Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
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BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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Yeeeep. Probably hilariously potent second realm horrible tasting medicinal tea as well.
- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
Something else we'll have to consider is our neighbours, and our neighbours' overlords. We're directly subordinate to the Cai, which means if there's, say, a Viscount in charge of all the local Barons then we might stick out as an unpredictable barony that they have no influence over, which could breed strife.
We also won't be able to ignore the other baronies, since even without personal grudges or animosity towards the Cai we'll have land and resources that others might want. This goes double if we do a good job making our fief profitable, and we should always keep an eye out for someone trying to press the claim that their fief was given rights to everything west of the river, which just so happens to include our fields of fancy Yin Wood plants or something.
We also won't be able to ignore the other baronies, since even without personal grudges or animosity towards the Cai we'll have land and resources that others might want. This goes double if we do a good job making our fief profitable, and we should always keep an eye out for someone trying to press the claim that their fief was given rights to everything west of the river, which just so happens to include our fields of fancy Yin Wood plants or something.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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Yeah, it'd do us well to give face and foster a sensible working relationship with whoever is the head viscount in the area. Yes even if they are a rude or otherwise personally objectionable individual or something, in part because it gives us political ammo against them if they get particularly egregious or otherwise actively harmful.
E: Like thinking about the scenario of a "Rude as hell viscount" we're more than likely to end up taking their place at the end of it if they get actively harmful. And as for a head viscount which is actually pleasant they are going to have some good advice, inevitably, and it makes sense to at least try and make sure there is little hard feelings going around if we take their spot.
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- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Yeah, we can be more sure they're an asshole if we're very carefully polite, which will make us more comfortable calling hell and fury on their head via Renxiang if they step to us. It also preserves the chance that they aren't actually an asshole and we can go to them if we accidentally step on toes. It's a long road to Indigo; it'll be much easier to travel if we avoid having local, long-term enemies.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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Yeah exactly. Making enemies in this social context of feudal politics is all well and good when dealing with them actually forwards your own goals. When it doesn't it is a bit of a waste of time.
(This also implies the idea of being able to somehow deal with your enemies if you make them, before you go and make them)
Diomedea
A piece of the continent
- Location
- The interblag
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It's going to be a bit weirder than even that, given how it has been implied that CRX is getting her own temporary fief, as well as overlordship over our fief and Gan's (or his Shenhua picked replacement). So CRX is going to be our virtual viscount...but as heir it should be pretty clear that it's a temporary role as part of preparing her to rule, etc. The nearby viscounts (and the count clan of the region) are all going to be wondering what is going to happen to that land when the Cai are done having their heir manage it. Will it be remaining in the Cai hands (CRX will have a little sibling soon) giving the nearby baron and viscounts the advantage of a back access to the Ducal clan via proximity? Will someone be gifted it (and from where will that person come from, will it be one of CRX's subordinates? Which one gets the new viscount spot? Should I try to nudge things?)? It's not even clear if the barony will stay in the Ling clan's hands long term, or if Shenhua will just go "Good job, now CRX needs support doing X, no time for management of an inconsequential border fief that's beneath you. I'll give you this pile of stones for expenses and a city later to make up for the loss."
Shenhua plays close to the chest (from what has been seen of her) so it's going to be every nearby political actor making a guess as what things will look like when the chaotic period of CRX being around ends (which in immortal terms is barely any time at all) and trying to make plays based on their gut feeling guess as to what Shenhua intends to position themselves to best take advantage long-term. It's going to be an utter mess compared to how border politics usually are, I'd think. It fits Shenhua's maximum crucible mindset, for sure.
Shenhua plays close to the chest (from what has been seen of her) so it's going to be every nearby political actor making a guess as what things will look like when the chaotic period of CRX being around ends (which in immortal terms is barely any time at all) and trying to make plays based on their gut feeling guess as to what Shenhua intends to position themselves to best take advantage long-term. It's going to be an utter mess compared to how border politics usually are, I'd think. It fits Shenhua's maximum crucible mindset, for sure.
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BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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There's also some further commentary that can be made on this topic as well. In that the local boss viscount is going to be a point of contact with the other nearby barons. They definitely are not going to be the only point of contact unless something is really screwy, but the point they provide is useful. Or at least should be.
It also ties into the idea that these barons, viscounts, counts yada yada are all our peers and or colleagues. Fucking around in the lunch room or office as it were isn't exactly in our best interests, especially considering the fragility of the Ling Clan.
Yeah this is particularly on point I think, and touches on a bit of it I missed.
It also ties into the idea that these barons, viscounts, counts yada yada are all our peers and or colleagues. Fucking around in the lunch room or office as it were isn't exactly in our best interests, especially considering the fragility of the Ling Clan.
Second realm seeds.
It's basically an infant plant. It's 'adult' form should be 'stronger'. At least somewhat.
As for what is it.... well, tea seeds come from what kinda looks like a nut, where as this things is described as a pod, which makes me think green beans.... IDK.
The thing that's wierd about it, is that apparently it wasn't 'stored' there, so much as growing in the tomb. At least, that's what the description suggest.
That implies it grows well in whatever the hell that inky darkness was. Feeds off dark qi, maybe?
I'm thinking that Shenhua is going to be trying to accomplish as many objectives with a single move as she can, as usual.
Therefore, we're probably going to be sent to a place that is or has some combination of the following:
-Run down due to poor management or prior incursions, requiring a great deal of maintenance and repair to get into proper working order.
-A completely new area, or a resettlement of a previously destroyed one.
-the location has some clear and obvious geographical vulnerabilities that need to be plugged.
-The local viscount is the vicious 'snake in the grass' type.
-Some local barons are more interested in furthering their positions than in doing their jobs well.
-Some local barons are more interested in vengeance against <character> or <group> than they are in doing their jobs.
-The locals lean heavily towards either the Weilu or the Cloud Tribes in some way, shape, or form. Or both.
-clear and obvious political vulnerabilities, possibly stemming from one or more of the above; perhaps not.
-Particularly pernicious local spirits, potentially within the Fourth Realm.
-Ruins, Weilu or otherwise, dot the region. They aren't necessarily obvous, but they also aren't the least bit protected... on the outside.
-Critical resources are located here, and need to be harvested and transported carefully, or is one leg on a route such goods flow through.
And I can't think of anything else right now.
Therefore, we're probably going to be sent to a place that is or has some combination of the following:
-Run down due to poor management or prior incursions, requiring a great deal of maintenance and repair to get into proper working order.
-A completely new area, or a resettlement of a previously destroyed one.
-the location has some clear and obvious geographical vulnerabilities that need to be plugged.
-The local viscount is the vicious 'snake in the grass' type.
-Some local barons are more interested in furthering their positions than in doing their jobs well.
-Some local barons are more interested in vengeance against <character> or <group> than they are in doing their jobs.
-The locals lean heavily towards either the Weilu or the Cloud Tribes in some way, shape, or form. Or both.
-clear and obvious political vulnerabilities, possibly stemming from one or more of the above; perhaps not.
-Particularly pernicious local spirits, potentially within the Fourth Realm.
-Ruins, Weilu or otherwise, dot the region. They aren't necessarily obvous, but they also aren't the least bit protected... on the outside.
-Critical resources are located here, and need to be harvested and transported carefully, or is one leg on a route such goods flow through.
And I can't think of anything else right now.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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I like these listed reasons, and want to point out this one in particular can have "layers" if you will. Because it may well be that somewhere along the way the baron/noble in question got it into their head that furthering their positions helps them do their job which would be !!FUN!! to try and unpack and work with.
E: More so than the simplistic Better Cultivation = Better ability to deal with Issues.
E2: To expand further, what I believe you are talking about and mean is corrupt officials using their power to enhance their own position and to ladder climb for the sake of more corrupted power. I totally agree there that Shenhua could send us to a place with that, and the point of my post is to mention that there could be things which fit in the same general reason but are actually not what you meant.
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- Location
- Europe
Have we looked into just paying someone to make custom arts for us?
It'd probably be expensive, but given that we absolutely need quality art insight for our Domain which will be a bitch to change if its sub-optimal it might be worth the cost.
On a related note, how hard is it to change your domain? Like if we need to can we go on a year plus long adventure a decade from now and shatter our domain to rebuild it with better shit? Is it harder to change your domain than it is to increase your talent?
It'd probably be expensive, but given that we absolutely need quality art insight for our Domain which will be a bitch to change if its sub-optimal it might be worth the cost.
On a related note, how hard is it to change your domain? Like if we need to can we go on a year plus long adventure a decade from now and shatter our domain to rebuild it with better shit? Is it harder to change your domain than it is to increase your talent?
Me and my mountain are going camping.
On the fief discussion I am not sure we will actually get a fief at first. We are going to be part of Cai army for a while and I think it would preclude from doing the whole baron thing.
Remember we have our stint of duty under the Cai armies. Theres good odds that we get to keep a portion of whatever troops assigned under us for our fief's use, which is good because they'd have spent ten years learning to obey us by then.
Part of a feudal lord's obligations is to provide a core of crack troops to their vassal lords getting started on a border region, though closer to the core they might simply be handed a bag of cash and told to hit the open market, on the border you can't waste the time getting militia and unblooded troops up to speed.
However, note that the Cloud Tribe raiders are most likely going to be a continual problem, in that they're going to be trespassing pretty often(nomad tribes tend to not recognize territorial claims, how can any person claim to own the earth?!), which means nervous woodsmen and small villages, which in turn means incidents waiting to happen.
As a new lord we'd need to act decisively and frequently to establish a reputation.
Basic rituals is a given, but the problem is starting those rituals, since the common mortals have no way to know what pleases a spirit or pisses it off. Our job there is more or less to work out said rituals, which the mortals and lower cultivators can maintain. Sometimes this working out is just talking to the spirits and bargaining for services, sometimes it involves beating up a reclaritant spirit and hashing out surrender terms, anchored by the ritual as basically renewing the peace treaty, and sometimes the ritual is to butter up or boost a lesser spirit into something that can take control after you wiped the area clean.
Spiritual defense, from what I can tell, is mainly relegated to static formations for stuff like settlements on village scale. A career Yellow specialized in Heart should also be able to act as the spiritual defense anchor for a squad of Reds, especially with a spirit beast partner to back them up...but from the setting dribbles we've seen spiritual hazards are rare enough that its usually more efficient for it to be the job of a roving patrol group of Yellows to deal with, and in the short term you have talisman makers who can produce enough limited use talismans for garrison forces to get to safety and call for help.
Yin Wood is the elemental combination for Poison actually.
Useful for drugs, or actually, Second Realm poison also makes for nice specialty arrows to use on raiders.
I'd look also to Sun Liling's position for a possible idea of why.
Liling was expected to either stay home to be groomed for Sun heir, or at least to a sect in a nearer province(that's not Thousand Lakes). Instead she was sent as physically far away from the Jungle as possible because yandere sunflower goddess.
Renxiang was expected to be assigned to a fief near the capital(whether provincial or imperial) where she can build the connections needed to rule. Instead she was assigned to a border fief, which is the last place anyone would be expected to put a ducal heir? She'd be far away from support and civilization, she'd have to learn to build it up practically from scratch and if she does as her ideals claim, she'd likely have ironclad loyalty from said fief.
If a canny political operator is moving unexpectedly...and given all the ominous signs...it seems to me that Shenhua may expect the core to become Clusterfuck Central in the next 50 years or so.
Thats what the old clans do.
Trying to pay someone 1-2 realms higher to spend the time to learn an art, change to specs and then teach you the new art is...expensive.
Cultivation wreckingly expensive
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BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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We don't know how hard to change it is beyond the most recent domain tutorial saying "insights are permanent".
As to people making arts for us? Waste of time and money in my opinion because by the time we could hire people to do that we will have to make arts which fit us ourselves because of our domain.
- Location
- Europe
That is... frustrating.
Do we have numbers for this or is this just an assumption at the moment, because I can't remember us ever checking. If we haven't checked, then we should check. There's a lot of things that people assume are prohibitively expensive, but aren't(though I wouldn't be surprised if this was particularly expensive).
This seems like an underserved market if there aren't reasonably affordable custom art creators, something to look into for our selves and our fiefs economy.
We might be able to finagle something out of sect elders, maybe sneak something from the moon spirits somehow?
This is something to look into at least, particularly now that domain insights might be permanent permanent.
Edit: We might be able to find/steal/create/etc a moon art which lets us change phases , so that we can swap things around depending on which "face" we are showing the world at the time, would help us express the multitude of hats we're wearing in a more efficient narrative satisfying way. Probably too cheaty at our current level, even with our action and meridian limits.
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Paying for time of a Cyan is not cheap.
You're basically asking for a personalized, optimized art...which is basically the sort of thing an elder apprentice or a Count clan member might expect.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
I do want to mostly focus our domain on insights from group buff arts. Thousand ring is likely to give a good one.
deadcrystal
Slaaneshi Cultist
- Location
- The Warp
We're clearly going to invent coffee. CRX may never forgive us.
- Location
- The Core
So, to bring up something I've been wondering about, pertaining to this scene:
Now, we have already seen indications that Biyu has talent, and while I am not proposing to go full Bai, I wonder if shooting her curiosity down completely is the right move here, long-term. Is there actual harm in handing Biyu a red stone and teaching her along with her mother, if she is interested? Being the only kid in the room, she clearly wants to participate, and I wonder if it wouldn't be a nice game for her to practice the basics, if we aren't pushy about her and tell her it will be a few years until she can do this for real, like the adults. Obviously we want to make sure there is no harm first, perhaps something to bring up with Gu Xiulan (Meizhen could work too, but since we distinctly don't want to emulate her childhood, her perspective might be somewhat skewered wrt what constitutes harm).
What I'm saying is, we don't need to try and push her into it, she's too young for sure, but if she is interested, why not encourage that interest? its not like we don't expect her to become a cultivator later anyways, and childhood interests can have a lasting impact on leanings down the line. And it's not like we'd miss a red stone, even if it ends up being a shiny toy and no more.
Now, we have already seen indications that Biyu has talent, and while I am not proposing to go full Bai, I wonder if shooting her curiosity down completely is the right move here, long-term. Is there actual harm in handing Biyu a red stone and teaching her along with her mother, if she is interested? Being the only kid in the room, she clearly wants to participate, and I wonder if it wouldn't be a nice game for her to practice the basics, if we aren't pushy about her and tell her it will be a few years until she can do this for real, like the adults. Obviously we want to make sure there is no harm first, perhaps something to bring up with Gu Xiulan (Meizhen could work too, but since we distinctly don't want to emulate her childhood, her perspective might be somewhat skewered wrt what constitutes harm).
What I'm saying is, we don't need to try and push her into it, she's too young for sure, but if she is interested, why not encourage that interest? its not like we don't expect her to become a cultivator later anyways, and childhood interests can have a lasting impact on leanings down the line. And it's not like we'd miss a red stone, even if it ends up being a shiny toy and no more.
- Location
- The Temple of the Winds
The physical cost is inconsequential. The risk to Biyu's health isn't.
Lets not forget how painful the first breakthrough actually is. Hell, all cultivation is hard and/or boring, not something that'll keep the attention of a 3-4 years old.
Whereas Biyu seeing her mom "play with the shinny stone" every (couple?) day is probably going to keep her interested. Specially if mom takes the time to talk to Biyu about it.
Yep. At her age, trying the shiny stone and then spending the next four hours curled up in agony would probably kill any interest in cultivation.
- Location
- The Maple Syrup Mountains
We could get someone to make a replica RSS that looks all shiny and red but can't be used to cultivate anything, and let Biyu play with that. I think right now she doesn't care about the qi part of it as much as the shiny red stone part, so this should be good enough for her for a while.