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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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yrsillar said:
"I have secured the surrender and tribute of the foes beneath Xiangmen," Cai Shenhua said as if she were discussing the weather. "The people of Ha'yth'kai, as they call themselves. The barbarians of the underground lands organize themselves into city states. These have surrendered and agreed to become tributaries of the Emerald Seas. Others will follow. The words spoken during my strolls have been most effective."
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Shenhua is such an absolute fucking chad.

Orkus Majorkus said:
[JK] Combat Perception
- [JK] Skull Mask
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I don't know what the reference is, but skeletons are rad as fuck.

[X] Combat Perception
-[X] Skull Mask
 
Regarding the recent events about the Y'lith'kains (for lack of a more formal term), who wants to bet that the other City-States are not ready to deal with open warfare that Y'lith'kai started? Old Greece had similar issues of certain extremely powerful City-States getting into conflicts that rapidly escalated to a point that the others were either swept up or bowled over in rapid succession.

I'm thinking that Y'lith'kai had hoped that no one would do what Shenhua had done and openly treat with the others, because suddenly we know that we can box in Y'lith'kai both above and below ground and get massive research done through a peaceful and supporting City-State itself.

I don't imagine that Ha'yth'kai has the same capabilities of Y'lith'kai for military boosting themselves but even on an "how do we get Cyan+ functioning down there for any real length of time" it's going to be an absolute boon.

Also, getting that lovely "Great Minds Think Alike" kind of comment from Shenhua was fantastic and definitely a huge booster for the perception of CRX's decision to bring on Ling Qi.
 
You know, I don't think Ling Qi's reaction to Shenhua's "interest" was just what happens when a White looks at you. Ling Qi got Shenhua's interest because she distinguished herself as unique and useful, if only in some small way, and Shenhua's Way seems to be about order and control. Given that Whites basically are their Domains by then, I think that Shenhua mentally resorting Ling Qi in her Order resulted in some small expression of her Domain, which is what dropped Ling Qi like that.

Not that big a thing, really, but I think it's notable for people saying, "oh, this explains CRX." I doubt CRX got resorted just because she was Red; her place in the world was decided long before then. That was just the result of a White passively Being near her.
 
Pathos said:
Regarding the recent events about the Y'lith'kains (for lack of a more formal term), who wants to bet that the other City-States are not ready to deal with open warfare that Y'lith'kai started? Old Greece had similar issues of certain extremely powerful City-States getting into conflicts that rapidly escalated to a point that the others were either swept up or bowled over in rapid succession.

I'm thinking that Y'lith'kai had hoped that no one would do what Shenhua had done and openly treat with the others, because suddenly we know that we can box in Y'lith'kai both above and below ground and get massive research done through a peaceful and supporting City-State itself.

I don't imagine that Ha'yth'kai has the same capabilities of Y'lith'kai for military boosting themselves but even on an "how do we get Cyan+ functioning down there for any real length of time" it's going to be an absolute boon.
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I suspect that for the City State that started this war, they hope this will be their Battle of Salamis and using that to form their Delian League moment.

Get the smaller Cities to have to choose subjugation to a foreign power or to bury long standing hatchets and unite as a Federation to preserve themselves.

Could work fantastically for them. They enjoy absolute advantage on home ground, the city that started this is on the edge of the Province and has easy access to Cloud Nomad Confederation as allies. The smaller cities are fucked, but who gives a shit.
 
Wait so the sect was struggling so hard against shishigui and mud boy died just for Cai Mom to be like "lol yeah I just walked in and they surrendered"????

As for the vote, no major preferences but I liked the idea of the fan that got brought up. It just seems like it'd be a nice addition to LQ's ensemble/aesthetic + adds to courtly appearance?
 
reigndrops said:
Wait so the sect was struggling so hard against shishigui and mud boy died just for Cai Mom to be like "lol yeah I just walked in and they surrendered"????

As for the vote, no major preferences but I liked the idea of the fan that got brought up. It just seems like it'd be a nice addition to LQ's ensemble/aesthetic + adds to courtly appearance?
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The shishigui are apparently massive and culturally separated into city states. The shishigui under Xiangman, the capital of the Emerald Seas, have sued for peace. That doesn't mean the shishigui under the argent sect have done the same.
 
Wooo, what a tense update. The cultural option really worked out well!

[X] Combat Perception
-[X] Ear Cuffs

I just adore the dangly ear cuff style matching our hand jewelry. Wind-chimes will be fine, though.



 
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[X] Combat Perception
-[X] Ear Cuffs

I am quite happy in the way that this played out, since I did not expect such public support from the Duchess. I expected maybe a violet to give LQ some authority, but not this amount of cultivators.
 
I was dobious at first about glasses, since she doesn't need them, but now that I think about it glasses are not required for any cultivator, and they would all be fashion statements.
So we can do it!
[X] Combat Perception
-[X] Glasses
Edit: I'm changing vote
 
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Hottake: Ling Qi has so much Qi without ever cultivating it specifically that her domain fully expressed at white will cover the whole Emerald Seas and everyone would think that the Mist was there the whole time, since she is so sneaky no one notices the sudden mist of claws and revelry. :V
 
yrsillar said:
"Is it possible that she was not wholly mistaken?" Ling Qi said quietly. She steeled herself against the returning pressure of the courts attention. "Speaking the tongue she did, her civilized accoutrements… The tribes of the hills are ancestors to many of us, are they not? Enemies of the Cloud tribes, even before they were brought into the fold by the Weilu and the Hui."

Ling Qi felt the whisper of steel on her skin first, the caress of a blade, whisper soft yet lethal all the same. She caught movement from the figure in gleaming steel in front of her. The General Xia Ren was looking at her now, rather than staring straight ahead.

"You are suggesting something absurd, young lady." Diao Linqin said cooly.

"Not so much," Whispered the Meng woman, the fan in her hands fluttering. "It is simply a truth too many are eager to forget."

The Luo representative gave the Meng a sidelong look, and gave a grunt of agreement.
"Young Miss," spoke the man with the Jia, who seemed uncomfortable. "It is true that the lotus grows from mud, but it is not the mud, to suggest otherwise is insulting."
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This segment of the update holds some very interesting details, which I'll split in two.

First, this is my absolute favourite form of perception shown in the quest so far. Xia Ren has perception based on rubbing swords on people, and it is fantastic. Just superb.

Second, more complex and probably more relevant, is this verbal exchange expands on the reason the Diao were ill-disposed to the cultural approach while the Luo and Meng thought of it positively. It's kind of an interesting twist of reasoning from each party.

We see it most clearly with the Meng representative; in her mind, clans like the Diao are not really divorced from their hill tribe forebears. But! This isn't just a difference in philosophy and categorization. The Meng, as an old tribe, view the hill tribes as new, less venerable, blood. It's part of their broader emphasis of age as legitimacy. The Luo obviously also buy into this, if to a less obnoxious or pointed extent. They're fine with acknowledging outsiders as more or less civilized, because they can point to how long they've been part of the empire and go "lol we're the most imperial for realsies though".

So, if we flip around to the Diao's perspective, hill tribe identity is a lodestone hanging around their neck because of the context of its ideological use by the ancient clans. And the Diao are focusing on legitimacy through appeals to central imperial culture anyway, so what do they need hill tribe identity for? It's an inconvenience they'd already parted with significantly in the past, so best rid themselves of any notion of its value or relevance. Treating out-groups with any ambiguity raises the spectre of gradients which can legitimize the view of others that the Diao are "less" imperial than others. A strict binary serves the Diao's rhetorical interests.
 
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