The Berserk

[Burritoking]

The word Berserk is derived from a group of northern Europeans. Little is known of them, but they were absorbed by the Norse conquests. The tribesmen were said to have a habit of eating mushrooms and drinking urine before battle. Like many "hstorical facts" this is overblown, for the accounts came from Romans, who had given these traits to numerous Gallic and Germanic tribes. But this article is concerned little with the history of the word, just the implications of the state of mind that can be brought about in combat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The state of "Berserk" or "Berserkergang" can be entred not only in physical combat, but during extensive, grueling labor. This option gives the aspiring warrior an oportunity to practice the enterance of this perticular state without rising serious harm to a sparring partner - mind you once the state is entered in combat, any friends or foes shoud be wary, but all inhabition is lost!. The first few attempts while sober will be no doubt fuitile, but with hallucingenic drugs it is much easier. I will contrast the pro's and con's of using drugs to enter the state later in this article. Most importantly, the majority of people lack the ability to enter thsi rage, the only way to learn if you do is to try!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To begin with, any attempts to attain the state for anything but overcomming an obstacle or the utter anhilation of human life will ultimatly result in failure - will not work for impressing friends! Now, stand with a pair of heavy clubs or axes in your hands in front of a tree or post. Begin slowly swinging, picking up speed as the time passes, never allowing anything but the thought of destrucion of that tree/post enter your mind. Eventually, you will be swinging with all of your little strength left, but do not let quitting enter your mind. Let yourself scream and relentlessly continue your assault. Do not attempt to surpress any of your needs to bellow, yell or jump - the point is to release these feelings! Once this phase begins, continue until you can not humanly bear the weight of the clubs/axes and let them drop and let yourself fall into a deep sleep - if you posess enough energy to walk to your house resume the assault at once! Continue the process until, once your strength is gone, and you have no intention of quitting,you find the objects to weigh little or nothing, and a new spring of energy to enter you. By now, you should not even end to remember to yell and jump about, for you will slowly forget your inhabitions of society, and all structured thought will leave you. Withing a few mroe seconds, nearly all of your memories will depart, leaing you with your rage. The feeling is impossible to describe save the feeling of pure rage, with few coherrent thought or memories. Eventually, the rage will depart, and tired does not begin to describe the feeling. The prospect of living will seem like a bad idea, and a gradually lessening tupor will begin, after which you will be back to normal. I myself am barely effected when the rage is over, but this amy vary for others. rest assured, the myths of permenent stupidity are mostly false!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is taken from totse.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Has anyone tried this, did it work? I'm gonna try this tomorrow when i get home.

 

 

 

Post your thoughts

[X_Awesome_X]

Sounds like it wouldn't work. But I guess it would be cool.

[Barking-Loon]

Hmm, its worth a shot atleast. (Remember to tell us if it worked)

[bs_johannes]

What exactly happens in the body when you totally exhaust it? I myself doubt any new "force" would suddenly start giving you new energy..

[Bubsa]

Cool like a real life Final Fantasy 9 trance? :)

[Pete_the_Viscous]

 

The word Berserk is derived from a group of northern Europeans. Little is known of them, but they were absorbed by the Norse conquests. The tribesmen were said to have a habit of eating mushrooms and drinking urine before battle. Like many "hstorical facts" this is overblown, for the accounts came from Romans, who had given these traits to numerous Gallic and Germanic tribes. But this article is concerned little with the history of the word, just the implications of the state of mind that can be brought about in combat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The word berserk is from bher serkr, or bear shirt (bear skin, I suppose). That sounds very much like the beserk ability that barbarians have in D&D, after which they experience a period of winded-ness which reduces as they go up levels, as I recall.

[Arcantica]

yea, a select few warriors who choose to follow the path of the bear. It was sorta a cult like society which special warriors wore bear skin shirts which they belived would give them the strength and power of the bear. There were also warrior cults in northern europe also dedicated to the wolf and boar. These warriors were so fearless in battle, that many Ancient Norse kings used them as personal body guards in thier halls. Theres a great book call, "the history of pagan europe" which has a chapter in northern european battle tactics, which has alot of great information on these northern warrior cults.

[BlueLancer]

If you endure so much pain you can't even feel your hands anymore after hacking at a tree with an axe for a long time, yeah you will experience a feeling of rage and everything else will go away from your mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've experienced this a lot of times at the gym when I thought "ok, now I gotta stop". As you keep pushing yourself more and more towards the goal (in my case doing more repetitions) you will find that actually there is no physical limitation to your rage until you are completely out of energy. Pain is just a side factor. When you're in such a stage you will only think about finishing your goal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have been unconsciously programmed since you were a kid to avoid pain. When you experience it, you will try to cut it off as soon as possible because you're scared of it and how it might damage you. Yes, pain is a good warning indicator but when talking about cases where it's all about running out of energy, there is no limit to it except your mind. Don't believe your mind. Keep going until you have no energy left and you'll experience it.

[Zonorhc]

I think the actual state of berserk rage itself is wholly attainable. I have to try this sometime, but not on the fencing strip. :twisted:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The word berserk is from bher serkr, or bear shirt (bear skin, I suppose). That sounds very much like the beserk ability that barbarians have in D&D, after which they experience a period of winded-ness which reduces as they go up levels, as I recall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rage increases strength and constitution for a short amount of time - using a conversion of rounds to real-time, about a minute and a half on average. The burst of strength makes some users comparable to a grizzly bear, and the period of fatigue after the rage disappears entirely with enough experience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it's actually quite accurate, except for the tremendous increase in strength (+4, becoming +6 later) considering the strength ratings of most barbarians in D&D (18, where normal human average is 10, black bears 19, brown bears 27). Hey, and give the big guy an axe...

[logic-is-overrated]

You have been unconsciously programmed since you were a kid to avoid pain. When you experience it, you will try to cut it off as soon as possible because you're scared of it and how it might damage you. Yes, pain is a good warning indicator but when talking about cases where it's all about running out of energy, there is no limit to it except your mind. Don't believe your mind. Keep going until you have no energy left and you'll experience it.

So thats how those buggers run those 30+ mile marathons.