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Races & Peoples of Hyboria
Aesir
"The clangor of the swords had died away, the shouting of the slaughter was hushed; silence lay on the red-stained
snow. The bleak pale sun that glittered so blindingly from the ice-fields and the snow-covered plains struck sheens of
silver from rent corselet and broken blade, where the dead lay as they had fallen. The nerveless hand yet gripped
the broken hilt; helmeted heads, back-drawn in the death throes, tilted red beards and golden beards grimly upward,
as if in last invocation to Ymir the frost-giant, god of a warrior race."
- Robert E. Howard: "The Frost Giant's Daughter"
Asgard, a far-northern mountainous nation which is permanently
glaciated, is home to the blond-haired, blue-eyed Aesir, a rough hewn
race of hunters and axe-wielding warriors who fight by day and
carouse by night. The Aesir live in tribal units and reside in timberroofed
Great Halls.
Most Aesir worship Ymir, the Frost Giant. They are the blood enemies
of the Vanir, the red-haired barbarians of Vanaheim. Eons of feuding
ensure that there will never be an easy peace between these two
peoples.
At the close of each winter, the Aesir begin their yearly raids, riding
south on horseback to pillage townships of their cattle and wealth. Men
who surrender to Aesir warriors are usually spared. Those who resist
are slain in a gruesome fashion. Aesir rarely burn a village they plunder,
preferring to leave their targets fairly intact to allow the survivors to
rebuild and provide another lucrative target in the future.
In battle, Aesir prefer the broadsword or battleaxe. Additionally, they
rely upon their chain-mailed shirts, horned helmets, and wooden shields
to protect them from the weapons of their enemies. Many Aesir learn
to use the throwing axe, but most will refuse to learn the spear or bow,
weapons they think are cowardly.
Only by dying in battle, with sword or axe in hand and courage in the
heart, can an Aesir find his way to Valhalla, the after-life paradise
sought by all Norsemen.
The Aesir live by conquest, but they also possess the skills to survive
without raiding and taking what they want. Unlike most of the rest of
Hyboria, the women of Asgard are respected warriors and are expected
to take part in raids with the men.
Asgard is one of the few nations never subdued during the wars of the
latter Hyborian Age. The creeping glaciers of the North ultimately
forced its people out.
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Aesir Chariot