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Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

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Mmm, thinking about the extremes of the philosophy is, I think, valuable given the context of being a cultivator.

That being said, we must be careful not to oversimplify. It is also important to consider weighting things. For example, the idea "beauty justifies suffering" could mean:
  • Creating a beautiful painting justifies busting your ass for a month
  • Creating a beautiful painting justifies having your toenails ripped out
  • Creating a beautiful painting justifies killing that village to create a delightful shade of crimson
These are all clearly not the same thing. Just because they can be loosely related to the same general idea doesn't mean that acceptance of that idea entails acceptance of all these courses of action.
 
[X][FSS] All things End, but one does not need to think of endings to live(No slot)

[X][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
 
[X][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.
[X][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
 
So, FVM#1, FSS#2, and Renxiang.

One could, quite reasonably, be concerned about how this philosophy in conjunction with our work with Renxiang could lead to a very "can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs" kind of attitude. A Panglossian attitude to the costs of endings, as long as something beautiful results, is potentially quite dangerous.

However, there is nothing that says that is the only way. We could also act compassionately. Rather than brushing off the costs of our actions for the great and beautiful good, we could try to help those who suffer find a new beginning in the new order. "Yes, these changes will result in job losses - so let's try to work out how we can help the people fit into the new economic order and forge beautiful new lives". Compassion and understanding of people is, I think, something that shape this kind of philosophy well (*cough* HDW *cough*).

This is, of course, just one example. There are likely many other ways we could take things.
 
[X][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
[X][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.
 
Erebeal said:
So, FVM#1, FSS#2, and Renxiang.

One could, quite reasonably, be concerned about how this philosophy in conjunction with our work with Renxiang could lead to a very "can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs" kind of attitude. A Panglossian attitude to the costs of endings, as long as something beautiful results, is potentially quite dangerous.

However, there is nothing that says that is the only way. We could also act compassionately. Rather than brushing off the costs of our actions for the great and beautiful good, we could try to help those who suffer find a new beginning in the new order. "Yes, these changes will result in job losses - so let's try to work out how we can help the people fit into the new economic order and forge beautiful new lives". Compassion and understanding of people is, I think, something that shape this kind of philosophy well (*cough* HDW *cough*).

This is, of course, just one example. There are likely many other ways we could take things.
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It could also help with encouraging Renxiang to break her "mold" and become her own person instead of just her mother's tool.
 
[X][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
[X][FSS] The end comes for all things, without exception. In accepting this, you are freed.
 
[X][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.
 
Another argument for FVM#1

FVM is the art Ling Qi identify the most with. This insight reflect also what happened after her hardships of the street and trials of the sect by recontacting her mother and sister and saving them from a life of extreme poverty. She might have suffered, but she saved herself and her family.
 
[X][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
[X][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.
 
[x][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.

I am undecided on FVM still. Might read the arguements later to see what i like more.
 
Erebeal said:
You know, it would be sad, but...

Imagine how thematically appropriate it would be if the trial this month was the last time we train with Zeqing?
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Just because she has nothing more to teach Ling Qi doesn't mean we can't visit anyways. An ending, not an Ending.
 
[X][FVM] Even if hardship and tribulation litter your path, it has worth if you have somewhere to return at the end.
[X][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.
 
[x][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
[X][FSS] The end comes for all things, without exception. In accepting this, you are freed.
 
[X][FVM] Even if hardship and tribulation litter your path, it has worth if you have somewhere to return at the end.
[X][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.

"Something something One with the wind and sky!"~
 
[X][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
[X][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.
 
[X][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
[X][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.

The Path we have chosen will have hardships and loneliness, and when those hardships and loneliness end there will be birthed opportunities. And from those opportunities will be birthed more hardship and loneliness. And so the cycle continues until the END. And when we reach the END, let us look back at the work we have done, the artistry we have completed, and present it to those we care for as a thing of beauty.

We have chosen the path of the reformer and as Elder Jiao has said
yrsillar said:
"I know much of reformers, and you have chosen a miserable path," he replied blandly. "There is neither happiness nor satisfaction to be found as a shadow. Be mindful in choosing what you are forced to discard on the roadside of the Way." He had faded away by the time his last words echoed in the small stone room.
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We will struggle. We will fail. When tribulations have ended, more will begin. But the struggle is to make something beautiful out of this broken shell of a world. From the fabric of the world we will struggle to reform a piece so that when we present our work to those we care for, we can present them something beautiful. It will not be perfect, but let it be a work of art that all can admire and objectively claim is beautiful.

We have chosen a miserable path, full of hardships and loneliness. But it can still have worth if we can present the fruits of our labor to those we care for at the End and it is deemed beautiful.

We must be careful not to discard what makes the effort beautiful on the roadside of our Way. It shall be a careful balancing act. But for everything that we discard, for every end we embrace, let there be new beginnings.
 
[x][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
[x][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.
 
[x][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
[x][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.
 
[X][FVM] Even if hardship and tribulation litter your path, it has worth if you have somewhere to return at the end.
[X][FSS] All things End, but one does not need to think of endings to live(No slot)
 
[X][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
[X][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.
 
[X][FVM] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
[X][FSS] There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.

I wonder if the tribulation from Zeqing is not only to help Ling Qi continue to learn but to help ensure Ling Qi will be a good teacher for Hanyi. It might give Ling Qi the kind of innate understanding of Zeqings arts that is she feels is needed to pass on to Hanyi.
 
yrsillar said:
On the eighth morning, Ling Qi opened her eyes and looked out over the flat mountaintop. She was seated beneath the odd fruit tree that stood in Zeqing's yard, and she was surrounded by flowers of ice.
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Thats some fine control there. Though Art at not completely sucky helped I think :p

yrsillar said:
"Big Sister is such a show off," her gaze was drawn to her right as Hanyi spoke. The spirit had changed since that day last year, when she had met the little brat in the middle of a blizzard. It had begun recently, and only accelerated with each passing day, but Hanyi was older in appearance now.

She had the same corpse-like pallor, and wore the same threadbare childs dress, but she resembled a young girl of ten or eleven now. Her dark hair was still worn in a child's pig-tails, but it was longer now as well. Yet that stance, with her hands on her hips and her cheeks puffed out in frustration, was still purely Hanyi.
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Growing up fast there. Approaching breakthrough?

yrsillar said:
"Is it really showing off if I can still do more?" Ling Qi teased back with a smile, gesturing to the field of flowers. "I'm only meditating after all."

The 'younger' girl glowered at her. "Big Sister is getting to cocky."

"And you've been slacking," Ling Qi replied pointedly. "Just like someone else."

"Oh don't you start, how I am supposed to cultivate in a place like this," Sixiang grumbled. "What kind of atmosphere is this for a poet?"

"Our house is great and pretty!" Hanyi retorted. "Your just a dummy!"

Ling Qi sighed. Sixiang and Hanyi kind of got on like a house on fire. Not the least because Hanyi really didn't like being teased and Sixiang was… Sixiang.
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Well, its good for growth.
Hmm...I wonder, was Hanyi stalling because with Zhengui hibernating and Ling Qi preoccupied, she lacked motivation?
yrsillar said:
Ling Qi felt herself flush with pride even as she glanced over to see Hanyi looking down, her bangs shadowing her eyes. "Teacher is too kind. I am not the only one who has been working hard though."

"...Indeed not," Zeqing replied, an uneasy edge to her voice. Ling Qi knew without looking that Zeqing was not looking at Hanyi, she had noticed over the last week that the spirit had seemed to almost be avoiding her daughter, it worried her. "You as well, Hanyi," she said nonetheless.

Even that much brightened the younger spirit up, and for a moment, it looked as if she was going to rush forward to hug her Mother, but Ling Qi saw her look up and hesitate.
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Yeesh, the Time is nearing.
Zeqing can't really resist devouring Hanyi for much longer and Hanyi can sense it.
yrsillar said:
"Yes," Zeqing replied after a moment, and with the appropriate time lapsed, Ling Qi raised her head to meet the spirits eyes. "Your lessons are in fact wholly complete, for the moment."

Ling Qi almost frowned, but restrained herself. "What do you mean?"

Zeqing met her gaze steadily and her face was without expression. "I have taught you all that I can as you are, to go further… there would be tribulation. You asked that I warn you, did you not?"

Ling Qi's eyes widened, but she nodded hastily. Zeqing did not need to spell it out. A tribulation from the icy spirit would be a deadly thing.

"Hmph, Big Sister can do it," Hanyi huffed, not quite looking at her.

Ling Qi gave the younger spirit a sidelong look. "Would I need to make any preparations, teacher?"
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I'm guessing the tribulation is the adoption exam for Hanyi. And I'm not sure we can afford to wait on it.
Its life and death for her.
yrsillar said:
E rank Qi expenditure may prevent interruption of s melody-permanent
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Hmm, does this apply to ALL melodies?
yrsillar said:
F damage reduction vs. cold-Permanent
Base damage of any weapon may be changed to Cold-Permanent
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The cold never bothered me anyway.

yrsillar said:
Call to Ending: B
Duration: Immediate
Damage: B(Special)
The final verse of the Serenade is a quiet, sad thing, lacking the furor of earlier verses. Upon Singing it, a single target which suffers from Hoarfrost Refrains cold feels a terrible pain as the chill infecting them grows to a terrible potency, and every last shred of heat flees their body. This effect ignores armor, and the damage dealt changes based on the distance between the singer and the target. At Close distance it deals the baseline damage, with each range increment out to very Far reducing it, and each increment closer increasing it. However, should the singer lay hands upon the target when activating the technique, damage is increased by a full letter rank.
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...thats a reason to grind up our unarmed skill a bit I think, since landing the touch would be absolutely devastating.

@yrsillar
I wonder, does Call to Ending's Lay Hands On Death feature count if THEY are hitting you with their fist? What about a melee weapon?
 
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