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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
[X] Xiangmen, City of Art. The explosion of art, low and high, in a city long-chained. What dreams bubble in the spaces between?

moar pratfalls
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Wonders. Vast production, treasures beyond counting, the engine of riches which had kept even a corpse alive long after all vitality was gone.

We are a greedy girl and uncle bones has the right idea. There's just so much damn money lying around!

I want to do a scrooge mcduck and take a money bath :V
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Wonders. Vast production, treasures beyond counting, the engine of riches which had kept even a corpse alive long after all vitality was gone.
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Art. The explosion of art, low and high, in a city long-chained. What dreams bubble in the spaces between?
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Wonders. Vast production, treasures beyond counting, the engine of riches which had kept even a corpse alive long after all vitality was gone.
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Art. The explosion of art, low and high, in a city long-chained. What dreams bubble in the spaces between?
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Art. The explosion of art, low and high, in a city long-chained. What dreams bubble in the spaces between?

Despite being a musician herself, Ling Qi still has a rather utilitarian or even dismissive view on art. We saw it when talking with Xuan Shi about his books and we saw it again during the play: art just for it's own sake, for it's enjoyment, is an indulgence, wasteful. Something that can only flourish or even exist when all the basic needs are met and obligations are fullfilled.
While that view can be technically true, I want Ling Qi to see it the other way as well: art is indespansable for people to aspire and strive for more than just base living. That people will be far less driven to achieve and maintain even that base state, less alone motivated to improve it, without songs, stories and celebrations.
During catastrophies, when reality fails to fulfill the basic needs, art and dreams are what keep the people moving forward.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by SassyAsses on Mar 19, 2022 at 4:51 AM, finished with 72 posts and 58 votes.
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Art. The explosion of art, low and high, in a city long-chained. What dreams bubble in the spaces between?
 
Digesting and haggling over the rest of the details was a lengthy task, but she found no sneaky little clauses or deceptive wording - for legal contracts they were both refreshingly straightforward. The Meng would provide the geomancer's salary, cultivation supplies, and reagents for his work. There was a small tangle in the form of an arbitration clause, indicating she would have to renegotiate with the Meng if she asked the geomancer to undertake a project which exceeded the supplies he was given and couldn't provide herself, but she suspected she would have to undertake something quite absurd to trigger that.
lets see... aside from the Quillin peak and the moose territory that are too dangerous, for now, we have:
  1. the river: Need priests/diplomacy, but taming it with a geomancer helping sounds fun!
  2. our future capital: its standard, probably, but with geomancy.... we might get some interesting results, like cliffs city parts or something. hopefully underground parts as well
  3. the veins of the earth: Cultivation site. Pretty standard again, especially with Zhengui helping along. Probably around our future capital and we will need us some spa time to relax in all the work too.
  4. the underground water network: Not a cultivation site, but a site of interest in my opinion none the less, great place to expand the living space, though, it will be challenging, what with the many small paces and the water rushing all the time. nice farming options though.
  5. Saline Grotto: Cultivation site. Dangerous for mortals and reds, probably yellows too but still need scouting as well. possible farming area? resource deposit? need further investigation.
  6. Cathedral of Winds: Cultivation site. Home of sirens and a big spirit that is sleeping. needs diplo but definitely has potential.
  7. Abyssal Ossuary: Unknown, predator is present. needs to be cleared before cathedral can be developed. Possible cultivation site?
I think the cultivation sites will be the ones that will need renegotiation, not to boost them, though, thats probably an option, but to keep them without losing an elemental alignment while getting something we can profit from them.
Then, we are hardly finished with the exploration of the region, not to mention the specific places like the ossuary.

[X] Xiangmen, City of Wonders. Vast production, treasures beyond counting, the engine of riches which had kept even a corpse alive long after all vitality was gone.
[X] Xiangmen, City of Art. The explosion of art, low and high, in a city long-chained. What dreams bubble in the spaces between?

i want both of them, so i dont mind whichever of the two wins!

Edit: Also, i gotta say, i LOVE the Cerulean Garden. Any chance we can get a cultivation version of Blue Butterfly Pea growing in our fief for tea?
 
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One thing of interest i noticed in the contract was that it is 10 years from when we decide to start, not 10 years from now.
So if we want, we can take our time to find the perfect candidates for tutoring if we so choose, and not loose any tutoring time.
I'm not sure we should, but it is an option if people are worried of getting substandard geomancers out of this.
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Wonders. Vast production, treasures beyond counting, the engine of riches which had kept even a corpse alive long after all vitality was gone.

We know that the Cai administration has effectively restored production of luxury silks, but failed to restore pre-war bulk production. I wonder if this is the case for all industries ? Is it an unfortunate consequence of slaughtering entire spider spirit armies, or is it a deliberate industrial policy from the Tyrant Progress ?
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Wonders. Vast production, treasures beyond counting, the engine of riches which had kept even a corpse alive long after all vitality was gone.

We know that the Cai administration has effectively restored production of luxury silks, but failed to restore pre-war bulk production. I wonder if this is the case for all industries ? Is it an unfortunate consequence of slaughtering entire spider spirit armies, or is it a deliberate industrial policy from the Tyrant Progress ?
Given how tightly spiders are connected to the Hui it is likely the spider population suffered greatly during the revolution. I don't see a reason for industrial policy to deliberately reduce silk output. Perhaps if select corrupt oligarchs were trying to keep a tight control on supply for personal profit I could see a deliberate industrial policy keeping production down. That doesn't seem remotely possible under Shenhua though.
 
I don't see a reason for industrial policy to deliberately reduce silk output.
No, I meant "is this the result of a policy to focus effort on luxury/high-tech production" more than anything else. It's been centuries since the war and Cultivator Spider generations are about 30 years, you'd think that with some effort they could have pushed the population back up. But did they actually put in that effort, or did they instead focus on improving the quality of the silk produced, or something like that?
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Wonders. Vast production, treasures beyond counting, the engine of riches which had kept even a corpse alive long after all vitality was gone.
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Art. The explosion of art, low and high, in a city long-chained. What dreams bubble in the spaces between?
[X] Xiangmen, City of Wonders. Vast production, treasures beyond counting, the engine of riches which had kept even a corpse alive long after all vitality was gone.
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Wonders. Vast production, treasures beyond counting, the engine of riches which had kept even a corpse alive long after all vitality was gone.
 
[X] Xiangmen, City of Art. The explosion of art, low and high, in a city long-chained. What dreams bubble in the spaces between?
 
Y'know, I like how her thoughts on the decision really mirrored our discussion and the flow of the votes, it's nice touch. And Zhengui is such a good boy this chapter, he's so great. I really look forward to him getting to craft the fief into a paradise and our future subjects coming to appreciate him.
 
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