"If thou seek'st the sternest of steel, the finest of iron... If thou seek'st the hardiest of armor and the strongest of arms... Come to Everhoof, and be tested."
These words drove many to the tallest mountain in Equus, Mount Everhoof. Words from a tome of ancient days, its texts contents passed down among many prestigious families. Today, a certain young mare goes to this mountain, alone, in search of answers.
And an apprenticeship.
EDIT: Cover art is not mine. If anyone can find the artist, please let me know so I can give credit.
EDIT: Some sex has been requested, and I am allowing it, but it will be very few and far between. Gore will also be present in the makings of some darker weapons.
A Displaced that I am very much excited about, as it will combine, in the future, multiple aspects of different genres. I only hope it will be just as exciting for all of you.
Now, to explain a few major things. This story, well, it will be quite crossover heavy. HOWEVER, none of those crossovers will alter the story itself. AT ALL. Why? Because each crossover will only ever be made for other Displaced to make orders for weapons or armor from this story's Displaced. That's it. Period. End of of story. As far as I'm concerned, this Displaced will NEVER go to another Displaced's world unless it's to get more materials, and even then it won't be him doing it.
I know you all may think that simply because this will be crossover heavy, it will be bad, but trust me, the crossovers will be managed with the UTMOST care. Not only that, I'm making sure to have at least two or three pure story chapters between any actual crossovers, if not four or more.
Furthermore, this Displaced of mine, while he may build relationships with other Displaced, he will NEVER, not even ONCE, engage in any fights, or adventures in any other world but his own, and even in his own it will be limited as all get out.
To put it plainly, this is almost entirely a slice of life story, as the tags above suggest.
Now, I hope all this ranting hasn't turned you lovelies off from reading the story. I just hope you all will give this story a chance. I also hope you all enjoy this, even if only somewhat. 
So this is your child you talked me about at Discord during last year when I was online more often?
Interesting take you got going here. Will be tracking!
9405588 Wonderful to hear, mate. Can I ask if you have any in-depth thoughts about it?
Well your blub didn't include any variation on "this should be fun", so I am cautiously optimistic.
9405725 Stay cautious. It will keep me and others grounded. As an added note, I'm glad you're sticking around, dear reader.
9405732
Well just so long as your character actually has character. My perennial gripe with "displaced" fics has always been that the original character would have been more interesting than whichever 20-something impersonator we actually get. But, this is very well written, and the atmosphere is exquisite.
Thus I believe I can trust you not to put an inexplicably immature yahoo in the body of an ageless force of history, yes?
9405592
In-depth thoughts? Well, the blurb is good and to the point - you get exactly what you see. Tags fig in nicely for your plans as well.
The bit down of that? That'd fit better into a blog post, just leaving a link instead for anyone who cares or is interested in participating in accordance to your terms. That'll streamline it plenty for the casual reader.
As for the character itself? I'll have to wait and see, as I literally don't know who's the blacksmith you're employing and so far I don't know why he's stuck in the middle of frozen nowhere.
... Reminds me of Mu of Aries from Saint Seiya, actually. He's the blacksmith for Athena's Saints, as well as being one himself. Hell, he lives in the Himalayas...
... And the path leading to his abode is full of dry corpses of fellow saints who wanted him to repair/revive their armors.
9405757
Perfectly understandable. That's a gripe I have as well.
9405798 Shifty eyes U-Um, I don't know what you're talking about, honest!
JK: I recall a little of that in the lore, though Athena Saints was never intriguing enough to me. Honestly this whole chapter is the result of nearly five years of rewrites.
9405757 Perfectly understood and heard loud and clear. Don't worry, next chapter is coming up soon, and I plan on it being as good as this one, if not better.
To give you two a vague hint at his name but not his personality, his initials are J.S.
I will say that he won't give out his real first name yet, though, so for the next chapter, his initials will be O.S.
His personality, well, that'll be something I can only hope you two and everyone else enjoys.
9405814
It all comes down to the 'Ultimate Blacksmith' trope. That's why I could pinpoint the similarity.
I'll leave you to it, then. Plz dn't frgt The Storm Queen.
9405824 FORGOATTEN
Good work. The descriptions were not too long. When focusing on one character like that it was important to go on about what she was facing.
A few questions about your Displaced and his interdimensional orders, if you don't mind. I'm just asking because I find it interesting.
Is he purely a metalworker, or his creations can be made from whatever as long as metal is a primary part? I doubt he makes wizard robes.
Does he dabble in enchantments, or his area of expertise is just pure steel|adamantium|whatever? Or at least his craft can be +1d later?
Can he work together with the customer, like dipping parts of the ordered sword in freshly prepared alchemical concoctions or writing some runes and letting the wizard fill them with magical power, in the middle of creation process? Or he takes the request, materials and payment, and returns with the order ready after some time?
What about tech: technomagical suits, drones|golems and other magi|mechanical works? Will he provide that if ordered, or you have to find somebody else? Or at least parts that are not tech, like as a strong shell for a automaton?
Is your Displaced instantly capable to work with every imaginable material and make any imaginable thing for any imaginable user (like a helm that protects your third eye), or he needs measurements, time, recipes and extra material for experimenting?
Do his creations have some unique properties because of being made by him? Ones that can't just be repeated by anybody other? Or they're simply incredibly good pieces of craft, that everyone with sufficient knowledge and tools can replicate? Even if there's nobody other with said knowledge and tools around.
What does he take for payment? More exotic materials and recipes, mundane gold|other valuables, pure mana, another uniques?
And less seriously, does he give warranty? Like, "this sword will last for at least 1000 years or 2 plot-important battles, provided you look after it"?
9406155 Good to know I did it well!
9406211 Well, this is a big'un. But, in order...
He makes nearly all kinds of armor. Now, something that is a common misconception is that wizard robes aren't armor, but in a lot of games they are. So, yes, he knows how to make them. That's why I mentioned his making of Clover the Clever's Cloak. That's cloth, and yet he reinforced the absolute shit out of it, among other things, like infusions and enchantments.
As stated above, he does do enchantments. This guy is able to pull off nearly any enchantment, provided he knows it. If he doesn't know the enchantment, he will do his greatest to learn it, and, being what he is, he'll learn it quick as hell.
The only times he "works" with the customer is when they give him the order for the gear. Other than that, if they try to interfere with the creation process? He'll be very, very, VERY mad. He knows a lot about runes, as well, researched them alone for at least 1000 years. Alchemy is one thing he doesn't know, sadly.
Sadly, whilst he does have some engineering know-how, he doesn't know anything about making power-armor or nanomachine suits or any of that. I honestly don't plan on him doing that, save for the power armor, but if it comes up, he'll give it a go. Also, as for the golems? Well, I dearly wish I could give you an answer on that one, but, I'm afraid that particular bit will have to be left for following chapters.
He does need measurements and time, and the recipes are something he'd toss aside. He prefers to do trial and error, and, with his vast, VAST wealth of experience and knowledge, as well being what he is, he is EXTREMELY unlikely to make a mistake. If anything, he'd refine the recipe without having even looked at or touched it. As for extra materials to experiment with? That's his payment for every job. A steady influx of materials for him to experiment with and work with. He never asks for anything for any monetary gain, he has no use for it.
Now, as for whether he gives unique abilities or effects to the gear he makes, yes...and no. See, basically what it is that he has knowledge of techniques that basically no mortal and even a good few immortals simply don't have, and some simply can't understand, even more so with mortals. I won't spoil too much, but I will give you a name drop on one; Primus Nephesh. I'd recommend NOT googling those words and instead going to a more reliable source to find out their meanings.
Also as explained earlier, as payment, he simply asks for a steady supply of materials for as long as is possible (since because he's a golem he's ageless and thus might outlive the Displaced giving the materials).
And the last one, yes, he does give warranty.
I hope that answered all of your questions!
Good start.
9406246
Mostly so, yes. So I'd like to clarify some things, then.
About materials - looks like the Displaced in question is better named a crafter. Like, if it can be used in making a weapon|an armor piece, he can use it to make said thing. This misunderstanding was mostly caused by "steel and iron" in description.
Considering enchantments - so he can do everything he knows, and he knows a lot. But looks like it still makes him limited by things possible in his magic system, or whatever. Also, does magic he imbues into his craft require recharging or maitenance, and then can it be done by users of other powers/magics?
Given inability to modify thing in process - asking this Displaced is better for fighters, rogues and other "run faster, strike harder" types. Because he can do a good offensive/defensive option, but he will do it his way. Meaning wizards|engineers who need something specific - like a focus for their specific magic or a high-tech tool - will probably be better off by themselves. But they can still commission an armor piece, as long as it doesn't interfere with their things - which is another problem for "I'm the Ultimate Smith and I know best" approach your character seem to have.
"Giving it a go" at least means he can work by specifications, and that's good. It means there is space for cooperation, in that he can make power armor armor parts and other tinkerer can put all the hardware inside. Except if he won't stand for releasing anything besides finished product, which he may.
Considering refinement of recipes - I have no doubt he can think of how to combine materials better than anybody else. Even more, I think he can advise on using ones. What I would be wary of is improving on the request so much that it's no longer what was ordered.
And him being a golem himself you might want to spoiler.
What's this a crossover with?
9406300 The magic he imbues lasts for as long as the weapon or armor exists.
As for the being unable to make a focus or tool for a mage, that is only partly true. See, the first chapter showed that he's had dealings with mages, correct? So, it stands to reason he's made all kinds of things for mages, yes? He's made things like staffs, wands, cloaks, robes, hats, even the bells on Star Swirl's gear. And all that is just a small amount of the things he's made for mages. However, he is no true mage himself, and thus finer tools such as a magical puzzle cube or something of the sort are a no go for him. But, he has made equipment for all kinds of warriors, be they mage, knight, paladin, berserker, cleric, etc. etc. Equipment is a very broad term, dear reader. It can mean quite a few things.
As for the golem bit, that was far from a spoiler, dear reader. It was implied and confirmed by the end of the first chapter. No, what I meant by what he is is, well, something you'll have to find out.
9406541 A few things of which you will see soon, but I will say it is a partial crossover with Dragon Age. Partial. VERY partial.
9407153
Huh I would of thought ornn would of been a inspiration
9407167 He was a little bit, but him and his lore were inspirations and not actually part of the crossover, if you get my meaning.
9407250
I do thanks for answering me
this seems very interesting and I'm trying to think of who the golem is reminding me of and all I'm getting is Shale but she/he/it isn't made of the right materials.
9407264 Of course. I endeavor to answer all my dear readers questions.
9407438 Well, you'll get it once you get the name drop, trust me.
9406246
So in regards to power armor and the like, he wouldn't be able to make a suit of mjolnir armor, as that sort of tech is far out of his bailiwick. But, if you described mjolnir armor to him, he'd be able to create something that achieves the same effect via enchantment and exotic materials?
Is that about the shape of it?
With that thought in mind, does he do repairs on stuff he didn't create? Say, if space marine #53 or whatever gets his chain-sword broken in half fighting faust-knows-what, can said space marine get a repair, or is he going to end up with a brand new weapon? Because goodness knows most of these yahoos are toting around some kind of macguffin weapon. I'm sure being asked to fix Frostmorne again for the 20th time wouldn't get old at all.
9408268 To those questions, I can easily say yes. As for the repair part of it, he could do that, but if it's Space Marine gear, especially their weapons, he'll go a little ga ga, if you know what I mean. If the Space Marine, however, pushed for a simple repair despite the Smith's repeated attempts to make a weapon or armor or similar, then he'd begrudgingly accept it and simply repair them, so long as he gets materials from their universe.
I say all this because, while the Smith has been around for a long, long ass time, he has not been around for 41,000 years (albeit still a bit near that amount of time, but you get my meaning nonetheless), meaning the smithing worlds in Warhammer 40K? They're able to do something that he only does when he either feels like it, or when the customer asks for it; give the weapon or armor a literal soul. Because of this, if he meets just one Space Marine or being from that 'verse, it'll be the first time that he decides to get out of the Mountain.
Now, this isn't to say he can't do it as well or as easily as those smithing worlds can, but it is to say that he's very, very, very interested in seeing how they go about the process. And if the fact the 40K stuff has a soul isn't enough, he'd be enamored plenty just by the sheer amount of care they put into making the armor or weapons. Mostly because it's nearly the same amount he puts into making his. Nearly. Can't stress that enough.
Anyway, rant over. Point is, yes, he can do those things.
Oh, man. This is so cool! Even if I never continue my displaced, I'm gonna keep close eye on this story, I looove stories of magnificent craftsmanship rivaling that of hephaestus.
9409358
You can't say never. You might end up finding a story that inspires you to write.
Not bad at all. Nice concept. A displaced with no interest in adventure or conquering, but one that would make a great stop for any advenurer. Makes me want to dig up my old displaced and introduce him to Pontius, the brave fat knight raised by minotaurs.
Sadly, I am one of those writers that can never seem to finish anything as I don't write with an ending in mind, because if I know the ending the story is over in my mind and I cannot get myself to write it.
The one thing I do have to say is that this chapter alone does nothing to tell us what "the artist" is like. Looking forward to next chapter.
Getting a very Dwarf Fortress vibe. I'm leery of the idea of crossing over with other 'worlds'(particularly ones written by other authors), I'd prefer iif the story focused entirely on the various heroes, kings, and villains who come to beg an artifact from this world instead of ones from other worlds, but the writing here was engaging enough for me to look past that. I suppose we'll see if I keep reading past the first crossover, huh?
9494762 Indeed.
I'm getting an Ornn vibe here..
9625468 Understandable, as he is one of the many inspirations for this story.
Very nice so far, I look forward to seeing where this goes.
One thing though, I, and probably several others, use different cholor schemes to read (like night mode) and the image you picked as the page break has a white background, so it sticks out a lot, if it's possible, try to find a version of it with a transparent background.
I know, its a small thing, and its not even remotely important, but its something to consider when you have a spare moment.
9633980 I doubt I'll find one with a transparent background, considering how long it took me to find this one in general, but I'll try.
9634542
Don't sweat it. Like I said, its no big deal, just something to keep an eye out for.