The Vanir – sometime called the Great Elves – were a magical race created a long time ago by the Pantokrator. They were tall, beautiful, and attuned to Air  magic. Their sensivity with these magical energies had made them masters of illusions as they could hide from the eyes of ordinary people at will. As such, the stories about them were often considered as myths that had no real ground whatsoever. And the lands where they lived were places of mystery, that usually nobody dared to visit as there were numerous tales of people that got lost or attacked by invisible forces.

Amongst the Vanir, the Pantokrator chose a tribe to take care of Death. They were tasked to accompany the souls of the deads from the world of the living to the Other side. The most talented females of the tribe were given the ability to fly as to accomplish this task. These were the legendary Valkyries , commanded by the powerful Dis whom were riding magical flying Fay horses.

One of the Valkyries was Chosen by the Pantokrator to organize this tribe as a kingdom dedicated to serve him. That Chosen lady was named Helheim, that became a goddess for a time until she disappeared for mysterious reasons. But the name stayed, and with that name the hymn that is still chanted to celebrate their glory.

As the years and eons passed, and new races rose to life, this tribe had time to organize a very specific society. Living amongst dead souls had them learn and master Death magic. Some of them even chose to hang themselves to make the experience of Death, and learn even more from it. Those who pushed themselves so far, and came back to the land of the living, became the true leaders of Helheim, the legendary Hangadrotts . These were usually assisted by Death mage novices called the Helkarl .

However, not every Vanir was involved in the task of leading the Deads to the Other side and a civil society flourished. The Vanjarl were their religious leaders, calling forth the powers of Air and on some rare occasions making human sacrifices during fearsome Blood rituals. During most of these various ceremonies, the Vanjarls were usually assisted by the less experienced Vanherses .

Also, during the last centuries before the disappearance of the Pantokrator, the darkest of the dwarven people, the Svartalf , found themselves closer to the Vanirs of Helheim than their own people. Slowly, thanks to their mastery of Earth  magic, a small group integrated their society as master black-smiths.

The society had of course developped an army which the Pantokrator had been using from time to time to crush some idiotic rebellious so-called gods. That’s were the Valkyries became legendary battle maidens. Indeed, they often delivered the fatal blows to enemy armies along with the elite Helhirding riders whom agility was unmatched. For less critical battles, the backbone army was made of Huskarls and Hirdmen  supported by fast and deadly mounted Hirdmen. However, when the conflicts were somewhat unimportant, or if some warlords wanted to train at war, some human serf slaves were used as cheap infantry units . Last but not least, Helheim Van scouts were renowned for providing most precious informations during conflicts.

And so, with the disappearance of the Pantokrator, the very meaning of their existence had disapeared. They accompanied the deads because He had asked them to do so, that was their reason to be. That’s why they needed a new guide, a new beacon of light to lead them back into purpose and glory. That’s why they needed Lord Kall .