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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Imperturbable Stars
AN: Here's another patron commission. Hope you can enjoy and let it tide you over until the new next turn


When the world was young, we feared the stars. The battle of the Unnamed was fierce, and the Mother weathered many blows defending her children. Their poison coursed deep in her veins and so when the world was wrought, the Sun blazed bright in defiance against the mocking stars, but his sister the moon was born weak, her light pale and pallid. So it was that we feared the stars and the night.

The people then lived beneath the earth, digging burrows like beasts, so that the Mother's cooling flesh could shield our bodies from the poison in the sky. This was a time of woe and fear when things unnamed, the children of those laughing stars stalked forest and glen to hunt beast and human alike. Under the sun's light they quailed, but during the night they rose again to hunt. So it was that we slept only fitfully, full of fear, and rose to exhaustion in the day. All was bleak.

Among the people was a young woman. Born under the moon, she was given to the eldest to serve, offering her meager strength to the Moon through prayer and offering. Swiftly she rose among the priests of the moon, for her wit was quick, and her eyes sharp. Where others struggled, she found the best herbs and flowers for the incense with ease, and spoke the words of offering more clearly than others. She was a brave girl as well, and in her wandering, she spoke with the beasts of the wood and learned their tongues. From the birds, she learned the secret language of wind and branch, and from the beasts of the earth, she learned the secret song of hill and mountain.

All feared the power of the stars, the enemies of life. The Father and the Mother had slain many foes, but many more remained, uncounted and uncountable, and they, the stars circled creation, forever eager to destroy the creation the Unnamed had wrought. They were not of the world, and so could not be defended against, nor understood.

This offended the girl with the sharp eyes, for her, all things could be counted and named, and no thing was without description. Yet she could not deny the truth of her senses. To look upon the stars long enough to count them, one would surely die. To name the stars, one would surely be cut down by their children. This frustrated the girl, and for a time, she lived life in a state of irritation. The girl became a woman, then a mother, and in time a grandmother. It came to pass that the People's speaker passed, and among them, none was deemed more worthy to replace him than the sharp eyed woman. For though her shoulders were stooped with age, and her bones ached her mind and her eyes had never dulled.

However, though years and years had passed, the woman's frustration had never faded, and so when she immersed herself in the pool of the moon, and spoke to the spirit, she asked the question that had burned in her heart.

"Are the enemy truly unnameable and uncountable? Can they never be defeated, O Eldest Sister?"

The moon was taken aback, for the Speakers of the people never spoke to her with such demand. They plead for her blessings and protection, asked after the health of their young and the whims of the seasons. Such a question had never occurred to the Moon, who existed only to protect and guide to safety her siblings. Even her brother the sun did not speak of such things, and thought only to fight and fight and fight until all was dust.

"This is not known to me, child. Without my attention upon the land, all would perish in the nightly hours. Mine eyes do not look at the stars," and though the moon answered true, for the very first time, the thing called dissatisfaction was born in the Moons mind, for never before had one of her siblings asked a question that could not be answered.

The sharp eyed woman was distressed to know that even the great Sister Moon did not know the answer to her question, and left the pool with her eyes low. Yet, even knowing that the answer was forever beyond her reach, her frustration still burned, like a hot coal pressed against her back. Each day that passed only hardened her resolve. Thus when the next Speaking Day came she had a new question.

"O Eldest, will thou allow this one to be your eyes upon the stars? I will count them, and name them, and see thy burden lightened if thou but offer the means."

The moon had not forgotten the woman's previous question, and it had vexed her greatly. Her brother the Sun had not known the answer either, to him the number and name of the enemy did not matter, only that they were anathema and so would be fought. So it was that the moon looked upon her young sibling and did not reject her proposal out of hand.

"My power is feeble, child. Mother's wounds lie heavily upon me. My scars were with me since birth. Should thou perform this task, I will not be able to shield thee from pain. Thou will not die, but thou wilt suffer. To give more to one would endanger all. Can thou truly say that this is thy wish?"

The sharp eyed woman thought of the People and her sons, daughters and grandchildren, few of which had lived to see even their tenth year, pale and sickly in the burrows and caves. The sharp eyed woman thought of her husband and siblings long since passed, taken by illness and exhaustion. Most of all, she thought of the twinkling and mocking stars hurling down their hate upon the land. In her heart, frustration and resolve curdled into something else.

"This is my wish, O eldest."

"Then go from my pool one last time, and say thy farewells. Thou will not see thy people again," commanded the Moon."

So the woman went, and among the people, there was much grief. The sharp eyed woman named her eldest daughter the successor of her title, and taking the gifts of her People, left. In the woman's heart, knowledge was born, and her path was sure. Beasts of field and wood did not bar her path, for she knew their secret words, and for the most recalcitrant, the terrible silver that burned in her eyes bowed their heads. The sharp eyed woman marched through day and night untiring and when the stars twinkled overhead, though her skin burned and she wept in pain, she did not stop. When the star children barred her path the silver light of her eyes flashed and drove them back, and she spoke the secret words of wind and water with the might of the Moon on her tongue to call up a storm to wash them away.

Soon enough, the sharp eyed woman reached the towering mountain which the moon had guided her to. It rose high into the sky, parting the wispy clouds. The pale disc of the moon seemed to rest upon its craggy peak. So it was that with aching bones and burning skin, the sharp eyed woman began to climb.

Many trials awaited her on the mountain for the star beasts had begun to come in force, and by the time she reached the peak, the sharp eyed woman was in a terrible state indeed. Her skin was scarred, and her limbs were broken, she leaned heavily upon a stick of ebony, soaked in her own blood. Only the moon's power and the feeling in her heart drove her on.

At last, the sharp eyed woman reached her destination, on the high and windswept peak, she found a shallow depression and sat down. Settling her stick across her knees, the woman at last looked up and with trembling hands removed the last items from her bags. A thick tome bound in black leather and a single quill.

At last with the book open in her lap, the sharp eyed woman fixed her gaze on the night sky and stilled.

Hours passed, and then days, and with each passing day the malice of the stars grew as they felt the mortal gaze that dared look upon them. At night, their hissing voices began to echo, and the woman's ears bled at the sound, even as her eyes smoked in their sockets.

"Little doll of mud, so full of pride, do you imagine thou that thou might succeed where the mighty failed?' crooned the stars, and under their light the woman's skin blackened and bled.

"Feeble thing, fleeting thing, flawed thing, die as thou should have so long ago. Thy Parents crumbled before us, and wove this porous shell, already it weakens, already it crumbles as they did and the flawed ones will be no more."

"Beyond thee we are, the unnamed and unnameable, uncounted in our legions, we are all things that cannot be known. Lie down and die mud doll and spare thyself the suffering."

Ten thousand curses, mockeries and imprecations rained down on the woman each night, lashing her skin until it barely clung to her bones. Yet her gaze never turned away. Even when the sharpe eyed womans eyes burned away entirely, leaving behind only liquid moonlight, her gaze never wavered.

Days became years, and years became decades, and the anger of the stars grew. Across the lands, their poison lessened in potency as their ire fell upon a single point, yet in doing their own defeat was wrought as the moon too could focus her power upon that single point.

At last, one hundred years after the day she had first sat down, something changed. The dust of a century rained down as the woman's head turned down to look upon the blank pages of her book. Above, the stars jeered and mocked her, certain that their victory had at last come, and yet as the sharp eyed woman's withered arm creaked and put qill to paper at last, she spoke. Puffs of dust and dirt falling from her lips with each word.

"Be silent, O charlatans, thou mocking vermin. I have had enough of thy venom, and so have we all."

The words echoed through the night, and beyond the sky and for just a moment, some among the stars trembled. Yet most were merely enraged. "Thou dare," they hissed, and the few hairs still clinging to the sharp eyed woman's scalp withered and crumbled to dust. "When thy bones barely cling to their neighbors and thy organs fail, held together only by moonlight and will. Thou think to speak such to the pure ones, thy betters?"

"I am the daughter of your conquerors," the sharp eyes woman said, her voice as a dry fall wind. Her quill began to scratch the page, leaving trails of moonlight in the shape of letters ever before seen by mortal eyes. "And I name you cowards all."

"We laid thy parents low," hissed the stars. "Speak not of conquerors, little doll of mud."

"I have gazed upon thy light for one hundred years, and learned thy tongue in the same, O feeble vermin, and know the lie of thy words. The blood of warriors boils in fen and ocean deep; it churns deep in Mother's veins, and clings to Father's heights. Thou art laggards and cowards all, as sneaking vermin and scavenger birds. Thou feared Mother, and thou feared Father, and thou fear their children most of all. Know this, of malicious ones. Thou art counted, and thou art named."

The woman's quill completed the first character, and the world shook as the great northern star, brightest of the stellar host howled. The stars light dimmed and softened, and a drifting thread of silver filtered down from the sky to coil around the sharp eyed woman. "To the moon do I offer thy names and thy light," the woman said, a hundred years and a lifetime of spite in her words. "Peer through the curtains as thou wilt, but never again shall thy malice reach any but the highest of peaks. To the moon I offer thy light, and thy hunger. Though the dark might remain full of terrors, never again will the night sky bring fear of its own."


With each character that was written, a star dimmed and the world shook. With each dimmed star, the woman's flesh was restored. At last, when the last star dimmed, the woman stood, and she was cloaked in glittering starlight. No more withered bones with a skull like visage, the sharp eyed woman looked upon the stars with eyes of moonlight, as an elder hale and hearty. Clothed in the glittering finery of the subdued night sky, she nodded in satisfaction and her book snapped shut, shaking the world one final time. Above, the stars no longer winked and mocked, but hung still, silent and unperturbed.

"I am ready O eldest. These bones are wary, and this life has passed. Might I be with thee, and keep an eye upon these miscreants forevermore?"

There was no answer in the tongues of men, only a soft sigh as the sharp eyed woman dissolved into a beam of moonlight and left the world forever. And above, the pale light of the moon grew bright with reflected starlight.

For the first time, the moon turned her bright face from the earth, and the stars quailed.

--Story collected from several fragmentary sources, reassembled as best possible. Anachronisms with the time period likely due to linguistic drift.
 
So, I really want to figure out how we can add more Hidden moon to our repertoire. While we missed our opportunity for ISM, I'm sure we can figure out other ways to draw more hidden moon influences into our lives.

I'm particularly fond of learning SNR and then switching the lake for the moon and seeing where that takes us.
 
So, I really want to figure out how we can add more Hidden moon to our repertoire. While we missed our opportunity for ISM, I'm sure we can figure out other ways to draw more hidden moon influences into our lives.

I'm particularly fond of learning SNR and then switching the lake for the moon and seeing where that takes us.
We are searching the archive this turn.
Though it's mainly for a resist art iirc we can still add Moon and Hidden keywords if the vote functions like the last archive search.
 
So, I really want to figure out how we can add more Hidden moon to our repertoire. While we missed our opportunity for ISM, I'm sure we can figure out other ways to draw more hidden moon influences into our lives.

I'm particularly fond of learning SNR and then switching the lake for the moon and seeing where that takes us.
Both RME/CDE and MSS are hidden moon arts. Not as powerful as wind thief or ISM naturally but their alignment is at least partially responsible for why we're picking them.
 
I mean... we have arguably PMR/PLR for dreaming, MSS/RME for Hidden, LFTW for Grinning. That's already six arts dedicated to the moon in one fashion or another. Not sure we should be looking for more just because of that specific trait.
And yet out of all those six arts, the ones that will see the least amount of use are likely to be MSS/RME. We just don't do a lot regarding the Hidden Moon. I would like that to change somewhat and do a bit more regarding the Hidden Moon.
 
And yet out of all those six arts, the ones that will see the least amount of use are likely to be MSS/RME. We just don't do a lot regarding the Hidden Moon. I would like that to change somewhat and do a bit more regarding the Hidden Moon.
I don't think RME/MSS are going to see little use, though.

I mean, I agree with a general "doing hidden moon things can be fun", but I don't think we are neglecting it at all. We are already putting a lot of effort toward it, and there is no trend to change.
 
I don't think RME/MSS are going to see little use, though.

I mean, I agree with a general "doing hidden moon things can be fun", but I don't think we are neglecting it at all. We are already putting a lot of effort toward it, and there is no trend to change.
Maybe your right. But right now I disagree that we are putting a lot of effort towards it, but I do agree that the amount of effort we are putting towards it isn't likely to change.

I am certainly more hopeful that we will do more Hidden moon stuff with Inquisitive Study on upkeep.
 
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This was a time of woe and fear when things unnamed, the children of those laughing stars stalked forest and glen to hunt beast and human alike. Under the sun's light they quailed, but during the night they rose again to hunt. So it was that we slept only fitfully, full of fear, and rose to exhaustion in the day. All was bleak.
Man, I hope that the stuff we found in our scouting isn't remnants from the time before the stars were sealed.
 
my thought is that the gnawing ones are the early foot soldiers and warped abberations fighting on behalf of the unnamed stars, until the stars were studied. Named. Defeated. Then they were the ones that had to hide beneath dirt from the filthy freaks that imprison'd their masters. Hell, one of the stars seems to have crashed and dug deep to escape the formation-naming prisons of the Black Madam. Perhaps by the end of this, we shall weave our own formation-names :0

I wish to study more, inquisitive study on upkeep, we will study hard and well so as to do our Black Madam proud <3
Song Seeker Moonlord
 
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So I guess we have this lady to thank for the ability to go dancing in the moonlight.

And in regards to the faces of the moon, is she gonna represent the dark side of the moon?
 
I think we will have a great chance to do more hidden moon stuff soon. We know there is a going to be an underground raid and there is some question about where they are getting their toxins from. This is clearly a job for us (and possibly one armed wonder too). I'd say sneaking into the enemy stronghold and learning their secrets is really hidden. Now personally, I'd also advocate stealing everything not nailed down and leaving behind a few explosives tags as a thank you note, but that may be too much. Either way I think we have a chance to do more hidden stuff soon.

But that won't really fix the issue of it feeling like we aren't very hidden moon. Part of that is we just aren't super into hidden moon things, but also because our we don't have a chance to show off strong hidden techinques. I think the only way to fix that is to hope that SSC has moon quests like the previous one did and for us to do the hidden one and hope for a good reward. The other moon techinques we have are all very strong and all rewards for doing something very hard, we shouldn't be able to find a similar reward just sitting in the archives.
 
Seeing as the gnawing ones seem to be antithesis of cultivators, it would make sense if they were made from the toxins dumped out during physical cultivation.
 
@yrsillar could we get a summary of the current function of our Domain Weapon before we decide what art to smush into it? The big thing is whether it still has a short-range music AoE that damages enemies or not. That was, originally, the primary focus of the weapon; it's what set it apart and the reason it was chosen because of the perceived advantage it offered. In-story, I'm not sure this has ever clearly manifested, but it hasn't been established as not the case either.

Narrative presence has been thin, so it would be useful if we had a proper look at how it works in your mind, before deciding how to modify its impact with an art.
 
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