- Location
- Location: Location!
High praise indeed...
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
- United States of America
A lot of it seems like it was in Sun Liling's background, as far as it was determined, since the very beginning. This outcome seems more or less inevitable given the political climate of the Empire and the Bai. Either the Zheng would begin to ally with the Bai, being one of the very last ancient clans, or Cai would manage to make an alliance, resulting in the Empire reducing their efforts at breaking the Bai's strength.
Once that happens, Grandpa Sun needed a way to ensure that his family would survive, most likely in the Jungle, from the enviable Bai counter-attack seeking to wipe them from the face of the earth. Hence, the deal with the devil. It seems like this was really the move going forward for the Sun, for good or for worse.
Poor Liling.
- Location
- The Temple of the Winds
I can't say I empathize much with Liling. She's too self-centered and dips way too much into gratuitous violence and destruction for me to really care about her.
Heck, i'm more sorry for Xiulan, even though she literally brought it upon herself, than i am for Liling...
Heck, i'm more sorry for Xiulan, even though she literally brought it upon herself, than i am for Liling...
I think you're thinking of the Han (Jian's family)? IIRC they "only" have a White class ancestor. I think the Golden field's traditional ancestor (of the Lu?, the one Xiulan's clan split off from) died fighting the Super Necromancer that didn't like that one of his sibling became Emperor instead of him.
Edit: I was wrong. The Guo have a White, and the Han have a Prism. Thanks @Arkeus
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Arkeus
Crazy cat guy
- Location
- France
The Owl was the spirit beast of the founder of the Mu, but the Mu don't descend from it. This is partly why the Mu are really against spirit blooded nobles, as they are one of the very very rare high noble houses that aren't spirit blooded.
The Gao have a white ancestor (not sublime yet), and the Han have a Prism (not white yet, but soon).
- Location
- Third planet from the star named Sol
- Pronouns
- He/They
I think Grandfather Fortress is not yet ascended, but he is still an incredibly potent spirit beast who is probably on his way there.
I meant Grandfather Fortress, Guo Ancestor...
@Arkeus Really? I mean, it makes sense, but I remember old interludes mentioning The Owl as an Ancestor Sublime. Probably retconned, then...
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It's not retconned. You have to remember all interludes have biases included in them, and that it's not polite to draw attention to the fact that the Mu's owl is not their actual ancestor.
I mean, it really isn't that different from what the founding families of the Empire did, so if this was heretical it would also be quite hypocritical. As long as the Sun still buy into the Empire and don't try to secede, them "taming" the Sunflower Goddess would actually be in the Empires benefit.
Assuming they don't get into a "nukes hot" kind of war with the Bai.
Minor note, but Sun Shao wasn't Prism, he was peak Violet.
My own guess is this was pretty much a case of 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss' when Sun Shao replaced the original Red Jungle inhabitants. Theoretically, if the pressure on him and his family wasn't so strong there could be a slow acclimation of the new settlers Red Jungle and normalization of relations with the empire but since he believes (not incorrectly) that his family would be genocided once he dies due to the resurgence of the Bai and this pushed him to pull all stops in preserving as much as he can from his family and welp.
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Alectai
Speaks Words of Wisdom... On occasion
No, he was Violet when he started, and jumped to White during it.
- Location
- United States of America
So, here is some quotes from the Whites and Prisms whose domain (?) we've seen either during the Tournament or during this interlude.
Cai Shenhua is, of course, resplendent as always.
Aunt Bai is a terrifying existence, something which seems closest to the Butcher.
A bit on the Sect Head. Although... an endless storm doesn't seem all that impressive anymore compared to what we have seen.
And the Butcher himself makes an appearance. This guy is truly terrifying in that he seems to gain strength from the foes of his that he kills, crafting weapons and armor fit to kill and withstand the very gods themselves. A domain like this seems to strike very close to the forbidden arts of the Twilight King, as I believe others have mentioned before me. While not nearly as prolific as what the Twiliight King was able to achieve, the idea of taking strength from those you kill allows for very rapid escalation. Kill something just barely, craft that thing to make you stronger, and then you move on to the next tier of difficulty. As long as he keeps winning, he will keep growing stronger. I don't think there is even the concept of phyric victory for him, for every battle that doesn't end in total defeat serves to make him stronger from those he has slain.
Out of all of these domains, the Butcher is the most terrifying for me. Perfect Order, an Endless Storm, an Insurmountable Bastion, all seem tame compared to this Titan crafted from the death of enemies. It'll... be interesting to see the devastation that such domains would impose upon each other should they ever clash. I fear that such a conflict would tear the very roots of the mountains out from the ground and cast the grand edifices of the Empire into the fire like so much chaff.
Cai Shenhua is, of course, resplendent as always.
Aunt Bai is a terrifying existence, something which seems closest to the Butcher.
A bit on the Sect Head. Although... an endless storm doesn't seem all that impressive anymore compared to what we have seen.
And the Butcher himself makes an appearance. This guy is truly terrifying in that he seems to gain strength from the foes of his that he kills, crafting weapons and armor fit to kill and withstand the very gods themselves. A domain like this seems to strike very close to the forbidden arts of the Twilight King, as I believe others have mentioned before me. While not nearly as prolific as what the Twiliight King was able to achieve, the idea of taking strength from those you kill allows for very rapid escalation. Kill something just barely, craft that thing to make you stronger, and then you move on to the next tier of difficulty. As long as he keeps winning, he will keep growing stronger. I don't think there is even the concept of phyric victory for him, for every battle that doesn't end in total defeat serves to make him stronger from those he has slain.
Out of all of these domains, the Butcher is the most terrifying for me. Perfect Order, an Endless Storm, an Insurmountable Bastion, all seem tame compared to this Titan crafted from the death of enemies. It'll... be interesting to see the devastation that such domains would impose upon each other should they ever clash. I fear that such a conflict would tear the very roots of the mountains out from the ground and cast the grand edifices of the Empire into the fire like so much chaff.
- Location
- The Temple of the Winds
His great work is the centralization of power towards the Emperor('s Throne) through Imperial Institutions (that includes the Great Sects), and consequently weakening the Old Clans and Nobility as a whole.
Which would have resulted in more unity and less infighting in the Empire.
Strengthened does not mean Invented or Implemented.
I'll also point out that An wasn't born on the day he accended to the Throne, he was (presumably) an influential Crown Prince for quite some time before that.
i think there might be a small part of humanity diluting in the Goddess each time she absorbs/adopts a human. A drop of empathy in the ocean of Savagery, but empathy still. Some drops like Liling are small, and more of a long term project that would get bigger as she increases her Cultivation, whereas
Bind enough humans to her and eventually, if the humans all share a link then so shall the Goddess. I think Granpa Sun is banking on that link being "Family". Of course, he's probably also trying to speed up the process with contracts and other kinds of promises, favors, or geas.
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Regarding getting a communication Art, RME is actually almost there. The big problem is that the eyes have very limited ranged but a successor might fix that (simply mastering it might even fix that). Once the eyes get reasonable distance we can use our vision through them and control over their movements to communicate.
Alternatively we might be able to make small adjustments to the area we scry and use that to communicate with people.
Alternatively we might be able to make small adjustments to the area we scry and use that to communicate with people.
Speaker4thesilen
Superpower: Common Sense
- Location
- Noneya Business
Damn, the Fridge Horror is strong in that last update. We seriously need an 'Existential Horror' rating.
To be honest, I am not that surprised. Way back, when discussing the Western Territories, I kinda expected Shao's powercreep to be somehow connected to War/Battle rather than outright blood sacrifice to the Sunflower Goddess that others theorized.
Of course, my own pet theory was that Shao found some buried rival of the Goddess or an antedivulian artefact of Strife, and consumed a part of it or something.
I didn't expect it Shao to be literally utilizing enemies as artefact ingredients.
That's quite the Way. How the hell did he form it? I don't think it's from the Sunflower Goddess, it doesn't fit her M.O. all that neatly imho.
He presumably met the Sunflower Goddess long after he solidified his Way. That's mostly done by the end of Cyan and he was Violet before he met her.
The missing link between the text passage and the discord reaction is probably the fact that white and golden are the calling cards of the ruling branch of the Bai. Thus that prominently described spear tip has to have been carved out of those Bai that we sent to punish him.
- Location
- United States of America
Well, he was once a guardian of the Thousand Lakes against the barbarians in the Western territories. And given the constant encroachments, it stands to reason that gathering strength from each success would enable one to last near indefinitely against such periodic assaults. He probably took inspiration from the land he was arrayed against in that the strong get stronger while the weak feed that strength.
Then the Bai refused his demand for retribution to go against those who slaughtered his family, likely the entire reason he fought and bled and killed, and so he decided to do it himself. Once he broke with the Bai he needed a new method to protect his family from the Bai and made a deal with the same goddess that the barbarians he had killed worshiped.
Can you not?
Liling might have been an acerbic pain in the arse, and opposed to us, but for god's sake, she's fifteen! She absolutely did not deserve to be betrayed by the person she loved and trusted most in the world, who she thought would protect her unconditionally, or to be hollowed out and remade into something entirely different by an entity that cares nothing for her.
Is there a handy post anywhere on everyone else's cultivation progress? I want to see how we stack up against other characters in terms of progress. If LQ just achieved Threshold, does that mean the other ducal heirs are already mid-Threshold (or early-Framing)?