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Oh I feel young, I don't creak when I wake up in the morning, still doesn't mean people don't crack aging jokes at my expense, young people can be so cruel!
I have a bet with myself to see if I can catch up on order of the stick before the 1000th comic is published.
also @lucky7, how old are you exactly? Your profile says 14, but it could be outdated information as you seem older.
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15 1/2. So yeah, older. Not by much though.
Since you were so helpful with the Curious Case of the Skinsaw Men, could you poke around here?
15 1/2. So yeah, older. Not by much though.
Since you were so helpful with the Curious Case of the Skinsaw Men, could you poke around here?
I see! I admire your creativity. Wish I had discovered tabletop at 15. And vikings.
Alright, I can't make guarantees, though. I also can't help you with any installment of Rise of the Runelords after Skinsaw Murders because I haven't read that far yet.
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15 1/2. So yeah, older. Not by much though.
And you admit it? Wow. When I was 13, and the net was still young and fresh (AOL gave out those "free trial" discs, way back when, and 56K dial-up was fast), I told people I was 22 if they asked, and many assumed I was in my 30s. It's not hard to pull off; all you need to do is correctly spell your words, and you're 2/3 of the way there, frankly.
Of course, that was when scanners were expensive, and digital cameras were nigh unto unheard of, so when the 23 year old girl I was chatting it up with asked for pics, I feigned college broke-ness, and...
...well, the point is I'm suprised you are honest about that. Good for you!
You sure about that?
So you're confident that you're not self confident? Sounds to me like you're confused. :-)
15 1/2. So yeah, older. Not by much though.And you admit it? Wow. When I was 13, and the net was still young and fresh (AOL gave out those "free trial" discs, way back when, and 56K dial-up was fast), I told people I was 22 if they asked, and many assumed I was in my 30s. It's not hard to pull off; all you need to do is correctly spell your words, and you're 2/3 of the way there, frankly.
Of course, that was when scanners were expensive, and digital cameras were nigh unto unheard of, so when the 23 year old girl I was chatting it up with asked for pics, I feigned college broke-ness, and...
...well, the point is I'm suprised you are honest about that. Good for you!
Huh, when I was underage I only lied about my age when I was younger than 13, since I didn't happen to join any sites that required an 18 minimum age.
Hang on a second...who am I again?
You are no one, and, at the same time, everyone, for the wyrd-fibers of all who lived and shall live are spun through your being.
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Sorry, forgot what show I got that from, didn't mean to cause self doubt, teenagers have enough of that :-)
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You are no one, and, at the same time, everyone, for the wyrd-fibers of all who lived and shall live are spun through your being.
Almost sounds like something you would need to take a laxative or an antibiotic for. :-)
You are no one, and, at the same time, everyone, for the wyrd-fibers of all who lived and shall live are spun through your being.Almost sounds like something you would need to take a laxative or an antibiotic for. :-)
Bad fortune has been known to cause indigestion.
(Seriously, the wyrd is a dynamic, malleable, always flowing, always changing, flow of fate/fortune through the whole of time, which is more of a ball of tyrdy wyrdy stuff. Your actions have an impact on the flow of wyrd, and the wyrd can impact your actions. Fiber being spun into thread is a good metaphor for understanding wyrd. I generally avoid using the word 'fate' alone for this concept because the word 'fate' has a 'fixed' connotation that I want to stay away from.)
Interesting. So if fate is not fixed, then the outcome of Ragnarok isn't set in stone, and the "good guys" could win? That would be a blast. :-)
Interesting. So if fate is not fixed, then the outcome of Ragnarok isn't set in stone, and the "good guys" could win? That would be a blast. :-)
An important thing to remember is that mythic time is cyclical, it is non-linear and it is always current.
For example, Baldr is born, and he is alive, and he is wounded, and he is dead. Ymir breathes, and the world is made, and the world is sinking into the sea. Odin is hanged and he is not hanged, Fenrir is born, and he is captured by Tyr, and he is in chains, and he has broken free, so on and so forth.
If Voluspá is to be believed (and remember that even the poetic edda must be taken with a grain of salt, and also that different accounts of the lore contradict each other) then when the völva in voluspá looked at the wyrd, what is described in voluspá is what she saw. And this is also part of mythic time.
A funny thing: you cannot even look at the wyrd without affecting it through that action! So the uncertainty principle is in effect.
I was going to explain a fictional example of wyrd doing its weird recursive thing from my own story but it turned out that any attempt to summarize a thread of plot inevitably turns into an incredibly longwinded and complicated spiel no matter how hard I try to cut things down.
By the way, wyrd is the etymon of weird.
Another thing: don't get mad at your favorite authors for taking years to write installments to their story.
In the head of an author, story ideas ferment like wine. The more time the author spends developing the story, the more awesome it will be.
Unless the author we're talking about is George Lucas, but then again i'm pretty sure he's not the primary supplier of the best parts of Star Wars anyway so he might not even count.
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Interesting. So if fate is not fixed, then the outcome of Ragnarok isn't set in stone, and the "good guys" could win? That would be a blast. :-)An important thing to remember is that mythic time is cyclical, it is non-linear and it is always current.
For example, Baldr is born, and he is alive, and he is wounded, and he is dead. Ymir breathes, and the world is made, and the world is sinking into the sea. Odin is hanged and he is not hanged, Fenrir is born, and he is captured by Tyr, and he is in chains, and he has broken free, so on and so forth.
If Voluspá is to be believed (and remember that even the poetic edda must be taken with a grain of salt, and also that different accounts of the lore contradict each other) then when the völva in voluspá looked at the wyrd, what is described in voluspá is what she saw. And this is also part of mythic time.
A funny thing: you cannot even look at the wyrd without affecting it through that action! So the uncertainty principle is in effect.
So the Vikings had quantum mechanics? :-)
I had this mental picture of a whole bunch of Vikings standing around in the aftermath of a "murthering great battle", dirty, exhausted, battered, bloody, but nevertheless jubilantly happy yelling, "We kicked their butts!"
Interesting. So if fate is not fixed, then the outcome of Ragnarok isn't set in stone, and the "good guys" could win? That would be a blast. :-)An important thing to remember is that mythic time is cyclical, it is non-linear and it is always current.
For example, Baldr is born, and he is alive, and he is wounded, and he is dead. Ymir breathes, and the world is made, and the world is sinking into the sea. Odin is hanged and he is not hanged, Fenrir is born, and he is captured by Tyr, and he is in chains, and he has broken free, so on and so forth.
If Voluspá is to be believed (and remember that even the poetic edda must be taken with a grain of salt, and also that different accounts of the lore contradict each other) then when the völva in voluspá looked at the wyrd, what is described in voluspá is what she saw. And this is also part of mythic time.
A funny thing: you cannot even look at the wyrd without affecting it through that action! So the uncertainty principle is in effect.
So the Vikings had quantum mechanics? :-)
I had this mental picture of a whole bunch of Vikings standing around in the aftermath of a "murthering great battle", dirty, exhausted, battered, bloody, but nevertheless jubilantly happy yelling, "We kicked their butts!"
Hold that question for when I start actively studying quantum mechanics so I can come back and say yes. (And in that instance, by asking the question, you would have affected the answer. Uncertainty may or may not have struck again!)
And yes that is a beautiful mental image.
(but seriously I am so proud of making a seamless quantum mechanics reference there and now I'm wondering if I can improve my theological theories with a proper study of quantum physics)
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Alas, my knowledge of quantum mechanics is very limited. I know that Feynman claimed that, "No one understands quantum mechanics." However, one can still use it to do a whole bunch of stuff.
In terms of one's theology influencing their perspectives on science, that has been well documented. Einstein famously objected to quantum mechanics because, "God does not play dice with the universe." Through time though the equations that are used for quantum mechanics have been experimentally verified over and over again, even if nobody knows exactly what they mean.
However, Einstein may yet have the last laugh. I have heard of a small group of scientists who have been recreating some of the classic experiments dealing with the nature of light (sometimes it acts as a particle, sometimes as a wave) and have found that this can be explained by a fluid dynamics model in which the photons are traveling along/in a fluid. In which case a lot of the uncertainties associated with quantum mechanics go away and one is pretty much looking at a "billiard ball" version of reality where things can be easily predicted given the necessary data.
But my main training was in Anthropology, so I can't delve too far into physics without betraying massive ignorance, especially as far as modern theoretical physics is concerned.
I consider myself something of a Biologist/Anthropologist myself. physics (especially anything to do with the electro-magnetic force, dear gods) is definitely not my strong point.
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Through time I have, more by accident than design, done a little bit of a bunch of different things.
B.A. in Anthropology with a heavy emphasis on Archaeology. Also took courses in statistics (ended up making money tutoring one of the courses), air photo interpretation, computer programming (FORTRAN on punch cards) and other interesting stuff. While I didn't take courses in it per se, you can't do archaeology without picking up some paleoclimatology.
GRE scores not only got me into the grad school I wanted, but also into Mensa.
M.A. Physical Anthropology. My interests changed somewhat in grad school so I went from an archaeology major/physical anthropology minor to the other way around.
Got engaged, needed an income, ended up enlisting in the Navy. Wound up working on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. In the meantime the fiancee got pregnant with somebody else's kid and married him.
Transferred into the Navy's nuclear power program and qualified as a mechanical operator, naval nuclear power plants. Got picked up for OCS and obtained a commission as surface line officer. Got all the initial qualifications I needed as a junior officer. Combat information Center watch officer, officer of the deck, underway and surface warfare officer. Got out after 8 years in the service for a variety of reasons. Final rank was LTJG.
Have done a whole bunch of other stuff, though mostly security. Picked up an A.A.S. in diesel and heavy equipment technology.
I keep telling myself that one of these days I'm going to break down and start writing science fiction. I've got a variety of different story ideas that have been on the back burner for years. Usually mixing a little.bit of fantasy into it. Thus the original questions I had on Valkyries.
One story idea involves a "real" Valkyrie passing as a normal human in.a modern setting. Another involves something else entirely pretending to be a Valkyrie in a modern setting. :-)
I've also got some space opera ideas. In the far future, the idea that humanity originated on one planet is treated as sort of a myth. I mean, they recognize that must have happened, but the galactic civilization has existed for so long that all knowledge of whatever the home world was has been lost.
A girl is just becoming an adult in a family that has for as many generations as they have records for been pilots. The "wings" that they use as insignia resemble something like a dragonfly. When a pilot completes their initial training in atmospheric craft they get the fly with the forward pair of wings on it. When they complete their training in space craft they get the rear set of wings for the dragonfly.
Just before the girl (having complete her atmospheric training) leaves to go start her career as a pilot and get her space qualification the older family members take her aside. They tell her of the tradition that they have, which they acknowledge is probably full of sh&t, that they have a set of wings that dates back to the early days when man had just learned how to fly. So they pull this set of wings out of a safe where they keep it. These are some strange wings. It's not a "dragonfly". There's only one pair of wings, not two, and they look like a bird's wings. The letters USAAF are displayed on.the wings. Nobody knows what, if anything, the letters mean. They then proceed to put the wings on her chest and pound them into her as hard as they can. Ceremony over, the wings go back in the safe.
Later in her career all hell breaks loose. And the girl realizes that there truly is something special about those old wings her family had. She has the ability to draw on the skill and experience of all the older, now deceased pilots who had ever gone through that ceremony. If it is humanly possible to do something as a pilot in either an atmospheric craft or a "fighter" type space craft, she can do it.
I also started writing a story about a valkyrie who was hiding out in a modern setting. She turned out to be a complete and utter violent psychopath so I shelved the story indefinitely.
In Battlestar Galactica 'earth' is a myth and the story revolves around a space caravan of survivors trying to find this mythical planet since their entire civilization was destroyed and it's the only lead they have. Not saying your story is necessarily similar in any other way, but you might like it.
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Also my life history and story ideas:
Allegedly raised by wolves, actually raised by cats (they were nice cats too, and they never berated me for having brain problems that interfered with my functioning in society). Lived in the woods without tents or plumbing for a couple weeks (three stars, would stay again with better people). Have spent the past five years reading about vikings and anything tangibly related to the subject, and also avoiding reading about vikings due to an irrational anxiety of being considered a fraud. Now hanging on by the skin of my fraying emotional health at university and considering switching to an Anthro major with Bio as a minor.
Story ideas:
- Since 2010 i've worked on be3t an elaborate rendition of the story of Bēowulf, which is kind of like game of thrones in the 6th century with less misogyny, more gay people, even more familial abuse and more norse heathen non-roman values struggling against a rise of southern european influences in the developing nobility.
- Since 2014 have also had on the back burner Hamarberi, a story set in modern Hartford (because I tire of young adult urban fantasies set in middle class suburbs and I've lived in the Greater Hartford Area all my life so I can write what I know) about a public high school kid named Harley who saves a mysterious goat from being hit by a train. It turns out that the gods have turned into animals because of losing their powers, and is now in charge of protecting Thor and wielding mjölnir until she and some other folks figure out how to restore the gods to their former glory.
this thread is a lot of fun
I know right?
Another thing: don't get mad at your favorite authors for taking years to write installments to their story.
In the head of an author, story ideas ferment like wine. The more time the author spends developing the story, the more awesome it will be.
Unless the author we're talking about is George Lucas, but then again i'm pretty sure he's not the primary supplier of the best parts of Star Wars anyway so he might not even count.
Unless they die, and then it was all for bloody nothing. So get mad at Martin, because he's in poor physical health in his 60s, and Robert Jordan left a lot of people hanging.
Sequels from other authors don't count. That's professional fanfic.
Another thing: don't get mad at your favorite authors for taking years to write installments to their story.
In the head of an author, story ideas ferment like wine. The more time the author spends developing the story, the more awesome it will be.
Unless the author we're talking about is George Lucas, but then again i'm pretty sure he's not the primary supplier of the best parts of Star Wars anyway so he might not even count.Unless they die, and then it was all for bloody nothing. So get mad at Martin, because he's in poor physical health in his 60s, and Robert Jordan left a lot of people hanging.
Sequels from other authors don't count. That's professional fanfic.
That's a very good point that I didn't consider and I agree.
GRRM no pressure but get cracking before you kick the bucket.
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Sequels from other authors don't count. That's professional fanfic.
I'm going to have to agree with you there. The author they brought in to finish Jordan's Wheel of Time series did a good job. But he wasn't Jordan. There were some things missing in the writing style and the way the story was told that I had come to enjoy. Jordan was almost a little too good at leaving you hanging as to how things were going to turn out and what was going to happen. Sanderson either wasn't as good at that or didn't see the need to be quite so cagey about things. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about the good guys winning, but as Sanderson told it that was foreshadowed just a little too much.
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The idea that I had for the modern Valkyrie didn't have her as a psychopath. If you met her on the street you would see her as an old woman, possibly as much as 100 years old. Wearing a gold ring on her left ring finger that had Norse runes on it. If you chatted with her she would introduce herself as Mrs. Deutsch; and occasionally go on about her poor husband, Siegfried, who had passed away some time ago. If you could read the runes on her ring you would get "IEBEL" and the impression that there was more to the inscription that you couldn't see simply due to the way the ring sat on her finger.
The kicker, she ends up getting involved in combat for one reason or another with some suitably vicious bad guys. At first one would expect things to end very quickly with the poor old woman getting killed. But that doesn't happen. Instead the bad guys either miss a lot or can't seem to land more than a glancing blow. The old woman spends a lot of her time staggering around apparently barely in control of her body. But those who were knowledgeable in the martial arts would eventually recognize that they were watching the old woman employing a blend of aikido and drunken monkey style kung fu. They would also notice something else. As the combat dragged on, the woman was getting younger. The younger she got, the more control she had over herself, and the more speed and power she was putting into her various moves. Things eventually end with her victorious over the bad guys and appearing to be in her early 20's with a body that would make a Playboy Centerfold model tear her hair out in envy. :-)
o: niebelungensaga!!!!!
In my legendarium (which is basically norse folklore clarified, inconsistencies cut out, and dramatic modifications added) valkyrjar are in fact women who died a heroic death in the past, and were offered the option of serving as valkyrjar. Men are actually not out of the question so long as they were effeminate and dressed as women when acting as valkyrjar, just uncommon.
In the story I mentioned, I established that valkyrjar had a limited time-travelling ability, in order to aid in the collection of the chosen slain.
The lady in question, after becoming valkyrja, engineered the death of a 8th/9th century young nobleman she was creepily obsessed with, kidnapped his soul, and instead of taking him to valhöllr she took a detour to the 21st century where she hid out for a while, holding him captive.
It only gets more messed up from there.
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Based on your knowledge, what would a Church of the Aesir (complete with scriptures and a Fylkir) look like back in Viking times? (asking for a setting I plan to develop)
First off, there would be no such thing as a Church of the Aesir, because it was (and still is) a decentralized folk religion lacking an institution or central authority.
Second of all, it would not (and still does not) have scripture because before the conversion to christianity, the Germanics were an oral society. They did not keep records. They did not write literature. The folk religion is based on an oral tradition that is now all but deceased. Fragments of the oral tradition (such as the poetic edda) survive in various primary sources, but just about all of these were penned by a Christian hand and have been subject to influence and distortion.
Fylkir is just another word for the king in Old Norse. An important thing to remember is that before kingdoms were unified in the late viking age, kings ruled petty kingdoms, not kingdoms proper as we generally think of with the word kingdom (state monarchies). These were kingdoms that were very small, and very many in number. They were small enough that if you were part of one of these nations it was easy to to know your king personally, and in fact the king was expected to be a generous 'ring-giver' to the people who were loyal and helpful to him. There weren't states (meaning centralized institutions of government), because the societies were too small and sparse for that sort of thing. Larger scale organization was in alliances and confederations such as the Ingvæones (friends of Ing).
Oh and while we're at it, lets get something else out of the way and smash another cornerstone of the myth that the heathen Germanic-speakers bear any passing resemblance to high or late middle ages societies: no stone buildings. The mead hall remains I have seen didn't even have stone foundations.
This might not answer your question but I still hope it is useful information for your purposes, and that I don't sound snappy.
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GRANTED: My study of the migration period and viking age is geared towards understanding the 6th century in the migration period, the time of Bēowulf. These were dynamic times and there could very well be aspects of the viking age that I have forgotten, did not research or take into account.
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I'm going to have to agree with you there. The author they brought in to finish Jordan's Wheel of Time series did a good job. But he wasn't Jordan. There were some things missing in the writing style and the way the story was told that I had come to enjoy. Jordan was almost a little too good at leaving you hanging as to how things were going to turn out and what was going to happen. Sanderson either wasn't as good at that or didn't see the need to be quite so cagey about things. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about the good guys winning, but as Sanderson told it that was foreshadowed just a little too much.
Sequels from other authors don't count. That's professional fanfic.
I'm on the other side of this argument. Sanderson being brought in almost got me back to reading WoT.
Almost. But not quite.
Why does she do this?
Because it is a warm place, and she is a precious adorable little child who loves to be all snuggly and comfortable on a soft heated area.
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Why does she do this?Because it is a warm place, and she is a precious adorable little child who loves to be all snuggly and comfortable on a soft heated area.
That explains the constant insistence on being lapcat. =)
The other one chases dice. Makes running games ... interesting, let's put it that way.
Why does she do this?Because it is a warm place, and she is a precious adorable little child who loves to be all snuggly and comfortable on a soft heated area.That explains the constant insistence on being lapcat. =)
The other one chases dice. Makes running games ... interesting, let's put it that way.
Clearly she wants to play the game c:
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What's up with the c:
Ah I get it, it's a smiley face variation, smurfy:)
I think c: is really cute c:
also
Streaming myself storyboarding my comic
It's just like twitch.tv where you can chill and chat with me, except you don't need an account to chat.
I think c: is really cute c:
also
Streaming myself storyboarding my comic
It's just like twitch.tv where you can chill and chat with me, except you don't need an account to chat.
Still storyboarding! the stream is still running and you can still join me.
page 1 completed. now working on page spread of 2-3.
Do not be alarmed about the storyboards being very rough! Their only purpose is to draft the manuscript, and lay out the content of panels.
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I'm going to have to agree with you there. The author they brought in to finish Jordan's Wheel of Time series did a good job. But he wasn't Jordan. There were some things missing in the writing style and the way the story was told that I had come to enjoy. Jordan was almost a little too good at leaving you hanging as to how things were going to turn out and what was going to happen. Sanderson either wasn't as good at that or didn't see the need to be quite so cagey about things. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about the good guys winning, but as Sanderson told it that was foreshadowed just a little too much.
Sequels from other authors don't count. That's professional fanfic.
I'm on the other side of this argument. Sanderson being brought in almost got me back to reading WoT.
Almost. But not quite.
Obviously to each their own. One of the other problems given a work of that size is maintaining continuity and keeping it interesting throughout. That it dragged in spots was impossible to avoid and I can understand why people would be put off by that.