OC note: all information on this page is In-Character (IC) information and your character may believe as much or as little as you please. The GM team make no promises that this information is accurate within the context of the game.
The content here is taken from The European Museum Online and is generally thought to be reliable.
Hel [Norse mythological world] is the land of the dead, ruled by Hel, or Hella, queen of the dead and daughter of the giantess Angrdoba and Loki. Hella is assisted by two servants, Dagrun and Ilmari. Described in the Prose Edda as having mansions with high walls and large gates, Hel is an ice world which is filled with freezing mist.
This content is from the Landskrona Texts, circa AD 1004. The author is unknown and the information is unverified.
…and using the magics of Odin they crossed the River Gjoll and before them stood the hellhound Garm, and the fear of ages fell upon Eric and he retreated back across the river, past the Eater of Corpses, Hraesvelg, which sits at the edge of the world. But Agata continued into the land which moves, and saw and felt nothing until Hel herself came to claim her….
…and Hel queen of the dead walked with Loki her father, and told him much…
…for the River Gjoll flows from flows from the spring Hvergelmir, and encircles Hel, and she who would stop that river running had best prepare for the wrath of all that is, for it is not foretold that only at Ragnarok will the armies of Hell pour across that river and sweep across Yggdrasil…
…Dagrun spoke not, nor looked not, but Ilmari cried out for Agata to return, though of this she remained unaware, and the Eater of Corpses made merry at the sight…
Douglas is known to have had no fewer than 39 witches hung across the Scottish Highlands. His life is known from his correspondence with Puritan elements in Edinburgh. His disappearance in May 1567 was overshadowed by the political upheavals at the time. The following melodramatic extract is taken from his second to last letter.
“Verily, my friend, it is a great evil that I go to conquer, but I fear not. Reports come that voices can be heard from long-lost, unhallowed graves of those heathen invaders which swept across the sea in times long past, and She is said to speak with them when the moon wanes. This is devil's work. Let the witch be cast forth and let the salt sea receive her bones, that no ground be polluted with her corrupted remains…”
and this extract from his last letter
“destroy her… she has taken my sight and cast it into the grave and now the grave looks for me… may all that is holy preserve you now for the dead… I call and they come… this is the darkest of magics and there will be a reckoning… there will be a price…”
Source prefers to remain anonymous
“How the f*** do you expect me to know that! Do I look dead to you!”
From Eigil Lauridsen's Journeys In My Mind:
“Though I knew how to get there, I will not tell, for you will not return intact, if you return at all. I tell you truly, Hel moves, and those movements are beyond my understanding.”
Notes which purport to have been leaked from a confidential U.N.I.T.E.D. briefing and published on the internet. Widely thought to be a hoax.
There are a total of three writings which are thought to have been authored by persons who had dealings in some form with the place or the entity called Hel. In each case the true identity of the person or persons is unknown and it is questionable whether at least one of the three ever existed.
The first are the unknown authors of the Landskrona Texts, which are thought to date from AD 1004. Much of the mythology surrounding Hel comes from this source. It is probable that these texts were transcribed from oral traditions and that they were the work of many authors over a period of time, probably about 200 years.
The second is the author known as Eigil Lauridsen, now thought to have been the 19th century faker called William Metcalfe, whose flamboyant account of his travels into a deep, cavernous ice world were taken to be the first true account of Hel by naive and unsuspecting individuals in the Exploring Department. Given Metcalfe's predilection for absinthe and opium this source has been discounted and the individuals concerned sent on a Training Exercise.
The third is the unnamed witch thought to be responsible for the disappearance of Ruadh Douglas, said to have spoken to Viking dead by means of magic.
More information about any of these sources would be gratefully received.