Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
If it turns out we're actually related to Ilmarinen in some way, or something similar.
NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)
- Thread starter I.F. Ister
- Start date
- Original Fantasy Action
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- Tags
- norse mythology (mythology) original xianxia cultivation western cultivation ask sirihand did your mother tell you anything? discussion pleases yggdrasil farming gloating gets people killed granary management hubris is a coward's word you will die norsemen do not die when they are killed the qm has a bad memory the qm is bad at math viking courtroom drama (legal drama) vikings
- Location
- Bretonnia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I don't think Hallr is the first person to go beyond Steelfather and realise that Norse cultivation is fucked, it's just that whatever/whoever introduced Steel into Norse cultivation doesn't like people trying to pave a path to power that doesn't involve Steel, and probably had them killed. Not to mention there's the whole fate rewriting thing.
The rock naming scheme is a recent thing, actually, so it doesn't really point towards our family being blacksmiths. Nor is there any guarantee that our family actually made the weapon in the first place - it might not even be a thing that falls under a blacksmith's purview. Although there's still a decent chance that our ancestors might've been some sort of artisans.
The rock naming scheme is a recent thing, actually, so it doesn't really point towards our family being blacksmiths. Nor is there any guarantee that our family actually made the weapon in the first place - it might not even be a thing that falls under a blacksmith's purview. Although there's still a decent chance that our ancestors might've been some sort of artisans.
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I can't find any reason for Hissi to have poisoned steel, which suggests it's just a trickster entity wreaking havoc because it can. There's not much information on Hissi in general online - it appears to be a name that applies to nature spirits and goblins rather than a well-defined god. I wonder what it's relation to Loki is. Loki can shapeshift, and could easily become a wasp. Then again, could be completely different entities with similar roles.
The fact the feud was old before the first rain is deeply interesting. Many mythologies have the fleshing out of the pantheon (including any Adversary figure) post-date the creation of the world. Loki doesn't appear to have been around for the Norse Creation myth, or at least not important enough to be mentioned for it. Most of the Greek Titans were born after the world. Lucifer fell before the creation of man🤔 but I kind of doubt we're getting a world where Paradise Lost is literally true. Would mess with the Norse vibes.
One of the big unanswered questions of the quest is how the different mythologies interact. The gods seem to be real, and certain elements are true for Norsemen - Ginunngagap, Earth's existence as one of the worlds on Yggdrasil's branches. Could a Christian see Yggdrasil? Was the world made out of the corpse of the giant Ymir, or was it birthed out of cosmic chaos? Were humans made by the gods or licked out of ice by a divine cow? Are there a bunch of different pantheons contesting with each other or are Loki and Hissi different names for the same cosmic being? And how does that interact with the description of the quest setting as "the written world." How meta are we going to get here?
The fact the feud was old before the first rain is deeply interesting. Many mythologies have the fleshing out of the pantheon (including any Adversary figure) post-date the creation of the world. Loki doesn't appear to have been around for the Norse Creation myth, or at least not important enough to be mentioned for it. Most of the Greek Titans were born after the world. Lucifer fell before the creation of man🤔 but I kind of doubt we're getting a world where Paradise Lost is literally true. Would mess with the Norse vibes.
One of the big unanswered questions of the quest is how the different mythologies interact. The gods seem to be real, and certain elements are true for Norsemen - Ginunngagap, Earth's existence as one of the worlds on Yggdrasil's branches. Could a Christian see Yggdrasil? Was the world made out of the corpse of the giant Ymir, or was it birthed out of cosmic chaos? Were humans made by the gods or licked out of ice by a divine cow? Are there a bunch of different pantheons contesting with each other or are Loki and Hissi different names for the same cosmic being? And how does that interact with the description of the quest setting as "the written world." How meta are we going to get here?
Sirrocco
Pedantic
Fundamentally, though, before everything else, Loki is fire. He's also the trickster/trouble-shooter of the gods. If anything, I'd think that our family line was somehow related to Loki as a way to oppose this thing.
Also... steel has been Wrong since the Bronze Age Collapse. Like, OTL, that's something like 1200-1150 BC - and the Sea Peoples were right in there. That's prior to the point where Scandinavia started to have culture meaningfully distinguishable from the rest of the general Indo-European stock. Basically, this isnt' the fault of any of the Norse Gods per se... though whoever it was might have shown up as a Norse God later.
Of course, the identity and origin of the Sea Peoples is one of the great mysteries of OTL history... one wonders who and what they were in this version.
As Alectai noted a while ago, the Curse of Steel will prevent humanity from advancing technologically as they did in OTL. Tying the Sea Peoples to it means that it's tied to the destruction and regression of human progress. I'm pondering the existence of some sort of anti-humanity anti-civilization force, an Adversary that may have had many faces across history, a single being or force that was Loki, Hissi, Set, Eris, the Serpent in Eden and so on. Attila the Hun, as the embodiment of the Fall of Rome (though he didn't actually get to Rome in OTL and technically Rome didn't actually fall, the mythic vibes are there), might qualify too, which would explain how Hallr met him.
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We must all remember that Hallr is not an unbiased source of information, not is he all knowing.
Wathever claims he makes must be considered carefully, first of all because the Hallr talking with Halla is only one of the at least TWENTY pieces of his soul. He dosen't even possess all the knowledge he had in life, how can he be expected to know with accuracy events that happened thousands of years ago or even at the birth of the universe itself?
We must also remember that many of the things he says will be distorted by his prejudices and misconceptions on certain groups or individuals. I would not trust him, for example, in his considerations on the methods of Cultivation of the Christians or on the personalities and motivations of his past enemies.
Hallr is a vital source of knowledge and power, but he has is limits.
Wathever claims he makes must be considered carefully, first of all because the Hallr talking with Halla is only one of the at least TWENTY pieces of his soul. He dosen't even possess all the knowledge he had in life, how can he be expected to know with accuracy events that happened thousands of years ago or even at the birth of the universe itself?
We must also remember that many of the things he says will be distorted by his prejudices and misconceptions on certain groups or individuals. I would not trust him, for example, in his considerations on the methods of Cultivation of the Christians or on the personalities and motivations of his past enemies.
Hallr is a vital source of knowledge and power, but he has is limits.
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
I'm not a very big fan of the FATE series to be honest, just not really my speed. Any similarities are pure happenstance/jokes gained through cultural osmosis.
- Location
- Under your couch
- Pronouns
- He/Him
My minds kinda stuck on this are there crafting tricks? And if there are what do they do? Like do they imbue the item with Orthstirr or is it like Sharper-Edge Trick for better slashing weapons?
thank god i dont want to read a VN
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
There are. Crafting more at once, specialized things imbued with power, certain special items for certain special results
0~0~0
Alright, voting will be called in an hour and a half, so vote while you can!
Take Sampo-Crafting Trick so we can find out what the heck a Sampo is.
- Location
- Under your couch
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I mean there is one plan so calling it in a hours and and a half or in four hours wont make much of a difference, I tried to write an alternative plan to @DeadmanwalkingXI to have an alternative but I literally cant find a single thing I would change. Its also essensially communaly written because everything in it is everything that we have been talking about on the thread that we wanted to do.
I dont know where im going with this other saying that DeadmanwalkingXI is very good at writing plans? So uh, thanks DeadmanwalkingXI for writing the plans.
I dont know why I wrote that I just kinda thought it needed saying.
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
Ha, sounds good to me. I'll close it now
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
I was actually thinking about this last night. I don't think that this quest would've panned out nearly as well as it has if it wasn't for Deadman.
So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you @DeadmanwalkingXI
I'll slip a mention of it in. He got it unveiled when you stepped out and had a chat with Hallr
I'll increase your orthstirr count to match, whoops there.
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
You're welcome and thanks for the compliment. And yeah, I try and incorporate stuff from discussion into the plans as much as possible. In particular, when it comes to everything but Training Dice I'm often (usually in the case of combat plans) following the lead of someone else entirely (I think, like, well over half of our clever combat tactics are all Alectai's idea, for example, I'm just fiddling with the mechanics there), and Training Dice are certainly still based on communal ideas of what we want to be good at.
You're quite welcome, I'm happy to be of assistance. This quest is great and a lot of fun to play around with, so thank you for that.
Sweet.
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- Location
- San Ramon, CA
One theory I have is the Enemy hasn't necessarily "broken" Norse cultivation, but instead has intentionally disincentivized trying to develop it further. In the Mass Effect series, the Reapers left behind the Relays and the Citadel in order to direct the development of future species into directions that the Reapers have hard counters for (if something doesn't seem to be broken, then there's no incentive to "fix" it). Likewise, the Enemy may be trying present Steelfathers as the "natural" endpoint for Norse cultivation, and thus prevent anyone from digging deeper to find an alternative.
Maybe the Enemy's presence explains the 8000 years added to the timeline. 🤔
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
So, rolling the dice, I think that you might've just had the worst hugr training rolls you've had all Quest. This is utterly ridiculous.
edit: It's getting worse, somehow. Jog my memory, do you guys have anything that's boosting your construction rolls?
edit: It's getting worse, somehow. Jog my memory, do you guys have anything that's boosting your construction rolls?
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- Location
- Under your couch
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
That's right, the Wood Axe! I freaking forgot what it did so now it both adds successes to construction rolls and dice to resource collection.