Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
[X] Gan Guangli, your ally and fellow retainer, you could talk him up a bit, and spin your looking away from Xiao Fen as having no doubts a Bai will pass the preliminary.
- Location
- scrabbling
[X] Xiao Fen, your brief student and best friends handmaiden, Renxiang will no doubt be supporting Gan Guangli, and you can talk up your support for her throughout the year.
The Mirror is a very good sidestory. In general the sidestories that cast the perspective out through the rest of the Empire and across the wide world are my favorites.
The Mirror is a very good sidestory. In general the sidestories that cast the perspective out through the rest of the Empire and across the wide world are my favorites.
All tied up.
- Location
- Canada
[X] Xiao Fen, your brief student and best friends handmaiden, Renxiang will no doubt be supporting Gan Guangli, and you can talk up your support for her throughout the year.
Lan Lan's parents still coming in with the best batting average for all the characters.
You know who else had a parent GAN FLEXINGTON OUR MUSCLY HERO WHOM NEEDS TO FLEX WHILE SU LING WATCHES
You know who else had a parent GAN FLEXINGTON OUR MUSCLY HERO WHOM NEEDS TO FLEX WHILE SU LING WATCHES
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[X] Gan Guangli, your ally and fellow retainer, you could talk him up a bit, and spin your looking away from Xiao Fen as having no doubts a Bai will pass the preliminary.
Kai Merah
Hound Hearted Hedonist
- Location
- Somewhere in the corners of my imagination
[X] Xiao Fen, your brief student and best friends handmaiden, Renxiang will no doubt be supporting Gan Guangli, and you can talk up your support for her throughout the year.
Adorable murder snek! Fun reminiscing of how we bullied her for her own good all year!
Adorable murder snek! Fun reminiscing of how we bullied her for her own good all year!
Well, the thing is Xiao Fen is adorable and the context supports talking about her.
Meanwhile this is the penultimate moment of Gan Guangli's entire time in the Outer Sect. (The climax would be the semifinals, which will determine the course of the rest of his life)
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The issue is that while there's no political advantage, the options really aren't balanced on the level of narrative cohesion. The big question in play is what the plan is for Gan Guangli's narrative?
The reason that's the big question in play is that, in this tournament, Gan Guangli is the only participant who has a narrative worth mentioning. Everybody else we care about is practically guaranteed to pass into the inner sect. Gan Guangli has higher requirements to remain a retainer of Cai Renxiang. He basically has to make it to the final 2. But even more importantly than that, Gan Guangli has an answer to give.
Last year he lost at the preliminary stage, and it kicked off questions about what being a Soldier means to him, and how he'll engage with that ideal while fulfilling his duties as Renxiang's right hand man, as her general. This round of the preliminaries is a narrative mirror to last year's, and it's the best opportunity to showcase his answer to that question. Which is extremely important, because it's core to not just his personal characterization, but his trajectory within the organization of Renxiang's inner circle and the upcoming diplomatic project.
Like or dislike him, this scene is vital to Gan Guangli's existence in the narrative in a way that this opportunity simply isn't to Xiao Fen's. If he doesn't get this scene, it's going to be extremely difficult to write his presence in the narrative fabric in a way that isn't deadweight dragging it down. There's a missing foundation to serious characterization of the guy, and this exact opportunity is essentially tailor-suited to lifting the fog clouding his personal and philosophical redemption. Essentially, we need to know Guangli's answer to the questions raised by his previous loss before anything can be done with his character. And simply winning the tournament, a scene we're no doubt locked in to watching, doesn't answer that question.
Gan Guangli deserves to stand tall and shine brightly in the power of his ideology. This is that stage; it's the only one that can serve as the first, but it will be the first of many.
[X] Gan Guangli, your ally and fellow retainer, you could talk him up a bit, and spin your looking away from Xiao Fen as having no doubts a Bai will pass the preliminary.
The reason that's the big question in play is that, in this tournament, Gan Guangli is the only participant who has a narrative worth mentioning. Everybody else we care about is practically guaranteed to pass into the inner sect. Gan Guangli has higher requirements to remain a retainer of Cai Renxiang. He basically has to make it to the final 2. But even more importantly than that, Gan Guangli has an answer to give.
Last year he lost at the preliminary stage, and it kicked off questions about what being a Soldier means to him, and how he'll engage with that ideal while fulfilling his duties as Renxiang's right hand man, as her general. This round of the preliminaries is a narrative mirror to last year's, and it's the best opportunity to showcase his answer to that question. Which is extremely important, because it's core to not just his personal characterization, but his trajectory within the organization of Renxiang's inner circle and the upcoming diplomatic project.
Like or dislike him, this scene is vital to Gan Guangli's existence in the narrative in a way that this opportunity simply isn't to Xiao Fen's. If he doesn't get this scene, it's going to be extremely difficult to write his presence in the narrative fabric in a way that isn't deadweight dragging it down. There's a missing foundation to serious characterization of the guy, and this exact opportunity is essentially tailor-suited to lifting the fog clouding his personal and philosophical redemption. Essentially, we need to know Guangli's answer to the questions raised by his previous loss before anything can be done with his character. And simply winning the tournament, a scene we're no doubt locked in to watching, doesn't answer that question.
Gan Guangli deserves to stand tall and shine brightly in the power of his ideology. This is that stage; it's the only one that can serve as the first, but it will be the first of many.
[X] Gan Guangli, your ally and fellow retainer, you could talk him up a bit, and spin your looking away from Xiao Fen as having no doubts a Bai will pass the preliminary.
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- Pronouns
- He
[X] Xiao Fen, your brief student and best friends handmaiden, Renxiang will no doubt be supporting Gan Guangli, and you can talk up your support for her throughout the year.
I mean, there is an alternative resolution that's narratively coherent and does not require LQ's attention: GG can fail and lose his status as CRX's retainer. Without a master, he doesn't really have a basis for calling himself a soldier. There's no meaningful chance of him not qualifying for the Inner Sect so, at his darkest moment, he will nonetheless have plenty resources available to him.
While the sect is probably not thrilled to have the Cai's seconds, he would likely have a decent chance of becoming another Cai sympathetic sect lifer. His Way would shift to musings of the nature of weakness, making the stereotypical soldier=>monk transition.
It doesn't really make sense for LQ's attention to affect things in-universe but there's been so little attention paid to him that yrs could very easily retcon things along this other path instead.
While the sect is probably not thrilled to have the Cai's seconds, he would likely have a decent chance of becoming another Cai sympathetic sect lifer. His Way would shift to musings of the nature of weakness, making the stereotypical soldier=>monk transition.
It doesn't really make sense for LQ's attention to affect things in-universe but there's been so little attention paid to him that yrs could very easily retcon things along this other path instead.
- Location
- The Space Between
shut your heretic mouth
LingSu Ling's lead husbando candidate will not fail so easily or I will be v sadge
- Location
- Earth
[X] Gan Guangli, your ally and fellow retainer, you could talk him up a bit, and spin your looking away from Xiao Fen as having no doubts a Bai will pass the preliminary.
[X] Xiao Fen, your brief student and best friends handmaiden, Renxiang will no doubt be supporting Gan Guangli, and you can talk up your support for her throughout the year.
- Location
- US
[X] Gan Guangli, your ally and fellow retainer, you could talk him up a bit, and spin your looking away from Xiao Fen as having no doubts a Bai will pass the preliminary.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
So, I'm going to ask, because this is meaningful, and we might get an answer.
@yrsillar - this vote is presented as a decision by Ling Qi, with a constrained area of effect. In particular, there are some very powerful people ensuring that folks like Ling Qi cannot affect the trials by her actions at this point. The only effects presented in the vote itself are those on the immediate people around her (from the talking) and on Ling Qi herself (in that every decision shapes you).
At the same time, there is a guess that the vote has broader narrative effects - primarily in causing major differences in GG's overall outcomes. GG is well-liked, ad we wish him well. I am voting for Xiao Fe, for example, but if I thought the vote could have an effect on the overall outcome, I would to do this thing. Many of the folks currently voting GG, I'm sure, differ from me only in that they thin that the vote will have such an effect. Given that the only difference between us is the "what the heck are we voting on, anyway?", could you offer some clarity, please? In particular, is it possible that this vote might have a meaningful effect on how GG does in these trials, and/or a retroactive on on how well he's performed during the year?
@yrsillar - this vote is presented as a decision by Ling Qi, with a constrained area of effect. In particular, there are some very powerful people ensuring that folks like Ling Qi cannot affect the trials by her actions at this point. The only effects presented in the vote itself are those on the immediate people around her (from the talking) and on Ling Qi herself (in that every decision shapes you).
At the same time, there is a guess that the vote has broader narrative effects - primarily in causing major differences in GG's overall outcomes. GG is well-liked, ad we wish him well. I am voting for Xiao Fe, for example, but if I thought the vote could have an effect on the overall outcome, I would to do this thing. Many of the folks currently voting GG, I'm sure, differ from me only in that they thin that the vote will have such an effect. Given that the only difference between us is the "what the heck are we voting on, anyway?", could you offer some clarity, please? In particular, is it possible that this vote might have a meaningful effect on how GG does in these trials, and/or a retroactive on on how well he's performed during the year?
Gan Guangli's failure would actually be quite good for CRX too. CRX's character arc appears to be based on slowly reclaiming her nature as a person (and reconnecting to her emotions along the way). As it stands Gan Guangli is CRX's emotional anchor but she has difficulty displaying her emotions outside of her interactions with him.
GG's failure takes all of that away from her. The only reasonable response from her would be fury and despair. And Liming will sympathize with every bit of that emotional maelstrom. Those aren't pleasant emotions but they are definitely hers and will be far too strong for her to deny.
Edit: to be clear this would just show up as something similar to the past tournament scene where she comforts GG for his loss.
GG's failure takes all of that away from her. The only reasonable response from her would be fury and despair. And Liming will sympathize with every bit of that emotional maelstrom. Those aren't pleasant emotions but they are definitely hers and will be far too strong for her to deny.
Edit: to be clear this would just show up as something similar to the past tournament scene where she comforts GG for his loss.
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