Valkyrie Catch & Questions

[Judanas]

I think this is the right place to ask, if not, sorry.

I'm making a Valkyrie for a game that will be starting in about a week and have run into a brick wall. I have no clue what to make her catch.

Valkyries don't really have a mythological weakness and Gard breaks the rules by having none.

I've come up blank so I was wondering if any of you had any ideas?

So far my backup is to have an aspect referencing old, powerful blood and having mistletoe be my weakness but that's a personal one, not a Valkyrie one.

Also, while there is mainly judeo-christian characters with True Faith powers, would there really be any reason a worshiper of the norse gods, even an empowered one, could not have it? It's about the faith, not the god last I checked.

[Silverblaze]

Valkyrie catch: piercing weapons like spears etc?

Valkyrie should be able to have faith powers.

[UmbraLux]

I've come up blank so I was wondering if any of you had any ideas?

Mistletoe was Baldur's weakness so it doesn't have to be personal.

That said, Valkyries are associated with Ravens, Swans, and Falcons...so I'd be tempted to use those three birds (or possibly all birds) as the catch. 

Another possibility is cloth or the tools of weaving.  See this quote:

Weaving is an integral function of both the valkyrie and the Norn. In Beowulf we read of the wigspeda gewiofu (weavings of victory), creafted by the valkyrie. The valkyrie who can weave victory can also weave defeat, for the valkyrie had the art of the war-fetter, which allowed the valkyrie to bind a warrior with terror, or release a favored warrior from those same bonds. Like the Norns, the valkyries are intimately involved in weaving or spinning the fates of men. In this capacity, the valkyries were worshiped as disir, and offered sacrifices (dísablót) as in Ynglingasaga Chapter 28.

Edit:  Atheists have faith powers (Sanja) so there's no reason Valkyries couldn't.

[Judanas]

Mistletoe was Baldur's weakness so it doesn't have to be personal.

That was my logic. Gard has 'Decedent of Beowulf' as an aspect, so I thought that a hint of blood of another sort would be an idea for a catch/plotlines/reasoning for getting even more toughness later.

Birds is certainly an interesting one, one I had not thought of.

[razorsmile]

A few ideas:

- Valkyries have death powers, right? Something life-aspected then. Soulfire?
- do ravens have any natural predators?
- forget Gard. What would *Odin's* catch be? Use *that*.
-  I just answered my own question. Fire Giant-related stuff would be a good catch.
- Who supplanted the Norse Pantheon? The White God and the The White Christ. Therefore, specifically christian symbols and angelic stuff would work well too, no?

[Silverblaze]

Odin dies to be eeatned by Fenris, Tyr lost a hand to Fenris.

Just putting that out there.

[HumAnnoyd]

What if Balder's vulnerability to mistletoe was something that all the Vanir shared? The story of only Balder being vulnerable to it could be a misdirection Odin propagated to keep others from knowing it was a universal weakness.

[Judanas]

Odin dies to be eeatned by Fenris, Tyr lost a hand to Fenris.

What if Balder's vulnerability to mistletoe was something that all the Vanir shared? The story of only Balder being vulnerable to it could be a misdirection Odin propagated to keep others from knowing it was a universal weakness.

Ooh...those are really good ideas.

[Richard_Chilton]

What if Balder's vulnerability to mistletoe was something that all the Vanir shared?

I always took that story as "even the gods can get smacked down with hubris", or that everything has limits - maybe with parts of "See? Loki was a wiseass - see what that got him?".

Balder and the others were acting like young boys in their first cup ("kick me as hard as you can! it doesn't hurt!) just because his mother had protected him from virtually everything.  Now if an enemy had killed him I could see the "HE was protected against everything but mistletoe" story being put around, but it was just a game of "kick me as hard as you can" that got out of hand.

That said, I see the Vanir as having custom catches.  Each and every one of them had a weird - that is they knew how they were going to die.  Not exactly, not "on August 5th at 3:23 PM a man will come to your door and...", but they had weirds.  Thor would die one way, Odin another, and there was no way to escape what was fated.

Richard

[Silverblaze]

I always took that story as "even the gods can get smacked down with hubris", or that everything has limits - maybe with parts of "See? Loki was a wiseass - see what that got him?".

Balder and the others were acting like young boys in their first cup ("kick me as hard as you can! it doesn't hurt!) just because his mother had protected him from virtually everything.  Now if an enemy had killed him I could see the "HE was protected against everything but mistletoe" story being put around, but it was just a game of "kick me as hard as you can" that got out of hand.

That said, I see the Vanir as having custom catches.  Each and every one of them had a weird - that is they knew how they were going to die.  Not exactly, not "on August 5th at 3:23 PM a man will come to your door and...", but they had weirds.  Thor would die one way, Odin another, and there was no way to escape what was fated.

Richard

Attacks made with Fate points spent on them? = Catch?

Also many myths (not particularly Nordic, but still...) maintain that Gods and demons envy mortals free will and ability to manipulate or change their Fate.   Pure mortals c ould satisfy the Catch?

[ARedthorn]

I actually really like that idea... I could even see it going so far as making it literally "Mortal Blood"... ie, weapons coated in mortal blood...
Custom catches per each individual also make sense too, but might be a bit clunky for this game... and would certainly be a +0 at best (what does it score as if even the target doesn't know their own catch? Many of them did, but not all.)
Something a bit more general might be useful.

[Malivotti]

Well Odin 'died' hanging from an ash tree, Yggdrasil, to learn the magic of the Runes, perhaps a weapon made of ash?

Also the number 9 is very significant in Norse mythology, so maybe that could be used in some way.

Last thing, Odin is referred to as the gallows god in few places, so hanging or suffocation?

Regards.