Huisboom

Owned by Ask, the First Man created from an ash tree in the wake of Ymir's destruction in Norse mythology, the Huisboom, which means "Tree House," acts as neutral territory for the creatures of the world of Legend. This reputation has actually extended into the mortal world to some extent as well - international espionage organizations and underworld figures observe the neutrality of the Huisboom as well, for instance.

It is an immense circular building, a dome some five stories in height. Massive steel beams arc upward, inset with fine wooden panels decorated with a variety of carvings. The dome features massive glass windows treated to be reflective on the outside. The steel beams also have massive planters inset into them, and the surface of the wall crawls with ivy and similar plant-life.

The large double doors that lead inside are massive wooden numbers, each depicting half of a huge tree, at the bottom of which four stags eat leaves. Security and doormen man positions at the doors, in front of which lines form during the evening hours seven days a week.

Executive Members

The Huisboom uses a set of white plastic cards, emblazoned with the logo of the club on one side, and the simple words "Executive Member" on the other. These cards serve a variety of functions, from providing access to the Asgard Room, to getting immediate access to Mr. Asboom (by showing the card to an employee and asking for such) and granting access to the various terminals throughout the Huisboom. These cards are only ever given to Scions and other individuals of Legend.

The Main Floor

They walk through an archway into a wide curving archway, one wall of which is the outer edge of the club, the other of which is a massive interlocking wall of stained glass depicting scenes from Norse mythology. An arched doorway leading into the rest of the club stands directly ahead. The hallway seems to follow the curve of the building, though it rises towards the next floor as it goes clockwise, and drops towards what is presumably a set of basements as it goes counter-clockwise.

The wooden walls inside are carved in an immense and nearly-obscene leaf-motif — every wooden surface inside is decorated with the impression of thick branches and millions of ash leaves, with small animals, strange faces and other things peeking out from knots in the woodwork, crooks in branches and from behind leaves.

There are three raised, curving dance-floors, one of which is features a tall booth where the DJ spins. There are two other archways like the entryway, and they apparently lead into similar hallways with arching ramps that lead both up and down.

In the center of the room is a massive circular bar, capable of serving dozens at one time. A ramp leads up and over the bar and to a massive central pillar made of stained glass and inset with prisms so that every stray bit of light that hits it is broken into a thousand spectrumed shards of light — the thing leaves the impression of being a massive pillar of strobing rainbow light.

This pillar rises high above the crowd into the big cavernous emptiness of the nightclub. Above everyone’s heads, there are three smaller, round rooms, complete with railings for looking down the two stories to the main floor below. The ramps that lead upwards curve up and around the building, leading to those rooms — those here can watch people coming and going up and down the ramps, with only the walls of stained glass between the spiraling ramps and the floor below.

High above the entire thing, affixed to the very top of the dome is another round room. This room has a glass bottomed floor, however, tinted in various celestial colors, with lighting projected onto the glass surface, making it appear as the night sky, complete with twinkling stars. Occasionally, a “sun” rises, cutting a swathe of rose and gold across the glass surface. The rainbow pillar rises up and into the very center of that room.

A doorman stands at the base of the ramp that leads up to that pillar, with a simple padded rope across the entry. Access to the Bifrost, as this elevator is called, is permitted only to Executive Members. The Bifrost goes only to the Asgard Room.

All eyes in the club invariably turn to watch anyone permitted access to the Bifrost, which opens as they near it (thanks to the cards set with RFID chips). The elevator ride up is slow, offering a spectacular view.

The Upper Floors

The Upper Floors are suspended high above the Main Floor, and represent the realms above Midgard on the World-Tree Yggdrasil. It is easy to tell (for someone who makes a simple Intelligence + Occult check, dif 2) that the rooms above are themed with the upper worlds of Yggdrasil: the red room backed with stained glass depicting mountains of fire and majestic phoenixes is modeled after Muspellheim (realm of fire and heat, home of the fire giants), the heavenly-looking place with the white cloud stained glass and solar imagery is Liossalheim (land of air spirits and the alfar, or “light elves”) and the one showing the majestic mountains and beautiful blue ocean is Vanaheim (natural paradise of the Vanir nature-deities).

Muspellheim: X

Liossalheim: X

Vanaheim: X

The Asgard Room

Those who ride the Bifrost past the celestial display that is the glass floor of the Asgard Room find themselves in a massive round room. The floor is somehow treated so that despite the light displays pointed at it from below, it reflects sufficient of that light to allow them to look down through the floor and see everyone below them.

Three walls of stained glass — filling the areas between the open space of the building’s interior and the Asgard Room proper — depict the heroic actions of the Norse gods: Thor battling the jotuns, Heimdall blowing his horn atop the Rainbow Bridge, Odhinn hanging from Yggdrasil by his own spear, Loki tricking Hodr into killing Baldur with mistletoe, Freya in her cat-drawn chariot and feathered cloak, Frey seated in the lotus position, radiant.

Between the panels of stained glass, railings allow those in the room to look out into the three Upper World Rooms, though they are arranged at such an angle as to make it nearly impossible for those below to look in on the Asgard Room.

The seating here is very plush and comfortable, done in a divan style. Each of the divans has a small computer screen, with a slot for the cards. When the cards are placed into the slots, they are sucked into it, and the screen lights up. There is an extensive drink menu, a video camera system for watching various parts of the club (including rooms marked Jotunheim, Niflheim, Svartalheim and Hel, which are all clearly subterranean), a video conferencing system, a full media suite and internet browsing capability using an on-screen keyboard.

In short order, anything ordered here is quickly sent up by a small and efficient dumbwaiter system built into the other side of the Bifrost.

The Lower Floors

The Hel Room