Ragnarok

What is Ragnarok?

Ragnarok is coming.

The severed head of Mimir has foreseen it.

Ragnarok is the end of the Nine Realms. Destruction comes when the elemental realms of fire and ice, Muspelheim and Niflheim, from which creation came converge upon the worlds and wreak death. Loki, child of Chaos and Muspelheim's flames, has sensed it too, and will do everything in his power to make sure it succeeds in destroying everything. Even gods can die, when Ragnarok comes.

Fimbulwinter

The prophecy of Ragnarok also speaks of Fimbulwinter, the long harsh cold in which every god who is not loyal to the forces of destruction and Loki, except Heimdall, will gradually fall into a deep sleep from which they cannot be wakened until Heimdall the watcher of the gods sounds his horn to signal the coming of Ragnarok.

The Making of the Godlings

Ragnarok and Fimbulwinter were the doomsaying of a god, so are considered by most to be inevitable, but everything besides that is where you come in...

Godlings are a creation initially designed by Loki, who wanted henchmen to help with his mission of destruction, and then used by the gods to create their own helpers to stop him.

The creation of a godling is a costly process. Godlings can either be made from an existing mortal, or created entirely from magical materials. One of the six major materials is then added as well as access to their creator's rune. This partial access to a rune makes godlings semi-divine beings of a level just below their god. A Deviance is a character flaw that manifests in Curses, (un)helpfully included in the design by the grace of Loki himself, and which the gods couldn't get rid of. Each godling is also given an animal familiar as a companion.

As such, you may either be a trusted mortal ascended to godling, or a godling created whole cloth by your god and then educated in the ways of the Realms (to some extent anyway) by them. In either case, at the start of your existence as a godling you are highly likely to be a devotee of the god that made you. Godlings as a whole are recent creations, and you will only have existed as one for a few months before the start of the campaign.

If you are a Lokiling

Loki created you with the purpose of destroying the Nine Realms as swiftly, painfully, and completely as is divinely possible.

Many things can aid the demise of everything: persuading allies to your cause and strengthening them for the final battle to come, or weakening your enemies before the last strike. General mischief never goes amiss. And if the cosmos can be rearranged to pull Ragnarok closer... why not?

If you are a godling

The gods created you to fight against Ragnarok. It's coming. That's already carved into the fate of the universe. But HOW it happens is not set in stone, fire or ice.

Not everything has to die: you can set up protection for what you want to save. You could buy yourselves time to prepare and keep yourselves and the gods out of immediate danger. You could try to keep your allies loyal, and make your enemies weak or favourable to your cause. And you can try to stop Loki and his Lokilings from setting everything aflame.

You all have another responsibility as well. When Fimbulwinter comes and the gods fall asleep, you will be the stewards of divinity and the Realms.

Remember

Ragnarok is coming.

Lokilings and godlings were made to fight for and against its total success. But of course, with your free will, you can choose in what way you want the worlds to end.

Good luck.