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<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7603204" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>The most difficult part of translating Norse beliefs into D&D is the world setting.</p><p></p><p>The Norse worldview is entirely this-worldly. Everything happens *here* in the material world.</p><p></p><p>In D&D terms, the Norse cosmos only has one plane, the Material Plane, and everyone is part of it − the humans, the alfar, æsir and vanir, the dvergar, risar and þursar, and the náir. They all happen here.</p><p></p><p>For example, this world has physical human bodies, sunbeams, and mountains. Human bodies do what human bodies do. Sunbeams do what sunbeams do. Mountains do what mountains do. In the Norse worldview, the human body has a mind that decides what the body does. Likewise, a sunbeam has a mind that decides what it does. And mountains too. Sunbeams behave the way they do because that is what they want to do. This is how animism comes into play. Each phenomenon of the material plane has its own psychic presence. The minds of the sunbeams are alfar, the minds of the mountains are risar.</p><p></p><p>The human mind is a force that can ‘push’ the movement of the physical body. A human who has a ‘powerful’ mind (rammr) can influence other physical objects outside the body − even control them. The mental influence is a force, called ‘mindforces’ (hugar), plural. This mental force is invisible and subtle, like a human breath. The breath is a subtle wind that normally goes unnoticed. But a strong wind can have a significant impact on physical objects. Likewise, the influence of a humans mind on ones surroundings is subtle, but a strong mind can have a significant impact.</p><p></p><p>These mindforces that each human has are how the Norse do their magic. In D&D terms, Norse magic is psionics.</p><p></p><p>A way that D&D 5e can characterize such magic is, the Norse culture advances while preserving a prehistoric form of magic that preexists the later separation into arcane, divine, and psionic. Norse magic is strictly psionic, but includes scientific and spiritual applications. Sotospeak, Norse psionics includes proto-arcane and proto-divine.</p><p></p><p>The Norse term for ‘psionics’ is ham-remi, literally ‘form power’. This ‘form’ (hamr) is a kind of mindset. It is the self-identity that the mind takes on. This mental form is a kind of virtual body made out of mindforces. This ‘form’ also includes how one visualizes the surrounding world around. For example, a mind can attune with a particular stone, becoming one with the stone, thus imbuing the stone with ones mindforces. The mindforces includes both a physical body and a stone. Thus the sense of self that mind experiences is both the body and the stone. (Compare Zen where both a Samurai and a sword become one.) When this mental shape of the mindforces is strong, its influence can mold and reshape the body and the world, including other minds and other physical bodies. This capacity of the mind to influence the body and the stone is the mechanics of all Norse magic. Thus ham-remi means something like the power of visualization.</p><p></p><p>A powerful mind can even project outofbody. So the mind connects only peripherally with the body, while roaming the world as a subtle mental force. The mind can roam in the form of ones own body, walking around. Norse shamans typically project their minds via a virtual body whose ‘form’ is an animal. Thus the minds eye flies thru the world with wings. Ones mindforces can observe and influence the minds and objects at that remote location.</p><p></p><p>The mindforces are subtle and normally imperceptible. However, a person with ‘second sight’ has a mind whose mindforces can sense the presence and influence of other mindforces, even see these other mindforces in a kind waking prophetic vision.</p><p></p><p>This resembles today ‘psychics’ who sense and see ghosts. But the Norse ghosts are specifically the outofbody mindforces of dead bodies, where these corpses are notable features of the normal material world.</p><p></p><p>All significant phenomena in this world have minds. These minds influence the world around them. Sunbeams influence the mindsets of people. Mountains influence the mindsets of people. Like humans, these objects of nature can project their mindforces outofbody (out-of-sunbeam, out-of-mountain) to interact with their world around them. The virtual bodies of these objects can take on the ‘form’ of a human or the ‘form’ of animal. Like the virtual body of a human mind can.</p><p></p><p>These outofbody mental ‘forms’ can sense each other and interact with each other. There are populations of disembodied minds interacting with each other every day. Sunbeams are watching humans. Glaciers and summer breezes are having kids. Most humans fail to notice these mental activities, because their minds are not paying attention to them. But humans notice the physical behaviors that result form the decisions of these natural minds, such as when the weather changes.</p><p></p><p>In D&D language, the Material Plane includes roaming minds. These minds can see and interacting with each other, forming a mental world that overlaps this material world.</p><p></p><p>This ‘mindscape’ is part of the Material Plane. </p><p></p><p>The mountain can plainly observe the humans going about their daily activities. If a mountain travels outofbody, a human will probably feel it in a weird way, as it passes by. There can be magnificent mansions among the clouds − made out of mindforces, that most humans dont see.</p><p></p><p>The gold and white sunbeams are ‘alfar’, whose minds can travel in the ‘form’ of a blond human or a white swan, or so on. The outofbody mountains are ‘risar’. A human can talk to a mountain, literally by going up to a mountain and talking to it. Mentally, the mountain might even answer back. And so on.</p><p></p><p>It is tempting to identify this Norse ‘mindscape’ with the D&D Feywild. But to do so misses the point that if we are talking about a particular risar, we are actually talking about a specific mountain. It also misses the point that we are talking about minds. This is a psionic world.</p><p></p><p>Ultimately, the Norse setting is a setting where only the Material Plane exists. There are no other planes. This material world includes the minds of people, places, and things.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 7603204, member: 58172"] The most difficult part of translating Norse beliefs into D&D is the world setting. The Norse worldview is entirely this-worldly. Everything happens *here* in the material world. In D&D terms, the Norse cosmos only has one plane, the Material Plane, and everyone is part of it − the humans, the alfar, æsir and vanir, the dvergar, risar and þursar, and the náir. They all happen here. For example, this world has physical human bodies, sunbeams, and mountains. Human bodies do what human bodies do. Sunbeams do what sunbeams do. Mountains do what mountains do. In the Norse worldview, the human body has a mind that decides what the body does. Likewise, a sunbeam has a mind that decides what it does. And mountains too. Sunbeams behave the way they do because that is what they want to do. This is how animism comes into play. Each phenomenon of the material plane has its own psychic presence. The minds of the sunbeams are alfar, the minds of the mountains are risar. The human mind is a force that can ‘push’ the movement of the physical body. A human who has a ‘powerful’ mind (rammr) can influence other physical objects outside the body − even control them. The mental influence is a force, called ‘mindforces’ (hugar), plural. This mental force is invisible and subtle, like a human breath. The breath is a subtle wind that normally goes unnoticed. But a strong wind can have a significant impact on physical objects. Likewise, the influence of a humans mind on ones surroundings is subtle, but a strong mind can have a significant impact. These mindforces that each human has are how the Norse do their magic. In D&D terms, Norse magic is psionics. A way that D&D 5e can characterize such magic is, the Norse culture advances while preserving a prehistoric form of magic that preexists the later separation into arcane, divine, and psionic. Norse magic is strictly psionic, but includes scientific and spiritual applications. Sotospeak, Norse psionics includes proto-arcane and proto-divine. The Norse term for ‘psionics’ is ham-remi, literally ‘form power’. This ‘form’ (hamr) is a kind of mindset. It is the self-identity that the mind takes on. This mental form is a kind of virtual body made out of mindforces. This ‘form’ also includes how one visualizes the surrounding world around. For example, a mind can attune with a particular stone, becoming one with the stone, thus imbuing the stone with ones mindforces. The mindforces includes both a physical body and a stone. Thus the sense of self that mind experiences is both the body and the stone. (Compare Zen where both a Samurai and a sword become one.) When this mental shape of the mindforces is strong, its influence can mold and reshape the body and the world, including other minds and other physical bodies. This capacity of the mind to influence the body and the stone is the mechanics of all Norse magic. Thus ham-remi means something like the power of visualization. A powerful mind can even project outofbody. So the mind connects only peripherally with the body, while roaming the world as a subtle mental force. The mind can roam in the form of ones own body, walking around. Norse shamans typically project their minds via a virtual body whose ‘form’ is an animal. Thus the minds eye flies thru the world with wings. Ones mindforces can observe and influence the minds and objects at that remote location. The mindforces are subtle and normally imperceptible. However, a person with ‘second sight’ has a mind whose mindforces can sense the presence and influence of other mindforces, even see these other mindforces in a kind waking prophetic vision. This resembles today ‘psychics’ who sense and see ghosts. But the Norse ghosts are specifically the outofbody mindforces of dead bodies, where these corpses are notable features of the normal material world. All significant phenomena in this world have minds. These minds influence the world around them. Sunbeams influence the mindsets of people. Mountains influence the mindsets of people. Like humans, these objects of nature can project their mindforces outofbody (out-of-sunbeam, out-of-mountain) to interact with their world around them. The virtual bodies of these objects can take on the ‘form’ of a human or the ‘form’ of animal. Like the virtual body of a human mind can. These outofbody mental ‘forms’ can sense each other and interact with each other. There are populations of disembodied minds interacting with each other every day. Sunbeams are watching humans. Glaciers and summer breezes are having kids. Most humans fail to notice these mental activities, because their minds are not paying attention to them. But humans notice the physical behaviors that result form the decisions of these natural minds, such as when the weather changes. In D&D language, the Material Plane includes roaming minds. These minds can see and interacting with each other, forming a mental world that overlaps this material world. This ‘mindscape’ is part of the Material Plane. The mountain can plainly observe the humans going about their daily activities. If a mountain travels outofbody, a human will probably feel it in a weird way, as it passes by. There can be magnificent mansions among the clouds − made out of mindforces, that most humans dont see. The gold and white sunbeams are ‘alfar’, whose minds can travel in the ‘form’ of a blond human or a white swan, or so on. The outofbody mountains are ‘risar’. A human can talk to a mountain, literally by going up to a mountain and talking to it. Mentally, the mountain might even answer back. And so on. It is tempting to identify this Norse ‘mindscape’ with the D&D Feywild. But to do so misses the point that if we are talking about a particular risar, we are actually talking about a specific mountain. It also misses the point that we are talking about minds. This is a psionic world. Ultimately, the Norse setting is a setting where only the Material Plane exists. There are no other planes. This material world includes the minds of people, places, and things. [/QUOTE]
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