NorseQuest: Collective Edition (Group-Based Xianxia Settlement-Builder)

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

The second skill I admit I seemed to misunderstood, as I had always took warding to usually signify static defensive magic under the belief that that was what Asveig had done. Considering that I do not remember the mother Halla had being crippled in any way or form, I was wrong. I had pretty much dropped out of the original quest near the end since it seemed impossible to participate unless you understood the system perfectly like the two or three plan makers.

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Warding doesn't require you to be crippled? Certain kinds of magical crafting can (though not necessarily overtly, you can give up, for instance, your sense of smell), but not warding itself, and not all forms of magical crafting. Warding is a form of seidr and a lot of stuff beyond the basics involves interacting with spirits, but you could go and talk to Krakr and Amerion about that if you wanted? I think they're gonna do some stuff like that next season and you could maybe join in and see? Krakr is the seeress's son and has a lot of knowledge on the subject in-character.

While I can accept that I was completely wrong-footed on how to achieve my goal, I am at a bit of a loss. As much as I like this world, I do not really have any experience in such freeform roleplay since I mostly participated in quests with a bit more structure. So I do not really know what to do.

Help?

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Other than pursuing seidr as mentioned above, you could instead work on picking up some other crafts skills or just focus hard on the embroidery and see if you can make some really cool stuff. The one embroidery + wards action you took did work, after all, so maybe make some gambesons for Erik and some other people? Or pick up other, additional, crafting skills? We desperately need a source of cloth and becoming a cloth maven for the settlement would be potentially useful and fitting into the 'classic women's role' you seem to be aiming for.

You can also easily combine these two things. Maybe doing something with embroidery now and seeing about joining the magic plans next season?

 

[fearsome hill]

[X]Bjorn drakeslayer actions, summer 2:
-[X]Major Action: Search for viable livestock
-[X]Minor Action: maintain equipment, craft arrows etc
-[X]Minor Action: hunt some of the milder game in the jungle
-[X]Minor Action: make offerings to the gods, especially to thor and ullr
-[X]Minor action: build a small tannery
@Zedalb would Hulfr be willing to aid bjorn in building a tannery

 

[EclipsedStar]

I had pretty much dropped out of the original quest near the end since it seemed impossible to participate unless you understood the system perfectly like the two or three plan makers.

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I haven't read a single word in the original quest so... there's that

The second skill I admit I seemed to misunderstood, as I had always took warding to usually signify static defensive magic under the belief that that was what Asveig had done.

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So-- let me give you a bit of an example. Say you have Runes, and you etch in 'Fire' into a sword (or something similar). Smear some blood over it, and great, now your sword is on fire. That fire, will only be there when the Runes are powered by some sort of pigment or blood. (The more special it is, the better/more potent). However, that effect wears out as soon as whatever you're using to fuel it burns out. Warding, is a much more permeant and long-lasting. This lets you do the effects of Runes-- but make them longer lasting. Everything requires some form of power or energy though-- sedir included, and since they aren't being powered by blood or pigments, you need something else. You have Kunnas, sure, those could be manifested 'outside' in a sense/made tangible, but that ties up your power/ordstirr, up until you stop manifesting that. To solve this-- you simply open a gate to the Ginnungagap. Inside the Ginnungagap, are plenty of Spirits deprived of sensation and full of power that they can't really use. They crave for sensations, and so they'll gladly do whatever it takes to get ahold of even a little bit of sensation. If that means forming a contract wherein they give up some of their power in exchange for sensations-- they'll do it. This power that you draw from the spirit, that is what you use to power your wards. The emphasise behind contracts, however, is because first of all, the spirits are kind of like Fey, and you need to bind them in a sense with a contract/deal so they don't just backstab you/betray you if it means they can stay in the physical longer. Additionally, there is a fair bit of emphasis on the actual summoning part of calling Spirits from the Ginnungagap-- because by default-- you are not safe. Without the proper precautions and Runes-- a Spirit could easily just steal your body-- something they are incentivised to do as they then essentially have a free-ticket to 'sensation-wonderland.' The thing is though (with Wards)-- is that because of this, Warding can be fairly dangerous for the unexperienced or unlucky... meaning some may be incentivised to only use Warding for vital long-term seidr-- such as (you guessed it), defences/protections. Spirits could also be picky or demanding-- so they may ask for too high of a price and get forceful if rebuked-- or maybe, maybe they slowly worm their way into your head, and get you to give in to 'renegotiating' your deal-- feeding you more and more power whilst they drain you of sensation. A sensation that could be anything from emotions-- senses-- memories, anything. They could take your ability to see, your ability to hear or feel empathy, they could take your judgement or your clarity-- and you would gladly accept if it meant more power, more aptitude in your endeavours or saving others, if you just gave up a little more. Before you know it-- you're on a dangerous slippery slope where it gets easier and easier to keep on going downhill. Its for these reasons (and the fact that said protections typically require Runes, which an even smaller percentage of the population actually has any sufficient knowledge of)-- that Warding gets relegated to vitally important long-term tasks that can't handled by other means-- such as static defences, simply because of the danger or lack of ability/aptitude.

NOTE: I am (also) new to this (and the deeper parts of Norse mythology in general), so I may have made some inaccurate assumptions, but this is my understanding from what I've learned via asking questions in the Discord/contracting a spirit and nearly getting smited by another during my active-action.

 

[Shard]

Spirit Seidr (Shard's understanding)

1) Most spirits cannot actually bodyjack you that easily (they gotta fite you for it in your soul). This is because one of the job of Fylgjur (unveiled or not) is basically playing ETERNAL DEFENCE against infinite spirits wanting their play in reality. And a living existent is generally actually quite strong against what's basically a the spirit-equivalent of loose hair (i.e most newborn spirits). This of course changes if you open your soul to places with powerful spirits.
2) The value of a spirit comes in do things so you don't have to. Boring stuff you don't want to do. Dangerous stuff you don't want to do. Stuff you actually physically can't do (like be in two places at a time).
3) The big currency of spirits is knowledge, because most people who call on spirits are calling on them for knowledge. If they wanted power, they'd be calling on the Norse Gods instead or something (who are friendly and powerful), but also more powerful spirits equals more danger so you also want to avoid doing that anyway.

Ward Seidr:

1) Ward Seidr is actually an extremely large branch of magic and can be extremely varied. In general though it's more like a very long list of nested instructions.
2) All Wards can be bypassed. Eventually. Keyword: Eventually.
3) An example of a warding schema might look like so: 'Nobody but me and kin may see this, they will find it slipping their thoughts, they will not smell this, they will feel an urge to turn away...'

Seidr, General:

1) In magic system notes, Seidr is pretty artistic and freeform. Charred Soul is an example of Seidr. Halla getting a Fire Kunna by stuffing her hand is a fire is an example of an old and primal form of Seidr.

 

[EclipsedStar]

The big currency of spirits is knowledge,

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Huh— I wonder if there are any spirits that can decipher the Necromouser's Notes

If they wanted power, they'd be calling on the Norse Gods instead or something

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You can do that?

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

You can do that?

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Yes, it's called prayer. Sometimes they even listen in one way or another. Occasionally in a way that's provable. Sacrificing to them increases the odds of that.

 

[theknightofiron]

things you sacrifice to the gods stay sacrificed. don't kill yourself in sacrifice and expect to be brought back

 

[Sivantic]

Warding doesn't require you to be crippled? Certain kinds of magical crafting can (though not necessarily overtly, you can give up, for instance, your sense of smell), but not warding itself, and not all forms of magical crafting. Warding is a form of seidr and a lot of stuff beyond the basics involves interacting with spirits, but you could go and talk to Krakr and Amerion about that if you wanted? I think they're gonna do some stuff like that next season and you could maybe join in and see? Krakr is the seeress's son and has a lot of knowledge on the subject in-character.

Other than pursuing seidr as mentioned above, you could instead work on picking up some other crafts skills or just focus hard on the embroidery and see if you can make some really cool stuff. The one embroidery + wards action you took did work, after all, so maybe make some gambesons for Erik and some other people? Or pick up other, additional, crafting skills? We desperately need a source of cloth and becoming a cloth maven for the settlement would be potentially useful and fitting into the 'classic women's role' you seem to be aiming for.

You can also easily combine these two things. Maybe doing something with embroidery now and seeing about joining the magic plans next season?

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I keep having people tell me that warding was only about trapping spirits and sacrificing something for their service, usually something dear. It has been said repeatedly. And I am irritated with Amerion. I started first with Warding but she immediately pops up with Warding 2 as well as a variety of other skills on top of that. Petty I know, but I can see Agnes being jealous of the this savant that came from a Warding focused family.

Also no it did not, I made clothes for the children but what really helped was watching over them. The 'warding' did nothing. I also cannot be a source of cloth because A)I was unable to grab field and was instead stuck to beach front that has malus to farming, so no source of flax for me and B)cloth making is just standard chore in this period. Many of the PCs have wives or female NPCs that likely already produce cloth for them. That is why I went for Embroidery since I had hoped that making magical protective clothing would work. But my proof of concept failed. Making something that everyone already has access to seems like a nonstarter :/

Also not sure if adding more crafting skills would be useful since we do not even know if I.F Ister is interested in that sort of granularity since having Carpentry skill allowed people build houses, halls, furniture, and barrels...despite that being three separate jobs

1) Ward Seidr is actually an extremely large branch of magic and can be extremely varied. In general though it's more like a very long list of nested instructions.
2) All Wards can be bypassed. Eventually. Keyword: Eventually.
3) An example of a warding schema might look like so: 'Nobody but me and kin may see this, they will find it slipping their thoughts, they will not smell this, they will feel an urge to turn away...'

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Tried that, I.F. ister said I needed spirits to do so. Asked about it, got the same response as above. You need to sacrifice something first and it has to be something meaningful. If this was something I planned to use to supply the village in a useful way, you can see how quickly that would leave me an empty husk right?

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

I keep having people tell me that warding was only about trapping spirits and sacrificing something for their service, usually something dear. It has been said repeatedly. And I am irritated with Amerion. I started first with Warding but she immediately pops up with Warding 2 as well as a variety of other skills on top of that. Petty I know, but I can see Agnes being jealous of the this savant that came from a Warding focused family.

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Who said that, and in what context? I'm legitimately curious, because that can be related to warding, but it's not the whole thing.

Also no it did not, I made clothes for the children but what really helped was watching over them. The 'warding' did nothing. I also cannot be a source of cloth because A)I was unable to grab field and was instead stuck to beach front that has malus to farming, so no source of flax for me and B)cloth making is just standard chore in this period. Many of the PCs have wives or female NPCs that likely already produce cloth for them. That is why I went for Embroidery since I had hoped that making magical protective clothing would work. But my proof of concept failed. Making something that everyone already has access to seems like a nonstarter :/

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So...NPCs don't actually do much. They presumable repair our clothes and keep us from going naked, but none of them are actually setting up a business to make large numbers of gambesons and our village cloth stockpile has not been growing automatically. If you double down on that, you can probably achieve some stuff. And the jackets being warded might have just been forgotten or something...you should point that out to IF, it's relevant and should indeed matter.

As for the beach it's sandy soil, so you can farm there, just not quite as well. Or you could trade for the raw material and be the one to make it into clothing. There are several options.

Also not sure if adding more crafting skills would be useful since we do not even know if I.F Ister is interested in that sort of granularity since having Carpentry skill allowed people build houses, halls, furniture, and barrels...despite that being three separate jobs

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I mean, by the same token I'm pretty sure you can use embroidery for all cloth stuff, so fair enough.

Tried that, I.F. ister said I needed spirits to do so. Asked about it, got the same response as above. You need to sacrifice something first and it has to be something meaningful. If this was something I planned to use to supply the village in a useful way, you can see how quickly that would leave me an empty husk right?

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I think there's definitely been some miscommunication of expectations here. IF should definitely weigh in on this and clarify what exactly you need to do warding stuff and what kind of actions would be useful.

I will say that, from what we've seen, constant sacrifice is not a thing. You can make deals with spirits without giving up bits of yourself, and the 'sacrifice powered crafting' option is a permanent ability powered by a one-time permanent sacrifice of a sense. I dunno what other sacrifice stuff is even relevant to your character beyond that, honestly.

Like, to put it another way, none of what you're saying sounds like how warding has been treated elsewhere except for the 'you need spirits' bit, and I think that some clarity about how stuff works would go a long way to fixing this.

 

[Shard]

Necromouser POV Alt

So with the relevation that the Necromancer is actually a Necromouser with a crystalball instead of gaming rig, here's an alternative and equally non-canonical image for what it looks like!

(I have taken substantial artistic liberties in the depiction of characters.)

 

[KittyEmpress]

Seidr is very active in this game. You aren't a witch sitting at home brewing and saying magic words, you're a shin megami tensei protagonist. You're bargaining with the spirits of the land, trading favors for favors, taking their essence and weaving it into all you do.

Every would be seidr user has run into this missmatch of expectations. Amerion didn't know what their warding stuff did either, and was sad thst it was entirely useless against evil Joe. So they committed their next major action to doing said SMT bargaining. And almost died for it.

If playing someone who is constantly bargaining with nature spirits yo be able to do stuff doesn't appeal to you, that's perfectly fine.


Halla in the main game got to bypass a lot of this danger and stuff because she had Odr, which is something spirits love. But no PC in this has Odr, so you have to make your bargains in other ways. It's unfortunate that this wasn't communicated well.

 

[Oshha]

Becoming Powerful

So, with the influx of Ordstirr from the recent events, it is time to talk about the Norse getting more powerful in a mechanical sense. Up until level 3 in Traits, whether Skills or Kunna or Martial Styles, experience and Ordstirr alone are enough to increase them. However, to increase a Trait to level 4 or above, you must have the necessary PT and go on a Quest as a Major Action to unlock the ability. This must be done again at every level if you continue increasing it, with the Quests getting more difficult each time.

Additionally, for those who have succeeded at Quests to do this, Ordstirr rewards for most activities are lowered, as your prowess makes mundane and event exceptional things only to be expected.

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Would I be correct in assuming that doing one of these quests requires a Major Action?

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

Would I be correct in assuming that doing one of these quests requires a Major Action?

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Yes. That's specified in the post, in fact.

 

[Oshha]

Yes. That's specified in the post, in fact.

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Huh, it is. I can't believe I missed that.

 

[Sivantic]

So...NPCs don't actually do much. They presumable repair our clothes and keep us from going naked, but none of them are actually setting up a business to make large numbers of gambesons and our village cloth stockpile has not been growing automatically. If you double down on that, you can probably achieve some stuff. And the jackets being warded might have just been forgotten or something...you should point that out to IF, it's relevant and should indeed matter.

As for the beach it's sandy soil, so you can farm there, just not quite as well. Or you could trade for the raw material and be the one to make it into clothing. There are several options.

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I mean if that were true you would not have had my husband as part of the fighting with skills of his own. It is less that is sandy soil, in so far that is is suffused with salt and a continuous sea spray killing all freshwater plants.

Though if me making gambesons provides actual benefit and not just flavor text, I would gladly do that.

and here

@I.F. Ister Can I assume that since I have Warding, I wear decently armored clothing?

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Make a contract with a spirit first

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So since I have not contacted spirits, any previously 'warded' clothes is just plain clothes. Including the ones I made for the children.

This is where I got the hint for the costs of making Warded clothing

@I.F. Ister I mentioned warding on clothes but how far can I take that and what sort of things would be useful to a Viking? (I.E. would a cooling charm be unnecessary or should it focus more on strengthening the material etc?)

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You can take it pretty damn far, though you should be careful because going too far all at once can and will obliterate your soul—effectively, anyways.

Anything that's self-repairing is extremely valuable, though you may want to be careful as that could put you and any other clothing-makers out of a business.

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Now, I did not take that to mean that just making a tough jacket will cost a permanent arm...it did imply a personal cost though. What might be fine to pay on a one off, is a bit more serious when you have to do so a dozen times such as providing for a village.

Either way, a bit more involved than just designing an inscription to then embroider into clothes that I had initially thought

Seidr is very active in this game. You aren't a witch sitting at home brewing and saying magic words, you're a shin megami tensei protagonist. You're bargaining with the spirits of the land, trading favors for favors, taking their essence and weaving it into all you do.

Every would be seidr user has run into this missmatch of expectations. Amerion didn't know what their warding stuff did either, and was sad thst it was entirely useless against evil Joe. So they committed their next major action to doing said SMT bargaining. And almost died for it.

If playing someone who is constantly bargaining with nature spirits yo be able to do stuff doesn't appeal to you, that's perfectly fine.


Halla in the main game got to bypass a lot of this danger and stuff because she had Odr, which is something spirits love. But no PC in this has Odr, so you have to make your bargains in other ways. It's unfortunate that this wasn't communicated well.

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I have not read that manga so I do not know what that means. However convening with nature spirits does sound like a fine idea. I absolutely saw what happened to Amerion coming. That was a death forest, trying to search for spirits connected to it, will net you a dangerous spirit that you cannot handle. Ensuring that we cross any hostile spirits and allaying the concerns of the neutral ones sounds fun, though I would be sad that I ended up wasting a skill on Embroidery since I really wanted to see what Asveig was talking about.

 

[DeadmanwalkingXI]

I mean if that were true you would not have had my husband as part of the fighting with skills of his own. It is less that is sandy soil, in so far that is is suffused with salt and a continuous sea spray killing all freshwater plants.

Though if me making gambesons provides actual benefit and not just flavor text, I would gladly do that.

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Perhaps it is better to say that NPCs do not usually take proactive actions. Your husband did not choose to go out fishing or to build a house or so on. He has stats, but he usually doesn't use them in a way that effects the Quest as a whole. As for the beach properties, IF has stated that growing crops there is possible, just more difficult, so it's doable one way or another, you just get less production per passive spent.

And gambesons are definitely useful for our largely unarmored populace.

So since I have not contacted spirits, any previously 'warded' clothes is just plain clothes. Including the ones I made for the children.

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I'm not sure that follows? Depends on the kind of wards, anyway. Could be true. If so, that's unfortunate.

Now, I did not take that to mean that just making a tough jacket will cost a permanent arm...it did imply a personal cost though. What might be fine to pay on a one off, is a bit more serious when you have to do so a dozen times such as providing for a village.

Either way, a bit more involved than just designing an inscription to then embroider into clothes that I had initially thought

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My impression of that quote is that it costs vital energy, but not anything irreplaceable. IMO the warning was against making too many at once, not too many ever, since you could work yourself to death but would be fine if you take time to heal. Best to check with IF to be sure, but that was my impression at the time and remains that way now.

I have not read that manga so I do not know what that means. However convening with nature spirits does sound like a fine idea. I absolutely saw what happened to Amerion coming. That was a death forest, trying to search for spirits connected to it, will net you a dangerous spirit that you cannot handle. Ensuring that we cross any hostile spirits and allaying the concerns of the neutral ones sounds fun, though I would be sad that I ended up wasting a skill on Embroidery since I really wanted to see what Asveig was talking about.

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If that sounds fun you can definitely do some cool stuff. I'll re-recommend talking with EclipsedStar (Amerion's player) and Pencrash (Krakr's player) about doing this as they are planning on engaging in cooperative seidr stuff and you could probably join in.

And I'm pretty sure embroidery is definitely useful, maybe even in terms of magic, but useful even if not.

 

[Sivantic]

Perhaps it is better to say that NPCs do not usually take proactive actions. Your husband did not choose to go out fishing or to build a house or so on. He has stats, but he usually doesn't use them in a way that effects the Quest as a whole. As for the beach properties, IF has stated that growing crops there is possible, just more difficult, so it's doable one way or another, you just get less production per passive spent.

And gambesons are definitely useful for our largely unarmored populace.

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I was in fact able to send him out to go fishing

He even brought us back enough fish for the village that season after Galti died.

All it cost me was a passive and we have a rather large amount of passive actions available to us every season. Why pay for something that cost you just one passive?

Hopefully Gambesons counts as worked skilled enough that not just anyone can make.

Either way, if I want to work with Wards, I need to see if I can at least contact the local spirits. I am hoping my Investigating skill will let me meet one that is not the annoyingly bloodthirsty one. At the very least, it will let me know if I need to invest in sweet-talking or contract writing more.

[X] Major: Investigate the local spirits in our village/beach. See what spirits are available here and now. Try to Find one past the Ornery one.
[X] Passive: Set up home above the waterline if possible, or on stilts if not.
[X] Passive: make a Tapestry illustrating the laws as set by the first Thing.
[X] Passive: Start producing a supply of gambesons for the village

@Zedalb would you be okay with me helping you build the Hall? I had made the foundation and I want to ensure there is some place in the building to install wards for better protection.

Edit: Accepted
[X] Passive: Work with Hulfr Hardwood in building the Main Hall, ensure there is somewhere that I can install warding at a later time.

@OneArmedYeti I appreciate the suggestion and offer. I may try to do that Major action during the Winter, depending on what spirits are available. I can certainly offer my help with the flax if a minor action works. There is still a great of cloth available, but I would rather not run out.
[X] Passive: Aid Harald Logarson in harvesting Flax.

[X] Passive: House Magni and Migna Arnolfson for the season
Edit: Akali died this season so his two siblings need a guardian for now.

 

[Simon_Jester]

Harald Logarson, bloody from the battle, with more wounds than intact clothing, speaks up.

"I would claim that land.

It is my intent for me and my sons to hold it in trust for the Fallen:

That a mound may be raised to host Runestones imortalizing those who met their Fated Day for our sake as well as the greatest deeds of those still living to foreshadow and await the same.

That the greater part of it's produce shall serve the families of the fallen or the general good of the Exiles of Gotland.

That all who's kin or comrades who's Deed or Death be remembered here shall be allowed to visit in peace so long as they arrange such with us in a reasonable timeframe, less they be Outlaws, Nidingr, or associates of the same; regardless of whether they be the enemy or friend of mine or my clan.

That I and my sons shall take as our payment for the maintanace of this memorial and tending to these lands a lot for a home on it.

Should any man fail to keep this promise, know that he is neither a son of mine or a grandson of Thousand Akre Logar, no matter what he may call himself.

Anja, called Giantbone, know that I have heard you spoken of well, and consider you a drengr and a worthy comrade, but I will not be swayed in this.

Should you wish to come to terms, I would be ammenable to buying out your claim with a single Winter's service from me, or with a one year loan of one of the Shapecrafter's mushroom men also begining this Winter, or if you would take me as your husband.

If you have a counteroffer, proceed with it. Failing that, I will see you and yours at the Thing. "

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Oh that is classic.

Oh. Well, that makes things trickier, doesn't it? Claim recorded.

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These hyperfocused craftsman guys has a way of accidentally complicating our efforts to set up a graveyard. Fortunately, I was just able to resolve the "only stone available" issue with Ivor Name-Giver and with Steinarr before the skeleton army killed Ivor, so hopefully we'll have the runestone soon enough.

Except...

[x] [Major] Ivor Name-Giver will join the Western expedition
-[x] [Minor] Ivor will trade his unit of Stone to Steinarr in exchange for construction of a smokehouse on his land
-[x] [Minor] Ivor will visit the seeress to see about his curse
-[x] [Minor] Ivor will attempt to learn the language from the natives in camp
-[x] [Minor] Ivor will sew gambeson/s out of sailcloth

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Whoa whoa whoa we had a whole thing about this didn't we?

@Ulvlar

"..."
"......"
"Steinarr, there were three of us who met after the Thing, and now one of us is dead. You had agreed to build the smokehouse for Ivor Name-Giver in exchange for his good stone, but I desired the stone to make good rune-stones. In exchange for the stone, I offered to make you a great sledge with which to haul stones across the land, with runes to lighten its load."

Erik gestures out at the battlefield where the runic cabers he carved smashed up a bunch of skeletons

"I think you will find my work good. So, then, with that offer, you would make a smokehouse on Ivor's land, perhaps before he returns from the dead, and I would make you a sledge, and I would get Ivor's stone. That is the first offer. Or, the second offer, where I could build the smokehouse in your stead, and simply take the stone myself, and you would be free to pursue other things, with your permission."

"Do you prefer the first offer, or the second offer, or some other thing?"

 

[Simon_Jester]

Sorry about the double-post but since the most important things in each of these two posts are addressed to different people...

@Sivantic , I get the feeling that you're a bit upset about the situation, on top of anything else that's going on. I don't really understand all the mechanical details of how seidr works and since it's not directly relevant to my character I'm not sure I want to get too bogged down in the details of parsing it out, and I could be mistaken, but...

It seems like you have this image that no one can work magic without extreme, disproportionate sacrifices, such that it effectively makes your character unable to work magic despite the fact that you really wanted to have a magic-oriented build.

The question on my mind is, "are all sacrifices great and terrible?" Mythologically speaking, the "trade this for that" archetype ranges all the way from "Odin trades an eye and a lot of wounding and getting hung from a tree for wisdom" down to "housewife trades a saucer of milk for help from a brownie/pixie/whatever." So there's a sliding scale here, maybe, and room to tie it all together into something that's still cool?

I was in fact able to send him out to go fishing

He even brought us back enough fish for the village that season after Galti died.

All it cost me was a passive and we have a rather large amount of passive actions available to us every season.

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Well, in practice, there's not much difference between a passive action saying "an NPC associated with my PC does the thing" and a passive action saying "I do the thing" except when (1) Ordstirr is involved or (2) the passive action requires skills the PC logically wouldn't have but the NPC would or vice versa.

My passive NPCs regularly mention the activities of Erik Hardhead's family members for versimilitude, trying to make sure that I'm conscious of his household. I don't see why it'd be different for you just because you're playing the housewife with the husband who happens to be named Erik as an NPC while I'm doing it the other way around.

Hopefully Gambesons counts as worked skilled enough that not just anyone can make.

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The problem with the gambesons would be that a gambeson takes a lot of cloth. A lot. Like, 10x or 20x as much as a normal shirt, because it's literally just a whole lot of tightly woven cloth sewn together in layers until it functions as light body armor. Now, we as a village don't have a great primary production chain for cloth; it's kind of an irreplaceable resource for us. Gambesons are absolutely a good use of the material we do have, but one thing you might want to consider (others suggested this) is using a Passive action to go out and help Torgarr Villagefeeder's relatives cultivate the flax that Torgarr had sowed (or was going to sow) on his land.

With flax, we can make linen, which along with wool are the main forms of fabric in our society, with obvious benefits to you. And since we don't have any sheep, linen's our only real option.

You might also be able to get some of the flax seed and plant flax on your own land, or present that as your husband doing it.

While we're at it...

Collections: Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part III: Spin Me Right Round…

This post is also available in audio form, thanks to the efforts of our volunteer narrator. This is the third part of our four part (I, II, III, IVa, IVb) look at the production of textiles, partic…

acoup.blog

Weaving is big and cool, and spinning is by comparison low-prestige and labor intensive, but for the record, in these pre-industrial societies with traditional-ish gender roles, spinning treated flax fibers into thread that will later be woven into cloth is, like, THE default baseline feminine activity. To the point where the phrase "distaff counterpart" refers specifically to the distaff, a tool women would use for spinning. And spinning. And spinning. All the time. The invention of the spinning wheel reduced the amount of time women normally spent doing this, but we don't have those.

(Google fact- the Norse called the stars we know as "Orion's belt" to be "Frigg's distaff" instead)

To be clear, since we HAVE some cloth (salvaged from a sail, I gather), we CAN make gambesons without a lot of flax cultivation... for a while.

I'm sorry if you already know this, I just wanted to spell it out, partly to you and partly to anyone else who lacks the context or isn't clear on why everyone's geeking out about flax.

---

Unrelated thing, and notably I'm going to be just plain gone for about 10 hours after this so I'll be AFK...

I never really got a sanity check on what I was thinking here. I kind of need a sanity check from people who understand the context and cultural background a bit better.

...

Okay, so I'm planning to pick up where I left off with a major action that centers around runestones for our dead.

Now, just to be clear, we have two Final-Day all-dead guys now, Galti Sea-Rider (a.k.a. Hanison) and Torgarr Village-Feeder, right?

Galti's already turned into a draugr and attacked us, which makes it kind of pointless to make his runestone first to prevent that from happening. Torgarr, meanwhile, has not turned into a draugr and attacked us, so we'd better do something about that first.

Which is not to say Galti isn't getting a runestone, but a man's got to be practical when he only has one rock and is in a potentially ambiguous legal position getting it from a mostly-dead guy (Ivor Name-Giver) to commemorate an all-dead guy.

Am I making any sense here, or is this just my brain on sleepy?

 

[Oshha]

Necromouser and the Skeletons Bestiary​

Spoken by Sigmund Sigurdsson of Clan Jarnblod and written by Torunn Astridsdottir of Clan Jarnblod in the second summer of Rekavidr.​

The skeletons were a threat that attacked Rekavidr during the second summer, a threat grave enough to require the entire village to fight them off. While they may have been defeated once and for all with the death of the Necromouser, information will be recorded for ease of access should that not prove true.

The skeletons were first encountered in the first summer when a member of the village brought one back, unaware of its true nature. My cousin and blood-brother Ragnarr Fair-Spoken along with Galti Hanisson and Njal Ulfsson attempted to give the skeleton a proper burial only for the skeleton to reassemble itself as they were digging a grave. The skeleton swiftly fled into the jungle and back towards the cave where it was found.

A year later in the second summer, the skeletons were encountered for a second time as they attacked with an army. The skeleton army consisted of four hundred regular skeletons, fifty skeleton cavalry and a dozen goliaths. They were remotely controlled by the Necromouser via relay skeletons. Amongst the regular skeletons and skeleton cavalry, there was one relay skeleton for amongst every ten skeletons while each goliath was controlled by a relay skeleton.

All skeletons were armed with a variety of bone weapons, made from sharpened and honed bones. There were no armour or metal weapons to be found amongst them. A single regular skeleton didn't pose much of a threat to a Norseman, but they had the capability to harm one and in large numbers, they could overwhelm an individual Norseman. Torgarr Village-Feeder was slain by the skeletons, dying to a spear meant for his kinwoman Gefjosa Aslaugsdottir.

Skeleton cavalry were fast and dangerous. They demonstrated the ability to go into the ocean by shapeshifting their bone horses into what others tell me were bone seahorses. Goliaths are towering monsters made up of multiple different skeletons, each one commanded by a single relay skeleton. Beyond being tough and hardy opponents to bring down, they were capable of throwing boulders and logs at others.

The draugr of Galti Hanisson that attacked the sea wall during the skeleton attack and slew Ivor Name-Giver, Anja Giantbone and my cousin Njall Redaxe appears to be unrelated to the skeleton army. It seems that it was the will of Nornir not the Necromouser that saw it attack at such an opportune time.

The relay skeletons were the weak point amongst the skeleton army. If a relay skeleton was destroyed, a connected goliath would simply collapse while regular skeletons and skeleton cavalry lost all organisation. I personally witnessed a band of regular skeletons losing all coordination and skill when the last relay skeleton amongst them was slain. These relay skeletons are indistinguishable from other skeletons and they required Seeing Eyes to be identified.

It is believed that the Necromouser was controlling the skeleton army via the relay skeletons and a magical black orb. It would explain both the loss of tactics and skill when the relay skeletons were destroyed as well as how the kill team was able to track down the Necromouser.

The Necromouser was a large rat-thing the size of a man. Clad in old and decayed robes, the Necromouser did not pose a threat outside of its skeletons albeit perhaps because it was not given a chance. Grid Icewings used her Emotion Kunna to slay the Necromouser via panic attack before it could notice the kill team or attempt to defend itself from them.

The Necromouser seem to be solely focused on Hugr at the expense of Hamr. It had powerful army of magical minions and its lair had dangerous seidr traps yet the Necromouser died to a mere heart attack.

 

[Shard]

Incidentally, Moli is doing a disco dance party. If you want to be part of it, you need to spend a passive action on attending.

 

[Abensur]

Incidentally, Moli is doing a disco dance party. If you want to be part of it, you need to spend a passive action on attending.

Click to shrink...

Akali will be providing musical accompaniment with his meager Singing 1

 

[Jaguar2234]

Just updating my passive actions again since some new things have happened

Just a bit of character writing, Grid really isn't doing any of the physical work that's been listed, she's having her Ice Golem's do all of that for her, making her house, setting up the farm and such.

[X] Grid Frostdottir Passive Actions
-[X] Attend Moli's party
-[X] Hang the Void Eagle Skull in her house.
-[X] Set up farms on both of my cleared lands
-[X] Take some of the communal bonemeal to use on her farmlands
-[X] Use my Mushling Spawnbag to grow a Mushling and have it set to work on my farms growing Golden Grass, specifically growing that grass in sheltered locations
-[X] Continue learning the natives language
-[X] Work on building defenses around her home, including runework and the like.
-[X] Grid has been busy establishing a place in this lands and has not spent a lot of time with her younger brother Vlos, spend some time with him.
-[X] Since Grid has the ability to go the to Spirit World now with Void-Step, ask the seeress what to expect in the spirit world and what important information she must be aware of, also if she should bring anything for an adventure to the spirit world
-[X] Hunt minor beasts and store their blood as blocks in my flygja to use to power my rune items
-[X] Create a Rune Compass with wood and blood/paint to locate the Void Eagle
--[X] Craft a wooden circle and a wooden arrow and use a wooden stake to place the wooden arrow onto the wooden circle. Write the Rune's on the wooden arrow. Attach some of the Void Eagle's skin to the circle and arrow.
--[X] The inscription will be "Will point in the direction of to the closest alive beast that is the same race as the beast's skin is attached to this compass"
-[X] Create a Rune Flashbang by taking a piece of wood and fashioning it into a small board that can fit in one's palm. On it inscribe the rune's "When this wood board breaks, 1 second later a big flash of light will come out of it". Use paint to activate the runes.
-[X] Create a Rune Necklace with a brass necklace that Skuli Draugrhater created and gave to Grid in return for a Rune Item that he wants. If the brass necklace could not be made then make it with wood. Inscribe onto the Necklace the runes "The person wearing this necklace, will transfer all damage they receive from an individual back to the individual that inflicted that damage upon the necklace wearer", use animal blood If I have it, if I didn't get any then use paint
-[X] Create a Rune Ring with wood and if there is blood then that, if not then paint. The rune's inscribed on it are "Any Ice generated by the wielder of this ring, their form cannot be changed by external forces, only by the wielder of this ring".

 

[weeblypanda]

@DeadmanwalkingXI I have slept on my conundrum and have accepted, the generous gift of Hrolfr Jurgensson.

I will be writing up an omake to commemorate my...choice of words.

 

[Oshha]

[X] Sigmund Sigurdsson
-[X] Major Action: Accompany his cousin and blood-brother Ragnarr Fair-Spoken on his expedition to the west.
-[X] Passive Action: Sigmund builds a basic home, sets up a farm plot, builds a pier for fishing and attempts to grow golden grass in sheltered locations with his wife at his beach plot.
-[X] Passive Action: Sigmund's wife Torunn gives birth to twin girls called Astrid and Sigrid.
-[X] Passive Action: Ask Krakr Gudrunsson to teach him how to eyespeech (so Sigmund can talk via Ant Fylgia). In exchange, he gives Krakr that crest from the cresthead he had kept as a trophy and he promises to lend aid to Krakr on a future expedition provided that doing so doesn't get in the way of any other commitments that he has made.
-[X] Passive: Let the Seeress study my Onigar magic ring in exchange for getting it back latter with payment.
-[X] Passive: Have playdates between his children and appropriately aged ones from his blood-brothers and any family who are interested.
-[X] Passive: Sigmund and his wife Torunn will attend the celebratory party of his kinsman Moli Spotlight. In an act of generosity, he will donate his Jug of Maize Alcohol to the party rather than keeping all of his booze to himself.
-[X] Passive Action: Sigmund tests some of the limitations of his new Full-Body Flick, focusing primarily on seeing how quickly it can be used after its last use and how often he can use it before he starts to flag or it otherwise begins to exhaust him.