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

Mmm, yeah.

I think a number of the arguments that have been made against (2) aren't very good. Like, labelling it as "hard man making hard decisions" is silly when we're literally doing the exact opposite of what the hard men do.

Moreover, as Abeo notes, you kind of have to have a certain degree of arrogant confidence if you want to try to grasp Sovereignty. Ling Qi does not lack for belief in her own capabilities and potential. Merely her character.

The claim that no-one else would do it right, while perhaps phrased a little off, is also not unreasonable - though it's not about ability. Rather it's about whether or not others would actually bother. And I think, if nothing else, Ling Qi simply does not regret being Renxiang's friend over this past year.

I also wonder if, in this regard, Ling Qi will benefit from being perhaps more process-oriented than Jiao? While she may have changed since then, Ling Qi's starting point was that she didn't really believe that making a better world was possible, that human nature ultimately is what is. Yet despite that, she still wanted to try. So that she could be proud of herself and her decisions. So that she could see herself as a good person. From that perspective, as long as she has tried her best there is nothing to regret. At the same time it's hard to say given that LQ hasn't been pushed towards the same sacrifices Jiao had to make yet, and I'm sure he felt pretty good when he was Green too.

... at the same time though I'm kind of with Abeo that I'm not sure I feel either of the options are quite there yet. Dunno.

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

[X] spoke. "I can finally answer your question. Boundaries and borders, liminal things, where things and people meet, that is my study, what was yours, Elder?"

LQ is not a hardcore reformer and her interest in it comes second-hand from CRX. She is definately a creature of communication and liminal though.

yrsillar said:

+3 Power XP

Power Advances to IV (2/8)
Ling Qi frowned as Xin ran her hand along the surface of the door. "I think… Power is the ability to make your choices extend beyond your own self. To make them matter to the world outside your mind."

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So the previous vote gave 2 XP to Power in addition to the XP from Paying Respects. I had assumed it would be only 1. That means that Isolation would have advanced to V if it had been chosen. I'm both glad and dissapointed that it wasn't chosen.
One one hand, it would be the first V rank Concept, an important milestone in Ling Qi's cultivation. Xi would certainly have interesting insights about the nature of isolation at higher realms and the desire to abridge it, given her marriage with Jiao. They certainly would have been more personal and raw than the rather technical discussion on the nature of Sovereignty and breakthroughs on higher realms.
On the other hand, I feel like Ling Qi hasn't had enough time to ponder about the lessons of the nightmare as to construct a satisfactory new version of Isolation. Furthermore, much of the isolation of higher realms comes, aside from an intrinsic alienation, from their inherent Power to impose their Way on those around them. So in order to have a proper Isolation V, Ling Qi needs to explore her understanding of Power first.

Regarding that, I'm reasonable satisfied with Power IV. "Power is the ability to enact Change" was already an improvement over Power III, whose entire point was to not give a hard definition of Power. The new version takes the Duchess' insight and make it hers by focusing it in the ability to make Choices impact the world around you, to actually change it. If you don't or can't act on your choices, did you truly chose it?

In regards to the vote, I'm going fo this:
[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."
As I see it, it's the differences between Jiao's and Ling Qi's Ways that make it worth it to discuss now.

We saw in his interludes how one of Jiao's main motivation was to act "for his Prince". Loyalty and subordination were a fundamental part of his Way. He saw himself as tool to enact An's will from the shadows, and so built his skills and cultivation into becoming the most efficient and useful tool for An. Which is why An's ascension was so devastating for him. Well, that and Xin, of course.
Ling Qi doesn't see her relationship with Renxiang that way, and she doesn't want to. Where Jiao believed it was his duty to help turn An's grand vision into reality, Ling Qi seems to want to ground Renxiang. To remind her that both herself and her people are human. To challenge her when she thinks in wrong and trying to show her other paths are also possible. In fact, Renxiang herself explicitly asks this of Ling Qi and Gan Guangli. For Jiao, questioning An would have been anathema to his Way.

So Jiao warned Ling Qi against building her Way around another, because she would come to regret it. So I consider it imperative to affirm that Ling Qi's path is different from his. A lot of focus on the Little Xiangmen group is precisely about taking the chance giving by their predecessors to be better than them.

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

Always like a "fuck it, we ball" options.

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

Want to continue this line. From a baby reformer at the start of her ambitions to the old jaded reformer whose efforts made us possible. I also appreciate the little bit of Cultivator Certainty showing here, she took her report directly to Shenhua, because she had accurately realized that none of the Elders could recognize the opportunity that she did, and would have treated them as barbarian filth to be exterminated. Obviously also applies to joining Ren, but that was the first thing I thought of.

My singular wish with LQ here is that whatever she says hits that cranky old Jiao just right, so he can finally get out of his, by now probably, centuries old stupor …

[X] spoke. "I can finally answer your question. Boundaries and borders, liminal things, where things and people meet, that is my study, what was yours, Elder?"

Important for me is here the past tense. It implies that Jiao has stopped studying, that he has stopped progressing … that he hast stagnated. And for LQ, to stagnate is to die.
Maybe a Baby telling the old man that he is basically a dead man who just waits for his time to come, helps Jiao get going again.

But honestly, I like both options.

[X] spoke. "I can finally answer your question. Boundaries and borders, liminal things, where things and people meet, that is my study, what was yours, Elder?"
[X] spoke. "I have already said it. Your words were true. But I do not regret it, because it needs to be done, and no one else would do it right."

I want both!

Kirr said:

implies that Jiao has stopped studying, that he has stopped progressing … that he hast stagnated. And for LQ, to stagnate is to die.
Maybe a Baby telling the old man that he is basically a dead man who just waits for his time to come, helps Jiao get going again

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Ling Qi: "You are already dead."
Jiao: "Nani?!"