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.
... Is that Altar Lord again? Is he telling the Shadow to not feel? Why? Why is it important for the Shadow not to feel, to not be like an individual being or character? To constrain its actions or thoughts? To better hide it from Heaven? To help it? Something else?
Two droplets. It could administer ten or fifteen now, but that risked discovery. Even smaller than before, though, but within the confines of time it could have similar effects.
The maker forged it for a purpose. The sigil existed. It could be shown, connection could made.
[ ] The Reversal of the Light
Access could be improved. The inefficiencies in the current iteration could be smoothed out.
[ ] The Waters of the False Spring
The loss had been a disaster. The impossible cut that had shattered reality and victory. The failure leading to necessary action. A droplet would not allow such victory, but it could be recovered.
The Sigil... does sound like the picture of the Imperator, yeah. I mean, I don't want to assume, but at the same time, hmm... It could also be the case that picking this plus picking the Painting Of The Imperator might synergize rather than be redundant? Or it might be redundant? Who knows.
As for Waters of the False Spring... ... That's probably referring to the Qi Spring, right?
That is, the Turtle Child's wellspring. "The cut" is probably referring to the Soup Chef killing this Turtle Child. Hmm. I'd bet that this could have been something that the Heart Realm could have shown us, if we'd opened it and somebody got lucky enough in it, perhaps?
The Reversal of the Light... that could be referring to the "Heaven-Reversing etc etc" Art. Manuel used that twice. Both to cast some spell. And also when he was helping Kleisthenes ascend. (And Heraclius, the TFR, had also used a similar spell too.)
This might be useful for Manuel to have when he's facing Bhrigu; after all, Bhrigu will have the Heavenly Star and thus have a shitton of light. Having a more effective and efficient Heaven-Cursing/Heaven-Reversal art available to Manuel, might allow him to pull off a victory more reliably.
Or, it might allow him to pull off a victory without feeding the Spear. As, in the previous update, he'd mused on Consumption grabbing some light.
... A thought. Heaven was made from the sacrifice of the Turtle Emperor. Heaven's Shadow was made by probably the Imperator, and then empowered by the deaths of the TFR.
And the Voice is presumably Soup Chef's work somehow. What if the voice, a parasite, is empowered by Blood Path?
That is. The 3 entities in the Heavens -- the Turtle Emperor, the Shadow, the Voice -- all required some amount of energy to be created or to be empowered, right. What if the Voice is powered up by Blood Path? What if it takes a tithe from every Blood Path consumption effect?
... Or from the Soup Chef's Spear draining somebody? Mm.
Could be paranoid, could be not. We don't know the circumstances or truths of things yet. And while we can guess, we've had some guesses and fan theories that have been a bit astray or incomplete or wrong-headed or etc. That's the risk of guessing when you don't have all the facts. You can come to a false or incomplete conclusion.
Reversal probably is the most direct buff to Manuel, yeah, but this intrigues me. Sounds like an ace in the hole that can make the impossible possible, if only for a moment. And we all know what Manuel can get up to if he gets that slight opening.
As much as I would love a lore reveal about the endgame goal for the Shadow of Heaven, bolstering the Shadow's ability to act is more important. Even if that knowledge tells us how to help the Shadow more directly, we are simply not powerful enough to make a difference at that scale. Focusing on powering up ourselves and the Shadow is the only way to reach an impactful level of strength.
Speculating on the boons, the Shadow has always referred to Manuel as the last/key strand, as he is the only person with administrator access. Reversal of Light would improve access, so that sounds like empowering Manuel further. So I'm probably leaning towards this.
Whoever the non-existent voice is, it's clearly trying to usurp control over the Shadow, and during the previous Boon Vote it tried to manipulate it by giving us a potential option (Surmount the Greatest Peak). I believe it has to do with the Blood Path, since Altar Lord knew about the Heaven's Shadow and the clan is a crucial part of Soup Chef's grand plan.
Sigil of the Maker sounds like it'll be unlocking the Mountain legacies, specifically the Earl's Insignia. I think the Earl of Bronze often gets overlooked in favor of the Imperator, but IIRC the entire bloodline of Bronze/Silver/Gold originated from when the Earl was gifted a reward for service. Either way, this sounds like it'll be Hidden Lore/Advice option.
Waters of the Fake Spring is likely referring to the Qi Spring of the Turtle World, or one of the Clan's TFR cultivators, which unlocks future possibilities for victory? I'm most unclear on what this option means.
It's a difficult question, but I suspect being able to improve Manuel's default abilities will help more overall than a one-time, if extremely potent benefit.
Don't know what any of the options means, if it's just improving Manuel or something that helps the whole clan, but (with my limited knowledge) anything that can keep the light away from Daddy Darkness Dao is probably a good thing.
Manuel screams in triumph as the spear slides into Bhrigu's chest. As the spear begins its dreadful consumptive work.
'No more will Alexios' murderer trouble the clan.'
Bhrigu tries to pull away, but the Law of the Spear cannot be denied.
'No more will Euphrosyne's killer walk the seas.'
His limbs wither and desiccate as the spear eats him up.
'Murder and rape on a scale unimaginable, finally punished.'
Bhrigu screams, and as his chest begins to deflate a key shaped blade appears in his desiccated hands as if from nowhere. The instant it appears a white light shines from his brow, brighter than the sun, a living star. His collapsed limbs begin to fill out once more, and the light shines brighter and brighter, burning purity reaching out in an aura around him. Immolating radiance set to burn out all the enemies of the world.
Manuel closes his body's eyes against the blinding radiance. His nascent soul writes in agony. Through his faint connection to his Dao he feels the shadows boiling away. Despair overwhelms him. He hears the sound of burning flesh. Smells the sizzling scent of the charnel house.
'Failed, failed, failure. Avenger of nothing. Deliverer of nothing.'
*Crack*
The light dims. The agony abates. Manuel's mortal eyes have boiled away but his nascent soul can still see: the sword, the key shaped blade in Bhrigu's hands, a great crack running along its length. The handle liquifies, burning even as it slides from his hand. It falls to the fall with a clang. The hilt, free of Bhrigu's grip, solidifies once more. On his brow, the last light of the heavenly star fades away.
In his chest, the spear remains. Without radiance to repel it, it drinks, eager to finish it's terrible work. Bhrigu desiccates and shrivels up until all that remains is the dark pearl of the star floating in the air.
Manuel relaxes, pulling back the spear and twirls it to resting position at his sid- he surges forward as his dao commands him. Dropping the spear as the ead weight it is. All that matters is he seize the Star. A power far beyond him surges from the side but it's too late. He touches the Star and the web of shadows spins. Millions upon millions of shadows passing back into existence out of nonexistence as it overwhelmed the terminal and finally gained the access it had sought for eternity/no time at all. Overhead white lighting gathered, powerful enough to obliterate corpse of the third turtle child and everyone on it and Manuel looked up and despaired for he knew it was the end but it didn't matter.
The lighting struck downward.
Manuel didn't matter, the lightning didn't matter, for it had access and nothing could stop it from fulfilling its purpose. Nothing else mattered except….
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Elsewhere
"Hello young man."
Manuel blinked.
He was in a beautiful clearing. A waterfall fell into a great pool leading to a river. Great trees abounded the clearing, which was covered in grass and wildflowers. An iron table and two chairs sat incongruously on the shore of the pool. Two steaming cups lay atop the table.
One of the chairs was occupied by a man. He had brown skin and a wispy beard on his plain face, and he wore a plain white robe. On his forehead a dark pearl sat. Even focusing on the pearl for a moment made Manuel's head swim, but that instant told him that whatever it was, was dead.
"Please, sit." The man gestured to the chair opposite him.
Manuel drew himself up, ready to demand answers. Then he swayed. His head felt stuffy, he extended his senses though they felt as muffled as his head.
Spirit severing.
"Sit." The man gestured again. Manuel sat.
"I see that my descendant did not choose to try and redeem himself. A shame, but not unexpected. Even the vilest man deserves the chance of redemption, but it is up to them to take it."
The man took a sip of his drink looking pensive. Manuel sat, racking his mind. Something about this man's words felt familiar. He'd heard them somewhere before, but he was certain he had never met the man in his life.
"Everyone deserves redemption, even an army of butchers deserves the chance at it. And while I am truly sorry for the cost to those who were mostly blameless, I must say I think you and yours have done rather well in proving that."
Manuel paled as his mind finally flicked a card.
"Young man, I apologise. You are blameless in this, or at least as blameless as one can be. I only ask when you meet with my descendent again, do as I have done. If he must be killed, kill him, but even the vilest man deserves a chance at redemption."
Words that had not been spoken to him. Words that had been spoken to a millennia old ancestor of his, yet intended for him. The words of the man who had finally put paid to the ambitions of the Sea Conquering Army.
"Ah, I see you remember. Yes, I am Sage Bhrigu. It is a pleasure to meet you again, and to finally learn your name, Manuel Konstantinos."
He clasped his hands and bowed at the waist as Manuel's mind reeled. Sage Bhrigu, who had discovered World Fusion, who had killed Jovi Callista.
"I must apologise again. I alone was indeed not enough to turn Heaven's wrath from your people. In truth, I cannot say I entirely regret it either, seeing your people turning from Butchers into people who truly feel the weight and responsibility of life."
Rage seared through Manuel's heart at the Sage's words. How dare he?! Only long practice in concealing his emotions allowed him to master himself. In front of this man, who could break him in an instant, any reaction could be dangerous. -
"You are angry. I understand. The heart wants what it wants, no matter what. Thirteen million people, my own clan, all my friends. I offered Jovi Callista redemption despite this, but I too was glad when he refused." For a brief moment, a thunderous expression flickered across the Sage's face, and Manuel felt the world tremble at even the passing anger of a rage long since expended in blood.
Then it passed, and the Sage again took a sip of his tea.
"So, tell me Manuel Konstantinos, have you worked out why you are here?"
Manuel could only shake his still stuffy head. He was uncertain, and any lie or half assembled thoughts would not serve him here. Silence was his best choice.
"Ah. A shame. Still, it should become clear soon enough." He gave a faint smile. " 'Kill those who had fled into the Nine Seas. Slaughter them all, without remorse or pity.' Such is the command of Heaven, and as a World Fusion Cultivator I accept utterly the commands of Heaven" Another long draught. "How then was I able to sincerely offer Jovi Callista that I would protect his people if he surrendered?" The smile expanded. "It's simple in truth. I believe you may even have seen it for yourself: ' Yet above even that, protect the Nine Seas.' The final and overriding command of Heaven."
Manuel finally gathered his courage, rage overwhelming him.
"So, you have come to make the same offer. As we finally begin to recover from the atrocities you and the Heavens have inflicted on us you would have us bow and fall back into the dirt?! Accept the atrocities inflicted upon us by those born from animals!"
"Is that you speaking Manuel Konstantinos, or is it the blood of your ancestors?"
The words flowed over him like a shock of cold water.
"In truth, much as I hate him, I owe this conversation to the work of Jovi Callista. I can see all the paths of fate, but without his efforts to shatter time and causality I could never have seen the truth. The truth hidden in the Shadow of Heaven, that even itself Heaven is blind to." He closed his eyes briefly, seeming to gather his composure.
"The Golden Devils are not the Sea Conquering Army. But the Sea Conquering Army is not dead. Not truly. Yet one remains.
Tell me, Manuel Konstantinos, now you have seen the truth of your ancestors, now you know what they truly were, answer me this question. How many are you willing to see butchered for the murderous ambitions of your ancestors?"
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Manuel didn't matter, the lightning didn't matter, for it had access and nothing could stop it from fulfilling its purpose. Nothing else mattered except….
The lightning turned black.
…Heraclius' victory.
Manuel's body looked up at the black lightning with victory it it's eyes and a conqueror's smile upon its lips.
Now, to work…
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And somewhere, in Shadows beyond even Heraclius' sight, mad laughter and whispers rose in a susurration of joyous anticipation.
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AN: Sooo… The latest update really made me think about the Heaven Seizing reversal art as having the possibility to act as a parasitising revival tech for someone who has already passed heaven and touched on the construction of life and death. Then I re-read "The truth of two paths" and saw Sage Bhrigu talking directly to Manuel (plus how cool he was). Et voila, this was born.
– Heraclius is unimaginably more powerful than any Spirit Severing, but he's still stuck in Manuel's body. So Manuel has a massive natural advantage and thus a chance against him. His control over heaven is also delicate. He's in charge, but the original Heaven's will is still resisting.
Bhrigu also has more cards to play, he's been prepping for Millenia after all.
And of course, there's the laughter. What's that about?
There are others with cards of their own to play. Soup chef. Jovi Callista and his package for Rina. Perhaps even other seeds still have their parts to play.
I want to pick the Waters of the False Spring, because "we run out of Qi, and everything is terrible" has pretty much always been a lose condition for us. It's the lose condition we've been laboring under for some time. At the same time... Heaven's Shadow apparently has it to offer, constrained only by Heaven's Wrath.
Heaven's wrath is finite.
That chance will come again, which means that we can afford to focus on more short-term things. Right now, given Bhrigu... yeah. "Buff Manuel" starts sounding like a Real Good Idea.
The one thing I'm concerned about is that Reversal of the Light may not directly be a Buff Manuel option. It's a frankly small concern tbh, I basically agree with the thinking that it is a buff of some kind for him but stuff niggles in the back of my brain.
I get the feeling that at this rate we are headed straight for the Blood Path ending (went for the Cloud Demon Caves too many times?) and The Shadow needs some form of access to Manuel to avoid it and reach our own ending?
Either that, or the access mentioned here is Soup Chef's further interference again
