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
- A rock hurtling through space...
[X] Approach the towers base and offer respect as travelers, then walk the ridgeline and witness what can be seen( Xuan Shi's gains in his Travel Concept, 60% Chance of additional Reward)
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[X] Approach the towers base and offer respect as travelers, then walk the ridgeline and witness what can be seen( Xuan Shi's gains in his Travel Concept, 60% Chance of additional Reward)
Going with the lesser vote for this one
Going with the lesser vote for this one
Aliya
Someone I might become
- Location
- Kazakhstan
- Pronouns
- They/She/It
[X] Approach the towers base and offer respect as travelers, then walk the ridgeline and witness what can be seen( Xuan Shi's gains in his Travel Concept, 60% Chance of additional Reward)
After some thinking about it, I think meeting local Odin could be cool. We do know he has eyes on the summit, after all.
After some thinking about it, I think meeting local Odin could be cool. We do know he has eyes on the summit, after all.
I was expecting something amazing from this update given the dice, but I wasn't expecting Meca-Gamera to throw us into the sky.
The desciption of the vista was breathtaking. That flight, together with the "refusing to be chained by the past" theme really made it the perfect moment to complete The Laughing Wind project.
Also, the Forever King was absolutely horrifying, both the Concept it embodies and the monster itself. Failing the dice toss there would have been bad. Will we face many such beings if we continue dreamwalking? That's both terrifying and exciting.
I love that Ling Qi recovered the notion of Joy into her Motion Concept. It was interesting when Motion assimilated Chaos, since it gave Motion, perhaps not a purpose, but consequences into the world. Very in line with our Echoing Footfalls and Future Changes Insights. The "Obscuring Destiny" bit also linked Motion with Freedom.
But it was also sad that Ling Qi lost one of the descriptions that most related to simply having fun. This new understanding of Motion combines the best part of the 2 previous ones. It recovers Joy, keeps Freedom and it even adds a connection to Community.
It's obvious that Freedom III drinks heavily from the breakthrough vision at Uncle Skelly's (which, again, was awesome). The Freedom Concept keeps leaning more and more into Ling Qi's understanding of Community as the very thing that allows people, and cultivators, to be more than bare animals.
First it was concluding that willingly forging bonds and assuming duties and responsibilities don't imply giving up your Freedom. Now, Ling Qi goes a step beyond and realize that those bonds not only don't harm Freedom, but stregnthen it.
As Ling Qi knows well, one's Freedom is limited but their Power. But Power comes in many forms. Power can arise from connection, from Community. And so, by strengthening your bonds with Community, you gain Power and therefore increase the scope of your Freedom.
I would say that Ling Qi's Way is coming together rather nicely.
Now, the vote.
I agree with the assumption that the Tower is the Crowfather and the Hut is the Crone, while Perkunas and Fryja are fighting in the distance.
It's curious that the 2 southern aspects of the Moon and Sun explicitly related with diplomacy aren't present. Should we consider it a bad omen?
My take on the 2 options is that the Tower benefits more Xuan Shi and the Hut benefits more Ling Qi's. That's not entirely true, since both will obviously benefit no matter what, but that's the impression I get.
So let's see what each option may bring.
The Crone is an aspect of the Moon, so it obviously relates to Ling Qi's cultivation, not so much Xuan Shi's. Ling Qi has sensed before that the Crone resonates with some of her arts, in particular FSS. Since we are doing FSS+ this turn, there could be some benefit there.
Of course, this clash directly with the argument for not picking Soul of Ice this turn. It would be weird to explore the White Sky's Winter and Endings now after rejecting it before.
Ling Qi is exploring more and more the value of Narrative, how a story can shape the world. Uncle Skelly is the main driving force of it. So she could certainly learn from this option. Xaun Shi too but, as others have said, he has already spent a lot of time in the meaning of Narrative. It seems like a waste to spend the dream adventure in it.
That's why I consider the Hut the "Ling Qi option".
Then we have to consider what are we going to "hear". The Narrative aspect gives me the feeling it's going to be more lore-focused, like folklore stories, instead of centered in actual times. Though it could also explain why the Crone is becoming more active and traveling further north each winter.
On the other hand, the Crowfather isn't as directly related to Ling Qi's Way, though the Crowfather also represents Endings. That could be interesting. But it's clearly the "Xuan Shi option". Xuan Shi has pondered a lot about Travel due to his father, but the truth is that he has not traveled. The trip to the Sect doesn't count, as I doubt he stopped anywhere. And his time at the Sect only half-counts, as he didn't journey around and instead spent much of his time at the Sect's terrains.
If the sprit of this dream adventure was to help Xuan Shi, then I feel this option is more appropiate.
Besides, as the location is "a watchtower at a conflictive frontier", I feel like it's much more likely to deal with the current situations and conflicts, which I find more interesting than lore right now.
So, my vote goes to
[X] Approach the towers base and offer respect as travelers, then walk the ridgeline and witness what can be seen( Xuan Shi's gains in his Travel Concept, 60% Chance of additional Reward)
The desciption of the vista was breathtaking. That flight, together with the "refusing to be chained by the past" theme really made it the perfect moment to complete The Laughing Wind project.
Also, the Forever King was absolutely horrifying, both the Concept it embodies and the monster itself. Failing the dice toss there would have been bad. Will we face many such beings if we continue dreamwalking? That's both terrifying and exciting.
I love that Ling Qi recovered the notion of Joy into her Motion Concept. It was interesting when Motion assimilated Chaos, since it gave Motion, perhaps not a purpose, but consequences into the world. Very in line with our Echoing Footfalls and Future Changes Insights. The "Obscuring Destiny" bit also linked Motion with Freedom.
But it was also sad that Ling Qi lost one of the descriptions that most related to simply having fun. This new understanding of Motion combines the best part of the 2 previous ones. It recovers Joy, keeps Freedom and it even adds a connection to Community.
It's obvious that Freedom III drinks heavily from the breakthrough vision at Uncle Skelly's (which, again, was awesome). The Freedom Concept keeps leaning more and more into Ling Qi's understanding of Community as the very thing that allows people, and cultivators, to be more than bare animals.
First it was concluding that willingly forging bonds and assuming duties and responsibilities don't imply giving up your Freedom. Now, Ling Qi goes a step beyond and realize that those bonds not only don't harm Freedom, but stregnthen it.
As Ling Qi knows well, one's Freedom is limited but their Power. But Power comes in many forms. Power can arise from connection, from Community. And so, by strengthening your bonds with Community, you gain Power and therefore increase the scope of your Freedom.
I would say that Ling Qi's Way is coming together rather nicely.
Now, the vote.
I agree with the assumption that the Tower is the Crowfather and the Hut is the Crone, while Perkunas and Fryja are fighting in the distance.
It's curious that the 2 southern aspects of the Moon and Sun explicitly related with diplomacy aren't present. Should we consider it a bad omen?
My take on the 2 options is that the Tower benefits more Xuan Shi and the Hut benefits more Ling Qi's. That's not entirely true, since both will obviously benefit no matter what, but that's the impression I get.
So let's see what each option may bring.
The Crone is an aspect of the Moon, so it obviously relates to Ling Qi's cultivation, not so much Xuan Shi's. Ling Qi has sensed before that the Crone resonates with some of her arts, in particular FSS. Since we are doing FSS+ this turn, there could be some benefit there.
Of course, this clash directly with the argument for not picking Soul of Ice this turn. It would be weird to explore the White Sky's Winter and Endings now after rejecting it before.
Ling Qi is exploring more and more the value of Narrative, how a story can shape the world. Uncle Skelly is the main driving force of it. So she could certainly learn from this option. Xaun Shi too but, as others have said, he has already spent a lot of time in the meaning of Narrative. It seems like a waste to spend the dream adventure in it.
That's why I consider the Hut the "Ling Qi option".
Then we have to consider what are we going to "hear". The Narrative aspect gives me the feeling it's going to be more lore-focused, like folklore stories, instead of centered in actual times. Though it could also explain why the Crone is becoming more active and traveling further north each winter.
On the other hand, the Crowfather isn't as directly related to Ling Qi's Way, though the Crowfather also represents Endings. That could be interesting. But it's clearly the "Xuan Shi option". Xuan Shi has pondered a lot about Travel due to his father, but the truth is that he has not traveled. The trip to the Sect doesn't count, as I doubt he stopped anywhere. And his time at the Sect only half-counts, as he didn't journey around and instead spent much of his time at the Sect's terrains.
If the sprit of this dream adventure was to help Xuan Shi, then I feel this option is more appropiate.
Besides, as the location is "a watchtower at a conflictive frontier", I feel like it's much more likely to deal with the current situations and conflicts, which I find more interesting than lore right now.
So, my vote goes to
[X] Approach the towers base and offer respect as travelers, then walk the ridgeline and witness what can be seen( Xuan Shi's gains in his Travel Concept, 60% Chance of additional Reward)
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Oliver_Twister
Idea-Man, He Who Shits Ideas
- Location
- West Africa
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I do agree with a lot of your points, but a few things.
1) The Crone also resonates really well with SNR. It can totally segue into that and We Are But Ripples.
2) I do agree that Xuan Shi has spent a lot of time thinking about Narrative. But it's not really ended, you know? Those thoughts haven't crystallized into something, not like with Su Ling and Justice, and Renxiang and Perfection, so working on it and Xuan Shi finally getting a new rank in and understanding of Narrative will be a good conclusion to it, before the Summit and exploring Travel and Diplomacy.
3) I also disagree that the Crowfather is the clear "Xuan Shi" option. Xuan Shi has pondered on Travel, true, but one of the reasons why he came to the Argent Sect (I'm emphasizing Argent Sect because another reason he came to the Emerald Seas in general is because of Shenhua's formation and talisman craft revolution) was because he heard that not!One Piece's author left the final books in the Sect Archives, which does make the fact that the final book wasn't in the Sect even more heartbreaking. So Narrative and hearing a story, and finally getting a conclusion to Narrative and his book. Remember, one thing he loved in his book was meeting new people in foreign lands and making friends with them, before he had that talk with Grumpy Sword. Now, he's just seen a nightmare related to that, Final Conquest, and rejected the inevitability of it with Ling Qi. Getting gains in Narrative and finally "finishing the book" totally fits him too.
At the same time, I do see the Crowfather working well with Ling Qi too. The Crowfather is THE storyteller for tje White Smh, so he fits Ling Qi and her growing focus on stories and dreams as a way to connect people together. He's also very Hidden, so when we eventually leave the Sect and Xin, we can explore the themes of Mystery, Truth, and our new insight, to watch and catch absurdities and stagnation, through him and the Hidden Moon.
Plus you know, the Endings focus too.
So both paths work with Xuan Shi, and the Crone Father can benefit Ling Qi from the Hidden Moon perspective.
Edit: And for the first point, both the Crowfather and the Crone are focused on Endings and Death, but the Crone even more so, so she can help with Kongyou understanding Death too.
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- Location
- The Temple of the Winds
Feels like "furtive vs upfront" vote. Considering we want to come back without any pesky rumors about underhand behavior i'd go for the second option.
[x] Approach the hut and seek the right of guests, listen to what can be heard. (Xuan Shi Gains in his Narrative Concept, 60% chance of additional reward)
[x] Approach the hut and seek the right of guests, listen to what can be heard. (Xuan Shi Gains in his Narrative Concept, 60% chance of additional reward)
PowerLeca
Rapidly aging
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Changing my vote mostly because we don't usually get to hear these two talk to each other except in short quips, and if they are busy listening to others, that's time they're still in their own heads
If they're just looking at stuff, they have no one to listen to but each other.
[X] Approach the towers base and offer respect as travelers, then walk the ridgeline and witness what can be seen( Xuan Shi's gains in his Travel Concept, 60% Chance of additional Reward)
If they're just looking at stuff, they have no one to listen to but each other.
[X] Approach the towers base and offer respect as travelers, then walk the ridgeline and witness what can be seen( Xuan Shi's gains in his Travel Concept, 60% Chance of additional Reward)
Then throw the most suave young Casanovas the Mu clan has at the damn owl, so they get over their issue of their Sublime not being their actual ancestor!
I wasn't gonna vote this time cause I didn't really mind either option, but this is a very good reason to vote for this. With presumably no reason to be quiet, we'll get to hopefully hear his thoughts on this whole thing in the moment and learn more about him and how he thinks.
The other option's still good—and we'll probably learn something about Xuan Shi even if it gets picked, so it's no big deal—but this is a very clear path to understanding Xuan Shi more.
So the dichotomy of traveler vs guest is one that stands out to me most in this choice.
In my mind, the role of traveler would also carry the expectation of non-interference as the traveler is only allowed to observe but not touch. I think this matches the action described of witnessing what can be seen from the ridgeline. On the other hand, the role of a guest is reciprocal and interactive. A host has expectations to provide for guests but the guest has an expectation to be a good guest, whatever that can mean. I'm not sure how this fits in listening 'to what can be heard.' The only thing I can think of is swapping stories. Like a host would amuse their guests, but in turn expects the guests to reciprocate in some way?
I think the settings also reinforce this notion. Towers can be considered isolating, like a traveler should be, whereas huts tend to blend in (i.e. fit in), like a guest should do.
What this means for Xuan Shi and his goals I'm not really sure. The best I can figure is that it could relate to the relationships someone can establish when abroad. Maybe these choices show XS the value of witnessing the events/scenery of the world and leaving unattached or to witnessing the culture of the world and integrating during the stay? This can be reflected in the gains in concepts, Travel being more obvious and Narrative reflecting an exchange of culture.
I'm not really sure which I'd like for XS to do. Both sound like they have elements of what XS wants, but also elements that I don't think he is interested in.
In my mind, the role of traveler would also carry the expectation of non-interference as the traveler is only allowed to observe but not touch. I think this matches the action described of witnessing what can be seen from the ridgeline. On the other hand, the role of a guest is reciprocal and interactive. A host has expectations to provide for guests but the guest has an expectation to be a good guest, whatever that can mean. I'm not sure how this fits in listening 'to what can be heard.' The only thing I can think of is swapping stories. Like a host would amuse their guests, but in turn expects the guests to reciprocate in some way?
I think the settings also reinforce this notion. Towers can be considered isolating, like a traveler should be, whereas huts tend to blend in (i.e. fit in), like a guest should do.
What this means for Xuan Shi and his goals I'm not really sure. The best I can figure is that it could relate to the relationships someone can establish when abroad. Maybe these choices show XS the value of witnessing the events/scenery of the world and leaving unattached or to witnessing the culture of the world and integrating during the stay? This can be reflected in the gains in concepts, Travel being more obvious and Narrative reflecting an exchange of culture.
I'm not really sure which I'd like for XS to do. Both sound like they have elements of what XS wants, but also elements that I don't think he is interested in.
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- Location
- Staring into the void
[X] Approach the towers base and offer respect as travelers, then walk the ridgeline and witness what can be seen( Xuan Shi's gains in his Travel Concept, 60% Chance of additional Reward)
Both options have us announce our presence.
- Location
- At the end of the world
[X] Approach the towers base and offer respect as travelers, then walk the ridgeline and witness what can be seen( Xuan Shi's gains in his Travel Concept, 60% Chance of additional Reward)
This is wrong, Xuan Shi is a Guiding Moon cultivator, he was our source of Moon lore when we first went to figure out the Moon boons at the library
I thought he worshiped the Guiding Moon (as part of living in the Savage Seas) but that this was not a significant part of his cultivation. Rather his cultivation is centered around Formations, Time, and some degree of the Liminal.
This is analogous to Meng Dan being a follower of the Dreaming Way but a Hidden Moon cultivator.