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All evidence points to the contrary. Otherwise the Seeress made us go through a trial for no reason. Like, Odin himself needed to go through a trial to learn knowledge of seidr and runes, and 'Power requires Sacrifice' is a big part of the culture.
The Seeress trial could very well be required because of the enemys intervention, just that she doesn't know what/who is causing the issues with induction without trial (or she isn't sharing it yet), only that it is important to have a trial.

That, and the fact that Aki quite literally couldn't recall us using Odr, point to needing an trial not just to shield yourself from the enemy but also to gain the Power.
Wasn't that Odin doing ... Odin stuff... to fix our faux pas of accidentally (almost) revealing cultivation?
 
I don't think we told him about it, he just witness us doing it, no active effort on our part to reveal Odr to him. So there was no attempt to teach him and therefore no reprisal, he just couldn't remember it.
 
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The Seeress trial could very well be required because of the enemys intervention, just that she doesn't know what/who is causing the issues with induction without trial (or she isn't sharing it yet), only that it is important to have a trial.

I mean, sure, there's nothing that directly contradicts that. But that feels much less plausible to me, considering the fact that - again - 'Power requires Sacrifice' is a common Norse belief, and cultivation is based on belief. Not to mention that Odin also went through a trial, and like... if he went through a trial to avoid Ymir, that doesn't feel like it makes much sense, considering he was strong enough to kill Ymir, and I doubt that any of Ymir's forces are actually as strong as the progenitor of giants himself.
 
The Enemy metaphorically represents the untamed earth, existence before civilization. Odin killed The Enemy by creating civilization, law, ownership. Culture itself is anathema to them, or rather what they represent. What's weird is how they are still so powerful even though they're literally dead.

Well I guess if you're dead you don't have to worry about people killing you again so you can spend your time just making attacks?

..This is probably why Odin decided to not go with 'just murder them' for most of his future problems and just went 'let's just lock them up in prison forever' so he wouldn't have to deal with a(nother) deathless foe annoying the shit out of him forever.
 
Notably, this means Halla would be a disgustingly skilled Shapecrafter. Most have to extract Odr from monsters and natural sources, Halla can just generate a portion herself and go from there.
Minor nitpick, but its frenzy thats extracted from monsters.
That's the difference between a monster and a spirit beast. Monsters have Frenzy, Spirit Beasts don't.
and as Shapecrafting counts as low Seidr, that means they also know about the gate....
It's the same thing as the Debt Fuckery presumably. He's everywhere, so he's always the first 'On the Scene' to administer a Trial like that, outside of something that's had a proper Tradition carved in that takes precent (Presumably, this is why he gets so snitty and progress, because he loses his First Mover Advantage when an institution gets fully established, and thus he can't force an Unwinnable Trial in anymore.)
Yeah, that sounds about right.
The Enemy is the current number one authority regarding Odr, probably.
But there is something you are missing Alectai.
It also gives us a Path to Victory--namely, establishing New Traditions and Customs that include proper Trials as part of it, so the Enemy doesn't get to just move first and go "Okay, I'll administer your trial, you need to defeat ten juvenile dragons with a toothpick, here they are, have fun"
This is part of it yes.
But here is the biggest trap: The enemy wants people alone.
If we can somehow get a trial for even a single disclosure without reprimand? we should gather seers, shapecrafters and skalds, because they all deal with Odr in their own, separate and very curated way. they can all help give their own opinions and ideas. (Make no mistake, this WILL be a clusterdfuck if we do it, because they will be worried about keeping their separate tracks, well, separate.)

But, and this is the important thing, they can all talk about Odr and its uses. Expanding on that should be a lighter thing than initiating whole unknowing people.

Although.... the response is scaled to the one telling the secret... hm... nah, an annual monster hunt is not good, the enemy can use people as well...
If Odr powers Seidr and Fasts store Odr does that mean there are some crazy Witches able to unleash hell with spells, its just really rare to have all the ingredients?
minor nitpick again, Fasts store Frenzy and tricks, not Odr.
You can, yes. You can teach people what to do, but you can't teach people why it works — which is how most people then start to innovate and improve — without them having earned the right to do so.
ah, the tradition of how to deal with minor spirit issues, but not why it works, huh?
If you were wondering, this would've been how you were introduced to the concept of the gate and odr in general had you not had a brain blast with the weaving of Aspects.
interesting...

Hm.... So, we would have needed to figure out how to keep Odr in our soul, without it being used up right away huh? Probably with a modified mending palm...
 
minor nitpick again, Fasts store Frenzy and tricks, not Odr.

Actually, the Seeress herself said that odr can be stored in fasts.

The energy — which is referred to as odr — can provide a potent boost to power in the form of the Berserk's Frenzy as well as storing odr in fasts to enhance ability at a later date.

Which I assume lets the uninitiated boost their tricks with odr like we can do.
 
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@Imperial Fister
Can we do breadsticks and animal shopping in the remaining time?

He said we could do one more thing after breadsticks, so yeah.

Minor nitpick, but its frenzy thats extracted from monsters.

We theorized that, but apparently not exactly, or not exclusively anyway, as Constenanto notes, apparently they can in fact just inject people with Odr, and Odr can be stored in Fasts. Which is interesting.

and as Shapecrafting counts as low Seidr, that means they also know about the gate....

Not necessarily for all of them. Any who are playing around with Odr do (so anyone who can make a berserk), but you can learn individual spells by rote without needing to understand the theory.
 
Your Maximum Combat Dice Pool is 68d6 (45d6 from stats and skills, costing you 36 Orthstirr to reach, and 23d6 from equipment)
Your Base Combat Dice Pool is 24d6 (5d6 from stats and skills, 23d6 from equipment)

Very minor thing, but by my calculations, it should cost us 38 Orthstirr to max our Combat Pool, with our base pool thus being 30d6 (7d6 from stats and skills, 23d6 from equipment).
 
Hey Blackhand, with Solrun able to talk about Odr she obvious has earned the right to know... Could i tell her about true cultivation without the enemy being able to interfere? Does she know already?
'I do not know. I would bet that the Enemy would try to interfere regardless of whether or not she had earned the right to know, though.'
Hey Blackhand,

Do you know the price we paid for Orthsirr?
'I do not.'
Very minor thing, but by my calculations, it should cost us 38 Orthstirr to max our Combat Pool, with our base pool thus being 30d6 (7d6 from stats and skills, 23d6 from equipment).
Thank you!

0~0~0

I'll call voting in 30 minutes
 
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"Hey, Blackhand, do you have any idea who we could ask for a more favorable trial on Odr disclosure?
Oh, also, you knew Seidr, right? Did anything jogged your memory in that regard since you have awoken?"
 
"Hey, Blackhand, do you have any idea who we could ask for a more favorable trial on Odr disclosure?
Oh, also, you knew Seidr, right? Did anything jogged your memory in that regard since you have awoken?"
'I believe that specific duty is often overseen by Valkyries, or at least they are supposed to. I find myself doubting that the Enemy would let Valkyries do their jobs unmolested.

As for your other question, yes I did know seidr. I remember that combat seidr is built upon wielding odr as a weapon. If you give me some time, I might be able to come up with some moves for you.'


(You'll need to dedicate a research dice to give him that time)
0~0~0

Voting is now closed
Scheduled vote count started by Imperial Fister on Jun 17, 2023 at 10:33 PM, finished with 72 posts and 10 votes.
 
Yule Tales I (Shard)
Yule Tales I

"Hey dad! I heard you went on a raid with Halfdan once. Why don't you tell us that story of that raid!" Sterki called out.

Steinarr and Halfdan shared an awkward wince.

"Sterki, it was not a very successful raid," Steinarr said carefully, Halfdan nodding solemnly.

"Yeah? But I heard that your sword was matched only by Halfdan's atgeir then!" Sterki challenged.

"I was fighting a spearmaster, and he nearly skewered me through quite a few times before we withdrew," Steinarr answered.

"What about you, then Halfdan?" Sterki demanded.

"I was dueling a most capable swordsman at the time, who nearly got my head. I couldn't help out your father in his fight," Halfdan tried.

Sterki crossed his little arms, frowning at both Steinarr and Halfdan as they both did their best to retain their composure.

It was Jordan who mercifully broke the spell.

"By the gods, dad, Steinarr, just tell little Sterki you were both on opposite sides of that raid!" Jordan complained.

"What!?" Was all Sterki could say in outrage.

---

AN: How did Sterki find out about that story anyway??

Anyway where Fister said Halfdan and Steinarr were on opposite sides of a raid once I figured that story had to come up at least once somehow. Because it's hilarious.
 
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Hey Blackhand, wherever the places are that The Enemy stores.. or grows.. their forces, are they places that can and are raided by Einheri and Valkyries? Do such places even exist?
 
'Hey, Blackhand? You mentioned that the Enemy's resources are finite. Is the Enemy capable of replenishing these resources, or no?'
 
Hey Blackhand, wherever the places are that The Enemy stores.. or grows.. their forces, are they places that can and are raided by Einheri and Valkyries? Do such places even exist?
'Hey, Blackhand? You mentioned that the Enemy's resources are finite. Is the Enemy capable of replenishing these resources, or no?'
While Blackhand is capable of answering these — to a degree — I feel like it would be best for them to be answered in an update rather than in an ask blackhand, to better help new readers coming in late. I'm going to be doing that more in the future.
 
Argh! We need to do this ASAP, but shaking loose a Training Die on top of all our other stuff this turn is murder if we want to get Security Skill Trick this turn (and I think we do). I'll figure something out...
Deadman, we are covered in tools of war, literally.
just because there is new shiny toys of murder dangling in front of us does NOT mean we need to jump on them.
we are already spending literaly 1 dice on everything just to have progress in noncombat stuff too.
 
Deadman, we are covered in tools of war, literally.
just because there is new shiny toys of murder dangling in front of us does NOT mean we need to jump on them.
we are already spending literaly 1 dice on everything just to have progress in noncombat stuff too.

Oh, I'm not saying we should invest heavily into them, but we should definitely spend the single die to help him remember what they are so we know our options. Personally, I suspect we won't actually grab any for some time, but on the off chance we find one we desperately need, and so we know what to defend against, we still want to know about them ASAP.

And don't worry, the die to find out came from one of the combat options.
 
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