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Honestly, I think it's going to be an Expansion. Once your home is secure, that's when your eyes can settle onto the wilderness beyond it, to find treasures and adventure there.

Still, we'll still be in Realm One even after our breakthrough? Good gravy, I thought we were stepping through a Realm here, not just what amounts from going from "Early to Middle Realm One"
So, bringing the idea of settling into the wilderness beyond into the Soulscape, would that end up meaning being able to get a bit of the Dark Forest under you?
 
Oh, while we're on the subject, since we do now have the poem for that runestone commemorating our first kiss under the falling tree, will we get to see how that works out? I realise this is a lot of stuff going on in our soul given we've already got the breakthrough, but I'd like to see how that project pans out. Would it be better to resubmit it next turn to avoid too much clutter?
I'm planning on having it be a 'the first thing you do in your soul' thing next turn, because I think that's really cute.

And speaking of that poem, I've just remembered to give you the reward dice for it
 
So, bringing the idea of settling into the wilderness beyond into the Soulscape, would that end up meaning being able to get a bit of the Dark Forest under you?

Probably. I believe it was Alectai who theorized before that the next Realm allowed expansion into the Dark Forest and colonization thereof and taking a section of it over. Which seems possible if Norse cultivation really is 'build a world' starting from a simple farm.
 
I'm planning on having it be a 'the first thing you do in your soul' thing next turn, because I think that's really cute.

And speaking of that poem, I've just remembered to give you the reward dice for it

Aww thank you! ❤️

And yeah good plan, that sounds really cute to me too.

Probably. I believe it was Alectai who theorized before that the next Realm allowed expansion into the Dark Forest and colonization thereof and taking a section of it over. Which seems possible if Norse cultivation really is 'build a world' starting from a simple farm.

If part of building up our soul so that it fulfils Blackhand's description of being "thriving" involves introducing animals as well as plants, which is something I think we've sort of all converged upon as a hypothesis, then I wonder if "domesticating" spirits from the Dark Forest is part of that process of building up the trophic pyramid, or not?

It also feels like hiring spirits to work our fields or otherwise engage in mutualistic relationships might be something that follows on, if the metaphor we're going for here is a thriving farmstead of a powerful hersir or landowner. A large estate needs fieldhands, it needs shepherds, and it needs brave warriors who sit in the mead hall and stand ready to defend their gold-giver. It's not a one man (or woman) operation.

If this is part of the riddle of Odr Cultivation, it would be an interesting spin given how much cultivation stories usually centre around the idea of being utterly sovereign and alone. But it's quite possible I'm pulling at threads or missing something here.
 
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A large estate needs fieldhands, it needs shepherds, and it needs brave warriors who sit in the mead hall and stand ready to defend their gold-giver. It's not a one man (or woman) operation.
That tracks, especially since the Norse are a communal people as been pointed out plenty of times before.
 
I mean, we've established that Spirits Love getting offerings of Odr, so it follows that you can employ friendly ones as aides in exchange for a cut of your proceeds.
 
This seems plausible eventually, but 2nd Realm may be a bit early for it. If there is a shen equivalent it'd definitely be provided by the Fields, and I'm deeply curious what it would actually let us do, but it probably kicks in at Realm 3 or 4 at the earliest.
non other cultivation system has a Shen equivalent that we know of, only external and internal resource(Orth and Odr). which doesn't mean it doesn't exist of course, but then its either that we just never knew of it in other systems, or that Norse has it due to something special(perhaps compensation of sorts for being fucked constantly by the enemy?). if its the first case it means it either very high up(as neither Sten nor Gabriel have it, both being around middle tier of their system). or its super secret and thus neither of them ever revealed it.

realm up might allow you to expand your farming beyond fields? maybe herding spirits or magical creatures?

can we take other people into our soulscape for a extendded period of time? cause it will e very funny if we can just get the whole squad of our friends and carry them around in our head, so they can spring out when need arises
 
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We do also know that Spirits span all kinds though. And that hosting a spirit in your soul is a High Seidr technique in technicality. I don't think Spirits are strictly needed for cultivation. After all, Norse culture is communal, but it's communal with regards to humans, not to spirits and especially not to spirits of the Dark Forest.
 
non other cultivation system has a Shen equivalent that we know of, only external and internal resource(Orth and Odr). which doesn't mean it doesn't exist of course, but then its either that we just never knew of it in other systems, or that Norse has it due to something special(perhaps compensation of sorts for being fucked constantly by the enemy?). if its the first case it means it either very high up(as neither Sten nor Gabriel have it, both being around middle tier of their system). or its super secret and thus neither of them ever revealed it.

Actually, from what we can tell neither of them are super high in their system. Gabriel was 4th Decade, but there are 15 decades, so he was less than a third of the way up, and Sten appears to be a dabbler in the Finnish system as much as anything. I don't think something restricted to the upper half of available Realms, for example, would show up on either of them. All systems could have it and we wouldn't know...though I do agree that the Norse system is unlikely to be the only one to have such a resource. It's probably fairly universal if it exists at all.
 
When considering what Realm 2 will bring, I keep circling around to our most sizable metric for prowess and the oddest metric proving that cultivation isn't everything: Steinarr.

Does Lidrun think that she can beat Steinarr right now, or does she have some bullshit rationization of "even a full grown deer can trample a tiger cub, doesn't change what each is worth"? Will Realm 2 have us reach Steinarr's level faster, or will it have us expand in capabilities that 'mortal' Norse don't have an equivalent for? If we introduced Steinarr to Odr, would he be able to reach Realm 2 faster than we did?
 
Does Lidrun think that she can beat Steinarr right now, or does she have some bullshit rationization of "even a full grown deer can trample a tiger cub, doesn't change what each is worth"
Probably the second one. I don't think she's a complete idiot.

If she actually was a Steinarr level combatant she would be in charge of a warband not wandering around as an (admittedly quite wealthy) storyteller
 
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So, your soulspace is in your soul, right? It's ~inside of you, sort of. So the feeling I guess is that your 'starting zone' is essentially your conscious self, the part of your own soul that you are familiar with and in control of. The Dark Forest is the part of your soul, the part of yourself, that is unconscious and uncontrolled, suppressed or instinctual or simply unexplored. Realm 2 might be about developing an understanding of it, 'mapping it out', and bringing it under your mastery, until eventually you reach the ~shores of your soul-island, the actual limit of yourself, where what is Self and what is Other meet.
 
Actually, from what we can tell neither of them are super high in their system. Gabriel was 4th Decade, but there are 15 decades, so he was less than a third of the way up, and Sten appears to be a dabbler in the Finnish system as much as anything. I don't think something restricted to the upper half of available Realms, for example, would show up on either of them. All systems could have it and we wouldn't know...though I do agree that the Norse system is unlikely to be the only one to have such a resource. It's probably fairly universal if it exists at all.
oh sure, but neither are we likely to be very high up after breakthrough. we are only realm 2 after all. I should have phrased it better, but what I meant is that, if neither of them has it we probably won't either, not for several realms from now.

btw do we know if other systems cultivators have the same sort of 'spotlight effect' as well? to us, or perhaps to cultivators of that system? I guess we probably won't know the second but perhaps we do. maybe we can ask Sten?
 
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oh sure, but neither are we likely to be very high up after breakthrough. we are only realm 2 after all. I should have phrased it better, but what I meant is that, if neither of them has it we probably won't either, not for several realms from now.
Also I feel Gabriel personally is a bad example because Christian Shen equivalents would probably just come from the same source, that being Big G.
 
She's a wanderer with contempt for 'little people'...I think she could've skipped the Fields. Needing a house is pretty intuitive and so are the fences, but needing fields only seems necessary if you realize you're building a farm, not just a place to stay.
I would not be so certain that the method of True cultivation we know of is the only way to do it. Being a respectable community member (in order to be able to Own land), a llace to grow with family, a secure food supply... these are things that Halla greatly values, she is pursuing her dao-heart in having them central to her cultivation. Lidrun may have a different dao-heart that demands other acts, and tying herself down like we have would be to betray her own dao and cripple her cultivation. (She ofc thinks her way is the only true way just like we do, hence her contempt for Halla)


<Halla could even be said to have inherited a shen of 'growing things' from her father. Obviously her cultivation has to involve a farm.>
 
Having a farm is a prestigious thing for all Norsemen. However it could very well be that as long as you have analogous equivalents to all the parts, you're good to go.
 
[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.
 
oh sure, but neither are we likely to be very high up after breakthrough. we are only realm 2 after all. I should have phrased it better, but what I meant is that, if neither of them has it we probably won't either, not for several realms from now.

Sure, but that just makes it unlikely to come with this Realm, not unlikely to exist at all.

btw do we know if other systems cultivators have the same sort of 'spotlight effect' as well? to us, or perhaps to cultivators of that system? I guess we probably won't know the second but perhaps we do. maybe we can ask Sten?

It'd be real hard to tell...so far every non-Norse cultivation system we've actually met a member of except maybe Finnish starts with their Internal resource and goes external from there and different cultivations feel different.

I would not be so certain that the method of True cultivation we know of is the only way to do it. Being a respectable community member (in order to be able to Own land), a llace to grow with family, a secure food supply... these are things that Halla greatly values, she is pursuing her dao-heart in having them central to her cultivation. Lidrun may have a different dao-heart that demands other acts, and tying herself down like we have would be to betray her own dao and cripple her cultivation. (She ofc thinks her way is the only true way just like we do, hence her contempt for Halla)


<Halla could even be said to have inherited a shen of 'growing things' from her father. Obviously her cultivation has to involve a farm.>

Whenever we asked about this, IF noted that every Norseman is a farmer, with some emphasis. That's not quite literally true, but I think it's pretty true of their cultivation all things considered.
 
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Whenever we asked about this, IF noted that every Norseman is a farmer, with some emphasis. That's not quite literally true, but I think it's pretty true of their cultivation all things considered.
that might be true, but this doesn't have to be as literal to mean every one of them cultivates by growing the same fields. the actual form of farming, and what they farm, might differ. or maybe not of course. but the fact that all norse are some sort of farmers it doesn't mean there are no variations
 
that might be true, but this doesn't have to be as literal to mean every one of them cultivates by growing the same fields. the actual form of farming, and what they farm, might differ. or maybe not of course. but the fact that all norse are some sort of farmers it doesn't mean there are no variations

Oh, I'm sure there are variations, I just think all of them amount to farming of one sort or another, and that Lidrun seems the type to potentially disdain farming in general. That's not a sure thing, just the most likely thing for her to have skimped on if she skimped on anything, IMO.
 
I think Norse cultivation might detract from the usual xianxia trope of 'have a good foundation serves well always', and you can always 'rebuild' your foundation - as long as you have had one at all when you broke through to begin with. Having superior farms and houses and fences is good, but as long as you have even basic quality ones when you break through you can 'upgrade' later on.

The benefit of having superior quality stuff from breaking through is that you already have superior quality stuff after breaking through and don't have to work your way up to superior to get the 'full' benefit. In this way, you're also allowed to get all the way to Wondrous later on and still reap the full benefit.

Now if you've never had a farm or house or fence when you break through you're possibly fucked and may not be allowed or even able to build one later one.

===

Additionally, I think the Farm-Home-Fence is not the only valid method of advancement - I doubt Moonless Night used that paradigm.

I suspect that, in theory a Norseman could develop a soulscape that looks like Moonless' Night soulscape.. with the downside being that they become, well.. more wild.
 
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Additionally, I think the Farm-Home-Fence is not the only valid method of advancement - I doubt Moonless Night used that paradigm.

I suspect that, in theory a Norseman could develop a soulscape that looks like Moonless' Night soulscape.. with the downside being that they become, well.. more wild.

I doubt Moonless Night had that, I agree, but Moonless Night was not human. I suspect you need to not be human to duplicate his feats within the Norse paradigm. Which, of course, does not mean you might not have started as a human, but I think you must abandon humanity entirely to do that. IF's post on trolls implied people could become a troll under the right circumstances...I'm sure there are non-Odr ways for that to happen, but pursuing nonhuman cultivation seems a pretty likely one.

And I think Lidrun is still human.
 
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