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The Path Unending (A Cultivation Quest)

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[X] You will seek the Lord's Regalia. An old, damaged mosaic that you uncovered depicts the Moloth leader wearing an elaborate crown and brandishing a scepter as long as your arm.
[X] You will seek information on the Moloth's 'Glorious Respite'. You have uncovered long and disjointed poems speaking of the beauty of this place, which was said to have been where powerful Moloth figures would retreat to when the burdens of daily life were too much.
 
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  • Voting
    • Vote closed!
    Scheduled vote count started by Vesvius on Feb 12, 2021 at 12:26 AM, finished with 152 posts and 102 votes.
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    • Van Ropen said:
    Well, technically he has. He dismissed the mutations as irrelevant straight to Zhi's face when Zhi started to spiral about them.

    I guess you could say that was performative, but tbh I'm pretty sure they really don't even register as worth noticing to him.
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    I think this speaks to the fact that Siani is Zhi's master, not his friend. Friends and family care about Zhi in a way that Siani just doesn't. I'm not saying he's bad, or that he doesn't care about Zhi in his own way, but the relationship is quite different. Though this may sound obvious, it's something I'm just realizing myself, so it feels worth mentioning.

    me.me.here said:
    You're both making the same mistake of reading the bit that says Lord's Regalia as an adjective and a noun instead of a proper noun. The 'Lord's Regalia' is the mosiac, because that's the name of the artwork. There aren't any items involved, because when you actually look at the descriptions they name/label the thing we're looking for and then give a brief description of it.
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    I disagree with your reading. Sure, "the Lord's Regalia" could be the name of a mosaic. But, looking at the grammar of the whole vote more broadly, I think the other reading is better fit. It reads, "You will seek the Lord's Regalia. An old, damaged mosaic that you uncovered depicts the Moloth leader wearing an elaborate crown and brandishing a scepter as long as your arm." The "that you uncovered" suggests to me that the mosaic is something we've already located in the library records, and the regalia are the thing we're actually looking for. It's the same way a "A slate you found that speaks of the Moloth's Laws..." doesn't mean that the slate is the actual treasure.

    Your reading could be correct, and the one thing that speaks in favor of that is that it's odd to see a mosaic in a library. But given the way the whole thing is written, I think the other reading is more likely. One final piece of evidence I'll add is the bit that says "an elaborate crown and brandishing a scepter as long as your arm." Why the focus on the crown and the length of the scepter if the thing we'd be looking for is a mosaic?
     
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    me.me.here said:
    You're both making the same mistake of reading the bit that says Lord's Regalia as an adjective and a noun instead of a proper noun. The 'Lord's Regalia' is the mosiac, because that's the name of the artwork. There aren't any items involved, because when you actually look at the descriptions they name/label the thing we're looking for and then give a brief description of it.
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    Don't know what your reading.
    "You will seek the Lord's Regalia. An old, damaged mosaic that you uncovered depicts the Moloth leader wearing an elaborate crown and brandishing a scepter as long as your arm."

    This very clearly states that we already have the mosaic;
    "An old, damaged mosaic that you uncovered"

    It is also clear that the mosaic is describing the Lords Regalia.
    Every option states what we will be researching then goes on to describe how we learned of it, so if the mosaic is the Lords Regalia then please point out the part that describes how Zhi learned of it.

    Edit: I would also point out that the mosaic is damaged. If it was what we were looking for how in the world would Zhi know that it's damaged?
     
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    Mr8 said:
    That shit has got to hurt, when (the majority?) of people physically recoil in your grotesque presence and are basically stupefied into silence.
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    I don't think the majority of people are recoiling in our presence. Some people are interested in our new limbs, some people are a little grossed out by them, some are envious of them, and some people in the setting just plain don't care about them. I'm sure that Zhi feels a little uncomfortable about how his limbs are viewed and he has every right to. But for every person that looks at them with distaste there is probably another that looks at them with a bit of envy.
     
    ShyGuy said:
    I don't think the majority of people are recoiling in our presence. Some people are interested in our new limbs, some people are a little grossed out by them, some are envious of them, and some people in the setting just plain don't care about them. I'm sure that Zhi feels a little uncomfortable about how his limbs are viewed and he has every right to. But for every person that looks at them with distaste there is probably another that looks at them with a bit of envy.
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    This is a good point. The features may be shocking at first glance, but I wonder how much of the negative reaction Zhi is getting is what he thinks he's getting.
     
    ShyGuy said:
    I don't think the majority of people are recoiling in our presence. Some people are interested in our new limbs, some people are a little grossed out by them, some are envious of them, and some people in the setting just plain don't care about them. I'm sure that Zhi feels a little uncomfortable about how his limbs are viewed and he has every right to. But for every person that looks at them with distaste there is probably another that looks at them with a bit of envy.
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    Sorry, but that's false equivalence.

    It has been noted in-text repeatedly that many people he encounters, especially Zhi's peers in former 9th Circle (now 8th), are disquited by Zhi's mutations.

    Zhi additionally notes, that in contrast to the above attitude, a few of the older disciples were interested in his mutations, but only one of them outright praised him for it (one of the older Caretakers), and none were envious that I recall.

    Socially speaking, it's obvious that the mutations are a net negative.

    The positive of mutations lie in the increased power/utility they grant to their owner.
     
    Vesvius said:
    The first time you almost collide with one of your fellow Ninth Circle Members, they are the ones to flee from your path, sparing you only a frightened glance. Another Ninth Circle Disciple gives you similar treatment, then so does a third. Even an Eighth Circle Member, sigil dark on their hand, gives you a wide berth, eyes locked on to your right hand, and your stomach winds up somewhere near your feet.

    The reactions of your peers aren't entirely surprising. After all, you look like… this. You had hoped for better, but you cannot say you were not expecting such a reception. It's the reactions of your seniors, though, that give you pause. A Seventh Circle Disciple doesn't exactly give you the right of way, but she does glance at you and nod approvingly. A Fifth Circle Disciple demands that you stop so that they can better inspect your claw. A martial disciple whose ranking you cannot identify even deigns to exchange words with you-

    -though in truth, perhaps it is not so surprising. After all, he looks more alien than you do, with skin green and leathery with hard plates decorated with glowing runes growing right from his flesh. "Very well done," the altered disciple says as he passes you, giving you a respectful nod. "It is good to see the youth not shying away from experimentation."
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    It's clearly a net negative with all the 8th circle (both new and old), but it appears to be at worst mixed, probably a net positive with the older disciples. The 7th circle disciple nodded approvingly so it wasn't just Wugai that praised the mutations.
     
    This is a sixth circle disciple, he should be used to body modifications after all those years.
    Maybe Moshui's reaction is due to Zhi coming soaked into a library after getting high with time?
     
    Enjou said:
    Well, Moshui is also likely a scholarly type, so may not be comfortable with all the body modding stuff that warrior types might do.
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    Based on what others said, it seems more that body modification is something Artists start dabbling into as they reach the limitations of the human form in their chosen path. Those dealing in public facing works learn to disguise it or stick to more subtle stuff.
     
    A couple of other thoughts about where to find wonders, treasures, mats.

    Checking out the coastline where the Delving Heart seems to be located for areas or coves that get hit hard by any storms that come off of the ocean. Looking for a water/wind/storm type of Natural Wonder. Not useful for our main elements, but could be useful for getting enough wind for our Elegant Plume Tech.

    Checking the archives for records of sunken ships and trying to figure out how to get to them. Probably risky and dangerous, but might give us some mats given how a pirate flag was a mat we could have gotten.

    Lighthouses/ship graveyards along the coast could be sites of sufficient importance to have natural wonders associated with them. Not likely to have anam types we are looking for and assumes we are on the coastline, which I'm not confident in. However, if we are near a coastline, then it would be a shame not to try and leverage the bounty that the ocean provides if we need to.

    Groves of trees near the treeline of the Brightmaples might be the site of a wind wonder given how the wind can change how trees grow.

    Others have mentioned how the Brightmaples could be volcanic, which would be an awesome source for smoke anam if we could locate one, but exposed lava tubs might also create natural wind tunnels for a Wind Wonder which would be pretty cool.

    An old lodge used for smoking meat from hunts might be the site of a smoke wonder if it is sufficiently old enough and was used enough.

    Any site that old cultures, or current cultures, used to burn the fallen on pyres could be a site of a smoke wonder.

    If we could find an old smoking pipe of a powerful cultivator that could be a potent smoke treasure. How we would find one I don't know, but looking for records of old cultivator battles could provide other sources and ideas to find treasures/wonders.

    An old training ground used by the Delving Heart might be a steel wonder, focusing on the concept that seems attached to steel of breaking and reforming. Also the use of steel weapons consistently.

    A scrap heap that others in the region used to throw metal objects that would be too difficult and costly to resmelt and repurpose.
     
    bookofportals said:
    Why the focus on the crown and the length of the scepter if the thing we'd be looking for is a mosaic?
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    The reason to describe what the mosaic depicts is that plain old 'mosiac' doesn't explain why there's Royalty anam associated with it, or even explain why Kong Zhi would be interested in it.

    UlseDovThur said:
    Don't know what your reading.
    "You will seek the Lord's Regalia. An old, damaged mosaic that you uncovered depicts the Moloth leader wearing an elaborate crown and brandishing a scepter as long as your arm."

    This very clearly states that we already have the mosaic;
    "An old, damaged mosaic that you uncovered"

    It is also clear that the mosaic is describing the Lords Regalia.
    Every option states what we will be researching then goes on to describe how we learned of it, so if the mosaic is the Lords Regalia then please point out the part that describes how Zhi learned of it.

    Edit: I would also point out that the mosaic is damaged. If it was what we were looking for how in the world would Zhi know that it's damaged?
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    Uncovered is also a synonym for discovered, which means 'an X than you uncovered does Y' is equally validly interpreted as 'you found out that X does Y' as 'this thing you acquired does Y'.

    My question to you is this - all of the other options are non-portable (halls, sites, tombs, temples), so why would you not only believe that this option is different but also that the invading conquerors from the Radiant Empire didn't carry off the obviously valuable and easily portable actual crown and scepter?

    After all, having a tiny scrap of artwork depicting something the Moloth used to have doesn't actually tell you what the people who ganked the Moloth and took their stuff would have done with said stuff.
     
    me.me.here said:
    but also that the invading conquerors from the Radiant Empire didn't carry off the obviously valuable and easily portable actual crown and scepter?
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    Fuckers didn't even Shank their vestiges for Sweet Materials.

    The Pre-Empire Radiant Empires looting game was Shite.


    EDIT 2: What's more, Ves has never offered us a box that gives us nothing. Even if the sceptre isn't there (And even if it's not royalty, which I think is unlikely), we WILL walk out of this with something in hand.

    EDIT: Also, people, I'm just going to throw this out there.

    Siani's tech task is twofold. The Completion of the Techs is actually a secondary, less imporant task.

    What's far far more important is actually finding wonders as a source of Power that we can rely on outside of Pills. Given we don't have to pay for them and how Wonders Regenerate Anam, I can see why. They're a renewable power base that can gratly fuel our cultivation, Especially if we can use aspects from them for later stages.

    And Good God Damn would Royalty end up being a really nice feather in our caps, especially if we want to go full Summoner or area control.
     
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    Regalia is regalia:

    "the emblems or insignia of royalty, especially the crown, scepter, and other ornaments used at a coronation."

    We are not looking for the royal mural. We found that. We are choosing to research further on the objects the mural depicts.

    The biggest risk there is that they're already in some dick's vault because why wouldn't the conquerors seize that stuff as a trophy? Especially if it's a useful wonder. Maybe they hid it in a secret vault?
     
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