Remove ads

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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Reader mode
yrsillar said:
Enrollment in the Pearl Coast Sect is open to all, as per the Empress Decree. Unlike most Great Sects, the wealth of the Pearl Coast is such that we require no petty fees from our prospective disciples. Students are expected to provide or earn their own non spirit stone materials however. For disciples of less prestigious descent, the Sect provides small loans which, while without interest, must be paid back after either leaving or reaching the Inner Sect.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

They are also flexing their wealth. Basically, they are saying here that "we do not need tuition or any profit making scheme, we re making more money indirectly, by funding this college that tuition can even give us"
 
Insert Tally
Adhoc vote count started by EternalObserver on Oct 14, 2020 at 2:49 PM, finished with 155 posts and 97 votes.
Click to expand...
 
Okay, lets try to remember the cultures we know about in yrs world.

the qin/celestial empire: seperate body and soul cultivation and at stages that culminate into spirit ascension. Hardest hitters are about 7 white cultivators and like 6-ish sublime ancestors (zheng,bai,imperial dragon, xuan and one more that i forgot. rest are either whites like the mu owl or are unknown to the empire at large) - apparently descended from dragon cultivation. white/supreme tier

the sky barbarians: bind with one spirit beast as a mount. mount counts as a second self. erase boundary between spirit beast and cultivator. might share abilities and traits between rider and mount. have a double body cultivation. maybe spirit life span? no known whites. hardest hitters seem to be the star spirits and the seldom occurring prism. prism tier. no global power.

jungle people: combination of chakra cultivation and blood sacrifice. original people are dwindling but are slowly replaced by the hybrid cultivation forms of the western territories. Originals don't seem to have any whites but are able to still mount a sizable resistance in the jungle. Might have lost their Sublime Ancestor to the WT guys. Prism tier? likely no global power.

1000 Princes. Of which we actually know quite a lot due to the
yrsillar said:
...The events in the west are concerning indeed, however not for the reasons which you profess dear sister. Among the people of the west, the Red Garden had very few friends indeed. You are of course aware of our own history, and the Sage's war in the west, but you must understand that although they might appear similar to us, the Thousand Princes do not regard them as countrymen.

Just as the Sage warred and dealed to unite our peoples, so too did the one who is simply known as the Great, warred across the west a century or two before that time. However, his conquest never reached the jungles, nor the icy plateaus of the south. I am not wholly certain that I understand the stories properly, as they seem odd indeed to me. It seems that their great King came to regard his conquests with sorrow and horror for some reason, and ceased to expand. It is said that he built many great temples, libraries and places of learning with his own two hands in the era that followed, and upon reaching the point of ascension, he shattered his throne, granting a single fragment to each of his thousand descendants spoke a commandment that any who sought to hold more than one fragment would suffer an unending and terrible karma.

A fanciful tale indeed, but it does serve as the source of the titular Thousand Princes, and indeed it explains well why there are still a thousand of them! It is likely exaggerated to an extent, much like the tales of our Sage, and I suspect it has its roots in their older legends as well. Did you know that the people of the West insist that the Nameless Father and Mother were originally one being, which split itself in twain to combat it's loneliness and isolation? An interesting twist on the tale, wouldn't you say?

But I am wandering, as is my wont. Suffice to say, the Red Garden did not and never has owned one of the throne fragments, which are quite real.

So, having assuaged your political concerns dear Bond Sister, let us return to more academic matters. My efforts to charm Prince Vira Kerala have finally born fruit, and I was granted permission to speak to his scholars and read documents which do not hold secret knowledge. Here I was finally able to study the foundations of their cultivation system, which I must say are fascinating.

Here again I found evidence of the theme of division. The western people regard each individual as having been split from the same primal one-ness, and the eventual goal is to rejoin it. The world is damaged and incomplete they say, and it is only in achieving oneness with the world that the being which became the Mother and Father can be restored. It is this restoration which will mark the end of this 'kalpa' or cycle of existence. The world will end and be forged anew free of its flaws, and the godhead will split once again.

Quite quaint, I find, it reminds of the more religious approaches to cultivation which existed in the early empire. The actual mechanics are far more fascinating. Do you know that they truly do not have meridians? The Guru regarded me as if I were mad when I described them, seeing carving such channels as an act of self mutilation, akin to the acts of self-mortification which some of the southern princes practice, and which the others abhor. Instead it seems that they rely wholly upon their chakras, which are… strange.

Three of them are roughly analogous to our dantians, but there are seven in total, and all seven are cultivated from the beginning rather than opening at different realms. I have found attempting their methods quite useless, but I do wonder if a cultivator not so far along the path would have different results. However, I was able to make some of their simple techniques function with some modification.

I found techniques which focused upon the lower chakras less difficult. I am told my root chakra is quite well developed indeed! Or at least so the ladies of court have said, though I must admit they have certainly taught me a thing or two! The people of the west do not disdain the sexual aspect of life near as much as our countrymen. It is quite refreshing in more ways than one.

I shall bring you a copy of the tome I have found on the subject, perhaps you can teach one of those flimsy academic types you enjoy something interesting!

More seriously, Each chakra seems to function as a sort of giant meridian, allowing the use of techniques related to that Chakra's aspect. From the lowest to highest, the Chakras are associated with a body part and a color. The Red Chakra is located at the base of the spine. the Orange Chakra islocated at the root of ones genitals, the Yellow at the navel, the Green at the heart, the Blue at the throat, the Indigo between the eyes, and the Violet or 'Prism' above the crown of the head.

There are some parallels there, are there not?

The actual function of the chakra's is strange to me however. The Manipura Chakra, for example is the chakra located in roughly the same region as the lower dantian, and is cultivated through various breathing exercises and arts. Cultivation of this chakra improves the power of movement and visual techniques. As you can see the chakra serves the same function as meridians, though it splits some things oddly. The Heart Chakra for example is associated with techniques which use the hands as well as illusions and speech. It seems nonsensical to users of our system.

And while I say that all Chakras must be cultivated at once, but this is at least slightly inaccurate, the seventh Chakra, the Sahasrara which exists outside of the body, and is wholly spiritual, seems to serve the same function of our higher dantians in allowing for the production of greater energies. However, it is also the gate through which all energy flows and becomes qi, rather than opening a new organ, higher cultivation is simply a matter of refining the connection to the One and thus receiving access to Law.

I cannot say I care for the aspects of allowing the self to be subsumed for the whole, but it does make one think a bit. How much do we take the Realm beyond for granted in our endless climb?

The things you muse on after a decade alone on a mountain peak! I think I may have grown a touch maudlin there. In any case, by the time you receive this letter, bond Sister, I will be on my way home.

Zheng Lu, King of Explorers.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

In short. Their founding King was a white at the point of ascension, meaning their cultivation also seems to end in spirit ascension. The cultivate not with dantians or meridians but by cultivating all seven chakras of the body simultaneously. They believe that everything was once one being and will, in time return to being one being. Regional diversity in cultivation. Not sure about their tier due to their founding king pulling Hax to basically ensure that there is less power concentration in the empire. There are literally 1000 Princes in their Real. I highly doubt they are all whites or even prisms. unknown tier due to karma hax. but likely prism tier.

Khem. The pillar people. MASSIVE POWERHOUSE. Led by 18 whites at any one point. Whites are likely more powerful than Qin whites too due to the absorbing your predecessor part of become a white. Have a dominant warrior/priest(?) caste and a slave/laborer caste called the "dregs". white tier. likely white/supreme tier

The Banu people hailing from Banbar. Black skin color. Have naval capabilities and at least some degree of trade with other global powers. Enjoy spices? Metal experts? Cultivate by integrating spiritually charged metals into their body. Black Iron men? Heavy hitters are unknown. Unkown tier. likely at least white due to global access.

unknown irish people. unkown tier.

unknown germans. cultivation centered around ritualistic canibalism? unknown tier.

unkown skandinavians? unkown tier. live near the top of the world. Sky/Star interference?

shishigui and fishpeople which are human like or human descendant are excluded in this list.

I likely got something wrong or forgot something so if you can please correct me.
 
Last edited:
Nevermind, I reread the part concerning the thousand princes. It wasn't a hive thing and more of a single powerful spirit manipulating people with illusions before being slain by Yao. We also know that the civilization to the east of the empire, that got burned by the Guo phoenix were "the fallen dragons of the east". Maybe related to the fallen dragons event in the second age of the empire.

Kian said:
"I am Yao of the Skittering Fen where the Face Eater gathered the sons of men and left them in squalor and privation to strive against one another with only enticing visions and voices of her encouragement to drive them on and keep them from despair. I am Yao, who emerged from the pit and found my promised reward to be a bloated and indolent grub and so slew it and made its power my own," he said, looking up at her. "... I am Yao, who sought the deadliest spirits in all the land, seeking the promises that had been made to me and who found, from the blood mad flowers in the West to the fallen dragons in the East, from the horrors of the Northern Sea to the warring gods of the South, none who made his heart beat as you do, my Princess of Still Waters."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

edit 2: for those who were wondering about the whole. Banbar are black and cultivate with metals claim:

yrsillar said:
but at times, a dark faced man of Banu comes bearing a hold full of blue adamant.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
yrsillar said:
Another trip, this one encountered a boy of Banu. His Father had business with mine. Even at such a young age, twelve bars of steel, gold, and other metals pierced his features, and bangles of the same hung heavy on his limbs.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

this seems to me that the Banu (their land is called Banbar on the world map but the people are apparently called the Banu) cultivate with metal and seem to have access to rare metals as this ships hold of blue adamant is implied to be very valuable and the fact that adamant is the corresponding metal to violet tier body cultivation.
 
Last edited:
Kian said:
Nevermind, I reread the part concerning the thousand princes. It wasn't a hive thing and more of a single powerful spirit manipulating people with illusions before being slain by Yao. We also know that the civilization to the east of the empire, that got burned by the Guo phoenix were "the fallen dragons of the east". Maybe related to the fallen dragons event in the second age of the empire.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Thousand Princes is not!India, further west then Western Territories, not related to Yao's land of origin, which is somewhere in or just around present Thousand Lakes. Given description of Yao's travels, it seems he hadn't ventured further then Western Territories and hadn't been to not!India.
 
myrix said:
Thousand Princes is not!India, further west then Western Territories, not related to Yao's land of origin, which is somewhere in or just around present Thousand Lakes. Given description of Yao's travels, it seems he hadn't ventured further then Western Territories and hadn't been to not!India.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Correct, I reread the fairy tale and Yao also claims to come from the skittering fern north of the thousand lakes. He would have had to come from the west to originate in 1000 princes. Now the only Bai/1000 princes interaction we know of is that one ancestress of Meizhen who fled the political viper pit that was the clan(pun intended) and returned a few centuries later with a ship full of riches, servants and a husband. She was apparently the Bai who popularized those Whip-swords of them.

I changed the thousand princes section.
 
Ok so

will cai actually listen on going on an adventure?

why? she seem set to do military stuff

do we need to come up with arguments

——

" eh..."

Ling Qi points at Zhengui.

"ok lets go, maybe we'll find a phoenix egg or something"
 
angelofwhim said:
...
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
well, we are letting her literally chose a quest/ expedition from a magical moonlight map which was provided by a seventh realm spirit of secrets , exploration and discovery. A phoenix egg or something of that value is unlikely but considering that she gave us two 4th realm material (the death mirror we sold for sure and the darkness shard we turned into our domain weapon) while we were in the outer sect it isn't technically impossible.

On the other hand we might just be led to the next moon light rave or Sect Elder love dungeon...
 
Last edited:
Kian said:
Nevermind, I reread the part concerning the thousand princes. It wasn't a hive thing and more of a single powerful spirit manipulating people with illusions before being slain by Yao. We also know that the civilization to the east of the empire, that got burned by the Guo phoenix were "the fallen dragons of the east". Maybe related to the fallen dragons event in the second age of the empire.



edit 2: for those who were wondering about the whole. Banbar are black and cultivate with metals claim:




this seems to me that the Banu (their land is called Banbar on the world map but the people are apparently called the Banu) cultivate with metal and seem to have access to rare metals as this ships hold of blue adamant is implied to be very valuable and the fact that adamant is the corresponding metal to violet tier body cultivation.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Some corrections:

The Banu are not actually from Banbar. Their land is around the river estuary to the north of Khem. The reason they don't appear on the civilisation map is that Yrs forgot to mention them when I was creating it, and I haven't got around to fixing that.

The Banbar are a peer polity to the empire, inspired by both the Olmecs and central African civilisations.

Khem is a defensive superpower, but lack an effective means of power projection due to their cultivation system, with the top end being forced to sleep most of the time, and having their power irrevocably tied to the land that they control. They have a very stable path to the highest tiers, but cultivation is much, much more deadly for them in the lower ranks, and they suffer a lot of attrition there.

The Empire usually maintains approximately 10 Whites at any given time, across all regions, with some fluctuation around that number.

All of this is sourced from various WoGs, and uh, I also made the map and placed all the civilisations where they are, with Yrs' input on where some things are in relation to others.
 
Last edited:
Xepheria said:
Some corrections:

The Banu are not actually from Banbar. Their land is around the river estuary to the north of Khem. The reason they don't appear on the civilisation map is that Yrs forgot to mention them when I was creating it, and I haven't got around to fixing that.

The Banbar are a peer polity to the empire, inspired by both the Olmecs and central African civilisations.

Khem is a defensive superpower, but lack an effective means of power projection due to their cultivation system, with the top end being forced to sleep most of the time, and having their power irrevocably tied to the land that they control. They have a very stable path to the highest tiers, but cultivation is much, much more deadly for them in the lower ranks, and they suffer a lot of attrition there.

The Empire usually maintains approximately 10 Whites at any given time, across all regions, with some fluctuation around that number.

All of this is sourced from various WoGs, and uh, I also made the map and placed all the civilisations where they are, with Yrs' input on where some things are in relation to others.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So a lot of the civilizations are inspired by myths and/or cultures from different places, like Africa, India etc. What are the Khem inspired by?
 
yrsillar said:
Graduates of the Pearl Coast Sect may easily find careers as officers in household navies, or find positions in the ducal fleet. In addition, with the recent charter granted for the construction of the First Grand Imperial Navy, demand for skilled naval personnel have never been higher!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Gotta wonder when this went through. In particular, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the Empress granting further power to one of her favorites - try to suppress the Xuan a bit, given that they're moving into the Bai/Cai camp.
 
Sirrocco said:
Gotta wonder when this went through. In particular, I wouldn't be surprised if this is the Empress granting further power to one of her favorites - try to suppress the Xuan a bit, given that they're moving into the Bai/Cai camp.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
IIRC Alabaster Sands and Thousand Lakes never got along that well to begin with. With an increasingly outward looking Bai who's beginning to join something of an anti-imperial faction the Jin and their sects are a natural counter balance. The fact the Xuan are potentially interested just makes Alabaster Sands a bit desperate for Imperial backing.
 
wow these thieves sound like lame-o's and they're doing basically-murders-with-stealing-motive instead of heists. Pfft. Can't even disappear the coast and pretend it doesn't exist to hold that they haven't stolen anything.

I like the other sect better. They can steal things and get it called "art" and "relics" and build "museum" hoards of their ill gotten gains. Not like these thieves, that kill and steal things from the freshly dead. That takes all the fun out of it. Sheesh


at least the Sun have the dignity to be stolen by the freshly dead. That takes real skill. That's a big-brain reverse heist where they steal themselves out of the empire just to stick it to the Bao. Champ move. Galaxy brain. If they weren't puppets of the sunflower demon I'd even have good things to say of them.
but you know.


I mean. I guess I respect the stealing of a small culture group and hiding that they exist inside of a Super Special Sect which basically allows them to be a "bit different tm" without being called heretics and wrongthinkers.

MMMmm. Yeah I'm gonna say I like the Royal Society better than the privateers and dockmen that actually ply the Empire's workings. Maybe I'm just aristocratic, but the one kind of looting has a sort of noble affect to it that makes me feel like they're more than brigands, cut-throats, looters and violent rogues of the worst persuasion. Like they actually might be an honorable den of thieves?

I feel they'd at least say "Regrettablyyy" when recounting their escapades, is what I'm saying.
 
I should probably vote now

[X] Agree with Renxiang's suggestion, a military exercise, overseen by the White Plume (++combat cohesion, ???)
 
yrsillar said:
It was this cataclysm which gave rise to the Sect's secondary location, Boiling Bay. Originally established as a barracks and dock, it now stands proud as a city and full sister location to the primary Sect, with all of the amenities and teaching capacity of the original Sect. It was here that the troubles with the northerners began. Despite the fact that it was our blood which was spilled to secure the east, our treasure which built the docks. The men of the Savage Seas quarreled with us, claiming that their small contributions granted them the right to our hard won efforts.

Though negotiations were attempted, the northerns greed could not be satisfied, and ever since although we maintain the Imperial Peace, the ships and isles of the Savage Seas have ever been rivals and foes.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Translation: "We built it together, they want to use it, so we took it all, and man look at those greedy losers."
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top