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

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[X] Ask him to craft something for the peace that came after

I agree this is easy, also this chapter heavily swayed me to the "Xuan Shi is best boy" camp.
 
[X] Ask him to craft something for the peace that came after

I actually would love to see a defensive item crafted by Xuan, but it doesn't feel appropriate here at all.
This whole thing is about future and shared dreams, reducing it to the immediate conflict just feels wrong.
 
[X] Ask him to craft something for the peace that came after

This was cute. I like this couple. Hopefully Xuan Shi will survive the war. Then we'll accept his proposal.
 
[X] Ask him to craft something for the peace that came after

May not be optimum in the short term, but if we can get to the long-term I think this option will be much more interesting. That being said a life-saving treasure or something that prevents maiming does have some pretty solid emotional results for the relationship too.
 
yrsillar said:
She saw the shadow of a man not too unlike Xuan Shi, taller, lankier, an ugly scar dragging up the corner of his lip.
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Based on the circumstances we learned in this update, I kinda suspect this scar came from resisting his "rescue", and the fact he kept it should have been something of a hint that he wasn't truly convinced to stay.

yrsillar said:
That was the trouble with multitudes. It was admitting your power was limited, your reach finite, that your will would never be absolute… and that was a contradiction toward the nature of Sovereignty.
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yrsillar said:
"Such a fascinating thing, to see a new spiritual ecosystem developing in real time… At your behest. You walk, and the world ripples. Even now one finds it difficult not to be pulled under in your wake."

I'm only a small part of things, and I'm nearly always flying by the seat of my gown," Ling Qi laughed.
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This is an interesting subject, and I think it hints at something big. A Sovereign who can reconcile this contradiction, who can fully internalize the potential of small actors, is extraordinarily dangerous. Because, viewed from the right perspective, the Sovereign is now not one actor; they're ten, or a hundred, or a hundred thousand actors moving as not one, but many, and that's what makes them so dangerous. So difficult to predict or counter.

I suspect there's some really juicy overlap and conflict with the current Empress's way to be had there.

yrsillar said:
"You have been around me long enough to know this… Though I appreciate the words."

That someone other than Renxiang seemed to comprehend the magnitude of things she saw, stemming from their actions.
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I do think this is something all the roster of suitors has in common, though to different degrees and in different ways.

Xuan Shi and Meng Dan are leading the pack. Xuan Shi's had the longest exposure, has his perspective born from an interest in narrative, and he's had a keen eye on the interpersonal tides Ling Qi creates thanks to his loneliness. Meng Dan has his historical scholarship as context, and a scholar's zeal for digging into the truth behind the known, even as he's a bit disillusioned with how fleeting it can be. He already thinks in the broad scales that our actions have been influencing, and I suspect he grasps the personal influence Ling Qi has had on things like Renxiang and Meizhen's relationship almost as well as Xuan Shi does.

Bao Qian follows them up from a little bit behind. He has an eye for trends and change as a merchant, and first-hand experience with his own course being shifted by Ling Qi's whims, so he definitely sees that the world can turn on her decisions, even as she is now. Through the situation with his cousin and Meizhen, he's also got some insight into the touch of personal Ling Qi's added to things, and how impactful it probably is. I do feel like there's something holding him back from appreciating the scope of her/their impacts on the course of the future, possibly rooted in his own hesitations with Sovereignty. Challenging, shaking the very pillars of the world is something he's appropriately cautious towards, because he knows better and isn't a crazy person.

Xia Anxi is a fun one because I'm pretty sure he does comprehend the magnitude of the things Ling Qi sees, stemming from her and Renxiang's actions, and he really wished he didn't because it makes him feel faint. He's a guy who, because of his low-born origin and Bai society being so ruthless, has basically made it his life's existential mission to fit into the status quo. And none of the judgements feeding into that are even wrong. Ling Qi's presence, actions, beliefs, and nature are not friendly to the status quo. And she's doing it along lines which I suspect speak to him in a way that he's very uncomfortable admitting to himself are compelling. The Xia Anxiety is real, and that's cute.

Lastly, but not least, there's Sixiang and it's an interesting one. Sixiang has had the closest seat the whole time and their very constitution is in tune with understanding the kinds of influence our actions have on the world. If the world is a canvas, and Ling Qi a brush, then the picture being painted is something that resonates with Sixiang's most fundamental nature as a Muse. And what's really, scandalously, interesting is that Sixiang very nearly takes all that for granted and focuses on... Ling Qi's wellbeing. Her safety, not her Art. Which speaks to two things. First, a total faith in Ling Qi's creative capacity- there's no worry that Ling Qi's output will be anything other than more than good enough. And second, a genuinely painful degree of love. Of Want. The artist herself has become more beloved than anything she produces. Congratulations everyone, we broke the Muse. :p
 
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AbeoLogos said:
Because, viewed from the right perspective, the Sovereign is now not one actor; they're ten, or a hundred, or a hundred thousand actors moving as not one, but many, and that's what makes them so dangerous.
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The bloody moon, the vermin god- like the cold and isolation, we are really taking inspiration from making the most scaring experiences uplifting and empowering. Maybe? It seems like more foreshadowing than theme yet.
 
I think with the proper harmony, it'd also be scrambling attempts at divination because the Sovereign's "sponsorship" for lack of a better term would be giving the small actors unnatural weighting in the prediction space. Sort of like a chaff attack, but instead of decoys, every one of them is sincere. But also not necessary for the direction the Sovereign is moving in. Hmm. It's difficult to articulate.

I think Zheng Fu's master would be a useful person to chat with, at some point. He's apparently got a similar style of imparting agents with a direction and letting them spin off on their own. Or maybe spinning up agents and letting them spin off in their own direction. Assuming they cleave to the same shapeshifting theme Zheng Fu's got going on, they should have some kind of cousin concept to 'multitudes' going on. It might be cute if we could set up a meeting with Huisheng down the road.
 
The upcoming conflict has an enormous number of warriors willing to fight and scholars coming up with new weapons. We don't need something for war, as we are well prepared and have the backing of the Cai. It's what's going to come afterwards which is important. Plus a gift for the peace is psychologically and societally better for a long-term relationship where love and affection is required. IE, it starts the relationship off on the right foot.

[X] Ask him to craft something for the peace that came after
 
[X] Ask him to craft something for the peace that came after
 
[X] Ask him to craft something for the peace that came after

Much more romantic, and will be a much bigger help in the long term. At this point, Ling Qi's ability to fight is a lesser attribute than her non-combat abilities. Whether that is her diplomacy or her art or her actions as an authority figure and leader of a domain.

AbeoLogos said:
Based on the circumstances we learned in this update, I kinda suspect this scar came from resisting his "rescue", and the fact he kept it should have been something of a hint that he wasn't truly convinced to stay.



This is an interesting subject, and I think it hints at something big. A Sovereign who can reconcile this contradiction, who can fully internalize the potential of small actors, is extraordinarily dangerous. Because, viewed from the right perspective, the Sovereign is now not one actor; they're ten, or a hundred, or a hundred thousand actors moving as not one, but many, and that's what makes them so dangerous. So difficult to predict or counter.

I suspect there's some really juicy overlap and conflict with the current Empress's way to be had there.


I do think this is something all the roster of suitors has in common, though to different degrees and in different ways.

Xuan Shi and Meng Dan are leading the pack. Xuan Shi's had the longest exposure, has his perspective born from an interest in narrative, and he's had a keen eye on the interpersonal tides Ling Qi creates thanks to his loneliness. Meng Dan has his historical scholarship as context, and a scholar's zeal for digging into the truth behind the known, even as he's a bit disillusioned with how fleeting it can be. He already thinks in the broad scales that our actions have been influencing, and I suspect he grasps the personal influence Ling Qi has had on things like Renxiang and Meizhen's relationship almost as well as Xuan Shi does.

Bao Qian follows them up from a little bit behind. He has an eye for trends and change as a merchant, and first-hand experience with his own course being shifted by Ling Qi's whims, so he definitely sees that the world can turn on her decisions, even as she is now. Through the situation with his cousin and Meizhen, he's also got some insight into the touch of personal Ling Qi's added to things, and how impactful it probably is. I do feel like there's something holding him back from appreciating the scope of her/their impacts on the course of the future, possibly rooted in his own hesitations with Sovereignty. Challenging, shaking the very pillars of the world is something he's appropriately cautious towards, because he knows better and isn't a crazy person.

Xia Anxi is a fun one because I'm pretty sure he does comprehend the magnitude of the things Ling Qi sees, stemming from her and Renxiang's actions, and he really wished he didn't because it makes him feel faint. He's a guy who, because of his low-born origin and Bai society being so ruthless, has basically made it his life's existential mission to fit into the status quo. And none of the judgements feeding into that are even wrong. Ling Qi's presence, actions, beliefs, and nature are not friendly to the status quo. And she's doing it along lines which I suspect speak to him in a way that he's very uncomfortable admitting to himself are compelling. The Xia Anxiety is real, and that's cute.

Lastly, but not last, there's Sixiang and it's an interesting one. Sixiang has had the closest seat the whole time and their very constitution is in tune with understanding the kinds of influence our actions have on the world. If the world is a canvas, and Ling Qi a brush, then the picture being painted is something that resonates with Sixiang's most fundamental nature as a Muse. And what's really, scandalously, interesting is that Sixiang very nearly takes all that for granted and focuses on... Ling Qi's wellbeing. Her safety, not her Art. Which speaks to two things. First, a total faith in Ling Qi's creative capacity- there's no worry that Ling Qi's output will be anything other than more than good enough. And second, a genuinely painful degree of love. Of Want. The artist herself has become more beloved than anything she produces. Congratulations everyone, we broke the Muse. :p
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A lovely write-up, even if I think it vastly overstates BQ, who has never been remotely convincing as a future husbando even when he was the only actual suitor, or Anxi, who I constantly forget is actually considered a competitor by people and am only reminded when I see other people talk about him.
 
Karthak Urzak said:
If Xuan Shi marries Ling Qi Kongyou may be driven to drink. They've already had their craving for failure get denied with the spectacular success of the summit. Turtle Lad succeeding in courting Qi instead of getting rejected might well break something in them :p
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They might even let a bit of their dream side come out, the way Six is letting themself be a bit more nightmare lately.
 
[X] Ask him to craft something for the peace that came after

If we had personal Ling clan troops, I think the war option would be more tempting since there'd be a broader canvas for him to work on. As is, I think the peace option gives him more room to do his thing.
 
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