Raven Daegmorgan

Niflgap
Series Pitch of the Month
Credits

dramasystem layout
writer/designer/ Cathriona Tobin
producer
Robin D. Laws based on a layout
theme by
series pitch Christian Knutsson
author
Raven Daegmorgan proofreader
Craig Hargreaves
illustration
Jan Pospíšil

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© 2014 PELGRANE PRESS LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Hillfolk — Series Pitches

Niflgap
—Raven Daegmorgan

Nutshell discipline and the court.

As the universe dies, the fractious Norse gods • Thor, the Giant-slayer, son of Odin, and
set forth in starships from lonesome Midgaard. greatest warrior of the gods. Hot-headed
They sail the black tides of the cosmos, hoping and easily baited, he sees all as a chance
to find salvation in the void where armies of the for glory, and is the first to strike with or
hungry dead writhe endless beneath black suns. without orders.
Do the gods live together on one spacecraft? • Loki, the Jotun-son, sly-tongued, quick-
A few vessels? Each their own? witted, greatest engineer of the gods,
and second only to Odin in magic. He
Characters sometimes thinks the giants whisper to
The players take the roles of the immortal him. Sometimes he whispers back.
gods of the ancient Norse myths. While the • Baldur, the Fair, another son of Odin, a
Norse were in large part farmers and traders, peerless warrior and poet who is loved by
these are the gods of the Vikings—adventurers, all, to the great jealousy of some. Thought
explorers, warriors, raiders, and reavers—fierce, to be Odin’s heir-apparent, but acts the
bound to honor, boastful, and ready to avenge child and jester.
any slight. • Heimdall, the Guardian, a stern seer who
The gods cannot die of age or natural causes, watches and listens to the void, guarding
and are hale and difficult to injure, due not the gods from threats within and without,
only to supernatural provenance, but also to and seeking anomalies of a nature only he
their embrace of super-technology and future and Odin discuss.
sciences. Yet still they cling tightly to traditional • Freyr, the Fair-faced, prosperous and
art-forms, dress, and decoration. No matter much beloved by women, overseer and
how fantastic and improved their weaponry, its guardian of the gods’ stores, keeper of
outward appearance remains archaic. the keys to the treasuries of artifacts and
What physical aspects of the gods or their weapons.
powers derive from futuristic technology? • Freya, the Battle-maid, sister of Freyr.
What aspects defy mortal explanation, if any? Chief among the Valkyries. Said by
However they may have changed on the some to be a witch, and by others merely
surface, their passions, desires, and problems bewitching, for her sexual exploits are as
remain those of mortal men and mortal families. legendary as her battle-skill.
• Odin, the All-father, ruler of the gods, • Sif, the Golden, the oft-desired wife
who seeks some way to prevent or forestall of Thor, an agriculturalist afflicted
the death of the universe. He will go to with strange moods of prophecy, who
any lengths to do so. His lone eye sees commands the Disir that serve the gods.
everywhere. Her son Ullr is not of Thor’s loins.
• Tyr, the One-handed, once-leader of the • Frigga, the Lady, wife of Odin and his
gods, maimed and scarred in battle by a second-in-command, said to see as much
wolf in the void. He held the line so others as he. She tolerates much, but is not
might escape, and now oversees ship- committed to the unending sacrifices of

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Hillfolk — Series Pitches Raven Daegmorgan

her husband. Hati seek to consume all light and matter; while
• Idunn, the Healer, whose medical the shades of murderers risen from Niflhel seek
ministrations can repair even the most blood and life. There lurk darker things, too,
grievous of wounds. Alone among the undreamt by man except in his nightmares.
gods, a pacifist—she will not lift hand to Before this age of Ragnarok, many men and
kill, and weeps at death and blood. lesser gods set forth into the void. Yet no ship
• Hel, daughter of Loki, her beauty half- launched can now return to Midgaard, lest the
burned away, master shipwright and chief wolves follow. Then all life would end, leaving
of those damned to repair the hull or work the universe an empty, cold cinder without point
in the bleakest bowels of the ship. She or purpose, the struggles and triumphs of men
seethes at Idunn’s failure to restore her and gods all for naught.
beauty. Broken ships float abandoned in the void,
There are many other gods, some recorded becoming Naglfar, their hulls haunted by
in Earth-lore and many not, who have also demons and crewed by corpses. On worlds
ventured forth. below, beneath dimming suns, impossible
The players might choose instead to play one armies of alien corpses march, reality fading
of the Einherjar or Valkyries, the cadres of elite behind them across fae and phantom lands.
warriors serving Odin and Freyja respectively, Upon barren planets, moons, asteroids, and
wielding top-line equipment, their bodies within nebulae, the ruins of alien cultures that
flooded with healing nanites making them never were appear, then fade, choked by vine-
resistant, though not impervious, to injury. Or and-brush that are but hollow dust, populated
one of the Norns, the technicians, pilots, and by the hungry dead and weeping ghosts of
astrogators whose rituals repair the machines. civilizations that never lived.
Is it true only the gods can make the ships Yet there remain occasional outposts in the
go between the stars and guide them through void, on barely livable planets whose failed
the void? Or is it the work of great engines terraforming plants vainly spew the noxious
powered by nuclear forces? fumes of life into poisonous atmospheres, and
Or perhaps even one of the Disir, who serve gleaming stations that orbit distant suns, spartan
the gods their food and drink, and care for their homes to miners and rune-seekers. Some few of
many needs. these still cling stubbornly against madness and
Which gods or groups of men are instead supernatural onslaught, yet most of these have
artificial intelligences or machines? What of failed or been devoured.
other mythic beings such as the giants and What shape and expression does
dwarves? technology take? Glowing runes in flesh and
metal? Subtle and unremarkable? Clouds
Setting of light and holographic-neon flashes when
In a dark cosmic joke, in all of creation there activated? Are the gods melded with it, or is it
is only one planet that bears life, the jewel of merely carried by them?
Midgaard. None else has been discovered in
all the fathomless infinity of space. Now the Themes
universe is dying. The stars are going out. The • Loyalty and Betrayal
wolves of entropy are devouring all things. • Lies
What is the shape of the universe? Is it like • The Price of Honor
our own? Is it a comic-book version of outer • Surrounded
space, where stars are not light-years apart and • Despair
planets crowd together mere hours or days • The Weight of Immortality
from one another? One vast solar system filled • The Value of a Name
with endless rocky spheres? • Seduction
Fenrir prowls the Abyss above, stealing the • Tyranny
minds and souls of men; the devourers Skoll and • Greed

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Hillfolk — Series Pitches Raven Daegmorgan

• Destiny • Tension breaks out between the gods as

• The Hammer of the Gods the powerful gods demand tribute from
• The Apples of Immortality the weak.
• The Serpent in the Roots • A corpse-crewed battleship spewing
• A Game of Whispers devouring flame arrives to launch a
• Arrogance relentless attack. The flagship of a silent,
• Walking Hidden among Men implacable enemy, its destruction of
• Sacrifice something or someone key to the series so
• Returning from Beyond far signals the coming of a terrible new foe.
• Hospitality • Stronger than ever, the foe returns to chase
• My Word Once Given… the ensemble across the stars in a deadly
• Secrets game of cat-and-mouse.
• The Walls are Breached • The mad jarl of a shattered colony is
• Giants of Fire brought aboard, thought to have important
• Giants of Ice information.
• A Sun Consumed • Refugees fleeing the wolves beg both
• Hunger the gods’ protection and food from their
• The Oath stores.
• An Unanswerable Question • Odin believes he has found true life not
• Across the Rainbow Bridge of Midgaard, but is it another illusion, or
• Lost a trap?
• Climbing Yggdrasil • There is a rebellion by the damned in
• Stranded the ship’s bowels, at the worst possible
moment.
Tightening the Screws • Something unseen breaches the hull,
The main action takes place on the surface forcing desperate repairs. But did
of planets, on haunted star-vessels, and in something get in?
the cramped quarters of space stations and • The ship’s engines fail in a great cosmic
planetary facilities, as the gods seek out Sargasso; was the course somehow
anomalies and search for things that have sabotaged?
meaning only to Odin, or as they go a-raiding • Loki is accused of murdering one of Odin’s
for needed supplies. These missions provide many sons, but he protests his innocence.
many chances for the gods to prove their wit
and strength as they protect their mortal charges Additional Elements
against environmental dangers or the hungry Imagine an ancient Viking long-ship crewed
dead. by battle-ready warriors seeking the edge of the
• Furious cosmic storms, unpredicted world, for the sun has gone out and they seek
supernovas, meteor fields, event horizons, both the reason and a solution, which lands on
and newly discovered spatial disturbances the mist-shrouded shores of unknown isles full of
drain supplies and good will. Resource ghosts and worse.
shortages provoke conflicts, as the favored There, perhaps, they find a ragged survivor
escape the brunt of sacrifice. of a previous expedition, who tells them of a
• Knowledge, power, and status are always mystic treasure and the dark sorcery that claimed
at a premium, and Odin claims many of their own companions. Or they land seeking
these for himself. Much of what he finds, materials to repair their vessels or weapons, or
he locks away or hides, despite the desires to replenish food and stores for their journey,
or arguments of the other gods, for he and are confronted by disturbing events of subtly
claims to know best. Not all of the gods supernatural character. Often times while sailing
agree. Loki often seeks other ways to gain they wonder if land will ever be found again,
access to what Odin has kept. and sometimes strange distant ships appear that

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 Hillfolk — Series Pitches Raven Daegmorgan

do not respond to hails and other signals. Or The Norse Myths is an engaging introduction
unseen things grind against the hull. to the basic myth-cycle and many of the gods,
Now imagine the same, but with spaceships though a direct translation of the Poetic Edda is
and planets, the vessels crewed by gods. available from any number of publishers. The
Familiarity with the Norse myths and DramaSystem dynamic will ensure that your
the various individuals and creatures of the retellings of existing myths take on their own
mythos, and with Viking culture, adds depth distinct shapes, unique to your series.
to your characters. Kevin Crossley-Holland’s

Names

Agnar Fjosnir Lofar Skrymir

Alsvith Fulnir Lofnheith Skuld
Andhrim Geirvimul Lyfjaberg Solheimar
Andvaranaut Glaumvor Lyngheith Svafnir
Arngrim Grimhild Mjothvinir Thegn
Asathor Guthrun Mogthrasir Thjothmar
Aurvang Halfdan Moinsheimar Thrael
Bari Hannar Mornaland Thrym
Bergelmir Hatafjord Mundilferi Tyrfing
Bleik Helreith Myrkheirn Ulfrun
Bothvild Hild Nain Unavagar
Bragalund Hjalmar Nali Uth
Breith Hilfthrasa Nithi Vafthruthnir
Brimir Hoddrofnir Ofnir Valbjorg
Bur Hosvir Orkning Valgrind
Dag Hraesvelg Orvar Vali
Dain Hrimgerth Reifnir Var
Dagling Hundland Rin Veratyr
Duneyr Ifing Rithil Vindheim
Durin Imth Rothulsfjoll Vingskornir
Dyrathror Iri Saemorn Virfir
Egil Isolf Saevarstath Vithga
Eikinskjald Ithavoll Salgofnir Vofuth
Eldhrimnir Jafnhor Saxi Ydalir
Elivagar Jarnsaxa Sigeir Yngling
Embla Kjalar Sigrdrifa Yngvi
Falhofnir Kon Sigurth Ysja
Farmatyr Kund Skafith
Fensalir Leif Skjold