In the 1375 year of the fifth era, the young master of the open palm sect came across a curious theory buried deep in the core sect archives.
This theory claimed that the number, and correct placement of mortals would increase the ambient Qi levels of the region.
Ever looking for more opportunities to strengthen the sect the young master -in his great wisdom- decided to test this theory.
Two months later he declared his tests a success and petitioned the patriarch -his grandfather- for the creation of a sect hall whose purpose would be to ensure mortal prosperity and propagation for the good of the sect.
The patriarch -of course- decided to humor his grandson -over the protests of the sect elders- and the new hall was soon created with a few worthless disciples -non above the first grade- transferred to it.
The young master expects much from this new endeavor. To disappoint him would mean death or a crippling at best
And you're the poor sod who was chosen as the head of this effort henceforth to be known as the elder of mortal affair.
Who are you?
[] Su Fang, the old.
Four hundred and twenty-six years, this is how long Su Fang has walked this earth. Born in a town forgotten by time, the first son of a minor noble Su Fang entire life was planned for him.
From the subjects he would pursue, the friends he would make and even the women he would marry. This was shattered as he was found to have the talent to cultivate and taken to the open palm sect to undergo the entrance exam.
His family future in jeopardy, with the loss of their first-born son -and the marriage alliance his hand provided- yet Su Fang has better. Free from the stifling environment that was his home.
He aced the entrance exams and caught the eye of an outer sect elder who has taken him under his wing, providing both guidance and resources.
In but seven years since joining the open palm sect Su Fang has surpassed the first grade and stepped into the second. A grand achievement and a demonstration of his talent to do in seven what others do in thirty, true he wasn't the greatest talent the open palm has seen, not even close but his future was bright.
To surpass the second grade has taken him fifty years. Not as impressive as his last performance but to do in fifty what takes others eighty is still impressive enough.
It is in the third grade where his ascent stopped. Bottleneck after bottleneck and a few injuries received when gathering further resources has slowed his growth to a crawl. The heavens no longer smiled upon him; it was understood that he would never again step beyond his limits.
Yet it seemed that some luck still remained with him as at the age of three hundred ninety-four – fourteen years above the lifespan cap of third grade cultivators- he had completed his foundation and stepped into the fourth grade -core formation-.
There was much rejoicing at his breakthrough but not all were happy, specifically those who now had to compete with him for resources. Many a plan has been hatched to cast him back down to the irrelevance he had before.
Until an opportunity presented itself, a new hall was being constructed with a doomed mission and with a few words in the patriarch's ears as to how the young master project deserves the "best" to head it, Su Fang was chosen to become the hall master.
Successes can bring with it the resources needed to advance further but failure would mean that advancement would be forever barred from Su Fang and this time there won't be a last-minute miracle.
-Fourth Grade Cultivator: a powerful cultivator Su Fang can do the work of hundreds in mere moments… at least when he isn't busy cultivation. (Gives 1, 4th grade high Quality dice -which is equal to 8d60- every turn this dice has a 20% chance of not being available and a 70% chance to be downgraded to a 3rd grade dice temporarily).
-Old and Experienced: Su fang is an old cultivator but even more so he is an experienced cultivator, a veteran of thousands of missions and battles. (Su Fang dice get the [all] specialization and all dice gain +10 to their roll, every turn this bonus has a 30% chance of not being available and a 65% chance of being downgraded to a +5).
-The Ascent: even with the world against him Su Fang hasn't given up on ascending to the next grade and as such most of his time is spent cultivating or gathering the resources to cultivate if he could be convinced to give up on ascension, he would be far, far more effective in his new role… on the other hand if he could succeed the power at his disposal would dwarf his current one. (The bonuses of this character aren't always available and have a chance to be temporarily downgraded as he is busy cultivating in return, gain a tiny -almost insignificant- chance to advance to the next grade, this chance is growing by a tiny -almost insignificant- amount each turn and can be accelerated through various choices. Should it be successful replace the 4th grade dice with a 5th grade one -16d70- and has narrative implications).
-Powerful: while not as powerful as the elders or the patriarch and those who rose to the 5th grade, Su Fang is a powerful cultivator who isn't afraid to voice his opinion or push back when something is unreasonable and has enough power to not be easily removed for such. (Can push back on unreasonable sect demands… at a cost).
-Dismissive of mortals: Su Fang has spent most of his life as a cultivator far removed from mortal limitations and concurrence's and as such, he is somewhat ignorant of the capabilities of mortals and possesses an opinion which sees no worth in interacting with mortals. (Locks certain options, opens certain option, narrative implication, -2 to the roll of grade 0 dice)
[] Xiu Li, the failed disciple.
Left at the orphanage when she was still but a few days old, Xiu Li had never known her parents. Growing up at the orphanage was a hard life, never enough food, or clothes, or toys for them all.
But still even though it was hard Xiu Li prevailed. An old and kind shopkeeper has taught her to read and write. And by listing into his and his fellows work Xiu Li has learned her numbers.
They fascinated her, the way the world could be viewed through the numbers. For an orphan who had nothing she has found comfort in them and they -in turn- seemed to favor her.
By the time she was six she had repaid the old shopkeeper's kindness by helping him with his books. When she turned twelve, she snuck into the royal academy exams and scored so high that when her deceit was found they offered to finance her study.
Alas, not two days later a taster came to town and found that Xiu Li possessed enough talent to be admitted to the open palm sect and took her away.
Six years of hard work later and she finally stepped into the first grade, twice as long as was expected of her but who could blame her?
Xiu Li didn't wish for the life of a cultivator, the fighting and the endless training she wished for the numbers she had left behind that day. And it was no surprise that she broke through on the day she found that the numbers could be found here too.
Formation's, artifice, feng shui, all the work of numbers and all highly respected professions for a cultivator, for two years she studied any and all of the knowledge she could find, all in order to join the artifice hall.
But even with high scores, with no political backing she couldn't be accepted. And so, her dream died.
But it seemed destiny had something else in store for her, for as she was rejected form the artifice hall, the patriarch convinced that he should at least put someone how knew something about the subject of the new hall purpose at its head but unwilling to waste the potential of a good artificer has chosen her as a new head.
To succeed would lead to the life she always wanted but to fail would lead to her death but she had no choice but to try.
-Young and inexperienced: while Xiu Li is said to have wisdom beyond her years, she is still but a young woman who has never before been in an administrative -or any other- position and her inexperience shows itself plainly… but she is willing to learn. (Start with a -5 to all rolls, this malus is changed by +1 every turn to a limit of +5).
-A grade 1 cultivator: Xiu Li holds no ambition of ascension, while all her peers cultivate until they can't, Xiu Li has long stopped doing more than a token effort to advance her cultivation, even so she is still a late grade 1 cultivator and with this comes many benefits to the health and power of a cultivator. (Gives a high-quality grade 1 dice – worth 2d30-)
-The love of numbers: throughout her life Xiu Li has been blessed with a talent for math and she has found herself drawn to its pursuit, this has transferred itself into the pursuit of artifice, of formations and even feng shui. She might have failed the exams to the artifice hall but that had more to do with her lack of political baking then any lack of ability. (Opens new actions, Xiu Li dice gain the artifice, formations and feng shui specialization).
-The hollowed fires of ambition: Xiu Li possess a great ambition in her technical purists driving her to new and exciting heights, she poses not even a lick of this ambition for her cultivation, this lack is felt by all around her and for cultivators this lack is anathema leading to Xiu Li being isolated from her peer's and superior. (Sect support is harder to gain, easier to lose and is capped at 70 instead of 100).
[] Yi Fen, the mortal.
Born to a small-time merchant family, Yi Fen had a quiet and comfortable upbringing. His family wasn't rich by any means but they had a comfortable amount of income. Enough that with a few lean years of saving they could afford to enroll Yi Fen in a respectable school.
That school was the three waves school and over the four years of his schooling, Yi Fen learnt many things, from writing and reading to math and art and even a little philosophy. When he turned twelve, he applied for the chance at attempting the entrance exams for the royal academy.
Coming from a respectable school with decent grades and the recommendations of his teachers he was granted his chance and he succeeded, achieving a respectable grade and being one of the one hundred new students accepted.
Unfortunately, he didn't score high enough to be offered a scholarship and with the tuition being so high his parents needed to take more than a few lone's. This has caught up with them when Yi Fen turned fifteen and they had no recourse but to sell their business and home.
Thankfully, a year later Yi Fen graduated from the academy and was hired by the royal bureaucracy, and while as an extremely new and inexperienced hire his pay wasn't the best it was still good enough to afford a small home for him and his family.
He did many things as part of the bureaucracy, from being a simple record keeper making sure all the correct forms were signed, duplicated and delivered for safe keeping, he turned into a surveyor charged with making sure how many people lived in certain places, how good were their harvests and how much they owed the crown.
From a surveyor he was promoted into a tax man charged with collecting what the crown was owed from noble and peasant alike. And after almost twelve years of hard work -now turning about twenty-eight- Yi Fen was promoted to a managerial position leading and directing one of the provincial tax offices.
Not being one for politics this was as far as Yi Fen would go and for the next ten years he would serve in his post with honor, even being commended once by the emperor himself!
Until, when out on one of his regular walks around his mansion -and as a high-ranking official he had the funds to buy one- a small stone hit his head.
The event following this have almost convinced him he got a concession because an old looking men floated down from the sky and started to explain to Yi Fen how the open palm sect has decided to intervene in the affair of mortal breeding and habitation and that a large new hall was constructed and that he, Yi Fan, was now in charge of it.
The hope was just a delusion when that man whisked them away to the top of the great mountain.
-An experienced mortal: Yi Fen is but a mortal man, he can soar the skies with his own power, he cannot lift a whole building with his might alone and he cannot travel from one side of the empire to the other in mere hours… What he can do is efficiently manage his fellow men and make their impact greater than it otherwise would be. (Gives a high-quality grade 0 dice -1d20- and the administration specialization).
-The weight of experience: Yi fen is old, perhaps not as old as most of the cultivators who walk around but for a mortal, he is old and the vast majority of that time was dedicated to single job, meaning that Yi Fen got really good at it. (All grade 0 dice gain a +2 bonus)
-The emperor's favor: while Yi Fen has rarely met the emperor let alone talked to him. The creation of a new hall dedicated to intervening in the ways of mortals is a worrying thing for an emperor and so, even if he barely knew you and you barely knew him, as a mortal -and a mortal which worked for him in the very recent past- you are the ideal candidate to lead said efforts and the emperor would do his best to see you succeed because those who would replace you can be so, so much worse. (The mortal support metric is disabled so long as the emperor is on your side -which so long as you don't start massacring people in the streets, you're fine- for all event proposes you are considered to have 100 in mortal support)
-The perils of mortality: alas time comes for us all, and for some sooner than later. Yi Fen is no cultivator able to live for centuries, if he could pass eighty it would be a great show of divine favor. (Start rolling ever increasingly difficult saving throws after turn 3, which have a chance to give certain ailments and inevitably cause Yi Fen death).
A.N: welcome, welcome one and all, before we get into the meat of thing some back story, so about a year (or two I don't remember) I read the original plan Quest and I really liked it, I ended up dropping a few updates after it finished with WW2 but I still really liked the concept of it and started reading the other plan Quest's the popped after it.
So after reading a few historical ones, a few sci fi versions and a fantasy one, I thought to myself "you know what we're missing? A xianxia flavored plan quest". This of course led to more thinking because xianxia is very much a setting where the individual matters more than the collective *glances at senses of protagonist mowing their way through hundreds of opponents* It was hard trying to reconcile the two different methodicalis into something whole.
At first, I thought that it should be a sect quest, or maybe just an elder quest but it didn't really feal right because your character would be so powerful he wouldn't need to fear much from his superior's -and can we really call this a plan quest if your superior can't kill and torture you on his whim?- and after not having any bright idea I figured it was time to retire the idea and place it on the dud pile.
But I already started building the world this Quest will take place in and the system guiding it so I was reluctant to give it up. I ended up thinking about it for another month or so before I came to a realization after reading a chapter of "beware of chicken".
I realized that we never really focus on the mortals, in most xianxia novels they are maybe mentioned at the start or in a flashback of the protagonist and then are only mentioned when they die in large droves to show how evil the new antagonist is.
And from that realization came this, Quest. Where you are in charge of a new sect hall whose duties is increasing the population of mortals, their placement and their Quality of life.
Now this format necessities a certain number of changes. The first one is that turns are five years long, just because everything needs to be bigger in a xianxia novel and so we could actually see meaningful population growth and if I manage it even how the culture changes in response to your actions.
The second change is that instead of having your dice separated into different categories they are separated by grades which give different amount of progress, a grade 0 (which is basically a lot of mortals) is 1 d20 every grade above it adds ten sides of the dice roll and doubles the dice it gives but also doubles the resource cost. (So, G2 is 2d30, G3 is 4d40 and so on).
Now, I'm not going to explain the rest of the mechanics just yet because which character you choose can change them -or at least your perception of them- and so they will be explained when they come up.
I hope you'll join me on this journey and have fun with, but before I end this for now, I'm going to leave you with a warning, "where the gods tread the mortal's tremble" and on that cheery note I wish you all farewell.
