Voting open
- Location
- Straya
Go forth and be democratic!
Hmmph... this junior is a good seed [Cultivation Management Quest]
- Thread starter occipitallobe
- Start date
- Original Fantasy
Winning Vote
- Location
- Straya
Turn 14 Missions
- Location
- Straya
Kleisthenes dipped her quill in the ink.
The ink was some absurd poison made a few decades ago by some poison master or another. It poisoned memory, and only the recipients of the message held antidotes. Unless you were a powerful Core Formation Elder or a Nascent, you simply couldn't remember what you read as you read it - it'd fade too fast to even communicate it to someone else. Of course, she was writing in a cipher, but one could never be too careful.
This letter is reaching a certain number of elite disciples of varying cultivations. Naturally, most of you are Foundation Establishment and so the main thrust of this missive is directed at you, yet a number of Qi Condensation disciples have tasks we wish to accomplish as well. Much of our strength is now given towards the task of preparing for the Trials, and so it falls to our elites to accomplish a great many tasks. I ask you to go beyond your capabilities, in truth, but we have always demanded more than our backs can bear.
There are several important tasks I wish to accomplish, and the Grand Elder has given over to me the disposition of many of our finest cultivators.
Firstly, we Seek the Seven Ingredients. There is a particular alchemical recipe I am in search of myself, a powerful weapon to be used against a potential foe. Many of these ingredients are in Demonic-held or Righteous-held land where we will not be welcomed. Below here are seven droplets of ink, each a memory-poison that will wipe a number of letters from the below ciphered text. Upon taking one you will be able to see the ingredient I seek. If all seven are returned, much could be gained. For Qi Condensation juniors, we seek the Three Oxides (which together form one of the Seven Ingredients), a set of metals long gone to rust or the like, hidden within the Gao Clan territory. They would make what I seek somewhat more effective - and as I understand it, are sealed within a Blacksmithing Trial limited to those of Qi Condensation.
Secondly, The Yuan Parasites must be carefully delivered. The Grand Elder has bred alongside Lady Yao a set of peculiar parasitic creatures capable of replacing various Yuan Experts for some time, subsuming their wills and causing them to be kept as puppets for many years. Such a thing would never work if there were no civil war ongoing, but if used solely against the Blood Path rebels we should be able to gain a great amount of information, creating fake double-agents to gain ever-more information. With sufficient use we should be able to manipulate the rebellion against the Yuan at our whim. For Qi Condensation disciples, you will be entrusted with lesser puppets, capable of forcing various Blood Path rebels into mad and frenzied attacks to help manoeuvre events in our favour.
Lastly, the Turtlebone Mountain Mine must be braved. A pit which Elder Duca has great interest in, we are aiming to retrieve a small amount of Turtle-Ore. This is a difficult task, but she has convinced me it may have great applications for the upcoming Trials. It has various grades, but unfortunately most Core Formation Elders are simply far more likely to attract attention from the Nascent Beasts that dwell there. Foundation and Qi Condensation alike have differing grades of ore we aim to retrieve - what they can be used for is in confidence, even for a letter such as this. Nonetheless, make no mistake in thinking that this might make a substantial difference in forty years time.
I leave it up to you as to what you choose to do. These tasks are all of great importance to the Optimatoi. The rewards are detailed below - for those of you in unorthodox cultivation realms or simply needing great cultivation resources, you are unlikely to find a better source than this.
- Second Elder Kleisthenes Sarantapechos
There. The letter was complete. There were a very small number of exceptional juniors she would send this to. Less than two hundred, in truth. But such matters were delicate, and each risked Nascent retribution if done clumsily or poorly. Finding out they were seeking the Droplet of Rust and Ruin? Parasites to consume the wills of human beings to infiltrate the Yuan? Infuriating those beasts on Turtlebone Mountain? No, every mission here had to be left to the very best.
The ink was some absurd poison made a few decades ago by some poison master or another. It poisoned memory, and only the recipients of the message held antidotes. Unless you were a powerful Core Formation Elder or a Nascent, you simply couldn't remember what you read as you read it - it'd fade too fast to even communicate it to someone else. Of course, she was writing in a cipher, but one could never be too careful.
This letter is reaching a certain number of elite disciples of varying cultivations. Naturally, most of you are Foundation Establishment and so the main thrust of this missive is directed at you, yet a number of Qi Condensation disciples have tasks we wish to accomplish as well. Much of our strength is now given towards the task of preparing for the Trials, and so it falls to our elites to accomplish a great many tasks. I ask you to go beyond your capabilities, in truth, but we have always demanded more than our backs can bear.
There are several important tasks I wish to accomplish, and the Grand Elder has given over to me the disposition of many of our finest cultivators.
Firstly, we Seek the Seven Ingredients. There is a particular alchemical recipe I am in search of myself, a powerful weapon to be used against a potential foe. Many of these ingredients are in Demonic-held or Righteous-held land where we will not be welcomed. Below here are seven droplets of ink, each a memory-poison that will wipe a number of letters from the below ciphered text. Upon taking one you will be able to see the ingredient I seek. If all seven are returned, much could be gained. For Qi Condensation juniors, we seek the Three Oxides (which together form one of the Seven Ingredients), a set of metals long gone to rust or the like, hidden within the Gao Clan territory. They would make what I seek somewhat more effective - and as I understand it, are sealed within a Blacksmithing Trial limited to those of Qi Condensation.
Secondly, The Yuan Parasites must be carefully delivered. The Grand Elder has bred alongside Lady Yao a set of peculiar parasitic creatures capable of replacing various Yuan Experts for some time, subsuming their wills and causing them to be kept as puppets for many years. Such a thing would never work if there were no civil war ongoing, but if used solely against the Blood Path rebels we should be able to gain a great amount of information, creating fake double-agents to gain ever-more information. With sufficient use we should be able to manipulate the rebellion against the Yuan at our whim. For Qi Condensation disciples, you will be entrusted with lesser puppets, capable of forcing various Blood Path rebels into mad and frenzied attacks to help manoeuvre events in our favour.
Lastly, the Turtlebone Mountain Mine must be braved. A pit which Elder Duca has great interest in, we are aiming to retrieve a small amount of Turtle-Ore. This is a difficult task, but she has convinced me it may have great applications for the upcoming Trials. It has various grades, but unfortunately most Core Formation Elders are simply far more likely to attract attention from the Nascent Beasts that dwell there. Foundation and Qi Condensation alike have differing grades of ore we aim to retrieve - what they can be used for is in confidence, even for a letter such as this. Nonetheless, make no mistake in thinking that this might make a substantial difference in forty years time.
I leave it up to you as to what you choose to do. These tasks are all of great importance to the Optimatoi. The rewards are detailed below - for those of you in unorthodox cultivation realms or simply needing great cultivation resources, you are unlikely to find a better source than this.
- Second Elder Kleisthenes Sarantapechos
There. The letter was complete. There were a very small number of exceptional juniors she would send this to. Less than two hundred, in truth. But such matters were delicate, and each risked Nascent retribution if done clumsily or poorly. Finding out they were seeking the Droplet of Rust and Ruin? Parasites to consume the wills of human beings to infiltrate the Yuan? Infuriating those beasts on Turtlebone Mountain? No, every mission here had to be left to the very best.
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Turn Plan
- Location
- Straya
Hopefully this should be a shorter turn!
The plan is as follows:
1 - Destasia's beast
2 - More Key info via meditation
?? - Maybe.. a Nascent fight? Who knows.
3 - Maps for the turn
3.1 - Yuan
3.2 - Scorpions
3.3 - Northern Jingshen territory
4 - New Manual secret-ferreting post
5 - Tisamenos
6 - More Wei Princess
Second last - Yuan Spies/mission results - contingent to a degree on Mission success
Last - Rust and Ruin/mission results - contingent to a degree on Mission success
Actually Last - Turtlebone Mission results
The plan is as follows:
2 - More Key info via meditation
?? - Maybe.. a Nascent fight? Who knows.
3 - Maps for the turn
3.1 - Yuan
3.2 - Scorpions
3.3 - Northern Jingshen territory
4 - New Manual secret-ferreting post
5 - Tisamenos
6 - More Wei Princess
Second last - Yuan Spies/mission results - contingent to a degree on Mission success
Last - Rust and Ruin/mission results - contingent to a degree on Mission success
Actually Last - Turtlebone Mission results
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Year 262 - The Silver Rises
- Location
- Straya
Tisamenos shuddered as the furious woman held him in her hand, grasping him like he was nothing more than a child.
"You pathetic-"
Her voice cut off and she smoothed her face.
"It might be a provocation from the old man, angry about something. Maybe you're just an idiot drunk on new power and can't contain yourself, yeah? Either way I don't care. What you did to her, I'm doing to you."
The furious bronzed face of the Wei Princess sat atwixt pink hair falling down all around it. Long lashes blinked angrily as she tightened her grasp, and Tisamenos felt his meridians burst.
How had it come to this?
He had returned to the Great Battlefield, controlling his temper better than the Grand Elder had thought likely. The servile nature of the Bronze-Blooded around him meant he had little to agitate it, and drawing in himself, to become lithe and agile, unnoticeable by his inferiors had been surprisingly easy. He had, he knew now, perhaps lost the battle he had worried about so much earlier. Or won it, he wasn't quite sure. A matter of perspective. The behaviours he had desired were brought about, yet with each passing day he forgot why he desired them.
The old Tisamenos had been a coward. The lie was that Tisamenos had followed the path he did to search for the truth, the truth was that he had been blown on it like a leaf, often shaking through fear.
The new Tisamenos was a coward to some degree as well. Yet the feeling that welled up inside him did not make him brave, not even fearless. It just set his teeth on edge, the way the world was all... wrong. The Bronze-Blooded running around with nobody to guide them, like ants in an overturned anthill. The inferior creatures that inhabited this world talking to them - talking down to them, it was all intolerable. It would not stand. It was not courage that drove him, but a feeling that the world must be overturned bursting out of him, beyond his control.
Still, some of the kindness and fear remained. The Second Elder had deemed him sufficient to return to the Great Battlefield, in the end. A balancing act, where good diplomats were hard to come by, and despite Tisamenos's mental contamination, he was still the best choice, especially now the participation in the Battlefield from the Clan was winding down. Any mistakes would not be too grievous for the times to come.
It had only been a few years after he returned when he had seen the boy - barely sixty years old! - crippled by Elder Baozhai, a woman he had considered a friend.
When he had pressed her on it, she had simply frowned at him.
"Golden Devil blood or not, Tisamenos, he was a thief. Do we not have the right to prosecute justice in our own land?"
The young man had turned out to be a Qi Condensation Legionnaire, accused of stealing Spirit Stones.
He had been returning from the ill-fated attempt to reinforce the Mountain Bell Sect, and no doubt was guilty of what he was accused of. The Clan had withdrawn much of its support, and hiding for years as he made his way south had left him unable to find the caches that were meant to be there. Wucheng Bryennios, a fine young man who had simply made a mistake to attempt to survive. A theft that should not have happened, but for the refusal of several vendors from the Strength Purity Sect to lend him stones on credit. Credit the Clan had proven it was willing to pay - after all, it was they who provided the stones! Give out the loan, return the disciple to us, and we will take care of him. A gentle strategy that had been more expensive than expected, but crucial to ensure this sort of thing didn't happen.
No, Wucheng had stolen to keep his cultivation, to survive and return to the Clan.
And for that the Strength Purity Sect had deemed it fit to cripple him.
He had returned to the Council of Righteous Elders, and delivered a thundering denunciation, his ire ever-growing. Yet the new Blood Defiance Federation had closed ranks, unwilling to offer criticism or the like to the Strength Purity Sect as they would've mere decades before.
It was as if a dog was sitting upon the Imperator's sacred throne, crouched beneath the double-headed eagle and passing down judgement upon human beings. Intolerable. Utterly intolerable.
He had stalked across the stage, asking at first for reparations, and for guarantees that the policy of the Clan would be carried out, and Spirit Stones given freely to returning Clan members, provided those members - Clan or not - were delivered to the Clan along with the receipt so that the Clan might judge the one asking.
They had both been denied, the Blood Defiance Federation claiming a desperate need for Spirit Stones forcing vendors and the like into desperate positions. That theft was not justified, no matter the cause.
A dog, yapping at his ears. Yapping as though it were above human beings. Yap. Yap. Yap.
He was not proud to admit that his temper had failed him.
He had spoken to Baozhai, and called the Blood Defiance Federation a number of unworthy and inspid fools, unwilling to shoulder even the slightest blame for crippling someone who had come to aid and defend them.
Then he had spoken words he admitted had perhaps been unwise.
"Better that you had been ground into nothing under the heel of my ancestors than lived to insult your betters in such a way."
Baozhai had taken it poorly, and had swung at him, a furious punch to the face dodged easily. His gorge rose at the notion of this pathetic thing daring to strike at him, and he had struck back. Fluid, simple, fast. Faster and stronger than Baozhai could have ever hoped to be, and with three strikes, each as lazy and deliberate as the last, he crippled three prime meridians, crippling her and leaving her lying on the floor.
The Elders had rose up as one, but a disorganised number of Core Formation enemies were nothing to the speed and fluidity of a Silver-Blood. Easily he escaped, badly wounding two other Elders as he left - an unfortunate happenstance to ensure his path was clear. He fled to his diplomatic residence, though he was not sure why. It would not be easy to escape, but he doubted that the Clan would take an attack in an embassy lightly.
Nearly an hour later, the Wei Princess arrived.
She tossed him onto the ground, unable to move, barely able to breathe.
"There. A crippling for a crippling. I'll have your people take you home. Get the girl to send someone less arrogant next time, and tell the old man I expect restitution for this."
Weeks later, Tisamenos sat on a carriage, his meridians healed perfectly. Silver was so easy to move about, and while it lacked the raw strength of Bronze in some ways, what was bent and cracked out of shape could be hammered back into shape without much trouble.
Still.
He could only imagine how much trouble he was going to be in once he returned.
[ ] Pay Restitution. 1 Purchase will be deducted from next Turn's income, and the Strength Purity Sect will consider the matter closed. Crippling one of their Elders is a hugely aggressive move.
[ ] Don't. No loss of money, but relations will worsen tremendously.
"You pathetic-"
Her voice cut off and she smoothed her face.
"It might be a provocation from the old man, angry about something. Maybe you're just an idiot drunk on new power and can't contain yourself, yeah? Either way I don't care. What you did to her, I'm doing to you."
The furious bronzed face of the Wei Princess sat atwixt pink hair falling down all around it. Long lashes blinked angrily as she tightened her grasp, and Tisamenos felt his meridians burst.
How had it come to this?
He had returned to the Great Battlefield, controlling his temper better than the Grand Elder had thought likely. The servile nature of the Bronze-Blooded around him meant he had little to agitate it, and drawing in himself, to become lithe and agile, unnoticeable by his inferiors had been surprisingly easy. He had, he knew now, perhaps lost the battle he had worried about so much earlier. Or won it, he wasn't quite sure. A matter of perspective. The behaviours he had desired were brought about, yet with each passing day he forgot why he desired them.
The old Tisamenos had been a coward. The lie was that Tisamenos had followed the path he did to search for the truth, the truth was that he had been blown on it like a leaf, often shaking through fear.
The new Tisamenos was a coward to some degree as well. Yet the feeling that welled up inside him did not make him brave, not even fearless. It just set his teeth on edge, the way the world was all... wrong. The Bronze-Blooded running around with nobody to guide them, like ants in an overturned anthill. The inferior creatures that inhabited this world talking to them - talking down to them, it was all intolerable. It would not stand. It was not courage that drove him, but a feeling that the world must be overturned bursting out of him, beyond his control.
Still, some of the kindness and fear remained. The Second Elder had deemed him sufficient to return to the Great Battlefield, in the end. A balancing act, where good diplomats were hard to come by, and despite Tisamenos's mental contamination, he was still the best choice, especially now the participation in the Battlefield from the Clan was winding down. Any mistakes would not be too grievous for the times to come.
It had only been a few years after he returned when he had seen the boy - barely sixty years old! - crippled by Elder Baozhai, a woman he had considered a friend.
When he had pressed her on it, she had simply frowned at him.
"Golden Devil blood or not, Tisamenos, he was a thief. Do we not have the right to prosecute justice in our own land?"
The young man had turned out to be a Qi Condensation Legionnaire, accused of stealing Spirit Stones.
He had been returning from the ill-fated attempt to reinforce the Mountain Bell Sect, and no doubt was guilty of what he was accused of. The Clan had withdrawn much of its support, and hiding for years as he made his way south had left him unable to find the caches that were meant to be there. Wucheng Bryennios, a fine young man who had simply made a mistake to attempt to survive. A theft that should not have happened, but for the refusal of several vendors from the Strength Purity Sect to lend him stones on credit. Credit the Clan had proven it was willing to pay - after all, it was they who provided the stones! Give out the loan, return the disciple to us, and we will take care of him. A gentle strategy that had been more expensive than expected, but crucial to ensure this sort of thing didn't happen.
No, Wucheng had stolen to keep his cultivation, to survive and return to the Clan.
And for that the Strength Purity Sect had deemed it fit to cripple him.
He had returned to the Council of Righteous Elders, and delivered a thundering denunciation, his ire ever-growing. Yet the new Blood Defiance Federation had closed ranks, unwilling to offer criticism or the like to the Strength Purity Sect as they would've mere decades before.
It was as if a dog was sitting upon the Imperator's sacred throne, crouched beneath the double-headed eagle and passing down judgement upon human beings. Intolerable. Utterly intolerable.
He had stalked across the stage, asking at first for reparations, and for guarantees that the policy of the Clan would be carried out, and Spirit Stones given freely to returning Clan members, provided those members - Clan or not - were delivered to the Clan along with the receipt so that the Clan might judge the one asking.
They had both been denied, the Blood Defiance Federation claiming a desperate need for Spirit Stones forcing vendors and the like into desperate positions. That theft was not justified, no matter the cause.
A dog, yapping at his ears. Yapping as though it were above human beings. Yap. Yap. Yap.
He was not proud to admit that his temper had failed him.
He had spoken to Baozhai, and called the Blood Defiance Federation a number of unworthy and inspid fools, unwilling to shoulder even the slightest blame for crippling someone who had come to aid and defend them.
Then he had spoken words he admitted had perhaps been unwise.
"Better that you had been ground into nothing under the heel of my ancestors than lived to insult your betters in such a way."
Baozhai had taken it poorly, and had swung at him, a furious punch to the face dodged easily. His gorge rose at the notion of this pathetic thing daring to strike at him, and he had struck back. Fluid, simple, fast. Faster and stronger than Baozhai could have ever hoped to be, and with three strikes, each as lazy and deliberate as the last, he crippled three prime meridians, crippling her and leaving her lying on the floor.
The Elders had rose up as one, but a disorganised number of Core Formation enemies were nothing to the speed and fluidity of a Silver-Blood. Easily he escaped, badly wounding two other Elders as he left - an unfortunate happenstance to ensure his path was clear. He fled to his diplomatic residence, though he was not sure why. It would not be easy to escape, but he doubted that the Clan would take an attack in an embassy lightly.
Nearly an hour later, the Wei Princess arrived.
She tossed him onto the ground, unable to move, barely able to breathe.
"There. A crippling for a crippling. I'll have your people take you home. Get the girl to send someone less arrogant next time, and tell the old man I expect restitution for this."
Weeks later, Tisamenos sat on a carriage, his meridians healed perfectly. Silver was so easy to move about, and while it lacked the raw strength of Bronze in some ways, what was bent and cracked out of shape could be hammered back into shape without much trouble.
Still.
He could only imagine how much trouble he was going to be in once he returned.
[ ] Pay Restitution. 1 Purchase will be deducted from next Turn's income, and the Strength Purity Sect will consider the matter closed. Crippling one of their Elders is a hugely aggressive move.
[ ] Don't. No loss of money, but relations will worsen tremendously.
Wei Princess Interlude
- Location
- Straya
----------
Escaped.
The word was bitter on her lips.
Wei Ning had dyed her hair green this time, and sorted it into two neat pigtails either side of her head.
In light of everything else, Bloodhammer had escaped? To Old Cannibal? She shook her head, pigtails flying left and right. No, better to think it through from the start again. She had never been good at this - striking through everything in her way was how she functioned, not... twisting her thoughts into knots to understand what was happening. Oh, she could do it. She just found it grated, not quite in line with who she was. With how she should act.
It had all started with the boy from the Golden Devils. Some Qi Condensation thief, somehow causing disaster.
She didn't know exactly why the Golden Devil diplomat had crippled her most useful woman helping keep control of the Federation, despite the claimed reason. It was absurd. Crippling an Elder over a sub-par Qi Condensation Disciple? A transparent and stupid ploy, and once that nobody would merit.
She had naturally demanded repayments, and had sat worrying about them for months on end. Even if the repayments came in... the diplomatic repercussions were going to be huge. Oh, there was some talk of closing ranks around the Devils, about cutting off trade, about sanctioning them - but they needed the energy supplies that came from the east too badly. The best she could do was levy a large penalty, and in all honesty she had feared when she hadn't heard back for a few months.
Then the extra payments had started flowing in.
That had been hugely relieving. No war - or at least no hostility - with the Devils as of yet. The Blood Defiance Federation was raring for vengeance, and in part threatening to break off because they felt themselves unprotected. The chief among their representatives crippled in their halls of power by an outsider who spoke such cruel words to them? No, they had demanded vengeance and it had been all she could do to talk them down to reparations. Of course, most of them did not truly want vengeance, merely to force Strength Purity to spend strength enacting it, and thereby weaken their hegemony. Decades of an uneasy peace in the south and north for most meant that the Federation was as-ever losing focus, each member Sect jostling for position.
Still, they obeyed. For now. And that would be enough to win.
Bloodhammer had fled, and Weeping Anvil had boasted of some 'measure' he had taken to 'throw back the reprobate'. Given there was only Strength Purity or the Devils to aid him, even an idiot could see what he had done. A deal with them of some sort. No wonder he demanded to pay so little for entrance into the Blood Defiance Federation, despite his intransigence. She doubted he'd join them, but she could see his problem. The Blacksmiths were surrounded by two greater powers, and needed some surety of their independence, especially now they were weak.
She sighed. There was still time. The only real concern was a strike on the Pass itself, but that could be countered with the Nascent Souls from the Federation who now obeyed her - or at least pretended to from time to time.
Old Cannibal seemed uninterested in the war almost entirely, and infighting among the Demonic Path had once again taken place. Ma Altan had worked out some... agreement with the Noble Knowledge Sect, joining them in return for something her best spies were desperate to discover. In return, the Poison Maze surged endlessly, consuming the lands that were once the Ma Clan.
The Demonic Altar were beyond quiet, and the new Grand Abyssal Love and Peace Sect - a name she refused to countenance - was busy building mortal cities, or 'hives' as they were being named. Preparing mortals for harvest, trying to make their presence sustainable. Not that it mattered, with the Favored rising. She let it be - in a few hundred years at this pace they would simply be able to win, and Old Cannibal's measures wouldn't matter.
She didn't know what was happening, but with a little time all would be made well. Heaven had favored them, and she felt as though the threats were simply to be endured. She could organise expensive and bloody attacks and gain little, or hold onto to what she had, striking strategically, occasionally. A strategy the pack of malcontents the Blood Defiance Federation called Nascent Souls would easily follow. And once her new disciple - Liu Tenchang, the Favored Fist of the Heavens - rose into Nascent Soul, she felt it would be simple enough to declare him her successor, and start sweeping the Blood Path away entirely.
Inaction was painful, but containment was difficult enough. She had to protect the mortals under her auspices, prevent the fall of any more allied Nascents, and maintain the supply of Spirit Stones. The longer they went without fighting, the more favorable it was for her. More Spirit Stones to supply her cultivators when they returned to war, less cultivators falling, less Blood Path enemies arising. She wanted to simply go punch the filth who oppressed mortals and their fellow cultivators into nothing, but...
Patience.
She'd never been very good at it, but the longer she sat on her hands, the better things got for the Strength Purity Sect. More time to consolidate the various Sects and Clans into one cohesive whole, more time to build up supplies, to let the Blood Path burn themselves out. Time for her Favored to rise. If her enemies united, they could truly bring her down. All it would take would be an unrelenting assault upon the Strength Purity Sect by all the disparate Demonic powers, and the Blood Path could likely cripple or kill her. Oh, they'd pay a price, but it'd mean an end to the Federation, and the world would be thrown into war once again.
If they were happy to wait, so was she.
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Delving into Shadow
- Location
- Straya
Manuel sat, meditating - or so it looked, at least.
Seated in the lotus position on his bed, he bent his will to uncovering secrets, to chasing the hidden threads of the world, finding the truths that lay beneath. It was a maddening mess of incorrect information, intuition, and occasional inspiration on the part of Heaven's Shadow. It was an easy enough thing to uncover the secret of a Qi Condensation disciple, but the greater the secret, the more effort to ferret it out.
He had spent years of his spare time ferreting this one out, his precious few hours in a day evaporating as he used them to try and aid the Clan in walking the line between victory and defeat. Compared to the time he had been a Qi Condensation Disciple itself... it was mostly boredom and pain.
The truth was, he found, that the adventures he had suffered through back then had been true pleasure - walking the line between life and death with no desperate concern for a greater duty. Exhilaration punctuated by boredom and suffering, but those had been wonderful times. Despite the extension of life furthering one's cultivation gave, at each stage duty and misery worsened. Qi Condensation had trumped mortality, but nothing had been greater than the joys of those first, fearful days.
He looked up at the worn mementos on his wall, each an important part of his life thus far. So many lies told, so many adventures had. Being a Qi Condensation Disciple for over two hundred years had been desperate and terrifying, especially towards the end as only sheer luck kept him alive as he discovered various treasures, yet unable to properly advance.
It had been remarkably well hidden, the Key. He wasn't even sure how he had come by it. Was it the end result of millions of years of comprehension? Was it some gift of Heaven's Shadow? He didn't know, but it was indelibly marked into his Soul. And it was growing. With each secret he ferreted out of another, the Key within his soul took greater form, and he instinctively knew it could be used for many things. The greatest, however, would be to unlock the legacies of the Sea-Conquering Army. It was suited to them, intrinsically able to fill the missing parts and remove the existing barriers with relative ease. It could, he felt, be used in other ways as well. Less efficient, perhaps, but in truth it was part of him more than it was some sanctified artifact.
Some piece of raw Law, forged into the bones of the world itself, fused with his Dao - his mastery and belief in shadows. It could unveil and unlock that which was hidden and bound up, though the legacies would be the cheapest things to use. Still, there would be many other ways to use it, though he was not sure of them yet.
Over the past few years he had been piecing together a secret.
Altar Lord had withdrawn his bedraggled forces from the front, returning to a style of warfare characterized by short offensives at weak spots, simply enough to keep Strength Purity concerned - though not seriously challenged. As to why, Manuel had bent his will to it for long times. Small secrets emerged. Core Formation Elders murmuring of a grand pact with the untapped forces of the Gao Clan, of the Heavenly Time Shatter Sect. From the Magic Oak Sect, a single message encoded over and over, but there were stirrings amongst the northern folk. A whisper of a cutting ready to be planted.
More and more he had bent his will, and had discovered something that was unknown except to Altar Lord and one other, a girl. A Nascent girl, of all things. One of the youngest Nascents he had ever heard of, but she was ill-versed in hiding her secrets. Corpse-Devouring Fairy was an unfortunate name, but knowing the Blood Path Nascents he had little doubt that she deserved the title. Still, the discovery was immense.
A spatial doorway of some sort, into the Qiguai Clan. A great underground tunnel that let into the Yuan Clan.
With that in mind, it was easy enough to put the rest together.
Why fight the blooded veterans of the Strength Purity Sect when you could simply let their other problems occupy them? There was a great bounty to be harvested in the mountains, and powerful arrays and realms to be captured. Whether or not the offensive would succeed was one thing, but he could see Altar Lord's reasoning. The Favored grew in part because of their access to such places, their luck causing them to grow immensely compared to how they ordinarily would. Deny them the realms, and you have won decades - if not a century of time.
What it would do to the tattered remains of the Blood Altar forces he wasn't sure, but the Gao Clan had long wanted the glorious wealth of the Secret Realms, and Shattered Time was denied entry to the shattered space of the Qiguai Secret Realm formally, and so conquering it would be a banner day for them. Foolish from one point of view - why make more enemies when you have plenty already - but he could see the logic behind it. Cripple your enemies by crippling the growth of their juniors.
Altar Lord hadn't reached out to him again, which was curious. No doubt this would simply be a conquest the Blood Path powers hoped they would win quickly, and that the Clan would have no choice but to accept. The slaughter in the Qiguai Clan and civil war in the Yuan Clan meant there was plentiful fertile ground for the Blood Path to take root upon, and...
Oh.
Of course, he felt like an old fool for not seeing it sooner. The Grand Abyssal Invasion - as Old Cannibal's faction had now been named by outsiders, the Grand Abyssal Love and Peace Sect being rather unpalatable to most - and Noble Devil Alliance might have little love for another, but that did not meant they could not co-ordinate. Especially with Hu Ai moving between them. It made perfect sense, now. A strike on the Sorrowful Blacksmiths at the turn of the century, along with a strike into the Yuan and Qiguai Clans. Co-ordinated in such a way that the Righteous Path would have to respond, but there would be no easy response - they could not reinforce Yuan and Qiguai while guarding the Colossus Footsteps Path, and so they would be set on the back foot.
The Righteous Path, on the other hand, was fiercely guarding the Favored, knowing they had a guaranteed path to victory.
Manuel stroked his beard, springy bronze curls rubbing against his fingers.
Still... the Blood Oak Sect remained a mystery. What did they stand to gain from this?
Seated in the lotus position on his bed, he bent his will to uncovering secrets, to chasing the hidden threads of the world, finding the truths that lay beneath. It was a maddening mess of incorrect information, intuition, and occasional inspiration on the part of Heaven's Shadow. It was an easy enough thing to uncover the secret of a Qi Condensation disciple, but the greater the secret, the more effort to ferret it out.
He had spent years of his spare time ferreting this one out, his precious few hours in a day evaporating as he used them to try and aid the Clan in walking the line between victory and defeat. Compared to the time he had been a Qi Condensation Disciple itself... it was mostly boredom and pain.
The truth was, he found, that the adventures he had suffered through back then had been true pleasure - walking the line between life and death with no desperate concern for a greater duty. Exhilaration punctuated by boredom and suffering, but those had been wonderful times. Despite the extension of life furthering one's cultivation gave, at each stage duty and misery worsened. Qi Condensation had trumped mortality, but nothing had been greater than the joys of those first, fearful days.
He looked up at the worn mementos on his wall, each an important part of his life thus far. So many lies told, so many adventures had. Being a Qi Condensation Disciple for over two hundred years had been desperate and terrifying, especially towards the end as only sheer luck kept him alive as he discovered various treasures, yet unable to properly advance.
It had been remarkably well hidden, the Key. He wasn't even sure how he had come by it. Was it the end result of millions of years of comprehension? Was it some gift of Heaven's Shadow? He didn't know, but it was indelibly marked into his Soul. And it was growing. With each secret he ferreted out of another, the Key within his soul took greater form, and he instinctively knew it could be used for many things. The greatest, however, would be to unlock the legacies of the Sea-Conquering Army. It was suited to them, intrinsically able to fill the missing parts and remove the existing barriers with relative ease. It could, he felt, be used in other ways as well. Less efficient, perhaps, but in truth it was part of him more than it was some sanctified artifact.
Some piece of raw Law, forged into the bones of the world itself, fused with his Dao - his mastery and belief in shadows. It could unveil and unlock that which was hidden and bound up, though the legacies would be the cheapest things to use. Still, there would be many other ways to use it, though he was not sure of them yet.
Over the past few years he had been piecing together a secret.
Altar Lord had withdrawn his bedraggled forces from the front, returning to a style of warfare characterized by short offensives at weak spots, simply enough to keep Strength Purity concerned - though not seriously challenged. As to why, Manuel had bent his will to it for long times. Small secrets emerged. Core Formation Elders murmuring of a grand pact with the untapped forces of the Gao Clan, of the Heavenly Time Shatter Sect. From the Magic Oak Sect, a single message encoded over and over, but there were stirrings amongst the northern folk. A whisper of a cutting ready to be planted.
More and more he had bent his will, and had discovered something that was unknown except to Altar Lord and one other, a girl. A Nascent girl, of all things. One of the youngest Nascents he had ever heard of, but she was ill-versed in hiding her secrets. Corpse-Devouring Fairy was an unfortunate name, but knowing the Blood Path Nascents he had little doubt that she deserved the title. Still, the discovery was immense.
A spatial doorway of some sort, into the Qiguai Clan. A great underground tunnel that let into the Yuan Clan.
With that in mind, it was easy enough to put the rest together.
Why fight the blooded veterans of the Strength Purity Sect when you could simply let their other problems occupy them? There was a great bounty to be harvested in the mountains, and powerful arrays and realms to be captured. Whether or not the offensive would succeed was one thing, but he could see Altar Lord's reasoning. The Favored grew in part because of their access to such places, their luck causing them to grow immensely compared to how they ordinarily would. Deny them the realms, and you have won decades - if not a century of time.
What it would do to the tattered remains of the Blood Altar forces he wasn't sure, but the Gao Clan had long wanted the glorious wealth of the Secret Realms, and Shattered Time was denied entry to the shattered space of the Qiguai Secret Realm formally, and so conquering it would be a banner day for them. Foolish from one point of view - why make more enemies when you have plenty already - but he could see the logic behind it. Cripple your enemies by crippling the growth of their juniors.
Altar Lord hadn't reached out to him again, which was curious. No doubt this would simply be a conquest the Blood Path powers hoped they would win quickly, and that the Clan would have no choice but to accept. The slaughter in the Qiguai Clan and civil war in the Yuan Clan meant there was plentiful fertile ground for the Blood Path to take root upon, and...
Oh.
Of course, he felt like an old fool for not seeing it sooner. The Grand Abyssal Invasion - as Old Cannibal's faction had now been named by outsiders, the Grand Abyssal Love and Peace Sect being rather unpalatable to most - and Noble Devil Alliance might have little love for another, but that did not meant they could not co-ordinate. Especially with Hu Ai moving between them. It made perfect sense, now. A strike on the Sorrowful Blacksmiths at the turn of the century, along with a strike into the Yuan and Qiguai Clans. Co-ordinated in such a way that the Righteous Path would have to respond, but there would be no easy response - they could not reinforce Yuan and Qiguai while guarding the Colossus Footsteps Path, and so they would be set on the back foot.
The Righteous Path, on the other hand, was fiercely guarding the Favored, knowing they had a guaranteed path to victory.
Manuel stroked his beard, springy bronze curls rubbing against his fingers.
Still... the Blood Oak Sect remained a mystery. What did they stand to gain from this?
Destasia's Altered Beast and Land Planning Session
- Location
- Straya
She practically skipped.
The poison only worked when she spoke, or if she communicated directly in any way. Preparing pre-written signs of what she intended to say later though worked just fine, though it limited her to what she'd prepared. Her storage ring was just a stack of random statements and names so she could refer to people without calling them "Destasia".
It had seemed worth it at the time, the insight into the nature of names she was likely to glean. The ability to potentially poison the world itself into letting her track things by their names.
Of course, it hadn't worked. That was probably the saddest truth. Calling everyone else by her own name was entertaining momentarily but then became frustrating, as her peons simply didn't understand when she asked for the "uglier but taller Destasia" or the "stupidest Destasia". She had been a little cross that day, but all of them had come together in some sort of contest to prove they weren't the stupidest one.
They should've known she was asking for any one of them to help her with the brewing of the second lot of poison - without discrimination!
However, she had been able to pre-emptively poison her new Lightbeast, Alvertos. The name itself hadn't been what she'd wanted, but when she'd knitted it together, it had immediately tried to kill her, and only the naming poison would have restrained it for very long. Her original pet cat from a few centuries ago had also been named Alvertos, and so it just... slipped out.
Binding all the Qi together into a beast had only really been half possible, but she'd succeeded about as well as she could've hoped. The creature was no Nascent Soul, and was not so much under her command as it was asleep - as soon as she spoke its name again it'd wake up, and it'd burn the poison out in a flash. Still, it'd let her carve its range into its flesh before it awoke, and it wouldn't be able to move beyond it. More akin to a very grumpy Will than a real Nascent, but it'd take a lot of effort from a real Nascent to kill it, so it was nearly as good.
It could be dumped anywhere, though the old man couldn't deliver it. It'd have to be Kleisthenes, the light and dark Qi just... just wouldn't work together quite right. As it was she had to isolate it far away from the Dawn Fortress and inform Manuel to come absolutely nowhere near it, lest he wake it up. After all, it was designed to kill him originally.
Still, the ravening tiger-crocodile would be quite effective wherever she put it, and it'd kill almost anyone wandering through. All the speed of a tiger, the viciousness of a crocodile, and she'd even grafted on a small set of trees so it could more effectively absorb light Qi frpom the sun to power up various attacks! Apple trees had been at hand, and while the apples themselves were simply globes of burning light, she thought it looked quite fetching. Yes, her original plan of a tiger head on a crocodile body had been good, but the neck had been too difficult to get right. The crocodile head on a tiger body with apple trees growing off the back... she sat back and admired it once more.
It was probably the most exciting thing she'd done in decades. Of course, they only had four decades at most before it woke up and started killing people, so they'd need to figure something out by then.
Now... oh, yes. She'd agreed to help out... who was it again?
"Right..", she muttered.
"The administration Destasia."
Yes, her. She'd agreed to help out organising the territories of the Northern Jingshen. She wasn't quite sure why. Possibly she had misunderstood the subtle hint in the letter asking her not to go anywhere near the former northern Jingshen lands, but... no, obviously not. Right, now she remembered! They had all been submitting requests for various resources there and she'd asked for the rights to experiment on one of the mines. She hadn't meant the people living in the big mine-cities, but... well, she had misunderstood what Manuel was saying and asked if it were an option.
So now she had to listen to a lecture, and on top of that 'prove she could consider the needs of the people living in Clan territory' before she'd even be allowed to go experiment with the Qi-Draining lands!
She'd show them. This plan would be so excellent the old man would have no choice but to let her run her studies!
Right, here it was. Oh, it was already done.
What had she written again?
----------------------------------------
The Division of Lands
[ ] One Indivisible Province
This one was obvious. Keep the province and administration as is, just under Clan rule and Legions.
[ ] The Northlands and the Southlands
No, better to divide it up. The Jingshen Dong and Nan, along with True Son Peak and Heavenly Beauty Palace would go into a new more martial province, and the rest would be a more mining-oriented region.
[ ] The Five Provinces
To each former Family, a province - as well as the Underworld Spirit Palace. True Son Peak would be part of the Jingshen Dong territories, and True Son Peak would sit with the Jingshen Nan. The Bei mines would be incorporate into Cloudy Jade City, and Yangshen and Haoshen Forts could sit with the Xi. Wangshen Fort and the Palace would be their own province.
[ ] Something Else
Note - she would need to write in each province's name, no matter how many provinces she split it up into!
(Add names to your plan when writing a plan, even if you're voting for a generic options, or I'll just give them all generic boring Greek names)
Alright, that was the administration sorted. Next... right, right, the Forts.
------------------------------------
The Forts
[ ] Maintain the Three Forts
The Spirit Palace would serve as a fallback for the Clan, so reinforcing the Forts would just make good sense.
[ ] Reduce their size and strength
No, they'd just serve as targets for the Hunters. Why not turn them into smaller Waycastles that could be more easily abandoned?
[ ] Raze them
No, no, they were a needless expense.
[ ] Write-in
(If you want to keep them, again, feel free to name them in your plan, or I'll rename them or potentially leave them as is.)
----------------------------------
Heavenly Beauty Palace
Useless, useless place, Destasia knew. Except... well, it seemed as if the arrays and the like Old Jingshen had there really did work for fecundity. Not so well for the Clan as for him, but enough to make it easy enough for Core Formation Elders to have children.
[ ] Sell off the fecundity arrays and treasures
Gain 1 Purchase. There are always buyers for this sort of thing.
[ ] Use them as part of the Clan's economy, selling their use off to Legates and Elders who want more children.
Gain 20 new Core Formation Elders over 5 turns, representing the new privileged Young Masters born from the wealthiest families who now have their bloodlines purified and meridians opened as a mere consequence of being born. They will be eligible for potential Silver-Blood gains.
[ ] Open them up to the Stork Clans for joint research
Gain ??? in a few turns. Will depend on Stork research rolls. At the high-end, new blood purification arts and powers might be gained. At the low end, nothing.
-----------------------------------------
The Underworld Spirit Palace
Technically, they'd renamed it the Underworld Devil Fortress. This was already done, of course, but she included it in her plan for completeness. What had Casia ended up building? Well, it was a tremendous new training centre for new Aspirants, it had endless Spirit Stone mines for them to clamber into, and the fortifications were going from impressive to absurd. Excepting whatever old legacies the Dawn Fortress held, it would be tougher to take than the Fortress could be in just a century or two.
It didn't look much different - the truth was in the investment, in the massive numbers of cultivators that had moved there, the Legions Casia had granted power of simply part of the Palace to get it up and running. The banners had changed, but it was still mostly the same Palace, simply with a focus on defense in depth via massed cultivators rather than a reliance on Spirit Cannons and the like. Arrays sat at every corner, and the Clan could be empowered even as their enemies were weakened, forcing an invader to trade tens of lives for one if they attempted to force their way in.
But the special thing Casia had done was...
[ ] Built a Spirit Cannon foundry
Built was the wrong word... repurposed was better. But one with Clan array-carvings, designed to take advantage of Clan tactics and strategy. Churning out new cannons that could safely be used even by Qi Condensation Disciples to challenge Foundation Experts, they would allow the Clan a little more flexibility when defending.
[ ] Began taming the Spirit Beasts that lived on the Stones far beneath the surface
The slavering Rockhounds that chewed on Spirit Stones and hunted all sources of Qi were being tamed, tamed into magnificent allies for the Clan. They were vicious and hungry, but once they had a source of Qi they could find any other part of it, making them excellent for hunting down Blood Path bandits and the like. In the decades to come the Rockhounds would ideally be a small part of almost every Legion, keeping Clan lands safer than ever before.
[ ] Recovered a Truebreath Core Flower
Of course, thousands had died for it. But it would allow the Clan's Core Formation Elders - any of them - to advance a single step forward. Mid to Late. Obviously Casia was going to decide who to give it up, but Sheng Yu seemed like a better choice. Destasia would make her own way forward eventually. Unless Casia decided to give it to her, she supposed. Then she'd have to eat it! Yes, the increase in power would be enough to let her properly test her new hypothesis on core condensation and rapid advancement! Sheng Yu was boring anyway.
The poison only worked when she spoke, or if she communicated directly in any way. Preparing pre-written signs of what she intended to say later though worked just fine, though it limited her to what she'd prepared. Her storage ring was just a stack of random statements and names so she could refer to people without calling them "Destasia".
It had seemed worth it at the time, the insight into the nature of names she was likely to glean. The ability to potentially poison the world itself into letting her track things by their names.
Of course, it hadn't worked. That was probably the saddest truth. Calling everyone else by her own name was entertaining momentarily but then became frustrating, as her peons simply didn't understand when she asked for the "uglier but taller Destasia" or the "stupidest Destasia". She had been a little cross that day, but all of them had come together in some sort of contest to prove they weren't the stupidest one.
They should've known she was asking for any one of them to help her with the brewing of the second lot of poison - without discrimination!
However, she had been able to pre-emptively poison her new Lightbeast, Alvertos. The name itself hadn't been what she'd wanted, but when she'd knitted it together, it had immediately tried to kill her, and only the naming poison would have restrained it for very long. Her original pet cat from a few centuries ago had also been named Alvertos, and so it just... slipped out.
Binding all the Qi together into a beast had only really been half possible, but she'd succeeded about as well as she could've hoped. The creature was no Nascent Soul, and was not so much under her command as it was asleep - as soon as she spoke its name again it'd wake up, and it'd burn the poison out in a flash. Still, it'd let her carve its range into its flesh before it awoke, and it wouldn't be able to move beyond it. More akin to a very grumpy Will than a real Nascent, but it'd take a lot of effort from a real Nascent to kill it, so it was nearly as good.
It could be dumped anywhere, though the old man couldn't deliver it. It'd have to be Kleisthenes, the light and dark Qi just... just wouldn't work together quite right. As it was she had to isolate it far away from the Dawn Fortress and inform Manuel to come absolutely nowhere near it, lest he wake it up. After all, it was designed to kill him originally.
Still, the ravening tiger-crocodile would be quite effective wherever she put it, and it'd kill almost anyone wandering through. All the speed of a tiger, the viciousness of a crocodile, and she'd even grafted on a small set of trees so it could more effectively absorb light Qi frpom the sun to power up various attacks! Apple trees had been at hand, and while the apples themselves were simply globes of burning light, she thought it looked quite fetching. Yes, her original plan of a tiger head on a crocodile body had been good, but the neck had been too difficult to get right. The crocodile head on a tiger body with apple trees growing off the back... she sat back and admired it once more.
It was probably the most exciting thing she'd done in decades. Of course, they only had four decades at most before it woke up and started killing people, so they'd need to figure something out by then.
Now... oh, yes. She'd agreed to help out... who was it again?
"Right..", she muttered.
"The administration Destasia."
Yes, her. She'd agreed to help out organising the territories of the Northern Jingshen. She wasn't quite sure why. Possibly she had misunderstood the subtle hint in the letter asking her not to go anywhere near the former northern Jingshen lands, but... no, obviously not. Right, now she remembered! They had all been submitting requests for various resources there and she'd asked for the rights to experiment on one of the mines. She hadn't meant the people living in the big mine-cities, but... well, she had misunderstood what Manuel was saying and asked if it were an option.
So now she had to listen to a lecture, and on top of that 'prove she could consider the needs of the people living in Clan territory' before she'd even be allowed to go experiment with the Qi-Draining lands!
She'd show them. This plan would be so excellent the old man would have no choice but to let her run her studies!
Right, here it was. Oh, it was already done.
What had she written again?
----------------------------------------
The Division of Lands
[ ] One Indivisible Province
This one was obvious. Keep the province and administration as is, just under Clan rule and Legions.
[ ] The Northlands and the Southlands
No, better to divide it up. The Jingshen Dong and Nan, along with True Son Peak and Heavenly Beauty Palace would go into a new more martial province, and the rest would be a more mining-oriented region.
[ ] The Five Provinces
To each former Family, a province - as well as the Underworld Spirit Palace. True Son Peak would be part of the Jingshen Dong territories, and True Son Peak would sit with the Jingshen Nan. The Bei mines would be incorporate into Cloudy Jade City, and Yangshen and Haoshen Forts could sit with the Xi. Wangshen Fort and the Palace would be their own province.
[ ] Something Else
Note - she would need to write in each province's name, no matter how many provinces she split it up into!
(Add names to your plan when writing a plan, even if you're voting for a generic options, or I'll just give them all generic boring Greek names)
Alright, that was the administration sorted. Next... right, right, the Forts.
------------------------------------
The Forts
[ ] Maintain the Three Forts
The Spirit Palace would serve as a fallback for the Clan, so reinforcing the Forts would just make good sense.
[ ] Reduce their size and strength
No, they'd just serve as targets for the Hunters. Why not turn them into smaller Waycastles that could be more easily abandoned?
[ ] Raze them
No, no, they were a needless expense.
[ ] Write-in
(If you want to keep them, again, feel free to name them in your plan, or I'll rename them or potentially leave them as is.)
----------------------------------
Heavenly Beauty Palace
Useless, useless place, Destasia knew. Except... well, it seemed as if the arrays and the like Old Jingshen had there really did work for fecundity. Not so well for the Clan as for him, but enough to make it easy enough for Core Formation Elders to have children.
[ ] Sell off the fecundity arrays and treasures
Gain 1 Purchase. There are always buyers for this sort of thing.
[ ] Use them as part of the Clan's economy, selling their use off to Legates and Elders who want more children.
Gain 20 new Core Formation Elders over 5 turns, representing the new privileged Young Masters born from the wealthiest families who now have their bloodlines purified and meridians opened as a mere consequence of being born. They will be eligible for potential Silver-Blood gains.
[ ] Open them up to the Stork Clans for joint research
Gain ??? in a few turns. Will depend on Stork research rolls. At the high-end, new blood purification arts and powers might be gained. At the low end, nothing.
-----------------------------------------
The Underworld Spirit Palace
Technically, they'd renamed it the Underworld Devil Fortress. This was already done, of course, but she included it in her plan for completeness. What had Casia ended up building? Well, it was a tremendous new training centre for new Aspirants, it had endless Spirit Stone mines for them to clamber into, and the fortifications were going from impressive to absurd. Excepting whatever old legacies the Dawn Fortress held, it would be tougher to take than the Fortress could be in just a century or two.
It didn't look much different - the truth was in the investment, in the massive numbers of cultivators that had moved there, the Legions Casia had granted power of simply part of the Palace to get it up and running. The banners had changed, but it was still mostly the same Palace, simply with a focus on defense in depth via massed cultivators rather than a reliance on Spirit Cannons and the like. Arrays sat at every corner, and the Clan could be empowered even as their enemies were weakened, forcing an invader to trade tens of lives for one if they attempted to force their way in.
But the special thing Casia had done was...
[ ] Built a Spirit Cannon foundry
Built was the wrong word... repurposed was better. But one with Clan array-carvings, designed to take advantage of Clan tactics and strategy. Churning out new cannons that could safely be used even by Qi Condensation Disciples to challenge Foundation Experts, they would allow the Clan a little more flexibility when defending.
[ ] Began taming the Spirit Beasts that lived on the Stones far beneath the surface
The slavering Rockhounds that chewed on Spirit Stones and hunted all sources of Qi were being tamed, tamed into magnificent allies for the Clan. They were vicious and hungry, but once they had a source of Qi they could find any other part of it, making them excellent for hunting down Blood Path bandits and the like. In the decades to come the Rockhounds would ideally be a small part of almost every Legion, keeping Clan lands safer than ever before.
[ ] Recovered a Truebreath Core Flower
Of course, thousands had died for it. But it would allow the Clan's Core Formation Elders - any of them - to advance a single step forward. Mid to Late. Obviously Casia was going to decide who to give it up, but Sheng Yu seemed like a better choice. Destasia would make her own way forward eventually. Unless Casia decided to give it to her, she supposed. Then she'd have to eat it! Yes, the increase in power would be enough to let her properly test her new hypothesis on core condensation and rapid advancement! Sheng Yu was boring anyway.
Note - Missions are now locked in
- Location
- Straya
Going to start working on Fates over Easter.
Meditations
- Location
- Straya
It had been the most free time he had enjoyed all century long.
The Clan hummed along, the Council keeping things well in hand. He handed over responsibilities to Kleisthenes from time to time, just as Alexios had done for him. If he were to fall, she would need experience in all things, not merely those within her current remit.
There was a question he had been turning over in his mind for the last few days. For years he had simply avoided it, hid from his own questioning mind in a bid to avoid weakening his resolve. But he needed these months of closed cultivation, and the reality was picking at the link between your body and soul with unanswered questions in your mind was a good way to tear at the link instead.
What was the purpose of the Sea-Conquering Army?
He didn't know.
He had thought he had known, centuries ago. When Alexios had risen as the Clan's newest Nascent Soul it had been obvious. They were the heirs to a glorious tradition, one which stood proudly above all others in justice and mercy alike. Mortals thrived under their rule, and they challenged the Heavens themselves to bring about a peace that no others would strive for. The Righteous Path cared little for their mortals, and yet the Clan had for as long as living memory lasted - indeed, the records they had brought when they had lost their Plains territory and fled into the Mountains indicated it had always been so.
He wondered about that. With the power of a Spirit Severing Elder, anything could be faked - at least to his poor vision. Had the Clan ever been what he had believed it to be, or had it simply been his misguided beliefs, and the misguided beliefs of some who came before him that made it so?
For it was when he had seen Jovi the first doubts had emerged. The man has casually spoken of killing endless mortals, slaughtering innocents without pause to reach victory. Yet he thought he had understood then. The monstrosity was out of desperation, that even the Sea-Conquering Army would become less than great when driven to desperation. Not a proud matter, but one that did not speak of their true character in victory - merely that at their worst they were no better than other men.
That too, he understood. The dream of the Clan required victory, required high-mindedness but human beings were not all perfect. Jovi had been a monster, but had not Manuel committed evils? No, he had understood, if he had not agreed. Perhaps it would have been better to die than to inflict such slaughter, but it had not been him making the choice.
It was the second vision that had brought him fear. The Beastwar. He was no fool, and knew that there would be a third vision at some point. It seemed obvious. The point at which they lost their last true hope of victory, Jovi Callista. The inflection point, the truth of what the Will Opposing was, under Heraclius Sarantapechos. The third vision would show the purpose, he knew. The truth of the matter, what the Will Opposing had been brought here for.
At first he had thought them mere random visions of the past, yet careful investigation of the Clan had shown no others with the dreams, if they could rightfully be called that. The experiences.
He was being... primed for something. What it was, he couldn't tell. But despite his lack of talent, despite his relative incompetence compared to those had come before him - and it seemed, those who would come after - he was the one being shaped for something.
Even a fool could see that Heaven's Shadow was preparing him, making him into a tool. Even a fool's fool could tell that a tool was only made if it needed to be used. How? That was, as it happened, not the terrifying part. The worst part was this - if he learned the truth, would he even want to be such a tool? And after he learned the truth, would he have a choice in the matter?
He could not set his mind to rights, but resolved what he had resolved all those years ago. As long as his will remained his own he would act in accordance with his own will. The Will of Heaven's Shadow in truth might not be the one he had imagined, a righteous shadow struggling against an oppressive evil, but he would rather serve the Shadow of his Dao even if it led him into death, than bow down to a real one that embodied the worst excesses of the Sea-Conquering Army.
The Clan hummed along, the Council keeping things well in hand. He handed over responsibilities to Kleisthenes from time to time, just as Alexios had done for him. If he were to fall, she would need experience in all things, not merely those within her current remit.
There was a question he had been turning over in his mind for the last few days. For years he had simply avoided it, hid from his own questioning mind in a bid to avoid weakening his resolve. But he needed these months of closed cultivation, and the reality was picking at the link between your body and soul with unanswered questions in your mind was a good way to tear at the link instead.
What was the purpose of the Sea-Conquering Army?
He didn't know.
He had thought he had known, centuries ago. When Alexios had risen as the Clan's newest Nascent Soul it had been obvious. They were the heirs to a glorious tradition, one which stood proudly above all others in justice and mercy alike. Mortals thrived under their rule, and they challenged the Heavens themselves to bring about a peace that no others would strive for. The Righteous Path cared little for their mortals, and yet the Clan had for as long as living memory lasted - indeed, the records they had brought when they had lost their Plains territory and fled into the Mountains indicated it had always been so.
He wondered about that. With the power of a Spirit Severing Elder, anything could be faked - at least to his poor vision. Had the Clan ever been what he had believed it to be, or had it simply been his misguided beliefs, and the misguided beliefs of some who came before him that made it so?
For it was when he had seen Jovi the first doubts had emerged. The man has casually spoken of killing endless mortals, slaughtering innocents without pause to reach victory. Yet he thought he had understood then. The monstrosity was out of desperation, that even the Sea-Conquering Army would become less than great when driven to desperation. Not a proud matter, but one that did not speak of their true character in victory - merely that at their worst they were no better than other men.
That too, he understood. The dream of the Clan required victory, required high-mindedness but human beings were not all perfect. Jovi had been a monster, but had not Manuel committed evils? No, he had understood, if he had not agreed. Perhaps it would have been better to die than to inflict such slaughter, but it had not been him making the choice.
It was the second vision that had brought him fear. The Beastwar. He was no fool, and knew that there would be a third vision at some point. It seemed obvious. The point at which they lost their last true hope of victory, Jovi Callista. The inflection point, the truth of what the Will Opposing was, under Heraclius Sarantapechos. The third vision would show the purpose, he knew. The truth of the matter, what the Will Opposing had been brought here for.
At first he had thought them mere random visions of the past, yet careful investigation of the Clan had shown no others with the dreams, if they could rightfully be called that. The experiences.
He was being... primed for something. What it was, he couldn't tell. But despite his lack of talent, despite his relative incompetence compared to those had come before him - and it seemed, those who would come after - he was the one being shaped for something.
Even a fool could see that Heaven's Shadow was preparing him, making him into a tool. Even a fool's fool could tell that a tool was only made if it needed to be used. How? That was, as it happened, not the terrifying part. The worst part was this - if he learned the truth, would he even want to be such a tool? And after he learned the truth, would he have a choice in the matter?
He could not set his mind to rights, but resolved what he had resolved all those years ago. As long as his will remained his own he would act in accordance with his own will. The Will of Heaven's Shadow in truth might not be the one he had imagined, a righteous shadow struggling against an oppressive evil, but he would rather serve the Shadow of his Dao even if it led him into death, than bow down to a real one that embodied the worst excesses of the Sea-Conquering Army.