Remove ads

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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Reader mode
[] The tale of the lonely girl and an ugly city. A tale of youth, a tale of want. (Music skill advancement quest unlocked)

It has to be this one. Jaromila talks about how those high in cultivation should not rule, but our experience is starker than that. Even a difference as small as that between an early Red and a mortal can lead to misery. This tale is what pushes LQ to cultivate in the first place. It's fundamental.
 
CrimsonOddball said:
I'm honestly not sure that's true
Shenhua's pressure on the Sect certainly helped Renshu's tendencies to manifest

But given both his actions and his inner monologue I'm fairly confident that Renshu was always a ticking timebomb, it's just a matter of when and what would set him off
Like Renshu got screwed over by Wen Cao, that sucks for him, but his constant and reoccuring gripe is that he can't get away with screwing over everyone else
That he deserves aquiescence to his whims at the expense of everyone else because they don't matter and he does
He fails a bid to exploit someone and they bite back at him? They're insolent, they should just roll over
He doesn't advance as quickly as he feels he should? Everyone is conspiring against him, holding him down in resentment of his genius

I ernestly doubt he would be a better person if it weren't for what happened to him
That he was unfairly kept back from advancement early on is an excuse for his behavior, but that's the thing, it's just an excuse
Maybe he wouldn't lash out by sabatoging the sect sure, but I think he was always the kind of person who would be inclined to use and exploit others to his own ends
He would have been just as happy to have screwed over someone else to get into the Inner Sect, he just had the misfortune to be on the wrong end

Shenhua deserves a share of the responsibility for creating him in so far as a natural disaster deserves responsibility for an asshole who steals all the community supplies from a shelter
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The thing is, Yan Renshu saw all of this happening with Wen Cao. So he thought "I deserve to be treated the way he is treated". Would he 'always' be a ticking timebomb? I don't think so, he was 14 when he was crippled. I think at that age it's very easy to change, both for the better and worse.

I honestly think he changed for the worse.
 
yrsillar said:
[] The tale of the lonely girl and an ugly city. A tale of youth, a tale of want. (Music skill advancement quest unlocked)
[] The tale of a daughter and mothers. A tale of loss and a tale of growth. (Jaromila bond up, Hanyi gains insight/bonus toward FSS successor)
[] The tale of a dreamer and a nightmare. A tale of fear and loathing. (Internal Insights, progress on heart demon)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Oh is this cruel. On one hand there is work on resolving Ling Qi's heart demon and the malus that comes with that. On another, there is the option that will almost certainly ensure a non-aggression pact between the White Sky and Emerald Seas comes to fruition, and make Ling Qi and Hanyi's Frozen Soul successor better. On the final hand there is the mystery box of the music skill advancement.
 
My main point was that in Cai Renxiang's personal philosophy, Shenhua absolutely does bear responsibility. She personally accepts responsibility in the executions of bandits for passively failing to facilitate a more just society, which she views as an absolute duty. Fully realizing that Shenhua deliberately facilitated a less just society is a rare combination of factors that might actually get Renxiang directly pissed off at her mother. It pokes at different buttons than just destroying the impure and replacing it wholesale, which Renxiang views as inadequate for lasting change. It's practically cultivating impurity(in the non-cultivation sense) and something Renxiang'd likely have difficulty with accepting. Especially with a face put to it like Renshu's, if she knew the full scope of events that transpired. Not that she's really likely to.

Anyway, no, I'm not absolving Yan Renshu of responsibility. But it's impossible to ignore he's basically a Batman villain, and the best of those have traits that can be held up to the protagonist as a dark mirror. Crippled and abandoned by society, twisted by madness along a misguided crusade for redress from the world that failed him. Writing him off as an intrinsically bad person from the start is a) beyond the scope of any information we have on him and thus unsupportable and b) misses the beauty of his character. And I guess c) some of our best friends are bad people! Though I'm obviously not advocating Yan Renshu be our friend, either now or ever.

He's an adorable cutie. Kinda like Kang or, uh, Meng De. But not Luo!
 
picklepikkl said:
Hrm. I wonder why Indigo counts as the first step of apotheosis. You don't get Sovereignty until the sixth realm. There's nothing really... special about Indigo, as far as we understand it, so clearly there must be something we don't understand.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
There's nothing special in the Imperial system of cultivation, but this isn't the Imperial system, so it's impossible to know what the benefits or requirements there are here.
 
picklepikkl said:
Hrm. I wonder why Indigo counts as the first step of apotheosis. You don't get Sovereignty until the sixth realm. There's nothing really... special about Indigo, as far as we understand it, so clearly there must be something we don't understand.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This passage comes to mind:
yrsillar said:
"And I shall not keep him waiting," Gong Guo, Patriarch of the Gong clan said as he turned. He had achieved the fourth realm, and even reached the cusp of the fifth, but he had balked at the sacrifice his Way demanded to go further.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Lovely as always. A pity the world isn't quantum, and we must pick a single choice; the bonus is kind of ancillary, but I'm really burning to hear all of the tales.

But since a choice has to be made, I'm leaning towards improving bonds, and an opportunity to improve Hanyi's capabilities is no joke.
 
yrsillar said:
[] The tale of the lonely girl and an ugly city. A tale of youth, a tale of want. (Music skill advancement quest unlocked)
[] The tale of a daughter and mothers. A tale of loss and a tale of growth. (Jaromila bond up, Hanyi gains insight/bonus toward FSS successor)
[] The tale of a dreamer and a nightmare. A tale of fear and loathing. (Internal Insights, progress on heart demon)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That we can only have one of these is delightful

The cruelty is the point and i love it
 
DangerKitty said:
Isnt indigo when you first attain shen? Or was that cyan. I am unsure.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Cyan is when you attain shen and open the middle dantian.
Black Noise said:
This passage comes to mind:
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Thanks; that's very interesting. So possibly the Cyan->Indigo transition is a Big Deal in a way we don't yet know about. This would also square with this from Serpent's Den:
yrsillar said:
Her death had severed something, and although it had allowed him to step into the fifth realm, he was truly unworthy of their daughter.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
yrsillar said:
"I would not mind speaking with you, though I hope that you will not imply again that I am a child."

She still remembered that cut off statement, and it rankled more than a little.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Ling Qi you're like 15 lol

[] The tale of a dreamer and a nightmare. A tale of fear and loathing. (Internal Insights, progress on heart demon)
I kinda want to do this one, it's really at the root of what drives Ling Qi (the discordance between what Ling Qi wanted and dreamed as a child, and the nightmare of her mother's life, and her fear that it is what is waiting for her, is what drove her to run away). But really, any of these would be fine IMO. Though the daughter and mothers one might be best for this situation?
 
[] The tale of a daughter and mothers. A tale of loss and a tale of growth. (Jaromila bond up, Hanyi gains insight/bonus toward FSS successor)

Has to be this one. This guarantees our mission is successful.

(Also all three of us have mommy issues and this'll probably lead to a fun conversation after.)
 
Last edited:
It also doesn't really fit the pattern to have a Realm that's less of a change than the one before it. Having Cyan->Indigo be as small a change as Red-Yellow would be odd.
 
yrsillar said:
Jaromila studied her for a long moment. "Your sacrifices are wholly of the spirit. Our way is painful and dangerous, but I do not think I should like to try your way."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Confirmation of what we suspected, and tbh their way seems better for a healthier culture if they aren't cutting apart their own consciousness.

yrsillar said:
"Perhaps," Jaromila said. "Your people, those who are above fourth ascension rule, don't they?"

There was no point in hiding that, Ling Qi nodded.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Also confirmation that apart from whatever form of pseudo-democratic rule they have, governance is left to those who think like humans, and those who reach above are either essentially strategic-scale weapons normally kept in reserve, or serve roles intermediating for the land and spirits, and not on temporal matters.

These people are cool and sensible.

picklepikkl said:
Hrm. I wonder why Indigo counts as the first step of apotheosis. You don't get Sovereignty until the sixth realm. There's nothing really... special about Indigo, as far as we understand it, so clearly there must be something we don't understand.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Might be the case that as Green can be considered a long process of severe change to get ready for Shen at Cyan, so too is progressing through Indigo to touch Sovereignty at Violet.
 
Oh goddess. You tempt us with these choices.

Its like the question of what to take from the ring again. There's music options, or something that matters beyond us. I hate having to pick the one for Hanya and Jeroma, but that's my vote, I think
 
Hmmm, so obviously all of these could be great and we want them all. They're also all things we can arguably get eventually anyway, so we don't need to panic too much.

Initial reactions is that (1) seems the least immediately related to the current arc and scene. Music+ unlock is something we'll inevitably get anyway, and there's nothing that special or musical about the current moment that it's building upon.

(3), Heart Demon, follows on from our recent issues there, and is arguably somewhat time-sensitive? Maybe.

(2) is arguably the most immediately related to the current scenario. It's the one that bonds with Jaromila the most, which is perhaps the one thing that can only happen now (could still happen later, but that could be much later and not helpful now...). We've got FSS+ coming up in our plans in a couple of months, and loss and growth is exactly the kind of thing I'd be interested in for it. And we've just come of Hanyi showing some of her good growth so there's a follow-on there. And ofc Mothers and daughters is thematically relevant to not just us and Jaromila, but Renxiang as well!

So tentatively I'm feeling like sorting them as:
First:
[] The tale of a daughter and mothers. A tale of loss and a tale of growth. (Jaromila bond up, Hanyi gains insight/bonus toward FSS successor)
Second:
[] The tale of a dreamer and a nightmare. A tale of fear and loathing. (Internal Insights, progress on heart demon)
and last:
[] The tale of the lonely girl and an ugly city. A tale of youth, a tale of want. (Music skill advancement quest unlocked)
 
[X] The tale of a daughter and mothers. A tale of loss and a tale of growth. (Jaromila bond up, Hanyi gains insight/bonus toward FSS successor)

Obviously I want all three but I'm leaning this one because it seems to fit best in the story. All three of the women in the room, seem to have major issues with their mothers that they are working on.
Plus we are bound to get the other bonuses eventually, and there are only two turns untill we start FSS+.
 
Last edited:
picklepikkl said:
Hrm. I wonder why Indigo counts as the first step of apotheosis. You don't get Sovereignty until the sixth realm. There's nothing really... special about Indigo, as far as we understand it, so clearly there must be something we don't understand.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
yrsillar said:
"I had thought it strange, but you do not divide cultivation between ascension and apotheosis, do you?" Jaromila said.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Indigo isn't the first step of apotheosis. The Voice has taken said first step and is also Indigo but the two are unrelated. Well, presumably a Yellow can't do it, but mostly unrelated.

(Apotheosis means approaching divinity. Its presumably the process of becoming a spirit)
 
Last edited:
yrsillar said:
Ling Qi looked away, feeling awkward. "We don't do things quite the same way."

Jaromila studied her for a long moment. "Your sacrifices are wholly of the spirit. Our way is painful and dangerous, but I do not think I should like to try your way."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Does this mean the Polar Gates method of cultivation doesn't start restricting their cultivators' identity and behavior until the Fifth Realm? That their sacrifices are solely of the body, unless they decide to step into the path of apotheosis? That their body replacements take the place of insights in Imperial cultivation?

yrsillar said:
Those on the higher steps… they have too much power yes? Too much power to safely interact with humans without intermediaries. Such power that it is only good for war and intervening with the Land.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
While the higher tier of Imperial cultivators are devastatingly powerful when unleashed, to be sure, they are also overwhelmingly excellent at other things beyond ruin and geoshaping. Cai Shenhua, for example, is nigh-peerless when it comes to administration, capable of managing basically the entirety of the bureaucracy of Xiangmen by herself. Her talismans are truly peerless, advancing her field of craft in manners thought not possible before.

It seems the Polar Gates paradigm of social division for their cultivators don't get such heights. Their talisman craft certainly can equal the Empire's — that cold-iron sliver Jaromila gave to Ling Qi could stymie Cai Shenhua's light for a moment, frex — but it's organically developed, rather than artificially crafted.

I wonder what would happen if the two paradigms are merged; an Imperial crafter enhancing material from the body of a Polar Gates spirit cultivator, and a Polar Gates cultivator growing using a high-end talisman made by an Imperial cultivator. (Turning the iron fortress of the Polar Gates into a super robot, maybe?!)
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top