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NorseQuest (A Norse Xianxia)

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DeadmanwalkingXI said:
And, technically speaking, we hope the Weapon can break the Curse. If we actually knew it could, then the Curse would already be broken.
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Well, yeah, which is why I said 'supposedly'. I wonder how it was even made in the first place, or why our ancestors assume it can break the Curse. Well, I imagine it was made with the express purpose of breaking the Curse- although that's not a guarantee - but I don't believe the Weapon has actually ever been used to break the Curse, so they probably don't know for certain if it can.
 
Well, that's all fascinating. I'd actually assumed when I did my read-through that the Weapon was intended to like, break the omertà on Odr cultivation, not the curse of steel. Obviously got wires crossed.

Definitely seems like we kinda want to start investigating all this a bit further then, it seems really interesting and also quite closely linked to like, the main "plot" of the quest as it were.
 
Skippy said:
Well, that's all fascinating. I'd actually assumed when I did my read-through that the Weapon was intended to like, break the omertà on Odr cultivation, not the curse of steel. Obviously got wires crossed.

Definitely seems like we kinda want to start investigating all this a bit further then, it seems really interesting and also quite closely linked to like, the main "plot" of the quest as it were.
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It absolutely is. Our only leads, however, are way outside our weight class. Our best hope for one that won't kill us is Ironjaw dropping by to visit Solrun and his daughter, which we have no real control over. Other than that, we could go to where Blackhand died, but we've been warned that's dangerous as hell, or try to learn more about Steel from Sten, I guess, though persuading him to talk about it is not gonna be easy at all...

Now I'm thinking talking to Minna is an even better idea since it might give us an in there.
 
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Skippy said:
Definitely seems like we kinda want to start investigating all this a bit further then, it seems really interesting and also quite closely linked to like, the main "plot" of the quest as it were.
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Well, yeah, the win condition for the quest is breaking the Curse of Steel. Imperial also rates our progress on whether we acquire a piece of the Weapon, too. Not actually sure if beating the Enemy is a requirement, or if we'll be forced to beat the Enemy to complete the Weapon/break the Curse. Or if the Enemy is somehow tied to the Curse in such a way that breaking it would mean their defeat.

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
It absolutely is. Our only leads, however, are way outside our weight class. Our best hope for one that won't kill us is Ironjaw dropping by to visit Solrun and his daughter, which we have no real control over. Other than that, we could go to where Blackhand died, but we've been warned that's dangerous as hell.
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Ironjaw doesn't really have any reason to give us the part of the Weapon he has, especially since he seemed to hate Blackhand. I doubt he'll kill us, if only because the Seeress like us - although I'm not actually sure how close they are, now that I think about it - and Blackhand respects him, so I'd like to think that he enough scruples to prevent him from killing us just because we're related to Blackhand.
 
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Oh, yeah that's on me.

I misremembered things and thought that Steel would cause covetous killings on whoever had it as a weapon eventually so I wad wondering if that particular part could be subverted if people didn't think of it as a weapon like horseshoes.

The thought came to me due to Torsten's steel rimmed shield which is really weird in and of itself because the Norse don't really think of that as anything other than ablative consumables do my thought process was wondering if he wad trying to game the system.

That's definitely on me for not being all that clear though, apologies.
 
My impression is somewhat the opposite regarding the Weapon - it doesn't necessarily break the Curse everywhere, but when it hits a piece of Steel, the Steel stops being cursed (or stops being Steel?). What the Weapon can do for Norse culture is kill Steelfathers without leaving radioactive Steel-infused cultivator bodies around, and thus break Norse culture out of the stasis it's currently in due to the top dogs all being cursed immortals.

But we don't know what the Weapon is yet, beyond being in multiple pieces and "involving" Gram, so we'll see.
 
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
It absolutely is. Our only leads, however, are way outside our weight class. Our best hope for one that won't kill us is Ironjaw dropping by to visit Solrun and his daughter, which we have no real control over. Other than that, we could go to where Blackhand died, but we've been warned that's dangerous as hell, or try to learn more about Steel from Sten, I guess, though persuading him to talk about it is not gonna be easy at all...

Now I'm thinking talking to Minna is an even better idea since it might give us an in there.
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Well I'm thinking less about starting the Weapon Questline, and more about learning more about the Curse, which should logically give us some more insights into how the Weapon is intended to break it, etc.. It would also be nice to know if the negative effects from working with Steel are like "your cultivation is tainted and your day is ruined, good bye", or more like, bad karma, or something else, since right now we have absolutely no specifics AFAIK.

Talking to Minna seems like a really good idea yeah. There's clearly some backstory that Sten is hiding, and IIRC men might be looking for him, so I think something bad happened? It sounded a lot like his mentor in smithing also ended up dying as well? Minna seems to know a lot and also be worried about it, so talking to her would be a good way in.
 
Constenanto said:
Ironjaw doesn't really have any reason to give us the part of the Weapon he has, especially since he seemed to hate Blackhand. I doubt he'll kill us, if only because the Seeress like us - although I'm not actually sure how close they are, now that I think about it - and Blackhand respects him, so I'd like to think that he enough scruples to prevent him from killing us just because we're related to Blackhand.
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Actually, the impression I got was that he and Blackhand were close friends (that time he killed Blackhand aside, anyway). But no, there's a 0% chance he gives us his part of The Weapon any time in the near future...but he might be willing to talk about it or let us examine it or things like that, which would still be progress.

Skippy said:
Well I'm thinking less about starting the Weapon Questline, and more about learning more about the Curse, which should logically give us some more insights into how the Weapon is intended to break it, etc.. It would also be nice to know if the negative effects from working with Steel are like "your cultivation is tainted and your day is ruined, good bye", or more like, bad karma, or something else, since right now we have absolutely no specifics AFAIK.
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Well, Sten has made Steel, and his cultivation seems stable, so if it causes problems there they aren't unsolvable. The problem with this is that Sten is our only real source and he agrees Steel is messed up shit and is utterly unwilling to teach anyone, especially his little sister, how to make it. Which is fine, except that I'm pretty sure the knowledge we want about Steel and the knowledge of how to make it are so intertwined they can't be separated.

Skippy said:
Talking to Minna seems like a good idea - there's also clearly some backstory that Sten is hiding, and IIRC men might be looking for him, so I think something bad happened? It sounded a lot like his mentor in smithing also ended up dying as well.
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Yeah, we think Minna is his mentor's daughter, and also not entirely human, and that said mentor died badly and Sten had to fight his way out and retreated here for safety due to lack of options. But most of that is speculation except for the last bit. Getting more info seems good.
 
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DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Well, Sten has made Steel, and his cultivation seems stable, so if it causes problems there they aren't unsolvable. The problem with this is that Sten agrees Steel is messed up shit and is utterly unwilling to teach anyone, especially his little sister, how to make it. Which is fine, except that I'm pretty sure the knowledge we want about Steel and the knowledge of how to make it are so intertwined they can't be separated.
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a) It could be weakening him, that he would be a bigger badass if he wasn't affected.
b) Finnish cultivation isn't repressed by the Enemy and Steel only hurts cultivation that is repressed by the enemy (i.e. Norse)
 
DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Well, Sten has made Steel, and his cultivation seems stable, so if it causes problems there they aren't unsolvable. The problem with this is that Sten is our only real source and he agrees Steel is messed up shit and is utterly unwilling to teach anyone, especially his little sister, how to make it. Which is fine, except that I'm pretty sure the knowledge we want about Steel and the knowledge of how to make it are so intertwined they can't be separated.
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Yeah, it's very much the sort of issue where, if you want to learn how to defend against bioweapons, or search for nuclear weapons projects, you need at least a working knowledge of how to produce bioweapons or enrich uranium yourself, in order to know what to look out for. Even just to fight against Steel and continue our quest, not to make it ourselves, we need to know more of its secrets.

DeadmanwalkingXI said:
Yeah, we think Minna is his mentor's daughter, and also not entirely human, and that said mentor died badly and Sten had to fight his way out and retreated here for safety due to lack of options. But most of that is speculation except for the last bit. Getting more info seems good.
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Given we've already heard of "Ilmarinen's Fire" being used by Hallr, we have one potential cadidate for who would fit the profile of being a legendary Finnish smith, but it also seems uh, kind of bad if he's dead? Or perhaps her dad was an elf, they can be pretty skilled smiths as well in Norse mythology.
 
Toboe said:
a) It could be weakening him, that he would be a bigger badass if he wasn't affected.
b) Finnish cultivation isn't repressed by the Enemy and Steel only hurts cultivation that is repressed by the enemy (i.e. Norse)
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A is possible but unlikely, he seems quite powerful given his age and profession. B is very unlikely to the point of impossibility since we've been told the Steel problem is global.

Skippy said:
Yeah, it's very much the sort of issue where, if you want to learn how to defend against bioweapons, or search for nuclear weapons projects, you need at least a working knowledge of how to produce bioweapons or enrich uranium yourself, in order to know what to look out for. Even just to fight against Steel and continue our quest, not to make it ourselves, we need to know more of its secrets.
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Yup. All of which makes convincing people to teach us about it rather difficult.

Skippy said:
Given we've already heard of "Ilmarinen's Fire" being used by Hallr, we have one potential cadidate for who would fit the profile of being a legendary Finnish smith, but it also seems uh, kind of bad if he's dead? Or perhaps her dad was an elf, they can be pretty skilled smiths as well in Norse mythology.
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I think an elf taught by Ilmarinen is more likely than the god himself, yeah.
 
...Huh, I was just looking around, and I wonder if the curse/secret of steel is something along the lines of what the article below is discussing.

Article:

Vikings unwittingly made their swords stronger by trying to imbue them with spirits

They didn't know it, but the rituals of Iron Age Scandinavians turned their iron into steel.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
  • Iron Age Scandinavians only had access to poor quality iron, which put them at a tactical disadvantage against their neighbors.
  • To strengthen their swords, smiths used the bones of their dead ancestors and animals, hoping to transfer the spirit into their blades.
  • They couldn't have known that in so doing, they actually were forging a rudimentary form of steel.

Article Cont. ->


If Steel is actually made by taking ash from the bones of the dead and forging iron with it, it could neatly explain everything we know about it. The ash of dead bones is essentially death taken to its most reduced form, hence Steel is permenant and unchanging because death cannot die. It obviously explains why it's cursed because duh, profane death-based ritual magic. It also neatly explains why mortal wounds from Steel weapons deliver complete bodily death, because they're literally imbued with the essence of death.

Going by this theory, Steelfathers are probably running the process backwards, taking Steel and instead putting it back into their bones, attempting to ward against death by imbuing themselves with some of its power. .
 
IIRC there was definitely a statement from @Imperial Fister to the effect that the Enemy does not stop the secret of Steel being spread in the way it tries to with Odr cultivation, and does not care. I remember coming across it when I was searching the thread for "Steel" before.

Also @Imperial Fister, if it's not too much of a hint, I'd love to know if I got anywhere close with my guess/theory up above, or if I'm wildly off track haha
 
Skippy said:
...Huh, I was just looking around, and I wonder if the curse/secret of steel is something along the lines of the article below?
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Man that article's title really grinds my gears.

It wasn't unwitting! They just didn't have the technology to learn the truth behind why it worked, so they tried their best to explain it with the worldview they had! AGHH

Talking to Minna is a good idea.
Alectai said:
It's a big-ass magical laser that just goes 'Fuck everything in a line from my outstretched hands"
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Probably something with seidr, honestly.
Constenanto said:
'Hey, Blackhand, what do you know of Steel?'
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'Not a lot. It hurts to be hit by it, though. I feel like I once knew more, but I have unfortunately forgotten.'
Shard said:
Hmm.. IRL forging Iron used charcoal and other sources of carbon for heat, which should have given it some layering of Steel if we equated to Xianxiaverse Iron. I.. actually wonder if like, Steel in Norse Xianxia is like, not actually Steel? As in, if you can charcoal and coal to Iron and performed all the steps that you need to make Steel IRL in Norse Xianxia, you would just wind up with maybe Forged Iron+, not Steel.
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Because it will literally never come up in story, what the NorseQuest Norse call Forged Iron is what we would call steel.
Skippy said:
Also @Imperial Fister, if it's not too much of a hint, I'd love to know if I got anywhere close with my guess/theory up above, or if I'm wildly off track haha
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Are you willing to sacrifice your reward dice in exchange for the power of knowledge?

Constenanto said:
Well, yeah, the win condition for the quest is breaking the Curse of Steel.
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Not quite. You win by defeating the Enemy.

0~0~0

I'm pretty sure I missed a few ask blackhands/other question while trawling through. If I did, my bad, please point them out to me.

Also, lmao I am in no condition for writing so the likelihood of an update today is not great, sorry about that. I'll go ahead and call the voting now, though, just so I can give you the dangling thread. Does that sound good to everyone?
 
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Sure! I'll never say no to more Lore!

Huh, I didn't know though that Seidr apparently has straight up battle magic too. That's an interesting surprise.

Unrelated note, now that we're starting that line, tell me, does Seidr (At least in the sense of actual Sorcery as opposed to just home-warding and rote understanding) unlock a new stat? Kind of like how Sten had a "Magic" stat in his character sheet in the form of Halitja?
 
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Alectai said:
Unrelated note, now that we're starting that line, tell me, does Seidr (At least in the sense of actual Sorcery as opposed to just home-warding and rote understanding) unlock a new stat? Kind of like how Sten had a "Magic" stat in his character sheet in the form of Halitja?
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It does not unlock a new attribute.

0~0~0

Alright, voting is now closed.

The plot thread is that the rock you cultivate on under the ash tree is the same sort of rock that serves as the front door to the dwarves' underhouse. I'll let you draw conclusions from there, but I think that that's a solid push in the right direction.
Scheduled vote count started by Imperial Fister on Jun 13, 2023 at 8:39 PM, finished with 145 posts and 33 votes.
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Imperial Fister said:
It does not unlock a new attribute.

0~0~0

Alright, voting is now closed.

The plot thread is that the rock you cultivate on under the ash tree is the same sort of rock that serves as the front door to the dwarves' underhouse. I'll let you draw conclusions from there, but I think that that's a solid push in the right direction.
Scheduled vote count started by Imperial Fister on Jun 13, 2023 at 8:39 PM, finished with 145 posts and 33 votes.
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...

Okay, that would have been hard to notice, yeesh.
 
Imperial Fister said:
Unless I'm misremembering, I believe Halla did say that the dwarves' front door reminded her of her cultivation spot, just alive instead of dead.
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I mean, you did, but the real signpost was the weird trees set in a circle, which is what I thought was the dealy. Not the rock.

Anyway, that aside, how many 'Attributes' does a fully mature Norse Cultivator actually have then? Is it just the ones we can already see or does anything new ever show up?
 
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Hmm, can recall be used for things other than physical objects Fister? Like memories or spiritual stuff? Can we recall things into our soulscape from the outside world?
 
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