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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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How in the world is Evergreen Succession a good name for an art? No reader who is going to read this book after it leaves SV is even going to understand it. The only reason we know, is because to OP of its name did some research and discovered the phrase. We need to be helping Yrsillar write a good story that everyone can understand. So let's choose a name that doesn't confuse fresh readers.

[X] Legacy of the Broken Pillar

The reason Legacy is a strong name, is not because it's connected to the function of the art, it's because it is a literal blessing, gifted to us from a memory of the far past. This gives Ling Qi a strong link to Zhengui's mom's memory. Ling Qi is always delving into the past to discover things that can help her today. So saying it has no relevance to her is disingenuous in effect. It feels like the only reason people are voting for the insipid Evergreen Succession, is because they don't want Legacy to win, which is not a good reason for a vote.

Why can't we find a name that encapsulates everything we're looking for, like -

[X] Kohatu's Roots Persisting

That nobody has even discussed yet. It has three words that each embody an important part of the art. Persisting was the WORD given to us from Kohatu and we're expressing it through roots.
 
Brylowman said:
How in the world is Evergreen Succession a good name for an art? No reader who is going to read this book after it leaves SV is even going to understand it. The only reason we know, is because to OP of its name did some research and discovered the phrase. We need to be helping Yrsillar write a good story that everyone can understand. So let's choose a name that doesn't confuse fresh readers.
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Eh, the succession aspect still fits even without that meaning, both because of Zhengui being the successor of Kohatu's green and the fact that the art and imagery behind it are all about new shoots constantly succeeding the old ones that are killed, the chain never ends.
 
Brylowman said:
How in the world is Evergreen Succession a good name for an art? No reader who is going to read this book after it leaves SV is even going to understand it. The only reason we know, is because to OP of its name did some research and discovered the phrase. We need to be helping Yrsillar write a good story that everyone can understand. So let's choose a name that doesn't confuse fresh readers.
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Honestly I never read that research/explanation, literally your post is the first I'm learning that it exist and... from that perspective evergreen succession is still a perfectly fine workhorse name.
 
Adhoc vote count started by ShiningBright on Jun 16, 2024 at 9:41 AM, finished with 302 posts and 128 votes.
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Tsu and the Seasons
  • Apocrypha
    • Tsu and the Seasons​
    Come child, sit by the fire. Let me tell you a story stretching from my father to his father, to my father's great grandfather.

    Once, these lands were untamed, wild, and directionless under the auspices of the spirits. One day could be warmer than the hottest flame, the people boiling alive as Irreverent Heat looked at the settlements with amused eyes at our dancing.

    The next day could be colder than the highest point in the wall, Deathless Ice wanting life from our bones. On and on it went for many passings of the moons, the children of the nameless mother and father, the people of the hills-mountains, were forced one by one to leave the precious homes granted by those-who-walk due to the whims of the foolish great spirits.

    Finally, after many deaths arose a boy and his heart companion, kind and wise was he. At the sight of his father's passing, he whispered to the Sleeping Herald: "Oh Sleeping Herald, why is it that you obey Deathless Ice? Shouldn't such a great king be free to do what he wishes beholden to not even the cruel crone?". The Sleeping Herald awoke with a shout upon hearing such sophistry, for he thought himself clever and strong in the ways that lesser men boast about. Quickly the Sleeping Herald gathered his forces and prepared for battle.

    Next, the boy and his companion went to Mother of the Flowers and they played a game of chance and whimsy after much cajoling, his companion allowing the boy to win after plying the Mother with wine grabbed from the moon. "Oh Great Mother of Flowers, why are you bound to play by the rules of the Sleeping Herald, Deathless Ice, and Irreverent Heat? Shouldn't you be the one in charge of all these ruffians?"

    Mother Flower was incensed and shamed, for the thought had never occurred to her before the boy had spoken. Yet all the same it felt right to her.

    The boy, now a man, and the heart companion, now a Great Lord then saw from the Mother of Flowers realm a great feast near the Heavenly Pillar. Irreverent Heat and Deathless Ice had met to tear down the great tree, with their host gathered it was only a matter of time.

    Yet the man had a wicked and terrible idea. So with the Great Lord's help, he arrived with an illusionary panoply, adorned in the colors of the forest, wearing a crown with the antlers of the deer and accompanied by his people.

    "You two, do you not see with those eyes you have? The other two seasons have joined against thee. Why do you seek to slurp upon the mighty pillar, I say, when there are greater threats to your power? Already the two rebels plot to usurp you " And thus the two bitter enemies heard the wisdom in his words, and crowned the boy who had so helpfully reminded them of the other two as Tsu the Diviner, favored of summer and winter.

    Not noticing as is their prerogative, that Tsu had run into the arms of the heavenly pillar to watch his scheme unfold.

    Truly great was the fours clash, as they fought and quarreled. Yet such was their power that none could ever beat the others. Irreverent Heat and Deathless Ice could not fight together, for their spirits were as opposite to each other. Sleeping Herald could only rot the Mother of Flowers while the mother was burned and scorched by Irreverent Heat.

    As they waned, spent and damaged on the ground the Man who had incited them came out from the Heavenly Pillar to gloat and command from the four a promise.

    "Oh great seasons, truly you are all fools. If one such as I could get you all to fight what does it say about your braggadacious cunning? I say, as I have bested all 4 of you without lifting but a finger, that I am the one who shall dictate your comings and goings."

    Thus shamed, the four had no other recourse but to grant Tsu the power of the seasons, the ability to tell them when to come and leave the people of the forest and hills.
    A/N: Omake for the omake throne
     
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  • Apocrypha
    • Gabroli, Very enjoyable short tale; reminds me of the stories my grandmother and father would tell me before bedtime.
     
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    Adhoc vote count started by ShiningBright on Jun 16, 2024 at 5:40 PM, finished with 320 posts and 135 votes.
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    Clearly, the only sensible route is to introduce a new contender. A contender in the form of...

    [X] Root of the Myriad Green

    This option takes inspiration from many other entries, while adding on new twists. Like the coherence of linear grammar. That's a big one.

    Another priority is matching both the conceptual themes and mechanistic presentation of the art. In Ling Qi's hands, the art is a reservoir that anchors and feeds the Persistence of others, combined with the visuals already seen, it's the 'root'. It is 'Myriad' in that (you guys like the word for some reason) the art acts in accordance with Ling Qi's philosophy of Defense, as discussed with Elder Ying, in preserving the Choice of her wards. Through that concept's origin in her repertoire and natural tendencies in action, Choice has always sat near the multifarious in Ling Qi's estimation, hence the Myriad. In Green, twin purposes. First, a plain labeling of methods. Second, more importantly, a label borrowed from Kohatu, as both a reminder and a guide in further digestion of the mysteries she imprinted/bequeathed to Ling Qi.

    On a similar note, it's deliberately metaphorical language. It raises the question of what is the root of those disparate journeys of growth, and for Ling Qi, in this art, one of those answers is Dreaming. Persisting not only in life, but in striving, in pursuit of aims, of shapes and hues of growth both personal and universal dreamt by individual, implacable, sprouts. If that sounds like artsy fartsy bullshit, that's kind of the point; constructing a foundation that can be extrapolated from in the narrative, in a way that's congruent with the art's themes, goals, methods, etc. It's a careful balance to present enough personality and meaning that there's something to work with, but not so much, in too specific of ways, as to make it stifling as a device.

    But also, seriously, the grammar thing. Words like "Myriad" are solid, can weave in and out of Ling Qi's philosophy in various ways, but you have to be careful with words. When you look at the anatomy of the art's themes and philosophy, in conjunction with Ling Qi's as a whole, the roots are not myriad. It's the things that grow from the roots that are, that are valuable for being so. The chain of words "Myriad Roots Succession" does not mean the thing it's meant to mean, on a very literal level, and that's going to itch the brain wrong forever. And also make art name drops 10x harder to do coherently, which makes the whole art naming process mean 1/10th as much.

    To be clear, this isn't at all limited to that one name proposal. Good/meaningful words being jumbled together in ways that obscure or lose those meanings has been a bit of a trend for the vote. One of the ways it's been kind of a mess. The fact that naming the art around the art isn't even a consensus design objective is... anyway.

    (also lol still including my prior vote as well to not tip the balance with my nifty, entirely serious, but mathematically doomed suggestion)
    [X] Evergreen Succession
     
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    Deathless Ice huh...Interesting. Was the Spirit of the Season of Winter once not tied to the concept of Endings?
    Did Tsu, by subjecting them further to the wheel of time, in binding the season to a pattern, introduce the concept of Endings to Winter? Or perhaps was it simply a difference in regions and the Ice Spirits of the Southpole were always tied to the Endings.
     
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