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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
[X] The Young Woman


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I would have very much liked to have voted for the mature choice, simply because i associate it with the protection of family. Like someone earlier said "the big mother bear". Even in the earlier talks in our position as Emissary, as soon as her Family was only slightly "slandered" she got defensive. LQ can be a good Diplomat and Intermediary ... as long as her Family is not involved, then the kitty gloves are off.

But i am not sure there version of the The Mature Woman fits that image.
 
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The walls drew her attention more, painted on them were a pair of murals, they seemed to depict a stylized battle. Tracing the scene with her eyes, it seemed to depict a kind of story. At the beginning ill equipped folk were pressed by strange enemies, it was a bit difficult to tell what they were meant to be, with masses of different shapes, some like beasts, some like humans, some that Ling Qi thought might be dragons of a sort. They all had the same eyes though, deep and black, standing out from pale skins and hides.

As the story progressed, she saw the ill equipped people joined by a depiction of what she took for a mighty ice spirit, paired with a figure of blazing sunlight driving back foes with wind and ice and light. The ice and snow flowed into the image of a mighty host clad in strong armaments, with female figures soaring above, and men in white robes among the soldiers, radiating sunlight. On the other side then, showed what Ling Qi thought was meant to be a series of fortresses or great walls of ice and iron crewed by proud soldiers. All under a sky of shifting color, it showed battles with the black eyed foes, ending at last in a great wall of flame that roared from the earth, burning the last of the enemies to ash.

Facing forward, toward the center of the room, was the visage of a young man, bright and smiling, with a crown of sunbeams in his golden hair. On the right of the columns was the face of a red bearded man, whose visage was wild eyed, his teeth bared in what seemed more a snarl than a smile. Last was an old and withered man, whose carved flowing white beard flowed into the art lower on the column. The man's face was deeply wrinkled, and his sunken eyelids implied that nothing lay beneath.

"It is as you see around you. The three aspects of the sun are the three aspects of men. Joyous, inspirational Koliada, Lord of the dawn, Raging, mercurial Perkunas, the Stormbringer, and the wise, mysterious Crowfather, who walks beyond the Gates. A man who raises his hands to other men has allowed Perkunas to master him, giving in to his natural tempestuousness and rage. Such a man cannot stand among the suntouched, for he is open to the whispers of the Outer Night."

"Yes, it is a hard thing, but they are not quite men as we are, yes? Their beast souls protect them from the whispers of Night. They cannot be suntouched, but their ways do no harm, so far from the Gates"

Arranged around the room, she saw three statues of iron, their heads near the ceiling some five meters up. On the left was a young woman in rich furred regalia. A spiked crown similar to what Jaromila had worn in battle rested on her head. A scepter was clasped in her right hand and raised toward the roof. Her left hand clasped a sparkling orb of crystal to her chest.

In the center was a mature woman, whose hands held weapons of gleaming blue ice, a pair of axes, raised over her head. The mature womans expression was a defiant snarl and her hair hung loose and wild about her shoulders. Scandalously, the woman was garbed in only the hide and fur of some unidentifiable beast, wrapped around her shoulders like the cloak. The rest of her body was wholly bare and rendered in uncomfortable detail.

On the right was a crone. Hideous, with sagging jowls, a pointed chin, a bulbous nose and wild strawlike hair. The crone bent over a table and held a mortar and pestle in her hands. She was garbed in shapeless robes and furs, and her expression was a snaggle toothed smile exposing crooked fangs. A necklace of human skulls was carved hanging about her neck.

The most interesting thing to me with these sun and moon/ice aspects is the juxtaposition between the age peers from the two bodies. They match up really well!

The younger two both come off as more civilized. Crowns, the guy is described as "inspirational" which I take to extend to innovation though it may not, and the woman has all sorts of regalia. They seem to reflect the society's culture, perhaps its aspirations.

The middle two are also similar, wild, snarling, seemingly primal. The guy, Perkunas, is described as "the Stormbringer", embodying a dangerous facet of the natural environment. His nature's also described as marking a man who shares it as vulnerable to the "Outer Night", which in context is some kind of dangerous natural phenomenon their society is organized to defend against. Perkunas is therefore an embodiment of nature that cannot fully coexist with civilized folk. This supports the assumption that the younger pair represents civilization. The woman is practically naked, her only clothing a hide and fur cloak taken from a beast, and her weapons are made of ice. She's deeply in tune with the natural world.

The last two, the oldest, are similar in how clearly they're marked by time. The Crowfather's missing eyes, and the crone's general, well, croneliness. They suggest a harsh environment you don't grow old in unmarked. They're also both emblematic of knowledge and wisdom; Crowfather is described as wise and mysterious, and the crone's statue emphasizes herblore.

[X] The Mature Woman
I think this figure can really speak to Ling Qi with her Domain as it is. This figure is of a savage and dangerous world, in defiance of it, and wields weapons made from its phenomenon. She straddles the natural world and civilization, with her bare use of tools. This is speculation, but my guess is this aspect of the moon represents the first steps of women seizing the power of the elements and making them their own, to fight back against an environment of scarcity and danger, to allow a meaningfully united people with a shared culture to rise as they have.

Ling Qi has a similar split in her nature. She's fundamentally a being of loneliness and her power stems from her understanding of the harsh realities of the world as a dangerous and isolating place. However, she is not content to accept that and do nothing. It's also her nature to strive for more, for herself and those she cares about. The harsh realities of the world are her understanding and her tools, but they are not her goals. If I'm right about the significance of this figure, it's directly relevant to some of the fundamental questions of how to balance her life that Ling Qi faces. Whether she took the same answers as the figure represents, I think the exposure would be valuable.

[] The Young Woman
Some people have made a good point that this aspect resembles Jaromila in her role of an Emissary most closely. If we're trying to learn more about the role of the Emissaries, this is plainly a fruitful choice. I might vote for it later, but don't feel like it right now.

[] The Crone
I'm not a huge fan of this one. Partly it's because the old dude seems to fit us better. A mysterious figure who travels in dangerous and forbidden lands and who, being more approachable than the crone of the oldies, probably has a storyteller role? That's up our alley. The missing eyes also reminds me of the Hidden Moon, who were are a very good and dedicated acolyte of. The aspect of danger to people of the Crone also doesn't sit well with me. It's not very fitting with Ling Qi's life goals.
 
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