Guiding Light

Question: In your house rules, you have it written that followers numbering 5 or more are 4 Legend behind the character. How does this apply to the Vanir for Sverrir? Are they all going to be Legend 8 when he reaches 12 (if he reaches 12)? What about the ones who were higher Legend than 5 when they joined him (since he's Legend 9 now I think)?

Easy question to resolve here! The Vanir aren't Followers; they're a collective Guide.

While Followers and Creatures are always lower Legend than the Scion they're attached to, Guides don't necessarily follow the same rules. In fact, Guides are usually (though not always) higher Legend than their Scions, at least early on in a Scion's lifetime.

Since their job is to provide advice, help and political contacts for their Scions, Guides are often more powerful so that they have more expertise and connections to offer than the Scion himself would. They don't usually change Legend level as a Scion progresses, since they are independent people serving as advisors rather than creatures with no life outside of the Scion's, meaning that if you have Homer as a Guide, he'll always be human no matter how high in Legend you get, and if you have Ptah as a Guide, he won't randomly dip in Legend just because you're less powerful than he is.

Sverrir has the spirits of the Vanir who have gone before him as a Guide, mostly because as their new king (and one of the last Vanir still standing) they are all on deck to provide him with their wisdom and guidance to make sure he navigates the shark-infested waters of divine kingship and takes care of his kingdom appropriately. They're not Followers; he can't summon them, they don't fight for him, he can't magically resurrect them if they die, and they don't gain or lose any powers beyond those they've always had. Instead, they remain in Vanaheim, and when Sverrir needs help he goes there to ask them to share their knowledge and help him make important decisions (and, occasionally, collectively snub Sowiljr for his dirty Aesir ways).

So no worries about the Follower Legend rules and Sverrir; they don't actually apply to him. Those rules are only for the kinds of summonable creatures that have no existence outside of their Scions.

Affairs of the Heart (of the Forest)

Question: So did Sverrir ever end up marrying anyone?

Not yet. And he'd better get on that shit, because he promised to hand over his first daughters of a legitimate marriage to the Pesedjet, and they are not going to wait forever for him to start busting those out.

Sverrir actually technically had the opportunity to marry the Morrigan on the eve of Ragnarok. He was descended upon by emissaries from the Amatsukami, Pesedjet and Tuatha de Danann, all looking to turn his kingly bachelor status to their advantage, and the Pesedjet made the deal to get his first legitimate daughters while the Tuatha demanded that he immediately father some sons on the Morrigan (they're pretty pissed off at the Aesir and Vanir right now, for reasons which are too lengthy to go into but are mostly Woody's fault, and they were demanding a little compensation for their heartbreak). It was suggested that if he just went ahead and married the Morrigan, he'd be able to kill two birds with one stone, but for some reason he just wasn't down with marrying the psychotic murdertrain of a goddess that rolled in and raped him into unconsciousness in the middle of diplomatic talks. Go figure.

So he dodged that bullet, but no special lady has stepped forward to seize the heart of the king of Vanaheim since. This isn't very surprising, since he's spending almost all his time fighting off enroaching armies from Ourea who threaten his realm, and there are pretty much no living Vanir women left so he's unlikely to meet anybody unless he leaves home now and then. The Norse divine population is severely depleted after Ragnarok, so it seems likely that he will end up making a political alliance with some other pantheon, but Will isn't exactly Mr. Congeniality so there are no volunteers stepping up to the plate right now.

It's been pointed out to Sowiljr that, as god of marriage, he really ought to fix Will up with somebody advantageous to everyone, but so far he's procrastinating. In the meantime, who do you guys think would be the best match for everyone's favorite cranky Vanir pain in the ass? Go wild!

Anne's Fiction Corner

It's that time!

Today's story is What Dreams May Come, starring Woody Anderson with appearances by Aurora Dahl, Vivian Landry, Kettila Blomgren and Will Nordstrom. It is a tale of dreams versus reality, familial loyalty and the enduring nature of consequences. And since I know this story took a long time to come out, here's a little bonus: Weregild, a secret look into some things Aurora's doing behind the scenes. Because any time Woody is in there busting his ass, it's a good bet Aurora's in the back sabotaging his efforts somehow.

As of the writing of this post, Seamus has eked out a mighty lead of 2 votes and will get the next story. I hope you're all ready for some Irish cross-country travel shenanigans, because that's what's about to happen. A new poll will go up to the right momentarily, and you can weigh in on whose story you'd like to see next.

At the write-in request of a few of you, I'm going to start providing teasers summaries of the stories you're voting on, so you'll know exactly what you might be signing up for. Ready? Here goes!

• If you vote for Alison Margaritas, you'll be getting a story about her response to Kane's betrayal and the theft of Colin by Geoff and company, and see exactly what lengths a truly vengeance-driven Scion can go to.
• If you vote for Darcy Jolie-Pitt, you'll be getting a story about two sisters trapped in a foreign underworld, trying to find their way back to the light.
• If you vote for Faruza Alinejad, you'll be getting a story about unlikely friendships and the sacrifices bandmates sometimes make for one another, physical or spiritual.
• If you vote for Mohini Misra, you'll be getting a story about her band undermining a corrupt raja and making difficult decisions about whether or not love can overcome evil.
• If you vote for Sangria Tecuhtli, you'll be getting a story about the consequences of recent Norse actions on the struggling Mexicans and what exactly it looks like when something pushes her over the edge.
• If you vote for Sophia Archimedes, you'll be getting a story about her stormy non-relationship with a certain notorious Scion.
• If you vote for Will Nordstrom, you'll be getting a story about his childhood and growth into one of the last Vanir Scions in the world.
• If you vote for Yadi, you'll be getting a story about her origins as a street rat in the back alleys of Tehran and her hopes for a better life as a child of the righteous gods.

Happy voting - I'm off to start wrangling Irishmen!