CedeTheBees
Probably high right now
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] Plan Slow Down And Shut Up
NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)
- Thread starter I.F. Ister
- Start date
- Original Fantasy Action
-
- 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
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
what are your thoughts on Finnish Cultivation, now that you've gotten a tiny taste of it?
Also, the significance of Sten having both orthstirr and also Finnish Cultivation.
Also, the significance of Sten having both orthstirr and also Finnish Cultivation.
- Location
- some computer lab
it is pretty interesting. I wonder if it makes it harder for him to cultivate Odr.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
So far, not much beyond, well, magic being a thing. Also, that it may be real, unsabotaged, cultivation in a way Norse cultivation isn't for most who use it.
Well, we already knew that Orthstirr in and of itself wasn't exactly actual Cultivation, more of a pseudo-cultivation overlay. I think this means you could theoretically pursue any actual form of cultivation on top of using Orthstirr, assuming you and the systems have compatible world views.
Maybe that's the secret of the Varangian Guard? They're actually practicing Byzantine Cultivation without giving up Orthstirr's overlay? That sounds potentially very dangerous indeed. In the sense of potentially risky, sure, but even more in the sense of powerful and not somebody to mess with.
I suspect you can't practice two real cultivation systems at the same time. Meaning he's forever closed himself off from Odr by choosing this route if I'm right about it being a real cultivation system.
We need to have a long cultivation talk with Sten in the fairly near future. We can't share how Saga Cultivation works, but we can sure ask questions about how the Finnish system does.
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- Location
- San Ramon, CA
A few thoughts:
-One clear thing is that Finnish "spells" seem to involve saying the spell's name. Is this an actual component of the spell, or is Sten just flexing on Halla by telegraphing his attacks and her not being able to do anything about it regardless?
-Do Norse and Finnish cultivation actively intermingle, or is this a full "parallel and separate" situation where progress in one doesn't necessarily mean progress in the other? Although, I can imagine some scenarios where some of the hurdles of one cultivation system are mitigated from the traits unlocked by another (i.e. Shapeshifting could help if there's a particular aspect of Finnish cultivation that benefits from a certain body type).
-What is the Finnish equivalent of orthstirr? Does Finnish cultivation use the Gate, or is it a whole separate paradigm?
-...Sten has been rather reluctant to discuss ANYTHING about his time in Finland. Is it that Finnish wizardry exacts a heavy price in and of itself, or that Finnish culture is something best avoided?
Finnish mythological magic is heavily song and command based (a clear inspiration for LotR magic). I'm not sure if it's literally instructing spirits or not but it wouldn't surprise me if spirits were involved somehow.
We should ask Sten to teach us Finnish magic. Unless learning it blocks Norse Cultivation.
Knowing both Seidr and Finnish magic would be a great boon, and i don't think we will find many others willing to teach us in the future. So we should take advantage of this opportunity while we can.
Considering that Finnish mysticism and religion was mostly based on shamanism, i think is very likely.
[X] Plan Slow Down And Shut Up
Knowing both Seidr and Finnish magic would be a great boon, and i don't think we will find many others willing to teach us in the future. So we should take advantage of this opportunity while we can.
Considering that Finnish mysticism and religion was mostly based on shamanism, i think is very likely.
[X] Plan Slow Down And Shut Up
Two Raids (Shard)
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Two Raids
Fengrkin's distant branch planted themselves here,
In valley here home to the stone warrior's daughter,
Her enemies raided in her still-young dreams.
Felag, she wished to join after proving herself.
Opportunity met her when an outlaw came to steal,
Brother, father at battle with thief soon to flight far away,
One knee to spear below the belt after an axe to his knee,
Her first kill, without din from the shamed man.
Friends invite her as a blooded warrior to an arena of ice,
She offer her would-be foes a chance at leaving with battle sweat unshed.
Dance of swords was demanded by her enemies' unrelenting greed for an axe.
A warrior ceases sleep when the insult becomes too much to bear,
Her axe-hands brings forth death with her grandfather's will to slice one asunder.
Find a Seeress to heal her friend plagued by curse most evil,
Friend's brother finds her as fellow felagi on raid to shores distant,
Pledge of huskarl he swears to her in gratitude for saving his brother,
While Felag strikes two on their raid onto the lands called Lotharinga.
Familiar to Vikingr the townsmen are as they do battle,
As fiends they fight with will not of their own,
Priest at breach, wielding men with less care than an archer their arrows,
Sending each men in to their doom with nary a thought for their lives.
Family's roof is crashed into by her fiery leap across the sky,
Her love for battle driving her onward as she strikes with atgeir to cleave a priest in two,
The Felag threatened no longer by men with minds bound like thralls by priest's magic.
Farm's the next destination of the Vikingr with it's blooming flowers and guardian Knight,
Their fury meeting and bringing swift ruin to his carefully tended garden,
His squire awakened to parry the Felag's flanking blow to his manor.
Fast does the Felag slay the squire's mounted horse with a bearswing of sword slicing off it's head,
Then terror comes to the squire as a great golden eagle slays his companion falcon,
Vikingr united comes towards the Knight upon a field of broken earth and tulip corpses,
But she speaks to the Felag's Jarl to suggest that the knight may yield the field still,
And Knight pays off foe with plunder so great their boat have not space to hold all the loot.
@Imperial Fister
Fengrkin's distant branch planted themselves here,
In valley here home to the stone warrior's daughter,
Her enemies raided in her still-young dreams.
Felag, she wished to join after proving herself.
Opportunity met her when an outlaw came to steal,
Brother, father at battle with thief soon to flight far away,
One knee to spear below the belt after an axe to his knee,
Her first kill, without din from the shamed man.
Friends invite her as a blooded warrior to an arena of ice,
She offer her would-be foes a chance at leaving with battle sweat unshed.
Dance of swords was demanded by her enemies' unrelenting greed for an axe.
A warrior ceases sleep when the insult becomes too much to bear,
Her axe-hands brings forth death with her grandfather's will to slice one asunder.
Find a Seeress to heal her friend plagued by curse most evil,
Friend's brother finds her as fellow felagi on raid to shores distant,
Pledge of huskarl he swears to her in gratitude for saving his brother,
While Felag strikes two on their raid onto the lands called Lotharinga.
Familiar to Vikingr the townsmen are as they do battle,
As fiends they fight with will not of their own,
Priest at breach, wielding men with less care than an archer their arrows,
Sending each men in to their doom with nary a thought for their lives.
Family's roof is crashed into by her fiery leap across the sky,
Her love for battle driving her onward as she strikes with atgeir to cleave a priest in two,
The Felag threatened no longer by men with minds bound like thralls by priest's magic.
Farm's the next destination of the Vikingr with it's blooming flowers and guardian Knight,
Their fury meeting and bringing swift ruin to his carefully tended garden,
His squire awakened to parry the Felag's flanking blow to his manor.
Fast does the Felag slay the squire's mounted horse with a bearswing of sword slicing off it's head,
Then terror comes to the squire as a great golden eagle slays his companion falcon,
Vikingr united comes towards the Knight upon a field of broken earth and tulip corpses,
But she speaks to the Felag's Jarl to suggest that the knight may yield the field still,
And Knight pays off foe with plunder so great their boat have not space to hold all the loot.
For each paragraph,
Take the first word of the first sentence,
Second word of the second sentence,
and so forth:
Then put them together, one sentence for each paragraph, to get the hidden poetry in my prose (which I tried to write in Skaldic Style):
Two Raids
Fengrkin's valley raided,
Felag, met at spear-din.
Friends offer sword's sleep forth,
Find brothers huskarl two.
Familiar fiends breach in,
Family's love threatened.
Farm's fury awakened,
Fast terror comes to foe.
Also, the first word of each sentence here (or first word of each paragraph in the preceding) combined corresponds to this:
Fengrkin's Felag, Felagi, Friends Find Familiar Family's Farm's Fast (Clan Volsung's felag, family, friends, sworn allies are protected as long as they are on the farm.)
(Fengrkin is a kenning for Clan Volsung here - Odin's Kin.)
Okay, I don't know if I even did Skaldic Poetry correctly since it's super demanding (6 syllables per sentence with alliteration and specific syllable stresses? Brutal.)
Take the first word of the first sentence,
Second word of the second sentence,
and so forth:
Fengrkin's distant branch planted themselves here,
In valley here home to the stone warrior's daughter,
Her enemies raided in her still-young dreams.
Felag, she wished to join after proving herself.
Opportunity met her when an outlaw came to steal,
Brother, father at battle with thief soon to flight far away,
One knee to spear below the belt after an axe to his knee,
Her first kill, without din from the shamed man.
Friends invite her as a blooded warrior to an arena of ice,
She offer her would-be foes a chance at leaving with battle sweat unshed.
Dance of swords was demanded by her enemies' unrelenting greed for an axe.
A warrior ceases sleep when the insult becomes too much to bear,
Her axe-hands brings forth death with her grandfather's will to slice one asunder.
Find a Seeress to heal her friend plagued by curse most evil,
Friend's brother finds her as fellow felagi on raid to shores distant,
Pledge of huskarl he swears to her in gratitude for saving his brother,
While Felag strikes two on their raid onto the lands called Lotharinga.
Familiar to Vikingr the townsmen are as they do battle,
As fiends they fight with will not of their own,
Priest at breach, wielding men with less care than an archer their arrows,
Sending each men in to their doom with nary a thought for their lives.
Family's roof is crashed into by her fiery leap across the sky,
Her love for battle driving her onward as she strikes with atgeir to cleave a priest in two,
The Felag threatened no longer by men with minds bound like thralls by priest's magic.
Farm's the next destination of the Vikingr with it's blooming flowers and guardian Knight,
Their fury meeting and bringing swift ruin to his carefully tended garden,
His squire awakened to parry the Felag's flanking blow to his manor.
Fast does the Felag slay the squire's mounted horse with a bearswing of sword slicing off it's head,
Then terror comes to the squire as a great golden eagle slays his companion falcon,
Vikingr united comes towards the Knight upon a field of broken earth and tulip corpses,
But she speaks to the Felag's Jarl to suggest that the knight may yield the field still,
And Knight pays off foe with plunder so great their boat have not space to hold all the loot.
In valley here home to the stone warrior's daughter,
Her enemies raided in her still-young dreams.
Felag, she wished to join after proving herself.
Opportunity met her when an outlaw came to steal,
Brother, father at battle with thief soon to flight far away,
One knee to spear below the belt after an axe to his knee,
Her first kill, without din from the shamed man.
Friends invite her as a blooded warrior to an arena of ice,
She offer her would-be foes a chance at leaving with battle sweat unshed.
Dance of swords was demanded by her enemies' unrelenting greed for an axe.
A warrior ceases sleep when the insult becomes too much to bear,
Her axe-hands brings forth death with her grandfather's will to slice one asunder.
Find a Seeress to heal her friend plagued by curse most evil,
Friend's brother finds her as fellow felagi on raid to shores distant,
Pledge of huskarl he swears to her in gratitude for saving his brother,
While Felag strikes two on their raid onto the lands called Lotharinga.
Familiar to Vikingr the townsmen are as they do battle,
As fiends they fight with will not of their own,
Priest at breach, wielding men with less care than an archer their arrows,
Sending each men in to their doom with nary a thought for their lives.
Family's roof is crashed into by her fiery leap across the sky,
Her love for battle driving her onward as she strikes with atgeir to cleave a priest in two,
The Felag threatened no longer by men with minds bound like thralls by priest's magic.
Farm's the next destination of the Vikingr with it's blooming flowers and guardian Knight,
Their fury meeting and bringing swift ruin to his carefully tended garden,
His squire awakened to parry the Felag's flanking blow to his manor.
Fast does the Felag slay the squire's mounted horse with a bearswing of sword slicing off it's head,
Then terror comes to the squire as a great golden eagle slays his companion falcon,
Vikingr united comes towards the Knight upon a field of broken earth and tulip corpses,
But she speaks to the Felag's Jarl to suggest that the knight may yield the field still,
And Knight pays off foe with plunder so great their boat have not space to hold all the loot.
Then put them together, one sentence for each paragraph, to get the hidden poetry in my prose (which I tried to write in Skaldic Style):
Two Raids
Fengrkin's valley raided,
Felag, met at spear-din.
Friends offer sword's sleep forth,
Find brothers huskarl two.
Familiar fiends breach in,
Family's love threatened.
Farm's fury awakened,
Fast terror comes to foe.
Also, the first word of each sentence here (or first word of each paragraph in the preceding) combined corresponds to this:
Fengrkin's Felag, Felagi, Friends Find Familiar Family's Farm's Fast (Clan Volsung's felag, family, friends, sworn allies are protected as long as they are on the farm.)
(Fengrkin is a kenning for Clan Volsung here - Odin's Kin.)
Okay, I don't know if I even did Skaldic Poetry correctly since it's super demanding (6 syllables per sentence with alliteration and specific syllable stresses? Brutal.)
@Imperial Fister
This is an amazing work!, congrats. it looks like you put a lot of effort into it.
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
That I did.
I wanted to make a better version of the possible Runestone on our farm idea.
---
Finnish Cultivation looks really flexible. From what I understand its about commanding spirits? Access to a versatile-ish magic system is very good. It seems vaguely similar to Seidr from what I can tell.. I do have to wonder what's the 'power trait' used for Finnish Cultivation. Sten has a 'Haltija' score for his magic.
It seems Orthsirr is compatible with Finnish Cultivation. That's interesting. Do they advance on parallel tracks? Is it possible to develop both True Norse Cultivation and Finnish or other types of Cultivation at the same time? I suspect to some degree yes. There might be all kinds of powerful synergies from syncretism.
Of course it might be due to Blackhand's Finnish shenanigans that make it possible what with him having gotten the Skyforge's Fire and all. Who knows really. I don't think so, though.
...I can hear the - 1% Drifa mentee success chance there.
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- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I wonder if the big difference is it's not incompatible with Norse cultivation, and if on a long enough timescale could be combined into Scandinavian cultivation
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I think we're fine if we keep from using our other Aspects too quickly. We burned more Orthstirr on static fight-long effects than he expected, but he'll realize that what we paid for was worth it pretty quickly as he runs into our much bigger dice pool than we should have (we basically burned it to make up for using Punching Up, plus our static increases of course).
This assumes we do well otherwise, of course.
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
Odr exists beyond the 'Story'.
We should be careful in how we use this.
After all, we ourselves are a story. Twist our story, and we twist ourselves.
Sten has a certitude that he's gonna win this.
And man does he have way more tricks and tools than us. We need to get more tools for stuff like this!
Sten's Heart is the heart of the forge. Each pounding is the hammering of iron into shapes. Each breath he takes is the heat of The Forge emanated.
I wonder if it's more appropriate to call Sten, Sten Forgeheart/Forgebody. Of course Iskearauta roughly means Impact Iron, and is kind of a kenning anyway, so.
And Sten finds out about our Orthsirr issues.
Looks like Sten picked out Tracking Eyes as one of his Shapeshifts for this fight.
Ironbloom is really good for ranged combat.
Sten identifies us as having picked Fast-Twitch reflexes.
Unfortunately Sten knows every trick we showed in the fight against the Bandits.
Sten's spellcasting speed is really fast.
It means Wind strike of Slowing/Slowness, Halla. That should be obvious.
EWF EWF EWF!
I wonder if we can make a version of IAT that impedes rather than stops. That would be useful.
Blackhand really doesn't want to lose to his grandson! The help of an Old Master only goes so far though.
Sten has Fast Twitch and Tracking Eyes prepped. Another one if he has Hamr 8.
We've never seen Sten's Fylgja. I wonder if Finnish Cultivation is related to it/equivalent. Can we do magic with our Fylgja in spirit form? Probably not exactly.
/
Hey Blackhand,
1) What do you think about the Skald's story we heard back then? It was basically describing Horra..
a) Did you recognize that Skald as someone else, maybe in disguise?
2) Do Skalds have magical powers of some kind? Everything I learn tells me that they're even more important and powerful than imagined.
3) Do you know of any trick that would let you communicate without words, especially swiftly?
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"Hey, blackhand, is there a way to know who has Odr? We do have those red fire rings inour steely eyes when we use it, but anything else?"
I.F. Ister
Fortifying The Thread
- Pronouns
- He/They
Very, very cool!
I'll give you three Reward Dice and a trio of orthstirr, how's that sound?
'I think that there might have been more to that Skald than meets the eye. Shame he didn't stick around, I would've liked to ask him some questions.
As for the power of Skalds...
They make Twists.
Do not trifle with them, you will regret it.
...
As for your other question, I know of one way of talking without making noise. It is, unfortunately, Seidr so I cannot teach it to you, but I'll explain it anyways so you have something to look forwards to.
Eye-Speak consists of sending and receiving words through eye contact. It's not especially useful in the heat of combat, and both parties have to have it in order to communicate, but it is a way of doing it. I wasn't aware of it until a few years ago, but if there's a spirit inside someone then you can communicate with that spirit using Eye-Speak.'
'People with odr tend to have more weight to their actions, a certain gravitas about them. You'll know if you meet someone else with odr.'
0~0~0
Alrighty, I'm gonna close the voting now as I've got the same time constraints as yesterday. This will likely be true for the rest of the week, so sorry about that.
Hmm, so we should probably seek out a Skald if we want to learn how to make Twists (which we do).
And yeah, I figured the Skald was something more than human, the way they disappeared from the hall.
It sounds like the Seeress and the Witch both used Eye Speak to talk to Hallr.
And yeah, I figured the Skald was something more than human, the way they disappeared from the hall.
It sounds like the Seeress and the Witch both used Eye Speak to talk to Hallr.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This is well deserved. Note to everyone: If we can get 1 more Orthstirr we up our Odr gain from 7 to 8 next turn. I may see if inspiration strikes me on a poem...though the poem rush with trying to save everyone during the attack left me slightly bereft of topics that immediately strike me.
This is very interesting. I wonder what method they use? We can apparently do this with Odr, but most skalds can't be using that method, so I wonder what the alternative is?
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Pempelune
Fanfiction Deep State
I assume Skalds are another victory against the Enemy?
Btw, what happen to say, Tricks Blackhand know and can teach, but that we don't learn before Halla's death? Are they lost, or will Halr accompany Halla to the next host, or what?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
We know Hallr accompanies Halla on to the next host. And that one will accompany both of them to the next and so on. The voices in our PC's head just accumulate.
- Location
- Bretonnia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Huh. Skalds are storytellers. And we know that Twists are like... stories? Or something adjacent to them. Stating the obvious, but it's interesting to note... I don't really know what to do with said information, though. I wonder if it was some Skald ability that that Skald used to foretell Horra's downfall. Or perhaps he's a true Cultivator, and Skalds can interact with it somehow...? A big assumption, but who knows? Would we have still recognised him as a Cultivator back when we weren't one?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I suspect the guy who told the story of Horra was a God rather than 'merely' a skald. Though I suppose that likely makes him a True Cultivator by definition...
Alternatively, he was a seer as well as a skald. That's a scary combination to consider, isn't it?
Alternatively, he was a seer as well as a skald. That's a scary combination to consider, isn't it?
- Location
- Bretonnia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Not sure about the God part - can't disprove or prove it. But I did consider him being a Seer of some kind, yes.
I would bet that Skalds can create Tricks through stories and poetry. Thus, the skald might not have been predicting Horra's demise but stacking the deck to insure it would come to pass.
So, lets see, professions to get on a PC:
Shapecrafter, because its the bow to the arrow that is shapeshifting.
Seer(ess), because just knowing Seidr doesnt make you one.
Skald, because they make twists (and can probably read other's stories, to a degree. also, genre savvyness).
Berserker... Halla technically is one already, lets see how that pans out.
Jarl.... eh, we will see.
Smith and rune scriber... eh, why not?
Healer... not sure tbh, but shapecrafter could dable?
Anything else?
Shapecrafter, because its the bow to the arrow that is shapeshifting.
Seer(ess), because just knowing Seidr doesnt make you one.
Skald, because they make twists (and can probably read other's stories, to a degree. also, genre savvyness).
Berserker... Halla technically is one already, lets see how that pans out.
Jarl.... eh, we will see.
Smith and rune scriber... eh, why not?
Healer... not sure tbh, but shapecrafter could dable?
Anything else?
Honestly, it *was* kinda weird to pop it immediately, we had a good chunk left over even with how much we have bound up. Would have had to pop it second round when we got low, sure, but we could have gotten through round one just fine.
I mean, Jarl would be nice just because it's inherited and then we don't need to worry about picking it up ever again.
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