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NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

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Skippy said:
On a related note, something which occurred to me the other day was... it seems like Halla does not necessarily need to die for us to transfer Blackhand to a new host/bearer?

Case in point being that Blackhand has left our soul right now, and both he and Halla are apparently fine. Halla could absolutely invite him to do the same with one of our children, and go hang out in their soulscapes. Then whichever one he picks in-universe would be the child we vote for as the Quest protagonist out-of-universe. Admittedly, I'm not sure if Blackhand is synonymous with Charred Soul, but I'm also not sure that necessarily matters too much if we're still able to transfer over most of our procedural knowledge of cultivation.
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This is an interesting idea. I'd be down for this if it turns out to be viable.
 
So, thinking about the parent Style for Time Stands Still, and went back to look for all the info we have about Styles that Steinarr could have qualified for, but did not pick up for whatever reason. There's actually two relevant posts.

Imperial Fister said:
Varangian Way yes, Golden Chain no. Golden Chain is but one of many styles to be found in Constantinople. Other examples include Four Horses and Great Gates, to name but a few.

All styles need to have some kind of anchor to be built upon. Whether that's some inheritable ability, a cultural pillar, a powerful figure, or even something as simple as a famed geographical feature or some renowned construct. It matters not what it is, simply that it is. However, there are two kinds of styles, Core Styles and Ring Styles.

Ring Styles are called that because you can learn one through proving yourself worthy of it, much like with an arm ring.

Core Styles are called that because they are anchored on something that's part of your core identity. Whether that's some special ability, some aspect of your heritage, or a cultural pillar, all that matters is that it's not something that can be easily replaced if lost. Steinarr should have a Gotlander Style, but he does not.

You can replace a giant chain. It would be costly, but you could do it. You can replace a set of gates or a quartet of bronze statues.

You can't really replace an island.
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Imperial Fister said:
The year, by the reckoning of the followers of Christ, is 8978 AD and you, Halla Skyfire, have just turned twenty. You stand across to Steinarr, after a round of light sparring, with a question on your mind.

"So, what other Martial Styles do you know?"

"What other Martial Styles do I know?" Steinarr repeats back to you as he quirks his head to the side. "Well, that's a difficult to question to answer. I've been all over the world and seen many things, so much so that a lot of the information gets cluttered," he taps the side of his head. "You'll have to be a bit more specific than that."

You frown as you adjust your post-spar messy hair. "Well, you were taught by Ironjaw, right? Why didn't you learn his Martial Styles and, speaking of that, what kind of Martial Styles would a man like that even use?"

Steinarr laughs as he sighs, eyes looking off to the distance — towards Bornholm. "Bram... is a man I don't agree with on a lot of things. He was instrumental in getting us off Gotland, but his personality and mine just don't mesh well together. He's the greatest wrestler alive, as far as I'm aware, but I don't particularly like wrestling all that much." He shrugs, "It's just not for me. His other Martial Styles rely on his hugareida or had requirements I didn't fit, like with Blaze of Glory."

"Blaze of Glory?"

"The signature Martial Style of the men of the Hammershus, Ironjaw's Warband. It..." He frowns, searching for the right word, "I could've learned it, if I wanted to, but I refused. It is a Style that encourages the practitioner to throw themselves into the frenzy in search of ever-greater deaths. That's not something I was looking for, even as stupid as I was at the time."
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Mentioned here is the Gotlander Style, but it's also confirmed that this style is dead, because Gotland itself is dead. Sad. More promising is the mention that Ironjaw had several Hugareida-based Styles which Steinarr did not qualify for. This implies there could very well be a Style which requires a Standstill Hugareida as a prerequisite.

However, personally I'm rather unsure about Standstill as the Anchor for our mystery Style. Time Stands Still uses our Standstill in quite an oblique way by inverting it, and the actual Style itself in practice seems like it would be even less connected, given it probably centres around extremely rapid movement via phasing in and out of time. Of course I could be wrong, but it seems pretty much the opposite of Standstill thematically speaking, and it's hard to see an obvious thematic link to a metal mountain.

It also seems unlikely that Steinarr could pass down a Style from Ironjaw which he himself had not learned. Styles can definitely pass down lineages, and I suspect they may not need a blood connection in all cases, but does Ironjaw count as being a part of our family tree? He certainly took over guardianship of Steinarr for a while, but does that confer full parental status? I'd argue not, if for no other reason than Steinarr himself seems to respect Ironjaw, but does not view him as a surrogate father. (EDIT: This is confirmed by another WoGM.)

In conclusion, I think the Style probably originates from some other heroic ancestor further back in our family tree and not Ironjaw. It's also not the Gotland Style as I mentioned. Whilst it's possible that it has a Hugareida anchor, I would actually bet against that being the case, simply because nothing seems to fit that well. So going back and looking was mostly helpful in terms of ruling stuff out, but still helpful I think.

For next steps, I think our best bet is to start asking around for myths and legends about metal mountains. We could ask Solrun, our friends, and maybe even some local spirits. In the meantime, we can continue our breathing meditation exercises, and maybe focussing on trying to visualise the mountain more whilst we meditate. Proper Xianxia stuff right there!
 
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I'd also like to have one last meeting with Gabriel before we move on though. The man's probably busting his behind taking extreme risks trying to get to his foe's level before his Fated Day. The least we can do is tell him that the window of opportunity has closed.
 
Goddamn that'll be a brutal conversation.

"Hey Gabe, it's me, the friend you have very complicated and potentially sinful feelings towards. Remember how you wanted to kill my dad? Yeah someone beat you to it, but also he had cultivation-based dementia setting in so I don't know how much longer he would've lasted anyway. Also I can't see you taking him out in that state, so you'd just spend the next century or so seething about it. Which you'll probably still do for different reasons now."

I feel bad for the guy. Nothing seems to work out for him the way he wants.
 
FancyMolasses said:
Goddamn that'll be a brutal conversation.

"Hey Gabe, it's me, the friend you have very complicated and potentially sinful feelings towards. Remember how you wanted to kill my dad? Yeah someone beat you to it, but also he had cultivation-based dementia setting in so I don't know how much longer he would've lasted anyway. Also I can't see you taking him out in that state, so you'd just spend the next century or so seething about it. Which you'll probably still do for different reasons now."

I feel bad for the guy. Nothing seems to work out for him the way he wants.
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See, I think when he finds out Our Dad is dead he'll have to take his vengeance via the eldest child in a whole "The sins of the father shall be inherited by his children" kind of situation
 
I guess that's possible but it also doesn't seem like something Gabriel would do. But then again enough time to let his grief and anger stew could change him for the worse. That and maybe religious mania brought on as a response to all this. His complicated feelings about the heathens don't matter if he gets rid of all the heathens, for instance.
 
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Yeah. "It's a shitload of pieces of parchment, all with writing on them, sewn together so they stay in order and you can keep them boxed up neatly." Simple enough.
 
Can we inscribe the cover to make the book water and fire proof? And maybe also tearing and rotting resistant? Also we need to aquire more paper and ink atleast enough for a futher 4 books to secure that the knowledge isnt easily lost.
[X] The Hallamal
 
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[X] The Hallamal

I was thinking abaout recruiting those Spirits. Maybe we should offer them Odr as payment? 1 Odr each is not a great sacrifice.

Also, we infused the Hamr of the Chicken. Now we can offer infusions to our Household. Nice.

Next turn, what research we do?

I would be in favor of trying to recruit again Spirits and bring more animals in our Soulscape.
 
Odr will no doubt attract spirits, but we also know that many spirits desire Experience more than anything, and Halla has the capacity to store Experiences. Offering payment in experiences might attract spirits that are initially weaker, but this might also give Halla a better chance to pick which kind of spirit she wants to have as her karls, to be more selective with their character and have more influence how they grow and develop as people.

Experiences gathered by her might just be part of the payment, also. Even things like 'eating' and 'drinking', even the absolute worst food and drinks are valuable to these lesser spirits. Eating odr-grown crops from her soul-fields is likely a far superior experience, and also suggests a very natural parallel to human karls, where her spirit karls are allowed to take shelter in her soul, cultivate her soul-fields, and enjoy the fruits of their labor in return for being at her (occasional) service to help her improve their new home (and to defend it, if it ever comes under attack).
 
Aabcehmu said:
Odr will no doubt attract spirits, but we also know that many spirits desire Experience more than anything, and Halla has the capacity to store Experiences. Offering payment in experiences might attract spirits that are initially weaker, but this might also give Halla a better chance to pick which kind of spirit she wants to have as her karls, to be more selective with their character and have more influence how they grow and develop as people.

Experiences gathered by her might just be part of the payment, also. Even things like 'eating' and 'drinking', even the absolute worst food and drinks are valuable to these lesser spirits. Eating odr-grown crops from her soul-fields is likely a far superior experience, and also suggests a very natural parallel to human karls, where her spirit karls are allowed to take shelter in her soul, cultivate her soul-fields, and enjoy the fruits of their labor in return for being at her (occasional) service to help her improve their new home (and to defend it, if it ever comes under attack).
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That is a really good idea!

So we will offer them crops from our Soulscape when we try to recruit them next. And if it dosen't work we try something else.
 
We can offer spirits the ability to inhabit specific parts of our Soulscape. A tree, for example.
 
A tree that we make decorations and spirit-furniture for, naturally.
 
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