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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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Adhoc vote count started by Killer_Whale on Jun 9, 2022 at 4:51 AM, finished with 148 posts and 110 votes.
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[X] Lao Keung, the stolid soldier(opens the characters participation in various actions)

This guy looks like a new reincarnation of Sun Shao to me, especially with the theme "Our replacements will be better", so I want to learn more about him.

Plus, we can learn more about the the low caste Bai, and as a community focused cultivator, that seems important to me.

And really, having a different perspective for our defense sounds good. As someone pointed out, each of our soldiers have a different speciality. And, this is all just baseless speculation, since the Reds are the caste that fight against the Jungle infestation, maybe we can get some tips on how to deal with the star infestation too apart from fixing the formation.
 
[X] Xia Anxi, the prickly diplomat(Opens characters participation in various actions)

I've seen some good arguments that Lao Keung could provide a in to explore Xia Lin to more extent, but I'm a bit wary of the quest keeping to give us (take one guy with you on this action) arcs, and in that case Gan Guangli, Xia Lin, and Lao Keung are all functionally the same role vying for a spot, while Xia Anxi has an argument about opening up new things and not being in a direct competition with them.
 
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yrsillar said:
Things had gotten chaotic toward the end of days in the Outer Sect, though after direct battle was made verboten by the war, the striving against the Sun allies took on a subtler character. Contests of skill, constant work to undermine one another or cause members to shame their factions became the norm.
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Huh, interestingly, that should be just in time to catch GG's efforts to diversify his skillset. Good time to score insights for his social arts.

Would have been a hard challenge though, since the change would make things blow right up Lu Feng's alley.
yrsillar said:
In truth Xiao Fen had ended up in a troublesome position. Her instinct toward… finality often caused trouble, though apparently Meizhen had talked her through less brutal conflict resolution.

…Well it wasn't really possible for the Bai to get a worse reputation in that regard, so any kind of improvement was probably good.
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But it'd be bad for the Fighter Who Only Fights.
Xiao Fen must have been incredibly frustrated to have her main skillset inapplicable.
yrsillar said:
It had meant excluding Suyin, but that girl hardly needed the advertisement, and it let her talk with the girl about the lower ranking crafters that she thought could use a hand. It all worked out.
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...proliferation of guro-kawaii aesthetic when?
yrsillar said:
Near him was the source. Liang He, his friend, the handsome swordsman she had dueled for rank once stood balanced on one foot, he had a thin, guardless sword in each hand. Another pair attached backward to his elbows, one clutched in the crook of his knee, and another stuck to the bottom of his boot. The last he had clenched in his teeth. They were all connected to him via a subtle wire-like aura of sharp edged sword qi. As she watched he tensed his one free leg and jumped up, performing a flip with each blade flashing out in a complex cutting arc that made the wind howl
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That seems exceedingly difficult to actually use.
yrsillar said:
Liang He relaxed and the swords fell with a clatter snapping into a bundle as if drawn to each other on the ground. "The quality of each blade is good, superb balance and steelwork."

"More for a dancer than a warrior though," Wang Chao chuckled as Liang He scooped up the bundle.

"Yes," Liang He agreed, proffering them back to the crafter kindly. "But it is only a proof of concept yes?"

"Yes Sir Wang, Sir Liang, I am only testing my ability to craft a single talisman from many pieces. The finished project should fly rather than needing such contortions," the disciple hurried to say.

"Well, maybe market this to the entertainers to pay your way eh, I'd pay to see a full sword dance with that set up," Wang Chao laughed before his eyes fell on her. "Ah! Lady Ling, come to see what's about? I had heard you were down a talisman."
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But that sounds like talisman sword drones without being a Domain Weapon? Or working towards making a domain weapon?
yrsillar said:
"Ah yeah, that's a real good trick, taking advantage of the natural attraction between the qi in that particular alloy right?" Liu Xin offered.

Eyes turned to the other crafting disciple who nodded tentatively. "Yes, you have sharp eyes sir Liu, to notice without a close inspection. Do you work with metals as well?"

"I like ceramics more, but you should be familiar with the basics of everything, right?" Liu Xin said.

"It's wise to have a grounding in a few fields," one of the observing disciples agreed. "But spreading yourself too widely is foolish."
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Qi: "Yeah, thats what they all told me too."

Legitimately, those with an eye towards higher ambitions should diversify their foundation, so they got more to work with.
Specializing early makes sense if you already know you won't get far, or if your resources are limited and you need to optimize for marketable skills rather than peak capability.
yrsillar said:
"Well, I think Miss Xiao Fen can speak for his skill," Ling Qi said, turning to Xiao Fen.

The other girl shot her a look then replied stiffly. "Liu Xin's skill is not inferior to the common works of the Thousand Lakes."

Liu Xin shot her a look of fond exasperation, and some of the disciples looked confused, but a few, those from more established and knowledgeable families she suspected, looked outright poleaxed for a moment.
Bai pride was a thing.
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High praise indeed for someone who started from Generation 0.
yrsillar said:
"A few," Xiao Fen replied, a flick of her wrist brought three shimmering silver knives, held blade first between her fingers, proffering them toward the others.

Liang He was the one brave enough to take them, with Wang Chao looking on bemused.

"Interesting shape, these barbs, I'd say they were meant to catch and tear flesh, but silver is a bit soft for that and a weapon in general," Liang He said, balancing the point on one of his fingers.

"It is for the absorbative properties. Silver is the metal of the moon, and its properties are heavily yin, it absorbs other qi well. I don't want to presume, but poison…?"

His question, spoken carefully, was directed at Xiao Fen.

"My cold fire, but it is the same principle," Xiao Fen replied. "The barbs provide additional contact points for the embers to catch in the enemies qi."

"Hm, the metalwork is a bit shoddy though isn't it?" Wang Chao said plucking the dagger from Liu Xin's hands, full of bubbles and faults, though they're a bit odd…"

"They're meant to break," Liu Xin said, straightening up stiffly. "They're made for her but they can take most forms of corrosive qi, it builds up in the bubbles and faults, soaks the metal really thoroughly."

Wang Chao squinted, and then grinned. "Aha! Then boom! You said you work with ceramics, but you mean explosives don't you! Knew you had the feel of a blast miner about you!"
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This is an interesting weapon design:
-Making talismans that RESIST corrosive qi is challenging when said qi originates from Bai arts and you're self-financing, so why not just make it so that they work with rather than against and absorb the corrosion?

-It combines with Xiao Fen's napalm arts to become even stickier, and I'd bet she could use the same qualities to glue the resulting bomb-dagger to their domain to explode later.
yrsillar said:
"I have been busy, Ling Qi acknowledged, falling in beside her friend as they began to walk. "Have you ever been to Xiangmen? It's beyond description."

"My carriage stopped there on the way to the Sect," Bai Meizhen said. "While it cannot compare to Lake Hei, it is truly impressive."
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The lake, its full of stars.

Actually wonder how it'd visually work out. Xiangmen would naturally look impressive enough as a huge tree, but a lake seems trickier.
yrsillar said:
"My, you do pay attention now. Yes, young Bai are being encouraged to 'rough it' more to show leadership outside of the palaces. There is some resistance…"

"But 'stopping the youth from getting soft' is never a hard sell with the sort who usually oppose her?"
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They ARE quite out of touch and this should be helpful to those who can remove their sticks from their arse.

And a lot of poor innocent people getting exposure to Young Masters ow.
yrsillar said:
They stopped near the edge of the field, to not interrupt. Ling Qi glanced at her friend."So, has it been decided yet, where you'll be staying?"

"The Argent Sect has graciously offered to host us. They are already undergoing a major building expansion and adding a fortified embassy is not difficult," Bai Meizhen's lips twisted in a sardonic smile. "And the Sects are ostensibly neutral among the provinces already."
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Sounds like a headache for the elders, but if they're to continue being Great Sects they'd have to get involved politically after all.

yrsillar said:
"I do not think it does precisely," Bai Meizhen said neutrally. "Which is why we are considering other options. There is the meeting site itself of course…"

"But also our 'little Xiangmen'," Ling Qi finished

"Once there is a settlement worth the name anyway," Bai Meizhen said with a small smile. "Likely the meeting point for now. But, perhaps the Bai might be of aid to our allies still?"

"Oh?" Ling Qi said.

"How long has it been since we walked into danger together Qi? I feel some youthful hotheadedness, it must be said."

"Ah, and it would distract from other indiscretions," Ling Qi smirked. "Well there are a few places that might be good for cooling heated blood."
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Meizhen: "I need to tribulate some of my kinsmen"
Qi: "Speak no more, I have a dungeon of horrors from beyond the stars to give them the Ling Qi Adventure."
 
[X] Xia Anxi, the prickly diplomat(Opens characters participation in various actions)
 
Arkeus said:
[X] Xia Anxi, the prickly diplomat(Opens characters participation in various actions)

I've seen some good arguments that Lao Keung could provide a in to explore Xia Lin to more extent, but I'm a bit wary of the quest keeping to give us (take one guy with you on this action) arcs, and in that case Gan Guangli, Xia Lin, and Lao Keung are all functionally the same role vying for a spot, like Xia Anxi has an argument about opening up new things and not being in a direct competition with them.
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That's a very good point. Many are voting for Lao Keung because they want to learn more about the lower caste Bai, thinking that will help with Ling Qi's growing concept of community, which is admittedly true.
However, there is a lot we still don't know about the old tribes, in particular how they are adapting to the imperial ways. This is pretty bad since we are building a Neo-weilu movement. Xia Lin, being related to the Heron General, is a great way to explore them, as long as we can actually focus on her instead of mixing her with Lao Keung.

Besides, Ling Qi is getting the taste of bullying teasing Bai, and it's far easier to do so with Xia Anxi than Lao Keung, since she already has experience from the tournament. :p
 
Tbh, I'm okay with whichever choice wins, because I feel like Xia Anxi will also give us Expression XP and we don't have a lot of that, and LQ needs more musical buds since she's leaving the sect (and I don't tht anyone will pick that action with Bian Ya). Plus, it's implied that he's a former street rat like LQ, so if we can talk him out of his shell of pride, I think it'll be nice to have someone like that.


But I'm more interested in Lao Keung and the Bai. Plus I feel like Xia Lin, from the White Plumes with her interests in spirits, and Lao Keung, a soldier from the Bai with their spirit cousins and all, would be nice too. And as I said earlier, I think that as a Red caste, he'll have some good insights on how to deal with the Abyssal and star infestations.

People say that changing his mind about the White Caste is Meizhen's job, and I agree, but then I also believe he needs exposure to other ways before he can make up his mind, and hanging out with CRX and LQ and seeing other forms of military and governance will help with that.
 
Doramas said:
That's a very good point. Many are voting for Lao Keung because they want to learn more about the lower caste Bai, thinking that will help with Ling Qi's growing concept of community, which is admittedly true.
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Tbh, depending on his backstory, I feel like Lao Keung can also help with LQ's understanding of Power, but this is just baseless speculation yet again so I didn't think it'll matter since Community is more important
 
Oliver_Twister said:
Plus, it's implied that he's a former street rat like LQ, so if we can talk him out of his shell of pride, I think it'll be nice to have someone like that.
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Rather than a former street rat, it has been hinted that he is the kind of arrogant young master that sometimes slips away to secretly observe and spend time with the dock laborers, like the blue Bai caste.
That's another plus for me.

I agree with the rest of your post, though.
 
I suspect that Lao Keung will relate better to Gan Guangli, and there will be less option for teasing compared to Xia Anxi. Keung is also described as stolid, or emotionless. I don't want to read about that.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Valmond on Jun 9, 2022 at 11:11 AM, finished with 164 posts and 118 votes.
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edit-
[X] Lao Keung, the stolid soldier(opens the characters participation in various actions)
I guess i am slightly more in favour of the surly soldier we can tribulate into a new person.
 
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Killer_Whale said:
I suspect that Lao Keung will relate better to Gan Guangli, and there will be less option for teasing compared to Xia Anxi. Keung is also described as stolid, or emotionless. I don't want to read about that.
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FYI stolid just means calm, dependable and showing little emotion. It's not like he's without emotion, he just tends to hide them. Our adventures would no doubt bring some of that to the surface. We'd be seeing underneath that mask.
 
Calling Keung emotionless just proves you have fallen for one of the classic blunders.

All guards/bodyguards/soldiers seem stoic and emotionless when they are on duty, since that is part of their role.
 
I think again I must reiterate that Lao kueng , gg , and xia lin are all completely different characters with different styles , motivations core beliefs etc.


The biggest drawback I see with a lot of the anxi voters is that " we have enough soldier types".

But this isn't true when you consider that gg is a heroic commander type, xia lin is an elite swat unit/ cavalry hero whose used to working with professionals and not your run of the mill soldiers , and lastly keung is a BAI soldier with a complete different outlook/mindset on combat and tactics and he's here to finish his training.

"Lady Suzhen has sponsored him specifically as a promising officer, and due to certain circumstances judges that he will be best served completing his training for that role leading my nieces guard detachment.""

Each of these three have different compelling narratives while also having fun philosophical differences between eachother that would be great to see play out .
 
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