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

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yrsillar said:
Ling Qi wondered about that. She knew the Golden Fields were rich in metals and jewels and cultivation resources. Perhaps it was an after effect in all the lands afflicted by the Cataclysm.
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Ever run out of resources? Blow up couple of Ascended beings to top them up! Now I wonder if this is the only "real" planet in this reality, or whether there's some super advanced polity somewhere out there, doing all kind of messed up things..
 
Karthak Urzak said:
The Empire seems to be better at semi-regularly churning out ascensions. The Polar Nations have only half a dozen if I understand it correctly, while even the incomplete list of imperial ascensions we got a while back is much longer.
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Form this chapter it seems like they have a lot more than six, some are just worshipped more than the others in all the different confederations. Plus we don't know about ascensions that ascend into different gods. The empire probably has more but the polar gates method also makes immortal cities out of their cultivators so it seems like their cultivation takes a lot longer at the higher end.
 
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Karthak Urzak said:
The Empire seems to be better at semi-regularly churning out ascensions. The Polar Nations have only half a dozen if I understand it correctly, while even the incomplete list of imperial ascensions we got a while back is much longer.
Edit: Or did they mean that the White Sky Confederation only has six, and other confederations have other gods? Sometimes the text seems to use White Sky to refer to the entire Polar Nation, and sometimes not, so I'm a little confused.
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The impression I got is that each Confederation has six primary Gods in two sets of three, with some overlap between them but only the Crone as a constant. However, they do each have minor Gods they honor, including the primaries of the other Confederations, like how the Seared Lands handle Suidica.
 
[ ] Ask after what concerns them most about the contact situation

I really want to get these two figuring out Imperial and Emerald Sea institutions in detail rather than off of a few revelatory statements, but I'm really not sure what option leads to that the most.
 
[ ] Allow Inzha and Rostam to guide the conversation.

This makes the most sense to me and will probably reveal the most pertinent information overall. We have no reason to believe these two are trying to waste our time (and Inzha has already said she has weightier things to discuss with us).
 
Why are you guys so convinced that Sun Shao even wants to fight the Twisted Pine? I got the impression that he intents to join the war against the Cloud Tribes.

In any case, unless there's actual bloodshed, then the Twisted Pine should have no real problems with the Western Territories. Sun Shao did kill their ancient enemies and has presumably not done any raiding.
 
Sirrocco said:
The question, though... how can we stop him? I mean even if this bit of diplomacy is wildly successful, how does that stop Sun Shao from picking fights and poisoning the well afterwards? I mean, this guy's claim to fame was literally heading off to prosecute a successful war against the direct orders of his superiors.
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Yeah, but he was picking a fight with the group that murdered the first Emperor, son of the Dragon that backs the whole shebang. I am still astonished that the Sun family is going around openly advertising their newfound alliance with such. Strength means a lot, but however strong he is there have got to be a LOT of disapproving Ascended on that line of things.
 
Random Shinobi said:
Why are you guys so convinced that Sun Shao even wants to fight the Twisted Pine? I got the impression that he intents to join the war against the Cloud Tribes.
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I am convinced because I am sure that without our efforts Sun Shao won't see the difference between Cloud Tribes and Twisted Pine. Especially if Cloud Tribes figure out a way to drag them in to fighting.
 
Random Shinobi said:
Why are you guys so convinced that Sun Shao even wants to fight the Twisted Pine? I got the impression that he intents to join the war against the Cloud Tribes.

In any case, unless there's actual bloodshed, then the Twisted Pine should have no real problems with the Western Territories. Sun Shao did kill their ancient enemies and has presumably not done any raiding.
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Because Sun Shao wouldn't see the difference between the Twisted Pine and the Cloud Tribes.

Both would just be the same kind of acceptable targets.
 
Karthak Urzak said:
The Empire seems to be better at semi-regularly churning out ascensions. The Polar Nations have only half a dozen if I understand it correctly, while even the incomplete list of imperial ascensions we got a while back is much longer.
Edit: Or did they mean that the White Sky Confederation only has six, and other confederations have other gods? Sometimes the text seems to use White Sky to refer to the entire Polar Nation, and sometimes not, so I'm a little confused.
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Keeping in mind that their spirit ascension is easier in that you don't need to go all the way to White for it, but that also limits their influence since they basically form the cores of settlements, more local powers swiftly fall under the banner of greater powers.


[ ] Ask after what concerns them most about the contact situation

Keeping an eye out for their trigger points, we know of ONE of course, which may overlap, or may not.

[ ] Ask after what they hope to see gained and done here

We've been careful with their hotspots so far, but we don't have their goals, and if we want to step around triggering the Ministry, knowing which points are going to cross red lines let us talk it out behind the scenes first.
It also helps if we know what to bribe them with to get what our side wants.

[ ] Allow Inzha and Rostam to guide the conversation.

Cede initiative and allow them to pursue their agenda, possibly revealing more than they normally would. A friendly approach as individuals, but bear in mind that we might not get anything actionable in the near term.

So in essence:
1) Look for their dealbreakers.
2) Look for their buy-in.
3) Befriend them personally and get a view of the bits of culture below the attention level of state diplomacy.

I think what we need most right now is getting buy in. Both from our side and from theirs.
Without buy in we're going to have to repeatedly drag everyone to the table, and thats not likely to be fruitful long term. We need to find out what they desire out of it so we can do wheeling and dealing on our side to give it as cheaply as we can, to get our stuff in.
 
I like all three vote options, tbh. I prefer the latter two though.

[ ] Ask after what they hope to see gained and done here.

We already know what the counts of the ES want, so working out what the polities in the Polar Nation want seems like a logical next step.

It will help us plan for discussions, like what we did during Concordance of Steel. We knew what the WS wanted, what Xia Ren wanted, and what the MoI wanted, so we could pick the choices that worked and assess risk properly.

It also keeps things in the talks about like, politics.

However, it may not be needed. Based on the conversations, we have a guess on what they might want. But well, that's relying on assumptions and guesstimates.

[ ] Allow Inzha and Rostam to guide the conversation.

This follows our previous vote, I guess, where we let Inzha and Rostam decide what to discuss. It may help build personal relationships, maybe? Which I like. Plus, it can help with reciprocation and giving back information on the Empire.

But it might stray away from the amin aim of this though: to find out their wants. But we already have a good guess on it, so it might be good to find out more. Maybe we can learn more about the Cloud Tribes and their integration methods

[ ] Ask after what concerns them most about the contact situation

This is the same as option 2, but a different flavour. We can guess what they want from their concerns about the contact situation, and more things to avoid and all.

It may help during the event roll since we may learn or give information that may ease tensions. They're part of the construction force, after all.

And it will definitely help during Imperial Menagerie, when we're getting everyone on the same page on how to act.
 
TehChron said:
Because Sun Shao wouldn't see the difference between the Twisted Pine and the Cloud Tribes.

Both would just be the same kind of acceptable targets.
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If not for Ling Qi meeting Jaromila, most of Emerald Seas would not see the difference, or imperials in general.
Barbarians are barbarians are barbarians, and anyone not of the Empire is a barbarian.
A random green, even one who is a direct ducal vassal and retainer to the young heir, managing to get a group of outsiders labeled as "not barbarian" is kinda insane.
 
Me when people say that Sun Shao would wreck the diplomatic efforts:
SUN SHAOOOOOO!
Hope yo' ass get Gungnir'd straight in yo' MF'in beating multiple Hearts
 
[X] Ask after what they hope to see gained and done here.
 
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[X] Ask after what they hope to see gained and done here.

[X] Allow Inzha and Rostam to guide the conversation.
 
[X] Allow Inzha and Rostam to guide the conversation.

Personally I just want to see more of what the Southerners think
 
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