Remove ads

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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Reader mode
Ahh FYI @yrsillar I edited my tech before, guess ya didn't see it. I had edited it on Erebeal's compilation list. I'll put it here too:

Winter's Last Breath (revised): C
Short
Requires Spring Breeze Canto to be active.
The end of Winter blends into the beginning of spring, the frost on the winds merge with the warmer Spring breeze. Add the power of the last Winter wind to your Spring Breeze Canto to spread the wind outward. With its last breath, the Winter wind spreads your perception outward, up to Very Far range while sharing it with your allies. In that moment, you and your allies may sense your entire surroundings with Winter's cold, discerning sight.
May be reactivated for D rank qi.

Edit: fuckkk, guys i thought it was clear that this was an anti-stealth tech meant that anyone as good as the Dancers would have a hard time contesting. You know, boom, assassin is revealed before they strike....but the submissions are already in so i guess i can't change it. Alas.
 
Last edited:
[] Four Winds Messengers: C
[]Kindred Winds' Communion: C

I think I like those two. Kindred is a poor man's translation effect that is actually useful in day to day missions rather than being super niche 'for next mission maybe', and Four wind's messenger is something that Ling Qi would have needed pretty much every months of this quest so far.
 
[] (Alternative) Hidden Wind's Breath: C
[] Four Winds Messengers: C

I'm leaning towards these two. The first (proposed by Black Noise, edited by Erebeal) improves our comms ability significantly in terms of range and the amount of info that can be conveyed, at the expense of limiting ourselves to one target. It also makes comms from stealth significantly easier, which other techs outside of Kindred Winds' Communion don't seem to do (I'm also uncertain how hidden the channel is in KWC). The second tech (AbeoLogos's proposed tech) would in theory be useful and used fairly often. We scout very often within the story - it's the main use of our stealth currently. This tech would potentially help in any situation we're observing someone while scouting. Granted, it may not work against high level opponents, but this tech still enables us to potentially glean info from lower level people.

The downside to these two is that there's no real translation tech. The ability to share senses and thoughts with Hidden Wind's Breath helps perform some of the same functions, but doesn't really serve as a replacement.
 
Last edited:
It's important when voting to consider how dynamic and interesting a given tech will be to write, as that will directly correlate to how much use it ends up seeing. Techs that give Yrs a broad range of options to work with, and lend themselves to constructing interesting scenes and scenarios should be favoured.

To that end, I think that @Black Noise 's Hidden Wind Breath should be considered a shoe-in, because it's both clear in intent with what it wants to do, and lends itself very well to cool scenes in the future.

(For those that haven't read the list, it's essentially a two-way encrypted commlink that allows for either participant's senses to be shared with the other. It has a whole host of potential applications, from stealth missions, to direct battlefield coordination, to gaining insight on how other people view the world)


As far as translation techs go, I'm rather partial to my own South Wind Blows Unerring, with the idea that it drops to a deeper level of communication than just words, and neatly sidesteps the issue of differing lingustics. It also gels well with Ling Qi's own sincere approach to negotiations, and can be well applied to a broad range of diplomatic scenarios.
  • The limitations, of course, come through potential loss of nuance, and stumbling blocks with cross-cultural metaphors. It also wouldn't work for hostile situations, nor particularly well for spirits that are completely orthogonal to humanity.
 
[][TR]Kindred Winds' Communion: C

This is just as good as the other translate techs and it also lets us communicate when scouting or across large battlefields where the Canto doesn't reach. It has the same potential as Hidden Wind Breath only Ling Qi doesn't see everything real time but instead relies on our ally communicating important information, which I think would be healthier for a scene. Ling Qi won't have to comment on the situation of her allies while doing her own thing but can understand their situation as soon as it becomes relevant, letting the narrative beats follow each other naturally.

[] Winds of Winter Yearning: C

So this is a stealth rework of the old HDW's Winds of Winter Yearning social screen, translated to letting us use our Music offensively while in Stealth. We can play this with Mist and Elegy to trap enemies inside of the Mist and as long as we can keep them inside they can't alert anyone. Imagine a silent mist that swallows people whole and then... nothing. Entire regiments disappeared without a whisper from their comms specialist. A guard by the door is surrounded by mist and blizzard, pulled into the Dream without the occupants in the other room noticing. We have time to drain them of their warmth and Qi without alerting others and can now actually attack people on scout missions, opening up the narrative to to let us do things when infiltrating. There's a reason all the great stealth games have this feature, because it makes for good gameplay. This plus LFWT's Breeze in the Vault and we can sneak in, knock out the guards, steal the thing and peace out.
 
Last edited:
[] Four Winds Messengers: C
The other perception techs aren't grabbing me. They all require Canto to be up, are all just as obvious to enemy ears, and can't increase the range since that's already maxed out. Doesn't expand our capabilities in the way I'd like. We have RME for trying to scrutinize places we're already looking harder. Also I'm biased because this was my suggestion, heh.

[]Kindred Winds' Communion: C
[]Spring Breeze's Whisper: C

These are what I'm looking at for translation techs. The first because it's more broadly flexible, even if it's more limited in application for translation specifically. The second because it's just simple and works.
 
Huo Yuhao said:
(I'm also uncertain how hidden the channel is in KWC)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That is on purpose; I wanted to specify the stealth level but dycouza didn't like it and so we said, we'll just leave it up to Yrs what it takes to perceive it :Ü™
Edit: You are only talking about choosing two when in fact this is full on approval voting; take care that you don't fall into the assumption it isn't :Ü™
yrsillar said:
You may vote for as many techniques as you like and the top two that are from two different categories will be the techniques selected.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
 
Last edited:
[] Winter's Last Breath (revised): C
[]Kindred Winds' Communion: C

Currently thinking these two for Perception/Communication techs.

[]Distant Wind's Convergence: C
[]Spring Breeze's Whisper: C

Can't decide between these two. Whisper is fairly simple and is actually translating spoken language instead of directly sending meaning and intention through a channel. Distant Wind's also looks interesting.

This is actually kinda hard.
 
[] (Alternative) Hidden Wind's Breath: C
This is critical IMO. When we came here looking for Comms, we kinda want utility that is useful given our role. Having something that we can use to actually communicate information when we're doing our scouting thing *without* being reliant on having a comms specialist around is exactly the kind of thing we're here for.

The only question here then I think is what the second tech should be.

The perception techs aren't useless, and would be "ok" as a secondary. That being said, I think I should remind people that Canto still has the radar. Yrs noted that what we lost there was the "see and hear everyone who is tagged in full detail", but we still have the radar. Given that we never really got much narrative use out of the seeing everyone part, and the main use of the radar is really the "knowing where everyone is", this doesn't strike me as a huge loss? It would potentially have been great for spying - but you kind of need subtlety for that.

The translation techs are something I like from a character pov. Long term I'd move such techs into our social arts rather than having them waste space in our perception art, but short term we have our diplomatic mission and it would be a good way to show LQ taking it seriously and working on it. Otoh, a fair argument can be made that if we grabbed that as well as the comms tech then our passives should really have more social perception :p
 
[][TR]Kindred Winds' Communion: C
[] Winds of Winter Yearning: C

Wind of winter yearning would serve us greatly in missions to come, as it greatly improves our ability to seperate enemies

Kindred wind's communion have both a great long range communication and translation effect, and works well with allies, which is great for LQ
 
[X] Four Winds Convergence: C
[X] Winter's Last Breath (revised): C
[X] Four Winds Messengers: C
[X]Hidden Wind's Breath: C
[X] (Alternative) Hidden Wind's Breath: C

Moratorium over

EDIT:

Fine, I'll vote for it >.>

[X] [TR] South Wind Blows Unerring: C
 
Last edited:
[X] Four Winds Messengers: C
[X] (Alternative) Hidden Wind's Breath: C
[X] [TR] South Wind Blows Unerring: C
 
Last edited:
Individual analysis:
  • Perception techs
    • [] Four Winds Convergence: C Combat perception focused. Enhances perception with a focus on improving our dodginess as well.
    • [] Summer's Cheerful Laughter: C Is just a basic long perception buff? Honestly not much to recommend this. Is weaker and less interesting than the others here, save for duration, and very much falls into the "let's invisibly stack buffs even though that isn't really noticed in narrative and we're moving away from that" category. Would not recommend, even if the flavour is nice.
    • [] Winter's Last Breath (revised): C Heavy anti-stealth tech. Would be appropriate given the circumstances, but we just got talismans for anti-stealth as well...
    • [] Four Winds Messengers: C A very interesting utility technique for getting better info on other scouts and the movement of enemy groups. Potentially really interesting, but could also be niche and not actually get used :(
  • Comms techs
    • []Hidden Wind's Breath: C Problem here IMO is the range is too short to be useful when we're doing our sneaky things. Could be useful for group stealth missions, but isn't great if we're wanting to send information back to allies.
    • [] (Alternative) Hidden Wind's Breath: C fixed the above's issues by focusing on longer range in exchange for only communicating with a single ally. Is IMO the most useful tech here, focusing on giving us the utility we were wanting from a communication tech in the first place.
    • []Day of Celebration: C buffing the short range comms already in canto isn't useless, but it doesn't really expand our utility meaningfully. Would not want.
    • []Kindred Winds' Communion: C I like the flavour here, but it mostly just seems like a less utilitarian version of Hidden Wind's Breath? (also possible balance tweaking questions here if it got picked - I'd want to try to pull more range out of it tbh). Better duration but the refresh we have on Hidden Wind is trivial, so 🤷
  • Translation techs
    • Honestly these are all very similar but for fluff. Choose whatever you like, but maybe try to converge on something if you want it to win :p
    • Fine
    • []Spring Breeze's Whisper: C , []Common-Breath Zephyr : these are basically the same. They are explicitly focused on translation
    • []South Wind Blows Unerringly: C : skips translation for instead psychic/music communication. Has nice anti-lie fluff in keeping with LQ's domain.
    • []Distant Wind's Convergence: C : basically the same as South Wind tbh but requires Canto to be active
    • []Stolen Breath Comprehension: C : not translation, but also weaker than South Wind or Distant Wind. Also lacks fun anti-lie fluff.
    • []Midsummer's Duet: C : similar to Stolen Breath, but perhaps slightly stronger.
  • Buff/debuff
    • Honestly, I just don't see these as meeting our goals here? Especially given the way we deliberately reduced the hearts and chose to focus away from buffing
tldr;
Comms: get [] (Alternative) Hidden Wind's Breath: C
Perception: bunch of interesting options with different focuses, but Summer's Cheerful Laughter is weak and lacks a focus. Beyond that the question is fightyness v. anti-stealth v. utility
Translation: Ok South Wind Blows Unerringly seems to be both the strongest and has good domain fluff. Though if you are wanting better language learning rather than dodging that with the power of music then you want Spring Breeze or Common-Breath.
Buff/debuff: not really what we're here for IMO
 
Last edited:
[X] Winter's Last Breath (revised): C
[X] (Alternative) Hidden Wind's Breath: C
[X] Kindred Winds' Communion: C
[X] [TR]Distant Wind's Convergence: C
 
yrsillar said:
[]Distant Wind's Convergence: C
Duration: Long
All winds eventually converge, just as surely as they will part. No matter how distantly they have traveled, or how long they have been apart, the winds readily unite like old friends. The user learns to channel their intentions into a message writ upon the wind, inviting another to do the same in the hope that understanding may be achieved. The user selects one target within range of Spring's Breeze Canto, and sends forth a wind laden with notes bearing a message of invitation and understanding. Upon receiving the message, the target may choose to reciprocate, generating a two-way channel of wind that both the user and the target may freely communicate across so long as the target remains in range. This effect bypasses the limits of language, and instead sends forth pure intention and expression. This does not allow for the full range of communication that language offers, but does convey both the intent and the tone of the sender to the recipient. However, attempting to lie or deceive over this channel results in a penalty to Speech or the relevant skill, as the sender's message becomes muddled in the wind due to conflicting intents.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This can go as a comms tech or a translation tech when you think about it. So its two in one really. SBC can make up for the lack of comms aspects in this tech.

yrsillar said:
[]Kindred Winds' Communion: C
Duration: Long to Persistent
The winds carry meaning across vast distances, so that understanding can be had in peace and even the most distant of friends may share each other's company. The user forms a connection with a willing target within Far range or an ally within Very Far range. The user and target can communicate meaning, concepts and thoughts with accuracy proportional to the understanding of the other party with each other. This effect expresses itself as an increase in Social Perception and Manipulation derived Skills. If the target is an ally, this effect becomes hidden from outside observers, increases in duration and range in proportion to the strength of the Bond between the user and ally. The duration increasing to Scene length at Bond 3 and Persistent at Bond 5, while the range increases in increments of 100m up to a total of 1km at Bond 6.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
This can also double as both a comms tech and translation tech. Really as long as Yrsillar can blur the lines b/w willing individual and ally, which should be fairly easy and not at all stretching it, a bunch of these can go both ways.

yrsillar said:
[] Winter's Last Breath (revised): C
Short
Requires Spring Breeze Canto to be active.
The end of Winter blends into the beginning of spring, the frost on the winds merge with the warmer Spring breeze. Add the power of the last Winter wind to your Spring Breeze Canto to spread the wind outward. With its last breath, the Winter wind spreads your perception outward, up to Very Far range while sharing it with your allies. In that moment, you and your allies may sense your entire surroundings with Winter's cold, discerning sight.
Bonus to combat perception while the technique is active. Any enemy using stealth within range will be revealed unless they have Stealth potency that is one rank higher than Ling Qi's Stealth rank. May be reactivated for D rank qi.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I guess the description doesn't really expand on the versatility here. I meant that not only could you spot enemies stealthing around, you could notice allies at Very Far distance who are in trouble that you otherwise wouldn't notice. Or incoming enemy reinforcements. Maybe LQ might notice them but now her allies will too. Thanks to SBC, they can use the extra combat perception to react faster and coordinate better. RME doesn't share any of its advantages with allies, I'd like to point out. And yes I'm advocating my own tech 😛
EDIT: adding alt. Hidden Wind's Breath b/c its applicable as comms and translator, like the others. After someone pointed it out, I agreed that Kindred Winds helps a lot less with the people we don't know. Given the upcoming mission, thats kinda important. So getting rid of that one. Also adding in Four Wind's Convergence b/c I just like it :V

[X] [TR]Distant Wind's Convergence: C
[X] Kindred Winds' Communion: C
[X] Winter's Last Breath (revised): C
[X] (Alternative) Hidden Wind's Breath: C
[X] Four Winds Convergence: C
 
Last edited:
[X][Com] (Alternative) Hidden Wind's Breath: C
[X][Com] Kindred Winds' Communion: C
[X][TR] Spring Breeze's Whisper: C
[X][TR] Stolen Breath Comprehension: C
 
Last edited:
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top