Ferenike - Good Seed Background
From the sands at the edge of the Hong Xuan Clan and the land where Child Corpse Gulper fell in battle with
Archegetes Konstantinos a girl in the 1st Heavenstage walked into the lands of the Clan. In her hands she held the broken spear and shorn in half shield of one of the Legion, and strapped on her back she carried the corpse of a Legionnaire. When she arrived at a Clan outpost and stepped into the small oasis the Legion maintained there the sentries found her trailing drying blood from a dozen wounds and broken bones marring her bronze flesh and staining her sandy hair pink with dried blood, her flesh blistered by the heat of the Sun and her brown eyes dead with exhaustion. Having fulfilled her self appointed task she collapsed into the grass and lost consciousness.
When Ferenike amazingly awoke the following day the doctors there found her able and willing to move even with her horrible wounds, her force of spirit driving her on as she requested to speak to a Centurion in the tongue of the barbarians. One was already waiting for her and swiftly set about interrogating her for her story.
What came out was a tale of a journey across the sands in the lands of the Hong Xuan Clan. She had been separated from her nomadic family by bandits of the Blood Path before being saved by pair of cultivators, one of the Golden Devils and a Flood Dragon Gang member, both Qi Condensation cultivators. With her family dead and their bodies spread across the sands she traveled with these two men for two years, helping them in their battles using what little she had learned in her family as the Golden Devil regaled her with tales of the Clan to which her appearance indicated she was likely related.
Until tragedy struck again and the Flood Dragon member was swallowed by a Thousand Glass Furnace Scorpion and the Golden Devil member was grievously wounded, breaking his equipment on the chitin of the beast before it was slain. As the poison of the beast ran through his veins the Golden Devil scion directed her to bury his friend and gave her his remaining Spirit Stones. Then he told her what would be his last wish, to be carried to the nearest Clan outpost so that he could either receive treatment or be buried on Clan lands.
Ferenike carried him across the sands, fighting off beasts attracted to the smell of blood and poisoned tissues with the man's broken spear and the sharp edge of his broken shield, gathering wounds across the journey, not sleeping or resting as she walked through the day and night as the sun boiled at her flesh and the night winds lashed at her with whips of sand. The man died on the third day of her trek, just before she reached the outpost, but even as her failure crushed her with despair she kept going. Endless patience and insistence drove her limbs forward as the sands seemed to stretch to infinity before she reached the outpost.
When she finished, she asked the Centurion if she could join the Legions. Moved by her compassion for one of his former men and her willful determination he accepted the young girl and arranged to have her sent her off to the Fortress for training with a recommendation. After attending the funeral of her friend she traveled to the Fortress in a supply caravan, spending the travel there healing and going over the pamphlets on the and there she was tested and found fit for the body of the Legion, those individuals who provide the mass of cultivators for the Hoplite formation.
She took to it like a bird to the sky, becoming a solid reliable core of her squad, finding the circulations and breathing regimen of the Hoplite coming to her naturally. Her incredible well of patience pushed her on, a rock for her squad-mates to center around and follow after. She excelled with the spear and the aspis shield of the Legion, one a dancing scorpion tail and the other an impenetrable bulwark in her hands. She couldn't do
less than excel.
She'd decided that horrible day in the Desert when her last friend died that she wasn't strong enough now to change the world into what she wanted, and remembering his final words to her she knew that the only thing standing in her way to that strength was time and effort. Her Dao is the Dao of Patience, the grinding sands of millennia wearing away a cruel edifice which would see her happiness crushed between its gears, every breath she takes, every gasp of Qi torn from the world one more victory for her and one more loss for the Heavens.
@occipitallobe decided to dip my hand into making a Good Seed. For her Starting Perk I want Resilient Will. She knows what she wants to do and she is patient enough to work for it, though I do want to double check my assumption that it helps with the doubt parts of Tribulations.
Current Status as of Turn 5: 97 Years Old as of Year 120, Cultivator of the Eleventh Heavenstage of Qi Condensation (1 turns from breaking through to the Twelfth Heavenstage, 204 approximate Cultivation Years). 200 year life span. Healthy.
Starting Perk: Resilient Will - Ferenike's willpower and patience is absurd in her cohort, giving her resistance to the doubts brought on by Tribulations.
Impact Boosts: The
Boiling Legion of Glass Body bloodline has reemerged after a thousand years of dormancy in her body.
Overall Impact:
+7. Invincible in Qi Condensation.
Impact Breakdown:
-Bloodline: +1
-Fate: +2
-Ghost Stoneflag: +4
Crazy Stuff: Attempting to reach the 12th Heavenstage. Seeking lore on the requirements one needs to fulfill to reach the Emperor's Pillar (Ninth Pillar) stage in Foundation Building.
Lifesaving Treasures: An
Eight Silver Wind Binding.
Healing Treasures:
Seven Venom Serpent Coffin (Spent. Used on Turn 5).
Created Formations:
Century Oasis Formation. This formation draws on the power of the desert sands, air, the sun and the moon, tapping into the dragonlines which flow through it and it concentrates this power amongst the members of the formation. The users of this formation share vitality, speed of healing, and endurance which is further amplified by the concentrated amount of desert Qi. Thusly, cohorts using this formation find themselves expending fewer Spirit Stones to heal and march through the desert or improving the effect of Spirit Stones they do expend, thus enhancing our advantages in our home.
Turn Three Fate: Auspicious Caravan - Ferenike and her squad were patrolling a road as they were attacked, a Foundation Building rebel expert against the Cannibals seeking to use them, as well as a caravan of five thousand mortals they were guarding as his own Blood Path foundation. The entire squad were badly wounded, but managed to hold out - after their Hoplite Formation fell, Ferenike managed to personally distract and delay the enemy enough for an allied Foundation Building expert from the Flood Dragon Gang to arrive. An excellent contribution that won her enough Contribution Points to quickly recover her injuries and cultivate frantically, reaching the
8th Heavenstage in a mere two decades. One of the mortals was the son of a Core Formation Elder, who forged her a
Teleportation Amulet, 'that you may escape danger once as you have saved the life of my son once'.
Turn Four Fate:
The Hand of War - Sent south to the war. With her group of trainees, she was involved in the disastrous defeat where the Elder of War was killed.
Wounded, she managed to shepherd most of her trainees into a southern city, only to find it under siege by the Devil Bees. After months of siege, the city of Guo Wo fell, and the remaining garrison of the city were driven out. They were rescued by a column of relief troops, but Ferenike was
Badly Wounded, trying to save what little remainder of her command. The only bright point in her past decades was her ability to break through cultivation-wise prior to heading south.
Turn Five Fate: Trials of Command - Lead a makeshift legion at Pleuron, leading the defense after the city was abandoned by the Elders for almost three weeks before the Foundation Building Experts arrived. Several forays into other besieged cities to rescue juniors. Seized a
Dark Sin Mango from an enemy cultivator who fled, gaining much cultivation as a result. Able to gain forty years of cultivation in twenty, no small thing.
Cultivation - Reached the
10th Heavenstage (-3 to 11)
Health - Full.
Turn Six Fate: Tutelage from Dust - Falling from the sky, Ferenike saw two unfortunates fall around her, thrown away by the tearing and ripping of space. Luck was with her, though, and as she reached a whirlwind, she was thrown again into the sky, flying hundreds of thousands of li away. Eventually she landed, in the home of what had clearly once been an ancient cultivator. "Kowtow three times and take me as your master, and I will acknowledge you as an honorary disciple in the art of formations.", said the notes on the grave outside. She did, and a fragment of will poured into her brain, existing for only a few seconds. In those few seconds it redesigned her Century Oasis Formation, turning it from a thing only usable by the lower echelons of Qi Condensation into something usable by all below Core Formation. 'A gift to a new disciple', was the whisper. Alongside the legacy was a small book with a number of notes on formations, a powerful
Ghost Stoneflag (+4 Impact), a formation flag carved from ghosts that had been imprisoned for so long they petrified into a sort of stone. With it, formations are easily set up, less easily broken, and it serves as the keystone of any major formation with ease. A Hoplite led by Ferenike will not break until the last drop of Qi is exhausted from all within, and will work with immaculate efficiency. Lastly, some insights on cultivation, along with a few scattered herbs and spirit stones - trash to an ancient cultivator, but enough to push Ferenike into the 11th Heavenstage, and barely a step from the 12th.
Escaping was not easy, however. On leaving she found herself surrounded by a series of angered Star-Eels seeking prey, and had she not used one of her precious treasures, her chances of escape would have been nil.
Cultivation-Year Equivalent - 204 Years
Completed Omake:
Turn 3:
Clan History and Friction (4148 words, Early Training and gaining a Lifesaving Treasure -- Using Omake Bonus for Turn 3 to obtain the Eight Silver Wind Binding)
Differences (1572 words, Experiences with Cultivating the Hoplite Formation and something strange with her body - Cultivation Supplemental to Turn 3)
Mortals and Direction (3629 words, Adventures in Water Wings and Golden Tile City and her statement of cultivation goals with a toast between friends - Supplemental to Turn 3)
Turn 4:
Disaster in the Sands (10355 Words, Hunting for a Scorpion and a disastrous battle in the sands with a Battle Blood Cannibal rebel named Zu Jing -- Using Omake Bonus for Turn 4 to obtain a Cool Thing in a special bloodline called the Boiling Legion of Glass Body that boosts her combat ability)
Flood Dragon Gong Rencao (2979 Words, Heading to Triumphant Jade City to find Gong Rencao so she could start the hunt for Zu Jing -- Cultivation Supplemental to Turn 4)
Pursuit (2746 Words, Hunting down Jianxi Bai the Leg Thief in the vicinity of the City of Golden Bells and finding a lead to his master Zu Jing -- Cultivation Supplemental to Turn 4)
Seeking Peace (4946 Words, Fighting Zu Jing near the City of Golden Bells and contemplating the twin threats of the Devil Bees and Hundred Year Trials facing the Golden Devil Clan -- Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 4)
Birds of a Feather (Letter Exchange with
@Mochinator's Xiao Yi on Formations and our troubles, becoming friends -- Fate Supplemental for Turn 4 for both of us.)
Scorplings (2843 Words, Ferenike begins training her juniors and dealing with the burdens that brings -- Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 4)
Mother Scorpion (4407 Words, Training of the Salviati and an important realization - Cultivation Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 4)
Settling your Grave (5117 Words , Preparing for War and finding the Scorpion - Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 4)
Turn 5
Terror or Horror? Part 1 (5776 Words, The Defeat of the Protostrator and flight to Guo Wo - Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 5)
Terror or Horror? Part 2 (9944 Words, The Siege of Guo Wo and Ferenike's Determination - Using my Omake Bonus for Turn 5 to obtain a Healing Treasure, the
Seven Venoms Serpent Coffin, to fix my injuries)
Coffins (2740 Words, Ferenike heals herself and goes out to meet with Rina Callista and her fellows - Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 5)
Shadows Beneath the Sun (2961 Words, Ferenike works with the nomadic tribes of Clan lands to obtain materiel and otherwise prepare for the Trials and in her training discovers more about her bloodline - Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 5)
No Rest For the Wicked (3601 Words, Ferenike begins to write down and codify her knowledge and experience for future generations, and then kills a handful of Saber Palace disciples who wished to loot them - Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 5)
Scorpions Lie in Wait (5019 Words, Ferenike tracks down and fights a Trial Hunter in Winding Pillar City during the first phase of the Trials - Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 5)
A Bit of Light Reading (1261 Words, Ferenike recovers in Winding Pillar City and engages in some scholarly research of dragon lines and muses on her connection to the world - Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 5)
Many Grains of Sand (3376 Words, three perspectives on the Trials and their triumphs and tragedies - Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 5)
Desolate Winds (1052 Words, The end of the body of the Trials and onwards to the conclusion in Waycastle Pleuron! - Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 5)
Turn 6:
At the Gates of Doom (6394 Words, the run to Pleuron and the rising crescendo of battle before the finale! - Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 6)
Through Doom's Gate (6619 Words, the finale of Pleuron, the slaying of a Core Formation elder and contemplations on what she wants - Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 6)
Paradiso (6604 Words, I finally,
finally make the Century Oasis Formation and Ferenike takes the next step onto her path - Turn 6 Bonus: Century Oasis Formation, donated to the Clan)
Life's End (5241 Words, Ferenike reaches an understanding of herself in the end of Book 1 and provides companionship to her faithful servant Ales as he dies -Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 6)
Hunting, Prelude to the Journey (7029 Words, Start of Book 2 Ferenike has a fight with a bandit and becomes a mercenary Traveler-Guard for the
Silver Liesun airship -Fate Supplemental for Ferenike for Turn 6)
It strikes me that our talents compliment each other well 
