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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Option B isn't doing as poorly as I thought it would! This still isn't contentious enough Yrs! You've gotta turn Threads into a salt mine to make some more money!
 
Adhoc vote count started by Elsecaller on Apr 30, 2021 at 1:10 AM, finished with 124 posts and 75 votes.
 
Okay folks. This update is gonna need a bit more time to work on. I'll just spoil a bit and say that we'll be segueing into the completion of the Zhengui gardening arc and that's taking me a bit longer to write.
 
Turn 12 Arc 5-1: Cultivation
"I don't have the right to demand anything of you," Ling Qi said. "All the same, can you tell me why you're even doing this? I'm sure you could find a spirit companion that you wouldn't need to worry about changing so directly."

"That is not so," Xuan Shi chuckled. "Does Miss Ling believe that this one has not tried?"

"I'm sure you have, and I can't guess why you haven't succeeded," Ling Qi said with a frown. "...If its a matter of seeking out a spirit of the Dreaming Moon, Sixiang and I could help, I'm sure."

"Yeah, I'd not mind introducing you to someone nicer," Sixiang said, voice emanating from the air over her shoulder. "I can totally get a little revel together if you like."

"It is true that this one has set his sights upon the Dreaming," Xuan Shi said. "And thy offer is appreciated, but is it a good thing to seek only that which is 'nice' in your patron? The Dreaming Moon is not wholly a thing of laughter and joy."

"...You're not wrong," Sixiang admitted.

"You're not, but that doesn't answer my question, Xuan Shi," Ling Qi said. "Why this spirit in particular? The stories you enjoy aren't the things a nightmare would fit in. I don't understand, why you would wish to make one so steeped in lies and misery your companion."

Xuan Shi was silent, tapping the but of his staff on the ground letting the jingle of hanging rings echo down the hillside. "You think me a bit pitiable and childish, do thou not Miss Ling? This one takes no offense, Miss Su is dismissive of fiction as well. Miss Li may listen, but her interest is academic only."

Ling Qi frowned."You're being too harsh. It's true that I don't understand the appeal. My own conditions hardly gave me the time to indulge such things when I was younger."

Xuan Shi smiled mirthlessly behind his collar. "Just so, Miss Ling. indulgence, this describes my interests well, and yet, they are important to me. Kongyou wishes to follow my tale, even if they believe it will end in futile tragedy. I wish for something brighter, but in walking the path of stories, it is good to be reminded of reality."

"You can call it that, but you should know that they'll try to undermine your success, that's the nature of a nightmare," Sixiang said.

Xuan Shi paused in the midst of turning to descend the hill. Looking as if he was listening to something. "This one understands. All the same, if one cannot even overcome and change a single bad dream, how can one change anything greater? How shallow shall my tale be, if it engages not with nightmare?"

Ling Qi let out a breath through her nose as she began to follow him down the hill. She couldn't say that reasoning was wholly wrong, but all the same she still disliked the idea of that slimy spirit being left to work in his head. Was this how Meizhen had felt, after her own introduction to the Dreaming Moon?

"...You can still do better, even if you want to delve into Grandmother's darker side," Sixiang said. "Seriously, you should at least let us take you to a proper revel or two."

"You'd be alright with that, right Ling Qi?" Sixiang whispered silently in her head.

That would be fine, she was intending to put more work and attention into the Dream and its arts anyway. She hadn't engaged with that aspect of her patron in too long. "I won't tell you what to do Xuan Shi. Maybe trying to change a nightmare is right for your Way. All the same, I hope you'll accept an invitation or two."

Considering what Xuan Shi wanted, there could be an opportunity here. Of all the peoples in the Empire only the Xuan had regular peaceful contact with foreigners. There was no sea in the south, but there were many unwalked paths. Xuan Shi struck her as rudderless, but perhaps she could assist with that.

But it wasn't something she wanted to offer right now. It was just too important to bring up on a whim. Especially when she didn't know if it was even possible. She didn't want to leave a friend of hers relying on a thing like that for support though.

"This one will continue to gracefully accept Miss Ling's kindness," Xuan Shi said. "But, for now, this one really must meditate on this past day."


***​



"Big Sister is worried for something," Gui said accusingly. They stood on the much abused hilltop where their gardening efforts had taken place. The earth was dark and rich, tilled and fertilized with the shredded remains of the their previous efforts. Zhengui had shrunk himself, to only a bit over two and a half meters long for easier movement. So now he looked up at her.

"It's nothing serious Zhengui," Ling Qi said. "Just confusing human things."

"Yep, just some social business," Sixiang added. Their voice came from the tiny projection seated on Ling Qi's shoulder. "You didn't miss anything important, big guy."

"Are you certain? I, Zhen did not intend to sleep for so long," Zhen said. "It has been weeks, yes?"

"It has been a couple weeks, but everyone is just catching their balance, and that goes for you two, catching upon your sleep," Ling Qi chided. "But you're awake now and we still have plenty of time to take another try at this garden."

"Hanyi is still up on the mountain though," Gui said sulkily. "Is it really okay for Big Sister to be here?"

Ling Qi paused, thinking of her other spirit. She had checked in on her a few times but…

"Hanyi's figuring some stuff out too," Sixiang said cheerfully. "She doesn't need us poking our big butts in right now. Besides, don't you wanna have something nice to show her when she finishes composing up there?"

She let out a breath, Sixiang had told her the same thing. Paradoxically the right thing to do here was to not keep her junior sister closer. At least right now

"Mm, Gui will believe the Sixiang," he said. "Did Big Sis collect the boulders?"

"I Did," Ling Qi said, patting her storage ring. "I'll let you decide on the first arrangement. I have some new stanzas I want to arrange, you'll give me your opinion, right?"

Three voices rose in the affirmative. Ling Qi was looking forward to this.

As they worked over the rest of the afternoon and evening, the landscape began to change shape, and from atop Zhengui's back, she played her experimental songs, observing how the flows of mist and cold interacted with Zhengui's fire and wood qi. There were two arts which she cultivated that gave her inspiration in this.

The Unstoppable Glacier's March was one. It was among the newer arts she cultivated. It was powerful movement and implacable advance. It was also, Ling Qi thought, perhaps not the best suited to her, but as she contemplated the art and wove a melody together with the rhythm of Zhengui's stamping feet to raise the fire qi charged waters that pooled beneath the hill she pondered that.

Was implacability really unlike her? It was true, she was not like Cai Renxiang, nor like Meizhen, who better embodied those words in her mind, yet all the same…

In the cold of a city street, she clung to life

In a terrible blizzard of her mentors making, she sang

A knife dug into her neck, and she grasped the wrist of its wielder.

In the caldera of a volcano, she faced a superior foe, and ever so briefly held fast


A glacier was a moving thing it carved rivers and valleys, shaped the land under it over countless years. Yet, in the moment it was still to human eyes. She recalled the great glacier as they passed over it on the high path, stretching out to the end of her sight, serene, unbreaking.

Stubborn, she could at least call herself that. Was that not something she shared with her little brother? Although she no longer used the Thousand Rings Art, she could still weather many blows. The art she had replaced it with, the Starless Night's Reflection, didn't feel quite right either. She understood the value of silence, without it any music would just be a meaningless stream of unbroken noise, but she wasn't sure she cared to make it core to herself.

Perhaps there was something there, in the spaces between that could be made into hers

That was a thought for the future though, she thought often how her style and that of her brothers were often in conflict, but was defense not a place where it converged? Endurance and regeneration, resilience and draining. Any wound he suffered recovered swiftly, any qi she spent she stole back from her foes.

Green shoots rose from churned black dirt and roots curled around carefully placed stone. Shoots became saplings, and then trees, their fragrant needles flowering across the sky. In the new made darkness mist hung low to the ground, and from boiling waters steam rose into the evening sky. Pale flowers bloomed in the dark, and soft grass spread.

The other art was the Winter Hearth's Resounding. This art too, she had only been practicing for a few months, and her thoughts lingered on it as she wove the walking path through the garden, singing softly in duet with Sixiang to transform the mist beyond the paths into veils of glittering silver where those unwelcome would wander lost, and to make that mist which clung to the glassy stone cool and welcoming.

The hearth was a song of building a home, of placing up walls to keep out the cold and keep in the warm. It's weaves defended your works, made that which you crafted with song and voice harder to tear down. It gave friends a point of warmth to return too and recover from the cold night outside.

She was not a builder, but Zhengui was. Every day his control of wood and plants allowed him to craft more elaborate structure from root and branch, and the fire of the earth came at his call. It was not alike to her arts, but it was complementary.

And that, perhaps, was more important than simply trying to ape her little brother's themes, even when they did not suit her.

"Mm, no weird storms's this time!" Gui chirped. "I think this is a good start!"

"You see? I, Zhen did not make anything explode," Zhen said smugly.

"Yeah, I agree," Ling Qi said absently, rubbing her hand against his shell. "Let's take a little break while the snowfall settles."

Please Vote for which art you would like to work toward altering

[] Unstoppable Glacier's March
[] Winter Hearth Resounding


Vote moving


"Unstoppable Glacier's March | 1167 Dice8 6 7 5 7 4 1 3 10 3 3 3 10 6 7 9 2 1 5 10 2 3 7 2 7 8 8 6 10 4 1 6 3 7 2 4 5 8 2 7 2 4 3 6 4 8 2 2 7 7 5 3 9 2 4 7 8 9 2 7 7 1 9 8 5 7 5 1 5 9 10 2 9 3 4 8 8 1 1 6 8 1 2 3 6 2 7 5 9 5 5 5 9 4 4 6 6 5 10 10 8 5 6 2 6 4 2 10 5 6 2 6 9 3 8 2 6 2 4 5 10 5 6 6 1 3 8 5 9 2 1 8 4 8 10 7 7 9 6 9 5 8 1 2 10 7 9 6 2 10 4 3 4 2 5 8 2 2 8 3 8 2 7 8 2 1 1 4 7 10 2 8 1 10 4 7 4 7 3 7 10 1 8 9 1 1 2 1 9 4 9 9 5 3 3 5 10 10 3 2 10 5 6 2 5 10 1 6 2 1 9 9 10 6 3 8 4 9 4 2 5 1 4 7 2 8 4 8 3 6 8 5 10 3 6 5 4 4 4 4 8 5 10 1 1 3 10 9 8 6 6 1 1 2 8 6 9 1 6 4 1 3 9 3 3 8 8 3 8 1 9 10 5 6 10 9 2 8 3 9 5 6 1 9 4 9 1 7 3 3 10 7 10 6 9 3 1 10 3 10 4 10 8 6 7 1 8 2 8 4 9 8 5 10 3 5 6 1 6 4 7 1 4 7 8 5 10 6 9 10 1 7 6 10 8 1 3 4 4 4 9 7 2 2 1 9 6 1 7 2 3 8 7 4 4 10 7 7 3 4 2 1 9 5 7 4 1 10 3 9 6 6 7 1 6 6 7 3 7 3 4 5 5 5 7 7 6 9 2 7 7 3 7 4 10 5 7 7 5 8 4 1 4 5 5 8 10 5 7 1 5 3 7 5 7 3 1 2 2 2 4 7 2 4 4 3 8 4 4 2 2 8 1 2 5 6 4 2 2 7 4 3 6 2 8 6 5 3 6 3 8 8 7 8 8 5 6 9 4 6 5 4 4 5 1 8 7 5 5 3 6 6 1 9 5 10 2 1 5 5 1 4 1 10 4 10 8 3 7 4 6 9 3 10 7 10 5 5 1 2 1 6 1 3 7 7 9 1 7 10 8 10 8 10 2 10 10 4 3 3 6 1 1 3 4 9 4 2 6 7 6 10 4 6 9 3 9 6 1 6 3 6 8 4 3 10 9 6 7 2 7 4 3 7 1 3 8 2 6 10 1 6 6 8 1 3 8 7 10 4 9 2 7 9 5 3 4 5 5 2 9 3 5 2 2 8 4 3 7 1 10 9 9 3 10 8 6 8 2 4 8 1 8 3 5 4 9 3 6 5 4 5 6 9 3 3 7 8 4 3 9 1 8 4 10 9 2 3 7 4 6 1 3 1 2 2 9 10 6 4 9 4 2 6 7 4 1 2 8 4 7 6 3 7 2 1 2 10 5 9 3 5 5 1 8 5 6 5 7 1 3 3 1 3 1 8 5 6 9 1 10 3 9 10 10 7 2 3 2 7 3 9 6 1 4 8 2 4 1 5 1 7 9 6 3 6 8 8 1 6 8 7 9 9 7 9 8 6 3 3 9 1 7 5 6 7 5 2 6 2 3 3 9 8 9 8 4 4 8 2 4 6 3 2 9 4 5 2 2 9 4 9 1 5 6 1 10 5 10 9 1 5 6 5 7 8 6 5 10 3 4 10 1 6 10 5 10 10 9 7 1 1 7 10 1 4 8 2 10 5 5 10 2 8 4 7 9 9 9 7 7 6 5 6 8 2 5 10 6 2 9 6 3 7 3 2 5 6 5 9 7 7 6 8 8 5 3 10 6 6 5 6 5 1 8 6 3 7 5 8 5 4 2 9 7 5 3 7 2 8 10 3 2 5 10 4 3 10 6 8 4 6 3 8 5 7 6 8 7 8 8 2 1 2 9 8 9 10 5 7 5 7 7 5 1 1 9 2 2 7 1 4 5 2 3 5 3 6 6 6 4 8 6 7 9 8 10 6 7 1 2 6 3 9 5 6 10 8 7 7 5 2 5 6 7 6 10 3 9 6 10 5 6 6 2 8 6 3 1 5 1 10 8 3 5 6 10 2 8 8 1 4 10 4 8 2 10 6 9 8 6 9 9 9 4 7 6 7 7 2 10 1 10 4 8 9 4 3 3 9 1 4 3 6 10 10 2 1 10 6 1 5 9 1 2 4 6 5 2 9 9 2 3 5 1 10 9 1 3 3 6 3 2 8 9 7 3 7 8 5 8 7 4 4 7 6 5 7 3 2 6 8 5 9 6 10 8 4 1 8 4 8 4 4 7 3 1 8 5 4 5 8 10 4 2 8 1 4 9 9 10 2 8 3 1 7 6 2 6 2 1 7 5 2 7 1 9 6 7 2 3 10 10 10 10 2 2 9 7 9 2 1 7 8 7 6 8 1 2 3 9 5 3 8 8 9 7 6 5 7 9 9 5 10 5 7 2 7 10 2 8 7 9 4 6 4 1 6 5 9 7 3 9 2 1 5 4 4 5 6 7 2 9 7 9 4 4 8 9 2 1 9 3 1 6 7 9 7 9 1 4 9 5 2 9 2 6 | 580 Successes mean: 583.5 standard deviation: 17.08\n\nRerolling 113 mean: 116.7 standard deviation: 10.25\n10 4 10 6 4 6 4 8 2 3 8 8 3 6 4 2 2 4 5 1 5 8 8 9 4 6 2 9 6 8 1 2 9 8 4 5 3 3 5 1 1 3 10 7 8 4 7 8 8 3 2 3 2 5 8 3 1 8 7 9 8 8 6 5 3 1 10 2 10 5 5 5 8 8 6 3 4 6 8 9 9 7 6 7 4 4 10 5 8 5 9 7 4 6 1 2 4 1 9 2 5 1 2 8 8 8 9 8 6 8 1 6 9 | 56x2=112 Successes mean: 113 standard deviation: 10.63\n\n692x3.55=2456 Successes mean: 2485.7099999999996 standard deviation: 89.12

2456/600

1856/800

1056/1000

56 overflow Fifth Stanza Achieved

Physical Cultivation | 987 Dice5 7 9 1 4 1 7 10 3 6 4 10 2 4 6 9 1 4 2 2 9 9 5 6 6 7 1 9 4 8 3 3 2 3 5 6 10 3 10 3 3 2 8 2 8 6 7 10 1 4 8 10 6 3 9 5 3 10 10 10 4 3 2 4 1 3 7 10 3 2 7 9 9 9 9 7 1 1 9 8 2 6 9 3 1 4 2 5 3 6 1 7 8 2 8 8 3 1 3 4 8 3 7 8 10 9 6 6 3 2 1 5 3 8 3 3 6 9 1 5 4 10 5 8 3 9 2 6 7 5 7 6 4 3 4 3 6 10 3 6 2 7 8 3 7 6 10 8 10 8 6 9 1 8 8 3 5 10 3 5 3 10 3 9 4 2 10 8 7 7 10 2 1 1 8 5 10 4 9 6 3 1 10 5 2 3 4 5 6 2 6 2 5 2 8 7 7 4 1 7 5 3 8 4 10 10 1 10 7 9 2 8 8 1 9 1 5 2 8 6 9 2 10 8 5 7 8 6 6 6 5 6 8 6 10 2 9 1 2 1 2 9 6 5 4 4 8 6 2 1 10 4 4 3 6 8 7 3 10 8 1 10 5 1 10 10 4 9 2 5 3 8 5 4 5 4 3 5 8 6 1 10 1 7 6 2 8 2 9 8 10 4 10 4 8 1 1 3 2 4 6 4 2 4 6 10 5 3 10 10 1 8 9 4 5 5 8 9 6 3 1 7 3 10 8 2 5 8 4 8 3 2 5 1 2 6 9 6 5 4 7 8 8 8 3 9 9 7 2 9 4 2 5 3 1 1 3 2 6 2 9 1 7 8 3 6 7 4 7 1 7 4 1 1 5 10 5 5 10 4 6 8 5 10 8 3 6 8 8 6 4 1 1 7 7 3 3 1 9 4 1 6 10 4 6 7 5 10 2 2 10 4 2 10 3 5 1 4 1 5 6 2 10 9 4 3 1 4 2 5 5 9 3 5 1 5 9 9 8 2 4 2 9 5 7 2 5 4 1 9 9 7 2 7 1 10 1 10 9 9 2 5 6 3 6 2 5 9 9 4 9 8 10 2 6 7 1 3 3 7 2 6 1 8 10 1 3 10 2 8 5 10 1 2 2 4 1 10 10 4 3 5 7 10 2 10 1 4 1 1 6 10 6 1 10 4 6 6 6 4 7 9 3 4 4 10 2 6 9 6 1 7 4 3 10 7 6 6 8 5 2 5 5 3 2 6 4 2 2 2 6 3 9 2 10 2 10 9 4 2 6 3 6 8 10 6 1 2 9 8 1 3 10 4 4 7 8 6 2 4 9 2 3 5 6 9 2 6 2 3 9 8 8 1 7 5 8 8 7 10 10 5 8 9 3 6 2 9 3 6 7 7 4 3 1 2 1 1 4 6 1 5 9 2 10 6 1 10 3 5 8 3 7 2 6 5 9 4 7 7 5 1 6 5 8 2 3 5 3 10 5 5 10 8 6 9 3 3 7 10 5 9 7 2 4 5 1 6 3 2 7 7 4 8 7 3 1 8 1 1 8 5 5 4 1 9 8 3 2 1 9 6 8 8 10 10 9 2 5 2 1 7 4 6 5 6 4 1 4 7 3 8 4 10 6 6 2 1 7 1 10 6 1 9 5 6 5 10 8 3 5 2 5 1 5 4 4 2 2 8 9 4 3 2 5 8 4 1 5 1 8 8 4 9 3 5 2 10 8 1 2 6 6 8 1 1 4 6 9 5 6 10 2 7 5 1 3 8 2 3 5 7 1 2 3 1 7 1 10 1 8 5 9 9 2 7 6 5 3 5 5 4 3 4 7 4 2 6 5 8 9 10 2 9 6 5 9 4 8 9 8 9 1 7 4 7 2 6 2 8 1 2 7 3 5 10 1 3 5 4 5 3 1 8 5 1 7 9 10 10 3 7 6 4 9 3 6 5 7 2 9 4 2 5 5 4 5 8 1 3 7 7 7 8 10 9 8 2 5 1 8 8 5 7 6 10 2 6 4 5 6 6 7 8 3 10 8 9 3 3 8 1 8 9 6 4 8 2 7 5 10 7 7 2 9 7 4 6 5 6 4 2 9 8 4 10 7 6 10 10 9 2 1 6 1 10 6 7 6 7 2 1 7 10 6 1 9 10 8 3 8 9 4 3 1 5 5 7 10 2 3 6 3 2 2 4 5 8 3 2 2 3 10 1 2 8 2 2 8 8 10 1 10 4 3 7 9 | 516 Successes mean: 493.5 standard deviation: 15.71\n\nRerolling 106 mean: 98.7 standard deviation: 9.42\n9 8 10 2 8 5 5 8 8 4 4 5 10 1 5 7 4 2 10 5 3 4 1 9 10 4 9 3 8 2 9 3 4 5 7 9 3 10 2 7 1 6 2 9 3 10 6 5 8 3 4 5 5 10 7 2 5 5 3 8 2 2 8 1 5 9 9 5 3 6 1 2 4 4 3 2 9 2 2 8 10 1 9 5 2 5 4 6 10 5 10 2 3 2 5 7 4 7 3 10 9 2 2 3 3 2 | 65x2=130 Successes mean: 106 standard deviation: 10.3\n\n646x3.85=2487 Successes mean: 2279.97 standard deviation: 88.88

2724/500

2274/700

1574/900 Fifth Circle Achieved

674 Overflow

Passive Effects:
+15 to Presence
+15 to Spiritual Penetration
+10 to Spiritual Armor
+10 to Physical Armor
-Uses Presence as its attribute for Dispel Techniques


Implacable Advance: C
Duration: Long -or- Upkeep 5
The first technique of the march lies in laying down it's beat. A sound so deep that it is felt more than heard, this technique replicates the rumbling, eons long song of the high ice caps as they carve the land into new shapes. While active the user receives a bonus to spiritual penetration and damage from spiritual arts. In addition, when the user's attacks would be negated by a technique or effect of C rank or lower, the user receives a free dispel attempt against the effect, which resolves before the triggering attack. If the effect is D rank or lower, it is ignored entirely(This means that triggered effects, such as counterattacks, do not activate).

Grinding Glacial Melody: C
Duration: Long
Requires Implacable Advance to be active. The user advances toward their foe, playing the slow, steady notes of the march, whipping up a storm of snow and ice in their immediate vicinity and bringing down a crushing cold and pressure on their target, driving them before the user. This technique is a spiritual cold attack and targets an enemy within Close range, with a small bonus to hit and a large bonus to penetration dealing C rank damage, if damage is dealt, the targets are forced to move directly away from the user at one half their speed. In addition to the primary target all enemies in a ninety degree arc in front of the user at Adjacent Range are struck(User must be facing primary target). Targets of the technique are marked. Each time the user moves toward a marked target(minimum half speed) the damage and forced movement repeats and the duration is refreshed. After five repetitions, or the techniques duration running out, the mark disappears. If for some reason a target is unable to retreat from the user they receive additional C rank damage, remaining in melee with them will also trigger the techniques repetition.

Dirge for the Fallen Peak: B
Duration: Until Dispelled
Requires Implacable Advance to be active. The song of the glacier is the dirge of mountains. This song grinds away enemy defenses, as the ice grinds away the peak. On activation, choose a single target within Far range. The target suffers a spiritual cold attack dealing C rank damage each time that the user targets the victim. In addition, each time the user damages the target in any way, the target receives a penalty to armor, and this technique gains a bonus to Resist.

Passive Effects:
+25 to Resist
+15 to Spiritual Armor
+15 to Health
+5 to Music


Burning Hearth, Winter Wind: C
Upkeep 3
Through the reverberations of this technique, cultivators' Music arts are altered subtly. Manifesting as a faint background support to a song, melody or composition(or enhancing such an effect if already present) the cultivators' art effects are enhanced. Firstly, arts which do not distinguish between ally and enemy gain this feature. Secondly, arts enhanced by this technique are more difficult to dispel. All activated music arts gain one 'shield' charge, when a technique would be dispelled, this shield charge is removed instead. A technique must be reactivated to regain the shield charge. In addition once per scene the user may use the effect without expending a shield charge to defend any technique. Dispels of A rank or higher adjusted for potency may ignore this effect.

Allies within the effect of the users Lung or Heart arts also receive a bonus to Resist and Resolve.

Frozen Walls, Homely Keep: B
Duration: Long
Focusing their conception of hearth and home upon a single location or themselves, the cultivator calls forth a potent warmth that enwraps allies and a frozen chill that assaults invaders. Effects radiate from the point of origin out to Far range. Allies receive C rank qi regeneration and significant bonuses to Spiritual Avoid and Armor. Enemies suffer D rank qi drain and penalties to Spiritual Hit and Penetration. If the user is the designated point of origin, they receive C rank qi regeneration and a significant increase to Spiritual Armor and Resist.

Next Level

Passive Effects:
+15 to Presence
+15 to Spiritual Penetration
+15 to Spiritual Armor
+15 to Physical Armor
-Uses Presence as its attribute for Dispel Techniques


Implacable Advance: C
Duration: Long -or- Upkeep 5
The first technique of the march lies in laying down it's beat. A sound so deep that it is felt more than heard, this technique replicates the rumbling, eons long song of the high ice caps as they carve the land into new shapes. While active the user receives a bonus to spiritual penetration and damage from spiritual arts. In addition, when the user's attacks would be negated by a technique or effect of C rank or lower, the user receives a free dispel attempt against the effect, which resolves before the triggering attack. If the effect is D rank or lower, it is ignored entirely(This means that triggered effects, such as counterattacks, do not activate).

Grinding Glacial Melody: B
Duration: Long
Requires Implacable Advance to be active. The user advances toward their foe, playing the slow, steady notes of the march, whipping up a storm of snow and ice in their immediate vicinity and bringing down a crushing cold and pressure on their target, driving them before the user. This technique is a spiritual cold attack and targets an enemy within Close range, with a small bonus to hit and a large bonus to penetration dealing B rank damage, if damage is dealt, the targets are forced to move directly away from the user at one half their speed. In addition to the primary target all enemies in a ninety degree arc in front of the user at Adjacent Range are struck(User must be facing primary target). Targets of the technique are marked. Each time the user moves toward a marked target(minimum half speed) the damage and forced movement repeats and the duration is refreshed. After five repetitions, or the techniques duration running out, the mark disappears. If for some reason a target is unable to retreat from the user they receive additional C rank damage, remaining in melee with them will also trigger the techniques repetition.

Dirge for the Fallen Peak: B
Duration: Until Dispelled
Requires Implacable Advance to be active. The song of the glacier is the dirge of mountains. This song grinds away enemy defenses, as the ice grinds away the peak. On activation, choose a single target within Far range. The target suffers a spiritual cold attack dealing C rank damage each time that the user targets the victim. In addition, each time the user damages the target in any way, the target receives a penalty to armor, and this technique gains a bonus to Resist.

New level
Passive Effects:
+30 to Resist
+15 to Spiritual Armor
+15 to Health
+10 to Music


Burning Hearth, Winter Wind: B
Upkeep 6
Through the reverberations of this technique, cultivators' Music arts are altered subtly. Manifesting as a faint background support to a song, melody or composition(or enhancing such an effect if already present) the cultivators' art effects are enhanced. Firstly, arts which do not distinguish between ally and enemy gain this feature. Secondly, arts enhanced by this technique are more difficult to dispel. All activated music arts gain one 'shield' charge, when a technique would be dispelled, this shield charge is removed instead. A technique must be reactivated to regain the shield charge. In addition once per scene the user may use the effect without expending a shield charge to defend any technique. Dispels of S rank or higher adjusted for potency may ignore this effect.

Allies within the effect of the users Lung or Heart arts also receive a bonus to Resist and Resolve.

Frozen Walls, Homely Keep: B
Duration: Long
Focusing their conception of hearth and home upon a single location or themselves, the cultivator calls forth a potent warmth that enwraps allies and a frozen chill that assaults invaders. Effects radiate from the point of origin out to Far range. Allies receive C rank qi regeneration and significant bonuses to Spiritual Avoid and Armor. Enemies suffer D rank qi drain and penalties to Spiritual Hit and Penetration. If the user is the designated point of origin, they receive C rank qi regeneration and a significant increase to Spiritual Armor and Resist.
 
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[] Unstoppable Glacier's March
[X] Winter Hearth Resounding


Probably will wait to see what the math cabal says about this
 
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Probably will wait to see what the math cabal says about this
This isn't really a math cabal sort of decision. We're altering an art to work better with Zhengui, which isn't really a numbers sort of decision, and we're getting a system overhaul at the end of next turn (month 13), so any sort of number-crunching-based reasoning in the here and now might not be relevant after that happens. I think it's just:
A glacier was a moving thing it carved rivers and valleys, shaped the land under it over countless years. Yet, in the moment it was still to human eyes. She recalled the great glacier as they passed over it on the high path, stretching out to the end of her sight, serene, unbreaking.

Stubborn, she could at least call herself that. Was that not something she shared with her little brother? Although she no longer used the Thousand Rings Art, she could still weather many blows. The art she had replaced it with, the Starless Night's Reflection, didn't feel quite right either. She understood the value of silence, without it any music would just be a meaningless stream of unbroken noise, but she wasn't sure she cared to make it core to herself.

Perhaps there was something there, in the spaces between that could be made into hers

That was a thought for the future though, she thought often how her style and that of her brothers were often in conflict, but was defense not a place where it converged? Endurance and regeneration, resilience and draining. Any wound he suffered recovered swiftly, any qi she spent she stole back from her foes.
vs
The other art was the Winter Hearth's Resounding. This art too, she had only been practicing for a few months, and her thoughts lingered on it as she wove the walking path through the garden, singing softly in duet with Sixiang to transform the mist beyond the paths into veils of glittering silver where those unwelcome would wander lost, and to make that mist which clung to the glassy stone cool and welcoming.

The hearth was a song of building a home, of placing up walls to keep out the cold and keep in the warm. It's weaves defended your works, made that which you crafted with song and voice harder to tear down. It gave friends a point of warmth to return too and recover from the cold night outside.

She was not a builder, but Zhengui was. Every day his control of wood and plants allowed him to craft more elaborate structure from root and branch, and the fire of the earth came at his call. It was not alike to her arts, but it was complementary.
Which one of these do we want to make more Zhengui-like? Which one is going to draw on the insights we gain from working with him?
 
So, is there any one else that doesn't really care for Xuan Shi?

He's a well crafted character with nuance, weight and a well defined voice. But he's also kind of annoying and a bummer. Every arc that includes him is just more uneasy than not. And at the end of the day, an awkward, self-effacing, low self-esteem introvert isn't really all that fun to read about. Interesting maybe, but not fun (for me is the obvious caveat).

I really hope he doesn't become a future companion.
 
Having missed the error, I now want to see down the other trouser leg of time.
Nothing changed in the update itself. Just the vote at the end: Yrsillar forgot that we voted for art alteration instead of the combo route, and so the choice at the end was whether to develop a combo for UGM with one of Zhengui's arts (I think Blazing Blood?) or for WHR with a different art (I think Blooming from Ash).
 
The Dreaming Moon is not wholly a thing of laughter and joy."

I like this criticism a lot. I think we tend towards trying to make everyone happy and friendly, which is part of why we ended up with a contradictory heart demon. Lots of our arts are also socially based.

I'm inclined to vote for the glacier option just for that thematic reason alone. Doing complementary stuff is fine, but I think it's important to still do stuff that suits Ling Qi as an individual, based in her own history, even the darker aspects like desperately surviving on the streets.
 
[X] Unstoppable Glacier's March

Glacier looking really nice now, lets see what we can get from altering it.
 
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