- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] A hound bellowing out a warcry.
The Path Unending (A Cultivation Quest)
- Thread starter Vesvius
- Start date
- Original
-
- Tags
- original xianxia cultivation quest
Knight-Radiant
Recovering Rageaholic
Missing a bracket
This last update has done nothing to lessen my belief that there are two parties at play here. Zhi of course discovers that a stranger has taken Zhuan form, and we the readers can conclude that Game of Beasts is an allegory for some other conflict. This time around, it is not a stand-in for intrigue and politics, but for a more primal and otherworldly clash.
I do not think that the Entity taking Zhuan Kun's form is incidental, and I will mention why later in this post.
Some thoughts/details that I don't remember being mentioned by my fellow questers:
Mughi finally appears in this strange between-realm, after some time. This heavily suggests that he is being blocked.
The Entity, under the guise of Zhuan, states this. While on the surface, this does sound like something that Kun would in theory say, we later find out that it is not him. So, the Entity emphasizes the importance of striving.
However, the Entity might be providing us with a clue as to its motivations. It is fighting a battle against foes overwhelming, one where defeat should be inevitable. Yet, it is striving to win against all odds.
A battle against all odds where defeat should be inevitable... I mentioned in some previous posts that I believe that whoever designed the Timeloop did it in order to safeguard the village from someone or something.
A defensive never-ending battle where you have to protect the village eternally, well that certainly sounds like a battle where defeat seems inevitable.
I posit that the Entity masquerading as Zhuan Kun is the one behind the groundhog day, our Timeloop Weaver.
Another emphasis, and an ominous one. To win the battle, something has to be sacrificed.
Anyone and anything can be sacrificed. Will be sacrificed. Everything for victory.
Curious phrasing: "it costs more to maintain, more to keep than to let slip". That implies that there is a cost to maintaining the loop.
Moreover, that the cost escalates. Presumably, the more one differs from the given role, the illusion of a normal sunny day, the easier it is to let them slip rather than preserve them.
This implication grows very grim when we remember that the Timeloop Weaver believes that everything will eventually be easier to let slip from the weave.
I will say again. I don't think Zhuan Kun was incidentally chosen. I think he was chosen because he and the Zhuan ethos fits the Weaver the best. Weaver's task, Weaver's battle is to preserve the village. And as long as there are any people left in the village, the battle is not yet lost. Individual villagers do not matter, after all, sacrifice is necessary. They can, have been and will be sacrificed. But the Village has to survive.
Pressure. Somehow, it reminds me of the pressure underwater. And from there, the connection to the Emperor in Tides writes itself. But I am unsure if it is the right one. And it doesn't answer us who or what the Weaver is.
A contrast. Zhuan Kun is almost as stoic as people go. And yet, despite his upbringing, he cannot hide his spirit. His eyes betray him. As do the eyes of the Weaver. There is no spirit there, just a void exuding impersonal, inhuman pressure.
Weaver considers Zhi a piece. A piece that must be removed even before it was truly used. This just reinforces the existence of the other side, the one that the Timeloop Weaver opposes.
I wonder. Is this the Timeloop Weaver, or the Sleepers? In either case, we know this. At least one side of the battle are one or multiple Kukuni.
The passing moments, the weight of ages - Time anam.
Color of dried blood. A red that becomes that shade with time? In any case, we know now that the red is the color of the Timeloop Weaver.
I do not think that the Entity taking Zhuan Kun's form is incidental, and I will mention why later in this post.
Some thoughts/details that I don't remember being mentioned by my fellow questers:
Mughi finally appears in this strange between-realm, after some time. This heavily suggests that he is being blocked.
The Entity, under the guise of Zhuan, states this. While on the surface, this does sound like something that Kun would in theory say, we later find out that it is not him. So, the Entity emphasizes the importance of striving.
However, the Entity might be providing us with a clue as to its motivations. It is fighting a battle against foes overwhelming, one where defeat should be inevitable. Yet, it is striving to win against all odds.
A battle against all odds where defeat should be inevitable... I mentioned in some previous posts that I believe that whoever designed the Timeloop did it in order to safeguard the village from someone or something.
A defensive never-ending battle where you have to protect the village eternally, well that certainly sounds like a battle where defeat seems inevitable.
I posit that the Entity masquerading as Zhuan Kun is the one behind the groundhog day, our Timeloop Weaver.
Another emphasis, and an ominous one. To win the battle, something has to be sacrificed.
Anyone and anything can be sacrificed. Will be sacrificed. Everything for victory.
Curious phrasing: "it costs more to maintain, more to keep than to let slip". That implies that there is a cost to maintaining the loop.
Moreover, that the cost escalates. Presumably, the more one differs from the given role, the illusion of a normal sunny day, the easier it is to let them slip rather than preserve them.
This implication grows very grim when we remember that the Timeloop Weaver believes that everything will eventually be easier to let slip from the weave.
I will say again. I don't think Zhuan Kun was incidentally chosen. I think he was chosen because he and the Zhuan ethos fits the Weaver the best. Weaver's task, Weaver's battle is to preserve the village. And as long as there are any people left in the village, the battle is not yet lost. Individual villagers do not matter, after all, sacrifice is necessary. They can, have been and will be sacrificed. But the Village has to survive.
Pressure. Somehow, it reminds me of the pressure underwater. And from there, the connection to the Emperor in Tides writes itself. But I am unsure if it is the right one. And it doesn't answer us who or what the Weaver is.
A contrast. Zhuan Kun is almost as stoic as people go. And yet, despite his upbringing, he cannot hide his spirit. His eyes betray him. As do the eyes of the Weaver. There is no spirit there, just a void exuding impersonal, inhuman pressure.
Weaver considers Zhi a piece. A piece that must be removed even before it was truly used. This just reinforces the existence of the other side, the one that the Timeloop Weaver opposes.
I wonder. Is this the Timeloop Weaver, or the Sleepers? In either case, we know this. At least one side of the battle are one or multiple Kukuni.
The passing moments, the weight of ages - Time anam.
Color of dried blood. A red that becomes that shade with time? In any case, we know now that the red is the color of the Timeloop Weaver.
Thanatos757
Captain of the Four Knights
[X] A fire burning through the forest.
- Location
- Pittsburgh, PA
[X] A bull charging across an open field.
- Location
- USA
[X] A fire burning through the forest.
While people have already brought up most of what I figured out, I just want to point out one little thing which I'm not sure if it's a typo, a hint, or more dream mumbo jumbo
While people have already brought up most of what I figured out, I just want to point out one little thing which I'm not sure if it's a typo, a hint, or more dream mumbo jumbo
The table follows us. "Zhuan Kun" gets up and walks away, we follow after him, and yet the table remains within his grasp and close enough we initially mistake the pressure as coming from it.
[X] A fire burning through the forest.
You think this is crazy enough to get Siani's attention? Because this might be enough to get his attention.
You think this is crazy enough to get Siani's attention? Because this might be enough to get his attention.
Threnodist
occupying Haudenosaunee & Osage land she/her/hers
- Location
- Pittsburgh
[X] A fire burning through the forest.
Given the nature of (natural) forest fires being part of a cycle of growth, death, and rebirth I think this will probably best integrate Time anam and be the most thematic
Given the nature of (natural) forest fires being part of a cycle of growth, death, and rebirth I think this will probably best integrate Time anam and be the most thematic
ClawClawBite
Mad Engineering!
- Location
- Seattle, WA
[X] A fire burning through the forest.
Adding a mystery 'not nice' to fire that we have no existing plan for is an interesting mystery box.
Adding a mystery 'not nice' to fire that we have no existing plan for is an interesting mystery box.
[X] A fire burning through the forest.
Evonix
Aspiring Lovecraft antagonist.
- Location
- Canada to 2 sigmas
A peak behind the curtain. But only a peak.
[X] A fire burning through the forest.
- Location
- Deep in a bog
Or, you know, it could be because we're, from my reading, cycling an attack that uses Time anam.
Plinni
A mysterious and charasmatic banyanya
- Location
- Pargon Pargon Pargon
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm having a hard time finding the passages I'm looking for, so I'll ask. Did depleting the Anam in Second of Eternity speed up or slow down the falling water? Because I remember reading some passage about what The Second was like when depleted and it got stuck in my head that time Anam had something to do with delaying the inevitable.
But there's an interpretation here where it's the opposite; a lack of time anam is stopping tomorrow from happening and the more villagers change from how they were the more susceptible they are to the meager flow of time present in the area.
This has been bugging me since the time loop began a month ago.
But there's an interpretation here where it's the opposite; a lack of time anam is stopping tomorrow from happening and the more villagers change from how they were the more susceptible they are to the meager flow of time present in the area.
This has been bugging me since the time loop began a month ago.
BadAtScreenNames
Killed a man in Reno just to watch him die
- Location
- the (currently) United Kingdom
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] A fire burning through the forest.
- Location
- Deep in a bog
So, given some of the theories I see going around about this update, did we mess up? If so, how badly?
I ask because we have been rolling quite we'll these past few updates. Suspiciously well.
DangerKitty
shoddy writter
- Location
- lala land
I really dont know why everyone is assuming this is time anam. We have been confirmed by the co-qm that we dont know what type of anam this is.
Vote for what you want to see evolve, not for what anam type you think this will grant the tech evolving.
- Location
- Canada
[X] A fire burning through the forest
Hoping it's Time rather than Fate, but I suspect otherwise.
At least whatever crazy stuff it does to us will probably be interesting to read about!
Hoping it's Time rather than Fate, but I suspect otherwise.
At least whatever crazy stuff it does to us will probably be interesting to read about!
- Location
- Deep in a bog
We're assuming it's time anam because, from what I can gather from our previous cycling of time, it seems to represent change. How people, places, and everything change given enough time. The reason time seems so opposed to fate is because of how ridged fate is. Time provides us with different, often contradicting views/feelings when cycling it. Also, the phrase "weight of the ages" brings time to mind.