Kaldheim as Told by Flavor Text

"Heavy? Ha! The Trollking of Mossrun was heavy, and I tossed him five miles!"

"I need no axe to best these weaklings."

It wheeled upward, away from the shrieks and thunder. It reached the point where sky met smoke, and, but with a glance at the horizon, aimed itself and dove.

"If we fall today, let us fall with honor, defending our realm from the horrors that would defile it. Forward, shieldmates! To Starnheim!"

"Trespassers will be smelted." ~ Axgard inscription

To the living, the horn sounds faint and mournful, but to the spirits of Istfell, it is a thunderous call that must be obeyed.

"Today we are not Beskir or Tuskeri. We must fight as one clan, shoulder to shoulder, to defend our rightful home!"

There are rules, and then there are gods.

The realms crashed together, with Bretagard at the center of the calamity.

"Giants and monsters loom on the horizon, and the elves plan to murder our gods!"

"How strong is he? Well, I once lost control of the plow, and he carved a furrow right through my house! Didn't even slow down." ~ Guldir, Beskir farmer

Not a single rat has been seen in Istfell since the gods moved in.

"That was nothing. I once took down a frost giant with a spoon!"

"Let's see how brave you really are behind all that oak and steel."

"You'll raid nothing but mist in Istfell."

"Your trail ends here."

"All my scars have stories to tell."

Halvar united the spirits of all the clans into a single, devastating force.

Esika alone knows how to distill the essence of the World Tree into the Cosmos Elixir, a magical substance which grants the Skoti god-family immortality.

Never alone, never afraid.

"Only the worthy may pass."

Every worthy warrior who arrives in Starnheim is gifted a mount befitting their heroism, a mighty pegasus raised and trained by the valkyries.

Dwarven skalds are the most renowned storytellers in all of Kaldheim. They travel across the realms, seeking out heroic deeds and chronicling them in epic sagas.

"I have led ten thousand through these mists and never lost the way."

"If I am to die, let it be a hero's death!"

"Mead down! Swords up!"

The wolf's startled yelp changed quickly to a howl of elation as she soared over her envious packmates.

"Many giants have tried to crush me with their hammers. You'll never stop me with that little toy." ~ Stigur of the Omenseekers

Some ravens collect shiny baubles; others hoard omens and secrets.

Countless worlds unfolded before Niko, every one in need of heroes.

Sarulf's snarl of rage shook the World Tree.

Locked in the ice of Karfell, the treasures of ancient nobles await in ruins guarded by the dead.

Frost giants study for centuries in isolation, honing their ability to harness elemental mayhem.

"My home calls to me, I must go."

"The skald boasted that he could outsing the sea. Cosima heard him, and drowned his village with a single wave." ~ *Longbeard Saga*

The worst part is that you won't even remember how much he's taken from you.

From the barest crack in the ice, she teases forth a swirling, living map of the Cosmos.

Some heroes line their coats with yeti fur. More yetis line their bellies with heroes.

The runes glow beneath the snow, bearing memories of a time when the old gods ruled the realms.

"Oh, Valki. I'm disappointed in you. How could the god of lies be so gullible?" ~ Tibalt

Each path ever charted by an Omenseeker is etched into her eyes.

"This is a realm of the living. King Narfi's legion is coming to change that."

Like calls to like, and none are forgotten.

The Skelle raiders boasted that nothing could stop them, certainly not a bit of fog.

"To escape Littjara, follow a bird." ~ Tuskeri folklore

"Well, at least it left us a mouse in exchange. Er . . . ugh . . . make that half a mouse." ~ Binhald, Beskir veteran

The masks float downstream toward the Mirrorlake, where faces arise to wear them.

"Which one of you slug-brained milksops forgot to make an offering to Cosima?" ~ Jolkur, navigator

"How predictable."

Alrund sees the future as a whorl of signs and symbols, omens interwoven in an intricate knotwork only he can decipher.

"The currents are strange today, and the fish are fearful. Something's stirring in the depths." ~ Rathstaf, Kannah fisherman

"Who's next?!"

Panic spread like wildfire as the demons of Immersturm poured into Bretagard, slaughtering as they came.

"Sven felled the elf with an arrow through the chest, but moments later, the corpse rose with a sneer to fight again." ~ *Longbeard Saga*

It began as a flavor on the tongue, like a bloody morsel of roast boar—but soon the power was a conflagration in her veins.

Kaya had stalked countless horrific foes, but never one that killed with such callous precision and twisted creativity.

"You cannot stand against us, but when you fall, you will stand with us!"

"What kind of monstrous grave robber leaves the treasures, but takes the bodies?" ~ Fjall, Beskir elder

"My shadow alone will slay you."

Egon ages backward, his wisdom soured by youthful spite.

"One day, the great serpent will rejoin us on Skemfar, and those who've wronged us will taste of our venom."

He spent the final moments of his existence tumbling down the length of the serpent's jaws, driven mad by the magnitude of the Cosmos.

She was a ragged shadow of her living form, but she had lost none of her deadly prowess.

When the path to Starnheim was opened, vengeance rained down upon the enemies of Bretagard.

"Here, my pet. Another little light for you to snuff out." ~ Kzarakh, Immersturm gamekeeper

Trapped in a realm of dead flesh and scarce hunting, the ravenous wolves of Karfell follow the Dread Marn to warm game.

"Great Serpent, hear my song! We wait, our faith unshaken, for your glorious return."

Dark schemes cut down what armies cannot.

"King Narfi calls. We go to war!"

Stripped of their divinity, the elves of Skemfar channeled their rage and sorrow into bloody brutality.

Fear is her one true companion.

Tergrid, god of fright, never acknowledges her own shadow . . . or its murderous deeds.

"I waded through a river of fire to bring death to Bretagard."

"Starnheim is closed to you, coward."

The Skelle raise scorn poles in conquered villages—cursed totems of wood and bone that sap survivors of physical strength and the will to fight back.

The draugr often drown intruders. Years later, their corpses rise from the depths to join the ranks of the Dread Marn.

"We'll see each other again soon." ~ Egon, god of death

"I headbutted a troll. And won."

Riding the goat ~ Dwarven expression meaningn"a foolhardy act of bravery"

"This is a tale to make all Kaldheim tremble..."

"Go for the knees! The last giant who tried to get past us got rolled back down the mountain in a dozen pieces."

He'd ignite the World Tree itself if he could.

What fire giants lack in arcane prowess, they make up for with reckless, explosive rage.

Abandoned at birth, the giant was raised by goats. Ironically, it grew up to be the most cautious member of the herd.

"Burn them from the sky." ~ Varragoth

"Orders? We don't wait for orders!"

"No one else had the spine for it, so I ran right between that giant's legs and hauled poor Valdir back to Axgard!"

"Awooo!"

"Arrogant maggot. You won't be so proud when I rip out your tongue and drink from your skull!"

"Don't wander far—it's a bit nippy out there!" ~ Leidurr, expedition leader

"Graarg!"

The demons took no captives and claimed no spoils; they sought only to destroy.

"I like burning and pillaging as much as anyone, but sometimes it's just easier to throw a rock and let the trolls do the work." ~ Urik, Tuskeri raid leader

"Boat's burning! Row faster!"

"A Tuskeri never shrinks from battle! Quite the opposite in fact." ~ Arni Brokenbrow

"Grab what you want and burn the rest. Leave nothing behind."

In that instant, Toralf felt only the power of the storm and the need to destroy.

"Who said there's no profit in destruction?" ~ Magda, brazen outlaw

The troll had recently crushed a human in much the same way. Sadly, he expired too quickly to appreciate the irony.

The only thing that smells worse than troll is burnt troll.

"Toralf blessed me with fire. I am worthy of Starnheim!"

The dwarves believe works of art should be passed down the generations, not buried with the dead.

Deep within the endless webs of cloning silk, the weaver awaits.

A friend of Jorn is never cold.

"Fynn climbed the highest peak and waited, still and silent, until the falling snow had hidden him entirely. When the great eagle flew past, the hunter's aim was true." ~ *Saga of the Wisdom Seeker*

"Our ancestors grew complacent in their divinity, allowing their lessers to topple them. Never again."

"I know this world, from canopy to roots."

"Come, Koma, and reclaim what you lost! Or does the great serpent fear a rematch?"

At last, the storm's rage subsided, leaving silent, frozen beauty in its wake.

Fed up with webs impeding travelers in other realms, Kolvori banished the giant spiders to Gnottvold, where their webs snare only the occasional rampaging troll.

"Sure, a horse might be faster. But I'd like to see a horse take the head clean off a troll in one swipe!"

The raiders' only warning was a whisper floating through the mist: "Trespassers."

"A five-day climb? Ha! I'll do it in two."

A troll's greatest weapon is its ability to emerge unexpectedly from the landscape.

The arrows of the elvish elite strike as true and deadly as the fangs of the Cosmos Serpent they revere.

"Wherever snow falls, I am home."

"We will destroy the pretenders and reclaim the divinity of the Einir."

In every tree, a restless spirit.

Thus the longhall became a flathall.

"I'm no coward, but I'd sooner tangle with a rampaging Torga troll than a hungry lindwurm!" ~ Yegar, Beskir warrior

"We are bound to wander this forest forever. Sometimes I think it wanders with us." ~ Ogni, Kannah scout

Though imprisoned in Jaspera trees, the elvish gods known as the Einir still whisper through the ages.

"I and my kin remember the old ways. The frost whispers to me in a language too ancient for the Skoti usurpers to comprehend."

"Does a serpent roar and chase its prey? No. A serpent waits silently for oblivious prey to draw near."

She is both shepherd and reaper, and her judgment is final.

Using tyrite from a fallen Cosmos monster, Koll forged a weapon to awe Halvar himself.

"Our enemies have breached our realm. To survive, the clans must fight as one!"

To serve the god of death, Narfi forfeited the warmth of life.

One eye sees the past, one the present, and one the future—and none can be deceived.

The Skoti owe their immortality to the elixir, and the manner of its creation is their most closely guarded secret.

"Cast onto the windless water, he drifted until the sea turned to sky." ~ *Saga of the Lost King*

"There are some places even our ships cannot travel. I would know their secrets too." ~ Inga Rune-Eyes

It remembers every wound it has seen or suffered—and nothing else.

"Here perished Rognar the Reckless after his hundred-day battle with the Ironmaw Dragon. We raised these stones to mark his resting place." ~ Iskene, Kannah storyteller

"When the Light of Starnheim shines here, every frost-edged needle glitters with the reflected glory of the Cosmos." ~ Iskene, Kannah storyteller

"Listen! The trees tell tales of their ancestors in the whisper-song of leaves." ~ Inga Rune-Eyes

"The waters smell oddly sweet, but do not be enticed. You don't want to meet what lurks below the surface." ~ Solrun, Beskir warrior

"Hush, and stay still. No matter how dreary the darkness, a light in the Skelle Mire is never a good sign." ~ Haugar, Kannah wayfinder

It is everywhere and nowhere, a place unbound by logic, just beyond the real.

"A cliff once rose from the surf here—until Bjora Dawn-Greeter declared that it was blocking her view and pulled it down bare-handed." ~ Iskene, Kannah storyteller

"I cannot read these runes, yet somehow they seem like a warning. Have we passed unknowingly into a new realm?" ~ Ekken, Omenseeker navigator

"Tread carefully! The last time I walked this path, half the snowdrifts were, in fact, sleeping trolls. I've never run so fast in my life!" ~ Iskene, Kannah storyteller

"The ice cracked underfoot; strange shapes swam beneath the surface. Who else has walked this blighted path?" ~ Iskene, Kannah storyteller

"For a fortnight, our warband lay still beneath the icy waters, breathing through reeds as we waited for the great bear to appear." ~ Iskene, Kannah storyteller

Reflections from the wind-sculpted snow gleam with every color of the rainbow.

"Young Vitima bellowed to the Cosmos, daring the gods to punish her hubris! Well, she got their attention, as you can see." ~ Iskene, Kannah storyteller

"In my youth, we used to best each other at hopping rabbit-fast between the lava spouts, the burning tar spattering our legs." ~ Iskene, Kannah storyteller

"I watched with my own eyes as Jari Eagle-Caller fell from these cliffs, only to be snatched from the air by a giant bird!" ~ Iskene, Kannah storyteller

"Is this the grave of a god? A tunnel carved by the Cosmos Serpent? It matters not. It is no place for us." ~ Iskene, Kannah storyteller

Where she flies, the Light of Starnheim shines.

"I won't pollute my blade with your blood, demon. You'll die by your own axe!"

Victory before camaraderie.

"Death and life are two ends of the same spear."

The dwarves of Axgard seldom have reason to leave their impregnable underground kingdom—but when they do, they go in force.

"I do not fear death. I know my soul will rise to Starnheim, where I will feast forever among valkyries and heroes. Can you say the same?"

"Who will be the hero of my tale?"

Before she is admitted to the host of Starnheim, a young valkyrie must learn a thousand tales of her ancestors.

"Behave and you'll be a fine pet. Bite me and you're ammunition."

Her fingers stiffened as the shrouded corpse stirred. Her final, ragged breath was one of triumph. "Return, my chosen, and grant our people victory!"

Every dwarven artisan spends the first hundred years of their life forging a single weapon and infusing it with runic magic.

So ended the feast, the hall, and the clan.

"No elf can match a Tuskeri in combat. Why not charge?" ~ Knorjolvin, Tuskeri raider

"We are all."

"This is a foul place. Cleanse it."