These are all nations sprung from old Norse myth. The Poetic Edda and some later tales, combined with general conceptions of Iron Age Scandinavia, are the main sources. Vanir, Aesir and Giants are ancient antagonists in these myths. The Aesir, being perceived as gods, have been made pretenders in Dominions. Not that Vanir weren't, but they seem less so than the Aesir in most instances. 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. Niefelheim, Jotunheim, and Utgård are part of the history of a single nation through the ages. – Illwinter

Races	Troops	Magic	Priests	Buildings
Prefers 3 Shock Vulnerable, Ice Resistant Giants	Giant Infantry Sacred Giants Boulder-Throwing Siege Giants	4 (Rare 5) 3 (Rare 4) 3 (Rare 4) 2 (Uncommon 3, Rare 4) 1 (Uncommon 2, Rare 3) 1 (Rare 2)	2 in Forts	Giant Fortresses

The Gygjor (plural for Gygjas) get two 100% randoms and one 10% random, each with the same paths (). Thus, each of those Mages has a 45.15625% chance of having 2, a 7.03135% chance of having 3, and a 0.15625% (1/640) chance of having 4. Gygjas can also get 3 or 3, but the former is more common on Niefel Jarls (who have a 16/45 chance of 3 and a 1/90 chance of 4), while the latter is more common on Skrattir (who have a 1/4 chance of 3). On the other hand, 1 and 1 are not guaranteed on any of your mages.

Niefelheim's faith is still somewhat rooted in that of the Rimtursar, and in the hope of one day awakening them. The Rimtursar are glaciers, and so Niefelheim's Dominion naturally Spreads Cold in and around its borders, with a ~20% chance of lowering the Temperature by a Scale in each province within and adjacent to it. This ends at 3, of course.

Being a nation primarily populated by Giants, your Longdead Reanimation will mix in Longdead Giants with normal undead humans. Why they can raise Longdead Humans in their own lands is a mystery, though they might all be Serfs from Niefelheim's enemy. The same might be true for Soulless Giants and normal Soulless.

The nation is dominated by true giants (size 4, lot of hitpoints, high strength, and maintains a decent mobility despite the armor they wear). They are very resistant to cold damage and all ignore penalty to movement form snow.

Despite being able to one-shot most humans they hit regardless of protection, they have only average or slightly above chances to hit. Size 4s can only have one unit per square (can fit in an indie human) so they accumulate harassment penalties quickly, making them actually weak to a square of 3 humans especially if they have multi-attack.

In a large Dominions 5 rework of this nation's line, Niefel and Jotun giants are now vulnerable to shock damage instead of fire. This is difficult to counter with Niefelheim's native magic access, and a straightforward way to deal with the costly units of Niefelheim's roster.

TL;DR: Despite looking big and imposing, Niefelhiem is fragile when it comes to non-sacred infantry.

For brevity, these are the traits that Jotuns and Niefel giants have unless otherwise stated:

Has a solid but expensive lineup of commanders. They are all sacred thugs and/or strong mages with high hp and strength to shrug off most assassination attempts.

Image	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Jotun Scout 55 7 1	Sacred Stealthy (40) Mountain Survival Forest Survival	A very expensive scout, but sacred and giant. Much memed for being a potential thug chassis, if not necessarily a cost-effective one.
	Jotun Herse 75 35 1	Sacred	60 leadership sacred commander.
	Jotun Gode 110 19 2	2 Sacred Forest Survival	40 leadership priest.
	Jotun Jarl 130 35 2	1 Sacred	80 leadership lesser priest.
	Gygja 225 3 2	111152100% 100% 10% Supply Bonus (10) Fortune Teller (10%) Old Age (300/330) Death Curse Forest Survival Female	Gygjas are powerful mages, their wide spread of paths being perfectly suited to (ab)using the durability of Skrattir turbocommunions to dump a variety of magic onto the battlefield. They are also fast researchers; it is uncommon to be able to buy 15 for 2 CP. Fortune Teller is a nice side-bonus for protecting research resorts from bad events. However, they are fairly expensive and not sacred, meaning their upkeep adds up rapidly.
	Jotun Skratti 345 3 4	221151100% Sacred Shapechanger ⇒ Jotun Werewolf ⇒ Jotun Wolf	Skrattir are a powerful and versatile highlight in Niefelheim's lineup. Once shapeshifted, Skrattir gain 10% regeneration and are able to act as extremely durable communion batteries to support practically unlimited spell casting, allowing Niefelheim's mages to outlast other mage corps in the mid-to-late game. They are powerful thugs with minimal investment, and additionally bring the crosspath to battle. Their Jotun Wolf form is stealthy, allowing them to escape from otherwise impossible situations.1) Their only downside is their extreme cost, which in EA is exacerbated by their priestly status. This is especially painful given the general gold-scarcity of the era.
	Niefel Jarl 510 49 4 Capitol Only	322171100% 10% Sacred Chill Aura (18) Cold Power (1) Ice Protection (3) Resist Cold (30) Cold Recruitment (1)	One of the most expensive commanders in the game for gold. Niefel Jarls provide access to the powerful crosspath as well as high water magic. Their enormous chill aura allows them to be strong thugs or light supercombatants against unprepared armies, but they lack some traits which make other supercombatant candidates truly scary and are especially vulnerable if caught in the heat.

While Jotun troops are big and strong, their low unit density and somewhat mediocre melee stats and protection make them less effective in melee than one might expect. Still, their strength allows them to bash through high protection when defence is not an issue, and they are quite mobile even in the cold.

Image	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Jotun Bondi 20 15 11		Giant light infantry with poor melee skills.
	Jotun Warrior 30 15 17		Light infantry with slightly better stats than the Bondi. The javelins of the axe version deal a huge amount of damage compared to human equivalents, while the spear versions circumvent repel with their longer weapons.
	Jotun Warrior 30 17 17
	Jotun Hurler 30 11 17	Siege Bonus (5)	Very gold-efficient siege chaff. A potential elf-killing tool due to their high-damage ranged attack.
	Jotun Huskarl 35 21 20	Bodyguard (1)	The cheapest of the giant body guards. Slightly better stats than the linemen but no better equipment.
	Godihuskarl 40 25 24	Bodyguard (1)	A good deal more expensive than Jotun Warriors, but has better equipment and slightly better stats.
	Jotun Hirdman 50 33 31	Bodyguard (1)	Almost twice as expensive as Jotun Warriors, but with much better melee skills.
	Niefel Giant 140 22 39 Capitol Only	Sacred Chill Aura (10) Cold Power (1) Ice Protection (2) Resist Cold (25) Cold Recruitment (1)	An extremely expensive sacred unit who provides an excellent support tool in the form of its immense chill aura. Their single attack makes them less killy than their size would suggest, however, compared to other sacred giants like the Anakim of Ashdod. They are also heavily reliant on the cold for survivability due to their cold power, chill aura and ice protection. Ordinarily they are only recruitable in the capitol, but one Niefel Giant may be recruited from each non-capitol fort while Illwinter is active.

While Niefelheim's heroes are both powerful, they also have a fairly late minimum arrival turn, making them much less likely to appear in a given game.

Image	Unit Name	Special Attributes	Comments
	Angerboda - Great Hag Minimum hero arrival turn: 20	332317 Snow Move Cold Resistant (15) Poison Resistant (15) Shock Vulnerability (5) Supply Bonus (20) Fortune Teller (15%) Adept Crossbreader (8) Death Curse Forest Survival Female	An improved Gygja who provides especially deep access in astral compared to normal Gygjas. She is also one booster away from 4 which is need to break into Vampire Lords with minimum effort.
	Tjatse - Abductor Minimum hero arrival turn: 20	333223 Sacred Snow Move Chill Aura (6) Cold Power (1) Ice Protection (3) Resist Cold (30) Shape Changer ⇔ Great Eagle	A Niefel Jarl that can become an 4 Eagle. Opens up major air access, which provides access to excellent combat spells in addition to ritual magic.

In combat, Niefelheim has easy access to arbitrarily high path magic through hardy Skratti communions.

Niefelheim has access to the following paths for the purposes of rituals and forging:

Elemental

• No fire magic
• 1 on Niefel Jarls. 3 can eventually be reached through Faerie Court
• 4 on Niefel Jarls, 7 via a Water Bracelet, Robe of the Sea and Queen of Elemental Water
• No earth magic

Sorceries

• 2 on Gygjas, 3 via a Starshine Skullcap
• 3 on Gygjas and Niefel Jarls, 4 via a Skull Staff
• 3 on Gygjas, 6 via Thistle Mace, Moonvine Bracelet, Armor of Twisting Thorns
• 3 on Gygjas, more through empowerment and various boosters.

Combat

Niefelheim does not have any national combat spells.

Rituals

• Conjuration 3 2 for 8: Sloth of Bears ( Great Bear×10+)
  HP-dense summons with high strength. Not particularly deadly or survivable on their own.
• Conjuration 4 2 for 15: Awaken Jotun Draugar ( Jotun Draug×3)
  Very expensive summons, notable mostly for their HP and fear aura. Shapeshifts into a bigger, stronger Jotun Draug below 40 HP.
• Conjuration 4 2 for 10: Brood of Garm ( Jotun Wolf×5)
  Giant sacred stealthy wolves that go berserk and have a fear aura.
• Conjuration 5 2 for 5: Summon Rimvaettir ( Rimvaetti×5+)
  Cheap, massable sources of chill aura. Like Niefel Giants, they can quickly put non-cold resistant enemies to sleep. However, they are much less mobile than Jotuns and Niefels both in combat and on the strategic map.
• Conjuration 8 43 for 62: Summon Dwarf of the Four Directions
  Shared between the Jotun and Vanir nations. Summons one of the four cardinal Dwarfs, with paths 432200% and causes hurricanes to ravage the world. A guaranteed way to summon high-air casters for late game combat, rituals and forging, although a pretender is usually the only way to access this spell.

• Thaumaturgy 5 11 for 3: Seith Curse
  Inflicts a curse on a random enemy commander in the target province as well as the caster. A situational way to debilitate a high-value target by increasing its chances to pile up afflictions.

• Blood 6 53 for 120: Illwinter
  Causes the world to progressively grow colder, unrest to slowly increase and enemies to occasionally be raided by Niefel Giants and Jotun Wolves. Additionally allows the limited recruitment of Niefel Giants from any fort. Also allows Niefel Jarls to be used offensively.

Combat

Although Niefelheim's troops are weak in concentration against other players, much of Niefelheim's power comes from its turbo communions. Horde of Skeletons is a go-to spell.

Here are some spells to help lines hold through army wipe spells: Battle Fortune, Mass Regeneration, Will of the Fates, Relief, Mass Protection, and Stygian Rains.

Can kill single targets with Soul Slay and Bone Melter

If using a Jarl as a caster, he can cast Freezing Mist and also Wailing Winds and Wind of Death with extra gems.

Ritual Magic

You are a blood nation and should be summoning minions to replace your giant troops. Blood Fecundity improves your economy.

you are strong skelli-spammers but there are other good summonses in blood and Conjuration. Conj has Jotun Draug and Rimvaetti. Blood has Frost Fiends and Cross Breeding. With little empowerment and boosting You have Vampire Lords as immortal thugs.

Do you have any National items(Construction Level, Price, and required Paths). Any unique generic items few other nations can forge? What item would be useful on your unit lineup (non-standard recommend thug gear)?

• Rime Hammer: Constr 6. 21, 84.

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.

Dominions 5 Basic Nation Analysis - EA Niefelheim by GeneralConfusionPlays(2019)

Dominions 5 Nation Introduction - EA Niefelheim by Perun(2021)

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