Asgard

The Asgard were a benevolent, extremely advanced race from the Idagalaxy that visited Earth on many occasions. They used the cover of primitive gods in a similar manner to the Goa'uld, leading to the development of Nordic mythology.

Part of the Alliance of Four Great Races, they were among the most advanced races in the universe, matched only by the Ancients, the Nox, and possibly the Furlings. They assumed the role of protectors of the Milky Way galaxy and later passed that role down to the Tau'ri, to whom they gifted all of their knowledge and technology.

Early History
The Asgard evolved on the planet Othala, in the Ida galaxy. Their collected history and culture would span over 100,000 years. They began exploring outside their galaxy around 28,000 BC. At some point, the Asgard began a program of cloning their people and transferring their minds into these bodies as a means of vastly extending their lifespans. At some point in time Asgard were hit by a plague that they called Barion's syndrome which wiped out 60% of their population and within a generation over 75% of the survivors of the disease became sterile and suffered from cellular degeneration. The remaining 10% of the population did not have the necessary genetic diversity to reverse the trend away from genetic breakdown.

30,000 Years Ago
Around this time, an Asgard ship (its crew placed in suspended animation) left Othala. Its navigational computers were either damaged or malfunctioned at some point, and the ship drifted across galaxies, ultimately ending up in the Milky Way(whether or not the Milky Way was its intended destination is unclear).

10,000 Years Ago
The Asgard made peaceful contact with the Ancients, the Furlings, and the Nox. They also came into conflict with the Goa'uld. Liberating several groups of Humans from Goa'uld worlds, the Asgard declared themselves their protectors until their cultures had sufficiently evolved, and threatened the Goa'uld with violent retaliation if they attempted to re-enslave the Humans.

The Vanir, a group of Asgard who did not share their brethren's ethical concerns about experimenting on humans to solve their genetic degradation problems, left the Ida galaxy and traveled to the Pegasus galaxy where they could continue their experiments, which were able to slow the advance of, but not reverse their genetic problems.

After the Ancients discovered they could not win their war with the Wraith and left for the Milky Way, the Wraith attacked the Vanir.The Vanir's intergalactic ships were damaged beyond repair in the first battle, and, as they lacked the means to construct new ones, they were stranded in the Pegasus galaxy.

In order to survive, the Vanir moved to a Toxic planet where the Wraith could not endure. At first they only needed to use simple breathing apparatus to survive, but the planet's atmosphere continued to degrade, forcing them to develop Armored exoskeletons capable of withstanding the new conditions.

Past-Current
Despite the efforts of the Asgard, the Goa'uld became a great threat to the human population of the Milky Way. The Goa'uld began taking humans as hosts during this time, which greatly angered the Asgard, who realized humanity had great potential. The Asgard's vastly superior technology was more than a match for the Goa'uld, who were forced to sign a treaty with the Asgard in order to keep from being destroyed.

Unwilling to completely give the galaxy over to the Goa'uld, the Asgard freed and transplanted humans on various worlds and posed as their protective gods as they felt they were not yet ready to have their belief system completely stripped away. Accordingly, they devised a series of challenges designed to determine when these people were advanced enough to learn (and presumably cope with) the truth about their protector's true nature.

To ensure the safety of many of these planets, the Asgard and the Goa'uld brokered the Protected Planets Treaty. The treaty stipulated that the Asgard would allow the Goa'uld various benefits (the precise terms are unknown), and in return the Goa'uld would leave the humans of the various worlds mentioned in the treaty alone. The treaty could be expanded to include other worlds if both parties agreed to negotiate.

For some time the Asgard protected these planets with their advanced technology and warships but the discovery and invasion of the Replicators in their home galaxy forced the Asgard to draw away resources they had been using to enforce the treaty, leaving the planets protected in name only.

A long lost Asgard ship was recently found by Asgard scientists. Within it was one perfectly preserved Asgard ancestor. The Asgard scientist Heimdall began research on it since the clone was from a time when their cloning program was "not yet irreversible".

Extinction
Their final attempts to repair the genetic degradation caused by continuous re-cloning failed, and unwilling to allow their technology to be plundered by other races, the Asgard decided to commit mass suicide and destroy their planet, but not without passing on their legacy. They gave Stargate Command an Asgard computer databasecontaining all their knowledge, and made significant modifications to the Odyssey consisting of all their most recent technology.

As the upgrades were completed, three Ori warships arrived and attacked both Orilla and the Odyssey. The Odyssey fled with one Ori ship in pursuit, while the other two prepared to attack the planet. At that moment, the Asgard caused Orilla to explode, destroying the planet, the two ships, and the Asgard. The Asgard's upgrades to the Odyssey saved the ship and gave the Tau'ri an advantage in the war as the new plasma beam weaponsinstalled on the Odyssey gave the Tau'ri weapons capable of destroying Ori motherships and almost any other ship they came across.

Physiology
Over 30,000 years ago, the Asgard were a tall (approximately 2m), generally humanoid species that reproduced sexually. Their physical forms changed gradually when they attempted to use scientific means to artificially extend their lifespans. The "modern" Asgard averaged about one meter in height, with grayish skin tones, small, skinny limbs, large heads and black eyes (bearing a striking resemblance to the "Roswell Grays" described in countless UFO stories). Their body, now weakened by several millennia of cloning, is more susceptible to the discharge of a zat'nik'tel than other races (Loki fell almost immediately while most human and Jaffa stand for a moment).

The species possessed no adrenaline glands within their bodies and did not have epinephrine pumping through their lymphatic system.

Cloning
The Asgard, pursuing means of extending their lifespans, began to use cloningtechnology. The mental patterns of Asgard that became ill or fatally injured were preserved by "downloading" them into computer memory crystals. The patterns were later placed in a new cloned body. This made the Asgard effectively immortal at the cost of the ability reproduce sexually. This prevented the natural process of evolution, making Ascension impossible without assistance.

The excessive use of the cloning process began to damage and degrade the Asgard genome. This would result in the eventual extinction of the race unless a cure could be found. The Asgard devoted considerable time and resources to the project, but their best efforts proved fruitless. (The Vanir had more luck in dealing with this issue than their Ida counterparts, primarily because they were willing to experiment on humans when the main faction would not. Even so, they were not able to eradicate the problem, only postpone it.) The final attempt to solve the problem resulted in a rapidly progressing, fatal disease.

High Council
The Asgard High Council was the government of the Asgard. The size and structure of the council is not known, but there were seven seated members, including Freyr, Thor, and Penegal. The High Council made decisions that affected the entire race. In addition, they negotiated in name of the Tau'ri in the Protected Planets Treaty. The council members met in a great room with holographic projectors.

Technology
Asgard technology is dependent on Neutronium. They possessed a level of technology significantly more advanced than that of the Goa'uld and most other races in the known universe. Only the Alterans and Ori were known to be of comparable technological level, though the Nox and Furlings are speculated to have a similar technological level. The Asgard are remarkable in their technological level having reached the pinnacle of their development in only 100,000 years, younger as a species than the Alterans by millions of years.

Their ships were capable of traversing thousands of light years in minutes, and their shields could withstand multiple hits from Ori warships while remaining undamaged. They had also mastered advanced transportation and holographic technology.

Shortly before their extinction, the Asgard developed energy weapons capable, with repeated strikes, of defeating Ori shields, which had previously proved impervious to everything except the unstable vortex of the Ori's own Supergate.

The sum total of the Asgard's knowledge and technology now belongs to the Tau'ri; a gift to them before their destruction. However, it will likely take Earth decades, maybe even centuries, to fully understand and put it to widespread use. However, the Tau'ri have had at least some success with this as they have been able to replicate the plasma beam weapons the Asgard gifted to them and put them on all their ships within a matter of months of first receiving the technology.

Known Asgard

 * Aegir - Asgard commander
 * An - Asgard scientist
 * Famrir - Former host to Ra, driven to madness
 * Fenrir - Asgard scientist, exiled after his experiments destroyed a solar system
 * Freyr - Member of the Asgard High Council
 * Heimdall - Asgard scientist
 * Hermiod - Asgard engineer/liaison to the Daedalus
 * Hermod - Asgard teacher to the Cimmerians
 * Kvasir - Asgard scientist
 * Loki - Rogue scientist
 * Penegal - Member of the Asgard High Council
 * Sigyn - Asgard scientist working on the life-extension project
 * Sujanha - Asgard researcher, scientist, and teacher
 * Thor – Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet
 * Tyr - One-time chief tactical officer and military strategist of the Asgard fleet, one-time commander of the Valkyries, and defender of Vanaheim
 * Zeus - Amnesiac ruler of Stennos