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

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Elero said:
Is there a practical difference between 'scry to find all high talent people in this area' and 'test everyone in this area for high talent' beyond nitpicking? It still means that mom didn't have enough talent to qualify as high talent.
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Yes. If you are testing everyone, that means an involved process for everyone in the area. If you are scrying to figure out who to test an individual might slip the net due to imperfect information in the method, or a mistake in reading the information. So the practical difference is how involved the process is for people and what means people have to slip through the net.
 
Elero said:
Is there a practical difference between 'scry to find all high talent people in this area' and 'test everyone in this area for high talent' beyond nitpicking? It still means that mom didn't have enough talent to qualify as high talent.
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Potentially yes, depending on how accurate those methods are and how high the talent must be to find them.
Lingmom might be slightly below the line and Ling Qi slightly above the line where wide area search notices them.
And it's not test eveyone for high talent, but test everyone for talent.
And Green is not that high, only thing impressive about Ling Qi getting to green is her speed.

Did we ever get details on how we were discovered?
I know the vote was that Ling Qi was discovered by an agent, was it by change or systemic search for talented?
And if a systemic search, was the search done regularily or was this new thing instated by Shenhua?
 
We don't really know how the divination works, or how they focus down on just those people who aren't already in cultivator families, but I could easily see a world in which it is actually possible to go and ask the MoI if their scans have flagged anyone in your family - for a "small" fee.

But it's just that, well, most of the time the answer will just be "no" and you'll be out of money that you really need, because you're (relatively) poor. So we still have that situation where the people who would really like to know which of their kids is talented can't afford it, and the people who can afford it (i.e. the nobility) don't need to because they can afford the more informative and productive method of just training them up to Green.
 
Erebeal said:
We don't really know how the divination works, or how they focus down on just those people who aren't already in cultivator families, but I could easily see a world in which it is actually possible to go and ask the MoI if their scans have flagged anyone in your family - for a "small" fee.

But it's just that, well, most of the time the answer will just be "no" and you'll be out of money that you really need, because you're (relatively) poor. So we still have that situation where the people who would really like to know which of their kids is talented can't afford it, and the people who can afford it (i.e. the nobility) don't need to because they can afford the more informative and productive method of just training them up to Green.
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It would make sense for very wealthy mortals like Suyin's or the Ma family to check if their kid is talented enough where raising massive amounts of money to send them to a sect is worth it or not. I could imagine them paying the MoI to scry their kids and see if they are talented enough that they could join the nobility and make back the money that would be sent to the sect. Spending the majority of your fortune on your kid who doesn't have the talent to make it past yellow in the sect will ruin you, so it makes sense.
 
It's never stated what realm Qingge's great uncle was, only that her memory of him poorly compared to Ling Qi. I used that information to presume that he was yellow based on a misunderstanding of Ling Qi's status at the time the comparison was made (which was mostly just me being lazy, intellectually and otherwise, since I should have known better). More importantly that was the clan head at some time in the past compared to Ling Qi of the "now".

The only things we can say for certain, without a quote from yrsillar, is that since the He are a common cultivator family rather than controlling a barony, the He clan head can not have hit Green before 17 and cannot be Cyan. It's entirely possible for the man to have been Green, but more used to controlling his aura than Ling Qi (who having ascended to Green in less than a year has had no time to really practice restraining herself outside of stealth).
 
Zeful said:
It's never stated what realm Qingge's great uncle was, only that her memory of him poorly compared to Ling Qi. I used that information to presume that he was yellow based on a misunderstanding of Ling Qi's status at the time the comparison was made (which was mostly just me being lazy, intellectually and otherwise, since I should have known better). More importantly that was the clan head at some time in the past compared to Ling Qi of the "now".

The only things we can say for certain, without a quote from yrsillar, is that since the He are a common cultivator family rather than controlling a barony, the He clan head can not have hit Green before 17 and cannot be Cyan. It's entirely possible for the man to have been Green, but more used to controlling his aura than Ling Qi (who having ascended to Green in less than a year has had no time to really practice restraining herself outside of stealth).
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It's never explicitly stated what realm Qingge's great uncle was, but there is a lot pointing to it being yellow. Here is the passage from RR

She could remember her great uncle, the clan head of the He, a graying man said to be nearly two hundred years old. But even the authoritative patriarch she recalled from her early memories paled in comparison to her daughter. For all that he had seemed an unshakable pillar of the clan, he was still just a man. Her daughter on the other hand... It was difficult to describe.
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So the man was 200 years old, that puts him firmly out of red. He was graying which means aging. He also lacked whatever pizazz that made Ling Qi seem more than human. Yellows live for around 200 years. I believe that we can make the very safe assumption that Qingge's great uncle was yellow.
 
Elero said:
Is there a practical difference between 'scry to find all high talent people in this area' and 'test everyone in this area for high talent' beyond nitpicking? It still means that mom didn't have enough talent to qualify as high talent.
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A massive one.
A single high level cultivator can cover a large area quickly with a divination.
But it ONLY works if you have a high level cultivator of the right specialization, because divination is hard and specialized.
Individual testing can be done by anyone, to anyone, but it is not cost efficient to scale up to large numbers.

Secondly, due to clan rights, the MoI do not survey existing clans for talents, they get to deal with it themselves, and any talents arising out of clans already in the system are not a threat to the system. Nor do the clans want outsiders to know about their talents, at least, not automatically so.
For the matter they wouldn't want talent to be known internally all the time either - it is better for a worse but politically favorable candidate to be cultivated than someone with slightly better talent but with views the family disagrees with.

Thirdly, testing is imprecise. Its possible that a Baronial clan based on Fire arts might have somebody with an exceptional talent in Darkness, and they cultivate poorly even given resources because the testing only works for Fire and general talents.



In short: Mass surveying is only an option for powerful clans, Sects and the Ministries, who can afford to have a Cyan of the right specialty take a few weeks out every couple years to scan the youth.
 
Elero said:
Is there a practical difference between 'scry to find all high talent people in this area' and 'test everyone in this area for high talent' beyond nitpicking? It still means that mom didn't have enough talent to qualify as high talent.
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In addition to what other people have said, another key difference is that divination for high talent does not necessarily provide you with any information about people with moderate talent, and testing for talent and then picking the high talents out of that would still leave you with information about the moderate talents.
 
Black Noise said:
They're synonyms actually, sani is probably slightly more correct for the reflected time period, but either use is fine with the modern use of the words.
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No, I'm pretty sure I have never once heard "sanki" used for anything other than the smol variation. Like maybe in poetry where suffixes are whatever the writer feels like but in normal speech? IDK, maybe it's not like that elsewhere, geographical source: Kharkiv, Ukraine.

P.S. Google "санки" and see what you get. The only possibly "adultish" result I see is the one-person thing with an engine. On the other hand if you google "сани" you get the child sized ones too, which probably reflects how common this mode of transportation isn't in the modern world. But no yeah I've never heard of the large ones called "санки".
 
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Looking through the latest RR chapter which has new content.

Alright so first part of the chapter is an edited version of Needle and Thread interlude back at turn 5, so pretty much from the perspective of Li Saying during the scouting mission.

Second and third part takes the perspective of Gu Xiulan and Shen Hu respectively. They're in the same area taking care of the infection problem, presumably the same area that seemed like it was scaring the mountains away and drawing in diseased insects.
yrsillar said:
Eventually, the trail led them to a grey and withered valley, filled with bubbling muck. The grasses and plants within were twisted and grey, save for tumorous patches of color that marked the bark of some trees. They had not been able to investigate peacefully. Blighted and glowing insects had swarmed out the moment Mo Lian had stepped over a seemingly arbitrary line, and it was only a swift activation of the Forgotten Vale Melody that had driven the bugs back.
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Incidentally, at the time, we thought it was star shenanigans, though now looking back, methinks this fits Shishigui's MO more.

Also Diao Gen shows up and is the commander of the force Xiulan and Shen Hu was in. Remember this guy :V. Same dude who first appeared at that barb caldera fight.
yrsillar said:
At the center of the tent stood three people. One was a familiar face. Guan Zhi stood at attention to the left side of the tent, only briefly glancing Ling Qi's way as she entered. The only change in the girl was a hair thin scar that traveled from the corner of her right eye up beneath her hair. A relic of whatever encounter she had deep in the Dream before finding them.
Across from her stood a young man with brilliant green eyes. He was a handsome sort, putting her in the mind of Han Jian. He had dusky skin and wavy brown hair, that framed aristocratic features. He wore pale green and brown clothing, with light armor on his arms, chest and lower legs.

The third was surprisingly, the short, portly Elder who had overseen her duel with Liang He months ago. The soft featured man wore robes of pale yellow, matching the golden sheen of his skin. His expression was that of drowsy contentment, though Ling Qi knew better than to think an Elder was inattentive.

It was the young man who spoke as the last of the Inner disciples filed in. He clapped his hands once, silencing the stray murmurs. "Welcome, my Junior siblings. For those that are unaware, I am Core Disciple Diao Gen, at my side is Core Disciple Guan Zhi, and with us today is Honorable Elder Bei Yongrui."
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Also Xiulan's in super flirty mode with Shen Hu 😘 Can't wait for that Fire and Water interlude commission for more Xiulan and Shen Hu
Final part is with CRX taking care of the malicious spirits making a mess at the Old Watch
yrsillar said:
[] Investigate the migrating earth spirits. Together you can try to tease out the source of their agitation, and save the cartographers some work.
[] Exterminate the worms. Though there were some third realm specimens, it is something that you are sure can be handled easily.
[] Seek to quell and disperse the malicious spirits gathering at the Old Watch, and find what is causing the quelled spirits to rise again.
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Incidentally that was one of our choices back then as well (for those who don't remember, we went with the top choice: migrating earth spirits).

Another Core Disciple shows up here as well, Jia Song. The same disciple who led her team down underground and got some of her unit killed during the first barbarian-shishigui incursion. Also seems arrogant and petty (according to CRX, though she didn't really object much at the time), which led to this scene right here.
yrsillar said:
"And so, under the command of Core Disciple Jia Song, I led the vanguard against the northeastern outbreak," Cai Renxiang spoke clearly and concisely. Here, before her Mother, with the weight of her expectation and power resting on her back like a boulder, she did not dare waste a single breath or syllable. "Initial confrontation was successful, and the enemy spirits were driven back and slain without casualty. The initial movements were a total success."

"That did not last," Mother Spoke, and the world listened. Her words were airy and light, like a socialite commenting upon the weather, but to a cultivator of the highest realm, there were more to words than mere vibration in the air. The Duchess's statement held a sharp and terrible weight, and the Jia representative, a cyan cultivator, himself hunched his shoulders as if preparing for a blow, all of his practiced poise and cultivation rendered to naught by the mere inference of Mother's attention.

"Core Disciple Jia Song, ordered us into the breach," Cai Renxiang continued as if she had not been interrupted. The Jia were still allies, they would not suffer much censure for this, nor did she wish them to. To hold a grudge such as that was not only inefficient, but the seed of the thoughts that lead any ruler to vice. "As this was a military matter. I raised a point of contention, but did not disobey commands. We descended, and confronted the retreating enemy. It was a slaughter, however, our distraction was used to strike at the Core Disciple Jia Song, and further reinforcements waited in the tunnels. There were three casualties among the Inner disciples, one of which later became a fatality. However, in the battle an enemy commander emerged. I estimate that he was of roughly framing stage in cultivation. We dueled, and I took his head," Cai Renxiang let out a careful breath. The tunnel claustrophobic and dark, lit only by her own radiance. The darting figure in the shadows, and the envenomed edge of his knives returned to her. It was good that she had practiced so against a foe of similar mobility.
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So much loose end resolution and foreshadowing~~
 
Hey guys random idle question, did we ever consider the possibility of attempting a trial to increase our base talent? It was indicated as an option in the mechanics and it would be interesting story-wise and make sense from a math perspective.
Because if it is an option, on the base of the only case we have witnessed (Xiulan) we would need an extreme event well aligned with our themes and the sooner we do it the better, we should not wait until we're too set in our Way. If so Not!Russia would be a potential great place for such a trial, an extreme environment of cold and darkness where we can find some of our core concepts intertwined (the local spirit of cold has some moon aspects in it) and there is an extreme event like the auroras that make Xiulan thunderstorm pale in comparison.
Obviously I'm not suggesting we go for it right now (in the middle of a delicate political situation), I was just interested in knowing if it has ever been discussed.
 
0disseus said:
Because if it is an option, on the base of the only case we have witnessed (Xiulan) we would need an extreme event well aligned with our themes and the sooner we do it the better, we should not wait until we're too set in our Way.
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That event did not actually raise Xiulan's talent. It basically made her more compatible with some elements and raise some of her attributes
 
0disseus said:
Hey guys random idle question, did we ever consider the possibility of attempting a trial to increase our base talent? It was indicated as an option in the mechanics and it would be interesting story-wise and make sense from a math perspective.
Because if it is an option, on the base of the only case we have witnessed (Xiulan) we would need an extreme event well aligned with our themes and the sooner we do it the better, we should not wait until we're too set in our Way. If so Not!Russia would be a potential great place for such a trial, an extreme environment of cold and darkness where we can find some of our core concepts intertwined (the local spirit of cold has some moon aspects in it) and there is an extreme event like the auroras that make Xiulan thunderstorm pale in comparison.
Obviously I'm not suggesting we go for it right now (in the middle of a delicate political situation), I was just interested in knowing if it has ever been discussed.
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Using Xiulan as a base then a trial like that is a coin flip: heads you live, tails you die. I don't think we are in a situation where we feel that much pressure to improve ourselves.
 
I think we should get rid of our heart demon before we start talking about dangerous trials to raise talent. We're still suffering from a 20% debuff on our cultivation effectiveness because of that.
 
EternalObserver said:
That event did not actually raise Xiulan's talent. It basically made her more compatible with some elements and raise some of her attributes
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Also if I'm not mistaken it also fucked up her affinity with some of her elements - she was considering picking up Water to moderate her Fire and had actually started cultivating Argent Current for it, but suddenly abandoned it after that for mono-red burn deck.

Its possible her talent with Water got wrecked by that trial.
Such things really are for people who've plateaued hard and need something to change the game they're playing.
 
I mean, we kinda already had a tribulation similar to what Xiulan got (just less likely to kill or cripple us) when we saved Hanyi and Zeqing blew up. We could have died, but instead we got Hanyi, and a pretty nice Darkness multiplier of 0.3 which is higher than any of our other elemental multipliers (and the ability to treat cold as darkness or water for training purposes). Honestly I think that that was the point that Zeqing finished putting her marks on our soul and we got the ice blood.
I think that mean's the undead weilu grove dude is our best bet :V
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Yeah that does seem like our best bet to get another tribulation, though I do wonder why he's seemingly taken an interest in us now that we know we have barely a drop of weilu blood. He seemed really interested in us using wind thief for some reason. I know it's a very potent art but I wonder why it would catch his notice.
Only thing I can think of is that we seem to share the darkness and dream elements with him and we took our domain weapon from his tomb.
 
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Elsecaller said:
Yeah that does seem like our best bet to get another tribulation, though I do wonder why he's seemingly taken an interest in us now that we know we have barely a drop of weilu blood. He seemed really interested in us using wind thief for some reason. I know it's a very potent art but I wonder why it would catch his notice.
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The art's roots are ancient, like from before the Weilu were a serious polity ancient. It also might have something to do with a foundational story of the Great Spirit that would become the Grinning Moon. This could mean that there is some interesting metaphysical weight to learning the art. This seems supported by how a lot of the more powerful moon-related spirits seem to take notice of us learning it for the first time.

And given how the Weilu had some big adherents to the Moon, it would stand to reason that the Weilu Who Is Dead might take notice. (Also, he should stay dead.)
 
Tylonius said:
Out of interest, is there some list somewhere that has all of the changes between the original and RR version of the story? To make it easier to know what is and isn't canon now.
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Aside from the comb, Renxiang knows what Ling Qi did to Fu Xiang's rivals as payment for a favor.

The rest of the new RR chapters IIRC are additional extra chapters. The comb and Fu Xiang's task are the retcons that I know of
 
Ohnonono said:
Aside from the comb, Renxiang knows what Ling Qi did to Fu Xiang's rivals as payment for a favor.

The rest of the new RR chapters IIRC are additional extra chapters. The comb and Fu Xiang's task are the retcons that I know of
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There is a minor change in who won the Archive Passes as well, though I don't recall if that was a FoD to RR change or a RR to Publication change.
 
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