Remove ads

NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

Reader mode
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
That seems right, but doesn't help me place it, and I'm usually pretty good with mythology. Egyptian, maybe? That's a real stab in the dark, though.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
If it helps, I don't think the piece of wood was the only clue.
Imperial Fister said:
Armed with sword and spear, it looks at you with a face made of bone and eyes of icy embers. A piece of carved wood sits in its open mouth and its forehead bears rune script. Tattered pieces of mail drape off its frame as it staggers towards you.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The rune script on the forehead seems to be significant as well. It brings to mind the legends of the Golem, and Kabbalism was already one of my top suspects. There's a fair amount of demonic lore in that tradition. Of course, that might just be confirmation bias talking.
 
KreenWarrior said:
Egyptians would give mummies golden tongues - I guess if you don't have any gold to spare... 🤔
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The Egyptians were big on amulets in general...but yes, I suspect that whatever culture he got that trick from he might well be sourcing alternative materials locally.

Shard said:
Definitely not Egyptian. Wood doesn't last. Doesn't look mummy-like either.

Could be Germanic though. Wood is pretty important in that mythos IIRC, and it's a cousin-culture to Norse.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I think he might be substituting materials. Hard to say for sure.

Hunter531 said:
The rune script on the forehead seems to be significant as well. It brings to mind the legends of the Golem, and Kabbalism was already one of my top suspects. There's a fair amount of demonic lore in that tradition. Of course, that might just be confirmation bias talking.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

We did get a rundown of what those were and they were Norse runes (a scrambled version of WAKE FROM DEATH if I recall correctly), but he could definitely have gotten the idea from Jewish mysticism in theory.

He's definitely doing a syncretic thing here rather than abiding strictly by whatever magical secrets he learned, modifying and adapting them to the Norse paradigm. It's actually fairly impressive, if awful. We might think about doing the same in some more positive ways.
 
Last edited:
[X] Plan: Trolls Are Not Known For Their Cunning (v2.0)
[X] Plan: Trolls Are Not Known For Their Cunning, legal edition
 
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
The Egyptians were big on amulets in general...but yes, I suspect that whatever culture he got that trick from he might well be sourcing alternative materials locally.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I'm pretty sure it's not Egyptian, I checked. Enough lore survived that I could see Horra getting his hands on some, and they do have mystical golems (the ushatbi). However their creation doesn't really match the draugr. If the draugr had a page's worth of runic script then perhaps, but it didn't. The Egyptians were really big on the use of writing in magic.
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
We did get a rundown of what those were and they were Norse runes (a scrambled version of WAKE FROM DEATH if I recall correctly), but he could definitely have gotten the idea from Jewish mysticism in theory.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
You know, that translation is another point in favor of Jewish mysticism. According to legend, a golem had the Hebrew word emét, meaning truth, written on its forehead. When the golem's task was completed, the user would erase the letter aleph from the head, turning the inscription into mét, which means death.

I'm not familiar with Norse syntax, but perhaps something similar is going on here. If the draugr had managed to kill us, Horra would have erased certain runes to turn the inscription into DEATH, or something along those lines. That could explain why the runes were scrambled. Horra was doing something that the Norse language wasn't made to support, so he had to bend the rules a bit.

What's more, part of creating a golem involved a shem, a piece of paper or parchment with Hebrew letters on it created by a certain ritual. It was inserted into the forehead or mouth of the golem!

Sure, Horra used wood, but that's far harder to trace than a luxury good like parchment. The golem ritual fits with what we saw with the draugr, and Kabbalism has plenty of ways to force a recalcitrant demon (or spirit!) to do what the practitioner wants.

What's more, given the long history of Jews being persecuted, it's bound to have some darn good ways to hide a Kabbalist's workshop. That would explain why the Seeress couldn't find Horra's workshop. Folks, I think we've found out from which tradition Horra has learned his foreign magic!
 
One very important thing to keep in mind for the people voting for the legal edition, which I apologize for not mentioning earlier as I forgot;

You, as a woman, will not be allowed to bear witness or even speak during court. You can attend it, but you're simply not going to have a lot of agency, not without putting your case at risk. Were it any other situation, it would be a bit looser as Halla is, well, Halla. The problem here lies with the troll; the court is going to be rather at odds with the troll, on account of most people having lost a family member in some way or form to trolls in the past. Halla doing Halla things will likely push the already risky case over the edge.

Once again, I'm very sorry. Not trying to influence the vote or push anyone any way, just want to make sure that you have the relevant information and aren't blindsided by a loss in agency.
 
Last edited:
Hunter531 said:
You know, that translation is another point in favor of Jewish mysticism. According to legend, a golem had the Hebrew word emét, meaning truth, written on its forehead. When the golem's task was completed, the user would erase the letter aleph from the head, turning the inscription into mét, which means death.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Well, As a Jew myself, I find the idea suspect?

You may not understand some of the Context Behind Kabbalah.

Kabbalah was like deeply restricted and highly secretive as a tradition

It used to have a pretty high bar for entry!

First, to Know Kabbalah. You have to be Jewish. Second, You Have To Be A Rabbi. Third, You Must Know Torah. 4th, You Have to Be At Least 40 (or was it 50?) years of Age.

At this point in History, it's like...Deeply Secret.

Its something the average Jew of the period only hears rumors, or maybe just knows it as some secret thing rabbi talk about in esoteric metaphor.

There is a Reason one of the definitions for Cabal is 'A Secret Society'

Its not something a Rabbi would give up, even under torture. (This, iirc, was an actual thing that was tried. Christian lords and the like often tried to threaten, bribe, torture or otherwise sweet talk Kabbalahist Rabbi to give up what they knew and it never worked...well...at least in Folklore.)
 
[X] Plan: Trolls Are Not Known For Their Cunning (v2.0)

Oh well, Horra and the Horrasons/Horradottirs can enjoy Troll in his farm.
 
Last edited:
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
He's definitely doing a syncretic thing here rather than abiding strictly by whatever magical secrets he learned, modifying and adapting them to the Norse paradigm. It's actually fairly impressive, if awful. We might think about doing the same in some more positive ways.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Eh, I'm not sure if "impressive" is the right word for it. Note for the sake of argument I'm assuming that my theory about Kabbalism is correct. If Horra has truly managed to mesh Jewish mysticism and pagan sorcery into a whole greater than the sum of its parts, than it truly is impressive.

However, if all Horra has done is cobble together two disparate magical traditions in such a way that a "pure" practitioner of either paradigm with the same level of experience and talent is better than him, not so much. Then, it's just taking a shortcut.

Honestly, I think in this case it's the latter. Judging from the puzzle discussion, it sounds like traditional Norse mysticism could have done the same thing with the scorn pole Horra did, albeit with slightly different methods. Carrot versus stick basically, and at a significantly reduced chance of having angry spirits out for your blood.

It goes the other way too. There's a whole lot of nasty tricks available to a skilled Kabbalist. For one, I don't think we'd have as much success against an actual Golem, not to mention the demonic lore available.

As for doing some syncretization of our own, I am pretty sure we're already on that path. It's why we looted that Bible after all. I'd also like to join the Varangian Guard at some point, since that would open some serious opportunities to learn from Orthodox cultivators, but I suspect that will have to wait until we play a male character.
 
Shard said:
[X] Plan: Trolls Are Not Known For Their Cunning (v2.0)

Oh well, Horra and the Horrasons/Horradottirs can enjoy Troll in his farm.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I'm pretty sure he's got a Contingency for this kind of thing happening--not specifically that we threw the Troll at him, but that the Troll would be pissed off at him for some reason and attack him. He's not stupid.

But that's the thing.

That's why we're following it and watching what happens while under a previously unrevealed capability that conceals us while there's a Big Distraction. Because he'll have to telegraph his capabilities to do so. And if we're lucky, he'll go right back to his sanctum to prep, and we'll have him.
 
Last edited:
Hunter531 said:
Eh, I'm not sure if "impressive" is the right word for it. Note for the sake of argument I'm assuming that my theory about Kabbalism is correct. If Horra has truly managed to mesh Jewish mysticism and pagan sorcery into a whole greater than the sum of its parts, than it truly is impressive.

However, if all Horra has done is cobble together two disparate magical traditions in such a way that a "pure" practitioner of either paradigm with the same level of experience and talent is better than him, not so much. Then, it's just taking a shortcut.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Kitbashing together a functional magical system out of incomplete pieces of two others is still actually pretty impressive. Like, if you did that with a radio, I'd be impressed by you even if an off-the-shelf radio is better, and magic systems are a lot harder to get than an off-the-shelf radio. Successfully making a working practice from fragments is legitimately impressive.

It's also awful because of the kind of magic he's doing, but it's still impressive.

Hunter531 said:
Honestly, I think in this case it's the latter. Judging from the puzzle discussion, it sounds like traditional Norse mysticism could have done the same thing with the scorn pole Horra did, albeit with slightly different methods. Carrot versus stick basically, and at a significantly reduced chance of having angry spirits out for your blood.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I think that's a limitation of Horra, not the magic. The Scorn-Pole we found is pure Norse mysticism, no hint of his other tradition (meaning he can, in fact, do pure Norse spellcraft when he chooses to). He only did it in a coercive way because he'd already pissed off the local spirits enough (likely due to the nisse incident among other things) that a friendly request wasn't gonna get listened to. Like, this is not the fault of his magic being sub-par, it's the fault of him having made enemies.

Hunter531 said:
It goes the other way too. There's a whole lot of nasty tricks available to a skilled Kabbalist. For one, I don't think we'd have as much success against an actual Golem, not to mention the demonic lore available.

As for doing some syncretization of our own, I am pretty sure we're already on that path. It's why we looted that Bible after all. I'd also like to join the Varangian Guard at some point, since that would open some serious opportunities to learn from Orthodox cultivators, but I suspect that will have to wait until we play a male character.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

It's less being female that means Halla can't go join the Varangian Guard and more already being pregnant and very involved with events here at home and not wanting to go vanish for several years deserting her children. But yes, going to Constantinople to study various cultivation systems and maybe joining the Varangians is high on the list for things to do with our next character.
 
If the trick fails, and we defeat the Troll, can we turn him into a thrall?

I mean, a Troll working the farm at night would be pretty useful. And enslaving a Troll would give Halla quite the reputation.

For sure more than killing him by having her kin and kith ganging up on him.

We could use Gabriel old shackles to keep his magic in check. And dig an artificial cave for him.

This could also be a temporary arrangment. Like, if we ask the Troll to surrender and ask him to serve us for X years in exchange of sparing his life.

He seems pragmatic enought to prefer servitude to True Death.

[x] Plan: Trolls Are Not Known For Their Cunning, legal edition
 
Mystic Pentagram said:
If the trick fails, and we defeat the Troll, can we turn him into a thrall?

I mean, a Troll working the farm at night would be pretty useful. And enslaving a Troll would give Halla quite the reputation.

For sure more than killing him by having her kin and kith ganging up on him.

We could use Gabriel old shackles to keep his magic in check. And dig an artificial cave for him.

This could also be a temporary arrangment. Like, if we ask the Troll to surrender and ask him to serve us for X years in exchange of sparing his life.

He seems pragmatic enought to prefer servitude to True Death.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
What incentive would he have to keep his word?

He isn't considered a norse person so I doubt he has any Orthstirr to lose. Enslaving somebody who we need outside help to deal with seems like it's asking for him to go on a rampage the moment us or Abjorn go out exploring or shopping.

There's also the fact that anyone would be justified in killing him because he is not considered a person legally, so that's practically inviting Horra or the Horrasons to mess around on our farm in the name of monster slaying.

it also leaves us vulnerable to tricks trying to frame the troll for something, since Horra could throw other trolls at nearby farms and say he saw a troll wrecking it.
 
wrecksalot said:
What incentive would he have to keep his word?

He isn't considered a norse person so I doubt he has any Orthstirr to lose. Enslaving somebody who we need outside help to deal with seems like it's asking for him to go on a rampage the moment us or Abjorn go out exploring or shopping.

There's also the fact that anyone would be justified in killing him because he is not considered a person legally, so that's practically inviting Horra or the Horrasons to mess around on our farm in the name of monster slaying.

it also leaves us vulnerable to tricks trying to frame the troll for something, since Horra could throw other trolls at nearby farms and say he saw a troll wrecking it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

The incentive he has is that he would have more protection in our farm that he would in the wilds. He seems pragmatic enough to understand that.

He is no more dangerous than Gabriel as a Thrall. They were both powerful creatures that if let loose could cause e lot of damage.

And Horra will try his tricks regardless. But in one case we will have a Troll working for us.
 
Mystic Pentagram said:
He is no more dangerous than Gabriel as a Thrall. They were both powerful creatures that if let loose could cause e lot of damage.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Gabriel was a lot less powerful for one thing, trolls are low-end Knight level threats while Gabriel is not. Gabriel also has a conscience and would not, for example, under any circumstances murder babies...the troll does not. I'm not having a powerful maneating sociopath around our children. Sorry, but that seems like a no-sell to me.
 
Mystic Pentagram said:
The incentive he has is that he would have more protection in our farm that he would in the wilds. He seems pragmatic enough to understand that.

He is no more dangerous than Gabriel as a Thrall. They were both powerful creatures that if let loose could cause e lot of damage.

And Horra will try his tricks regardless. But in one case we will have a Troll working for us.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Steinar could kick Gabriel's ass six ways to sunday, we only bought him because we know him personally from his years as Steinar's thrall.

Trolls aren't well known for being clever, and are very vengeful. keeping someone stronger than us, with a short temper and high guillibillity is asking for problems. Horra will try his tricks anyway, but they usually involve more effort than just saying"Hey big guy, I think that kid wants to fight you."
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top