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

[occipitallobe]

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!

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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.

 

[occipitallobe]

that's four dead...
what a depressing update

also was this 'extra super overkill dead' that overrides LST healing 2 stages mentioned somewhere in the posts about the rules revamp? it feels really unfair to tell people that an LST guarantees they get badly wounded at worst then have this surprise outcome.

Click to shrink...

I admit that was unclear - as there are steps beyond death (as crippled + crippled is many more steps than 'normally dead'), but the LST guarantees you won't die no matter the overkill. Overkill here is necessary in part because it means characters who are badly wounded will never get crippled as long as they have an LST. As an aside, it only applies to characters who are *already* wounded/crippled/etc, there's no overkill that applies to characters who are healthy to begin with.

I think that particular Good Seed is long since abandoned, but if the author wants it changed I'll look at altering the outcome this once.

 

[occipitallobe]

Manuel looked down on his Council, quietly avoiding speaking. Better to let them gather up the courage to begin. Normally Elders were primed for this, slowly brought into the inner circles and brought up so they'd find it easier to perform their duties without his input, understanding that his time was too limited to make small - or even medium decisions.

The disaster was not past, but hopefully they'd have an idea of where they stood.

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There are basically four Mechanics in this quest.

(1) Choices. Your Clan Council will ask you to make a call on something. Mostly they won't do this - they're competent enough to handle things on their own, but sometimes they will. You'll see 0-2 of these per turn, on average. They're usually pretty straight-up binary choices.

(2) Focuses. You choose in general what the Clan should focus on for the next 20 years. Building up for war? Training new disciples? Carving more arrays? More trade? Focuses don't prevent you from doing everything else, it's more 'here's the one thing we should really get done'. Focuses are mainly mediated by your personal skill levels and specialities.

(3) Actions. What you, personally, do. Usually mediated by skills, but often by Cultivation level - especially when it comes to combat. You can always Write In Actions. In fact, writing in more complex and well-thought out Actions will positively increase your chances of success.

(4) Purchases. What wealth the Clan has, and what your Council want you to spend it on. They'll usually come to you with the thing they want most. No micromanagement, just 'here is the big-ticket item I want'. These will often (but not always) persist between turns. Wealth is expressed in terms of Years of Income Saved. You can take as many of these as you can pay for! Keep in mind, though, if you spend all your money, you won't have it in future for dire situations.

All voting is Plan Voting. Make a Plan if you want, or just vote on someone else's! You can vote on as many Plans as you like! Approval Voting, baby!

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No Voting Moratorium this time. Seeing how it impacts things.

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Manuel walked into the reasonably full clan headquarters. Back to three tables, the forty-year old tables still offering protection against mental effects and poisons. It made it a little easier to check his Elders for mental corruption and subtle poisons without potentially activating them, which had become more crucial than ever with the vulnerability of his elders. He had been wounded these past twenty years, and made no progress in his cultivation. For the first time, there were simple chairs. Steel, it seemed. Probably some form of Spiritsteel, he thought, maybe Xie Xinya's choice. Xie family had plenty of Spiritsteel mines, and he wouldn't put it past her to try and constantly demonstrate her loyalty.

Around sat his Councillors, some who were skilled and valuable pieces on the gameboard. Others were unknowns, and he merely hoped they'd be able to carry out their duties. To say that they worked poorly together was an understatement, administration and disciples and intrigue all constantly concerned with one another, still worried they might be stepping on toes or being treated poorly by one another.

"Report."

Manuel's voice was ordinary, this time. A simple, easy voice of a disciple, one without the long years of cultivation under the Blood of Bronze. Settle them. Put them at ease.

First was Casia Zimisce, a Late Core Formation cultivator. Rail-thin and severe-faced, she looked as though she had perpetually swallowed a lemon. Her intimidating posture and expression aside, once she spoke one wouldn't pay attention to them, as she set everyone around her at ease. Casia was Stratopedarches, or in more common terms, the Elder of Administration. To her fell the duties of managing mines, herbs, cities, camps - all manner of resources flowed through her hands. In the last twenty years she had spent much time developing her staff, and simply trying to make the Contribution Board run. She had done an admirable job.

"Archegetes. Obviously in terms of wealth things have gone reasonably well. We have eleven full years of income saved."

Currently the Clan has 16 Wealth (+6 from last turn. +15 from income, -1 from inefficiency penalty, -5 from hired Core Formation mercenaries. +1 from a critical Ferenike roll in which she mastered a new Formation for the Clan).

Second was Kleisthenes Sarantapechos, a Mid Core Formation Elder. Dead Euphrosyne's twin sister, though less talented in cultivation. She cultivated a rare Yang attribute technique, and went by a male name, and wore a male body to aid in her cultivation. For her, if she had not cultivated her Yang technique - she never would have risen into Core Formation. Such a thing was uncommon among your Clan, but not unknown. She is the Hetaireiarches, or in common terms, the Elder of Diplomacy. To her fell the duties of managing external powers and other Nascent Souls. She often complained about her lack of talent, and she and Manuel were reasonable friends. This friendship had suffered with her sister's death, however.

"Archegetes. Our relations with Strength Purity Sect have strengthened considerably over the last decade. It is difficult to get intelligence reports at the moment, but our erstwhile allies are willing to give us news of their battles. The Great Battlefield has been stalemated all of a sudden, a massive push into the Song Empire by the Altar Sect simply shattered by the emergence of two Righteous Nascent Souls onto the battlefield, relieving a siege at Herb Mountain. Apparently there was a large Nascent Soul battle there, and a Demonic Nascent Soul tried to enter the mountain and seize some manner of herb. The battle destroyed the mountain entirely and drove the Blood Path Nascent back, after which the two Righteous Nascents began killing Core Formation Blood Path Elders relentlessly, enough to blunt their offensive completely. A risky maneuver, but it seems to have paid off. The Siege remains broken, but the Noble Knowledge Sect don't seem to be taking all that much advantage of it, and are simply selling their most vile goods to less moral cultivators en masse, trying to increase their wealth."

Third was Xie Xinya, a Mid Core Formation Elder. She is beautiful, long black hair framing an oval face. Her lips glossy and eyes rouged, she was certainly the cultivator on the Council who cared most about her appearance. Manuel missed Euphrosyne - that old woman had never hesitated to argue with him or call him a fool, and there were precious few who would. But dwelling on his failures won no battles. She is the Parakoimomenos, or in common terms, the Elder of Intrigue. Previously you held her position. Hopefully, Xinya can achieve some fraction of what Nikephoros did. To her falls the duties of espionage, sabotage, and assassination.

"Archegetes. Better than expected. I have been able to sneak three disciples into Devil Bee territory, as well as around two thousand mortal spies, half of whom have died. I have offered the usual payments to their families, of course. Apparently their old Nascent Soul was killed, though I'm not sure how. It was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, who consumed the old Nascent's body and rose to Nascent Soul herself. They presently possess two Early Nascent Soul cultivators, both deadlocked in a civil war that has escalated towards the Sect nearly splitting. With sufficient resources I believe I could extend the civil war massively, weakening both sides for a potential future invasion."

[ ] Invest in the Civil War (-5 Wealth per turn, will end if the Civil War ends. Can ended at any time by vote.)

Keep your enemies fighting one another. Infighting among the Devil Bees means no threat, but of course you might accidentally tip the scales one war or another. Not to mention the reality that they might keep fighting regardless. Still...

[ ] Don't

If your enemies are fighting, so much the better. You only have so much money, but none to spend on this.

"Secondly, I managed to build up a spy network in Cannibal territory. Took a lot of time and effort, but as soon as I got good infiltrators, they started dying. Found out from the last one that Old Cannibal himself is rooting them out. Don't know why or what he's up to, but it worries me."

Fourth came Destasia Duca, an Early Core Formation Elder. She is Chartoularios Tou Kanikleiou, or in simpler terms, the Master of Disciples. She picks out good seeds, gives training and assistance, and manages the core of the Clan Contribution Board for Qi Condensation and Foundation Building disciples in times of peace. She is flighty, friendly, and happy, and is well-known for her eyes she can use to befuddle or poison her enemies with, as well as her... unique approach to both life and cultivation.

"Archegetes. Well. Let me tell you. Things are going fine. Too many low-tier Aspirants not meeting standards, of course, and we're not doing as well as we could've hoped, and, in fact, things are terrible. I mean, we're regrowing. But terrible. My point is we should be fine, though. Don't you worry about a thing."

Manuel raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm... I'd say we're training at eighty percent efficiency? Maybe. Lots of new Qi Disciples, but I've had to filter many out. Hard to get new Core Formation Elders, though. Look. It's not my fault. I didn't kill any of them this time. I did manage to build a fun use of the Palace, though, finding a way to chart the most effective techniques per person by regions, bloodlines, and so on, so we can recruit a little more efficiently. It'll take another forty years to complete, but it'll be great once it's done."

Lastly was Heraclius Staurakius, a Great Circle Core Formation Elder. He is Protostrator, leader of your armies. One of your precious Core Formation cultivators in the Great Circle, Heraclius has stalled cultivation-wise. He is an exceptional commander, but he is old. At 940, he will only be capable of command for another 40 years or so. Unless some miracle happens, however, he is the best commander available by a significant margin, and the most experienced, but taking him on as a commander will mean replacing him before too long - discontinuity of command is where the Legions are the weakest. A Lifespan Treasure will be going to him with surety - you cannot afford to lose him in forty years.

Heraclius speaks, a gravelled voice coming from a throat that had been cut more than once.

"Archegetes. I am fortifying what I can. My personal belief is that the Cannibals are our largest threat, and while Old Cannibal has kept to the agreement, I am seeing more and more activity near the border. Arrays being built up, caches of supplies established. I am not sure what Old Cannibal intends, as these are fairly obvious and should be better hidden, but I am concerned greatly."

You run your tongue over your teeth and think.

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Currently the Clan has 16 Wealth.

Notably, mapping Wealth to number of Disciples has become annoying and finicky. This turn will serve as a new baseline for Base Income, which will be set at 15 Wealth per turn . Ongoing costs and bonuses can add to this or reduce it, but will usually be temporary in nature. Consequently the Clan will gain 15 Income, lose 1 to Inefficiency, and lose 5 to Mercenaries next turn, for a total Income of 9.
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What should the Clan focus on?

[ ] Building Bridges (Write-in target) - You should make more allies. Choose a target on the map and aim to have their relations with you increased. Give gifts, exchange assistance, aim for strategic marriages.

[ ] Intrigue (Write-in target) - You should learn about another clan entirely. Spend Spirit Stones like water in the plains and find out everything you can. Strengths. Weaknesses, places to strike, rebels, and so on and so forth.

[ ] Raiding (Write-in target) - Better to weaken an enemy. Send teams of cultivators to go raid an enemy for resources and to kill them where possible. Minor conflicts, with minor rewards. At best, you can seize minor territorial gains. This will worsen your relations, of course. Gains widely variable Wealth (0-10, excluding crits). May seize territory and gain Income in extreme cases. Loses Cultivators - around 5,000 Qi Condensation cultivators, 50 Foundation Establishment cultivators, and potentially 1 Core Formation Elder.

[ ] War (Write-in target) - Simply invade. Strike with all your might and seize territory. Kill cultivators. Requires your personal attention to prevent Nascent Souls simply obliterating your forces. Uses your personal Action for the turn. War will open a set of new sub-turns.

[ ] Increasing Wealth - More trade, more mines, more growth. Aim to find more Spirit Stones, tax more from traders, whatever works to increase your Clan Wealth. Increases Wealth by an average of 5.

[ ] Training Soldiers - Raising Disciples to higher Realms is all well and good, but training them to be perfect members of Formations is better. Ensure your Clan is trained and ready for war. Your readiness to go to war will increase significantly, though this fades over time.

[ ] Fortifying (Write-in territory, ally or vassal) - Spend Clan manpower and soldiers to build new fortifications against outside enemies. New Arrays, help train new cultivators in lesser Formations to defend their lands, and so on. Will also strengthen a vassal or ally if chosen, and increase relations with them. Increases defenses in the chosen territory, ally, or vassal.

[ ] Write-in

What will you do?

[ ] Hunt An Enemy (Write-In) - Why not? Hunt down enemies, see if you can kill someone. Usually used against an opposing Nascent Soul. Potentially very dangerous.

[ ] Weaken An Enemy (Write-In Faction) - Choose a faction, and use your Nascent Soul strength to simply sneak in and do damage. A little underhanded and shameful, but what do you care for the views of the Righteous Path? Potentially dangerous.

[ ] Assist A Faction (Write-in Faction) - Use your personal strength to assist an ally of some kind. Potentially dangerous.

[ ] Economic Activity - Carve arrays, scribe useful cultivation techniques onto scrolls, hunt down useful opportunities that might be dangerous to a Core Formation Elder. Make some money for the Clan.

[ ] Lecturing - You can simply lecture your many juniors on cultivation. Spend your time helping them grow, using less resources and ensuring better growth for the Clan.

[ ] Write-in

Purchases:

We have 11 Wealth saved. The Clan cannot go into debt - you can only spend what you have!

Casia Zimisce wants to...

[ ] Build Blood-Darkening Arrays in the Burnished Crags (5 Wealth)

"Archegetes, the Blood-Darkening Array is one that harms mortals little, yet makes their blood slightly animalistic in nature. Only a tinge, but it reduces the efficacy of Blood Path by thirty to forty percent. Given we are likely to be at war with the Cannibals before too long, such an Array could protect the mortals from harm, as our enemies seek to harm them less."'

Kleisthenes Sarantapechos wants to...

[ ] Build a Golden Eye Array Spire in the Strength Purity Sect (6 Wealth)

"Archegetes, the Strength Purity Sect have allowed us to build a Golden Eye Array Targeting Spire in their lands, in return for the use of the Array during the war. It extends the range of the Array by some measure, and makes it more efficient over long distances. Moreover, allowing Strength Purity to use it to track and defeat our enemies will win much goodwill. It will inform them of any use of the Array in their territory, though, making it harder to spy on them directly.'

Xie Xinya wants to...

[ ] Build a Golden Eye Array Spire in the Burnished Crags (4 Wealth)

"Lady Sarantapechos has her thoughts, but Archegetes, listen. Goodwill is ephemeral, wealth is forever. A proper Array Spire in the Burnished Crags will mean that not even Old Cannibal will be able to block our viewing of the warfront if it comes, and will allow us efficiency on the battlefield. Yes, yes, one of my relatives owns the best land to build it on, but I'm still right. It'll be cheaper, too. Sending a whole team to find materials and construct things in Strength Purity would cost far more."

Destasia Duca wants to...

[ ] Raise up four new Core Formation cultivators (2 Wealth)

"Archegetes, I'm pretty sure... eighty, ninety percent sure I can get four juniors through to Core Formation before their time. New technique. They'll stall out at Early Core 100% due to some... issues with the process, but don't we need cultivators right now? Isn't my experiment- I mean, my sure thing a great idea?"

Heraclius Staurakius wants to...

[ ] Raise a new Mobile Legion (5 Wealth)

"Archegetes, I believe our current fortifications in the East are doomed. The Cannibals will be able to pick us apart in our fortifications simply due to our present weakness. I would like to raise a new Legion, one headed by a more mobile cultivator, allowing us to reinforce cities and the like more easily. A fast Legion is uncommon, and normally I would rely on our superior tactical acumen. Still, with us so weakened, strategic mobility will be incredibly valuable."

 

[cheesyme]

Hmm, I'm thinking either Training or Fortifying even more if possible, then Lecturing, and then buying the Burnished Crag's Golden Eye Spire and raising the new Core formation cultivators.

 

[BungieONI]

@occipitallobe is the Fortify Clan Focus going to cost us Wealth?

 

[occipitallobe]

@occipitallobe is the Fortify Clan Focus going to cost us Wealth?

Click to shrink...

No. It used to, but now focuses only cost manpower - you're directing the Clan to spend more of its efforts in a particular area, not drawing down on your reserve wealth.

 

[BungieONI]

No. It used to, but now focuses only cost manpower - you're directing the Clan to spend more of its efforts in a particular area, not drawing down on your reserve wealth.

Click to shrink...

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

I FEEEEL OUR POWER RIIIIIIIIIISING!



Anyhoo!

I have raised my own plan thoughts for folks before in the thread while the trials were ongoing but best to revisit them, especially with the addition of our purchases.

[X] Plan About To Punch Some Cannibals
-[X] Don't - Abyssal Bees
-[X] Fortifying (Burnished Crags and Uncast Molds)
-[X] Personal Sweep for Cannibal Spies: Xie Xinya is doing well in keeping an eye on our most pressing enemies, which is a relief in someways. You'll have to make sure she doesn't get too big of a ego about it, and it has left you with little report on Blood Cannibal spies in Clan territory. Sweep the Clan's lands for them and extract what information and resources you can, and then kill them.
-[X] Build Blood-Darkening Arrays in the Burnished Crags (5 Wealth)
-[X] Raise a new Mobile Legion (5 Wealth)
-[X] Build a Golden Eye Array Spire in the Burnished Crags (4 Wealth)
-[X] Raise up four new Core Formation cultivators (2 Wealth)

So! From the looks of it where the Old Devil Bee died, the mention of a 'deadlock' indicates to me that the two Earlies are going to be smashing each other's faces in for the coming twenty years at least so I don't see a lot of point expending cash on that and thus picked Don't.

Fortification has been discussed at length and basically boils down to these points. The Blood Path struggles when it cannot feed and spool up nice and hard, petering out and starving. The Clan's doctrine is to build up fortifications and pull everything that the Blood Path would eat out of reach, then circle around to smash the heck out of the wandering Blood Path folks. The SPS would be trying to fortify but its incredibly expensive and they do not have the expertise we do, which is part of why they brought us in to fortify those cities they were pulling their mortals back to. So, fortify in our Cannibal border and dig in as hard as we can.

Furthermore! Casia has brought us a wonderful opportunity to cut our enemy's efficiency by a third, making their strategy of attack and then leave massive chunks of their army running around eating things to get the blood path ramp up going much less effective and enhancing the impact of our fortification doctrine. It's really good in my opinion.

On top of this, the other half of the doctrine is smacking people upside the head. So I decided to go with Heraclius's Mobile Legion idea, which gives us a hammer we can squish them with when we need it, and boosting our means to respond in the East. I trust him a lot in his skills so I think if he says we should we really should. The fortifications falling part we're taking action to minimize as well.

Finally we're doing like Old Cannibal and trying to uproot anyone who managed to get into our lands. Manuel is entirely capable of acting in this regard and it is what we've planned so far. I don't particularly want to have sabotage of our new fortifications happening or other things of that nature that we'll have a harder time noticing since, even if we are getting info about Old Cannibal the spy network over there is still on somewhat shaky ground it looks like and I'm doubtful about intercepting orders fast enough to prevent such.

Thoughts and responses are welcome.

E: And holy shit we have more wealth with which to SPEND due to a goof in the notes. Therefore!

I am adding More Cores and the Golden Eye Spire. The Eye Spire will make sure we're totally aware of what Old Cannibal is up to and be able to direct the Shattering Spear Array and Mobile Legion with accurate information which is a huge boon for the search and destroy parts of our doctrine.

The Cores from Destasia will be stuck at early, but that kinda hardly matters in the face of going from 8 to 12 Early Cores for just 2 Wealth. So snap that up to to help against the Blood Cannibals.

 

[occipitallobe]

A brief aside, (sorry @BungieONI) , Humbaba has pointed out an error in my calculations as to income on the Discord. Took some pre-efficiency figures as post-efficiency figures. Income has been adjusted up by five, for a baseline of fifteen instead of ten, so plans may need or want changing.

 

[BungieONI]

A brief aside, (sorry @BungieONI) , Humbaba has pointed out an error in my calculations as to income on the Discord. Took some pre-efficiency figures as post-efficiency figures. Income has been adjusted up by five, for a baseline of fifteen instead of ten, so plans may need or want changing.

Click to shrink...

Yep! I saw that and thank you, I've already made alterations to my plan.

*Goes off to cackle little gremlin cackles*

 

[cheesyme]

[X] Plan About To Punch Some Cannibals
-[X] Don't - Abyssal Bees
-[X] Fortifying (Burnished Crags and Uncast Molds)
-[X] Personal Sweep for Cannibal Spies: Xie Xinya is doing well in keeping an eye on our most pressing enemies, which is a relief in someways. You'll have to make sure she doesn't get too big of a ego about it, and it has left you with little report on Blood Cannibal spies in Clan territory. Sweep the Clan's lands for them and extract what information and resources you can, and then kill them.
-[X] Build Blood-Darkening Arrays in the Burnished Crags (5 Wealth)
-[X] Raise a new Mobile Legion (5 Wealth)
-[X] Build a Golden Eye Array Spire in the Burnished Crags (4 Wealth)
-[X] Raise up four new Core Formation cultivators (2 Wealth)

Bit concerned about spending our full wealth, but right now we're desperate for short term security and all the actions make sense so I'll go with it.

 

[No7sHere]

Ok, I'm extremely worried about this invasion by the cannibals but it looks like we have the resources we need to oppose them but could we use our personal action to ask for help from the flood dragon gang?

 

[BungieONI]

[X] Plan About To Punch Some Cannibals
-[X] Don't - Abyssal Bees
-[X] Fortifying (Burnished Crags and Uncast Molds)
-[X] Personal Sweep for Cannibal Spies: Xie Xinya is doing well in keeping an eye on our most pressing enemies, which is a relief in someways. You'll have to make sure she doesn't get too big of a ego about it, and it has left you with little report on Blood Cannibal spies in Clan territory. Sweep the Clan's lands for them and extract what information and resources you can, and then kill them.
-[X] Build Blood-Darkening Arrays in the Burnished Crags (5 Wealth)
-[X] Raise a new Mobile Legion (5 Wealth)
-[X] Build a Golden Eye Array Spire in the Burnished Crags (4 Wealth)
-[X] Raise up four new Core Formation cultivators (2 Wealth)

Bit concerned about spending our full wealth, but right now we're desperate for short term security and all the actions make sense so I'll go with it.

Click to shrink...

It is a bit of a Spend yeah. But as you say, and 9 wealth next turn is pretty lean but doable. We can work with that, and on turn 9 we'll have somewhere between 14 and 23 Wealth to work with, which is convenient for Trial prep either way or continuing to prosecute the war against the Cannibals.

Overall I think things are kind of looking on the up and up. More so even than they were the previous update where Manuel barfed out some lightning.

Ok, I'm extremely worried about this invasion by the cannibals but it looks like we have the resources we need to oppose them but could we use our personal action to ask for help from the flood dragon gang?

Click to shrink...

That is an option, but they'd probably want money, which would detract from our other preparations and they are in some ways as useful making sure the Altar sect is opposed by going back into the Great Battlefield and not needing to help us. And it would obviously mean not sweeping for spies, which is its own cost.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

So I mostly agree with Plan About To Punch Some Cannibals. However, I don't think Manuel spending his turn on a intrigue sweep is the best idea.

[X] Plan Punching cannibals with more Cultivators
-[X] Don't - Abyssal Bees
-[X] Fortifying (Burnished Crags and Uncast Molds)
-[X] Lecturing - You can simply lecture your many juniors on cultivation. Spend your time helping them grow, using less resources and ensuring better growth for the Clan.
-[X] Build Blood-Darkening Arrays in the Burnished Crags (5 Wealth)
-[X] Raise a new Mobile Legion (5 Wealth)
-[X] Build a Golden Eye Array Spire in the Burnished Crags (4 Wealth)
-[X] Raise up four new Core Formation cultivators (2 Wealth)

So, we are still critically lacking in cultivator numbers due to the last Trials, and we're about to go into a war - one where, even if things go well and our fortification hold, we are going to lose more cultivators. Therefore, we need to spend actions boosting our cultivator numbers, and Manuel - being a master at lecturing people - is the best way to do that

"But if we catch blood path spies, we'll stop them doing aswell in the war and prevent causalities that way" I hear you cry. Well, not really. We are investing vast resources - pretty much every other action and wealth spend this turn - on stopping the blood path. If that isn't enough to stop them, rooting out some spies isn't going to make much a difference. However, we do need to think about the long term aswell - how we are going to survive the next trials etc. And for that we need more cultivators in total - our current numbers are dangerously low, especially given we're funding our vassals Core Formation at the moment.

Furthermore, our spy master did get a network established at home at the moment - which means there's not going to be critical things we've missed out blindly. And we know Old Cannibal spend his turn on counterespionage - on catching our agents in Blood Path lands. That means he wasn't focusing on actively putting spies in our lands, which again reduces the potential reward for a personal spy sweep.

So - lecturing more cultivators is a certain benefit which will help us both short and long term with our low numbers and upcoming losses. Spy sweeping is an uncertain benefit which does something between nothing and reducing causalities by less than lecturing would grow our numbers.

 

[No7sHere]

[X] Plan Punching cannibals with more Cultivators

 

[BungieONI]

"But if we catch blood path spies, we'll stop them doing aswell in the war and prevent causalities that way" I hear you cry. Well, not really. We are investing vast resources - pretty much every other action and wealth spend this turn - on stopping the blood path. If that isn't enough to stop them, rooting out some spies isn't going to make much a difference. However, we do need to think about the long term aswell - how we are going to survive the next trials etc. And for that we need more cultivators in total - our current numbers are dangerously low, especially given we're funding our vassals Core Formation at the moment.

Furthermore, our spy master did get a network established at home at the moment - which means there's not going to be critical things we've missed out blindly. And we know Old Cannibal spend his turn on counterespionage - on catching our agents in Blood Path lands. That means he wasn't focusing on actively putting spies in our lands, which again reduces the potential reward for a personal spy sweep.

So - lecturing more cultivators is a certain benefit which will help us both short and long term with our low numbers and upcoming losses. Spy sweeping is an uncertain benefit which does something between nothing and reducing causalities by less than lecturing would grow our numbers.

Click to shrink...

Way I see it, we do know for sure that there are Blood Path spies in our lands and that they've had at least a turn to sit and do things and no results in the intrigue section mentioning them now is a concerning prospect. They're there and until they're mentioned as being dealt with in the text I'm going to assume they're still around doing things.

In terms of the spies stuff the point isn't to have taking out the spies be the thing that stops them. The point is to set things up to impede and weaken them, since that's what kills them in the end, being starved out by a bunch of different factors. No spies means much less ability to sabotage the fortifications we're putting up, less information on where our movements are and thus less time to react to our mobile legion and so on and so forth. It is also uncertain how much spying would reduce our casualties, it's just an assumption supported on nothing that it will be less than lecturing. We won't know until after it happens.

Our Core Formation Vassals are not a threat. They continue to not be threat so long as Manuel is up and running, this is just kind of the fact of having a Nascent Soul. They know how deadly he is and since we're not likely to commit Manuel to the war unless Old Cannibal shows up, they know he can stomp on any rebellion in an afternoon. On top of the fact we have high vassal loyalty.

Are they both good options, yeah, but I think dealing with spies closes our last vulnerability entirely while giving us information superiority on top of defensive and qualitative superiority.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

Do we know there's blood path spies in our lands - at least more than normal? Up until the Trials, we had an experienced spymaster with long running counterintelligence setup effectively catching all the spies. We have 20 years without one... but that doesn't means we're swarming with infiltrators. Old Cannibal didn't know if we were injured or just playing at it, and we know he spent this turn on counterintelligence duty. I'd bet he spend more time and effort on military preparations outright than risking espionage against famously tricky Manuel. No need to outsmart when you can just outsmash a weakened opponent

You know what vulnerability we do know we have right now? Not having enough cultivators to fill our legions. Not having enough cultivators to man our forts. The Legate points this right out in the Mobile Legion purchase request. We are more likely to lose land and battles simply due to Not Having Enough Cultivators than nefarious blood path super spies, and cultivators are always useful. Especially with our recruitment numbers (slightly) down due to our new Master of Disciples being whimsical

 

[Mochinator]

[X] Plan About To Punch Some Cannibals
-[X] Don't - Abyssal Bees
-[X] Fortifying (Burnished Crags and Uncast Molds)
-[X] Personal Sweep for Cannibal Spies: Xie Xinya is doing well in keeping an eye on our most pressing enemies, which is a relief in someways. You'll have to make sure she doesn't get too big of a ego about it, and it has left you with little report on Blood Cannibal spies in Clan territory. Sweep the Clan's lands for them and extract what information and resources you can, and then kill them.
-[X] Build Blood-Darkening Arrays in the Burnished Crags (5 Wealth)
-[X] Raise a new Mobile Legion (5 Wealth)
-[X] Build a Golden Eye Array Spire in the Burnished Crags (4 Wealth)
-[X] Raise up four new Core Formation cultivators (2 Wealth)

Repeating here, but i love the Mobile Legion. It's literally how i always envisioned Muyi's legion even when i spun him up as a GS. Even if he doesn't get to lead this one, having one around as a successful proof of concept will sure help when he hits Core!

 

[BungieONI]

Why do we know there's blood path spies in our lands - at least more than normal? Up until the Trials, we had an experienced spymaster with long running counterintelligence setup effectively catching all the spies. We have 20 years without one... but that doesn't means we're swarming with infiltrators. Old Cannibal didn't know if we were injured or just playing at it, and we know he spent this turn on counterintelligence duty.

You know what vulnerability we have right now? Not having enough cultivators to fill our legions. The Legate points this right out in the Mobile Legion purchase request. We are more likely to lose land and battles simply due to Not Having Enough Cultivators than nefarious blood path super spies, and cultivators are always useful. Especially with our recruitment numbers (slightly) down due to our new Master of Disciples being whimsical

Click to shrink...

From a turn post actually, during the period where we had our intrigue system shot to bits.

"My third notion is to let her guard the Scorpion Road. While our borders will be weakened, I expect our wealth will increase as our ability to guard the Road is less crippled. I would think infiltration by the Blood Cannibals would be inevitable, however, and any raids by the Devil Bees will be unstoppable if they come."

Click to shrink...

Third was, well, Manuel. A few Foundation Building experts tried to give information, but they simply did not have it. The infrastructure and network wasn't there, and simply guarding their own territory from infiltration was beyond them at the moment.

Click to shrink...

But that is less strong evidence than what I remembered, as I remembered an update that did actually specifically mention them coming over the border. So at this point its basically a gamble on if they did or not.

 

[Olivebirdy]

[X] Plan Punching cannibals with more Cultivators
We need more troops.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

From a turn post actually, during the period where we had our intrigue system shot to bits.



But that is less strong evidence than what I remembered, as I remembered an update that did actually specifically mention them coming over the border. So at this point its basically a gamble on if they did or not.

Click to shrink...

Wasn't this what we hired the Core Formation Mercs for? Patrol our lands, prevent any large-scale raids or infiltrations? Sure, one or two might have got through, but not enough to use Manuels action to hunt them down.

 

[Humbaba]

"Archegetes. I am fortifying what I can. My personal belief is that the Cannibals are our largest threat, and while Old Cannibal has kept to the agreement, I am seeing more and more activity near the border. Arrays being built up, caches of supplies established. I am not sure what Old Cannibal intends, as these are fairly obvious and should be better hidden, but I am concerned greatly."

Click to shrink...

I will say that this concerns me, particularly in conjunction with the fact that Old Cannibal has spent all his time killing our spies.

The fact that these caches things so obvious despite spending so much time killing our spies is concerning. Whilst it is possible that it's just a subordinate slacking, I wouldn't trust that.

A couple of ideas:

• He's got a super weapon of some type (Noble Knowledge sect is out and selling)
• He's trying to get us to focus our attention in a particular direction before striking elsewhere. For example, focusing on the scarred lands before pivoting west into the Xia kingdom.
• He's trying to get us to waste our money. Old Cannibal hates Manuel, and he's been around long enough to know how badly the trials tend to hurt us. If he changes his modus operandi and doesn't go for us the instant the truce ends he can potentially force us to waste a bunch of money on consumables. This would be a particular concern if he was working with Old Jingshen, i.e. they pay him to distract us whilst they do something sneaky in our back yard.

That said, I'm not sure what we can do about it.

I'm absolutely in favour of the spy sweep though. Our clan setup is massively vulnerable to betrayal from within to stop attrition hell. Preventing them from cracking our shell during their initial boost is key to winning the war.

 

[Juugo]

[X] Plan About To Punch Some Cannibals

 

[Katana1515]

It seems like this would be a good time for a Lecturing focus? More and stronger disciples will be our best asset in the coming war.

Its our MCs strongest skill and our Disciple Elder seems to be of questionable use.

 

[BungieONI]

I will say that this concerns me, particularly in conjunction with the fact that Old Cannibal has spent all his time killing our spies.

The fact that these caches things so obvious despite spending so much time killing our spies is concerning. Whilst it is possible that it's just a subordinate slacking, I wouldn't trust that.

A couple of ideas:

• He's got a super weapon of some type (Noble Knowledge sect is out and selling)
• He's trying to get us to focus our attention in a particular direction before striking elsewhere. For example, focusing on the scarred lands before pivoting west into the Xia kingdom.
• He's trying to get us to waste our money. Old Cannibal hates Manuel, and he's been around long enough to know how badly the trials tend to hurt us. If he changes his modus operandi and doesn't go for us the instant the truce ends he can potentially force us to waste a bunch of money on consumables. This would be a particular concern if he was working with Old Jingshen, i.e. they pay him to distract us whilst they do something sneaky in our back yard.

That said, I'm not sure what we can do about it.

I'm absolutely in favour of the spy sweep though. Our clan setup is massively vulnerable to betrayal from within to stop attrition hell. Preventing them from cracking our shell during their initial boost is key to winning the war.

Click to shrink...

I believe Occi has said in thread that Manuel is pretty sure that Old Cannibal is going to try and strong arm us into giving up the territory we have gained on threat of war. It'd be really stupid to give them back, especially after we fortify them, since they're part of our winning conditions (weakening the poverty curse). So it'd be reasonable to have some obvious stuff and slice out our networks if he's trying to present a position of strength.

E: Yeah found it.

From Manuel's perspective he considers it far more likely Old Cannibal will try and strongarm him into returning the territories the Devils won and threaten action otherwise. Free lands bloated with mortals, zero cost? Yes please.

Click to shrink...

 

[Quest]

Xiao Yingzi 4
[Learning from Seniors: Corvina Taurus]​

For Xiao Yingzi, cultivation was a complicated affair.

She couldn't simply draw qi out of a spirit stone or out of the air like others might. Her bond with her shadow spirit meant that when she cultivated, she had to ensure that her spirit grew with her. First, this required her to ensure that the conditions around her were perfect. She needed a room separated from the outside where she could control the internal atmosphere. She needed a candle lit at just the appropriate brightness. Too bright and her shadow would weaken. Too dark and her shadow would also weaken. It had to be a flickering candle flame as the flickering of the flame allowed her shadow to feel more alive.

Now, the room was rendered perfect for the spirit possessing her. After that, she had to set up traps and subtle arrays throughout the room to trigger if it grew too powerful. While her own strength grew though alongside the spirit's, their growth wasn't completely even. There was a point during every cultivation where the spirit grew stronger than her and she needed to suppress it with an effort of will. She had a circle around her and arrays prepared beforehand to help her overpower the spirit in case she couldn't reign it in. She needed to prepare a strange atmosphere where the spirit was simultaneously encouraged and trapped.

Only now could she begin her cultivation.

Xiao Yingzi took a deep breath and drew in the qi from the spirit stone. It flowed through her hands, travelling up her meridians and flowing through her body. The shadow spirit began to writhe as the pain of the cultivation filled her body. She sparred a fraction of her attention to the spirit in front of her, ensuring that it did not lash out or otherwise interrupt her ritual. At this stage of the process, it was easy. With the qi of the spirit stone flowing through her body, she was more powerful than the spirit was and she held the advantage.

She held her breath as she constrained the spirit and with a feeling of trepidation began the second part of the process. She reached inside a part of her mind that she imaging held her thoughts and emotions. Within it was a box that contained every emotion that she had felt since her last cultivation session. She fed the feelings to the spirit quite naturally but the source of the emotions still remained. Every time, she hesitated. Her emotions flowed through her. Her fear of losing control. Her worry of the result. Her pain from the cultivation. Her determination to see it all through. It made her feel as if she was in the dark and needed to take a step off a cliff.

But like every other time, she took the step. All of the emotion flowed through her for a moment, mingling with the qi in her body and turning it impure with emotion. It moved through her body and she began to review all the emotion she had felt. Her fear and embarrassment after being caught by her seniors. Her worry over how to approach the issue. Her wariness of the traps created by Corvina Taurus. Her joy when she made it through all of it regardless. Then she breathed out and channeled the qi - now riddled with impurities down to the base of her spine and through her crossed feet, right into her waiting shadow.

It swelled in size from the emotion and power she fed it, and began to lash out with it's newfound power - not against her but perhaps against the world around her in the hopes to disrupt her ritual. She didn't stop it, that would be no use. It had the advantage in power between them. Instead, she guided it's destruction - straight into a trap set up for this exact occasion. It was a simple shadow-paralysis array that wouldn't hold it for long, but in that instant it was frozen Xiao Yingzi could draw out the qi she had infused into it.

The qi was lesser now, but also purer. Part of the qi and the emotion inside it was drained by the spirit to fuel it's own cultivation. The qi that flowed into her now was born of pure logic, untouched by the baser instincts of men. She took in a breath and let the qi flow through her body, while drawing more qi from the spirit stones between her hands. She let them intermix and once more began the process of cultivation. With every breath, the flow of power between her and the spirit grew greater. Every session of cultivation was a battle between her will and her shadow.

The power built between them. It rose higher and higher until it reached a critical point. Then she heard a snap. She should have been worried but this deep, she only noted the sound and it's implications. The shadow had grown to the point where it had broken through her traps. It was an expected outcome in this particular session which is why she had taken precautions. Xiao Yingzi had enlisted the aid of her senior. Arrows forged from blood-forged bronze struck her shadow and pinned it in place. It was a variation of the same array that she had employed, but it had the power of a ninth heavenstage expert behind it.

Though her shadow tried to struggle, but all of it was in vain. As the shadow fought to break free, Xiao Yingzi extracted her qi. The emotion had been eaten by the shadow demon and she could add the now-purified qi back into her body. She felt her internal power surge and then stabilize as the cultivation session was over. There was a reason that the shadow had grown beyond her ability to stop. All of her traps were built by an expert of the first heavenstage but now, the power flowing through her was undeniably equal to the second.

She took in a deep breath, simply taking in the air around her and as she stepped up she felt new-found strength course through her veins. Her body and will were tired after the session of cultivation but she also felt refreshed and her thoughts were crystal clear. First, she checked upon her shadow. Now that their power was equivalent to each other she could control it more easily but she could feel it become more... willful as it grew stronger. It would make manifesting it easier but controlling it more difficult. It was something that she would have to keep in mind.

She stood up and turned towards her senior had been watching over her during the training. "What did you think, Senior Sister?"

"As we suspected, your standard containments weren't strong enough to hold the shadow spirit once it reached the second heavenstage." Corvina Taurus said, as she leaned close to examine the array she had erected. "But I think I have enough information to offer a few suggestions that might let you improve the ritual for future use."

"I thank you for your time, Sister Corvina." Xiao Yingzi said, inclining her head in thanks. "Can you share your insights for me?"

Corvina nodded. "The most important observation I made is that you can easily control your shadow when you are it's equal." She explained. "This suggests that an important factor is the amount of qi the either of you have. It's in the point where you channel the qi from the spirit stone into the shadow that we have to watch out for. The shadow surges ahead in cultivation for a moment which gives it an advantage over you. But you can also influence it with your will power. I'd suggest working on that."

Xiao Yingzi thought back to her cultivation sessions. Yes, the shadow did grow more powerful in that moment. It simply wasn't as noticeable outside of the jump to another small realm like the second heavenstage. "That matches my own observations," Xiao Yingzi agreed, nodding to herself. "So I will need to account for that moment in future sessions."

"I'd say you look for things that enhance the will such as certain forms of tribulation aids," Corvina suggested, a finger tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Normally these would be incredibly costly but you don't need something quite so powerful that it would match the will of heaven. I can introduce you to an alchemist who should be able to get you what you need."

Once more, Xiao Yingzi inclined her head and closed her eyes in deference. "I thank you for your aid, Sister Corvina." She told her and the sister waved her off.

"You getting more powerful is useful to me as well," She replied, shaking her head. "Both for the coming trip to Qiguai and because I'm very interested in your shadow spirit for my own reasons."

Xiao Yingzi nodded in acceptance. "What have you gleaned from my shadow so far?"

"Well, first I think I'd like to hear your thoughts on your shadow." She replied. "I don't want to taint it with my own opinions."

"My shadow feeds upon my qi and my emotions. This let's it grow powerful alongside me and it leaves my mind clear to focus on my duties." Xiao Yingzi answered. "Is that what you see?"

Corvina frowned but nodded. "Pretty much. It's an extension of you at this point." She confirmed. "But besides that, I think it draws its nature from something else. Something other than you. That's what I'm trying to figure out."

"Something else? Such as?"

"It's hard to see," Corvina replied. "Something like a profoundly large hidden shadow. But of what? I can't say. I think that learning this piece of information will be useful for both of our future breakthroughs."

Xiao Yingzi considered that and nodded. "I will endeavor to do some form of research in my own time. and I will inform you of anything that I can find"

Corvina looked at her for a moment before nodding back. "If you want to actively help with this, it'll be a good idea if you have some basic grounding in divination. What do you know so far?"

"We were taught how to hide our tracks from basic divination and I have done some further research on it's applications," She explains carefully. Divination was something she had wanted to learn from her senior. "But my understanding of it is still mostly theoretical."

"In that case, I'll start from the beginning. I doubt I'll have the time for teaching you more myself, but I'll try and give you a basic grounding." Corvina paused and looked at her for a moment. "If you do want to learn more, I can introduce you to someone but you'll need to pay for their time."

"That is acceptable to me." Xiao Yingzi replied. "How do we begin?"

"At the base of it, divination is the practice of sensing the movement of various forces." Corvina told her. "We can sense the movement of the heavens to predict the future or to study and track qi signatures or analyse the past based upon the present. These forces can be hard to understand and most diviners use various items or techniques to aid them."

"What about Seers?" Xiao Yingzi asked. "You have an innate sense for these things, don't you?"

"That's true. Many diviners are born with or deliberately cultivate a sixth sense for these forces. Let me teach you a few exercises that will help you with that..."

Xiao Yingzi leaned in to listen and though she wasn't capable of being happy in that moment, she found herself satisfied. This was one of the major advantages she could have gained from a Seer like Corvina Taurus and now she had the path to attaining it.

 

[Unstorpable]

[X] Plan Punching cannibals with more Cultivators