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
- USA
What if the danger is liminal? Boom. Everyone gets what they want but in the wrong way and so we're all salty.
I shouldn't post immediately after waking up, Valmond of the cute cat profile pic. Y do I do dis?
I shouldn't post immediately after waking up, Valmond of the cute cat profile pic. Y do I do dis?
And specifically time for liminal adventure projects not on, within, or concerning the fief. Like delving into the history of the province, which is a major component of liminal adventures' role and an important meta-narrative in Ling Qi's character development. Also world building.
People voicing concern about reduced opportunity for liminal adventure are mostly referencing the current lineup and associated themes. Which they don't want to see slip through our fingers, because it's rad stuff.
People voicing concern about reduced opportunity for liminal adventure are mostly referencing the current lineup and associated themes. Which they don't want to see slip through our fingers, because it's rad stuff.
Kind of. Spirits occupy the Liminal space, so Spirit trouble is Liminal trouble
A liminal Danger to the fief would kind of be big oof. Ling Qi's the only qualified person to tackle that problem at all, really. Red/Yellow guards are useless, and nobody else in our core crew is a reliable liminal diver. Bigger than average obligation for Ling Qi specifically.
If we're pulling from diplo project attachés, Meng Dan and (hopefully) Xuan Shi would have some to contribute, I guess. But pretty sure the convention is we're really not supposed to get help from them for the fief stuff, if we can help it.
If we're pulling from diplo project attachés, Meng Dan and (hopefully) Xuan Shi would have some to contribute, I guess. But pretty sure the convention is we're really not supposed to get help from them for the fief stuff, if we can help it.
You've almost perfectly described my problem with the Valley option; it fit Ling Qi really well, but it didn't suit the other two people that are apart of the decision making process at all. Rivers and Caves plays to the entire group's strengths and interests, rather than just one of us.
...
The Plateau would have done it even better >_>
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Hence lobbying to make it the official rationale presented in the narrative! If other folks are actually going to speak up in the group decision making, that's rad. Ling Qi taking a bit of an L on some of her priorities will be refreshing.
If it makes you feel better, I'm sure we can find a nearby clifftop or something to be a spooky winter lady on. Just not try putting mortals on it.
Slugs. Spiritual slugs that are easy to kill but spread fast, are absolutely everywhere and eat happiness. Maybe erode wards based on how happy people are inside.
A sun spirit that's too far up high to contact and likes to burn moving things like a magnifying glass.
A communist tooth fairy that leaves red books under children's pillows but can't be killed because all the aunties think she's super cute.
- Location
- USA
+100,000 to your xianxia social credit score. The Red-Red Sect approves.
Heeey everyone, don't think normal cities....
We have caves and rivers right?
There surely will be some waterfalls as well... Well, hopefully at least.
Point is, we can build in 3D, not just in 2d like most cities in the empire, kinda like xiangmen in miniature.....
Until Zhengui grows something in the same size category
We have caves and rivers right?
There surely will be some waterfalls as well... Well, hopefully at least.
Point is, we can build in 3D, not just in 2d like most cities in the empire, kinda like xiangmen in miniature.....
Until Zhengui grows something in the same size category
- Location
- England
Apologies to the author (who I will not tag for the same reason I am writing this) but I assure you the relentless notifications are worth it: as part of discovering and catching up with this quest, I inadvertently ended up with a mission! Every story post in this thread and the last has now received an infusion of ice qi (❄)! At first I was just using the trendy react to show that even now people were still reading the posts, but as I got into the story I realised it was on-theme, and indeed something of a tribute to Zeqing. As a result, the entire main story has been snowflaked and I'm sure if this sort of thing happens often, yrs's notifications must be absolute chaos lmao
- Location
- Richland
So what is the time period of going to our feif? Even if just for initial scouting?
- Location
- United States of America
We took the initial scouting option this turn, so I would presume that we would go ahead and be doing that relatively soon.
The more I think about it and read other people's replies, the more I'm certain that R&C is the right choice. I find I really enjoy a healthy dose of cultivator 'slice of life'. Like LQ exorcising mansions, tracking down and defeating corpse immortals, and negotiating with spirits.
And what I really loathe are stories that get bogged down in numbers and calculations. At the end of the day, I really don't care about how many tons of wheat were harvested, our fief's balance of trade, or how many new settlers arrived in the spring. It's the little stories that the numbers hide that truly interest me.
So a high danger rating means LQ gets more narrative opportunities to interact with the land and people.
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Turn 14: Arc 2-1 Frontier
From high above it seemed like a ribbon of blue silk, with fraying threads winding amongst the mountains and hills. The yet unnamed river flowed down from the sky piercing rampart of peaks at the south of their claim, wending north and down until it joined the river systems of the greater Emerald Seas. It was a rough river, full of rapids and thundering falls.It plunged through canyons at a breakneck current, and here and there wended slowly between rounded hills, and in many places its tributaries would disappear for kilometers beneath the earth, only to come bubbling back up in geysers of heat and steam.
Under the falling curtain of winter, the land it flowed through was painted grey and white, dense pine groves clustered at the rivers edges, growing thicker toward the south, and petering out into a flatter vale in the north. The high cliffs and round little hills were home to wild goats in great breed and number, their herds checked only by the many wolves, bears and mountain cats. Larger beasts, elk and massively antlered and muscular beasts she had seen the White Sky use wandered the southernmost lands on the stretches of flat taiga that lay between immense peaks.
The wind whipped through Ling Qi's hair as she came down to land at the meeting point. Here the main course of the river flowed into an immense cavern in the side of a mountain and on the other side, emerged to thunder down some two hundred meters into a great lake below before flowing on. Here at the top ice floes gathered on the river surface, but below, the churning waters were clear and a bit warmer than the rest.Trees grew in great abundance there, on the lake shore.
"Water eats the mountain and makes it earth, fire feeds the earth and makes it grow," Gui said. "Mm, this is a good place too!"
Ling Qi nodded absently as she came down to land beside Cai Renxiang and Gan Guangli. This place, she still wasn't entirely sure of it. She might have preferred the valleys in the east, whose river flowed much more calmly winding through the densely wooded cleft between mountains that lay like a single strike of a great spirits axe through the mountainside to this more chaotic river.
But, she was not the only one making this decision.
"Your thoughts, Ling Qi?" Cai Renxiang asked. She stood beside an ornate table set in the middle of the snowy field. A map of high quality lay weighted upon it. Fresh ink drying in the icy air. Ling Qi glanced across it taking in the marked out course of the river and a few other locations already spied.
They were not doing this alone. Cartographic teams were already building temporary shelter by the lakeside below, but there were limits to what first and second realms could do.
Ling Qi blew out a breath. "We'll be exposed, like I said, taking the furthest south region. But this river can definitely be tamed for shipping. It will just need a lot of work in some places. There are many good locations for fields as well, despite the cold. Zhengui thinks there are fires underground, heating the earth and keeping it from freezing entirely."
"We will be exposed at first," Cai Renxiang agreed, already knowing her objections. "But we are close to the Wang as well, and the campaigns are not over. Showing that we do not cower from martial duty is important to the success of our more peaceful projects."
"It is not a pleasant acknowledgement that such views must be catered too, but it does not do to ignore the realities on the ground," Gan Guangli said, cupping his chin. "There are many good locations for fortification in the south as well. With good planning we can make this place secure."
"The news on the soil is pleasant, by the by," Cai Renxiang said, glancing up from the map. "Does your Zhengui believe these fires under the earth are dangerous?"
"Gui does not think it is that kind of fire, it is hot smelly water and bits of fire-in-earth,"
"I, Zhen have traced the lines of the earths veins, if Big Sister lets us roam, I may keep the pressure light."
"Mostly no," Ling Qi spoke for him. "And where it is, he thinks he can bleed any dangerous pressure off."
First Threshold achieved.
Veins of the Earth: Heat lives in the frozen earth here, bubbling to the surface in pools and springs, and gathering in the hearts of the mountains. Enables agriculture in otherwise inhospitable locations and enables certain building options.
Cultivation Effects.
+1 to Fire, Mountain or Water projects
???-Not developed
"Very good," Cai Renxiang agreed. "And the mountain in the southeast, cloaked peak to root in thunderclouds?"
"From asking some contacts," Ling Qi said, thinking of Yu Nuan and her new spirit. "And my own scouting, I believe it is the winter grazing site of a family or small herd of dragon horses."
"Troubling," Gan Guangli said, glancing toward the dark smudge on the southern sky. "We will have to discern their grazing routes and ensure we are not in their way."
Dragon-Horses, or Qilin were very powerful spirits, just shy of actual dragons themselves and with an ornery temperament to match. They were one of the few species of spirit beasts which could naturally attain the sixth realm.
Cai Renxiang's inkbrush swiftly wrote a note, encircling the dot representing the mountain in a wide zone. "I will inform the cartographers to keep a twenty kilometer distance, and carry gifts of fresh fruit until we can discern their breed and negotiate."
Thunderclap Mountain: A peak shrouded in perpetual storm where the shadowed forms of dragon horses have been spied.
???-Not Developed
"Were there any more notable items in your initial flyover?" her liege asked, glancing up.
"Only a few very large beasts," Ling Qi replied moving up to the table to note out a few more places where she had seen something particularly large and mobile.
"Good. Now, I will be overseeing and organizing the cartographic teams. Ling Qi, Gan Guangli, I charge you with more thoroughly mapping the lines of the river and the places it descends into the earth. I expect daily reports on this," Cai Renxiang said crisply."If you believe my presence will open a venue you could not handle on your own, inform me, and I will arrive as necessary."
The two of them voiced their agreement and bowed as Cai Renxiang dismissed both table and map to storage, leaving only four impressions in the snow to show it had ever been there. She bid them farewell and descended to the lake below.
Ling Qi took a deep breath, glancing Gan Guangli's way. "Are you concerned by how long it is taking her to speak of whatever her mother said to her?"
Gan guangli rolled his broad shoulders, peering up at the sky."Not as of yet. I trust the resolve in our Lady's eyes. She has not lost her goal, she is only uncertain of the path. She will speak to us when her thoughts are in order."
"Aren't you yang cultivators supposed to be the pushy ones?" Ling Qi said as they began to walk south along the river's edge.
"I give my support freely, openly and without obfuscation, is that not enough?" Gan Guangli laughed. "Let me turn the question to you, Miss Ling. What scares you so about her silence?"
Ling Qi was silent for a long moment."The Duchess is terrifying. Yet somehow, Cai Renxiang, who I saw near the edge of breaking, however briefly, under stress, is now so much more…"
"You worry that the Duchess changed something, perhaps by force?" Gan Guangli said lowly.
She let out a long breath. "I do."
"Well, it is arrogant of me, perhaps, as one who has been absent so long," Gan Guangli said thoughtfully. "But… I do not believe so. Lady Cai remains Lady Cai, tempered where once she was perhaps, brittle, but Lady Cai all the same."
Ling Qi chuckled. "That's the first time I've ever heard you say something that could even be construed as negative about her Gan Guangli. Should I be watching you for treason?"
He laughed, the booming sound scaring up birds from the trees. "Alas, I have revealed myself!"
Ling Qi snorted and shook her head. She wished she could have his confidence, but in the end, she just had to trust their Lady. Right now, they had a river to explore.
In some places where the river and its tributaries went under the earth, they found only claustrophobic tunnels, passages barely wider than the water that flowed through them. In others they found pools and lakes, hidden grottos among the stone filled with odd plants which they dutifully retrieved cuttings and samples from for testing at the Sect.
In one instance, they found a mountain whose eastern side looked as if it were a sculpture whose maker had ripped a great fistful of clay from its side. Leaving it almost hollow in a way that should have led to collapse. Within was a clear, still lake of water, bitter with salt, and surrounded by strange and brittle fungal blooms like scraggly trees, the air filled with visible, drifting spores. The very air seemed to drink in light and heat and sound here, and although Gan Guangli was very uncomfortable here, Ling Qi found herself feeling relaxed, especially as she gazed into the shrouded depths of the saltwater pool. The air was thick with a darkness and hunger, a silent isolation that resonated with her oldest arts.
Saline Grotto Discovered at Second threshold:
+2 Success to a Darkness project or +1 Success to a Lake or Earth Projects
Reduce Cultivation Upkeep by 1 Green Stone if a Darkness Project is cultivated here
???-Unexplored effects
But, as they traveled south, toward the higher mountains and the headwaters of the river, Ling Qi and Gan Guangli found their way to a cavern greater than any they had encountered yet, from which drifted a faint and inhuman piping song.
Under the falling curtain of winter, the land it flowed through was painted grey and white, dense pine groves clustered at the rivers edges, growing thicker toward the south, and petering out into a flatter vale in the north. The high cliffs and round little hills were home to wild goats in great breed and number, their herds checked only by the many wolves, bears and mountain cats. Larger beasts, elk and massively antlered and muscular beasts she had seen the White Sky use wandered the southernmost lands on the stretches of flat taiga that lay between immense peaks.
The wind whipped through Ling Qi's hair as she came down to land at the meeting point. Here the main course of the river flowed into an immense cavern in the side of a mountain and on the other side, emerged to thunder down some two hundred meters into a great lake below before flowing on. Here at the top ice floes gathered on the river surface, but below, the churning waters were clear and a bit warmer than the rest.Trees grew in great abundance there, on the lake shore.
"Water eats the mountain and makes it earth, fire feeds the earth and makes it grow," Gui said. "Mm, this is a good place too!"
Ling Qi nodded absently as she came down to land beside Cai Renxiang and Gan Guangli. This place, she still wasn't entirely sure of it. She might have preferred the valleys in the east, whose river flowed much more calmly winding through the densely wooded cleft between mountains that lay like a single strike of a great spirits axe through the mountainside to this more chaotic river.
But, she was not the only one making this decision.
"Your thoughts, Ling Qi?" Cai Renxiang asked. She stood beside an ornate table set in the middle of the snowy field. A map of high quality lay weighted upon it. Fresh ink drying in the icy air. Ling Qi glanced across it taking in the marked out course of the river and a few other locations already spied.
They were not doing this alone. Cartographic teams were already building temporary shelter by the lakeside below, but there were limits to what first and second realms could do.
Ling Qi blew out a breath. "We'll be exposed, like I said, taking the furthest south region. But this river can definitely be tamed for shipping. It will just need a lot of work in some places. There are many good locations for fields as well, despite the cold. Zhengui thinks there are fires underground, heating the earth and keeping it from freezing entirely."
"We will be exposed at first," Cai Renxiang agreed, already knowing her objections. "But we are close to the Wang as well, and the campaigns are not over. Showing that we do not cower from martial duty is important to the success of our more peaceful projects."
"It is not a pleasant acknowledgement that such views must be catered too, but it does not do to ignore the realities on the ground," Gan Guangli said, cupping his chin. "There are many good locations for fortification in the south as well. With good planning we can make this place secure."
"The news on the soil is pleasant, by the by," Cai Renxiang said, glancing up from the map. "Does your Zhengui believe these fires under the earth are dangerous?"
"Gui does not think it is that kind of fire, it is hot smelly water and bits of fire-in-earth,"
"I, Zhen have traced the lines of the earths veins, if Big Sister lets us roam, I may keep the pressure light."
"Mostly no," Ling Qi spoke for him. "And where it is, he thinks he can bleed any dangerous pressure off."
First Threshold achieved.
Veins of the Earth: Heat lives in the frozen earth here, bubbling to the surface in pools and springs, and gathering in the hearts of the mountains. Enables agriculture in otherwise inhospitable locations and enables certain building options.
Cultivation Effects.
+1 to Fire, Mountain or Water projects
???-Not developed
"Very good," Cai Renxiang agreed. "And the mountain in the southeast, cloaked peak to root in thunderclouds?"
"From asking some contacts," Ling Qi said, thinking of Yu Nuan and her new spirit. "And my own scouting, I believe it is the winter grazing site of a family or small herd of dragon horses."
"Troubling," Gan Guangli said, glancing toward the dark smudge on the southern sky. "We will have to discern their grazing routes and ensure we are not in their way."
Dragon-Horses, or Qilin were very powerful spirits, just shy of actual dragons themselves and with an ornery temperament to match. They were one of the few species of spirit beasts which could naturally attain the sixth realm.
Cai Renxiang's inkbrush swiftly wrote a note, encircling the dot representing the mountain in a wide zone. "I will inform the cartographers to keep a twenty kilometer distance, and carry gifts of fresh fruit until we can discern their breed and negotiate."
Thunderclap Mountain: A peak shrouded in perpetual storm where the shadowed forms of dragon horses have been spied.
???-Not Developed
"Were there any more notable items in your initial flyover?" her liege asked, glancing up.
"Only a few very large beasts," Ling Qi replied moving up to the table to note out a few more places where she had seen something particularly large and mobile.
"Good. Now, I will be overseeing and organizing the cartographic teams. Ling Qi, Gan Guangli, I charge you with more thoroughly mapping the lines of the river and the places it descends into the earth. I expect daily reports on this," Cai Renxiang said crisply."If you believe my presence will open a venue you could not handle on your own, inform me, and I will arrive as necessary."
The two of them voiced their agreement and bowed as Cai Renxiang dismissed both table and map to storage, leaving only four impressions in the snow to show it had ever been there. She bid them farewell and descended to the lake below.
Ling Qi took a deep breath, glancing Gan Guangli's way. "Are you concerned by how long it is taking her to speak of whatever her mother said to her?"
Gan guangli rolled his broad shoulders, peering up at the sky."Not as of yet. I trust the resolve in our Lady's eyes. She has not lost her goal, she is only uncertain of the path. She will speak to us when her thoughts are in order."
"Aren't you yang cultivators supposed to be the pushy ones?" Ling Qi said as they began to walk south along the river's edge.
"I give my support freely, openly and without obfuscation, is that not enough?" Gan Guangli laughed. "Let me turn the question to you, Miss Ling. What scares you so about her silence?"
Ling Qi was silent for a long moment."The Duchess is terrifying. Yet somehow, Cai Renxiang, who I saw near the edge of breaking, however briefly, under stress, is now so much more…"
"You worry that the Duchess changed something, perhaps by force?" Gan Guangli said lowly.
She let out a long breath. "I do."
"Well, it is arrogant of me, perhaps, as one who has been absent so long," Gan Guangli said thoughtfully. "But… I do not believe so. Lady Cai remains Lady Cai, tempered where once she was perhaps, brittle, but Lady Cai all the same."
Ling Qi chuckled. "That's the first time I've ever heard you say something that could even be construed as negative about her Gan Guangli. Should I be watching you for treason?"
He laughed, the booming sound scaring up birds from the trees. "Alas, I have revealed myself!"
Ling Qi snorted and shook her head. She wished she could have his confidence, but in the end, she just had to trust their Lady. Right now, they had a river to explore.
***
Ling Qi lost count of the pockets of air in the stone and earth they found. Most were just that pockets in the porous stone that lay under the soil in the region, half flooded, bearing only small populations of odd fish or silty with odd minerals. Other's stretched on, forming galleries not unlike those she had seen beneath the thunder palace, with structures of damp stone that nonetheless held a vibrant lively qi.In some places where the river and its tributaries went under the earth, they found only claustrophobic tunnels, passages barely wider than the water that flowed through them. In others they found pools and lakes, hidden grottos among the stone filled with odd plants which they dutifully retrieved cuttings and samples from for testing at the Sect.
In one instance, they found a mountain whose eastern side looked as if it were a sculpture whose maker had ripped a great fistful of clay from its side. Leaving it almost hollow in a way that should have led to collapse. Within was a clear, still lake of water, bitter with salt, and surrounded by strange and brittle fungal blooms like scraggly trees, the air filled with visible, drifting spores. The very air seemed to drink in light and heat and sound here, and although Gan Guangli was very uncomfortable here, Ling Qi found herself feeling relaxed, especially as she gazed into the shrouded depths of the saltwater pool. The air was thick with a darkness and hunger, a silent isolation that resonated with her oldest arts.
Saline Grotto Discovered at Second threshold:
+2 Success to a Darkness project or +1 Success to a Lake or Earth Projects
Reduce Cultivation Upkeep by 1 Green Stone if a Darkness Project is cultivated here
???-Unexplored effects
But, as they traveled south, toward the higher mountains and the headwaters of the river, Ling Qi and Gan Guangli found their way to a cavern greater than any they had encountered yet, from which drifted a faint and inhuman piping song.
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Gan Flexington's sense of humor is a delight
Thebigpieman
I've got this, I think.
- Location
- United States
#FunTimesAhead
Anyways, this place seems very fun. Gan as usual is best boi so it's nice to see him and Ling Qi banter again.
Well I voted for Valley but I suppose I can live with us building Rivendell.
- Location
- United States of America
Yesssss...
It's all coming together.
It's all coming together.
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
What I loved about this update was the way it showcased we are inheritors of a world. The dragon horses have their grazes, someone made a giant art project out of a mountain, and music plays from the headwaters. Sounds like a really fun place.
Also...
Does that mean we get +3 if we do Starless Night's Reflection with the Saline Grotto?
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- Location
- United States of America
Maybe? But the language of "or" makes me think that it's exclusive. One or the other, not both combined. So it would be +2 to SNR because it is darkness, or +1 because it is Lake.
BagFullOfLizards
Some bag, mostly lizards
- Location
- A bag
The winter reaction seems especially appropriate here 