[X] The teachers meditations on Choice and Sincerity, and their interactions with Truth
We have just decided that there is no way to be a Sovereign without forcing things on people. Since we're a [Communication] cultivator, we'll need to learn the line on draw on what we say to convince people to follow us
It raises subjects that don't have strong roots, what roots they do have are muddled and unclear, and which continue this trajectory by having no predictable role or relevance in any of the upcoming storylines we have.
The core conflict it is addressing is the tension between peace and choice, as outlined last chapter, which is extraordinarily relevant when walking into a war. We've chosen choice, but we are striving for peace, and this chasing two hares.
Why is it ok for us to fight the ith?
Self defence is unrelated to communication. It has no justification nor is it prohibited. Why, then, do we feel it is acceptable and righteous? If that isn't made into part of our way, it will be cut on the way to white.
What choices remove one from a community? Does the individual get a choice? Isolation is imposed, not chosen, almost always.
Pretending that choice and truth don't need to be resolved, that we can go and make hard choices in a war without investigating what it means to choose, and how it matters if the choice is based on a lie rather than truth? That is begging for a heart demon.
Beast King's Savage Dirge It is said in legend that as the power of the Horned Lord and the Diviner waxed, the eight Beast Kings who remained came together in council of war and united to bring down the conqueror once and for all. Their footfalls shook the earth and their savagery shook the skies, and though they were defeated in the end, echoes of that terrible march remained etched in the folklore of the Emerald Seas forever more. This art is part of a ballad said to have been composed for the last Weilu dukes, and though its origin is suspect, its power is not.
Potency Increase: 2/3
Yang, Wood, Darkness
Potency Growth: Green 5(6)
Keywords: Beasts, Conquest, Power, Music
Antithesis: Tranquility, Stillness, Humanity
Art Type: Offensive
Passive Effects:
+1 to Primary Offense Trait.
Your footsteps are the drums of war, tingling in your foes bones, making stomachs uneasy. Your offensive arts strike with greater force, and your presence looms high in your foes mind.
-Potential Trait Gain
Each part is a but a piece of the score, each beast a symbol to be used, for a master musician measures and notes may be rearranged and remixed, to produce the needed mood. From your song you tangle elements of the Beast's you have mastered together to perform whatever task you need. The proud eagle dying alone, the domineering wolf, betrayed by his own kin, the rats who devour their own, the foolish carp, destinied to receive the blows for another. When activating this technique, choose any two of the following powers to apply to the constructs you summon, you may not choose the same option twice. Each use of the the technique summons a G5 construct, which may be a single entity or a group visually.
Available Effects
Qi Absorption: Drains qi from other constructs and cultivators
Technique Taunting: Draws techniques into targeting the construct
Forced Movement: Allow the construct to forcibly move targets
Group Offensive Buff: Grants a buff to the offensive trait of up to ten allies in a scene
Group Defensive Buff: Grants a buff to the defense Trait of up to ten allies in a scene
Expend to Dispel: Expends the construct to attempt to dispel an active technique or effect
Increased Construct Offense: Increases the Constructs offense to G6
Increased Construct Defense: increase the Constructs defense to G6
Vermin God's Legion: G4
Type: Construct, Zone
Duration: Scene
A heavy song, ominous and fast paced. From every corner hungry teeth and hungrier eyes rise, boiling from the earth, materializing from the sky, a legion of vermin to carpet the earth and devour those who think themselves mighty. The house and skittering of countless rats fills the air. They devour, they die and are devoured in turn, and inspire a cowardice and selfishness in foes. The rats gnaw not only at flesh but bonds, reducing the potency of supporting traits and techniques among enemies the longer they remain. Attacks against the construct gradually degrade its potency.
The user may discharge the technique, causing the rats to devour themselves in a frenzy of violence as the song transforms from one of horror to triumph, bolstering their own supporting techniques and traits as well.
Eagle God's Dirge: G3
Type: Construct, Attack, Area
Duration: Stunt/Scene
The fastest of the beast kings, the Eagle God, lord of those who flew and preyed on the world below was an impetuous beast, and dove into battle before all the others. If this technique is activated without Primal War Calling, that technique activates freely the next time you use a technique.
On activation, the user plays an ear splitting high note and the Eagle God flies again, if only for a moment. The initial cry is an area attack against nearby enemies. And is followed by a single target attack as the construct dives into a foe and carries them away in its talons, dashing them against the ground at the end of its flight.
When the construct completes its charge, the user may then choose to expend it in a burst of qi as the Eagle God falls. Allies within the scene are filled with a powerful resolve and a burst of speed. Increase the rank of allied defense trait by one. Increase the potency of any allied movement arts used in the scene by 1.
Once the secondary effect is activated, the Eagle God's Dirge cannot be used again during the scene.
Wolf God's Cunning: G5
Type; Construct, Attack
Duration: Stunt
The cunning Wolf God, lord of those beasts which hunt in number, he of the numberless wild hunt, was the second of the beast gods to engage the Diviner, and a less wise commander would have broken before the maneuvers of his pack. May only be used while Primal War Calling is active. On use summons a construct in the shape of a large grey wolf. The wolf attacks at your direction, savaging and tearing down foes.
While the construct is active the potency of Primal War Calling increases by 2.
Eagle God's Dirge and Wolf God's Cunning still reference the tech Primal War Calling (the latter does so twice), which I'm guessing should be updated to Beast King's Dying March in all cases.
