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

[occipitallobe]

Good Seed and Omake Spreadsheet Rules:

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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

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All other fields are for QM use to record character information to properly run the flow of the game.

 

[Alectai]

Yeah, I'm thinking a negotiation, where we make our primary focus the Immortal Aperture and then go for lands as our stretch goal, with the Oasis Rebels being our preferred spot (Because we were trying to help them out and this just finishes all that), and the Scarred Lands as our stretch goal to appease the Pretty Borders Faction.

Is this expensive? Fuck yes, but it's a price he could theoretically afford for 100 years of breathing space when everyone else is clawing down his neck. Yes it'll make recovery a pain in the ass for him, but it's a guarantee that he will recover.

And if he refuses, we can always just kill him later. More importantly, I want clues as to who was playing silly buggers with the Desert's geopolitics, and the best way of discovering that is to loot their cats-paw's soulspace.

 

[TehChron]

[] Plan A Truly Fortuitous Opportunity

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Here ya go then, Alectai

 

[Shard]

This is a thing in the genre. Usually it is as a result of injury or punishment, where someone else damages the magical bullshit inside the cultivator that enables their magic bullshit superpowers. There are also cases where people (usually protags) go back to the start because they learned some super secret awesome overpowered bullshit technique that you can only learn from the bottom up.

Click to shrink...

The other way I see is also for a dedicated program where dying Elders sacrifice cultivation bases to push cultivators through secret realms.

That would take forever though.

 

[occipitallobe]

This strategy becomes problematic from Foundation Establishment onwards though. One thing I wonder - Can you deliberately 'go down' heavenly realms?

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Yes, but no.

You can be badly injured and fall in realms genuinely.

You can also 'suppress your cultivation', weakening yourself temporarily and making you appear for all intents and purposes as a cultivator of a lower realm. This doesn't count when facing weaker opponents, though, or trying to enter secret realms.

 

[Enigma]

Extra lands would be the bonus prize to help burn off more of our Impoverishment.

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Will the lands actually provide us with more resources though? As I understand it the land, which is already super low quality what with everything being massacred, will just keep getting worse as we own it. Will the investment to make it worth something turn a viable profit in the hundred years away from Old Cannibal we get?

 

[Garlak]

Hm. If there's an external force meddling in the desert region, could they pivot from Child Corpse Gulper to Old Cannibal after the Blood Cannibal civil war ends? i.e. Child Corpse Gulper failed as a cat's paw; but now Old Cannibal is in prime position for being desperate for aid. So desperate that he'd be willing to accept a deal from outsiders too, if it allowed him a way to recover his Sect's power or to strike back against (or just, become secure against) the Jingshen Clan and Golden Devil Clan. ((I mean, probably not. Since whomever this hypothetical entity was, was the reason Old Cannibal was put in such an awful position to begin with. He might be too pissed to be willing to work with them. But on the other hand, if he has no good options and no hope, then...))

"Child Corpse Gulper and I are fighting. Here's my offer. You help me kill him. I cede these lands-" "-to you, and don't try and retake them for a hundred years."

Manuel grinned openly. Such an agreement would be bound by several Heavenly Treasures - if he were to make it, he truly would be bound by it.

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Question -- although this agreement would be magically bound, does this agreement ONLY mean that he can't attack and take back those lands specifically? Or would it mean that he, and the Blood Cannibal Sect, cannot aggress against the Golden Devil Clan at all for a hundred years? Because if it means the former, he could theoretically still just attack and take other territory of the Golden Devil Clan, right?

I don't mean to say that he will be in a political and military position to be willing do this. Rather, I just want to clarify what the "magical binding agreement" actually is and does and limits them to.

 

[Alectai]

Hm. If there's an external force meddling in the desert region, could they pivot from Child Corpse Gulper to Old Cannibal after the Blood Cannibal civil war ends? i.e. Child Corpse Gulper failed as a cat's paw; but now Old Cannibal is in prime position for being desperate for aid. So desperate that he'd be willing to accept a deal from outsiders too, if it allowed him a way to recover his Sect's power or to strike back against (or just, become secure against) the Jingshen Clan and Golden Devil Clan. ((I mean, probably not. Since whomever this hypothetical entity was, was the reason Old Cannibal was put in such an awful position to begin with. He might be too pissed to be willing to work with them. But on the other hand, if he has no good options and no hope, then...))

Question -- although this agreement would be magically bound, does this agreement ONLY mean that he can't attack and take back those lands specifically? Or would it mean that he, and the Blood Cannibal Sect, cannot aggress against the Golden Devil Clan at all for a hundred years? Because if it means the former, he could theoretically still just attack and take other territory of the Golden Devil Clan, right?

I don't mean to say that he will be in a political and military position to be willing do this. Rather, I just want to clarify what the "magical binding agreement" actually is and does and limits them to.

Click to shrink...

I'm fairly certain that Manuel isn't going to be fooled by cheeky 'Exact Words' shit like that.

More importantly, I feel said third power probably would have gone to Old Cannibal in the first place if they felt they could subvert him, or would have set it up now.

Which is, I suppose, a genuine risk--that he's subverted and trying to bait us into a trap because his puppetmasters are not bound by the agreement, but at that point we're getting well into the rabbit hole.

 

[Katana1515]

Each update makes me happier we went for the veteran old monster option rather than the young genius. I dread to think how snookered we would be without our massive Intrigue bonuses.

I favour the negotiation option. Right now actual complete conquest of the Blood Cannibals looks like it wouldnt be worth the blood and treasure spent on it. Get Gulpers corpse so we can deny Old Cannibal a power up, with the bonus land as a secondary priority. Even if they dont regenerate in time they will be a useful buffer when hostilities resume.

Starting next turn we should probably focus on preparing for the trials in Turn 5 anyway.

 

[Alectai]

Anyway, I think we're past any moratorium? Borrowing Chron's plan then with a note at the end for any counterplay.

[X] Plan A Truly Fortuitous Opportunity
-[X] Negotiate - If you choose to negotiate, ask for things below. The more you ask, the less chance of the offer being accepted, though. Negotiate is Accepting the Offer but asking for more before agreeing. To Negotiate, create a Plan with what you're asking for below.
--[X] More Land - The Scarred Lands, The Oasis Rebels
(A secure border to hold back any further trepidation should another Child Corpse Gulper appear. We all know that Old Cannibal only intends to let you rear the population up and grow fat before his Blood Cannibals return to try and reclaim them. Let the Optimatoi do the job in full if he should so desire. Leaving a work be half-done is worse than not starting at all!)
--[X] Child Corpse Gulper's Corpse and Immortal Aperture - An Immortal Aperture can be turned into valuable storage items, and there are likely many treasures stored within.
(It is an open secret that Blood Path can get far more out of the remains of their Nascent Soul Cultivators after their passing, not merely in re-using the Immortal Aperture, but likely similar practices to what the Demon Oaks practice as well. The treasures are practically secondary to denying such a potent resource to the Blood Cannibals. This, more than anything else, is to secure the safety of the Clan for just a little bit longer. To weaken a foe just that bit more. To buy your people just that little bit more time)
--[X] Wealth - Fuck you, pay me. Ask for Wealth in units. 1 Wealth is roughly 10 years of savings for the Clan, and 5 Wealth is worth as much as an additional piece of land. The corpse and Aperture is worth 10 Wealth, as is a Heavenly Treasure. (1 Unit)
(A trivial amount in the grand scheme of things, but the cost of serving as the Blood Cannibal Sects strength shall cost the Golden Devil Clan dearly this generation, so soon after the damages taken this past century. This shall ease the sting between now and the Hundred Year Trials by fueling the growth of what promising Juniors remain after this)
---[X] Priorities: Corpse Gulper's Corpse/Aperture (The Red line, we walk if we don't get this). Oasis Rebels, Scarred Lands, The Wealth

 

[Garlak]

I'm fairly certain that Manuel isn't going to be fooled by cheeky 'Exact Words' shit like that.

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I dunno if it's 'Exact Words' exactly. To me, it looked like it might be a deliberate opening in the treaty to begin with; i.e. agree not to invade the ceded lands, but say nothing about skirmishing or wars or raiding in general, especially in other lands and areas. ... I probably said that badly, as that still sounds like 'exact words bullshit', but... The difference being that Manuel would know what it means, and would not be tricked or surprised or anything, whereas the posters would be surprised by it. If that makes sense? Hence why I wanted clarification.

More importantly, I feel said third power probably would have gone to Old Cannibal in the first place if they felt they could subvert him, or would have set it up now.

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Hm. It might have been easier for them to tempt Child Corpse Gulper with support or money, as he was in a lower position. Old Cannibal is old and the reigning leader of the Blood Cannibal Sect; with him, they could have tried to offer him incentives to start shit with his neighbors, and hoped that it results in the Blood Cannibals overrunning (or damaging) said neighbors. With Child Corpse Gulper, they would presumably have more of a hook into him; he would have ascended to primacy and control, thanks to their help. Also, presumably, Gulper isn't an old monster like Manuel and Old Cannibal are.

(Actually, how old is he, I wonder? Roughly how old is Child Corpse Gulper? How many centuries, how close to a thousand, how far past a thousand, what?)

Basically, like the difference between funding proxy wars in the desert, versus an attempt at getting your selected dictator into rulership of a desert nation.

Anyway. Old Cannibal would not have been in as desperate a condition. Gulper (presumably) wasn't either, but he was an Early Nascent or not-yet-Nascent cultivator, and so had higher to rise, more to be bribed with. But after the wars with the Jingshen Clan and Golden Devil Clan, Old Cannibal will be a lot more desperate. And thus more easily bribed.

Of course, that presumes that said external forces exist, and that they have deep enough pockets to keep funding and bribing desert nation despots, that they decide to keep meddling after their first foray failed, and etc. (And that Old Cannibal would be amenable to making deals, rather than monumentally pissed.)

To me, I figured what happened was Child Corpse Gulper trying for a coup in the Blood Cannibal Sect; slowly and sneakily gain enough power to hit Mid or Late Nascent Soul, and eventually ambush and kill off Old Cannibal. (Maybe he'd found some Treasure or made some discovery that he thought would give him a chance against Old Cannibal, if he could just get to an equivalent cultivation stage, and so thus decided to start building up for the leadership challenge/coup to begin with?) And thus usurp control of the Blood Cannibal Sect, via Highlander/Klingon Promotion. Except then we ruined his plans to lay low and forced him to go active earlier than expected, or something. ... Probably not quite right. As the Blood Cannibals were probably having their internal clashes and rebellions even before this. Still, my first guess or instinct had been that this was a guy making a play for Sect leadership rather than cat's paw stuff.

 

[No7sHere]

[X] Plan A Truly Fortuitous Opportunity

 

[Shard]

Can we Exact Words the Patriach? They agree not to attack us in exchange for us helping them.

Doesn't stop us from attacking them right after while they can do fuckall.

 

[Alectai]

Can we Exact Words the Patriach? They agree not to attack us in exchange for us helping them.

Doesn't stop us from attacking them right after while they can do fuckall.

Click to shrink...

He too also appears to be an Old Monster who won't be easily fooled by grade school shenanigans like that.

 

[mastigos]

There's a great deal of risk, given how Corpse Gulper should have gotten his fucking ass handed to him going this loud and this rabid, but somehow managed to get the upper hand anyway against another old monster, which strongly suggests that "Yes, actually, I am getting external support from some fucker in the shadows".

Click to shrink...

Is it possible that that external support was us? We were supporting a rebel faction, and that faction may have been a catspaw

 

[Katana1515]

[X] Plan A Truly Fortuitous Opportunity

Pretty much exactly what I had in mind.

As cunning as our man Manuel has shown himself to be I have confidence that he can arrange events to our maximum benefit, such as insuring that Old Cannibal takes a crippling wound or something during the takedown.

 

[Mochinator]

Just a personal opinion on this, but i'll like to point out that while it is a staple of the Xianxia Genre for the Strongest sole cultivator to call the shots and as such removing a strong cultivator makes sense from that perspective, we the Golden Devils are a Formation based clan.

So, for us we do have the ability to leverage numbers for increases in the Clan Strength unlike the conventional sects. I don't really have much to comment on the plan for accepting the offer or not, but i just like to point out that we can leverage the surviving mortals from the lands into part of our strength pretty rapidly compared to other factions.

Either absorbing them as Auxillaries or creating a vassal clan that can act as a buffer zone to us. From my understanding of the Curse, it only affects lands we take under our rule, Clans we are allied with or who pay us tribute don't get affected. So spinning off a separate clan but have them be a vassal that pays us tribute might be a way to get resources in a faster fashion.

While there is the risk that they will rebel, it should still be at least a 100 years. Also, even if we choose to take the deal and Old Cannibal strikes back in a hundred years, as a separate power they can bleed the reborn Blood Cannibals till we swoop in to save the day.

As for Auxillaries, just imagine having like formations of 1 or 2 Golden Devils + 50 Auxillaries whos job is to power the Formation created by the Golden Devils. It would be a way to get more bang from each Clan Cultivator so to speak

 

[Twisted Mind]

[X] Plan A Truly Fortuitous Opportunity

 

[Kingmally]

[X] Plan A Truly Fortuitous Opportunity
This is a great plan I don't like risking Manuel if we don't try to suck Old Cannibal dry.

 

[Alectai]

Yeah, we've kind of got him over a barrel at the moment, barring a suicide charge anyway (And I sincerely doubt if Manuel doesn't have preparations for these negotiations suddenly going hot). More importantly, while the lands are a big chunk of the Blood Cannibal territory--it's territory that's been utterly depleted since the start of their self destruction. So it's only really a gain for us in the long term (Which he's probably not expecting us to keep it for that long.)

The real draw is the body--and the right to get the Soul Aperture and whatever's in it. Even if we get nothing else, denying the Blood Cannibals access to it and being able to produce some storage treasures for us is worth the risk. There's also the off chance there's something really useful in his soul space too, not the least being maybe some insight as to how the shit hit the fan this hard in the first place.

 

[LordEdric]

Magnus Centenius​

Magnus Centenius pt.3- Human Testing

Magnus was so happy he felt like he could burst. The recent raids against the Blood Cannibal Sect by the Jingshen Clan had been successful beyond anyone's imagination. Most due to the lack of resistance, but what little there was meant that Magnus finally had some human Qi Cultivation level test subjects. While they were not cheap, they helped speed up his research tremendously.

1D100 => 96
1D100 => 18
1D100 => 88

The first thing Magnus discovered that even Blood Path cultivators have weaker defences against disease than a beast 2 levels higher. He is unsure if this is because a beast has a naturally stronger body, or because living in the wild means that the beast runs into more diseases, or that this particular disease he is testing is better against humans. In any case, his original 3 heaven stage Bacterial Poison has proven to be strong enough to seriously weaken a 5th stage practitioner and his 5th stage poison can kill a 5th stage quickly. While not able to kill above realms like other poisons he's heard about, this BP seems to be able to fight higher then he originally expected.

Problems arose then trying to defend against the BP. Due to the surprise strength of the BP, the test subjects all either died too quickly, or started adapting to it before defenses could be formed. It took a good amount of carefully measured injections to get a low enough dose to get any level of defenses started. Magnus spent months just trying to get the exact numbers correct for each body size and level.

Adapting the BP to help the body surprisingly proved much easier. Unlike in the beast testing, the BP adapted much more readily to the human subject. Maybe it was because the bacteria originally came from humans or maybe because the subjects knew what was happening and could direct the Qi to help with the process? None the less, Magnus got a lot of information about it.

Most important is that the adapted BP produces Qi energy that can help speed up training and recovery of the host body. Magnus also found that a cultivator who adapts to bacteria of a similar level get a higher boost that a weaker of stronger level. He tested it on several 2nd stage blood path cultivators. Those that adapted to 1st Stage BP only had their training speed increase at most 5% and recovery increased by 1%. The energy produce by the weaker BP just could not keep up with the needs of the body. Also, prolonged use of the adapted bacterial poison(ABP) for training would suck all the energy and life from the ABP. After the first few days, the ABP numbers in the body would drop slowing training almost back to normal with all traces of it disappearing within a week. After loss of the adaption, the bodies were injected again and died from the BP.

The subjects who had 2nd stage ABP trained at much faster speeds and for longer periods of time. This group actually could train for week without a drop in ABP strength, and took about a month to kill all the ABP off. The training speed surprisingly raised a whole 10% while training with ABP while the passive energy recovery increased to 5%.

Finally, the few subjects who survived adapting a BP a stage higher then themselves received a mixed blessing. The speed of their training and recovery almost doubled that of the ones with matching stages, but when training there was a good chance for the ABP to revert back to BP and start attacking the body. It looks like the ABP had about a 50% chance to run rampant through the body. It is also much harder to fight off the second time since the ABP has adapted to the body as well. Most of the subjects died within the first hour of trying to train, while the rest died over the next day of training. It looks like unless a cultivator of a higher level than the ABP burns it out, someone with a ABP stronger then they are will not be able to cultivate again without dying. Useful to know, but hard to find a good use for.

Afterwards, Magnus killed them all and feed the bodies to the spirit beast test subjects.

With this information check and tested over and over again through the next few years, Magnus was finally ready to try this on himself. He had been bottlenecked at the 5th heaven stage for many years, and while he has opened more the that minimum number of meridians, Magnus was ready to catch up to his peers. Magnus spent weeks going over the perfect quantity to maximize the benefits while keeping him from the worst of the side effects.

After waking up and making sure he has the ABP, Magnus started cultivating to see how much faster he could train.

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@occipitallobe
Sorry I lied, your last update inspired me to write this before the good seed update came out

so for this round of good seeds I want my guy to boost in training speed. He's been bottle necked for a while and with this I hope he can push through a bit quicker. Also, I added a bit more to my good thing from last turn. Magnus finally gets to test it on humans and it still is unlikely to kill anyone who actively fights it, but it drains more Qi then he previously thought. Next Omake, Training montage

 

[Siual]

Good Seed Submission
Aristoteles 'Aris' Kalokagathos

Background: A Golden Devil legionnaire aristocrat with just enough narcissistic megalomania, delusions of grandeur and talent for military command to convince those around him that what they thought impossible might actually not be so. Aris would see the world as he knows it remade, with his clan as the rightful rulers of heaven and earth.

(Think part Gilgamesh, part Joachim Murat, part Draco Malfoy.)

Age: 200
Cultivation: 5th Pillar Foundation Establishment
Combat path: Sword
Impact: 5
Dao: 1st Pillar: War (bellum)
2nd Pillar: Horror (formido)
3nd Pillar: Valor (virtus)

Health: Healthy.

Spoiler: Heroforge figure

Innate Bonus: Lungs of Brass -- Aris is a natural leader of men, talented in the arts of war and command, but absolutely gifted in inspiring his compatriots and subordinates to heights of suicidal courage or unyielding steadfastness.

Techniques: Fivefold Meditations on the Path: Golden Deva's Immortal Body Art (+1 Impact)
"Firstly, a Ruler's Body is the whole of the Law. It is inviolate and perfect."

A difficult technique, closing off and hardening all acupoints to create a perfectly self-contained flow of Qi within the body, rendering it many times more durable against attack and harm. A master of this Art can even render his body largely impervious towards techniques of a lower or equivalent cultivation level.
Increases personal effective combat strength.


Items: 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. It can be used up to three times in any battle, and so can be used to help turn the tides multiple times.

--

Omake: Origins - 7159 words
Gate of the Rising Sun - 1425 words
The Grey Devourer (pt. 1) -- 3774 words
The Grey Devourer (pt. 2) -- 1641 words
The Tragedy of Shuhu De -- 6689 words
A horn once blown -- 1104 words
An oath once made -- 1204 words
Fire that once burned -- 1212 words
They have passed like rain -- 2332 words
On the mountain -- 7822 words
In and out -- 1137 words
In the Empire of Songs (pt. 1) -- 1576 words
In the Empire of Songs (pt. 2) -- 4217 words
In the Empire of Songs (pt. 3) -- 3922 words
A lesson on rulership -- 1412 words

 

[LordEdric]

[X] Plan A Truly Fortuitous Opportunity

 

[Kaboomatic]

[X] Plan A Truly Fortuitous Opportunity

 

[Twisted Mind]

Im hoping my good seed does better this time. I Think that 9th prince might be the luckist man here.

 

[Alectai]

Im hoping my good seed does better this time. I Think that 9th prince might be the luckist man here.

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I live in terror of rolling bad on my fate check and losing Rina

Then again, my ambitions are going to put her on the firing line again and again regardless so welp?