Introduction to the Planes
Reflections: Feywild, Shadowfell
Inner Planes: Ethereal Plane, Elemental Chaos, Plane of Earth, Plane of Water
Outer Planes: Astral Plane, Beastlands, Gehenna, Mechanus, Mount Celestia, Pandemonium, Sigil, Ysgard

What is Ysgard

Manual of the Planes, 2001 WotC — **Manual of the Planes**, 2001 WotC

The Heroic Domains of Ysgard, also known as the Battlefields of Ysgard or Gladsheim, is a plane of eternal war and valor. The warriors and soldiers, who in life sought out glory and heroic deeds, reside in this plane where they wage constant war to seek greater honors in death. Ysgard is located between Limbo and Arborea, it lacks the true chaos found on Limbo and the plane is a bridge between the good planes of Arborea and above and the neutral planes of Limbo and below.

Three layers make up Ysgard, with the first layer also being known as Ysgard followed by Muspelheim and Nidavellir. Each layer is composed of massive rivers of earth flowing across the infinite sky of this plane. These rivers consist of earthbergs that size of small boulders to the size of continents, the lower you climb down the plane the more often these motes of earth strike upon and grind into each other. The underside of these earthbergs are wreathed in flames that light up the rivers from underneath in a reddish glow. Due to their quantity, there is always at least one collision happening in the distance, creating new mountains or caverns.

History

Planes of Chaos, 1994 TSR Inc. — **Planes of Chaos**, 1994 TSR Inc.

Ysgard is introduced in the 1st edition under the name of Gladsheim before being introduced in 2nd edition as Ysgard. The shift is due to less of a focus on the Norse pantheon and introducing other deities who reside on this plane, though the vast number of Norse gods still call this plane their home. While the plane isn’t around in 4th edition, instead replaced by a plane like Warrior’s Rest, it returns in 5th edition with little information. The plane is depicted as a place of valor and battle, where those who fight and die in battle return to life the next day.

This plane is focused on glory and everything can be found on an epic scale. The wars have great epics written about them, the mountains soar high above, deep fjords are filled with longboats, and the seasons are taken to their extremes.

An Outsider’s Perspective

Most visitors to this plane are drawn to this plane due to the eternal wars and battles that can be found here, and more importantly the valor and glory. Arriving on this plane a person must be ready to be challenged by any and everyone who might seek glory through combat, and while the towns and cities that exist across this plane can be a safe haven from the eternal warriors, the people are not always excepting of outsiders.

The petitioners of this plane, those who have died and their souls have journeyed to this plane for their eternal rest, go to battle every day, challenging anyone strong or boisterous of their deeds. If a petitioner is killed in battle, they return the come back to life the following morning ready to do it all again. Unfortunately for outsiders, the petitioners often forget that not everyone is willing to die in glorious combat and many outsiders dislike the idea of spending their eternal rest on Ysgard in war.

A Native’s Perspective

This is the home of soldiers and warriors who seek glory in combat and who lust for hearing their great deeds and accomplishment in song. While they are the most likely to be encounter in Ysgard, they aren’t the only ones who reside here. The top layer of Ysgard, also called Ysgard, is home to humanoids of all kinds living in cities and towns, dealing with the threats of giants and great hunting beasts. The second layer, Muspeheim, is the home of fire giants, hell hounds, and other creatures of fire. Below that layer are the dark caverns of Nidavellier, the home of dwarves and drow.

Hollyphants, eladrin, elves, and others can be found spread out throughout this plane, making their homes where they can. There are very few devas and other celestials that serve the gods directly as most gods of good alignment make their home in the other upper planes. This plane is largely home to the Norse gods who value glory and bravery in battle, who encourage the praising and singing of epic deeds, though they are not the only gods who make their home here. A great cat-like deity known as Bast, from the Egyptian pantheon, can be found here as well as the goddess Eilistraee the Dark Maiden, whose worshippers are the good-aligned drow.

The top layer, Ysgard, is about valor and glory, their songs announce the epic deeds of battle and the people are quick to help out others. The second layer, Muspelheim, is dominated by great sheets of fire and very few ever get a chance to journey across it without succumbing to the flames. The last layer, Nidavellir, hides secrets in their dark caverns and don’t particularly care for visitors or guests. As you journey deeper into this plane, stories of great deeds become more secretive, the inhabitants less likely to share their stories or their material possessions.

Atmosphere

The top layer of Ysgard has a similar atmosphere as the Material Plane, though the gods can control the weather and morph it to better find their domains. A god of the north may make their realm gloomy and covered in deep snowdrifts, while another may have the continual warmth of summer. If a god has no control over a piece of land, the weather and atmosphere go to the extremes of whatever the current season is. Blistering winters filled with heavy snowfalls and cold winds that pierce through the thickest coats followed by springs filled with blossoming flowers and pollen. Summer is filled with long hot days of sun with cool nights, while the fall is filled with trees in a dazzling array of colors.

The second layer, Muspelheim, is a land of earthbergs that are smoking and burning. In the early editions, it is treated as if the earthbergs were flipped from the 1st layer and that the burning sheets of flames that illuminated the bottom of the earthberg river were on top of the earthbergs in this layer. In later editions, the ground is simply made of volcanic rock spewed forth and still smoking and burning. While this makes this layer somewhat habitable by a group passing through, it is still a dangerous place filled with fire giants and burning sheets of fire.

The last layer, Nidavellir, is an ‘under-ground’ realm that is made up of warm tunnels heated by geysers and hot springs. There is little natural light to be found on this layer though forests of unusual wood are still able to grow in massive caverns as they need no light to grow, just heat.

Traits

Travel to the Plane

Getting to this plane is much like any other plane and simply requires finding an appropriate portal to get you here or be glorified warrior and in death, you will travel here as a petitioner. Portals link this plane to Sigil, the Astral Plane, Arborea, and Limbo; they take on the form of a well and require someone to climb in and out of them to use them. Many of the wells are marked with runes to signify where they will take you, though a few of them will deposit you into a random spot in Arborea or Limbo.

Yggdrasil, the World Ash

The other way of arriving on this plane is by climbing the great tree known as Yggdrasil. This tree rises on the first layer of Ysgard and it’s branches and roots touch many of the other Outer Planes as well as touching the Material Planes that worship the Norse pantheon. These twisting branches and roots can be climbed from one plane to the next, taking you from the roots, which are touching the Grey Wastes and Pandemonium, and rising up to the Upper Planes where the branches stretch out into Elysium, the Beastlands, Limbo, and Ysgard.

At each branching path on the tree, a climber can see a shimmering portal of light that will take them to another plane, the only way to know which plane is by stepping into it. Most of these portals are two-way and to return to climbing Yggrasil from whatever plane you stepped on to, you simply need to climb back up the tree you entered the plane on. Climbing up Yggdrasil is exhausting and if you were to climb from the very bottom of the roots to the top of its branches, most say it will take 100 days. No one has been able to accomplish that as great birds, dragons, and other creatures make their home on the World Ash. And if the inhabitants don’t eat you, you’ll likely fall off the tree while climbing up and pass through a random portal to one of the Lower Planes.

Traversing the Plane

Walking across the plane is just as easy as walking across the Material Plane, though certain levels are more dangerous to do so. The first layer, Ysgard, is the most hospitable and welcoming of the layers, and a traveler can easily walk through the thick forests. Smoking battlefields and great fortified cities inhabitant much of the first layer, along with soaring mountains and deep fjords. The second layer is on fire and made up of twisting and sharp volcanic rock, any who arrive on this plane must contend with catching on fire and finding water and food. The third layer is made up of dark tunnels with plenty of food and water available, though the inhabitants dislike visitors.

To travel from one layer to the next can be as simple as falling from one floating earthberg. Muspelheim exists far below the top layer, and many who are shaken off of an earthberg plummet to their death down. If you fall off of Muspelheim into the endless caverns, you can easily end up Nidavellir. Another option is to climb the Infinite Staircase as it has landings at each layer of the plane or find a well-portal, similar to the ones that take you in and out of this plane, that will take you to the other layers.

Rivers of Earthbergs

Every layer is made up of massive rivers of floating earthbergs. These earthbergs range in size from small boulders to massive continent-sized masses. The top two layers rarely have very many collisions, and when they do mountains soar into the sky where they impact each other, fjords are carved across the land and the waterways experience tidal waves from the shockwave. Any creature on either earthberg can feel this impact and are thrown off their feet, luckily the wooden structures are built to withstand such impacts and very few people die during these impacts.

The bottom layer is made up almost entirely of earthbergs crashing and grinding into each other, which is where all the tunnels are formed and why the layer feels and looks as if it is underground. In reality, it is so densely packed with floating earthbergs, that is blocks all light and there is no view of the sky. The rining of the constant collisions on this layer echo across the entire plane, allowing the creatures on the first layer to hear just as well as those on the third layer.

Locations

Ysgard

The top layer of Ysgard goes by the same name as the plane and is most known for its smoking battlefields, its huge feast halls, hilly terrain, and cold seas. Very few settlements are ever on the edges of the earthbergs, due to how dangerous it would be an earthberg to collide into them, except for those specifically looking to trade with other settlements on other earthbergs. The top of the earthbergs look much like the Material Plane with soaring mountains, fjords, hills, forests, and more, though the underside of the bergs are lit with fires that make the bottom of the bergs glow with a reddish light, this illuminates the rivers and oceans from the bottom up. Most of the known settlements of the plane can be found on this top layer.

Asgard

It is a realm under the control of the Norse pantheon and may of its warriors come here to prove their mettle and to win glory and songs of their deeds. This realm is a realm of extremes, the harshest winters can be found here as well as the deadliest warriors. An 80 foot high stone wall that is 40 feet thick circles the entire land with gates leading out of the realm and into the surrounding countryside. The wall stretches all around the realm up to the massive river known as Iving river, and it despite the cold, it never ices over and is always warm, even magic can not form ice on its surface. This river is at the very border between Asgard and Jotunheim, where the giants call their home.

Asgard does not have towns, but rather huge halls built on innumerous estates. These halls are crafted from gold and silver and are only rarely the home of the Norse pantheon, more often they are the site of feasts, weddings, and other great ceremonies. Also in this realm is the Bifrost, Lake Amvartnir where the Fenris Wolf is chained on a central island, and many other important locations for the Norse Pantheon like the Plane of Vigrid where Ragnarok is prophecied to take place at.

Bifrost

This multi-colored road made of cloud-like material connects Ysgard to all other locations that worship the Norse pantheon and is guarded over by Heimdall. This is the source of power and a connection between the Norse gods and their worshippers, linking the gods to their power. Only the true believers of the Norse gods can walk on this rainbow road and all unbelievers, or those who simply accept the Norse gods are real but don’t worship them, can not step on it. Many visitors from all over the planes walk and stare at this site, their mouths wide and agape at its beauty and magnificence. This bridge can be taken to any Material Plane that worships the Norse gods and often the gods can be found walking it to one of those worlds.

Jotunheim

This is the realm of the giants and a place where the big hunt the small. The smallfolk are wholly unwelcome in this land as it is populated by giants of all kinds. The land is desolate and only filled with snow-capped mountains and glaciers ruled over by giantess jarls who command their tribes of giants. The vegetation is sickly, the trees stunted and the giants are forced to raid other realms for proper sustenance and resources. The largest city is Utgard and it is the capital of Jotunheim, ruled over by a mountain giant known as Utgard-Loki. He is a powerful giant that keeps all others in line by sheer will power and he has great magical ability when it comes to illusions.

Merratet

This is the realm of Bast, a cat goddess from the Egyptian pantheon, it is a massive city on the edge of a desert where there are vast amounts of fat game hiding in the tough and scraggly thickets. Many compare this realm to the Beastlands, but whereas the Beastlands if full of thriving plant life, most plant life here is scraggly at best. The creatures who inhabit this land are by and large sentient cats who like to hunt anyone who passes through this realm, and the only safe haven are the few cities that exist here and there. Many have learned that if you put a mask on the back of your head, you may not be attacked when you wander this realm as cats only attack if you can’t see them and your back is turned to them.

Steadfast

This small town exists outside of Asgard and is where the exiled warriors, outcasts and independent individuals reside. The inhabitants are distrustful of all and refuse to be led by any who would try to claim rule over them, their graveyard is full of past ‘leaders’ who were killed just as kick as they announced their rule. The town is also home to a sizable population of Bariaurs, these centaur-like creatures are half-man, half-goat and believe in the independence of a creature and accept no ruler over them.

Muspelheim

The second layer is similar to the first layer in that it is made up of earthbergs of floating earth that appear to be flowing rivers, but here the land is on fire. The ground burns, great sheets of flame cover this layer and below that the ground is sharp with volcanic rock. This layer is controlled by the fire giants who kill any who dare to impose on their lands. Fire-resistant flora makes their home in small patches of dirt or poking out of the hard volcanic rock.

Serpent Spire

There is a ride of fiery mountains in the Muspelheim known as the Serpent Spine and it is the home of hundreds of clans of fire giants. Massive fortifications, spires, and walls dot these mountains as fire giants are constantly warring against each other to gain more land, to wage their wars, and to show the dominance of their tribe over another. Anywho try to pass through these mountains should be very careful that they aren’t spotted by the fire giants, or face the fiery wrath of giants.

Nidavellir

The third and final layer of Ysgard is known as Nidavellir. This layer is ‘under-ground’ made up of warm tunnels, hot springs, and geysers. Much like how the other two layers are made up of rivers of earthbergs, this layer is made up of that as well though it has far more earthbergs that are far closer to each other. These earthbergs are so numerous and close that it blots out the sky and are constantly crashing into one another, making a continual grinding sound that echoes across the entire plane.

Massive caverns form where these earthbergs rub together and precious minerals like quartz, mica, and pyrite make up huge caverns. Dwarves and gnome kingdoms are dotted throughout this layer, and they are largely mortals who live here instead of petitioners. Those cities are filled with glowing furnaces, ringing anvils, and some of the greatest artisans of smithing, runecrafting, and magic can be found perfecting their art.

The dwarves and gnomes are often considered rivals, going to war over resources, space, and who creates the better goods. The only thing that unites them are the other inhabitants of the Nidavellir, like the dark elves known as drow.

Svartalfheim

Little is known about this realm except that it is the home of the drow goddess Eilistraee the Dark Maiden, whose worshippers are the good-aligned drow. They largely wish to be left alone and dislike visitors and trespassers on their lands, though traders and merchants are allowed in one of their cities known as Dokkar. There they sell beautiful silks, scented cloths, and other fine materials, though every price is determined by the seller upon seeing the buyer, they never haggle and the only price they are willing to accept is the one they decide on.

Factions & People

The Fated

Those who belong to this faction believe that everything in life is available to those who are willing to take it. There is no such thing as bad luck, but weak-willed individuals. These members roam this plane and have little compassion for others who die due to constantly fighting the petitioners. If you weren’t so weak, you wouldn’t have died. While others may see this as cruel or heartless, the Fated know that to get anything in this life you must work hard to get it, they have little time for those who do little to nothing with their lives.

Giants

Giants of all kind can be found all over this plane in different locations. While most giants, like hill giants, frost giants, cloud giants, and others make their home on the top layer of the plane, fire giants can be found mostly on the second layer in their volcanic fortresses, and stone giants can be found on the third layer wandering the ‘under-ground’ tunnels. The giants are cruel and believe that because of their immense size and power, that they are the rightful rules of the smallfolk. Their realms are at constant war with Asgard and similar realms, and it is one day their hope that Ragnarok will come and they will have a final victory against the smallfolk and the rest of the planes.

Manual of the Planes, 1987 TSR Inc. — **Manual of the Planes**, 1987 TSR Inc.

Petitioners

The petitioners, the dead souls of mortals who pass on to this plane in their afterlife, are the valiant warriors who fight for glory and honor. They are constantly reborn every morning so long as they had died in battle and combat, many of them are so caught up in the great duels and battle that they forget that mortals aren’t reborn every morning. These petitioners are typically only on the top layer of the plane, with very few going to the other layers due to fewer inhabitants there.

The Ring-givers

The Ring-givers are one of the reasons that Ysgard is actually a bit safer for clueless travelers than many other planes. They’ll greet a traveler with a helping hand and a smile, rather than declare a battle. They believe that by helping others, those they help are required to in turn to provide favors to them in one way or another. What little material possessions they own, they often give out as gifts, hence their name, and for some reason the universe often goes along with them, providing favors of equal value to the gifts they give out.

Encounters

Boaring Hunt - A great lord has invited an adventuring group to go on a hunt to go after a massive boar of towering proportions located somewhere on the top layer of Ysgard. Unfortunately, it can be a bit boring stumbling through the forests in search of game and the great lord and his retinue have decided that the adventuring group would be more interesting to hunt.

Dark Cities - There is a city of the dead in Svartalfheim known as Yggwyrd, the city of ancestors. This is a desolate city only occupied by spirits and ghosts, and a faction has asked the party to travel down there and commune with the spirits of the city. They require answers for many fear that Ragnarok is just a few years off and everyone believes that the giants and petitioners of Ysgard are stocking up on weapons and supplies.

Hill Giant Problem - The hill giants are wanting to start up a trading post, but all the little-folk are scared of them. The hill giants are wanting to capture a merchant and interrogate him for answers on attracting patrons, growing their business and managing supply lines. They think almost everyone is a merchant and they are having a hard time getting answers.

Persistent Duel - A warrior has learned that a member of an adventuring party is a powerful fighter. They wish to have a duel to the death, and they refuse to budge on this. If they lose against the fighter, they are reborn the next day and again demand another duel to the death. If they win the duel, they lord over the fallen fighter that they are greater and pay various bards across the plane to sing of this great fight.

Tanar’ri Worship - A demon has disguised itself as a giant and is attempting to spread the ideology of the abyss into the giants. It is wanting to transform the land and its people to the evil chaos, and thus drag a piece of Ysgard to the Abyss.

Resources & Further Reading

Manual of the Planes (1st edition)
For information on an earlier Ysgard known as Gladheim and its Norse Pantheon.
Planescape Campaign Setting (2nd edition)
For more information on the Fated and other factions.
Planes of Chaos (2nd edition)
For more information on locations, the layers, and inhabitants of Ysgard.
Manual of the Planes (3rd edition)
For more information on the layers and locations in Ysgard.

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