"As with most nations of supernatural origin, it seems fitting that their magic fades with each passing age as humans become more and more numerous." – Illwinter

In the distant, misty past, Midgård was known as Vanheim. This was the dominion of the Vanir, descendants of long-absent Titans blessed with innate magic. The Vanir were once taken in by other Titans known as the Aesir, and led into a war with the Giants of Niefelheim; they ended up fighting the Jotunar, while the Aesir fought and ultimately lost against the Jotunar's icy ancestors. In those days the Vanir were filled with vigor and pride, and wouldn't just fight one group at a time; they also feuded among their kin in Helheim over petty squabbles, and they frequently raided the lands of mankind to take serfs. Near the turning of the Ages, some even fought with distant Rus and became Lords of the land.

Even by the Middle Ages, the Vanir were demographically spent. They no longer had the numbers to wage war against humanity, and they became outnumbered in their own lands. Humanity knew it had moved into sacred ground, however, and knelt to the Vanir as if they were living gods. As the only beings with a connection to the enchanted land, the Vanir were still its only mages, priests, and sovereigns. Humans were their pawns, and occasionally their guinea pigs for charms of strength, which had unsightly side-effects.

Now the land has changed. The great heroes of the Vanir are all-but-gone, either on their own terms or due to the burden of time. Feeling exposed and possibly unworthy of the top spot in society, the remaining Vanjarls have turned to humans for answers and advice, and have let some especially-talented humans assume their rank. They even let some humans into their priesthood, joining them in appeals to whichever God shall lead them. On their own, some humans have surveyed the land and uncovered whatever secrets have stuck around, with a few claiming stronger magic than what the Vanjarls boast of; the land is essentially theirs, hence the change in name.

In real mythology, Midgård is Earth, or at least the portions of it inhabited by humans. The Vanir (Anglicized as "Wanes") started as a different pantheon of gods from that of the Æsir, known for their sorcery and associated with fertility; the Æsir either took offense to their magic or were jealous of it, and fought the Vanir to a standstill settled by the union of their families.

A nation with plenty of cool tricks. Its armies are the same as MA Vanheim's, but it has a lot more mages; all of Vanheim's mages required Temples along with Labs, and the off-fort mages were all light thugs that cost a lot more than their magic skills were worth. Midgård does have fewer "thuggable" mages than previous incarnations, but it still has more than the vast majority of nations in the Late Ages, let alone "thuggable" mages who can fly around the map during the magic phase. The Galdermen are especially-interesting ones, since those with Blood can be used as turbo-communion batteries due to their Regeneration.

Midgard's path access is high but unreliable, thanks to its Galdermen. They get

• A 100% random,
• A 100% random,
• & a 10% random.

This ultimately gives them a 3/40 (1/16 + 1/160 + 1/160) or 7.5% chance of having 2, for example, which is actually pretty good for mages you can get from any Fort; worse odds are considered "common" on Jomon's page. On the other hand, their chances of having 3 is 1-in-640.

Provide a brief overview of commanders and units and what tools they provide you with. Outline any peculiarities across the roster (e.g. the animal tag, cold blooded). Highlight any particular strengths of the roster and describe their roles (e.g. high-quality infantry, thugs, powerful mages).

Midgård's hero lineup is not particularly impressive, but the high air access provided by Vanlade is nice if he turns up.

Sprite	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Farbaute - Einhere	Ambidextrous (3) Berserker (+8)	A stronger, commanderified Einhere. When berserked he will have very high protection and damage but very low defense.
	Vanlade - Vanadrott Minimum hero arrival turn: 10	4222 21 Sacred Shock Resistance (7) Stealthy (65) Sailing (Max size 3) Mounted Glamour	Provides access to high air magic with some useful crosspaths. Worth twiceborning to protect access to those paths.

Midgård's main magic access comes from the Galderman. Many of the paths below are contingent on a 7.5% chance due to multiple randoms; however, as Galdermen are not slow-to-recruit and can be recruited from any fort, it is fairly likely that at least one will show up for each path eventually. Astral is supplemented by Völvor.

Elemental

• No fire magic at all, except through a tough-to-summon Dwarf of the North
• 3 on Galdermen
• No water magic at all, except through a tough-to-summon Dwarf of the South
• 2 on Galdermen, 6 via Earth Boots, a Blood Stone, Troll King's Court (expensive!) and King of Elemental Earth (expensive!)

Sorceries

• 2 on Völvor, 3 via a Starshine Skullcap
• 2 on Galdermen, 3 via a Skull Staff
• 1 on Galdermen, and a bit more through a tough-to-summon Dwarf of the East
• 2 on Galdermen, realistically as much blood as required via empowering and boosters.

Combat

• Conjuration 6 31 for 1: Summon Valkyries ( Valkyrie×7)
  Summons flying glamoured sacreds. Useful for pressuring back lines in combat, but may require a few scripting tricks to bless as they are summoned.

Ritual

• Conjuration 3 2 for 8: Sloth of Bears ( Great Bear×7)
  Undisciplined animals with low attack density but a lot of strength. Makes decent siege chaff.
• Conjuration 4 2 for 12: Awaken Draugar ( Draug×3)
  Undead medium-heavy infantry with fear and a cold aura. They change into size 3 Draugar once under 20 hitpoints. Comparable to Wights; less mage-turn efficient and lower protection, but the fear aura gives the Draugar significant utility when mixed into front lines.
• Conjuration 8 43 for 62: Summon Dwarf of the Four Directions
  Summons one of the four Dwarves of the Four Directions, powerful mages who have significant combat, ritual-casting and forging capabilities. Also increases the likelihood of hurricanes ravaging the world for each dwarf summoned. If all four dwarves are alive at once, the world is plunged into perpetual darkness and storm.

Discuss the top few generic spells that most increase a nation's combat power or synergize with national strategies. These will generally be early-to-mid game spells since individual spells matter much more during those periods of the game. Some examples are Foul Vapors for MA C'tis, Horde of Skeletons + Sabbath Master/Sabbath Slave for the Niefelheim line of nations, Mother Oak for the Pangaeas, Wailing Winds access, etc. For broader advice on magic use, link to Not-Lola's Basic Magic Use Guide.

This is also a good place to point out notable magic weaknesses, such as a lack of nature access making a nation vulnerable to Foul Vapors.

List and describe any unique national items or discounts in this section, discuss and compare with similar generic items. Also discuss generic items that are useful and accessible for the nation. These may include:

• Thug gear (if the nation has good thugs)
• Research boosters (particularly if the nation needs help researching or is already very good at researching)
• Other items that synergize with the nation (e.g. Dwarven Hammers for MA Ulm)

This is probably the most difficult section to get consensus for. Describe how strong the nation is during expansion, the early, mid and late game, and what makes it strong/weak at each of those points. This should give readers an idea of where the weaknesses of a nation lie (if they have not been shown already) and when to take advantage of a nation's strengths.

List some example expansion strategies here. If a strong bless or pretender is required then leave the specifics for the pretender section.

List some example pretender builds. Try to use the following format to keep authorship and pretender design rationale clear.

Add links to guides or other overviews for this nation here.

Nations
Early Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Ulm • Marverni • Sauromatia • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Mictlan • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Agartha • Tir na n'Og • Fomoria • Vanheim • Helheim • Niefelheim • Rus • Kailasa • Lanka • Yomi • Hinnom • Ur • Berytos • Xibalba • Mekone • Ubar • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Therodos
Middle Ages	Arcoscephale • Ermor • Sceleria • Pythium • Man • Eriu • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Machaka • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Asphodel • Vanheim • Jotunheim • Vanarus • Bandar Log • Shinuyama • Ashdod • Uruk • Nazca • Xibalba • Phlegra • Phaeacia • Ind • Na'ba • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Pelagia • Oceania • Ys
Late Ages	Arcoscephale • Pythium • Lemuria • Man • Ulm • Marignon • Mictlan • T'ien Ch'i • Jomon • Agartha • Abysia • Caelum • C'tis • Pangaea • Midgård • Utgård • Bogarus • Patala • Gath • Ragha • Xibalba • Phlegra • Vaettiheim • Atlantis • R'lyeh • Erytheia