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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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I was skeptical of 2 at first glance, but I've warmed to it. I'm now onboard the spook train. Ling Qi should be a dangerous person with dangerous ideas, and this meditation on the nature of Isolation cuts in all directions.
 
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I really enjoy the second one and how it seems to imply that the source of isolation is the self. It attacks pride, and the belief that you alone are somehow special and more important than anyone else. It's an insight built for killing tyrants like the polar nations' Iron King, but it's also good on anyone who places themselves above or apart from others.

I expect that it will be fairly ineffective against most of the Ith, though the most powerful of them might be weak to it if they come at their suicidal cultivation style from an angle like "we protectors sacrifice ourselves so that our people do not have to". That kind of mentality can be very isolating.
 
Option 2 is my favorite here. I wonder if long term we can guide the development of Whiteout Wonderland into a fully realized spirit daughter who can keep the Weeping Mother of Lonesome Streams company throughout the year?
 
Moratorium passed 15 minutes ago whoops

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
ActionKermit said:
Option 2 is my favorite here. I wonder if long term we can guide the development of Whiteout Wonderland into a fully realized spirit daughter who can keep the Weeping Mother of Lonesome Streams company throughout the year?
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I think that might be very damaging for the Mother, in the same way letting Hanyi and Ling Qi go destroyed Zeqing in the shape she had. She is a being of loneliness and grief; taking those things from her wouldn't help her the way it would a human.

That said, there might be room in her concepts to be the place that the winter spirits retreat to in the warmer months. As I understand it, the trick with negotiating with spirits is playing by improv rules; you have to say "yes, and..." rather than no. So, while it wouldn't be good for her to refute her concepts of loneliness and being left behind, you could point out that it need not be permanent. She could draw power instead from cycles, and the bittersweet feelings of loved ones coming to visit and knowing that every moment you spend with some is one moment closer to them needing to leave again.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
BurnNote said:
Option 2 seems like great counterplay. The obvious answer to communication tech is not listening. But that would make you extra vulnerable to this.
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Lol, to quote PGTE: "diplomacy is essentially to bring a bottle of cheap wine and a sword to the table, then remind the interlocutor that while the wine might be awful it is still arguably better than being stabbed."
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. From lack and loss is born suffering, in many forms. One soul has but two hands, yet in multitude the chain is unending. The blade Isolation cannot be dulled by one heart alone.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus is born suffering. But, one has only two hands with which to reach out. Yet, others have two hands as well. The cold, sad street cannot be unmade by the efforts of one.
is this the current version of isolation insight before vote? front page is up to date right
 
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[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
 
Well, farewell, Bao Qian. It was good knowing you while it lasted.

Anyway, I'm leaning more towards option 1.
I don't really like how option 2 seems to shift the blame of Isolation entirely into the self alone. While that may be true for people like Yan Renshu, a lot of the time Isolation is forced into people against their will. And all of their attempts to reach out to others are refuted and scorned at.
I understand that option 2 doesn't state one's own attitude is the only source of Isolation, but the "the greates for is I" bit certainly puts the focus on it.

I feel that highlighting the pain that Isolation can cause fits better with Ling Qi's experiences and understanding of the concept.
I also don't want to entirely shed the "a person only has two hands but others have two hands as well" of the previous version of the concept. That's the part that got Huiseng's attention back on LQ's breakthrough, and I really dig it.

"The blade Isolation cannot be dulled by one heart alone" also draws better on the importance that LQ places on her personal bonds.
Overall, option 1 sounds a lot more "Ling Qi" to me.

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. From lack and loss is born suffering, in many forms. One soul has but two hands, yet in multitude the chain is unending. The blade Isolation cannot be dulled by one heart alone.
 
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