I wonder if The Enemy is symbolically Odr. Odr in itself is random and very destructive. But when you shape Odr, it becomes productive and useful. The Enemy when alive was very very random. The Enemy, being used as parts to create Midgard and all.. productive.
Uh, really? I don't know much about Ymir when it comes to his personality to be honest, but I'd expect him to be as random as any other person... or, well, god-thing-giant person.
Uh, really? I don't know much about Ymir when it comes to his personality to be honest, but I'd expect him to be as random as any other person... or, well, god-thing-giant person.
They basically just spawned all sorts of things essentially at random. Or perhaps, more his blood? Odr is red in color, after all.
###
Does Odin have brothers (Vili, Ve) in this setting? What about the first cow, and Bestla, and Bolborn? I wonder if they will show up.. or if they're dead.
Honestly I don't know. But if the color of Odr can change based on Orthsirr, well, then that is extremely notable information because it implies Odr being shaped by Orthsirr (or Aspects?) If it doesn't, it's also notable information, implying Odr universality. Then there's also whether the Odr outside is different from the Odr inside - I suspect 'yes'.
Honestly I don't know. But if the color of Odr can change based on Orthsirr, well, then that is extremely notable information because it implies Odr being shaped by Orthsirr (or Aspects?) If it doesn't, it's also notable information, implying Odr universality. Then there's also whether the Odr outside is different from the Odr inside - I suspect 'yes'.
Without the color question, I do think that there is a very good chance there is wild Odr and ... "tamed" Odr? "personalized" Odr?
The gate is pen for a fraction of a single heartbeat, releasing energy.
So potentially it is fractional true cultuvation.
Then the energy is guided by the user Orthstirr to heal.
"That is only to be expected," her words cut your thoughts off at the head, "after all, if you did know, then I would be very surprised. The very basics behind the inner workings of Stabilizing Palm is that it, very briefly, unlatches a sort of 'gate' inside the recipient." Your eyes snap wide as she continues, "The gate is open for only a fraction of a single heartbeat, but it serves as enough of a shock to a dying man's body that it oftentimes restarts the heart all on its own. After that, the user's orthstirr guides the power released by the gate towards fixing any mortal injuries. There's a lot more to it than that, like with establishing a connection to the Dark Forest and solidifying the pathways and making sure that the soul doesn't get obliterated by the power beyond the gate, but that is the utter basics of Stabilizing Palm — and seidr as a whole, for that matter."
She squints as Blackhand can't stop chuckling. "The gate? It's the gate between the the soul and what lies beyond, the inside and the outside. If you are alive, if you can create, you have a gate." She hiss through her teeth as she considers the next question. "Nothing good, I can assure you. The energy is naturally chaotic and, when introduced to a space as naturally orderly as the soul, the results can be... rather explosive, in a spiritual sense." She's speaking from experience here, that much is obvious. Probably not a good idea to pry, though.
So maybe cultivation is letting a limited amount of wild Odr into yourself and turning it into your personal Odr.
With the woven aspects being what does the personalizing.
Cultivating more than our aspects allow then would be letting wild Odr into our soul, with the result being true death, or "rather explosive, spiritually" as Solrun puts it. The experience she is speaking from could be seeing that happen to someone else.
I wonder if The Enemy is symbolically Odr. Odr in itself is random and very destructive. But when you shape Odr, it becomes productive and useful. The Enemy when alive was very very random. The Enemy, being used as parts to create Midgard and all.. productive.
I personally don't buy it. Even your own Odr isn't exactly tame, and more importantly the characterization is off. Odr is inspiration and madness. The Enemy is, like, the opposite of that, it is stagnation and ignorance, or at least those are its weapons of choice. If the Enemy is Ymir then Odr might originate from them (like everything else), but it is definitely no longer a part of them. Heck, maybe that's part of why they dislike it so much: It is a deeply integral thing that was taken from them, that they no longer have access to in the least way, and thus deeply resent those who use it.
Honestly I don't know. But if the color of Odr can change based on Orthsirr, well, then that is extremely notable information because it implies Odr being shaped by Orthsirr (or Aspects?) If it doesn't, it's also notable information, implying Odr universality. Then there's also whether the Odr outside is different from the Odr inside - I suspect 'yes'.
This, however seems likely to be correct, yes. Color (which I too am unsure of) aside, I'm pretty sure Toboe is on the right track with personalized Odr and 'free-range' Odr being quite different. I do think the terms 'wild' and 'tamed' are inappropriate and that thinking of our personalized Odr as tamed would be a dangerous mistake, but that's a relatively minor quibble.
Inspiration is the fire that keeps people from just repeating the same day in, day out all the time. It's wild and elemental, but that doesn't mean it's useless.\
"Knows about Odr" and "Is a True Cultivator" are apparently two very different categories, as we've just learned.
As far as Seidkhona are concerned, Odr is a poison that can be remedy if it's controlled very closely, but becoming a True Cultivator requires you to open the gate wide and then close it again afterwards. AKA "You have to do something Very Stupid and walk away from it intact."
And Seidkhona tend to work alone, or in small groups, because most people don't get their business. So you don't have that safety net anymore. The very culture discourages the kind of environment you need to have in order to become a True Cultivator--so even if they try, they tend to Just Die. (Not helped apparently by the fact that they rarely are able to legally hold land, and therefore can't do the 'Safer' initiation)
...
*fade from black*
Welcome and good evening! This is the most popular gameshow in the north! "Daurg or wildlife?"
Tonight's constentant is no else that the rising star, or, should i say, rising flame? Hallaaaa Skyfireeee!
Today's episode was sponsored by Gary Tuskpuncher and his lovely wife and their incredible cheesy breadsticks!
But lets not talk this whole night through, and see what happens! Carl, if you would, to tonights main event....
*fade to black*
Probably not. He basically said Shapecrafting was a mystery to him, and he wouldn't say that (or not truthfully anyway, and he had little reason to lie at the time) if he were initiated into seidr and Odr's smaller uses, and we apparently can recognize other True Odr Cultivators on sight, so we know he's not one of those.
This isn't exactly true. Halla's dowry being in the form of land is pretty normal, so women holding land isn't that unusual. It's hard to arrange for someone specific unless they're your daughter, though. To initiate a seeress or something it also involves someone being willing to marry a serious Seidkhona which may be a sticking point.
[X] Plan Well Rounded Herd
-[X] Quality 5 (80 silver oz.)
-[X] Food 4 (40 silver oz.)
-[X] Goods 4 (40 silver oz.)
-[X] Silver 4 (40 silver oz.)
[X] You have a lot to think about, it's time to go home
0~0~0
A handshake seals the deal and the livestock will be delivered in the coming days. You made out with some solid deals, all things considered, so there is a little something of a spring in your step as you make your way home.
It's only evening, so you're not especially worried with encountering anything truly terrible on the roads. Still, you keep a hand on Ashen Kiss and a watchful eye turned to the woods as you walk along the site of your battle against the draugr. A careful vikingr is a long-lived vikingr, after all.
A sharp chill sweeps through the trees and brushes against your skin — the kiss of the deepest parts of the Hading. But even as its embrace washes over your body, you stand proud and firm. You are not that terrified, shriveling girl that once walked those woods.
No! You are Halla Skyfire and no tree nor forest shall keep you from your goals!
The ground squishes under your shoe as snow-turned-mud gives way for your passage. You foot neatly nestles into a footprint — a footprint that wasn't there two heartbeats ago.
Your brows furrow as your fingers tighten around Ashen Kiss' wooden handle. Your eyes dart around the landscape. They trace the shallow, rock-filled slope and follow the thinly forested tree-line the borders the muddy path as you search for the unknown-yet-felt enemy.
'I recognize this place,' the evening air adds a sort of solemn weight to Blackhand's slowly spoken words as a swirling vortex of gentle wind bats playfully at your hair.
As if conjured by his speech, more footprints press themselves into the mud. Two pairs of shoeprints come dancing in from the tree line, across the road, down the slope, and then back up to do it all over again. Scars carve into the earth as a patch of claw blackens as if scorched by some invisible fire. Sparks fall from unseen, clashing blades as wisps swirl about the battlefield.
Old stumps are made by the pair of ferociously battling specters — each step taken further solidifying their spectral forms in the evening sun. A casual swipe rips trees from the ground roots and all. A surge of power leaves a small pond in its wake. All the while twin outlines of silvery bodies emerge from the past.
With drums pounding in your ears, you breathlessly watch as, for a brief moment, a sword solidifies enough for you to see how the guard flows like the wings of a crow.
And then, as quickly has it started, the battling specters vanish deeper into the woods.
But while the unerring passage of untold decades have washed away the footprints and sword-strokes and stretches of melted clay, the craters-turned pools and ancient stumps of once-towering trees yet remain — the final testament to a battle once fought.
'When present turns to past, the earth remembers the passage. If one is lucky, one may even witness the retelling of those tales themselves.'
"Blackhand," you whisper as rain begins to fall from the heavens, "what sword did you use while fighting Hasvir?"
'I wielded Crowfeeder.'
The rain slicks your hair to your head as you turn your gaze towards the deepest parts of the forest. Somewhere, deep in the heart of the Hading, is where Hallr Blackhand killed Hasvir Hadinghero.
Though you know not the reason, your heart urges you on to find it.
(Journal Entry Added: The Heart of the Hading)
0~0~0
Personal (Pick 2/3, if no Exploration is picked):
[ ] (Wedding) It's finally time for Asva and Jordan to get married!
-[ ] (Optional Write In) Pick a wedding gift for them
[ ] (Playdates) Set up a playdate between one/multiple of your kids and one/multiple of other kids. (Write in)
[ ] (Wavedancer) Check out your new ship!
[ ] (Empty Sack) ...Maybe you should try stuffing that empty sack full of straw?
[ ] (Violent) Pick a fight or spar with... (Sparring with people reveals a summery of their character sheets)
-[ ] Spar with Abjorn, your husband
-[ ] Spar with Gabriel, without armor
--[ ] (Optional) With armor
-[ ] Spar with Stigmar
-[ ] Spar with Stigr
-[ ] Spar with Aki
-[ ] Someone else (Write in)
[ ] (Personal) Spend time with... (Write in)
[ ] (Shopping) Ask Abjorn to buy something for you (Write in) (Can only be used to buy or sell things you are already aware of and cannot haggle)
[ ] (Court) Send Abjorn to make a case at the Thing (Write in)
[ ] (Crafting) Try to make something (Write in) (Hugr+Some kind of crafting skill)
-[ ] (Optional) Focus on repairing something (Write in)
[ ] (Poetry) Try to realize an Inspiration (Write in one of your Inspirations)
0~0~0
Exploration/Travel (Pick 1 or none):
[ ] (Visit) Go visit... (Unavailable)
-[ ] The Witch!
-[ ] Asvir!
--[ ] (Optional) Attend the Thing
-[ ] Vidby, Vidar's Farm
-[ ] Kerby, Stigr's Farm
-[ ] Buriby, Osborn's Farm (Has a solid chance of ending in a fight)
-[ ] Glebby, Sverre's Farm
-[ ] Runby, Aki's Farm
-[ ] Hasviby, Hasvir's Farm
-[ ] Halfdanby, Halfdan's Farm
[ ] (Exploration) Go on a walk through...
-[ ] The fields!
--[ ] (Optional) Send your fylgja in your place (Does not cost an action)
-[ ] The Hading!
--[ ] (Optional) Try to find those bandits you heard about
--[ ] (Optional) Send your fylgja in your place (Does not cost an action)
--[ ] (Optional) Head deeper in, searching for the innermost depths
-[ ] The hills!
--[ ] (Optional) Send your fylgja in your place (Does not cost an action)
[ ] (Battle) Go and attack somewhere...
-[ ] Nothing, as far as you are aware, is available at the moment
0~0~0
Training: You have 47d6 training dice to spend as you see fit.
[ ] (Research) Try to figure out how things work (Write in)
[ ] (Drifa) Teach Drifa some of your tricks (Write in)
[ ] (Seeress) Learn seidr with the Seeress (Only available during Summer)
-[ ] Write in up to 3 things to request of her
[ ] (Blackhand) Try to develop old/train new hugareida tricks (Write in)
[ ] (Steinarr's Training) Ask Steinarr to teach you a trick/some tricks (Write in)
[ ] (Training) Hamr (121 successes to rank up)
-[ ] (Optional) Train a hamr skill or trick (Write in)
[ ] (Training) Hugr (59 successes to rank up)
-[ ] (Optional) Train a hugr skill or trick (Write in)
[ ] (Training) Fylgja (30 successes to rank up)
-[ ] (Optional) Train a fylgja skill or trick (Write in)
0~0~0
Orthstirr Available: 510
How do you want to use your orthstirr? You can turn on passive tricks here.
[ ] (Orthstirr Usage) (Write in)
0~0~0
Fylgja Capacity: 4/8
Do you want to withdraw or deposit anything in your fylgja?
[ ] Write in (Optional)
0~0~0
Equipment/Capacity/Shapeshifting/Alloy/Pocket Management
What do you want to have equipped on your person, in your capacity, or for your shapeshifting? Leaving this blank means that no changes are made.
[ ] Write in (Optional)
0~0~0
Property Management: You have 59 Work Dice Available (Because you weren't able to do this last turn, you have a one-time doubling of your Work Dice to a total of 118)
How do you want to use them?
[ ] Write in
0~0~0
AN: Alright, here we go with the new property management system. I'm adding the new system to the mechanics page as well as to this AN. If there's anything I forgot to clarify in this document, please let me know.
I'm a little iffy on the cost of upgrading buildings (they are, at the moment, on the same scale as your attributes and skills) and I cannot, for the life of me, remember how much you pay in taxes for your land. I
25-minute moratorium.
Managing Land
(The credit goes to @DeadmanwalkingXI for making this one for me, I just made some minor wording changes and cleaned things up a little bit)
You have a pool of Work Dice ((Management+Labor+Farmwork+Equipment) = Work Dice Pool (Also including the dice gained through farmhands and other residents)) which are assigned out to fuel the various ratings of your farm. If you do not assign them to the various ratings, then they do not produce anything as they were left neglected. The maximum amount of Work Dice that you can assign per rating is determined by that rating's number.
There are three parts to every farm, each with a base quality rating and three 'sub-ratings' that build off from that.
Buildings - Your actual farm buildings and the bonuses they provide. Requires Goods upkeep equal to Quality Rating per turn.
-Living Space determines how many people and animal herds can live here.
(Quality Rating + Living Space Rating) x2 = Maximum Living Capacity
-Storage determines how much room you have to store bundles of Food and Goods.
(Quality Rating + Storage Rating) x10 = Maximum Storage Capacity
-Workshop determines bonuses to Crafting as well as the categories that the bonuses apply to — which depend on the various upgrades built.
(Quality Rating + Workshop Rating) = Crafting Bonus
Resources - The fields, forests, and other portions of your land that you are actually taking advantage of, and what they provide
-Food (Resource) determines how many people and animal herds you can keep reliably fed
(Resource Rating + Food Rating) = Food Supply Gained per Turn
-Goods determines the many various goods that are produced on your property like furniture and animal hides.
(Resource Rating + Good Rating) = Goods Supply Gained per Turn
-Silver determines how much Silver is made by the various resources on your property. At the end of the year, taxes are subtracted from the total amount earned.
(Silver Rating) = Silver Gained per Turn (in half-ounces)
Livestock - Your livestock and the benefits they provide, which cannot be higher than Resource's Food Supply Production
-Food (Livestock) determines how many people you can keep reliably fed. If you are unable to keep your Livestock fed through Food (Resource), then the difference is taken from here.
(Food (Livestock)) = Food Supply (People) Gained per Turn
-Goods determines the various goods that are produced via your animals, like wool cloth and leather.
(Livestock Quality + Good Rating) = Good Supply Gained per Turn
-Silver determines how much Silver is made from stud fees, selling individual animals, and so on. At the end of the year, taxes are subtracted from the total amount earned.
(Livestock Quality + Silver Rating) = Silver Gained per Turn (in half-ounces)
You may also use Training Dice in lieu of Work Dice, if you are struggling to make ends meet. You cannot do the reverse. However, you may use Work Dice as Research Dice at an exchange rate of 2 Work Dice for 1 Research Dice.
You may also use Goods as Silver (1 Good=1 Half-Ounce of Silver).
So, time for our Armored Gabriel spar I think? That + Wedding + one more action.
Right, it should be Wavedancer I think, we've left our poor bote alone for two turns now!
Then for research... I think we should see what the Brewery Pocket does, then talk to Blackhand about some Combat Seidr, and then look into our cultivation site I think to see if we can figure out how to upgrade it.
Maybe also look into 'Clearing our fields?' as well?
You know, @Imperial Fister, this talk of Rome and Constantinopolis reminded me of an obscure theory that Valhalla is based on distorted reports about the Colloseum.
I assume the reward for following that link is either finding something from Hallr or Hasvir, or Hallr getting some of his memory back. Which is super useful.
Not that I don't want to follow the story for it's own sake. This seems like it will be interesting.
Edit: @Imperial Fister, are you going to add searching for the battlesite under exploration as optional or we will need to scout the Hading as a general action?
Likely Muna, yes, it gives us something to look forward to at least!
But yeah, I'm thinking action wise, the Armored Gabriel rematch, the Wedding, and either the Wavedancer (My preferred choice), or we look into Minna's whole shtick.
@Imperial Fister wait, we have to spend an action getting training from the Seeress? I thought that was every turn (during the summer)? That's a lot harder to pencil in and a little weird given we don't for other training.
So, time for our Armored Gabriel spar I think? That + Wedding + one more action.
Right, it should be Wavedancer I think, we've left our poor bote alone for two turns now!
Then for research... I think we should see what the Brewery Pocket does, then talk to Blackhand about some Combat Seidr, and then look into our cultivation site I think to see if we can figure out how to upgrade it.
Maybe also look into 'Clearing our fields?' as well?
Well, if we need to spend an action on Seeress Training then we need to do that as one of our actions.
I also think we need to help the Dwarves ASAP, which precludes the Gabriel spar this turn, though I could be persuaded yo switch those, I guess. I'm not against checking on Wavedancer and the wedding, though, those make sense (though we'd do the Wedding over Wavedancer if we need to do Seeress Training).
I'm a little reluctant to do the Brewery Pocket yet because we're 3 Orthstirr away from our next Odr income increase, and thus 30 away from +2 Odr. I think the Dwarf thing might get us that and think waiting for the brewery pocket to see is thus worthwhile. I also think helping the dwarves so we can compare our cultivation site to their grove is probably a good thing to do before we try and boost it.
I'm down for asking Blackhand and clearing the fields.
So, time for our Armored Gabriel spar I think? That + Wedding + one more action.
Right, it should be Wavedancer I think, we've left our poor bote alone for two turns now!
Then for research... I think we should see what the Brewery Pocket does, then talk to Blackhand about some Combat Seidr, and then look into our cultivation site I think to see if we can figure out how to upgrade it.
Maybe also look into 'Clearing our fields?' as well?
What about Solrun? Would give us 3 things we can ask from her.
To learn our first high seidr spell. That should probably be a good intro to working with spirits.
Fertility would be... meme-y, and probably good business if we sell stuff from our farm
good health would be generally usefull, probably sells good too, if the ingredients are practical, and could make a good gift to a departing friend (*cough*Aki *cough*).
Maybe <edit> a 3-pack "a small selecection"</edit> of "unlock Seidr for personal training",
Eyetalking
??? Maybe something about finding stuff? (The real owner of our first axe, that bastard we are fated to fight in a live or death fight, a friend like Aki if they have to move away)
???
ask her about the "and catching glimpses of the future" part of how she described her typical work. Thats something we don't know about yet.
