OKAY I AM BACK
And I may have gone a bit overboard with my fluff here, hrm.
[X] Plan: The Lost Ones
-[X] Clan
-[X] Combat Formations
-[X] Array Carving
-[X] Demonic
In the annals of the Clan's history are tales of glory, soldiers of a long lost empire that extended its grasp upon the world, bringing wealth and civilization to all the realms. Yet calamity befell the people of that heady era, as a change in the heavenly laws found their realm torn asunder, their people scattered and hurled into a realm of gods and monsters, where barbarism reigned supreme and order a lie to appeal to the sensibilities of shallow strongmen. The survivors of this ancient race found one another, banded together as one, and cooperated as they grew to understand the nature of this strange new world. They grew--slowly at first, but with ever increasing speed and vigor--the Clan's Legions became a fearsome sight on many a battlefield, often overturning the common logic of the Cultivation World through their tactics and arrays. It is said at their height, the great Strategoi of the Clan even gave challenge to the Heavenly Daos themselves, to change the world to one that is more fair, that need not exalt the one over the corpses of billions.
They were struck down for their temerity, and a curse placed upon their very blood--for while it is said that to Cultivate is to defy the heavens, it is not permitted to change them. What remains is a mere shadow of those great heights, as feeble embers are snuffed out ruthlessly by the heavens.
And yet, the Clan endures--if a thousand embers are snuffed out by the hypocritical heavens, they may yet be used to ignite ten thousand more flames. Perhaps one day, a new Strategos will rise to challenge the Heavens once more.
Until then, the Clan will abide. There will be no compromise with a realm that denies their very heart. Let the Barbarians declare the Clan to be demons, to treat them as subhuman beasts for their refusal to submit to a broken firmament..
-[X] Tempering Trials (+4 pts)
--[X] It is considered an act of great karmic virtue to bring justice on behalf of the heavens, and what greater injustice exists than the continued survival of these invaders? A coalition of so-called Righteous Sects regularly issue the Rite of Karmic Purification, in which the Clan's fortresses and businesses are laid siege, as a tide of murderers seek to slay your people to gain the blessings of Heaven for their future advancement. Preparing for these to limit the damage is a significant portion of the Clan's duties.
-[X] Thin Qi (+4 pts)
--[X] As though all of the other curses are not terrible enough, the very energy of Heaven and Earth is found to recede from areas held by the Clan. While the Array Engineers have labored long and hard to compensate for this with their arts, it is a persistent issue that follows your people throughout time.
-[X] Dangerous Tribulation (+3 pts)
--[X] The Heavens have not forgotten the trespass of your ancestors, and make sure to remind you that you will never be welcome in this realm any time one of your experts seeks to rise to power. It is said that Heavenly Tribulation is two parts killing intent to eight parts vital force. For your kin, it is the other way around.
-[X] Enemy (+2 pts)
--[X] The oldest and greatest foe of the Clan is the Raging Fury Sect--Demonic Cultivators of considerable power and malice. The annals of the Clan state that the Raging Fury Sect once took in a number of refugees of the Clan in the aftermath of the Great Conflict and the onset of the curse, keeping just enough alive to study their strange bloodline and refining the rest for their own sinister deeds. When their perfidy was discovered, the Ancient gathered together a full Legion and set themselves upon the Raging Fury's territory, carving a burning swath through their Sect, salting the herb fields and sacking their Dao Repository, before taking the survivors and what slaves had not already been seized and retreating home. Their foundation ruptured, the Raging Fury Sect fell to infighting and collapsed. The survivors yet plague the Clan's operations.
-[X] Two Enemies (+3 pts)
--[X] Even putting aside the centennial assaults, you have more… Persistent concerns. The Seven Divine Saber Palace is a formidable Sect of the Righteous Path, professing the Dao of self-reliance and overcoming all foes with a single blade. In spite of this, when the Abyssal Demon Sect assaulted the Jin Empire on one fateful year--a realm under the Saber Palace's protection. Weighing the risk of sustaining harm under the Abyssal Demon's fierce onslaught against the value of protecting a minor secular country, they chose instead to simply shrug and let the attack continue, and avenge it later when they could muster greater force. Desperate, the Jin Emperor personally rode for the court of the golden-haired demons and kowtowed before them, begging their aid. Moved by the sovereign's humility, the Clan's elders authorized an expedition, and locked horns with the Abyssal Demon Sect, killing many of them under the weight of their spears and the thunder of their cadence. In the aftermath, the Clan was recognized as the Imperial Protectors--an act that left the Seven Divine Saber Palace's face in tatters, one they never forgave. The Abyssal Demons also suffered terrible losses from the Clan's legion, and they were forced to flee the empire when the Array Engineers were successful at warding the major cities from their blood-hunters. Neither side forgave the Clan for this.
-[X] Elemental Blood (5 pts)
--[X] It is said in the oldest of records that the Empire your people hailed from was founded by a child of the Sun--the battles and tribulations experienced since arriving in this realm seem to have catalyzed this lineage into something mighty indeed. The hair of your people shines a radiant gold, flowing like the corona of a star when fighting a fierce battle. It is the foundational strength of your Clan in many ways, and permits your strength to endure these trials without compromise.
-[X] Obedient (2 pts)
--[X] Your kinsmen are drilled to cooperate from an early age, introduced to cultivation in groups and taught the importance of cooperation and teamwork even in a realm that seeks to deny such humanity from experts.
-[X] Ally (2 pts)
--[X] You are not entirely without friends even in a world like this. The Flood Dragon Gang are widely considered pests throughout most of the other Righteous Sects, but folk heroes to much of the Secular World. They stood for the Jin Empire's people before anybody else, and the arrival of your own Clan's soldiery prevented them from being wiped out in a futile last stand. They subsequently swore friendship with your Clan--and admittedly, having a band of wandering knights-errant to launder your goods through has been helpful for the clan's coffers, and it's just so rare to have loyal friends, you know?
-[X] Ancestral Will (Late Nascent Soul) (3 pts)
--[X] All the world seems to be fit to be your enemies, and it is tradition for the elders of your Clan to leave a fragment of their will behind when they pass on. Combined with the Sect Protection Formation, this is a force fit enough to discourage your many rivals from going to the knife. So long as your foundation endures, so will your legacy.
-[X] Spirit Stone Mine (Medium) (3 pts)
--[X] While the energies of Heaven and Earth fleeing when your people set down roots anywhere is annoying, the crystallized power deep in the earth's heart is… Less able to inconvenience you and yours. Seizing it was a problem--holding it, fortunately--is less so.
-[X] Spiritual Treasure "Contribution Board" (2 pts)
--[X] For all that their methods and nature qualify them as the Demonic Path, the Clan is tightly organized, issuing missions to disciples to ensure that the Clan's obligations remain upheld, while new sources of resources and material are acquired. While an entrenched observer of the Righteous Path may scoff at seeing the beasts pretend to coordinate themselves, it is a point in the Clan's pride that unlike many organizations outside the orthodoxy, virtually none of their disciples ever go mad with power and go on rampages harming the innocent.
(1 Point Shiny Debt)
The overall logic here being a bunch of supreme soldiers from a 'More advanced' realm that initially did pretty well for themselves due to the power of friendship and field engineering, adapting to the environment and snowballing up to being an enormously powerful, final-boss level force.
And then getting shit on by the universe itself because "No, actually, the whole pyramid scheme bullshit and philosophical stasis is the point, if you're going to try and change things for any reason then all of a sudden literally everyone gangs up on you from out of nowhere despite previously being a bunch of every-man-for-themselves goons, and then the survivors find themselves literally cursed by the heavens to never rise to their former heights again." And just... Bunkering up and keeping on going, not letting the shitty universal laws win.
They're 'Politically' Demonic path despite not indulging in the same mass murder bullshit or supertorture affairs (Though they do have a tendency to re-purpose the cores of attackers and enemies because energy is energy and there's no sense just wasting it you know), because the universe has declared them all to be inherently sinners and thus murdering them makes you luckier.
A hell of a lot of active enemies even putting aside the centennial "Everyone gangs up and kicks them in the ribs" party, but with an absolutely disgusting defensive base that gives them the right to turn all battles into mass combat battles and then beat the shit out of you from experience. With enough reserves lying around to discourage anyone else going for the knife. And one friend in a bunch of rowdy folk heroes who they bailed out of a jam once.
Another word for this I suppose could be called the "Long Chen Scenario"
