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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
[X] She flew to the Silent Stones, though she disliked the implications, it was the only moon site she knew
 
I'm a bit dubitative on how useful Argent Vent would be. If the vote has any influence on the results, Argent Vent is likely to give the highest breadth of result, and having more breadth for what she is preparing might be counter productive. We'll see though.

.


Vent appears to be the safe option from heat I can tell.

Lacks the risk/benefit of possible flavoring our Moon/Music/Wood Muse Icy or possibly irritating Zeqing by expanding the terms of our relationship then asking after the fact like we did with Sun then said we wouldn't again; while it lacks the chance of Bloody interferance or Sixiang remembering regrets at a bad time like Silent.

I'm thinking I'm going approval Stones, Vent.

I might be worried about something that's not a real risk, but I really don't want our Muse to turn Dark, we have enough of that. While I like the Dark and Cold in our build, Sixiang gives us perspective on it from outside.

If she turns all Edgy, she'll also be competing for companion concept space with Hanyi, even more than she already does with the Performance Spiritual Focus deal.

I'm also worried that flying to the Outer Sect Mountain will be too far of a delay, at least compared to the other two on the IS Mountain.

[X] She flew to the Silent Stones, though she disliked the implications, it was the only moon site she knew

[X] She flew back home to the Argent Vent, with its solid foundation building qi

Adhoc vote count started by OneArmedYeti on Feb 21, 2019 at 12:27 AM, finished with 200 posts and 125 votes.
 
@yrsillar regarding the challenge/not-challenge thing: how about this: after the research we get a vote to choose our opponent, right? How about that gets the added choice 'no challenge' ? It makes sense for LQ to decide if she wants to challenge or not after she did the research, right?
 
[X] She flew to the Silent Stones, though she disliked the implications, it was the only moon site she knew
 
Nice update, the True Protagonist and Ling Qi are cute together. Don't really care for Bother Wind (that's not a typo by the way).

Maybe I'll manage to do a more proper reaction sometime. But for the moment, thoughts about the vote.

So, our information is basically this:

"Nothing, nothing," Sixiang laughed. "It's just uh… might've put a little too much into my project, I'm almost done, I just need a little more…. Could you...find somewhere with better background Qi...please?" Sixiang's voice seemed to fade and waver in and out alarmingly with every word.

Superficially, it does sound as if Sixiang needs more Mana. Erm, Qi. (But he is already inside Qi... this is so confusing...)
Sixiang not asking for anything specific, maybe Sixiang simply didn't consider it. It seems to be a bit of an unplanned emergency and we all know how great Sixiang is at carefully planning and meticulously preparing. Like any muse or artist.

Regardless, our suggested options are this:

[] She flew back home to the Argent Vent, with its solid foundation building qi
Good all around, maybe especially good for... well, foundation building. What it says on the tin. Argent stuff is great for that. So, a probably all around solid and safe option. ... Boring.
[] She flew to Zeqing's home, the single most potent qi locus she could think of
Ultimate Powah! Zetta Flare, go! ... Well, mainlining frozen End of Everything stuff and literal Darkness element to build your all-important foundation sure sounds like a good idea. We did so before, after all!
This option gives Sixiang access to powerful Qi, but I am not sure it sounds as 'better' for Sixiang's purposes. Somewhat risky. I don't like it much, to be honest.
[] She flew to the Silent Stones, though she disliked the implications, it was the only moon site she knew
Moon faerie, Moon site, Eternal Rival and Trauma. These just go together and fit well. Erm, kinda.
So, it sounds to me as if Sixiang might get a Type bonus there, but probably some unintended side-effects/contamination. Or it just upsets the dainty artsy muse so much that they just can't work anymore. Hard to say. But more interesting than 'safe' Argent Vents, for sure. Like, Suyin would totally go for this. It's not exactly science, but it sure covers the mad aspect.

Thus, wisely, I cast my vote for:
[x] She flew back home to the Argent Vent, with its solid foundation building qi
(I am boring and cowardly. Sue me.)
 
I think we hardly have information enough to make predictions like that, ESPECIALLY if we are going to be voting off of them.

To me, it sounds like you are getting way ahead of yourself here.
We can make predictions, but not anything nearly as specific as what Arkeus has proposed. For example, I predict that the Argent Vent is a safer "easy-to-digest" option on account of Argent Qi being unlikely to interfere with other Qi - but I would not go so far as to say that we should be expecting a specific class of effect (e.g. "breadth").

To be fair that is a bit wishy-washy, so let me adjust my previous statement. Whatever predictions we make, we should be clear on how "fuzzy" they are and not proposing hypotheses and loose ideas as something solid or confirmed.
Ling Qi is using specific keywords to describe each options. Before any analysis on 'what it means', here are the different options:
[] She flew back home to the Argent Vent, with its solid foundation building qi
[] She flew to Zeqing's home, the single most potent qi locus she could think of
[] She flew to the Silent Stones, though she disliked the implications, it was the only moon site she knew

Before any kind of thematic analysis or whatever, these are the 'Traits' for the vote choices: Argent Vent: Foundation; Zeqing: Potency; Stones: Moon. This is Step 0.

My interpretation of what each trait reflect is that Argent Vent is 'Breadth' (especially given what Argent is), Zeqing is 'Strength', Stones is 'Suitability'. This is, to me, Step 1. I don't think doing a minimum 'what does Foundation mean, what does Potency means, what does Moon means' is out of bound, here.
Vent appears to be the safe option from heat I can tell.

Lacks the risk/benefit of possible flavoring our Moon/Music/Wood Muse Icy or possibly irritating Zeqing by expanding the terms of our relationship then asking after the fact like we did with Sun then said we wouldn't again; while it lacks the chance of Bloody interferance or Sixiang remembering regrets at a bad time like Silent.
I'd say that Argent Vent has the biggest risk of just "being too much about foundations" to me. It's not a 'safe' choice because ultimately when it comes to effect, if it's a choice between multiple types of effect then the better effect always matter more.

Now, if you believe that Sixiang's thing will be something that will apply no matter what, then I guess Argent Vent is 'Safe', but as far as I know it's not going to always apply and will be 'either this or that'.

That and I am not a fan of going for the "let's get another foundation-type reward" rather than one that actually has more interesting theme (either because of potency or suitability).
 
I had assumed 1 point went for defensive research this month, but I suppose I can work in a challenge too if that was the intent. I'll edit it to be certain on Ling Qi's part.
So a few things here:
  1. Yes it was very much the intention to challenge at the end of the month, targeting a spot in the 776-800 for access to the next-tier vent and sect income. I'm reasonably sure it was stated in plans for this month while they were discussed in-thread.
  2. What wasn't clearly discussed is what we thought 1 vs 2 AP challenge research meant, and for me at least I (foolishly) assumed it would just mean less detailed potential target dossiers or a smaller selection. Underlying rules assumptions like "1 AP = defensive research, 2 AP = offensive challenge", if they exist, should definitely go on the front page.
  3. Defensive research makes little sense?
    • Literally anyone under us could potentially challenge us and getting even a sparsely detailed overview of who's good at what for a few dozen disciples (and as we climb higher, many of them) seems kind of a stretch for 1AP.
    • If anything we should've gotten a broad "feel" of the 802-825 range from the 2AP turn 2 research we did when looking into potential targets. The kind of insight that would be less full if we do 1-AP offensive challenge research into a new bracket and successfully challenge into it.
    • Mostly I figured we'd see what someone challenging us is good at when they actually issue the challenge and we have a day or something to look them up and decide which of the options we're taking among the ones presented by the overseeing Elder.
 
[X] She flew to the Silent Stones, though she disliked the implications, it was the only moon site she knew

The Bloody Moon already said she was done with us, going there won't trigger the trial again. It's just a moon-aligned qi site for us now, and all moon qi is the same.
Staying away from a place that can help a friend because we dislike the memories it brings is the opposite of where we want to be going
I do not share that point of view. As far as i'm concerned moon qi is heavily affected by the eight moon phases.

Since Six asked for "better background Qi", i believe that's what s/he wants.
No matter how meek the phrase come in as, lets not assume Six suddenly became retarded...
I believe it would have asked the "most powerful Qi" or "better moon Qi" if that was what it wanted.

[X] She flew back home to the Argent Vent, with its solid foundation building qi
 
Ling Qi is using specific keywords to describe each options. Before any analysis on 'what it means', here are the different options:
[] She flew back home to the Argent Vent, with its solid foundation building qi
[] She flew to Zeqing's home, the single most potent qi locus she could think of
[] She flew to the Silent Stones, though she disliked the implications, it was the only moon site she knew

Before any kind of thematic analysis or whatever, these are the 'Traits' for the vote choices: Argent Vent: Foundation; Zeqing: Potency; Stones: Moon. This is Step 0.
Fair enough; I'm okay with this so far.
My interpretation of what each trait reflect is that Argent Vent is 'Breadth' (especially given what Argent is), Zeqing is 'Strength', Stones is 'Suitability'. This is, to me, Step 1. I don't think doing a minimum 'what does Foundation mean, what does Potency means, what does Moon means' is out of bound, here.
While you could certainly make the associations you've made, I don't think they are either obvious or objective. However, as we are both clear that this is a non-trivial inferential step, I have no further objections.
 
[X] She flew back home to the Argent Vent, with its solid foundation building qi

The stones are clearly aligned with the Bloody moon's qi, so not keen on going for that just becasue it's a "moon" sight.
Zequing's view of music and arts doesn't seem to mesh too well with Sixang's so I'd avoid going there lest the qi there affect what Sixang is trying to build.
Which leaves good, solid "be more of yourself" argent.
 
[X] She flew back home to the Argent Vent, with its solid foundation building qi

I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to blend the concept of End into Creativity, and the stones have distasteful implications as said, which may become more than implications.

Argent is balanced and has foundation building qi, which sounds like it could be exactly what Six needs right now. When she seems to be literally fading is not the time to take risks for power-ups, we need a good balance between safety and protection verses the daring and nurturing of the previous update.

She asked for better background Qi, not merely stronger background Qi.

Exactly these things are why I am also voting for:

[X] She flew back home to the Argent Vent, with its solid foundation building qi
 
Huh, i wonder if Moon site will make sixiang more like a moon spirit, darkness site make him/her more dark, and argent more human? That could be interesting. Or the sites could just have minimal impact.
 
I don't think we want Six to overly align herself with Moon any more than we want Ling Qi to focus exclusively on Darkness.
As a Spirit I don't know what level Six would be capped at if she simply focused at being her natural self, but i do know she would be eventually be capped, like for example Zeqing is.
 
[X] She flew back home to the Argent Vent, with its solid foundation building qi

Edit for explanation: Voting this way because both of the other options kinda contaminate the result for Sixiang. Remember, Six started in on this project in an effort to move away from their Moon nature as a muse because they didn't like how transience was bundled in with it, so adding in Moon qi might not be a good thing. Adding in the qi equivalent of heat death also strikes me as a bad idea, for obvious reasons.
 
Last edited:
I don't think we want Six to overly align herself with Moon any more than we want Ling Qi to focus exclusively on Darkness.
As a Spirit I don't know what level Six would be capped at if she simply focused at being her natural self, but i do know she would be eventually be capped, like for example Zeqing is.

i dont think spirits can choose their allignment. Sixiang is a moon spirit now and she will be a moon spirit in the future
 
So a few things here:
  1. Yes it was very much the intention to challenge at the end of the month, targeting a spot in the 776-800 for access to the next-tier vent and sect income. I'm reasonably sure it was stated in plans for this month while they were discussed in-thread.
  2. What wasn't clearly discussed is what we thought 1 vs 2 AP challenge research meant, and for me at least I (foolishly) assumed it would just mean less detailed potential target dossiers or a smaller selection. Underlying rules assumptions like "1 AP = defensive research, 2 AP = offensive challenge", if they exist, should definitely go on the front page.
  3. Defensive research makes little sense?
    • Literally anyone under us could potentially challenge us and getting even a sparsely detailed overview of who's good at what for a few dozen disciples (and as we climb higher, many of them) seems kind of a stretch for 1AP.
    • If anything we should've gotten a broad "feel" of the 802-825 range from the 2AP turn 2 research we did when looking into potential targets. The kind of insight that would be less full if we do 1-AP offensive challenge research into a new bracket and successfully challenge into it.
    • Mostly I figured we'd see what someone challenging us is good at when they actually issue the challenge and we have a day or something to look them up and decide which of the options we're taking among the ones presented by the overseeing Elder.
I would say that, arguably, 'Challenging research' double down as defensive research anyway. For example, let's say we do research on 799-780. If we challenge 790 and win, we'll have actual research on 790-830 already done (this turn and last).

As such, defensive research would be done anyway, so....

The big issue is this turn is already super long, and asking @yrsillar to add more when he thought it wouldn't have a challenge is sad.
 
It also matters what sixiang means by "better" qi. Is she asking for more abundant qi or qi that is more aligned to her nature (music moon wood water?)
 
I love that LIng Qi is referring to Ji Rong just by his title as a reminder he's a noble it's the kind of petty jab I'd hoped for.

Kung. Fu. Mean. Girls.

*clap* *clap* *clapclapclap*
It's kinda amusing. Whenever Ling Qi is with Ji Rong she starts being all "Look at me, I'm a good noble. I've learned my lessons well. Praise me Meizhen"

I am pretty sure the discord cabal thought only 1 research was needed to challenge and wanted to go to the next ranking level. I think the thought was why would we need to research for being challenged, we don't get to pick the person who is challenging us. But if the way the system works is 1AP for defense, 2AP for offense that is good to know.
Well, logically, being generally aware of and knowledgable of other cultivators in the sect should be helpful for things... But yeah, that doesn't really fit into the targeted research model.
 
It also matters what sixiang means by "better" qi. Is she asking for more abundant qi or qi that is more aligned to her nature (music moon wood water?)
That is the question we are answering by this choice: Argent Vent assumes better qi is Foundation, Zeqing site assume better qi is Potency, and Silent Stones assume better qi is Moon.
 
Back
Top