We've been told that it makes fighting easier for her, up to and including adding combat pool dice, but drops her Bloodlust Meter from 10 like us, to only 5, so she'll need to get in fights more frequently than we need to. Not more frequently than we actually have so far, mind you (I don't think our meter has ever risen above 2), but more often than we have to.
We could technically go almost five years without a fight...our daughter won't be able to make it even three, and realistically, she's picking a fight every two years at most.
1. Try and weave our Frami while it's fully manifested. Halla mentioned that it felt more Malleable when she was at Full Orthsirr. Weaving Frami prior to joining it to Virthing/Saemd may have a big impact on the final outcome.
2. See if Halla can weave the way Saemd and Virthing intertwine. Or weave the intertwining of Saemd and Virthing into something greater. The way they're woven right now is likely very basic, so to say. A tougher weaving is likely to last longer when Odr flows through it.
I wonder if it's, not tens digits of your aspects for Odr gen, but, something like, (Lowest Aspect)/9, rounded down. Math gives about 8.5, which would fit with current data. A formalize cultivation method will probably give something improved like [Lowest Aspect + Housecraft Roll/9]. Orthsirr determines the strength of the strands themselves. But as anyone who makes cloth knows..
My suspicion for the exact mechanism of Odr Condensation:
1. Saemd + Virthing = Thread
2. Frami hungers for Odr, and draws Odr through the gate via the Saemd/Virthing Thread.
3. Because Frami is always the strongest of the Frami/Saemd/Virthing combo, the latter two give out before Frami does.
4. Frami still hungers for Odr, but now that the thread is unraveled, it's, uh, pulling/pulled by the Odr-Gate in an extremely unstable way.
5. This process explodes in your body and you die. Saemd/Virthing/Frami make up the tapestry that is you as a Norseman, and them being unraveled means there's no you, ergo you just Truly Killed yourself.
a. Possible death mechanisms: Frami/Saemd/Virthing are dragged through the gate along with the rest of you. Uncontrolled Odr pouring into your everywhere starts doing random stuff with your everything, leading to death. Something else. Some combination of above.
Does Frami+Saemd/Virthing alone instantly kill you due to having a pre-emptively unraveled thread? A question we don't want to answer..
Does Orthsirr determine how long you can keep the gate open, or is it more just throughput of Odr?
How does the gate close? Is it just when Frami gives out?
We've been told that it makes fighting easier for her, up to and including adding combat pool dice, but drops her Bloodlust Meter from 10 like us, to only 5, so she'll need to get in fights more frequently than we need to. Not more frequently than we actually have so far, mind you (I don't think our meter has ever risen above 2), but more often than we have to.
We could technically go almost five years without a fight...our daughter won't be able to make it even three, and realistically, she's picking a fight every two years at most.
Hamingja lock-ins do not count towards the cap, so actually the reverse in many ways. If we lock in enough things, the chances of rolling the remaining ones goes up (at least for non-recessives...technically for recessives to, but it's less of a factor there).
Yeah, this is fair. Dunno if that's actually a mechanically relevant thing to construct (if not, we presumably do it in our spare time), but it makes sense.
Hamingja lock-ins do not count towards the cap, so actually the reverse in many ways. If we lock in enough things, the chances of rolling the remaining ones goes up (at least for non-recessives...technically for recessives to, but it's less of a factor there).
Looking at it, looks like ~26 Hamingja for absolute perfect customization. ~25 after Muna: Vows of Love, ~20 if Lock-Ins mean you can't roll for the opposing trait at all (ex: Godly Luck vs Unlucky).
Although if we spent that much, that kid would be rolling insane amounts of training dice every single turn. Absolute Protag syndrome guaranteed.
I think the solution might lie in weaving more than a single thread. A thread is weak, after all. Maybe weaving multiple threads into a rope, or a skein of cloth?
Unlikely, remember, tapping Odr for the first time is Death unless you have just the right combination of skills and traits to Close the Gate while unconscious from a Revelation.
Hallr probably only knew about it because he was an insane madlad who was probably several steps down the Path before he died. This is what would have made his sacrifice of all relevant memories meaningful, if he was sacrificing the trail he and his ancestors blazed to create an opportunity for his successors to reach the greatest heights.
It seems actually that it's less that Hallr's memories are gone and more that they're sealed until we encounter something he'd Understand. He didn't know how the Steelfathers managed to kill him until we witnessed a Paradox. He didn't know Odr was a thing until we condensed it.
He, in short, can't actually tell us anything that the Charred Soul gestalt hasn't already experienced, but if we experience something, he'll be able to give us more context on it. Like how he can't actually teach us Hugareida on his own despite having 'All of the Fire Hugareida', but he can teach us Campfire because that's one of the handful that anyone can teach--but even then, we had to ask him for it, he couldn't offer it proactively.
Its such a bittersweet thing there are different timezones.... i cant participate in the quick votes, but there is more update to read after i wake up....
Glad Aki is included, he probably can see if the curse has threads or anything spreading from the anchor.
I'm now envisioning the whole family of 7' plus redheads with grey eyes (aside from Abjorn on the hair and eyes) with Halla being over a foot shorter than the rest of them and occasionally grousing that actually, she's considered pretty tall outside the family...
Can't wait for when people start thinking Halla is the child between when she spends time with daughter(s) in a public event, if Odr cultivation extends lifespan...
Random Norse Man: Ma'am! The tall lady with the fiery hair! Yes! You, ma'am! Please, take your daughter away from my stall! She scares away the other costumers with her grumbling! *Halla and her daughter looks at each other, Halla facepalms and the Daughter chuckles*
Halla's Daughter, after she can speak: Sorry sir, but she is my mother, you will need to argue with her *smiles*
RNM, looking between the two in horror: What?
Add in jokes to your liking
Kinda curious who would get nid from that, Halla, the shopkeeper, both or no one....
Oh hey! Good news everyone! I figured out what the scarecrow was!
It's a Strawbound Hunter-Killer, one of the puppets that were sent to figure out where the fuck the Meteorite went to! I guess they ran into a spot of Bad Luck themselves?
Was doing a skim of the earlier chapters to try and find the spot where Steinarr reviewed the Laws with us, and noticed that being dropped during one of the Event Interludes.
Other observations I made was that "Time moves slower" is actually an inherent trait of going into your Soul Space, when Blackhand went deep inside to sulk, he thought he was only gone for a little bit, but he was out for a month. That's something we should keep in mind when we're Doing Things there.
Oh hey! Good news everyone! If figured out what the scarecrow was!
It's a Strawbound Hunter-Killer, one of the puppets that were sent to figure out where the fuck the Meteorite went to! I guess they ran into a spot of Bad Luck themselves?
Incidentally, I didn't find which chapter the Laws were reviewed in, so if anyone could point it out to me, that'd be appreciated.
That being said, it looks like a pre-requisite to gaining Ilmarinen's Fire is to go to his Forge, which is apparently a citadel held by The Enemy, because he had to fight his way through an army of warlocks and nasty things as well as some angry minor gods and an actual Mountain. This, presumably, is how Hallr went from being someone to be Watched into something it had to be rid of. Given how it's apparently the absolute pinnacle of Fire, both as a force of Creation and of Destruction.
Hrm.
Campfire
Wildfire-Ignition-Forgefire
Firestorm-??????-???????
Sky-Father's Forge? (May also be in the previous 'Tier' as the step up from Forgefire, like how Firestorm is a hotter Wildfire)
Ilmarinen's Fire?
That seems to be the general map of Fire Hugareida, listed in Descending Order. It seems that there's Campfire as a universal Entry Level Fire Hugareida, then three 'Component' Fire Hugareida that focus on Fire in one of its three basic aspects (Fire that Burns, Fire that Blasts, and Fire that Refines), then higher levels that you'd normally get access to from Alloys rather than specific Muna, which are intensified, specialized versions of the base three, and finally Ilmarinen's Fire as the one that can only be unlocked through an Epic Quest but touches on the Pure Nature of Fire absent of all mortal simplification?
Huh, it might actually be arranged like this then.
Campfire-Wildfire-Ignition-Forgefire
Firestorm-Sky Father's Forge-?????-?????
Ilmarinen's Fire
Campfire being part of the first "Layer" of Fire Hugareida, since it's "Fire as a Force of Civilization".
So you get four interpretations of "How mortals see Fire", and Alloys can be used to combine those into the higher level stuff which are manifestations of Nature, with the Absolute Peak just being Platonic Fire. The use of "Layers' here is not to say that one step is better than the other, but that you're effectively tinkering with the variables to get specialized outcomes that can't normally be created by human hands. With--again--the exception apparently being Ilmarinen's Fire, which is just Platonic Fire, but the only way to access it is an Epic Quest.
Well, that, or presumably an Alloy of every other Fire Hugareida combined, but the Epic Quest is probably the easier feat than that. Hell, it might be that the ability to Alloy the previous eight is a pre-requisite to surviving integrating a mote of that Fire like Blackhand did--we already knew he had 'Every Fire Hugareida', and was presumably also a Proper Cultivator given how badass he was.
EDIT: Right, Magma--a Magma related Hugareida is probably one of those ?????? stages, remember that Hallr was constantly asking people "What's even hotter than Magma". Earthblood maybe? Sky Father's Forge might actually be Lightning given the name, an Ignition/Forgefire Alloy? A single spark of overwhelming power enough to alter the nature of what it struck?
That seems to be the general map of Fire Hugareida, listed in Descending Order. It seems that there's Campfire as a universal Entry Level Fire Hugareida, then three 'Component' Fire Hugareida that focus on Fire in one of its three basic aspects (Fire that Burns, Fire that Blasts, and Fire that Refines), then higher levels that you'd normally get access to from Alloys which are intensified, specialized versions of the base three, and finally Ilmarinen's Fire as the one that can only be unlocked through an Epic Quest but touches on the Pure Nature of Fire absent of all mortal simplification?
Fire doesn't really have tiers like that, is the thing, as Imperial Fister has specifically noted. We can get Forgefire from combining Campfire and Ignition, for example, and Campfire is not weaker or lesser than the others...just possible to actually teach, which most are not.
Ilmarinen's Forge may be special and different in that regard, but I honestly doubt it.
EDIT: Right, Magma--a Magma related Hugareida is probably one of those ?????? stages, remember that Hallr was constantly asking people "What's even hotter than Magma". Earthblood maybe?
Hallr got something from the Finnish fire spirits, not least the Blackhand kenning and charred soul, but yeah, IF has said tiers aren't a thing. Ilmarinen's fire is the hottest but that's not the same thing as the best.
Fire doesn't really have tiers like that, is the thing, as Imperial Fister has specifically noted. We can get Forgefire from combining Campfire and Ignition, for example, and Campfire is not weaker or lesser than the others...just easier to learn.
Ilmarinen's Forge may be special and different in that regard, but I honestly doubt it.
I'm more trying to figure it out in the sense that while Fire isn't strictly tiered, there's definitely some that are easier and harder to learn than others. Wildfire, Ignition, and Forgefire seem pretty easy as they're pretty adjacent to the human experience (Fire that Spreads, Fire that Ignites, Fire that Refines), and Campfire is just inherently communal (Fire that Warms), so anyone can teach it. Once you go beyond that, you tend to go into "Fires that just sort of happen in nature and are beyond human strength", like Lightning, gigantic hellstorms that burn entire countries down, and Magma. Sunfire might actually be the last of those.
And yeah, Ilmarinen's is the Hottest, that means just bringing it out is dangerous--we know that Hallr actually got himself mutilated just grasping a single spark of it in order to learn the Hugareida, and he was a certified badass, and his Black Bones apparently are inherited by whoever got Charred Soul (I wonder if that means the 'Price for Ilmarinen's Fire has already been paid', and any further Charred Soul characters will be able to learn it normally?)
I'm more trying to figure it out in the sense that while Fire isn't strictly tiered, there's definitely some that are easier and harder to learn than others. Wildfire, Ignition, and Forgefire seem pretty easy as they're pretty adjacent to the human experience (Fire that Spreads, Fire that Ignites, Fire that Refines), and Campfire is just inherently communal (Fire that Warms), so anyone can teach it. Once you go beyond that, you tend to go into "Fires that just sort of happen in nature and are beyond human strength", like Lightning, gigantic hellstorms that burn entire countries down, and Magma.
True, but I don't think those are 'harder' per se, just that they involve different kinds of Muna...like, learning how to play with Lightning probably generally involves being out in a storm and seeing something destroyed by it. Like, not more difficult to use, or even necessarily to acquire, just requiring an interaction with nature rather than purely man-made fires.
True, but I don't think those are 'harder' per se, just that they involve different kinds of Muna...like, learning how to play with Lightning probably generally involves being out in a storm and seeing something destroyed by it. Like, not more difficult to use, or even necessarily to acquire, just requiring an interaction with nature rather than purely man-made fires.
Yeah, that's kind of the distinction I'm making. "Fires of Man" vs "Fires of Nature", with the last one being "The True Nature of Fire" or something like that. But bringing Objective Truths into a world of stories and interpretations is dangerous.
But it's probably a pre-requisite to using whatever the Weapon Hallr was working on is. A Fire Hot Enough to burn Reality into new forms, to burn Forms themselves--which is important given the very Idea of Steel has been corrupted by The Enemy's machinations. Ilmarinen himself is renowned for being a God who forged a tool that generates Literally Infinite Wealth. (In at least one interpretation), in the form of Flour (Food), Silver (Currency), and Salt (We all know how important Salt is). He's Finnish Hephaestus or Vulcan, except he's not actually mutilated, just unlucky at love.
EDIT: Honestly, that's a curious pattern, that Forge Gods tend to be crippled in some fashion, but Ilmarinen was not. In NorseQuest world, I wonder if that's because The Enemy fears the potential of Forge Gods and works to hobble them? It would explain why it fears the Northern paradigm so much if it has a Forge God who wasn't limited and managed to reach their full potential while it was busy mucking around with the Olympians and the Mediterranean
I wonder if Sky Father Forge, is in reference to the fact that the sun is literally the hottest thing ever. And if anything can reforge Steel.. well, the Sun should be able to do it.
My assumption is that the Weapon is somewhat different than Fire - Fire is what gave us Charred-Soul - it burn Hallr enough tht the burns carried on in his hamingja and soul and couldn't dissipate or be erased. Meanwhile, the Weapon is generations old.
However, forging and forgefires might be important for reforging the Weapon, which has been broken into parts. Assuming it's a physical thing and not a concept.
Scheduled vote count started by Imperial Fister on Apr 12, 2023 at 9:06 PM, finished with 129 posts and 14 votes.
[X] Gather your kin and kith and go hunt down the source of this evil
-[X] Bring Abjorn, Gabriel, and the Brothers Stig with you and Sten. Offer an invitation to Aki to come along--you got a good example of how helpful a strong Fylgja can be during the Raid, and you've never seen someone with better ability given his age--even if all it can contribute is its eyes in the sky and Aki's own cleverness and sensitivity to more esoteric things, it'll be a boon for tracking the source of the Curse quickly. As for yourself... You know your condition well, you'll come along and do your best to provide ranged and defensive support with your Hugareida rather than immediately charge in, but you won't rule out taking attacks of opportunity if you think you can tilt the scales safely.
-[X] Send a runner to Halfdan's Farm, ask him to protect your home while you're busy investigating this Curse issue, you don't want to leave anything to chance with this kind of sorcery in play.
-[X] Lay out our backup swords, let Gabriel borrow whichever one he thinks is best
[X] Gather your kin and kith and go hunt down the source of this evil
-[X] (Optional) Abjorn, Stigmar, Gabriel, Stigandr can come too if he wants a bit of exercise after his downtime. You don't feel like leaving anything to chance here.
[X] Gather your kin and kith and go hunt down the source of this evil
-[X] Bring Abjorn, Gabriel, and the Brothers Stig with you and Sten. Offer an invitation to Aki to come along--you got a good example of how helpful a strong Fylgja can be during the Raid, and you've never seen someone with better ability given his age--even if all it can contribute is its eyes in the sky and Aki's own cleverness and sensitivity to more esoteric things, it'll be a boon for tracking the source of the Curse quickly. As for yourself... You know your condition well, you'll come along and do your best to provide ranged and defensive support with your Hugareida rather than immediately charge in, but you won't rule out taking attacks of opportunity if you think you can tilt the scales safely.
-[X] Send a runner to Halfdan's Farm, ask him to protect your home while you're busy investigating this Curse issue, you don't want to leave anything to chance with this kind of sorcery in play.
-[X] Lay out our backup swords, let Gabriel borrow whichever one he thinks is best
0~0~0
With faces carved from stone, seven warriors stand side-by-side in the gaze of uncaring fates.
Shoes crunch through piles of fallen leaves as kin and kith march towards the hills, where the pallor of evil hangs like a specter over the home of your father. Each step is harder than the last, but the paltry efforts of a quail-hearted spirit like this cannot even slow the march of dead-set heroes.
When the cry for aid rang out, all who heard answered the call.
First and foremost is the Giant-Blooded Abjorn Vidsson, always faithful, always quick to act. He bears the sword Avow, forged from Steel in the home forge of a Master Smith. Hair like spun gold falls from his handsome head as he turns his unrelenting gaze to the dark horizon looming in the distance.
Next to him is Stigr Kersson, the spear-wielding, arrow-sailing, ever-smiling, lucky devil of a man. With one hand on the rune-carved bow Shivershot and the other on the twin arrow sheaves hanging from the silver-buckled belt, he marches ever onwards with that same, easy-going smile on his face.
His brother, Stigmar Kersson, is at his side. The oath-keeping shield-bearer may not be the strongest of all those marching this day, but he stands on his own two feet and marches ironclad purpose in his stride. His sword shines naked as he stands ready for anything the fates may throw his way.
Following the huskarl's steps comes the youngest of the band, Aki Runson. Blind he may be, but before the call could even reach him, he was already eagerly waiting with axe and shield in hand. Where once stood a War-Raven now stands the blood-soaked, blade-eyed figure of a Sword Raven. Its wings stretch longer than Abjorn is tall and its feathers shine sharper than any mortal blade.
Even in as eclectic band as this one, there stands the odd one out. Gabriel Blackstone, Squire on the Eighth Bead of the Second Decade, is a Christian in a Norse land. Not only is he a Christian, but he is a Christian who trained to fight Norsemen — to be here now, fighting alongside them, must feel like walking in a dream. His armor gleams with polished iron and white colors. The crest of his house, a lion with a sword of blazing black fire, stands proudly on the red length of cloth covering his chest armor. A long tail of red feathers sprouts from the top of the visor-masked helmet, the eye-slits facing forward as he marches with Wanderlust in hand.
Leading the way at the front of the pack is a brother, a father, and a son all mixed into one stoic person. Sten Iskearauta is his name and working iron is his purpose. Whether that be in the forge or working iron through the skulls of those who would dare threaten the safety he so desperately killed for. With skin as strong as iron, he keeps his mind steady on the goal ahead of him and off the thought that he may be making a widow of his wife and half-orphans of his children.
And as the woman responsible for bringing this band of deadly warriors together, you, Halla Longstride, take your spot between your husband and your brother. Pregnant as you are, taking part in the chaotic whirlwind of a melee battle may be beyond your capabilities, but that doesn't mean that you're helpless! Far from it, as the many corpses in your wake learned moments before death.
Together, you march to save your father and his home.
No matter what may be set before you, you won't be returning home empty-handed.
0~0~0 (The Presence of Abjorn or Aki alone would have made searching for the source a non-issue. Having them both means that you find it quicker)
Sten scowls as he rests an arm against the trunk of a sway-backed tree, the setting sun shining in the distance. You stand a step away, your face equally grim as you too eye the obstacle before you. The rest of the band scatters around you, each watching with careful eyes.
Working in tandem — Abjorn using his nose and Aki his nascent Seersight — your friends managed to track the source of the evil to a rather large hill. Specifically, it's coming from the top, from a rotting horse skull mounted on a rune-carved length of wood.
"A scorn-pole," Sten spits out the words with an evil hiss. They set your teeth to grinding and cause your eyes to flash with anger. "So that's what has the land spirits in a frenzy."
A scorn-pole is a way of forcing curses upon those it is directed towards — curses and nid, depending on the reason. For such a thing to be erected not only on your father's lands but also pointed at your father's home, there would need to be a potent, heavy reason for it. A reason that simply doesn't exist.
To erect a scorn-pole at all is a grievous breach of the law, for it disrupts the spirits of the land and risks sickness and famine for even those not afflicted by the scorn-pole's hollow gaze. The punishment for such a crime is nothing less than a full outlawing, a total banishment from society.
"How much do you wanna bet that the troll is in that cave?" Stigr jerks a hand at the cave mouth exposing the underside of the hill. Unnatural shadows cast an evil gloom over the entrance as hateful wind passes through the opening.
"That's a sucker's bet," Stigmar remarks as he comes to a stop by his younger brother. His eyes are fierce and he stands with body tensed for combat. "I'll bet that the moment we destroy it, though, the troll wakes up and we're in for a fight."
"If we destroy the scorn-pole, will that solve the problem?" Gabriel asks, his helmet held in his hands. "Or will it just make it harder?"
"It will weaken the curse substantially," Aki frowns, unseeing eyes squinting at nothing in particular — his Sword Raven is perched in the tree, its weight causing the branches to creak worryingly, "but anything else depends on the runes and what contingencies there are, if any."
'I recommend making a plan soon, for the sun won't wait forever,' Blackhand says as you silently consider the options before you.
What do you decide to do?
[ ] Destroy the scorn-pole right now while the sun is still up and the troll can't act
+Scorn-pole is destroyed and the curse will be substantially weaker
+Troll will be unable to act until the sun goes down
-If there are any contingencies, then you won't know about them until it's too late
[ ] Study the scorn-pole's runes before making any further action.
+You learn if there are any contingencies in place
-The sun will have gone down, meaning that the troll will be free to act
[ ] Go into the cave and lure the troll out into the sun
+Instantly solves the troll part of the problem if you pull it off
-Involves fighting the troll in its domain
-Has a time constraint
[ ] Lay traps outside the troll's cave
+If it works, it'll give you free reign to study the runes to your heart's content
-Sun will have gone down by the time you finish laying the traps
-No way to guarantee that the troll will trigger the traps
[ ] Part of the band lays traps outside the troll's cave while the other study the runes
+Both parts of the problem are solved
-But they're solved much slower, meaning that it is entirely possible that neither get done in time.
0~0~0
AN: I had a bit of fun writing the first section of this update, really got to let my verbosity sing. I don't think that I'm especially good at describing things, so it was nice to get a chance to work at it.
Fair warning; trolls aren't slouches in combat. In fact, they're very, very deadly foes. I would put them at generally low-ranking Knight-tier enemies.
25-minute moratorium, to let you think of all the possibilities.
Can we combine the second and fourth options? There are seven of us, so studying the scorn-pole and setting traps seems like we could do both, especially since I'm not sure how many of us can even read runes?
Like, Halla studies with maybe one guard while everyone else lays traps?
