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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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Maybe we can all agree that both are fucking awesome, and whichever option is chosen will be really cool, and not come running in with proclamations of doom and such?

I do not see how they contribute.
 
I tend to care about narrative stuff more than mechanical. The first option is better narratively. Them being equals means her respecting him more and letting him grow, which will help him form his identity. This will help both characters grow too. She has trouble with the concepts of control, power and trust in relationships. If they become equals, she'll be more of a motherly sister than a straight up mom. That sounds good to me.
Mechanically, both options have pros and cons. But yeah, I'm going with the first one for multiple reasons.
 
I'm on-average ok with both; first is solid all-round, second I like the answer and can agree that long-term having closer-together themes is strong but also think having distinct themes that can work together is viable (as is implied by the first option basically). Idk what I'm voting, convince me people.

ETA: in case it's not obvious the mechanical implication of both theme-adjustment and combo techs has thematic implications for both LQ and Zhengui and their relationship together. From a pure-mechanical perspective both options are imo about equally good, so just focus on the themes.
 
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Well if you don't read tooo much into it then combination variant sounds better, because it gives us more reason to spend time with Zhengui, also we already promised to include him in our battles, in this context combination attacks sounds like a best variant. Alteration route sounds like it will make our techs more similar? I'm not sure we need two (four?) Zhengui or two Ling Qi. Too much uncertainty.
 
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yrsillar said:
Also I will clearly denote when I am finalizing the son/brother conflict.
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Could you add clarity about whether the second option means treating him more as a son, then? A lot of people are assuming that, since the first option specifies brother.

EDIT: Specifically: I'm wondering if this is about brother/son at all. You said "finalizing," but that doesn't mean that this doesn't contribute. Is there a dichotomy here between brother and son? Is there a dichotomy here between brother and partner? Is there no dichotomy here and the use of brother in the first option is just a red herring?
 
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Playerbase:Oh No it's a major characterization vote!
QM:Naaah, I'll tell you when that war's going to arrive.
Playerbase:Thank goodness-wait a second...
 
It's also worth noting that, uh, if LQ is gonna be a high-flier she's going to spend much of her life not interacting with people as equals. Certainly most of her family are not going to be her equals, and she needs to be able to manage that philosophically.

I wouldn't necessarily fixate on the first option as the best way to resolve their relationship here.
 
Ugh both of these options have something I like and something I despise. It feels like this vote is going to be less "what do I like more" and more "what do I hate less."

[] He was her little brother, and she wanted to work on something as equals. (Combination technique route)

"Little brother" is a relationship with a shelf life. Sure, this isn't the vote that finalizes it, but the deeper she goes into denial the further the trek out of the hole. And talking about "equals" is rich when the "little brother" label is the continuing result of her dictating an absolute boundary and refusing to examine her aversion to being labeled a parent. You can't call someone an equal while you're still demanding the relationship's steering wheel.

But I like combination techniques! Ling Qi needs to advance into cycle concepts to unify her themes, and interacting with and coming to understand Zhengui's version of the life-death cycle will only benefit that.

[] Because she wanted him to be happy, and she wanted to be part of that. (Tech alteration route)

I really don't like tech alteration in this context! I like the point that if he's primarily family and not a partner, then they don't have to mirror each other. Going back on that feels like a serious misstep--not a "Oops All Heart Demons" misstep or anything, but a misstep. It feels insecure, and indulging your insecurity in relationships goes bad places. At some point you have to grit your teeth and accept a degree of differences and distance.

"I want you to be happy, and if I can make you happier then I want to" isn't condescending or even really parental, it's really just what it means to love someone. More than that, it's earnest and direct and involves a lot less deflection and avoidance. It's a good sentiment and one I'd like to see her make explicitly.


I feel like I hate option 2 less, but it's damn close right now.
 
Another way to look at the two votes is that the first is more "teamwork between different people", while the second is more "empathy and understanding".

Obviously both are useful and important things, and both can be said to tie into things we've tried to do with LQ (even if we keep being bad about teamwork :( )
 
I am going to vote for the options that make Ling Qi more likely to admit she's his mom, and less likely to double down on the Big Sis lie.

In this case I feel that means #2.
 
[] Because she wanted him to be happy, and she wanted to be part of that. (Tech alteration route)

I'm honestly happy with Ling Qi being a mother, that's mainly the perspective we questers take a lot of the time. We're very motherly to all the characters while encouraging them to do their own things and I feel like that's a wonderful direction to take Ling Qi's possessiveness. I know it annoys Zhengui that we don't call him our son yet don't treat him like a brother but it feels like the best case outcome to that isn't to make him our little brother. He wants us to be his mother but that doesn't mean he can't take care of us too, accepting him as our son and letting him help us shouldn't be unfeasible. It'd be like having our cake and eating it too.

I'm curious of the mechanical side. I'm guessing the Tech alteration will mainly affect WHR, giving it more Health, Physical Armor and Health Regen, which would be pretty cool. While combinations is a bit more open ended.
 
Fighting as equals kinda matters to me more, so I'm more leaning towards #1

Also focusing on the brother/son narrative is annoying as hell and is not helpful tbh
 
Orkus Majorkus said:
Says Sixiang, who arranged it so Ling Qi would drunkenly pass out on top of them so it would aggravate Meizhen via a romantic comedy mix up in the morning then shoved hung over Ling Qi out the door to go confront her about their feels, finds pushy people objectionable!
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It does make me wonder just how pushy sun spirits are then. If Sixiang doesn't find that pushy, what in the world do sun spirits do? Sit people down and have proper interventions? The gall!
 
picklepikkl said:
Could you add clarity about whether the second option means treating him more as a son, then? A lot of people are assuming that, since the first option specifies brother.

EDIT: Specifically: I'm wondering if this is about brother/son at all. You said "finalizing," but that doesn't mean that this doesn't contribute. Is there a dichotomy here between brother and son? Is there a dichotomy here between brother and partner? Is there no dichotomy here and the use of brother in the first option is just a red herring?
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Its really not meant to be about that i'm just bad at wording votes. I can't say theres no contribution in that everything in this arc is about your relationship though.
 
yrsillar said:
"There is no room, for I, Zhen to be," his other half said. "Outside, there are such places."
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The Name for Zhen is [Renewal], the destruction that clears away the old to make way for the new. For Zhen, the Sect grounds are insufficiently wild to be comfortable. To make a stab at the problem, the Sect to too controlled and bounded: Zhen's Fire nature can't be let loose without brushing up against places ordered and claimed by the Sect, leaving him feeling restricted and constrained, incapable of expressing himself fully.

In other words, Zhen perhaps needs more places to burn than he has? And thus, the future land needs of Zhengui has to take into account a degree of expendable area.

yrsillar said:
in the back of her mind, she had still been expecting to be more necessary. There was something to ponder in that.
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A moment in the Ling Qi/Zhengui relationship arc! Ling Qi has discovered an area in which Zhengui surpasses her, marking out a possible direction for Zhengui's independent development!


As for the vote options. They are an answer to Zhengui's question of insecurity, stemming from a lack of self-worth and unstable identity.

[] He was her little brother, and she wanted to work on something as equals. (Combination technique route)
Directs Ling Qi's feelings toward building Zhengui's self-worth as an equal partner to herself. A stronger together theme.

Zhengui is directed to become a independent and connected actor alongside Ling Qi, a person whose decisions and ideas are of equal value to Ling Qi's own. Points Zhengui's pride toward distinct areas where he can say "I — as distinct from Ling Qi — did that."

[] Because she wanted him to be happy, and she wanted to be part of that. (Tech alteration route)
Directs Ling Qi's feelings towards building Zhengui's self-worth via his happiness and interests. A happier together theme.

Zhengui is directed toward exploring what makes him happy, the ways he's different and his interests are different from Ling Qi (even if doing them together is better). Points Zhengui's identity toward areas where he says "These things are what I like."
 
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Will the voters knife fighting be short and bloody, or long and grinding?

Either way, I can't decide which I want more. I think I'll wait for some analysis on what possible modifications can be made first, since combination techniques could come from any direction.

Though typing it all out makes me aware that I do lean more towards Modifying techniques.
 
[X] He was her little brother, and she wanted to work on something as equals. (Combination technique route)
 
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