headcasey | Niflheim Political History

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The Backstory

The First Generation

The Nysgods have existed so long that no one in recorded history can remember a time when they didn’t exist. Historians and mages often classify the race as one of “the old ones.” For as long as the Nysgods have existed:

Mithos has been their king
Lord Thierry served as his chief advisor and best friend
Uri served as the Head Carver.

These three were the leaders of what is known as “the first generation,” the oldest Nysgods who have existed for the entire duration of the race.

When the race first came into existence, there were both males and female Nysgods, born in the old-fashioned way. Many thousands of years ago, King Mithos was married to Queen Rhea, a female Nysgod. It soon became clear to the race, however, that there was something wrong. Often, men would venture out into the mortal world and become enamored of a mortal female, so much so that they utterly rejected their Nysgod mates. After a pattern of this, the Nysgod women had suffered enough. Led by Queen Rhea, the female Nysgods abandoned their world and eventually became an entirely new race known as Polarians, and learned to manifest themselves as stars in the nighttime sky.

The Modern Nysgods

The remaining male Nysgods of the first generation were at a loss after the departure of the women. As the Nysgods were unable to reproduce with other races, for a time, it seemed the race was destined to fade away. However, Uri encountered a humanoid man named Lucien, who was temporally displaced and knew about modern-day Nysgods. Lucien knew that the Nysgods could procreate by bringing the mortal females they imprinted upon to Dagaz, where Uri could change them into Nysgod females and create offspring for them (see race details section). From this information, the modern-day race of Nysgods was born.

Some years later, King Mithos fell in love with a human woman named Thea. Although Thea was married with children of her own, she had also fallen in love with Mithos and agreed to return to Dagaz with him after her mortal husband had died. However, Thea had a condition. In order to return to Dagaz with him, Thea requested that Mithos find someone who would claim her sister, Blaise, as a mate as well, so that the two of them could be together forever. Mithos’ friend, Thierry, had imprinted on a mortal woman who married another Nysgod. Mithos and Thierry made a deal:

Thierry would marry Blaise and claim her as a mate, even though he did not love her.
In exchange, Blaise and Thierry’s son would be second in line for the throne (after the child of Mithos and Thea).

The bargain arranged, Thea and Blaise both became Nysgod females.

Mithos and Thea, who were happily in love as they ruled the kingdom together, had a son named Tristan. Thierry and Blaise had a son named Quinn. Unfortunately, their marriage was less ideal. Although Thierry was a good husband to Blaise, he could not love her. As she had fallen in love with him, Blaise became a bitter individual.

The New Generation

Tristan was prepared to one day become king, serving his father as a royal ambassador to other worlds. Blaise and Thierry’s son, Quinn, was also trained in diplomacy. As cousins, Tristan and Quinn spent a lot of time together. However, though Quinn became popular with his peers, Tristan was a bit of a lone wolf, always forced to choose duty over pleasure. Quinn formed a group of friends:

Robin
Edwin
Jaan

Soon, Edwin’s mate Blake joined their group. Occasionally, Tristan joined the group in their fun and games, but more often, he was stuck at home with only his annoyingly loyal valet, Skokan. The fun and games ended, however, when Quinn met Egime. Egime was a mortal priestess and Quinn’s first love. Although she returned his love, Egime refused to become a Nysgod. The pair lived together for the duration of her lifetime. On her deathbed, she made Quinn promise to find someone else to love. Though it seemed an impossible promise to keep, after Egime’s death, Quinn and Robin realized that the only possibility was to find the Carver who created Quinn and convince him to change Quinn’s symbol so that Quinn would be able to fall in love again.

The Carver, Hesiod, was willing to change Quinn’s symbol. Unfortunately, the treachery was soon discovered. As a ban against changing carvings was one of Dagaz’s strictest laws, Quinn and Hesiod were both banished from Dagaz. Robin’s involvement was not uncovered. When Hesiod was banished from Dagaz, he took his Carver’s Staff with him. For the next millennium or so, Quinn wandered the Known Worlds aimlessly, desperately hoping to fall in love again.

The Story is Set

Quite by accident, about two years ago, Quinn met a young Human girl named Casey and fell in love with her.

At this time, several other forces were at work. Jaan and Robin journeyed to a realm called Araba where they both fell in love. Though Jaan’s love was mutual, the woman Robin fell in love with was happily married with children. In despair, Robin visited Hesiod and asked to be carved out. Hesiod granted this wish and Robin disappeared.

Robin’s death enraged Jaan, and he became convinced that a revolution was necessary. He decided that if Dagaz’s stringent rules didn’t change, more of his friends would kill themselves. Meanwhile, Tristan was sent to a mortal realm to assist in a war effort. By strange coincidence, his destination happened to be the mortal realm where Quinn and Casey were living. There, he met and fell in love with a friend of Casey’s named Mia. Mia, however, was killed, leaving Tristan alone and depressed.

Nysgod Today

There has been a great deal of unrest recently in Dagaz. The main events that have led to this recent unrest have been:

Tristan losing the potential next queen
Rumor spreading of Quinn’s success in falling in love a second time
Jaan’s mouth running on and on

The stability of Dagaz, a place that has not changed in thousands of years, is being threatened. In order to bring about some kind of stability, Tristan’s valet Skokan, who will stop at nothing to ensure the continuation of the status quo, has decided it’s time to find Tristan a proper mate. Therefore, Skokan has opened an inter-dimensional portal, called The Grasp, programmed to draw potential mates in from the Known Worlds, in the hopes that one will satisfy Tristan and bring stability back to Dagaz.

And so it begins...