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

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AbeoLogos said:
Maybe, but not quickly. The Argent sect does, after all, have two Prism cultivators. One is seriously old and the other unwilling to put a lot of work into the conflict, but the fact they exist means a decisive clash shouldn't really be an option on the table for the barbarians. If they're a serious dedicated force, the fighting can be expected to drag out over years or even decades.
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I appreciate the serious response- it is well reasoned. My concerns were coming from the disconnect between the historical analogues of the cloud barbarians taking over the empire (twice? Manchu and the dynasty after the one after Han?) and the thread treating this as a sideshow to be dealt with before we dove back into imperial politics.

It had... Unfortunate historical resonances.
 
[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)
 
Nuan is the least interesting of the minor character cultivators. I would rather give her what she wants and let her go on her way.

[X] Follow Yu Nuan's plan, circle through the clouds herding Thunder beasts toward her performance. (Guaranteed Normal Success)
 
So.. I wonder if getting hit by solar qi and soon after this POWER of PUNK performance will make Ling Qi turn temporarily into a pop star. Just for a day. That will never be mentioned ever again.
 
JowKeen said:
interestingly, our Punk friend is probably from a disgraced house that lost their land to Cai.
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She implied that her family was collateral damage to Shenhua doing something.... probably removing a noble clan like what happened to the Chu. So a mortal family or maybe a commoner clan like Ling Qingge's relatives.

[X] Suggest your own plan, carrying Yu Nuan up into the Clouds so that she could face her potential spirit in their own realm. (Success not guaranteed, potential Greater Success?)
 
It's not too late guys!

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Adhoc vote count started by Arkeus on Nov 13, 2019 at 11:55 AM, finished with 155 posts and 60 votes.
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Guis, we got 50 minutes to turn it around, this is a crucial turning point that need to be highly debated!

In the yu nuan quest.

I cant wait to see what body piercing talismans + thunder beast storm equals to.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by FallenPears on Nov 13, 2019 at 12:17 PM, finished with 157 posts and 60 votes.
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[X] Follow Yu Nuan's plan, circle through the clouds herding Thunder beasts toward her performance. (Guaranteed Normal Success)

I'm not particularly against the risky option, but I don't think the "just get it done" option was given a fair shake.
 
[X] Follow Yu Nuan's plan, circle through the clouds herding Thunder beasts toward her performance. (Guaranteed Normal Success)
 
I remember asking but not the answer: Do we know any Jia? I think we bumped into one alongside the Wang guy, but I'm not certain.

also, we used transport formations to get to the BINO fight right? That is a LONG distance they covered holy heck. The odds that CRX will be able to be placed *basically* anywhere with us having access to a transport formation seems likely now, allowing Shenhua (YRS) to place CRX wherever she is most useful and wherever she will learn the most. While at the same time giving us (and the Emerald Seas) a fast response route to the border (or to CRX to report) for those with the power to help (like the "council of trade" people I mentioned. Meizhen, SpiderBao, CRX).
This . . . means that Shen Hu is 100% on the table for "can we see him". If we bond with him enough he'll just end up securing a fasttravel route to his family's section of border (or, close enough to there) and it can narratively be engineered for us to see him at around the same rate we see the others.

I can also see on the map the struggle of Emerald Seas. Those rivers would be very lucrative trade routes if they could trade with Bai, but the Bai are hard to trust. Wang and Jia have a shared wilderness border that both probably want but neither feels safe to invest (much) in. Diao in the middle is able to trade along multiple routes but lacks a unifying flow. Luo and Meng have pretty big wilderness holes in em. I can understand why the duplicitous fae would be great for a court such as this. So many goals requiring attention, and some in opposition to one another. Would be nice to smooth it all over with "white lies". This is an honest Duchess though. It'll be hard to get the Meng on board, but maybe CRX can gain the empathy needed to hear out the Meng's grievances and assuage their worries while still being truthful. That seems like a huge goal that Shenhua can literally not accomplish with her blindspot. If worked out, it would allow trade to flow in a way that everyone would profit from. That sounds really valuable tbh, but I wonder when Shenhua will point CRX at the task? After CRX's first station? Or as her first station?

Shenhua does have a habit of throwing CRX into the deep end, lolol
 
JowKeen said:
also, we used transport formations to get to the BINO fight right? That is a LONG distance they covered holy heck. The odds that CRX will be able to be placed *basically* anywhere with us having access to a transport formation seems likely now, allowing Shenhua (YRS) to place CRX wherever she is most useful and wherever she will learn the most. While at the same time giving us (and the Emerald Seas) a fast response route to the border (or to CRX to report) for those with the power to help (like the "council of trade" people I mentioned. Meizhen, SpiderBao, CRX).
This . . . means that Shen Hu is 100% on the table for "can we see him". If we bond with him enough he'll just end up securing a fasttravel route to his family's section of border (or, close enough to there) and it can narratively be engineered for us to see him at around the same rate we see the others.
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The transport formations were noted to be quite expensive to use, and we were asked to go back by foot to save resources. Cai was only allowed to use it cuz it was an emergency, and although you may say here "the fact that Shenhua was testing her means it was not really so pressing"... this is Shenhua we are talking about, she would spend resources to ensure the sanctity of a test. I imagine securing usage of them for things that can be considered frivolous won't be something we can do, although if we can pay for them I imagine we can get access to the experts/ get a formation built that we only have to feed in order to activate.
 
storryeater said:
The transport formations were noted to be quite expensive to use, and we were asked to go back by foot to save resources.
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yeah that sounds right. Who knows if we warrant that kind of investment. Maybe something a bit more, regionally useful that is a shortcut for emergencies only? who knows. That's a real good point actually, maybe we *won't* have access
 
JowKeen said:
yeah that sounds right. Who knows if we warrant that kind of investment. Maybe something a bit more, regionally useful that is a shortcut for emergencies only? who knows. That's a real good point actually, maybe we *won't* have access
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On the other hand, we passed through half the province, on relaxed travel time, in a few days (the Bao borders are quite far from the argent sect on the map, almost, but not quite, on opposite sides). I imagine that, as long as we get the right to travel freely within the Emerald Seas, distance won't be much of an object at Cyan.
 
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Well, I'm particularly excited to see how Thunder Beasts act in their natural environment, as well as how Ling Qi's new arts will affect the communication attempts. Success or failure, it will certainly be cool to dance amongst the Thunder Beasts amind the flashing of lightning and rumbling of thunder.
 
storryeater said:
On the other hand, we passed through half the province, on relaxed travel time, in a few days (the Bao borders are quite far from the argent sect on the map, almost, but not quite, on opposite sides). I imagine that, as long as we get the right to travel freely within the Emerald Seas, distance won't be much of an object at Cyan.
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We'll still be green when we get landed p sure. Cyan is a number of years away
 
Glau said:
I appreciate the serious response- it is well reasoned. My concerns were coming from the disconnect between the historical analogues of the cloud barbarians taking over the empire (twice? Manchu and the dynasty after the one after Han?) and the thread treating this as a sideshow to be dealt with before we dove back into imperial politics.

It had... Unfortunate historical resonances.
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Unlike the steppe nomads the Cloud Nomads are ideological barbarians, supported by their religious beliefs. They don't want in, they want us out.
And the thing is...they still don't have a counter to Sublime Ancestors when its down to scorched earth, and while the clans they support are gone, the Emerald Sea is not without its own kind.
Karnax626 said:
I could actually see the Golden Fields being able to help out, if indirectly.
We know both the Luo and the Gu at least prefer the trade routes to remain open, and wolf bois uncle was apparently putting forward a suit towards one of Xiulan's sisters.
It might be possible for the Gu to increase security on their side of the border, thus allowing the Luo to shift more of their troops down south? It might be an admission of weakness to others looking in, but depending on how bad it gets they might not care.
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I'm not sure if the Gu actually HAVE the resources to do that without exposing another border.
 
veekie said:
Unlike the steppe nomads the Cloud Nomads are ideological barbarians, supported by their religious beliefs. They don't want in, they want us out.
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Hol up.

Citation? And you better not cite imperial propaganda, that'd be hubris.

(The fact they lack any counterparts or counters to sublime Ancestors is a pretty big setback, and we have citation for that, which is why I cut it from your quote)
 
storryeater said:
Hol up.

Citation? And you better not cite imperial propaganda, that'd be hubris.

(The fact they lack any counterparts or counters to sublime Ancestors is a pretty big setback, and we have citation for that, which is why I cut it from your quote)
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We got a Cloud Nomad perspective in an interlude, they consider much of Imperial lands 'their' territory and they reject a lot of imperial civilization, claiming superiority in wandering(and with Cultivation if they want to live it they have to at least buy some of the hype).

Mind, thats specifically Cloud Nomad. The Yukionna and the Gnawing Ones absolutely have no issue booting us out and living in the places they find nice, the Hill tribes want their land back after we evicted some of them and adopted others.
 
veekie said:
We got a Cloud Nomad perspective in an interlude, they consider much of Imperial lands 'their' territory and they reject a lot of imperial civilization, claiming superiority in wandering(and with Cultivation if they want to live it they have to at least buy some of the hype).
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All of these are true, but...

1) how does that make them ideological barbarians? It makes them ideological nomads, which is something very different, unless you think nomads=barbarians, which is not true. Reminder that, even in universe, imperial civilization is not the only civilisation, so rejecting it doesn't mean they reject civilization.

2) Conquering (a part of) the empire so that they can incorporate it into their nomadic routes and conquering it so that they can build cities is fundamendally the same from the Empire's perspective losswise.

3) A lot of historical wars were waged because both sides had claim on a territory, so I do not get how considering part of the imperial land rightfully theirs changes anything, warwise. Moreover, a war that started over a claim can expand into an all out war of extermination/conqest if enough enmity is created.

So... these facts are true, but they prove not the quoted sentence.
 
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