Shards of Awakening

Civilization accretes along the edges where land and water meet, drawn to the oppositional emanations of the qi of Earth and Water. Never has this been more true than when the seven tribes of the Sky Father sought an end to their ceaseless wandering. In a whirlwind of blood and qi, the tribes descended through the Emerald Pass, sweeping the indigenous people from the land and settling along the countless rivers and lakes of what would in time become the core kingdoms of the Eternal Empire.

History and Historiography in the Age of Antiquities, Sagacious Bao Zhu, 3rd Age, 4th Year of Our Glorious Empress, Dawn's Fire Li Lian, forever may her light shine.

Sect Elder, Multifarious Chen Bai drifts out of contemplation at the sound of a delicate chime. Around him, hundreds of tiny bronze automata still and the echoing sounds of labor fade from his workshop. Few were the cultivators powerful enough or discourteous enough interrupt him in the midst of his craft. The laughter of wispy spirits as they coalesce and dissolve in playful testing of the nullification ward that separates his workshop from more mundane reality tells him it is both.

Unable to ignore the waiting elder, at least without risking her displeasure, Chen Bai melts into countless flecks of jade and orichalcum, each ringed with eight writhing, razor tipped legs. A thought sparks in a thousand separate clockwork minds and the horde of tiny arachnids scurry through cracks in space twisted such that not even an Amber Soul could pass un-maimed.

As the intricately crafted bits of his Soul swarm upon a pillow of woven cloud, a painting, the only splash of color in an otherwise undecorated room, stirs to life. Grey clouds envelop the room and disgorge the actinic flash of lightning and a deluge of rain, in the distance, waves crash against high rocky cliffs. It would have been telling, if there were any at the sect who had known of his past, that the imagery of a content childhood spent along the fjords of the Stormwall was what had been chosen.

As the comfortable tapping of rain bounces off an invisible barrier, a trio of man-sized silver automata put the finishing touches of decoration on a low table. The last items to be set soundlessly on the table are a pair of white jade teacups. Steam rises from the amber liquid held within and carries with it the heaviness of failure mixed with bittersweet longing. For a brief moment, nostalgia fills him, an instant that lasts almost too briefly for him to even catalog before the curious feeling is torn apart between the teeth of grinding, interlocked gears.

Importing Lin Huo's Regret from beyond The Veil was exorbitantly expensive. It was also a useful and at times necessary expense. With a sigh that might have been called resigned were it to come from someone less self-possessed, Chen Bai rings a responding chime, and the wards around him fade to quiescence.

The playful laughter, and the wispy forms of tiny sprites grow clearer as his fellow Sect Elder, Maddening Wind, Xia Mei enters the room. Respectfully, he rises. "Elder Sister Xia Mei fortune favors me this day with your presence."

Long black hair flutters in a non-existent breeze as she inclines her head respectfully. "Junior Brother Chen Bai, it has been some time since last we met." With those words, Xia Mei smiles, and the laughter around her quiets.
A faint tension in Chen Bai's spine relaxes as she does so. It was considered a courtesy for those with a higher cultivation level to mute their domain when around those that were susceptible to it. A courtesy only, and one the Maddening Wind rarely followed. So it was a welcome, and more than slightly reassuring gesture that she had bothered this time. After all, few even among his fellow elders could claim to be completely unmoved by the whispering insanity that was Xia Mei's unrestrained domain.

"I do hope you will forgive me if I have interrupted anything important," Chen Bai can hear the faint edge of insincerity in her words, but as ever, the unwanted flicker of annoyance emotion is quickly ground away from his thoughts and he shrugs.

"It is of no moment, Senior Sister, please do not trouble yourself over it." He gestures to the seat across from him. "I have prepared some tea. If you wish we may indulge while discussing the stroke of providence that has brought you to my humble abode."

Xia Mei nods an easy acceptance and gold-threaded crimson cloth unfolds elegantly around her as she settles into the cushion set across the table from him. While Chen Bai follows suit, fingers tipped in black lacquer wrap around the cup nearest to her, and with a pleased sound, Xia Mei take a sip. Courtesy would indicate that she wait until he had seated himself, however, there was only so much this particular elder would ever be willing to sacrifice in the name of courtesy..

"You always have the most delightful ambience," she remarks between sips. "If only others amongst our brethren were as considerate."

"Perhaps some among our fellow elders find themselves more concerned with Senior Sister's previous occupation than they do the current one," he replies a touch blandly. Xia Mei had earned her Daoist name extracting information from the minds she had shattered in service to the Chamber of Whispers.

"Perhaps," she muses and a chiming laughter tugs briefly at the edges of his mind, "what would that make you then, Junior Brother? A fool for ignoring his fellows caution? Or brave for treading forth where others hesitate?"

"It makes me what I am, nothing else," Chen Bai replies and is momentarily gratified to see her acknowledgment of his statement.

"How curious then that it is Junior Brother's very nature that brings this retired Seeker to his door this day," Xia Mei sips at her tea as dark eyes focus inscrutably on him.

Chen Bai doesn't miss the emphasis she placed on her retirement, and can hardly miss the increased tug of insanity on his consciousness. A singular golden gear begin to turn and he focuses past the intrusion, "my apologies then, Elder Sister for interrupting your retirement. It is difficult to judge time in the Reflection, but that is no excuse for shirking duties such that it would result in Elder Sister's presence."

"It is not a dereliction of duty that brings me here," Xia Mei replies after a long moment of consideration. Consideration that ends with the laughter ringing in his mind fading away. "Rather Elder Fang Ai, Elder Li Jun, and I decided that Junior Brother would make a most suitable arbiter for the deadlock we have found ourselves mired in."

Chen Bai nods at that, feeling somewhat back on familiar ground. His disinterest in things beyond his craft was well known, and as a result he was often called upon to cast a deciding vote in any number of matters. "In that case, I will endeavor to be worthy of the trust my fellow elders have placed in me."

"Of that, there can be no doubt," it is perhaps the first time Chen Bai had heard Elder Xia Mei compliment someone so openly, and for a moment it throws him more than the transient effects of her domain. "I'm sure Junior Brother is aware, but to reiterate the issue, in one month's time, the sect will accept a new year of outer disciples."

Chen Bai nods at those words, it had slipped his mind, and does his best to ignore the knowing look he receives in response, "It is an auspicious year, the forty-ninth since the founding of this Province."

"Indeed," she agrees with a measured sort of indifference, "as a result, admissions have been more… heated this year than in years previous. At this point, we three are deadlocked on which applicant should be granted the final admission spot for this year."

A spindly limbed creature with a round belly, jagged teeth, and bright red eyes manifests on the low table, bows deeply, first to Xia Mei and then to himself before carefully laying down three folders. "Each of us has a favorite, and none could be convinced to budge upon the issue, fortunately, Junior Brother's name arose during the debate, and all were in agreement that he would provide a most suitable compromise."

"May I," Chen Bai gestures toward the set of dossiers and upon receiving an agreeing nod picks up the first one.

"Xing Hua," Xia Mei summarizes as he reads through the documents. "A soldier's daughter, her father owns a minor estate almost on the western edge of the province. Proficient in the guandao and her family's martial cultivation techniques. An average student at best and Elder Fang Ai's choice."

It was little surprise that the Elder in charge of the sect's First Expeditionary Force would select a soldier's child as her pick. Still, Chen Bai thinks there is probably more to Elder Fang Ai's choice than just that and as he reads through the dossier, it appears that thought is correct.

Xing Hua was just shy of gifted with the guandao and had begun learning a pair of cultivation techniques built around the weapon. In addition, while her father would likely never Ascend, he had still managed to build a loose confederation of like minded cultivators that had chosen to settle near the frontier. With a strong affinity for weapon based cultivation techniques and burgeoning list of noble connections, it was only her average talent, and the auspicious year, that had kept her from having a guaranteed spot within the outer sect.

"An acceptable choice," Chen Bai comments after placing the folder down, "if not necessarily an inspired one."

With a flick of the wrist, the second dossier replaces the first. Once again, Xia Mei provides commentary, "Quan Jia, only child of Count Quan Jin, otherwise completely useless, and Elder Li Jun's choice."

This situation as well was perhaps a bit more complicated than Xia Mei's easy dismissal made it seem. In a century or three, the ambitious and talented head of one of the hundreds of branches of the Quan clan, Quan Jin would likely be one of a very small number of prominent nobles. A noble that would control vast portions of the province's wealth and power as it shifted from expansion to consolidation. In a century or three.

As with Elder Fang Ai's choice, there was little surprise that Elder Li Jun would choose to sow seeds on the chance that they would bear fruit a century hence.

As he reads through the second dossier, Chen Bai is unable to completely still the minute frown that crosses his face. Quan Jia's lack of talent would make it difficult to advance beyond the Lesser Souls even if her father became viceroy of the province. Still, she did appear to display a certain minor affinity for elemental fire. It was hardly enough to overcome her lack of talent, but it was better than nothing.

On the other hand, unlike Fang Ai's choice, and presumably Xia Mei's, Li Jun's choice would have little uncertainty in her life. Regardless of her own diligence, her father's resources and influence would be enough to see her graduate to the inner sect in a few years time. That same influence would, more likely sooner than later, garner her a core-discipleship with one of a handful of the ambitious and but untalented sect elders that seemed to grow like mold throughout the Imperial Sects.

"And if the esteemed Lord Quan Jin were to sire a more competent heir?" Chen Bai muses more or less to himself, though the way Xia Mei's lips quirk in what may be amusement causes him to focus more clearly, at which point the answer, and the source of her amusement becomes readily apparent.

"Ahh," Chen Bai coughs uncomfortably, "I had forgotten that rather sordid business. I suppose it's safe to say he won't be siring any more children then."

"Thus Elder Li Jun's support," she murmurs, not quite bothering to hide the disdain she feels for her fellow elder.

"The third is Elder Sister's choice then?" Chen Bai comments as he picks up the final folder. "I wonder what this choice will say about the Maddening Wind?"

Xia Mei laughs. The world tilts sideways as tendrils of burning red violence creep through the edges of Chen Bai's sight and fear sinks burning claws into the back of his skull. "Why, Junior Brother would it say anything? After all, chaos is just the Madness of the universe."

Between one moment and the next, insanity lifts, and Chen Bai takes a moment to ponder what was just said. It had the ring of Dao, and for single, utterly terrifying instant, he realizes the depth of Elder Xia Mai's Madness was far…

Chen Bai flips through the dossier as for a third time Xia Mei provides commentary, "Xiao Lien, exceptional talent, an unfortunate lack of lineage or political connection and…"

Unsanctioned. "An unfortunate stain on an otherwise unimpeachable application," he replies neutrally and then a thought occurs, "Would Elder Sister perhaps know the provenance of her ancestry?"

A smile that makes the skin at the back of his neck crawl is his only response and Chen Bai sighs as he returns his focus to the papers in front of him.

Xiao Lien, spawn of a human mother and an unknown spirit father had passed an unremarked and unremarkable childhood in a quiet, unawakened neighborhood near the outskirts of the provincial city of Linxia. Quiet at least until several months previous when her awakening had been observed by the sensory wards, primed as they were to detect the intrusion of unwanted spirits. After a regrettable incident with the local constabulary, fortunately stopped prior to lasting harm occurring, the city magistrate had decided to make her existence someone else's problem, namely the local Imperial Sect.

Her talent was prodigious, just shy of legendary in fact, but there was a risk of… contamination, as there was with all unsanctioned spirit-blooded cultivators. In cases of lesser talent, shattering the Diamond Core would have been the kinder fate, but for one such as this… well there wasn't a cultivator of the Greater Souls who had ever been averse to risk. And for the reward: powerful, and more importantly powerful unaffiliated cultivators were coveted by everyone from sects to individual elders to the Imperial Bureaucracies themselves.

For a long moment, Chen Bai remains silent as gears of precious metal and faceted gemstone work through fact, supposition, and potential. Finally, he speaks:

[] Xing Hua

[] Quan Jia

[] Xiao Lien

A/N
In case it isn't clear, this is the first of a few (maybe two or three) character creation votes.