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
- New Brunswick, NJ
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
I agree that I would strongly reject dropping winter in favor of spring, but I don't think that's what's happening here and I don't think most of the voters for the west wind would want that even if that were the choice on offer.
- Location
- United States of America
I think it's a bit fearmongering to say people are trying to leave winter behind for spring (not that you guys are doing it, but I have seen it in thread and discord )
No one, or at least the vast majority of us would be willing to drop our winter elements for spring. It makes no sense narratively , with our arts, or even thematically with our spirits and history with zeqing or even our eyes.
However, there is a difference between dropping something, and incorporating more elements into LQ. (I dont mean fire , water etc when I say elements, I mean more themes etc)
Lq already has many base insights that would synergize well with spring and growth elements and it ties very well into zhenguis own themes as well. Cycles and what not.
Lq is about constant growth, always improving, and I'd like that trend to continue with both her power as well as personally . As much as we love LQ we all know she has significant traumas and issues that DO need to be worked on. Even if this vote is just a fluff piece I do think we need to start cultivating some of the seeds of recovery that we as a thread have already started to plant.
No one, or at least the vast majority of us would be willing to drop our winter elements for spring. It makes no sense narratively , with our arts, or even thematically with our spirits and history with zeqing or even our eyes.
However, there is a difference between dropping something, and incorporating more elements into LQ. (I dont mean fire , water etc when I say elements, I mean more themes etc)
Lq already has many base insights that would synergize well with spring and growth elements and it ties very well into zhenguis own themes as well. Cycles and what not.
Lq is about constant growth, always improving, and I'd like that trend to continue with both her power as well as personally . As much as we love LQ we all know she has significant traumas and issues that DO need to be worked on. Even if this vote is just a fluff piece I do think we need to start cultivating some of the seeds of recovery that we as a thread have already started to plant.
- Location
- Finland
I don't think that's the thing happening.
It's just the idea that was brought up by some people.
The idea is, distasteful, at multiple levels, the break away Snowmom not the least among them, but also a general dislike of the stereotypical "defrosting the icequeen" imagery.
Ling Qi who cultivates winter and darkness and loves her family is just perfect, no need for sudden spring imagery, as a herald or otherwise.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm going to point out it isn't exactly sudden. *gestures at domain, TRF's experience, HDW and its insights, WHR and its cultivation just an update ago etc*
Ling Qi has had spring imagery in her since we slotted FSS.
Ling Qi has a bunch of themes, such as Winter, Endings, Fire, Darkness, Moon, etc. However those themes are generally for different things:
Her offense is Cold, Winter, Endings. The world is dark and cruel and you'll die in a ditch of hypothermia.
Her friendship/support is Fire, Hearth, Wood, a little water from SNR, (and maybe Spring). The world might be cruel, but she and those she is closest to her will have bit of warmth no matter what.
Her own person is Darkness, Moon, and Wind.
She isn't cold when it comes to socializing. Her domain is literally warming for those with a 4+ bond to her. She's cold to strangers and her enemies. This wouldn't change that.
Her offense is Cold, Winter, Endings. The world is dark and cruel and you'll die in a ditch of hypothermia.
Her friendship/support is Fire, Hearth, Wood, a little water from SNR, (and maybe Spring). The world might be cruel, but she and those she is closest to her will have bit of warmth no matter what.
Her own person is Darkness, Moon, and Wind.
She isn't cold when it comes to socializing. Her domain is literally warming for those with a 4+ bond to her. She's cold to strangers and her enemies. This wouldn't change that.
I would like to note that one argument in favour of NOT incorporating spring into LFWT is that we already have Spring or Spring-adjacent themes elsewhere in LQ's domain and arts. Wind Thief is associated with themes of individualism, freedom and confidence, and I think it would be good to keep it distinct.
- Location
- the internet
Sorry, what was this about FenFen sitting on ZG and thinking he was a hill? Can you please provide a quote or link b/c I don't remember that and it sounds glorious.
- Location
- Greece
Hypothetically speaking (not advocating for or against it, just throwing it out there) we could also become a cycle of seasons cultivator. It wouldn't defrost us or discard winter, it would fit both our constant movement and it would create a nice parallel with Zhengui. The fact that Ling Qi is allready warm to friends actually helps us go down that road too.
- Location
- New Brunswick, NJ
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
It was glorious.
Anyway, again, I don't think Ling Qi is spring, or should be. I think she values it, though, because hope for a better day and the determination to make that happen is something she's centered in her life. See my earlier post about the musical duel.
- Location
- Yes
[X] The warm western wind, herald of spring (enhances Avoid effects of art)
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Those sound like spring related themes to me. Freedom to run through the freshly bloomed flower fields and all of that.
- Location
- Finland
Restricting freedom to one season out of four seems like very against freedom.
Also, what about the freedom to go swimming in the summer, or freedom to skiing in winter, or, i dunno, freedom to get rained on in fall (drawing a blank here).
- Location
- the internet
Okay, I gotta nitpick here. She hasn't studied an art with Fire or Hearth in it until just recently. Also the only Wood art she had has just been unequipped. The notion that her friendship/support=Fire, Hearth Wood is something some voters have been pushing towards. She provides warmth to those closest to her via her domain b/c she has that protective love for them. Its for that reason I hope that any future insight on this matter will focus on the Warmth of home, of loving and being loved by family and not on Fire-- which I associate with either destruction or at the very least anger, passion and a lot of things Ling Qi is not. Just...if you want to argue in favor of the warm western wind option, I highly suggest you focus on the warmth of a home w/ family and not Fire itself...I personally feel like themes of Fire and Wood are still very incongruous with the Ling Qi we have come to know. We just got her to a coherent build and theme after such a long time of random arts that don't fit together. I'm very wary of messing up that nice, coherent balance we've finally achieved for her.
I also feel like we can have her be the dark, wraith-like musical ice fairy and still have themes of warmth and hope associated with the home she's creating for her loved ones. It doesn't have to be super explicit.
But if that's what the majority of the thread wants, I hope people will pursue it in moderation...perhaps making her domain a duality of the warmth that is home and the lethality that is Winter, without including themes that are literally the opposite of LQ.
You know how people keep saying that Zhengui would be so great for us when we have a fief? That's because his Growth/Renewal themes match up very closely to the part of our cultivation that's about family and home.
Right now that's not a big part of our cultivation (this will likely continue to be the case until we finish the military arc) and so he doesn't really have a place. However I doubt anyone is expecting our demesne to be a land of eternal winter.
Going back to my description of what themes go where, Freedom is part of Ling Qi's person and is represented by Wind and the Grinning Moon. Fall is the freedom of plenty before Winter's scarcity settles in again.
Right now that's not a big part of our cultivation (this will likely continue to be the case until we finish the military arc) and so he doesn't really have a place. However I doubt anyone is expecting our demesne to be a land of eternal winter.
Going back to my description of what themes go where, Freedom is part of Ling Qi's person and is represented by Wind and the Grinning Moon. Fall is the freedom of plenty before Winter's scarcity settles in again.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm not restricting it, that would as you say, go against the point. What I'm pointing out is that it has themes you can point to and say "these are spring like" and it doesn't change or break anything. Because those are pretty season agnostic, it can accept such things easily, case in point it having an option of one of the winds being the Warm West Wind and coming from a concept of stealing the Sovereignty of Winds entirely.
Look. I agree with you that we don't want Ling Qi to stop being a winter ice fairy, but I do like the idea of moving her into more liminal spaces as @picklepikkl pointed out. She doesn't stop being a winter ice fairy if such a move occurs, since being a winter ice fairy is necessary for the liminal space to exist at all.
I see this vote as more cementing the gradient of warmth and cold in her domain which we've already constructed.
We're already there in my mind when it comes to her domain.
- Pronouns
- They/It
[X] The tempestuous northern wind, bringer of storms (Enhances speed and initiative effects of art)
[X] the gentle eastern wind, unnoticed by all (enhances stealth effects of art)
Preference vote time I guess!
[X] the gentle eastern wind, unnoticed by all (enhances stealth effects of art)
Preference vote time I guess!
Her domain is core to who she is. It will eventually become more her than her own body. If that part of her has Hearth then she has Hearth.
And yes, passion for her is Winter, not Fire. When she was angry and passionate FSS was what resonated with her. Fire for her is linked to friends and protection, it isn't something she turns against enemies.
- Location
- Earth
And what do you call BKSD and SES?
- Location
- the internet
We're unequipping SES this turn. Also Wood is not nearly the focus of BKSD the way it was in TRF. Even when we had TRF, it was just so...random.
You're, uh, not actually making an argument for or against any of the winds here.
Four winds for four seasons.