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NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

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Exmorri said:
3RFS is much more convenient and provides better goods, right up until 3RFS dies in a fight, and then 3RFS is much less convenient to replace. Also 3RFS sucked up all the near-surface metal and didn't leave a tunnel to getting the metal further in, like a mine would.
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The earth regenerates metal in a lot of these types of settings. Otherwise, how would the Norse still be using bog iron? That stuff is characterized by being easily exploitable but limited in amount. Unless the bogs were ten times the size, they'd be tapped in a tenth of the time, and this world isn't the size of Jupiter like they are in some Xianxia.

So mines might actually just last indefinitely and a miner could just be a different sort of farmer from an economics perspective for all we know.
 
Bog iron deposits actually can regenerate to some extent because they're the result of sediment washing downhill from a 'real' iron ore deposit. So it's not out of the question for a bed of bog iron to recover if left alone for X generations.
 
we never really saw any indication the king is so interested in going and attacking the Norse. from anything we saw so far, it looks like he is mostly interested in rebuilding his kingdom and keeping it intact. he is an enemy of the Norse because they like to come raiding or outright war, but he doesn't seem to have any interest in exterminating them all or anything
 
Also, Alfred the Great is a long, long, long way from having the capacity to even do that.

Charlemagne has (or had?) the means to commit genocides (as he did against the Saxons). Alfred has much less of that; he has a lot less state capacity and a lot less territory and soldiers.
 
Yeah, historically England actually ends up with a Norse king within a century of Alfred's reign.

Imperial Fister said:
Honestly I was just gonna handwave it away as them having brought their own things to buy and trade and sell and so on and so forth
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Sounds good to me. 👍

I'd assumed everyone had brought stuff to trade, since that's a big part of the offer to your rowers when you do a trading expedition like this. If we do see actual fighting, I assume it will be customary to divide the loot.
 
Skippy said:
Sounds good to me. 👍

I'd assumed everyone had brought stuff to trade, since that's a big part of the offer to your rowers when you do a trading expedition like this. If we do see actual fighting, I assume it will be customary to divide the loot.
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For the record, this was also my assumption, I was just thinking of the whetstone as kinda loot adjacent. Which it sorta is, they're just getting their share in Food.
 
Another fun thing about the boat tour is that we can do a privacy ward in the safety of our own boat without them throwing too much of a fuss. Also should we be looking to craft an oathring for our adventuring purposes?
 
Bass11 said:
Another fun thing about the boat tour is that we can do a privacy ward in the safety of our own boat without them throwing too much of a fuss. Also should we be looking to craft an oathring for our adventuring purposes?
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I just don't see how an oath ring would help without magical support we don't have. Oaths alone are binding on at least the Norse (and likely somewhat on most others) and we'd need magic for the oath ring to matter, with runes only working while they're powered, which seems like it wouldn't work for something long term like a curse on oathbreakers.
 
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DeadmanwalkingXI said:
I just don't see how an oath ring would help without magical support we don't have. Oaths alone are binding on at least the Norse (and likely somewhat on most others) and we'd need magic for the oath ring to matter, with runes only working while they're powered, which seems like it wouldn't work for something long term like a curse on oathbreakers.
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Imperial Fister said:
'It's just a method of swearing particularly binding oaths. Oaths are already binding, but oaths sworn on an Oathring even more so.'
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Oathrings do work, probably on the basis of symbolism rather than pouring magic juice into it.

The Norse historically had oathrings to give gravitas to oaths and they weren't magically binding at all.

Edit: Rings in general were a big deal to the Norse as well as more southern Germanic tribes like the Saxons, and there's a lot magic rings floating around in the mythology. According to Beowolf, kings and lords bind thanes to them with gifts of rings, a practice that probably has something to do with the practice of oath rings but also functions as irregular wages.

I am not sure how they're relevant in the context of adventuring, though.
 
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Imperial Fister said:
I have not, though I'll give it a browse
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It's one of those classics of mid-20th century fantasy- the transitional period between "fairy tales" and what we recognize today as fantasy as a genre. Tolkein's the big name everyone knows there, but The Broken Sword definitely has a place on the short list of stories written while the genre was taking its modern shape.
 
[X] You'd prefer the deal in some other product or service (Write in)
-[X] You came here for food, and the King can probably get a better deal from his subjects than you can. Ask for 3/4 the value of the whetstone trade in coin, and the rest in food.
[X] Accept only the mercenary offer
 
Random thought:

I wonder if there are any descendants of Blackhand who did badly on the gacha and got a fragment that only remembers relatively inane crap that doesn't catapult them into heroic status.

TheCount said:
"Hey, Blackhand, how likely it is to bite us in the ass if the tours the boat? He wouldn't have asked it just out of a fancy, right?"
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On the one hand, Blackhand may answer that question in terms of "how likely is it to bite Halla in the ass," to which the answer is "not very." Halla's probably only going to live for about 30-50 years tops, and within that time nothing Alfred learns from observing one Viking ship is going to matter anywhere except maybe the Danelaw in particular. Unless Halla specifically happens to get caught up in some shit going down right there, which would be kind of a surprise since she has a home in Norway and is probably going to spend most of her life there, it's unlikely to affect her directly.

On the other hand, if any Norseman (or ghost thereof) alive is capable of mentally processing the idea of "the Norse as a whole" as a collective entity with collective interests that can be upheld or undermined, it'd be Hallr Blackhand, I bet.
 
Simon_Jester said:
On the other hand, if any Norseman (or ghost thereof) alive is capable of mentally processing the idea of "the Norse as a whole" as a collective entity with collective interests that can be upheld or undermined, it'd be Hallr Blackhand, I bet.
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He did use the term continental kin to refer to the germanic tribes, so he must have some conception of something being lost if the north gets christianized.
Imperial Fister said:
'Our continental kin are almost all gone, if not entirely so.'
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Well, pretty soon after Charlemagne dies, historically the Norse conquered large areas of northern France, forcing it to be ceded to them and creating the region known as "Normandy" which still survives to this day. The Normans then went on to conquer kingdoms and territories in Italy, Sicily, North Africa, Spain, and most famously, England. So turnabout is as they say fair play. Of course by this point they were Christian.

The Kievan Rus were also descendants of Norse settlers and maintained strong connections with the Varangian guard in Constantinople and trade links running up into the Baltic. In the historical time period they would be partway through Christianisation, but this was by no means a finished process, as it lasted well into the 10th century.
 
alexthealright said:
Hey blackhand how powerful was Hasvir the Elder compared to Steinarr?
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'Hasvir's mind was a well-honed blade, but his swordplay was lacking in comparison. He was of similar disposition to Steinarr, content with what he had.'
TheCount said:
"Hey, Blackhand, how likely it is to bite us in the ass if the tours the boat? He wouldn't have asked it just out of a fancy, right?"
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'I don't think it matters much in the long-scheme. Pocket the money, let him tour the ship, and then get on with your life.'

0~0~0

Voting is now closed
Scheduled vote count started by Imperial Fister on Aug 17, 2023 at 7:29 PM, finished with 138 posts and 32 votes.
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Hey, this is a non-sequitur but, @Imperial Fister could we get an idea of what kind of Runes our Huscarls would like or find useful on any weapons we make them? And what magical iron Stigmar would like his to be made out of?

Because that seems like something we could ask easily, and even if it would normally be an action, we did just spend one on each of them last turn and didn't get much...

Oh, and relatedly, just thinking in gift terms, does Jordan Slicksword have mail armor?
 
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DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Hey, this is a non-sequitur but, @Imperial Fister could we get an idea of what Runes our Huscarls would like on any weapons we make them? And what magical iron Stigmar would like his to be made out of?
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Tryggr - Runes to call his saxes back to his hand, that can't be intercepted by enemies
Trausti - Runes to modify the weight of his axe and/or to help it keep its edge
Stigmar - Storm Iron, runes to help his sword cut through armor
Stigr - Runes to help him 'keep going'
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Oh, and relatedly, just thinking in gift terms, does Jordan Slicksword have mail armor?
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He does not, though he does have a helmet
 
Hmm, Tryggr and Trausti can probably be sort of alleviated with quick recall and sharpen I guess? Not sure how to rune the non obstruction feature for Tryggr. For Trausti we can use a combination of our runes on sagaseeker and another socket stones for weight? Stigmar is the easiest to figure out weapon wise. Stigr is the hardest one to rune for.
 
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Bass11 said:
Hmm, Tryggr and Trausti can probably be sort of alleviated with quick recall and sharpen I guess? Stigmar is the easiest to figure out weapon wise. Stigr is the hardest one to rune for.
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I think Trausti's request implies he already has Sharpen and we should just duplicate Crowfeeder's there (plus some for the weight), but I could be wrong and we do want to teach Sharpen if they don't have it. Recall doesn't really solve Tryggr's issue, though, as that can in fact be intercepted. Hmmm.

Really we should do Crowfeeder's Runes + One other set on all their weapons, because that seems reasonable. I think we porbably put stigr's on his helmet rather than a weapon, but yeah, I'm not sure how to word that.

Actually, I'm not sure how to word the anti-armor Rune as well. We want that for our own sword as well, I think.
 
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