Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
[X] Song of Snows
- Location
- FR
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Song of Snows
I just don't think we need to get the geomancer right away, there's still a lot of stuff we should do that don't require his help, even if we don't take the snowblossom meditations into account (boats most of all, since it'll give us both much needed population and increase the efficiency of our best food source).
I just don't think we need to get the geomancer right away, there's still a lot of stuff we should do that don't require his help, even if we don't take the snowblossom meditations into account (boats most of all, since it'll give us both much needed population and increase the efficiency of our best food source).
- Location
- Earth
Completely unrelated to the current update/vote:
I was doing some re-reading, and it occurs to me that Hanyi never did go back to the mountain. To her home and where her Mom is ascending/recovering.
You know what might help both Zeqing and Hanyi. Hanyi going back to the mountain home, now and again, to tell the grave/sleeping/dreaming spirit of her mother all about her life, slowly growing up. About all the spirits she got to bully and all the worship she is getting and about her singing career.
That should like the kind of thing that would help Zeqing both come back, and come back as herself. Back when Hanyi said she wanted to go, that's what let Ling Qi escape. But she also said she wanted to be able to go and come back.
Asking her if she feels up to a visit to Mom, now that our new home is somewhat established, and it's been a few years, feels like something that should be done. If Hanyi doesn't want to go back yet, that's one thing, but not even asking the child if she would like to visit her Mom's place of Little Ending feels a bit irresponsible.
I was doing some re-reading, and it occurs to me that Hanyi never did go back to the mountain. To her home and where her Mom is ascending/recovering.
You know what might help both Zeqing and Hanyi. Hanyi going back to the mountain home, now and again, to tell the grave/sleeping/dreaming spirit of her mother all about her life, slowly growing up. About all the spirits she got to bully and all the worship she is getting and about her singing career.
That should like the kind of thing that would help Zeqing both come back, and come back as herself. Back when Hanyi said she wanted to go, that's what let Ling Qi escape. But she also said she wanted to be able to go and come back.
Asking her if she feels up to a visit to Mom, now that our new home is somewhat established, and it's been a few years, feels like something that should be done. If Hanyi doesn't want to go back yet, that's one thing, but not even asking the child if she would like to visit her Mom's place of Little Ending feels a bit irresponsible.
They visited multiple times.
When Hanyi got back from her first tour.
And when leaving the sect.
You probably can assume that she visited few times off screen too.
- Location
- FR
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hanyi and Ling Qi both developed their respective successors to Zeqing's arts just beside the ruins of her home/temple... here: Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny) Original - Users' Choice!
- Location
- Earth
Hmm, while that is good, it's not quite what I had in mind. I was thinking more of a "visiting a grave and speaking to it", or a similar thing for someone on life-support in a come or such in a hospital. They came by, and they trained and grew, but I'm not sure either of them have the concept or practice that they might have if they came from a more established family that had ancestors and a graveyard to visit. Ling Qi lacks the familiar experience, and her spirits the concept of such a thing/address.
The visits are nice(better that I worried for) but it's not the same as having her daughter come around and actually talk about herself and what she's seen, yeah?
Then again, since they all talked in music, maybe making those songs and playing them was the message. A tale of their growth/experience. Hmm....
- Location
- FR
- Pronouns
- He/Him
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Labyrinthian Geomancy
- Location
- France
[X] Song of Snows
- Location
- FR
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I can see Sixiang and Hanyi start playing sheep-ball with the winds already... (if it doesn't cause mental trauma to the sheep, ofc... Though from what we've seen so far, those sheep look like they don't have enough mental resources to get trauma)
- Location
- United States
[X] Labyrinthian Geomancy
This is an interesting vote because both projects are kinda aimless.
[ ] Song of Snows
I'm going to make a claim that's maybe controversial: very little has changed for FFS since the summit ended.
FFS has enjoyed a fraught development history, through a combination of factors. Currently, I'd say the art has 5 areas of concern:
1. The art's core theme- that deep winter's Ending purifies the world for the new to come- isn't something that's gotten in-depth exploration.
2. The special effects the art uses do a bad job of communicating the art's theme/narrative with any clarity.
3. It's Ling Qi's primary offensive art, but it hasn't been used in any notable combat the entire time we've had the art.
4. The shared connection/origin of the art with Hanyi has consistently meant little in the art's cultivation, even when the characters are in proximity to each other.
5. Lack of clarity/exploration in how the art and its themes interlock with other aspects of Ling Qi's character concept.
Compared to circumstances at the summit, this project is better off on item 4. Maybe. Hanyi was present then too, and just as chock-full of experience from her tour as she is now, but she wasn't utilized for the FFS project selected at the summit(which basically failed). I know this project explicitly invokes Hanyi's involvement, but so did the very first project where we made FFS, and she didn't actually weigh in on any aspect of the art's design or philosophy back then either. The precedent isn't favourable on that front.
This project isn't likely to develop the art's core themes, since there's a focus on engaging with a variety of manifestations of Cold. (It's probably re-tooled Soul of Ice) We're especially unlikely to see core theme development because the philosophy of wiping the slate clean so that something new can be created is conceptually incompatible with the approach for Hanyi's winter court that we voted for. Recruiting near-peers is an approach which does not dip into FFS's Purity themes in the cycle of progress.
The visual design of the art's effects is something the project could change. The variety promised by the project would be a good opportunity on that front. However, it's unclear if that's the intention at all. Worse, the variety is also a threat: if we're shown a medley of different approaches to Cold and handed a vote on how to reskin the art, we're pretty likely to wind up exactly where we started, with a visual design that distracts from or miscommunicates the art's thematic core. Especially since, as above, that core isn't likely to be focused on in the project, so it would be far from mind during any reskin vote.
Any fighting is going to be awkward based on two factors. One, Ling Qi's ass is still pretty busted, and this is literally her first foray back into cultivating. Her best, she's not going to be at. Two, spirits of Cold are pretty poor opponents for the art to demonstrate its thematic quirks on. They're not ideal canvases for the art to paint its story on.
And the project can't explore how it fits together with Ling Qi's other areas of focus because the relevant ones are underbaked and/or in heavy flux. Our defensive suite blew up and while the replacement has a lot of room to align with FFS philosophically, we don't have it yet. Continued exploration of Boundaries could have thematic relevance to FFS's destructive Ending that creates space for Creation, but we whiffed the Wind Thief project that touched on that, and if we pick THIS project, then we're not doing the Boundaries project available to us. The main character development we've had since the summit is the Clarity stuff, but that's linked to Communication which makes it a nonstarter for any interrelation with our offensive art. Trying to link Clarity to the Purity of FFS doesn't work on any level.
The project truthfully notes that "Your study of cold has been frought and bent around other duties" but I'm not sure this project escapes that trap. Our foundational conditions aren't much shifted from the summit, not as it relates to FFS. Feels like we're currently lashed to the timeframe needs of summit project iteration too, rather than really focusing on finding our footing with our arts.
So do we have the tools for success, or is it still fraught, and are we giving the study of Winter the time and focus that it deserves as a core narrative thread of Ling Qi's character, or are we still scurrying around in the shadows of other priorities, in-story and without?
[ ] Labyrinthian Geomancy
This one's a bit peculiar too. Not having a super clear idea of what we're getting into with it isn't too much of an issue, since exploring a new domain of expertise is kind of the point.
It is vague on what we're actually doing with the geomancy master, though. There's also the bit about "replacement of Winter Hearth Resounding", and I'm not sure if that's something we even want to do? Have a replacement I mean, not getting rid of WHR. We do want to leave it by the wayside, just not sure on the utility of something new or what it would imply. WHR isn't even a Formations art, and I don't know that we want Formations to have direct combat application(mainly cause our combat kit is eclectic enough as it is)?
So does "replacement" even make sense?
[X] Labyrinthian Geomancy
Anywho, I'm gonna go with the project that's, like, more easily related to the context of the development milestone that unlocked it. We're hitting Hamlet, so it makes sense to focus on the discipline/option that... relates to the Hamlet as a matter of expertise and practical application? That could followup with the safe room being transported to Snowblossom?
Flouncing around mountaintops is fun and all, but it's crap for developmental continuity here, imo. And I'm really hoping that some meditations on Boundaries would provide a bit more texture that FFS can use for traction in getting itself under control- cause right now it's pretty far unmoored from a cohesive... shoreline? Is that where this metaphor goes? Whatever.
[ ] Song of Snows
I'm going to make a claim that's maybe controversial: very little has changed for FFS since the summit ended.
FFS has enjoyed a fraught development history, through a combination of factors. Currently, I'd say the art has 5 areas of concern:
1. The art's core theme- that deep winter's Ending purifies the world for the new to come- isn't something that's gotten in-depth exploration.
2. The special effects the art uses do a bad job of communicating the art's theme/narrative with any clarity.
3. It's Ling Qi's primary offensive art, but it hasn't been used in any notable combat the entire time we've had the art.
4. The shared connection/origin of the art with Hanyi has consistently meant little in the art's cultivation, even when the characters are in proximity to each other.
5. Lack of clarity/exploration in how the art and its themes interlock with other aspects of Ling Qi's character concept.
Compared to circumstances at the summit, this project is better off on item 4. Maybe. Hanyi was present then too, and just as chock-full of experience from her tour as she is now, but she wasn't utilized for the FFS project selected at the summit(which basically failed). I know this project explicitly invokes Hanyi's involvement, but so did the very first project where we made FFS, and she didn't actually weigh in on any aspect of the art's design or philosophy back then either. The precedent isn't favourable on that front.
This project isn't likely to develop the art's core themes, since there's a focus on engaging with a variety of manifestations of Cold. (It's probably re-tooled Soul of Ice) We're especially unlikely to see core theme development because the philosophy of wiping the slate clean so that something new can be created is conceptually incompatible with the approach for Hanyi's winter court that we voted for. Recruiting near-peers is an approach which does not dip into FFS's Purity themes in the cycle of progress.
The visual design of the art's effects is something the project could change. The variety promised by the project would be a good opportunity on that front. However, it's unclear if that's the intention at all. Worse, the variety is also a threat: if we're shown a medley of different approaches to Cold and handed a vote on how to reskin the art, we're pretty likely to wind up exactly where we started, with a visual design that distracts from or miscommunicates the art's thematic core. Especially since, as above, that core isn't likely to be focused on in the project, so it would be far from mind during any reskin vote.
Any fighting is going to be awkward based on two factors. One, Ling Qi's ass is still pretty busted, and this is literally her first foray back into cultivating. Her best, she's not going to be at. Two, spirits of Cold are pretty poor opponents for the art to demonstrate its thematic quirks on. They're not ideal canvases for the art to paint its story on.
And the project can't explore how it fits together with Ling Qi's other areas of focus because the relevant ones are underbaked and/or in heavy flux. Our defensive suite blew up and while the replacement has a lot of room to align with FFS philosophically, we don't have it yet. Continued exploration of Boundaries could have thematic relevance to FFS's destructive Ending that creates space for Creation, but we whiffed the Wind Thief project that touched on that, and if we pick THIS project, then we're not doing the Boundaries project available to us. The main character development we've had since the summit is the Clarity stuff, but that's linked to Communication which makes it a nonstarter for any interrelation with our offensive art. Trying to link Clarity to the Purity of FFS doesn't work on any level.
The project truthfully notes that "Your study of cold has been frought and bent around other duties" but I'm not sure this project escapes that trap. Our foundational conditions aren't much shifted from the summit, not as it relates to FFS. Feels like we're currently lashed to the timeframe needs of summit project iteration too, rather than really focusing on finding our footing with our arts.
So do we have the tools for success, or is it still fraught, and are we giving the study of Winter the time and focus that it deserves as a core narrative thread of Ling Qi's character, or are we still scurrying around in the shadows of other priorities, in-story and without?
[ ] Labyrinthian Geomancy
This one's a bit peculiar too. Not having a super clear idea of what we're getting into with it isn't too much of an issue, since exploring a new domain of expertise is kind of the point.
It is vague on what we're actually doing with the geomancy master, though. There's also the bit about "replacement of Winter Hearth Resounding", and I'm not sure if that's something we even want to do? Have a replacement I mean, not getting rid of WHR. We do want to leave it by the wayside, just not sure on the utility of something new or what it would imply. WHR isn't even a Formations art, and I don't know that we want Formations to have direct combat application(mainly cause our combat kit is eclectic enough as it is)?
So does "replacement" even make sense?
[X] Labyrinthian Geomancy
Anywho, I'm gonna go with the project that's, like, more easily related to the context of the development milestone that unlocked it. We're hitting Hamlet, so it makes sense to focus on the discipline/option that... relates to the Hamlet as a matter of expertise and practical application? That could followup with the safe room being transported to Snowblossom?
Flouncing around mountaintops is fun and all, but it's crap for developmental continuity here, imo. And I'm really hoping that some meditations on Boundaries would provide a bit more texture that FFS can use for traction in getting itself under control- cause right now it's pretty far unmoored from a cohesive... shoreline? Is that where this metaphor goes? Whatever.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
Maybe these ones are stupider, but regular sheep can do things like have best friends, so, I dunno!
[X] Labyrinthian Geomancy
Pandemonious Ivy
Panties, Revolution. Big Drawers. Parachute.
[X] Song of Snows
WhoTheHeckity
But no one ever asks HowTheHeckity
- Location
- Murica 🦅
[X] Labyrinthian Geomancy