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Is this considered a scummy move?
Nah. It's conceptionally the same as hiding an axe behind a shield or slipping rocks under your shirt.
Of course, we could just kill them dead, OR just get a ton of Orthsirr afterwards..
Norsemen do not die when they are killed
Sadly, I think we needed to pay taxes at the end of the year, but the money has not been deducted. Unless we got a year off from taxes for doing the Headman a favor?
We'll say he gave you a break
 
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[X] He goes to Vestfold with his father
-[X] Tell him we're coming to visit Vestfold in the next few years (though he should keep it quiet as we do have enemies about in those parts), and will see him then and would welcome him joining us at that time if he wants to.
[X] Go to the Seeress and begin learning seidr
 
Norsemen do not die when they are killed
We can just keep killing them until their Fated Day comes! >:|

Incidentally, Halla, do you know where, or how, Standstill is represented on your Saemd or Virthing?
We'll say he gave you a break
"Well, it would be kind of scummy to tax her this year when her farm got demolished, and I gave her Wavedancer at the end of the year, too.. "
 
Huh.

Hey Blackhand, have you ever heard or ever gotten the impression of a Steelfather ever using Odr or ever having Odr in the span of your life?

###

What I'm wondering is. Is Steelfather and the Curse of Steel a cultivation system that the Norse System built 'over'?
 
What I'm wondering is. Is Steelfather and the Curse of Steel a cultivation system that the Norse System built 'over'?

I'm very skeptical. Cultivation systems, when working properly, don't dead-end the way Steelfathers do. The Norse system could be built on the bones of, like, the system the Foemen use and thus the Enemy, but not Steel-based stuff.
 
Would Runar and Aki be treated any better in Vestfold? Like, here we can actually help them both - in terms of companionship and actual goods - but I don't see why Vestfold would treat Aki any different... and there, he'd only have his father, too.

[X] Go to the Seeress and begin learning seidr
 
Would Runar and Aki be treated any better in Vestfold? Like, here we can actually help them both - in terms of companionship and actual goods - but I don't see why Vestfold would treat Aki any different... and there, he'd only have his father, too.

They've got more family there. I mean, Runar is explicitly moving there because his cousins live there. If they actually treat Aki like family, it'd be an improvement. The doubt lies in that 'if'.
 
Oh, okay. I mean, I expect they'll still get help. There's no guarantee that Aki will actually be liked, though...

Yep. It's a bit of a gamble...I'm voting the way I am because I think, in the end, if he stays with us Aki will always wonder about the alternative, but with no good way to make the other choice, and will regret the time not spent with his father. If he goes, there are two possibilities:

1. Things are legitimately better. Maybe not good, but better all things considered. This would be good for Aki.
2. Things are not better. In which case in, like, a bit over two years from now (timeline approximate...could be less, could be a bit more, all depending on circumstance) when he's 17 and an adult, we'll be visiting Vestfold and he'll have the opportunity to come away with us. So they're likely somewhat worse, but not for a huge length of time all things considered, and he doesn't need to regret the road not taken (plus, we avoid pissing off Runar as much...I suspect he'll be more okay with Aki going off with us as an adult and after being treated shabbily by his cousins than he would be about him staying behind now).

Even if things are a bit better, he may still come with us, depending on the situation. We'd happily let him come on trading missions and raids, after all, something others might be more reluctant to do (stupidly, Aki's a very useful person in dangerous situations and will only become more so with more combat training). Aki doesn't want to stay purely a farmer, so I think he's likely to join us long-term even if he heads off to Vestfold now because I'm skeptical other people will give him the opportunity to pursue a warrior's path. We will.
 
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Well, that was a rollercoaster, emotionally....
While frami stokes your ambition and virthing feeds your active nature, saemd hones the both of them to a calmer, friendlier edge!

'Saemd is a crown, makes sense that it directs frami and virthing.'
So, Frami is ambition, Virthing is activity and Saemd is serenity?
Guess the trick testing would have needed another dice?
As you dig the first of the fencepost holes, a sense of rightness falls over you. That feeling stays with you as you dig the rest of the holes, only going away when you finish the job.
Fence posts.... so, its the good old farm fences, not the tight packed stone wall? Makes sense though, we just need something to mark the border, i assume...
A gaggle of your younger siblings, nieces, and nephews scampers by as you make your way towards your father. Drifa is at the head of the flailing mass of flying knees and bony elbows, which quickly devolves into a ferocious fur ball of 'violence'.
War, war never ends :V
"When iron is damaged, it is fixed after it swings."
Beautiful.
Might be simple and direct, but its a good reminder to not overthink runes if we don't need to.

The farming dice is nice, and i would really like to spend that 8 on only farming related things.
The aspect reading... that is interesting. and sad. oh so very sad....
i know its morbid, but we gotta make sure to survive Steinarr. can't have him break even more....
"You're better than that, Halla," He sneers, "so don't bullshit me. I've not grown an inch since I was twelve. What, are my eyes gonna suddenly start working?"
I am sad for him leaving... but we can nag him to train his Hamr to unlock shapeshifting, fixing his eye and become taller manually :V
Also, when does he leaven? this or next turn?
Because if its next turn, we gotta make a party and give them gifts!
Obviously, he goes with his dad, family is important. and he can come visit us later too.
While exploring through the fields, your owl stumbles across some rather odd tracks. They belong to some kind of animal, by the looks of things. It's got paws ending in six long claws. Big too, if the depth of the pawprint is anything to go off of.
6 clawed paws, and big body....
*googles it*
Bear? Nah... that can't be... right?
IF, Halla would recognize a bear paw print, right? Her clasp from virthiing has one too, after all....
Or do we need the tracking skill trick for that?

[X] He goes to Vestfold with his father
[X] Go to the Seeress and begin learning seidr
 
@Imperial Fister, werent we going to train sword Slash and Sword Stab also? I only see Sword Guard and Sword Strike. Also, last turn we were going to talk to eric also, it was in the plan list, but I think you skipped it by mistake.
@DeadmanwalkingXI , I dont see sword Strike in the plan, so where did it come from?
Edit: Ok I see where the Sword Strike came from. Sorry for asking, but I completely missed the post where it was said that they would be combined. I got it now.
 
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6 clawed paws, and big body....
*googles it*
Bear? Nah... that can't be... right?
IF, Halla would recognize a bear paw print, right? Her clasp from virthiing has one too, after all....
Or do we need the tracking skill trick for that?

[X] He goes to Vestfold with his father
[X] Go to the Seeress and begin learning seidr

There doesn't seem to be any natural animals that are both large and have six claws on each paw.

There's some smaller animals that have six claws, but the only big one is a six-clawed bear which seems to exist but I can't find anything that actually talks about them except as something mentioned as part of an aside.
 
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Nah. It's conceptionally the same as hiding an axe behind a shield or slipping rocks under your shirt.
My impression is that a lot of this stuff is governed by the rule that you're allowed to be cunning, you're just not allowed to be chickening out of a fight.

(Plus a lot that's just completely arbitrary! :p )

Fence posts.... so, its the good old farm fences, not the tight packed stone wall? Makes sense though, we just need something to mark the border, i assume...
A fieldstone wall might be an upgrade, but you'd need to have the rocks just lying around. I don't know if Halla's soulscape has that.
 
My impression is that a lot of this stuff is governed by the rule that you're allowed to be cunning, you're just not allowed to be chickening out of a fight.

(Plus a lot that's just completely arbitrary! :p )

A fieldstone wall might be an upgrade, but you'd need to have the rocks just lying around. I don't know if Halla's soulscape has that.

We can bring them in from the outside, it's only Living Things that we can't actually transfer into the Soulscape (Or things that have the potential to live)
 
There doesn't seem to be any natural animals that are both large and have six claws on each paw.

There's some smaller animals that have six claws, but the only big one is a six-clawed bear which seems to exist but I can't find anything that actually talks about them except as something mentioned as part of an aside.
same. other animal i specifically saw being called out are cats with a mutation.
A fieldstone wall might be an upgrade, but you'd need to have the rocks just lying around. I don't know if Halla's soulscape has that.
I mean, there is Fyjgla Import :V
but if stone wall truly is an upgrade... can we try serpentine walls?
 
We can bring them in from the outside, it's only Living Things that we can't actually transfer into the Soulscape (Or things that have the potential to live)
Fair. On the other hand, that's still a lot of rocks and a lot of work to Tetris them all together into a proper fieldstone fence. I can totally relate to Halla deciding to go for something with fenceposts instead.
 
Fence posts.... so, its the good old farm fences, not the tight packed stone wall? Makes sense though, we just need something to mark the border, i assume...

This might also go back to not having the Security Design Skill-Trick. One of several reasons I'd like to pick it up before continuing.

The farming dice is nice, and i would really like to spend that 8 on only farming related things.

We should be able to do at least 6 of them on farming stuff per turn, there's a bunch of it (Farmwork, Labor, Design, Management, the two Farmwork Tricks mentioned, the three Design Skill-Tricks, which we need all of, and so on). We'll certainly be spending more than the 40 dice he's providing over the rest of the year on farm-related things, so thematically we're set I think.
 
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That's not the vibe I've gotten from them to be honest. It's not Runar who says things like that, it's literally everyone else. From what we've seen Runar is supportive of his son, it's just that having literally only one supportive person in your whole life is not really sufficient. We've tried to provide more, and have managed it in ourselves, but Abjorn is quiet and not even our other friends always manage to be supportive (Stigr is kind of a dick to Aki a lot of the time, for example, though we call him on it).

Now, this kind of relationship isn't impossible, as we've only met his father a few times, and don't see them alone together, but from what we can tell all of Aki's issues seem to be based on the entire society he's living in wanting him to be the imaginary able-bodied man he isn't (which it definitely does), not specifically his father.

In particular, there've been some hints that Aki, and his father continuing to care for him, is part of the reason that his father has been unable to get remarried or make a lot of friends, which is part of why their farm is severely understaffed and was struggling before the livestock infusion we gave them. There have been no hints that his father blames him for that, but he's a smart kid and literally has psychic visions, so he knows. That's enough to hit him hard in the confidence even if his dad is great about it.
Yeah, like, if I felt for an instant Runar was a bad father, I'd have chosen otherwise, but by all indications, it's a very close relationship.

I fully admit that I could be off-base here, it was just my gut read. To expand a little...

I would note that it's quite possible for Runar both care about his son, possibly even rely on him emotionally, and still constantly make Aski aware of his shortcomings; it's why I said "co-dependent", not "abusive". It's a pretty common dynamic. The particular bits which especially inclined me towards this were the fact that Aski mentions his mother's death in his reasons, and this not an external social stigma. Now of course it would make sense that Aski has deep personal feelings about it, but the fact that he lists it as a reason to stay with his father implies he associates his mother's death with a sense of obligation or guilt; or there would be no reason to bring it up.

Furthermore, we know from the vote that Runar will be angry if Aski does not come with him, which is an odd reaction for a parent who wants their child to flourish and become independent. At a minimum, it implies a degree of overprotectiveness; Runar does not think Aski can thrive and succeed on his own as an adult man in Norse society. (It also possibly indicates that Runar relies a lot on Aski emotionally for comfort and does not want to lose him, which is understandable, but again see "co-dependency".) The way Aski said his father was angry during his disappearance also made me suspect that this is a household where Aski is often aware keenly of his father's temper.

Lastly, note that Runar did not come and thank us for voyaging into the underworld to save his son. When you think about it for a second, that's actually pretty extraordinary! It's an odd reaction for a parent who really loves their child and should be overjoyed to get them back. There are two possible interpretations here; either he's a prick, or he's so overprotective that he was furious at us for getting Aski into danger in the first place. Neither is great.

So yeah, on consideration, playing Internet Psychologist I think it's possible their relationship is more on the "co-dependent, overprotective" end of the spectrum rather than "co-dependent, constantly belittling". But it's certainly not healthy, or letting Aski become an independent adult. Even if we really do think Runar is a saint, which is not my reading, and that Aski's guilt and feelings of obligation are all internal - that's a lot of guilt for a young man to have to bear, so is it really doing him any favours staying wallowing in it?

It's possible that in the end, something like your write-in is the better course, because Aski needs to actually decide for himself to leave, rather than staying with us having and having guilt towards his father loom over him for the next few years. If he's feeling caught between two obligations and two strong senses of guilt right now, maybe the kindest thing we can do is absolve him of his sense of obligation to us and say that he's free to go. This is something his father, notably, is clearly not willing to do.

But I do worry about how he'll fare cut off from his friends.
 
[X] He goes to Vestfold with his father
-[X] Go with your father, but please do me one favor: Remember that you are better than they give you credit for. When i get to Vestfold to deal with family business in a year or two we can exchange stories! And if you decide to travel again as an adult, my adventures will always have a place for you! Odin paid one eye for wisdom, make life give you the wisdom it owes you for the eyes it took!
 
Fair. On the other hand, that's still a lot of rocks and a lot of work to Tetris them all together into a proper fieldstone fence. I can totally relate to Halla deciding to go for something with fenceposts instead.
Yeah, i see why it makes sense, but I'd prefer to to spend more to get it right.
We are planning to have Halla be long lived enough to see her kids into adulthood, afterall.
 
Yep, and also, the better your foundation, the better the gains usually. Committing like, 4 dice per turn on that project seems doable.
 
Yeah, i see why it makes sense, but I'd prefer to to spend more to get it right.
We are planning to have Halla be long lived enough to see her kids into adulthood, afterall.
Sure, but on the other hand, it's hard to say whether a rail fence is "wrong" and a fieldstone wall is "right" in context. After all, this may be more about the symbolism than anything else, the fieldstone wall of rocks brought in from outside may not actually be stronger... There's a lot going on here and I'm not going to judge.
 
Fair. On the other hand, that's still a lot of rocks and a lot of work to Tetris them all together into a proper fieldstone fence. I can totally relate to Halla deciding to go for something with fenceposts instead.
Yeah, i see why it makes sense, but I'd prefer to to spend more to get it right.
We are planning to have Halla be long lived enough to see her kids into adulthood, afterall.

Given @Imperial Fister has said "fence" the last two times we asked him about this, I don't think we should necessarily assume that waiting until we can build the City Wall of Minas Tirith is the right way to go about this.

Constantly tinkering with your soul-farm's perimeters might be the intended method of cultivation; this is notably much closer to how farm walls actually work, where maintaining, and changing fences and walls as the farm expands is an omnipresent chore for farmers.

We don't know, which means we need to find out, rather than making assumptions.
 
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