I would imagine that she'd be less personally invested in our well being if we rejected her offer but I don't see that affecting any relationship other than that with CRX and GG. The rest we'd still be friends with and/or members of the same organisation.
CRX is also very big on Justice, and she owes us a lot. I am pretty sure that she would consider it a minimum, her being 'Just' to her council members who work heavily for her.
Anyway, Indigo is Viscount, Violet is Count, and higher ranks don't have levels attached to them as such.
I think people overestimate how much CRX has to do with the goings on of the council. Her name is stamped on pretty much all our actions but Fu Xiang decided to check on us as a fellow member of the council, our relationship with CRX has nothing to do with that.
I would imagine that she'd be less personally invested in our well being if we rejected her offer but I don't see that affecting any relationship other than that with CRX and GG. The rest we'd still be friends with and/or members of the same organisation.
I think Fu Xiang helped us out like he did in large part because of our current status with CRX. It's hard to parse meaning from his words because he's not!Kabuto and we're a half-educated street rat. "I was just checking on council members" could be literally true, it could mean "Bai Meizhen is standing right here and will remove a limb for every injury you suffer from now on," it could mean "CRX is interested in you so I'm buttering her up by going the extra mile," it could mean "helping you furthers my master plan to take over the Empire," and I'm sure there are plenty of other meanings that haven't occurred to me.
My gut feeling is that Han Jian or Gu Xiulan wouldn't have gotten the same attention. I suspect that for them, and for us if we reject her offer, the deal is more like what it was during Growing Pains: CRX will help you out if you're in the area and will smite evildoers, but proactive rescues only come from friends. It's possible I could be wrong and Fu Xiang overwatch is now part of the council membership package.
My gut feeling is that Han Jian or Gu Xiulan wouldn't have gotten the same attention. I suspect that for them, and for us if we reject her offer, the deal is more like what it was during Growing Pains: CRX will help you out if you're in the area and will smite evildoers, but proactive rescues only come from friends. It's possible I could be wrong and Fu Xiang overwatch is now part of the council membership package.
A detail, but Han Fang and Xiulan are not part of the council as they were Han Jian's +2. Being someone's vassal meant that even if you were second stage you were still not there as your own person.
I think Fu Xiang helped us out like he did in large part because of our current status with CRX. It's hard to parse meaning from his words because he's not!Kabuto and we're a half-educated street rat. "I was just checking on council members" could be literally true, it could mean "Bai Meizhen is standing right here and will remove a limb for every injury you suffer from now on," it could mean "CRX is interested in you so I'm buttering her up by going the extra mile," it could mean "helping you furthers my master plan to take over the Empire," and I'm sure there are plenty of other meanings that haven't occurred to me.
My gut feeling is that Han Jian or Gu Xiulan wouldn't have gotten the same attention. I suspect that for them, and for us if we reject her offer, the deal is more like what it was during Growing Pains: CRX will help you out if you're in the area and will smite evildoers, but proactive rescues only come from friends. It's possible I could be wrong and Fu Xiang overwatch is now part of the council membership package.
It's hard to speculate on but if I had to guess, if not just for her being a council member it would be more about the attention she's garnered as a member of the council rather than the specific interest CRX has expressed in us. We were already paraded around as something of a hero before charging down with a large collection of the injured under our banner in Growing Pains. We then went on to dismantle a 3rd realms faction pretty much single handedly.
A lot of attention is on us and we've kinda shown most everyone else up. It would seem bad if after all that we were left to fend for ourself against the opposing faction leader. To be honest though, I imagine that even if we were to reject CRX I'd expect her to be inclined to help us for Meizhen's sake if nothing else.
If we were to reject her offer, she'd still help us out somewhat, and try to get on our good side/become friends because the reasons why she asked us in the first place haven't changed: we are an up and coming cultivator in need of connections with a talent for making influential friends. She'd certainly be disappointed, but not to the level that it'd risk alienating a potential ally.
*Shrugs* One thing I'll point out is that I think people are vastly overestimating the amount of independence we'll have if we turn down Cai's offer.
Even if we go Core Sect, we know Elder Zhou is heavily involved in the military and likely our position in the Sect will not conflict with our military duties. So we avoid the typical chains of vassaldom, but it is likely Cai Shenhua is still our boss, every Elder on the mountain is our boss, likely most senior brothers and sisters are our boss, and everyone with more military rank is our boss. We end up with dozens of people who are the boss of us.
If we go with Bai family - well, Bai Meizhen probably didn't tell us this was a horrible idea for nothing. Everyone who ranks over Bai Meizhen in the Bai family is our boss, and that likely includes a lot of people including her grandfather who is described as basically a total jerk who would hate Ling Qi's attitude. I'd also bet that there's an EXCELLENT chance her fondness for us will be seen as a weakness to be beaten out of her. It could be she has some more exotic plan involving her aunt who she's met all of twice, but the long and short of it is that this is a very risky route that likely involves a fair number of potentially abusive bosses.
Cai Renxiang as our boss means it's basically a direct line from CRX, to Cai Shenhua, to the Empress. In feudal terms that's CRAZY, we only really have three real bosses, one of whom is the Empress herself who is theoretically everybody's boss no matter their position. We can theoretically still have other nominal superiors, but it becomes a game of Russian Roulette for any superior other than those three to make demands of us.
Playing 'hapless wanderer' after an eight-year timeskip would simply suck. Yrsillar has gone over the fact he doesn't play by xianxia protagonist rules.
*Shrugs* One thing I'll point out is that I think people are vastly overestimating the amount of independence we'll have if we turn down Cai's offer.
Even if we go Core Sect, we know Elder Zhou is heavily involved in the military and likely our position in the Sect will not conflict with our military duties. So we avoid the typical chains of vassaldom, but it is likely Cai Shenhua is still our boss, every Elder on the mountain is our boss, likely most senior brothers and sisters are our boss, and everyone with more military rank is our boss. We end up with dozens of people who are the boss of us.
If we go with Bai family - well, Bai Meizhen probably didn't tell us this was a horrible idea for nothing. Everyone who ranks over Bai Meizhen in the Bai family is our boss, and that likely includes a lot of people including her grandfather who is described as basically a total jerk who would hate Ling Qi's attitude. I'd also bet that there's an EXCELLENT chance her fondness for us will be seen as a weakness to be beaten out of her. It could be she has some more exotic plan involving her aunt who she's met all of twice, but the long and short of it is that this is a very risky route that likely involves a fair number of potentially abusive bosses.
Cai Renxiang as our boss means it's basically a direct line from CRX, to Cai Shenhua, to the Empress. In feudal terms that's CRAZY, we only really have three real bosses, one of whom is the Empress herself who is theoretically everybody's boss no matter their position. We can theoretically still have other nominal superiors, but it becomes a game of Russian Roulette for any superior other than those three to make demands of us.
Playing 'hapless wanderer' after an eight-year timeskip would simply suck. Yrsillar has gone over the fact he doesn't play by xianxia protagonist rules.
Both being under CRX and going the sect path are the same about this: everyone you are working for directly are your bosses. In the sect case, it will be "Who we choose to be a vassal to (CRX?) if we choose to be a vassal + Sect Head + Empress", and if we completely leave the sect but work under CRX, it will be CRX => Shenhua => Empress. So I guess one more there, but in practicality we'll probably have a 'acting' boss with sect too.
However, with CRX or/and Sect we won't just stay in the sect or stay next to CRX. We'll be used for things, and also choose to do our own things... and for those things, we'll very often work under other people.
I think the point is that Sect:
Empress => Sect Head => Sect Elders x25 => Sect Elder Bro/sis x150 => /whatever else/ x9001 => Ling Qi
CRX Vassal-Hood:
Empress => Cai Shenhua => CRX => Ling Qi
One chain of command is MUCH smaller than the other AND doesn't have multiple bosses on the same level competing with each other, that can, and will, induce conflictual orders.
Working for CRX means Ling Qi can say to anyone that bothers her about anything relative to the mission "go talk with that Duke heir".
In the long run i can't really see Ling Qi be happy with any other position than personal retainer. Whether that is to CRX, Meizhen or someone we haven't met yet.
After all, she has to somehow fit into the Empires social system, but she gives basically zero fucks for duty, tradition or ideology. She is loyal to her friends, and basically nothing else, and i don't think that will change in the future the way we are playing her.
Any position where she isn't serving closely under someone she considers a friend will result in her being unhappy because she will feel shackled and constrained by cold, distant overlords that she can't trust to have her best interests in mind. I just don't think Ling Qi could live a fulfilling life as a cog in the Imperial Bureaucracy, or serving some ducal family that keeps her at arms length.
I think the point is that Sect:
Empress => Sect Head => Sect Elders x25 => Sect Elder Bro/sis x150 => /whatever else/ x9001 => Ling Qi
CRX Vassal-Hood:
Empress => Cai Shenhua => CRX => Ling Qi
One chain of command is MUCH smaller than the other AND doesn't have multiple bosses on the same level competing with each other, that can, and will, induce conflictual orders.
Working for CRX means Ling Qi can say to anyone that bothers her about anything relative to the mission "go talk with that Duke heir".
Actually, working for CRX means that if the sect Core Disciples that's the Apprentice of Shenhua tells us to jump, we ask 'How high'. It also means the same for any other disciples of Shenhua, CRX's own earlier alliances, and obviously senior retainers of Shenhua. You know, the equivalents of "other elders, other disciples".
If you are talking about actual hierarchy and not 'connections', however, then we'd answer to our Department Head. So no Elder Su (we aren't going Medicine) and probably not Jiao (we aren't going Talismans). Possibly Elder Ying (Defence of the mortal realms).
I'm a bit confused, because the very argument you are using seems to work more for the CRX option than the sect option, tbh.
Any position where she isn't serving closely under someone she considers a friend will result in her being unhappy because she will feel shackled and constrained by cold, distant overlords that she can't trust to have her best interests in mind. I just don't think Ling Qi could live a fulfilling life as a cog in the Imperial Bureaucracy, or serving some ducal family that keeps her at arms length.
I agree with your premise of Ling Qi preferring to be loyal to friends, but the one doesn't follow this conclusion.
Beside Ling Qi being perfectly happy if she works in an Apprenticeship, for example, she would also be perfectly happy working under a distant lord.
Think the current Elders as our lords, and our friendship with Meizhen/Susu/Xiulan as what we would actually do in our day to day lives. If we are strong enough or choose a lord carefully enough, it is fairly easy to get one that just can't do any ordering around.
Actually, working for CRX means that if the sect Core Disciples that's the Apprentice of Shenhua tells us to jump, we ask 'How high'. It also means the same for any other disciples of Shenhua, CRX's own earlier alliances, and obviously senior retainers of Shenhua. You know, the equivalents of "other elders, other disciples".
If you are talking about actual hierarchy and not 'connections', however, then we'd answer to our Department Head. So no Elder Su (we aren't going Medicine) and probably not Jiao (we aren't going Talismans). Possibly Elder Ying (Defence of the mortal realms).
I'm a bit confused, because the very argument you are using seems to work more for the CRX option than the sect option, tbh.
Yeah, I kind of felt the same which is why I stopped discussing it. Arkeus seems to be working with some assumptions wildly divergent from my own on vassaldom and sect life.
We have a fair amount of time to make the decision, and there's a strong consensus to investigate our options, so I don't really feel it's worth arguing about.
I only pointed out the issue of independence because a fair number of people seem to think becoming a retainer to CRX will limit our freedom and under traditional rules of feudalism and vassalage the contrary is pretty much true- it's like becoming a Council advisor in CKII as opposed to a soldier in the ruler's army or a low level lord who has no real voice on important issues but still has to obey.
Actually, working for CRX means that if the sect Core Disciples that's the Apprentice of Shenhua tells us to jump, we ask 'How high'. It also means the same for any other disciples of Shenhua, CRX's own earlier alliances, and obviously senior retainers of Shenhua. You know, the equivalents of "other elders, other disciples".
Not really. If you're a vassal of someone, that person's other vassals aren't allowed to tell you what to do, generally. Cai Szechuan could tell us to obey some other people, but it would be a departure from normal vassalage procedures.
I know that's either intentional nicknaming or an autocorrect but now I want to know @yrsillar
which regions of the Empire have which Chinese cuisines? does Thousand Lakes have Yunnan style food? does Golden Fields support Uyghur style noodles and bread? is Heavenly Peaks more of a Peking style or does it match up to the food culture of, say, Shanxi? is there a Guangzhou type trading port if the 'civilised' world ends with the Empire? did Ling Qi grow up eating Szechuan-style boiled beef before she ran away?
-[X] Buy: 2 Wellspring Pills (3) = 6 RS
-[X] Buy and use: Gushing Spring Pill (2), Flowing Rivers Pill (6), basic fire (2), 2nd level fire (6), Clear Wind Pill (2), White Hart Elixir (6), Bright Sky Pill (2), Soaring Spirits Pill (6), Vigorous Sapling Pill (2), 2nd level wood (6), basic thunder (2), 2nd level thunder (6), basic earth (2), 2nd level earth (6), Channel Cleansing Pill (2), Heavy Rains Pill (10), Total = 68 RS
-[X] Use from inventory: Eightfold Path Pill, Skyblood Elixir.
-[X] Weekly Inner sect tutoring. (30 Points)
-[X] EPC bonus to FZ
-[X] Train at the vent with Su Ling
--[X] TRF
--[X] Look in on Suyin and her new spirit, see how they're getting along
-[X] Train with Meizhen
--[X] You now know that Meizhen has obviously been holding back in your spars, talk with her about your encounter Sun Liling
--[X] AC
-[X] Open a spine meridian with Eightfold extra roll.
--[X] Overflow to physical
-[X] Investigate the cave with Golden Fields
--[X] AS
-[X] Cultivate on your own
--[X] AE
-[X] Hire a Tutor.
--[X]FSA/Archery
--[X] FZ/atlethics
-[X] Minor:
--[X] Spend some time around Cai Renxiang, what does she actually do all day
--[X] Fu Xiang's help saved you on the peak, you should thank him and hear out whatever favor he is going to ask
Ling Qi idly kicked her legs as she watched Li Suyin grind the mixture in her mortar into a fine paste from her seat on an empty work table. Her friend had been hard at work since she recovered from the… ceremony at the ruined tower, and this morning had been no exception. So Ling Qi patiently waited, while she finished, idly examining the work room that the two girls had set up in their home.
Su Ling's pill furnace rested on the opposite side of the room, the clay and bronze construction releasing a slow simmer of sweet smelling medicinal mist as whatever lay within bubbled quietly. Shelves lined every spare bit of wall, themselves covered in jars and vials, and above a hammock of white spider silk held still more containers.
Li Suyin herself kneeled on a straw mat at the far end of the room, in front of a low workbench cluttered with bones and herbs. She eyed her friend with idle curiosity as she worked, studying the flows of qi that were now visible to her senses. Li Suyin's aura was kind of jumbled, Ling Qi wondered if that was what she looked like to others senses. There was a strong base of wood and earth, but there were other bits of various elements scattered about, water, lake, even a bit of fire and heaven.
There was also a tiny vein of something else which she couldn't identify. It made her skin tingle when she focused on it, and made her feel vaguely uneasy. Her eyes flicked away from Suyin instead of trying to decipher that again. The little pink fuzzball that was Li Suyin's familiar crouched on the table, skittering in place beside her mortar, pedipalps wriggling excitedly over the mixture. She could feel… something happening there, as the tiny earth spider continued her vaguely ritualistic looking shuffling. She wasn't familiar enough with medicine production to say what though.
The quiet sound of grinding came to a stop, and she saw the tension leave Li Suyin's shoulders as she scraped the light blue paste left behind by her work into a small clay container and affixed a seal onto the container. "My apologies for making you wait," Li Suyin said as she stood up smoothly. Ling Qi didn't miss the easy and natural way that she allowed her companion to scamper up her hand and cling to her sleeve.
"It was no trouble," Ling Qi replied dismissively. "I'm the one who came calling early," she added as she hopped down from the table, taking a few steps to meet her friend in the middle of the room. "What were you working on anyway?"
Zhenli, the spider, made it up onto Li Suyin's shoulder by that point, and puffed herself up, as if to make herself appear bigger and more threatening. Ling Qi supposed it was kind of cute, though a little concerning. Li Suyin's companion seemed like she wasn't fond of other people. "Ah just finishing a batch for the medicine hall," Li Suyin replied, pulling her attention away from the spider. "Senior Sister Bao has been grumbling about how needy this year's disciples are," she added, giving Ling Qi a worried look. "I… had heard that you came to the hall with severe wounds, are you…"
"I'm fine," Ling Qi replied a hair too quickly, leaving a brief awkward silence to hang between them. "...I had a run in with Sun Liling, she wasn't exactly playing nice," Ling Qi added after a moment. "I was able to take care of it myself, mostly," she probably could have gotten her treatment paid for by Cai, but… she had money now, as strange as that was. It felt good not to have to rely on charity.
Li Suyin peered up at her worriedly for a moment, and Ling Qi noticed that she had replaced her eyepatch. It was no longer a simple piece of gray cloth, but an embroidered patch of white silk with a sort of eye catching geometric pattern. It seemed to shift from moment to moment though. A new talisman? "Here," Li Suyin said firmly, thrusting the clay container she had just filled into her hand. "This isn't for sale outside of the medicine hall, but I would feel better if you took it."
Ling Qi blinked, looking at the container. "I don't want you to get in trouble, didn't you say you were making this for their stocks?"
"I was able to make more than expected, thanks to Zhenli," She said, reaching up to pat the little arachnid, who wriggled under hand but somehow managed to look satisfied all the same. "Please."
"Alright," Ling Qi replied, feeling a bit awkward, if thew medicine hall was keeping this stuff to itself, it had to be valuable… now that she thought about it, it looked like the stuff they had put on her spear wound. The stuff that had eaten nearly her whole weeks income from the pill furnace. "Heh, you've gotten kinda pushy, haven't you Li Suyin?" She covered up her discomfort with a joke.
Gained: Heavenly Bliss Salve
Instantly heals up to three lethal or nonlethal damage. In addition reduces the healing time for up to two points of aggravated damage to one week. Cannot be used in combat. User receives a five die penalty on all actions for two hours after use.
She would have to be careful with this stuff, she had felt weird and clumsy for quite awhile after it had been applied. She hadn't even been able to cultivate properly in the recovery wound, due to her fuzzy thoughts.
Not privy to her thoughts, Li Suyin averted her one eyed gaze, twiddling her fingers. "Ah… I'm sorry. I did not mean to sound like that. I just…"
Ling Qi smiled faintly. "I was just teasing you a little," she reassured her friend, ignoring the way that Zhenli waggled her fangs at her. She hoped the little spider didn't get in trouble with that overprotective instinct. "Anyway, any progress on that vault warrior formation?" She asked, as she headed to the door, Li Suyin falling into step a bit behind her.
"Well, it had to be reworked significantly," Li Suyin grimaced as they entered the hall. "Using human remains is unacceptable of course, but the arrays need significant alteration to work on the bones of animals…"
Li Qi nodded along as her friends speech grew more technical and they began heading up toward the vent. She nodded politely to the pair of enforcers who began to trail them at a polite distance as they left Li Suyin's house. It was still kind of uncomfortable to be guarded like this. Oddly, Li Suyin seemed much more accepting of it. She supposed that her friend was from a wealthy mortal family though.
She would prefer to simply stay out of sight when traveling, but that wasn't an option if she wanted to walk with Suyin, so she was glad for Cai's consideration. Even if it had been weird to walk out of her house this morning to find disciples waiting for orders. There had been an awkward moment where she just stared at them, before one had politely explained the situation, which was that Cai Renxiang had put them at her disposal.
It didn't really make her feel much more secure though, a pair of mid yellows would barely slow Sun Liling down. Then again, barely had been enough for her to slip the noose before, and her arts were good for bolstering allies.
She shook her head, dismissing the distraction and focused on Li Suyin's speech, listening intently as they headed up to the vent to train.
Training with her two friends at the vent was a nice relaxing way to spend the morning. Su Ling's swordwork was coming along pretty well, as was her cultivation of her sword art, and Li Suyin even joined in now and then when they switched to unarmed sparring. Her scholarly friend had gotten faster and more precise since the last time they had trained together physically, though the little jabs she landed seemed pretty weak. They were meant to be vectors for an a poison art though, so she supposed that hardly mattered.
All too soon though, they had to part ways, and Ling Qi headed back down to the residential area. Cai Renxiang left her home around this time she knew, and it was about time that she stopped delaying and starting making an effort to get to know the heiress.
Heading down, she was a bit discomfited to find that the two girls who had been playing bodyguard were still waiting at the end of the path where she had left them. The two girls had a lot of similarities, so she guessed they were probably cousins or maybe siblings. They both had dark brown hair and thin willowy builds, but the girl on the left had it cut short, while the one on the right kept it long, but had it tied in several loose trailing tails
The short haired girl wore something like Su Ling's mannish outfit, with sturdy trousers and a shirt under piecemeal bits of leather armor, dyed in earth tones. The one with longer hair wore a proper gown of light airy blue. The white, shimmering ribbons in her hair were pretty, she idly wondered if she should try wearing her own hair loose instead of braided.
Ling Qi shook her head, Gu Xiualn was getting to her if she was thinking stuff like that.
"Miss Ling?" The longer haired girl pulled her from her thoughts. "Shall we escort you again?" The other girl had been seated, cultivating as she approached, but she had opened her eyes, standing up hastily as Ling Qi approached.
"Uh… sure," Ling Qi replied a little awkwardly. She had been intending to shortcut through the wilderness. She had kind of assumed these two would have gone home. "Sorry, I should have been more clear, you two didn't have to wait for me."
"I told you she was dismissing us," the shorter haired girl grumbled, shooting the other girl an aggrieved look. "Sis, you're way too literal."
"Be polite Lei," the other girl admonished before bowing her head toward Ling Qi, there was a faint jingle, as the tiny bells woven into the girl's hair sounded. "My apologies for misunderstanding."
The awkwardness Ling Qi felt intensified sharply, and she glanced away from the bowing girl uncomfortably. "...It's fine, I suppose you can walk me back. I'm heading down to talk to Lady Cai."
The shorter haired girl… Lei she supposed, nodded brightly, taking up a position ahead of her, and her sister bowed again, falling into step wordlessly behind and to her side. The awkward feeling didn't exactly change.
"What are your names?" Ling Qi asked a minute later. This was weird, but if they had spent the last couple hours waiting for her she supposed she should at least learn their names.
"Ma Lei," the girl ahead of her greeted lightly.
"Ma Jun," the girl behind her greeted more quietly.
Ling Qi gave a hum of affirmation and fell silent, pondering what to do here. She supposed she hadn't really thought about what it meant for Cai to have put them, 'at her disposal'. The rest of the short trip passed quietly, as Ling Qi had no idea what, if anything she should say. Luckily, she was able to put that aside, as her timing was impeccable as she met Cai Renxiang on her way out of the residential area.
The heiress was trailed by a train of a few other girls hurrying along in her wake, and walked with her hands clasped behind her back, posture stiff and straight. She raised a hand to wave to the the other girl for attention. "Lady Cai, good morning!" she greeted politely.
Cai Renxiang halted outside the gates that marked the edge of the residential zone, eyeing her speculatively. "Ling Qi, good morning," she greeted in return, her train waiting patiently behind her. "It is rare to see you on the road."
"I suppose so," Ling Qi admitted sheepishly, restraining the urge to fidget under the faintly glowing girls regard. "It might be a little presumptuous, but I was hoping I could accompany you for a little?" She left unsaid her reasons why, despite the curious looks from the other girls with Cai and her own 'guards'.
If the heiress was surprised by her request, she didn't show a bit of it on her face, she simply nodded briskly, her long hair swaying with the motion. "Of course, I would not refuse such a minor request from you," her words were quick and without embellishment. She gestured and the other girls fell back a step, giving Ling Qi room to fall in beside Cai Renxiang. "Are the subordinates I assigned you performing to satisfaction?" The heiress asked as they began to walk.
"...Yes, I have no complaints," Ling Qi replied formally, despite her discomfort at the notion. She did her best to ignore the way the Ma sisters seemed to brighten a little at her half hearted praise. "Thank you for the consideration."
Cai renxiang dipped her head fractionally. "Given your contributions, I could not do less. If you require something, please ask. If it is within the realm of reason, I will grant it to you," her eyes remained ahead as she spoke, but Ling Qi saw the corners of her lips quirk up. From what Ling Qi had seen of the heiress, she suspected the other girl was feeling quite pleased.
Ling Qi ignored the respectful and admiring looks from the girls around them. It was mostly directed at the heiress, but she could feel eyes on her own back as well. Instead, she focused on Cai Renxiang, testing her improved senses. The girl was a perfectly sculpted pillar of mountain stone, awash in blinding white light, she looked away a moment later, before her eyes could start to water. "You have my thanks," she replied again, wondering what to say. "So… where are we going at the moment?"
"I must attend to a meeting with the market suppliers over bulk purchases," Cai Renxiang replied without pause. Her gown rippled briefly, the eye-like wings of the butterfly splayed across her chest narrowing for a moment. "Following that, I will go to the council pavilion to hear petitions for a time, before I begin reviewing reports from Fu Xiang."
That sounded… incredibly boring, if Ling Qi was honest, but she nodded agreeably anyway. She had come to see what the girls day to day operations were like.
As it turned out, she was right. Watching Cai Renxiang cow unruly outer sect merchants with her stern disapproval over their attempts at gauging her agents was kind of amusing, but everything after was pretty boring. Listening to second and third year outer disciples complain, cajole and flatter could hardly keep her attention. It did give her an idea of just how far the heiress had gone in establishing herself as an authority though, that was a little unsettling.
It left her thoughtful as one of the girls attending to them laid out tea for both her and Cai Renxiang. She cast a glance out of the pavilion as she waited for her tea to cool. The line of petitioners was gone, leaving only the enforcer guards. Ma Lei was making eyes at one of Guangli's subordinates while her sister seemed to be trying to set the other girl's hair on fire with disapproval. Gan Guangli himself stood at attention at the bottom of the stairs looking out sternly over the field.
"You had a question," Cai Renxiang's voice drew her attention back to the girl sitting across from her. The heiress looked at her evenly over the rim of her cup, sipping from the still steaming liquid.
"Yeah," LIng Qi admitted, lifting her own, she supposed that she really didn't need to wait, a little hot tea was hardly going to hurt her. Her eyebrows rose as she took a sip. The flavor was much stronger than the last time. It was actually pretty good. "I… wasn't some of that stuff to petty for you to be dealing with?" She asked getting back on track. "Those merchants, half of those petitioners… shouldn't you have someone else taking care of that?"
"Perhaps," Cai Renxiang admitted. "But I am no duchess yet, and a mountain cannot stand upon a foundation of gravel," she continued, letting silence fall as she finished speaking.
Ling Qi furrowed her brows as the girl watched her. "So… what? You want to have experience with the lower level things as well?"
"I wish to see the order of my province perfected," Cai Renxiang replied. "Even the Lady Duchess cannot be in all places, nor be all things. Order depends upon delegation, and I must understand these lower positions in order to select the best ones to hold them. In my youth I toured villages and forts at the edges of civilization. Here I hold a position similar to lesser nobility. As a Cai, I refuse to approach this task with any less than full effort, regardless of what my position may be."
Ling Qi leaned back in her seat, taking a sip from the steaming tea to give herself time to consider. That was understandable, if a little… obsessive, she supposed. "When I was inside Sun Liling's fortress, I heard Lu Feng call all this a game. Is that really all this is to you, a training exercise?" It grated on her a little, for people like her, this conflict had real consequences.
Cai Renxiang did not answer for several seconds, the constant light shining behind her pulsing quietly. "Yes, it is," she replied frankly, meeting Ling Qi's gaze straight on. "That is, ultimately, the purpose of the Outer Sect. It is a place for young nobility to compete and play at their adult roles in an environment of relative safety and few consequences."
Ling Qi scowled. "So I guess people like me just have to keep our heads down huh?"
The girl across from her set her cup down with a soft clink. "The ascension of talented commoners is a secondary purpose at best," she admitted. "It is also, you may find, not an inaccurate training scenario for surviving among the ranks of the least nobility, where houses rise and fall in months and years rather than decades and centuries."
It wasn't fair, but neither was what came after. Ling Qi let out a long breath, she was being childish, the world wasn't fair and never had been, she knew that well enough. "What is it you actually want from me?" Ling Qi asked quietly after a minute of silence had ticked by. "You know my background. So you know how ignorant I am in some ways. What will taking your offer really mean?"
Interest sparked in the heiress' eyes, and the eye-wings splayed across her chest narrowed hungrily. "It would mean being my hand in many things," The light behind her sparkled, increasing in intensity. "The Lady Duchess has, in her generosity indicated that I will be granted a fief from her holdings in the borderlands should I prove myself worthy within the Sect. Rather than serving your term within the Sects forces, you would instead serve among the forces of that holding."
"So I'd still a get a little patch of mountains to call my own?" Ling Qi asked, only half joking.
Cai Renxiang took her question seriously though. "You would of course retain all privileges of a normal vassal, though in the interest of development, I would likely waive any taxes until you have become established," she paused here. "Primarily though… you would be among those who attend to me when I must visit the capital, or other similar functions," left unsaid was what sorts of things she'd probably be asked to do there. Ling Qi knew what talents she was valued for.
Ling Qi looked down at her own empty cup, and then back up at the sky. "Thank you for answering me frankly," she said after a moment's thought. "May I be excused then, to think on it further?"
The other girl let her leave easily enough, not pushing for an answer thankfully. Ling Qi dismissed her own guards as they left the pavilion area, and set off into the woods, cloaking her presence as she headed down the mountain and thought.
Her destination lay at the base of the mountain. She had put in the request and paid the points for tutoring, and had received her response promptly. Her tutor would be available in the late afternoon. His name was Zhong Peng, and he would be waiting for her on a hilltop a little way to the east of the main road
She was brought up a little short when she caught sight of him standing at the top of the cleared hill though. He didn't exactly look like an archer, but the massive recurved bow slung across his back said otherwise. The boy himself looked to be eighteen or nineteen years old, and he was built more like Gan Guangli than Han Jian, with rough, blunt features and sun darkened skin. His hair a stark fiery red, and cut close to his scalp, and the beginnings of a beard grew on his chin.
His bow looked like someone had uprooted a small tree and bent it into a bow, it would be as tall as him when drawn.
"Good effort, but quit lurking," she nearly startled as his sharp eyes locked onto hers. She was still more than a hundred meters away, hidden in the shadows of the trees. It wasn't like she was going all out to hide, but… "Girl, are you here to train or gawk?" He frowned at her, crossing his arms over his wide chest.
"Sorry," Ling Qi replied carefully stepping out of shadow, she didn't raise her voice, but he seemed to have no trouble hearing her. "I wasn't trying to be insulting. I've just wanted to make sure I didn't get waylaid on the way here."
"Things have been loud down here this year, or so I've heard," he acknowledged, impatiently gesturing for her to come closer. "Too many big names in one place," he added in a grumble that she barely heard.
"Just a little," Ling Qi replied, doing her best to keep her voice from going dry. She hurried closer, quickly reaching the top of the hill. Zhong Peng was a good head taller than even her. "Do they pay much attention to the outer mountain in the Inner Sect?"
"Depends on the disciple," he replied with a dismissive wave of one meaty hand. He peered carefully at her. "Your qi is a mess, but I can feel the Sect arts well enough. MIrror is a powerful tool, but not an archer's. Your range will be crippled as things are."
Ling Qi blinked, startled. "How did you…?" No that was a silly question, of course perception arts could read that kind of thing. "Thank you for your advice Senior Brother Zhong," she replied politely. "I will keep that in mind. Will it impair my training?" She hoped not, she didn;t have the Sect points or the time to go hunting down another art right now.
She met his hard gaze evenly as he continued to study her. "No, I will simply not bother with the distance training," he replied dismissively. "What art do you practice?"
"Falling Stars Art," Ling Qi replied quickly. The older disciple was brusque, but that was fine with her.
He grunted thoughtfully in reply, but she thought that she saw a hint of approval in his eyes. "It is a good foundation. I mastered it myself in the Outer Sect. It is only a foundation though. Do not be content with only that."
"Of course, how will we begin Senior Brother?" Ling Qi asked, she was glad that she had picked a good art at least.
"With a run," he replied turning away. "You said you wished to work on your conditioning and speed as well, thrice around the mountain, and then we will begin shooting."
Ling Qi held back a sigh, she did make put that on the form.
She would come to regret that in the coming hours, as she found herself unable to keep up with the third realm disciple. Apparently a hail of exploding missiles was an appropriate way to encourage her to pour on more speed.
Rerolling 2
2 7. 1 success. 67 total
73/50 Fourth Star Attained!
Fifth Star 23/100
Meadow: One fifth of successes added to qi cultivation
41/56
Passives
-Reduces all environmental penalties to ranged attacks by four.
-Increase maximum range of bows by fifty meters
-Adds two point of armor penetration to all bow attacks
-Adds three die to the users pool for all bow attacks
Luminescent Star: o
Cost: 4 qi
Gathers and infuses elemental power into an arrow to be fired,adding five dice to the offensive clash and adding three additional damage on a successful hit. This additional damage may not be blocked by basic qi absorption.
Disruptive Star: oo
cost: 4 qi
A more complex technique, focusing on the heavenly aspect of the art, the user's arrow crackles with latent electricity and when it strikes home, disrupts the enemy's qi and nerves from the shock.Adds three dice to the offensive clash, and on hit reduces enemy speed by five for two turns as well as forcing a four success resolve test. On failure the enemy loses the effects of their lowest ranked persistent technique.
Meteoric Shower: ooo
Cost 7 Qi
A honing of the archers ability to fire quickly, explosively increases the archers speed for handful of moments, allowing them to unleash a blindingly bright volley in the time of a single shot. Allows the archer to fire up to four arrows with a single clash at a penalty of four dice. Targets struck must succeed in a Wits test of two successes or be blinded. Successful attacks add one additional damage each, which may not be blocked by basic absorption.
Passive Effects:
-Provides four additional dice to all projectile weapon attacks.
-Provides five additional dice to defense against projectile attacks.
-Increases the initiative of the user and all allies within eighty meters by three
-Increases the speed of the user and allies within eighty meters by two
-Increases maximum range of all projectiles to forty meters if less
Active Effects
Against the Wind: oo
Cost: 6 Qi
On a successful clash reduces the dice pool of enemies within eighty meters by four for the next four turns. In addition enemy speed is reduced by five. Effect persists after enemies leave range. Effect may be used without a weapon attack
Encircling Winds: ooo
Cost 6 Qi
The user grants allies alacrity and and accuracy, perfecting their timing to strike in an encircled foes weakness. Grants a five die bonus to the attack of all allies when targeting a singular foe, designated at activation. Each consecutive attack gains a stacking damage bonus of one, to the maximum of their weapons DV. The user may combine this skill with a projectile attack of their own, in which case they are included in the bonuses.This effect lasts three turns, though the stack resets each turn.
Shielding Gale: oo
Cost: 5 Qi
Instant
The user releases a sudden pulse of qi in an expanding spiral around themselves, kicking up furious winds. Provides five dice of defense against projectile attacks targeted at allies or the user within sixty meters, which lasts two turns. As a secondary effect, on a successful clash, all enemies within ten meters of the user are pushed back twenty meters, suffering a DV 1 attack.
On the Wind: ooo
Cost 7 Qi
Instant
The user guides the wind to bolster her allies movements, granting an additional eight speed and two initiative to the user and allies within eighty meters for three turns. In addition speed or initiative dampening effects of three dots or lower are dispelled on a successful clash.
I know that's either intentional nicknaming or an autocorrect but now I want to know @yrsillar
which regions of the Empire have which Chinese cuisines? does Thousand Lakes have Yunnan style food? does Golden Fields support Uyghur style noodles and bread? is Heavenly Peaks more of a Peking style or does it match up to the food culture of, say, Shanxi? is there a Guangzhou type trading port if the 'civilised' world ends with the Empire? did Ling Qi grow up eating Szechuan-style boiled beef before she ran away?
Admittedly most of my knowledge about chinese cuisines comes from Shokugeki no Soma and that one wulin heroes game on steam, but in my mind thousand lakes does match roughly to Yunnan, and the capital has more of a peking style. Golden fields is pretty heavy on the noodles and bread too, though the regional dishes have gotten pretty expensive due to the climate change.
Savage Seas does do a bit of a trade with the outside through a single closed city when they can get ships through the Sea folk territories.
She eyed her friend with idle curiosity as she worked, studying the flows of qi that were now visible to her senses. Li Suyin's aura was kind of jumbled, Ling Qi wondered if that was what she looked like to others senses. There was a strong base of wood and earth, but there were other bits of various elements scattered about, water, lake, even a bit of fire and heaven.
