Looooooooooooooootsss of moss clumps
*ahem*
Anyway. There's been some discussion on Suyin and Su Ling as well and how their orbits intersect with ours. As has been noted several times before there's a variety of things we could do when it comes to either of them.
The first thing that I want to talk about regarding Suyin is that while we may not be able to receive her oath of vassalage, and there's a pretty strong argument that us doing so would be a disservice to her(though I'm not sure I fully agree with it), Ling Qi should still be friends with her after Ling Qi leaves the Sect kinda regardless of if Suyin stays with the Bao or Sect. Suyin is clearly talented enough to get to Green and baronhood so rank wise its socially acceptable for us to
be obvious friends to one degree or another(remembering face culture and public display rules).
All fairly reasonable and obvious I think.
The next thing comes from whether or not Suyin is going to become a vassal to the Bao or will stick with the Sect(which probably has its own equivalents to vassalage vows). Both are pretty excellent for us and her. On the one hand you have the Bao who have clearly demonstrated interest in Ling Qi, and via Bao Qingling Suyin, and Renxiang has advised Ling Qi keeps the Bao connection open. Which is really just good sense. Further they are a very rich(the richest counts) clan and very merchantile and production focused. Suyin would go quite far with them I would expect and start out veeeeery nicely, especially given her most recent showing in the tourney. If it happens that she does become one of their vassals, or is already one, then there's ample opportunity to maintain an open friendship with her and through her the Bao at the same time. I'm not sure how much Suyin is actually interested in them herself, but I'd expect her to have some, considering her good opinion of her mentor.
On the other hand you have the Sect. Based solely on the name of the meridian aid she invented I think Suyin may actually be aiming to work with the Sect. We know a bit less about the Sects resources, but we know they are something of a research institute just based on direct evidence we've seen lying around like the production tourney and the various departments. Going all the way to Core Sect would be a path for Suyin which is as far as I can tell solid and quite good. Also insulates her somewhat from wider noble politics, to some degree, but I don't know how much she wants that. If she does this we obviously would have a friend in the Sect, which is helpful to some degree for a few of our future ideas, as has been noted before. Its also geographically close to the various regions where our border fief will likely be in a few years.
From all of this I am actually totally okay with her not becoming our direct vassal, cause there's perfectly viable options for her otherwise. As an aside the Bao are also likely running a very similar calculus wherein even if they don't get her as a vassal, via her going to the Sect route or something, they might still have friendly relations with her via Bao Qingling. I'd actually be somewhat interested in following those links if it ends up like that and if Ling Qi could manage it. Friendship over a mutual friend and all that.
There's also another option, in that she may actually
offer to become our vassal on her own volition. In such a scenario I'd want to accept, depending on her supporting reasoning(I want to make sure she's looked at all her options, and I expect her to do this with flying colors cause she's a smart girl) because via Renxiang's resource supremacy I actually think we
could potentially fund Suyin. I do
not expect to be immediately superior to whatever starting package the Bao could offer and I'm just not sure about the Sect starter, but I think the resource stream we could provide along with the variety of weird and cool lootz we're spec'ing to find(like the Intrigue option and a bunch of other stuff) could give her some rather
large horizons to go mad scientist in(within the bounds that don't get us both kersploded by the empire). And as we have ample evidence of through the entire year, she's worth it from both a perspective of just being a friend and a mad scientist.
The above also applies if we get the opportunity to make her an offer of vassalage, though I don't expect that to really occur to Ling Qi.
For Su Ling, her story is going to diverge from Ling Qi's for a while I think. She's going to go through the Inner Sect and I fully expect her to become Green and a fellow Baron at some point soon. Among the reasons I think she'll diverge for a while is that she has a vested interest in mortals, more so than basically any other cultivator I think we've seen, and her Vengeance Quest. With those is also just a nebulous void when it comes to her future.
I can't remember if she wants to stick with the Sect for now, I think she didn't at first until we convinced her to stick through to Inner. I honestly can't much remember what she
wants to do for her future direction beyond the Vengeance Quest and protecting Mortals. I know we all want to help her on that quest, and she's I think expressed acceptance for that(?), maybe. For her I figure its a matter of staying in close contact with her, until the point we can somehow formally become blood-sisters or something.
And even if that's not a thing I'm generally of the opinion that having our door be open for her is essentially a given. I see no reason to close it.
Of course how we stay in contact with her while her story diverges I think will be something we have to figure out in the next handful of years as the characters develop. There's not enough there really to properly say one way or the other I think. I'm actually entertaining the idea that she might just go adventuring for a little while on the border to get swole, cause there is a small grace period before people start getting looked at from what I recall.
All of this makes me actually kinda curious.
@yrsillar is it possible or socially acceptable for a Baron to hold the oath of vassalage for another Baron?
There was another topic I wanted to talk about but it escapes me.
