Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- Canada
From a purely writing standpoint, this might be my favourite chapter so far. Not my favourite overall, as the narrative of other chapters had me more absorbed previously, but the prose in this chapter was simply beautiful. As a reader who usually struggles with visualization, the clear, crisp descriptions manged to nonetheless suck me into the moment. Bravo.
"She's beginning to believe."
I agree with the rest of the commentators. There are a few scenes in the quests that stand out, but this is the best chapter overall.
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derpfen
Somone
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I mean, wasn't that the entire point of the previous vote? Whether or not to do that?
Jensaarai
Sing Victory Everlasting
- Pronouns
- They/Them
There was no mention in the previous vote or update about leaving the dress and turning off all her other arts and then going back to the Dreaming tower in order to train Wind Thief.
- Location
- Cali
West wind best wind. Not biased. Totally not my opinion based on what coast I live on.
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
Admittedly I'm leaning towards East Wind (stealth) more based on mechanical perspective. Since a lot of our attacks involves having cover (FVM Mist, BKSD, PLR), I thought it'd be useful to have more Stealth. It adds extra layers to our defense.
I don't mind the other Winds though other than the South one. As much as it covers Winter theme, and while I'm also curious in what way would it affect the offensive aspect of Wind Thief that it apparently has, the art I don't think is about giving offense, judging based on techs. It focuses more on other aspects like Speed, Avoid, and Stealth. We're mainly using Wind Thief as a combination of those three aspects anyways, we can leave the offensive aspects to our other arts.
I don't mind the other Winds though other than the South one. As much as it covers Winter theme, and while I'm also curious in what way would it affect the offensive aspect of Wind Thief that it apparently has, the art I don't think is about giving offense, judging based on techs. It focuses more on other aspects like Speed, Avoid, and Stealth. We're mainly using Wind Thief as a combination of those three aspects anyways, we can leave the offensive aspects to our other arts.
NoxOfUmbra
Shadow of the night
- Location
- Colombia, South América
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
The thing is, we started to train Wind Thief the moment we turned off our arts. We became the underdog, that let us comprend the art fundamentally.
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
Anyways, based on what was said in the early parts of this update, it seems like the "0.2 penalty" came from our insecurity and lack of self-assurance, which apparently would get in the way of us cultivating Wind Thief
This was confirmed by yrsillar too
My guess is the dress reaction comes from it assisting us while we're failing to cultivate it properly. Giving us the security that we wanted
If that is the case, then I'm glad cultivating without the dress won
This was confirmed by yrsillar too
yrsillar in discord said:
My guess is the dress reaction comes from it assisting us while we're failing to cultivate it properly. Giving us the security that we wanted
If that is the case, then I'm glad cultivating without the dress won
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Jensaarai
Sing Victory Everlasting
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I'm just expressing my surprise at the first half of this update, since it wasn't brought up anywhere in the vote information or previous updates about Wind Thief, and I also don't recall any mention in the myriad discussions in the thread either.
Going to throw my support behind:
[] The warm western wind, herald of spring (enhances Avoid effects of art)
In a different time, in a different context, I could see the value in being a harbinger of storms, a bringer of chaos and a breaker of chains. Given the surrounding political climate of the world that Ling Qi lives, and the direction that her character is leaning, I don't think any of the deeper problems that we're going to face can be solved through violence.
Look at the Nomads - generation after generation of hatred, of loss, of suffering, and what has been gained? Nothing. Violence begets violence, and the cycle continues.
But Ling Qi is not a warrior. That's not our role. We're a musician, a diplomat, uniquely situated to bridge the gap in understanding that perpetuates the world that we live in.
I see the West Wind as leaning into Ling Qi's previous insights - there is value in the harshness of winter, in the bonds forged and lessons learned, but there must be an end, a promise of something beyond. A herald of spring comes before spring itself, a reminder in those darkest nights that there is hope, that their toil and hardship will mean new beginnings can come about. Because fundamentally, we cannot break the cycle of violence without hope of something beyond.
It's a seed, a start of something, and I think there's value in nurturing it.
[] The warm western wind, herald of spring (enhances Avoid effects of art)
In a different time, in a different context, I could see the value in being a harbinger of storms, a bringer of chaos and a breaker of chains. Given the surrounding political climate of the world that Ling Qi lives, and the direction that her character is leaning, I don't think any of the deeper problems that we're going to face can be solved through violence.
Look at the Nomads - generation after generation of hatred, of loss, of suffering, and what has been gained? Nothing. Violence begets violence, and the cycle continues.
But Ling Qi is not a warrior. That's not our role. We're a musician, a diplomat, uniquely situated to bridge the gap in understanding that perpetuates the world that we live in.
I see the West Wind as leaning into Ling Qi's previous insights - there is value in the harshness of winter, in the bonds forged and lessons learned, but there must be an end, a promise of something beyond. A herald of spring comes before spring itself, a reminder in those darkest nights that there is hope, that their toil and hardship will mean new beginnings can come about. Because fundamentally, we cannot break the cycle of violence without hope of something beyond.
It's a seed, a start of something, and I think there's value in nurturing it.
I mean, the vote was about if we would train the art with the dress or not. The "Train Wind Thief without your Cai Dress" option won... not like we would actually use the dress when training the art then? Leaving the dress behind makes sense so I do not understand the confusion.
The dropping all arts and stuff was a bit surprising but apparently this was the True way of cultivating this art. 😅
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- Location
- the internet
Agreed. I really can't see Ling Qi's thematics having much to do with spring, it feels off to me.
I'd be fine with any of the others I think. But this one?
[] The tempestuous northern wind, bringer of storms (Enhances speed and initiative effects of art)
Is. Badass.
Edit: Also this-- [] The cold south wind, which cut to the bone (enhances offensive aspects of art) -- doesn't seem to fit with what we know of Wing Thief as an art. Like, if you read the art description and flavor text for each tech, it really seems to focus on being sneaky, stealthy, defensive and elusive. We have FSS for offense already, I'd rather us focus on the aspects of Wind Thief that seem most relevant to the story behind it.
Which leaves the Northern wind, bringer of storms and the stealthy Eastern wind. I'm fine with either of these although I gotta say again, thinking of Ling Qi as the Bringer of Storms seems very baddass. And cool.
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- Location
- Canada
h the force of hurricane flexed, granting her the force to to fly, >>>>>> duplicate word, and maybe the first part too? The force of a hurricane may be better? Not sure.
"I've left a lot of your lessons behind," ling Qi said >>>>> Ling should be capitalized
riches and wonders of the world of the world in their vaults. >>>>>> Repeated phrase
@yrsillar These are the only issues I see.
"I've left a lot of your lessons behind," ling Qi said >>>>> Ling should be capitalized
riches and wonders of the world of the world in their vaults. >>>>>> Repeated phrase
@yrsillar These are the only issues I see.
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- Location
- New Brunswick, NJ
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
There's also:
Where "the" serves no purpose.
Jensaarai
Sing Victory Everlasting
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Let me see if I can elaborate a bit more clearly... When voting to train Wind Thief with or without the dress, I didn't think a journey away from everyone and a dream-quest at the Dreaming tower was a part of the vote, since no details about any of this were mentioned before.
It's a pretty big jump in the results I expected from the vote.
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- Location
- California
You can't see the smile on my face, but it is silly. As others said, definitely one of the best scenes in either quest. (And maybe my new personal favorite.)
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
[] the gentle eastern wind, unnoticed by all (enhances stealth effects of art)
This one has my vote. A thief on the wind, after all, is a stealthy one. I still dream of Ling Qi being gud at stealth. I hate it when, in stories where the PC goes from underdog to overdog, they discard the things that made them successful when they were weak.
This one has my vote. A thief on the wind, after all, is a stealthy one. I still dream of Ling Qi being gud at stealth. I hate it when, in stories where the PC goes from underdog to overdog, they discard the things that made them successful when they were weak.
Well yes, was kind of the point. Training with the dress would have been LQ just training it normally.
The art apparently is not normal. Which makes sense when you look at where the hell we got it from. Ya know an outing with 3 avatars of Great Spirits. This is a very mythical art when it comes to training it.
- Location
- Spain
I am glad we chose not to share this scene with the dress, hehe.
As for the winds, I like the stealthy option, because I want Ling Qi to go back to do more sneaky stuff. If we pick it, we're validating that we wat to send the story into that direction, I think. At least, from a purely meta perspective.
The stormy wind of the north also has some appeal~
As for the winds, I like the stealthy option, because I want Ling Qi to go back to do more sneaky stuff. If we pick it, we're validating that we wat to send the story into that direction, I think. At least, from a purely meta perspective.
The stormy wind of the north also has some appeal~
- Location
- Canada
I definitely see the line of thought, but I feel if it was as big of a jump as it seemed then there would have been more warning involved. As in if there were actually a meta potential for great danger
Remember we've moved much more into a narrative quest structure, which gives the QM much more creative ability. Personally, I like this method much more, for exactly the reasons seen in the chapter, Yrs really nailed this scene.
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Like others have said this update was great. I like that Ling Qi's relationship with the Grinning Moon is a more personal thing and for her alone then her relationship with the other Moons.
I also like the little shows of how superhuman she is without arts now. Ling Qi doesn't tend to show off on the physical side of things but here she's tossing boulders and making 12 meter jumps like they're nothing.
I also like the little shows of how superhuman she is without arts now. Ling Qi doesn't tend to show off on the physical side of things but here she's tossing boulders and making 12 meter jumps like they're nothing.
Jensaarai
Sing Victory Everlasting
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Some more clarification to head off confusion. I'm absolutely not denigrating the update or wishing that it was different, but more just discussing my initial thoughts on reading it.
The vote's done, update's done, and I don't want to change that.
The vote's done, update's done, and I don't want to change that.
Huh... I honestly didn't remember where we'd gotten Wind Thief from, and I think I confused it with Fairy's Lark and just figured we found it in one of the archive dives.