That's not impossible...a Drysalt connection is also possible in that case, given both have yellow eyes. A daughter, maybe?
If she isn't human, then I suspect that's what we detected, she's First Realm but her First Realm is not Saga Establishment as that is not the name for the First Realm of creatures of her sort.
possible, though nothing to actually indicate that is actually the case. but definitely possible and in that case she might even be the one who put the troll there?
question is how would she become a skald then? cause she does seem to be a skald
possible, though nothing to actually indicate that is actually the case. but definitely possible and in that case she might even be the one who put the troll there?
question is how would she become a skald then? cause she does seem to be a skald
Being a skald is a skill set. No reason she couldn't learn it...I'm pretty sure Moonless Night could've easily become a skald if given sufficient training.
How do Wanderers like her even Cultivate? It was said you need your own place. I don't think rented rooms really count and she doesn't have a Ship.
Vagn would probably be able to cheat by cultivating in his wagon, though
We have no evidence either way for this, unless you count her being an Odr Cultivator as evidence towards having one. A ship doesn't have to be a massive thing that needs 20 men to do anything like the Wavedancer, the faering we got given by Eric should work just fine and that only needs us to function fine, even if it is able to take 8 people.
A cursory look seems to indicate that bergsra are 'lords of the mountain' (well, or ladies...there are male and female bergsra) or mountain guardians/spirits. And, in addition to holding court as Aabcehmu mentions, sometimes lure people into their caves in the mountains and keep them (hence Halla's momentary concern). The implications of that seem to be seduction, enslavement, or both.
Any way you look at it, they're smarter than the trolls we've met before (since they successfully trick people), more attractive (see the seduction thing), and more powerful (since they have a court of followers, including trolls). I also found some references to them messing with miners.
That's actually all I could find...bergsra are not something there appears to be a lot of info on the internet about, and God of War using the term for a generic troll-type enemy doesn't help (since it inundates any searching of the term). That said they're part of the same 'genus' as huldra, which there's a lot more information on (they're just mountain-affiliated rather than wood affiliated like the huldra), and all I can find in huldra supports the parts above with seduction and/or enslavement thing.
Jurgen is also completely unarmed and unarmored while Halla is decked head-to-toe in strong iron with multiple weapons on hand. He had weapons close by, but they still weren't in his hands.
I wonder if there's gonna be any change in how Halla sees things after breaking through. Granted, Norse cultivation doesn't seem based on enlightenment as Chinese does, but it'd be interesting.
Scheduled vote count started by Imperial Fister on Sep 26, 2023 at 5:45 PM, finished with 71 posts and 10 votes.
[X] Yes, there is!
-[X] Ask briefly why he moved here, see if we can mutually agree to be good neighbors, and set up a future meeting to discuss things further when he's better rested. Then let him get back to sleep.
[X] Yes, there is!
-[X] Ask briefly why he moved here, see if we can mutually agree to be good neighbours, and set up a future meeting to discuss things further when he's better rested. Then let him get back to sleep.
I wonder if there's gonna be any change in how Halla sees things after breaking through. Granted, Norse cultivation doesn't seem based on enlightenment as Chinese does, but it'd be interesting.
So my thought was that in power systems that involve the creation of an inner world or soul space or such a thing, the soul space of a person becomes more in tune with the path the walk, their "dao", so to speak. So would one's kenning or hugareida influence one's soul space at some point? Or could a requirement for a future breakthrough be to combine one's path with the soul space? This may not fit with the Norse system, but it's a thought.
As for what happens in higher cultivation levels, I think a big part, or the biggest part, of Norse cultivation is establishing a saga with you as the protagonist, and improving it more and more. So maybe the higher up you go, your protagonisty-ness will increase, so that you're just more significant in terms of fate, and maybe come across fortuitous opportunities more often. That would also explain why odr cultivators feel so superior.
Bergsra are generally stronger then trolls. They don't turn to stone in the sunlight but lack trollish regeneration—though, being creatures of rock and stone, bergsra are significantly more durable then mere flesh and blood. They are easily as intelligent as any human and are known to help miners if given the correct prompting—though they are just as likely to play tricks on them instead.
[X] Yes, there is!
-[X] Ask briefly why he moved here, see if we can mutually agree to be good neighbors, and set up a future meeting to discuss things further when he's better rested. Then let him get back to sleep.
0~0~0
"I do actually have a few things to ask you," you say while a light frown passes across Jurgen's face. "First things first, why did you move here?"
Jurgen grunts and folds his arms, "I don't like trolls very much and the Mountain-King of Storefjell has recently been accepting large amounts of them into his court, so I departed those lands for this one."
You frown as you try and place the name but come up short, given the number of mountains named 'Storefjell' in Agder. "Which Storefjell? And why don't you like trolls very much?"
He squints, "Do I need a reason? And the Storefjell," he gestures broadly towards the west wall, "to the south-west-ish of here, well beyond the Hading Valley."
You nod at that, noting the location in your mind, "Well, I can see that you're tired, so I'll let you get back to rest. But," you pause before leaving, "would you like to meet up again in the future, when you're not so tired? So we can discuss things further."
He squints and shrugs, "I, well, I guess?"
"Great!" You grin, turn, and leave the bewildered bergsra behind. Before you do, however, you catch sight of Jurgen's back as he tucks himself into the covers. Rather, you catch sight of where his back would be, if he had one.
After all, his back is hollowed out and glistening with multicolor hues. The interior resembles that rock Sten cracked open some time back—a 'geode', he called it. It's quite a pretty sight, all things considered.
0~0~0
You breathe in the warm air of the Hading in summer and exhale the nervous chills streaking up and down your spine. Today is your final day with your standing still the same. Soon, you will take a step you can't return from. Soon—though the source of the knowledge is unknown yet your intuition finds it truthful—you will grow to new heights.
You breathe in the scents of your friends and family, gathered together with mixed faces of curiosity, boredom, and terrified worry, and breathe out the trepidation even now terrorizing your soul. There will be no going back, not after this.
You breathe in hard iron and release soft clay as a soft smile curls the corners of your lips.
But when have you ever let something as small as a line in the sand dictate your actions?
With a deep breath, you plunge deep into your soul.
Immediately as you open your eyes in your soulscape, the well-topped-hill demands their focus. Climbing the mound, you find a sea of red-blazing odr filling the crater-turned-well to the brim. Errant waves roam across the surface, nearly splashing free with every passing moment.
Something calls your gaze from behind you and, though you don't need to, you look to lay eyes on the Gate. The latch-less lock set in ashen wood sits ready, just waiting for you to give the call.
Your heart hammers in your chest as your soul braces itself for the coming tide. As you stoke together your Aspects for what may very well be the final time, a hand of fire-blackened bones rests itself on your shoulder.
The Gate opens.
You see red.
|-{X}-|-{X}-|-{X}-|
In a time before time, long before any mortal hands worked the earth, three brothers meet under the boughs of the most sacred of trees.
"Why have you called us here of all places, Wodinaz?" The second-eldest brother spoke first with arms folded before his chest and a glare in his eye. "You are outlawed for crimes most heinous, stepping foot here damns any hope of ever coming home. Why here and not anywhere else?"
"What Wiljo says is true," the youngest brother spoke with worry in his eye, "Did you encounter any hunters who may yet follow? And what happened to your eye?"
Wodinaz chuckles to himself as his younger brothers both give voice to their concerns in their own way. Spreading his arms before him, the newly one-eyed wanderer begins with a grin, "Wiljo, Wihaz, thank you for meeting me on this day, but lay your fears to rest for no hunter shall follow me ever again."
He pointedly forgoes answering most of the questions, something not lost on either Wiljo or Wihaz.
"How can you say that?" Wiljo growls with curled fists and a fiery temper, "You mixed blood with a Jotunn! You practice Vanir work! You've broken oath after oath, each one more than enough to see your head cleaved from your body! The only thing that could bring you peace is King Tiwaz-" Wiljo stops mid-sentence as realization overtakes him. His eyes sharpen, locking with Wodinaz's own, "What did you do, Wodinaz?"
Wodinaz's grin spreads into a full-blown smile, "It's not what I've done that's won me amnesty, dearest Wiljo," a fire flickers behind his sole steel eye as a finger falls dead-center on a conjured map of nothingness, "it's what I will do."
"And what will you do?" Wihaz whispers the question, almost afraid of what Wodinaz might mean.
"Why," the smile grows ever-wider as something comes from nothing, "bring an end to the war, of course."
|-{X}-|-{X}-|-{X}-|
The red retreats as twisting dreams slip through memory's fingers. A crack of splitting ice deafens the surroundings as a sea of odr grinds against the rime walls of your soulscape. Ice falls as odr calls forth the end. Cracks climb the salt-encrusted surface as odr ever-cleaves more away.
The walls come crashing down with splashes taller then the highest peak rising from the seal surrounding your soul. But, instead of drowning your nascent fields and flowers, the floodwater instead flows out—kept away by the presence of a fence.
A rush of water streaks across the endless expanse of nothingness beyond your soul. Life-giving water touches every nook and cranny as it creeps ever-closer to that nascent horizon in the ever-further distance. The waves crash up and down as they bring existence from inexistence, carving something from nothing. As the waters subside and sink into void-turned-soil, something incredible happens.
Green shoots push through the muddied surface, leaving it dry in their quest to quell their insatiable thirst. Quickly-growing sprouts bloom into grasses, flowers, bushes, and trees. As green grows from the ground into clustered forests and fields, the ground grows alongside it. Rolling hills and monumental mountains climb the wave-sought horizon, encasing your soul in a protective yet pregnable wall of snow-capped peaks.
The ground shakes beneath your feet and you find yourself mingling with the grass as the sweeping fields of grass and trees fall away from view. No! It's not falling, you're rising!
In the very center of your soul, beneath the ground where you've built your home, grows a mountain. It lifts your farming soul—fence, fields, and all—towards the heavens, stopping only as it reaches where clouds should dwell.
A shaking again brings you for a ride—but this time it's not in your soul.
Your eyes flutter as you're woken from a slumber you hadn't realized you were in. Lying on your back, the first thing you see is not the sky but a large hand you know all too well. Abjorn's worry-creased eyes meet your own as his palm meets your brow and feels it for any sign of fever. Finding none, he sits back and helps you up.
As the eyes of all onlookers fall to you, you whisper the question on everyone's mind. "What happened to me?"
Abjorn shrugs as he helps you to your feet, "I don't know... Red light spilled from your eyes and mouth and...," he shakes his head, at a loss for words as he releases his hold.
You wobble on unsteady feet, familiar hands returning to provide support as you gape at what you see. Is the ground further away? No, it can't be. You must have gotten taller, significantly taller, at that.
'Exactly a foot taller, according to my memories,' Blackhand's voice is stronger in your mind's ear as you find yourself towering over all but the tallest of your friends and family.
This... Will take some getting used to.
(Congratulations, you have reached the second stage of the first realm of Norse Cultivation)
(What would you like to call it?)
[ ] Saga Expansion
[ ] Write in
0~0~0
AN: Was it what you hoped it would be?
Anyways, I'll give you a short while to come up with something before giving you your next-turn-options.
That...was interesting. So we are only in the second stage of the First Realm. Hmmm, probably overkill on the preparations, then. Hopefully there are some real benefits nonetheless. Now to figure out how to proceed from here...there are probably 3 Stages per Realm. It's either 3 or 9 and I doubt it's 9.
We can't keep growing a foot taller per subrealm or it'd be even more obvious who's an Odr cultivator, but the height difference does make sense (we're literally a 'larger than life' figure, after all). Presumably there are other changes as you go further, but different ones.
Holy shit this was so hype. Grandpa Odin plotting in the background doing his own thing. Halla has broken through into the second stage and it was so badass.
Vili and Vé, together with Óðinn, are portrayed the three brothers who slew Ymir — ending the primeval rule of the race of giants — and are the first of the Æsir. Of the three, Óðinn is the eldest, Vili the middle, and Vé the youngest. To the first human couple, Ask and Embla, Óðinn gave soul and life; Vili gave wit (intelligence) and sense of touch; and Vé gave countenance (appearance, facial expression), speech, hearing, and sight.
I mean, a prevailing theory for a long time has been that we're building an entire actual Realm if we get high enough in our cultivation. All of Asgard could be Odin's Soulscape, for example. Or at least Valhalla.
