Ah, yes, the wonders and virtue of Christendom, where arrainged marriages between young girls and old men is common place, and where foreigners are considered to be "devils" and "God's Punishment for the Sinful".

...I suspect there's going to be a terrible moment where Gabriel finds that even though he's back amongst his own people and culture, Halla's farm is the only place he actually thinks of as "home".
 
So, I'm really interested in Feudal Cultivator social structure, and hope we get to see more of it in Wessex. Lemme float a few theories about how it works:

We know there are four categories of Cultivators in Feudal lands: Chivalric (Knights), Nobiliate (Nobles), Clerical (Priests, but likely also Monks and Nuns), and Errants (any Cultivator that isn't one of those other things). So bear that in mind going forward.

Now, we know that Chivalric and Nobiliate cultivation is hereditary in practice (whether that's inherent or just due to resources being pumped in), and that only men are Knights. But they do seem to marry other Cultivators and the daughters of Knights still seem likely to become cultivators, which means they're probably mostly Nobles. Which, demographically, likely means that there are a lot more female Nobles than male (because some percentage of men who would become Nobles otherwise become Knights). In terms of social position, I think male Nobles and Knights are fairly interchangeable with the exception that Knights are obviously much better in a fight, and Nobles are likely a bit better at administration and social stuff...maybe empowered by their Fief itself? That part is less clear. Female Nobles are likely mostly just someone's daughter or mother or wife, in terms of their social position, and are likely not taught to fight much if at all.

So then, Clerical Cultivation is not hereditary, but presumably involves oaths to the Church and joining it in a formal sense. Their powers may be tied to their physical Church or Monastery or something like that, though it's hard to say for sure. I suspect the social structure there is just, y'know, the church. Unlike in real history, their power means they likely are taught to fight and defend their flocks, though it's not their primary area.

And finally Errants. I suspect that Errants are flatly inferior to the other three branches, less powerful and impressive in general, and are what happens when a commoner manages to become an actual cultivator either on their own or due to being backed by a patron. They can probably 'graduate' to Clerical cultivation by joining the Church or Chivalric or Nobiliate Cultivation by being knighted or ennobled, but the latter seems likely to be rare. Since they're a catch-all, any more generalizations are gonna be hard.
 
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Many greetings, She-Who-Rides-The-Great-Bear-During-Nightly-Naked-Times!
I like her. (Well, the chattiness dampens it a lot, but the greetings is great)
Also:
Halla Bearrider.
As a side-note, her virthing grants her bear-paws and, as a result, she can now interact with the world in a far greater way then before.

...This may have been a mistake.
Positive:
She could learn glima and fang to support Abjorn.
Negative:
If she ever learns about the idea of getting handsy with someone things could escalate really really quickly to Halla commiting filicide on a piece of armor.
Also poor Abjorn.
Glue and Explosives
Unfortunately, it seems that filling an explosive charm-carved pot with sealwood sap just sets the sap on fire as it flings itself all over the place. Useless!

...Wait a second. What were you thinking?! That's not useless at all!
Oooh nice.
Next step:
Mix 1 part heat keeping oil and 1 part glue to (hopefully) get 2 parts very sticky heatkeeping oil.

@Imperial Fister:
Do Fylgja stored things loose heat?(and inversely, cold)
Halla is fully capable of picking up things significantly larger than herself.

...but if someone were to, say, throw a desperate plea into the Fold for literally anything to come save it from its pursuers?

Please just let me have this. I just want to imagine how Halla (and Abjorn) would react to the equivalent of "the family pet just showed up with an unsolicited gift" except that it's a living (and somewhat embarrassed) person.

Also that glorious moment of "not prepared for this" that comes when they realize that their rescuer was a viking owl. Like, on the one side, not being fed to the creature's young or whatever? Thumbs up. Big fan. On the other side... vikings.
Alternative scenario:
A desperate Viking stores his wifes body in his Fylgja.
He just needs to reach the local Seeress, then she can be ressurected, then she can tell him what niddingr murdered her and he can exact justice on everyone involved and...
The Viking collapses, struck down by strikes from shadows.
Scene Change:
Halla Bearrider and Abjorn Firelap are living up to their kennings, enjoying the lazy morning enabled by Steinarr taking the kids fishing.
When the telltale shadow of the cinderowl arrives, drops something in front of their bed and vanishes.
"Wait, what... who is that?!"
 
On the matter of Christian Cultivators... that dude who taught us to read the bible was also Christian, and some sort of cultivator, though we dont' know much at all about the cultivation he had.
 
On the matter of Christian Cultivators... that dude who taught us to read the bible was also Christian, and some sort of cultivator, though we dont' know much at all about the cultivation he had.

Jerasmus is, in context, probably a Clerical Cultivator. We explicitly got vibes from Father Gerrit (a known Clerical Cultivator) that reminded us of Jerasmus only lesser and missing something. I dunno exactly what he was missing comparatively for sure (I think it might've been some measure of Pneuma), but that's probably indicative they're from the same 'branch'.

The other, notably less likely, scenario is that he's an Errant. I think we can be pretty positive that he isn't a Noble or a Knight.
 
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"Many greetings, She-Who-Rides-The-Great-Bear-During-Nightly-Naked-Times!"
Aaaaahaaahaaaa!

As a side-note, her virthing grants her bear-paws and, as a result, she can now interact with the world in a far greater way then before.

...This may have been a mistake.
AAAAAhaahaaaaa!

0~0~0
Using Identify Concept on the multiplying fish
You nod as you set that strange fish down. Clearly, this is a result of Ran and Freyja working together!

...or maybe it's somehow related to that Jesus fellow from the Bible.

Nah, it's definitely a gift from Ran and Freyja.

Anyways, there's enough fish left to feed, maybe, twenty people for a season?

0~0~0
Glue and Explosives
Unfortunately, it seems that filling an explosive charm-carved pot with sealwood sap just sets the sap on fire as it flings itself all over the place. Useless!

...Wait a second. What were you thinking?! That's not useless at all!
Oh God, mad cultivation shenanigans are just the best!
 
Hilariously, if they were only Bodily Dead, Halla can now do resurrections all by herself. So she's, like, the best person possible to get a person like this. She can pretty casually just raise them.
Yup.
Thats why it would be a equivalent to a person being dropped off.
Also can you imagine if Halla immediately ressurected the person? Waking up again in someone elses bedroom, naked Seeress talking to you and her facepalming husband in the background.
 
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