TEXT: Series Pitch of the Month
  Niflgap
  Raven Daegmorgan
  
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  Credits
  dramasystem 
  writer/designer/
  producer 
  Robin D. Laws
  series pitch 
  author 
  Raven Daegmorgan
  illustration 
  Jan Pospíšil
  layout 
  Cathriona Tobin
  based on a layout 
  theme by 
  Christian Knutsson
  proofreader 
  Craig Hargreaves
  Thanks to our Kickstarter backers, without whom this would not be possible.
  © 2014 PELGRANE PRESS LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
  
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  Hillfolk — Series Pitches
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  Niflgap
  —Raven Daegmorgan
  Nutshell
  As the universe dies, the fractious Norse gods 
  set forth in starships from lonesome Midgaard. 
  They sail the black tides of the cosmos, hoping 
  to find salvation in the void where armies of the 
  hungry dead writhe endless beneath black suns.
  Do the gods live together on one spacecraft? 
  A few vessels? Each their own?
  Characters
  The players take the roles of the immortal 
  gods of the ancient Norse myths. While the 
  Norse were in large part farmers and traders, 
  these are the gods of the Vikings—adventurers, 
  explorers, warriors, raiders, and reavers—fierce, 
  bound to honor, boastful, and ready to avenge 
  any slight.
  The gods cannot die of age or natural causes, 
  and are hale and difficult to injure, due not 
  only to supernatural provenance, but also to 
  their embrace of super-technology and future 
  sciences. Yet still they cling tightly to traditional 
  art-forms, dress, and decoration. No matter 
  how fantastic and improved their weaponry, its 
  outward appearance remains archaic. 
  What physical aspects of the gods or their 
  powers derive from futuristic technology? 
  What aspects defy mortal explanation, if any?
  However they may have changed on the 
  surface, their passions, desires, and problems 
  remain those of mortal men and mortal families.
  •    Odin, the All-father, ruler of the gods, 
  who seeks some way to prevent or forestall 
  the death of the universe. He will go to 
  any lengths to do so. His lone eye sees 
  everywhere.
  •    Tyr, the One-handed, once-leader of the 
  gods, maimed and scarred in battle by a 
  wolf in the void. He held the line so others 
  might escape, and now oversees ship-
  discipline and the court.
  •    Thor, the Giant-slayer, son of Odin, and 
  greatest warrior of the gods. Hot-headed 
  and easily baited, he sees all as a chance 
  for glory, and is the first to strike with or 
  without orders.
  •    Loki, the Jotun-son, sly-tongued, quick-
  witted, greatest engineer of the gods, 
  and second only to Odin in magic. He 
  sometimes thinks the giants whisper to 
  him. Sometimes he whispers back.
  •    Baldur, the Fair, another son of Odin, a 
  peerless warrior and poet who is loved by 
  all, to the great jealousy of some. Thought 
  to be Odin’s heir-apparent, but acts the 
  child and jester.
  •    Heimdall, the Guardian, a stern seer who 
  watches and listens to the void, guarding 
  the gods from threats within and without, 
  and seeking anomalies of a nature only he 
  and Odin discuss.
  •    Freyr, the Fair-faced, prosperous and 
  much beloved by women, overseer and 
  guardian of the gods’ stores, keeper of 
  the keys to the treasuries of artifacts and 
  weapons.
  •    Freya, the Battle-maid, sister of Freyr. 
  Chief among the Valkyries. Said by 
  some to be a witch, and by others merely 
  bewitching, for her sexual exploits are as 
  legendary as her battle-skill.
  •    Sif, the Golden, the oft-desired wife 
  of Thor, an agriculturalist afflicted 
  with strange moods of prophecy, who 
  commands the Disir that serve the gods. 
  Her son Ullr is not of Thor’s loins.
  •    Frigga, the Lady, wife of Odin and his 
  second-in-command, said to see as much 
  as he. She tolerates much, but is not 
  committed to the unending sacrifices of 
  
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  Hillfolk — Series Pitches
  
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  Raven Daegmorgan
  her husband.
  •    Idunn, the Healer, whose medical 
  ministrations can repair even the most 
  grievous of wounds. Alone among the 
  gods, a pacifist—she will not lift hand to 
  kill, and weeps at death and blood.
  •    Hel, daughter of Loki, her beauty half-
  burned away, master shipwright and chief 
  of those damned to repair the hull or work 
  in the bleakest bowels of the ship. She 
  seethes at Idunn’s failure to restore her 
  beauty.
  There are many other gods, some recorded 
  in Earth-lore and many not, who have also 
  ventured forth.
  The players might choose instead to play one 
  of the Einherjar or Valkyries, the cadres of elite 
  warriors serving Odin and Freyja respectively, 
  wielding top-line equipment, their bodies 
  flooded with healing nanites making them 
  resistant, though not impervious, to injury. Or 
  one of the Norns, the technicians, pilots, and 
  astrogators whose rituals repair the machines. 
  Is it true only the gods can make the ships 
  go between the stars and guide them through 
  the void? Or is it the work of great engines 
  powered by nuclear forces?
  Or perhaps even one of the Disir, who serve 
  the gods their food and drink, and care for their 
  many needs.
  Which gods or groups of men are instead 
  artificial intelligences or machines? What of 
  other mythic beings such as the giants and 
  dwarves?
  Setting
  In a dark cosmic joke, in all of creation there 
  is only one planet that bears life, the jewel of 
  Midgaard. None else has been discovered in 
  all the fathomless infinity of space. Now the 
  universe is dying. The stars are going out. The 
  wolves of entropy are devouring all things.
  What is the shape of the universe? Is it like 
  our own? Is it a comic-book version of  outer 
  space, where stars are not light-years apart and 
  planets crowd together mere hours or days 
  from one another? One vast solar system filled 
  with endless rocky spheres?
  Fenrir prowls the Abyss above, stealing the 
  minds and souls of men; the devourers Skoll and 
  Hati seek to consume all light and matter; while 
  the shades of murderers risen from Niflhel seek 
  blood and life. There lurk darker things, too, 
  undreamt by man except in his nightmares.
  Before this age of Ragnarok, many men and 
  lesser gods set forth into the void. Yet no ship 
  launched can now return to Midgaard, lest the 
  wolves follow. Then all life would end, leaving 
  the universe an empty, cold cinder without point 
  or purpose, the struggles and triumphs of men 
  and gods all for naught.
  Broken ships float abandoned in the void, 
  becoming Naglfar, their hulls haunted by 
  demons and crewed by corpses. On worlds 
  below, beneath dimming suns, impossible 
  armies of alien corpses march, reality fading 
  behind them across fae and phantom lands.
  Upon barren planets, moons, asteroids, and 
  within nebulae, the ruins of alien cultures that 
  never were appear, then fade, choked by vine-
  and-brush that are but hollow dust, populated 
  by the hungry dead and weeping ghosts of 
  civilizations that never lived.
  Yet there remain occasional outposts in the 
  void, on barely livable planets whose failed 
  terraforming plants vainly spew the noxious 
  fumes of life into poisonous atmospheres, and 
  gleaming stations that orbit distant suns, spartan 
  homes to miners and rune-seekers. Some few of 
  these still cling stubbornly against madness and 
  supernatural onslaught, yet most of these have 
  failed or been devoured.
  What shape and expression does 
  technology take? Glowing runes in flesh and 
  metal? Subtle and unremarkable? Clouds 
  of light and holographic-neon flashes when 
  activated? Are the gods melded with it, or is it 
  merely carried by them? 
  Themes
  •    Loyalty and Betrayal
  •    Lies
  •    The Price of Honor
  •    Surrounded
  •    Despair
  •    The Weight of Immortality
  •    The Value of a Name
  •    Seduction
  •    Tyranny
  •    Greed
  Hillfolk — Series Pitches
  
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  Hillfolk — Series Pitches
  •    Destiny
  •    The Hammer of the Gods
  •    The Apples of Immortality
  •    The Serpent in the Roots
  •    A Game of Whispers
  •    Arrogance
  •    Walking Hidden among Men
  •    Sacrifice
  •    Returning from Beyond
  •    Hospitality
  •    My Word Once Given…
  •    Secrets
  •    The Walls are Breached
  •    Giants of Fire
  •    Giants of Ice
  •    A Sun Consumed
  •    Hunger
  •    The Oath
  •    An Unanswerable Question
  •    Across the Rainbow Bridge
  •    Lost
  •    Climbing Yggdrasil
  •    Stranded
  Tightening the Screws
  The main action takes place on the surface 
  of planets, on haunted star-vessels, and in 
  the cramped quarters of space stations and 
  planetary facilities, as the gods seek out 
  anomalies and search for things that have 
  meaning only to Odin, or as they go a-raiding 
  for needed supplies. These missions provide 
  many chances for the gods to prove their wit 
  and strength as they protect their mortal charges 
  against environmental dangers or the hungry 
  dead.
  •    Furious cosmic storms, unpredicted 
  supernovas, meteor fields, event horizons, 
  and newly discovered spatial disturbances 
  drain supplies and good will. Resource 
  shortages provoke conflicts, as the favored 
  escape the brunt of sacrifice.
  •    Knowledge, power, and status are always 
  at a premium, and Odin claims many of 
  these for himself. Much of what he finds, 
  he locks away or hides, despite the desires 
  or arguments of the other gods, for he 
  claims to know best. Not all of the gods 
  agree. Loki often seeks other ways to gain 
  access to what Odin has kept. 
  •    Tension breaks out between the gods as 
  the powerful gods demand tribute from 
  the weak.
  •    A corpse-crewed battleship spewing 
  devouring flame arrives to launch a 
  relentless attack. The flagship of a silent, 
  implacable enemy, its destruction of 
  something or someone key to the series so 
  far signals the coming of a terrible new foe.
  •    Stronger than ever, the foe returns to chase 
  the ensemble across the stars in a deadly 
  game of cat-and-mouse.
  •    The mad jarl of a shattered colony is 
  brought aboard, thought to have important 
  information.
  •    Refugees fleeing the wolves beg both 
  the gods’ protection and food from their 
  stores.
  •    Odin believes he has found true life not 
  of Midgaard, but is it another illusion, or 
  a trap?
  •    There is a rebellion by the damned in 
  the ship’s bowels, at the worst possible 
  moment.
  •    Something unseen breaches the hull, 
  forcing desperate repairs. But did 
  something get in?
  •    The ship’s engines fail in a great cosmic 
  Sargasso; was the course somehow 
  sabotaged?
  •    Loki is accused of murdering one of Odin’s 
  many sons, but he protests his innocence.
  Additional Elements
  Imagine an ancient Viking long-ship crewed 
  by battle-ready warriors seeking the edge of the 
  world, for the sun has gone out and they seek 
  both the reason and a solution, which lands on 
  the mist-shrouded shores of unknown isles full of 
  ghosts and worse.
  There, perhaps, they find a ragged survivor 
  of a previous expedition, who tells them of a 
  mystic treasure and the dark sorcery that claimed 
  their own companions. Or they land seeking 
  materials to repair their vessels or weapons, or 
  to replenish food and stores for their journey, 
  and are confronted by disturbing events of subtly 
  supernatural character. Often times while sailing 
  they wonder if land will ever be found again, 
  and sometimes strange distant ships appear that 
  
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  Raven Daegmorgan
  Hillfolk — Series Pitches
  Names
  Agnar
  Alsvith
  Andhrim
  Andvaranaut
  Arngrim
  Asathor
  Aurvang
  Bari
  Bergelmir
  Bleik
  Bothvild
  Bragalund
  Breith
  Brimir
  Bur
  Dag
  Dain
  Dagling
  Duneyr
  Durin
  Dyrathror
  Egil
  Eikinskjald
  Eldhrimnir
  Elivagar
  Embla
  Falhofnir
  Farmatyr
  Fensalir
  Fjosnir
  Fulnir
  Geirvimul
  Glaumvor
  Grimhild
  Guthrun
  Halfdan
  Hannar
  Hatafjord
  Helreith
  Hild
  Hjalmar
  Hilfthrasa
  Hoddrofnir
  Hosvir
  Hraesvelg
  Hrimgerth
  Hundland
  Ifing
  Imth
  Iri
  Isolf
  Ithavoll
  Jafnhor
  Jarnsaxa
  Kjalar
  Kon
  Kund
  Leif
  Lofar
  Lofnheith
  Lyfjaberg
  Lyngheith
  Mjothvinir
  Mogthrasir
  Moinsheimar
  Mornaland
  Mundilferi
  Myrkheirn
  Nain
  Nali
  Nithi
  Ofnir
  Orkning
  Orvar
  Reifnir
  Rin
  Rithil
  Rothulsfjoll
  Saemorn
  Saevarstath
  Salgofnir
  Saxi
  Sigeir
  Sigrdrifa
  Sigurth
  Skafith
  Skjold
  Skrymir
  Skuld
  Solheimar
  Svafnir
  Thegn
  Thjothmar
  Thrael
  Thrym
  Tyrfing
  Ulfrun
  Unavagar
  Uth
  Vafthruthnir
  Valbjorg
  Valgrind
  Vali
  Var
  Veratyr
  Vindheim
  Vingskornir
  Virfir
  Vithga
  Vofuth
  Ydalir
  Yngling
  Yngvi
  Ysja
  do not respond to hails and other signals. Or 
  unseen things grind against the hull.
  Now imagine the same, but with spaceships 
  and planets, the vessels crewed by gods.
  Familiarity with the Norse myths and 
  the various individuals and creatures of the 
  mythos, and with Viking culture, adds depth 
  to your characters. Kevin Crossley-Holland’s 
  The Norse Myths is an engaging introduction 
  to the basic myth-cycle and many of the gods, 
  though a direct translation of the Poetic Edda is 
  available from any number of publishers. The 
  DramaSystem dynamic will ensure that your 
  retellings of existing myths take on their own 
  distinct shapes, unique to your series.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Hillfolk/Series Pitch of the Month/09 - Niflgap.pdf