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Hmmph... this junior is a good seed [Cultivation Management Quest]

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New Good Seed and Omake Rule Updates
  • Threadmarks
    • Good Seed and Omake Spreadsheet Rules:

    Firstly, if you have questions about Good Seeds and the like please read here. If that doesn't answer your question please ping me in thread, or on Discord.

    If you write a new Good Seed, or write an omake, please update the spreadsheet if you have access.

    If you do not have access, please ping a collaborator (Swordomatic, Alectai, Quest, TehChron, Insane-Not-Crazy, Humbaba, ReaderOfFate, Kaboomatic, no., BungieONI) letting them know what you want and they will update the spreadsheet here. To gain access, you will need a gmail account of some kind. Throwaway emails are fine (I'm using one for the spreadsheet), but to gain access it's as simple as sending me either your email via PM, via DM in Discord, or just in Discord's #spreadsheet-requests channel.

    This is mandatory. If a Good Seed does not record their omake by pinging collabs (or just requesting access and editing things themselves - this is the preferred option), I won't give out awards. If a new Good Seed is not recorded here, they won't advance. By doing this it makes the whole thing manageable for me - it's gotten pretty unwieldy!

    -----------------------

    Omake Writer Instructions:

    There are four fields you need to fill out.

    Omake Link, which is just a link to your first omake for the turn. This makes it easier for me to read them as I do the update - without this it's tough to know off the bat which omake were written this turn, and to properly

    Requested Bonus, which is your requested bonus for your omake. You can leave it up to me if you like. You can see more info in the Good Seed infopost here.

    Cultivation Aims. For those following unorthodox paths - higher than 9th Heavenstage or later than 7th Dao Pillar paths. Please put in what you are aiming for before you break through. I have left it as 'default'. If you do not edit it, I'll go with that.

    Turn Notes - Do you want to do something specific? Enter a Secret Realm? Help the Clan out in some way? If you have something specific you want to accomplish on this turn, put it in turn notes so I can adjust your Fate around it.

    All other fields are for QM use to record character information to properly run the flow of the game.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] A map of the central war-front in the Strength Purity Sect as it currently stands, along with some commentary as an essay in the Contribution Points Board style.
     
    [X] A map of the central war-front in the Strength Purity Sect as it currently stands, along with some commentary as an essay in the Contribution Points Board style.
     
    OMG I love Barda's omake <3 <3 <3

    [X] Vignettes from our new Councillors - Small stories giving more pieces of who they are.
    p l e a s e :D
     
    [X] Vignettes from our new Councillors - Small stories giving more pieces of who they are.

    I really want to see what Casia and Destasia are like.
     
    [X] Vignettes from our new Councillors - Small stories giving more pieces of who they are.
     
    [X] A map of the central war-front in the Strength Purity Sect as it currently stands, along with some commentary as an essay in the Contribution Points Board style.
     
    @Liliet

    I sped through your omakes. Technically I have nothing to add, you have good command over the English language and write in a way that's comfortable to read. I think I might have mentioned this before when you first started.

    I do think, having read a few omakes in a row, that you do have a pacing issue though. I kind of get the impression of an inverted triangle when it comes to your writing style: you start off with too much and end up with too little. The beginning is very thoughtful (and by that I mean Eirene is thinking perhaps a little too much) while the ending is very abrupt and very... neat? By the time the reader notices there was supposed to be tension, it's already gone.

    I'm curious as to what your writing process is. Do you start with a goal in mind or do you wing it completely? No specific advice in mind here, just curious.
     
    [X] A map of the central war-front in the Strength Purity Sect as it currently stands, along with some commentary as an essay in the Contribution Points Board style.
     
    Getting started on indexing the turn report proper - I have the first of the three pages done. Will check omake status and newcomers once that's finished.

    EDIT: Second page of report done. Will do 3rd and the rest tomorrow.
     
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    FixerUpper said:
    @Liliet

    I sped through your omakes. Technically I have nothing to add, you have good command over the English language and write in a way that's comfortable to read. I think I might have mentioned this before when you first started.

    I do think, having read a few omakes in a row, that you do have a pacing issue though. I kind of get the impression of an inverted triangle when it comes to your writing style: you start off with too much and end up with too little. The beginning is very thoughtful (and by that I mean Eirene is thinking perhaps a little too much) while the ending is very abrupt and very... neat? By the time the reader notices there was supposed to be tension, it's already gone.

    I'm curious as to what your writing process is. Do you start with a goal in mind or do you wing it completely? No specific advice in mind here, just curious.
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    Huh, ty!

    Yeah, I tend to start with a single image or idea, which is the start, and then make it go somewhere until it's there and I have a complete omake. Like... literally I'd have the first sentence in my head and then I'd tell myself that means I'm writing an omake and then I write it because otherwise I won't write at all and that sucks.

    And I do tend to... have to try, to make an ending at all. The stuff that's interesting to me usually runs out right before the tension is to be resolved, and then I just kind of artifiically construct by like, a checklist of what I need for a proper ending.

    This has given me ideas for how to handle it better so thank you very much <3 <3 <3

    (I used to not be able to make an ending at all, had multiple start-of-the-story fic and original writings and rps that then went nowhere because the beginning was all the ideas I really had. The omake format is helping greatly because I don't need to come up with what happens to Eirene, globally speaking, the plot is driven outwards and I just have to illustrate it! Still, I do need proper endings to each individual one and I'm learning ^^)
     
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    Daedalus Khimara 3 - Make a Friend
  • Sidestory
    • "Make a Friend"
    A Daedalus Khimaira Omake​

    Year 67

    Golden Devil Legions, the military of the Golden Devils Clan. For most mortal Golden Devils and associates, the Legions are benevolent protectors of the peace. To outsiders, the Legions are another group of potential obstacles in the long road of cultivation. Daedalus, being part of the legions felt that calling the Legions insane wouldn't be too far from the truth.

    Over the last couple years in the Black Shadows, one of the training facilities of the legion that train dual professions for military purposes. Demonic tunists and battle formations, in the case of the Black Shadows. Daedalus had never entered the Medical Wing. Mostly because the training his body got put through would exhaust him too much until about a week ago. When he was pushed to stay awake for three days until he was granted a week off from the drills.

    So little time, so much done.

    "Ring the bells together! In harmony, I want you dust balls to dance in synch with the music."

    "There isn't a burning barrel in front of you, it's a beehive, march through the barrel!"

    "Trick the senses, turn your dummy into a warrior without fear. Or turn them into a frozen stiff, that works too."

    "March! March! March! Bang those drums in time! Keep it up, let the music guide your qi into the effect, do you feel that energy spread? That's what will cut our time on foot down by half an hour!"

    "In the Legions, heroes are sand, seeds are houses, and understanding is a dream."

    "The Legions require basic medical knowledge. This is how morons heal. This, is how the Legions heal!"

    So much done. Demonic tune practice. Battle formation study. All leading up to combining demonic tunes with battle formations, exhausting. A person should use some time to cool down after all the exercise.

    The training grounds weren't something Daedalus had properly looked at when he had first arrived at the Black Shadows. He knew where some things were by now. The baths, sleeping quarters, training ground, teaching hall, and food hall. Now that Daedalus had some free time for himself he could wander around the Black Shadows.

    Which had brought him to the Medical Wing of the Black Shadows, a collection of buildings on a street. A large sign board crosses the street, with the words "Medical Wing" spelled out. Behind the buildings are visible open connected stone courtyards. Podiums of stone stand in lone solitude, while across from the podiums rest quiet wooden benches. Some of the stone courtyards have an audience, drawing Daedalus's attention to the nearest audience.

    "Nobody is going to care if a pill ball or a liquid is used," a grey haired woman says from a bench.

    "Nothing makes sense! Why can qi pill balls heal children, while pill balls drained of qi kill them? The world is screwed up!" screamed a red haired man behind a stone podium.

    "Why can qi pill balls heal skin layers, and push out foreign objects to the body? Magic, that's the obvious answer. Qi is magic, just accept that." the elder consoled the youth.

    "Never! Qi can't be magic. It must make sense! Who would want to live in a world where nothing makes sense? Where magic can make a cow from air? The world has laws and rules. Logic, not nonsense!" hysterically, the youth cried.

    This was not what Daedalus would have thought the professional minds of those who heal the injured would discuss with passion. Maybe a debate on how to acquire a thousand year old plant that everybody seems to know the effects of. Or trading formulas for bandage wraps like what happened during the basic medical training lessons.

    "First time here?"asked a man with the military short hair cut, muscled body, typical legion soldier.

    Daedalus nodded in reply, confusion plainly painted on his face.

    "This is the rant meadow. Some of the Legion facilities have these set up where anyone can go to scream about their problems. Wife cheated on you, you don't like someone, or you became addicted to killing? You go and rant about it here. Encourages people to talk about their problems instead of leap to kill their problems away when they got a higher cultivation level."

    "Sometimes we get actual murders confessed to in the civilian located ones. Or someone says something about a theoretical array. Those people'll get a polite Legion welcome. Then there are times like now, where someone notices that the world doesn't make sense." A strange look that Daedalus found hard to describe came upon the soldier's face. If Daedalus had to compare it to something he would say it was the look of someone who had found a mountain of wealth thrown into their arms by a dragon.

    "Qi is life force. Or is it? If qi is life force, then everything that has qi is alive and breathing. Which means that if I push qi into a sword that sword is now alive and breathing. Yet if I make a loaf of bread, by default that loaf of bread should contain qi because it was made from plants which are living creatures like us. With this logic any loaf of bread will heal our injuries because it has life force in it." That doesn't happen. Daedalus would know that best as he comes from a family of bakers and would know if bread could heal someone. "Yet, qi isn't quite a life force, more of an energy force named qi with some restrictions applied. The point is that qi can do a lot of things that do not make sense because qi can be transferred almost freely without obstacle. Thus the magic debate loop."

    "My name is Barbarus, what's yours?" the military man questioned.

    "Daedalus, good to meet you!" said Daedalus, as he shook Barbarus's hand.

    That's how Daedalus made a friend in the Legion. One crazy legionary among legions full of crazy legionaries in a world gone mad. In the years to come, one friend may have made the world of difference. Crazy how the world isn't a storybook where the patterns usually follow a protagonist that nobody can deny.

    @TehChron
    Note: Not my best work, but that's what happens when you procrastinate. Ugh, so much is wrong with this omake. I honestly would say this is semi-canon to the overall narrative I want to go for. Got a lot to go through because I haven't kept up with the updates. "Kingdom's Bloodline" distracted me. "Kingdom's Bloodline" is really good if you can find a good translation for it. Just damn, on how slow, world building, and wordy, it is. Takes around 300 chapters to get to the good stuff. But what it lacks in pace it makes up for in the intelligent side characters.

    Tribulation Boost Reward requested
    Cultivation Aim: 13th Heavenstage
     
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  • Sidestory
    • Adhoc vote count started by occipitallobe on Nov 11, 2020 at 7:18 AM, finished with 59 posts and 22 votes.
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    This pulled ahead! It'll be up in a bit.
     
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    The Song Empire - Strength Purity versus Demonic Altar
  • Media
    • On the scroll was a rune, and written around it in tiny letters... "For the eyes of Elder Indomitablepunch only."

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    Elder, I know you have promised reinforcements, but the situation is considerably more dire than we had hoped for. The mass exodus of Bear Enslavement forces to our west meant we could not reposition sufficient cultivators in time to guard the collapsing front, and consequently the Middle Song Empire has fallen.

    The city of Great Song has fallen with it, and I estimate by now at their usual rapacious rates the Blood Path fiends have taken at least a third of the mortal lives within it. I can only imagine what little remains of the Northern Song empire.

    The problem remains the same as always. Without either superior defensive positions that can be independently held or an ability to force the enemy into a decisive battle, we are grasping at water. If we raise sufficient forces to fight and win, we may win a battle, but they flow around us and into mortal cities. If we defend those under our care, we are slowly ground down.

    We are forced to take the latter option until mortal lives in indefensible territories are sufficiently depleted and the numbers of the Blood Path begin to deplete as well, but the considerable losses across the Righteous Powers in territory has meant that this will come far later than we might have hoped.

    While we are attempting to regain tempo in this war, the loss of allied forces has been a disaster. Bear Enslavement cities to the east were taken - the beast-tamers showing their usual lack of regard for mortals - and Demonic Altar simply dispersed, surrounding and forcing our forces in the Middle Song Empire into a retreat. Our losses were not severe, as the Blood Path fiends prefer to force us into retreat unless they possess overwhelming superiority, none of them wishing to die. Usually they attempt to besiege us, or place us at a disadvantage to be able to destroy us. If this does not come to pass, they continually manoeuvre in an attempt to do so, and rarely hamper our retreats overmuch.

    I have enclosed a map of the rough situation.

    Inked in blue are those territories remaining in our control, in red those controlled by Demonic Altar. The thick red lines are areas where their control is largely uncontested, the dotted red lines are where control is contested - areas beyond the dotted lines are controlled by us.

    You will note that there are roughly three front lines, so to speak.

    I am not aware of the status of Elder Crimsonflame, but he retreated with a large force to Herb Mountain. There are secret herbs there, apparently, and he believes it is better to destroy them if Herb Mountain cannot be held, rather than to offer the "silver trifoil to the Demons.". I am not aware of what he refers to, but I do not doubt his judgement. He infused a sliver of will to make a temporary life tablet for me before we left one another, so he is still alive at the time of this letter.

    Without his leadership I have taken command, and One-Boat or One-River Pass (apparently the locals have some dispute over its name) is the western front.

    The Demonic Altar have constructed huge siege towers, wreathed with Torture-Soul Banners. Apparently their new extractive art allows them to consume the vital Qi of their victims but also capture their souls to empower their banners, forming massive mobile fortresses from which to assault our cities.

    The Pass is held for now, and I am happy considering the loss of One-Boat Town as a potential necessity, if only to buy time. It seems unlikely, though - the Demonic forces are not attempting to force the pass.

    The third and eastern front is made up of three parts.

    Firstly, a massive wall was raised by that venerable Nascent Lord with his Dao earlier, allowing us to forge the Mortal Protection Circle. Within it we have taken in nearly two million refugees, and are processing them and sending them south as fast as we are able. Food is tight, and without levying massive taxes on the Southern Song Empire this would not be possible. Even as it is, we cannot protect caravans and often mortals starve to death in the Circle.

    The main front are the fortified cities. With the use of some array engineers from the Song Empire (I have heard tales that we might be getting more?) we have been able to fortify three cities acceptably. To the east lies the territory of the Ten-Ten-Thousand Spider, a mighty beast with massive webs none dare enter, so our line is anchored well on that side.

    Our three cities are Sha Yu Wall Fort (named after the mountains), He Jian City (formerly a town, but swollen by refugees), and Old Sycamore City. Each of these is under a major siege, and projecting force for a long time from any of these fortified cities is difficult. Consequently I have established a line named the Fearless Line, manned by my most mobile and fearless cultivators, who sally out to smash raids in the zone between the Line and the fortified cities.

    These are relatively minor forts, but are too difficult for the Blood Path fiends to seize while they are held at the front line.

    However, if any of my three forts fall, the Siege Towers will advance, and the Fearless Line will fall shortly after. We will need to retreat a rather incredible distance, and I will likely be forced to disperse my forces into those cities that can be invested to hold the enemy for as long as possible. It goes without saying in such a case there is no stopping the Demonic Altar Sect before they reach the core Sect holdings - unless we lean on Nascent Soul intervention.

    I am in quite desperate straits. I know that the expedition north must not be recalled, and the other fronts are at risk of collapsing as well, so I will not request reinforcements. Do as you think best, but know I can maintain this situation for another two to three years at best, perhaps five at the outside.

    With hope,
    Elder Strengthchaser
     
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  • Media
    • Those names. Indomitablepunch. o_O
    occipitallobe said:
    I have enclosed a map of the rough situation.

    Inked in blue are those territories remaining in our control, in red those controlled by Demonic Altar. The thick red lines are areas where their control is largely uncontested, the dotted red lines are where we able

    You will note that there are roughly three front lines, so to speak.
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    It just cuts off here. Probably something like 'are where we were able to hold' or something, I guess. Not sure.
    occipitallobe said:
    Do as you think best, but know I can maintain this situation for another two to three years at best, perhaps five at the outside.
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    Wow. Well, that is quite the bad situation. Anybody who isn't the Golden Devil Clan, probably has a little bit more trouble with setting up defenses, huh.

    Also, in general: man, fuck fighting Blood Path cultivators in war. They just flow over your lines and go after and massacre the civilians.

    ... And I suppose this is why they take 8 to 1 casualties. Because the Blood Path adepts raised from those masses of mortals? They're not any good at strength or skill. ... They're also probably not very disciplined, too. So... Yeah. It's a pretty clear balance of attrition, as far as evolutionary paths go.

    I wonder what they really value and hate losing, in exchange for this? Is it their Elders? While I know that they can quickly raise anybody to a given level, because Blood Path, they can't easily replace skill and experience. (Though, neither can anyone else I guess... But the fact that they usually take longer to get to higher levels, usually then means that they tend to pile up the experience...) Is it 'hunting grounds'? Do they struggle when denied the ability to predate on mortals? (Obviously they have the issue of internal stability and discipline of course. But I'm wondering about their attrition and loss-avoidance patterns. That is; what does it "hurt" them, a lot, to lose some amount of?)
     
    Orphanos 2 - Monkey See, Monkey Sing (Part 1)
  • Sidestory
    • Monkey See, Monkey Sing (Part 1)​


    Orphanos walked down a sandy bank, stumbling over a nonexistent rock and finding himself tumbling down the dune before coming to an ungraceful stop at the bottom. His head is spinning and he can see the glare of the sun beating down on him relentlessly. Ugh, he can't bear it anymore.

    He uncorks the flask, and feels the last drop land on his mouth as the bottle echoes with a hollow emptiness. Damn. And here he thought he had enough to last him for a while longer.

    Several months had come and gone since he had begun his journey of cultivation, and found within those months he found the complete annoyance of the droning monotony his own mind produced to be worse than any of the pains that the cultivation process itself had produced. So, drink in hand, he had stumbled out to the desert straining his ears for something of interest that would help ease his mind and prove that he was on the right track.

    A weary frown eases onto his face. The sun's rays were a little too harsh. Maybe he could find some shade and rest for a bit…

    ---

    He looked deeply into the eyes of the beast in front of him. It returned his gaze, unblinking.

    A beat. Two. Three.

    Orphanos lost the staring contest first, the sand from the whipping wind forcing him to blink as the monkey remained unaffected. He rubs his eyes, causing the beast to leap off of his chest as he leaned forward, up from his bed of sand. Huh. So he had ended up falling asleep somehow? Those lullabies from sunlight had been more soothing than he imagined, so he could see it.

    Speaking of seeing, the beast from before was still there. Now that he looked closer, it was some sort of...white-furred monkey, but with a scorpion's tail. It was also extremely quiet, which was entirely out of the norm. No matter what sort of animal you were, there was always a song around you. Whether it be a bold one announcing your own name, or a timid one seeking to hide with quiet notes, any being would play a tune. Orphanos had grown up listening to all of them at once till he learned to listen for certain things, and not be deafened under the sounds of everything. And yet, from this unassuming monkey, he heard nothing.

    Confused with the situation in front of him, Orphanos brought his hand to his head to scratch his chin, and froze when he saw the beast in front of him do the same. He tilted his hand, and it followed. A hop, paired by another. Hmmm. This was quite amusing.

    Deciding to confound the monkey, he turned around and began to hum a ditty to be carried off on the wind, stopping midway as he heard a copy of his exact same tune flying off to the wind in the other direction.

    Well then. Orphanos grinned. It appears he had stumbled upon something properly interesting then!

    ---

    Part 1, I refuse to stall my writing by bottling this up in the hopes of making it one big dump when I could break it up to guarantee a flow
     
  • Sidestory
    • We were on easy mode during the devil bee war remember, because they were getting paid to destroy forts when we specialise on holding them.

    This is more like it will be when the Blood Path comes across the border. Sure, we're better at forts than the strength purity sect, but we need mobile soldiers aswell, to protect our people better.
     
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    Sol Zagato said:
    Can I still change the cool thing I'm getting from my Omake? (Simon Euaerizo)
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    You would have to ask Occip, but my first call would be no - unless you are in the 'a total rook' category in the Index. That means your character hasn't been introduced yet. If such is the case, let me know and I'll edit your request on the spreadsheet.

    In other words, you can only change your reward for turn 6 - from corresponding Omake.
     
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    Zephias said:
    Report Seeds done. Just rookies to go and Index will be up to date.
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    This is probably going to be really annoying for you, but you're not done. The pages moved, which means that the links you have made are dead links for some of the older names (as omkaes are added that would push omakes onto the next page). As links are complicated non-updating code.

    For example, the link for Fierce Fang, takes me to page 4 of the reader mode where A names are.

    Translation: Pretty much all the links need to be undone, then reapplied.
     
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    Marlin said:
    This is probably going to be really annoying for you, but you're not done. The pages moved, which means that the links you have made are dead links for some of the older names (as omkaes are added that would push omakes onto the next page). As you chose to link by page instead of by post on the reader page.

    For example, the link for Fierce Fang, takes me to page 4 of the reader mode where A names are.
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    sigh. And I was just going to celebrate.

    All seeds should have an index entry now - have not moved Keiros Cole Emendator to dead yet since there's not been an official word about that from Occip. I'll fix the links when I can - probably should just not bother with reader mode for that, since the constant addition of omake will make those fall out of place constantly. I've been doing main thread links for newer seeds anyways.
     
    Well this paints a far grimmer picture of the war to the north than I expected. It sounds like a breakthrough is almost inevitable without some big dramatic reversal.

    Of course we do have an unreliable narrator here, I would love to read a similar report from the Demon Altar side. I imagine the logistical challenges they are facing keeping so many Blood Path aimed in one direction are significant.

    It does a great explain how we got such a good deal with diplomacy this turn too.
     
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