Skirmishes with Niefelheim

While were occuring the decisive actions of the war against Agartha, some news came up from the south. The kingdom of Niefelheim was being invaded by both the flying men of Caelum  and the barbarians of Ulm . These news were unsettling as the reports suggested an imminent collapse of the giants.

As usual in such a situation, the war council decided to send forces to secure the border with Niefelheim. However, given the fact that the informations about that war were still quite unrealiable, this would not be a full scale intervention as occured with Machaka or Ur. Only a small raiding party would be sent to probe the enemy defenses, take a few provinces and if, indeed, the giant nation was to collapse, take some more decisive action.

In the meantime, an embassy was sent to Caelum to know more of their whereabouts, and may be seek an alliance. But as the months passed, it became obvious that the birdmen attacks had been repelled and that the giant were getting the upper-edge. Some reports suggested even that the barbarians of Ulm had had fights against Caelum and that this war was a real mess where wisdom suggested not to be involved.

And, indeed, after taking 5 provinces from small raiding parties, came a counter attack. A huge Niefel jarl attacked a recently conquered land and easily overcame the small defense laid out there. The informations about him were all but reassuring. Not only did he came with a strong magical equipment, but he also benefited strongly from the cold temperature, which was a permanent feature both in Helheim’s and Niefelheim’s lands. Indeed his armor was covered by a strong layer of ice, and the magical nature of the giant fed from the cold and spread it strongly around him. So strongly that a mere man couldn’t stay there more than a minute before falling unconscious from the cold.

And this came to a shock at is was plain evidence that the elite warriors of Helheim were no match for that creature. Not a Dis, not a Vanjarl, not even a Hangadrott could be engaged without a high risk of death. Even the Valkyries were almost useless, their weapons being too small to get through its heavy armor, and their lack of protection from the cold made them very vulnerable to the icy winds around the beast.

So, both to the news of Caelum defeats and the danger represented by that single giant made a shift in Helheim’s policy. A shift even more pronounced as they knew very well that Niefelheim could muster an army of tens of likewise giants. An embassy was sent to their pretender, Daurgothoth the Dracolich, pretending these raiding parties were just assisting Helheim’s “ally”, Caelum and that this intervention was over. So they slowly took back what Helheim had taken from them and a relative peace took place on these borders. For some reason, they didn’t reclaim two out of five of their former provinces so, in the end, these raids were rather well rewarded.

Securing the Banefire Forge to Oceania

The throne of Thorns and the precious Banefire Forge had been close to Oceania’s lands for some time now. The strange underwater satyrs had indeed tried to have an inland beachead and these small conquests had led them close to Helheim’s lands.

When news came that they were losing their wars against their numerous enemies, the War council of Helheim understood that it was time to end this threat on the Banefire Forge. A vanjarl, Hrimmner, was appointed to do the job. The enemy was rather weak, and unwilling to defend these lands … in 2 months it was done and the places secured.

These small conquests pleased Lord Kall. It was a small move, but a move that made the kingdom whole from the capital to the sea.

The collapse of Caelum

The pretender god of Caelum was Lady Cozin. A Devi of Good fortunes that had been roaming this world for a long, long time. According to legends, she had been a wife of a previous Pantokrator that had finally lost interest in her and banished her in another world. But, in such a long time period, these were mostly legends and nobody really knew where she came from. However, there was no doubt she was a very ancient and powerful creature, and that since the beginning of the war she had been claiming her rights as the new Pantokrator.

But with the news of the defeats of her armies against Niefelheim, she lost the will to go on. She had been there for such a long time … what was the point of being the Pantokrator ? She was already a god of her own, there was no real point in using so much energy in a pointless fight. As such, to the dismay of her people she started to give away her empire. However, Lord Kall had had talks with her and some sort of friendship had been going on. So she gave Helheim a number of magical gems and items that were not anymore of use to her.

Viewing this as an opportunity to gather even more power, there was a negociation to have Caelum’s finest smiths create some crucial magical items that Helheim smiths were incapable of making. Indeed, with both a Winged Helmet and Bag of winds , both empowering the essence of Air magic , the Vanjarls of Helheim would finally be able to reproduce the performance of the Crystal sorceresses in Momephe : throwing in a battle the full power of thunder and thus destroying entire armies.

But … may be Lord Kall was too greedy … in the middle of this transaction, Lady Cozin disappeared mysteriously, leaving Caelum in disarray. And the worse part was that not only the dreamt items were never received, but also more than half of the resources previously gifted by Caelum were lost in the process …

In the end, nobody really knew what happened to Lady Cozin. She had vanished, just like that. It is said that after the war the new pantokrator had been looking for her but found no trace. May she had finally joined the previous Pantokrator wherever he had also disappeared … or may be she had found a way to create her own universe for herself … no one will never know.