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

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I don't think 'renting' it will really be as easy as people suggest. It's literally an upstart nobody charging people for the opportunity to understand more of their heritage using a priceless piece of history.

I can't do all the political nuance of this sort of discovery justice. But there is going to be some kind of undercurrent that a literal nobody shouldn't have this historical relic when there's entire clans who define their identity based off of information that's likely recorded on this tapestry. And that's before we start trying to charge people for the privilege. We do not value this tapestry the same way other clans might- we can either use that to engender good will and useful concessions, or we can maybe parlay giving it to the Cai as Ling Qi letting all Emerald Sea families share in their common ancestry (with the underlying caveat that its another tool for the Cai to control them).

Treating this irreverently or as a commodity to be traded or exploited is liable to make enemies.
 
Hm. Instead of internal politics unexplored Weilu tombs to plunder by future generations would explain the reaction by Meng Dan as taking into consideration how Meizhen wasn't particularly surprised the Argent Sect had a Weilu tomb on it, and the tomb of a dead Weilu had treasures to loot. Also if the exact locations were lost to time, and it being a fairly universal for all Weilu... their clan largely died in the same location.

Although in this outcome I'd expect it be less Ling Qi rents it out, and more Meng Dan alongside his branch clan are going to learn about the location from helping with the exact details of them.
 
TotallyNotEvil said:
Yeah, and we are neither an entire sect nor looking for a dragon god palace.
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We are something even better than that: the protagonist.

In all seriousness though, Yrs may write the story, but I believe he takes note of the voter bases interests. If there is enough interest in the Weilu plotline I wouldn't be surprised if Ling Qi found herself entangled in an adventure that gave her an opportunity to pursue it.

In a way isn't that the point of the RR story? So he can dangle all these threads in front of us now and then go back and tidy up the ones we didn't pull so they aren't awkwardly left dangling.
 
I mean, this is from the Hui.

If we find anything from it it would be Weilu stuff that was appropriated by the Hui - which could still be valuable! See this place after all. But not quite the same thing.
 
reignonyrparade said:
That IS charging for it, just under politically acceptable terms, so you're basically saying "we can't charge for it, but what we can do is charge for it."
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I think what they mean is to trade it once, instead of trying to turn it into a carnival side show. Anything that can easily be boiled down to renting the tapestry could be considered rude by people invested in this particular piece of history.
 
There are a number of things that we could ask of the Meng in exchange for the tapestry that would raise their esteem of us. In general treating them as people we are interested in or whose expertise we find valuable is going to give them face. For instance we could ask them for a history/genealogy of their clan, implying that we value their lineage. A request for tutoring in the Lei tradition of music (or some other tradition that a Meng is a famous expert in) is another possibility, as that says that we value the Meng Clan's contributions to our interests. We could also ask them for something that could demonstrate their prowess as crafters, such as a request to help us with creating an appropriate home for our family once we get our fief.

Those are also very open ended requests that let them decide how much they want to give. Given their power and their own desire for a closer relationship with us and the Cai, that might be a surprisingly large amount. They aren't going to give Lei's works, but they almost certainly have Cyans who are part of her tradition who might be willing to teach us for a few months. Similarly "help" with creating a home could range from token financial assistance to creating the whole thing for us such that it's fit for a Cyan. The level is completely up to them.

The only limitation is that we should only ask for one thing. The point is to give them the opportunity to show off if they want to and asking for several things means that they can't put as much effort into any particular one.
 
Erebeal said:
I mean, this is from the Hui.

If we find anything from it it would be Weilu stuff that was appropriated by the Hui - which could still be valuable! See this place after all. But not quite the same thing.
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I would like to poke at this a bit. Meng Dan currently assumes that this is a Hui artifact. That's not 100% proof but likely good enough for now.

Now, this artifact contains a massive amount of information. Information about people who long predated the Hui and often, given our ancestor, wouldn't have left anything behind for divination arts to hold onto. So where did they, whoever built this artifact, get their information? Likely from records left behind by the Wielu and their descendents.

The Hui could have fabricated things of course, and if they did build the artifact they likely did. Such fabrications would be unfortunate, however I doubt that everything is a fabrication. Why would they waste their time with all of the insignificant people then?

So assuming that a majority of the information is true this is a collection and arrangement of information from the Weilu period.

Now that does mean that the Hui, or even the Xi would have had the chance to discover these hidden palaces. They either did and no records survived, or they never found any. Perhaps the clues in records used for this artifact didn't have enough clues, or they were uninterested in finding the hidden palaces.

No matter how it plays out, it could be quite the treasure hunt through history.
 
TotallyNotEvil said:
Yeah, and we are neither an entire sect nor looking for a dragon god palace.

It seems to me you found a head canon you really like and ran away with it.

But who knows, maybe Yrs will have mercy and humor you. But so far, there has been zero indication that the sort of thing you claim is in there.
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We don't need to be a sect to find something, perhaps you need a sect to take full advantage of a find, but that is a conversation for after something Is found.

Do you have a reason for thinking my theory is bust? You can believe that this is just head canon, however I have been using text from the story to back up the theory, so I don't think it's completely unfounded like you are claiming. If you have something you believe invalidates my theory I would enjoy discussing it.

To be clear this is a theory. It's not proven. It's not guaranteed. I don't need something guaranteed to roll the dice on it though. However the dice end up rolling I think hunting for treasure among the lost history of long dead warlords will make for a fantastic song in the end.
 
Yun said:
Hm. Instead of internal politics unexplored Weilu tombs to plunder by future generations would explain the reaction by Meng Dan as taking into consideration how Meizhen wasn't particularly surprised the Argent Sect had a Weilu tomb on it, and the tomb of a dead Weilu had treasures to loot. Also if the exact locations were lost to time, and it being a fairly universal for all Weilu... their clan largely died in the same location.

Although in this outcome I'd expect it be less Ling Qi rents it out, and more Meng Dan alongside his branch clan are going to learn about the location from helping with the exact details of them.
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These are some good concerns, however they seemed to be based on telling people we have the tapestry. My idea of renting out the tapestry would be to get an agreement from a clan to store it for us and then pay a ln agreed amount to study it. We don't actually have to tell people we have it besides the clan we are renting it to. If nobody knows it came from us than no blow back will hit us. At least in theory. You are right though it won't be that easy.
 
Hmm, I wonder if this will influence Ling Qi's rumination on family, particularly those of the "all the little fires overlapping" variety from a while back (I don't remember if we ever got an actual Insight from that art?)

Because in a way, Meng Dan is wrong, the Emerald Seas isn't many tribes; it's one big family, connected even if by the thinnest of margins through the bloodline of Tsu the Diviner.
 
ichypa said:
Hmm, I wonder if this will influence Ling Qi's rumination on family, particularly those of the "all the little fires overlapping" variety from a while back (I don't remember if we ever got an actual Insight from that art?)

Because in a way, Meng Dan is wrong, the Emerald Seas isn't many tribes; it's one big family, connected even if by the thinnest of margins through the bloodline of Tsu the Diviner.
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It was a very nice piece near the end. That discussion about traditions and their interactions with new ideas offered an interesting glimpse into what Meng Dan believes.
 
As i previously stated, i want to go and have everyone poke it, less noble birth the better, like, go to a big city and have every person in the slums poke the tapestry. :V
 
BronzeTongue said:
I think what they mean is to trade it once, instead of trying to turn it into a carnival side show. Anything that can easily be boiled down to renting the tapestry could be considered rude by people invested in this particular piece of history.
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Except, most of those people would never have a chance to buy it. Not when a clan as big as the Meng are interested. So it's really to their collective benefit that we don't try to auction it, because if we do then it is Count Clans only and no one else will never get to so much as hope to see the Tapestry.

I'm not saying they won't completely lock themselves out of the thing they value out of some made-up sense of propriety, but they could totally choose not to do that instead.
 
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Actually, nevermind the renting it out. Political connections on this tier doesn't work like that. You allow people to use it and check their lineages. That means they'd be going to you, whether scholars, nobles, or commoners looking for a piece of history to claim.
That means they'd be talking to you, and because the journey isn't trivial, that means they'd be staying for tea and a chat. If they want to make a big show of it to bolster their legitimacy, that means you host a party for the people THEY would invite to your place.

Not a single stone needs to change hands to see benefits.
 
veekie said:
Actually, nevermind the renting it out. Political connections on this tier doesn't work like that. You allow people to use it and check their lineages. That means they'd be going to you, whether scholars, nobles, or commoners looking for a piece of history to claim.
That means they'd be talking to you, and because the journey isn't trivial, that means they'd be staying for tea and a chat. If they want to make a big show of it to bolster their legitimacy, that means you host a party for the people THEY would invite to your place.

Not a single stone needs to change hands to see benefits.
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That does put a lot of pressure on us though. Pressure we may not be able to handle yet.

My thought process is let someone else handle the heat for having something this big.
 
Neshuakadal said:
That does put a lot of pressure on us though. Pressure we may not be able to handle yet.

My thought process is let someone else handle the heat for having something this big.
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I mean, the tapestry isn't going to get worse with time. Presumably we'd do that AFTER we have a household, and before that limit its use to allied scholars.

I'm curious about Suyin.
 
veekie said:
I mean, the tapestry isn't going to get worse with time. Presumably we'd do that AFTER we have a household, and before that limit its use to allied scholars.
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I can see that. It's not like we have to tell people about it right away once this mission is done. Waiting until we have more of a name to ourself makes a lot of sense if we want to use it as a political tool. If nothing else it does make a fine conversation starter.
 
Varder said:
Hidden Moon is about keeping secrets secret, not selling them for money though.
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Hidden Moon is also about re-discovering and giving access to what was lost, like with lost stories Ling Qi got during her trip with Xin and Grinning and Dreaming moon avatars, and which started to appear across the province as referenced by Meng Dan.

Edit: or at least it considers secrets known by no one useless:
yrsillar said:
"You are too quick to spread your secrets sister," said the Hidden Moon, wearing Xin's face. "But one known by none is useless as well I suppose."
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Edit 2: Meng Dan is of the Hidden himself, and naturally he likes that this lost info was re-discovered:
yrsillar said:
The burning library of lost knowledge she had briefly browsed on her trial of the moons had been helpful.

Meng Dan's perpetually amused expression didn't fade, but he did give her an assessing look. "Quite, why recently, the library discovered a number of old Xi era poems. The translation butchered the meter but they have been informative."

Ling Qi very carefully did not react at all. "How fortunate."
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veekie said:
I mean, the tapestry isn't going to get worse with time. Presumably we'd do that AFTER we have a household, and before that limit its use to allied scholars.

I'm curious about Suyin.
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We cannot yet afford to host anyone of note yet. Heck we can't even foist this off to our mother since she has no knowledge of the values cultivators use. This means we would either need to handle all this personally, or hire an intermediary which would cut into the profits further.

Really, selling this would give us more of that much needed foundation for when we finally formally establish our Clan.
 
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