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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
If the goal is to convince these people not fight an extra enemy, it doesn't make sense, in character, to limit our argument to only one of these three points. Rather, all of them should be brought up and everyone will chose the one they find the most important.
Except this story is in quest format, thats not how it works iicr. Gotta accept that the options given to you by the author are what you have.
 
"I am pleased to hear it," she replied. "Though the source is a troublesome one, a mastery of such an art will grant you a degree of esteem amongst certain clans."

"Of course that's how she sees it," Sixiang murmured, a sulking touch to her voice. "Weft and Weave, all in its place."

Ling Qi paused a moment, shooting a questioning thought toward her spirit, but received no reply. That was odd, Sixiang was usually silent in Renxiang's presence. "The Weilu conservatives, right?"

The heiress nodded sharply. "Those clans still make heavy use of the spirits and arts of Sun and Moon, compared to more imperial clans. You seem to have a talent for dealing with such entities, so I expect you to make use of it in the future."

"No point wasting talent," Ling Qi replied agreeably, glancing down at herself. She as mildly disheveled and more than a bit sweaty.

This was highlighted in discord, i think its something pretty important in favor of the culture vote.
Forge of Destiny(Xianxia Quest) Original - Fantasy
 
If the goal is to convince these people not fight an extra enemy, it doesn't make sense, in character, to limit our argument to only one of these three points. Rather, all of them should be brought up and everyone will chose the one they find the most important.
We can't convince all of them and trying to go for all of them does not lead to happy people, it leads to people who are pissed off because you're wishy washy on agreeing with their points because their points are the ones they care about.
 
We can't convince all of them and trying to go for all of them does not lead to happy people, it leads to people who are pissed off because you're wishy washy on agreeing with their points because their points are the ones they care about.
Yeah, agreed. Shotgun approaches to argumentation in real life just make everyone distrust you. If you pick a theme and you stay on message, people believe that you believe what you're saying; if you try to argue every valid reason simultaneously, people assume you don't genuinely care about any of those reasons and start looking for your real angle.
 
[] To appeal to military pragmatism. If their enemies were divided there was no need to unite them. (+Wang, +Jia approval, -Meng approval)

Right now we are fighting a war, getting the 2/3 border provinces on our side is good.
 
Yeah, agreed. Shotgun approaches to argumentation in real life just make everyone distrust you. If you pick a theme and you stay on message, people believe that you believe what you're saying; if you try to argue every valid reason simultaneously, people assume you don't genuinely care about any of those reasons and start looking for your real angle.
Which in this case would be trying to cultivate everyone's good opinion, which is not going to work because people in this room don't like each other and if they see you cozying up to someone they don't like that rubs off by proxy.
 
Did CRX mention at some point why we ought to focus on Wang first?
 
Have to say, going for the "appeal to the Meng, disregard the Diao" angle......has its own interesting appeal the more I think about it and it's making me lean more and more towards it
 
Did CRX mention at some point why we ought to focus on Wang first?
They are a friendly enough clan that is feeling neglected. Presumably her reasoning is that all we have to do to succeed is give them attention, making it excellent for a first diplomatic engagement.

I suspect it was also due to Wang Chao's character and position in the sect. Close to our age and blunt and somewhat isolated, compared (as an example of another count scion we've interacted with) to the Luo scion who is older, has an established posse we're trying to insert ourselves into, and is pretty reserved/opaque about his true opinions, at least at first.

Wang in some ways was a target of opportunity, I think.
 
Were the Luo and the Meng the ones who were brought into the fold by the Weilu and the Xi? Because if so, the culture option might appeal to them not because of weilu stuff but because we are pointing at their clans as successes of this aproach, which might involve talking them up a bit.
 
Hm. I'm currently leaning toward the culture option as I dislike the implicit assumption of them being enemies, and it seems like a continuation of "Not all barbarians are actually barbarians"* from the Moon quests. Also Ling Qi was told to sow the Storm for herself by the Grinning Moon, and taking into consideration Ling Qi's sincerity insight... we should vote for what we want to see rather than what is pragmatic imo.

In regards to the Diao I think it is crucial to keep in mind this is their clan disliking Ling Qi whereas Linqin is basically impossible to stop her dislike of LQ as it stims from her being a retainer of CRX. So the Diao minus comes from them being ambitious, and incredibly expansionist, which makes them dislike the idea of there being a faction within the Wall whose clay they might not be able to take.

[] To appeal to culture. She spoke a variant of the hill tribe tongue, and bore other markers of civilization. Better to bring into the fold as the Weilu and the Xi once did. (+Meng, +Luo approval, -Diao approval)

*Not exact quotation.
 
[X] To appeal to culture. She spoke a variant of the hill tribe tongue, and bore other markers of civilization. Better to bring into the fold as the Weilu and the Xi once did. (+Meng, +Luo approval, -Diao approval)

I have been swayed, I like the idea of leaning into old weilu vibes with peace talks and assimilation for the ice ladies.
Daio is gonna be a bitch for internal politics but them's the breaks with noble's, and I don't want to give the Meng reason to break off and possibly join Sun more than make an enemy of Diao.
 
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Moratorium over

[X] To appeal to culture. She spoke a variant of the hill tribe tongue, and bore other markers of civilization. Better to bring into the fold as the Weilu and the Xi once did. (+Meng, +Luo approval, -Diao approval)

Cannot resist the potentials in this choice
 
Were the Luo and the Meng the ones who were brought into the fold by the Weilu and the Xi? Because if so, the culture option might appeal to them not because of weilu stuff but because we are pointing at their clans as successes of this aproach, which might involve talking them up a bit.
The Luo and the Meng are the pretty traditional clans. I think they were cadet clans of the Weilu before the Weilu disappeared.
 
It's moratorium over o'clock.

[X] To appeal to culture. She spoke a variant of the hill tribe tongue, and bore other markers of civilization. Better to bring into the fold as the Weilu and the Xi once did. (+Meng, +Luo approval, -Diao approval)

Originally I favored military pragmatism because I was worried about the Diao approval hit, but I was convinced by the thread pointing out that we were expressly brought onto Team CRX in part so that we could be an outreach to the older clans like the Meng and the Luo. This furthers our ability to work in that role and doesn't hurt our relationships with the militarists on the border or the Bao. The only issue is the Diao, which is an issue, yeah... but being tied to CRX probably already soured us in their view, since Linqin isn't a fan of Renxiang for whatever reason. And "make nice with the Diao" was never something CRX asked us to do, whereas "make nice with the Luo, the Wang, and the Bao" was. So I think this serves our long-term goals best.
 
[X] To appeal to culture. She spoke a variant of the hill tribe tongue, and bore other markers of civilization. Better to bring into the fold as the Weilu and the Xi once did. (+Meng, +Luo approval, -Diao approval)
 
[X] To appeal to culture. She spoke a variant of the hill tribe tongue, and bore other markers of civilization. Better to bring into the fold as the Weilu and the Xi once did. (+Meng, +Luo approval, -Diao approval)

Culture seems most likely to help further develop Ling qis niche at court

Let Guangli be soldier boi
 
It's moratorium over o'clock.

[X] To appeal to culture. She spoke a variant of the hill tribe tongue, and bore other markers of civilization. Better to bring into the fold as the Weilu and the Xi once did. (+Meng, +Luo approval, -Diao approval)

Originally I favored military pragmatism because I was worried about the Diao approval hit, but I was convinced by the thread pointing out that we were expressly brought onto Team CRX in part so that we could be an outreach to the older clans like the Meng and the Luo. This furthers our ability to work in that role and doesn't hurt our relationships with the militarists on the border or the Bao. The only issue is the Diao, which is an issue, yeah... but being tied to CRX probably already soured us in their view, since Linqin isn't a fan of Renxiang for whatever reason. And "make nice with the Diao" was never something CRX asked us to do, whereas "make nice with the Luo, the Wang, and the Bao" was. So I think this serves our long-term goals best.
Plus, with Wang, Luo, Meng and potentially Bao liking us we have a lot of connections in our corner when it comes time to making nice nice with the Diao Clan as a whole and leaves us in a supported political position.

[X] To appeal to culture. She spoke a variant of the hill tribe tongue, and bore other markers of civilization. Better to bring into the fold as the Weilu and the Xi once did. (+Meng, +Luo approval, -Diao approval)
 
Guys, can we not pick a fight with Minister Linqin? She's a scary lady and I think people are underestimating the consequences of making her dislike us more than she already does. She's the only active Prism of these noble houses, which makes her the head of her clan as well. I think its safe to say that her dislike like towards us means the Diao as a group also dislike us.
I'm not saying we should try to court her favor either bc either way I think she'll still dislike CRX. I'm talking about not entrenching that attitude towards us.
Also the culture option is essentially talking about conquering and subjugating the White Sky people, colonizing their land and forcing the Empire's "superior" ways onto these people b/c they should be "enlightened" and brought into the fold. Yeah typical colonialism.

The profit option on the other hand treats the White Sky as an entity we can trade and work with in good faith, people we can respect. Not viewing them as an enemy or a prospect for colonization.
Just saying.
 
[X] To appeal to culture. She spoke a variant of the hill tribe tongue, and bore other markers of civilization. Better to bring into the fold as the Weilu and the Xi once did. (+Meng, +Luo approval, -Diao approval)

I was originally sour on the idea of joining team Cai but we have shifted from being a spymaster to being a diplomat to the ancient ways of the Weilu. This furthers that path and I think really plays nicely with Ling Qi's thoughts about culture and people. It has some pretty icky assumptions built in, but so does each vote option.
 
[X] To appeal to military pragmatism. If their enemies were divided there was no need to unite them. (+Wang, +Jia approval, -Meng approval)

I just think we should be thinking of the White Sky as 'could be not an enemy, if the Duchess makes an effort to diplomance," and this seems like the closest option...
 
[X] To appeal to culture. She spoke a variant of the hill tribe tongue, and bore other markers of civilization. Better to bring into the fold as the Weilu and the Xi once did. (+Meng, +Luo approval, -Diao approval)
 
[x] To appeal to military pragmatism. If their enemies were divided there was no need to unite them. (+Wang, +Jia approval, -Meng approval)

This seems to be the most topical given world trends, rather than appealing to her speaking a language we kind of but couldn't really understand
 
[x] To appeal to military pragmatism. If their enemies were divided there was no need to unite them. (+Wang, +Jia approval, -Meng approval)
 
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