[X] 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.
Gonna close it here. I think we'll have two more character creation chapters: one for arts/techs selection and since Quan Jia's pops is a good dude, one for a selection of shinies.
Adhoc vote count started by Edkose on Mar 19, 2021 at 7:33 AM, finished with 21 posts and 12 votes.
[X] 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.
[X] 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.
[X] 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.
In the forty-second year after The Migration, while the embers of the War of Bonfires were smoldering out and the ashes of genocide still rained, the Ji, led at the time by King Ji An negotiated the first of many treaties with the Court of Verdant Stillness. In exchange for peace and propitiation, the Ji were granted knowledge and a home. With this peace secured, the immigration of the Ji into the sprawling primordial forests west of the Azure Mirror could begin.
To commemorate this momentous event, deep within the forest, a single oak tree was planted. By the end of the First Age it towered mountainously over the surrounding forest canopy, and for nearly a hundred millennia the Concord of Emerald has served as both the home of the Ji and the capital city of the Kingdom. The city, divided by a forest canopy thick enough that it casts all below it into perpetual twilight is the sole spot of civilization within the Green.
The highest boughs of the city, given to the light of the sun and visible on a clear day from the far distant peaks of Heavensmount, are the sole province of the royal clan and all its myriad offshoots. Though few, even of the highest ranked amongst the Ji will ever be found wandering these branches. Instead, ritual and the wandering pacification of rogue spirits consume the days of those born to such heights, for it to them that the responsibility of Treaty falls.
As the miles wide branches of the Concord dip beneath the forest canopy, noble estates shift to artifice. It is here, in the countless thousands of apothecaries that sprout like moss from these branches that the knowledge granted their forebears by the Verdant Court is turned into exotic pills and elixirs consumed in every corner of the Empire.
A Brief History of the Ji, Scholar Zhou Song, 3rd Age, 75th Year of of Our Glorious Empress, Dawn's Fire Li Lian, forever may her light shine.
Mei Mei was a top three pillow, right behind dad, who was sadly too busy these days to act as a pillow, and right ahead of her Comfy Pillow. Second place was high praise indeed, after all, few could claim to be more comfy than a pillow woven Jade Spider's silk and then stuffed with wisps of summer clouds.
Engulfed as she was in this wrapping of comfort, Quan Jia's mind began to drift, almost inevitably, toward that lattice of glittering purity in her soul. As they first had that day in the orchard when she had awoken, her thoughts fell, down through metaphorical and metaphysical layers of her self, before stopping at the centermost part of her being.
There, floating in within a pure black void was her Diamond Core: a fist sized piece of shimmering radiance cut with a thousand faceted faces and embarrassingly, humiliatingly, marred with several unsightly cracks. Focusing past the pain of that with the ease of practice, she drifted lazily around the diamond and contemplated six veins of silvery light that anchored onto her core and stretched off into the blackness beyond.
Six meridians, each opened with painstaking effort and too much of dad's wealth, pulsed in time to her heartbeat. Six meridians, each gnarled and twisted, broken in the same way her core was, drew in the polluted qi of the world to be purified and retained. At least that's how it was supposed to go, based on the exhaustingly boring lectures she'd attended. That tidy description hardly matched what she saw in front of her though. Instead of a steady flow of energy brought in by her meridians and retained by her core, chaotic spurts of qi flooded into her core and then drained out almost as quickly, gushing out from those humiliating imperfections.
Why even bother cultivating, so little qi stays behind… dad should have...
For a time, she stayed there, watching the flow of qi as it enters and exits her Diamond Core. Watching as heaviness pulls at her chest and tightens around her throat.
Eventually though, Quan Jia turns away, she has to.
Sorry pops…
The apology flitters off, and with it her earlier focus. After all, dwelling on things never made them any better. That was a lesson she had first learned years ago, one that had since worn deep, smooth grooves in her mind.
It wasn't all bad though…
Her attention shifts from her core to a tiny, shimmering mote of Sleep as it circles in a slow orbit. There at least was a mark of success, or at least not failure. With a thought, her own lazy drifting speeds up until it matches pace with the mote. As she closes in on the mote, the pulsing waves of drowsy contentment it emanates grow stronger. Drawn in by the essence of her nascent cultivation art as it resonates with her, Quan Jia yawns hugely and lets her eyes drift closed.
How delightful, to sleep while sleeping…
A cultivation art is an exploration of the themes and elements of the universe or of the self and an almost endless variety of cultivation arts exist.
Mechanically: Arts provide bonuses to stats and attributes (and other things) and differ from techniques in that they only provide passive bonuses. Passive bonuses are permanent once they have been unlocked. Not every level of an art will necessarily result in a bonus and some levels in an art are gated by cultivation or insight.
Only current and previously mastered levels of an art or technique will be viewable (mostly so I don't kill myself writing out 15 different descriptions all at once).
Potency: the minimum level and stage of cultivation required to cultivate an art or technique.
Growth: the number of levels a cultivation art or technique has that can be unlocked.
Major Theme: a cultivator must possess one or more of the themes listed in an art or technique in order to be able to cultivate it.
Cultivation Arts are (or at least can be) a way to expand on the theme imbued within a Diamond Core. For example, Quan Jia is a Diamond Core cultivator and thus she's working on breaking through to Quartz Soul. When she does advance to Quartz Soul, she will have the opportunity to imbue that soul with a resonance related to Slumber (e.g. one or more of the themes listed in her cultivation arts and techniques).
[] Thousand Winter's Hibernation
Potency: Diamond Core Major Theme(s): Slumber, Nature, Resilience Growth: 4 Slowings Description:
A Second Age scholar once wandered the desolation wrought to the land by the Calamity of Ice. One evening, as the embers of his campfire faded against relentless cold, his dreaming mind touched upon a single seed of grass beneath his slumbering form as it waited for the passing of Ice and the return of the Sun. From this shock, and the joy of epiphany, he crafted this Art for others to understand some fraction of that endless enduring. The years have stripped much from this once powerful art, but what remains is more than suitable for those beginning their journey toward the Dao.
First Slowing: it is the nature of things to slow, to endure in sleep the things that cannot be surpassed in wakefulness. A cultivator of the First Slowing begins to draw upon the protective mantle of slumber, wrapping themselves in an aura of sleep aspected qi to mute the effects of the waking world.
Mastery of the First Slowing grants +1 dot to Stamina
XP: 0/15
[] Instincts of the Sleeping Warrior
Potency: Diamond Core Theme(s): Slumber, Awareness, Martial Growth: 5 Senses Description:
The Sailors of Yao wage a constant war with the barbarian tribes of the Eastern Sea. It is a war without battle-lines or rules of engagement set amidst a sea that can change from placid to raging in the blink of an eye. It is all too often a war of long sojourn and frequent privation where beasts leviathan and monstrous beyond any that could ever exist on land claim supremacy.
The Instincts of the Sleeping Warrior were developed by a lowly ship's captain to counteract the constant state of exhaustion suffered by her soldiers. In the years since its creation, the coarse edges of this Art have been smoothed as its widespread, if sporadic adoption amongst soldiers from all seven kingdoms and the provinces has occurred.
First Sense: The waking mind ponders, hesitates, misinterprets, the sleeping mind reacts. A cultivator of the First Sense begins to imbue their sense of hearing with sleep aspected qi, cutting the din of wakefulness with the clarion of slumber.
Mastery of the First Sense grants +1 dot to Awareness.
XP: 0/20
[] Dreamer's Endless Journey
Potency: Diamond Core Theme(s): Slumber, Dreams, Travel Growth: 6 Paths Description:
Those who wander the Dream speak of paths, glittering highways and twisted game-trails alike, portions of consistency within an infinitely mutable whole. While no two cultivators can agree upon where a path lies, or what it leads to, there are a few paths within the Dream where effort and understanding can set the stage for one's journey along it.
This art, created by the Sage of a Thousand Eyes lays out the meditations required to begin the journey upon six such paths.
First Path: the paths of Dream are as fractured mirrors to the roads of the waking world. A cultivator of the First Path takes their first steps along this fractured way and begins to perceive the branchings of if and perchance.
Mastery of the First Path grants a +2 (to a 1d100 base roll) bonus to random event, exploration, and loot rolls
XP: 0/25
A/N
Short chapter this time, next one will be a bit longer and the first view of the sect, I think.
But yeah, basically, as much as I'd love to have a 『Stand』created from our character's own ideal self, I don't really want our poor sleepy girl to be doomed to irrelevance when her papa is apparently a hero, not an asshole, and she's the only hope to keep the lineage from being absorbed.
So alas, we have to spin 'dat gacha with all the strength our whale money allows, and pray we get a fortuitous encounter that can change our fate.
I like this art, but not all of it. I feel like in the future it'll lean way too far into the idea of springtime and plants and nature stuff, which isn't a thematic direction I want to explore.
I do, however, like the idea of sleep as resilience. It's the time where the body heals and refreshes itself from daily exertions, the time when it grows. If our faulty core means we won't have the chances of gaining power quickly like the average cultivator, we can still create that time, and reach the goal just the same.
I like this art, but not all of it. I feel like in the future it'll lean way too far into the idea of springtime and plants and nature stuff, which isn't a thematic direction I want to explore.
I do, however, like the idea of sleep as resilience. It's the time where the body heals and refreshes itself from daily exertions, the time when it grows. If our faulty core means we won't have the chances of gaining power quickly like the average cultivator, we can still create that time, and reach the goal just the same.
As I said, the problem here is that "Our Talent is fucking garbage tier and even the Sect Leaders know it, so they'll give us exactly as much attention as our money brings us and no more"
Our only hope to be relevant is to just attempt to tack into "Garbage Young Mistress finds a Fortuitious Encounter and corrects their garbage talent using some strange mechanism nobody else can exploit". In that sense, the Slumber Core is actually irregular enough that we might find it, and Paths is how we lean on the odds enough to achieve a theoretical "Only exists for the Innately Lucky" results.
But... Yes, we are going to have to whale and hope we draw the right SSR to become competitive in the long run. Such is life in Cultivation Town.
Paths is by far the hardest of the 'Starter' Cultivation Arts to work with. It requires somewhere between 125 and who-the-fuck-knows 'XP' to master, while Hibernation is 60 to 'Who-the-fuck-knows'
Still.
It's got good themes (Even if I want to sneak Martial in there somehow, nyoro~nnn), and the luck boost lets us theoretically achieve trans-100 results on exploration and loot rolls. That's got to be our best ticket to making up for our shitty-ass useless foundation and becoming someone who can make Comfy Pillow Rank 1 proud.
Though never explicitly codified in imperial texts, nor taught as a matter of fact at the Imperial Sects, there exists a certain level of dismissal that those who cultivate the Lesser Souls must endure when faced with those who have advanced to the Greater Souls.
The breakthrough from Amber to Opal has been likened unto a single step, were that step to surpass a mountain whose peaks are shrouded in the vacuum of Mother Night. Thus it is that those who have delved into the Dao, that have risked bodily health and at times the sanctity of their soul upon the altar of advancement, in general bear some level of disdain for those who have not, or cannot, overcome that barrier.
It is said that to Awaken is to take within oneself the essence of Eternity. What then do those who Ascend beyond the ranks of those merely Awakened imbibe? This humble scholar has no answer, and the answers he has received from those who tread these lofty heights are as incomprehensible and contradictory as the meditations of we who toil within the Lesser Souls must seem to those who remain yet unawakened.
Ruminations on Enlightenment, Gao Mingxia, Second Age, Date Unknown.
Quan Jia stands at the top of a low hill and looks down onto pandemonium. The Sect of Riven Stone has thrown open its doors to celebrate another year of life and prosperity within the province and, more importantly, to welcome a new crop of cultivators into the fold. Sprawling from one end of a massive clearing all the way to the shimmering white walls of the sect itself is the Welcoming Festival. Cultivators in robes of crimson and amber, in robes of living fire and thunderous clouds, wander shoulder to shoulder with mortals clad in rough spun wool and faded linen through the manicured parade grounds. Countless bodies drift from brightly colored pavilion to wooden slatted food cart to locations yet more ephemeral and inviting. It was chaos, a riot of color and sound and smell. It was amazing.
Pops would have never allowed something like this…
A delighted smile slowly crosses her face, and with a step, Quan Jia vanishes down toward the celebration, abandoning propriety and Mei Mei in a single forward step. The first stays lost as she hikes up her robe, increasing speed, and bearing what would be considered a scandalous amount of leg back home. Losing Mei Mei, on the other hand, has ever been a futile attempt, and by the time her sandals touch ground on the second step, she can feel the silent presence of her attendant next to her.
"What should we do first," Quan Jia's words whip past her as she passes under a crimson banner displaying a golden dragon wrapped protectively around a pitch black mountain.
It seems as though Mei Mei tries to answer, but the response is lost as Quan Jia skids to a stumbling halt on wet grass and loose sandals. Barely, she manages to avoid bowling over a trio of laborers, spinning past their choked off shouts and taking in her first full look at the festival. Muttered complaints vanish as her attendant lands next to her, but Quan Jia's attention has already moved well past them.
Jade green eyes flit chaotically from sight to sight, before latching onto a massive multicolored wheel as it spins about on an axis. Where a single petal sticks out into the wheel and clacks against slender metal pegs. "What's that? Let's go try it."
Just as Quan Jia's taking her first sprinting step to get a closer look at the wheel, a hand falls lightly on her shoulder and she stops in place, all forward momentum vanishing, "Aww, Mei Mei, don't be like that."
Her attendant steps up beside her, an amused smile painting the unveiled portion of her face, "perhaps, instead of games of mere chance, My Lady would prefer to try something more… strategic?"
With that she points over toward a long table where a number of boards are laid out, some with the lacquered wooden pieces of xiangqi, some with the white and black stones of go, and some with oddly shaped pieces Quan Jia doesn't recognize at all.
Is that a horse? That one's got to be a tower, right?
[AN]
The next several votes will allow you to select abilities or other rewards. Next chapter will also include brief scenes with the winning option. To provide relevant context, I've spoilered the mechanics on abilities below.
Abilities reflect the competence of a cultivator as they exceed mortal mastery of a task or craft. Specific abilities will be unlocked as appropriate, but some examples may be: martial arts, stealth, shaping, etc. They advance as a function of practice or use of that particular ability. Multiple abilities may (rarely) be applied to static and opposed checks.
Those with proficiency in a particular ability will automatically succeed against those without it (or an applicable substitute)
Ability Transformation
Abilities may transform into more powerful and thematic versions of themselves as a cultivator advances in cultivation level and the ability itself advances in potency.
[] Head over toward the spinning wheel. (Unlocks the ability Gambling at 1 dot)
[] Head over toward the table full of games. (Unlocks the ability Strategy at 1 dot)
The sun is setting by the time Quan Jia steps back from her activities, purse noticeably heavier than it was when she started.
[Gained 4 spirit-diamonds]
"That was fun," she remarks, looking back with a happy grin to where a small handful of cultivators wearing the saffron robes of outer sect disciples are sat in silent bemusement. "We should do this again."
"Whatever My Lady wishes," her attendant agrees with a slight smile and that was enough for her to know that it definitely would.
I don't think I've ever seen a situation that Mei Mei can't make happen with just her presence.
A grumbling noise fills the surprisingly quiet bubble space that's wrapped around the two of them and Quan Jia's grin turns a bit sheepish, "There's got to be food around, right Mei Mei? I'm kind of hungry."
"I believe those slat roofed carts we saw at the start were serving some of the more common street foods," she gestures, and with it pointed out, Quan Jia can clearly smell the appetizing mix of spices and meats and vegetables. "Alternatively, there appear to be a number of pavilions set aside for more refined dining, if that is My Lady's preference."
"Those fancy dinners dad always made us attend were really boring," she begins doubtfully, "but maybe they're not so bad here?"
Bandaged eyes shift over to a nearby pavilion, draped in forest green lengths of silk that hang from the sides of the canopy to provide separation from the chaos outside. "If nothing else, I believe that a firm remonstration will serve to ward off even the most ambitious seeker of favors."
Quan Jia nods distractedly, before her attention is completely distracted by a flash of silver and blue, "is that a tail?"
"Quick, Mei Mei," she prepares to sprint off after the vanishing figure, "after them."
This time, the hand settles on her shoulder before she can even take her first step, and Quan Jia pouts to herself at the ever so slightly sarcastic words from her attendant, "Wasn't my lady just concerned with dining?"
"Who cares about food," the grumbling of her stomach puts the lie to that statement, but she continues determinedly, "we could be meeting someone new, someone cool."
"Even so," her attendant murmurs with that particular tone that has Quan Jia settling back from her earlier excitement. "Would it not look much better were we to approach at a reasonable speed?"
Eyes scan the crowd, thick with crimson and saffron robes of sect cultivators as well as the rough leather and linen of mortals, and she sighs, "they're gone. I suppose we can go get dinner now."
"I'm sure that between the two of us," again Mei Mei's voice is ever so slightly sarcastic, "My Lady and I could find this tailed individual."
"I guess…"
[] Eat dinner. (gain 2d10 cultivation XP)
[] Eschew dinner, chase fluffy tail. (Unlocks relationship with ???? at 3)
The Red Moon hangs high in the sky by the time they're done, and Quan Jia hides a rather prodigious yawn with the back of her hand. Before her attendant can steer the two of them toward an inn for the night, she points over at a bench displaying a wide array of, by now, somewhat wilting flowers. "What's that?"
The path between stalls has emptied of people considerably and a balding head framed with a pair of thin silver spectacles perks up. The green robed elder sets aside a colorful piece of parchment and smiles warmly, "This, dear future disciple is a simple test of the principles of botany. And though my esteemed partner has decided that there are more interesting delights to be had rather than tending a stall at the edges of the festival, the bench next to me is a similar test of metallurgy."
"Ooo, pretty," Quan Jia lists slightly to one side with sleepiness as she admires the flecks of qi as they hop and spark from a particularly vivid crimson lotus. "It's not too late to try the test is it?"
"For the daughter of Count Quan, I, Silver Plow, Zhang Shanyuan would happily remain until sunrise." The elder rubs at his bald head and nods respectfully.
It always comes back to pops, even when he's a thousand miles away…
For a moment, her smile slips somewhat and Quan Jia considers leaving, finding someplace where it'd just be her and Mei Mei. But the moment passes as her hand reaches out to trail along the petals of a chrysanthemum blue enough to put the sky to shame.
"Mom liked flowers didn't she," she asks over her shoulder, already knowing the answer. In the background Elder Plowshares steps respectfully back out of the conversation.
Quan Jia turns around and Mei Mei wraps the two of them in a field of static as she nods, "Lady Ji Meixiu was in every way equal to her daoist name the Thorned Rose, and yes, she adored flowers."
"Pops learned how to craft plants in order to court her, you know," Quan Jia grins, the story of her mom's courtship was more than a bit famous back home, and more than a bit adorable.
"It was quite the scandal too: that the heiress to the Duchy of Woven Mists would elope halfway across the Empire with the third son of Marquis Quan Jinhai. It was perhaps an even greater scandal that they chose to assist in the colonization of the Province of Shattered Peaks."
"That's where you're from too isn't it?" Another question she already knew the answer to, but sometimes it was nice to hear anyways.
Plus, Mei Mei doesn't like to talk about herself unless prodded like this…
"It is," her attendant nods, and despite the bandage covering her eyes, Mei Mei clearly conveys that she knows why the question was asked. Still, her attendant answers, "I was a handmaid for Lady Ji and the primary go-between when they were courting. The night they decided to elope, Lady Ji came and asked whether I would be willing to leave everything behind and join them. For her, I could do no less than accept."
There's always this faint quaver of emotion when Mei Mei talks about her mom, something Quan Jia has never quite understood, and never quite decided whether she likes it or not. So with a slight grin, she changes the subject, "and now you're here with me… at least you don't have to worry about being a go-between for me. Boys are just so boring."
"Perhaps in a few years, that opinion will change," is the bland reply, but the heaviness around her attendant has faded into the more normal faintly sarcastic amusement, so she considers that a win.
That seemed unlikely, But Quan Jia shrugs anyways, conceding the point. "We should probably take one of these tests so that Elder Plowshares can go and do whatever it is he normally does…"
"Yes," Mei Mei agrees and then continues with an intentionally annoying kind of pointedness, "one should try one's best to inconvenience others as little as possible, it is a matter of courtesy."
"That's why I suggested it," Quan Jia grins and then moves in for the win, "and I really don't think wasting the poor elder's time by lecturing me is courtesy."
The flat look directed at her is proof enough of her victory, and Quan Jia steps forward as the field of static drops.
[] take the botany test. ((Unlocks the ability Harvesting at 1 dot)
[] take the metallurgy test (Unlocks the ability Prospecting at 1 dot)
[Unlocking either of these skills will allow Quan Jia the opportunity to gather cultivation and crafting resources equivalent to her cultivation level]
[AN]
I don't think there's any synergy between these options so I don't think it's necessary to vote by plan, but if that's how folks prefer to vote I'll edit this to reflect that.
