"Avenging Crescent Bats are paranoid little guys," Sixiang mused. "Your friend must have a pretty strong sense of justice to snag one."
Vengeance flying puppy!! Aligned to the Bloody Moon, attracted to those who seek justice! It's a pity Ling Qi will never get the opportunity to bind one: her sense of justice as an ideal is severely attenuated.
(Who would have thought it would be Su Ling that sought the ideal of the hero of justice? Instead of Ling Qi, street rat protagonist, or Li Suyin, noble scholar idealist?)
Though, I wonder. The association of the Bloody Moon with justice and law enforcement is relatively new, it was previously established. Previous associations were more morally neutral. How quickly did this new species arise, and where from?
"Meng clan, controls the western marshes. Staunch Weilu conservatives. Former ties with the Bai, backed Sun Shao. Neutral and distant at court. Isolanist"
Borders both Thousand Lakes and Red Sun Garden. Meizhan hates them on principle, and Ling Qi will mirror that if the Meng do the pantsless thing. However, they'll probably be supportive of future "Turn the Red Sun Garden into a frozen Moon-eaten wasteland" efforts. Probably not a great source of allies, though they might have cultivated Moon-aligned spirits over Sun, to prevent subversion by the Red Sun spirits. That might be a source of Moon arts.
"Wang and Jia, smallest clans, territories in the southern hills, between the Sects. Nominally Imperial conservatives. Mining interests. Elevated by the Duchess. Loyal and supportive at court. Pushing aggressive moves against the Cloud Tribes."
The newest clans, whose territories are claimed from clans kin to the Thunder Crows clan the Sect genocided a while back. Young and expansionist, they're only nominally Imperial in their party line—the Throne does not wish to expand south wise at this junction.
We'll probably be closely working with these guys in the sequel quest.
"Bao clan, wealthiest of the seven, controls the northern trade cities and the routes into Celestial peaks. Imperial conservatives. Mercantile inclinations, heavy production focus. Neutral at court. Opposes further military expansion in the south."
Hey, Suyin is from the northern trade cities, isn't she? Is Bao Qingling trying to steal a march on us?!
"Luo clan, keepers of the eastern marches. Ties to Golden Fields, on the rise due to recovery in neighbors and increased trade. Nominal Weilu conservatives. Did not support the Duchess, did not oppose, found loyal. Warrior clan, large presence in military. Aggressive in general."
Borders Golden Fields, probably cultivated Sun spirits as allies with the Lu Sun spirits. Unfortunately not likely to be a great source of Moon spirit arts, but they're natural allies since Ling Qi is on good terms with prominent Golden Fields clans. Fortunately, they're likely be a large presence in the border forces we'll be working with during the sequel quests, so we'll have plenty of opportunities to make inroads with them.
In conclusion, Emerald Seas is ridonkulously huge. The province borders four other provinces, each of which is entirely controlled by one clan each. Indubitably there are massive tracts of land that are in practice uncontrolled by any clan, but the province borders has to stretch from the Red Sun Garden, to the massive waters of Thousand Lakes, to the huge mountain ranges of Heavenly Peaks, to Golden Fields. That's...big.
[X] Han Jian might not be your closest friend, but he was still one of your first, even if you've drifted apart. See if he has some free time to chat
Meizhan is a guaranteed lock, so I'll just vote for the other option I desperately want. Han Jian's decayed relationship with Ling Qi is one of my greatest disappointments with what the thread voted for, and I'll like to take this last opportunity for this thread to fix that. Additionally, Han Jian is the first year mate Ling Qi spoke to at the beginning of the year, and it'll be a nice bookend if he's the last, too. That satisfies my narrative sensibilities.
[X] An Eye to the future
An adequate plan, that doesn't do shit like think Ling Qi's formations are capable of peer-level combat.
