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ThePlane of Kaldheimfirst appeared inMagic: The Gathering’sPlanechase set, later being fully expanded upon in the Kaldheim set. It is largely inspired by Norse mythology, with multiple Gods and realms within the Plane. It was also the first appearance of New Phyrexian Praetors on other Planes and the start of their plan to take over the Multiverse.
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Kaldheim has many regions that are all separate realms from each other, requiring special travel to go between them. Not even Planeswalkers can travel freely between Kaldheim’s realms, and all residents are required to go between the Cosmosto traverse them.
Birth Of Kaldheim - The World Tree
The world of Kaldheim all began from a simple seed that grew into theWorld Tree, whereall life of Kaldheim came from. Thebranches that grew out from the tree turned into the realms of Kaldheim. Once there were ten branches and realms on the World Tree,fruit began to grow from it, which became monsters, the first of many beingKoma, Cosmos Serpent.
The World Tree is located in the Cosmos, which is a nebulous space with aurora-like lights. It is generally required to travel through the Cosmos to walk between the realms of Kaldheim. The monsters that grew from the World Tree are some of theoldest creatures in the plane, and many residents believe that all the secrets of the world are inside their minds. Mages and Gods alike seek to unlock these secrets from the minds of the Cosmos monsters.
The sap of the World Tree emits a special magical substance known asTyrite. Gods can handle it safely, but it is quite dangerous to mortals. This is used to create aCosmos Elixir, which is whatkeeps the Gods as Gods.
Crossing The Cosmos
Traveling through the Cosmos is very difficult with magic, and those who attempt often succumb to madness, leading the Cosmos monsters to feed on them. There is no food or water in the Cosmos, making it even harder for a simple mortal to traverse it. Some common ways to travel through it are with special spells or a weapon from the Gods. There are four main ways for denizens of Kaldheim to travel through the Cosmos and survive the journey.
One of the main ways is through Omenpaths.When the realmsshift around on the World Tree, passages between realms open, and these paths arecalled Omenpaths. The dangers of crossing through an Omenpath vary greatly. Sometimes, simply walking through a light will take someone to another realm. In other cases, it requires traversing through treacherous territories, such as caverns that can lead to the top of a mountain once crossing to the other realm. Once an Omenpath appears, powerful magic can be used to close and open them as desired.
The appearance of an Omenpath is often a precursor toanother way that inter-realm travel is possible, a Doomskar. Therealms of the World Tree are constantly moving around it, and this can cause them tosuddenly overlap with each other. When this happens, it’scalled aDoomskar. These are often incredibly violent, bringing natural disasters from earthquakes to complete destabilization. When the two realms merge, the residents can interact and travel between the realms, but they also tend to engage in conflict with each other.
There are a few species that can freely travel through the realms of Kaldheim. Most notably,the Gods of Kaldheimare immune to the disorienting effectsthe Cosmos have on mortals. Though the journey can still be hard to make, Gods are capable of opening Omenpaths to make the process easier, and in some cases, can simply transport between realms. The Shapeshifters and Omenseekers of Kaldheim can use their powers to easily enable the ability to traverse the passages between the realms.
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The Realms Of Kaldheim
The ten realms of Kaldheim are each distinct, with unique species and mana pairing with each one. When Doomskars occur, it’s not uncommon for the realms to wage war on each other.
Bretagard
Bretagardis the Selesnya (green/white) associated realm of Kaldheim. It ishome to humans, and the five clans living there are in a never-ending war. Both have unique approaches to both physical combat and magic. The Bretagard region is surrounded by sea, and hundreds of miles out from the continent are where plant and animal life thrive.
The clans all follow aCode Of Clans, which handles all disputes they may have.
Axgard
Axgardis the Boros (white/red) realmof Kaldheim, known for its mountain ranges. To the blind eye, it appears that little lives there outside of a few animals. However, inside the mountains are thehidden homes ofthe dwarfs. Their cities are near-impenetrable.
Thedwarfs are skilled blacksmithscapable of building incredible weapons. They are also fantastic storytellers, sharing legends with all of their denizens.
Karfell
Karfellis a region dominated by glacier-covered land. The realm is associated with Dimir (blue/black) andis filled with dragur, the zombies of Kaldheim. The dragur retain their intelligence andserve King Narfi, who is thelast King of Karfell.
The warrior class of King Narfi’s men is known as the Dead Marn, which King Narfi utilizes when Doomskars and Omenpaths open to raid other realms.
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Surtland
Surtlandis a realm that isina never-ending crisis. Volcanoes constantly burst through the ground to form mountains, and the freezing temperatures turn geysers into ice shards that shoot out. The region is associated with Izzet (red/white) colors.
All the life within the Surtland region grows to giant sizes, withgiants the main species residingthere. There are two groups, theFrost Giants,who are calm and collected, and theFire Giants,who are much more aggressive and rash. They are in constant conflict, but if Surtland is ever threatened by an outside source, they will set their fighting aside to deal with the larger threat.
Littjara
Littjarais associated with Simic (green/blue). The realm is thehome of theShapeshifters, and the land itself transforms on a whim as well. The barriers that divide Littjara from the other realms are the thinnest of them all, making it the easiest to enter, but the inconsistent nature of the realm makes it the hardest to leave.
The Shapeshifters have different preferred forms depending on their color identity.Blue Shapeshifters known asGladewalkersprefer the forms of wild beasts such as bears. TheGreen Shapeshifters areCovewalkersand are much more fascinated with ocean life and prefer the forms of seals and dolphins.
Istfell
TheIstfellrealm is the one thatresidesat the base of the World Tree.Associated with Azorius (white/blue) mana, the realm ishome to the spirits of the many fallen animals and humansalike. The spirits of those who die in ways deemed worthy by the Valkyries are taken to the realm of Starnheim.
TheGods' Hallis located at Istfell, driven down there by theGod Valki. Though the other Gods want to return it back to its proper home, magic is binding it to the bottom of the World Tree in Istfell.
Starnheim
Starnheimis associated with Orzhov (black/white) mana andwhere the Valkyries of Kaldheim live.Starnheim is themain source of light for the Plane, as it does not have either a sun or a moon. Starnheim is located at the top of the World Tree, where they bring up those from the bottom in Istfell that died noble deaths. The spirits brought up are able to engage in an endless feast in theHall of the Valkyries.
Starnheim has a black-colored lake, but the water is actually theblood of the first Valkyrie that diedwhen the realm was created. All other Valkyries were birthed from this lake. Gods deemed unworthy are sent off to drift in the lake into the Cosmos to make room for Gods more worthy.
Gnottvold
Gnottvoldis thehome of theTrolls. Much of the land is overgrown with moss. This realm is the one that is Gruul (red/green) colors. Gnottvold is covered in ancient ruins that haven’t been touched in ages.
There are two groups of Trolls in Gnottvold. The first is theHagi Trollsthat enjoy harassing the other group of trolls while hunting in packs. The victims of the Hagi’s harassment are theTorga Trollsthat generally care only about sleep, capable of sleeping for years at a time. However, if awoken early, they will go into a fit of rage and destroy everything around them until their energy is waned down and they return to slumber.
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Immerstrurm
Immersturmis Rakdos (red/black) aligned andhome to demons and dragonsthat are constantly raging war against each other. The Gods of Kaldheim place a special ward on the realm to prevent the demons from traveling to other realms to sow chaos there.
The realm is constantly on fire, with lightning strikes always raging. The fumes there are toxic to everything but demons. The demons want to do nothing more than destroy and are fighting each other since they can not leave the realm.
Skemfar
The last of the ten realms,Skemfaris the Golgari (green/black) color-aligned one.It is thehome of the elves. It is lush in wilderness, withtunnels created by Koma, the Cosmos Serpent.
The elves live both within the trees and underground. In the early days, theelves were the Gods of Kaldheim, and have since fallen out of favor, but all wish to reclaim their original title. There are two groups of elves,the Wood Elves and Shadow Elves. Though they have their differences,they are united under theElf King Harald, who wants to lead them to claim the title of the ruler of all realms of Kaldheim.
The Gods Of Kaldheim
There are a total of12 current Gods in Kaldheim. Each of the Gods has a unique aspect they preside over. The Gods in Kaldheim areknown as The Skoti. Many of the Gods have deep knowledge of the Cosmos, and thanks to drinking from theCosmos Elixir, they have qualities of the Cosmos emitting from them.
Alrund
Alrund is the God of the Cosmos and Wisdom. As a youth, Alrund made it his mission to become the wisest of all the realms. Alrund was able to best every Cosmos monster to learn their knowledge and succeeded but knew that Kaldheim still had secrets he had yet to learn. Alrund’s personality depends on his mood, with the two most dominant being distant and entertaining.
Reidane
Reidane is theGod of the Worthy and Justice. She is arrogant and extremely zealous in the pursuit of justice to a flaw. Once she decides how to feel, she very seldom changes her mind about it. She believes in fairness and the concept of “an eye for an eye,” even in extreme circumstances.
Cosima
Cosima is the God of the Voyage and Sea. She wasoriginally born as a Cosmos monsterthat took the form of a dolphin that swam between realms. She later took on the form of a human, and she claimed the title of a God. She spent time withAlrund, and the two had three children togetherthat were Gods as well. She eventually left to return to the sea. While underneath the waves, she reverts to her dolphin form. She is incredibly curious and doesn’t stay in one place for very long.
Egon
Egon is the God of Death. He is one of the oldest Gods, but he ages backward, giving him the appearance of a teenager. He is very pessimistic and bitter and is constantly predicting the Gods will fall.
In the Skoti’s war to take out the old Gods, Egon was able to take control of the dead from King Narfi, and this granted him the title of God of Death. He spends most of his time in the Istfell realm.
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Tergrid
Tergrid is the God of Fright. She is a warrior that is only trying to live a normal life. Her shadow has a life of its own, trying to strangle her as a child, though she was able to win the battle with it and subject it to her will. It follows behind her as a hooded figure that she ignores, and she angrily berates anyone who acknowledges it’s presence in the first place. She occasionally blurts out omens or threats with those she is conversating with.
Birgi
Birgi is the God of Storytelling. She isthe middle child of Alrund and Cosima. She loves being the center of attention, traveling between realms to join in on celebrations across them. She often uses the adventures of herbrother Toralfin her stories, painting them as her own. Even if someone knows she is lying, they enjoy Birgi’s company too much to mention it. Her magic will liven up the crowd of even the quietest groups, though this often leads to riots that get out of control.
Kolvori
Kolvori is the God of Kinship. She is very talkative and adores nature. She keeps all of the sagas of the Gods in order to preserve the memory of them.She is the youngest child of Cosima and Alrund, and cares deeply for her family, often acting as the mediator when arguments arose. Like Egon, she believes the Gods are on the verge of collapse, but they both hate each other due to their conflicting personalities.
Esika
Esika is the God of the Tree. She is very quiet and humble and is themost knowledgeable about the World Tree and the Cosmosthan anyone else. Shecame into existence along with her sister Tergrid when Alrun used magic to try and communicate with the World Tree. From being born from it, Esika has a deep connection to the World Tree and is theone who created the Cosmos Elixirthat all the Gods drink to slow down their aging and maintain their power. Only she knows how to make it, and has no interest in sharing how she does it.
Halvar
Halvar is the God Of Battle. While Alrund was trying to best every Cosmos monster, he found an abandoned baby in the Axgard realm.He adopted it and gave him the name Halvar. Halvar is selfless and sensible, and a strong warrior capable of inspiring others with rousing speeches. Even though Halvar would prefer to stay home, he travels with all of his fellow guards, acting as their protector and bodyguard.
Valki
Valki is the God of Lies.He is a trickster who causes nothing but trouble for his fellow Gods. He loves pranks, though they were more annoying than anything, and nothing that is directly harmful. Even though he can be helpful when he wants to be, the other Gods seldom trust anything he says. He wasbriefly captured by the Planeswalker Tibaltwho impersonated him and carried out more destructive pranks while disguised as Valki.
Toralf
Toralf is the God of Fury. He is theoldest son of Alrund and Cosima. He is fearless and is no stranger to taking risks. He is capable of controlling the lightning above. He doesn’t seek war, but exciting challenges of increasing difficulties.Alrund believes Toralf is wasting his talentsover the lightning, but Toralf does not care for his father’s disproval, leading to division between the family.
Jorn
Jorn is the God of Winter. He is thebrother of Alrundand was the only person he ever asked for help while trying to fight all the Cosmos monsters. Jorn is a phenomenal tracker who is deeply fascinated by the natural world. Jorn knows the safest and quickest paths between all realms, as well as the ones inside the realms. He still has a good relationship with Alrund, and Jorn will always appear to help his fellow Gods whenever needed.
