Top 4 In Order said:
[X][talisman] Dream Drenched Compass:
-[X] Perceptiveness, Survival: A Navigational aid for use in the Liminal Realm
[X][talisman] A mirror that appears full of shimmering mist
-[X] Enhances abilities that involve shifting things in and out of Dream
[X][talisman] Practicioner's Divining Rings, a set of large inscribed rings that offer much of the benefit of a more traditional stationary scrying setup for the practitioner on the move.
-[X] When channeling a divination art across the rings, they serve to stabilize and enhance the connection offering the user much finer control, and additionally aid in piercing any illusions or barriers that may bar one's sight.
[X][talisman] Liminal Scrying Mirror
-[X]Enhances scrying and allows one to peer and step into the Liminal Realm
Vote counts tail off pretty hard after these, so I'll focus my
complaints observations on them. The current situation with the leads is fairly unsatisfying, mostly because of weird overlap/splitting concerns, as well as compatibility issues.
First, and most importantly, the leading Compass is, of course, perfect and unassailable in every respect. There is no conceivable flaw to be found with it. It stands reigning supreme for a reason.
After that, there's the issue of redundancy. Places #2 and #3 both have overlap with #4. This makes any shift in the current setup awkward, because then we'd have overlapping abilities in our picks. Granted, #2 and #3 seem to be going for a more personal/equipment approach to talisman than #4's tool/utility approach, so it's not like #4 neatly replaces them. There's no real solution to this problem, it's just an annoying situation to find ourselves in. There's fewer viable designs in play than I'd expected there would be, at the start of the vote.
I mostly want to focus on the rings though, because I don't think they're well suited to Ling Qi, for a variety of reasons. It appears like the intent is for them to be standard wear, displacing another of our talismans for regular use? A set of rings is awkward for quick swapping or just popping out of our storage ring real quick, so I think my interpretation is sound. Replacing another talisman isn't a big deal, but these don't seem to do a lot for us in regular use. Our only common divination tech is our RME wisps, but those have never actually had an issue with their "stability" or "control"; anti-illusion/barrier piercing isn't bad, but this seems marginal.
We do have a more involved divination technique, but it requires the use of mirrors or surfaces of water to use, which this talisman doesn't reasonably free us from needing, and doesn't help provide. At the next level of RME, we do gain the ability to generate our own surfaces and use them at a penalty, but I wouldn't expect these rings to actually erase that penalty on the fly because as a matter of concentration, our attention would still be greatly split. It's an inherently sedate and meditative technique. On the fly just doesn't mix with it.
Finally, we already have hand jewelry on one hand, and a set of rings, which given it's Hui and their themes I'd just automatically assume to number
eight(which is cool and thematic for Hui divination, but doesn't fit ours), sounds conflict-y just on the practical level of wear.
The rings
being rings seems to conflict with basic equipment slots, with actually providing ease of use utility, and basic compatibility with the backroom functionality of our divination Art. We're not a spider lady delicately plucking at the threads of fate, which is what would fit with these rings. Our hands really have nothing to do with the scrying we can do. It's narratively, stylistically, and logistically a mess.
It's only a bad pick if it doesn't actually work as well, which is very different claim to be making than mere "but the aesthetics match up weird."
The thing is Sixiang's, like, literally made out of aesthetics, in part. Immaterial spirit of Dreams, inspiration, and
art and such. I'll-fitting methods should, by all rights, have diminished narrative effect.
Edit: and I don't just mean for Sixiang. It should be the same for everyone. But Sixiang in particular given their nature.
