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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
I thought it did? @yrsis the heart demon gone or is it still here?
I think that was an expression of relief, not regret. Because it's definitely gone:
Heart Demon Lifted
Community 2/5
The excessively long-lived Family/Power/Cultivation conflict has been solved, and now it's time to look to the future. Being to devote our full focus to how we want to grow Ling Qi in the future instead of always thinking about the anchor we need to remove is exciting.
 
Ling Qi hummed to herself as she watched her mother look out over the garden. It was a small thing, doing this acquiring the fruit trees and the drink, but it was worth the effort she thought, for her Mother's sake if nothing else.

"Doing this was a small thing, acquiring the fruit trees and drink. The ceremony was worth the effort even if it was done only for Mother's sake."

I feel like this flows a little better.


I can already hear Six dragging Ling Qi along to make this be peak chunni when boosting Renxiang!~ :V

LQ: "By the power of my Eyes of Endings may you pierce their very souls!"

Renren: "IMA FIRIN' MAH LASER!"

Narrator: "Will the Forge Fighters be able to defeat the evil plant spirit? Find out next time on Destiny...verse...Z!"

Liling: "What the hell happened to these two while I was gone?"
 
I think that was an expression of relief, not regret. Because it's definitely gone:

The excessively long-lived Family/Power/Cultivation conflict has been solved, and now it's time to look to the future. Being to devote our full focus to how we want to grow Ling Qi in the future instead of always thinking about the anchor we need to remove is exciting.
Ah it sounded like disappointment. My bad.
 
the power of narrative
I bet the diviner actually convinced Xiangmen to act, in the Beast King's Savage Dirge. Spent all his life and cultivation learning the cycles and turning of things, because they were interesting not because he sought to dominate them as the Beast Kings dominated. He spent his whole life learning to understand and read the signs of the plants and the natural world, and he gambled everything on the prediction that Xiangmen would be convinced to act against the Beast Kings that were so arrogant as to wage war into Xiangmen. Xiangmen has almost certainly had battles and wars fought within it, but the diviner was gambling that Xiangmen would determine that the future of Man in Emerald Seas was preferable to the continued reign of the Beast Kings who would throw themselves against Xiangmen in their maddened arrogance.

everything we know about the diviner except this event was super chill and easygoing. He saved all his care and emotional investment into that one moment, to maximize the narrative payoff of Xiangmen choosing to act



can you imagine the being Xiangmen acting, and the Diviner toasting that first act? With maximum narrative build up?
all those skeletons in the court of Xiangmen really are terrifying. Not as terrifying as the tree of course but still. Yeesh lololol
 
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So I think an interesting consequence of this festival, both immediately and long term is that this festival will end up being an awakening for some members of the Ling household. There's just too much qi from expressed domains filtering into everything for the fruits being offered not to have some benefit towards that process.
 
So powerful is your vitality that it even radiates out to buoy your allies enhancing their own protection and stamina.
In this cruel and wicked world, your people will be safe and joyous.
Oh gorgeous he has two overlapping defensive domain effects.
She watched one girl tentatively dip her feet in the water at Zhengui's urging. The temperature didn't harm her in the slightest thanks to the power of their domains in this place and soon the girl was joined by a much older woman, Biyu's most regular nanny.
The water is literally boiling and they're using it as a spa.
 
yrsillar said:
The Liminal Realm was naught but thoughts and dreams and faith, the shape of the technique merely created a channel with which to draw upon that for an instant.

She saw in her mind's eye the flows of the technique, the patterns of qi that she saw now existed only to simplify its use. In that moment, she understood the truth of the technique. No phantoms nor music were needed, really, only a moment where narrative and reality could overlap.

She thought she understood just a bit how the Hui had become so twisted, if the arts of dream were so core to their clan. It was always so easy, to accept an attractive narrative.
The Hui being heavily focused on the Dream, and being all about dividing any possible opposition would explain why the White Plumes appeared so weird in the Dream back when LQ met the hundred soldiers sent south. Because it is hard to reinforce a narrative that divides a group of soldiers into killing each-other is rather difficult if you cannot distinguish individuals within the Dream.
 
She watched one girl tentatively dip her feet in the water at Zhengui's urging. The temperature didn't harm her in the slightest thanks to the power of their domains in this place and soon the girl was joined by a much older woman, Biyu's most regular nanny.
Gui made a sound of agreement muffled and distorted by the bubbling mineral water he had immersed his head in gulping down great mouthfuls.
How terrible... Our precious little boy has grown into a lewd deviant who drinks women's bathwater.

Oh well, we shouldn't kink-shame and instead turn the next festival into a proper pool party!
 
Oh blessed Moon, our son is not merely a Harem Protagonist, he is of the pervert subspecies...
...
...
...
No, i do not have the time or the energy to do something about this, let his harem handle it.
 
Zhengui also had a tech to get smaller in size and it's not in the sheet.
That's not really a technique so much as a regular skill that most large bound Spirit beasts learn. He learned it from Cui and I think Han Jian's tiger has been shown doing it. Yu Nuan's puppy also does it. It wasn't on his previous Character sheet iirc, and I don't think it needs mentioning on this one, just like I don't think we need to mention that Ling Qi can dissolve her spirits and pull them into her.
 
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I also note that Precious is following Ling Qi down the route of "commander" style aoe buff/debuff handling. Including plomping down and sniping at enemies 1.5 times per turn while dispelling debuffs with every shot.

Our little family is really gearing up to be the basis of a horrific hero-ball of mutual buffs.
You are small yet, and your kingdom but a dream.
I'm also left wondering if more exposure to the Liminal Realm is going make Zengui start developing some dream-based traits. Likely based on the two-and-one structure of his mind. Or alternatively the social themes touched on in the ritual.

Speaking of social themes, it's interesting to look at the way our family practically forms a character arc:
dreams and inspirations -> want and striving and loneliness and community -> being worn down and then the enjoying the fruits of success -> sorrow and endings
 
Alright this is gonna be the Main spot for your cultivation options. I'll repost it whenever there is a vote, but I'll also log it here

Base/Domain Cultivation
Conceptual Projects

  • Isolation III (2/5): As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. To be alone is to suffer,yet it is possible to find meaning in hardship. What do the cold streets of that sad city mean?
  • Expression III (0/5): Art, music is the expression of ideas, the sharing of concepts with other people and beings. It can express the truth of your soul, it can express desires, it can express simple observations and so much more. You have only begun to explore the truth of art.
  • Community III (2/5): Family is the most fundamental unit of society, the block from which all else is built. Yet, what is the meaning of family, where does obligation stop, and love begin?
  • Power III: Power is absolute, but comes in different forms. What is strength in one context may be weakness in another.
  • Want II (0/3): Want is the fundamental drive of all things. All other motivations are but rationalizations for desire.
  • Motion II (0/3): To fly, to run to climb, these are happiness
  • Endings I (0/2): All things end in time, it is the journey to ending that has meaning.
  • Freedom I (0/2): Freedom is a blade, joy and isolation are its edges
  • Persistence I (0/2): The world is in flux and things last only due to the exertion of will.
  • Truth I (0/2): Truth trades short term hurt for long term harm
  • Causality I (1/2): Action precedes reaction. Time flows forward, ever forward.
  • Mystery I (1/2): The first question asked in life is how do I survive. The second is why.
  • Creation 0 (0/1)-?
  • Courage (0/1)-?
  • Protection (0/1)-?
  • Cycles (0/1)-?
  • Home (0/1)
  • Chaos (0/1)


Arts Development

Songseekers Ceremony:
Moon, Yin, Mystery, Motion, Expression
  • Grinning: It is the seeking that brings joy, the journey and the acquisition. Delve into the deeper mystery of the Grinning Moon, seek, adventure, explore to integrate its lessons. Advances the Freedom, Motion, and Isolation projects one step on completion. 30 XP to physical cultivation. (0/3)
  • Dreaming: Songs of ancient days, the playful ballads of modern theater, the buskers tune, too long have you failed to look outward and hear that which surrounds you. Advances the Community, Truth, and Creation projects one step on completion. 30 XP to Spiritual Cultivation (0/3)
  • Hidden Scribe: You have asked the second question, and looked upon the world with the eyes of a seeker if only for a moment. Delve further into mystery and the questions that underlie the world of now. Advances the Mystery and Causality Projects by one step on completion. 70% Chance of additional Moon attention on completion. 50 XP Spiritual Cultivation (0/8)

Phantasmagoria of Lunar Revelry: Yang, Moon, Chaos, Dream, Revelry
  • Phantasmal Mastery: You have tasted the cruel wine of isolation, and known the pain of loneliness. Is it any wonder then that the arts of conjuring have been core to you since the day that you first took up the melody of the Forgotten Vale. At your direction, phantoms and figments dance more deftly and with more mind, animated by the lingering dreams of a girl who can never forget loneliness. Grants the Phantasmal Mastery Trait, which increases the power and flexibility of summon techniques. Advances Isolation by 1 Step. (0/5)
  • The Dreaming Gala: Only once have you tasted the wine of Dream, and reveled in her halls. Those memories are blurry. Those memories are slippery. You have grown, and you know in your heart that you always have an invitation. Seek again that cacophonous hall, that phantasmal concert, and find the lessons you may have yet missed: Fuses the Ephemeral Dreamlit Dancer technique in to the Dreamwalker Trait. Advances the Dreamwalker Trait by 1 level, and the Creation Concepts by 1 step. (0/5)

Starless Night's Reflection: Yin, Lake, Darkness, Reflection, Stillness, Void
  • Lake Hei is Wide: The great lake is bottomless, but it is also wide, a sea in its own right, there is nothing which cannot vanish into its depths. So to can you render inert even assaults that would strike down a whole company. Improves Rippling Starless Shroud as well as your passive defense against Area Arts. Unlock Two Projects. (0/3)
  • It's Depths Without End: The imperturbable surface, a skin of shimmering black that lies over the infinite deeps beneath. All vanishes into the dark, leaving mere ripples behind. Where sleeps that which vanishes from world, sight, and memory?. Advances the Mystery and Ending Projects one step. Reveals text of Imperturbable Soul Trait. (0/3)
  • We are but Ripples: In waters deep, under skies far, we bear witness to our own crushing smallness. Where then does meaning rise, in the infinite dark? Advances Isolation and Mystery Projects one step. 40% Chance of acquiring Void concept for your Domain.(0/3)

Beast King's Savage Dirge: Yang, Wood, Darkness, Music, Beasts, Conquest, Power
  • Bear God's Fury: The Bear God, avatar of wrath, whose crushing paws sundered trees and reshaped hills, Learn the stanzas of the great ballad which spoke of his coming and the ruin of the wolf gods plans. Learn the Bear God's Fury technique, which summons the phantom limbs of the titan to crush and pin down foes. Unlocks One Project. (0/3)
  • Primacy of Beasts: Learn the song of nature, the melody of tooth and claw. Where lies the line between beasts and men, which brings us to war? Mere greed and pride, or something more? Alters the primal War Calling technique. Advances the Power and Want Projects by one step. (0/3)
  • Xiangmen, Fortress of Tsu Pt. 1: Before the ravening of the Gods, Xiangmen stood uncaring, and in the trunk sheltered all of the people of the Emerald Seas. Against the Gods stood the Diviner, who would see that man was never subjugated again. Alters the Eagle God's Defiance technique. Advances the Motion and Home projects by one step. (0/5)

Melodies of the Spirit Seekers: Balanced, Music, Bargaining, Sincerity, Understanding
  • Spirit Seeker VI: Go forth and practice your art on the spirits of the land. Advance the Spirit Seeker trait by 1 (0/3)
  • Raising the Bastion: In the harsh south, under the gaze of Bleak Skies yearning, you received a taste of the casual cruelty which spirits unbound and uncaring of man may display. In the lessons of the Bastion's Melody, you find the lessons needed to mitigate their harm, and even bring understanding of their doings to spirits most inhuman. Alters the Bastion's Melody Art, giving a chance to negate damaging environmental traits of higher spirits. Advances the Community and Protection projects by one step. Unlocks one project. (0/5)

Laughing Flight of the Wind Thief: Yin, Darkness, WInd, Freedom, Motion, Want
  • The Opened Vault: Ten thousand Locks and not one to stop you. Learn the lessons of the first thief, whom no vault or security could stop. Acquire the Thief of Winds technique, which allows you to interact with and steal from dimensional storage and bypass many forms of security. Advances Vanishing by 1. Advances Want project by one. (0/5)
  • The Laughing Wind: Flight is freedom, defiance of one of the First Laws. Feel the wind on your face,witness all the earth below, and laugh in the midst of the clear blue sky. Advance Sable Grace by 1. Advance Motion and Freedom projects by one. Unlocks Two Project. (0/3)

Winter Hearth Resounding: Cold, Fire, Music, Boundary, Home, Renewal
  • Kindle the Hearth: So long as the hearth burns still, home remains. Nurse the embers and ashes, no matter how mean, and one day the fire will burn again.Acquire the Technique Ashen Hearth Return. A technique which sacrifices the function of the Winter hearth Resounding Art to negate negative traits on you and your allies. Advances the Community Project by one. (0/5)
  • Winter Reinforcement: The task of preparing for the winter comes every year without fail. A home must be maintained, it's walls repaired, its portals reinforced. A home is a work without end, a project of a lifetime. Yet, in the end, is there any more vital art? Advances Home and Protection projects by 1. Improves Unbroken Will by one. (0/3)
  • Release of Spring: So in sorrow, so in joy. Another year and you remain. What you have, you have kept. Celebrate the wild ides even as the next hardship drifts on the horizon, and Know that you will survive again. Improves the Passive effects of the Art. Advances the Home and Want projects by one. (0/3)
  • Garden of Mists: You keep no hearth, but you do tend the garden. Kin and clan, parents and siblings, dreams of the future and trials of now. You have come to know the ways of boundaries and stories, told to keep back the night. You protect your own. Alter the WInter Hearth resounding Art, replacing the Fire Keyword with Dream and Music with Formations. Advances Community and Cycles Project by 1. Advances Liminal Carver by 1. (0/5)

Unstoppable Glacier's March: Yin, Cold, Music, Expression, Inevitability, Pressure
  • Soul of Ice: Blizzard and glacier, fine snow and driving sleet. cruel wind and soft snow. Stasis, Inevitability, Endings and Renewal. There is more to ice, more to winter than meets the casual eye. Is your own understanding too narrow? Advances Isolation and Want Projects. Advances Winter's Heart by 1. Begins Trait Quest Chain. (0/5)
  • Path Unyielding: To know what you wish and to advance toward it with all of your heart, this is something you know well. Study and meditate upon what you have learned and seen of the glaciers of the wall, and ponder the value of Implacability: Advance persistence and Want projects by one. Improves Grinding Glacial Melody. Unlocks one Project. (0/3)

Social Arts

Playful Muse's Rapport
:
Dreaming Muse Rapport VII: Continue to study the art of wielding honesty and friendliness to achieve your social goals. Advance the Trait by one (0/1)

Moonless Saboteur's Smile
Hidden Smile V: Continue to hone your ability to keep your poise and defend against the social probes of your peers. Contemplate the meaning in etiquette and the role of tradition, truth, and stories. 50% Chance to advance the Truth Concept by 1 Advance the Trait by one. (0/1)

Meridian Slot Projects

Open New Slot: Open a new Meridian Slot. (0/4) 40% Chance of Success
Alter a Meridian Slot: Change one slot to another Type: 0/6 40% chance of Success.

Unlearned Arts
-Currently Locked

Modifiable Arts

-CurrentlyLocked

Successor Creation
-Currently Locked



Sites and Temporary Modifiers

Argent Vent(Greater):

+1 Success to Any Project -or- +2 Success to any Balanced Project.
+10% Success rate to Assigned project.
Reduce Cultivation Upkeep by 4 Green Spirit Stones.

Silent Stones:
+1 Success to a Moon, Sun, or Earth Project

Mirror Basin:
+1 to Water or Lake Projects
 
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Omake Tracking and Rewards
Hello folks. Firstly let me say that I love the huge amount of user content, art and stories which these threads have attracted. Second I know that this has slowed down a lot recently, probably due to the reward system and system overall kinda breaking down into a meaningless morass of numbers.

So! As of today I am hoping to reverse that trend. Fan content will be rewarded with Omake points as before in the following categories

Visual Art-2 Points
Apocrypha Stories-1 Point
Sidestories- 2 points

What is changing however is the use of those points. Omake points will have two uses. First, you may use 1 Omake point to add 1 additional success to a project in the turn planning phase. Each Omake author may only spend up to two points this way per phase.

Secondly, omake points can be applied to exploration rolls. Each one adds a modifier of +5. Each person may contribute up to two points to a roll, and the overall maximum omake modifier is +40, meaning four people contributing their full points. They may also be applied to success chances, but the maximum bonus to a success roll is +20

Below I'm going to compile the points I believe everyone should have and this time I'll work harder to keep on top of it too.

Creator List:

7ime1ock- 2
Abby Normal- 6
acidified- 18
Alectai- 0
Andelevion- 4
ApeofLight- 14
Apocalyptic Loon- 0
Arthelys- 6
Audacious- 0
azatol- 1
barty- 0
Bigtale- 1
Black Noise- 1
BungieOni- 4
BurnNote- 2
CalvinCopyright- 1
Camelia- 5
Catwings- 2
cedeelbe- 0
Cerdaemon- 2
ChronOblivion- 1
CornyBones- 0
commando2341- 0
Darker- 2
deadcrystal- 1
disgruntledghost- 0
djd- 2
Doramas- 1
dycouza- 1
Elizabeth- 11
EternalObserver- 2
Erebeal- 10
Evilness42- 1
FallenPears- 0
FixerUpper- 0
Floom- 1
Glau- 1
hanfate- 0
Henkalv- 0
Hont91- 0
Inferno Vulpix- 4
Jowkeen- 4
Kaelik- 1
Kellopy- 0
KinoftheMountain- 0
Lady_Story- 3
Lazy Minx- 0
Lena27- 2
Lleda- 3
Magery- 2
Maladictus- 2
Neshuakadal- 38
Oliver Twister- 0
Orkus Majorkus- 1
Pathos- 1
PowerLeca- 15
PrinceEnmity- 0
RageQuitEnigma- 0
Random Shinobi- 1
Spacegnom- 2
StainlessBlue- 1
Storryeater- 0
Summer Madness- 1
Tamwim5- 1
Tarro- 1
Tedbear- 2
TehChron- 5
The Laurent- 4
Thor's Twin- 40
Tim4- 2
tryar- 0
Xepheria- 10
Yama0- 6
zingy- 2

For @Neshuadakal and @Thor's Twin I have to apologize, I'm capping you guys at twenty six points for the new start though you can keep earning more normally.
 
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Sounds like I should start motivating myself to draw again

Hidden Scribe: You have asked the second question, and looked upon the world with the eyes of a seeker if only for a moment. Delve further into mystery and the questions that underlie the world of now. Advances the Mystery and Causality Projects by one step on completion. 70% Chance of additional Moon attention on completion. 50 XP Spiritual Cultivation (0/8)
new stuff after we completed our Hidden project, now we need 8 xp
Garden of Mists: You keep no hearth, but you do tend the garden. Kin and clan, parents and siblings, dreams of the future and trials of now. You have come to know the ways of boundaries and stories, told to keep back the night. You protect your own. Alter the WInter Hearth resounding Art, replacing the Fire Keyword with Dream and Music with Formations. Advances Community and Cycles Project by 1. Advances Liminal Carver by 1. (0/5)
squint

double-checks sentence


Ummm, wow, this project just went up from the bottom of my priority list.

*cough*Fire worst element*cough cough*
Hidden Smile V: Continue to hone your ability to keep your poise and defend against the social probes of your peers. Contemplate the meaning in etiquette and the role of tradition, truth, and stories. 50% Chance to advance the Truth Concept by 1 Advance the Trait by one. (0/1)
Apparently investing in Hidden Smile can now have a possibility of raising our Truth concept as incentive to train Social Traits
 
Hidden Scribe: You have asked the second question, and looked upon the world with the eyes of a seeker if only for a moment. Delve further into mystery and the questions that underlie the world of now. Advances the Mystery and Causality Projects by one step on completion. 70% Chance of additional Moon attention on completion. 50 XP Spiritual Cultivation (0/8)
👀

Edit:

Also I didn't notice on first time around but Starless Night's Reflection has some great conceptual stuff in it as well as advancing my personal love of Ling Qi being a fucking bulletproof wall on top of being dodgy
 
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  • Hidden Scribe: You have asked the second question, and looked upon the world with the eyes of a seeker if only for a moment. Delve further into mystery and the questions that underlie the world of now. Advances the Mystery and Causality Projects by one step on completion. 70% Chance of additional Moon attention on completion. 50 XP Spiritual Cultivation (0/8)

I like this a lot. More Causality, and chance of Hidden Moon Headpats! We could maybe get Xin screentime!
 
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