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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 6197096" data-attributes="member: 6750502">Ysgard <img src="http://i.*****.com/A1FZs.gif" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Through Conflict, Strength, Through Strength, Valor    Ysgard is a realm of mighty warriors and flying landmasses suspended over a vast surface of thriving underground civilizations.  Warriors from across the Great Wheel venture here to train their skills and prove their mettle for future battles.  It’s also known for conflict and physical challenges in general, as though the very land itself was testing people.    Ysgard’s ideal of Good is that peoples’ ideals are best proven through conflict and challenge.  Hardship can give rise to cruelty and desperation, but can also result in people proving their worthiness to the cause of Good.  Courage, compassion, and other positive traits are not gained within a vacuum; there has to be something at risk for the individual in order to display the worthiness of his or her convictions.    Many people would not associate Ysgard’s ideals as being in line with Good, but they’re among the Upper Planes because the petitioners and inhabitants are training themselves so that they can better fight the forces of evil and ready themselves for unexpected future disasters.  Through this, their preparation can make the Multiverse a better place.  Even the Upper Planes themselves can fall prey to the machinations of Evil; the Ysgardians see no need to rest on their laurels in the afterlife.    Simulated Warfare    Ysgard has a unique feature among the Outer Planes: people who die there are resurrected in 24 hours, their wounds and illnesses gone from their bodies.  This provides the inhabitants the perfect opportunity to experience the dangers of battle with minimal risk.  A warrior or thrill-seeking explorer can learn from the mistakes which lead to their deaths and resolve to do better.  By experiencing death firsthand they can eventually overcome their fear of it.  The average Ysgardian has lived and died so many times the sensation eventually becomes normal to him.    Ysgardians organize themselves into confederations of tribes, who can alternatively ally and declare war against each other.  When a tribe desires to prove itself in battle, a third party gathers the leaders of the belligerent groups to a neutral meeting ground.  The third party explains to them the parameters and rules of war as well the conditions of victory and defeat.  The tribal leaders are given a set amount of time to return to their tribes and inform their citizens of the declaration.  Whoever can meet the conditions first is declared the winner.  Wars can last anywhere from hours to decades, combatants numbering anywhere from several hundred strong to the millions.    Not all combat is conducted this way on Ysgard, however.  Many groups have often attacked and raided villages unprovoked out of anger.  Oftentimes warlords would call in experienced adventurers and sellswords to throw in a random element to their battles.  Many Fensir giants (Fiend Folio) attack settlements with little regard to terms or conditions of battle agreements, while the Fire Giants of Muspelheim attack intruders on sight.  The dwarves and gnomes of Nidavellir are hostile to their drow neighbors and attack out of suspicion of wrong-doing.Muspelheim    The Fire Giants of Muspelheim are a world apart from their fellow Ysgardians, or so they’d have you think.  Like their Ysgardian counterparts, the Fire Giants train, feast and celebrate, participate in simulated warfare, and enjoy contests of sportsmanship, yet their primary end is to extend the glory of their deity and defeat their Dwarven and Frost Giant enemies.  They are a much more rigid and Lawful society, with most tribal leaders paying homage to their deity Surtr.  Surtr is considered lord of all Fire Giants, although his enforcement is only as long as the influence of his priests and war chiefs on other planes and layers.    Most Fire Giants live in grand fortresses and citadels, and they have little tolerance for outside visitors with nothing to offer and regard unannounced travelers as enemy spies.  This attitude has not earned them many friends in the plane, and Ysgardians often conduct “revenge raids” against their towns in retaliation for wrong-doings.Nidavellir    Below the floating islands of Ysgard and Muspelheim lies the rocky surface of Nidavellir.  The underground caves are full of thriving ecosystems of underground forests and woodland creatures one might see on the surface of a Material Plane world.  Glittering gemstones provide light for miles in a rainbow of colors and hues.  Dozens of Dwarven and Gnomish kingdoms are scattered throughout the tunnels and caverns, while the dark elves of Svartalfheim keep to themselves and venerate their ancestors.  Cave-ins, stale air, and other underground dangers are common in this realm, and a single earthquake is enough to cut off a community for months.    Nidavellir is unique in that most of its inhabitants aren’t petitioners, but mortals.  The drow are mostly morally neutral, tending to their immediate families and communities; their allegiance to Lolth was lost long ago from an ideological schism.  Most dwarves and gnomes do not believe them and assume the worst.  These misunderstandings have led to many meaningless wars.Adventure Hooks for Ysgard:•    A PC who needs to undergo training (such as for a feat or martially-inclined prestige class) travels to Ysgard as part of the test.  There, he, along with his companions, must undertake a series of deathly dangerous obstacles.  He might need to wrestle a giant, expose himself to the elements of Muspelheim, or bring down a floating island full of vicious dragons.  Feel free to come up with your own tests of might and bravery.•    Party at Olidammara’s House!  The PCs are invited to take part in the festivities at the Den of Olidammara, god of rogues and pranksters.  The deity will be disguised as one of the patrons, and whoever can locate him first and convince the others will be rewarded with a grand prize.•    The PCs are entrusted with solving a dispute between a clan of dwarves and drow in Nidavellir.  The drow live in close proximity to the dwarves, and have no intention of leaving their home.  If the PCs can prove that the drow are of no threat, an extremist group will attempt to cause a cave-in to kill the drow, turning the skirmish into an all-out war.</blockquote>

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