Probably becuase it was melee oriented, while we went another direction, with the bow at the time and then tossing physical weaponry aside completely and focusing on the fkute
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
So... how much does it cost to own one of these vents?... for the future generations of the ling
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
Lucky for us we do have someone interested in geomancy. Zhengui! Natural geomancy sounds right up his alley.
Inb4 garden becomes a new vent
When I read something in this quest is, "a few centuries away", I think "mid-to-late game". Ling Qi will be all cultivated up to the higher realms and ready when IT AWAKENS.
- Location
- somewhere over there.
- Pronouns
- They/It
While far from the first time it's struck me while reading the quest, the sheer arrogant imperialism in this line actually made me cringe while reading it. The inbuilt framing of the "barbarians" who'd already been living there for who knows how long as squatters, as if the land they were living on was already owned by the Xi is well written, and just gross.
Considering the Imperials found intact and undamaged vents, they clearly understood them better at the time. Besides, there's also no reason to assume they were less capable of learning about them, so it's mainly a question of how long they were there, and if they were there for a long time, whether they created them, or just expanded them like the Sect is looking into doing.
No it's not fair. Right of First Refusal gives the buyer an advantage over the seller. Ling Qi can't even invite another potential buyer to make an offer until after she's rejected the Meng's offer. How does she know if the Meng offer is the best one if she doesn't know what anyone else is willing to offer in exchange? It's better to offer Right of First Offer, this way the Meng's know they will be competing against other bidders, including potentially the Cai. If the Duchess, the Luo, or whoever is in charge of the Ice Witches are willing to make a better offer, it's better to know it before Ling Qi decides to accept or reject the Meng offer.
Last edited:
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
Unfortunately the argent arts are controlled by the sect. We can't give or train others in them.
The Cai are very unlikely to be interested, as Cai Shensua has shown disregard for past lineages. Among the counts, the Meng will probably be the most interested, and will offer most to get it. The ice witches are possible, but I don't think they will want the tapestry.Still, we should probably only give right of first refusal to the Meng after returnung to imperual kands, as the witches offer might be unique and very useful for LQ
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
Why are people entertaining the idea of selling it to the ice witches?
- Location
- Space
I think you might have those terms backwards. Right of First Refusal means that if someone else makes us an offer we have to give the Meng the option to buy it at that same price before selling it to the other person. Right of First Offer means that we have to try negotiating with them first. Both are advantageous to the buyer, RFR because it means they'll never need to bid very much more than their competitors and RFO because as long as you offer a good price on your first negotiation you can remove the chance that it'll get bid up to a great price, but neither is really inherently exploitative. It would be a favor to the Meng to offer them the right at no cost, but that's not a terrible thing if we want good relations with them.
Cant we master the art and use as inspiration to creat our art that uses argent qi ?
We can makes a Song or dance art i dont thinke the sect can Control that IS only a inspiration
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
If an art has to use argent qi the I am pretty sure the sect will be prissy about it. They control all the current sources of argent qi after all.
Using an argent art as inspiration for an art of similar ability or function is probably fine. After all the argent arts exist to solve problems their users may encounter. If one keeps encountering a similar problem than it makes sense to look at other successful arts for inspiration on how to deal with it.
The uniqueness of the argent arts come in how they interlock and build on each other. It might be interesting to try and create something similar, but if we stray to close to the idea of balancing opposing elements then the sect may cry foul.
- Location
- Florida
I don't think they'd be mad at us for making arts that are argent based, the might even be flattered about it. After all imitation is the sincerest form of flattery 
Besides we can only make them in red and maybe yellow anyway since it's not our focus and they'd likely be altered by us, it'd just be filling out the clan's archive.
Besides we can only make them in red and maybe yellow anyway since it's not our focus and they'd likely be altered by us, it'd just be filling out the clan's archive.
- Location
- Cali
Is the mist the reason why people have eyes but can't see Mount Tai?
- Location
- Colorado
That's hardly the only reason why the vents might have been intact. The imperials ruined them by mining for spirit stones, have we had any indication that the cloud tribes use spirit stones? We certainly haven't had any indication that they have large scale mining operations for anything, let alone spirit stones. If they were just using the vents as cultivation sites then there's no reason for that to degrade them. I mean they could have also known important secrets about the argent vents and known how to create more, but we have zero evidence of that. We have exactly one sentence saying they lived there, no need to jump to conclusions.
I assume they used the vents as cultivation sites, since that attribute is easily discerned. Whether they're responsible for tending to or expanding the vents is a mystery that'd never be known, however, as the Cloud Tribes do not use stones for cultivation, they are exceedingly unlikely to have damaged it as the Imperials did.
Entirely speculative, but I wonder of the Argent vents have some kind of inverse relationship with the subterranean fishing streams. They apparently affect ambient qi on a regional scale. If there is a relationship, the gradual, and accelerating, repair of the Argent vents to their past state might explain the diminishing yields of a resource that they'd gotten used having an abundance of, after millenia.
This is literally just one data point with no correlation though, so definitely in the region of strawgrasping. There's no evidence there is any connection, it's just not wholly implausible.
This is literally just one data point with no correlation though, so definitely in the region of strawgrasping. There's no evidence there is any connection, it's just not wholly implausible.
- Location
- Somewhere.
Hey @yrsillar you accidentally'd a sentence here.
- Location
- UK
This sounds like the sort of thing that starts either a xianxia industrial revolution (which I would be so up for) or that goes horribly wrong creating some abomination of chaotic qi which plagues the region. Maybe even both!
I really hope that few centuries estimate is accurate and Yrs is teasing potential late game plot, because late game Ling Qi being involved in that sort of thing sounds great.
Thinks of original project of the Nameless.
So you're saying we've been snorting soylent green? Neat.
Turn 11: Arc 4-6
"Oh, this is a shiny one, I like it," Sixiang said, lying back on the polished surface of an antique table. They held a slip of white jade up to their face as if they could look into it with their eyes.
Ling Qi glanced up from the near empty box and the jade slips arranged on the cover of a massive atlas of the Emerald Sea that lay on the floor before her. "Oh, what do we have there?" She asked cheerfully
Sixiang flicked it to her, and Ling Qi caught it out of the air, threading qi into the talisman to read the encoded information. Ling Qi frowned only a moment later. "Sixiang this is another play."
"But it's really intriguing you know? I want to see how things turn out for the general and the prince. Can't we watch it?" Sixiang replied with a grin, letting their head hang off the table to peer at her upside down.
Ling Qi huffed. "And I told you we could see about investigating things more closely later. We're organizing right now."
Despite her words, Ling Qi did want to look into it further. Many of the jade slips recorded performances, poetry and songs. While they didn't seem to contain techniques or Arts obviously, she could tell that there were insights to be found. As a musician, she had the itch to study the scores and the meter, but she just didn't have time right now.
"Boo, I'm gonna hold you to that later," Sixiang huffed.
"They're not even full recordings. If anything you should be bothering me to sell them to a theatre troupe so we can see them performed properly," Ling Qi shot back. There was no heat in it though. She really had hit a treasure trove here. There were dozens of arts here, mostly minor second realm things, but a few breached the third realm. From her study they did not seem much lower in quality than her old Thousand Ring Defense Art, she was beyond them herself, but she could still see their value.
She would have to split them with Xia Lin of course, and she could already see ones the girl might be interested in, but even so, it was a great boon for her burgeoning clan library. More important though, were the five jade slips that she had added to a third pile.
They contained teachings on the crafting and modification of arts, and even a cursory glance had shown that their lessons were far deeper than the basic instruction offered by her Sect lessons. There was musing on the shape of meridians, on insights and tribulations and breakthroughs that she knew she would want to study more closely later.
It took a moment for Ling Qi to tear her eyes away from the remaining jade slips and turn her head to see how Meng Dan was doing. All around him were neat stacks of documents, books and treasures, and dozens more floated around him, swiftly organizing themselves even as Meng Dan himself remained standing before the tapestry rapidly going back and forth between it and the book. "Any luck so far?"
"I believe I may have found the trouble," Meng Dan said sourly. "The reason our prince has been so hard to find."
Ling Qi glanced from Meng Dan to the tapestry. He was glaring at it, and the tapestry was giving off an air of haughty indifference. "What is the problem then?"
"Whatever miscreant embroidered the earlier names changed those that did not fit the dominant imperial and weilu naming schema," Meng Dan said. He sounded as if he had been gravely insulted. "I have enough context that I was able to locate him by the princess and her relations."
Ling Qi gave the tapestry a long look, and considered the ravings of Hui Peng, written and otherwise. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. "Does he even have an entry in the book?"
"He does," Meng Dan sniffed. "Although he is recorded merely as a 'southern prince' with few accomplishments. It seems that the High Kingship moved to a more northerly line after his father-in-law's passing."
"The line continues though, right?" Ling Qi asked in concern. It would be problematic for their argument if the line dead ended.
"I am determining that, he and the princess certainly had children at least," Meng Dan replied. "Tracing those lines is proving more difficult however."
Ling Qi nodded, looking back to her own work as she took up another jade slip. Threading qi through the formation, she peered at the information, and this time she paused.
"Heh, I know that look. Found something you like this time huh?" Sixiang chuckled.
"Maybe," Ling Qi said. The jade was partially locked, revealing only a few tantalizing bits of information, it was the a recipe for a potent breakthrough elixir meant to aid in achieving the fourth realm and the opening of the middle dantian. Heart's Dream elixir it was called.
But the information encoded within was clouded from her sight. It was going to take time to puzzle through, but even what scraps she could make out told her that it's ingredients would not be easy to acquire. It looked like she might have picked up a new long term project to be done with Suyin.
Ling Qi was not certain how long it was before the last old talisman was placed in a pile. Time was hard to keep in this sunless little pocket realm. But it was at last done. Ling Qi stretched her arms overhead as she surveyed the contents of the ring. Still a mess, but a catalogued mess. Sort of.
Things were mostly piled with similar things anyway.
"Any luck yet?" Ling Qi asked, turning back to Meng Dan. He had fallen back into a chair at some point, with Yinhui perched on its arm. The book lay open in his lap and a pile of densely written notes had begun to pile up beside his chair.
"I have begun to gain a picture of events," Meng Dan said with some satisfaction. "The minor civil strife which ended the High King's rule, the passing of his grandchildren into the care of other tribes…. I have traced a few generations, they seem to have been on the winning side of the mason's war at least. Sign's seem to indicate that their blood concentrated in the southwest. There may be some connection to the fallen Li."
"Is that bad?" Ling Qi asked. "That's still the dead end problem again."
"Ah, but both my family and the Diao adopted refugees from that clan when absorbing their lands," Meng Dan said cheerfully. "Not to mention intermarriages. If I am correct, our argument remains solid."
"Good," Ling Qi said in relief. "Do you need anymore help, or should I head out and let Lady Cai know that the organization is mostly done?"
She was feeling significantly better, her qi beginning to recover well. So they must have been in here for awhile.
Meng Dan nodded, closing the book in his lap and gathering his notes as he stood. "I believe so. Meaning no offense, but the work remaining is rather more in my realm of expertise."
"I take none," Ling Qi said. "Are you coming out as well then?"
"I think I shall, this place is rather dreary," he agreed cheerfully.
"I will remain unless called," Yinhui murmured, sliding into his chair with a tome the size of her torso in hand. "It is comfortable here."
"Only for you," Sixiang chuckled. "I'll be glad to get out."
Ling Qi nodded, preparing to leave the ring, only to pause as Meng Dan extended a hand to her, holding a sheet of paper, packed with his dense hand writing.
"A small gift, Miss Ling," he said, dipping his head. "While I acknowledge your earlier words…"
Ling Qi took the paper as he spoke, glancing down to see names and deeds. A musician in court of the second Weilu duke, a brave general who had been lauded for saving a burgeoning city from an eruption of malignant spirits, and playwright whose performances were in circulation until their loss in the disappearance were the first to catch her eye. There more than a half dozen others as well. They were not dukes or provincial heroes or truly notable historical figures, but at a glance, they seemed good people at least.
"...I do not believe it is a good thing to dismiss one's ancestry wholesale. Many of our predecessors were foul, this is true, but many were admirable as well," Meng Dan said. "A single man is not a family tree."
Ling Qi paused. She had already dismissed thoughts of ancestry from her head. It was a curio, she had thought, no reason to give it more thought than that. "There was no need."
There really was no harm in knowing she supposed.
"I am being somewhat presumptuous, I know," Meng Dan shrugged. "Putting my own belief upon you. But I think it is a sad thing to have no roots."
"...It's fine, and thank you I think," Ling Qi said after a moment. Some names looked a little familiar, had there not been a few talismans with that name etched upon them, and a sculpture matched to that one?
It might not be the worst thing, to put those in her claims.
"Although, if you wish to track the 'other side' I may have to charge," Meng Dan chuckled. "That cantankerous old talisman does not much like maternal bloodlines."
Ling Qi blinked. She had said... The man had ruled other Weilu, so it made some sense that his… dalliance would be somewhere as well.
"I'll consider it," Ling Qi said, folding the parchment. "But let us get out for now.
Ling Qi had not been certain what she expected to see when she emerged, but this was not it.
Under the dark canopy of the valley, lit by the fey lights and the eyes of the wood spirits lurking among every bough, were spiders in their thousands. They stood in a glistening castle of webbing, woven among millenia old trees. In the center, hovering above the form of a great brown spider the size of s small house, Cai Renxiang burned like a star with wings of radiance on her shoulders.
The spiders bowed, one and all, pressing their bodies to the ground, to the webs, to the branches. A gesture of supplication, obvious despite their inhuman frames.
"Negotiations are complete then. The House of Cai accepts your reparations and your oaths," Cai Renxiang said.
...Well, it looked like they both had some things to share.
AN: Time for some loot voting as we finish out this arc. Firstly on the fate of the tapestry.
[] Claim the tapestry as part of your share and give the Meng right of first refusal(-.5 multiplier to loot auction value. +1 Meng opinion)
[] Claim the tapestry as part of your share, but make no agreement(-.5 multiplier to loot auction value)
[] Allow Xia Lin to claim the tapestry (.5 multiplier to loot auction value)
Yes, this means that there is an auction arc coming in your future. Secondly, there are a huge number of talismans minor and powerful, please vote as in Talisman creation to generate mechanically useful accessory Talisman's to claim.
Use the following format
[][talisman] Physical form of talisman
-[]Derived attribute or skill Talisman buffs
Talismans such as your formation breaking tools are valid, those would be a formation buffing talisman for example. These are not weapons however, so don't try to design them that way. We'll get to your flute eventually. Each person may create one talisman, the three talismans with the most votes will be claimed by Ling Qi.
Ling Qi glanced up from the near empty box and the jade slips arranged on the cover of a massive atlas of the Emerald Sea that lay on the floor before her. "Oh, what do we have there?" She asked cheerfully
Sixiang flicked it to her, and Ling Qi caught it out of the air, threading qi into the talisman to read the encoded information. Ling Qi frowned only a moment later. "Sixiang this is another play."
"But it's really intriguing you know? I want to see how things turn out for the general and the prince. Can't we watch it?" Sixiang replied with a grin, letting their head hang off the table to peer at her upside down.
Ling Qi huffed. "And I told you we could see about investigating things more closely later. We're organizing right now."
Despite her words, Ling Qi did want to look into it further. Many of the jade slips recorded performances, poetry and songs. While they didn't seem to contain techniques or Arts obviously, she could tell that there were insights to be found. As a musician, she had the itch to study the scores and the meter, but she just didn't have time right now.
"Boo, I'm gonna hold you to that later," Sixiang huffed.
"They're not even full recordings. If anything you should be bothering me to sell them to a theatre troupe so we can see them performed properly," Ling Qi shot back. There was no heat in it though. She really had hit a treasure trove here. There were dozens of arts here, mostly minor second realm things, but a few breached the third realm. From her study they did not seem much lower in quality than her old Thousand Ring Defense Art, she was beyond them herself, but she could still see their value.
She would have to split them with Xia Lin of course, and she could already see ones the girl might be interested in, but even so, it was a great boon for her burgeoning clan library. More important though, were the five jade slips that she had added to a third pile.
They contained teachings on the crafting and modification of arts, and even a cursory glance had shown that their lessons were far deeper than the basic instruction offered by her Sect lessons. There was musing on the shape of meridians, on insights and tribulations and breakthroughs that she knew she would want to study more closely later.
It took a moment for Ling Qi to tear her eyes away from the remaining jade slips and turn her head to see how Meng Dan was doing. All around him were neat stacks of documents, books and treasures, and dozens more floated around him, swiftly organizing themselves even as Meng Dan himself remained standing before the tapestry rapidly going back and forth between it and the book. "Any luck so far?"
"I believe I may have found the trouble," Meng Dan said sourly. "The reason our prince has been so hard to find."
Ling Qi glanced from Meng Dan to the tapestry. He was glaring at it, and the tapestry was giving off an air of haughty indifference. "What is the problem then?"
"Whatever miscreant embroidered the earlier names changed those that did not fit the dominant imperial and weilu naming schema," Meng Dan said. He sounded as if he had been gravely insulted. "I have enough context that I was able to locate him by the princess and her relations."
Ling Qi gave the tapestry a long look, and considered the ravings of Hui Peng, written and otherwise. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised. "Does he even have an entry in the book?"
"He does," Meng Dan sniffed. "Although he is recorded merely as a 'southern prince' with few accomplishments. It seems that the High Kingship moved to a more northerly line after his father-in-law's passing."
"The line continues though, right?" Ling Qi asked in concern. It would be problematic for their argument if the line dead ended.
"I am determining that, he and the princess certainly had children at least," Meng Dan replied. "Tracing those lines is proving more difficult however."
Ling Qi nodded, looking back to her own work as she took up another jade slip. Threading qi through the formation, she peered at the information, and this time she paused.
"Heh, I know that look. Found something you like this time huh?" Sixiang chuckled.
"Maybe," Ling Qi said. The jade was partially locked, revealing only a few tantalizing bits of information, it was the a recipe for a potent breakthrough elixir meant to aid in achieving the fourth realm and the opening of the middle dantian. Heart's Dream elixir it was called.
But the information encoded within was clouded from her sight. It was going to take time to puzzle through, but even what scraps she could make out told her that it's ingredients would not be easy to acquire. It looked like she might have picked up a new long term project to be done with Suyin.
***
Ling Qi was not certain how long it was before the last old talisman was placed in a pile. Time was hard to keep in this sunless little pocket realm. But it was at last done. Ling Qi stretched her arms overhead as she surveyed the contents of the ring. Still a mess, but a catalogued mess. Sort of.
Things were mostly piled with similar things anyway.
"Any luck yet?" Ling Qi asked, turning back to Meng Dan. He had fallen back into a chair at some point, with Yinhui perched on its arm. The book lay open in his lap and a pile of densely written notes had begun to pile up beside his chair.
"I have begun to gain a picture of events," Meng Dan said with some satisfaction. "The minor civil strife which ended the High King's rule, the passing of his grandchildren into the care of other tribes…. I have traced a few generations, they seem to have been on the winning side of the mason's war at least. Sign's seem to indicate that their blood concentrated in the southwest. There may be some connection to the fallen Li."
"Is that bad?" Ling Qi asked. "That's still the dead end problem again."
"Ah, but both my family and the Diao adopted refugees from that clan when absorbing their lands," Meng Dan said cheerfully. "Not to mention intermarriages. If I am correct, our argument remains solid."
"Good," Ling Qi said in relief. "Do you need anymore help, or should I head out and let Lady Cai know that the organization is mostly done?"
She was feeling significantly better, her qi beginning to recover well. So they must have been in here for awhile.
Meng Dan nodded, closing the book in his lap and gathering his notes as he stood. "I believe so. Meaning no offense, but the work remaining is rather more in my realm of expertise."
"I take none," Ling Qi said. "Are you coming out as well then?"
"I think I shall, this place is rather dreary," he agreed cheerfully.
"I will remain unless called," Yinhui murmured, sliding into his chair with a tome the size of her torso in hand. "It is comfortable here."
"Only for you," Sixiang chuckled. "I'll be glad to get out."
Ling Qi nodded, preparing to leave the ring, only to pause as Meng Dan extended a hand to her, holding a sheet of paper, packed with his dense hand writing.
"A small gift, Miss Ling," he said, dipping his head. "While I acknowledge your earlier words…"
Ling Qi took the paper as he spoke, glancing down to see names and deeds. A musician in court of the second Weilu duke, a brave general who had been lauded for saving a burgeoning city from an eruption of malignant spirits, and playwright whose performances were in circulation until their loss in the disappearance were the first to catch her eye. There more than a half dozen others as well. They were not dukes or provincial heroes or truly notable historical figures, but at a glance, they seemed good people at least.
"...I do not believe it is a good thing to dismiss one's ancestry wholesale. Many of our predecessors were foul, this is true, but many were admirable as well," Meng Dan said. "A single man is not a family tree."
Ling Qi paused. She had already dismissed thoughts of ancestry from her head. It was a curio, she had thought, no reason to give it more thought than that. "There was no need."
There really was no harm in knowing she supposed.
"I am being somewhat presumptuous, I know," Meng Dan shrugged. "Putting my own belief upon you. But I think it is a sad thing to have no roots."
"...It's fine, and thank you I think," Ling Qi said after a moment. Some names looked a little familiar, had there not been a few talismans with that name etched upon them, and a sculpture matched to that one?
It might not be the worst thing, to put those in her claims.
"Although, if you wish to track the 'other side' I may have to charge," Meng Dan chuckled. "That cantankerous old talisman does not much like maternal bloodlines."
Ling Qi blinked. She had said... The man had ruled other Weilu, so it made some sense that his… dalliance would be somewhere as well.
"I'll consider it," Ling Qi said, folding the parchment. "But let us get out for now.
***
Ling Qi had not been certain what she expected to see when she emerged, but this was not it.
Under the dark canopy of the valley, lit by the fey lights and the eyes of the wood spirits lurking among every bough, were spiders in their thousands. They stood in a glistening castle of webbing, woven among millenia old trees. In the center, hovering above the form of a great brown spider the size of s small house, Cai Renxiang burned like a star with wings of radiance on her shoulders.
The spiders bowed, one and all, pressing their bodies to the ground, to the webs, to the branches. A gesture of supplication, obvious despite their inhuman frames.
"Negotiations are complete then. The House of Cai accepts your reparations and your oaths," Cai Renxiang said.
...Well, it looked like they both had some things to share.
AN: Time for some loot voting as we finish out this arc. Firstly on the fate of the tapestry.
[] Claim the tapestry as part of your share and give the Meng right of first refusal(-.5 multiplier to loot auction value. +1 Meng opinion)
[] Claim the tapestry as part of your share, but make no agreement(-.5 multiplier to loot auction value)
[] Allow Xia Lin to claim the tapestry (.5 multiplier to loot auction value)
Yes, this means that there is an auction arc coming in your future. Secondly, there are a huge number of talismans minor and powerful, please vote as in Talisman creation to generate mechanically useful accessory Talisman's to claim.
Use the following format
[][talisman] Physical form of talisman
-[]Derived attribute or skill Talisman buffs
Talismans such as your formation breaking tools are valid, those would be a formation buffing talisman for example. These are not weapons however, so don't try to design them that way. We'll get to your flute eventually. Each person may create one talisman, the three talismans with the most votes will be claimed by Ling Qi.