So before the next post, let's get the Fate of the nine yet unrolled Thirteen out of the way.
What does it cost to be Unrivalled Under Heaven?
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Amaranth Castellanos:
Omake reward - Healed.
Fate - Who does not know of the Burning Bronze Demon, the igniter of his own bloodline, the first to stand against impossible odds fist to fist? Who can gainsay what he has done? Who can heal his crippled body?
Cultivation - Reached the 10th Heavenstage of Qi Condensation. [-4 to 11].
Health - Crippled. Consumed his own bloodline with a forbidden art in a crucial moment.
Achille Adephos:
Omake reward - Obtained the Stone Fiddle from the corpse of a Core Formation cultivator. A magical self-playing fiddle that can force all to dance and not fight, allowing him to dance away from an enemy.
Fate - His array-craft in Pleuron is well-known. Wounded in the battle.
Cultivation - Reached the 10th Heavenstage of Qi Condensation. [-3 to 11].
Health - Wounded.
Ninth Prince:
Omake reward - Cultivation boost.
Fate - In the Secret Realm, did little but achieved much. Found a thread of Qi from the Fifth Sea, trailing through the Man-As-Mountain Array. Invisible to all others, he followed it down into a deep valley, into a screaming cave. Here he found something peculiar. He could not understand it, but he could cultivate it. Gaining twenty years of cultivation in a single leap, he returned to the Clan in the 11th Heavenstage. It was at Pleuron he was crippled, but all know the truth of what happened on that day. We need not repeat it here.
Lost a Lifesaving Treasure. See Diogenes Aparámillos
Cultivation - Reached the 11th Heavenstage (-1 to 12)
Health - Crippled.
Ferenike -
Omake reward - Healing.
Fate - Lead a makeshift legion at Pleuron, leading the defense after the city was abandoned by the Elders for almost three weeks before the Foundation Building Experts arrived. Several forays into other besieged cities to rescue juniors. Seized a Dark Sin Mango from an enemy cultivator who fled, gaining much cultivation as a result. Able to gain forty years of cultivation in twenty, no small thing.
Cultivation - Reached the 10th Heavenstage (-3 to 11)
Health - Full.
Diogenes Aparámillos
Fate - Should have died. Foolish in his final strike at Pleuron, fueling his Devil Silver Body in that desperate moment. Saved by the Ninth Prince - of course, we have all read the account of what happened there.
Cultivation - Still in the 9th Heavenstage (-1 to 10)
Health - Full. Should have died. Ninth Prince used a LST to save him.
Peta (and her bear Wajo)
Fate - Badly wounded at Pleuron, as was Wajo. The famous Stand at the Gate. Need I say more?
Cultivation - In the 9th Heavenstage (-1 to 10)
Health - Badly wounded (2 turn recovery or Treasure).
Eirene of Nowhere: She really can't keep getting away with it.
Omake Reward: Mesmerizing Dance.
Fate - In her travels, mastered her Mesmerizing Dance, and found a Glimmering Star Scarf, a treasure of renown. When used in soul-effecting powers like Eirene's, it empowers them greatly, allowing her to impose peace on those beyond her own level. Her Dance Before The Walls held an entire enemy army at bay for a day, and the impact on the battle - well, we all know, do we not?
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage. (-4 to 11)
Health - Currently healthy.
Magnus Centenius -
Omake Reward: Life-Saving Treasure.
Fate - At the last, most pivotal moment, did what only he could do. Crippled for it. Who does not among the Clan know his tale?
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage. (-2 to FB)
Health - Crippled. Lost his hands, unable to progress in his poisons, brews, and puppetry without them.
Wei Feng
Omake Reward: Life-Saving Treasure. Used immediately.
Fate - Wei Feng, Phoenix Undying. It was in the Secret Realm he obtained his only gain, the False Phoenix Blood Drop. Not from a true bird, it enables him to rapidly regenerate minor and major wounds for little Qi, infusing it into his body with an application of his Cauldron Art. It threw his cultivation forward, reaching the 10th Heavenstage in a single leap. When the time came, he was the one to guard Magnus. The one to shield him with his body, taking wound after wound that would have killed a man without a droplet of phoenix blood. His invincibility saw him acclaimed as Phoenix Undying, though afterwards, his meridians...
Cultivation - Reached 10th Heavenstage. (-5 FB)
Health - Crippled. Meridians shattered.
Mograine -
Omake Reward - LST - the Rainbow Carp Wishbone. Snap it, and it teleports one to the nearest body of water.
Fate - In the 9th Heavenstage, his focus on Soul Dao allowed him to grasp a new insight. Taught by a dying Clan Core Formation elder in the Trials, the Dao Soul Contest Art allows him to use his soul to challenge the Dao of his enemies, shaking their cultivation if they fail. Challenging so many to a Dao Contest at once should have killed him or left him for dead, but instead he gleaned new arts, rising to the 10th Heavenstage. Death-Eyes he is named, and for reasons we all know.
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage. [-4 to 11]
Health - Currently healthy.
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Three Fates have been requested - omake writers wanting to get into things! As always, I'm happy to oblige requests for the sake of omake. One I've rolled but not written, need to confirm what the Good Seed is doing.
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Rina Callista -
Omake Reward - Tribulation Boost
Let us exclude for a moment the Callista girl's efforts at Pleuron, magnificent as they were. Grand Elder, Rina Callista entered the Yuan Clan Secret Realm, that mighty Array transforming the world into something else entirely.
The report she has given us is sparse enough, for we have little time. But this is what we know.
Rina entered the Realm, seeking treasures and advancement as juniors do. There her Cauldron apparently underwent some manner of curse, blocking it for her. Of course, the girl's luck could not be denied. It was able to forge the curse itself into energy for advancement, using the agony as a tempering experience to purify her soul. The Soul-Consuming Curse was somehow transformed into the Soul-Tempering Curse, and her advancement continued apace, gaining twenty years in the blink of an eye. She was hunted down there as the Realm closed, though, and would have been killed if not for the use and consumption of her Hundred-League Boots. A loss of a treasure is a sore thing for a junior.
It was at Pleuron... well, another report concludes this. Nonetheless, I think the entire Clan know of the Indomitable Thirteen, Unrivalled Beneath Heaven, and their slaying of a Core Formation enemy. (Yes, I know they have been called the Indomitable Fourteen, but I hardly think the bear counts). Some say this was the least of their deeds. The gains for the Callista girl entailed something we have not seen before, Grand Elder. Heaven is forced sometimes into fairness, and needs to offer rewards even to those such as us for taking on punishments. Your enemy should not have been able to slay our Elders, but she recovered the Token-Sensing Tree, a tree a mere foot in height, and able to communicate to the wielder's mind the location of all nearby enemy Tokens during the Trials. Presumably grown by the enemy as a way of keeping track of their juniors, it is now in our hands. It has bonded to the girl, and only she can use it.
Taking cuttings is not an immediate prospect, but if the Callista girl can tend to the tree and help it grow, she may very well be able to offer us new hope in Trials to come.
Cultivation - 12th Heavenstage. [3 turns from 13th]
Health - Currently healthy.
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Tasos Basilakes -
Omake Reward - Tribulation Boost
As before, excluding the Basilake boy's efforts at Pleuron. Grand Elder, Basilakes entered the Yuan Clan Secret Realm, the Man-As-Mountain Array offering so much before the Trials began.
If we named him the second-luckiest to enter the Realm this year, only one would dare claim to be first.
Firstly, he claimed a Well of Magnetism from an ancient mountain, allowing him to curve any metals, deflecting those used against him, homing his allies weapons in against his enemies. All iron and steel is weak before him now, and he fights above where he did previously. It was the Well that allowed him that absurd stand at Pleuron, holding out for seven hours as the Core-Ruining Poison was brewed.
Secondly came the Thousand Arrow Mirror, a magical mirror into which a single arrow could be placed, living in a shadowy world. The longer it spends inside the mirror, the more it duplicates itself - an arrow left in the mirror for a year and a day will split itself into a thousand, and can be split further with arrow arts. It is not impossible for such arrows to be split themselves hundreds of times with other arts, allowing the wielder to potentially shoot at tens of thousands of foes. Seven of these arrows were used at Pleuron, driving back an assault seven times.
Third was the Magnetic Pig-Iron Squealing Dagger, a poor treasure for most. However, when combined with the Well it can fight independently, offering Tasos a melee ally equivalent in strength to himself for ten or fifteen minutes in any given combat.
Last and not at all least came the Blood-Burning Herb, a herb in that magnificent array. Used only at direst need, it costs cultivation - nearly twenty years worth, but in burning it Tasos can briefly become the equal of any in Foundation Establishment, slaughtering those in the Early and Middle stage, and even those in the Late stage would need to flee him.
Aside from this outside of the Realm, little enough happened. Ordinary cultivation, avoiding wounding or maiming in the Trials.
Another of the Indomitable Thirteen. Unrivalled Under Heaven, truly.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage. [1 turns from 10th]
Health - Currently healthy.
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Aretaphilia Myia -
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure
Grand Elder, Myia entered the Yuan Clan Secret Realm, the Man-As-Mountain Array offering something peculiar.
If we named her the second-luckiest to enter the Realm this year, not even the Basilakes boy would claim to be first.
First here she found the Fused Bells, a set of seven bells fused together by some horrific art. They do not ring, do not do anything beyond serve as a powerful shield. Whatever magic brought them together has made them invincible. While they are unwieldy, they can block any attack below Core Formation.
Secondly came the Kettle-Blade, an odd treasure. A sword with a kettle fused to it, the kettle handle serving where the sword-handle should be. As one strikes with it, the Kettle steals Qi, and once full begins to boil over, empowering the user. For long fights it is of great use.
Third was the Mountain-Kicking Ostrich Eggshell, the shell of a bird long-hatched. The Eggshell is easily cracked and flaked, and can be used by flaking off pieces of shell, the grit disabling flight in the immediate area around her. Magical flight treasures and even the limited flight of Core Formation cultivators is effected.
It was here she met the spirit of an ancient bell, the gentle and lovely Mountain Song Bell, who taught her over ten years the Mountain Sky Song, a magical tune unheard by the Third Sea in millennia. It offers a simple blessing - to all below Aretaphilia's strength who hear it, they are raised up towards her. To those far below her in the first three Heavenstages, they see an increase in strength by three Heavenstages. For those in the fourth to sixth, it is but two. And those in the seventh and eight gain a single Heavenstage in strength. The Ninth and Tenth gain little to nothing, unfortunately.
The Mountain Sky Song was played for nearly a month straight at Pleuron, the girl forgoing sleep and food, losing weight and becoming gaunt as she kept her allies ever-strong. The tones echoed over the Waycastle, and even as they became ragged and tired offered hope and power to those trapped in that city thought doomed. The impossible odds were made more possible by the strengthening of the Clan there, and had the Waycastle not held so long even after the Elders left, the others of the Indomitable Thirteen could not have pulled off their audacious plan.
She begged off her loot at Pleuron, oddly enough - the Token-Sensing Tree that she was entitled to going to Rina Callista. A peculiar outcome, but who can say what transpired between these two?
The third of the Indomitable Thirteen. Unrivalled Under Heaven, it has been said, Grand Elder, and with each of them I can see why together they are named so.
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage. [2 turns from 11th]
Health - Currently healthy.
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A few people have asked for Fates volunteered to test the new system! I've done three as a prelimary to ensure it seems to work ok and that there's no obvious holes in it before I finish up the remainder of Saving Juniors and the remainder of the Good Seed Report.
Unfortunately my PC has died, so there'll be drips and drabs, but expect things to be slow until I get my new parts. Which is fine, as it gives us a little time to get the new spreadsheet up and running before Turn 6 starts.
Antonius Emmanuel Eleanora
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure. Used same turn! (0 Treasures remaining)
Fate - In the Yuan Secret Realm, he found a trove of absurd luck. An old Nascent Soul senior left a legacy here, a sliver of his will that was dying, and sought him out as he he entered an ancient cave. Using but a fragment of its ailing power, it raised him to 9th Heavenstage, and spent the remaining years teaching him well, allowing him to scale the heights of the 10th. Not a Bronze Devil, but rather a Silver-Scaled Pipefish named Yixuan Shan that had cultivated to Nascent Soul and left the ocean to love a human woman, the Pipefish had left a fragment of its will in what became the Yuan Secret Realm to aid her, as it believed she would return there and need his aid. They never found one another again, both of them dying in the world before they could be reunited. The will fragment stagnated for a long time, but saw Antonius's struggle to survive and remembered the desperate struggle of his beloved, and gave him three things.
Firstly, a Sand Spitting Marble, (+1 Impact), to be held in the mouth for eleven days, on which it can summon a sandstorm of moderate proportions to help one escape or befuddle enemies.
Secondly, a Fishbone Mourning Flute (+1 Impact), to be played against weaker enemies en masse, deadening their Dao-Hearts.
Lastly, a Wave-Summoning Silver Scale, (+5 Impact), allowing him to summon waves of water even in the desert, infusing them with elemental Qi to harm his enemies, or heal and strengthen his allies. This scale was the lynchpin of Shan's will, and when it gave the Scale to Antonius at the end of their training, it faded away, the last piece of the ancient fish gone from this world.
On leaving, his treasures attracted hostiles, as they always do, and only by using a fragment of its power that Shan had left him to preserve his life in the most extreme instance was he able to escape. What would have been terrible wounds were mere moderate ones, and Antonius holed up for the Trials. While powerful, he was new to his power, and wounded besides. He was able to escape without too much trouble, but did not contribute overmuch.
Impact Bonus - 7 Impact (Total 7)
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage. [4 Turns from Breaking Through]
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 112 Years
Health - Healthy. Was Badly Wounded (consumed LST) -> Lightly Wounded which cleared at end of turn.
Daedalus Khimaira
Omake Reward - Cultivation Boost.
Fate - Lucky in the Trials, sneaking around a larger camp of enemies. Instead of attacking, he found himself surrounded and was forced to hide from a small legion of Fifth Sea cultivators. He buried himself in the desert sands for nine days, breathing through a reed and drinking through a second reed that sat in a pool of water that was unfortunately near a Golden Night Tiger's chosen grounds to urinate. This powerful Spirit Severing beast was the guardian of some elite young masters from the Fifth Sea (being the pet of some Spirit Severing cultivator who was sent to also administer the Trials), however, and what is a humiliation to one is empowerment to another. One night his enemies left the camp, and he was able to escape, moving without being detected. No doubt the tiger knew he was there all along - but he was beneath its notice.
Drinking water infused with Spirit Beast urine of such power left him with traces of a a Golden Tiger Constitution (+2 Impact), allowing him to transform his hands into claws and move near-silently. The raw Qi in the water advanced his cultivation drastically as well,
Impact Bonus - 2 Impact (Total 2)
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage. [2 Turns from Breaking Through]
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 98 Years
Health - Healthy.
Keiros Cole Emendator
Omake Reward - Compass of Fated Fortune, LST. Used same turn.
Fate - Where others sought to assist juniors in the Trials, Keiros spent his time assisting those who sought power in the Qiguai Secret Realm. It was this compass that saved his life, and the life of ten others. Hunted down by a furious crocodile from the sea-in-the-sky, Keiros opened the compass at the last moment, and it allowed him to preserve his own life with ease. Misusing its powers, he guided ten others out, and the backlash of Fate and anger from the compass almost killed him. These were ten promising juniors who had gathered to try and escape together, some of the Clan's excellent young talents. However, using the compass to save them all, it cracked and faded away, leaving a wake of Heavenly energy that stopped his cultivation progress almost permanently. Only the Compass's own directions on how to dispose of it before it destroyed him saved him in truth.
Left a wreck of a man, he was badly wounded for years, and will be for decades to come. In the Trials themselves he was holed up, unable to contribute much, recovering slowly.
Impact Bonus - 0 Impact (Total 2)
Cultivation - 6th Heavenstage.
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 45 Years
Health - Badly Wounded. Was Dead (consumed LST) -> Badly Wounded. Becomes Wounded next turn.
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So, a few of our omake writers have volunteered to write a few Fates. Part of the advantage of the new system is that I can give specific outcomes (cultivation, Impact bonuses, Wounds, etc, etc) and have a Fate written around it. Mechanically there's no difference.
These are largely those easiest to roll (with shorter omake or no omake and consequently an easier time calculating Fate bonuses), but the rest are all upcoming, finally!
There are still more to do, followed by the council post (and Saving Juniors remainder), followed by the complete conversion + spreadsheeting therein, but we're done with all the tough 'can this system potentially work' conversations and even the 'how do we make this work?' conversations and finally onto 'lets get a few tasks done and the big horrid Turn 5 conversion will be done.
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Aurelia Xu
Fate - During the Trials Aurelia, already wounded, stood proudly against the attacks of a Fifth Sea Hunter in the Eighth Heavenstage who wished to breach the bunker she guarded. While she drove him away she was badly wounded in the process and could not make any progress in cultivation.
Cultivation - 5th Heavenstage
Health - Badly Wounded
Chrysanthos Krimta
Fate - The Trials are a perilous time to be a merchant, and the invaders from the Fifth Sea are not known to discriminate in their attacks. Much of his earnings since the last report had been invested in preparing treasures and talismans to aid in his survival, but he found them expended in the first season of the trials, eventually having his knees shattered by a cruel invader. He was rescued before a suitable junior could be found to claim his fortune, and evacuated to Pleuron, escaping with only moderate wounds.
Cultivation - 5th Heavenstage
Health - Wounded (1 turn to recover)
Constans Herculius -
Fate - Tragic. Overwhelmed by the temptation of experimenting with new and foreign Dao for his craft, Constans used his limited flight to harry and hunt down Fifth Sea Cultivators. This ended poorly, as Qi Condensation Cultivators of the 5th and higher Heavenstages looked poorly upon his predations and turned the tables upon him. It was only through the sacrifice of his Bronze Effigy fooling his hunters at a critical moment that enabled him to escape with his life.
Cultivation - 3rd Heavenstage
Health - Badly Wounded.
Damien Silver -
Fate - Continuous attempts to improve his swordsmanship led him to engage in a series of duels against enemy sword specialists during the trials, to the neglect of his cultivation. Unfortunately, he was unable to handle his opponent's Seven-Strike Moonlight Blade and was wounded, only barely managing to escape with his life. Must learn to gauge his own limits if he wishes to progress.
Impact Bonus: 0 Gained, 1
Cultivation Realm: 8th Heavenstage. 40 Years spent in Heavenstage.
Health: Badly Wounded.
Dmitry Kascheev
Fate - Dmitry managed to find a well of pure spirit water, a single drink of which catapulted him to the 9th Heavenstage and within its reflections of the sun received insights into the art of talisman making.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage
Health - Currently healthy.
Ilias Barallis - Fate - Tragedy! Attempts to replace his lost limbs backfired, as a medicinal agent used to bind the new flesh to the old had turned toxic. The new limbs were twisted, gnarled, and frail--and when the Trials sounded, he was unable to flee when the invaders fell upon him. Deemed poor prey--not even worth the effort of calling a junior, he was run through with a stolen spear and staked out to die in the desert, with bets being made upon the time of his expiry.
Health - DEAD
Nicovas Ceruleus -
Fate - Reliant on his great investments and the arrays he could purchase in the lead up to the trial, Nicovas Ceruleus believed he could ride out the storm--surely none would turn their gaze upon him at this terrible time? It was not to be--his bolthole was struck by a stray blow between warring Core Formation experts in the second season of the Trials, and he found himself badly burned with his supplies exhausted. He would have surely died if he was not discovered by Ambrus Nike, who shared water and medical supplies with him. The friendship would have surely gone places if they did not find themselves attacked by a lesser prince and his retinue of demon-elephant riders, and Ambrus was slain drawing them away. A tragedy, but perhaps one he can learn from.
Cultivation - 8th Heavenstage.
Health - Wounded (1 turn to healing) (Ambrus Nike expended himself as a Life Saving Treasure and has Died in your place!)
Lin Fan
Fate - Poor luck! Encircled by a Young Master and his entourage and Dao Protectors, was terribly wounded by an arrow the chest--grazing his heart--and was forced to utilize his Congealed Blood Stone to secure an escape. He subsequently secured a bolthole in the desert the attention of the Qi Condensation invaders were drawn to the siege of Pleuron, and has been licking his wounds since.
Cultivation - Remains at 8th Heavenstage
Health - Wounded (Would have been Dead, Life Saving Treasure expended)
Tie Jin
Fate - Cloistured in his Workshop, the events of the Demonic Bee War had soured him, having stalled out his cultivation for little gain. Twenty years spent, attempting to further his understanding of Metal Qi, the emanations of his forge obscuring his presence from Fifth Sea Hunters. As the Miracle of Pleuron occurred, he too had a breakthrough - the integration of Metal Qi into his Blood of Bronze sufficient enough to manipulate and shift it to take on other properties. The mutation of his Bloodline into the Myriad Smelting Physique also pushed him into the 9th Heavenstage at last, on the cusp of obtaining Foundation Building.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage (Two Turns to FB)
Health - Currently healthy.
Theron Strophios
Fate - Unlike most of his peers, Theron chose to the face the Trial headon. Engaging in duels with the Invaders, he soon found himself outmatched against a Invader of the 3rd Heavenstage. Each of his strikes being parried with ease, Theron was only able to survive with the aid of his damaged death crystal, allowing him to see the steps need to kill before he was killed. Pushing his meridians to the limit, Theron moved faster then the 3rd Heavenstage cultivator and stuck him down. The act of forcing the Qi within his body to flow that rapidly damaged his Meridians and erased all of his previous Cultivation progress, giving him a Light Wound that would not be healed until the Trials are done. Unknown to him, some of the Qi of the slain cultivator has reinforced his budding Sword Intent(+1 Impact) , allowing his sword strikes to land as if from One of a higher
Cultivation Impact Bonus - 1 Impact
Cultivation - 1st Heavenstage
Health - Lightly Wounded (Healed at end of Turn 5)
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Alex and Ajax
Fate - Lucky, not crippled, not sacrificed. As a weaker junior during the Trials, Alex/Ajax managed to be given light duties far from any fighting. Ended up pursuing mortal bandits, and ending a local gang of robbers. It was during this attempt to protect a village from bandits that they were unlucky, drinking from a local gourd on a vine. These gourds contained Qi-Slowing Nectar, a useful ingredient for doctors, but a meridian-blocking scourge to cultivators in the lower Heavenstages. As such, they made little progress, having to spend the better part of a decade clearing their meridians of the nectar.
Cultivation - 1st Heavenstage -> 2nd Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 27 Years
Health - Lightly Wounded this turn, improved to Healthy at end of turn.
Anastasia Outi
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure. Used immediately.
Fate - During the Trials discovered a peculiar stone, green and silver. Hunted down over the course of two weeks, she was attacked by three Fifth Sea hunters, along with her group. Her Silver-Jade Stone, an item she did not understand, shattered itself at the last moment, saving her from grievous wounds and death. She made some progress in terms of cultivation as well, though not overmuch.
Cultivation - 1st Heavenstage -> 3rd Heavenstage
Cultivation- year Equivalent - 30 Years
Health - Badly Wounded Lightly Wounded.
Aristoteles Kalokagathos
Omake Reward - Healing treasure
Fate - Expelled his horrific poison with the help of an ancient Seductive Iron Bowl, a powerful artifact capable of luring poisons out from inside a human body, and even causing weaker cultivators and mortals to fall in love with it. He was forced to take this from a mortal who considered the bowl his wife, in part to safeguard the man's mind. He found himself falling in love with the bowl himself, and returned it to the Clan for safekeeping. After this, fought in the trials. With luck and skill led his troops to a bare victory, and recovered a Death-Horn of Three Sorrows (+4 Impact), a Fifth Sea artifact capable of summoning the spirits of the newly dead to fight for you for some time. With this, he led his troops again and again into greater battles, killing a few enemies and blowing the horn to bring them back to life on his side temporarily. It can be used up to three times in any battle, and so can be used to help turn the tides multiple times.
Impact Bonus - +4 (Death-Horn of Three Sorrows)
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage. 1 turn to reaching Foundation Establishment.
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 80 Years
Health - Healthy
Aurelius Mancius
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure. Used immediately.
Fate - Hunted down in the Trials as soon as he had started on his path of cultivation, and took a crippling blow. However, he had befriended a Ten Soul Dragonfly, an ancient creature that lived in an oasis to the north. This dragonfly left him an old wing, allowing him to summon it only once in return for helping guard its eggs for a day. The wing allowed it to save Aurelius, though his wounding left him barely able to advance at all in terms of cultivation, moving but a few notches forward, before falling back to his original cultivation due to his wounds.
Cultivation - 1st Heavenstage.
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 22 years
Health - Crippled Wounded.
Castor Tyndaridae
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure.
Fate - Not especially unlucky, but diligent. Where others fought, Castor built arrays. In doing so he earned great numbers of Contribution Points, helping set up traps and defenses for the constantly-fleeing forces of the Clan. Using these wisely, he managed to cultivate to the 6th Heavenstage in 20 years, making up for his prior wounds.
Cultivation - 6th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 46 years
Health - Healthy
Chen Rong
Omake Reward - Former Cool Thing, now +1 Impact.
Fate - Like so many juniors, caught and nearly killed by Fifth Sea hunters. They played with him for several days, breaking bones, shattering teeth, and torturing him for their amusement. They left him a shattered wreck of a man. However, one unlucky strike destroyed his meridians. Now-crippled, these 1st Heavenstage Fifth Sea Hunters were unsure if killing him then would break their tokens, so they left him to die in the desert. He managed to find a town where they took care of him, and nursed him back to health. A crippled 1st Heavenstage cultivator is even weaker than a mortal, and few would know him for a cultivator now.
Cultivation - 1st Heavenstage
Impact Bonus - +1
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 21 years
Health - Crippled
Demetrius Ceres
Omake Reward - Former Cool Thing, now +1 Impact.
Fate - His visit to the Technique Palace of the Clan paid dividends, allowing him to further hone his cultivation, and reach the 10th Heavenstage. Demetrius spend his time in the Trials saving his juniors, fighting mightily with his new axe technique. It was not at Pleuron, but rather in the south where he was deployed in the Burnished Crags that trouble found him. Thirty weaker Qi Condensation cultivators were being hunted down, and sought to escape into a cave, and seal the entrance with a formation that would keep them safe for the three weeks remaining in the trial. They just needed time to deploy it. Demetrius fought bravely in front of the cave for six hours, shattering six tokens, and maiming one Fifth Sea cultivator. His great ax-blow brought down the cave entrance. By the time the Hunters had cleared it, he was gone, escaping into the desert sands.
Impact Bonus - +1
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 111 years
Health - Healthy
Diomedes Cestus
Omake Reward - Lifesaving Treasure
Fate - Diomedes Cestus came on a tortured, feverish mortal, who had been tormented by cruel Fifth Sea hunters. Left alive as to not shatter their tokens, he was insensate. Diomedes carried him a distance to a road, and left him there with water and food. He would have taken him further, but he found himself hunted once more, and could not spend too much time assisting a mortal. Afterwards, he went to hunt down the cruel hunters who had done this. They were weaker than him, and he shattered several tokens and killed a few as well. When he did, he found a Eight-Armed Jade Monkey, a creature of tremendous wisdom and ability to help one cultivate. Being a Spirit Beast of the Fifth Sea, he was unable to gain the trust of the beast, or its obedience. However, its owner had a jade slip with a method for refining the monkey into an Eight-Step Jade Pill, a powerful pill allowing one to break through many Heavenstages in Qi Condensation. Diomedes was able to get an alchemist to forge this pill for him, and with barely a moment's time he found himself in the 10th Heavenstage, the massive waterfall of pure Qi from the Fifth Sea raising him up with incredible speed.
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 114 years
Health - Healthy
Festus Sarantapechos
Omake Reward - Lifesaving treasure - Immediately used!
Fate - Man-As-Mountain Array. Festus was luckier than most, finding a Heart-Spilling Herb, a herb that made one completely honest with one's feelings when eaten. However, this herb also granted understanding of those feelings - and with it, perfect understanding of meridians, the dantian, and one's Qi. For a few years Festus was able to cultivate at tremendous speed, reaching the 9th Heavenstage. However, in the Trials he was chased down, and his cultivation nearly crippled. Only with a treasure he had recently forged, the Exploding Bile Trap, was he able to escape. Even so, he was badly wounded due to the backlash from the trap. (NB for this - Festus was crippled in the Secret Realm, but given the Trials come later, I've rearranged the outcomes chronologically for story coherence).
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 77 years.
Health - Crippled Wounded
Fierce Fang
Omake Reward - Healing treasure. No longer crippled.
Fate - As a dragonman of sorts now, Fierce Fang was able to find boost after boost, his cultivation path seemingly smoothed in front of him. He explored an ancient mountaintop altar, finding a droplet of diluted dragon's blood. Unlike previous encounters, he chose not to try and incorporate it directly into his body, but rather consumed it for a boost in cultivation. This sped him up tremendously, and he reached the heights of the 9th Heavenstage, a mere step away from the 10th. In the Trials he was fortunate, and found himself consuming the droplet when they begun, and so was not forced to engage with the Hunters at all.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 105 years.
Health - Healthy
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Hektor Sarantapechos - Life Saving Treasure
Fate - Once more, Centurion Hektor would be forced to defend his Juniors. In the chaos of Legion Command collapsing during your desperate stand against that Bhrigu, young Sarantapechos proved himself an able inheritor of his forebears legacy and led an incredible defense at Waycastle Sarantapechos - for a full year, his shield repulsed Formation Building Hunters, leading to his location as one of the few bastions for Qi Condensation Juniors in the southern territories. In so doing, he obtained an Insight into the Stalwart Protector, and formed his third Pillar. Though he was steadfast, the attrition did take it's toll, and he took some wounds over the course of the Trials. A worthy performance.
Cultivation - Mid Formation Building (161 Cultivation Year Equivalent, Three Pillars)
Health - Lightly Wounded
Juturna Cerintha - Feet Stilling, Palm Opening Sutra: Dull All Edges (+1 Impact)
Fate - A Mediocre Fate, though better than most under the circumstances. Young Juturna declined to defend her fellows against the Hunters. She declined to strike back at them. Instead, in the midst of slaughter and death, surrounded by the slaughter we are visited upon each century...She swept. Not from cowardice, but conviction, Juturna spent the Trials meditating and developing the building blocks for her own Dao of Peace, with an eye towards the future beyond the Trials even as she in turn desperately struggled to survive the interest of the Hunters. At the end of it, she developed her own unique application of Qi - a Sutra which inverted the laws of the world that declared that which is to be cut shall be cut. Of limited effectiveness for now, but perhaps in time...?
Cultivation - 7th Heavenstage (52 Effective Cultivation Years)
Health - Lightly Wounded (Recovers by next turn)
Lihua Kokkinos
Fate - Lihua's skills at metal refining with her own body were of great use during the Trials, helping to maintain supply lines and acting as a fighter with incredible endurance. Unfortunately after holding off five separate attacks from Trial Hunters with a small handful of fellows, each group of Hunters larger than the last, she fell and would have likely perished were it not for her strange constitution (Requested Cool Thing, +1 Impact). She escaped, crawling away into the desert and discovering by a faint sliver of luck a cave full of mercury and quartz, which provided the material for her to save her life, though she is now Crippled.
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage (2 turns from breaking through to Foundation Building)
Health - Crippled
Matthaias Outi
Fate - Matthaias' ordeal with the Trials was seemingly driven by Heaven's desire to kill him. He fought in many battles, his curse consuming constitution an immense boon to his fellows as Hunters leveled terrible curses against those he was guarding with his squad. In this he was extraordinarily lucky, for within his dantian a transformation took place, the curses building up and consuming each other nearly faster than he could process and negate them like a jar of cannibalistic scorpions. In that delicate balance he created an incredibly powerful curse dubbed the Five-Elements Disharmony Curse (+8 Impact) which provides him with even more incredible powers of curse consumption, enhancing his constitution and his body's sheer hardiness, and giving him the ability to rip apart the bodies of his foes with a simple touch if he desires. The combination makes him invincible in Qi Condensation, a now incredibly formidable foe.
With this power he quickly rose to the 7th Heavenstage in the blink of an eye and then turned the tables on the Hunters, striking out with his squad of companions and tearing through them like a desert sandstorm. They defied those who would kill them, though not without losses, and near the end of the trials Matthaias retrieved a Necklace of Screaming Bells (Lifesaving Treasure) from a camp of Hunters after slaying and banishing them with his companions. The bells will scream violently like howling winds when its owner's life is threatened, providing warning and briefly stunning his enemies with immense pain in their meridians, before a gust of divine wind picks him up and flings him over the horizon to safety.
Cultivation - 7th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 45 Years
Health - Currently healthy.
Mildgyð Galene
Fate - Mildgyð Galene spent a great deal of time in first Thrake and then Acrocorinth before the Trials began, and then with a group of other Qi Condensation cultivators during the Trials, keeping them healed with his respectable skill at refining medicinal alchemical formulae. In this he refined his skills to new heights (Cool Thing, +1 Impact) though he was unfortunately lightly wounded when he had to defend his furnace and lab from Hunters using explosive alchemical concoctions which damaged his cultivation progress for the past two decades, setting him back from the gains he had made. With his skills however he recovered and is ready to continue his path for greater alchemy skill.
Cultivation - 1st Heavenstage, no progress
Health - Lightly wounded (cleared at end of turn 5)
Name - Savvas Nicolidis
Omake reward - Life Saving Treasure - False-Death Apple, a fruit that allowed the Cultivator who consumed it to emanate the Qi of a Corpse.
Fate - Savvas was given the option to hide from the Trial hunters. With his rapid growth, he was counted as one of the Talents of the Clans that had to be preserved. However, shunning the good intentions of the Clan Savvas resolved to hunt down the 5th Sea Hunters to fulfill his curiosity on what the Cultivators of another sea could do.
Knowing his own limitations, Savvas chooses to stalk and kill those who were exhausted from battle. Striking at moments of weakness exposed when they eat, when they sleep and other such personal moments whenever their guard was lowered. His success soon caught the attention of the Hunters who laid an ambush for him that would have succeeded in wounding him if it wasn't for his usage of the Qi-cloaking Oil (- 1 LST) which allowed him to disappear utterly when used with his self-created smoke bombs.
Deciding to count his blessings, Savvas withdrew from the Trial and cultivated with the resources he stole from his victims, easily reaching the 9th Heavenstage and on the cusp of breaking into Foundation Establishment in the next 40 years. After the way, Savvas made his way to Pleuron and busied himself with researching the Muyi Grove. Despite being tricked by a Mortal Merchant with so-called "Muyi Fruits", further research indicate that one of the fruits was a False-Death Apple, a fruit that allowed the Cultivator who consumed it to emanate the Qi of a Corpse. (+1 LST)
Cultivation - 9th Heavenstage ( 2 turns to FB)
Health - Healthy
Shennong
Fate - Shennong found some luck in the Trials, sneaking into an enemy camp and successfully retrieving the Heart Guarding Talisman (Lifesaving Treasure) from a Core Formation Hunter. He fought bravely from stealth in the Trials, emboldened by his heist of the year tale, and while he was unlucky and was wounded in battle he was not unlucky enough to be seriously harmed, only receiving light injuries. Even with those injuries his rewards were great enough that he still made some progress and rose to the 2nd Heavenstage before they healed at the end of the Trials.
Cultivation - 2nd Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 26 years
Health - Lightly wounded (cleared at end of turn 5)
Syntyche Theophylaktos
Omake Bonus - Life-Saving Treasure (Drifting Sands Elegy) - Creates a sandstorm that hides the cultivator from even a Foundation Establishment, allowing them to escape.
Fate - Excellent fate. During the trials, whilst hiding in the desert from the Hunters, successfully impersonated one of them by alltering her body shape. Hidden among them, she then brazenly stole a number of their treasures and tokens, including the Hungering Knife, a knife that drinks the strength of those whom it's edge cuts.
Impact Bonus +2 (Hungering Knife)
Cultivation - 1st Heavenstage -> 5th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 41 Years
Health - Healthy
Yan
Omake bonus - Life-Saving Treasure - (Used in same turn!)
Fate - Journeyed into the Yuan Secret Realm, and in there found the Scorpion Plate Armor, which could deflect any lethal blow against it's wearer. This would save his life in the Trials, where Yan pushed his luck to the utmost whilst dueling a trio of Trial Hunters to distract them from the other Qi Condensers escaping, to the point where it backlalshed, causing one of his opponent's attacks to strike a weak point in the Scorpion Plate Armor, shattering it - Though allowing Yan the opportunity to break their tokens and escape.
Cultivation - 10th Heavenstage
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 150 Years
Health - Wounded (Crippled-> Wounded)
, she was inspired by the stories of the Indomitable Thirteen, and the acquisition of the Cultivation Palace. With things looking up for the clan, she decided to devote herself to improving the clan's bloodline gift through combining the knowledge of both her father's Metallurgy & her mother's Physiology. Due to the need to cultivate in molten metal, she is her own primary test subject.
