Man, I can practically feel Meizhen/Renxiang's facepalms at Ling Qi's utter lack of poise and dignity when she's not specifically putting on airs to blend in with noble society already. It's hilarious imagining how they'd react to LQ using a bit of her soul as a mundane pry bar or scraping tool.
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
This is a difficult vote for me, for multiple reasons, including that I don't really like our Domain Weapon's aesthetics. At all. So I'm hesitant to fuse things I actually do like into it, but doing otherwise is no better.
[] Her oldest active art, which had seen her through so many trials Forgotten Vale Melody
The obvious choice. Mechanically, it doubles down hard on making area around Ling Qi a zone of her control; enemies can't find her or her allies, their energy is sapped while they linger, dangers lurk and tear at them from every corner, and even escaping is a trial. Thematically, there's well established themes relating to her time on the street and social isolation that she can reasonably bond to her Domain Weapon as a reminder and tool to wield against opponents.
However, the hunt for the composer's grave/valley in the Wall has been a long-anticipated journey, and codifying the art as a "freebie" carry-on for Ling Qi's Domain seems to take the wind from the sails for that. I could be wrong, it's possible that it transmutes the rewards from that quest into Domain upgrades, which are rarer than art inspirations.
If we do pick this, hopefully the double-down on 'mist' means the ugly physical form of the domain weapon dissolves, and Ling Qi just coughs up a ball of blackened mist as needed.
[] Her mentor Zeqing's most potent gift, the Frozen Soul Serenade
The second obvious choice. Mechanically, it doubles down on damage-dealing(just like Meizhen suggested!), plus eating people/their techs and some general Cold synergy. Thematically, it probably has something to do with Ends, like keeping close the understanding they're inevitable, or similar themes to FVM in exploring the privation of a hostile world, etc. It's less clear to me what the severing means in this context and what would be valid as a target.
The issue with committing it to our Domain Weapon is more or less taking the cooperative Art building arcs with Hanyi off the table. Or, maybe arcs with Hanyi would then directly empower our Domain, a more potent and rarefied reward.
A FSS infused Domain Weapon should not maintain its form as a delicate twist of faux-blade. It should shatter into the whipping frozen shards of a blizzard's presence.
[] The sometimes clashing art but often decisive art, Thousand Ring Fortress
The unconventional choice. Mechanically, it means always having hard defense on hand to provide to allies, but it also means a Domain weapon which can sheath itself in defensive layers and become all but immovable to peers. Considering the nonsense Domain Weapons displayed by our Betters, having a functionally immortal one seems like a good idea to me. Thematically, I honestly have no clue. Maybe something to do with our Yellow Breakthrough's wings/roots analogy? Though TRF have been subject to some navel gazing, it hasn't actually gone anywhere, partially due to a lack of followup arts.
The risk with committing TRF to the Domain Weapon right now is the story surrounding the art still feels half-started never mind half-finished. We don't have obvious established themes to choose between or refine here, like with the other two arts; we have to come to the rougher foundational realization during the process of imprinting. To me, that feels rushed and insensible. This is especially an issue with our still tenuous link to Zhengui; that situation is something we're trying to address with the archive visit this turn, but that's why this choice would feel premature and likely to negatively interfere. tl;dr: there's no clear established principle to commit ourselves to, like Renxiang has done.
Continuing the theme of physical transmogrification, it would be neat to see the weapon transform into twisting dark roots coiled around a veridian core to symbolize both the art's vitality and its protective nature or something. Bonus points if we manifest it via it wriggling out of the ground. Feels appropriately tricky for us, even if it's just window dressing. Just like Zhengui's stealth capabilities.
[X] Her oldest active art, which had seen her through so many trials Forgotten Vale Melody
In the end, I don't know what we're doing, so without assurances my gut tells me to go with the option that least obviously messes with short-mid term narrative commitments to established cast.
[] Her oldest active art, which had seen her through so many trials Forgotten Vale Melody
The obvious choice. Mechanically, it doubles down hard on making area around Ling Qi a zone of her control; enemies can't find her or her allies, their energy is sapped while they linger, dangers lurk and tear at them from every corner, and even escaping is a trial. Thematically, there's well established themes relating to her time on the street and social isolation that she can reasonably bond to her Domain Weapon as a reminder and tool to wield against opponents.
However, the hunt for the composer's grave/valley in the Wall has been a long-anticipated journey, and codifying the art as a "freebie" carry-on for Ling Qi's Domain seems to take the wind from the sails for that. I could be wrong, it's possible that it transmutes the rewards from that quest into Domain upgrades, which are rarer than art inspirations.
If we do pick this, hopefully the double-down on 'mist' means the ugly physical form of the domain weapon dissolves, and Ling Qi just coughs up a ball of blackened mist as needed.
[] Her mentor Zeqing's most potent gift, the Frozen Soul Serenade
The second obvious choice. Mechanically, it doubles down on damage-dealing(just like Meizhen suggested!), plus eating people/their techs and some general Cold synergy. Thematically, it probably has something to do with Ends, like keeping close the understanding they're inevitable, or similar themes to FVM in exploring the privation of a hostile world, etc. It's less clear to me what the severing means in this context and what would be valid as a target.
The issue with committing it to our Domain Weapon is more or less taking the cooperative Art building arcs with Hanyi off the table. Or, maybe arcs with Hanyi would then directly empower our Domain, a more potent and rarefied reward.
A FSS infused Domain Weapon should not maintain its form as a delicate twist of faux-blade. It should shatter into the whipping frozen shards of a blizzard's presence.
[] The sometimes clashing art but often decisive art, Thousand Ring Fortress
The unconventional choice. Mechanically, it means always having hard defense on hand to provide to allies, but it also means a Domain weapon which can sheath itself in defensive layers and become all but immovable to peers. Considering the nonsense Domain Weapons displayed by our Betters, having a functionally immortal one seems like a good idea to me. Thematically, I honestly have no clue. Maybe something to do with our Yellow Breakthrough's wings/roots analogy? Though TRF have been subject to some navel gazing, it hasn't actually gone anywhere, partially due to a lack of followup arts.
The risk with committing TRF to the Domain Weapon right now is the story surrounding the art still feels half-started never mind half-finished. We don't have obvious established themes to choose between or refine here, like with the other two arts; we have to come to the rougher foundational realization during the process of imprinting. To me, that feels rushed and insensible. This is especially an issue with our still tenuous link to Zhengui; that situation is something we're trying to address with the archive visit this turn, but that's why this choice would feel premature and likely to negatively interfere. tl;dr: there's no clear established principle to commit ourselves to, like Renxiang has done.
Continuing the theme of physical transmogrification, it would be neat to see the weapon transform into twisting dark roots coiled around a veridian core to symbolize both the art's vitality and its protective nature or something. Bonus points if we manifest it via it wriggling out of the ground. Feels appropriately tricky for us, even if it's just window dressing. Just like Zhengui's stealth capabilities.
[X] Her oldest active art, which had seen her through so many trials Forgotten Vale Melody
In the end, I don't know what we're doing, so without assurances my gut tells me to go with the option that least obviously messes with short-mid term narrative commitments to established cast.
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[X] The sometimes clashing art but often decisive art, Thousand Ring Fortress
- Location
- The Space Between
[X] Her oldest active art, which had seen her through so many trials Forgotten Vale Melody
it also seems like we're going to have some of the functionality trimmed but whatever parts remain strengthened? I believe there are two areas that FVM excels at that no other art we've seen comes close to.
1. The Fog. It's a huge AoE that dims a huge swathe of terrain to be more favorable to us, and as we strengthen our domain as being one of home this will synergize more and more with us. The fog is a good AoE obscuring penalty, and it cannot be escaped by mundane means. No matter how fast or strong or clever someone is, unless they have bullshit to break their way out they'll be stuck in it. Many cultivators will have this, but how many times can they break free before their Qi runs dry. Our Qi is very deep and our fog is cheap. It's an incredible attrition tool that dictates the rules of engagement to favor us the longer the fight goes.
2. The non-construct attackers. Within the fog, the shadows strike an infinite number of targets at fairly regular intervals in a way that isn't easily debuffed or killed. You cannot blind or kill the beasts in the fog because they don't exist, they simply attack. Additionally, they provide multi-attacker penalties in a disjointed-from-us way that is uncommon to find without summons. There are other benefits that they have, but the core strengths of them is that they count as real attackers for multi-attacker and consistent repetitive threat but aren't real in terms of being able to be destroyed or debuffed or having to worry about summoning enough of them to hit every target.
The dispel ablative armor we can discard if we have to, the nuke can be discarded if we have to, the single target CC can be discarded if we have to, we can even discard the attackers but that Fog that transforms such a huge area into Sticky CC that gives us favored terrain is just so juicy. It's offensive, defensive, aesthetic, controlling, debuffing, obscuring, mechanically strong, narratively cool. In a word? It's Ling Qi. It's versatile. It's us. It's not just a dagger for offense. It's the utility knife that stabs, peels, whittles, carves, cuts, pries, sings and slices. When we slot utility into our dagger and integrate it, I expect it to show up more often. Slicing vegetables, scraping gunk off Zhengui, tapping a beat out with Six, rubbing our shoulders/back (with the hilt!) you know. Something that we use for utility, cultivation, mischief and creativity on the day to day. Sure it's still a knife, and knives are good at stabbing, but hell. We're not cultivating Blade qi. We're more than just a tool of violence.
With fog integrated, we will have a knife that will slice the veil of reality and pour out the fog of Dreams. We will learn many songs in our life, and they will shape our fog to better suit whatever step of the journey we're on. The power of our fog is not that anything within is illusory. Rather, our fog's power will be that all that's within is Sincere enough to draw blood. Our Arts will be Beautiful enough to connect with people and spirits alike, penetrate deep to their core and strike Truth at their center.
it also seems like we're going to have some of the functionality trimmed but whatever parts remain strengthened? I believe there are two areas that FVM excels at that no other art we've seen comes close to.
1. The Fog. It's a huge AoE that dims a huge swathe of terrain to be more favorable to us, and as we strengthen our domain as being one of home this will synergize more and more with us. The fog is a good AoE obscuring penalty, and it cannot be escaped by mundane means. No matter how fast or strong or clever someone is, unless they have bullshit to break their way out they'll be stuck in it. Many cultivators will have this, but how many times can they break free before their Qi runs dry. Our Qi is very deep and our fog is cheap. It's an incredible attrition tool that dictates the rules of engagement to favor us the longer the fight goes.
2. The non-construct attackers. Within the fog, the shadows strike an infinite number of targets at fairly regular intervals in a way that isn't easily debuffed or killed. You cannot blind or kill the beasts in the fog because they don't exist, they simply attack. Additionally, they provide multi-attacker penalties in a disjointed-from-us way that is uncommon to find without summons. There are other benefits that they have, but the core strengths of them is that they count as real attackers for multi-attacker and consistent repetitive threat but aren't real in terms of being able to be destroyed or debuffed or having to worry about summoning enough of them to hit every target.
The dispel ablative armor we can discard if we have to, the nuke can be discarded if we have to, the single target CC can be discarded if we have to, we can even discard the attackers but that Fog that transforms such a huge area into Sticky CC that gives us favored terrain is just so juicy. It's offensive, defensive, aesthetic, controlling, debuffing, obscuring, mechanically strong, narratively cool. In a word? It's Ling Qi. It's versatile. It's us. It's not just a dagger for offense. It's the utility knife that stabs, peels, whittles, carves, cuts, pries, sings and slices. When we slot utility into our dagger and integrate it, I expect it to show up more often. Slicing vegetables, scraping gunk off Zhengui, tapping a beat out with Six, rubbing our shoulders/back (with the hilt!) you know. Something that we use for utility, cultivation, mischief and creativity on the day to day. Sure it's still a knife, and knives are good at stabbing, but hell. We're not cultivating Blade qi. We're more than just a tool of violence.
With fog integrated, we will have a knife that will slice the veil of reality and pour out the fog of Dreams. We will learn many songs in our life, and they will shape our fog to better suit whatever step of the journey we're on. The power of our fog is not that anything within is illusory. Rather, our fog's power will be that all that's within is Sincere enough to draw blood. Our Arts will be Beautiful enough to connect with people and spirits alike, penetrate deep to their core and strike Truth at their center.
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- Location
- ?
[X] Her oldest active art, which had seen her through so many trials Forgotten Vale Melody
[] Her mentor Zeqing's most potent gift, the Frozen Soul Serenade
[X] The sometimes clashing art but often decisive art, Thousand Ring Fortress
[] Her mentor Zeqing's most potent gift, the Frozen Soul Serenade
[X] The sometimes clashing art but often decisive art, Thousand Ring Fortress
The way I'm taking it is that it becomes part of the foundation of our eventual spiritual "body". The Domain Weapon is just scaffolding for our Domain to grow around and support itself on until it becomes cohesive enough to function like the "body" of an immaterial spirit. And THAT is what the art is getting added to
[X] Her oldest active art, which had seen her through so many trials Forgotten Vale Melody
It's possible that if we included lots of companions, tried to enjoy ourselves along the way, and maybe used clashes with the barbarians to establish a man vs man conflict rather than man vs nature one we could end up with an art that would have very different thematics to FVM while still having enough parallels to make such a journey narratively superior to just coming up with something completely unrelated might be.
This kinda assumes that a 'dark reflection' type relation is sufficiently far from FVM to be considered a separate art rather than a particular kind of successor art, of course, but the general idea of using that kind of journey into the Wall as fodder for a unique personal art rather than babby's first successor art is still valid even if the idea I laid out is too close to being a successor art.
Alternatively, one of the later requirements for progressing through Green is to develop your own personal unique art - and depending on how strict the guidelines are on "unique" we could potentially source a lot of inspiration from FVM/journeying out to that composer's grave/valley.
It's possible that if we included lots of companions, tried to enjoy ourselves along the way, and maybe used clashes with the barbarians to establish a man vs man conflict rather than man vs nature one we could end up with an art that would have very different thematics to FVM while still having enough parallels to make such a journey narratively superior to just coming up with something completely unrelated might be.
This kinda assumes that a 'dark reflection' type relation is sufficiently far from FVM to be considered a separate art rather than a particular kind of successor art, of course, but the general idea of using that kind of journey into the Wall as fodder for a unique personal art rather than babby's first successor art is still valid even if the idea I laid out is too close to being a successor art.
- Location
- Not Telling
[X] Her oldest active art, which had seen her through so many trials Forgotten Vale Melody
- Location
- The Space Between
See, I think we could do a quest for FV that generates a songseeker's art. FVM was the death of a lonely artist, the only human around. So how did his song get spread? Who noted his death? The spirits did. Zeqing was apparently there when it was written, but The Black Madam observes and notes all the dead and their deeds. When people die they mistakenly think that their secrets will die with them, when the Black Madam already witnessed their deeds and noted them down in her ledger.
We have been shown knowledge from the Burning Library, and were marked by the memory of a Wild King long dead. The Trials devised by Jiao are dreams or memories too. I think the quest for *Forgotten* Vale should be about Remembering the Songs that have gone the way of the Burning Library. People make a big deal about precognition and clairvoyance, but often forget that seeing the past accurately is extraordinarily powerful. A personal Perception Art that lets us consult with the Black Madam to steal the secrets of the past/dead through the medium of Dreams would be a triple aunt Song Seeking powerhouse. @YRS would have have to decide on the accuracy vs the symbolism of those dream scenes, acting as The Black Madam choosing how much of the ledger she'll let us work with directly and how much we'll have to infer from our Dream Construct. This should let us visually see lore bits pertinent to the Songs we're seeking, but also cast our sight into the past in general. It'd be very useful for investigations, sleuthing and tracking.
Nolrai
weak to fangs
- Location
- Porltand
What are Judgements from?
Jensaarai
Sing Victory Everlasting
- Pronouns
- They/Them
The Fallen London 'verse. Spoilers, naturally, given their involvement in the setting.
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
Inserted tally
Sirrocco
Pedantic
[X] Her oldest active art, which had seen her through so many trials Forgotten Vale Melody
Because it is in some ways the obvious choice. In particular, the sword is already a thing of hunger. More improtantly, FVM's themes are darkness, hunger, and a longing for family. It is *deeply* tied in with that "desperate greed" that formed the core of Ling Qi's impressive levels of motivation. TRF is useful, but something else *could* take its place, if we somehow found an art that could do the same job better. FSS is tied in with our relationship with Hanyi and Zeqing, and that means something, but it doesn't really speak to anything fundamental about Ling Qi beyond that. FVM actually hits Ling Qi's personal themes pretty hard, in a number of ways.
Because it is in some ways the obvious choice. In particular, the sword is already a thing of hunger. More improtantly, FVM's themes are darkness, hunger, and a longing for family. It is *deeply* tied in with that "desperate greed" that formed the core of Ling Qi's impressive levels of motivation. TRF is useful, but something else *could* take its place, if we somehow found an art that could do the same job better. FSS is tied in with our relationship with Hanyi and Zeqing, and that means something, but it doesn't really speak to anything fundamental about Ling Qi beyond that. FVM actually hits Ling Qi's personal themes pretty hard, in a number of ways.
- Location
- Virginia
[X] Her oldest active art, which had seen her through so many trials Forgotten Vale Melody
- Location
- BEHIND YOU, COMRADE!
[X] Her oldest active art, which had seen her through so many trials Forgotten Vale Melody
- Location
- The Temple of the Winds
One thing i don't like about the whole integration idea is that it basically implies we'll keep our domain weapon permanently.
I mean, sure it's a nice one right now as it's theoretically as powerful a weapon as a Green Cultivator can use, even if a bit clunky and often effectively useless, but most importantly it's not a self-improving artifact, so i very much doubt it'll stay relevant once we go up a realm or two...
As such i'll vote to throw the less relevant Art at it. The Art we're going to replace soon anyway:
[x] The sometimes clashing art but often decisive art, Thousand Ring Fortress
I mean, sure it's a nice one right now as it's theoretically as powerful a weapon as a Green Cultivator can use, even if a bit clunky and often effectively useless, but most importantly it's not a self-improving artifact, so i very much doubt it'll stay relevant once we go up a realm or two...
As such i'll vote to throw the less relevant Art at it. The Art we're going to replace soon anyway:
[x] The sometimes clashing art but often decisive art, Thousand Ring Fortress
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Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
I'm going to go on a limb here and say that when CRX got a favour from Shenhua specifically to craft a domain weapon for Ling Qi and Gan Guangli, she made sure that we wouldn't be crippled by its quality in the future. So, at worst its upgradeable, and at best you can switch the art integration to another domain weapon later.