Tests for 1st level characters or 20th?
In general terms tho':
Ale might be drinking ale or making it. A drinking competition sounds more fun to RP.
Seed sounds like farming, but you might use knowledge about it as a test, or protecting a field or plant from monsters that would despoil it rather than having to spend a growing season. Sex is also possible; the Norse had different inhibitions pre-christianity.
Wood/the wand sounds like a test of magic. Perhaps making a magic item? Or identifying the right one to use of three presented to solve a problem.
Fire/Wildfire might be your test of valor. Doing the right thing in conditions of extreme danger.
Back later.
Maybe for Sea you have to grapple a serpent or something.
For fire I could see using the test of Sigurd, a maiden in a wall of fire, which requires courage to cross. Might take some subtle hints.
Alternatively for fire an eating contest. Because Loki was in an eating contest against Wildifre when entering the domain of Utgard-Loki.
Ale does sound like a drinking challenge. In the Saga of the Volsungs*, the character Sigi dies because a Queen challenged him to drink ale. He knew it was poisoned and refused to drink it, but she kept calling him a coward. Then he just drank the ale and died. His Uncle, Sigmund, however was the greatest hero in all of the lands, and could withstand any poison. Maybe drink poison?
Sea could also be something really obscure like putting the sea to sleep. You have to piece together clues to find a rune or something to pull it off.
For calm there could be a sleep effect everywhere.
Thinking about Woods, in the aforementioned Saga of the Volsungs there were heroes tied to trees, as a Wolf ate them one by one. Seems tricky to set up, but maybe if you can make the players escape the trap.
For Seed I can't remember the Goddess' name, but she had the domain of farming. She tricked the King of Sweden into letting her plow as much land as she wanted in a day and then she made Denmark. Don't know how that could translate, but oh well.
Really cool idea.
*Totally my favorite story ever
For Sea my idea was a fishing trip. Come back with a big fish - the biggest is named in legend. A sly trickster offers aid, but will ambush them & try to steal the catch if they accept it.
Calm sounds like they need to bring something back (any treasure, but one of Idun's apples springs to mind) without fighting. A job for the diplomat or stealthy character in the party.
Clouds & Heaven offer me no ideas.
Earth/The Ways sounds like travel. A fetch quest to somewhere unexplored?
Dunno where it'd fit, but they should have to display generosity at some point. A very important virtue in that culture as I understand it.
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For Seed I can't remember the Goddess' name, but she had the domain of farming. She tricked the King of Sweden into letting her plow as much land as she wanted in a day and then she made Denmark. Don't know how that could translate, but oh well.
You're thinking of Gefjon.
What if you had all of the trials be connected?Earth could be finding an area of land that is cursed or whatever, and making it workable. Wood could be getting the best magical wood and using it to create an alehouse. Seed could be growing some crops near there. Sea, Clouds, and Fire could be bad stuff that happens while you are building/farming (waves, storm, wildfire) that you have to deal with. Calm could be managing some incredibly annoying people that hinder your progress without losing your temper. Heaven could be getting an easy way of transportation from Vanaheim or Asgard to the alehouse (something more direct than Bifrost). And then you top it off with Ale, throwing the best party the gods have ever been to.