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

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Hmm... I think that diplomacy with the White Palace will be a tough sell either way... but an easier sell to Shenhua, maybe? Negotiating with 'barbarians' is very much against imperial culture, and the Sect is an imperial institution whereas Duchess Cai is a bit more free to do her own thing.

There's a problem in that Elder Yongrui knows, and will presumably wake at some point.
 
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Ergh. This is going to be a tricky choice. My first opinion is to wait to discuss it with the Duchess, though. We can say we didn't dare mention it to the Elders, because they are going to be occupied with repelling an assault, and since it is quite possible that the White Sky 'political faction' within the barbarian society will not attack, given the stance of their envoy, it did not seem relevant to what the Elders were concerned with. Or some argument like that, anyway.
 
So, mmh. Maybe I am misreading what happened, but it feels like this is a follow up to the Imperturbable Starlight Mantle lore where the Moon was in direct conflict with the Stars. This would explain why Ling Qi was the only one directly targeted and considered an 'enemy'. All the other disciples didn't have her own reaction to the spirit, and they were able to defend her without having conflicts of ways.
 
[] Remain silent, wait until your debrief with the Duchess to discuss the matter

From what we've seen so far from both Renxiang and Ling Qi's point of view the sect strategists have not exactly covered themselves in glory with their sensible approach. From what we know of her Shenhua seems much more able to reassess, if not able to admit fault.

She is a white level cultivator, so if we run into her blind spot we will really run into it. But frankly I don't see that as being as much of a danger as good old fashioned culturally ingrained xenophobia backed up by centuries of offensive operations against the cloud tribes on the Sect elder's parts.
 
The spirit was confused by Renxiang defending LQ, there's definitely some relation there. The speculation on Shenhua having had something to do with stars seems to be on-point.
 
yrsillar said:
Liao Zhu was not meant for stillness and silence she felt. Though he looked unharmed, Ling Qi had been able to feel the sickness in his spirit, that awful dissolving sensation that had brushed her when she had met that spirit.
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If we want Ling Qi to put any effort whatsoever into being a healer - something I'd favour - we've got a real good excuse to try, here.

Dealing with stellar qi poisoning kinda is in our wheelhouse, and the only Sect members we know of who might also have a handle on the stuff are both down.
 
Tch, starboy ran away.
And as usual we have situation where we didn't even clearly know what every option means. I propose we wait for debriefing. We will leave sect in less then 1.5 year, but Shenhua would be our boss's boss for a lot longer. It makes sense to see her reaction on as many things as possible, so we can at least somewhat predict her actions in future.
 
Starting to see that as you raise high in cultivation it becomes very important to have people of lower cultivation you can trust. Otherwise your blindspots are all the more crippling.

It's a bit like the overlord list. Always explain your plans to a 5 year old to give them a chance to point out the flaws.
 
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Arkeus said:
So, mmh. Maybe I am misreading what happened, but it feels like this is a follow up to the Imperturbable Starlight Mantle lore where the Moon was in direct conflict with the Stars. This would explain why Ling Qi was the only one directly targeted and considered an 'enemy'. All the other disciples didn't have her own reaction to the spirit, and they were able to defend her without having conflicts of ways.
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The stars view all humanity as "the enemy" since they view humanity as an abomination, and while it's certain that the Starchild could sense the moon association we really don't know if the other disciples had their own reaction because due to the exhaustion, the fight of concepts that was the elder battle overhead, and the immediate concerns, Ling Qi's focus is massively narrowed.

The most we got was until Ling Qi grows stronger, fighting the stars is apparently such a conceptual disadvantage for her that she could "die" without taking a hit, and that Renxiang is something that confuses the stars, which further confirms that her "Star Child" epithet is not poetic license.
 
I have a feeling the Sect doesn't care about diplomacy at the moment. Best to give the info to the Duchess first.
 
[] Remain silent, wait until your debrief with the Duchess to discuss the matter

The Sect is on the warpath now, and is juggling a war on two fronts. They are liable to leap on the assumption they're at risk of a war on three fronts (or one front being reinforced) rather than the prospect of negotiating.

Unless Duchess Cai explicitly forbids or warns against us revealing it, there's nothing stopping us from revealing it after we're debriefed by her. But I trust the Duchess to act as according to her own terrible logic dictates, and that's probably going to be inquiries into more information and avoiding another foe in the immediate term.

And personally, unless Shenhua decides to really twist the Sect's arms I doubt they'll lay any anger born of telling her first against Ling Qi. From their perspective she's just a talented kid who one the scariest monsters around has made a point of sinking its hooks into. Her loyalties are obviously going to be to the Cai, it would be suicidal for them not to be.
 
I will have to echo the forming consensus of not telling the elders. One I have do desire to hand over the shard to the sect (the provisio of having Jiao potentially study it). Two the dangers present already have escalated beyond what Prism on their own can accomplish the only option left is to escalate. Three as stated by others Ling Qi's overall loyalty should be to Cai not the sect.
 
@yrsillar So, what did us keeping the stone change here? Was it always going to hatch at this time?

It looks like it hatched too early, with the being only having half of its upper torso. Was that the advantage?

Also, did the sect recover the star stone from the egg?
 
[] Remain silent, wait until your debrief with the Duchess to discuss the matter

There is only one reason to talk to the Sect Elders first: if we thought that the iron sliver was potentially dangerous to us and, at this point, that seems very unlikely.

It certainly isn't going to be a danger to Shenhua.
 
As they said, this is no longer merely a sect matter.

[] Remain silent, wait until your debrief with the Duchess to discuss the matter
 
[] Remain silent, wait until your debrief with the Duchess to discuss the matter

This is a matter for the duchess. The Iron Sliver seems like it might be a diplomatic item, which would be under the purview of Shenhua.
 
Basically, the shard we have represents an opportunity, but only if it is presented to such a person and in such a way as to be used. Talking to Elder "but remember always that we are the Empire, and they, merely barbarians" doesn't sound like that person.
 
yrsillar said:
It looked superficially like a young boy. With dusky skin like her own and long white hair that trailed down to where his feet should have been. But at the bottom of his ribs, flesh transformed into prismatic light, she saw the shadow of a half formed spine within, but nothing more.

The spirits head cocked to the side as it observed her. Curiosity faded, replaced by cold.

Enemy.
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Squints at Starchild.

Tenno scoom!

yrsillar said:
"I have been given the tools with which to contact Mother, if necessary. I cannot say that this situation does not qualify," she said. "As my retainer and a direct witness, you will need to give your account."
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Why is this the part of the chapter which drops a weight right into the stomach? Oh, right. Shenhua.

[] Remain silent, wait until your debrief with the Duchess to discuss the matter

Defo gonna be going with this. Based on what we've seen so far of the Elder's I wouldn't put it past them destroying the thing on the spot.
 
[] Remain silent, wait until your debrief with the Duchess to discuss the matter

But if we have time talking to the Elder we shoulden have time talking to Renxiang befor meeting Mama Cai.
 
So like, Cai was the one to impress upon us the duty of cultivators to protect mortals yeah? That's like a key part of her way. We also know that Cai started cultivating at an incredibly young age.

Cai was also referred to as Star child by the admirals earlier on. On a related tangent, the stars hated mortals at fairly fundamental level yeah?

What if one of the reasons Cai was forced to cultivate at an incredibly young age was to ensure that she developed empathy for mortals.
 
Right, so to recap the results of the latest skirmish both above and underground for all that might be interested, using info gathered from both the update and Discord

Above ground the operation hasn't quite been a failure, but it couldn't be called a success either, ultimately Sect and Cloud/Shishigui forces basically ran into each other and busted one another up
Both sides have suffered losses, the Storm cultivator guy escaped which is unfortunate given one of the main points of the operation was for the Elders to gank him, but he was badly crippled
Unfortunately for us Yongrei was wounded in turn by whatever the hell came up from the south, how badly isn't known but he's out of action for the time being, comatose like most of the perimeter group due to some star toxin
Actual casualties for the above operation were light though so small mercies
In the end however, we really didn't manage to capture the Starstone/Starchild, the sect only has the shell of the egg to show for it, the only consolation is that the Twelve Stars haven't gained anything that they wouldn't have gained had we not interfered and we now at least have some info on what the hell this thing is
All in all? Light losses, at the cost of little in the way of gains

Underground it's the opposite situation, a costly victory
High losses, and Jiao got injured
We don't know who exactly died yet, and if any of them were important to us
But Jiao won his battle and succeeded in securing the position, moving forward the Shishigui can't dislodge the Sect's foothold
 
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