Set along the ridges of Heavensmount as it juts bladelike out of the stillness of the Azure Mirror is the Imperial City. Encompassed within those, inviolate, iridescent walls are the three pillars of Empire.
Ringed around the peaks of that singular mountain lie the first of those pillars of the Eternal Empire: the High Clans. Those august lineages hailing from both the core kingdoms and the provinces plot and scheme to ascend ever higher. For to climb the Heavensmount is to claim preeminence within the empire.
As the nobility of the Empire have claimed the exterior of the mountain, so have the Imperial Bureaucracies claimed the interior. Within massive massive hollowed out caverns and strung between a web-like array of tunnels are the seven great bureaucracies. Here the apparatus of government becomes a manifestation of the Empress's Will.
Below the heights, where unimaginable wealth and incomparable power can be won or lost with the flickering of an eye are the great harbors and trade centers of the Empire. Through bustling fora of trade and endless warehouses flow goods both raw and finished from the farthest corners of the empire and beyond. It is here that trading consortia, and ambitious lesser noble clans alike, arrange the trade deals that are the lifeblood of the Empire.
A Traveler's Guide Vol. IX: The Heart of Eternity. Published under the auspices of the Ministry of Radiant Culture. Author Unattributed.
"You are Count Quan Jin's daughter, no?"
The question pulls Quan Jia from the comfortingly warm embrace of an afternoon nap, one brought on by the gentle rocking of the carriage and a delightful lunch. Blinking owlishly, she lifts her head from Liu Mei's shoulder and smiles thankfully up at her attendant before turning her attention toward where the question had originated.
What meets her gaze is a boy sitting properly, his back ramrod straight, in loose bright crimson and gold robes. A focused sort of intensity is painted on the intruder's face while dark brown eyes bore into her.
All considered, it's a handsome face, meticulously framed by shoulder length blond hair, but unfortunately devoid of any of the myriad imperfections that made people interesting. It was also a face she'd seen dozens of times, at any one of a dozen of the different, and tediously boring, old people events that her dad liked to host.
Do they all get together and discuss what they're going to look like in some secret meeting or do they come from a factory with that face pre-installed.
The thought of mechanical hands slapping faces onto a long line of faceless Diamond Souled cultivators brings a slight smile to her face. A smile that makes her wipe discreetly at the edge of her mouth where a trickle of saliva had gathered.
Hopefully Mei Mei won't notice the spot of drool on her dress.
As her chain of thought rounds finally back around to what the boy had asked, Quan Jia manages a muddled sort of response that's caught somewhere between the confusion of her drifting thoughts and a rather solid desire to fall back asleep. "Pops? Yeah, that's him. I mean, that's me."
There's an incredulous sort of shock that flashes across the boy's face and he seems to mouth pops to himself before pasting on one of those practiced, courtier's smiles.
So boring.
[1d3 - 1 = 3 - 1 = 2. Relationship with Zhang Bao starts at 2]
His head dips respectfully, "Lady Quan Jia. I am Zhang Bao, eldest son of Baron Zhang Chao, one of Count Quan's many loyal retainers."
Quan Jia hums disinterestedly in response and her eyes drift toward the scenery blurring by outside the nearby window. Moments away from blatantly ignoring him in favor of returning to sleep, she perks up slightly as an old memory slides into place, "Cherry Orchards… I remember riding beneath a rain of pink petals with dad one spring."
"Father was quite proud that his estates were chosen for the…" the boy smiles proudly and speaks, or at least his lips move, but Quan Jia's thoughts are already caught in memory.
A sprinkling rain of pale pink petals floats along a gentle breeze, settling lightly along her hair and dancing in front of her eyes. Enraptured by the rain of pink , Quan Jia's eyes follows one particularly brave petal as it settles in the thick black hair of her father's beard.
Father laughs as he notices her focus, and reaches out a scarred hand to tousle silvery blonde hair. Childishly, and at that point she would have been no more than six, she bats at his hand, and eventually he pulls back, still amused.
An unfamiliar tug pulls at her hair, and Quan Jia reaches up, smiling delightedly as she plucks a wreath of pink and white petals from atop her head. The horse underneath her continues its steady plodding pace as she drops reins and twists the wreath about, admiring the seamless connection of between what must have been hundreds of tiny flowers.
"Thanks pops," she chirps and hops, limbs flailing, out of the saddle to hug her dad. Those scarred hands catch her before she can fall, and settle her in front of him. Quan Jia plops the wreath back on her head proudly and leans forward the way dad did when he was paying real close attention to her.
An attentiveness that lasts for at least a minute before she's lulled back into slumber by the warmth and safety of her father's presence.
A sharp elbow digs into her side and draws her from memory. Turning betrayed eyes toward her attendant, a look Mei Mei studiously ignores, Quan Jia notices a somewhat expectant silence.
Zhang Bi. No, that's not it. Zhang Bai. No, not it either. Zhang… umm... well Zhang whatever his name was must have said something.
Quan Jia fidgets slightly in her seat as the silence lengthens but with absolutely no idea what's going on makes no move to speak.
Eventually, thankfully, Mei Mei decides to speak.
"Would Lord Zhang Bao," it's hard, at least due to their years of familiarity, for Quan Jia to miss the pointed emphasis Mei Mei places on the boy's first name. "Be willing to wait until my lady has become settled in the sect before providing an answer?"
It seemed, fortunately for her, that her continuing silence had robbed Zhang whatever of the bravery that had brought him over in the first place. The boy nods, just a touch quickly, and stands, just a touch more quickly and with a formal bow and the words, "Of course. Thank you Lady Quan Jia, for gracing me with your attention. Please forgive my interruption, I will leave you to your privacy." He practically flees.
Red robes practically flutter in the wake of his departure, and Quan Jia shrugs, leaning back on her attendant's shoulder and mumbles, "what'd he want anyways?"
"A date, I believe," is the wry response as Mei Mei shifts in a way that makes her a more comfortable pillow. "Though given how you noble types like to talk around things, he might have been challenging you to a duel."
"Don't want either," Quan Jia doesn't quite whine, "he's too boring."
There's a slight sigh, one Quan Jia can feel in the shift of her attendant's shoulders, but can't hear as she replies, "that my lady would have such a particular criteria for judging others. Though I suppose I should be thankful that those criteria fall in my favor."
"I like it," Quan Jia murmurs, already feeling the pull of sleep. "makes you look cool."
Above her head, eyes covered in bandages of embroidered silk crinkle at the edges in the faintest of smiles.
[Didn't see any natural place to insert the vote in, so instead you get a completely awkward transition to a vote that has very little to do with the chapter, though not nothing.
Since Quan Jia has been awakened for a period of months now, she has already imbued her Diamond Core with a resonance. This resonance is a theme or idea that forms the foundation of her future cultivation. Additionally, a cultivator may only use arts and techniques that have at least some overlap with the theme of their Diamond Core.
For purposes of the quest, the theme chosen will inform both the narrative approach Quan Jia takes to things as well as the flavor of how she cultivates. There is no mechanical difference in choosing one option vs. another. Dao insights as well as the imbuement of peripheral souls with different sub-themes can allow any theme to accomplish almost anything.
[] Slumber. One day while Quan Jia was hiding from her tutor, she happened upon a particularly inviting patch of grass underneath the flowing boughs of a willow tree. There, in sleep, she awoke, and realized that the line between somnolence and consciousness wasn't quite as stark as she had thought.
[] Reverie. Years of dull lessons on exactly how far to curtsey or which fingers should hold a teacup in a formal tea ceremony honed an ability within Quan Jia to distance thought from reality. One day that separation crystallized into an awareness that internal reality could take precedence over the outer one.
[] Nature. The view outside her bedroom window overlooked a riot of vibrant colors in spring, an untamed verdancy in summer, the burning embers of autumn, and the quiet slumber of winter. As years passed by, the cycle of seasons, of growth and death and rebirth, settled deeply in her soul and sowed a seed of understanding.
[A/N]
As I was thinking more deeply about Quan Jia's character, it became quickly apparent that an affinity for fire didn't really fit with how I wanted to characterize her. I don't think that particular point was a deciding factor (since it wasn't really reflected in the voting option) but I apologize anyway. Instead you'll get a minor affinity (mechanics to be revealed in an upcoming chapter) in whatever you choose as a resonance for your Diamond Soul.
I think there will be one more character creation chapter or at least a vote on character creation stuff.
