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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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yrsillar said:
Yet she could not defy the Law of Earth, anymore than any infant could defy the Law of their mother. But what parent did not know the mischief which a child could get up to, before the Law could be enforced?
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From the last post. Once LQ interacts with Shen actively she will be good at subverting the laws established I would imagine.

Now to the actual post.
yrsillar said:
Borne on the four winds, the thief burst forth, and the log neglected gates boomed open and shattered upon the walls, scattering their riches back into the earth.
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Correction: long
I like the prose though.

yrsillar said:
West Wind Step: B rank
Duration: Immediate
From the warm west wind comes spring and summer, heralding spring, and in it's recession is the coming of fall and winter. Predictable in a way that the other winds are not, nonetheless it was the last to be captured. The west wind comes and goes, and naught may halt or capture it again. A single attack of equal rank or lower may be avoided, no matter how unerring the aim, as the user scatters, rematerializing with Far range of their current position. When retreating through this method, the user of the canceled technique receives C rank cold damage as they are lashed by the winds of encroaching winter.

Alternatively, the user may instead activate this technique to advance up to Far distance, avoiding all effects of the interposing space. Up to ten allies within close range of the desperation receive a significant bonus to Physical and Spiritual avoid, and reduce the damage of all incoming effects by one rank until the users next turn.
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The idea to invoke seasonal change in LQs Domain gains traction in my mind. Does it in yours?

yrsillar said:
In the face of fury, she laughed, and the mighty raged!
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LQ is laughing? She is laughing! :D
yrsillar said:
For she was not the girl any longer. She was the Thief of Winds, and she had changed the Law of Heaven forevermore.

The cool night air struck Ling Qi like a flung glass of water, and she blinked as she looked up at the clear night sky and the twinkling stars. The wind tugged at her gown and hair as she fell from from the apex of her leap, some thirty meters in the air.

She fell, and Ling Qi smiled as she took hold of the wind, and shot off to the east, sending the canopy of the trees rustling in her wake. She spun, she flew, she danced in midair, and she could not restrain her laughter at the sheer joy of her movement. A second and a third time she guided the wind, until at last she had to allow her foot to lightly touch the top of a hill and grant her new momentum.
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Note: Mythical Arts literally elt you become the Person with that mindset. You think subconsciously you are the Wind Thief.
yrsillar said:
scattering and startling the dreamweaving spiders in her wake, untouched by their threads.
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I know that reference! So LQ is geographically near Zequings mountain.
yrsillar said:
And somewhere, far under the earth, behind a maze of broken space, an ancient corpse's horned skull shifted, and black flower petals drifted to the carpet of bones at its feet.
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This is where LQ gathered the acorns, isn´t it? Does the petal falling and the horned skull shifting Sound ominous to anyone else? The horned Lord was the sublime ancestor of the Weilu, Right? Does this indicate becoming more like the Old Weilu or am I reading too much into it?
Note broken space: IS this an obious break between the liminal and the real?
yrsillar said:
Ling Qi blew out a breath and smiled as she strode down the hall to her bedroom. She would handle them all. She was going to succeed. She would not accept any other outcome.
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Self-Assurance she has. I like it! It makes introspection so much easier!
yrsillar said:
Her dress was pooled in the corner of the wardrobe, it's layers in disarray, sleeves wrapped around a bundle of fabric that she recognized as the tatters of her bedspread. She reached down, picking up her dress, and the ragged cloth dropped away, but a few threads still dangled from her gown, slowly being drawn into its fabric.

...Had her dress been stress eating, Ling Qi thought in bewilderment.
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One might say the dreams of muses became real in their own way! ;)
yrsillar said:
"Do you have to say it like that?" Ling Qi complained. It made her sound like she was incontinent or something.

"Not my fault you're still a bag of meat and fluids," Sixiang teased, sticking out their tongue. "Don't worry, you're solving that too."

Ling Qi rolled her eyes, and Sixiang yelped as a gust of wind sent them scattering into multihued particulates.

"Hey! My projection is still fragile you know!" they complained, voice echoing from near her ear.

"Not my fault that you're a bag of bad humor and dream gunk," Ling Qi replied dryly.

"Hmph, you've gotten mean," Sixiang grumbled, spinning a new face from moonlight and wind. "I'm funny."

"Sure you are," Ling Qi said with amused condescension.
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Alert! LQ is able to make jokes! It is great! :)

yrsillar said:
disorient an emey right before striking by making them forget her position.
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Correction: enemy
yrsillar said:
No, memory was not always reliable at all, even before considering arts like this. Indeed, false memory could supplant reality, easily enough, if one's actions were guided by it.
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PR/Intrigue Position is a go?! I do not think it meshes with LQ...
 
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BeepSmile said:
That is a dangerous lesson. The truth of it is too easily misunderstood.
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I think every insight is a dangerous insight, really.

This one's about the nature of who and what people are, and how that can be changed, which is a very dangerous tool indeed - but to close our eyes to that, and to what it can mean, is to leave Ling Qi and her family vulnerable to an axis of attack that, honestly, I don't expect to be all that rare to the higher-end social cultivators.

It's especially a problem for a seeker of stories to leave herself vulnerable to memetic attack.

[ ] The self is a story, and memory is the teller of tales.
 
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Thor's Twin said:
Oh, by the way. Hello creepy Weilu corpse. Yeah, I remember you and your pool of infinite darkness that consumes all enmeshed in a web of broken time and space. You need to stay dead. Not this creepy am I dead or am I alive crap. No. Stay. Dead. I don't want to have to deal with you in the future because you thought it would be funny to come back from the Liminal Realm or wherever your impetuous for movement comes from.

While it's cool that LFtWT is such a potent art that it reverberates through space and time to tickle your fancy, I don't want to have to answer to the Sect about why there is a rampaging undead Weilu Lich wanting to talk to us.
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OMG, do you just like, hate friendship? Maybe they're a nice undead horror, did you ever consider that? How would you like it if you were an abominable undead monstrosity that wanted to go out and make friends and this is the sort of reaction you get?

Yeah, bet you'd have some pretty hurt feelings!
 
Juugo said:
This is where LQ gathered teh acorns, isn´t it? Does the petal falling and the horned skull shifting Sound ominous to anyone else? The horned Lord was the sublime ancestor of the Weilu, Right? Does this indicate becoming more like the Old Weilu or am I reading too much into it?
Note broken space: IS this an obious break between the liminal and the real?
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This is referencing the Weilu tomb we plundered for the Death Mirror (sold for a tidy profit), the materials for our domain weapon, and some rotting seed pods. In the Tomb, at the center of a web of broken time and space resting on an island of bone surrounded by a lake of all-consuming darkness lay an actual Weilu corpse. That's the thing that is moving and... generating the black petals.

Now, there is a reason why it is surrounded by broken reality and a pool of all-consuming darkness. It should really, really, stay there and stay dead. Not moving. It moving is either really cool for us, or just bad for everyone in the vicinity. I'm betting a mixture of both.
 
I think I'll vote to go without. I like the insight's line, but it's not one I really feel is LQ's. The story was great, of course. I'm still curious about Weilu corpse.

We've known PLR for a while, but 5 more avoid and the extra ECD chance/charge helps. JT lingering on dispel is very situational, but hey, it's nice to have. The extra 3 allies is nice, I guess, as is the extra 2 pulled through dream.
Next level is 5 speed, 5 hit, and ECD goes to long duration, plus C rank qi drain and a free JT activation. That's actually pretty big. That is pretty minor, hopefully the last level is more interesting.​
EDIT: fixed. EDIT 2: Actually fixed.​

10 more avoid and 5 more Stealth on LFWT from the choice and level is nice. Upkeep 15 is the first upkeep I might not want to use. OTOH, using it means we have even fewer things to activate. With both it and SNS's shield being passively active, we don't really have to spend time spinning up our defenses at the start of the fight, which is enormous against alpha strikes. Breeze gains a rank down to remote sensing/divination. West wind step looses the discount of SCS and the offensive pierce, but gains a C damage counterattack, and buffs allies when used for mobility. (It's a pretty nice buff, too. Short duration, though.)
Next level, upkeep goes down. Probably start using it then if we haven't yet. It also gets 5 more avoid and a new technique to steal things, including from dimensional storage!​

ENM's 10 extra stealth and speed is nice. The second technique becoming part of the first means we don't have an unused tech in it anymore. WMS going to B makes it better, because now it can steal better techs.

I like the new ally buff on using WWS for mobility, but counterattacks instead of a discount is....very iffy. Hopefully that aspect gets better. (Also, Cold damage on the west wind is an interesting and unexpected effect.) Ironically, the stealth aspects look like they will get much better next level.

EDIT: Also, everyone talking about the perfect dodge - it is still almost the exact same text fragment SCS had - well, it went from "A single attack of equal rank or lower may be avoided, no matter how unerring the aim, as the user simply ceases to exist in the material world for a moment, rematerializing with Far range of their current position." to "A single attack of equal rank or lower may be avoided, no matter how unerring the aim, as the user scatters, rematerializing with Far range of their current position. " But it's still basically the same.
 
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Ling qi is a musician, a song seeker. I feel like its incredibly important to put that in our domain.


[] The self is a story, and memory is the teller of tales.
 
[] No Insight from Ephemeral Nights Memory

As storryeater, I am usually pro "reality is a story" kind of stuff. However, this is not that. This is an insight about the nonexistence of any kind of objective truth. Not my cup of teeth, and dangerous for anyone's mental stability, not to say it implies that certain modes of brainwashing are fully and totally moral.

Pass.
 
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Alectai said:
It's a transcendent dodge, unless opposed by a transcendent attack, it just wins unless grossly overpowered

So like Sun Liling doing her perfect accuracy timespace spear? Goes to a Potency contest instead of "She hits"

So yeah, this is the first time we've seen something that can counter the Bloody Princess's opener. Even Meizhen could only endure it by throwing enough obstacles in a way to drain its momentum that her defenses could take the rest.
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The real question is if it is a perfect dodge in the exalted sense. Because a perfect dodge will always avoid any attack. A perfect attack will be avoided with a perfect dodge.
 
Why just one insight? Normally there's 2 or 3 and the option to not integrate a insight
 
Thor's Twin said:
In the Tomb, at the center of a web of broken time and space resting on an island of bone surrounded by a lake of all-consuming darkness lay an actual Weilu corpse. That's the thing that is moving and... generating the black petals.
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Also isn't the lake of all consuming Darkness its blood? I remember reading that it was leaking out from where a weapon pierced its corpse but it has been a while since I read Forge.
 
NoxOfUmbra said:
Why just one insight? Normally there's 2 or 3 and the option to not integrate a insight
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Our way is becoming more narrow. Fewer options are compatible.

yrsillar said:
Dreamstep: Derived from Dance. The first tentative steps into movement between the material and liminal worlds. Allowing the user to interact more with spirit than flesh. When using the Dance skill you may use Dexterity or Manipulation, as the attribute, whichever is higher. When using Dreamstep as a skill, effects are considered spiritual even if this contradicts the text of arts in use.

Way Penalty gained. -20 to Physical Penetration
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Seems like we are going to have to depend on our son to handle the physical attacks for us.
 
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Candesce said:
I think every insight is a dangerous insight, really.

This one's about the nature of who and what people are, and how that can be changed, which is a very dangerous tool indeed - but to close our eyes to that, and to what it can mean, is to leave Ling Qi and her family vulnerable to an axis of attack that, honestly, I don't expect to be all that rare to the higher-end social cultivators.

It's especially a problem for a seeker of stories to leave herself vulnerable to memetic attack.

[x] The self is a story, and memory is the teller of tales.
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No. This is not how I am saying that it is dangerous. Reread my post to Neshuakadel. You're damm smart. If that post does not convey the bit I find dangerous tell me and I will know that I have failed to communicate my perspective, and will try to reword it.
 
I was hoping for an insight about how memories are valuable (as why else would there be an art that steals them?). They would then potentially be one of the things of beauty that can be brought back.
 
Thor's Twin said:
Now, there is a reason why it is surrounded by broken reality and a pool of all-consuming darkness. It should really, really, stay there and stay dead. Not moving. It moving is either really cool for us, or just bad for everyone in the vicinity. I'm betting a mixture of both.
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The Hidden Moon gave us the location, maybe she has greater intentions than just giving us loot to discover. Maybe it was an introduction.
 
Candesce said:
I think every insight is a dangerous insight, really.

This one's about the nature of who and what people are, and how that can be changed, which is a very dangerous tool indeed - but to close our eyes to that, and to what it can mean, is to leave Ling Qi and her family vulnerable to an axis of attack that, honestly, I don't expect to be all that rare to the higher-end social cultivators.

It's especially a problem for a seeker of stories to leave herself vulnerable to memetic attack.

[x] The self is a story, and memory is the teller of tales.
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Here's the thing though, we don't have to make that a part of our Domain to be able to affect those things.

We can get or design an Art to attack or defend against memetics. We don't need to put it in our Domain.


Besides which, we need to consider what this says and what it says with the rest of our Insights.

  • Sincerity is the measure by which the worthiness of the self and ones guests should be measured.
  • There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.
  • Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
  • There is no peace in emptiness, no content in stillness. Stagnation is death; act, change, move, think, and grow until the very end.
  • Branches and trunks bend and sway, but the roots must remain unyielding. Retreat only so far and then no more.
  • Even walking alone, footfalls echo beyond your hearing.

Our first Insight and this one can conflict if you take Sincerity to be about truth. In that case, there is no worthiness of ourselves or others because no one is sincere.

The Insights about endings and Endings and Stagnation is Death and this one don't conflict. In fact, I think they work together too well. Self is a Story and Memory the Teller implicitly states that who you are changes with your memories. That, mixed with the other two make me feel like it would result in Ling Qi's memories changing and distorting over time, possibly with her body altering in response to things that her memories say should have happened.

With that said, the Insight about Branches and trunks bend and sway, but roots remain unyielding would probably mitigate that if it came to pass. Ling Qi might develop changing memories of our time with Meizhan or remember conversations with Xiulan that never happened, but the context of those memories probably wouldn't change.

She might remember Snekgate going differently, but she's not going to remember that she was Sun Liling's roommate and not Meizhan's, for example.


So yeah, I don't think this is a good Insight to add.
 
Damn, the western wind's effects are awesome.
yrsillar said:
And somewhere, far under the earth, behind a maze of broken space, an ancient corpse's horned skull shifted, and black flower petals drifted to the carpet of bones at its feet.
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I legitimately gasped with joy and excitement that this fucking badass, high-level boss might be getting some more screentime. I'm fully ready for an old-as-hell Weilu lich corpse to explode out of its prison and starting wrecking shit.
 
I think this Insight might let us do some of the acting and mutability arts that our AM insight have been rendering non compatible.

Or maybe it breaks.
 
BeepSmile said:
OMG, do you just like, hate friendship? Maybe they're a nice undead horror, did you ever consider that? How would you like it if you were an abominable undead monstrosity that wanted to go out and make friends and this is the sort of reaction you get?

Yeah, bet you'd have some pretty hurt feelings!
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Meizhen did bind the congealed terror of a battlefield.

How bad would binding the undying corpse of a Weilu be really?

Hell, we should do it for Hanyi, I bet she has noone to talk to now about corpse things. Corpse talk is essential for a growing corpse girl.
 
My problems with the insight are that
1. It makes our self dependent on memory. As any peer can attack our memory, this feels like it leaves us rather vulnerable. Meanwhile I feel like the status quo is that our self will eventually be anchored by our relationships, which potentially takes attacking multiple peers who are geographically separated from us.
2. I want stories to be a thing we tell, not a thing we are.

On the other hand I doubt it breaks AM, as it basically defines sincerity in terms of honest belief. Factual inaccuracy is fine but we shouldn't lie. Still don't like it though.

[] No Insight from Ephemeral Nights Memory
 
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