[X] Offer to tell him what you meant if he tells you why he freaked out like that.
-[X] You had questions, and things to compare, at least about the names of what they train, that's a good way to break the ice, he can tell you when he feels ready.
--[X] But while you're saying that, you're holding another conversation. In English, using Eye-Talking. "Norse cultivation is all about building a story. I meant something more meaningful than that, but one of the fundamental principles of our cultivation is also that Power Requires Sacrifice and neither you nor I can afford the price that would be demanded if I gave you details right now. I'm working on a way to tell others, and I'll work hard to make sure you're there when I do. I suspect I'll need your aid then."

Edit: WOOT! 1000 pages! Congrats @Imperial Fister!
 
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I'm wondering...
Problem with Disclosure is that Enemy is exploiting other mechanism, the one where you have to Earn the right to know. Like we needed a Trial to get Seidr. But doing deeds is not the only way of earning stuff. Wouldn't giving info about Norse Cultivation for info on Christian Cultivation be some sort of Equivalent Exchange and do not trigger the Enemy repercussion?
 
Grace is the Hamingja equivalent it seems and it probably determines how fast Zeal is generated. Which makes it even more extremely important. Hmm. I wonder if Sin actually undercuts Fervor or if it just cuts into Grace/Zeal reserves.

Edit: Capacity seems very low at only fourteen so either two per base Psyche or split between base stat and infusion. Meditation slots are presumably a little like shapeshifts and might be tied to Decade. Armor Blessings being muna equivalent is interesting, wonder if the other branches have an equivalent.
 
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I was intending to give it to you next update, but I'll just do it now

Oh nice. Lesse what we can infer from that:

Fervor is a lot lower than Orthstirr, but the recovery is per turn instead of, like with Aspects, only 3 times per combat, and is doubled by armor. Recovery, like Aspects, is still 1/3 the base number.

Their three base stats are Soma (Hamr equivalent), Psyche (Hugr-equivalent), and Pneuma (Fylgja-equivalent, though only in sense of being the 'soul' stat). Gabriel has maxed his Infusion in all of them, which is unsurprising, but his actual ratings are around on par with ours, meaning he rolls lower on them on things like Contested Movement given he uses d4s. We dunno how their dice work outside combat so it could be better or worse from that perspective. Dunno there.

Capacity, as such, works the same more or less, based on their Psyche. Ditto Endurance and Soma. Focus is likewise Psyche based just like Frenzy is Hugr based.

Grace seems to be their Hamingja equivalent, and determines their Zeal Gain per turn. Interesting.

Meditations look like Shapeshift equivalents, maybe? Though the armor also provides some of the physical boosts you'd expect from shapeshifting (speed and a flat bonus to rolls) while Armor Blessings seem more on par with Twists (EDIT: Ah, or Muna as IF says...there's a lot of overlap there). All of them are multiples of 3, which might mean that they're just determined purely by Decade...or not. Hard to tell.

Christian Martial Styles give 6d4 per level rather than the 3d6 Norse ones do, so they're actually better. Makes sense and helps make up for their attributes being 'lower' dice-wise, at least in combat. Combat skills may work the same way (ie: 2d4 per level to combat pool)...that'd help explain their absurd combat pools. As would Fervor adding 2d4 or more per point spent, which seems likely (given their lower amount of it).

Gabriel specifically has a combat pool of 164d4, which averages 410 if you rolled the whole thing (and has +15 per individual roll to boot). Halla's 86d6 averages 301 (and only +5 per individual roll), so we're pretty behind until we start spending Orthstirr like water, but we can spend well over 1000 Orthstirr over three turns for an extra 1000 per turn (plus activating Tricks, of course) boosting us to 1300 or so. Gabriel, meanwhile...well, it depends on how many dice one spent Fervor gives you...if it's 2d4 (as I theorized), then he can only reliably get 60-ish Fervor per turn spent that way (plus, again, activating Prayers) and another 300 or so. So we'd have, 1300 per turn with +5 on each roll and he'd have 'only' 700-ish with +15 on each roll...you need to be making a lot more total attacks and defenses than we were to make up that difference. Which explains why could muscle him on dice if we spent hard enough...though that pace was wildly unsustainable for us, obviously...we could maybe have managed a round 4, but he would've wrecked us on Round 5.

Speaking of that 164d4, if 8 of that is Soma and 36 of that is Style, the remaining 120 is other stuff. If, say, 20 of that is his gear (11 for armor, 9 for his sword, say...speculative but seems in the right ballpark), then he has an average of 10d4 from each of the 10 combat skills, which I think confirms the '2d4 per level' thing I was hypothesizing since I buy his average combat skill being 5...not so much his average being 9-10.
 
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I'm wondering...
Problem with Disclosure is that Enemy is exploiting other mechanism, the one where you have to Earn the right to know. Like we needed a Trial to get Seidr. But doing deeds is not the only way of earning stuff. Wouldn't giving info about Norse Cultivation for info on Christian Cultivation be some sort of Equivalent Exchange and do not trigger the Enemy repercussion?
It's been surmised that the Enemy gets to control the price for this information being shared, and that this is part of why it's such a mess.
 
The whole point of telling him about the Saga thing was exactly so he would ask this question, right? So what's the plan to tell him about it without dying horribly?
Nope, it was for cool points.
It just came to bite us in the ass.
Hm.....
Does Halla feel a warning about te eyetalk plan?
"Norse cultivation is all about building a story.
I feel this part is still too close to the truth.
Perhaps something along the lines of "You know how we tell stories about great warriors?"
If it turns out that something this vague, obfuscated this hard, to someone who can't directly benefit is Disclosure, then I will fucking scream.

I don't suppose anyone's got a Reward Die they're willing to spend to get a vibe check on this?
I mean, we are directly saying what the deep cultivation is about, building a story.
[] Offer to tell him what you meant if he tells you why he freaked out like that.
-[]"You know the story about The Tower of Babel?" Make a meaningful pause for Gabriel to grasp the implications. "So.. one of our tenets is that Power Demands Sacrifice." Make another meaningful pause. "Knowledge is Power."
This is funnily just unhelpful and cryptic enough to give a headache and lead Gabriel quest into the wrong rabbit hole lol
Perhaps Mozes with the stone tablets would be better?
Anyone else want to try to learn Blackstone Blade when we go on the Wessex trip? Hopefully having an in with the Blackstone family means it's possible.
I just want to touch it. The fires, I mean.
Armor Blessings are a little bit like muna for the Norse, except far less common
Every decade fulfilled giving a new slot?
 
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Hmm, Long Lost Companions probably was gotten when he got back his armor when we freed him. The onslaught was from the trollman raid. Not sure when freedom of movement might have been when we freed him. I wonder if he'll get a puncture equivalent now that we used puncture on him.
 
Hmm, Long Lost Companions probably was gotten when he got back his armor when we freed him. The onslaught was from the trollman raid. Not sure when freedom of movement might have been when we freed him. I wonder if he'll get a puncture equivalent now that we used puncture on him.

He already has something to beat perfect defenses, it's just probably a Meditation or Prayer rather than an Armor Blessing. Our perfect Tactics roll revealed he was gonna use it on us.
 
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Exact Words.
And orthstirr system cares about achievements, not story, for all that it requires that people hear about them.

Nope. Twists are still 'twists in the story' and part of the general Orthstirr system, and we've been told that Orthstirr is split between all Norsemen because there can't be too many 'main characters'. Odr accentuates that aspect of things, but it's true of exclusively Orthstirr-based cultivation as well.

The difference between them is more like agency, with Orthstirr-based things being the story others tell about you, and Odr-based stuff being the story you tell about yourself, but both are story-based.
 
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Congrats on 1000 pages Imperial Fister! It's been quite a ride so far.

Out of curiosity, how does Gabriel fight in combat? Using a single two handed sword or was he trained with a shield?

In real life, using a shield while wearing full plate armor was kinda useless and redundant, the shield would be less effective than just letting the attack hit most of the time. That seems even more true with the ridiculous magic of Knightly Armor, and we've never seen Gabriel with a shield, so evidence suggests he just uses a sword two-handed.
 
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Just thinking what we could make him, for a going away gift. Since he doesn't need another sword or armor given his equipment. The only other option I guess is to make him an iron or steel rosary.
 
Just thinking what we could make him, for a going away gift. Since he doesn't need another sword or armor given his equipment. The only other option I guess is to make him an iron or steel rosary.

I've said it before, but I think something like this made by a pagan would not actually be good for him. Maybe something utility and hopefully training based like the drinking horn we're making for Aki, but without any references to the Norse Gods.

We can also give him the bible we got, potentially. It's a very nice bible.
 
Thank you very much.

Everyone reading this, go drink a glass of water to celebrate. I know some of you are dehydrated! >: (

Yeah, it's a major milestone! Congratulations for getting there!

That being said, did you catch Shard being willing to use one of their hoard of Reward Points to do a vibe check on our wording?
 
Hey Halla,

Ever since you infused Odr into your Wordplay, did you ever get a.. sense, need, tendency, whatever to try and rhyme your words or otherwise speak in a more skaldic-way?
Yeah, it's a major milestone! Congratulations for getting there!

That being said, did you catch Shard being willing to use one of their hoard of Reward Points to do a vibe check on our wording?
I am a dragon now :p
 
Training aid sounds good, but a drinking horn would be a bit weird for a Christian. Instead I propose we put the runes on a chalice or a grail.
 
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