Short History

Midgard lies in between Asgard and The Utgard alliance and was forged by the primal human tribes in the time the war between Utgard and Asgard began. They chose not to fight and instead fuel the machinery of war from afar. They thrived on creating weapons, rations and magic for both kingdoms. In the early years of the war both Utgard and Asgard occupied Midgard several times but after some time Midgard grew strong enough to evade further occupation trough economic leverage.

Both Utgard and Asgard have the power to destroy Midgard but they do not because doing so would mean the end of their fresh supply's and probably the defection of Midgard to the other side, giving the other side of the war a relatively small but possibly decisive advantages. The armies of both kingdoms have therefore always travelled around Midgard or travelled right trough it paying the high road taxes of Midgard. Midgard chooses not to choose sides in the war for it would mean certain destruction by the other kingdom.

Terrorists and rebels, who probably want nothing but peace, have tried to destroy the kingdom of Midgard hoping to bring the war to a stop or temporary standstill, but Midgard has learned to protect themselves from these culprits. Bands of monsters and wild races that have not yet been civilized by Utgard have tried to pillage or conquer Midgard, but the rich kingdom always bought its protection from either Utgard or Asgard.

When parts of Utgard and Asgard gave up their slavery Midgard enforced it and bought most slaves from traders that wanted money instead of releasing their slaves. Today Midgard is the smallest and weakest kingdom of the tree main states of Heimr. But they none the less have the most wealth.

Long history of Midgard

This is the timeline of Midgard. It includes the founding of some important guilds, but not all by far. This timeline is far from complete and doesn't mention (among other things) the times Midgard has been occupied, at war, in crises (economic or otherwise), important inventions nor important religious events.

• 12 B.T. Founding of Ul-Targash and Midgard.
• 11 B.T. Founding of the Ul-Targash Weapon crafters Guild. Midgard starts selling weapons. Founding of the first Midgard bank by the Pederon family.
• 5 B.T. Regan stonecold tries to establish order by founding the guard and military of Midgard.
• 2 B.T. Founding of the Ul-Targash Banking guild.
• 0 B.T. - A.T. - The monestary of Truth is build, Talor grants the Lorekeepers his words of wisdom, Cave of truth found, Regan Stonecold is killed, banking guild becomes highest power in Midgard and grabs control. The leading banking family is Pederon.
• 1 A.T. Midgardian laws are changed to reflect current economy set up. The Pederon family allows other races into Midgard. Gnomes and Halflings flow to the Midgardian riches.
• 2 A.T. "L'La Smoclew" is open.
• 3 A.T. The market of Midgard is called "L'La Slles" in honour of "L'La Smoclew". Gnomes laugh.
• 5 A.T. First carnival of the Small is held in Ul-Targash
• 19 A.T. Founding of the Farmers and Mercenary guild.
• 20 A.T. Pederon family is weakened by internal feuds.
• 23 A.T. Pederon family loses control of Midgard, Morningbrook family bank gains control.
• 34 A.T. Hostilities between trolls and Elves.
• 56 A.T. Burton opens the first Bathing house in Ul-Targash.
• 103 A.T. Morningbrook family stimulates the creation of guild with subventions.
• 103 A.T. Founding of the Beggars guild.
• 111 A.T. Founding of the Assasins guild.
• 113 A.T. Undain family gains in popularity because of critics on Morningbrook's subvention policies.
• 114 A.T. Founding of the Thiefs guild.
• 117 A.T. Founding of the Bird Handlers house.
• 120 A.T. Elves burn down the troll capital Bregtahlem.
• 123 A.T. Founding of the Runners guild. Undain family wrestles control of Midgard from the Morningbrooks and reverts subvention policies.
• 140 A.T. Truth becomes to big, Ul-Targash Library of truth is build.
• 163 A.T. The Ul-Targash Holy square is build.
• 339 A.T. Ul-Targash floods the tunnel of Dead trolls.
• 339 A.T. Critics of the Undain family use the tunnel of Dead trolls incident to discredit the ruling family.
• 340 A.T. Undain family loses control of Midgard to the Ingo gnome family bank.
• 474 A.T. Founding of Toby's war machine factory.
• 483 A.T. Ingo gnome family bank loses control of Midgard to the Van Eeden family bank.
• 516 A.T. Van Eeden family bank loses control of Midgard to the Olson family bank.
• 529 A.T. Olson family bank loses control of Midgard to the halfing commonwealth bank, allot of laws change.
• 555 A.T. halfing commonwealth bank loses control of Midgard to the Van Eeden family bank, allot of laws change back.
• 558 A.T. Van Eeden family bank loses control of Midgard to the halfing commonwealth bank, allot of laws change again.
• 562 A.T. halfing commonwealth bank loses control of Midgard to the Van Eeden family bank, allot of laws change once more.
• 571 A.T. Van Eeden family bank loses control of Midgard to the halfing commonwealth bank, allot of laws change to the frustration of the public.
• 573 A.T. Banking guild passes stability act, increasing cash flow in between banks, to avoid economic collapse and frequent changes in laws. Furthermore, no bank may claim control with only a margin difference. The difference must be proportional to whole to be decided by Banking guild as a whole.
• 583 A.T. Despite stability act halfing commonwealth bank loses control of Midgard to the Van Eeden family bank again, allot of laws change. Halfing commonwealth bank is crushed utterly this time around, and is declared bankrupt shortly after.
• 630 A.T. Van Eeden family bank loses control of Midgard to the Reyment family bank.
• 789 A.T. Founding of the Midgard high-guard.
• 968 A.T. Reyment family bank loses control of Midgard to the Farmer-credit bank (used to be Olson family bank).
• 988 A.T. 1000 years of Ul-Targash. Banking guild builds first Arena in honour.
• 1000 A.T. 1000 years Truth. First Festival of Truth.
• 1020 A.T. Fae start building the great trading portal.
• 1023 A.T. The great portal is finished.
• 1024 A.T. All races are permitted entry into Midgard freely.
• 1039 A.T. Founding of the Mage guild.
• 1275 A.T. Farmer-credit bank loses control of Midgard to the Undain family bank.
• 1789 A.T. Creation of the great watchtower of Ul-Targash.
• 1790 A.T. Undain family bank loses control of Midgard to the ReGold bank (formerly known as Reyment family bank).
• 2421 A.T. Mush are released by Ul-Targash mages guild.
• 2508 A.T. ReGold bank loses control of Midgard to the Undain bank (formerly known as Undain family bank).
• 2521 A.T. Anton Undain takes control of Midgard.
• 2556 A.T. Aug. The portal rips.

Midgard lies between the two other large entities on Heimr and was forged by the primal human tribes in the time the war between the Utgard alliance and Asgard began. They chose not to fight and instead fuel the machinery of war from afar. They thrived on creating weapons, rations and magic for both sides. In the early years of the war both Utgard and Asgard occupied Midgard several times but after some time Midgard grew strong enough to evade further occupation trough economic leverage. Both Utgard and Asgard have the power to destroy Midgard but they do not because doing so would mean the end of their fresh supply's and probably the defection of Midgard to the other side, giving the other side of the war a relatively small but possibly decisive advantages. The armies of both sides have therefore always travelled around Midgard or travelled right trough it's killing fields and paying the road taxes of Midgard. Midgard chooses not to choose sides in the war for it would mean certain destruction by the other side of the war. Terrorists and rebels, who probably want nothing but peace, have tried to destroy the state of Midgard hoping to bring the war to a stop or temporary standstill, but Midgard has learned to protect themselves from these culprits. Bands of monsters and wild races that have not yet been civilized by Utgard have tried to pillage or conquer Midgard, but the rich Midgardian state always bought its protection from either Utgard or Asgard or neutral mercenaries. When parts of Utgard and Asgard gave up their slavery Midgard enforced it and bought most slaves from traders that wanted money instead of releasing their slaves. Today Midgard is the smallest and weakest state of the tree main entities of Heimr. But they none the less have the most wealth.

Midgard, as a neutral agent in the war, was formed from several human tribes in a response to the overwhelming force of Utgard and Asgard . Utgardian tribes reached the settlements of Midgard first, quickly put down any resistance and occupied the fledgling nation Midgard. At first Midgard started selling weapons to Utgard during this occupation at almost slave-rate prices, hoping the brutes would win the war fast and protect them from the strange and fear inspiring magic of Asgard . However, the magic of Asgard proved stronger than expected and Utgard was driven from human lands the next wave of attack. At that point Midgard would have been violently put down and cast into slavery as just another barbarian Utgardian race, but Midgard simply surrended to the occupying Asgardians, having lost all their defence against Utgard anyway and started fueling their side of the war... for a price again. This convinced Asgard that they where dealing with more than savages here and although the Elves and Fae considered humans to be misguided children, they put aside these matters for later worry as Utgard was still not defeated. The next wave send Asgard back home, and Midgard became Utgardian occupied land once more, repeating the cycle. Meanwhile Midgard slowly grew stronger and bolder, paying one side to protect them against the other, and selling military information, next to weapons and food to the enemy to regain funds. Still they where weak though and information weapons and food was more often confiscated or simply stolen from them than bought. Midgard was almost utterly destroyed several times during the beginnings of the war, before gaining enough footing and leverage to start actually gaining from the war.

Today, Midgard has grown large enough, with help of Human, Halfling , Gnome and other immigrants, to supply both Asgard and Utgard at the same time. The lands of Midgard now border the two other entities and supply lines from Midgard are almost a constant.

The Weapon crafters Guild is the oldest and most powerful of the guilds of Midgard and they have learned much from both Utgardian and Asgardian crafters. Now they craft weapons finely tuned to the wishes of these sides of the war and although most soldiers still favor "home-brewed" weaponry, Midgard supplies weapons cheaper and faster. Apart from weapons, Midgard also sometimes supplies food, shelter and entertainment for the passing armies.

Midgard no longer allows Utgard nor Asgard to actually occupy Midgardian lands, instead both sides of the war pay Midgard a hefty sum (but far less than what would cost them if they marched trough Midgard by force) to let their armies walk trough Midgard and arrive at the enemy border completely fresh and resupplied. This forces Both Utgard and Asgard to strategically choose their attack points. They could walk straight trough Midgard and avoid crossing the great rivers with their armies or slough trough the Lhengard, keeping their armies fresh and ready for battle, but it will cost them money.

Killing fields

Killing is a crime in Midgard, so in the earlier years of the war, Utgardian and Asgardian armies that would meet each other on Midgardian soil would either ignore each other or technically commit a crime by attacking each other. The later, of course, happened far more than the former, almost in all recorded historical encounters. Ofcourse no charges where ever made, no Midgardian guard house was stupid enough to try and arrest an entire army.

To legalize war in Midgard certain killing fields where appointed. To venture trough Midgard with an army, the army must pay Midgard a relative small price and take an appointed route trough these killing fields. Within these killing fields it is legal for any soldier to kill any other soldier. Any route trough Midgard takes any army trough at least four of these killing fields giving the enemy four windows of opportunities to ambush the army with an army of themselves.

Because lorekeepers and other fortune seekers on fast horses follow the armies on their trip trough Midgard and sell this information to the enemy, it is a rare occasion that armies stumble unto each other without at least one side knowing about the other it's approach. This results in pre-planned pitched battles on large open fields or any other environment that has been appointed as a killing "field".

Killing fields often switch locations to give the environment time to heal after a battle. Small proto-villages follow these killing fields around and sell goods and wares to passing armies.

Illegal killing, past the fields, still occurs frequently but if this is found out by Midgard a fine must be payed by the attacking army in the form of a higher price to march trough Midgard, next time.

Illegal troop movements (Armies that don't follow the killing fields) is also still a common occurrence. Small hit squads might not be seen as soldiers by Midgard and larger southern Heimr armies don't bother with the killing fields because they know the Midgardian armies will probably not assault them unless they start raiding the villages. Even that notion doesn't stop some Southern Heimr armies, who ravage Midgardian villages and fields even as they march towards Asgard, now having two nations militairy out searching for them.

Illegal troop movement trough Midgard is seen as an act of war against Midgard and Midgard often responds by giving the enemy of the trespassing army intel on the location of the culprit and permission to also ignore the killing fields to go after the enemy directly, often co-ordinated with Midgardian armies and mercenaries.

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