For some quick and easy privacy from potential probing eyes and roaming tongues, you set up a make-shift field tent while on the outskirts of the massive tent city surrounding Ulaankorum and hold a meeting with your band. Tingting has managed to brew up a pot of tea with grasses and wildflowers from the Steppes, and the fragrance of the tea imbues the tent with an ambience of normality. You know that this air of tranquility will be short-lived given the looming shadow of the unknown enemies who destroyed the Sect, but you are willing to enjoy it while it lasts.
Chang Tingting's Trait Revealed!
Superb Home Manager - If Tingting does not go to Work during a turn, the other members of the group gain +5 to their rolls for Work actions and +3 to their rolls for Martial Training and Cultivation actions.
Tian Jing is the first to break the companionable silence. "What are we here waiting for? Let's go and do something!" His hair, beard and mustache have all remained uncut and untrimmed during your past month on the run, and he now bears a wild appearance more congruent with his rough-and-tumble character.
"Shush!" Meimei hisses. "It is not our place to speak until Sect Head gives permission to do so. Pay proper respect!" Her face has acquired freckles from a month in the outdoors, and Tingting has also woven her a drooping grass hat to mask the shape of her head.
"Now now, be nice to each other," Peishan admonishes the squabbling pair gently while petting her Woofykins. Meimei's nameless rabbit and too Tian Jing's Dragon-Slaying Thundering Roar of the Heavens too are ensconced in Peishan's lap, while Young Master Fluffy is curled around Peishan's shoulders. Peishan has had a herbal mixture applied to her face to darken her complexion, and her bangs are brushed low to conceal her eyes.
"Yes Younger / Older Sect-Sister," Tian Jing and Meimei reply in unison, looking suitably chastised.
Ouyang Peishan's Trait revealed!
Domestic Peacekeeper - +15 bonus to monthly Internal Discord event rolls.
"Ahem!" you clear your throat to get their attention. "Let us face reality head-on. The Crimson Essence Sect is no more, yet still it lives on through us. So long as we are here, the Crimson Essence Sect shall re-emerge once more, as strong as we ever were. Old Chang, advise. How is a Sect formed, or in our case re-formed?"
"This lowly one listens and obeys," Old Chang replies, his head still shaven of hair and moustache. "Ordinarily, a new Sect is formed simply by declaring it so. A lone pugilist can declare themselves a Sect, and they are a Sect there and then. Of course, whether that new "Sect" has any respect or esteem from the other Sects is an entirely different question altogether."
"However, in the case of a Sect with an established tradition and history such as the Crimson Essence Sect, Sect Head would need to rebuild the connection to the past to re-establish the Sect. The tradition and history of any Sect or group resides with their ancestors, so Sect Head would need to build an Ancestor's Hall, commission the carving of ancestral tablets for the Second to Thirteenth Sect Heads, install them together with the First Sect Head's tablet in the Ancestor's Hall, hold a consecration ritual, and then proclaim the re-establishment of the Crimson Essence Sect to the world."
Optional Long-term Objective unlocked!
Objective
- Re-establish the Crimson Essence Sect.
Pre-requisites
- Acquire a piece of land.
- Build an Ancestor's Hall on the land.
- Conduct a ritual to appease the spirits of the Second to Thirteenth Sect Heads.
- Carve new ancestral tablets for the Second to Thirteenth Sect Heads.
- Install the ancestral tablets (together with the First Sect Head's tablet) in the Ancestor's Hall.
- Consecrate the Ancestor's Hall.
- Hire a crier or place a banner in a city or town to announce the re-establishment of the Crimson Essence Sect.
Effects
- Passively produces substantial amounts of Heat each turn (adjusted by remoteness / distance of the Sect's new location from Gudai).
- The reputation of the re-established Sect will be the previous reputation of the Crimson Essence Sect, adjusted by your personal reputation & fame at the time of re-establishment.
- If you have not yet already found and contacted them, previous Disciples of the Sect will start making their way to the new Sect location to join you.
- Large morale boost for Disciples at the time of the re-establishment and for previous Disciples upon their return to the Sect. (Improve their Work rolls and Martial Training and Cultivation rolls for a period of time).
- Passively attracts new candidates for Disciples.
- Unlocks Diplomatic actions with other Sects and organizations. (Note: Prior to the re-establishment of the Sect, you can still reach out to and have dealings with members of other Sects, but it will be on an individual-to-individual basis rather than a group-to-group basis.)
- Eldest Sect-Sister will have to undergo a Penance in order to be re-admitted into the Sect.
"This lowly one would caution however that the re-established Crimson Essence Sect would inherit the reputation of the Sect as it was, unfair and unfounded though the allegations against the Sect may have been," Old Chang added. "As an alternative, Sect Head may form a "new" Sect and have the Crimson Essence Sect "join" the new Sect, so that the Crimson Essence Sect lives on yet is part of a greater whole. Just like when a Gudai city joins a League, the city becomes part of the League yet persists as a city in its own right. In this way, the new Sect will not inherit all the enmities of the Crimson Essence Sect as it was."
Optional Long-term Objective unlocked!
Objective
- Establish a new Sect and have the Crimson Essence Sect join this new Sect.
Pre-requisites
- Acquire or develop an internal cultivation arts that is not blood-based.
- Conduct a ritual to appease the spirits of the Second to Thirteenth Sect Heads.
- Choose a name for the new Sect.
- Conduct a ceremony to merge the Crimson Essence Sect into the new Sect.
- Hire a crier or place a banner in a city or town to announce the establishment of the new Sect.
Effects
- The reputation of the new Sect will adjusted by your personal reputation & fame at the time of establishment.
- Moderate morale boost for Disciples at the time of the establishment. (Improve their Work rolls and Martial Training and Cultivation rolls for a period of time).
- Previous Disciples of the Crimson Essence Sect will not return unless actively contacted and approached.
- Passively attracts new candidates for Disciples.
- Unlocks Diplomatic actions with other Sects and organizations. (Note: Prior to the establishment of the new Sect, you can still reach out to and have dealings with members of other Sects, but it will be on an individual-to-individual basis rather than a group-to-group basis.)
- Eldest Sect-Sister can be admitted into the new Sect without having to undergo a Penance.
"Sect Head will know best which approach is better," Peishan interjects in her soft voice. "Yet even above that, we have to find out who are the vermin who unjustly attacked us and separated us from the Fourteenth Sect Head and the Elders, and make sure they receive their proper due. It is said that "If someone is your teacher for a day, they are your parents for life", and it is also said that "One cannot live under the same sky as the killer of one's parents". Thus are the Fourteenth Sect Head and the Elders our parents, and thus are we obliged to ensure that their killers do not live under the same sky as us for a moment longer than our strength necessitates."
Optional Long-term Objective unlocked!
Objective
- Find out who had attacked the Sect.
Optional Long-term Objective unlocked!
Objective
- Take revenge on the ones who had attacked the Sect.
"You are right, Shanshan," you reply with a fond smile, not surprised by her outburst. Peishan has always had a steely edge beneath her sweet and gentle demeanour. "Yet it is also said that "For a gentle-person, ten years is not too long for revenge". Despite all the tribulations, we made it here alive and sound. We shall take this time and opportunity to build our strength and find new allies and resources. When our enemy least expects us, we shall strike with all our power and crush them like the worms that they are."
With this, you call an end to the meeting, and despatch everyone to their duties.
