Remove ads

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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Reader mode
Kek. It would be hilarious if inexplicable Alternate Universe shenanigans ensued and the gang met someone from the Yuan Dynasty timeline. Yrs was asked if the Cloud could ever have taken the Empire.
Yrsillar said:
They probably would have needed to unite earlier abd hit sometime during the strife or the tail end of the second dynasty to have a real shot or for [redacted] to occur
I think they would have had to do the assimilate thing doing otherwise could really only end in sublime war fuckery and a broken continent
Strife really would have been the best chance, since there was a long stretch where the power players could have maybe accepted a third party cutting the knot with the right concessions
1000 year semi apocalyptic civil war
just like... actually hold that in your brain for a sec
but ye, no one would be asking ES opinions at that point
it'd basically be the Bai Zheng and Xuan deciding to go 'compromise candidate? Compromise candidate.'
...and it'd prolly have to be after Shang Tsung started pumping out the really awful artifacts
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yuan He's lower dantian would probably snap in half from finding out that in another timeline there was an Emperor named Genghis.
 
Lady_Story said:
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to my latest terrible idea. What's that you say? But Story, your ideas aren't terrible, they just only make sense to you. Yes random person, that is exactly right, so much so that it's important to embarrass myself before we even get to the short essay I'm writing today.

And what is this about, you ask? Why little one, pull up a chair and let this villainess tell you of the heresy I've cooked up this time.

Of all the cultivators in the ES currently, Ling Qi is an outlier in many ways. She gave Xia Ren an uber to battle, is keeping somewhat on pace with what is expected of a ducal scion, minus the occasional bump and is the foremost diplomat with a foreign power. She can peak past the veil of other people's pasts, and can communicate with literally anything. She's treated with several moons at this point, even going so far as to make three central to her and nearly entwined with a fourth.

The latter of these is particularly important, is it not? The moon is a fundamental part of Ling Qi and her way, several of its aspects are mentoring her. Not only that, in the past they've gone out of their way to ensure that she continues to succeed and grow. That's not to say she's being spoonfed either. Ling Qi very much so is putting in the work, and occasionally it even backfires in her face spectacularly.

And it's not just herself that she's concerned with, as she openly offers assistance to show she calls friends, wanting to ensure their success as well. Heck, just being near her sometimes results in others being dragged forward. That's where Ling Qi gets her walking tribulation joke from.

Thus, I can say with speculation that Ling Qi is on track to become the ninth moon Great Spirit, The Blue Moon.

Why the Blue Moon you ask? Because Ling Qi's color is blue, so clearly her moon would be blue.

In all seriousness, there are multiple reasons for my speculation that she could eventually ascend into the blue moon. Most notably of which, is that Ling Qi is a woman surrounded by opportunities, both in giving and receiving. You could say, in a sense, that she is auspicious in a way.

Anytime I've seen a blue moon appear in fiction, it's always associated with momentous occasion. A meeting between doomed lovers trying to change their fate, a pair of tribes meeting in hopes of burying old grudges. A celebration shared between locals and foreigners alike. A fated battle years in the making.

All of these and more are things I've read in other stories that have happened under a literal blue colored moon. And it's with this that I ask you a question: what has Ling Qi been doing?

Let's start at the beginning: she befriended Meizhen, a ducal scion that was a world apart from her. Granted Meizhen is a cinnamon bun by Bai standards, but that's beside the point. Meizhen is still a member of the Bai clan, so strict and regimented that even friendship is considered foreign.

Let's look at what she did in the Sect. She garnered the attention of not just one, but three greater moon spirits who became central to her way, and even a trial by a fourth. When Ling Qi was given opportunity she seized it tightly and made the most of it, getting further and further enmeshed in the antics of the moon aunties and their lesser spirits, which is where the basis of a case for ascending into a moon spirit lies.

She went toe to toe with some of the strongest cultivators in her age group, people who by all means were raised to be the next generation of cultivators. Ling Qi, a dirt poor street kid who hadn't even a shred of cultivation knowledge the year prior knocked a princess off her game by chinking her armor in the semi-finals of a tournament. Again, not a major pointer, but a strong indicator of a few things that should start lingering in the back of your head.

Not to say the least of what she's accomplished in the inner sect. She's given several of the people she associates with tribulations, she's time and again created opportunities that seemed unlikely out of thin air and gotten further entrenched with the moons.

For those who need the refresher, she quite literally stumbled her way into a musical battle with Jaromila that led her south and ultimately resulted in the current diplomatic summit. Speaking of the summit, if it's not considered to be a massive success I will eat my phone. And that success can be attributed to Cai Renxiang, Gan Guangli, The White Plumes (that sovereign had to die) and most importantly Ling Qi, who was the lynchpin in making everyone immensely happy. If that isn't a momentus achievement, then I don't know what is.

At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if the Reflecting Moons and the Guiding Moon take notice and send their Emerald Seas reps to make contact with Ling Qi, if nothing more than to see what she's about as this summit has leaned noticeably into each of their themes. They won't ever be in as deep with her as The Dreaming, Grinning and Hidden moons but that doesn't mean they can't be invested to a degree.

Ultimately what I'm getting at here is that Ling Qi is an auspicious person, who takes advantage of the opportunities around her and when none are present, creates them out of thin air. The Blue Moon would always be an irregular moon, hiding in the shadows while her sisters are out and about until the right time to shine upon the world arrives, whether it be a diplomatic summit or a cultivator's first tribulation.

Thank you for reading this far and if you're still here, I could really use a cute girl's hand to hold.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I've been thinking about something (somewhat) similar , I've been imagining possible names for Ling Qi, because most probably Yrs is gonna ask us for a name. One I've been working on is this:

Mother of Meetings / Weaver of Crossroads, Thief and Guide of Souls

I will start discussing the name with the last part of it, since is the easiest part to discuss for me, and it connects the rest: Soul, the animating principle behind all things, that which moves a person, the Gift of the Nameless Father; and LQ will steal it. LQ is a thief, a Thief of Souls, communication is the taking of new perspectives, ideas and dreams; but it is also the giving, the guiding of that boundless potential, that spark inside each one of us, to new possibilities and better paths. This is something that she's already practicing with our Skelly Uncle with his playful thefts.

Guide of Souls or Psychopomp is a term used for liminal deities that guide and help people in travels and transitional periods of life, most commonly guiding the dead to the afterlife like Charon, Hermes or the Valkyries. The term can also relate to guiding souls in the sense of psychological and social work, helping people with their problems. Ex.: A trip to the Liminal to help Su Ling deal with the trauma of her mother.

For the Weaver of Crossroads part: I like the word Crossroads, because it can mean Choice, Communication and Motion, it is where new opportunities and possibilities are created, where Ways meet, where momentous things happen (good or bad); it is that aspect of LQ that represent her as a Walking Tribulation, and, if you think about it, all examples you gave about the Blue Moon were meetings between people. Weaver is not a word you instantly connect to LQ, she is not a Weaver of Cloth, but she's a Weaver of People and Nations bringing them together with her songs and stories; it can tie-in with her becoming a figure like Shenhua, weaving souls and forging new life, but one who does it with care and consent.

One of the ways to think about Communication is of it being Mass Spiritual Surgery, because it offer a new perspective and it changes the way you see the world, and to change one's perspective, is it not the same of changing your way, your cultivation, your very soul?

For the Mother of Meetings part: I like the word Mother here, because it represents the aspects of family to her way and a strong acknowlegment of her role as a mother and a matriarch, it also relates to Soul and Guide, because mothers guide and bring new souls to this world; and Meetings has the same kind of meaning than crossroads, but sadly without the motion aspect. Thinking about both words together makes me think about mingling of essences, the birth of communication, the tale of the Nameless, but with the genders swapped.
 
[X] Xin'an / "New Peace"
And for the treaty someone has mentioned...
[X] Treaty of Xin'an
 
Last edited:
Adhoc vote count started by Beroster047 on Dec 18, 2023 at 1:19 PM, finished with 295 posts and 95 votes.
Click to expand...
 
On an unrelated note now that the vote is over... I wonder how Kang Zihao is doing. My impression of him is that he is a prime example of someone who is talented and rich enough to easily reach green, while being too hollow to really get the insights required to go beyond that. But then again, he, too, was a kid.

I wonder if he has achieved some character development (even negative one) and is progressing relatively briskly, or if he is stalling and does not really understand why.
 
storryeater said:
On an unrelated note now that the vote is over... I wonder how Kang Zihao is doing. My impression of him is that he is a prime example of someone who is talented and rich enough to easily reach green, while being too hollow to really get the insights required to go beyond that. But then again, he, too, was a kid.

I wonder if he has achieved some character development (even negative one) and is progressing relatively briskly, or if he is stalling and does not really understand why.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Pretty sure Meizhen is going to kill him long before he reaches Cyan anyway. However fast he's advancing she's a horror movie monster he can't outrun.
 
TheSleeper said:
Who is this man and why dose best snek want to kill him?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
He was the peaks dude that sided with Lilling during the council war back in forge, and ambushed Meizhen and Qi once early on before GG and Renxiang broke it up. Meizhen seriously mentioned she'd kill him one day because he got people to specifically attack Meizhen emotionally by insulting her late mother.
 
TheSleeper said:
Who is this man and why dose best snek want to kill him?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
He's Blind Loyalty, Wolf/Doggo, Son of the Head Imperial (Body?)Guard boy. He's the one who is supposed to be a foil to Gan Guangli.
He was the most strong/memorable/talented of the Peak scions sent to bully Meizhen.

I'm not sure Best Snek would prefer to kill him or leave him humiliated and deprived of his meager pride.
 
memoryofglory said:
She really doesn't care about the politics. She's not going to publicly kill him, but the man is going to end up dead some time in the next 5-10 years and she's going to just happen to have a perfect alibi.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Like, the politics affect how well protected he is, how much he will be investigated, etc. Its not a mere matter of her having the right to do it, it affects her ability to do it.

And if he can put up a fight, even a feeble one, it makes it even harder to do it quietly, so his ability to progress matters for that too.

Algon33 said:
That's largely because his father is the Empress' current boytoy. Once she tires of him, Kang Zihao isn't nearly as well protected.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That could be decades from now, or centuries. It is still interesting to know how he is doing now.
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top