Land of Fire & Ice Chapter 1: Introduction

On the west of Norway comes the island called Iceland, with the mighty ocean washing round it: a land very squalid to dwell in, but noteworthy for marvels, both strange occurrences and objects that pass belief. — The Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus

Far beyond the knowledge of most in Mythic Europe lies a land of fire and ice. Untouched by man until the 8th century, it is a land of contrasts, with huge glaciers,fiery volcanoes, barren lava fields, lush meadows, and rivers teeming with fish. Its remarkable people match its astonishing natural beauty. Although they were few, Icelanders created one of the most interesting societies in medieval Europe.

From 870 to 1262 AD the Norse settlers developed and maintained an independent state. Without warlords and kings they made their own laws and settled their own disputes. Fighting both harsh winters and volcanic disasters this unique society gave us the Icelandic sagas, an extraordinary collection of literary and historical importance, which have inspiredauthors for over eight hundred years. Without these sagas of warriors, giants, wizards, trolls, dragons and faeries, modern fantasy literature would have lost much of its inspiration.

This book seeks to help you create your own Icelandic saga for an Ars Magica game within Mythic Europe. This book not only gives you a place in which to set up a covenant, but also provides a set of adventures around which to build your saga. From its conception to possible destruction, these adventures will help develop and maintain the momentum of your game.

As well as the story-arc adventures, story seeds will give the players welcome or unwelcome opportunities to interact with the local population and get to know Icelandic society. Mythic Iceland is presented as virgin territory for Hermetic magi. However, Iceland has its own magicians and magi will not find them selves unrivaled in power. Icelandic magicians will be as unwilling to submit to the Order as their countrymen are to the Norwegian crown.

Alternatively the material here may be used with an existing saga, set in any other tribunal location. Ars Magica encourages Troupe play, in which the usual storyguide may step aside for a while and someone else can run the occasional adventure. This book has been written so a temporary storyguide can run a series of adventures far away from the main saga environment. This gives a degree of independence and freedom to the temporary storyguide otherwise difficult to achieve.

This book is aimed at storyguides seeking to create a new Saga or anyone looking to run adventures within an existing one. The sections on history and culture may be read by anyone. However, Chapters 7–18 should not be read by anyone not wishing to act as the storyguide for the setting.

Orthography

Old Norse is a difficult language to pronounce, and we have adopted a scheme that emphasizes readability rather than accuracy or consistency. We have excluded all diacritic characters, and rendered the letter 'thorn' as 'th'. The letter 'eth' has been rendered as 'd'. The singular nominative endings (-r and -n) have been removed or anglicized ('galdor' rather than 'galdr', for example). Finally, some words have been further anglicized.

Further Reading

This book is written for the Ars Magica setting of Mythic Europe. Although the authors have based the mundane history on genuine historical sources, this is not a history book. Where historians may make tentative claims and present alternative possibilities, we have taken a position. In regard to mythic history we have taken many of the more mystical sagas as authoritative. The bibliography lists all the books used in the preparation of this sourcebook. However, if you wish to pursue subjects in more depth we recommend the following books.

• Byock, Jesse, Viking Age Iceland: A richly detailed account of all aspects of life during the Free State period.
• Jones, Gwyn, A History of the Vikings: A highly readable general history of the Vikings.
• Miller, William Ian, Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Interpretations of the Icelandic sagas and legal code.
• Gunnar Karlsson, The History of Iceland: General history from the settlement to the modern age.
• Simpson, Jacqueline, Legends of Icelandic Magicians: Although many of these magicians are out of period, they give excellent ideas for the galdramen. Also details the life and magic of Saemundur the Wise.
• Sturluson, Snorri, Edda: A collection of Norse mythological stories as well as instruction on Skaldic poetry. Written by one of the major political figures in medieval Iceland. Otherwise known as the Prose Edda.
• Swaney, Deanna, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands: This modern travel guide provides a wealth of local information on geography, geology, climate, flora and fauna. It also gives an historical overview as well as local history on particular regions.
• Williams, Paul, Ultima Thule: Mythic Scandinavia: This Ars Magica sourcebook focuses on mainland Scandinavia. It contains a detailed description of Norse theology and magic, which can supplement the material given here.

Attribution

Based on the material for Ars Magica, ©1993-2024, licensed by Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games®, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license 4.0 ("CC-BY-SA 4.0). Ars Magica Open License Logo ©2024 Trident, Inc. The Ars Magica Open License Logo, Ars Magica, and Mythic Europe are trademarks of Trident, Inc., and are used with permission. Order of Hermes, Tremere, Doissetep, and Grimgroth are trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB and are used with permission.