[X] For the adulation lost, offer a sliver of your own power, once and done. (-100 XP from cultivation XP earned this turn, before multipliers)
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- E
Unfortunately, this ship has already sailed. Imo, it doesn't matter what we do now, the damage has already been done:
Sucks about the -2 rep with the Southern Clergy. To me, LQ and the Clergy are natural allies. We've seen that the other nobles aren't as involved in treating with spirits so if we want to pursue that skillset further into Green and Cyan, they would be the most obvious avenue to explore.
On the upside, our natural skillset might make it easier to get our reputation back up. I wouldn't mind going out of our way to do a couple of mini-quests for them if the opportunity presents itself. Maybe even go out of our way to do something for the Clergy. It would be nice to be more proactive about our reputation; right now, it feels like we're super reactive.
I think doing a quest is an opportunity for Concept and XP advancement but the risk for further rep loss is real. The XP loss is a pure negative but its impact is relatively minor. I'm a bit worried about it clashing with our way though. Feels a bit like taking a step back vs our "act, change, move and grow until the very end" insight.
[X] For the adulation lost, offer a sliver of your own power, once and done. (-100 XP from cultivation XP earned this turn, before multipliers)
They aren't though - the clergy and ministry lean conservative Peakaboo, and Ling Qi reads as a radical to them, which is why we were starting at -1.
- Location
- Finland
Clergy have one way of dealing with spirits that relies on rituals and tradition, while Ling Qi is all about going and talking to them face to face.
And the two ways are not that complementary, and even if they were, Ling Qi and Clergy would be competing for influence in same sphere and that rarely makes for reliable allies.
And the two ways are not that complementary, and even if they were, Ling Qi and Clergy would be competing for influence in same sphere and that rarely makes for reliable allies.
- Location
- earth
[X] For the adulation lost, offer a sliver of your own power, once and done. (-100 XP from cultivation XP earned this turn, before multipliers)
I'm not too interested in the quest and I'd like to keep both the artifacts for the moment.
I'm not too interested in the quest and I'd like to keep both the artifacts for the moment.
Is this base cultivation XP (towards Green 5) or something else?
Yes, that is what it is
Ok. Do we even particularly care about that? If we cap XP before hitting the prereqs for the next stage, that xp would be wasted anyways. If we finish the prereq first, we would be gaining a *1.5 multiplier to the xp, which means that a loss of 100 xp here would take only 67 xp sorry to refill. I'm not too familiar with the new system but it doesn't seem like overly much.
Now if we lost progress towards Projects or Concepts, that seems like it would hurt more.
We generally agree rn that we're not overly worried about our cultivation progress speed, so yeah. There's a reason people have all jumped on sacrificing it.
Like, it is a decent chunk of our month's progress... but we can afford that?
[X] For the adulation lost, offer a sliver of your own power, once and done. (-100 XP from cultivation XP earned this turn, before multipliers)
- Location
- Russia
[X] Offer an item of value to a spirit who values mortal craft.
-[X] Offer the Dream Idol
-[X] Offer the Dream Idol
- Location
- South Africa
[X] For the adulation lost, offer a sliver of your own power, once and done. (-100 XP from cultivation XP earned this turn, before multipliers)
- Location
- Rivendell
Giving the spirit some of our power is quite spooky to me. We have quite a lot of potentially harmful stuff in there you know? Want, striving for power, the need to change, the need to discover new things. All things that make Ling Qi a very interesting mc. Also all things you wouldn't necessarily want to see in a potentially destructive spirit.
[X] Offer one service, which must be within your current power, to be completed within a year and a day (Locks in a Quest from the Spirit.)
[X] Offer one service, which must be within your current power, to be completed within a year and a day (Locks in a Quest from the Spirit.)
[X] For the adulation lost, offer a sliver of your own power, once and done. (-100 XP from cultivation XP earned this turn, before multipliers)
Kind of annoying, but not that big a deal. If this turns into more of a pattern we look like an actual idiot instead of a competent spirit whisperer, though. The local priesthood might not appreciate us giving the spirit a taste for cultivator juice. Meh.
[] Offer an item of value to a spirit who values mortal craft.
-[] Offer the Dream Idol
We're kind of using it still. Also, a bad idea if the clergy goes to investigate the spirit in the wake of us leaving. We don't want people finding out the Dream Idol is a thing we're involved with. No.
-[] Offer the Hui Painter's Brush
Honestly probably fine. However, we haven't even actually seen what it does yet! As a matter of principle, I refuse to part with an item of uncertain value when by all rights we should know. Also, it's a freaking cyan item. No.
[X] Offer one service, which must be within your current power, to be completed within a year and a day (Locks in a Quest from the Spirit.)
This is kind of stepping on the toes of the clergy/viscount even more, since it's committing to interfering in the area again in the future. Also probably a waste of our time. However, it's basically fine.
Kind of annoying, but not that big a deal. If this turns into more of a pattern we look like an actual idiot instead of a competent spirit whisperer, though. The local priesthood might not appreciate us giving the spirit a taste for cultivator juice. Meh.
[] Offer an item of value to a spirit who values mortal craft.
-[] Offer the Dream Idol
We're kind of using it still. Also, a bad idea if the clergy goes to investigate the spirit in the wake of us leaving. We don't want people finding out the Dream Idol is a thing we're involved with. No.
-[] Offer the Hui Painter's Brush
Honestly probably fine. However, we haven't even actually seen what it does yet! As a matter of principle, I refuse to part with an item of uncertain value when by all rights we should know. Also, it's a freaking cyan item. No.
[X] Offer one service, which must be within your current power, to be completed within a year and a day (Locks in a Quest from the Spirit.)
This is kind of stepping on the toes of the clergy/viscount even more, since it's committing to interfering in the area again in the future. Also probably a waste of our time. However, it's basically fine.
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[X] Offer one service, which must be within your current power, to be completed within a year and a day (Locks in a Quest from the Spirit.)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] For the adulation lost, offer a sliver of your own power, once and done. (-100 XP from cultivation XP earned this turn, before multipliers)
Having this kicking around in my head is getting to me, so I'm making a post to get it out.
Edit: squeezed a last few thoughts in there. Under the Rewards heading, mostly.
Eidr2: I will say it could be a decent conduit for minor exploration of border politics, at least.
Above our Paygrade:
We're dealing with an issue beyond an Indigo, the Chao viscount, personally handling. Exorcising the pass herself is impossible, Ling Qi needs to convince a count clan, or maybe the Cai, to do it instead. Moving any of those institutions is almost as insurmountable as doing the task herself. Add on top the political snarl of which Count clan actually gets to run things, and it's crazy difficult. Making a new road that follows a different route has basically all of the same problems and political hangups, at least compared to our power and authority. It's really difficult to picture Ling Qi actually doing anything, here.
Unclear Personal Relevance:
It's pretty obvious how the locals, and whoever gets custody of major junctions in the trade route, benefit. Less clear is how Ling Qi benefits. Goodwill, sure, regional transportation redundancy, alright. Those are both abstract and vague things. How does this actually connect to Ling Qi and her ventures? Studying the exotic materials she's planning to secure access to is obvious. How does arranging for a trade route on the other end of a County for the benefit of other people contribute to Ling Qi's fief building efforts? This seems like a lot of trouble for something that's tangential at best to our ambitions.
Double-edged Rewards:
Assuming Ling Qi succeeds, there's still a problem. Fixing the old route or building a new one, there's only the one. There are two Count clans involved in this issue. At most one of them can operate the major function/pass/etc of the route. Bringing this about means that we're set to lose almost as much as we gain from success. One Count is gaining to the exclusion of the other, and they obviously care enough about this that it's stalled exorcising fallow Li properties.
Attaching our name to this is a huge political headache, because we can't ignore either the Diao or the Wang. We're sure to do things the clans agree or disagree with, but directly meddling in their conflicts is something else entirely. I frankly don't think I want to get involved in anything with this kind of outcome. Not for a good long time. Not only is it extremely dangerous, but it also sharply limits our political options; the exact opposite of the rational Ling Qi is following to the trade road quest. We can't afford to alienate either of our closest Count neighbours. We need to be able to pursue opportunities with each. And that means NOT getting involved in issues under direct antagonism between the two of them.
Optionality:
Considering my above complaints, it might seem strange to also complain that the quest is optional. But yes, I am doing that. Specifically, in the context of comparing it with the Craftsman quest we passed over. Because that quest, or one like it, is something we are going to do. It's basically mandatory. We will need to pursue outside expertise in identifying and maximizing the useful properties of materials we acquire from the south. 0% chance we don't invest in this, later on.
Which means the trade road quest, with all its awkward unapproachability and intimidating liability, is all that much more a waste of time. Instead of getting an early, freebie, start on a project that we're definitely going to need to do sooner or later, we've got this giant fetid mass of a task we're almost guaranteed not to do in its current hinted form. The only way I see us proceeding with the trade road questline is in cutting chunks out of it with moderate, independent value. And that's still not a certain thing. I would say we have a really high chance of just going "fuck it" and dungeon diving around Li lands for loot/salvage, but that wouldn't really be a political quest anymore, so that seems unlikely to be the answer to the questline's progression.
tl;dr: The opportunity cost here is frustrating.
We're dealing with an issue beyond an Indigo, the Chao viscount, personally handling. Exorcising the pass herself is impossible, Ling Qi needs to convince a count clan, or maybe the Cai, to do it instead. Moving any of those institutions is almost as insurmountable as doing the task herself. Add on top the political snarl of which Count clan actually gets to run things, and it's crazy difficult. Making a new road that follows a different route has basically all of the same problems and political hangups, at least compared to our power and authority. It's really difficult to picture Ling Qi actually doing anything, here.
Unclear Personal Relevance:
It's pretty obvious how the locals, and whoever gets custody of major junctions in the trade route, benefit. Less clear is how Ling Qi benefits. Goodwill, sure, regional transportation redundancy, alright. Those are both abstract and vague things. How does this actually connect to Ling Qi and her ventures? Studying the exotic materials she's planning to secure access to is obvious. How does arranging for a trade route on the other end of a County for the benefit of other people contribute to Ling Qi's fief building efforts? This seems like a lot of trouble for something that's tangential at best to our ambitions.
Double-edged Rewards:
Assuming Ling Qi succeeds, there's still a problem. Fixing the old route or building a new one, there's only the one. There are two Count clans involved in this issue. At most one of them can operate the major function/pass/etc of the route. Bringing this about means that we're set to lose almost as much as we gain from success. One Count is gaining to the exclusion of the other, and they obviously care enough about this that it's stalled exorcising fallow Li properties.
Attaching our name to this is a huge political headache, because we can't ignore either the Diao or the Wang. We're sure to do things the clans agree or disagree with, but directly meddling in their conflicts is something else entirely. I frankly don't think I want to get involved in anything with this kind of outcome. Not for a good long time. Not only is it extremely dangerous, but it also sharply limits our political options; the exact opposite of the rational Ling Qi is following to the trade road quest. We can't afford to alienate either of our closest Count neighbours. We need to be able to pursue opportunities with each. And that means NOT getting involved in issues under direct antagonism between the two of them.
Optionality:
Considering my above complaints, it might seem strange to also complain that the quest is optional. But yes, I am doing that. Specifically, in the context of comparing it with the Craftsman quest we passed over. Because that quest, or one like it, is something we are going to do. It's basically mandatory. We will need to pursue outside expertise in identifying and maximizing the useful properties of materials we acquire from the south. 0% chance we don't invest in this, later on.
Which means the trade road quest, with all its awkward unapproachability and intimidating liability, is all that much more a waste of time. Instead of getting an early, freebie, start on a project that we're definitely going to need to do sooner or later, we've got this giant fetid mass of a task we're almost guaranteed not to do in its current hinted form. The only way I see us proceeding with the trade road questline is in cutting chunks out of it with moderate, independent value. And that's still not a certain thing. I would say we have a really high chance of just going "fuck it" and dungeon diving around Li lands for loot/salvage, but that wouldn't really be a political quest anymore, so that seems unlikely to be the answer to the questline's progression.
tl;dr: The opportunity cost here is frustrating.
Edit: squeezed a last few thoughts in there. Under the Rewards heading, mostly.
Eidr2: I will say it could be a decent conduit for minor exploration of border politics, at least.
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[X] Offer one service, which must be within your current power, to be completed within a year and a day (Locks in a Quest from the Spirit.)
- Location
- the internet
I absolutely wish we could dump the idol but idk if it would be found. Also Bao Qian said it was corrupted, I wonder if the spirit would really appreciate it. I wonder if the spirit wouldn't appreciate its usual gift of mortal-made crafts. Only I don't know what mortal-made items Ling Qi is carrying on her person.
It would be sticking to tradition and perhaps lessening the chances that the spirit will take out any anger on the valley. Its true that the damage has been done to our relations with the clergy, that ship has sailed. Nevertheless, the people here shouldn't be starving due to flooded crops b/c of our actions.
[X] Offer an item of value to a spirit who values mortal craft.
It would be sticking to tradition and perhaps lessening the chances that the spirit will take out any anger on the valley. Its true that the damage has been done to our relations with the clergy, that ship has sailed. Nevertheless, the people here shouldn't be starving due to flooded crops b/c of our actions.
[X] Offer an item of value to a spirit who values mortal craft.