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

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

The update sold me on WHR. It just looks solid.

Another highly contentious vote.

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

[X] Modify Unstoppable Glacier's March (Invert the arts themes of advancement and motion. Making it an art which drives targets away from a fixed location, and enhances fortifications)

Killer_Whale said:

Another highly contentious vote.

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We had a contentious vote. But then people didn't like it so Yyrs suspended it. Perhaps contentious is just not to be... That would be irony fitting the thread.

[X] Modify Unstoppable Glacier's March (Invert the arts themes of advancement and motion. Making it an art which drives targets away from a fixed location, and enhances fortifications)

So far, lots of our arts are social. I am voting this not for the mechanics itself, but because it will be good for Ling Qi to realize that not everything she does needs to be about social bonds and relationships. Exploring things that are uniquely herself alone is good.

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

So, this update gives us a much clearer picture of what the choice means, which is great.

In terms of our heart demon, I can see how both paths tie into it. UGM has Ling Qi examine her own understanding and utilization of motion, which is tied to her internal conflict and desperate need to advance. WHR enhances narratives of joint effort, and the Resist art expanding to treat contributions made by others as valuable enough to preserve also cuts to the core of some of the hangups fueling Ling Qi's heart demon/matches the advice Allingge started to give her that one time.

For the theme dive into Zhengui, it's a bit more muddled. With UGM, I'm not really sure what theme is being drawn from Zhengui, exactly. The way that she came to a conclusion related to implacability in contrast to motion/advancement didn't seem to quite follow from what he was saying, but she seems to be confident in it so maybe something that could unfurl further down its path. Partly, I think I'm not sure how fortifications fit Zhengui's themes over simply his capabilities. For WHR, the thematic direction also seems a bit limited just yet, but "resilience and revitalization" hews closer to what I understand his themes to be. I'm more confident in that development path.

I think the contrast between the two categories can be instructive. We have, just from my view, relatively more clarity on how we're addressing the heart demon than the kinds of lessons we're learning from Zhengui. Given the focus of the arc was on him, that's awkward, but it's probably a natural consequence of how things were structured. It's only near the end of the arc that we're getting into a project that offers a solid path for exploration. Most of the arc was wide open without a lot of structure. If we'd had an art that played with some of Zhengui's themes to work with at the start of the arc, then we would have been able to get into the guts of his themes more reliably. And that could have even been used as a platform to explore some of her heart demon issues, but not in a way as likely to interrupt the actual learning about Zhengui. For example, the Wang training would have been easier to focus around thematic exploration through the lens of a primary, suitable, art being cultivated.

Earlier would have been better, but it looks like we're getting that now. So, @yrsillar I know it's been a frustrating arc, and it's probably tempting to rush forwards and away from everything in it, but please don't. Bring the gardening arc to a close, the heart demon, sure, yes, please, but this is really the first firm step forwards that we're taking in exploring Zhengui's thematic potential. I have high hopes for what you can do with that path, with some of the distractions cleared away.

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

Ling Qi sallying forth from Zhengui's fortress to outmaneuver enemies, and using UGM as the hammer to smash them against Zhengui's anvil is the coolest example of UGM in action for me. The modification as described sounds like it just takes that feature away, so narrative considerations aside there's no way I can vote for that.

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

[X] Modify Winter Hearth Resounding (Modify the art away from enhancing just music, to enhancing qi constructs in general and narrow its focus to resilience and revitalization.)

[X] Modify Unstoppable Glacier's March (Invert the arts themes of advancement and motion. Making it an art which drives targets away from a fixed location, and enhances fortifications)