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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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Thor's Twin said:
Whether we got +1 rep to a location in the Emerald Seas. We did not.
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Oh, that was the vote for the bonus rep for the Thundering Hills or South River Jing region?
Damn, that really is a shame. Gan Guanli is in charge of the Jia relationship, but improving our standing with the lower nobility of the most Imperial-aligned frontier region would have been really useful. We don't want any anti-barbarian movement stirring up problems for us.
The River region is obviously useful for improving commerce.

Well, that means that Central Valley is already at +2, right?
So this vote is about which region we want to pump up to +3 first.
I think it's important to remember the definition of a +3 Organization Reputation
yrsillar said:
3: Liked- Members will be generally well disposed toward you and the organization may actively support you
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This is the first level that mentions "active support". It's kind of a tipping point.
So, active help from Central Valley will be mainly in the form of commerce and approval of the diplomatic effort.
Active help from Foundations will be more defense-oriented and willingness to cooperate with the White Sky and Cloud Nomads.

But this is for the Lower Nobility, not the Count clans. So the "active help" from Central Valley would have to go against our bad Diao rep.
On the other hand, the "active help" from Foundations would work together with our good Wang and Meng rep. Remember that the Weilu Reformers are more prominent in the South of the Meng lands.

With that in mind.

[X] The Foundations
 
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Adhoc vote count started by CedeTheBees on May 21, 2022 at 1:26 PM, finished with 75 posts and 48 votes.
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Well, this vote is pretty one-sided.

In the previous Gift vote we chose Central Valley, and we got the Golden Autumn contact as a result. We all know how good that connection will be for our fief.

I wonder what contact we will get now. Maybe someome related to the Blue Mountain Sect? Besides Meng Dan, I mean.
The Sect it's located in that area, so it wouldn't be strange for local nobles to have a close relationship with them.
I also feel like a lot of the Blue Mountain Sect, dedicated to historical research and aligned with the Sun and Moon, would be onboard with our Neo-Weilu movement.
It would be a good way to pick up the meeting we gave up together with the inter-sect tournament.
 
Wang-Meng Lands/The Foundations abut the Argent Sect too right? So I expect that the common folk of two out of the three Great Sects should be pretty well liking us.

A Foundations +3, you think that'll net a craftsman school? We kinda need some of those.

After we get the +3 in the Foundations, we should probably bring up the Central Valley to that same +3, and then start working on simply raising all that we can to 0 and then work on improving that. (It might be a good idea to look for other ways to improve relations with the Bao and their underlings (since they're so wealthy) as a whole beyond marriage or supporting Bao Qingling who's Big Bro loves her lots but isn't sure how to connect with her)

The Friend Network under the Diao is pretty good, but it'd be nice if it were better, since the Diao are arguably the #2 power in the province. I'd also like to work real hard on the northern end of the province when we can. If we can convince them of CRX, then in a power struggle they're less likely to peel away and become peekaboos.

A +3 out of Xiangmen, that help, besides stuff like the Golden Autumn school (I expect there is a guard school for people who didn't make the cut into the White Plumes or who washed out, and picking them up would be a boon to the security of the faux viscounty), I would expect the help from the court nobility would be to slowly improve our support among the areas of the province. The Capitol is important, and if there's a lot of support for CRX there, people singing her praises (I bet that 'she's making her momma as proud as a rapidly ascending to White individual can do!' will actually go a long ways), that'll get back to the counts and lesser clans.
 
yrsillar said:
"Are you certain about using yourself as bait?" Ling Qi asked, giving her companion a concerned look.

"Miss Ling, I am aware that my cultivation has fallen behind, that is why I suggest it, a predator is more likely to strike for a meal it believes it can swallow," he said. "You've decided then?"

"I don't think a capture now is worth risking damage, and… by these beasts' own words, there is an infestation."
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Yess. I was pretty okay with either choice, but I'm happy this won in the end, not only because of the poor roll, but because it shows that Ling Qi trusts Gan even though he's lagged behind a bit when he was in the Outer Sect. I mean, we've already seen that she trusts him because she supports the GG x SL ship, but I can't get enough of it.

yrsillar said:
In the shadows of the branches, Ling Qi dissolved herself entirely. Compared to her earlier efforts it was as easy as breathing, formless as a spring breeze, weightless as a shadow, in that moment, she ceased to be, and yet she could still see and hear. Gan Guangli landed atop a high boulder, perhaps or perhaps an ancient bone. It was white and chalky and rose high among the trees. It crunched under his boots raining pebbles, and Gan Guangli staggered, a wheeze of breath escaping his lips. Even his qi fluctuated wildly.
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Love that tidbit about the boulder. Helps drive in the point that our fief, especially this particular location, is OLD and dangerous. Also, I love that Gan, though a soldier, is also leaning into something artsy, specifically illusions and deceptions. It's a nice reversal of tropes. The Sunny soldier is the one who lies and bluffs while the Moon shadow wraith cannot lie.

yrsillar said:
"A wise soldier knows deception is an invaluable tool, an enemy who sees what they wish to see rather than what is has already defeated themselves."

The voice in her mind was not Sixiang, but a deep, smooth masculine baritone.

"Yeah, yeah keep telling yourself its all about practicality you solar tightwad," Sixiang grumbled, even as colors spun themselves into bloodied wounds and skin flushed with exertion across Gan Guangli's body. "You have as much fun with this as we do."

"A well considered stratagem is hardly a lunatic whim," the voice that could only be Gan Guangli's. "But, then again, you are remarkably restrained."

"Ling Qi, you've ruined me. I'm getting compliments from a solar!" Sixiang complained.
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Me: A ship needs to have chemistry and development. It needs buildup.
Also me, upon seeing Six and GG's spirit talk once: Shipping Senses Activated. Commence sailing.

More reason to vote for more Gan interactions in the future then.

yrsillar said:
She got her first look at the creature then. It had the vague silhouette of an eagle or condor, but only in vague terms, like something Biyu might squash together from a handful of clay and present as a 'bird'. It had no feathers, only slick, transparent flesh that had the texture of a maggot. It's wings were thus nothing more than misshapen membranes, shot through with twitching pulsing veins of wormy color. Shapes that might be bones or organs squirmed within its body distorted by the light passing through, but its transparent flesh darkened to a deep gray black where taloned feet emerged, more like sickle blades of bone than something that could be walked on. Worst was the beasts 'head' which was nothing more than a wedge like lump, lined with four pairs of beady eyes.

As the spirit dove, that head split apart into four sections, lined by crystalline teeth, exposing a black gullet full of glimmering rainbow color that seemed to have little too do with its physical form. The sound that erupted from that well of nauseating color could not be called a roar or a screech, but only a horrible, indefinable noise so high as to be at the very edge of hearing.
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Really adds to the horror factor and how star spirits DO NOT fit in. Like, we've seen lots of spirits so far, but they all seem to have an order one way or another. This thing has none of that. I understand why they're called demons. First time I've seen that name really fitting in in xianxia.

yrsillar said:
Ling Qi materialized above the beast, and the gale of her raised voice struck it like a hammer. The moist air froze in a spontaneous sheet of sleet. But it didn't fully reach the creature she could feel her qi unraveling around the creature, weakening the effect. But it did not effect the mist billowing out among the trees, constrained to only a small space, a cage and trap. Unlike her technique, the beasts strange aura did not repel her Mist very much.

But the beast was not helpless, even with parts of its ghastly flesh blackening with frostbite, it spun on her in defiance of its form, turning in the air as easily as she did, and Ling Qi felt her eyes sting as it closed the distance without moving, its four part jaws trying to snap shut around her head.
It closed on her, and bit through nothing more than air and motes of shadow, the image of a future that wasn't and the soft laugh of escaping air. Ling Qi sang wordless in response as she faded back into the mist, the cold and the shadows settling like a heavy cloak as she contracted the world down to only herself and her foe
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More horror and monstrosity from the demon. It's nice seeing the Dream pseudo-multipresence in battle if I'm understanding that line properly.

yrsillar said:
Gan Guangli stood like a lighthouse in her mist, three meters tall and shrouded in golden light. His armor was pitted, much of his forearms bare and the flesh red and scoured, there were splotches of blood here and there where that light had scraped away skin and flesh. He wore a grimace, but Ling Qi thought that the six golden hands flaring behind his back, hefting similar chunks of stone beginning to glow with his qi were the more memorable part of the image.

She sang a song of marching glaciers as the beast fell under the burning stone, and the gale force of the wind sent it hurtling down all the harder.
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More synergy between the two of them! Love to see it. And I really like the descriptions here, especially how it transitions from Gan's reaction to his arts and domain.

yrsillar said:
It struck the ground with a boom, splintering the earth and felling trees, but it was not enough. The rock crumbling, disintegrating into a cloud of sickening dust, and its glistening form shot up. Ling Qi saw in the blur of motion, the beast inhaling, its chest and the strange organs within inflating, and the dust was drawn in. She saw flesh knit, and what passed for qi ignite, reserves refilling as it devoured a portion of what it had destroyed. It spun in midair, weaving past one stone and then a second. It dropped straight down to avoid the third, and Ling Qi was there in front of it, carried by the breeze.
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On one hand, this is another example of endings creating new things imo; on the other hand, it's kind of a perverted portrayal of it since the beast devoured the destruction to renew itself. Not really creating something new and not really birthing something from the end and destruction.

yrsillar said:
A scythe like talon lashed out as the beasts limbs abruptly reversed, flesh tearing and squirming as its back became a front, and Ling Qi barely had the time to throw herself out of the way as a line of scouring unmaking light caught her across the flank, shearing unneringly past the images that fled in every other direction.
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Holy mother of- that was terrifying.

yrsillar said:
Ling Qi hissed in pain at the feeling of heat and impact, but it was nothing compared to the wail that went up in her head, mindless and bestial as the hems of her dress suddenly went wild snapping and flapping in winds that weren't there.

Ling Qi looked down in alarm, seeing the blackened threads curling back from the cut in her gown, wriggling threads trying and failing to knit back together
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Dress-chan, noooo!!! Since she's pretty close to awakening, I hope this doesn't affect how her personality develops or anything like that.

yrsillar said:
For the second time that day, Ling Qi sang a note of absolute silence, and only then did the movement stop.
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Yet again, I'm glad we killed it. It's already difficult trying to purposely kill it. How much more would it be if they tried to capture it? I can see why that vote said there'll be a high risk of collateral damage.

yrsillar said:
"I am informed."

Ling Qi stiffened her head whipping around at the sudden voice, recognizing it as Shu Yue, but there was no one there.

"Well, I suppose we'll just have to assume it is something we can handle if no one says otherwise," she grumbled.
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So it was bad enough for Shu Yue to speak. Hmm

yrsillar said:
All things told, a very successful trip, in Ling Qi's mind. Though she wasn't looking forward to telling Renxiang that there was another infected tumor of alien qi in their land.

But, such was the life of a new baron.

Probably. It definitely wasn't just her, right?
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I can't wait to see Cai *I have to deal with the consequences of a LQ adventure face* Renxiang's reaction!!

In regards to the vote, I believe lots of people have already given good points for The Foundations so

[X] The Foundations
 
Oliver_Twister said:
First time I've seen that name really fitting in in xianxia.
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To the best of my knowledge that's because Beauty = Power, not morality like it does in the West. While there are exceptions, by and large, in Near East (and parts of the middle east, like South Asian cultures the Deva are hot stuff and the Asura are fugly) and Western Cultures Ugly = Bad, Beauty = Good as the default standby, that's why when absolutely beautiful people do bad things it's a 'surprise' in myth, legend, and lore.

AFAIK, To the Chinese, Ugly is just thuggish and typically weak. Refinement of one's self and expulsion of mortal impurity (Not Moral Impurity but the things that make you mortal and weak) is power and beauty is part of one's self, so more powerful demons tend to be depicted as handsome or beautiful.

For something like demons, the lowest are ugly crawling things, unclean. And as they clean themselves they become more and more human looking (and thus beautiful) and that simply continues on to the higher levels of power.

Their beauty is not tied to their morality, but to their cleanliness and enlightenment, which is found on a myriad of paths which changes morality on each path.

But this is an amalgamation Xianxia world, where multiple cultures and styles of cultivation exist. So ugly things, especially Outsiders like things from the stars, can exist and be powerful.
 
Is it me or lately the dice are not with us?

Well, I just hope this roll goes well... I'm very curious about a new named character related to information/intelligence gathering...

yrsillar said:
Hou Zhuang's Gift 2 of 3: Bai Meizhen's father has given you a princely gift as far as intelligence goes. It is time to really delve into it and begin establishing the potential contacts he has given you. [Begins establishing provincial intelligence. Advances the Argent Disciple Trait by 2. 50% chance to give a named contact Characters: Sixiang]
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Juli Freixi said:
Is it me or lately the dice are not with us?

Well, I just hope this roll goes well... I'm very curious about a new named character related to information/intelligence gathering...
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I feel like people should wait and give others a chance to come forward with omake points before rolling? People r only supposed to volunteer their points after the vote closes right?
 
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