u/A-J-Zan

Szukam czegoś do słuchania podczas grania, sprzątania etc.

EDIT: Interesują mnie audiobooki po Polsku. Z Angielskim miałam tak dużo do czynienia w ostatnim czasie, że podczas pisania prozy nieświadomie stosuję anglicyzmy.

It's not an isekai story but the reader has to somehow know right away that they are reading about another human world and not some AU Earth.

I have tried to come up with something but the best things I can think of are either a list of all the realms or a map at the very beginning of the book. I want this to be explained ASAP so the readers won't be inclined to point out historical innacuracies, like adjusted to medievalcore modern innovations like metal piping with faucets, liquid soaps and other self-care products

Just calling the human realm Midgard isn't enough in my opinion as Earth would be sometimes called that in works with Norse myth elements. Mentions of some fictional kingdoms or creatures as well as the existence of magic also won't work alone I'm afraid, because tropes of them on Earth also aren't anything new. Infodumping about whole realm's history or geography also is a no-go for me either.

Originally I wrote the text below for this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1s84rq3/what_are_examples_of_a_mace_made_from_the_sword/

Recently I’ve decided to update it.

For context: my book is set in a universe based on the Norse myths. All characters mentioned here are my own takes on gods that are more or less accurate to the original lore. This includes Loki being presented as the sympathetic (albeit flawed and still fully responsible for his actions, not misunderstood) anti-hero. I'm mentioning this here because I'm aware similar takes on the Trickster aren't popular in some circles.

TW: >!mentions of gore and torture later in the text!<

***

Unlike in the myths, Lævateinn wasn’t made by Loki but his father, Farbauti, who was a very skilled artisan specialized in crafting and enchanting objects. 

From a very young age the Trickster had seemingly impossible to deal with issues with keeping attention on one thing for very long, even if he genuinely wanted to lock in. This was a problem because strong focus was necessary for anyone learning magic. Despite that Loki still had potential, given his natural ability to shapeshift, healing factor and even the rare skill to regrow missing body parts. 

Not wanting for his child to suffer from the belief that they are the hopeless failure, Farbauti made an enchanted staff he called Lævateinn. Its wielder could cast powerful spells without the need to focus - a simple thought and clear intent were enough to do it. The artifact also could change into many forms, including that of a knife made completely out of wood and mistletoe, which became Loki’s favourite.

Farbauti knew that such a powerful item could be dangerous in the wrong hands, so he put on Lævateinn some additional protective enchantments. If anyone except Loki would try to grab the staff, they wouldn’t succeed because of how hot to the touch and impossibly heavy it could be, regardless of one’s heat immunity and strength. Even the lightest caressing might leave horrible blisters on one’s fingertips.

Lævateinn wasn’t sentient by any means but thanks to eitr (the energy that is the base of all magic in my world that works like the conduit for the thoughts) could pick up intentions of others’ within close radius. If it sensed that the surface it was laying on was moved by someone who wasn’t Loki and who did this to move the staff specifically, it would fall through the carrier onto the ground. Even trying to pick it up with magic could, well, set mages’ nervous system on fire… the real one if they somehow continued to resist.

Lævateinn quickly became Loki’s most cherished possession. He was using it to cast both basic and advanced spells, pull pranks on others, get himself out of trouble and later survive after his whole family was killed by Jotnars from a different clan.

One of the most important events in my story that is tied to this artifact happened decades later when the Trickster was already living in Asgard, working as king Odin’s errand boy for miscellaneous, often personal and petty tasks, like stealing Freyja’s necklace as the revenge for publicly making fun of the Allfather when she got drunk. After the theft and almost getting choked and drowned by Heimdall that he had turned into a seal earlier, Loki was spending some time in Midgard. While there, he saved a young demigoddess (Sigyn as he later have learned) from being mauled to death by a beast. With Lævateinn he was able to keep her alive, despite severe injuries that would kill her instantly otherwise until she could be transported safely to Asgard. There she was placed under the care of Eir, the best healer in the whole nine realms, who succeeded in stabilizing and patching up Sigyn. The demigoddess would live but with body and face missing some parts, like one leg up to the knee, the foot on the second, one lung, whole hand, most fingers on the one remaining, a few teeth, tongue and both eyes.

Upon seeing her like that, Loki knew that Sigyn’s life from now on will be a never-ending nightmare for her and that was all his fault because he didn’t arrive fast enough to safe her. Filled with guilt and determination to fix as much as possible, Loki transformed himself into what Sigyn could look like before the attack, down to the identical blood, and offered himself as the organ and body parts donor due to his ability to regrow them. Transplantations were possible in Asgard but rare, and not yet at the scale so big as this one, but with good planning and Eir’s skills, one by one Sigyn was regaining what she had lost with some time between surgery to let Loki recover enough and be ready to give away another piece of himself.

Some time after the last surgery and the Trickster turning back into himself, Sigyn was still unconscious but was able to dream. During a particular;y bad nightmare she started to thrash violently in her sleep. Both Eir and Loki tried to calm her down but in the schuffle the latter accidentally dropped Lævateinn (in the form of a wooden knife) on her. To the great surprise of him, Eir and Odin, who happened to also be there and who knew the whole ordeal, Sigyn did not get burned or crushed and even managed to swipe the knife away from her chest in her sleep.

After the demigoddes finally calmed down all three gods discussed what just happened as it shouldn’t be possible. The king concluded that the reason why Lævateinn didn’t hurt Sigyn was the body parts, organs and blood Loki had given her. According to him, because of them Lævateinn considered her as its second wielder and it was something that even a skilled artisan like Farbauti couldn’t predict when he was placing the protective charms on the staff.

With such a loophole found out, Odin decided it would be best to keep the whole surgery a secret, especially this event with Lævateinn. According to Allfather, if the enemies enemies of Asgard found out that a staff that makes casting powerful spells effortless can be used by anyone if the original wielder’s body parts are sewn onto the new user, Loki might end up kidnapped, tortured and turned into an unwilling donor that could be harvested for organs by someone not as skilled and considerate as Eir, then kept locked up in dungeons until the new possible wielder would come to get his piece.

Loki agreed to this idea and also to not let Sigyn touch Lævateinn ever again. But he did not care that much about the possibility of becoming some mad butcher’s meat. In truth, he thought that Odin might have been a bit paranoid, jumping to such grim conclusions right away. For the Trickster it was more about not wanting to face Sigyn when she fully recovers, because he still had conflicting feelings about his role in saving her life. 

Originally I wrote the text below for this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/comments/1s84rq3/what_are_examples_of_a_mace_made_from_the_sword/

Recently I’ve decided to update it.

For context: my book is set in a universe based on the Norse myths. All characters mentioned here are my own takes on gods that are more or less accurate to the original lore. This includes Loki being presented as the sympathetic (albeit flawed and still fully responsible for his actions, not misunderstood) anti-hero.

TW: >!mentions of gore and torture later in the text!<

***

Unlike in the myths, Lævateinn wasn’t made by Loki but his father, Farbauti, who was a very skilled artisan specialized in crafting and enchanting objects. 

From a very young age the Trickster had seemingly impossible to deal with issues with keeping attention on one thing for very long, even if he genuinely wanted to lock in. This was a problem because strong focus was necessary for anyone learning magic. Despite that Loki still had potential, given his natural ability to shapeshift, healing factor and even the rare skill to regrow missing body parts. 

Not wanting for his child to suffer from the belief that they are the hopeless failure, Farbauti made an enchanted staff he called Lævateinn. Its wielder could cast powerful spells without the need to focus - a simple thought and clear intent were enough to do it. The artifact also could change into many forms, including that of a knife made completely out of wood and mistletoe, which became Loki’s favourite.

Farbauti knew that such a powerful item could be dangerous in the wrong hands, so he put on Lævateinn some additional protective enchantments. If anyone except Loki would try to grab the staff, they wouldn’t succeed because of how hot to the touch and impossibly heavy it could be, regardless of one’s heat immunity and strength. Even the lightest caressing might leave horrible blisters on one’s fingertips.

Lævateinn wasn’t sentient by any means but thanks to eitr (the energy that is the base of all magic in my world that works like the conduit for the thoughts) could pick up intentions of others’ within close radius. If it sensed that the surface it was laying on was moved by someone who wasn’t Loki and who did this to move the staff specifically, it would fall through the carrier onto the ground. Even trying to pick it up with magic could, well, set mages’ nervous system on fire… the real one if they somehow continued to resist.

Lævateinn quickly became Loki’s most cherished possession. He was using it to cast both basic and advanced spells, pull pranks on others, get himself out of trouble and later survive after his whole family was killed by Jotnars from a different clan.

One of the most important events in my story that is tied to this artifact happened decades later when the Trickster was already living in Asgard, working as king Odin’s errand boy for miscellaneous, often personal and petty tasks, like stealing Freyja’s necklace as the revenge for publicly making fun of the Allfather when she got drunk. After the theft and almost getting choked and drowned by Heimdall that he had turned into a seal earlier, Loki was spending some time in Midgard. While there, he saved a young demigoddess (Sigyn as he later have learned) from being mauled to death by a beast. With Lævateinn he was able to keep her alive, despite severe injuries that would kill her instantly otherwise until she could be transported safely to Asgard. There she was placed under the care of Eir, the best healer in the whole nine realms, who succeeded in stabilizing and patching up Sigyn. The demigoddess would live but with body and face missing some parts, like one leg up to the knee, the foot on the second, one lung, whole hand, most fingers on the one remaining, a few teeth, tongue and both eyes.

Upon seeing her like that, Loki knew that Sigyn’s life from now on will be a never-ending nightmare for her and that was all his fault because he didn’t arrive fast enough to safe her. Filled with guilt and determination to fix as much as possible, Loki transformed himself into what Sigyn could look like before the attack, down to the identical blood, and offered himself as the organ and body parts donor due to his ability to regrow them. Transplantations were possible in Asgard but rare, and not yet at the scale so big as this one, but with good planning and Eir’s skills, one by one Sigyn was regaining what she had lost with some time between surgery to let Loki recover enough and be ready to give away another piece of himself.

Some time after the last surgery and the Trickster turning back into himself, Sigyn was still unconscious but was able to dream. During a particular;y bad nightmare she started to thrash violently in her sleep. Both Eir and Loki tried to calm her down but in the schuffle the latter accidentally dropped Lævateinn (in the form of a wooden knife) on her. To the great surprise of him, Eir and Odin, who happened to also be there and who knew the whole ordeal, Sigyn did not get burned or crushed and even managed to swipe the knife away from her chest in her sleep.

After the demigoddes finally calmed down all three gods discussed what just happened as it shouldn’t be possible. The king concluded that the reason why Lævateinn didn’t hurt Sigyn was the body parts, organs and blood Loki had given her. According to him, because of them Lævateinn considered her as its second wielder and it was something that even a skilled artisan like Farbauti couldn’t predict when he was placing the protective charms on the staff.

With such a loophole found out, Odin decided it would be best to keep the whole surgery a secret, especially this event with Lævateinn. According to Allfather, if the enemies enemies of Asgard found out that a staff that makes casting powerful spells effortless can be used by anyone if the original wielder’s body parts are sewn onto the new user, Loki might end up kidnapped, tortured and turned into an unwilling donor that could be harvested for organs by someone not as skilled and considerate as Eir, then kept locked up in dungeons until the new possible wielder would come to get his piece.

Loki agreed to this idea and also to not let Sigyn touch Lævateinn ever again. But he did not care that much about the possibility of becoming some mad butcher’s meat. In truth, he thought that Odin might have been a bit paranoid, jumping to such grim conclusions right away. For the Trickster it was more about not wanting to face Sigyn when she fully recovers, because he still had conflicting feelings about his role in saving her life. 

Even before the ;atest chapter I speculated that Azz and Clara might team up with Ameri and go together to Earth in order to find Iruma.

Not only miss Azazel was for the longest time aware that Iruma is a human* but also was with him in the gate. Not to mention that whole, several chapters long "How I met your mother" arc. I don't think it was put there just to explain in detail Demon World's politics towards humans in preparation for the current mess.

I bet that if Ameri and 2/3 of the Love Trio end up on Earth, she wiill have her own subplot of not only looking for Iruma but also Merize. And after her and Iruma reunite, they might start their investigation, centered around that manga Ameri had the whole collection of and Iruma worked on at the publishing house.

*I wonder how Clara and Azz will react if they learn that.

MC, an orinary guy, starts training along with other students as green as him about the subject. Soon, however, those guys start rapidly excelling, leaving MC far behind, still getting through the basics. At first he is worried he might be inept, but it turns out his proggression is actually very good for an average person like him. He just had the misfortune of ending up in a group of exceptional prodigies.

This is how I want to introduce dinos in my fantasy story.

Since their Latin-based names won't be fitting for this setting, in-universe the whole clade will be called hofodrekis, (or hofodreks, I still need to decide). If roughly translated from Old Norse that would mean something like "the dragon head". Names of specific kinds of dinosaurs would be based on translations of their Latin names (something like Triceratops - Trihorn).

But back to the question in the title, I don't know what dinosaurs could be the best for the work on a medieval farm alongsize humans, aside from maybe some horse-sized ceratopsians. The climate that dinos would live in IRL is not important as hofodrekis won't be 100% accurate (maybe 80%) to IRL dinosaurs due to creative liberties. Still I want to have some accuracy or beliefability anyway, so no T-Rexes pulling merchant's cart here.