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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
My, how contentious of a vote.

[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
Since the Xuan where integrated through diplomacy, and currently trade with foreigners, the current situation isn't actually that unique. It's just the Sun specifically that are oriented around violently expanding borders, since that is how they got their province. So Option 3 is a direct challenge to the Sun and their methods more than anything.
 
[ ] Settling the wall with the aim of ending the raiding that has killed so many of her people since time immemorial. That is the frontmost goal.

This one is nice, and mostly true. The first thing we want to accomplish before anything else is to reduce the conflict that has plagued the Wall for millenia and ease the suffering it causes.
However, is bit shallow. And it isn't as if we want to stop the raiding by settling the Wall, we want to reach and agreement to stop the raiding and then settle the Wall. The order matters here.

[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.

This one I like a lot more. It really resonates with the thoughts Ling Qi has been having about the nature of ruling. Case on point, her talk with Lao Keung.
yrsillar said:
"Oh, your diplomacy. I don't forsee long term success, but it is a useful military maneuver, to buy time with," he said.

She frowned at him. "Why is that?"

"Even with all the ages the Empire has stood for, it has not been enough to stifle conflict. Why would you assume that a people wholly foreign can be trusted in the long term?"

"The Empire was once new," Ling Qi pointed out. "Things have to begin somewhere."

"The Empire was born from overwhelming force, just as the three kingdoms before it were," Lao Keung replied. "But I do not think you aim for conquest."

"The Diviner united, he did not conquer," Ling Qi said, they came to the far south shore where the lake water flowed into the river going north.

"Respecting your founding, strength is inherently coercive, it can be important to dress it all up in fine robes of legitimacy, but one shouldn't forget the truth of things."

"Too cynical," Ling Qi frowned. "And too reductive. The strong rule, but all rulership is not the same. How a ruler chooses to exercise their power is important."

"With individuals, it all drifts back to the average in the end," Lao Keung replied, turning to face her on the sandy shore.

"The average as dictated by past actions. Traditions and expectations bind. Even the mightiest cultivator is born a mortal child learning how things should be from those around them."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Since Yrs confirmed that this is going to be Ling Qi's public statement, I think we should be firm and assertive in our posture.
That it's true that you can't do anything without Power, but Power doesn't necessarily means conquest and dominion.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
I like how 3 leans into some of what we've been doing with the play and the communication stuff post tribulation

[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] Showing that the Wall could be tamed and that the Emerald Sea could pacify its own borders, and conduct itself as a province of the Empire no less than any other.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] Settling the wall with the aim of ending the raiding that has killed so many of her people since time immemorial. That is the frontmost goal.
 
I love the third answer even more because it's going to Sun Liling, who has been practicing anti-diplomacy trying to start a sword-and-fire fight since she showed up, and it's clearly dunking on sword-and-fire strategy as old hat, boring, predictable, uncouth, and wasteful.

We will rise above on our rooted wings. Bai Meizhen will jump to approve the dunk. Xuan Shi's eyes will alight with the dream of Exploration Without Destruction. Zheng will delight in the boldness of the approach and its aim to Avoid Making New Bad Guys.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
[X] To establish that there were more methods, more tools that could be used to build the Empire out than sword and fire, even as they showed the Emerald Seas was lacking in neither.
 
Man, even Ji Rong's new scars and look might suggest that he's reaching the limits of the problems that "just punch it harder" will solve.

He should totally chat/spar with the Zheng about that.
 
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