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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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So,I was pretty hyped up to do MoSs this coming turn, but I lost all my steam :(. So, the set projects for me are Ice abd Dust and Four Winds Joy

But anyway, with ToN on pause, I think the best projects are:
  • Boundaries Untrodden: We can do a double LFWT turn, to open up the art. Boundaries Untrodden fits really well, and since we're still doing some background ToN, it can connect with it.

  • Spirit Seeker: Though it may be better suited till after the summit, it can still meld a bit with some actions like talking to Liling and thr observatory action. Plus, Expression XP is always good for us since Expression is Communication. However, it's the capstone, so there be arguments to both do it now and push it back. Plus, with the way things sre going, ee might not even have space for the special project next turn. There's ToN and FFS (since it's 6 projects confirmed) and maybe Boundaries Untrodden if done this turn or something else. But there are arguments to do it now. For example, if the Cathedral of Winds roll goes horribly, and so we'll do an epic capstone on a half-completed action and then have to return to it later. It can work if the Piper wakes up, but yeah.

  • Primacy of Beasts: With Liling's arrival and news of the West, this has become even more appealing. It can go with a bunch of projects.

  • Winter Crown: Doing 2 FFS projects in one turn to cut down the number of projects by half is not something we should underestimate. There's a bit of a problem with not giving FFS time and space to develop more before we pick it, but it'll build on what we did in T17 and let FFS shine before ToN during the summit.

  • Garden of Mists: Talking to the family and talking with Zhengui can work really well with this. But it feels really premature, and we didn't talk to Jiao about formations, so it'll be really random imo.

  • It's Depths Without End: SNR is about Lake Hei, but LQ isn't near it, so she uses stuff near her as proxies. She used Snowblossom as a proxy for Void, and she can probably use the night sky as a proxy during the retainer action. Mystery and Endings! Both fit with learning about the night sky, especially when we're talking with Jaromila and Astronomer Wu.

  • Fortress of Tsu 2: It can work well with some actions, but I'll need to think more on it.

For me, the top 5 are It's Depths Without Ends, Boundaries Untrodden, Spirit Seeker and Primacy of Beasts. I

So
[] Plan Bridging Boundaries and Borders
-[] House of Ling
-[] Western Marches
-[] Imperial Menagerie
-[] A Land Most Dark and Cruel
-[] Four Winds Joy
-[] Ice and Dust
-[] Spirit Seeker

[] Plan Boundaries Untrodden
-[] House of Ling
-[] Western Marches
-[] Imperial Menagerie
-[] A Land Most Dark and Cruel
-[] Four Winds Joy
-[] Ice and Dust
-[] Boundaries Untrodden

[] Plan What Lies Beyond
-[] House of Ling
-[] Western Marches
-[] Imperial Menagerie
-[] A Land Most Dark and Cruel
-[] Four Winds Joy
-[] Ice and Dust
-[] It's Depths Without End

[] Plan Nature of War
-[] House of Ling
-[] Western Marches
-[] Imperial Menagerie
-[] A Land Most Dark and Cruel
-[] Four Winds Joy
-[] Ice and Dust
-[] Primacy of Beasts
 
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Erebeal said:
Golden Road seems like the lowest priority here. Yrs seems to be being very nice to us by making the trade-off easy here.
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Nope. Now that LQ has really started to face her trauma, she can try having an actual conversation with the person trying to court her in earnest. I'm not doing this for the sake of shipping bc I don't ship em--I'm talking about her healing from past scars. In the end, they could just become friends maybe...but either way, she should face the situation instead of avoiding it.
 
Lena27 said:
Nope. Now that LQ has really started to face her trauma, she can try having an actual conversation with the person trying to court her in earnest. I'm not doing this for the sake of shipping bc I don't ship em--I'm talking about her healing from past scars. In the end, they could just become friends maybe...but either way, she should face the situation instead of avoiding it.
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It also works with House of Ling. I'd prefer she healed first with her mother, the person who she got a rep and with whom she has a lot of unresolved feelings that just opened up, rather than a husbando candidate.
 
I want to throw in an argument for golden road. It deals with the southern Meng through Hanyi and Bao. The summit is not the only thing we are juggling right now and getting more support from the southern Meng now will pay dividends later.

Remember the Meng observer at the summit is a comprise candidate if we want more support from the Meng for this summit or for future projects we need to start leveraging what we have.
 
Hidden Scribe seems like it would pair well with Stars and Spheres, the retainer action. Would like to start a Songseekers Ceremony art this turn and next turn to finish off all its current projects by the eve of the summit.
 
Killer_Whale said:
House of Ling is more about the staff, then her relationship with her mother.
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She and Biyu are named characters in the action.

Also, I think it's important to note that House of Ling increases our information network. And since we're meeting lower nobles, we may learn their wants and needs from ghr summit too. Which is good, imo.

And lastly, it seems like it's the Foundations half from the Wang/Foundations v Diao/Central Valley vote, and the bonus for it ends this turn.

"It'll be interesting, definitely," Sixiang said. "How many you thinking of inviting?"

"It will depend on what I see at the summit. I should have a chance to talk to Wang Lian there," Ling Qi said, the wind whistling past her ears. The green and grey and white of the landscape rushed by, the tips of the highest growing pines swaying with her passing.

"Right, she's overseeing construction ain't she?"

Ling Qi hummed in agreement, the first part of deepening the connections she had made was more face to face meetings. She'd pick out a few from among the foundations, the ones offering the most sincere advice on operations. A little meeting, a little tour as they set up, accepting well wishes and showing good will.

A minor project, she could maybe even involve her family, meet them at the sect and then travel here?. Let Mother cut her teeth on guests less intimidating than comital scions. Plans and plans, so many things to do, so little time. And right now, she had another small task to see too, one more thing she could squeeze in before Hanyi arrived. One which thankfully, would allow her to treat her time as a little bendable
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Well I want to do the 3 professional actions and house of ling. Bao Qian is a lot less important to me than what we're doing at the moment.
Not sure about the cultivation actions yet other than wanting to take Four Winds Joy
 
Finshing MoSS so we save omakes, doing 1 FSS project and getting Four winds seems like the best use of cultivation projects.
 
Neshuakadal said:
I want to throw in an argument for golden road. It deals with the southern Meng through Hanyi and Bao. The summit is not the only thing we are juggling right now and getting more support from the southern Meng now will pay dividends later.

Remember the Meng observer at the summit is a comprise candidate if we want more support from the Meng for this summit or for future projects we need to start leveraging what we have.
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Exactly! Also Golden Road description says that it will add more info to the Bao faction as well-- it implies that even though Bao Qian isn't going to the summit, the action will provide Bao info relevant to the summit. Probably something similar to what ended up happening with Han Jian providing a bargaining chip for the summit negotiations.
In addition to this, we haven't seen Zhengui in forever. It'd be nice to touch base and see what he's been up to. Young ones grow up fast when you're not looking.
 
I think we finish the fief action for Veins of the Earth this turn. So we'll be seeing Zhengui this turn either way
 
Bao Qian is like the only source of experience we have right now with regards to negotiating with Other Humans.

Ling Qi has been Lonely without Sixiang in her head to talk to and without Hanyi and Zhengui around either.

Ling Qi has had A Major Tribulation that's Not Fully Resolved, and Bao Qian touches on a Major Unexplored Consequence of said Tribulation.

Ling Qi will be neck-deep in the Summit stuff after this. She will need Enough Time to Settle Herself, and Know Her Own Mind so that she can focus on the Summit when the time comes.

Bao Qian is a Beefy Hunk we make Uncomfortable and I want to BAFFLE him again with our New Behavior.
 
tdsv said:
People keep saying that CRX will deal with Liling, but I don't think letting CRX do diplomacy with Liling alone is going to be helpful. They are extreme opposites and hate each other, that will only make it worse. I would rather be there to mediate.

Also, doing house of Ling then going to the border and doing the 3 professional actions makes for a very cohesive storyline. (Which is also why we should go with the depths with no end)

Also, western marches will give us insight to the coming war arc.
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CRX had trouble with Liling in the outer Sect because she had no experience yet, but CRX has specifically said there are things she'd do differently now, and this is her chance to apply that knowledge. There is zero indication that Ling Qi would do any better at interacting with Liling than CRX, and Ling Qi is the one besides Meizhen who got to dunk hardest on Liling. She is institutionally pissed at CRX, but she is more personally pissed at LQ.
 
Western Marches does two things for us.

First, it gives us a chance to throw [COMMUNICATION] at Liling and see what happens;

Second, it opens interactions with Ji Rong, who we are on neutral terms with, and who is, ah...
yrsillar said:
There was a beat of heavy silence, and in it, Ling Qi finally noticed Ji Rong, standing in her shadow. He hadn't grown explosively at least, stronger of course but not unreasonably so. His expression was stony, and she couldn't read him at all.
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yrsillar said:
Ling Qi blinked, mortified as Sun Liling pulled her hands from her pockets to swat both Luf Feng and Ji Rong on the bottoms as she passed them by. She glanced to Ji Rong, who briefly met her eyes, looking conflicted before he hurried to follow.

"What." Lao Keung said.
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uncomfortable, with Liling's current situation. Ji Rong is loyal to Sun Liling, but the fact that Shao forcibly mangled Liling's soul means that he may feel somewhat flexible about how to serve Liling best.

And we are quite possibly the only person around who could build Ji Rong's concerns into a proper back-channel with Liling's faction.

It's not clear how much that potential connection is worth, at the end of the day, but it's certainly something CRX can't manage without us.
 
I think Western Marches is crucial because:
-Sun Shao is almost certainly sending Liling to throw as many wrenches into the mess as she can get away with.

This is simply too important to just assume we can handle whatever she can throw at us without even checking. She's a Ducal Scion who's spent the time since leaving the Sect preparing for this task, we can assume she has specific preparations for the other Ducals present, whose playbooks are all well established.
This is a problem that needs a chaos gremlin.

-Renxiang is well able to contest her in a direct diplomacy contest, Renxiang is also ill-suited to getting any information out of Liling.

What Liling does not know and has no way to prepare for is our Eye of Grudges/Thief of Names/[Communication] ability to obtain deep insight, something bullshit enough for even Jiao, a Prism, to be taken aback, he could stop it, but he sure as hell didn't see it coming until it was already happening.
This could get us considerable actionable information.

-Liling and Ji Rong have strong personal animosity towards Renxiang and Meizhen for numerous reasons.

Meanwhile, Ling Qi is entirely neutral with Ji Rong, and she's at most a pest to Liling. We CAN actually get any conversation with them that's not going to result in them blatantly picking a fight immediately. If its just Renxiang it'd be purely unpleasant and pointless.

If there is an option up for debate, its which of Golden Roads and House of Ling take priority. Both aren't time sensitive in the same manner in that they aren't immediately significant rivals, diplomatic stressors, or enemies, though we really should take them both within this or the next month if possible, I have my doubts about their results paying out fast enough to matter to the Summit.
 
I know no one is going to go for it, but I at least want to suggest it.

[] Plan: We'll get to it when we get to it.
-[] House of Ling:
-[] Golden Roads
-[] A Land Dark and Cruel
-[]Western Marches
-[] Winter's Crown
-[] Garden of Mists
-[] Xiangmen, Fortress of Tsu Pt. 2
 
disgruntledghost said:
I know no one is going to go for it, but I at least want to suggest it.

[] Plan: We'll get to it when we get to it.
-[] House of Ling:
-[] Golden Roads
-[] A Land Dark and Cruel
-[]Western Marches
-[] Winter's Crown
-[] Garden of Mists
-[] Xiangmen, Fortress of Tsu Pt. 2
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I don't see any valid argument for skipping menagerie. It is easily the most important action here. Even with all said about Western Marches, meeting with all the ducal representatives, getting everyone on the same page and making sure they all feel that they are being heard, their concerns are truly being considered is critical to keeping our allies and any modicum of backing. We simply can't not do it.
 
Yeah I've tried to convince myself to drop Western Marches but I don't think we can. It's just got too much narrative weight for us to brush off to the side. And then Lands Dark and Cruel bounces off it so much so it has to be taken too, and Imperial Menagerie is really needed as well.

We can't avoid any of these I don't think.
 
Am looking forward to seeing Hanyi stunt all over Ji Rong's dragon again. Then acquire him for her growing harem like Big Sis has. Turns out this was a Hanyi Villianess Quest all along
 
Neither Golden Roads or House of Ling are "urgent" per se, yeah though both should clearly be taken in the next few turns (and tbh if yrs is trying to clean things up for the post-summit maybe he just won't give us anything more).

However, one of them benefits much more from time than the other. House of Ling is not something that provides an immediate return - it needs time in which to work. If we want to be hosting guests we need to have already trained up our servants. If we want cultivators then the more time we can give them to train the better. We need to have done it well before anything we want to use its outputs for.

In contrast, Golden Roads is mostly just the obligatory tie-in action to the ongoing Bao Qian and Hanyi plots which are hardly going to be seeing any immediate follow-up anyway. Any romance stuff is suuuuuuuupppppppeeeerrrr slow-burn, while we're currently in like spring and Hanyi's stuff isn't an immediate concern, while any merchanting stuff is more easily focused on later anyway. Certainly it could be fun to play with Bao Qian following on from our recent tribulation, but there's definitely less immediate importance to it imo.
 
Regardless of how important or time sensitive specific actions are.
I would like people to remember that options go away eventually.
There is no guarantee that the actions we don't vote for now will come back, or will come back in the same way.

Yes, i don't think it likely that Golden Roads or House of Ling will go away, in fact, if any is to drop out it is probably going to be Western Marches.
But every action taken gets replaced, and arguing we can just do something later, does not mean we will, because there is always going to be a new distraction.

So i would prefer we do Golden Roads and House of Ling, now, instead of wait in the hopes that nothing else important pops up that the thread insists must be done first, again, and again, and again, until we just don't do one of them or the option is significantly changed from what it is now.
BEcause, yes, House of Ling takes time to start taking effect, but same is kinda true of Golden Roads, and both will presumably lead to new actions that will have their own benefits.
 
Well in terms of trying to optimise site usage I think we'd look at something like this for a Primacy plan:

[] Plan: Professional Primacy
-[][Personal] House of Ling
-[][Professional] Western Marches
-[][Professional] Imperial Menagerie
-[][Professional] A Land Most Dark and Cruel
-[][Cultivation] Four Winds Joy (9/5 AD, Cathedral of Winds -1GSS)
-[][Cultivation] Ice and Dust (13/4 Saline Grotto -1GSS)
-[][Cultivation] Primacy of Beasts (9/3 Shattered Gaol +10 spiritual)

We can get Four Winds Joy doubled with some omake points if we're trying to push choice harder, though admittedly there is the weirdness from an optimisation perspective of not doing it in shattered gaol bc we have these sick wind sites.
 
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