Remove ads

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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Reader mode
Neshuakadal said:
So three things here.

First, in this post

You say quite clearly its not a child sacrifice cult. Yet in this update you quite clearly agree with me in that it is a child sacrifice cult. This collapses your previous stance which makes it difficult to discuss the matter with you.

Second, there is a difference between going in loud and going in silent. A few ministry people sweeping by is just them checking up on matters, nothing out of the ordinary. The Diao stepping in is a much bigger, louder deal.

Third, we do want to come back later with Su Ling, that's like the whole point. As long as the children get out than Ling Qi is happy. This is Su Ling's challenge and when the time is right Su Ling will be the one to kill Madam Grey. Building up good working relationship now with the ministry will only help that goal.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yeah, rereading the vote option, calling it a child sacrifice cult was a mistake on my part. The vote option only mentions sacrifice techniques and deviant cultivation, so my bad. I'm back to disagreeing with you on that misleading terminology.

That said, I see embarrassing the Imperial conservative faction of the Diao as an advantage here. We don't take a rep loss on success, so it doesn't blow back on LQ, and it would give a political opportunity for other Diao factions to use. Like the neo-Weliu. As for the MoL, we literally were told in this update that they're both regionally siloed and very merit based in ES. So we'll only really possibly have problems with the Central Valley branch, and they will keep it to a professional. Or else Shenhua will be cross.

And while I don't really care if Su Ling gets to kill her mom or not, I doubt yrs will just kill that plot thread based on a random vote here, so don't worry about it. He's a better writer than that.
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
The big challenge with Madame Grey is that she is hard to catch. When they try to track her down, she just escapes. Combined with our revelations, this really makes this feel like a ghost story, where it can't be ended without the truth fundamentally coming out.

To that end, one of the ways that Madame Grey could be prevented from going to ground is to directly confront the heart of the matter (once we get to Late Cyan) by carefully choosing who tries to confront her in the Liminal:
1. An MoI agent who is there to represent the state and challenges her in that capacity. They would call her "Madame Grey" and state her crimes
2. Su Ling, who is there to represent the bloodline. She would call her Mother and bring up her own grievances. Other fox children might join in here.
3. A Diao, who is there to represent the clan. They would call her Cousin and directly invoke the pact and how it was broken.

There would also be GG and LQ to provide Su Ling with moral support but we wouldn't be helping much to make the confrontation more narratively significant. Though I guess LQ could act as a witness for the Moon if that makes things flow better.

At that point I don't see how Madame Grey could refuse to show up. Even if she did refuse to participate, it would almost certainly cost her much a significant amount of power and Su Ling would be able to represent the fox side of the pact, allowing it to be resolved. Once that happens, Madame Grey turns from the aggrieved party to just some random forgotten beast and probably gets hunted down by the MoI soon after.

If she does show up, then the next fork would be whether she is willing to put aside her grievance or needs to be killed. The latter is almost certainly going to be the case and would be a big climactic boss battle.
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, using the Diao connections you've discovered to make implications, let the possibilities of deviant cultivation and sacrificial methods to do the rest. [80% Success. Will cause some friction with Diao Hualing even on success, will cause more stringent attention on the matter of Madam Grey. Negative Diao rep on failure. Other potential side effects.)
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
Zithinoth said:
That said, I see embarrassing the Imperial conservative faction of the Diao as an advantage here. We don't take a rep loss on success, so it doesn't blow back on LQ, and it would give a political opportunity for other Diao factions to use. Like the neo-Weliu. As for the MoL, we literally were told in this update that they're both regionally siloed and very merit based in ES. So we'll only really possibly have problems with the Central Valley branch, and they will keep it to a professional. Or else Shenhua will be cross.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

But............why? This is gratuitiously unecessary. That we are talking now is because we worked to get the Prime Minister to personally approach and speak with us, and suggested to her that we didn't want to be enemies with the Diao. By similar token, there's also no reason to upset the Ministries. Maybe there is some nebulous political opportunity there, but the possibility of such doesn't seem at all worth this escalation.

If we really want to backstab the Diao, we shouldn't be mentioning anything about this to the Ministry at all and instead wait for an opportune moment to drop this bomb with evidence in hand while in court or something.
 
Last edited:
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
[x] Bring round the subject of the fox children, using the Diao connections you've discovered to make implications, let the possibilities of deviant cultivation and sacrificial methods to do the rest. [80% Success. Will cause some friction with Diao Hualing even on success, will cause more stringent attention on the matter of Madam Grey. Negative Diao rep on failure. Other potential side effects.)
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
mastigos said:
I take it Ling Qi just isn't politically/conversationally savvy enough to make this into "I'm doing you a favor" instead of "I'm threatening you"?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
She doesn't have the relationship or political cachet with her Diao contact to portray this as anything other than "I'm threatening you." Ling Qi has openly held positions and made statements that are counter to the goals of the Diao as a whole, and any imperial leaning segments specifically. Revealing the truth of the old Diao fox-cults is, in that context, an insult, because it's clear the Diao political position is that they've always been loyal Imperial citizens.

If Ling Qi had been more politically moderate, this wouldn't be a big deal, but that would come part and parcel with a higher Diao reputation.

[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
Remove ads
LimitlessMemes said:
But............why? This is gratuitiously unecessary. That we are talking now is because we worked to get the Prime Minister to personally approach and speak with us, and suggested to her that we didn't want to be enemies with the Diao. By similar token, there's also no reason to upset the Ministries. Maybe there is some nebulous political opportunity there, but the possibility of such doesn't seem at all worth this escalation.

If we really want to backstab the Diao, we shouldn't be mentioning anything about this to the Ministry at all and instead wait for an opportune moment to drop this bomb with evidence in hand while in court or something.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I mean, we're not stabbing them in the back, we're just observing the truth of the situation. It doesn't make them enemies, because again, we don't lose Diao rep on success. We've literally been told that the outcome you're predicting won't happen. So yeah, idk. Try providing some evidence when you directly contridict the vote text maybe?
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
Zithinoth said:
I mean, we're not stabbing them in the back, we're just observing the truth of the situation. It doesn't make them enemies, because again, we don't lose Diao rep on success.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Fair enough, but this still represents a reversal of Ling Qi's approach, for no gain. It simply isn't a constructive course of action, I imagine the Diao will view it far less charitably. Certainly there's nothing that leads me at least to think Weilu factions can benefit here, that's just speculative. And while we won't lose formal rep, it does state it will cause friction, which we just don't need.
 
Last edited:
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
LimitlessMemes said:
Fair enough, but this still represents a reversal of Ling Qi's approach, for no gain. It simply isn't a constructive course of action, I imagine the Diao will view it far less charitably. Certainly there's nothing that leads me at least to think Weilu factions can benefit here, that's just speculative.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think it is, but that's a matter of personal opinion, so eh. And who knows, maybe yrs reads the speculation and steals ideas he really likes. He wouldn't be the first QM to do that.
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
[X] Bring round the subject of the fox children, but avoid mentioning the Diao connection you discovered, leave the matter with the deviant cultivation and sacrificial practices going on. [70% Success. Success means avoiding threats and having some fraction of the Diao enforcement turning to rounding up stray children. May be temporary.]
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top