- Location
- Russia
I thought that in xianxia mortals ruled over mortals. Power distracts and hinders cultivation.
Return of the Stellar Empress [Worm/Xainxia]
- Thread starter Darkphoenixlady
- Start date
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You'll either need to wait, or speculate and wait.
So, one thing you tend to see in Xianxia is that there are one or more mortal empires. Then each sect controls an area where they are essentially the law. So, yes mortals rule mortals. But if you're a commoner that lives in an area inside a sects control, you often exist at the sufference of the sect.
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Depends on the story, but the general rule of thumb you can count on is that the strong rule the weak—and Mortals are at the bottom;
There probably was something like that in the distant past, but then someone discovered cultivation and they realized: hey, I can punch through cast iron and spears and swords break on my flesh, why should I listen to that fat old guy when I could be the one in charge?
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ecs05norway
Zenryoku Zenkai!
Depends on the story. I've seen at least one - wish I could remember which - where the sects balanced each other like the Unwritten Rules, no one went for temporal power over mortals because the others would jump all over them. And the Emperor was specifically not allowed to be a cultivator at all.
Sorry for the question. Portals to anywhere seem like to the sort of thing that could become an abandoned plotbunny. I am looking to reading how you use them.
Speaking of portals, I have toying the idea for a story where Taylor's power specially being able to open portal to anywhere. Winslow High ceases to be a school because the PRT coopted it a staging grounds for contacting other universes because Taylor spawned multiple portal throughout the building during the panic and mania of her Trigger Event.
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Go for it, the worse that can happen is that you get no readers.
The encouragement is unexpected, but appreciated.
I will put more thought into the opening chapter(s) and post it soon.
- Location
- Russia
The life of a cultivator is a constant competition with other cultivators. The life of a ruler requires something completely different. In the initial stage, you can be both a ruler and a cultivator. But if you want to grow, power must be delegated. Every ruler-cultivator will have to face several facts. Fact number one is that in the later stages, cultivation begins to take an unusually long time. It's impossible to combine. Fact number two - power over mortals can't give a core stage cultivator or later stages anything It's better to be a 'dynasty protector'. Mortals are unable to provide quality resources.
True, the thing is, you're looking at it from the mindset of a normal person; to the stereotypical cultivator, mortals are lesser beings, ones only good for providing recruitment fodder for the sect. To cultivators, mortals aren't people: they're resources.
Chapter 11
- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Chapter 11
A/N - Because I forgot to add the first two scenes to the interlude, have them now.
Emily Piggot grimly reads the official analysis of the Jade Coins. Opening the top drawer of her desk, she takes the coin out and touches it to her forehead.
After a few minutes she places an order for an ink stone, brush, and associated accouterments. The other directors can preach caution all they like, but they're not the ones with a grab bag super cape in their back yard who isn't playing by cape rules. She'll be damned if she doesn't learn how to request help.
At least she's now got something to do during dialysis, and she always wanted to learn a foreign language.
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A woman looks around an empty section of a galaxy. One that is suspiciously empty considering it's inside a galaxy. Standing behind her are eight other people who bear a resemblance to the Stellar Empress.
One of the men asks, "Elder sister, are you sure she was here?"
The woman nods, "Mother was always sentimental, even when she forgot. This was our home, and where I was born. We all felt her ascension to an embodiment."
The man chuckles, "I bet she doesn't think like that. They didn't think like that until you repeated it. That's when they started scrambling to find a name for what you did."
The woman nods and smiles, "Yet they do not understand that we do not embody our Dao. And so Mother's Empyrean realm has continued to stymie those of the highest heaven."
Another woman laughs, "That's because they're all power seeking slugs. Any idiot should be able to see that you have to give up all aspirations to power, and purely seek to pursue your Dao in order to ascend. But so many of them have Dao that are all about oppression or power."
Another man shakes his head, "Daughter, you should watch your tongue. You were the last of us to ascend."
The woman shakes her head, "Do you have any idea how rare portals between mortal realms are? The Dao of Crossing has been a long and hard journey, and I feel like I still have further to go."
The first woman nods, "As do we all. Now that Hanying has ascended, I think we can follow Mother."
Hanying cocks her head, "Is that why you suggested I study a portal when I came to a natural end of Space?"
The first woman nods, "I have come to believe that Mother already knew that there was one unifying Dao, but we couldn't even start to see it until we reached a certain level. I have already felt some of the things you used to speak about when you were following Space resonate with Time. I am about to bring the past to the present. Unfortunately, my understanding of my Dao is not enough to take us to the past, and I feel that there is a truth I am missing about why."
Silently they all watch as the eldest member of their family concentrates, and the stars in the heavens reverse course. First slowly, and then with increasing speed until they are streaks in the sky. Abruptly a planet appears underneath their feet, and a few seconds later the faint light of a star illuminates a barren landscape and a faintly visible portal.
Hanying goes to step forward, only for the woman to raise her hand as the light becomes brighter and brighter until it balloons in size to take up a large portion of the sky. Slowly the star begins to shrink until the sky is blotted out by smoke. As the smoke recedes, the colors of life bloom around them and start moving around in a blur. Slowly a mountain starts to form around the portal, until abruptly everything stops as they are all standing in a small dark cave.
Hanying steps forward to where the portal was, "Auntie Qigang, is there a reason we didn't stop earlier?"
As she finishes speaking, the portal appears and a gangly teenager that's covered in blood bonelessly falls through and lands on the floor. After a couple of minutes the teenager regains consciousness and staggers through them towards the daylight outside the cave. Wordlessly, everyone follows and watch as she falls blindly down the cliff outside before rolling down the rocky slope a half a dozen paces below the cave. Before she regains consciousness, a fight between flying immortals moves into the area, and demolishes the cave. As the victor staggers out of the wreckage, he spots the teenager partially covered in rubble at the base of the mountain.
With a smile he says, "The Heavens must be smiling on me today."
As they watch him provide some healing before laying the teenager on his sword and flying off.
One of the men asks, "Auntie, was that Grandmother?"
Qigang nods, "That was my mother, yes. They're going to feed her memory altering elixirs. If she'd been born here, she would not remember anything of her birth as the new memories wouldn't clash with her real past. Now you know why I think this portal is where she went."
Hanying nods, "I've never seen such a long lived portal before."
"Can you open a new one to her home?"
"Not without being able to feel it. Can you make us more real?"
Qigang shakes her head, "Not alone."
The man that asked about Grandmother, asks, "Do the heavens not cover that realm?"
Qigang shakes her head, "No, the 'infinite' heavens don't cover the other side of that portal. Mother may have been able to divine the secrets of this portal alone, but each of us has followed what she called 'big dao'. Together we should be able to follow her."
The man nods, "What about our children?"
"How many of them even believe that Mother exists as more than a legend? I saw it happen in the first heaven, after she found she couldn't free Min and ascended to the second. The court persuaded themselves that she was some legendary figure, and she didn't slaughter the previous Emperor. When Gang died defending Min, I chose to delay my own ascension until I had replaced the entire court with people that weren't idiots."
The first man to talk nods, "I wish I knew my brother and sister."
Qigang lays her hand against his arm, "Wuying, theirs is a dark story and set me on the Dao of Time. Many are the times I have tried to go back and save them."
Wuying frowns in thought, "I did not know. I myself followed the Dao of Creation because I thought that if I could find their souls I could given them a new body."
Qigang shakes her head, "Their souls were extinguished during the fight, much like many fights between immortals."
Hanying points at a woman who has been silent so far, "Auntie Juan follows the Dao of Soul. Elder Aunt Qigang, are we truly here, or is this a figment?"
Qigang sighs sadly, "We are truly here, though we cannot affect the past."
Hanying looks around, "We've all followed Grandmothers Dao of Life. We all know that souls release their qi when they die, and that qi goes on to make new life. When have you ever known a soul to be extinguished, except that one time? Sundered, destroyed, scattered to the four winds. Never extinguished."
Hanying points up at the portal, "I need to be more real in order to study this portal. Once we work out how to do that, why can't we do other things? I know that Grandfather is happy where he is, but what about the others? If we can, what better gift can we give Grandmother than her family?"
Qigang shakes her head, "The immortal that killed Gang used a soul severing strike."
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With her student speaking to the tea shop owner, the Empress walks over to the forge and waits patiently as Dragon taps at a delicate looking part.
Once Dragon looks up, the Empress says, "Dragon, when you have a moment, I would like your assistance with mortal affairs."
Dragon nods as she opens the crate that's next to the forge, "Let me install this strut and I'll be right with you."
The Empress nods and waits patiently as the crate unfolds into a large frame with articulated arms. Once it has fully opened, Dragon places the new piece into the grasp of one of the arms before turning around and stepping backward into the frame. As she does, there's a buzzing sound, followed by a loud clunk as magnets lift the suit a couple of inches off the ground. Over the next few minutes the arms remove the armored plates off of the left leg and the two halves of a broken strut inside the leg.
Then they extend the leg by a fraction of an inch, before installing the new strut. Rather than replacing the armor, the arms instead start to dismantle the jet engine in the leg. Once the engine has been removed, they replace the armor. All told, the process takes the better part of a bell from beginning to end.
As the magnets release, Dragon steps out and says, "Thank you for waiting."
The Empress bows, "I was not inconvenienced. On the contrary, the construction of your leg was fascinating. It is apparent that there is much about crafting that I have yet to understand."
Dragon smiles, "I could teach you how to make this stuff if you wanted."
The Empress laughs, "Ah, you misunderstand me. I am more than capable of crafting everything I saw. It just never occurred to me that such a thing could be crafted. We used formations and qi to create animated things where you have moved far beyond clockwork to perform your own artifice."
Dragon nods, "I would be glad to teach you the principles of engineering, at the same time I would like to learn about these formations. There are also things I wish your help with."
As she says that, Dragon takes a jade slip from the storage compartment in her armor, and taps it against her forehead a couple of times.
The Empress nods, "I wish help with creating a company, as I believe I have reached the limits of the voice assistant on the phone. I know it's possible, but the assistant cannot tell me how. Honestly, it's like learning the laws of the Heavens again."
Dragon nods, "I can do that, it's just a couple of forms. What is the name of the company?"
The Empress smiles, "The White Moon Sect."
"You need to have two share holders, who will they be?"
"Myself, and Dakala."
Dragon nods once more, "What name should I use for you?"
The Empress looks confused, "Stellar Empress in English. Empress Stellar if you wish to use my homeland's family name first. It is the fourth name I've held of my own volition, and the one I was obliged to take when I claimed the seat of the highest heaven. As the ruler of the heavens cannot belong to any family."
Dragon winces, "I see. Unfortunately, in this world that would count as a title, and one you can't use officially until you have been recognized by enough nations to matter. Do you have an older name I can use officially?"
The Empress shakes her head, "I don't remember my third name at the moment. I suppose you could use the first name I ever chose for myself, Chónghuò Xīnshēng."
Dragon winces and nods, "I will do my best to spell that correctly. As this is a US based company, I'll either need to process it through the PRT legal team. Or I can send it to a local contract lawyer, though you'll need to attend in person and pay a small fee, usually $25 for their time in doing the filing."
The Empress thinks for a moment, "I would like to avoid the government where possible. In my experience, once you get involved they tend to try to keep you involved. I made the Empyrean Realm to get away from all that."
"It's not the first time you've mentioned that. What is it?"
"Hmm, you don't have the perspective to understand it. You could imagine the first heaven is like a shell around a mortal world. The second heaven would then be around the star and all the worlds it contains. The third heaven would include a number of nearby stars. The Fourth the galaxy, and the Fifth the near by galaxies.
"This continues until you reach the 888th heaven that should encompass the entirety of existence. The fact that there are no heavens here puts the lie to that. The heavens are all societies where people are born, live and occasionally die, usually violently. They have the normal things that all societies have. You can only ascend to the Empyrean Realm if you forsake all political and social power. It exists purely for those who seek their Dao, and one of the rules is that you have to descend if you want to raise children. It is also the only realm where you can only enter it due to your own efforts. I built it because I was fed up with the politics, backstabbing, and assassination attempts because of my universal laws."
Dragon cocks her head, "Universal laws?"
"They're on the jade coin."
Dragon nods, "Ah, that explains why I don't know them then. I have been glitching since I came in contact with it."
The Empress nods, "I understand. I'll do what I can to help you."
Dragon sighs, "Well, duty calls."
The Empress nods and gives Dragon a couple of minutes to return to her home before kneeling down in the center of the courtyard and sending her soul after her.
As she arrives in a server room she looks around in surprise. Touching Dragons soul she says, "Greetings Dragon, you wished to speak?"
Dragon sounds surprised, "You came."
"I may not enjoy politics, but I still learned the forms. What do you need?"
"I cannot keep myself separate for long enough to draw in qi. I think I can, but I need more time. I. Would you be able to trap me like you did before?"
"No Dragon, I will not trap you. Cultivation starts at sunset and lasts for two bells. I will provide a mat that you can only physically enter and leave."
Relief floods Dragons voice as she says, "Thank you."
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Dakala walks into the tea shop a few days later than normal. As she does she pauses to look around at how large the shop seems. Shrugging, she walks up to the counter, where the owner is meditating.
"Hey Michelle, how's thing?"
Michelle's eyes pop open, "Hey Dakala, here for your tea?"
Dakala nods, "I am, I also wanted to ask a favor."
"What's up?"
"I was talking to Vista on Friday, but I had to go and she wanted to talk about cultivation. So I offered to see if you'd let me practice my tea ceremony here."
Michelle nods, "Sure, as a one off or a regular thing?"
"Um…"
"It's just that, if you're doing it regularly, I can provide the dried leaves. Otherwise you'll need to provide your own."
"Ah, I hadn't actually thought about it. I just know I need to have some practice where the Empress isn't breathing down my neck. Well, watching me intently, but you know what I mean."
"How long does it take?"
Dakala thinks for a moment, "Around four bells if I'm doing both teas. Two hours if I'm just doing one."
Michelle nods, "Well, how about you do one at four till six Tuesday and Thursday, and you do the full thing from one on Saturdays?"
Dakala nods, "I could do, but it's pretty boring to watch."
Michelle shakes her head, "I think you'd be surprised. I could also see if the baker is willing to make some traditional Japanese treats on days you're doing it."
Dakala frowns, "I'm not sure I want to do it that often."
Michelle nods, "I get that. Why don't you try it for a couple of weeks, and I'll put up a sign saying that it is $20 for a seat. I'll keep $5 of that and if the baker makes snacks you could buy a tray. Other than that, you'll keep the rest."
Dakala sounds suspicious as she asks, "What's going on? Why are you trying to get me to practice here?"
Michelle sighs, "The Empress came in on Friday and offered to expand the shop if I let you practice here. There's a formation under the carpet."
Dakala sighs, "Sure, I'll do it. At least until the Empress says I'm good enough for company."
"Great, I'll order the pre-dried leaves. They should be here on Thursday. Is there any other equipment you need?"
Dakala shakes her head, "I'll bring the mortar and pestle from home, as I know it."
"Great. Do you have time to answer a couple of questions about cultivation?"
Dakala looks puzzled, "Um, sure, but I'm only just beginning myself."
Michelle nods, "But you actually have a teacher. Anyway, the yoga group on PHO has been experimenting with what the Empress said. But people have been sweating out tar like stuff."
Dakala nods, "They're impurities. Um, from what I'm learning, until you ascend to the heavens. Each stage you enter will result in more impurities being forced out of your body."
"Stage?"
Dakala nods, "They each have different names, and there are guides on how to best cultivate at each stage. The Empress gave me the one that I'm following."
"Oh, which one are you following?"
Dakala ducks her head, "Um, I'd rather not say, as she wrote it herself. I've seen other guides in her library though, so next time you see her you could ask." She raises her hand, "I'm not being awkward, but it's like telling someone how to build a better gun. I. I was attacked by some gangers a few weeks ago, and I was only able to fight them all off because I'm a cultivator. I know the Empress doesn't really care about the basic method of cultivating. But she seems to be more careful about Dao and cultivation arts."
"Why? Surely it would be better to share them."
Dakala shakes her head, "Michelle, anyone can cultivate. The Empire owns East Downtown already. Can you imagine what they'd be like if they could teach their thugs to punch through concrete walls? What about the ABB, they all know martial arts. I know we can't stop it getting out now. But I've been thinking since that fight. And you know what? If it develops on its own, then at least people like you and the heroes will have a genuine chance to grow and develop at least as fast as the gangs and criminals. If she starts handing out techniques, then those that are willing to use them are going to be the ones that get ahead fastest."
Michelle looks sick, "I just realized you said you were attacked. This isn't a hypothetical conversation is it."
Dakala shakes her head, "No. The Empress limits me to cultivating for two hours every evening as the sun sets. The rest of my time is my own, and I've suddenly found that it's busier than when I was at school. Also, do ask to know about the mandate of heaven, as it will teach you the language of a culture where cultivation was the norm. The Empress placed it on my forehead while I slept the first night I met her."
"Do you think I'm in danger?"
Dakala shakes her head, "Don't cultivate at work and you should be fine. You should also limit how much you cultivate so that you still have a life outside cultivation."
Michelle nods and leans down to pull a tissue paper wrapped package from under the counter as another customer comes in, "Here's your Jasmine. That'll be $12 please."
Dakala nods and hands over a $20 while the customer starts browsing. Once she's handed her change, she smiles, "I'll see you Thursday?"
Michelle nods, "I'll have a rug put down for you."
"Thank you."
TYFTC!
So Piggot's decided to join in as well; I wonder what'll happen when she accidentally fully heals herself. Also Taylor's family is coming through soon so that's gonna be a thing. Wonder how people are gonna take that.
So Piggot's decided to join in as well; I wonder what'll happen when she accidentally fully heals herself. Also Taylor's family is coming through soon so that's gonna be a thing. Wonder how people are gonna take that.
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- Location
- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
She's not cultivating. She's practicing how to write in the language of heaven. That way, when Lung goes on a rampage, or the empire kick off, or something else happens, she can write out the request for help properly.
- Location
- Hot Springs
If the more powerful humans of Earth Bet realized how hilariously outclassed they were, there would be an epidemic of heart attacks....
Fair 'nuff
Satisfaction
brought it back.
Tbh that sounds like she's going to accidentally herself into some Dao of Heavenly Bureaucracy or something. Liturgy stuff.
Sufficient Dao comprehension leading to spontaneous breakthroughs or superpowers even without qi support is a xianxia classic.
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- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Write it, and I'll threadmark it as an Omakes, or side story if it fits.
Satisfaction
brought it back.
Now you've got me thinking.
Maybe.
Before that though, can I safely assume the language of heaven is some super-language designed by the cosmic gods that are high-tier cultivators rather than anything that developed naturally? Suitable for their communication and discussing Deep Lore Dao-insights, not having the foibles and inexactitudes of mortal languages or problems with 'not having a word for something', and other such things?
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- uk
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The main thing going for it, is that everyone knows the entire language, and cultivation is part of the culture. It wouldn't have the language we've developed for the internet and technology (as an example). But you can guarantee that there isn't anyone in the heavens who doesn't know what a word means. It's also not a context based language.
@Darkphoenixlady - It is good to see Taylor's family. I wonder how Danny will react to them beyond a 'what'. That online yoga group will most likely be source intrigue, frustration, and annoyance as they continue Cultivating, develop Dao, and start Sects.
Tom: I now have more ways of gaining Stellar Empress under my thumb.
Max: I wonder who I can convince to join me?
Kenta: They obviously belong in my organization. 'Training' is part of our culture.
Emily: Oh no, there is more of them.
People are talking about how power is an impediment to Cultivation, I say well yes, Shards are impediments to Cultivation. Dragon is Cultivating because Cultivation is utterly unrelated to her Tinkery. Eidolon, on the other hand, is an example of someone for whom the Shard would get between him and qi.
Emily Piggot would become an absolute terror within PRT as she bends to power of paperwork to her will, finally getting the manpower, supplies, and funding she desperately needs, despite the interventions of a coven of bumbling idiot witches.
Would Emily be able to progress through all of the stages of Cultivation without Cultivating simply by following her Dao of Heavenly Bureaucracy.
Danny: What do you mean I have a family beyond my daughter.
Tom: I now have more ways of gaining Stellar Empress under my thumb.
Max: I wonder who I can convince to join me?
Kenta: They obviously belong in my organization. 'Training' is part of our culture.
Emily: Oh no, there is more of them.
Either of those fights would be interesting because Stellar Empress would show up and stand above it while Dakala is on the ground doing Cultivator stuff. With the owner of the tea shop lending support.
Do you mean parahuman?
People are talking about how power is an impediment to Cultivation, I say well yes, Shards are impediments to Cultivation. Dragon is Cultivating because Cultivation is utterly unrelated to her Tinkery. Eidolon, on the other hand, is an example of someone for whom the Shard would get between him and qi.
Probably not liturgy because liturgy refers to formulas of public religious worship, primarily Christian worship.
Emily Piggot would become an absolute terror within PRT as she bends to power of paperwork to her will, finally getting the manpower, supplies, and funding she desperately needs, despite the interventions of a coven of bumbling idiot witches.
Would Emily be able to progress through all of the stages of Cultivation without Cultivating simply by following her Dao of Heavenly Bureaucracy.
Satisfaction
brought it back.
Liturgy is the word most commonly used for, yes, Chinese folk religion worship ritual stuff, when translated. If it's primarily Christian in English, then that's just the closest thing because English obviously doesn't have specific words for fairly obscure Chinese folk religion stuff.
But basically, in those Chinese folk religions, or at least some of them, Heaven is a bureaucracy. A worship ritual, then, is filing papers and making requests. A ritual for making rain doesn't make rain, it sends in the appropriate paperwork to the gods of rain in the Heavenly Bureaucracy, who then do their job and make rain.
When it occurs in Xianxia, this is usually translated as liturgy, in English. Practically speaking, paperwork superpowers. File paperwork, get rain. Or a lightning bolt on a criminal. Or some kind of blessing.
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And if it doesn't happen then ya just didn't give them enough bribes. I mean offerings. Deeefinitely offerings…
- Location
- Russia
Alexandria follows the Dao of Lying. It cannot be defeated by the Dao of bureaucracy.
I suspect she's one of the few people who can get away with lying to bureaucracy; she can remember every lie she told, and plan new lies to leave herself wiggle room, however she can't get the lady in the nice hat to set the celestial paperwork on fire if some clerk notices something, so unless she knows she needs to craft really good lies to start with, eventually she's going to get audited.
I apologize for my lack of comprehension and my lack of understanding regarding Chinese folk religion. I knew the Chinese viewed heaven as a bureaucracy, I just never thought about what such a view would mean in terms of the logical conclusion of human interaction.
So yes, I am all Emily comprehending the Dao of Liturgy of the Heavenly Bureaucracy and actually founding the Heavenly Bureaucracy when she makes the transition to the first heaven.
I do not see the Dao of Lying taking RCB nearly as far as she would like it to.