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Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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Rayous said:
From Yrsillar in the discord regarding the wisps in CDE "I am operating off the assumption that wisps use ling qi's base stealth "

So the wisps aren't extremely visible and can be used as part of a stealth infiltration.
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To add to it:
  • For infiltration they won't be running Breeze-in-the-Vault perfect stealth, but with our soon-to-be intimidatingly high base skill they should be plenty stealthy off of that alone.
  • For combat it means both variants' wisps can work fine and it would take area attacks to deprive us of their use (though abysmal health means even the slightly tankier CDP wisps die in 1 hit). (we could guard them with SNR but that makes their stealth and mobility moot)
 
What does it cost to recreate the wisps if they get killed?

And do we know if the number of wisps that we can control at any one time will increase in the future?
 
I suspect the number of wisps goes up for RME at 3rd level because of the extra lung meridian. Otherwise probably just stat increases
 
Loving this story. Started reading FoD on Royal Road and then switched over here when the edited chapters ran out. Took me awhile to catchup. Really impressive how long this has been running.
 
Alright. RME has a lot going for it, and could honestly save us a lot of grief.

BN has noted how, in practical terms, we're unlikely to ever get the omniscience we desire. However, just getting us more information about our options in circumstances has the potential to be really helpful.

For example, I'm reminded of a recent vote in Elsparian Road whic largely revolved around lack of information and communication. We had to decide whether to deal with the enemies in front of us, or rush away to help our teammates - the challenge being that we didn't know how much trouble they were in.

This is the kind of situation where being able to see what we're actually dealing with so we can make informed decisions can be hugely valuable to us as players. Being able to check in on our minions and friends to see if they're in trouble and need backup can very useful. Being able to gather information on different options "which place most needs our help" "which part of the castle should we go to first" "should we go east or west" erc can be invaluable helping us make more informed votes.

If there's one thing voters hate, it's dealing with uncertainty and coting blind. We might not be able to eliminate that, but just reducing the fog of war a bit could still be great.
 
Erebeal said:
For example, I'm reminded of a recent vote in Elsparian Road whic largely revolved around lack of information and communication. We had to decide whether to deal with the enemies in front of us, or rush away to help our teammates - the challenge being that we didn't know how much trouble they were in.
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How can you possibly mention a "Dryad Mercenary Drifter Quest" and not even link it?
 
Erebeal said:
Alright. RME has a lot going for it, and could honestly save us a lot of grief.

BN has noted how, in practical terms, we're unlikely to ever get the omniscience we desire. However, just getting us more information about our options in circumstances has the potential to be really helpful.

For example, I'm reminded of a recent vote in Elsparian Road whic largely revolved around lack of information and communication. We had to decide whether to deal with the enemies in front of us, or rush away to help our teammates - the challenge being that we didn't know how much trouble they were in.

This is the kind of situation where being able to see what we're actually dealing with so we can make informed decisions can be hugely valuable to us as players. Being able to check in on our minions and friends to see if they're in trouble and need backup can very useful. Being able to gather information on different options "which place most needs our help" "which part of the castle should we go to first" "should we go east or west" erc can be invaluable helping us make more informed votes.

If there's one thing voters hate, it's dealing with uncertainty and coting blind. We might not be able to eliminate that, but just reducing the fog of war a bit could still be great.
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A few examples of this happening in this quest:
  1. Thunderstom, when we had to choose whether to go to market/friends, or Meizhen/Susu
  2. Growing Pain, when we had to decide whether to deal with the attack or see what was up with Xiulan
  3. In a situation like Forest King, where we are unsure how a friend is doing
 
Erebeal said:
Alright. RME has a lot going for it, and could honestly save us a lot of grief.

BN has noted how, in practical terms, we're unlikely to ever get the omniscience we desire. However, just getting us more information about our options in circumstances has the potential to be really helpful.

For example, I'm reminded of a recent vote in Elsparian Road whic largely revolved around lack of information and communication. We had to decide whether to deal with the enemies in front of us, or rush away to help our teammates - the challenge being that we didn't know how much trouble they were in.

This is the kind of situation where being able to see what we're actually dealing with so we can make informed decisions can be hugely valuable to us as players. Being able to check in on our minions and friends to see if they're in trouble and need backup can very useful. Being able to gather information on different options "which place most needs our help" "which part of the castle should we go to first" "should we go east or west" erc can be invaluable helping us make more informed votes.

If there's one thing voters hate, it's dealing with uncertainty and coting blind. We might not be able to eliminate that, but just reducing the fog of war a bit could still be great.
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To add to that, we could also check up on our fiefdom once we have it. Check on the various people who we've assigned work--are they doing it? What if we don't have the time check on our family but still want to make sure they're okay (lets say something just happened and they might not be).
I know managing our fiefdom is a ways down the line but this could be an excellent way for multitasking. What if we have to leave our fief but aren't sure of its security and want to check up while we're out? We can use this to make more informed decisions. Whereas CDP means we'll be the ultimate master of dodging among our peers...But as other people have pointed out, we already are great at avoid and dodging all sorts of stuff. With LFWT, we'll be epic--thus precog is not really necessary. Cool but not necessary.
 
Arkeus said:
A few examples of this happening in this quest:
  1. Thunderstom, when we had to choose whether to go to market/friends, or Meizhen/Susu
  2. Growing Pain, when we had to decide whether to deal with the attack or see what was up with Xiulan
  3. In a situation like Forest King, where we are unsure how a friend is doing
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Erebeal said:
Alright. RME has a lot going for it, and could honestly save us a lot of grief.

BN has noted how, in practical terms, we're unlikely to ever get the omniscience we desire. However, just getting us more information about our options in circumstances has the potential to be really helpful.

For example, I'm reminded of a recent vote in Elsparian Road whic largely revolved around lack of information and communication. We had to decide whether to deal with the enemies in front of us, or rush away to help our teammates - the challenge being that we didn't know how much trouble they were in.

This is the kind of situation where being able to see what we're actually dealing with so we can make informed decisions can be hugely valuable to us as players. Being able to check in on our minions and friends to see if they're in trouble and need backup can very useful. Being able to gather information on different options "which place most needs our help" "which part of the castle should we go to first" "should we go east or west" erc can be invaluable helping us make more informed votes.

If there's one thing voters hate, it's dealing with uncertainty and coting blind. We might not be able to eliminate that, but just reducing the fog of war a bit could still be great.
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Lena27 said:
To add to that, we could also check up on our fiefdom once we have it. Check on the various people who we've assigned work--are they doing it? What if we don't have the time check on our family but still want to make sure they're okay (lets say something just happened and they might not be).
I know managing our fiefdom is a ways down the line but this could be an excellent way for multitasking. What if we have to leave our fief but aren't sure of its security and want to check up while we're out? We can use this to make more informed decisions. Whereas CDP means we'll be the ultimate master of dodging among our peers...But as other people have pointed out, we already are great at avoid and dodging all sorts of stuff. With LFWT, we'll be epic--thus precog is not really necessary. Cool but not necessary.
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To be honest this seems more like a problem that you solve with infrastructure and not with an art for just one person.

Because the art already requires you to be carrying around some still water, you can't be in combat, need to be looking in sets of three and if contested runs off your stats.

Just buy a xianxia pager for your important people. It'll be about as convenient, could probably be used in combat in extremis, and runs off the stats of someone optimized for the task. Sure, it'll cost money to buy, but that's preferable to using up art slots, build potential and ap for an infrastructure problem.


On a related note, this seems weirdly powerful given how difficult long distance communication is meant to be in this setting. What, were the Weilu the communications backbone before they disappeared? And given that this art is shoved away in a sect's archives it can't possible be that rare.

Just make a scheduled check up time and location/person then you can send messages across the breadth of the Empire. Combine that with cultivators perfect memories and ability to perceive information and you should have some fairly high bandwidth communication right there.

As in, every ruling clan should have a version of this art and five to ten people just doing this all day or they'll get steam rolled by the strategic and tactical superiority of those that do. It's not an internet or a phone line, but it's not that far off either.
 
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qwolfs said:
...

To be honest this seems more like a problem that you solve with infrastructure and not with an art for just one person.

Because the art already requires you to be carrying around some still water, you can't be in combat, need to be looking in sets of three and if contested runs off your stats.

Just buy a xianxia pager for your important people. It'll be about as convenient, could probably be used in combat in extremis, and runs off the stats of someone optimized for the task. Sure, it'll cost money to buy, but that's preferable to using up art slots, build potential and ap for an infrastructure problem.


On a related note, this seems weirdly powerful given how difficult long distance communication is meant to be in this setting. What, were the Weilu the communications backbone before they disappeared? And given that this art is shoved away in a sect's archives it can't possible be that rare.

Just make a scheduled check up time and location/person then you can send messages across the breadth of the Empire, or the world if we assume it has no distance limitations. Combine that with cultivators perfect memories and ability to perceive information and you should have some fairly high bandwidth communication right there.

As in, every ruling clan should have a version of this art and five to ten people just doing this all day or they'll get steam rolled by the strategic and tactical superiority of those that do. It's not an internet or a phone line, but it's not that far off either.
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Xanxia pager?
 
It might be the far seeing is fairly simple at small scale.
But far speaking is not.
There's also that cultivator are highly individualistic, learning things that suit their personality, making clairvoyants, precogs and people who learn arts to talk over long distances rare.

We know that long distance communication arts exist, our stealth tutor probably has one considering the scouting mission.
But they might not be that common simply because people are more interesting in other things.
 
I believe qwolf's point is that far-seeing is far-speaking if you have an established communications protocol: scry at X time and see what is written on a notecard at Y position, then write on your own notecard, then scry again in Z minutes and repeat the process.
 
I mean, we know that important things can be communicated very quickly - look at how fast Cai was alerted to the bandit attack.

It's just that that doesn't translate into things like that internet or modern phone networks.
 
That's basicly a superrior telegraph.
Those arrangements probably are already in place at any permanent outposts of significant size.
But they require constant use of clairvoyance and mutual pre existing agreement on communications.
You can't use it to send emergency messages or to contact people not already expecting it.

And, as the biggest downside.
You need 2 greens to use it, one on both ends for two directional communications.
2 greens who know the technique, and are not more useful doing something else, like hunting monsters, and don't mind the disruption on their routine.

How common are green level cultivators?
Our current situation may lead to somewhat distorted view on what is and is not commonly available.
 
Valmond said:
How common are green level cultivators?
Our current situation may lead to somewhat distorted view on what is and is not commonly available.
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Well, my guesstimates based off things like the number of whites, size of Sun Shao's army, and guesses at falloff between realms is somewhere around 250,000-700,000 across the Empire.

But who knows 🤷‍♂️
 
Problem with needing to have greens act as basicly fax machines, is that you are either using all your greens as fax machines, or not having all that many fax machines.
And even if you have 700.000 green fax machines, constantly checking and rechecking for new messages, the communication is going to be slow considering they still need to read, and copy, the messages sent by hand (much faster than mortals, but it still takes time).
And if you do have all your greens acting as fax machines, they are not cultivating, meaning you will soon run out of cyans.

On top of this, clairvoyant viewing seems like the things you block from your sensitive (or private) facilities, and because you don't want to alert people on where your sensitive (or private) facilities are, you will create wards that blank out lot more than necessary.
So quite a lot of places (like military outposts) simply won't have access to these green fax machines.

So i'd expect every city, and some of the larger military strongholds, to have clairvoyant greens (or above) posted to send and receive messages.
But because there is a very low limit to messages sent due to time constraints, they would be limited to only important stuff that can't wait for delivery by courier.

Villages, estates of minor nobility, lot of outposts guarding the border, nope, no green fax.
Though the military outposts will probably have a way to send alarms, even if they can't be scryed easily.
 
Erebeal said:
I mean, we know that important things can be communicated very quickly - look at how fast Cai was alerted to the bandit attack.

It's just that that doesn't translate into things like that internet or modern phone networks.
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To be fair, I would be a bit weirded out if RME doesn't end up with at least one way to talk to people we scry to. I guess it's not completely intheme, though.
 
Valmond said:
Problem with needing to have greens act as basicly fax machines, is that you are either using all your greens as fax machines, or not having all that many fax machines.
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I assume that one or two Greens a city is a router, with Yellows being the fax machines and a Cyan in regional Department of [The Mail Guys] acting as a central hub.
 
OneArmedYeti said:
I assume that one or two Greens a city is a router, with Yellows being the fax machines and a Cyan in regional Department of [The Mail Guys] acting as a central hub.
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You are taking this analogy lot further than i suspect applicable.
Anyway, how does the cyan increase bandwidth? They probably are faster scryers, potentially even being able to see multiple locations at a time.
But the main issue remains in having to write down messages by hand, and needing that green in every location you want to deliver messages to.
The greens remain fax machines (able to receive messages), yellows and reds can act as couriers to deliver received or to be sent messages to where ever the comminucations post is, but they don't actually do anything about the speed of communications.

This basicly remains a glorified telegraph, with possibly a (cyan) switchboard speeding things up.
 
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