Frederick Jorgenson

Bio
Professor Jorgenson is a Danish man working in Chicago. He has a theory that Norse explorers discovered the Americas during the time of Erik the Red, way before colonial settlers.

1879 (Little Ragnarök on the Prairie)
About a week before Christmas Eve, Professor Frederick Jorgenson met with Orlando Robicheaux and Pemberton Polcross in Chicago at their request. They showed him a wooden pitchfork with runic inscriptions that resembled the weapon of a king in a carving found in 1844. Jorgenson agreed to travel with the men to the pitchfork's place of origin, Winfield, Kansas, in hopes of finding proof of his theory that Norsemen had come to America before other settlers.

When they got to Winfield, they met Pemberton's fan and acolyte John Bender Jr., whom Jorgenson connected to the Bloody Benders. Jorgenson became suspicious of Pemberton due to Bender’s worship towards him and vague references to the occult. Bender aggressively shoved the pitchfork at him and Jorgenson realized the runes matched the Rök runestones and referred to the “swaying one”. The swaying one referred to the spear of Odin, Gungnir. This proved Jorgenson’s theory that Norse explorers had discovered the Americas long before any other settlers and renewed his excitement.

The next morning, the group set out for Vigil. The locals seemed quite friendly, and the homes all had mistletoe hanging. Jorgenson spoke to a local, Inge, in Danish and learned they had immigrated within the past three years. The group was told to show the pitchfork to Jormun, the village elder. Jorgenson joked about presenting themselves to the thain only to learn that was indeed the case. As they made their way to the village hall, Jorgenson commented on the hanging mistletoe and its significance to the myth of Ragnarök.

Pemberton saw a ring of stones in a field of wheat. He pointed them out to an incredibly excited Jorgenson, who ran out to see it but was stopped by Orlando. He reluctantly went with them to speak with the village elder who demanded the pitchfork back, saying it had actually been stolen from them. Jorgenson tried to negotiate so he could further study the fork but was told to give it up when Pemberton was offered a scythe.

Jorgenson inspected the scythe and the runes suddenly glowed, alighting the weapon in flame and seriously burning his hands. The runes read “Muspelheim”, the Norse realm of fire. Jorgenson asked about the runestones and was told the town’s ancestors had come to Greenland and then America. Vigil was said to be the place of Bifrost, the bridge between worlds, and the settlers battled Jörmungandr here. The stones were a commemoration to their fight. When the time came, the descendants were to take up the battle again and the villagers suffered three harsh winters to arrive at Vigil. Orlando asked when the prophesied time was and Jormun said it was likely that night. Jorgenson realized the three harsh winters were Fimbulwinter, the prelude to Ragnarök, but his revelation was interrupted by gunshots. John Bender Jr. was lying wounded in the center of the runestones, having snuck out to them with Pemberton's assent.

As the villagers tried to save Bender, Jorgenson was able to read the runes on the stones which described a bridge to the realm of the giants. The runes spoke of a lock and had several dates on them including 1879. As he enthused about the discovery of a lifetime, he noticed that Jormun and the other man were trying to save Bender’s life. Jorgenson continued to read the runes and found a spell to open and close the bridge. He unthinkingly mumbled the spell aloud as he studied the stones. A storm picked up and a white space opened up in the sky. Black spheres fell from the portal and the entire village ran to the circle, chanting a spell to bind the unfurling shoggoths.

Jorgenson witnessed both a shapeshifted Orlando attacking Jormun, which revealed his true form, and Pemberton casting magic to stop the villagers from binding the attacking creatures. A huge worm-like entity emerged from the portal, clearly Jörmungandr. Jorgenson, seeing the chaos and violence around him, attempted to close the bridge. He saw how the villagers correlated to the Norse pantheon and grabbed a skull, recognizing it as Mimir, to give him strength. Jorgenson was able to force the bridge shut and slice Jörmungandr in half. Orlando gave Jorgenson a scathing threat that he and his masters would claim the earth and disappeared, Pemberton having already escaped. Jorgenson warned the villagers that Orlando would return and declared that Vigil was now his home. The dying Jormun told Jorgenson to take his place as the Allfather, which he accepted as Jormun took out his eye.