Delirium
The underworld realm ruled by Nandipha and her daughters, Erynd, Carlith, and Myrra, who are known as the Triumvirate of Fate. Its a somber place, shrouded in a perpetual twilight with fog, the fog coming from it being the main body to both Helheim and Muspelheim.
The most important location in the underworld is the palace of death, a massive fortress made of obsidian stone and adorned with the skulls of fallen warriors. The palace is surrounded by a moat filled with hot, bubbling tar, and the walls are guarded by Pallbearers armed with weapons and magic. Other architecture in delirium follows being created out of obsidian stone and a dark form cloudstone, usually in the shape of gates, pavillions, arches that twist, turn and flatly lead to nowhere, and lintels decorated on doors being made of purple diamonds. It can cause some unease for mortals but comfort for the dead.
The dead here are not called phantoms due to crossing over to where they belong. They are referred to as wraiths, and are led through the underworld via the valkyries to different places based on what they had done in their previous life.
Geography
Delirium is a massive, and each area has its own designated features and role in the overall existence of the underworld. But one consistency throughout every area is either a light, medium or very intense and dark mist/fog that blankets the bottom.
The entrance to Delirium, called the mirrorflow is made up of various banks of the river, lined with beautiful death lilies, twisted trees and tangled vines that cast deep shadows. The Aegis river that runs through it is murky, with a heavy mist rising from its surface. Its existence is why the ferryman is very important to transport souls through the areas they need to go. If one who was alive were to cross the river to the other side, this would cause them to experience actual death and they would be trapped in the realm, to be reincarnated.
Once a wraith passes through the other side, they are greeted by a beautifully created black gate with some of it covered in the underworld's vines and plant matter. Statues of the Triumvirate of Fate hold up a large root in their hands, said to be one of the many extensions of Yggdrasill. The gates create staircase that transport them to a large bridge that they're required to walk through in order to cross the Abyssal Fields. Its a place of ethereal beauty with tall grass wraiths wade through, and comfortable hills to sit on with trees creating a "cooler" shade. Time seems to stand still, and the contemplation of a person's previous existence will be their thoughts rather than their own voice. The fields essentially serve as a place of quiet solitude for a wraith to rest in, and even souls headed for less than comfortable places. Once a wraith crosses the field where the mist is at its thickest, they will end up in the place that reflects what the afterlife as in store with them.
There are multiple ways a soul can end. Usually its them staying in the fields, which are callrd the Ofersunat fields. (meaning "Deads' Walk in Vocem) It would be for quite a long period of time before they are reincarnated. The flood of images and voices in their head will stop once they are in line for reincarnation through one of the Fates' hands. It's not necessarily a bad end, more of a simple life they lived. There's also fruits that grow from the trees to eat if a soul would like to have one.
If a soul did outstand work in their past life, they're able to go to Asgard and live among other individuals in what is essentially heaven. They're able to eat the things they enjoyed in their previous life, engage in their favorite activities, and relive pleasant memories. However, if the wraith decides that they want to be reincarnated, they'll be placed in a sort of "queue" and permanent, and will be waiting there to be reincarnated, unless the Divines have a say in them staying.
If a soul did horrible things, they could find themselves in the scalding maw, serving time by a means of punishment to atone for what they did in life. This is usually for terrible criminals, people who lived their whole life with malevolent intention, or any other transgression for a mortal's species. The punishments are not torturous, rather something they need to spend some time thinking about with their life. (Tortured souls end up in Helheim) Once they have paid their toll, they're able to return to the fields where they will await for reincarnation. Their reincarnation takes far longer as well.
If a soul made such a horrible transgression to mortalkind, to the point where it endangered them or was even sacrilegious to the Divine Sages, the wraith will end up in Helheim, where they never get the opportunity to reincarnate in the next life. They will slowly turn into a malvirta, forced to fight vicious skirmishes and have the displeasure of being eaten by Hresvelgr. Usually the valkyries are tasked with delivering the individual to Helheim directly, some of them outright enjoying it.
There are other pockets of Delirium but the most important locations are the aforementioned ones.
Climate
As mentioned as before, delirium is blanketed in a fog or a mist typically, and depending on the area it can be very light or very heavy.
The entrance and fields of Delirium for example have some fog, tall enough to wreath around a wraith's calves but still thin enough to see the feet. Meanwhile, the abyssal fields are very thick and heavy, especially due to the tall grass, and its hard to make out the shape of one's legs.
The scalding maw has mist created in the form of someone throwing ice water onto scalding hot metal. It's far more localized in the area compared to the other areas where its scattered around. The maw's mist is heavily concentrated in the punishment's area, with a visible edge of the area seen if one walks far enough along the path (which, is obviously impossible for anyone there unless they're a valkyrie, the Fates or Nandipha herself.)
The connected realms to Delirium have their own kind of fog; in this case, Helheim has cold mist that constantly generates wherever someone stands while Muspelheim soot and ash falling from the sky and piling up to someone's ankles in some areas of the realm.
Fauna & Flora
The fauna of the realm is sparse to say the least. Depending on which area someone ends up in, they may see familiar animals from Midgard, ranging from beautiful birds to mischevious squirls. The more gorgeous variants appear in Asgard, while hellish or nightmarish version appear in the maw, and even Helheim may have them as well. However, Delirium and the fields have a few hardy plants that thrive in the dim light, such as gnarled trees with long, thorny branches, and twisted vines which grow death lilies.
Death lilies are special flowers born from death and tragedy, and sproud along some individuals that have met a horrible end or died a tragic way. These flowers will wilt into dust if taken outside of Delirium's radius, but some legends have said that strong tonics and even ambrosia has been made with them that can ressurect a dead person to normal health, restoring their natural body and soul. These people are necromancers and are heavily looked down upon in the Divine Light. There are also crows in Delirium, which act as Nandipha's eyes to keep track of some of the dead. They're more reassuring in context compared to their negative context with the living. They can also help guide wraiths to where they need to go.
Death lilies are special flowers born from death and tragedy, and sproud along some individuals that have met a horrible end or died a tragic way. These flowers will wilt into dust if taken outside of Delirium's radius, but some legends have said that strong tonics and even ambrosia has been made with them that can ressurect a dead person to normal health, restoring their natural body and soul. These people are necromancers and are heavily looked down upon in the Divine Light. There are also crows in Delirium, which act as Nandipha's eyes to keep track of some of the dead. They're more reassuring in context compared to their negative context with the living. They can also help guide wraiths to where they need to go.
History
The history of Delirium is very murky, something that's been hard for mortalkind to place a hand on; even a lot of the information of this article is something mortals have no knowledge of.
Since it had no ruler previously and souls only ended up in a chaotic state of afterlife which leed to them being haphazardly reincarnated, Delirium was a mess to sort out. While the valkyries were doing their best to help clean up this mess, it made it rather difficult for them to help souls properly cross. The divines also had no clue what to do as there was no laws made about entering the afterlife; a good chunk of the divines were terrified that if they had crossed the border, they would end up dead. They had no rules or bearings when it came to the underworld, and their fear kept it that way.
Nandipha later gave birth to the three daughters, Erynd, Carlith, and Myrra from Zioda. They represent birth, life and death. Upon their adulthood, they took to living in Delirium and organizing how the place is operated and where areas are designated for souls. But even with them taking up responsibility for caring for the general life of mortalkind, it was a huge job that truly needed a divine.
Nandipha's tragic death ending Ragnarok was the birth of a new ruler for Delirium. A sad fate, but Nani took up the role with just as fantastical work as she had when she was the goddess of war. Though the divines were mourning over her death, they were proud of their youngest member becoming such a reverred and loving goddess of a domain they all were too scared to touch. Nani saw fit for reorganizing the specific areas of Delirium, how souls would be ferried over the river, the ferryman himself, and the beautiful architecture that gives peace to the dead. Suddenly the work of mortalkind dying was a smooth transition that guaranteed they would process through the afterlife into rebirth.
Alternative Name(s)
The Underworld
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Owner/Ruler
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