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

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One thing that I feel important to consider here is that this wasn't just about betrayal or cheating on her, but also that his betrayal would have allowed him to enslave her permanently.
The punishment is pretty damn extreme, but there is a sort of eye-for-an-eye symmetry to it.
 
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[X] No, a death could be deserved, but not this torment. This shouldn't go on, it was harmful to Zeqing and Hanyi as well.
 
Alectai said:
Cripes.

I mean, he definitely reaped what he sowed here--if you're going to establish a relationship with a yanyan, then you make damn well fucking sure you're monogamous.

At the same time, is there even enough left for the continued torment to be worth the cost? I'd say no at this point.
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Yeah more then likely he's succumbed to madness by now.
 
Remember kids,

The Sage Emperor was smarter than you,
The Sage Emperor was stronger than you,
The Sage Emperor was better than you,
The Sage Emperor was more special than you,

And trying this harem shit killed HIM.
 
@yrsillar no moratorium?

[] No, a death could be deserved, but not this torment. This shouldn't go on, it was harmful to Zeqing and Hanyi as well.
Anyway, I think this is the one I will vote for. I don't want Ling Qi to be OK with this kind of torture, even beyond the "it hurts yourself to torture others" things. More than that, if it does help Zeqing grow further, I think her growing in that direction would be more interesting.

Also, I will say this conversation has all the hallmark for 'Defining moment in Zeqing's life (TM)', so the idea it could be the seed for her Indigo breakthrough is actually possible.
 
Yeah, basically, my perspective is.

"The Torment sort of makes sense given the gravity of the crime. The duration is where I draw the line, because at this point, it's just hurting you"

Which answer would best fit that sentiment @yrsillar ?
 
Honestly torn on this, but I'd think it's interesting to point out that one vote only mentions Zeqing and the other mentions both Zeqing and Hanyi.

Though I might be reading too much into the vote text.
 
Like

Hmm

Im under no illusions which way the vote is gonna go, because of the word 'virtue', naturally, but one does need to account that in many ways a punishment is about the transgressor, and not the victim. The scales of justice aren't a simple thing. Yes, you kill a person and they cease to be a problem forever, but what the dude tried to pull was to use Hanyi as a method to bind Zeqing into literal slavery.

And such an abhorrent act is far crueler than merely death.

For an existence such as Zeqing, having her nature warped for a lie, and then being entrapped even after the lie had been revealed...While watching the man she had loved gleefully abandon her to be with a human woman, another woman, that received the genuine thing while Zeqing herself received nothing save life as a showhorse, a pet, only trotted out for special occasions and to fight the man's battles for her.

Indeed, this is harmful to Zeqing.

But for the sake of his ambition, that guy was a monster. Far more than Zeqing ever could be. And his punishment is ultimately an ironic reversal of what he had intended for Zeqing herself all along. The man deserves it for trying to pull what he did for the sake of petty, base ambition. As the vote option says, he made his choices and there they led. Anyone with a lick of common sense would have known what he was playing with, that he got freezerburned is the price he should have been willing to pay when he decided to sit at the proverbial table.
 
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Alectai said:
Yeah, basically, my perspective is.

"The Torment sort of makes sense given the gravity of the crime. The duration is where I draw the line, because at this point, it's just hurting you"

Which answer would best fit that sentiment @yrsillar ?
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That would probably be the second one, but you could make an arguement for the first, after all it notes how this could be hurting zeqing too
 
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I agree with Alectai on this one with a dash of 'play stupid games, win stupid prizes'.

The punishment is deserved but even that needs to end at some point, that it's causing the victim of the original crime to suffer points to that time being past.

Edit: yrs has spoken

[X] It is justified, but hasn't it gone on long enough? It could not be helpful to Zeqing or her daughter
 
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Codex said:
Killing him would have been fine, but capturing his soul and endlessly torturing him while denying him an end is needlessly cruel and another symptom of Zeqing's problem with not letting go.
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It is certainly cruel, but is it really needlessly cruel? Cruelty can serve many legitimate purposes - reputations/deterrent effects, vindication for the previously wronged, and fairness, just off the top of my head.
 
Ok, so the first thing that should be noted is that both the options are ultimately focused on it being unhealthy for Zeqing and Hanyi. Ling Qi cares about that a lot, and so there is no difference between the votes there.

The difference really comes in how Ling Qi feels about what happened to him. Here, it should also be noted that she doesn't object to him being punished and even killed.

Relating things back to Qi's established character traits... I would say the first option focuses on her lack of care for people she doesn't know. It could also be read as pushing her on a harsher and more vindictive approach to justice, however in the context of her character I feel it translates more to her just not really giving a shit.

The second, in contrast, emphasises her growing empathy and dislike of excessively hurting people that we've seen in things like her disagreements with Meizhen - and perhaps more recently her feelings that she might have gone a little too far against Liang He (though yes that is minor - though still indicative - Meizhen wouldn't give a shit).

I favor encouraging the second I think. It works well in the context of the Cai arc, and ties in well with all her character development. (also #Wind #LetItGo :V)

[] She could, the man had made his choices and here they led. She only worried that holding on to him like this hurt Zeqing.
[] No, a death could be deserved, but not this torment. This shouldn't go on, it was harmful to Zeqing and Hanyi as well.
 
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Honestly, I think the answer is somewhere in between. He, perhaps, deserved torment, for a time, but perhaps it is time for his sentence to be up?
 
PrimalShadow said:
It is certainly cruel, but is it really needlessly cruel? Cruelty can serve many legitimate purposes - reputations/deterrent effects, vindication for the previously wronged, and fairness, just off the top of my head.
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yrsillar said:
A single terrified eye stared out at her from an iced over socket, pleading for escape and release. Ling Qi shuddered, her stomach churning as she felt the reality of the… thing that Zeqing called her husband, the bones of it were made wholly of the spirit's power, but there were enough pieces, crudely stitched into its frame that she could feel the shape of the man it had been.
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While I agree with you, I'm fairly sure this punishment has run it's course. Wouldn't be surprised if the guy has pretty much broken already.

@Prospalz Isn't it still Moratorium?
 
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Hmm, I think the guy kind of had it coming. Like, that's basically a old-school fairytale. That doesn't mean he deserves eternal torment, but I can't be bothered to be to fussed about him. Also, the part that's left probably doesn't even amount to a person any longer. And Ling Qi has a small monkey sphere at the best of times. So freeing him would be nice, but it's not high on the list of priorities.

Zeqing and Hanyi are both priorities here. And I do think holding on to him hurts Zeqing. Probably isn't great for Hanyi either, though that's more of a knock-on effect and problems when she finds out. So really, it comes down to Zeqing. So she should let him go, because it's better for her.

Unfortunately, that's a sentiment behind both votes. I guess I'm tentatively in favor of
[] She could, the man had made his choices and here they led. She only worried that holding on to him like this hurt Zeqing.
 
....

Galaxybrain.jpg

You fucking set this up from the start @yrsillar ! You magnificent bastard!

We were wondering and complaining about the fact that FSS was Water/Darkness when ice should logically be Water/Wind/Darkness, with maybe Water/Wind fusing into some Winter element or something.

But it was intentional! This is literally one of Zeqing's emanations, so it carries her flaws.

And what did we just learn here?

Zeqing can't let go, even if it hurts her

Of fucking course there would be no Wind in an Art of her teaching! She's incapable of the virtues it espouses! And that's actually holding her back, isn't it? She's failing to properly continue her own inner narrative because she's having issues Ending something that is Hers. She can't let go.

And that's why she had that reaction to our insight. Because Ling Qi is Wind at the core even if she's bolted on the other things. She can let go, it's even baked into the Insight we got from her teachings.
 
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[X] No, a death could be deserved, but not this torment. This shouldn't go on, it was harmful to Zeqing and Hanyi as well.

I was gonna wait a bit before posting but then I realized there was no point.

Getting right into it, we need to pretty much ignore Zeqing and this dudes pitiful fate for a moment because we're not deciding what she does, we're deciding how we feel about it.

Either vote could lead to ZQ freeing the guy now, or not freeing the guy. Obviously one has us put our hand on the scale but the end result is pretty much out of our control anyway unless we're about to fight ZQ up in here.

What we CAN do is decide how LQ feels about it, and what she will do in the future if she gets into a similar situation: Is it okay to torture someone that has wronged you or not?
Regardless of whatever else surrounds the situation, I say no.
Never stoop to the level of the demon that threatens you, or you just become a demon too.
 
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