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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.
 
[x] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.
 
Both of these insights agree on what power is, and that working together gets you more of it. The key detail is where does that extra power go? How is it manifested?

[ ] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.

The key wording here is "amplify in unity". Everyone gets stronger, teamwork is effectively slapping a x1.2 modifier on everyone. I like this insight, nothing wrong here.

[ ] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.

The key wording here is "greater than its parts". There is power in a group intrinsic to the group itself, not held by any individual member. There is a great kurzgesagt video on emergence that describes it better than I ever could. Personally I think this is a valuable insight and stance to have, especially when trying to build organizations and culture.

"No individual is great in all" has been seen by some as a limit, but I think it's actually an important reminder. Nobody is perfect, everybody has weaknesses. Both for taking on enemies, and on allowing ourselves to be supported by allies. I'll also note this isn't an insight permanently defining our way, but our definition of a concept. It's still important, but it's more flexible.

[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.

No thanks to gestalt voltron entities.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.
 
My personal view for this is that the first option is what palace of one did and the Hui fucked up, and that the twilight king took to its most extreme. While option 2 is Huisheng through and through. In skeleuncle we trust.

[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.

Fundamentally, I want LQ's conception of power to reflect the political reality of Emerald Seas. It's a diverse region with various cultures, ethnicities and ideologies. If they could be marshalled for a single common goal then I'm convinced they'd become truly great in a way calcified structures of power wouldn't match in the long term. Both options fit with this conception so I'm a bit stumped.

To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the unity terminology in either option. Something like harmony would get across a similar idea, have musical connotations and have less metaphysical baggage.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.

I think this one is "truer" than the other. A white is great as an individual. For example, Shenhua is a power onto herself, able to turn the Emerald Seas against the Hui and defeat them. I'd say her power was and is amplified by those around her, like Linqin and Xia Ren. The reason I like the first one more is that it allows for that nuance, where it considers the different types of power and variation in power level. The 2nd one is too generalized to me.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.

I like this one more, but I still think that having a army of constructs that can shift focus to be really useful and cool, I imagine it would be somethin like this:
Mode Spider: bunch of traps and assassins
Mode something:
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.

I think part of the difference here is that the small and the subtle are included. Ling Qi has on multiple occasions thought about trying not to forget the mortals and lower realm cultivators the way others do, and also that individuals in a society matter.

This seems more Great Uncle Skeleton of a statement than the other choice, and I think the Arch Herectic of The Dreaming Way has a few good points.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. No individual is great in all. Power united is greater than its parts.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.

This one rings truer to me. It covers more forms of Power in my opinion.
 
[X] Power is the ability to act on or resist the world, it manifests through many forces. The great and the small, the subtle and the strong, amplify in unity.
This feels like the most fleshed out view of power, there's many types of power and ways to use it by power is stronger when used together.
 
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