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

yrsillar said:

Cai Renxiang laced her fingers together in front of her face, eyes focused somewhere beyond Ling Qi. The rays of light which shone weakly around her at rest brightened, rays of light cast into the corners of the room, chasing out shadows, outlining motes of dust that were swiftly erased by its purity. Somewhere, far away, a bell chimed softly and paper shuffled, a soft and soothing susurrus.

LIng Qi let out a breath and frost crackled across the warm surface of the tea in her cup,wispy lines of silver mist escaping the hems of her gown to crawl along the floor as her shadow stretched long under her lieges light, tall and inky black across the wall behind.

Liquid light gathered along the seams of Cai Renxiang's clothes and highlighted her dark hair. In the light her skin seemed almost metallic but her eyes were clear and human still.

Ling Qi was not so different. She saw herself from every angle as she saw Renxiang, as she saw the women in the kitchen, Zhengui in the garden, Biyu in her painting room and Mother in her study along with everyone else. She was a tall wraith with starry hair blown by the wind and eyes of silver blue ice, blazing from within the shadows of her face, and a slim crescent smile. Dull angry flames still flashed and crackled within her, eating away at the shadows even as they were smothered by them.

These were but shadows of who they were, the meanest visual expression of their domains.

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This is so damn cool.

We shouldn't forget that this started with Liming too. How would these insights apply to that?

Erebeal said:

We shouldn't forget that this started with Liming too. How would these insights apply to that?

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Like, I think it's actually okay if she decides she can't trust Liming and that therefore she shouldn't have anything to do with her. Like that's valid.

If Trust requires Choice, and Love requires Trust, then we have to accept that, "I didn't choose this and I don't trust them" is a completely valid answer.

[ ] Truth and lies are the weft and warp of communication. Clarity, understanding, these determine the quality of words.

Despite the different angle Ling Qi is coming at this from is likely foreign to CRX, this is probably the insight the heiress is most familiar with, in a way, the one she can understand best. It's also in a way more about the relationship between Qi and Renxiang. Dunno how useful this would be, doesn't really help with her current dimlemma, where communication is categorically impossible with Liming, or applicable to Tienli, except when maybe the little sister is much older than now.

[ ] Trust arises from choice. Love arises from trust. There can be no perfect safety, save in death. For love or trust to exist, so must the chance of heartbreak and betrayal.

A deep truth of Ling Qi, and likely the most vulnerable side she can show Renxiang among these. This insight isn't really useful for Tienli, for the circumstances preventing a relationship between the two are practical rather than emotional. It sends a clear exhortation of cooperation with Liming, though, or at least explains why Ling Qi thinks CRX should cooperate with her dress.

[ ] Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.

The most alien to CRX, in my opinion, the source of ideological distance between us and our liege. Cai's path may be hard and lonely, but it's neither beauty nor her loved ones which she is doing it for. LIng Qi will reveal her greedy side, or at least her perspective on it if we choose this. From a certain perspective may encourage CRX to "cut off" Liming, cut off a potential part of herself in order to reach a better spiritual balance within herself, even as it is artificial and incomplete, and face the world unburdened by internal division, with the goal of having the strength to create something worthwhile for the Emerald Seas. Same goes for the relationship to Tienli, this would say "steel yourself and sacrifice the relationship with the little sister in order to more effectively pursue regicide and the creation of a better system in which she might exist".

yrsillar said:

You may be heard and understood by any being you are aware of, regardless of language, cultivation, obstacles or techniques. You hear and understand any being attempting to consciously communicate with you, if you so choose. (Bypassed by effects which use Shen.)

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yrsillar said:

Yet Liming's snarl was still nothing but a noise, a wall of wrath and hate to her senses no different than it had been before.

She remembered the threads of adamant stitched through the spirit's lips in the form she had seen inside Renxiang's mind.

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Seems like we'll need Shen before we can communicate with Liming.

It's telling that the only thing getting through that is wrath and hate, but it's otherwise enough to absolutely lock even a novel Domain effect from comprehending Liming.

Which suggests to me that wrath and hate is the only thing that is allowed to pass that divide.

I wonder if a reason for CRX not wanting a relationship with her sister, is because she's not sure if her sister will remain the same person.

Much like she was changed by her encounter with her mother, perhaps she is worried that she will grow to love her little sister, and then come home one day and discover that her little sister has died, and been replaced by a doll and a dress (like herself).

[ ] Trust arises from choice. Love arises from trust. There can be no perfect safety, save in death. For love or trust to exist, so must the chance of heartbreak and betrayal.

The thing that strikes me here is that immediately before this, they're talking about corruption and nepotism, and about Renxiang's doubts that love is entirely compatible with the path of proper rulership. But the trust of this Insight isn't just about trusting others, it's also about trusting yourself. Hesitating to love others because you must be impartial is also saying you can't trust yourself to refrain from excessive partiality, and it's saying that you can't trust yourself to react appropriately should they seek to take advantage... Just as hesitating to love others because you can't trust they won't hurt you is admitting a lack of trust in your own ability to perceive those who are hidden threats and to respond appropriately.

And a ruler has to have trust, to a degree. Even a cultivator at the very peak of their power can't personally administer to every area of their domain. And even if they so constrain themselves, they will waste resources should they seek to be ever-vigilant against every other part of the world all at once. To extend no trust to others is to shorten their reach and weaken their ability to aid those they administer over.

Allowing herself to love her sister is allowing in no weakness not already required by her duty. Both are fundamentally require trust, and both demand the proper caution and maintenance required by any extension of trust. And if she fears she might betray her own trust in herself, then that was already and always a danger no matter how she constrained her scope. She'll gain nothing if she refuses to face that danger.

@yrsillar Proofreading junk.

Liming is an absolute masterwork that was made by Shenhua just outside the last ten years. The things that went into her creation are all of the new and old lessons the duchess learned, so I'm not surprised that the sealing/muting is inviolable even to someone like Ling Qi.

Whatever the reason for it, it's the kind of thing Shenhua does not getting out in the short to medium term. Maybe long term, if Renxiang can rise to expectations, but who knows.

I think Lin Hai is a relevant factor to all of this as well. Renxiang's closest bond of love, marked deeply by felt betrayal.

Renxiang knows what it feels like for a trusted and loved protector figure to fall short of expectations. I have a hard time believing that doesn't play a part in Renxiang's thinking on whether she can make the attempt to be that figure.

There's a good chance not wanting to be a Lin Hai to Tienli, complete with the failure to keep her safe, is what's holding Renxiang back. But there's a lot of different ways it could be weighing on the scales specifically, some I think Renxiang would find more acceptable in herself than others. Shining a light on matters of trust and failure feels like it's pointing in the right direction.

[ ] Trust arises from choice. Love arises from trust. There can be no perfect safety, save in death. For love or trust to exist, so must the chance of heartbreak and betrayal.
I don't have an interpretation of this that hasn't already been posted.

[ ] Truth and lies are the weft and warp of communication. Clarity, understanding, these determine the quality of words.
This, I think, would express a perspective of what's wrong with CRX's relationship with Liming that she doesn't already know. Has Ling Qi ever actually told her liege that her dress' incoherence isn't a part of the base design? Her humanoid form had a mouth stitched shut, not seamlessly nonexistent.

It might be the case that Liming is already communicating all she cares to.

[ ] Trust arises from choice. Love arises from trust. There can be no perfect safety, save in death. For love or trust to exist, so must the chance of heartbreak and betrayal.

I like this best, because there is no trust under the duchess: only truth. So I think learning what trust is and where it comes from is most important.

Winged One said:

Has Ling Qi ever actually told her liege that her dress' incoherence isn't a part of the base design? Her humanoid form had a mouth stitched shut, not seamlessly nonexistent.

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This...is a good point. My first instinct is to go for out Choice-Trust-Love insight, but perhaps Clarity is needed.

Glau said:

It might be the case that Liming is already communicating all she cares to.

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Or it could be her frustration of being silenced. Liming might not have had a coherent message before, but that might not be the case now, especially with how strong both have become. They were once equal, but Cifeng has tipped the scales towards RXN, and thus this might be the only way Liming knows or can communicate. The bleeding of RXN's light might be both of their blood spilled.

[X] Truth and lies are the weft and warp of communication. Clarity, understanding, these determine the quality of words.

Alectai said:

Which suggests to me that wrath and hate is the only thing that is allowed to pass that divide.

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Or that Liming's wrath and hate are too great for a mere White to suppress.

Winged One said:

Has Ling Qi ever actually told her liege that her dress' incoherence isn't a part of the base design? Her humanoid form had a mouth stitched shut, not seamlessly nonexistent.

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I thought Renxiang knows everything Ling Qi knows about Liming. She was there in the dream space with her and told Ling Qi that Liming had looked like that ever since she could remember.

[X] Trust arises from choice. Love arises from trust. There can be no perfect safety, save in death. For love or trust to exist, so must the chance of heartbreak and betrayal.

Winged One said:

[ ] Trust arises from choice. Love arises from trust. There can be no perfect safety, save in death. For love or trust to exist, so must the chance of heartbreak and betrayal.
I don't have an interpretation of this that hasn't already been posted.

[ ] Truth and lies are the weft and warp of communication. Clarity, understanding, these determine the quality of words.
This, I think, would express a perspective of what's wrong with CRX's relationship with Liming that she doesn't already know. Has Ling Qi ever actually told her liege that her dress' incoherence isn't a part of the base design? Her humanoid form had a mouth stitched shut, not seamlessly nonexistent.

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This does actually give a compelling argument for the Communication/Clarity insight.
However, people have made just as compelling points about the Choice/Love insight.

[X] Trust arises from choice. Love arises from trust. There can be no perfect safety, save in death. For love or trust to exist, so must the chance of heartbreak and betrayal.
I don't have an interpretation of this that hasn't already been posted.

[X] Truth and lies are the weft and warp of communication. Clarity, understanding, these determine the quality of words.
This, I think, would express a perspective of what's wrong with CRX's relationship with Liming that she doesn't already know. Has Ling Qi ever actually told her liege that her dress' incoherence isn't a part of the base design? Her humanoid form had a mouth stitched shut, not seamlessly nonexistent.