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

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Perhaps a better way to think about is that it is less Ling Qi choosing to align more with a particular phase of the moon, and more that they made her so high on Moon Qi that Ling Qi's actions are intrinsically setting the foundation for her Way whereas normal cultivators would do so much more slowly using arts, or really expensive drugs for the fortunate/rich. In addition to this there will be a natural inclination that Ling Qi picks up to the domains of the the three phases in attendance as it is their qi powering this event.

In short Moon Qi it is better than drugs. :V
 
naths said:
it was already said that no matter what we choose, we get all 3 moons. So, for me the character building part is actually the most important part
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As much as it pains me to be on this side of the argument, this was always stated to be a doubling down on themes Ling Qi has already chosen.

That means, we need to keep an eye towards what we want to give Ling Qi Cultivation bonuses here.

If this were a purely narrative thing you'd be right.

But it aint
 
Yeah, even from a purely utility based point of view, now getting bonuses from music and art in general is a great thing.
 
Cai: "Ling Qi, I know you're from Tonghou so I thought that this report would interest you. Apparently, there is a new wave of art sweeping through the city which is irritating the Liu to no end."

Ling: "Oh, I know. It was great fun to jumpstart that art form."

Cai: "... Is there something you're not telling me?"
 
I must be in a weird headspace because that read like some rose coloured contact lenses being sewn onto Ling Qi, to me. The brothel wasn't that bad after all?

Yeah she misread things as a kid but this seems a bit much. Suddenly the backwater cesspit is just about downright respectable. She killed and suffered and starved to avoid... Almost nothing?

I mean I know freedom's been thrown out and all, character development that still feels way too abrupt to me and I'm salty I know, but this feels like- I don't know what.
 
yrsillar said:
Though it was by no means small, the brightly painted building somehow failed to loom the way that it did in her memories.
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That is going to be an ongoing theme of this update, I think - the way the troubles of our past just seem smaller now that we have some distance.

yrsillar said:
"Why did you want to come and see this dump? What were you hoping to gain?" Asked the Grinning Moon, lounging atop the cloth awning of the gambling hall which stood across from the brothel.
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Grinning Moon looks to be a tad bitter that "streets" lost the vote...

yrsillar said:
Her eyes tingled as she allowed a trickle of qi into them and looked again at the place which had been her first home. It was utterly mundane, and that bothered her somehow. The smiles of the girls on the balcony were fake, true, but no more fake than the enthusiasm of the hawker calling people in to gamble their money away. They were mostly just bored and apathetic. There was some resignation and unhappiness true but…

Where was the misery that she remembered?
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There we go. That is the thing about perspective - the closer things are the bigger they seem. The troubles Ling Qi associated with the Brothel were certainly real; they just weren't as world-shaking and all-encompassing as she thought they were.

yrsillar said:
Ling Qi glanced her way. She would trust the spirits word on that but… did it really change anything? Yet, she found herself remembering things that she had forgotten. She remembered her mother and the owner talking, and other girls contributing coppers to a growing pouch. She never had seen that girl again, which she had seemed sinister, but… "Do you know what happened to the girl?"

"She recovered on the back of communal funds," Xin began.

"She purchased an apprenticeship with a seamstress using the restitution paid from the fine," The Dreaming Moon said absently.

"Never got her smile back though," the Grinning Moon said flippantly. "If ya know what I mean."
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Some things that seemed sinister were nothing more that the products of a frightened child's imagination. Other harms were only too real.

yrsillar said:
It still made her skin crawl, she still hated it, and what happened inside. The special horror it had once held seemed a little washed out now though.
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She was right about it being horror. She was wrong about the special.
 
TehChron said:
As much as it pains me to be on this side of the argument, this was always stated to be a doubling down on themes Ling Qi has already chosen.

That means, we need to keep an eye towards what we want to give Ling Qi Cultivation bonuses here.

If this were a purely narrative thing you'd be right.

But it aint
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To make it clear:
Yrsillar16/04/2019
Yeah the final quest is meant to be about doubling up, you get dreaming too because of plr and sixiang
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It's about doubling down on specific aspects of the moons.
 
One of my concerns with the Dreaming Moon option has been that Ling Qi would be unlikely to choose it IC. Thinking about it more though, she's always been wishy washy about choosing to go around stealing stuff, even from enemies, on her own initiative. Back in the first thread, she had to be convinced in a dream after her defeat in the second Thunderdome to finally do so. She's certainly enjoyed doing it when she's had to, but she hasn't done it nearly as often as she could.

I think the OOC aspects of the Dreaming Moon option make it a pretty strong choice. Our music is a lot stronger than our stealth right now and will be for the foreseeable future. I don't think there are any plans to ever make stealth the core of our build. If this vote is about choosing which moon Ling Qi doubles down on, the Dreaming Moon is the best choice from a metagaming perspective.

Analyzing Ling Qi's past actions, I don't think it's obvious that she would choose Grinning Moon over Dreaming Moon. With the OOC advantages of Dreaming Moon, I'll probably end up voting for it.
 
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I wonder if all three choices couldn't actually be the same action, but emphasized from a different point of view.
Like, stealing the illegal porn collection of some corrupt magistrate and delivering it to an appropiate honest superior, or something like that.
 
Well, these all look fun.

Leaning towards Dreaming though I think. The first vote had the problem that Dreaming was kinda difficult to justify. This one otoh has a much stronger pull.
 
So if the Grinning Moon option emphasizes Stealth, and the Dreaming Moon option emphasizes Music, which skill/attribute is the Hidden Moon option suppose to correspond to?
 
charysa said:
So if the Grinning Moon option emphasizes Stealth, and the Dreaming Moon option emphasizes Music, which skill/attribute is the Hidden Moon option suppose to correspond to?
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Well, I think that simplifying the moons to single attributes or skills is a mistake. However, Hidden would probably correspond to perception or investigation. The uncovering of secrets and all that.
 
A/N said:
I must be in a weird headspace because that read like some rose coloured contact lenses being sewn onto Ling Qi, to me. The brothel wasn't that bad after all?

Yeah she misread things as a kid but this seems a bit much. Suddenly the backwater cesspit is just about downright respectable. She killed and suffered and starved to avoid... Almost nothing?

I mean I know freedom's been thrown out and all, character development that still feels way too abrupt to me and I'm salty I know, but this feels like- I don't know what.
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No it was still pretty awful. Just because nobody was immediately getting their face kicked in by a john or that not every experience there ended in getting fed to wild dogs doesn't mean it wasn't a cesspool of misery and desperation.

I'm hoping it's understood that the thing Ling Qi took is finally stamping on any lingering shame she feels for her mom and her friends, not that it was some sort of farsical Pretty Woman scenario that Ling Qi derped out of. Just because every day wasn't a dip into the Pit of Fire doesn't mean it wasn't hell

I'm not a fan of the squence the more I think of it
 
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Huo Yuhao said:
One of my concerns with the Dreaming Moon option has been that Ling Qi would be unlikely to choose it IC.
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I know this isn't what you're arguing in your post but just in general this kind of argument had never sat well with me. I don't like the "this is ooc" arguments because what we pick for Ling Qi is then what her character is, and the options that we're presented are possibilities that she would pick. Sure, maybe it's not what she has been doing, but people change and Ling Qi's change is represented by the choices that we make. In the very real sense, we are shaping what would be in character for Ling Qi.

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[X] Take the Dreaming Moon's suggestion
 
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yrsillar said:
"Well now you've gone and taken the fun out of it," The Grinning Moon said, crossing her arms. "Fine, we can be direct too. In my choice, we'll be going to a place where the dullards at the top of this heap would much rather we not go."

"In mine, we will see to the spread of art too long forgotten and suppressed," said the Dreaming Moon, her smile catlike and predatory.

"And in mine, we will see that a certain secret makes its way to the appropriate ears," The Hidden Moon said somberly, speaking once again through Xin.
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I think it is valuable to think about these options in terms of each phase's primary focus.

The Grinning Moon is about having fun, being clever, and getting around obstacles/rules. Their proposed game is about going where the powerful don't want you to go, and the main challenge looks to be sneaking past whatever security was in place here.

The Dreaming Moon is about inspiration, creativity, and art. Their proposed game is about obtaining "art too long forgotten and suppressed", and then making it spread. The primary challenges are likely to be obtaining this art, and then precipitating a movement so that this art is actually used.

The Hidden Moon is about uncovering hidden knowledge, keeping secrets, and occasionally revealing secrets. Their proposed game is about getting the right people to hear a secret, and the primary challenges are likely to be obtaining that secret and then somehow arranging for it to reach "the appropriate ears".




In each case, some form of infiltration/investigation is going to be necessary. The difference is in the focus. For the Grinning moon the infiltration (and to a lesser extent investigation) itself is what is important; for the Dreaming Moon it is using what you found to inspire, and for the Hidden Moon it is the investigation and appropriate dissemination of results.
 
To be clear, yes if Ling Qi repeating how much she still hated it and the other descriptions weren't clear what she was coming to terms with was the fact that it wasn't a special kind of awful. Just a shitty exploitative business full of miserable people on a street full of them, which in turn is in a city full of them. There is a thread of positivity there, but its from remembering that the workers of themselves had something of a threadbare little community where they tried to help each other out.
 
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[X] Take the Dreaming Moon's suggestion

Serve said:
I know this isn't what you're arguing in your post but just in general this kind of argument had never sat well with me. I don't like the "this is ooc" arguments because what we pick for Ling Qi is then what her character is, and the options that we're presented are possibilities that she would pick. Sure, maybe it's not what she has been doing, but people change and Ling Qi's change is represented by the choices that we make. We are shaping what would be in character for Ling Qi.
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I get that our choices shape Ling Qi's character. It just seems to me that for each vote, there are choices more in character for Ling Qi at the time. Not choosing those choices shifts Ling Qi's character, but it's not always possible to do so in a satisfying way. Yrsillar can only do so much. I think LQ's character development has been handled fairly well, but there is a lack of smoothness in her character progression that is generally present in traditional novels. It's an issue inherent to the quest format, but it can be mitigated by voting for options that aren't too out of line for LQ's character at any particular moment, even if reasonable justifications can be made for them in the story.
 
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