- Location
- United States
[X] A charm such as this can only be put to the test by the best. Find Zhuan Kun!
Tempering/using another crafter's charm would also be heressy for Zhi...
Zhi detests the idea of using other people's charms, with the closest he's ever come involving Fa asking him to pitch in for security charms for the Tower, which caused him to have a psychotic break at the temerity of the idea and which he deeply regretted afterwards despite the fact it wasn't something he was personally using with the tower being a shared residence with the twins.
This is wrong.Tempering/using another crafter's charm would also be heressy for Zhi...
I fail to see why it won't work after Fractal View is complete.Having a lot of friends in the care business, stuff Shouxi does in the hospital pretty much sums up the usual of what they have to go through. Boli though...
Anyways on the matter of the vote:
To those voting no because it gives....
1.)Sense of Bribery- honestly we're the sole judge and though its understandable people will think on us unfavorably, this only becomes true if we don't do our job as a judge. How can it be unfair when the charm being judged requires a specific target to work- and that's only from someone who Boli has set before hand prior to completing his charm. Can you say to Boli he's exploiting the system if said judge was called to test his charm?
Yes, but only becuase it is within bounds of this charmcrafter's competition. It will be on Kong Zhi's to judge the rest of the creations along with Boli's to come through as fair and honorable. Frankly, at this state its more biased towards the function part though. He'll need to refine on the form/facade of his creation at the moment. Impressive nontheless.
2.) Because Zhuan Kun is a stranger and probably on bad terms to Mo- there is no mention nor rumor (at least as far as I know) that the Zhuans are not in good terms with the Mos. Being a rival and having a slight against Zhuan Kun are two different conditions. We could actually be on the good graces of both Zhuan Kun and Mo Hanying if we play this right.
From all the rumors and from what our first interaction we have with Zhuan Kun, we know that aside from his duties, the man's obssessed with being the best in terms of beating the ever living heavens out of people. He's somewhat like us except that instead of crafting all he does is training. What better way to earn his good graces than having recommended him to a charm that requires his absolute best and even beyond! As the saying goes, you can't beat your enemy if you can't beat yourself at the game.
As for Mo Hanying, she's here for the fame and support of the local charmcrafters. She's probably inspired from her own bad luck with the defective Jin charm. What's one more happy noble gracing her event? The message and prestige she'll get from even having a Zhuan there would do wonders to her already high social prestige and massively counterbalance whatever the Geng has in store for her. With Zhi as a judge it takes no brains to figure said advantages will also flow down to include us.
So!
[X] A charm such as this can only be put to the test by the best. Find Zhuan Kun!
Also the calibrations will not work once we use the Fractal View charm. The alterations to our form will invalidate the previous work that Boli put into it.
As Boli said
Unless we pester him to edit his charm afterwards (can this be done?/terribly inefficient use of our time), make a new one or Kong Zhi maintaining his form/scrap the Fractal View, this charm is ultimately not for Zhi.
Tempering/using another crafter's charm would also be heressy for Zhi...
So I don't think 'KZ has issues with other peoples charms' is a particular reason not to accept the bribe, principally because of 2 reasons.Zhi being melodramatic said:Wugui fixes you with a stern look. "Are you," he begins. "Comfortable. Using charms of a foreign make?"
This time, you hear him. Your vision seems to fade slightly, the storehouse around you seeming to become ephemeral and dream-like. Visions of the clamshells in your home and the curtains over your window mock you from the corner of your eye and for a moment, you wish for a second eyepatch so that you are spared the horror. But you manage to make your mouth form a response. "I will do what I must, Senior."
You squeeze your eyes closed and try to force the fog from your vision. When it does not retreat, you do your best to ignore it and flip the box open. Within the small container is a finely woven armband of silk and silver. The fabric and metal have been spun around row upon row of long, viciously curved teeth. Anam tickles your senses, feral and wild, and you scoop up the armband for closer inspection.
You let out a long breath and banish the half-formed thought of destroying the armband after your need for it ends from your mind. "Yes, Senior," you reply. "It will be… I will look after it as if it came from my own loom."
...
While you are at it, you may as well don Wolf Breaks Fast. You requisitioned it, after all. It would be a shame to let it go to waste- no matter how your skin crawls when you put a charm constructed by rote memorization and someone else's inspiration on your body. You are able to slide the armband into position on your bicep with a minimum of shuddering and just like that, you can feel it's anam singing as it permeates your body. You are properly prepared.
When the user steps inside, they will be greeted by the perfect training companion, a creation of anam designed to push them to their limits and beyond. The charm's owner will not have to waste time seeking out sparring partners or subjects to test new techniques on. My Training Ground will supply all of that and more- when it is complete."
"It sounds impressive," you respond, waiting for the other shoe to drop. "But…"
Boli Guozao's shoulders slump slightly. "But such a charm must be tailored to it's user. If it is too weak, then the user will not benefit. If it is too strong then all the user will get are…" he glances down at his bandaged and salve-smeared hands. "...repeated trips to the Hospital."
Your mind fills in the blanks that the competitor has left. "So you wish to calibrate the charm specifically for me," you answer.
Also the calibrations will not work once we use the Fractal View charm. The alterations to our form will invalidate the previous work that Boli put into it.
It's a charm that's tailor made to push the user to the limit and an Artist's limits can change drastically after integrating techniques, gaining insights etc maybe even more so than getting your form changed.
Hell, brother Wugui specifically asked him if he'd be willing to use charms made by others or would it be a problem, and Zhi swallowed his initial distaste and pride and said it wouldn't be an issue.
Plus, his prejudice against "common" everyday charms is a flaw I'd like to see him work on because it's kinda dickish of him to be that dismissive imo.
When the user steps inside, they will be greeted by the perfect training companion, a creation of anam designed to push them to their limits and beyond. The charm's owner will not have to waste time seeking out sparring partners or subjects to test new techniques on.
One thing I would like to point out.
People wanted to test our using Chui Dao as a weapon when we sparred with our friends, yet it was pointed out that no waybwould Kong Zhi be comfortable subjecting his friends to that.
Well... here is a test dummy that we could try using Chui Dao on with no worry about hurting anyone, not only that, but we could also use it to test the effects of other charms and techs.
Do the whole worry about outgrowing the thing is less of an issue to Kong Zhi, as even when the Created sparring dummy isn't a perfect match, we'd still have a good use for it.
ALSO! Remember how much ot cost to hire a disciple to tank a technique for testing/training purposes? We'd never need to pay that cost, and could even let our friends use the charm too so they can test their techs for free
Time, prior commitments, and plot.But what's to stop us making our own personal training aid? Not to mention the anam costs required to charge this hulking monstrosity every time we use it.
[X] Yes, you may as well. You want everyone to be able to put forward their best effort in this competition.
This one has actually won me over because of some conversation in the discord, that Boli's charm will be a perfect tool for testing out all of our weird shit until something breaks. We can see how Chui Dao works on a target that doesn't care, and while it might be a bribe, it's less likely to appear as a bribe if we do out absolute best to push the limits. It's calibrated to us, but what happens if we pull out something that appears to be a kukuni and start smacking things? Will it be damaged by Warhound's Cry? Would Shatter the Mirror make it explode? We should be the one to answer these questions, because there's nobody better at stress-testing weird shit except maybe Sun.
tldr if we do our best to make the charm explode from wildly improper use and judge it on resilience, it'll be funny and cool.
As far as Zhi can tell, it would involve basically tapping his core to allow power readings, trying a few techniques to allow proper training tools to be built in, and a few minutes of martial technique sparring. So nothing strenuous.@Vesvius can we get some more detail on how Zhi understands the calibration process to work? There are a lot of assumptions being thrown around.
I see your point, but also, nobody knows we haven't reached full integration with it, so it's still going to be more dangerous than they expect, but now more people are intimidated by us.I don't think revealing our hidden trump card for all to see would be a good idea. But other than that these are all good points.
Just follow Mo's lead and turn friendship into unlimited power.