Distant Stars. (a WH40K/Xianxia civ Quest).

Voting is open
Turn 7: End.
Another decade has passed and with it passing you're inching ever closer to the apocalypse.

With the help of your divination, you estimate that the apocalypse will start anywhere between 6-21 decades (turns) from now.

As your information about the crises is almost nonexistent you cannot estimate how prepared you are for the coming crisis. But the being you saw in your visions does not spell good fortune.

Without knowing for how long you must fight it is difficult to say if your supplies will last but at least they'll last longer than they did yesterday.

You can only hope that the actions in the past decade have pushed you closer to survive


-[x] a new messenger.

There is smoothing astounding about tapping a device, while knowing that hundreds of miles away someone is recording said taps and would later translate it into actual sentences.

This was not the first time you have thought of this and will likely not be the last as you've made a point to visit any opening of a telegraph station.

This one being the thirtieth out of the planed thirty and it never got old.

You could see the future in your claws one of instantaneous communication for all.

And you could not wait for to come to fruition.

Gain the limited telegraph coverage infrastructure which provides +20% administrative efficiency, +30+economic growth and +1% EEP while costing 30 EFEP in maintenance.


-[x] the track of progress. (must be in the top three priorities).

The laying down of the first track has been seen setback after set back as new practices were need to be implemented to ensure quality construction.

Of course, the setbacks have been predicted so the project wasn't actually behind schedule and by the end of the decade the first train has started to run.

The train itself is a steel behemoth and could carry almost fifty tons in goods.

Just the single line has already transformed the economy of the cities its connected to.

There are even a few cars for specialized for passengers as while the train is slower than flight many would prefer the slower option for the comfort it brings.

+20 base economic power

-[x] settling the frontiers.

The challenge of trying to build new communities in mostly untouched land has been made massively easier by the existence of the emperor roads.

The newly constructed roads have been a great help in moving the large number of materials needed for such an endeavor.

It has also been a massive help in reaping the fruits of your labors as it allowed the new communities to sell their harvest in the far off population centers, increasing both the amount of produce and material in the market and the tax paid to the empire.

The newly settled lands have also helped in lowering the pressure on the cities as more and more people left the countryside for the cities, those Keku were very happy to just take up a job they already knew and are the majority in the newly settled land.

Of course, there still large starches of land that are full of the wilderness but a noticeable portion of them have been settled and is now being cultivated.

+10 base economic power, +5 economic power per turn for the next two turns.


-[x] education for all.

The expansion of the school system has seen slight setbacks which were mostly resolved by diverting more funds.

But the wanted increase for the curriculum did not go as planned as many of the needed teachers were hired to provide the needed education for the growing stream of Keku immigrating to the cities.

This has only seen the curriculum expand by a year instead of the two originally envisioned.

Things in the country dis on the other hand progressed swiftly, by the end of the decade all of the larger villages had a dedicated school and teachers and the smaller ones at least have a few teachers for the more important subjects.

Education increases in both quality and quantity, large education system has it maintenance increased to 250 EFEP.


-[x] industry standard. (can only be in the three lowest priorities).

There is very little you had to do but open the purse string and some slight follow ups to ensure you aren't being scammed.

After that it was mostly up to the factories ability to construct the needed equipment.

And while not all -or even the majority- of the various industries in the empire completely switched to the utilization of steam enough had that by this point whoever hasn't can't compete.

+25 base economic power, +15 in the next turn as the rest of the market catches up and endeavors use their new profits to invest in more machinery.


-[x] An egg nests.

Most of the funds saved were quickly redirected to education to stem the tide of bleeding.

Even with further investment you haven't achieved your objectives fully but at least you hadn't walked backwards.

Spent to prop up the education for all action.
-[x] Investment opportunities.
in return to form the investment department has been investing in safe prospects and mostly oiling the gears of the economy.

True it doesn't give much return but growth is growth.

+1 base economic power. +20% temporary economic growth.

-[x] Looking for enlightenment.

Tikentu quietly drew ever more Qi into his dentian an easier prospect with the new condensation arrays.

Yet he could feel the inefficacies in his approach, where before the amount of Qi he lost was minuscule with the rush of power that is now cursing through him the loss has become significant enough to sense.

And if you can sense it, you can fix it.

Qi lore rise to LV 11.

-[x] craft
--[x] condensing arrays.

It was the work of hundreds of cultivators.

Carefully carving arrays one after the other and setting them in the various places of power.

Cultivating in the locations now saved for the elite you could feel the difference that they bring, as you gather Qi almost two times as fast while being almost twice as dense.

It this moment that validates your path, you're sure you might have been able to spend all the time until the apocalypse cultivation and who knows the heights, you'll have reached but this simple arrangement of runes has changed everything and not only for you.

Since they have been installed the first steps have been making great strids, even with the lesser spots they have available

You've chosen to sacrifice 73.5% of your place of power capacity for a 50% increase in speed of cultivation in addition you have chosen to prioritize your elites giving them 150% of this bonus (75% total) while your non elite only receive 50% of it (25%). Including this turn you stand at 2,273/3233 capacity


-[x] traveling demigods

Traveling throughout the country side and converting the populace has gone about as expected when this task is done by semi-immortal martial artists.

And ever more Divine Qi has been generated.

Although from reports it seems that there is some push back form the various faiths around the world about converting their followers.

Nothing worrisome of course but it might be better to get ahead of it before it becomes something worrisome.

Conversion continues as scheduled, unrest increased as various faiths start to get annoyed that their followers leave their faith.


--[x] The bounty of the ocean- the ocean and seas contain untold wealth both of food and of metal, by use of your new insight it is possible to now tap into that wealth with relative ease bringing great wealth to the empire.

You have spent a lot of time in the waters of your home in the last decade.

Organizing fish mining operations has not been something you've expected to do but if it will help in your casue then you'll gladly attempt it.

There has been some problems with a few types of fish that seem to not have enough thought capacity to carry out such complicated tasks but with a few tires you've found the right specie and it was smooth sailing from there.

The collection and distribution you have mostly left to your mortal bureaucrats.

And from the report you've read the effort is going well.

Temporary increase in EEP and large temporary increase of economic growth.


-[x] the power of sacrifice (no option under here takes AP)
--[x] sacrifice wealth- commend your empire to tribute 150 Estimated Economic Power worth of wealth and gain 1 divine charge.

All throughout the empire vast bonfires are lit and into them a considerable amount of wealth is thrown.

From food, to metal to personal momentous all had been consumed and form the fires you had drawn power.

Gained 1 divine charge. (which was used).


-[X] The burden of a god
--[X] sermon for the faithful.

You have spent much of the time dedicated for this just healing people, for there is no greater joy then seeing one loved one saved from certain death.

You would say that this time has been well invested just for that alone, the benefits for the faith are honestly a secondary concern.

Increased faith fervor (why did no one tell me I was using favor instead of fervor?), which mostly means it stay at the same level as the faith spreads.


Advancements.

This last decade has seen the science community flip again and again.

The first such flip has come from the demonic sword where scientists managed to recreate on of the alloys it was constructed out of it.

The replica is a shadow of the original but compered to the alloys currently in use in the empire it blows the durability and tensile strength charts and while only small amounts o fit can be constructed due to the complicated process it has been of great use in construction.

Gain primitive plassteel (major)- +1% EEP +10% economic growth, increase the hardiness of new infrastructure, may unlock and improve actions.

The second flip comes from something much simpler, one of the Keku on scholarship in the imperial university has gone home for vacation and apparently accidently stumbled on a far more efficient and powerful fertilizer while helping his family around the farm.

This would only be discovered a few months later when his family would write him about how their harvest has increased by over seventy five percent.

A few follow up studies about feasibility and sustainably have produced a fertilizer that is only about forty percent more effective than what's in use but also wouldn't completely drain the land.

Gain advanced fertilizer (major)- +2% EEP, +50% economic growth, triggers a population boom as food overflows the markets in amount not seen before.

The rest of the advancement in the filed aren't as exiting but every piece of knowledge is valuable.

+4 advancement points


Cultivator reports.

This decade two hundred fifty-four new first steps have been awakened.

Additionally, a hundred thirty-four first steps have attempted tribulation, of them ten have succeeded in their cultivation, the word that a new third step ahs arisen has seemed to make people more determined to succussed.

With the influx of new second steps, the older ones have indicated they are readying to face their own tribulation in the coming decades, they will attempt doing so in two decades at the latest (two turns away) and would like your help.

A net of 120 new first steps.

A net of 10 new second steps.

13 second steps have indicated their resolve to face the tribulation.


Additionally, Haku, a second step cultivator from the five sects has stepped into the second expansion, a slow pace for a talent like her but reportable she has been shrinking her cultivation to work on some other project although by the end of the decade it still didn't seem complete.

Haku now stands at the second expansion of the second step.


Faction actions.

Five sects:
much of the resources of the five sect has been invested in developing and constructing the "heavenly lightning deflection" array but they still continued their efforts to awaken new cultivators although with one of their main teachers recovering from tribulation this has been less effective than previous decades.
 
Turn 8.
AN: Here is turn 8, as a warning there is mention of violence towards young children in the opening section so you can juts skip to the option if it bothers you.


In your duties as emperor, you do many things.

From hearing reports about the state of the empire and deciding the course of the future.

To entertaining some of the more influential personas in in the empire and their requests.

Yet the most fulfilling task -and also the most exhausting- is public audiences.

Evry week you reserve eight hours to hear and often rule on public complaints.

Not that complaints are the only thing you hear, many come to profess their gratitude for one thing or another, or for you to bless their children -a thing that is happening more and more- but most of what you do is deal with public conflicts and rule in the favor of one party or another.

The vast majority of those complaints are often important and well worth the time invested to solve them before they fester.

But sometime someone comes with the most trivial of things.

For example, the keku currently speaking has come to accuse one of his patrons for petty thievery of five small copper coins.

While said patron passionately denied that he hasn't stollen anything.

And really the only reason you were still hearing them is because you were contemplating what kind of punishment you should give them for bringing this matter to you the emperor when a local guard would have more than sufficed.

Like you don't think you actually saw a copper coin -let alone a small one- since you've adorned the crown.

This contributed to you not noticing the commotion outside until one of your aids rushed into the thorn room.

"What is it Okenku? You ask the aid.

"There has been a disturbance my lord"

"I can see that, what kind of disturbance?"

Okenku seemed to mull over his words before he spoke "Y-you better see for yourself my emperor"

Hmmm.. you turn to the two Keku "you are both dismissed and should you ever bring such a petty concern before me again you'll spend a week in jail".

Before you could hear their response, you have already left the throne room flaying toward the commotion.

The hallway outside the throne room was full of postnatal petitioners, the few that noticed you hurried to bow but you gave them little attention.

Outside the hallway a crowd seemed to gather around a two frightened Keku and were rowdy enough that several cultivators have needed to interpose themselves between the couple and the crowd.

Even your presence didn't seem to calm the crowed and then you felt it.

A wound in the world, something wrong that shouldn't exist.

You could feel your strength leaving your body in its presences and your insights felt harder to reach.

Locating the source to be a little bundle of cloth in the couple hands was easily enough.

Flying closer has revealed it to be a young baby perhaps only months old.

Your first instinct is to strike him down.

You crush that instinct under iron will.

And as you set down in front of the couple and they hurry to bow you thank that one of the lessons all cultivator receive is how to defend against mental intrusion other wise this baby would already be dead.

The couple bow deeply before begging you to heal their child.

And for the first time in a very long time, you do not know if you could do so.

Looking at the baby with your supernatural senses you come to the shocking realization that he has no soul.

Just as you are about to say that there is nothing you could do a slight gust of winds revels something that was hidden.

It not that the baby has no soul but rather that the soul isn't properly connected to his body.

You can see the wind gently flowing around him and in it you see a promise, a promise that if you try it will guide your hands.

[] Softly say that there is nothing you could do, have a few of your better cultivators guard the couple and gift them a remote house so that they and their child may live in peace from others.

[] Listen to the wind and attempt to heal the child following its instructions (spend 1 AP).

[] Use your new insight to attempt to heal him. (spend 5 10 divine charges and 50 100 lifespan)



[] a new messenger.

The telegraph, one of the more interesting inventions of the past decades.

In theory it should allow instantaneous communication between one side of the globe to the other.

In practice there are sharp limitations to its functions and capabilities but even with them it is revolutionary change in the field of communications.

one that you should make use of.

Setting up all of the necessary infrastructure for it -both laying down the vast quantities of cables required and creating control centers for messages- is going to require vast investment.

This past decade you have set the foundation now its time to improve upon it.

The main thrust of this project would be in increasing capacity for already existing lines which should be somewhat easier then expansion.

Of course, if enough funds are assigned it will be used to subsidizes local authorities in their own efforts to connect their provinces.

A minimal investment would see enough capacity investment to make civilian use of the service if not cheap then not extremely expensive.

A maximal investment would see enough capacity that daily use might be an option for the more well-off families in addition it will also bolster local efforts to expend the network.

[] the track of progress. (must be in the top three priorities).

You know the power for stem will change the world.

This is perhaps most noticeable in the proposal in front of you.

One that seeks to make the newly completed roads obsolete before they were truly used.

A project that envisions a vast network of metal rails throughout the empire upon which a new vehicle is able to travel at that competes if not exceeds the speed of Keku flight.

And with the test bed wildly successful it is time to expand.

Expansion will be slow and there is not a lot you could do about it.

Setting the tracks is both time consuming and labor heavy.

And building the trains that will run on the newly constructed lines will be an expensive prospect.

So, you must limit the scope of the project even as you push aggressively to utilize its benefits.

A few short lines from the capital will be constructed to the more danse population centers that surround it.

And the line already constructed will be expended into another city with the intentions of eventually having git reach the other side of the empire.

Even this will require heavy investment.

The minimum you can invest will barely allow you to implement your plans, which isn't the worst case it was last time as it would still see several new lines opened.

The maximum on the other hand might see you even starting the next portion of the empire crossing line If your lucky

[] Investment opportunities.

The department of economic growth is a small section of the bureaucracy that deals with both investing funds and approving low interest loans for enterprising Keku in order to grease the wheels of the economy.

But there are many opportunities they set aside either because of a lack of funds, personal or just being outside their remit.

Diverting a greater amount of funds and personnel would see a slow yet steady economic growth.

A minimum investment would see many new loans approved and a lot of funds invested in local initiatives but would see a low level of actual returns for the government itself owing to the tax rules in the empire.

A maximum investment would see a boom in new businesses -and as such a boom in revenue- but is somewhat risky setting aside the risk for inflation such an outpouring of funds could destabilize the current market enough to complete certain projects until such disruptions are stabilized.


[] An egg nests.

A decade is a long time and many unexpected costs could rack up.

From simple delays and obstacles for projects to exciting opportunities to sudden crises.

Having an egg nest to draw resources from so you won't need to compromise in other more costly way's is a good idea.

And if it isn't used it's quite easy (if fairly inefficient) to assign it to struggling projects.

Maximum investment is unnecessary and would even be harmful as too much funds and influence are saved rather than spent to further your goals.

A minimal investment while not ideal isn't the worst thing (especially with all the other pressing concerns) but it would mean that should delays occur or opportunities arise your ability to capitalize or resolve them without compromising other concerns is minimal.


[] trade schools.

The large immigration to the city from the country side has seen the cities swell with an uneducated labor force trying to find work.

And while some might find it the times have changed, where a few decades ago you could get a job with no education so long as you demonstrated some capability.

Today many businesses would not look at someone with no official education.

And many of those who immigrated need a job now and not in two to four years after they finished the standard education.

Suffice to say that this is fast becoming a problem.

Which is where the trade schools come in, their purpose is to teach a limited course on a specific job or role in weeks.

Of course, setting this system will require both funds and personal but you can provide both easily.

A minimum investment will see the majority of new immigrates getting the education they need to find a job.

A maximum investment will not only see most of the new immigrants getting the education they need it will also have enough spare capacity to service the old city populations, either for Keku who find the regular course of study difficult or those who wish to change professions for one reason or another.

[] city expansions. (must be in the top 3)

The settling of the country side has only bought you time.

With both the population boom and the immigration to the cities many of your cities need swift expansion.

And not only in living spaces but in services provided, in water infrastructure and even the sewers would need to be enlarged.

The minimum you may spend would only see you tread water, this is not a bad thing as in time the pressure will subside and you must only tread water until then.

The maximum would see you trying to get ahead of the problem but when trading water is both possible and not harmful on the long term the wealth might be better invested in other projects.

[] land scaping (must be lowest priority).

Your new insight empowers you form the land upon which you live.

There are many possible ways to improve the health of it.

Invest wealth and time to improve the land around the capital.

Normally such an expanse would not be justified.

But to spend wealth for the power of the emperor is the greatest bargain one could ever have.

You don't truly know if this project ill be enough to bear fruit but more investment would change nothing.



The last decade saw both the fast expansion of the number of cultivators and also the expansion of their reasonability's (4 AP).

Teachers:
it is expected that around 262 new 1st step cultivators would be recruited and trained this decade (at current pace you're expected to get another AP in 4 turns).

Tribulations: 13 second steps have indicated that they would face their tribulation in 2 turns time. (on turn 10)

[] Recruiting- if you wish to have a hope of survival the current number of disciples is pitiful, your disciples would focus on going out and training potential cultivators in order to find new talents and increase their number. With a crude but passable way to determine talent you can now weed out the untalented. Increasing the power and quality of your new disciples.

[] Looking for enlightenment cultivation as a concept is relatively unknown, with all of your knowledge coming from either your or your older disciples' experiments. But your knowledge is lacking and there are many unknowns. Have your disciples try to invite new concepts that either help or push your knowledge of cultivation further. (OOC: you get a cultivation advancement dice which can give you many tasteful things)

[] Push forward- your disciples have their own cultivation to pursue and they will do so regardless but giving them more time to do so would allow them to make more progress.

[] the power of many- when fighting the demons you have tapped into something, a way to pull the power of cultivators and to be greater then the sum of its parts now that you have touched on it replacing this feat should be fairly easy so task you disciples to do so.

[] rune study- new knowledge has brought your disciples another avenue of growth you very little about the runes you've found and how they work but were there is two there are three and your disciples are eager to find out more so let them and slowly you'll unlock the secrets of artificing.

[] craft- supernatural knowledge is at your disciples' beak and call, maybe they should do something with it.

-[] shirts of iron- the foundries of the empire already ready themselves for the creation of many, many mail-shirts for your cultivators tasking your disciples to enchant them as yours has been would see their effectiveness increase considerably.

-[] condensing arrays- perhaps you have changed you opinion on how they should be divided? If so you will need to replace the current arrays.

-[] heavenly lightening deflection array- a special array that is incredibly helpful when challenging tribulation, unfortunately the power of the tribulation burns it out so it can't be used. Charge your disciples with constructing it. taking this action will give 2 such arrays.
--[] the hall of arrays- the new array is to big of an advantage to not fully capitalize on, assign some of your disciples to only construct arrays their increasing expertise will see an increase of efficiency (spend 1 AP permanently but gain 3 arrays per turn).
---[] invest even more. (Spend 2 AP permanently and gain 7 arrays a turn. At this point they will also slowly work on other craft action which fall under runes)

[] traveling demigods-
your new religion portrays the cultivators as those blessed by the emperor, having them travel the empire and show of their abilities would go a long way to helping in converting people to your new found religion and while less effective then if you go personally the total impact would be greeter due to their greater number.



A long decade is awaiting you, there is much to do and not enough time to do it all (3 personal AP). (2 divine charges).

[] the power of sacrifice (no option under here takes AP)-
either by way of insight or technique you have found a way to greatly empower yourself by sacrificing something. (current lifespan 465)
-[] sacrifice life- sacrifice 10 years of life span for 1 AP (current lifespan 465).
-[] sacrifice wealth- commend your empire to tribute 150 Estimated Economic Power worth of wealth and gain 1 divine charge.
-[] sacrifice divinity-
spend 1 divine charge to gain 5 lifespan.
-[] attempt healing- spend divine charges and lifespan to heal a certain condition.

--[] Kekeru- spend 3 divine charges and 30 lifespan to allow him to fully step into the third step.

--[] Terkahu- spend 1 divine chare and 10 lifespan to have him fully recover.

[] Push higher- your power alone would not save you or your kind, but more power would certainly be useful, so push ahead on this path that you've created oh so long ago.

-[] Ascend- you can feel it, you've reached a point where you can once more reach higher. Push ahead, face the wrath of heaven once more and pray you're ready.

-[] Mediation on the self (may be taken more than once)- the wrath of heaven is powerful and cunning, it will strike at any weakness you show, take a time to know your falling and put your mind at peace to help with the tribulation you will face. (This action will give a big bonus if you take it on the turn, you attempt the tribulation otherwise it would give a small but stackable bonus).

-[] An eighth pillar (0/1 AP to complete)- your instincts tell you that you may still push further in your current step, so take the time to gather the Qi needed to construct a new pillar in your soul. Giving you a new and powerful tool.

-[] resistance of the soul- no matter which pillar you build, it seems as if eight is your limit but you have never let your limit hold you back so spend some time to find a way to construct additional pillars.

-[] A ninth pillar (0/2 AP to complete) (must complete resistance of the soul before you can take this)- you have broken through your limits and now you must take the step to capitalize upon this feat and raise a ninth pillar.

-[] study (artifice)- a new path opens itself before you, travels down its length and attempts to pry whatever secrets it holds.

-[] Seek insight from the world (choose pillar)(may be taken more than once)- seven pillars you've erected in your soul, but they are not just constructs of Qi in each of them there is a Truth of the world. Meditation can draw those truths out but to look within you must look without and seek the inspiration that would advance your understanding and give a new insight for one of your pillars.

-[] The connection of it all- following your new insight you have hundreds of links connecting you to your students and many more from them to their students, the ability to know your daughter is alright at all times is the dream of all fathers but maybe you should try and see if this connection has other uses.


[] the lords- who are the lords?, what are the lords? And how do they fit into your world? You know not the answer but you could find out.

-[] the lord of war- you have recovered a book from the base of the demonic cultivators, the knowledge within is both dangerous and vital attempt to read this book while taking frequent breaks to recover form the mantal assault you will subject yourself to.

-[] the lord of fate- you have recovered a book from the base of the demonic cultivators, the knowledge within is both dangerous and vital attempt to read this book while taking frequent breaks to recover form the mantal assault you will subject yourself to.

-[] the wrath of haven- the demon you spoke too reveled many things about the nature of the tribulation, ascertain the truth of the matter and if you could use it to your advantage.

[] Glimpse the future- you have a gift, a gift that no other has. It has set you on this path and you must both hone and use it, to see the end of this path. Cast your eyes into the future and the apocalypse to come and attempt to draw any piece of information that might give you an advantage.

-[] Pin down the date- currently you know that the apocalypse will start anywhere between a century to three from now, attempt to pin down when it would actually start so you may better prepare.

-[] The nature of the beast-
you know almost nothing about what's to come besides an unending tide of beasts, attempting to understand the coming apocalypse.

-[] The tide- in your vision you saw many types of beast's, small and big, deformed and consisting of perfect form. Attempt to more correctly ascertain what it is that you'll be fighting.

-[] the maelstrom [extremely dangerous]- in your journey through the sea of time you have encountered a being that defies understanding. One way or the other this being is connected to the coming apocalypse, already without even knowing you desist it shrouds your sight of the future, your sight now returning with less and less details. So cast your gaze once more to the future and attempt to ascertain its nature and perhaps you'll find ways to avoid it. But beware as should you be caught death is the only mercy you can expect.

[] The burdens of an emperor- a farmer, son of a farmer turned into a sage, you never thought, nor wanted the burden of rule but here you are with a crown upon your head.

-[] To rule well- taking the time to listen to your subordinates and subjects as well as taking care of the small problems that arise would free your subordinates from the need to do it. (OOC: with the competent ruling action being removed from the empire action list -having achieved a good enough administrative efficiency that it doesn't need to be focused on- this action still helps with the rule of the empire and solving any problem that might crop up)

-[] The bounty of the ocean- the ocean and seas contain untold wealth both of food and of metal, by use of your new insight it is possible to now tap into that wealth with relative ease bringing great wealth to the empire.

[] The burdens of a teacher- you have come to enjoy teaching, but the very act gives you a certain obligation to those you teach.

-[] Haku- it has been some time since you have taken a student personally but some talents are worth it.

-[] To teach the next generations- you're going to need many more cultivators to face the end that comes, and you have taught many, do so again and help train the defenders of the future. Your new pillar makes you even more suited to this task.

-[] The next step- you have many students pushing for the next step in their journey, take the time to share your wisdom and guide them in surviving the tribulation.

-[] the broken- the tribulation to the third step is nothing alike that of the second step and its harsher nature seems to apply to those who fail it as well, those who fail the first tribulation and yet survive had lost most of their cultivation granted power and are heavily wounded but a few months later most of their wounds are healed and although they do not regain their former strength they are still stronger than a regular mortal this is not so for those who fail the second tribulation and are unlucky enough to survive as even now, years after their attempt at tribulation the wounds incurred show no sign of getting any better. You have already tasked various medical institutes to try to conceive of ways to ease their pain (for somewhat mixed results) but you possess knowledge and understanding few others will claim to match and with just some attention, your fallen students' plight might be much reduced… it is the least you owe them and yet the duty of the emperor sits heavy on your shoulders, can you justify investing your time (one of the most valuable resources you have) in something that will not help stave of anhelation?

-[] kekaru- Kekaru has done something you had no idea was possible and has reached a place between the second step and the third attempt to push him over the line fully into the third step if such a thing is even possible.

-[] the power of the few (must be taken with power of the many)- while fighting the daemon you have touched on a way to pull the power of cultivators together and empower it beyond its parts, you have tasked your disciples to search for that power again but you feel as if your help would be especially useful.

[] Listen to the earth- your new pillar allows you to understand the language of the earth all you must do is listen, you're not likely to get any useful information but practice makes perfect.

-[] attempt to pry the secrets of the noble's- you know they plot against you and now you have a new way to spy on them, so listen and see what you can find.

-[] just listen- the earth has much to say and instead of directing it for a specific piece of information you can just listen, you wont get any useful information but it would make for very good practice.

-[] discover the secrets for its health- your new insight scales based on the health of the land you live on and who is better in showing you how to care for it then the land itself? Attempt to listen to the earth and ask for how you may care for it.

[] The burden of a god- whether it was a mistake you will perhaps never know but you are now a god or at least worshiped as one. and being divine -fake or not- comes with some benefits and no less reasonability.

-[] sermon for the faithful- you have spent much effort to bring many Keku into the faith now spend some more to ensure their faith is cemented and grown, wither by making repeat appearances to show you might, by healing the unhealable or juts by making h lives of your faithful easier by your power -either supernatural or natural.

-[] to change realty- your experiments with divine Qi has shown you that its nature is to change the rules that govern realty at least when it comes to techniques attempt to see if it can be used more broadly.

-[] the power of intent (costs 1 divine charge in addition to the AP)- intent, you have know there was power in it for quite some time and now you have found two different manifestation of it attempt to see if you can empower one with the other or in transform one for the other. This is unlikely to bear fruit but the knowledge you will gain from the attempt will be considerable.

[] ancient secrets- recently a strange pyramid has been excavated. No one knows what you will find inside but danger practically radiates off the whole thing in you will have to descend to its depths, best to be prepared.

-[] Start the expedition (doesn't take an AP)- you're preparations are complete and the smell of treasure lures you to the depths, gather your man and descend who know what you might find.

-[] sight unseen- use you're talent to divine some of the potential dangers you'll face and potential ways to counter them.

-[] fight practice- to fight in such close quarters is a difficult prospect for your species and it might be beast to practice such before attempting to enter the pyramid.

-[] buried secretes- the earth seems to know something about the strange pyramid you have found, attempt to decipher their words.



Reminder there is a 4 hour moratorium in place. vote in plan format.

Plan format example:

[] plan name.
-[] empire action with highest priority.
-[] empire action with lower priority.
-[] empire action with lowest priority.
-[] cultivators actions.
-[] personal action.

As a reminder maximum investment refers to putting the action the highest in the plan and minimal investment means putting it the lowest.

I hope I remembered everything but I'm sure I'll remember if I didn't (or I'll get reminded).
 
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The Nine Pillars of The Soul.
For this last decade you have retreated to your solitude as much as you could.

Years spent on cultivation and little else.

And on your lonely perch you have speed through the construction of your eight pillars.

You could have stopped there where your soul was at its limits.

But you didn't.

Yet even you couldn't fully break your limits away.

So, you had to get tricky.

It took you a year to come up with a solution.

And another to carry it out.

You know that each pillar resists another but how much each pillar resist is dependent o the to concepts and the distance between the pilers.

You cannot change the concepts.

But you could change the distance.

With a carful claw and an ocean of Qi you pick up your pillars and rearrange them.

The one who clash the most are separated and the one with the least resistance and up next to one another.

This could not fully eliminate the clashes between pillars but it reduced it by enough that you could construct another pillar.

And so, you did another ocean of Qi and a sea of divine might and the ninth pillar rose in all its glory.

And as you gazed upon your soul you could see it hardening the pillars supporting it giving it stability unmatched.

And with this piece of knowledge, you understand two things.

Just as your soul is supporting your pillars your pillar supports your soul, strengthening it and binding it closer to your body.

And that there will be no more pillars as your soul reached its capacity while in theory you might be able to construct one the strain on your soul will crack it.

The only path forwards is to ascend.


Gain the pillar restructuring technique- which reduces the penalty on cultivating pillars beyond the 5th and might allow for more to be constructed.

Qi lore is now LV 12.

Revel that each pillar also strengthens your soul making it harder to injure.

[] choose your eighth pillar.
[] choose your ninth pillar.


Okey this vote is going to be in plan format as choosing two resonate pillars is important, would be a real shame if you choose death and undeath.

Now because those are your two last pillars were having a 24 hours moratorium we're having it be this long because were also doing another insight preview as its important enough to allow you more options and knowledge to make this choice.

Now as last time every person gets three picks, one of which can be a divine insight, but unlike last time, not only can those picks not be from your already existing pillars they can also not be from anything on this list that already has two or more insights.
 
Death and Keku.
Allright 4 hours haven't actually passed yet but I need to take care of my cat so I'll close the vote a little early.

As a reminder there is a 4 hours mortarium in place. I am available for questions (although it may take longer to get an answer).

Keku. (choose 1)

[] "This path that you have forged, this power you have taken, is no longer just your own your species follows you into ascension and in time they will overcome you but this is your path align it more with your specie rather than yourself and see them take flight" the average Keku talent is increased by half a grade.

[] "It is the nature of life to end, it's in the nature of souls to pass, this can be averted for a time, by your deeds carve your spices deeper into realty so they may further resist departing it" increase Keku lifespan by 5 years. This will also increase their physical peak by half of this time.

[] "You who have united the Keku now face your greatest challenge, keeping them united. It is in the nature of individuals to quarrel with one another yet nature isn't absolute and your authority is enough to enforce this change you may not be able to sever it but suppressing it is well within your right" the Keku become less prone to arguments and conflicts and are happier when they are united. This insight changes the Keku on a cosmic level and will not revert on your death or loss of this insight.

Death. (choose 1)

[] "All roads lead to death, no being on this world may cheat it of its due, they can delay they can fight but in time they will feel its touch, accept that all beings die, embrace the death to come and you'll feel its touch wherever you go" a slight almost unnoticeable amount of pure death energy will be conveyed with your every action, you'll need to limit your interactions with mortals least they accidently die but this energy will make every injury you inflict absolutely deadly.

[] "Life is power, this you know but what is death but the absence of life? Understand death and claim its power" increased combat power in locations where great death occurred/occurs (like large battlefields).

[] "Death, the great equalizer. In time all will know its kiss from the mightiest of gods to the lowliest of ants, it is the end and the beginning and to understand it means harnessing power unmatched. But to truly understand death one must experience it" Die and at the end of the next turn come back to life and in doing so gain the following, a Dao shard of death, the ability to resist death for a short while and the ability to impart death upon another a soul/comprehension based attack that deals instant death.
Scheduled vote count started by uri on Mar 22, 2024 at 11:08 AM, finished with 51 posts and 10 votes.

  • [X] death and keku
    -[X] death pillar
    -[X] keku pillar
    [X] time lead to death
    [X] death and keku
    [x] The People and their souls
    [X] time lead to death
    -[X] death pillar
    -[X] time pillar
    [X] From zero came one, from one came two, from two came four, from four came all things
    -[X] death pillar
    -[X] Taiji pillar
    [X] Death God
    -[X] death pillar
    -[X] divinity pillar
    [x] The People and their souls
    -[x] Soul pillar
    -[X] keku pillar
    [X] Death Releases the Soul
    -[x] Soul
    -[x] Death
 
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The Boy Named Shikatu.
Many times, has the wind came to your aid.

But even with two centuries that you have known its touch you have never seen it wrap itself around someone like it had around the little babe in your hands.

Deciding to help has been an easy choice.

Even setting aside that saving the life of a child was worth it on its own, you relish the chance to repay your debt to the wind that has been your steadfast ally.

You were currently in the operating room in the place, it didn't see much usage normally but even so it was still outfitted with the best equipment money could buy.

It was also completely useless for what you were about to do.

Yet it focused your mind on the task ahead and that was worth ten times all the expensive equipment on the room.

Slowly you released qi into the room.

Honed into thin tendrils you've directed it into the body of the babe in your arms.

Gently the wind directed your Qi.

Twisting the tendrils into ever greater shapes grasping something you could barely see.

The flickers you managed to catch confirm what you knew already, somehow the wind was grasping the very soul and connecting it further into the body.

The procedure took hours.

And while your instinct was screaming to kill the abomination held in your hands you have held him gently for it all.

By the end of it the instinct seemed to dim slightly and you could feel some of your strength returning.

But you were not done.

The body needed to recover before the soul could be interacted with anymore.

So, you returned the babe to his parents.

And took him to another operation a week later.

This pattern repeated itself many times and little by little the aura around young Shikatu -whose parents named in your honor- receded, by the time five years have passed he could spend time around mortals without trying to kill him.

It was around that time that there was a sudden improvement in his condition, with the aura receding as if he underwent more than a dozen operations.

It was around that time that you completed your eight pillar and imbued it with the concept of your race and barring another lead, you could only conclude that it has somehow helped.

Whatever caused it, with the improvement in his condition it only took another year to fully cure him.

Of course, even with the aid of the wind and your supernatural mind swiftly picking up the practice of soul surgery, messing with the soul is a dangerous prospect and young Shikatu hasn't come out unscared form the experience.

It is your conclusion that he would not live beyond his fortieth birthday, an unfortunate side effect of the surgery.

You first thought to teach his to cultivate so he may enjoy the higher lifespan but when testing him for talent you discovered that Qi was still dead to him, no matter what you tried he never managed to sense or touch it.

Your second thought was further soul surgery but without the wind guiding your hand you didn't feel confidant enough in your new skill to succussed.

In the end you decided to do nothing, you have given forty years to a child that would not have seen ten and that was good enough.

With the operation declared a success you felt something change.

Not in you or in others but with the very world.

But for the life of you, you could not say what has changed only that something has.

Gain the soul surgery skill at incompetent. gain ???


Allright, after this only the turn end remains and then we'll move to turn 9.
 
Turn 8: End.
AN: well I know I said we'll return to our scheduled programming on the 14th but I've just finished two tests, pretty much back to back and my mind just finished this while recovering and there's no reason not to post it, turn 9 will wait until the 14th though.


Another decade has passed and with it passing you're inching ever closer to the apocalypse.

With the help of your divination, you estimate that the apocalypse will start anywhere between 5-20 decades (turns) from now.

As your information about the crises is almost nonexistent you cannot estimate how prepared you are for the coming crisis. But the being you saw in your visions does not spell good fortune.

Without knowing for how long you must fight it is difficult to say if your supplies will last but at least they'll last longer than they did yesterday.

You can only hope that the actions in the past decade have pushed you closer to survive



-[X] the track of progress. (must be in the top three priorities).

Setback after setback, that is the only thing this project has brought.

From local corruption rings to train tracks that crack after a month in the cold condition of the north.

Thanks to heroic efforts by the clerks assigned to the project some resemblance of the time table has been maintained even as the very world seemed to fight them at every turn.

Only three new tracks have been constructed out of the five planed and the expansion of the first one is only halfway done.

Hopefully the next decade will see faster progress.

+45 base economic power.


-[X] a new messenger.

If there is one benefit to old age is the understanding that things change.

You yourself has seen the passings of empires and cultures.

And yet for the four hundred years you have lived you do not think you have seen a change quite like this.

The telegraph is truly a marvel, you've knowns this ever since you started using it to help with governing your empire.

But you have not been ready for this.

Expending the telegraph stations was easy enough with the large amount of personal you could draw on for training and on the job experience.

And laying some new lines along already known routes has been just matter of time and money, both things you do not truly lack.

You did not expect the reception opening the telegraph to the public has gotten.

From opening day, the various stations around the empire have been swarmed with customers wishing to send short massages to friends or family members.

The current system is pretty much at capacity with over five thousand massages delivered every day, the price has risen form a single large copper coin to five in about three days -and later reduced to three by your decree- but there was no true slowing of the tide.

There was so much demand that local and private efforts have joined to both expend the current network and connect new cities to it.

You didn't expect this change but you can't say you don't like it.

+25 base economic power. Small civilian telegraph coverage- +25% administrative efficiency, +100% economic growth and +5% EEP while costing 60 EFEP in maintenance.



-[X] city expansions. (must be in the top 3)

In order to keep up with the flow of immigrants and the population boom cities all across the empire needed to construct new apartments in a frantic pace.

Thankfully due to constant vigilance and oversight no conners were cut in the constructions that would later lead to accidents.

By the end of the decade your situation isn't much better then where you've started but in this project that's good enough.

On the upside the constant work has been helpful for the economy.

No overpopulation events this turn, +5 base economic power.

-[X] Investment opportunities.

Their budget increased the investment has been quick to invests those founds into the economy greasing the wheels that make the world spin and ensuring growth.

In particular they had great successes with loaning for new businesses that help with both the telegraph and train projects.

Of course, the large injecting of founds into the economy has somewhat increased inflation but so long as you take care in the next decade you'll come a good way ahead.

+5 base economic power, +80% temporary economic growth, base economic power is shrunk by 1.5% due to inflation (this comes to about 6 base economic power).



-[X] trade schools.

You don't know what it is but there seems to be even more problems in securing temporary education initiatives then the permeant ones.

Perhaps due to their temporary nature.

Yet when the government set its eyes on a task there is very little that can stop it and one by one all of the problems straighten themselves out.

And by the end of it you've even left with a very small capacity extra.

Avoid education and unemployment related negative events. +2 base economic power and +5% economic growth as more people enter the educated work force.


-[X] An egg nest.

The funds intended to be saved for setbacks have been mostly needed to deal with the economic backlash of you stopping the fish mining scheme.

The transition was still not wholly smooth but it saved of the worst of the effects.

Used to lower the economic growth penalty from not following up on the bounty of the ocean action from last turn.


-[X] land scaping (must be lowest priority).

What dos it means for the land to be healthy?

Dos It have to do with soil quality? With its fertility or with how much life it supports?

You do not know and without knowing you must default to what you do know.

Intent, beliefs they have power you've still don't fully understand.

And in your lack of knowledge of what makes lands healthy you settle to what is believed that makes land healthy.

A full decade of work and the lands surrounding the capital are changed.

Fertilizer and carful planting has created a dense and vibrant ecosystem.

And as the decade close you can feel the change as the earth feels ever more vibrant.

Earth health increased around the capital, pushing you to the 4th spiritual diet grade.


-[X] Looking for enlightenment

Inspired by your own insight a few of your disciples has set out to research how one diet effect their cultivation.

A decade later and they have found several ingredients and meals that are benefital for cultivation.

The actual benefits are small but every small bit helps.

Gain immortal cooking lore 0. All of your cultivators now have a grade 0 spiritual diet which provides very, very minor bonuses.


-[X] traveling demigods

Another decade and even more Keku converted.

Your disciples have continued traveling across the country side to show off their abilities to the same success as always.

But things aren't as calm as they were in the previous decades your disciples report unprecedented hostility toward them and your agents are managed to pick up various rumors swilling around about you are actually the devil -or the equivalent for different religions- and represent all evil in this world.

Non dare say it openly and you have yet to catch someone to ling to this rabble rousing but the suspects are obvious and the consequences of their actions are apparent.

A small group of your disciples were ambushed by zealots of a small religion, the attackers were delt with and anyone relating to them has been put under heavy scrutiny and their religion was forbidden from practicing publicly in an effort to skirt the line between punishment and further inflammation of the situation.

Religion spread increased, unrest increased. -1 base economic power from disruptions.



--[X] heavenly lightening deflection array- a special array that is incredibly helpful when challenging tribulation, unfortunately the power of the tribulation burns it out so it can't be used. Charge your disciples with constructing it. taking this action will give 2 such arrays.
---[X] invest even more. (Spend 2 AP permanently and gain 7 arrays a turn. At this point they will also slowly work on other craft action which fall under runes)

Day in day out hundreds of your disciple's labors.

Most of them will not see a true return on their dedication, the arrays they craft stockpiled for the use of the elite few.

And yet day after day they labor.

Knowing that they gain little in return the continue on.

For in the end, it matters not who saves their world.

But that their world is saved

Gain the artifice hall cultivator institution which will currently craft 7 tribulation arrays a turn and will slowly make progress on other craft projects relating to runes.
Cultivator institutions are the start of truly organizing cultivator society and of specialization.

There are many types and all for them provide some kind of bonus to their members and trough them to the empire.

They start small but as you invest in them and they grow, the bonus they offer increases and they start picking up traditions which are powerful boons that at come at a steep cost.

And looking beyond their mechanical impacts the various cultivator institutions also influence your nascent cultivator culture narratively and there are various time points where that matters.

Advancements.

In compression to the last decade the advancements of this one seem rather lacking but even so they bring you ever closer to a brighter dawn (+2 advancement points).

One particular advancement is a newly released study about a more efficient work week, there were already trends toward shorter weeks and work days but this study has conformed beyond a doubt something that was long suspected and has accelerated this trend. (gain work studies advancement (minor)- +1% EEP, +10% economic growth.)



Cultivator reports.

This decade two hundred fifty-nine new first steps have been awakened.

Additionally, a hundred thirty-six first steps have attempted tribulation, of them six have succeeded in their attempt.

A net of 123 new first steps.

6 new second steps.


This past decade your eye has been on Vekatu after he rose to tainted body in less than a year and you haven't been disappointed as he reached impure body in much the same time, by the end of the decade he stood at the peak of refined body, a gust of wind away from reaching the required stage for tribulation.

But his great talent in cultivation is not the only reason you have kept an eye on him, he has somehow managed to concoct a supernatural healing remedy -which was later condensed into a pill- from somewhat common materials using his own Qi to manipulate their innate characteristics.

This new practice has been dubbed alchemy and a basic instruction manual was swiftly written.

While new and undeveloped the first fruits of alchemy are promising, the healing pill can mend flesh and bones in minutes and allow wounded cultivators to fight again and although the pills show no effectiveness on wounds suffered during tribulation this is a great boon to the empire fighting power.

Vekatu now stand on the refined body stage but he is so close to the next stage that he's practically there.
Now that you've unlocked alchemy let's talk about how it works.

To start off alchemy is purely a consumable trade, getting permanent effects out of it is all but impossible without very high-level materials and even then, the permanent benefits are kind of low.

During play you will unlock pill recipes which will specify the effects of their pills, the cost to craft a batch (either in mundane materials or something better), the work needed to brew it and its toxicity.

For example, let's look at the recipe you unlocked this turn.

Lowly healing pills- cost per charge: 5 EFEP. Craft per charge: 50 capacity. effect: upon consumption of a charge heal 1 unit from lightly wounded to healthy restoring their BP and allowing them to continue fighting. Special: so long as one charge is left, all champions are assumed to have a few such pills available increasing their survivability. Toxicity: 4.

Every, turn you decide how many pills you brew out of your available recipes, pay the price and then either stockpile the pills or use them.

The base brewing capacity is 200 it will grow slightly with cultivator numbers but not by much, spending an AP on a craft action would increase this capacity by 500 and spending one permanently would increase it by 700.

Pill toxicity is the attribute that governs how many pills one can consume before side effects start occurring, the formula for it is 2+ 2X^2 where X Is your cultivation step.

In compression Haku had little successes although she rose to the fourth expansion her rune project has ended in failure, the matrix of runs she was working on collapsing rather violently, nevertheless the setback has not hurt her resolve and even from failure much can be leant.

Haku now stand at the fourth expansion of the second step. +2 rune lore.


Faction actions.

Five sects:
the last decade has been spent by the five sects in constructing additional tribulation arrays and using them 4 new second steps have arisen. This effort has lowered the amount of first step cultivators they have awakened this decade but not by much.

Nobles:
the nobles have continued in their attempts to increase their economic power to a small success, on the cultivation front very little has actually been done with only 6 new first steps being awakened.
 
Turn 9.
Looking at the dead body of your father brings some bad memories back.

Even tough you know that he'll be fine it hard to fully quite your emotions.

But while he's away you'll need to do so anyway.

Nodding to the guards -all old second steps- stationed around his body you leave the hidden room in which you've hidden him.

While you doubt that there is anyone who can actually pass the security on in the palace and the one around the body, it costs you very little to be more careful and a lot more if you aren't cautious enough.

But as you leave the room you also leave those thoughts behind, there is a lot to do and very little time in which to do it.



[] a new messenger.

The telegraph, one of the more interesting inventions of the past decades.

In theory it should allow instantaneous communication between one side of the globe to the other.

In practice there are sharp limitations to its functions and capabilities but even with them it is revolutionary change in the field of communications.

One that you should make use of.

Setting up all of the necessary infrastructure for it -both laying down the vast quantities of cables required and creating control centers for messages- is going to require vast investment.

This past decade you have massively expended the network capacity and now is the time to truly connect the empire.

With both private and local help -and the recent growth in founds available for the crown it has now become possible to connect all major populations centers into the network and usher in a new age of information.


A minimal investment is just enough to complete this project, of course the connection for many places would be a single line but it would be enough, investing more will see both more places connected and more capacity in the new connections.


[] the track of progress. (must be in the top three priorities).

You know the power for stem will change the world.

This is perhaps most noticeable in the proposal in front of you.

One that seeks to make the newly completed roads obsolete before they were truly used.

A project that envisions a vast network of metal rails throughout the empire upon which a new vehicle is able to travel at that competes if not exceeds the speed of Keku flight.

And with the test bed wildly successful it is time to expand.

Expansion will be slow and there is not a lot you could do about it.

Setting the tracks is both time consuming and labor heavy.

And building the trains that will run on the newly constructed lines will be an expensive prospect.

So, you must limit the scope of the project even as you push aggressively to utilize its benefits.

With the expertise gathered from previous decades and the work already done, not only can the emperor line be complete but many smaller connections could be spun off and see many cities connected to one another.

Even this will require heavy investment.

The minimum you can invest will barely allow you to implement your plans, which would see seven new lines opened as well as the completion o the emperor line.

The maximum on the other hand would see even more lanes opened to some of the smaller cities and connect the empire even more.

[] Investment opportunities.

The department of economic growth is a small section of the bureaucracy that deals with both investing funds and approving low interest loans for enterprising Keku in order to grease the wheels of the economy.

But there are many opportunities they set aside either because of a lack of funds, personal or just being outside their remit.

Diverting a greater amount of funds and personnel would see a slow yet steady economic growth.

A minimum investment would see many new loans approved and a lot of funds invested in local initiatives but would see a low level of actual returns for the government itself owing to the tax rules in the empire.

A maximum investment would see a boom in new businesses -and as such a boom in revenue- but is somewhat risky setting aside the risk for inflation such an outpouring of funds could destabilize the current market enough to complete certain projects until such disruptions are stabilized.


[] An egg nests.

A decade is a long time and many unexpected costs could rack up.

From simple delays and obstacles for projects to exciting opportunities to sudden crises.

Having an egg nest to draw resources from so you won't need to compromise in other more costly way's is a good idea.

And if it isn't used it's quite easy (if fairly inefficient) to assign it to struggling projects.

Maximum investment is unnecessary and would even be harmful as too much funds and influence are saved rather than spent to further your goals.

A minimal investment while not ideal isn't the worst thing (especially with all the other pressing concerns) but it would mean that should delays occur or opportunities arise your ability to capitalize or resolve them without compromising other concerns is minimal.


[] city expansions. (must be in the top 3)

The settling of the country side has only bought you time.

With both the population boom and the immigration to the cities many of your cities need swift expansion.

And not only in living spaces but in services provided, in water infrastructure and even the sewers would need to be enlarged.

The minimum you may spend would only see you tread water, this is not a bad thing as in time the pressure will subside and you must only tread water until then.

The maximum would see you trying to get ahead of the problem but when trading water is both possible and not harmful on the long term the wealth might be better invested in other projects.

[] day care. (must be in the lowest two.)

For the Keku child rearing is a communal thing.

Even in the cities where thousands live and festering a sense of community is harder most neighborhoods come together for the rising of young chicks. With whose watching over the young rotating between families.

This practice dos wonders for social cohesion in the many sperate communities but with the recent population boom those structures are starting to be overwhelmed, with too many children and not enough caretakers.

The problems stem from the fact that with more children to watch over more Keku must watch over them in every shift, and so where before an adult might need to skip work once a month to help watch over the young he might now need to do so three times.

And there are not many who can truly afford this.

The solution is easy and present an opportunity.

creating a lower level school, where the young Keku may be watched over by trained personal for the majority of the day would both lower the pressure on communities and allow for some basic education to be taught to the very young which can then later be expanded by the school system.

Of course, you will have to slow walk this as many parents are far more concerned with their very young then teenagers.

A minimal investment would be enough to at least start this project and make good headway, more investment is preferred but it may be too much too soon.




The last decade saw both the fast expansion of the number of cultivators and also the expansion of their reasonability's (2 AP).

Teachers:
it is expected that around 268 new 1st step cultivators would be recruited and trained this decade (at current pace you're expected to get another AP in 3 turns).

Tribulations: 13 second steps have indicated that they would face their tribulation in 2 turns time. (on turn 10)

Lightening reflection arrays: 7 (+7 per turn)

Alchemy: 200/200 capacity. Total cost: 20 EFEP. Total production: 4 lowly healing pills charges.

[] change alcemy production? (dosnt cost an action).

-[] to what?


[] Recruiting-
if you wish to have a hope of survival the current number of disciples is pitiful, your disciples would focus on going out and training potential cultivators in order to find new talents and increase their number. With a crude but passable way to determine talent you can now weed out the untalented. Increasing the power and quality of your new disciples.

[] Looking for enlightenment cultivation as a concept is relatively unknown, with all of your knowledge coming from either your or your older disciples' experiments. But your knowledge is lacking and there are many unknowns. Have your disciples try to invite new concepts that either help or push your knowledge of cultivation further. (OOC: you get a cultivation advancement dice which can give you many tasteful things)

[] Push forward- your disciples have their own cultivation to pursue and they will do so regardless but giving them more time to do so would allow them to make more progress.

[] the power of many- when fighting the demons you have tapped into something, a way to pull the power of cultivators and to be greater then the sum of its parts now that you have touched on it replacing this feat should be fairly easy so task you disciples to do so.

[] rune study- new knowledge has brought your disciples another avenue of growth you very little about the runes you've found and how they work but were there is two there are three and your disciples are eager to find out more so let them and slowly you'll unlock the secrets of artificing.

[] craft- supernatural knowledge is at your disciples' beak and call, maybe they should do something with it.
-[] shirts of iron- the foundries of the empire already ready themselves for the creation of many, many mail-shirts for your cultivators tasking your disciples to enchant them as yours has been would see their effectiveness increase considerably.
-[] condensing arrays- perhaps you have changed you opinion on how they should be divided? If so you will need to replace the current arrays.
-[] heavenly lightening deflection array- a special array that is incredibly helpful when challenging tribulation, unfortunately the power of the tribulation burns it out so it can't be used. Charge your disciples with constructing it. taking this action will give 2 such arrays.
-[] pills- you have a need for more pills so task more disciples with crafting them. (+500 capacity)

[] the building blocks of the world- alchemy, this practice holds great promise yet you know so little about it, attempt to mix hundreds of different ingredients and regents in an attempt to discover some underlying principle, at the very worst you might find a useful recipe.

[] A meal fit for a king- the practice of immortal cooking is in its infancy and it could not progress without the needed ingredients, search high and low for ingredients with concentrated spiritual properties and craft a meal fit for a king.

[] the wound in the world- for a decade has the emperor toiled to heal but a single child whose mere presence was a wound in the world and where there is one there are two, search the empire for other manifestations of such wounds and attempt to see if there is anything that could be done for them that's doesn't require the complete attention of the emperor.

[] traveling demigods- your new religion portrays the cultivators as those blessed by the emperor, having them travel the empire and show of their abilities would go a long way to helping in converting people to your new found religion and while less effective then if you go personally the total impact would be greeter due to their greater number.


While not as powerful or wise as your father you are still a force to be reckoned with and are one of the wisest of sages. (2 Regent AP).

[] a wise ear (may be chosen more than once)- while not your father with his unending wisdom and knowledge you are still one of the most experienced cultivators around -and most defiantly the second most powerful one- spend a little of your time to help and guide your disciples.
-[] write in one of the cultivators action picked this turn and it gets a minor bonus.

[] a quite storm (may be chosen more than once)- discontent is spreading in the land spearheaded by various religious groups who are either afraid of losing their power or truly think the empire faith is heretical, while you could let it blow over spending some time going around and calming the currents would ensure at least a smoother transition.

[] Closed contemplations- or perhaps you should take the example of your father ad strive for advancement, you're already spending some time in constricting your pillar spend some more and finish it this decade rather than the next.


[] the lords-
who are the lords?, what are the lords? And how do they fit into your world? You know not the answer but you could find out.
-[] the lord of war- you have recovered a book from the base of the demonic cultivators, the knowledge within is both dangerous and vital attempt to read this book while taking frequent breaks to recover form the mantal assault you will subject yourself to.
-[] the lord of fate- you have recovered a book from the base of the demonic cultivators, the knowledge within is both dangerous and vital attempt to read this book while taking frequent breaks to recover form the mantal assault you will subject yourself to.
-[] the wrath of haven- the demon you spoke too reveled many things about the nature of the tribulation, ascertain the truth of the matter and if you could use it to your advantage.


Okey so I might have lied -again- but I finished another test and my mind just wandered to this the vote itself will be left up until the 14th though.


Reminder there is a 4 hour moratorium in place. vote in plan format.

Plan format example:

[] plan name.
-[] empire action with highest priority.
-[] empire action with lower priority.
-[] empire action with lowest priority.
-[] cultivators actions.
-[] personal action.

As a reminder maximum investment refers to putting the action the highest in the plan and minimal investment means putting it the lowest.

I hope I remembered everything but I'm sure I'll remember if I didn't (or I'll get reminded). Anyway enjoy finding out what the nobles were doing in the last few decades.
 
A Brief Glimpse.
I don't really like this snippet, I feell like it could be better but perfect is the enemy of good enough and this is probably good enough, no vote this time but I have started another quest (because I'm crazy) and it's a more standard cultivation quest for this forum (in that its also half a magical school setting) but in many opinion the mechanics of it are pretty unique (being oath/contract based) so do check it out.

It's also going to be lower priority then this quest so we aren't going to be slowed by much form it.



A few decades ago, when divine Qi was just discovered Kekita had a discussion with her father about the other least disruptive way to spread the newly funded religion throughout the empire.

The best way they have come up with, was to co-opt local beliefs and practices.

It was a practice repeated often throughout history by conquering empires and often to great success and they set out to repeat history.

As the single polity on the planet and the dominant force in it, actually converting and spreading the religion has been relatively easy, as no other force dared to stim their efforts.

Until now.

And while they still cannot match the empire in the day, a knife in the dark can be all the more dangerous.

The wise would say that an ounce of prevention is worth pound of cure and Kekita is wise indeed.

This is why she has set out to visit the various religious authorities in the empire.

Covering the entirety of the plant, there ware many different religions and sects in the empire, some small and some large.

And Kekita has taken the time to visit most of them to both ascertain their involvement in the violence brewing and to provide a face they can connect to the imperial authority and come trust.

So far, she has visited more then three hundred different sects or religions, most of them didn't have anything to do with the rabble rousing in the past decade and a few guarantees to put some of their fears to rest ensured they would continue to do so.

The mejorty of those that do are in the form of fanatics and zealots and beside some reminders of the difference in power and an offer to help restrain their more zealous members there is nothing to really do but watch them.

Then there are those that are truly working against the empire and a series of arrests of leadership is enough to put that problem down, of course there are some protests and increased unrest when a religious figure is arrested but in the long term the situations will stabilize and removing the negative factor will ensure the empire comes out ahead.

Of course, Kekita isn't conducting this investigation alone, several dozen mortal agents are helping in finding and compiling information and local authorities are swift in helping the regent with her work.

Today they are to visit the reforged chain faith, the faith itself has a small gathering, too small to normally be worth visiting but preliminary reports about the nature of the faith itself are worrying and while small they still managed to gather a few thousands to their banner.

Their main location is somewhat isolated but for a cultivator it no more than a few hours of flight.

A crowd has already gathered by the time they got there.

It seems that they were expected.

An elder Keku -his feathers gray form age- fly's up to meet them "our leader has been expecting you, your highness he's waiting for you in his abode in meditation" saying so he points to a cave somewhat up the mountain that the village is situated in.

The possibility that it's a trap flash through your mind but you decide that if it is you'll trip it as with your guards there is nothing here that could threaten you.

Of course, that is no reason to get complacent and your sense reach out attempting to sense into the cave.

You find nothing.

Until you step into the cave and your surroundings shift abruptly, your senses exploding with Qi.

Flame's rise around your body in an instinctive defense but no attacks come.

And then you sense him, swiftly your eyes find the source of the energy in a giant Keku.

But you can see past the illusion and the sifting horror beneath.

He seems content to study you for a moment and you in turn manage to get a better grasp on his power.

He's not stronger, at least not in the way you can grasp strength but he does feel deeper like there is an ocean beneath his body.

Suddenly he scowls and weaves his hand at you and you feel a great force pushing you away returning you to the outside world and throwing you into the air with a few last words ringing in your head. "You're not the one I want, return with the one with authority ".

Stabilizing yourself as your guards spread out on the off chance that you're going to be attacked while distracted, you go over your memories for any clue about what happened.

And you find it.

Just before you were pushed, you felt energy remarkably seemlier to divine Qi gather.

Questioning of the villagers confirms that your either dealing with a god or an entity that managed to place itself as a god in the local region.

From what you've been told you've dealing with Okertaku god of perseverance's and tyranny but further attempts at searching the cave revel a normal cave and nothing more.

You hadn't expected this outcome but its probably good that you stumbled about this now rather them later.

You'll just have to wait for the emperor to deal with it.
 
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A Mesmerizing Sight.
Ruling an empire takes a lot of work even with supernatural vitality and speed and with all but instantaneous connections.

And with all of her other responsibilities Kekita had very little free time.

But when she did, she liked to spend it in meditation, regular meditation that is not anything relating to cultivation, just letting herself relax and for her thoughts to calm after a busy workday.

The palace stuff and her disciples knew her well enough to not disturb her during this time unless there was truly no other option.

Which is why it was very concerning when one of her disciples barged into her chambers.

Gliding down from the rafter to meet him she saw that he was huffing and seemed to be very exhausted which is rather difficult to achieve for someone at the peak of the first step.

"Breath Okatu, breath" she told him, not that he seemed to hear her as he tried speaking between his heavy breaths.

"Site -huff- three -huff- its happe- huff- ning -huff- you must -huff- see it"

Gently placing a wing over his mouth, she repeated her earlier words and only when he stopped shaking form exhaustion did she let him speak again.

"it worked, my lady, site three is being changed into a place of power right now"

Oh? So that experiment did work after all, they were beginning to lose hope but "that is good news Okatu" she said before darkening her tone "but it isn't urgent enough to barge into my chambers like that" she reprimanded him.

Yet instead of seeing any shame or embarrassments on his face he only seemed to remember his earlier haste and started dragging her out of the room "you must see this my lady, its like nothing I have ever seen" his word held a tone she couldn't quite place.

But she knew Okatu, he worked with her for more than three decades and was very level headed so if he was this insistent, she trusted his judgment.

No longer dragging her it was Okatu who needed to push to keep up, and soon Kekita found an open window from which she took to the sky.

Site three wasn't actually that far and about ten minutes of hard flight and she arrived at the patch of forest dubbed site three.

And she wasn't alone.

Almost a hundred other cultivators gathered around the site looking at the forest.

And she swiftly understood why.

The forest was changing trees grew by inches every second their branches thickening and their leaves becoming pure green while their fruits spurted, ripened and then rotted before spurting again.

The under bush spread with no limit, flowers bloomed and died before new ones spurted to begin the cycle anew.

The various critters of the forest we're running around in chaos as their bodies mutated many seemed to die but some grew to be more form the experience, attaining speed or size that is beyond their species.

Wherever she looked the forest was changing.

And when she peered closer, she could the Qi swirling infusing the forest with its power.

And it was the most beautiful thing she saw in her life.

By the time she could pry her eyes form the dance in front of her, the sun has already set and the forest has changed greatly.

No longer was there a normal patch of forest here but a place of power in full, grown and strengthened by its tribulation.

And deep inside her soul.

Kekita felt that she did too.


A new place of power has been born increasing places of power capacity.

Kekita (plus all the other cultivators who experienced the birth of the place of power) has understood a Dao fragment of creation.


Now that you know how to create a place of power, we a have a choice, a choice for how frequent do you want to get the action to create one.

[] never- the attention could be better diverted to other pursuits so we don't want it, you'll be able to change your opinion later on but it will probably be delayed.

[] when we are close to the limit- with this option you'll only get the action to create a place of power when you get to around 3000 capacity used.

[] whenever we finish creating one- with this choice you'll get the action the turn you finish creating one regardless of other factors.

[] every turn- you think that places of power are the future and you want them all, so you'll get the action every turn unless there is some big emergency that requires the attention.
 
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Turn 9: End.
AN: did you know I almost lost this entire post, all 2k words of it but thankfully I managed to get a backup working. I'll go about updating the informational's and getting turn 10 up in next few days, the holyday is going to slow things some so I cant commit to a time table.

Random fact: I wrote most of this while listening to the song form the musical episode of buffy and a little from the death note musical.


Another decade has passed and with it passing you're inching ever closer to the apocalypse.

With the help of your divination, you estimate that the apocalypse will start anywhere between 4-19 decades (turns) from now.

As your information about the crises is almost nonexistent you cannot estimate how prepared you are for the coming crisis. But the being you saw in your visions does not spell good fortune.

Without knowing for how long you must fight it is difficult to say if your supplies will last but at least they'll last longer than they did yesterday.

You can only hope that the actions in the past decade have pushed you closer to survive

-[X] the track of progress. (must be in the top three priorities).

If one were to look from high in the sky, he would see vast lines of metal stretching to the horizon in all directions.

Line after line tracks has been laid down connecting the northern region ever more closely.

And while outside the northern lands there are little new rails constructed the emperor line connect the biggest cities of the empire together.

Evry day tons of material and products pass through the rail network with more added every day.

Truly what a magical time to be alive.

+40 base economic power, gain the small logistics network trait which costs 10 EFEP to maintain but give the following bonuses +50 economic growth and +5% EEP.


-[X] a new messenger.

A massive festival erupted as the last city connected to the telegram network and the Keku took a step towards the bright future of instantaneous communication.

There are still many places in the country side that aren't connected but most of them are within flight range of a place that is.

Truly this is a great achievement for the empire and keku-kind.

The demand for massages has lowered with the novelty of it expiring but it's still massive as it became a part of everyday life.

+30 base economic power. medium civilian telegraph coverage- +30% administrative efficiency, +150% economic growth and +10% EEP while costing 150 EFEP in maintenance.

-[X] city expansions. (must be in the top 3)

More houses, more well's, more of everything.

Your cities are in a race with no end and they only keep up with your help.

There does seem to be a slight decrease in the rate of population transfer and you can only hope it's a sign that soon things will calm down.

No overpopulation events this turn, +7 base economic power.

-[X] Investment opportunities.

little by little money and resources flows.

It's not a lot but its stable and helps in closing gaps where large government investment is inefficient or unavailable.

+2 base economic power. temporary economic boost.

-[X] An egg nests.

Asid from some concerning discoveries the decade has passed without incident nor delay.

Nothing. (honestly, I think the empire grew enough that this action is defunct, so it'll go away next turn)

-[X] day care. (Must be in the lowest two.)

Intervening in the care of the young was always going to be complicated and fraught with danger.

This has necessitated you to be extremely carful.

A mistake here would set this project decades.

Thankfully things have gone as smoothly as you could hope

Implementation and adoption by the public is a little slow but you already expected that.

But the benefits are worth it even aside from setting a foundation in the mind of the young which can then later be built upon, freeing the permeant to return to their work not only helps in their standard of living but is quite helpful economically.

+5 base economic power, you have med progress towards more education traits.

-[X] the building blocks of the world

Knowing so little about alchemy means that the only way you can advance is to throw things at the wall and see what sticks.

Suffice to say most of the experiments explode.

Thankfully, the toughness of cultivators and some hastily written safety regulations mean no one was hurt.

But there is a saying among scientists that says that "if something explodes, you're on the right track" so the constant failures have gone to motivate your research teams.

And over the decade some useful properties and recipes have been discovered.

+alchemy lore.

Discover the following recipes.

The awakening pill- cost per charge:
15 EFEP. Craft per charge: 25 capacity. effect: each charge spent in a turn grants a 3% bonus for the number of first step cultivators awakened (note that overuse may lower quality of cultivators produced). Toxicity: 1.

Explosive concoctions T2/4/8- cost per charge: 5/15/40 EFEP. Craft per charge: 5/20/30 capacity. effect: upon use and consumption of a charge, the various concoctions will explode with the force and effect equivalent to an artillery barrage of effective tech level 4/6/8 Toxicity: N/A.

-[X] A meal fit for a king

The search for spiritual ingredients was a long one.

The first question that had been asked is what a spiritual ingredient even is.

It is known that everything possesses some slight amount of Qi so is a spiritual ingredient something with a higher concertation of Qi?

The answer is a resounding no!

The places of power throughout the empire are full of plants with more Qi then normal yet you'll find no more spiritual ingredients there than any other place.

The answer is found in the sickly farmer's field.

Lacking the ability to bring vast swaths of land under cultivation the few plants he has are given sublime attention and more than half fall under the spiritual ingredient classification.

Like always it seems to all go back to intent.

Now that you know where to look supplying enough ingredients to both experiment in new dishes and ensure all cultivator could partake of the feast is easy play.

Although if you wish to go further you must find a way to deliberately cultivate better ingredients.

All cultivators now possess a 1st grade spiritual diet, increasing cultivation speed among its many benefits.

-[X] the lords
--[X] the wrath of haven.

The only real way to check if the demon's words were true and the tribulations do change the world around them was to have many tribulations back-to-back.

And how that with concentration the effect would make themselves known.

The results are.. complicated, while you have confirmed that the tribulations do leave extra energy behind it is swiftly thins and spreads into the surrounding and even with over a hundred and fifty cultivators the amount of energy produced is minuscule and no trace remains of it after ten seconds.

This of course has made it extremely difficult to measure or get more information about the phenomena.

But even with the suspect base and unreliable variables some theoretical calculations have been…

Concerning.

On more positive news there is great evidence that heavens aren't in possession of infinite energy or at the very least that their ability to rapidly use energy is somewhat limited.

This has been hypostatized after noting that as more and more cultivators faced the tribulation in close enough succession the strength of the tribulation weakened.

The effect is minor at first -almost unnoticeable- but the last few tribulations were majorly weakened.

"Hey Kanktu, can you double check some of my numbers?"

"Oh? Sure, what do you have?"

"Well I've been using a new equation, basically by assigning the Qi density of a place of power a rating of five and a regular patch of land a rating of one and a step one tribulation as adding the rating of 0.05 at the maximum diffusion we can actually measure and then taking into account the surface area of the planet, the fact that second step tribulation are like a hundred time denser -energy wise- than first step ones and some variable growth factors would you say the following are correct."

"Hmmm.. everything seems fine but there are a lot of assumptions in this equation, we're only guessing at the actual energy content of a tribulation and there is no recent data on second step tribulations, hell we don't even know if the energy is absorbed by the earth or slowly vented into space"

"I agree, there is a lot we don't know but playing around with some of the growth factors the model results point to the entire planet being covered in Qi density comparable to a place of power anywhere between a century to three from now"

"A century to three huh? Wait isn't that…"

"Yes"

"Run the numbers again, I'll get the others and see if we can close some of the holes in the theory".


A conversation between two first step cultivators which were a part of the tribulation research team.

Gain a minor decrease to tribulation difficulty from knowing to group your ascendants together.

Some very worrying research (which is very shaky admittedly) expect some choices at the start of next turn.




Advancements.

There has been little aside for incremental progress this last decade (+3 advancement points)


Cultivator reports.

This decade two hundred sixty-eight new first steps have been awakened.

Additionally, one hundred twenty-seven first steps have attempted tribulation, of them four have succeeded in their attempt.

A net of 141 new first steps.

5 new second steps.


Desiring greatness Vekatu has pushed past the purified body and into the pure body stage and has shown no inclination in stopping.

Asid form his cultivation Vekatu has spent the last decade refining his original recipe bringing it to greater heights of effectiveness.

Vakatu rose to the purified body stage and has created the following recipe.

Healing pills- cost per charge: 50 EFEP. Craft per charge: 75 capacity. effect: upon consumption of a charge to totally heal 1 unit restoring their BP and allowing them to continue fighting. Special: so long as one charge is left, all champions are assumed to have a few such pills available increasing their survivability. Toxicity: 10.


Haku spent much of her time breaking her head-on high-level math and runic calculations but when her prototype worked, all of the effort seemed to be worth it.

Forty to seventy flags slaved to a central array her creation was truly massive but so was its effect, using both ambient Qi and fed it form cultivators the array hardened in a dome around the flags shielding it location.

The array could at minimum smiled a location as large as the imperial palace and at maximum shield a small city, in a pinch it could be set smaller or larger but the effectiveness of the shield rapidly drops in doing so.

At optimal conditions and being fed Qi by three second step cultivators the shield has held the dedicated attention of over twenty second step cultivators for a full minute.

As for her cultivation Haku spent the little free time she had in meditation in preparations for the tribulation.

She is far from ready or willing to undergo it but she has started preparing for the eventuality rather than pushing her cultivation base.

Haku prepares for tribulation increasing her base chance by 1%.

Gain the shield array-
this array can shield a large location form attacks so long as it is fed sufficient Qi, so long as a shield array is paired with a second step army support unit it counts a level 3 city shield allowing it to resist attacks up to tech level 10 if it is left alone in a normal environment It counts as a level 1 city shield and my resist attack up to tech level 5. Attacks below this level drain the Qi reserves of the array attacks above this level shatter it.


Faction actions.

Five sects:
With the additional second steps cultivators available the five sects have massively increased their recruiting efforts, awakening over two hundred first step cultivators. Additionally, they have continued constructing tribulation arrays although they haven't used them yet.

Nobles: besides their continuing attempt to increase their wealth the nobles spent the last decade attempting to increase their presence in the local bureaucracy's and ruling institutions and have found very limited success.
 
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