with servants' quarters and a stable outside. Not much in the way of civilization thrives in Niflheim and that's the way Hel likes it. Monsters tend to converge on new settlements, encouraging would-be pioneers to leave the realm or join the hosts in the hall.