[X] Decline, a little hardship is good for the soul Wang Chao. (Xuan Shi dialogue and isolation insight speculation.)
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.
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Arguably the best way to act against him is to deny him the chance to build the connections he came here for. Though I'm more doing this to let the other two continue their bonding as we originally hoped before this kid complicated things.
I am interested enough in the isolation insight I won't regret losing here though. But it being noted in story makes it seems odd that it won't come up again, unless it would be too personal to bring up outside this moment.
[x] Accept the team up, it could be a workable coalition. (Luo Zhong dialogue and community insight speculation.)
[X] Decline, a little hardship is good for the soul Wang Chao. (Xuan Shi dialogue and isolation insight speculation.)
Yeah, I'd like to take my chances with somebody else in the family. Guy still hasn't done anything that makes me think he's worthy of any efforts rehabilitating him or befriending him.
Xuan Shi focus is icing on the cake.
Narrow? Not harassing women is a very low bar for likeability. Really disagree with (what I interpret as) the widespread insinuation that we are being unfair to this dude and just need to get over it. Not just this comment but generally.
Yeah, I'd like to take my chances with somebody else in the family. Guy still hasn't done anything that makes me think he's worthy of any efforts rehabilitating him or befriending him.
Xuan Shi focus is icing on the cake.
Narrow? Not harassing women is a very low bar for likeability. Really disagree with (what I interpret as) the widespread insinuation that we are being unfair to this dude and just need to get over it. Not just this comment but generally.
Last edited:
With the full update out there, I can better explain my general frustration with Luo Zhong's narrative position. Our specific history and position with various projects/people actually gives us a fair amount of leverage over him moving forwards. That's not very hard to figure out in the abstract, but it's not very visible to the thread either. And that makes it hard to keep in mind when he/a vote concerning him comes up. Last vote we had the opportunity to stress test him to draw out some of those advantages in the open where they could sink in to the general thread consciousness and be remembered when future votes come up. By locking ourselves into graciousness, we ceded that opportunity.
The consequence was Luo Zhong was always able to present an unflappable front, even when doing things like admitting "This reversal does not escape me." Because we let him maintain his controlled demeanor, it didn't feel like a concession, which meant it didn't feel like Ling Qi actually had the upper hand. We went from Luo Zhong standing to the side pensively while we deliberated on how (much) to welcome him to the group, to him enjoying business as usual comfort. It was a missed opportunity to get more than his surface level character and to add real texture to his relationship with Ling Qi.
So it's a good thing the vote isn't on whether he's included in the story anymore, since it wasn't really a fair showing we ended up with. His best social foot forwards isn't necessarily his best featuring as a character. The non-confrontational stance just let him come off as kind of boring, without actually resolving past irritations either. Lack of interest and lack of catharsis both work against his popularity.
[X] Accept the team up, it could be a workable coalition. (Luo Zhong dialogue and community insight speculation.)
For now, I'm going with this. Poking at Xuan Shi's Isolation is really juicy, but there's some important overarching narratives I see us getting into with Luo Zhong and Community here. Plus, I think there's ways we can challenge Luo Zhong from on his side of the battlefield, too.
I don't think the Community insight is going to be something simple like the value of working with people who kind of bug you. Could be wrong, but there's more to play with in the scene so I doubt it. The overlap we see in the update between Ling Qi and Luo Zhong is the Weilu spirit stuff. An insight grounded along the lines of shared cultural touch points would echo our justification for pursuing peaceful political contact with the White Sky. Shared values, similar foundations, being something that can be leaned on even when there isn't a spark of interpersonal trust. That could be a funky kind of insight. I think it works!
And it occurred to me one of the ways we could explore that, which would also kind of simultaneously be a challenge to Luo Zhong along the same vein that we're accepting as shared, would be using a new trick we recently picked up for the first time. Our sometimes awkward technique from PLR, Joyous Toast, developed into what is now called Lunatic Crescendo. It's a technique which draws strength from the liminal in proportion to narrative strength and framing. This seems like it would be extremely suitable to pairing with, empowering, Luo Zhong's spirit contract techniques. He's already drawing strength from the liminal, so they're naturally cohesive techniques. But what Ling Qi would be doing is spicing up his stale and rigid liminal interaction with the living heartbeat of her more intimate habit of spirit engagement.
Not entirely a fair way to characterize his techniques, but it's basically Ling Qi's instinct. Using her Dream flex to wake a deeper power through the channel he's opening is a) probably extremely effective, b) probably extremely reckless, c) probably extremely disconcerting for the guy, and d) probably extremely funny. Naturally, I support the venture on all four points.
The less extreme (and cool) possibility would be Sixiang dropping down their Dream zone tech, which probably lowers the cost of Luo Zhong's contracts, since the barrier to the liminal would be thinned.
Anyway, my point is exploring the Community of shared cultural touchstones by having a small surprise debate on our side of the battlefield related to spiritual affairs would be cool.
The consequence was Luo Zhong was always able to present an unflappable front, even when doing things like admitting "This reversal does not escape me." Because we let him maintain his controlled demeanor, it didn't feel like a concession, which meant it didn't feel like Ling Qi actually had the upper hand. We went from Luo Zhong standing to the side pensively while we deliberated on how (much) to welcome him to the group, to him enjoying business as usual comfort. It was a missed opportunity to get more than his surface level character and to add real texture to his relationship with Ling Qi.
So it's a good thing the vote isn't on whether he's included in the story anymore, since it wasn't really a fair showing we ended up with. His best social foot forwards isn't necessarily his best featuring as a character. The non-confrontational stance just let him come off as kind of boring, without actually resolving past irritations either. Lack of interest and lack of catharsis both work against his popularity.
[X] Accept the team up, it could be a workable coalition. (Luo Zhong dialogue and community insight speculation.)
For now, I'm going with this. Poking at Xuan Shi's Isolation is really juicy, but there's some important overarching narratives I see us getting into with Luo Zhong and Community here. Plus, I think there's ways we can challenge Luo Zhong from on his side of the battlefield, too.
I don't think the Community insight is going to be something simple like the value of working with people who kind of bug you. Could be wrong, but there's more to play with in the scene so I doubt it. The overlap we see in the update between Ling Qi and Luo Zhong is the Weilu spirit stuff. An insight grounded along the lines of shared cultural touch points would echo our justification for pursuing peaceful political contact with the White Sky. Shared values, similar foundations, being something that can be leaned on even when there isn't a spark of interpersonal trust. That could be a funky kind of insight. I think it works!
And it occurred to me one of the ways we could explore that, which would also kind of simultaneously be a challenge to Luo Zhong along the same vein that we're accepting as shared, would be using a new trick we recently picked up for the first time. Our sometimes awkward technique from PLR, Joyous Toast, developed into what is now called Lunatic Crescendo. It's a technique which draws strength from the liminal in proportion to narrative strength and framing. This seems like it would be extremely suitable to pairing with, empowering, Luo Zhong's spirit contract techniques. He's already drawing strength from the liminal, so they're naturally cohesive techniques. But what Ling Qi would be doing is spicing up his stale and rigid liminal interaction with the living heartbeat of her more intimate habit of spirit engagement.
Not entirely a fair way to characterize his techniques, but it's basically Ling Qi's instinct. Using her Dream flex to wake a deeper power through the channel he's opening is a) probably extremely effective, b) probably extremely reckless, c) probably extremely disconcerting for the guy, and d) probably extremely funny. Naturally, I support the venture on all four points.
The less extreme (and cool) possibility would be Sixiang dropping down their Dream zone tech, which probably lowers the cost of Luo Zhong's contracts, since the barrier to the liminal would be thinned.
Anyway, my point is exploring the Community of shared cultural touchstones by having a small surprise debate on our side of the battlefield related to spiritual affairs would be cool.
Last edited:
[X] Accept the team up, it could be a workable coalition. (Luo Zhong dialogue and community insight speculation.)
NoxOfUmbra
Shadow of the night
- Location
- Colombia, South América
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
[X] Accept the team up, it could be a workable coalition. (Luo Zhong dialogue and community insight speculation.)
- Location
- Colorado
[X] Decline, a little hardship is good for the soul Wang Chao. (Xuan Shi dialogue and isolation insight speculation.)
I'll only be mildly disappointed when this loses, Luo has managed to be at least a little interesting, even if I don't want him to become more prominent in the recurring cast.
I'll only be mildly disappointed when this loses, Luo has managed to be at least a little interesting, even if I don't want him to become more prominent in the recurring cast.
- Location
- THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
[X] Accept the team up, it could be a workable coalition. (Luo Zhong dialogue and community insight speculation.)
- Location
- the internet
Damnit, this is hard. I still believe in the reasons I argued for Luo Zhong earlier but a XuanQi teamup is really tempting. I think that not only would LQ get an insight on Xuan Shi's brand of isolation but he might get an insight into Ling Qi and her version of isolation as well. They might get to know each other a bit...which would be one step towards a platonic friendship with a guy! Gasp!
EDIT: Well it looks like the Luo option is winning for now. I'll vote Xuan and may change my mind depending on how things shake out.
[X] Decline, a little hardship is good for the soul Wang Chao. (Xuan Shi dialogue and isolation insight speculation.)
EDIT: Well it looks like the Luo option is winning for now. I'll vote Xuan and may change my mind depending on how things shake out.
[X] Decline, a little hardship is good for the soul Wang Chao. (Xuan Shi dialogue and isolation insight speculation.)
Last edited:
- Location
- Random place
[X] Accept the team up, it could be a workable coalition. (Luo Zhong dialogue and community insight speculation.)
[X] Decline, a little hardship is good for the soul Wang Chao. (Xuan Shi dialogue and isolation insight speculation.)
ITS TIME TO BE A COLOSSAL BULLY!
ITS TIME TO BE A COLOSSAL BULLY!
- Pronouns
- They/It
[X] Decline, a little hardship is good for the soul Wang Chao. (Xuan Shi dialogue and isolation insight speculation.)
