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

[x] No. In addition to potentially being a another bone to toss to the Meng, as a high profile project for their facilities here, you would rather receive results in a more reasonable time frame. (Faster turnaround on Labyrinth Loot, Smaller bonus for identification and safety. Reformer/Conservative Meng like this)

On another note, a while ago I came across the poem Righteous Wrath, and it felt to me that it could be a pretty good invocation of the Zenith, the Sun's War-face, who fights a never-ending battle against the life-hating stars in order to protect the world his Mother and Father made. What do you guys think?

There are many kinds of hatred, as many kinds of fire;
And some are fierce and fatal with murderous desire;
And some are mean and craven, revengeful, sullen, slow,
They hurt the man that holds them more than they hurt his foe.

And yet there is a hatred that purifies the heart:
The anger of the better against the baser part,
Against the false and wicked, against the tyrant's sword,
Against the enemies of love, and all that hate the Lord.

O cleansing indignation, O flame of righteous wrath,
Give me a soul to feel thee and follow in thy path!
Save me from selfish virtue, arm me for fearless fight,
And give me strength to carry on, a soldier of the Right!

[X] Yes. Little enough is known, and the facilities at the capital are superior. She would like to get use out of any treasures sooner rather than later, but she would like to be certain of their safety even more. (Slower Turnaround on Labyrinth Loot, higher rolls for identification and safety. MoI likes this)

Need to throw the MoI a bone so they aren't openly hostile to us at the conference.

Oliver_Twister said:

Actually, Glorious Oppression Mom is also interested, and sending them to her seat of power will make her make her first antimatter generator faster

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Thinking about this, the fact we are now ultimately opposed to her, and the mention of ancient war machines from the strife of twin emperors.

I don't want to hand her another weapon, futile as that thinking may be in a 3rd v 8th struggle. I think, also, that making the move that satisfies her stated desire without giving her what she implicitly asked for without resistance, is a move she might appreciate. Especially since she set us to oppose her, and know she has to nurture her opposition.

The interesting part k is going to be whether or not she shows up to look at the results, since she's in the south anyways. It might even be a way for her to direct another batch of her ducal resources into things Renxiang can use in the future- IE, well appointed guest houses.

[X] No. In addition to potentially being a another bone to toss to the Meng, as a high profile project for their facilities here, you would rather receive results in a more reasonable time frame. (Faster turnaround on Labyrinth Loot, Smaller bonus for identification and safety. Reformer/Conservative Meng like this)

[X] No. In addition to potentially being a another bone to toss to the Meng, as a high profile project for their facilities here, you would rather receive results in a more reasonable time frame. (Faster turnaround on Labyrinth Loot, Smaller bonus for identification and safety. Reformer/Conservative Meng like this)

[X] No. In addition to potentially being a another bone to toss to the Meng, as a high profile project for their facilities here, you would rather receive results in a more reasonable time frame. (Faster turnaround on Labyrinth Loot, Smaller bonus for identification and safety. Reformer/Conservative Meng like this)

The MOI are going to toss our stuff in the deepest hole they can find. Maybe they'll get to it in a century.

[X] Yes. Little enough is known, and the facilities at the capital are superior. She would like to get use out of any treasures sooner rather than later, but she would like to be certain of their safety even more. (Slower Turnaround on Labyrinth Loot, higher rolls for identification and safety. MoI likes this)
Messing around with dangerous stuff does not seem like a good idea. Plus this is a simple bone to throw to the ministry.

Before starting about the vote, I want to talk about what we learned in this update.

So starbeasts and the daemon ligths are more similar between them than they are to the starstones and the prism entity of the caldera.

That's because starbeasts and the auroras are composed of purer stelar qi, so they display a mutually destructive nature with the world.
The starstone still hold reality-corrosive properties, but they are in a pseudo-stable state due to being mixed with matter.

Maybe it's not the case for all starstones, but the one of the caldera was an egg. It absorbed Renxiang's light and hatched a humanoid spirit.
Since Astronomer Wu said that starbeasts and the starstones probably have a common ancestor, then it seems plausible that the starstones and the spirits they contain are the descendants of the first Sky of the Cloud Nomads and the Star daughter (technically a powerful starbeast) that the Nameless father send to help them fight the dragons according to their mythology.

The vote is, once again, a hard one. It seems like this is going to be the case for all of this turn's votes as we are in the last pre-summit stretch.

One of the troubles we are facing is giving the Summit a purpose beyond the immediate non-agression pact. A motive to keep contact between both sides instead of ignoring each other afterwards.
Trade relations aren't viable in a reasonable time-frame. The infrastructure necessary to ship goods in any relevant scale will take decades to set up, even without the war.

With the previous vote we are now in the way of turning the diplomatic Summit place in a shared center of research and exchange of knowledge.
If Han Jian pulls through, we'll also be able to offer to teach the Seared Lands anti-corruption methods and geomancy.
We may even get the Meng and Bai to share some knowledge to the Pines about figthing the Red Garden. Pushing back the jungle is also beneficial for them, after all.

If we research the star-related materials here, we are giving it a clear role. A reason to keep people interested and invested in developing the meeting place and the relation with the WS even after the Summit.
Something we are in dire need of.

The benefits with the Meng are also greater than people seem to think. Ling Qi's objective with the Meng isn't just to improve her rep with the Reformist faction. It's to manouver the Reformist into having more influence inside the Meng.
The Reformist want the Meng to take a more active role in the ES to ensure their traditions remain relevant. The Conservatives are doubtful about that approach, and fear that opening up will dilute the Meng's cultire (though not to the extreme of the Reactonaries).
This star-material research project is a great chance for the Meng to earn prestige, as the option says. For their methods to gain more prominence in the ES.
That means that many Conservatives will change their minds and turn Reformist. As we have proved that active involvement helps preserve Meng's methods instead of risk losing them.
Hopefully. If everything goes right.

On the other hand, the MoI's rep is more of a delayed benefit. Even if they are pleased that we leave the research to them, they won't get much prestige for just that.
It won't be until they can boast of the obtained results that they will be happy with us, but that won't be after way after the Summit.
The Meng can start boasting immediately because it's a high profile project carried out in the facilities they helped fund and design and is being carried on by their experts.
That will also make them more amenable to share the observatory with the WS, as their info on star-materials will ge of great help to the research. So they wouldn't be letting the WS use their expensive telescope "for free".

So if we add the benefits of shorter narrative wait between Star Labyrinth explorations, the choice is clear.
Though I do hope we get a chance to throw a good bone to the MoI soon.

[X] No. In addition to potentially being a another bone to toss to the Meng, as a high profile project for their facilities here, you would rather receive results in a more reasonable time frame. (Faster turnaround on Labyrinth Loot, Smaller bonus for identification and safety. Reformer/Conservative Meng like this)

[X] Yes. Little enough is known, and the facilities at the capital are superior. She would like to get use out of any treasures sooner rather than later, but she would like to be certain of their safety even more. (Slower Turnaround on Labyrinth Loot, higher rolls for identification and safety. MoI likes this)