Yggdrasil

Patience, brothers. Soon we will reveal the secrets of Wrath of the Druids and Dawn of Ragnarök.

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"From the life-tree we go, to the life-tree we shall one day return."

―Odin to the rest of the gathered Æsir, c. 75,000 BCE.^[src]^-[m]

Yggdrasil, also referred to as the World Tree,^[3] is an ancient supercomputer which was built by the Isu as an intended seventh solution to the Great Catastrophe.^[1]

Mythology[edit | edit source]

In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil was interpreted as a literal titanic ash tree whose roots and branches connected all of the Nine Realms, which consisted of Ásgarðr, Jötunheimr, Múspellsheimr, Midgard, Svartálfaheimr, Vanaheimr, Helheim, Álfheimr, and Niflheim.^[1] The Celts also had their own world tree, interpreting Yggdrasil as the Tree of Life.^[4]

During the Human-Isu War, several Isu factions became aware of an impending solar flare which would result in both the humans and Isu facing extinction. Realizing that a solution was needed to counter the oncoming coronal mass ejection, some Isu choose to ignore the war and instead focused on finding solutions to save Earth.^[5]

After many solutions had failed, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva—the latest triad to hold the titles of Father of Understanding, Mother of Wisdom, and Sacred Voice, respectively—had come up with a seventh attempt which had a chance of succeeding. This seventh method was called Yggdrasil, a supercomputer which could store an Isu's essence and incarnate it into the human gene pool across eons. However, disaster struck before they had a chance to use it, though nine members from the Æsir branch of Isu—Odin, Týr, Loki, Freyja,^[2] Heimdall,^[6] Thor, Sif, Frey, and Idun^[7]—managed to upload their consciousnesses before the computer's laboratory caved in.^[8]

Viking Age[edit | edit source]

In 877 CE, Sigurd Styrbjornsson, Týr's human incarnation, was guided to Yggdrasil's chamber by visions of his past life. Accompanied by his adoptive sister Eivor Varinsdottir, who was Odin's incarnation, the two ventured into the mountains of Hordafylke. There, they found the chamber's entrance in a cave and Sigurd recited the words carved on the Saga Stone—a piece of the vault's door which had broken off—to gain access. Once inside the chamber, the siblings saw Freyja's incarnation Svala already hooked to Yggdrasil and proceeded to activate the machine, which brought them to a simulated version of Valhalla.^[2]

After leaving the simulation, Eivor and Sigurd were confronted by their Hidden One ally Basim Ibn Ishaq, who was Loki's incarnation and had followed them to take his revenge on the former. After a prolonged fight across the chamber, Eivor and Sigurd defeated Basim and forcibly hooked him to Yggdrasil, trapping his consciousness inside the Grey for centuries.^[2]

Modern times[edit | edit source]

In August 2020, the Assassin Layla Hassan discovered the location of Yggdrasil's chamber from Eivor's genetic memories and traveled there, hoping the supercomputer could be used to reverse a series of global anomalies caused by the activation of the global aurora borealis device in 2012. As Yggdrasil had been running for centuries by that point, the chamber was filled with lethal radiation emitted by the machine, requiring Layla to use the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus to protect herself.^[1]

After connecting herself to the machine and entering the Grey, Layla met the still-trapped Basim, who showed her how to slow down Yggdrasil and end the anomalies. However, this came at a cost, as Layla's consciousness became trapped within the Grey while Basim was released from his imprisonment. Layla accepted her fate and decided to help "The Reader" with running his calculations to prevent future cataclysms, while Basim used the Staff of Hermes to rejuvenate his physical body and left the chamber.^[1]

Legacy and influence[edit | edit source]

Following the Great Catastrophe, the true purpose, design, and location of Yggdrasil were largely forgotten among the remaining human population. In time, it was passed down into myth, where it was reimagined as an immense ash tree that held the cosmos together. Yggdrasil became so important to Norse folklore that Vikings like Eivor Varinsdottir were known to tattoo it on their body.^[9]

In the late 9th century, Eivor used a psychoactive mixture made by Ravensthorpe's resident seer Valka to relive Odin's memories of his time in the dwarven realm of Svartálfaheimr looking for his captured son Baldr before Ragnarök began. In these visions, Odin often came across altars build around pieces of Yggdrasil's roots, where he could sacrifice a portion of his life force to recharge his Hugr-Rip.^[10]

Around this time, the Order of the Ancients members operating in Anglo-Saxon England carried silver medallions that bore an engraving of Yggdrasil to signify their belonging in the organization.^[11]

In Ireland, druids continued their Celtic pagan practices revolving around the Tree of Life, with the extremist Children of Danu cult going so far as to place a sacrificial alter atop a large painting of the tree.^[12] It continued to be a symbol that the Irish strongly associated with their homeland into the 18th century, as the Colonial Assassin Shay Cormac wore a belt buckle that featured the tree to mark his Irish heritage.^[13]

In July 1754, Shay and his fellow Assassin Hope Jensen helped the inventor Benjamin Franklin activate a Precursor box with lightning to glean the secrets it contained. Once it was turned on, the box projected a hologram of Yggdrasil beneath a world map marked with the locations of Seismic Temples.^[14]

In 2014, the Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg, inspired by Shay's defection to the Colonial Templars, donned a coat lapel button of Yggdrasil to emulate his idol.^[15]

Functionality[edit | edit source]

Yggdrasil is an ancient Isu supercomputer which can best be described as the Isu's version of the Animus technology developed by Abstergo Industries. The supercomputer is engineered with a myriad of advanced abilities, some of which include:

Essence Containment – This allows users to upload and preserve their consciousness into the supercomputer. This can happen in one of two known ways. The first is by sitting in one of the energy core-powered chairs surrounding the table which holds the computer's processing tower in the center. After powering up the chair and donning a faceplate, a small arm extends from the chair's head and takes a genetic sample from the user's neck, then feeds it into one of the four pods containing individual human fetuses that hang from the computer.^[8] The second method involves being physically entered into Yggdrasil via its branches, as seen when both Svala^[2] and Layla Hassan^[1] used Yggdrasil to upload their psyches to spend eternity inside the computer's simulations.
Incarnation Inducement – Yggdrasil is able to incarnate the psyches stored in it as humans across the globe. As of the 9th century, Yggdrasil successfully incarnated all nine of the Isu who used the device, all of whom could be identified by a black spot on their necks.^[7] Unlike Aita and Vejovis' continuous incarnations known as Sages, this process could only be used to incarnate an Isu once.
Simulation Functions – Yggdrasil also creates powerful simulations similar to the technology used in Animi. As discerned by Shaun Hastings, it appeared to have been used to "generate and explore possible futures, alternate realities, and counterfactual stories."^[16] This shows that the Isu could use Yggdrasil to effectively utilize the calculations. While trapped in Yggdrasil's simulations for centuries, Basim Ibn Ishaq ran countless calculations to determine the best way to escape in the future.^[1] Additionally, the machine could render a simulation of Valhalla, as depicted in Norse mythology.^[2]
Biological Preservation – Yggdrasil's branches could hold a user's comatose body intact for extended periods of time, long after natural death and decay should have occurred. In 2020, Basim's unresponsive body was still whole after being connected to Yggdrasil for over 1000 years,^[2] with whatever minor visible decay vanishing when the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus regenerated him back to life.^[1]