Asgard Guide WIP2

[dragonspeak]

Asgard.
A Guide for Travellers, by Travellers.

Foreword.
Welcome to the Asgard Guide.

This guide is compiled and maintained by Travellers for Travellers. This means that although we have strived for consistency, clarity and above all accuracy, that there are still things we don’t fully understand. We’re only human (where applicable). Mistakes will unfortunately be made. However, we are offering this guide because the information in it has been gathered and collated to the best of our abilities, and we are confident that this is a resource necessary for old and new Travellers alike.

Numerous Travellers have volunteered their time and effort to this project. In particular I’d like to thank Edmund Pevensie, Sam Winchester and Castiel who were instrumental in the formation of this guide and who contributed much of the information contained within. I’d also like to thank the Forensics Department for their efforts in cross-checking facts and striving to make this document as accurate as we can.

Edogawa Conan.
Day 2--


1.First Impressions.
Arrival | Welcome Hall | Going Home | Bracelet | My Power isn't working | But I have something really important to do

Powers
Gods/Powers | Teacher’s Council | Runes | Potions

Gods
God Posts | Curses | Freyr | Motivations

World Knowledge
Asgard | Utgard | ??? | Elves | Fire Giants | Ice Giants | Creatures

Timeline
Important events | God organized events | Traveller organized events

Grey Sickness
Cause | Observations | Theories | Gods

Locations within Asgard
Traveller-run places | Asgard landmarks | Gates





I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Arrival.
Travellers wake standing in a circle of runic design within the Castle. They are greeted by 'the maid,' a native citizen in the advanced stages of the Grey Sickness that the Travellers have allegedly been brought to Asgard to cure. The maid is a typical example of what a native citizen who has not been exposed to Travellers looks like. Although her* grey appearance is distressing for new arrivals not expecting to see her, the maid is reported to be helpful. Since many travellers are so shaken by the manner of their arrival that they don’t read the letter she presents them with, the letter is reprinted here:

Welcome, Traveller
You have been chosen by the gods to bear the honourable task of restoring colour and life to the Holy City of Asgard. As an honoured guest, you will be provided with the means necessary to ensure your health and happiness. Your duty is simple: in order to preserve this world and the one from whence you came, you must flourish within this city. The laughter and tears of all travellers will become strength both for you and the greater good. Please accept the gifts of your patron deity, and serve them well. The fate of all existence rests within your capable hands.
Good Luck in the Eventide.



There have been no known cases of the maid stealing anyone’s face.
*The maid is presumed to be female.

NB: If you are a recent arrival with an eye for detail and a good memory of what the circle you woke in looked like, you are highly encouraged to contact Edogawa Conan at once.

Welcome Hall.
Upon arrival each Traveller is assigned a room in one of the nine Welcome Halls (sometimes known colloquially as ‘God Houses’) around the city, one for each of the nine gods (despite the fact that Freyr and Freya are not currently within the city). Travellers are shown out of the castle in the door of the district in which their Welcome Hall is placed and left to find it.

Board is free and there is low-quality food and some basic articles of clothing provided in the kitchen cupboards and laundry room of the Welcome Hall. Travellers can use these and the appliances in the kitchen and living rooms freely and without worrying about paying board or utilities but anything outside what is provided will need to be paid for by Travellers with money earned from the city itself. Your home-reality currency is not accepted here!

Staying in the Welcome Hall is not mandatory, but unless an offer of lodgings is extended upon their arrival, new Travellers will find they need to take a job and save up before they can move out. Their are numerous rental properties available throughout the city. Note: Although travellers can live anywhere they like within the city regardless of what district they are initially placed in, there is one exception to this. A Traveller entering the Welcome Hall of a god that is not their own will find that after about an hour they feel subtly uneasy, which becomes downright uncomfortable and finally unbearable after about 6 hours or so.

Outside each Welcome Hall is an altar dedicated to the god of the district. Locals can be observed paying their respects. Travellers who attempt to contact the gods through these altars have mixed results. It is not known what sort of reaction damaging an altar might produce, but if you are interested in finding out it is recommended that you read the section on Curses before you proceed.

Going Home.
You’ve probably been told that you can’t go home. That’s only partially true. You cannot choose to leave Asgard but there is a chance that you depart, or that others of your acquaintance here, will depart before our work here is done.

There are many theories behind these sudden disappearances. Since a large number of Traveller disappearances seem to coincide with battles or attacks on the city, it is probable that the gods need to expend energy to keep us present in this world. When that energy and attention needs to be directed elsewhere (ie: to meet and resist those enemy attacks), their hold on us wavers and Travellers may be sent back to their home world.

Disappearances are not limited to times of crisis however. If you want to be sure that a friend of yours has left the city, follow these steps.

1. Check the list of travellers displayed on your bracelet. If their name is missing, they have left this world.
2. Visit their room. Traveller’s possessions vanish with them. If you were close to the departed Traveller, it is possible that you will find a keepsake deposited into your bank account upon their departure.

If a Traveller’s name is still listed but they are not answering messages left on their bracelet or answering their door, it is possible that they have departed the city, have ‘gone grey’ ie. lost their bracelet and fallen prey to the same grey sickness as the native populace (for more detail see Greyness ). This is a temporary state, and can last anything from a few days to weeks, but no cases longer than a month are known to date. There is also the slim possibility that they are injured, or kidnapped and held against their will. If you have any reason to suspect foul play, please notify the Forensics Department at once.

Bracelet.
All travellers receive a bracelet upon arrival. The colour of the stone indicates who the patron god of that particular Traveller is.

The bracelet connects Travellers to a network similar to the internet of many modern worlds. It can be used to send text, voice and video messages to anyone else in possession of a bracelet. All travellers have an inbox feature allowing them to receive private messages, as well as being able to make public posts, anonymously or otherwise, to the main network. However, the bracelets cannot be used to contact native citizens or Travellers who have left the city limits.

In addition, the bracelets serve another function. They effectively shield a Traveller from the Grey Sickness. One of the most frequent causes of Traveller disappearance is losing or misplacing a bracelet. A Traveller cannot safely be without their bracelet for more than a couple of hours before they vanish. A Traveller who loses their bracelet is said to have ‘gone grey.’ Scanning the main network should produce many instances of this. All Travellers are urged to exercise caution when removing their bracelet.

At the same time, it should not be forgotten that the bracelets are one of the main ways the gods monitor Traveller activity within Asgard! Use common sense while using them.

My power isn’t working.
This is a frequent complaint of new arrivals and unfortunately an enduring one.

The explanation given by the gods is that in order for Travellers to be able to exist in this world, their energies must be ‘converted’ into a form compatible with this world. To this end, Travellers with abilities that exceed the capabilities of a typical human* will find those abilities stripped from them upon arrival. Similarly, Travellers may find the technology with them on their arrival down-graded or simply dysfunctional, and the abilities of their accompanying pokemon similarly stripped.

This is one of the biggest causes of contention between Gods and Travellers and discussion of it seldom ends amicably, especially if Odin is involved. There was one extreme instance where apparently fed up with explaining to Travellers why their powers were taken from them, the Gods killed ten Travellers after first restoring their powers to them. It’s hard to be sure whether the Travellers died as a result of their powers being returned to them or that the Gods interfered more directly, but the fact of the deaths, Baldr’s clear statement of responsibility and the reactions of the other gods, not to his claims but to his indiscretion clearly indicate that this was premeditated action on the part of the gods.

The power granted Travellers on arrival is intended to be a substitute for what is lost and many Travellers have accepted their power and begun training in its use. For more information on that see Powers.


*Since restored native citizens seem to be human in body, mind and capability, it made sense to use human as a measuring stick hair. We apologize to non-human Travellers and invite you to suggest a more appropriate term if you have one.**
**Flesh-bag is not a more appropriate term.

But I have something really important to do back home.
If the gods cared about that, they wouldn’t have brought you here. It is that simple.

There is a silver lining, however, in that time does not pass in our home realities while we are present in Asgard. A Traveller can seemingly be taken from and returned to any moment in time without disrupting the natural course of events in that world.

The proof of this is numerous Traveller testimony collected over the course of our time here. Although cases of travellers leaving the city for weeks or even months and returning with their memories of Asgard intact are rare, there have been enough cases and the testimony provided by returning Travellers consistent enough to give their combined statements a very high probability of being the truth.

There are also more frequent instances of Travellers leaving the city for a period as short as a day or as long as a week, and returning having spent weeks, months or even years in their home reality. I’ve experienced this first hand, and was fortunately observed while unconscious in Asgard, so can prove that I never left the city. I dictated what I’d experienced back home to a friend and we were later able to verify those events actually happened by checking the newspapers of my world in the library. Many other Travellers can provide similar colloquial evidence. In particular, Travellers with others of their home reality present in Asgard can compare notes and verify their experiences with them.