Herrlof

**Herrlof** (Old Norse for Praise Gained in War/Victory Trophy), more colloquially known as **Glorious Viking Combat**, is a school of related but not entirely interconnected methods of combat used by the Vikings of the North that were created and engraved into their culture before the great war that tore the North apart. Herrlof is similar to **Atirvu** *(アチルブ; Tamil for* **Resonance***;* *Japanese for* **Harmonic Arts***) and **Zankensoki** (斬拳走鬼)* in designation only as each style is entirely independent from each other, not being built from a common foundation and not sharing power sources in-between disciplines, but still retaining synergy.

## ***Vættir (Hakuda Equivalent)***

**Vættir** (Norse for Monsters/Spirits) is the name the Vikings give to their "Hakuda equivalent" though this is a rarely used term and designation as the Vikings do not use Hakuda in the same way easterns do. A viking will not change their stance to adapt to the situation at hand, instead relying on shifting strategies (if the viking in question knows what that is) supported by a buff that has been built up over years of constant training.

* **Fjallvættir** (Norse for Mountain Spirit) - A special designation and the name of a method of training of the Vikings of the North. While superficially similar to **Kōmapo** (Kanji: 紅魔法; Crimson Demon Step) it is distinct for being achieved via outside means rather than inner ones. A viking who seeks to attain it will bind their wrists, trapping their reiatsu in their body by preventing it from escaping through the vents. The reiatsu trapped inside will fester and boil the Viking alive until his body and his instincts learn to survive with the reiatsu unable to escape, by either learning to keep it inside and simply survive it (the incomplete version) or by making it so their reiryoku simply stops leaking energy in the form of reiatsu (the complete version). A fully developped Fjallvaetir will prevent a viking from even producing any reiatsu but in its stead the full breadth of potential of reiryoku they possess will be maximized making their natural hakuda stance truly a force to behold.
	+ **Dyngjavættir** (Norse for Volcano Spirit) - An improvement of **Fjallvættir** where a Viking will bring forth their inner hollow's reiryoku and reiatsu to the forefront providing even more of an overall buff to their attributes.

### ***Variants***

* **Sjóvættir** (Norse for Sea Spirit) - A special designation of a method of training of the Vikings of the North. The diametric opposite of the classic **Fjallvættir**, it is a method of training where Reiryoku is maximized to exert as much reiatsu as it possibly can by arranging a situation where a viking can only survive by continuously generating reiatsu to protect themselves. A fully realized Sjóvættir's reiatsu output is so intense that often times the Viking isn't even able to control a supermajority of it consciously, reacting only in a subconscious way. Users of this type of training are typically confined to druids and physically frail or the incredibly rare older vikings.
	+ **Hríðvættir.** (Norse for Storm Spirit) - An improvement of **Sjóvættir** where a Viking will bring forth their inner hollow's reiryoku and reiatsu to the forefront providing even more of an overall buff to their attributes.
	+ **Skogvættir** (Norse for Forest Spirit) - A middle ground kind of training between **Fjallvættir**and **Sjóvættir** where the viking will simply strengthen both their reiryoku's physical buffs and reiatsu output. This provides middling benefits in comparison to the other ones and really only strengthens the viking in the most basic and vanilla sense. Vikings with this kind of "stance" are typically in a transition stage between other stances using it as a stepping stone rather than remaining in it.

### ***Advanced Applications***

* **Tröll** (Norse for Fiend) - A special technique used to increase the power of their Vættir by making their reiryoku temporarily reactive with the ambient reimyaku and as such siphoon that energy to temporarily empower their natural strength even further beyond the normal limits of their body and soul, a sort of trained and consciously triggered fight or flight mode that can be used in short bursts to serve as a movement technique or as a defensive/offensive buff for a few seconds.
	+ **Jötnar** ( Norse for Gigantic Strength) - An improvement of the technique where the Viking in question will bring forth their hollow reiryoku and reiatsu as they are being empowered by the reimyaku around them increasing their strength many times over.
	+ **Tröllvættir** (Norse for Fiendish Spirit) - Vikings can also use Tröll as an overall long term buff to their body at the cost of constant soul exhaustion due to the overflow of spiritual energy into the body. Those Vikings that choose to use such a powerful stance like this typically tailor their whole training regimen to maximize this and keep their lives lasting as long as possible, often times foregoing the use of other techniques that can inflict spiritual exhaustion all together for pure absolute physical power.
		- **Jötnarvættir** ( Norse for Titanic Spirit) - A further improvement where a viking will summon forth their hollow reiryoku and reiatsu while under the effects of **Tröllvættir** increasing their power even further beyond to a truly horrifying degree.

## ***Níu Heimar (Zanjutsu Equivalent)***

**Niu Heimar** (Nine Realms) is the name given to the "Zanjutsu Equivalent" of the vikings, it revolves around the use and exploitation of the inner world to complement the use of hand to hand and weapon based combat. Although originally all 9 disciplines were equally prominent in the past the ease of use and potential of the discpline known as Midgard has made it dominant over the rest and synonymous with the idea of Viking Zanjutsu.

* **Miðgarðr** (Norse For Central World) - The most famous and widely used of the Niu Heimar, it consists of the expulsion of the inner world to the outer world for combat purposes. A viking using Midgard will "expend" a proportion of their inner world to bring it outside into the outside world, most times permanently destroying/altering the inner world as that portion is used to empower the viking's combat prowess. The exact possibilities of this technique are entirely dependent on the nature of the inner world of the one wielding though most vikings can reliable generate at least wind and bedrock with it, these two substances encompassing the bulk of the common techniques.
* **Jotunheim** (Norse for Giant's World) - An extremely popular Niu Heimar style used only by those Vikings which have become a Vizard and thus possess a Inner Hollow. A Viking using Jotunheim will eject the inner hollow in their inner world as a "companion" in battle to fight with, though in practice it tends to be used as mostly a distraction, as ammunition in a sort of inner world canon based attack, or used like a wild beast that released in the middle of a war, attacking indiscriminately whatever is closest to it. Because the inner hollow can regenerate itself in the inner world a Viking runs little risk of losing the ability to use this style of Niu Heimar, furthermore the inner hollow is able to grow in a menos like fashion by consuming fallen enemies as well making this an easy style of Niu Heimar to become stronger with at the risk of becoming more susceptible to the hollow side taking over entirely eventually.
* **Niflheim** (Norse for Lowest World) - An inverse style to Midgard where a Viking will instead focus not on ejecting things from their inner world but instead drawing them inside it. It is a primarily defensive style used to counter projectiles and mooks by sending them into the inner world and completely overpowering them within with the inner world's violent nature and possibly inhabitants as well. More advanced applications allow one to permanently add things to their inner world to possibly expunge later or simply add to their inner world's gauntlet of horrors.
* **Alfheim** (Norse for Light Elf World)- A style of Niu Heimar that consists of altering the inner world to an extent and in a manner that influences the mental state of the user allowing them to gain access to various altered states of consciousness and thus increase their combat abilities further. Advanced enough applications of this can even grant Vikings strategic acumen that would be entirely unexpected from them.
* **Svartalfheim** (Norse for Dark Elf World) - A sister style of Alfheim that consists of altering the inner world into inhospitable hell worlds to force the inner hollow to adapt or perish within the inner world entirely while disconnecting the downsides of this action from the user's own mental state. Users of this style of Niu Heimar are able to change the nature of their inner hollow's powers through forceful inner-environmental pressures, allowing them to fundamentally alter the nature of their Vizard state for a variety of benefits when accessing them.
* **Nidavellir** (Norse for Dwarven World) - A style of Niu Heimar meant to synergize with the use of **Mjolnirs**, though it can be used with any armament or tool technically. A viking will imbue a portion of their inner world into their weapon of choice's own inner world to usurp it and for it to become a part of the Viking's own self and a portion of its being, becoming intrinsically familiar with the weapon and it becoming an extension of the viking's own sense of self in turn. By doing this a Viking is able to instantly nigh-master and apply the tool expertly with technique that would be unexpected of raging barbarians. Advanced uses of this technique can allow the viking to repurpose any uraryoku or tokuatsu within the weapon or object for other purposes as well.
* **Muspelheim** (Norse for Fire Giant World) - A sister style of Nidavellir where a Viking will imbue and fuse their weapon of choice with their inner hollow specifically, empowering a single weapon of their choice with an inner hollow at the cost of losing their own inner hollow temporarily. By doing this the weapon will in time become something akin to a vizard as well and thus strengthened tremendously.
* **Vanaheim** (Norse for Beautiful World) - Wip...
* **Asgard** (Norse for Divine World) - Wip...

## ***Galdr (Kido Equivalent)***

**Galdr** (Norse for Incantation/Spell) is the name given to the "Kido Equivalent" of the Vikings, it revolves around the use of om chants of multiple vikings simultaneously creating a wave of om empowered sound that can destroy with pure kinetic force or be strung into songs, chants, warcries and other kinds of linguistic structures to bring about supernatural effects. Galdr is primarily a warfare discipline as it is stronger the more people that use it through the phenomenon of resonance and individual vikings simply can't generate enough om to use them by themselves.

* **WAGH** (Orkish for War) - The basic use of Galdr, it consists of nothing more than every Viking in a warband yelling a om infused warcry of such emotion and intensity that they combine into an om empowered shockwave that will instantly deafen, daze and tear apart anyone and anything in its path. Many a viking warband uses this maneuver as a opening move to disorient any target or opponent and decimate them in a single charge but it can also be used in the middle of combat to create some kind of opening, to kill off minions, etc.
* **Hamask** (Norse for Changing Form) - A Galdr spell that earned the Wild Hunt its fearsome reputation, performed as a group to enchant large swaths of men beyond their own power. The Hamask spell consists of removing the entirety of the inner world of the targets and weaponizing it in its entirety (altering it as well for this purpose) and thus endowing the warriors tremendous power and a state of mind where they are only guided by their true name or the om of the spell that enabled them to enter this state. Specific platoons of Vikings would have their own specific variation of this spell that would alter the fully exposed inner world in specific ways, though the most common of which seemed to invoke bear, wolf and bear themed effects. The strongest of the Vikings were able to perform this spell by themselves without assistance earning them the title of Berserkers.