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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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The way I see it, we have to consider both what they may be seeing, what we can say to snap them out of it, and if the latter is stronger than the former.

[] Cai Renxiang

From a story perspective she's my favourite option, I'd love to get a little peak in her head. Though there is a small niggling voice that's telling me it may be a poor idea. Still, I'm leaning this way for sure.

[] Gan Guangli

If we chose Gan Guangli I feel we would need to appeal to his loyalty, the concern is it may be hard to appeal to that loyalty if the dream twists it so that we are somehow a threat to Cai.

[] Meng Dan

IMO, Meng Dan is out, we don't know enough about him either way.

[] Xia Lin

Same with the above to be honest.

Overall I'm glad we went this way, this is going to be interesting. Potentially bad, sure, but interesting all the same.
 
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CRX seems like such an obvious choice here that I am convinced that it is actually the hardest. Probably because Liming will fight us or something? Shrug.

I'm gonna vote for Gan.
 
picklepikkl said:
CRX seems like such an obvious choice here that I am convinced that it is actually the hardest. Probably because Liming will fight us or something? Shrug.

I'm gonna vote for Gan.
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I would take Meng or Xia over Gan. Our relationship with him is pretty dang shallow, we've been rebuffed before when asking about his tragic backstory, and we don't click with him naturally like we have with Meng or Xia. My personal view is that Gg is the hardest just cause we don't have a good handle on him.
 
Katreus said:
I would take Meng or Xia over Gan. Our relationship with him is pretty dang shallow, we've been rebuffed before when asking about his tragic backstory, and we don't click with him naturally like we have with Meng or Xia. My personal view is that Gg is the hardest just cause we don't have a good handle on him.
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We've known him longer than the other two, and he's been actively fighting his demons lately.
 
Wasnt it mentioned from the turtle twin's that shadow's are harder to cast in the light? Think I may go for Gan if CRX accidentally banishes us in the dream.
 
Assuming it is CRX that gets chosen (which I think it will be), what do you guys think is going to be shown? I'm guessing it will be her goals completed, a perfect utopia built with order and purpose, along with the more personal/intimate desire of her mother's pride.
 
The issue is that it doesn't feel like the right moment, and that Liming might banish us before we make any headway.

I genuinely feel this is the GG moment, his character arc feels primed for this right now.
 
Our current greatest influence with CRX is our emotional bond with her. We were the friend to make sure she had tea with us and Meizhen. We tell her it's ok to bring GG on the mission when it's technically suboptimal. Ling Qi is her retainer and its her job to help CRX deal with this type of thing.
 
RebelYell said:
Her nature may be more difficult for the challenge to lure other's with vision's on what they desire.
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We know the most amount CRX and her desire is extremely specific. This would give us the most openings in showing what is wrong with the dream. We also trust each other as shown at the caldera battle. With CRX we have a lot more avenues to attack the dream with than others.


Alectai said:
I genuinely feel this is the GG moment, his character arc feels primed for this right now.
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His character arc has not interacted with Ling Qi's at all though. Why would a decision Ling Qi has to make be connected to GG's character arc?
 
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Meng Dan and Xia Lin are not good options since we don't know them for very long and are at Bond 0 with both of them.
Cai Renxiang's bond is Rank 3 and Gan Guangli's is Rank 1. So I'm leaning on CR. CR dress seems to be building up to something but don't think it's going to trigger when we enter her dream. (Since the spirit is inside her dream) It'll probably take a while to trigger.
 
yrsillar said:
Compact of iron, Compact of blood,' the wind whistled a song of chains older than mountains.
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Sounds like the Ice Plains people have deals with these ice spirits based on the power of the Iron-toothed Crone and the mentoring lineage of ice spirit to humans. Unfortunate that: it sounds like quick and easy passage to these lands would rely on a physical talisman and a practitioner of Zeqing's arts, which are not in vast supply. Not the greatest obstacle towards developing a trade relationship, but nonetheless not the best situation.

yrsillar said:
"Broken thing speaks of lost Warm Breath's Ending, slain by its hand? Claims new blood?"
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!!! Zeqing's Name! Emphasizing the cold that clings and kills, over Black Sky's Yearning's distance and want.


The vote is for who Ling Qi thinks she has the greatest chance of bringing out of an illusion of the fulfillment of all their desires.

[] Cai Renxiang
The one Ling Qi knows best. Renxiang probably dreams of a society and its bureaucracy perfected and orderly, helmed and guided by herself, where all the people are happy and contented in their place.

I think Ling Qi will rely on her personal relationship to bring Renxiang out, poking at what she thinks she wants isn't what she really wants.

[] Gan Guangli
The one Ling Qi knows second best. Much like Renxiang, Gan Guangli's Dream should be much like Renxiang's, except his probably has a more martial bent, where soldiers are valued and contented.

Ling Qi probably will try to pull at his personal relationships — reminding him of Renxiang and how she needs him to discuss her worries about her philosophy (which wouldn't be solved in this dream), or of Su Ling and how she's unlikely to be happy with whatever role the dream has put her in.

[] Meng Dan
Ling Qi basically only knows him as a Hidden Moon guy? I'm not really sure why she'll pick him?? All she knows is that he's interested in history — that ones shouldn't forget one's roots, as expressed in providing Ling Qi with some of her more upstanding ancestors — and that the arc of history is such that laughing at it is the only reasonable response.

If she does, she might try his responsibilities to his family and how his dream isn't fulfilling them, or how his Sect and colleagues their own academic paradigms that don't fit his own, or the pure fulfillment of his dreams contradict his own paradigm of history...?

[] Xia Lin
Ling Qi knows her as a professional soldier, an Imperialized hill tribe person who might be interested in the hill tribe traditions? Again, like Meng Dan, I'm not quite sure why Ling Qi would understand her dreams enough to hammer open the cracks between what she thinks she wants and her grasp of reality.

At least, Ling Qi knows Xia Lin dislikes Gan Guangli and might want to take his place — so he appears in the dream, Ling Qi might be able to hammer at how Renxiang wouldn't abandon him?


Honestly feels a little "vote for the sake of a vote" to me, with how obvious choosing Renxiang is in terms of emotional arc, plot line, and internal story consistency, but I suppose the options that lose can be commission bait?
 
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LQ knows barely anything about what makes GG tick, what he really wants, and why he wants it. With CRX she knows the shape of what she was made for, and knows what the imperfect human underneath is struggling with. And that's even before the whole recruitment thing with multiple instances of CRX and LQ talking about their motivation and vision.

A reminder:
yrsillar said:
"Sorry about that," Ling Qi apologized, smiling. "I guess I got a little lost in the sensation."

"Understandable," Cai Renxiang replied. She reached out to prod one of the shifting phantoms near to her, frowning thoughtfully as it dispersed into smoke. "Your domain is a somewhat…. Unique sensation."

Somehow, that statement just made her feel more anxious, Ling Qi thought irritably. "Well, what is your like then?"

"Inwardly focused," Cai Renxiang replied.

"That's a little unexpected," Ling Qi admitted, looking at her curiously, as she struggled to shrink the Mist further. "I guess that makes sense with what you told me."

Her liege merely nodded agreeably. "I have prepared tea, a new blend from Ebon Rivers stock. Since you have been in meditation for a day and a half, you should join me. You can begin practicing restraining yourself."

"Sure," Ling Qi said, taking a step forward only to pause. She was curious. "Do you think you could show me again? I've seen your weapon, but I think it might be different now."

Cai Renxiang paused as well when she spoke, and for a second, Ling Qi thought she had overstepped herself again. Then, there was the faint ringing of bells, and Cai Renxiang was bathed in light. Her face an imperious and featureless mask of liquid metal and light and her gown empyreal armor forged from radiance. She looked daunting, inhuman, perfect, and serene.

She was so very alone.

"Hmm?" Cai Renxiang murmured in surprise and glanced down to see a child formed from mist and fog gently grasp her fingers. The child had familiar dark features, hair that could not be tamed, and ice blue eyes.
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I'm not sure if Cai is the right choice here. She's still only just getting to accepting that she can have wants and desires separate from the purpose her Mother made for her, and getting her to break from them could put her more firmly into a 'I must do as Mom wants' kind of mindset. I'm think Gan, as his wants are very strongly aligned with actual change, not just pretend dreams.
 
I feel like Xia Lin's military discipline is our best shot here; I'm worried Cai Renxiang's trauma and her being our superior will interfere in our ability to bring her back.

though I don't think there's any chance we actually all get lost here, so maybe we're free to choose whose desires we want to see and try to conquer
 
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@yrsillar can you say whether Liming would stop us from entering CRXs dream. I feel like in normal circumstances it might stop us, but we are a trusted retainer with a thread of liming in our dress as well, and this is a specific situation.
 
People talk about "no trap votes," but that just means that all of the options have pros and cons behind the GM screen. There are, however, options intended to lull us into a false sense of security before the obvious consequences happen.

If CRX isn't deliberately intended as a trap option of that second sort, then I'll eat my hat. If no one lays out all the myriad ways that it's the most unwise choice, I'll make a crack at it later, but I think everyone should at least have the basic intuition that it's a dangerous choice. Can we at least agree on that much?
 
Yeah, I feel that this is CRX's show right now. One of her struggles, I feel, is that her dream can not actually be perfectly achieved. Her dream is too complex to neatly fit into perfection. This means that her perfect dream is primed for showing the falsity of it which is a key method of extracting oneself from these desirous dreams.

Also, it might give us some more insight into what makes CRX tick which would be important.
 
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