Other than crossing the exposed and precarious Rainbow Spit (Bifrost) the alternative entry into Asgard is to negotiate a maze of marshes and lagoons of the Rotten Sea. This inhospitable terrain, frozen in winter and malarial in summer, wraps around the north and east edges of the peninsula making it a virtual island. Beyond this barrier of reed fringed salty lagoons the land is depressingly similar to that left behind on the mainland – a flat and featureless expanse stretching as far as the eye can see across many leagues of windswept steppe. When it eventually starts to rise it meets a thick forest. This cloaks the northern slopes of Long Ridge, which stretches east and west without a break, and ultimately rises to a towering crest overlooking the deep blue expanse of the Wide Sea a kilometre below. On this remote and rugged ridge the Aesir chose to build their halls from long beams of cedar wood and large blocks of golden limestone both found along this lofty crescent ridge. Most of the time they remain hidden from mortals wreathed in mist produced by the moist mild maritime air mixing with the cool dry winds from off the plain but it is a unique vantage point from where, with their divine vision, they are able to observe most of Middle World.
Most closely connected to the Aesir are the Light and Dark Elves (Svartalf). They are just across a narrow strait to the east of Asgard where the Great Mountains rise directly out of the sea. Beneath their steep southern slopes are a labyrinth of deep caves occupied by the Svartalfs or Dwarves who are skilled in metal work. On the less severe northern flank of the Great Mountains is an extensive forest rich in a diversity of wildlife and is also home to Elves who share metalworking skills with their darker cousins over the mountains but are also careful custodians of the land as they and steeped in forest lore.
Beyond these two inhabited regions The Great Mountains rise high above the forests into a cold primordial world of rock and ice wreathed in clouds and is called Niflheim. This is the highest point in Middle World from which many rivers flow in different directions down to the two seas. The only other place that reaches similar heights is Muspelheim away to the south. This cone shaped mountain though is an isolated peak, which towers above the highlands that surround it. It is a huge volcano that seethes restlessly emitting steam and spitting out hot rocks and threatening to fully erupt at any time.
To the west of Asgard many large rivers enter the Wide Sea across on the mainland. They begin their long journeys in the distant mountains in the extreme west. Though these mountains are not as high as the Great Mountains to the east they nevertheless have deep valleys cut by many rivers and their steep slopes are clad in forests of tall beech trees and are known as the Deep Dales. In the fertile valley floors, obscured from the Aesir, live an ancient and sophisticated race called the Vanir who rival the Aesir in their knowledge. In the far north, beyond the Great River, is a distant pine forested mountain range where another quite different race live called the Jotun. They are giants and too rival the Aesir but in strength. They have mineral wealth in their mountains and the extensive northern forests are home to large beasts, which the Jotun hunt and by using forest lore sustain themselves through the long cold winters.
These dark remote forests stretch for countless leagues in every direction except south, because here are the open grasslands of Midgard that stretch between Jotunheim and Asgard and is where mortal men live. They spend their short brutal lives toiling on the bleak windswept steppe. Yet they are watched closely by the Aesir from their lofty halls, which overlook the plains, because although they spend their short lives struggling and fighting they are inquisitive and adaptable and the Aesir fear that one day by acquiring new skills they will spread like a plague over the land and occupy all the lands of Middle World.
Yggdrasil and Middle World 