Valkyrie I

“Gather round, my children, and hear the Fornaldarsaga of the Valkyries, the story of our race’s birth,” said the aged Valkyrie as she fluttered her wings. After many long years of flying, they had begun to show signs of decay, but they were still strong, and kicked up a swirl of snow in the courtyard. […]

Úlfhéðnar

Attend me now, young Úlfhéðnar, and hear the doom to which you were born. You will learn many things. You will learn of the pain and suffering that mothered us, and the bloodlust that fathered us. You will learn of the Great Wyrm and its subtle poison. You will learn how your power was forged, […]

Jötnar II

He could just barely hear the weeping. In one corner of the room there was a row of strange little boxes built of massive stones and chunks of ice; the weeping came from within. The three children from the village were inside, blue-lipped and shivering. They stared at him, wordless. One boy pointed across the […]

Jötnar I

Fear. Fear and pain and darkness. These are the children of winter. Now I will tell you how we came to be known as Winter’s Children, the Frost Giants of the mountain peaks. Now I will tell you of the three winters that ended our world, so that we might begin anew, mightier than before. […]

Helbound

Somewhere deep within the bowels of a dormant volcano, a cavernous room slowly filled with young Vikings dressed in the black and red robes of a HelBound initiate. As they took their places before a statue of Hel, the smells of ash, death, power, and a rich cocktail of pheromones washed over them. They could […]

Dvergar II

Deep underground, where the Dvergar took refuge, a place called the Inner World flourished. It was a wondrous place, full of strange creatures, twisting tunnels, and dark mysteries. One of the children of the Inner World was called Thyra. For the little orphan girl, the Dripping Hall, the Hall of Earth’s Gift, and the Hall […]

Dvergar I

Outside, the frost had stilled all but the rush of the wind, and deep drifts of snow had buried the meadow, leaving white mounds over the tops of the standing stones. On such a frozen winter night, even the stoic Dvergar were glad of thick walls and roaring fires. Glancing out the window of the […]

Silverhands VII

The outer skin of the Merchant’s tentacles was thick and rubbery, holding Nuada fast as he struggled. Twisting round, the former king of the Tuatha Dé Danann swept his blade through the horrors that surrounded him and the Merchant as they wrestled. The things reached out fearlessly with their chubby, grasping limbs to weigh him […]

Silverhands VI

Deep within a green hill, surrounded by bog and foul, rotting odors, there stood another black monolith. Dark sentinel of the passage to another place, the living Depths of horror and madness. As Nuada stood before it, he noticed the black stone was so dark that not even his flickering torchlight reflected off of it, […]

Silverhands V

The city was empty, devoid of life. Not even vermin crawled through the streets or ruined houses. The vaunted watchtowers stood silent and empty, as their watchers had abandoned them. Once, that had been a crime punishable by exile or death in the harsh code of the Tuatha Dé Danann. That seemed so ludicrous now. […]