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

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[x] Remain back and try to call out. Only possible due to the development of your domain, you would have to hope the shade would deign to listen…
 
[X] Remain back and try to call out. Only possible due to the development of your domain, you would have to hope the shade would deign to listen…
 
[X] Remain back and try to call out. Only possible due to the development of your domain, you would have to hope the shade would deign to listen…
 
I know it won't happen, but it would be hilarious if we chose trying to communicate with Kohatu and then we just... failed.
The dream adventure ending there, with Kohatu burrowing back into the rubble out of sight.
Like one of those alternatives early endings that appear in some videogames.
 
[X] Remain back and try to call out. Only possible due to the development of your domain, you would have to hope the shade would deign to listen…
 
[X] Remain back and try to call out. Only possible due to the development of your domain, you would have to hope the shade would deign to listen…
 
[X] Remain back and try to call out. Only possible due to the development of your domain, you would have to hope the shade would deign to listen…
 
[X] Remain back and try to call out. Only possible due to the development of your domain, you would have to hope the shade would deign to listen…
 
[X] Take the risk, you must get her attention before she digs fully underground, zoom in, flaring qi approaching Kohatu's head to force her to acknowledge you.
 
Doramas said:
I know it won't happen, but it would be hilarious if we chose trying to communicate with Kohatu and then we just... failed.
The dream adventure ending there, with Kohatu burrowing back into the rubble out of sight.
Like one of those alternatives early endings that appear in some videogames.
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SPIRIT-SEEKER [Formidable: Failure] - You can do this. You are, quite literally, in your element. You reach out to the impression of the long gone spirit, and... nothing. It does not notice, or does not care to reply to your attempt at communication. The snake burrows out of sight, out of touch. Your xuanwu son watches you with an expression that looks unfamiliar on his faces.

DIVINER [Trivial: Success] - He will not say it, but Zhengui is disappointed.
 
[X] Remain back and try to call out. Only possible due to the development of your domain, you would have to hope the shade would deign to listen…
 
ACKNOWLEDGE THE SON YOU NEARLY SWATTED, GHOST-MOM!!!

[X] Take the risk, you must get her attention before she digs fully underground, zoom in, flaring qi approaching Kohatu's head to force her to acknowledge you.
 
CommunismWillWin said:
SPIRIT-SEEKER [Formidable: Failure] - You can do this. You are, quite literally, in your element. You reach out to the impression of the long gone spirit, and... nothing. It does not notice, or does not care to reply to your attempt at communication. The snake burrows out of sight, out of touch. Your xuanwu son watches you with an expression that looks unfamiliar on his faces.

DIVINER [Trivial: Success] - He will not say it, but Zhengui is disappointed.
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That Disco Elysium reference is just... *chef's kiss*. And you know what else? With Qiyi, Ling Qi now has her own Horrific/Beautiful Necktie, although one that is unambiguously both real and magical. And she likes to look like a garish piece of formal attire, so that's a plus!
 
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Adhoc vote count started by EternalObserver on May 22, 2024 at 11:09 AM, finished with 70 posts and 52 votes.
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Alrighty. Due to some stuff coming up though I think the update is going to be tomorrow though. No other change to the schedule, since normally Thursday would be my break day, just swapping things a little.
 
Good thing we know the spirit's deadname, should help get attention.

Mostly for my own benefit, I've slapped together a list of objectives for this little visit, in no particular order:
-New defense art
-learn the history of the pair of spirits we met in that trial and their human partner
-finish off SNR
-growth for Zhengui
-vibing with Zhengui's jam on a personal level
-new auntie?

If I had to put them in order of priority, I guess it'd be something like [vibing with Zhengui > new defense art > growth for Zhengui > history > new aunt? > SNR] but there's overlaps there so the prioritization doesn't mean a whole lot.

Hmm, just spitballing here, but I think we've seen with both Cui (it's a bit ambiguous) and Zhengui that spirit beasts are left with kind of instinctual imprints from their parents. What if Ling Qi's new art is formed in large part from the spiritual essence or organ or origin or whatever you want to call it, donated from Kohatu's ghost. You'd have just about as direct a metaphysical connection with Zhengui's own style of cultivation as possible, just with a bit of skew from the whole this being her ghost thing. Plus it'd be symbolic of Ling Qi's motherhood of Zhengui, making it a touch more literal, retroactive/soul-surgery-like.

Keeping in mind the last time we practiced a spirit's personal art embodying their nature to a substantial degree, it left a permanent mark on our soul. I sure wouldn't complain if we saw our Crucible Charred: (G) 4 trait swallowed up, maybe with Unbroken Will(G): 8 (12), into a new quasi-bloodline trait linking us to Zhengui. Might take a while to get proper legs under it, could even take an additional push from someone like Huisheng to really get it sorted, but it doesn't seem out of the cards completely, here.

And it'd be cool cause we could tell our good friend Xiulan all about how we got burnt real bad like but it's fine cause we got ourselves fixed up and turned it into a core of strength after communing with an ancestor-like spirit for guidance. She'd be happy for us. 👍
 
If we got this as a kind of bloodline trait that Ling Qi can pass to her children than she really is becoming a Neo-Weilu as I believe the defining advantage Weilu blood gave was a massive Qi pool and insane physical endurance.
 
Q&A stuff:

If Ling Qi knows male sex workers exist:
She is somewhat aware of them, but not in a very healthy way. Like if you pried open her brain to get an answer she'd acknowledge that sometimes younger boys would be er 'used like girls' would probably the nicest way to put it. Adult male prostitutes who are presenting as male is a concept that would probably break her brain a little for a second if she was forced to think about it.
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The possibility of Xuan Shi marrying into the Ling clan:
Its basically only even possible because of Zhengui yes
in a normal circumstance they might allow the lowborne talent in, especially if it gets them a good tie they couldn;t have gotten but marrying one of their scions out to someone like Ling Qi is unthinkable without the Xuan Wu sweetener in there, and there are definitely some who would be a little grumpy about lowering themselves so much, and the Xuan are fairly chill for an ancient ducal clan
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Other recent tribulations:
Yep, Renxiang's mostly been tribulated by her mother and Liming as you've seen
Meizhen will probably be facing a tribulation back in Zhengjian
Gan... well Jinzha's prolly going to be helping him find a challenge in the house of the sun soon
Meng Dan's tribulation is going home and seeing his fam in the middle of all... this
and probably having to confront some things
Han Jian's probably stuck a bit until he can find something to challenge him in the right way, but he's prolly getting near something
Suyin's definitely gonna be tribulated during the war turns, Su Ling probably too
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Ling Qi being terrible with names/faces despite Greens being capable of trivially memorizing vast amounts of information:
Yeah pretty much. Ling Qi just doesn't easily register people as important enough to remember
not until she develops her more pro-social concepts out
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Some ascensions being more impactful than others:
The imperial theory on the matter is that the world was less defined and malleable in the past, and the Celestial court not yet formed, so with everything in chaos it was much easier to make sweeping changes, now that there is order and continuity, new changes must pass through more trial and review before they spread out completely
Yes modern ascenions are what I'm talking about, under the imperial conception they have to work within the laws set out before them
modifying or changing them rather than writing sweeping new alterations into the world
in AN's case, its a centralized form of reward and punishment for the dead over their acts in life
which is pretty broad because the previous death ascensions are more about making sure things stay dead rather than worrying what happens after
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Cao Chun and Shu Yue before the barbecue:
He was very terse but professional. He may have yelled at Shu Yue for sending a child off to die though, and that probably resulted in a staredown of mutual dislike
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Shang Tsung's Way:
Shang Tsung's Way was centered on Automation.
everything he did stemmed from that good and bad. I'd say Shang had more time to develop his stuff so pre-corpse immortal Shang was better but Shenhua may reach that level
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Xuan Wu elemental splits:
I think I would mostly do the element split embodied in the different heads just for consistency. I can't say they would express exactly the same?
Like Zhen is also Zhengui's offensive aspects so his wood might be more about venom and lethality while fire gui might be more about warmth and lifegiving heat as an aspect of fire, theoretically
I'm not entirely sure how I would handle that reversal but I don't think it would be as simple as just swapping personalities
I think it would be likely that shoals would share a similar split
I think living isle would be turtle as earth/mountain snake as water
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Spirits of Inexorable Justice on Xiang:
They do not perceive her as different from any other human, except that she is the Empress and thus the ultimate source of authority
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Non-snake partners for Bai:
Yes, various spirits of fear or terror are pretty common. The Bai will also bind other beasts as long as they aren't the kind that preys on or is preyed upon by serpents most of the time (sometimes spying types will use tasty vermin but this is something you don't reveal in public) Violet corals in particular have some penchant for binding sea beasts like octopi and eels lots of reds just bind their horses, greens can sometimes have dogs and such
the.... yellow, the smiths I think will bind spirits of flame and metal
but binding a strong serpent is always the most prestigious option
Nah centipedes are considered vile and unclean, and Yao will make dissapointed murder god faces at you from the beyond if you sully yourself so
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What the Sun's war court looks like:
Its not an actual physical location in the strictest sense but it does exist in the liminal and its appearance is different based on the perceptions of what the visiting human thinks the suns war court should look like, so like an Imperial cultivator probably sees it as a huge marcher fortress filled with drilling soldiers and lesser gods and champions surrounding a vast and unaproachable flame or something
But yes you can contact and commune with all sorts of solar spirits there if you are invited and able to withstand it
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Polar interest in visiting Xiangmen:
There are certainly some scholars salivating over the idea and some among the theocracy interested but its not high up on any priorites for leading people
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If anyone has tried travelling to the moon:
Yep the moon orbits the earth and does physically exist
there have been many wacky cultivation attempts to get up there but none have succeeded because space is monstrously hostile to all terrestrial life
like one of the crueller execution methods of the Hui or the Xi for higher cultivators was to stake them out on the uppermost reaches of Xiangmen where the atmosphere is basically gone and let the star qi kill them horribly
depends on their intention
the moons got a big scarrry crater on it which myths say is from the wound she was dealt by the dragon gods before Mom woke up
the justification is that the crimes were so severe that they put the people in question beyond all protection even the most basic ones of the mother and father
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Transitioning from mortal to immortal economy:
Yeah basically common reds are in the grey zone
they're the ones who have to exist in both, but like large mortal clans can have a couple red or yellow cultivators and still need to operate in mortal land
families like the Yan who have a handful of non-noble greens are basically the extreme end of this, since they still have a bunch of mortal concerns
but past that its all cultivator econ
the goal of the wealthiest mortals is generally to break themselves into the 'real' economy' by funding the cultivation of their scions, like Li Suyin or Yan Renshu
yeah they do tend to get some connections in the lower rungs if only because the lowest rungs of the cultivation economy are usually looking for more skilled cultivators to bolster their own stuff and make connections with up and comers against their rivals
but it is more difficult yes
like getting those comissions will require a lot of maoney and politicking
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Most precious materials in each region:
hm It is probably the sublime stuff for those who have them. Grandmothers scales and venom, the Reveler's shed hairs, the Living Isle's shedding shell bits
in the east, its probably grandFather Fortress' venom and certain secret reagents taken from the deep grave. IN the ES Probably the highest tier Xiangmen projects
in the Alabaster Sands, probably some of the stuff harvested from the Palace of Eon's and the ecologies that have grown up around some of Ji the mariner's sunken ships
western territory.... pfft who knows jungle titan biuts of varying types
the Peaks is probably the tiny trickle of sovereign grade spirit stones from mount Tai, and artifacts recovered from the Throne Peaks
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What if an outer sect student (Liling in this case) realized they were trans, and the wards prohibiting people from going to the opposite sex's dorms:
hmm, probably when she consistently recognizes it in herself is when she'd start setting off alarms.
And yes, I suppose Lin Hai would be the one called in to have that talk while the other elders figure out what if anything they should say to King Sun
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Sects with spirit or beast elders:
none of the great sects, as Imperial insitutions, unless you count the living isle and their pillow I suppose
but probably plenty of minor sects with a beast or spirit or two in the ranks
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AU Emerald Seas Dukes, instead of Xi or later Hui:
well on one without ogodei the great sect system doesn't happen so Cai Shenhua is probably just never born
low effort picks for the rest... The Meng probably go for a heavy not!buddhist theocracy and push imperial cultural elements out, they probably end up having to conquer the south for legitimacy but they probably aim for cultural converion and missionary efforts only backed by xi swords when those are attacked. The Hui honestly probably can't hold the Xi in check at the point, the gong only exist as a throwaway name
if the meng come out ahead of the Hui they probably come down pretty hard on the Hui's branch of the Dreaming Way and crush it in its crib, but are basically distant dukes who let their vassals do their own thing they wouldn't have been as maliciously neglectful as the Hui but not great for internal cohesion either
the Luo would be extremely bewildered as they hadn't been trying for it, but would probably swiftly work t make a tightnight chain of alliances across their southern vassals, ogodei happens but hits a prepped emerald seas. The Bao... it'd be ugly cause the only way that happens is if the throne is straight up pushing to absorb the ES and there'd be a lot of resentment
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Soul qi rep before being banned:
hmm, I'd say its never been very common its always had a slightly icky reputation, Shang Tsung certainly used in his constructions as a notable one, certain arts of the Sage probably dabbled with it, the thing is all cultivation kinda messes with soul qi since its basically spiritual surgery done on yourself
so its hard to define who used and who isn't
because soul qi is defined by being the icky stuff :p
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Cultivation progress outside the elite track:
hm average for a soldier? Probably yellow at forty or fifty, making green sometime in their mid second century assuming they get a steady diet of resources, if they don't they probably just never hit green at all
the talented for a common soldier track is probably yellow by thirty and green by ahundred? You won't be shaking the heavens but you'll definitely get a cozy position with your lord like that
for the ministry it depends on how well they do with exams and who they manage to network with
but the ages probably look similar ish
but its harder to get on a culti track at all from a mortal ministry unless you pick up a really generous senior
retired soldier who gets an education might manage though with ages adjusted upward a bit
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Fox spirit origins:
yeah, the malicious form is the older one, they're descended from nightmare spirits who went 'fleshy' but there were some solar heroes during the strife who aligned themselves with a number of foxes to help sabotage Shang Tsung's nightmare engines, and these foxes became the ancestors of the dawn aligned 'Daykin' they're the smaller group and most common in the Peaks
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How many red guards you could hire with a green stone so that Hanyi would have minions:
haha, I don't like getting into exact numbers but.... enough to pay for their cultivation budget and to pull them away to follow her around everywhere along with all the opportunnity costs of that.... probably still manage to get like 4-6 or so to take that deal
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Difference between Rising Sun and Zenith Sun fighters:
hm, yes the biggest difference is the individual vs. communal focus. Rising is more about bettering yourself through bettering those around you. Zenith is all about personal valor and accomplishments. So singular solar hero versus heroic commander basically?
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What higher realm polar cultivators think about:
hm well would like to explore this more in story, but they are largely absorbed in contemplation of the natural world they are becoming a part of and the people inside of them, like a good part of their minds is occupied following the trends of their occupants their well being and needs and such.
there are more specialized ones, like Crowfather towers tending to contemplate runecraft while their lesser priests furiously write down every errant god thought, Freyja's tend to be intensely focused on tracking threats etc.
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Proportions of human Bai vs snake Bai:
hm probably the fully snake ones, which have basically taken over the entire snake population of the province. Most don't even really interact with or acknowledge the clan any and are basically just sacred animals as far as the mortals and most cultivators are concerned
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Gan Guangli's father:
he was a guard commander, so he had arts focused on reinforcing morale, and bolstering formation defenses for his squad, and just general good physical cultivation for his tier
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If Shenhua ever had a bonded spirit:
she did not have any bound spirits, she didn't like spirit beasts much and never really clicked with any of the immaterial spirits she met. more gets into the spoiler zone.
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What would happen if Shu Yue visited Tonghou:
A whispering horrifying noise like thousands of knuckles popping and cracking echoing sourcelessly from every direction
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Opinions of other Elders on Sima Jiao:
he's considered abrasive and rude but no one on the faculty hates him, they'd grumble (if he became the next sect head) but its not like his credentials aren't up to snuff
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Previous ES count clans:
the Chu and the Wu were more weilu leaning, but the Li were pretty heavily into the imperial aesthetic, but more mostly more interesting in doing SCIENCE than any particular cultural alignment
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Why the Li murdered Ogodei's clan, and if he went Princess Bride on their patriarch (Hello, my name is Inigo MontoyaOgodei. You killed my fatherfiancee. Prepare to die):
retaliation and resource acquisition, two birds and one stone
Nah, He just shot him, and shot him, and shot him some more
ogodei was a pragmatic sort of guy
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Object spirit arts and law:
it acts like any other cultivator its arts and Law can overlap with its wielders though object spirits do not tend to have much of an internal qi pool, so their wielders need to supply them for more powerful effects, so you can't just slap a cyan helmet on a yellow realm and expect him to take on an enemy commander
yeah I do want to leave some room for legendary weapons which could maybe boost someone up to match someone greater but not too a setting breaking degree, and also want to leave room for future developments in formation tech!
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If Zhengui's name on the clan rolls is written with the characters for precious, real turtle or really expensive:
really expensive is I think the main one
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Who is the Palace of Eon's?

If Shenhua ever had a bonded spirit:

she did not have any bound spirits, she didn't like spirit beasts much and never really clicked with any of the immaterial spirits she met. more gets into the spoiler zone.
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FUCK IT! I'LL MAKE MY OWN DAMN SPIRIT!
 
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