Editing Valkalla

A '''Valkalla,''' is someone who specifically binds ghosts and other spectral beings into items,<ref name=:0>The list was thrown together, were I to adjust it, I'd put Valkyr in place of Luck and Incarnate Practitioner in place of Chronomancer.<br>[...]<br>
 I wouldn't want you to think that Valkyr being in the place of luck implies any link between Valkyr and Luck. - [https://redd.it.com/mkitr3 Wildbow on Reddit]</ref> it is the male title for '''Valkyrie''' which is more well known.<ref name=":1">Interviewer M. Saville (S):  The tape recorder is on.  Good evening.  Thank you for agreeing to this.<br><br>Anabelle (A):  Your offering was adequate.<br>[...]<br>A:  I am Lord of this city.  Conventional wisdom calls me a Valkyrie.<br><br>S:  A shaman, imbuing objects with power and incorporeal Others.<br>[...]<br>A:  I take power from Tromos.  He shores up my weaknesses, as I’m focused on physical applications.  Objects I can hold.  His power lies in emotion, in dreams, and he ''is'' a divine being.  When I need strength against something I ''can’t'' chain down or impale with a spear, I borrow power from my familiar.  He herds the spirits so I might bind them into objects.<br><br>A:  [Tromos, her familiar] opened up a whole world for me.  Dream, fear, a bit of the divine.  I’ve taken a more old-school path, Valkyrie-wise, with a little bit of worship in there. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/02/06 Excerpt] from [[Gathered Pages: 2]]</ref><ref name=":2">“Gudbrand,” Joyce said, looking down at the list.<br><br>“Valk-something?” I asked.<br><br>“Valkalla,” Joyce spoke.<br>[...]<br>“He was unhappy with the fact that she only bore girls.  Valkyries and the various offshoots, they work with spirits and souls.  Rather than ''have'' girls, he ''used'' his newborn daughters.”<br><br>“As fuel,” I said, just a little spooked at the thought.<br>[...]<br>That left two options.<br><br>The valkyrie man who had turned his own children into fodder for his practice, and the scourge, who dealt specifically with Bogeymen and the Abyss.<br>[...]<br>I caught sight of the Valkyrie-man.<br><br>Unlike Crooked Hat, the Valkalla was undeniably bad. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/11/15 Excerpt] from [[Execution 13.5]]</ref>

It is related to tools or contrivance and the immaterial. It is arguably a sub-type of [[Necromancy|Necromancer]], while overlapping with [[Shamanism]],<ref name=":1" /><ref>“I read it because I thought maybe it was related to vestiges like me.  And it is.  But this one focuses on ghosts too, on historical elements, and some more practical applications.  You’ve got practitioners who specialize a hundred percent on ghosts and vestiges.  A kind of necromancy.”<br><br>“Death magic.”<br><br>“Right.  In this case, you’ve got practitioners convincing warriors, usually dying soldiers, that there’s an amazing afterlife of parties and respect for their deeds waiting for them, so the warriors agree to give up their spirits after death.  Use that agreement to help make a vestige or create a ghost, a representation of their skills or their knowledge, their strength, whatever else, and imbue all of that into a vessel.”<br>[...]<br>“But I like the concept.  I like the author.  The book talks about working with ghosts being an option for a practitioner without many resources, in an area where practitioners have already taken hold of everything worth holding, or where the Lord forbids certain practices.  You take a ghost, you imbue an object, and you’ve got…”<br><br>“A magical item?” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/01/25 Excerpt] from [[Damages 2.3]]</ref> though arguably all practice does this.

Given its focus on tools and thus [[Magic Item]]s it also overlaps with [[Collector|Collecting]], the focus and stories of people mean it can also tap into heroics [[Heroics]].<ref>'''SmokeyToad:''' Wait, so then are valkyrie/vakalla like this strange crossover of Collector and Necromancer?<br>'''Wildbow:''' Closer to necromancer.  Could also mix heroics into that - [https://www.irccloud.com/pastebin/2LFFg3o7/ Archived] from IRC chat</ref> 

They are considered Combat practitioners<ref name="stuff">“As Valkalla, male Valkyries, Max and I are combat practitioners, we’d belong in the moot.  We transport spirits, manage and harvest Soul and Self, we can act as [[psychopomp]]s to get credit with the universe, we’re already halfway there, we might as well do that.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2022/11/12 Excerpt] from [[In Absentia 21.10]]</ref>
==Known Valks==
*Palaisy Family<ref name="stuff"/>
*Anabelle (Valkyrie)<ref name=":1" />
*[[The Shepherd]] (Valkalla)
*[[Gudbrand]] (Valkalla)<ref name=":2" />
*Those who've used the techniques 
**[[Blake Thorburn]]
**[[Ms. Lewis]]<ref>Ms. Lewis smiled and shook her head.  “I will keep the ghost contained.  To do otherwise would put a client at risk.  May I?”<br><br>She extended a hand.<br><br>I handed the hatchet over.  She didn’t flinch as the handle touched her hand.<br>[...]<br>She withdrew a spool from an inside pocket of her jacket.  Thin silver wire.  “And this is not something I usually get to do, in the course of my duties.  Nostalgic.”<br><br>Ms. Lewis unwound the wire, then began winding it loosely around the foam handle as she walked. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/01/28 Excerpt] from [[Damages 2.4]]</ref>
==Trivia==
* The male version is used here due to the patriarchal nature of the practitioner setting.
* This article is written up to deal with valkallas as a pact dice school, as shown in the document there is a lot of overlap with other schools.

{{Reflist}}

{{Practice Categories}}
[[Category:Magic]]
[[Category:Practices]]