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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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Well my concern with introducing Su Ling to the Wang group is that we don't know all of them that well, and frankly I don't trust them all that far.

Like, basic axiom, Ling Qi can't really call any of them friends and that's a pitfall right there in my mind. Plus as Abeo is saying Ling Qi has a lot of balls in the air for this meeting and I don't want to add the further complication of Su Ling to them. And as pickle is describing, separating Ling Qi's job from her friends is a wise move in cases like this. I don't particularly want to risk a case of "helping friends" vs "doing the job my liege gave me" because that is a royal pain in the ass.
 
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reignonyrparade said:
It's an invitation. The condescending thing is "oh she's little baby cultivator who can't handle this at all, better not even present her with the option of doing so." If you're right... she declines.
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You're suggesting it like it's a "if you wanna come, you can come" but it's a lot more likely to be half-dragging her into it. Like, technically she could say no, if she wanted to fight it hard enough, but don't think that this sort of invitation is going to be pressure-free.
Erebeal said:
I mean, if we're planning to have her in this group then this is arguably the best time to do it. Get in on the ground floor before dynamics get established and things get more awkward.
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...or pull her in later, after the thing has a chance to gel just a bit, so that it doesn't completely collapse if things go poorly. Su Ling is not our only priority at this meeting, even if we bring her. She shouldn't even be our top priority. She probably shouldn't be top 3. There's too much else of value here to sacrifice it on the altar of optimizing Su Ling's social life, and that means that things like "make sure that the first time out works well, sot hat people come back" are actual, real objectives that we need to pay attention to.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by DeusExBritannia on Jun 6, 2020 at 9:23 PM, finished with 298 posts and 125 votes.
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picklepikkl said:
I got you, fam.
Some choice quotes:



You are correct. It did not go well. Nobody really covered themselves in glory, socially speaking.
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Thank you!
Arkeus said:
She has and had no issue mingling and interacting with Golden Field group last year, or Xiaofe this year, and so on.
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yrsillar said:
"As expected of a fox," Fan Yu snorted. "Little use except for leading men astray and playing trickster."

"You wanna try it fatty?" Su Ling replied darkly. "I'm sure you'd make a good meal."

"As if I would even be tempted," he scoffed, turning to Han Jian. "Must we waste our time with this? The other girl I can understand, healers are useful and require much talent, but is this rude creature to join us?"

"S-she's my friend, please don't speak to her like that," Li Suyin said softly, and with only a bit of a tremor.

"Well, I can see his point. Between Ling Qi and I, she has little to offer that we do not do better," Gu Xiulan said clinically. "I'm not certain about the other either. Are you certain you even have the nerve to stand on a battlefield?" She asked, turning to Li Suyin. "I understand you have been leaning on Ling Qi to advance as far as you have and wish to remain with her, but perhaps you would be better suited to a role in the background," she continued, without restraint.
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Really?...You think so? 'Cause I'd imagine that as of right now, Su Ling would face little better than the condescending, discriminatory attitude she received before. Maybe after the group has gotten to know LQ a bit more and respect her opinion, they'll hold their tongue. However, even if they're not mean-spirited, they can still be swayed by common, ignorant misconceptions of spirit bloods.
yrsillar said:
she noticed a bit of wariness in the mute boys narrowed eyes as he regarded Su Ling.
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Even best boy Han Fang carried a bit of a discriminatory attitude and we don't know how it would have sounded if he could actually speak. I'm not putting down Han Fang, just pointing out that if someone as chill as him can think like that, a bunch of nobles certainly can. They're more likely to take it farther actually.
 
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Lena27 said:
Really?...You think so? 'Cause I'd imagine that as of right now, Su Ling would face little better than the condescending, discriminatory attitude she received before.
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Dynamics change when you're in the inner sect, even more so as a green. And Su Ling has just come back from the underground mission. She has street cred now, that she didn't before.
 
Killer_Whale said:
Dynamics change when you're in the inner sect, even more so as a green. And Su Ling has just come back from the underground mission. She has street cred now, that she didn't before.
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Even so, they'll consider her informal way of speaking, to them as well as in general, to be disrespectful. Its not at all what nobles are used to hearing from a commoner who they consider beneath them in status. Her street cred doesn't change the fact that they'll probs consider her inferior in more ways than one. Itd be one thing if we knew it was just Alingge, Wang, and sword boy but we don't know who else.
 
Lena27 said:
Even so, they'll consider her informal way of speaking, to them as well as in general, to be disrespectful. Its not at all what nobles are used to hearing from a baroness who they consider beneath them in status. Her street cred doesn't change the fact that they'll probs consider her inferior in more ways than one. Itd be one thing if we knew it was just Alingge, Wang, and sword boy but we don't know who else.
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FTFY :p

In all seriousness, it could go either way. On one hand, Su Ling just got her title and has no land. On the other hand, so does Ling Qi and she is the one who invited Su Ling. Ling Qi is not exactly popular among the nobles but between her dueling skill and her working directly for CRX, a doubt they would insult her to her face too much or use the same insults that apply to her in her presence.

The whole half spirit half savage who probably does not know how to read is the more likely angle.
 
And then you remember, it's only the imperial oriented nobles with a bias against spirit blooded individual. Old fashioned clan don't give a fuck. A lot of them are probably spirit blooded somewhere in their ancestry anyway.
And since the imperial oriented clans sit at -2 with LQ, them being in this group in numbers means the guy organizing this is either bad at his job, or is intentionally messing with LQ.

Also, this fear mongering is silly.
 
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reignonyrparade said:
It's an invitation. The condescending thing is "oh she's little baby cultivator who can't handle this at all, better not even present her with the option of doing so." If you're right... she declines.
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If that is the way people meant babysitting then yeah, it's condescending, but AbeoLogos has already clarifyed that "babysit" wasn't meant in that context. I think he was more worried about us feeling an obligation to keep an eye on her when we already have stuff to do.

But regardless of that, I'm concerned with the "if she doesn't want to go she'll decline the invitation" mindset. Quite frankly, I don't think she can decline. I know it's looking at it from a meta POV which complicates the situation a lot, but if we vote for the invitation I highly doubt Yrsillar is going to turn around and have her decline the invitation. It just wouldn't make sense. I'm honestly not sure how this situation plays out in the QM's mind, maybe the only reason the choice was given was because Su Ling would accept if given the offer? But I don't want to get into that, it is a bit of a rabbit hole if you start looking at every vote with that lense.
 
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I mean, 55% of the nobles here are Weilu moderates. They follow the teachings of literal deer people. 20% are imperial conservatives, who hate our guts anyhow. They are also pretty explicitly biased against spirit bloods because of imperial policy.

We probably weren't ever going to be liked by the imperial conservatives anyway. They are decidedly anti-Bai, one thing. For another, most of our social circle has spirit animal ancestry. I doubt they'd approve of us treating spirit like people.
 
Killer_Whale said:
Dynamics change when you're in the inner sect, even more so as a green. And Su Ling has just come back from the underground mission. She has street cred now, that she didn't before.
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We do not know everyone who was involved in the war on the side of the sect last turn and what they did. Why do you assume these people will know who Su Ling is?
 
Asael said:
I mean, 55% of the nobles here are Weilu moderates. They follow the teachings of literal deer people. 20% are imperial conservatives, who hate our guts anyhow. They are also pretty explicitly biased against spirit bloods because of imperial policy.

We probably weren't ever going to be liked by the imperial conservatives anyway. They are decidedly anti-Bai, one thing. For another, most of our social circle has spirit animal ancestry. I doubt they'd approve of us treating spirit like people.
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We weren't planning on becoming friend's with the imperial nobles, I'd much rather see them on the other side of the future upcoming war for pro spirit's vs spirit hater's.
 
RebelYell said:
We weren't planning on becoming friend's with the imperial nobles, I'd much rather see them on the other side of the future upcoming war for pro spirit's vs spirit hater's.
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The upcoming conflict is a bit more complicated that. Still I think we're pretty firmly aligned against the imperial types.

Its extremely reductionist to say the GF SUSU blow up was just because nobles vs commoners. Sure, Fan Yu, but for Xuilan, it pressed on her insecurities. Who knows what is going on in fangs head, although he seems a mite bit over protective.

basically, if you are in the inner sect you've already proven you belong there. Saying otherwise cast shade on the elders who let you in. I doubt they'd be so crass.


Edit: outer sect is less discriminating as far as entry requirements go. I hate typing on the phone.
 
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RebelYell said:
We weren't planning on becoming friend's with the imperial nobles, I'd much rather see them on the other side of the future upcoming war for pro spirit's vs spirit hater's.
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"They don't like our friends so we might as well go to war with them."

Did I miss some plot hooks and themes foreshadowing such a war in the future? It seems a bit of a stretch to assume one would happen and I thought our job was to avoid civil wars.
 
Bakkasama said:
"They don't like our friends so we might as well go to war with them."

Did I miss some plot hooks and themes foreshadowing such a war in the future? It seems a bit of a stretch to assume one would happen and I thought our job was to avoid civil wars.
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Hahehe since the interlude with Xiulan when monkey boy was laying down some hints that there will be a war in the future against the imperial capital, mainly about how much they hate spirits lately compared to the other clans who are spirit blooded.
Upcoming war is most likely going to involve Xuan, Bai, Cai, Zheng, Guo thats off the top of my head. Future war is gonna be Big concerning spirit's.
 
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Bakkasama said:
Did I miss some plot hooks and themes foreshadowing such a war in the future? It seems a bit of a stretch to assume one would happen and I thought our job was to avoid civil wars.
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Quite a bit actually, especially in Xiulan's interlude:
yrsillar said:
"You know, you never did give a straight answer," Xiulan said irritably, ignoring her spirit. "What interest do the Zheng clan have in the people of Gu?"

"I already told you, my message is for your Father and Grandfather's ears," Zheng Nan replied, amused. "My Master was quite clear on that, when he gave it to my bond siblings and I to deliver."

Which meant the Gu clan were not the only ones the Zheng were sending messages here. What plot could be afoot in the land of Ebon Rivers.

"But," she glanced his way as he spoke up. "A simple fellow though I might be… I imagine that those grannies are getting a little tired of the world moving along without our say you know? Things these days are getting a bit lax aren't they?" he commented breezily.

"I am not certain what you mean," Gu Xiulan replied carefully.

"Heh, just that it's a real shame that clans like the Gu have been so troubled. We mighta scrapped with your featherbrained forebears, but you're still a peer, ya know?" Zheng Nan replied, still smiling, but something about that wide grin spoke more of threat than joy. "Though the Guo are good lads of course. Earned their spot with blood and sweat, and do things in the proper ways, as far as you lowlanders can manage. Got a sister going out that way too."
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Which seems to imply that the Zheng are reaching out to the old spirit blooded families for... something. Which considering the anti-spirit blood politics that seem to be coursing through the imperial throne is somewhat telling.
 
Previous emperor was trying to break the old clans. Anti spirit blooded policies was part of that. He ascended with his job incomplete.

His successor doesn't seem up to the task, but also didn't try to de-escalate the situation.
 
The Bai are also detractors of the current regime and are being cultivated as allies by the Cai. Meanwhile the Sun is siding with the Imperials (which includes the Sect).

Bai Meizhen actually warned us away from a career in the Sect, strongly implying that we might end up as enemies if we went that route.
 
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