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 is 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.
	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. However, it also lacks most equipment slots, which may cause items to be destroyed if transformation occurs during combat or in the absence of a lab. 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 Capital Only	322171100% 10% Sacred Chill Aura (18) Cold Power (1) Ice Protection (3) Resist Cold (30) Cold Recruitment (1)	An extremely expensive but important caster. Niefel Jarls are Niefelheim's only national access to minor air magic, which is excellent in combination with their existing death paths, as well as providing access to arbitrarily magic in any of their paths if they can be brought into communions. They can take on unprepared armies with some additional investment, but 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)	Extremely 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 Capital 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 and temperature-dependent stats makes them somewhat less capable than their size would suggest, however, compared to other sacred giants like the Anakim of Ashdod. Their 'limited recruitment' simply means that only one may be recruited from each fort when Illwinter is active; they may be recruited in the capital freely as holy points allow.

While Niefelheim's heroes are both extremely 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.

You can be high in paths but a lot of power comes from communions. Niefel Jarl is constantly the strongest Water and Death Mage but expensive, with Skratti and Gygja being cost-efficient. Skratti constantly have 3, 3. Gygja Often gets 2s in Sorcerery paths.

with boosters you can consistently get 5, 3, 4, 6, 6 without communions.

Naiads gives you strong Water Nature cross paths.

Although Niefel Jarl can get air, Faery Queens gives you constant 3.

Although it's more expensive than finding an Indie shaman but Troll Shaman and Spectral Mage has the chance to give some earth.

Sloth of Bears: Conj3 8 2 ( Great Bearx10+). Large balls of HP for nature gems and you already have plenty of that.

Awaken Jotun Draugar: Conj4 15 2 ( Jotun Draugx3). summon uneaded giants with fear and chill aura and hit harder when at half heath. Suiational pick over summoning 5 Wigths, with Jotun Draug better at the grind game.

Brood of Garm: Conj4 10 2 ( Jotun Wolfx5). Giant Sacred Stealthy Damage Dealing Wolfs with Fear and Berserker. Useful to suplement your numbers during a early war.

Summon Rimvaettir: Conj5 5 2 ( Rimvaettix5+). Neflel giants but goblin size. They are a must-have for a frontline, as you get 3 chill auras and attacks per square by mixing them with your giants, fixing their outnumbered problem.

Summon Dwarf of the Four Directions: Conj8 62 43. Summon Dwarf of the Four Directions. Shared between the Jotun and Vanir nations. Summon one of the four Dwarf smiths. You would have to get a pretender to cast it, but you get a strong 432200% caster and forger for your troubles at the cost (or benefit) of some hurricanes ravaging the world. Your unlikely to summon all four, but having them all missing benefits only the Vanir line the most.

Seith Curse: Thaum5 3 11. Inflict a Curse on a target and the caster. Situational way to deal with a god by increasing its chances to pile up affliction.

Illwinter: Blood6 120 53. Cheap for a blood global. Something to end a game with. Cause the world to progressively grow colder, increases unrest slowly, and enemies get ocationly raided by Neifle Giants and Jotun Wolfes. its Icing if you have a giant bless as you can recruit Niefel Giants from any fort while up, but most useful for as it allows Niefel jarls to be used offensively rather than only in high provinces.

Combat Although your troops are week in concentration against other players, much of Niefelheim's power comes from its turbo communions. Hord of Skeletons is your go-to spell.

Fovroate spells are things to help their lines hold while they withstand their own 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

As army wipes you have Howl, Syllable of Sleep, Falling Frost, Rigor Mortis, and Foul Vapors.

If you 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 Fercundity 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