hmm. interesting theme of weaving and related stuff. quick spells are stitching something quickly, longer term spells are weaving creating a whole cloth, and spirit stuff is bind, which can also be seen as weaving ropes and ties and that sort of thing.
given a lot of cultivation and Odr stuff was weaving related, it something we should take note of
Oh absolutely. Weaving and seidr are closely linked and given how closely seidr is linked to odr manipulation in general...
Also all changes should now be complete. Notably, both Bone Settlement and Doorway Ward (now Barrier Ward) are considered Weave Seidr and are also considered complete. Odr Soul Shock and Time Heals All Wounds are also Weave.
It is not. You would've had to somehow know about the Disclosure requirements before you started cultivating odr in order to plan around it, which is an impossibility
It is not. You would've had to somehow know about the Disclosure requirements before you started cultivating odr in order to plan around it, which is an impossibility
Hmm, so at the end of the day, the system is impossible... Unless you can carry knowledge over to new lives with full fidelity and exploit the targetting mechanisms of Disclosure, is that about right?
We could brute force disclosure, though realistically we probably won't.
Book use alone (and some very specific instructions to one's heirs) would also let a dead person disclose via said book and only trigger the low level version. Supernatural powers are not required to make that work, they just make it much easier. Of course, book use alone is still a mjor innovation.
Hmm, so at the end of the day, the system is impossible... Unless you can carry knowledge over to new lives with full fidelity and exploit the targetting mechanisms of Disclosure, is that about right?
The real issue of BOOK is it lets us automate Disclosure without needing to start from scratch every generation, it means we can get a steady drip of people Initiated instead of have to make a big show of it, and every initiation has access to all the knowledge to avoid many of the landmines early on. That's huge.
If that's the case, then planning for Disclosure with Halla is less valuable than simply mapping out as much as she can before her luck runs out. Then having Sigurdr hit the ground running.
[X] **Plan From the Heart**
-[X] "Gabriel, I love you like a brother. I'm sorry I have never been able to give you what you wanted. If I had not already given my heart to Abjorn, then gladly might I have given it to you."
-[X] "But I also love my father as a daughter. The thought of you one of you killing the other fills me with enough dread to break my heart in two."
-[X] "If your heart is set on this, then allow me one favour. When you think you're ready, ask me for a rematch. You won't be ready to face my father until you can beat me first."
0~0~0
Gabriel's words hang between you like an outlaw off a tree. He's not done, either, and the words yet to be said have your hairs standing on end. He's thought long and hard on this, that much, at least, is clear. Trying to convincing him away from this path will do little good.
Still, you can't just let Gabriel kill Steinarr—no matter how improbable that is. Stepping aside when a man has announced his intent to kill your kin? When your family is in danger, you back them up. It does not matter the circumstances, kin is kin, family is family—and Gabriel, no matter how idle thoughts may ponder, is neither.
"Gabriel," you swallow as the bulwark falls and unkindled honesty rises in your throat. Vague thoughts and uncertain feelings solidify into an onslaught of truth, an outpouring you couldn't hope to stop or even slow if you had nine hundred years, "I love you like a brother and, a-and I'm sorry that I've never been able to realize your hopes. If," you hesitate, the words surprising even you, "If my heart wasn't Abjorn's, then maybe... Maybe it would've been yours."
A sudden burst of wind sends your and his hair to fluttering. Gabriel stands silent, face unmoving as the breeze runs fingers through his hair. Eventually, that mask cracks and his voice, hoarse and raw, filters through a dry mouth, "I wish you hadn't told me that." His jaw clenches as his eyes screw shut and moisten at the corners, "I wish you were screaming, that you hated me. I wish you were trying to kill me, anything other then that."
You can only shrug as your eyes sting, "What can I say? I'm loyal to my friends."
Gabriel swallows, "You...," he takes a deep breath. "You know that won't, can't, dissuade me, right?"
"A girl can dream." You try a smile. It doesn't reach your eyes. "The thought of you and Steinarr killing each other..." Your throat stings with the bile that thought conjures.
"I had a dream too, until it died before my very eyes." You... As much as you may wish it, you don't have a response to that. "Halla, answer me honestly. If someone were to kill Abjorn and Stigandr and you felt their deaths as if they were your own, if that same person then went on to kill Steinarr and take you across the sea as a theow, would you let it go? Or would you seek vengeance?"
It's not something you have to think about. The answer comes as easily as Flekkr does to an out-stretched hand. "Even if he paid a fair man-price, I'd still hunt him down like a maddened dog."
Gabriel nods, unsurprised, "Then you understand why I have to do this."
You have to whisper it, but you tell the truth all the same, "I wish I didn't, but I do."
"Then..." He trails off and takes a deep breath before continuing, "what will you do? Are we to be enemies or are we...?" He doesn't dare finish the thought.
"I can't stand aside, but at the same time...," you can't help but laugh as a thought comes to mind, a simply solution to a complex problem, "If you can't beat me, then how are you going to beat Steinarr?"
"Through God, all things are possible," Gabriel replies as he nods. "But I've never known you to lie. When the time comes, our blades shall clash first." He extends his hand, palm facing upwards. "I'll see you on the battlefield, Halla Skyfire."
Your hand meets his hand the chains of fate tighten around you, "I'll see you on the battlefield, Gabriel Blackstone."
As the moon starts to rise in the night sky, you and Gabriel separate—leaving you alone with your thoughts.
And Blackhand.
'You should have killed him, you know.'
"Maybe," you watch as the moonlight dances across the waves. "It's what you would've done, after all."
'You still have a chance.'
As the waves lap at the shore and slowly erode away the once-firm land, you can't help but chuckle. "You and I, Hallr Blackhand, may have the same soul, but we are very different people."
A lump of soil falls into the waves.
Pick one:
[ ] Muna: Different After All
-The distinction between you and Blackhand grows stronger
[ ] Muna: A Dream That Could Have Been
-Future children shall have access to Gabriel's trait list
0~0~0
AN: That was fun.
Next update shall be Winchester and trading
No moratorium, short vote, though I will extend it if you would prefer.
That went a lot better than I expected but damn that still hurt. But that was the point, a discussion like that could really only end in people feeling shitty even if it went as well as it could.
[X] Muna: Different After All
Unknown rewards, probably something useful even if it takes a while to work it out
[] Muna: A Dream That Could Have Been
Also unknown rewards, but the trait pool we have access to already is bloody good and I doubt Gabriel has anything that we would actually find useful, unless it lets the kids qualify for the Blessed Coal martial style, and even then they aren't gonna be able to train it properly.
Overall the actual ability to use the first one with some effectiveness, even if its a bag of unknown stuff right now takes it for me
Gabriel stands silent, face unmoving as the breeze runs fingers through his hair. Eventually, that mask cracks and his voice, hoarse and raw, filters through a dry mouth, "I wish you hadn't told me that." His jaw clenches as his eyes screw shut and moisten at the corners, "I wish you were screaming, that you hated me. I wish you were trying to kill me, anything other then that."
You can only shrug as your eyes sting, "What can I say? I'm loyal to my friends."
Gabriel swallows, "You...," he takes a deep breath. "You know that won't, can't, dissuade me, right?"
"A girl can dream." You try a smile. It doesn't reach your eyes. "The thought of you and Steinarr killing each other..." Your throat stings with the bile that thought conjures.
"I had a dream too, until it died before my very eyes." You... As much as you may wish it, you don't have a response to that. "Halla, answer me honestly. If someone were to kill Abjorn and Stigandr and you felt their deaths as if they were your own, if that same person then went on to kill Steinarr and take you across the sea as a theow, would you let it go? Or would you seek vengeance?"
It's not something you have to think about. The answer comes as easily as Flekkr does to an out-stretched hand. "Even if he paid a fair man-price, I'd still hunt him down like a maddened dog."
Gabriel nods, unsurprised, "Then you understand why I have to do this."
Grandpa Blackhand, offering the his tried and tested solution for difficult matters of the heart: Murder
Anyway... as far as the vote goes, I think...
[X] Muna: Different After All
This seems the most compelling to me, seeing the ways in which Halla is a shared soul with Blackhand, but also her own person, that feels like really interesting character development.
