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NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

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Anyway, that aside, if anything, I'd say the Communal Orthstirr Pool is a countermeasure for the Enemy sabotaging Norse Cultivation. That some of the badasses that had already made it into the highest Realms decided to sacrifice themselves to come up with a workaround. Assuming the Communal Orthstirr pool is the workaround, that suggests that the Aspect derived stuff is what used to be what you tapped for Orthstirr, but the Enemy created the Devourer which is attracted to the Orthstirr generated by your Aspects, which is why power generated by your Aspects gets sucked into the Earth shortly after you tap into it, but your Unaspected Orthstirr rapidly recovers and then stays at the cap.

But for some reason the Devourer's 'Suction Force' is a reactive ability, and having more Norse Cultivators around confuses it and reduces the speed that it depletes. Then some Galaxy Brained High Realm had the idea that 'If that's the case, then if we create a communal pool of Orthstirr, there'll be too many people drawing from it or paying into it for the Devourer to be able to drain that!' And proceeded to sacrifice themselves and possibly their lines in an epic quest to introduce that into the system.

In other words, it's not that the Aspects adjust to the amount of Orthstirr you have. It's that your share of the Community Pool is scaled by how strong your Aspects are, and the Community Pool is exempt from the Devourer's Hunger because it's not actually contained in any one Norse Cultivator, it's possibly held in trust by the Nornir and distributed according to your Deeds. (It might also be why there's a strict time limit for people in this system--it's all about keeping the population from exploding out of control so the Community Pool doesn't end up getting spread too thin, so the Nornir probably do a fair amount of pruning for dead-ends who are draining more Orthstirr than they're generating for the system while giving high generators a boost, which is mostly indistinguishable from "Smart, clever, and bold experts tend to survive getting into insane situations.")

It's not that your Orthstirr just magically disappears, it's that it was never yours to begin with, and when you die, your share goes back into the general pool. The only Orthstirr that's yours is what's tied up in your Aspects, and the Devourer eats that whenever it gets released, including by death, but also from when you tap them but don't use it all.
 
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Drieder said:
But wouldnt that means that everytime we stoke an aspect we would permanently lose that amount of Orthstirr?
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No, because Orthstirr is still self-renewing, and it's 'Safe' while it's contained within an Aspect. It's only when you stoke an Aspect for Orthstirr that the time limit kicks in, but it still recovers on it's own once you're not stretching it anymore.
 
Drieder said:
No it isnt, Imperial Fister said that Harald Fairhair is about to start his adventures that means the invasion of the Great Heathen Army is in about eh 2(?) years, which is probably The War that Imperial Fister keeps refering to.
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Ah! In that case my bad...but that actually makes the same point. There's about to be a pretty successful Viking Invasion of Christian lands, which is perhaps an even better argument for Norse culture being in the ascent rather than descent right at the moment than there having been one in the past.
 
Alectai said:
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Wow, this actually tracks. The research with the Aspects revealed that Tricks casted with an Aspect have an imprint/echo in them - which I suspect depends on a person's personality - which tricks casted with reserve orthstirr lack. Not to mention that the Aspects are needed to even start Norse cultivation, so it'd make sense that the Enemy would target that. Well, for the most part it makes sense. It doesn't explain why the Enemy would do such a thing to begin with, since one can still become a Norse cultivator - your Frami, Virthing and Saemd are only drained after you dispel it. I suspect that you're right in that there's some sort of 'Devourer' that steals the orthstirr from dispelled Aspects, but I have no idea why it'd exist to begin with.
 
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Ah! In that case my bad...but that actually makes the same point. There's about to be a pretty successful Viking Invasion of Christian lands, which is perhaps an even better argument for Norse culture being in the ascent rather than descent right at the moment than there having been one in the past.
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Timeline is weird.

The Danelaw exists. I thought that fairhair would provide a suitable antagonist/ally/whatever so I had him delayed. I also just like the idea of a lot of smaller, independent, Norse kingdoms.
 
When the invasion of england starts we should definately go along and win some lands. Its fertile, its far away from The Enemy and there are alot of other cultures (and therefor cultiation systems) around like The Celts, The Picts and the christians, plus lots of enemies around to hone our saga on.

Ninja'ed.

@Imperial Fister how big is The Danelaw right now? Also whats the state of the Reconquista? Any arabs in spain or would we have to go to Morocco?
 
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Alectai said:
But for some reason the Devourer's 'Suction Force' is a reactive ability, and having more Norse Cultivators around confuses it and reduces the speed that it depletes. Then some Galaxy Brained High Realm had the idea that 'If that's the case, then if we create a communal pool of Orthstirr, there'll be too many people drawing from it or paying into it for the Devourer to be able to drain that!' And proceeded to sacrifice themselves and possibly their lines in an epic quest to introduce that into the system.
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The devouring aspect. It might be that the drain is based on location, so a ton of people doing Orthsirr at a time, well, can't all be drained instantly.

Also this suggests that one of the price of ascending to a higher realm is sacrificing your share of the communal Orthsirr, since, well, you don't need it anymore.
 
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Sirrocco said:
Oh... and one of the things that might have saved us about having allies nearby was... well, Abjorn shook us awake. It's unclear what would have happened if he had not.
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I think this will be both the hardest and the easiest to secure in every descendant we will follow.

And going back to cultivation talk, I think we should try to probe Odr itself too.
We know it's energetic and maddening, but.... What IS it? We know orthstirr is oily and how it handles, hells, people can just play with it, like Hala on the boat.
But can you handle odr like that?

I am also kinda curious how the other two aspects affect orthstirr too on their own, if Frami makes is hungry....
 
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Imperial Fister said:
You managed to avoid the one that gets most people just starting out, thanks in part to Hallr and in part to having people around you.

Remember, no man is an island and that is even more true for the Norse.
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...If community is to be viewed as a counter-balance to the landmines of the Enemy, then this line from the interview with the hired farmhand and his wife now may have a different context.

Imperial Fister said:
And their child might be a good playmate for your sons and daughters, which seems to have abnormal importance to your senses. Odd.
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We had Abjorn and Stigr and even Aki as playmates, and it's been a huge deal for us.

Also our children will need Dao Protectors. By which I mean an Abjorn. Lori Burisson pretty clearly failed in that for example, so we need tougher guardians.
 
I wonder if there is any connection between the Norns and similar sets of three fate spinners like the Moirai and maybe the Morrigan. I sort of think there might be some sort of base world system which Cultivators eventually disrupt. So the Enemy hates civilization because it displaces the preexisting system that they derive their power from.
 
Alectai said:
In a theoretically functional system, you'd probably begin cultivating Odr as soon as you had strong enough Aspects to Open the Gate, and have your first 9 Motes before your first Raid.
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Alectai said:
Assuming the Communal Orthstirr pool is the workaround, that suggests that the Aspect derived stuff is what used to be what you tapped for Orthstirr, but the Enemy created the Devourer which is attracted to the Orthstirr generated by your Aspects, which is why power generated by your Aspects gets sucked into the Earth shortly after you tap into it, but your Unaspected Orthstirr rapidly recovers and then stays at the cap.
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Alternatively... We don't know that the Enemy, specifically, is why Halla blacked out. We do know that we were gaining Odr improperly, though we don't know what, specifically, we were doing wrong.

Theory: The Gate is supposed to be opened and shut by a mentor figure or trusted ally, not you. Opening the gate ourselves was wrong, and we were lucky to have Hallr to close it.
 
It's possible there was some preliminary step we were "supposed" to take before opening the Gate that would have made us strong enough to handle the influx of odr, though I have no idea what it might be.
 
Well, opening your own gate, as far as we know, strictly requires your own Aspects in unison. So that part, you need to do yourself.

Closing your own gate, though, is both ??? and something that Blackhand was able to do even as a Charredsoul Ghost. This implies that the process of closing the gate might be 'easy'. We could ask Blackhand on more details on how he was able to close our gate. Specialized techniques might be needed - But note that Orthsirr does not seem to be needed to close the gate. Halla was at full Orthsirr after.

/

Incidentally, on children planning, is there any benefit to having loads and loads of children? Your Orthsirr is split between them, and you can ultimately only pick one as your successor. Having 4~5 children, lets you concentrate Orthsirr more, and also lets you spend Hamingja in a more focused manner.

/

Odr was Red in color. When Blackhand first manifested, his Orthsirr was red in color. Is there a connection there?
 
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[X] Asva, with the milk

Not to be an ass, but we'll probably have an easier time getting along with her now that she doesn't have someone around to disapprove of her letting loose a little. Either that or she'll take this as a sign to bury that side of her for good.
 
Ryumancer said:
Alternatively... We don't know that the Enemy, specifically, is why Halla blacked out. We do know that we were gaining Odr improperly, though we don't know what, specifically, we were doing wrong.

Theory: The Gate is supposed to be opened and shut by a mentor figure or trusted ally, not you. Opening the gate ourselves was wrong, and we were lucky to have Hallr to close it.
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Dunno about it being supposed to be done like that, but definitely something I want Halla to do when it becomes time to introduce loved ones to cultivation.
 
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Shard said:
Incidentally, on children planning, is there any benefit to having loads and loads of children? Your Orthsirr is split between them, and you can ultimately only pick one as your successor. Having 4~5 children, lets you concentrate Orthsirr more, and also lets you spend Hamingja in a more focused manner.
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Ask Horra. Every child represents spreading our social and community ties farther. Every child is a built-in ally to our successor.
 
Imperial Fister said:
A raven caws and flutters off as Steinarr begins showing you. You pay it no heed, though Flekkr clearly does. He growls, hackles raised, as it circles high in the sky.
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Imperial Fister said:
A blonde and handsome young man sits in a tent surrounded by trees made of ice. He sips from a steaming mug of some kind of deep brown, bitter liquid before setting it down on the table. It refills the moment he lets go, as it always does, as it always will. He knew not what the liquid was, only that it filled him with an energy unlike anything he'd experienced before.

Naturally, he'd killed the merchant selling it, alongside any potential onlookers, before taking the stock for himself. Only he could be allowed to have this wonder.

"What does he see in you that I can't?" The young man asks his fylgja as it shows him all it had witnessed. He strokes his short beard, a finger on his jaw and a thumb on his chin. "What do you have that I don't?"

One day, he would escape from this prison.

One day, he would have his revenge.
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NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia) Original - Fantasy - Action

When a child is born, the Nornir decide the exact moment of their death. There is nothing that can bring a man down if it is not his time to die and there is nothing that will save a man if it is his fated day. Everything between now and then, however, is up to you and you alone. So tell me...
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Someone has been stalking us for a LONG time. And pretended to be a Valkyrie as well. This Raven isn't Aki's raven.

'He' probably refers to Hallr Blackhand. And yes.. what does Halla have that this guy doesn't have? Well, enough of a moral compass to not murder random merchants..

..Is this guy the highwayman that later shows up in Stigmar's feat? Somehow.. I don't think so.

But he might have built that hideout.

Does Flekkr, or even animals and Fylgja in general, have spirit-sight?
Imperial Fister said:
One day, while going through your daily chores, you pass by the graves of your younger siblings.

Helgi and Sven, those were their names.

Sven died of sickness and it had hit Steinarr and Asveig hard.

But Helgi?

She was three years old, you were eight. The family went to bed, Helgi didn't wake up. Her body was small and shriveled, drained of all the blood in her body. She'd been murdered by some thing.

Steinarr didn't sleep for a month, his orthstirr keeping him awake. He sat, Crowfeeder in hand, and stared at the door. He waited, for the nidingr to come back.

It never did.

At least Sven died of sickness, of something tangible. To this day, you still don't know what killed Helgi.

Your blood demands vengeance, but how can you find it when the culprit disappeared?

You shake your head, throwing aside all thoughts of revenge, and carry on with your day.
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We should ask the Seeress to divine the real killers of our little siblings.

But it's a little concerning that they died before Horra even arrived in the valley.

Gawd does Steinarr have a ridiculous list of enemies who hate him.
Imperial Fister said:
Eyes of blue fire open.

Limbs of rotten bone flex.

Ancient swords are drawn.

Death stalks the Hading.
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This was shortly after we killed Lori Burisson.

Yeah the Draugr later was probably his corpse as speculated by others.
Imperial Fister said:
(Random POV: 4)

Across the Baltic Sea, in the land of the Finns, a red-haired smith pulls his sword from the chest of the last attacker. He breathes heavily and looks to his small family as they emerge from their hiding spot behind a pile of rocks.

His pregnant wife and young daughter look to him with worry in their eyes. He meets their gaze with one of resolute determination.

They share a nod and the smith looks to the sea, towards where he was born. Towards where he knows he and his young family will find protection.

Sten Iskearauta is heading home.
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Sten came home.. for protection.

Is Steinarr literally the strongest available Viking in the Hallr Blackhand line?

This is concerning.
Imperial Fister said:
(POV: Someone in the Valley)

A man with sunken eyes and a ratlike face punches the wood of his table.

The damned thing failed! And after all that trouble he went through to get it, too!

Well, there's always next time.
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I think Horra has been sneaking into our house quite a few times now.

Kidnapping a Nisse isn't an easy job.

Also:

Imperial Fister said:
The tale begins as many tales do, with a man killing another man. However, the first man, instead of facing his punishment head-on as is expected of all men of standing, fled and ran from his righteous pursuers. He was declared an Outlaw and was now on the run.

The Outlaw retreated and ran like a coward, always staying just one or two steps ahead of the vengeful pursuers. He used trickery and hid from them wherever he found them, always refusing to stand and fight like a man.

Until one day he found a secret carved into the bones of the earth. A recipe for evil creations of malformed and warped form and demeanor. Using these secrets, the Outlaw crafted monsters from the flesh of animals to aid him in his endeavor.

The tale ends with the Outlaw harassing the heroes, only to be impaled on the horns of one of his own creations.

For some reason, you feel the skald's eyes on you as the final words are spoken. By the time the hall clears out, you fail to find the storyteller among those leaving or those who stay behind.

You're left standing outside the hall as snow begins to fall and the sun begins to shine it's evening glow.
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This.

This is an absolute and directly clear reference to Horra. The Skald knows a lot to even tell this story.

Also a hint on where we can find him.

Somewhere were a secret is 'carved into the bones of the earth'.

This Skald is worth seeking out.

---

It might be worth asking the Seeress to help us:

1. Seergaze for hidden enemies whom we don't even know are enemies.
2. Seergaze for our living cousins who have the name 'Hallr' or 'Halla'.
3. Give us protective amulets or runes or whatever to protect our and Steinarr's houses from random evil beasts (especially non-corporal ones) that are, honestly, disturbingly common at this point in the story.
4. Connections. The Skald, other magical or story-people..
 
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Shard said:
Someone has been stalking us for a LONG time. And pretended to be a Valkyrie as well. This Raven isn't Aki's raven.
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It's said that Two Ravens belong to the Grímnir, Old One-Eye, Thought and Memory, and they fly across the whole of Midgard each day and return to him each night to whisper in his ear all that he need know. A Power grained shortly after he sacrificed his Eye, iirc

Makes sense that the Lord of Frenzy would keep an eye on the Exceptional, if it is Thought or Memory that are the things watching us.

EDIT: Or it could be Fairhair? Maybe? Who knows
 
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