Dragons, Gazetteer, I love your take on Mnemon, this whole post was sooooooo masterful! I actually love that while V'neef grinds Ambraea's gears by the ways in which they are different and that she cannot reciprocrate (and thus feels upstaged), here Mnemon catches Ambraea by the ways they are similar: the rigidness, the stubborness, the construction of personal loyalty and sense of debt, the *imposition of grandeur*... even if their stories and circumstances are extremely different, you can clearly see the ways in which they are more similar and *those* are the points where friction happens, rather than where they differe.
What struck me the most is... the way Mnemon carries herself and plans as if she's naturally gonna be in charge... that's *exactly* the same criticism First Light levied at Ambraea during the war games!
And re:the strong reaction of sense of indebtness she feels owed... it seems to me that Mnemon built a core of her identity around this self image as the Eldest Daugther, the one who is the Protectorate and Pillar of the Realm and who is obviously gonna take care of all of them when Mother is gone because that is the proper and magnanimous duty of the big sister. And Rulinsei kinda illustrates that, both in the sense that you can understand how it could be impactful for a person's ego to be offered to protect someone else like you weren't protected, and how she is basically a lense into the future of how being the protected one would be like.
But also Rulinsei herself!!! Rulinsei is the best I love her I love old craftswomen who had seen and survived their share of atrocity and become disilussioned but also aware of the system that grew around them
she and Rhunon should hook up<-reference like ten people will get probably
Sorry for the run on sentences I am just so so so excited I liked this so much in so many places I cannot put it all properly! The Pure Wind Pagoda is such an spectacle of sensory images, not just the pagoda itself but what happens in there, it really makes it look like "the place where Things Happen", compositionally speaking
Lohna looks back at her, first confusion, then shock coming over her face, and she presses her hands to her mouth. "Peony?" she whispers, with the recognition Grace has so desperately wanted to hear in someone — anyone's — voice these past three years. "Peony. What's going on? Why didn't I know you?"
Singular Grace, Chosen of Venus, weaver of destinies, slayer of Anathema, and personal student of one of the most powerful figures of heaven, feels her legs wobble beneath her, and she can't stop the tears from coming. "Mama," she manages, unable to articulate anything more than that. Then, as though she were a child with a skinned knee, she throws herself down onto the floor, flings her arms around Lohna's waist, and begins to sob, harsh and uncontained.
Lohna Prince's Scribe, confused and frightened as she is, still understands what her duty is in this moment. She wraps her arms around her daughter, cradling Grace's head against her body, and holds her tightly while Grace finally lets it all out.
As someone who had to fight tooth and nail to get a modicum of recognition from a relative with dementia, and saw the fight become harder and more fruitless with time, I am not ashamed to say this had me sobbing on the floor for a good while. This is so good and also so so cruel to EVERYONE involved and why I fucking love Sidereal drama. I can't wait for Ambraea's reaction to coming back this whole thing after having two back to back life-staking meetings with her family...
and speaking of the next said meeting, I have no strict idea or preference on the strategic value but speaking on narrative vibes and what has been said about her in the quest
[ ] The Hall of Triumphal Glory
A monument erected in honour of one of your half siblings, now largely abandoned and seldom visited.
This one has the markings of the pitch being along the lines of "yes, Mnemon says she'll take care of and honor you, but look at all the people she protected and stood for, where are they now?", something something impermanence of relevance, and living in the shadow of a bigger monument. Mnemon will promise and do things, but will they matter in the long run or something like that. I'll eat my hat if it isn't one of the monuments Mnemon made in honor of fallen siblings that also contain the unsaid message of "but I survived".
[ ] Jinmei Tower
A tower that contains an elaborate menagerie, each level a different biome. Popular with palace goers of all sorts.
This one could probably be centered around Mnemon-Darjilis, all the menageries and museums on the city, and what it says about Mnemon herself and her intentions in "collecting" Ambraea to increase her glory.
[] Idle Blossom Library
Just one of the many libraries and archives the Imperial Palace houses, this one dedicated to literature.
This one I am drawing a blank on, were it a sorcerous library or religious I would say it's about the sorcerous potential we are being offered and how we would have to stifle our goals to fit Mnemon's standards and ethics, but it's specifically singled out as a literature archive... maybe a parable about art and fiction as countercultural and how that would clash with the orthodoxical Mnemon? It does feel like it would likely be the most personal and less strained/grandiose of the meetings. L'nessa meeting us mostly as a friend than a Dynast.
Anyway this isn't in anyway definitive or predictive, just me streching my "ok but what would this symbolize narratively/what would I use this place to illustrate/pontificate on if I was a scheming Dynast" muscles. I loved this post and I can't wait for more.
