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.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
They were for a while...then 8 of the last 9 votes were for the common people.
A shame, though it's mostly fluff.
Which actually makes the sudden influx of last-minute votes more curious.
Perilous Pages 1
Oliver_Twister
Idea-Man, He Who Shits Ideas
- Location
- West Africa
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Perilous Pages 1
For a second, he held the total weight of a fifth realm's attention on him. The pressure nearly crippled him.
He was in a pristine library fit for Blue Mountain's halls. A flurry of books flew and rearranged themselves without command, granting order and stability to what could only be a safe haven. At the centre of the room was a demanding quill. Its feather was frail and stiff, tarred with the burden of Lies and Rot, but its tip was tapered to the finest point, shining with the radiance of Truth.
A thousand thousand books were scattered before it, lying open on the floor., He wondered why they were separated from their flying brethren. Then it struck.
The quill moved, and a hundred thousand flying texts screeched. Scores of records were crossed out with dark, inky slashes and cast onto the ground. Each book writhed, their pages twisting in protest. It was no use. They were branded with the sin of Falsity, the ink from each cross their blood and binding.
He wondered why he could see all this. Then he realised. He was no outside observer. Rather, one of the books flying the storm, and the quill loomed over him.
Then he was facing kind Hu Chang, the head of the illustrious Blue Mountain's History of the Emerald Seas section. He wondered what he was doing here, an open book bereft of all its secrets when he remembered. His senior brothers told him to pick someone he was comfortable with, and he could think of no easier mark than the bubbly old man who always smiled when he greeted him. He needed to review his assessment of the man.
"What are you doing here so late at night, disciple Qiao Xiaoli? You know this floor is restricted to members of the Outer Sect."
It was a simple question, but his years on the street had taught him that nothing was ever simple. There was only one reason a junior disciple would venture past the safety of the fourth floor, and they both knew it.
Tribulation
Only the martially inclined disciples of Blue Mountain could advance past the Outer Sect; the rest had learned to make do. Jockeying for resources and elder attention, gatekeeping sites, and, for the truly daring, braving the dangers below the library's fourth floor, where reality faded out and the ethereal Limininal seeped in.
However, as he'd discovered since receiving his scholarship, the realm of Immortals was not dissimilar to its mortal counterpart. It was a world of rituals and habits. This was especially true at Blue Mountain, where those same habits helped to prevent many "deaths by book mauling," as Senior Sister Bing aptly put it.
Qiao Xiaoli took a deep breath to calm his nerves and bowed before speaking. "Confidence," he thought to himself. This was no different from the cons used to pull. Moons, those days felt so long ago.
"Senior Brother Kong requires some tomes on the Conclave of Kings for his current thesis. The upper-level books are not...cultured enough to advance his research on the relationship between-."
The pressure returned, a sharp pain in his heart as he felt a sharpened quill touch him. Confidence. He spoke no lie. Old Wai taught him better than that.
"-the Weilu of Old's organisational duties and the Emerald Seas' economic difficulties during the Weilu's first millennium of rule under the Celestial Empire. He saw fit to recruit me-"
"Confidence," he told himself, despite his struggle to breathe and the too-sweet taste of ink on his tongue. He spoke no lie.
"-since I have recently taken the mandatory courses required to explore the Liminal edges at Blue Mountain's library at Sect Sister Bing's behest."
He rushed his last words out and tentatively looked up, meeting Section Head Hu Chang's gaze.
Once more, he was reduced to thin pages in an even thinner book, waiting for the records of his life to be crossed. He'd come far, reaching the third stage of the Green realm in under three years, but it was nothing when monsters like Elder Hu Chang existed.
Confidence, he told himself, as his hands shook and his knees trembled. He spoke no lie.
He may have joined the Blue Mountain Sect as a con artist, but that was why he was doing this. He needed to move forward and leave that life behind. He had only begun to delve into the wonders of history, logic, and argumentation that had first led him to Old Wai and he. Would. Not. Yield.
The quill moved, ready to mark him and cast him down-
Then the feeling vanished, and the only pressure was that in his dantian, begging to be released. Hu Chang smiled at him, sharp but not unkindly. There was a hint of something in his eyes. Sorrow, perhaps? Guilt? It happened too quickly to discern. All he noticed was the slight nod of allowance.
Qiao Xiaoli bowed in gratitude, going lower than necessary to demonstrate his sincerity. He quickly collected himself and dashed to the door, not wanting to waste any more time. The final thing he heard was a warning.
"Be careful, young one. You know not the things you seek. May the Black Madam guide your inquiry."
@yrsillar , omake for the omake throne!!! I imagined this took place between the late Hui period to early Shenhua's reign, with the heaviness of deception and the struggle to discern truth. Qiao Xiaoli is a former con artist who the MoI picked up, and who became a disciple and historian of the Blue Mountain sect. His tribulation is going to revolve around Truth and history too.
Edit: According to the the Sect informationals, thr Blue Mountain sect doesn't allow non-noble outer sect disciples to enter the inner sect, so I imagined that the more ambitious of them have found certain loopholes to find resources and get tribulations.
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Hmm. Interesting.
Poor Zhengui on the other hand.
Hanyi's tour really had an effect. I look forward to reading the flavour text at (G): 10.
Poor Zhengui on the other hand.
Hopefully establishing himself at Snowblossom will get the ball rolling on his godhood.
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- Location
- Finland
I figure Hanyi will go broad but shallow, and Zhengui goes narrow but deep.
Hanyi will become The Winter Spirit of Emerald Seas, widely worshipped and prayed to, but not really the central spirit to any community.
While Zhengui will be more local fertility god, less followers, but he is the center of the community revolves around, because in a pre industrial society, where your food come from is a constant issue, and Zhengui will be at the heart of that.
Hanyi will become The Winter Spirit of Emerald Seas, widely worshipped and prayed to, but not really the central spirit to any community.
While Zhengui will be more local fertility god, less followers, but he is the center of the community revolves around, because in a pre industrial society, where your food come from is a constant issue, and Zhengui will be at the heart of that.
We have seen how both Zhengui and Hanyi are able to feel prayers directed to them from quite a distance, so they both would be able to influence a wide area as long as the people there are making offerings and sacrifices.
Even so, I think @Valmond has the right of it.
We have also seen how Zhengui becomes an intrinsic part of an ecosystem over time, with his Qi diffusing and incorporating into the earth itself and all the spirits and beasts living there. That means that his influence is going to be deep at a fundamental level but restricted mainly to his domain, even if that domain can become absurdly big at higher realms.
On the other hand, Hanyi doesn't make permanent changes in the places she visits. She doesn't build a Community centered around herself as Zhengui does. Instead, her very nature is about flitting from our place to another, rewarding the prepared and punishing the slackers.
But her tours can affect a wider area than Zhengui, though those effects and thus her worship are only for a specific time of the year: Winter's arrival. Zhengui will be a much more constant presence worshipped almost all year long, and not only because people will live on him.
Even so, I think @Valmond has the right of it.
We have also seen how Zhengui becomes an intrinsic part of an ecosystem over time, with his Qi diffusing and incorporating into the earth itself and all the spirits and beasts living there. That means that his influence is going to be deep at a fundamental level but restricted mainly to his domain, even if that domain can become absurdly big at higher realms.
On the other hand, Hanyi doesn't make permanent changes in the places she visits. She doesn't build a Community centered around herself as Zhengui does. Instead, her very nature is about flitting from our place to another, rewarding the prepared and punishing the slackers.
But her tours can affect a wider area than Zhengui, though those effects and thus her worship are only for a specific time of the year: Winter's arrival. Zhengui will be a much more constant presence worshipped almost all year long, and not only because people will live on him.
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- Location
- Finland
Zhengui is capable of delivering more long range blessings, through his ash at minimum, possibly through answering prayers as well as he grows stronger.
So he probably won't be completely local celebrity, but his effects are going to be strongest there, and therefore most of his followers are going to be locals and/or nearby settlements.
And Hanyi might decide to do a version of the Polar Nations ice auntie thing, though more through picking promising cultivators to train like her mom trained Ling Qi, to gain some more permanent worshippers, possibly make a priesthood to make it self sustaining.
So he probably won't be completely local celebrity, but his effects are going to be strongest there, and therefore most of his followers are going to be locals and/or nearby settlements.
And Hanyi might decide to do a version of the Polar Nations ice auntie thing, though more through picking promising cultivators to train like her mom trained Ling Qi, to gain some more permanent worshippers, possibly make a priesthood to make it self sustaining.
If I understand this correctly sufficiently powerful spirits with sufficiently large territories can form local avatars. Maybe Hanyi and Zhengui will do that too once they're strong enough.
- Location
- Finland
We've personally had conversations of at least 3 moon avatars, and have one living semi permanently in our head.
And Hanyi effectively is an avatar of Ending.
It's just that there is no Great Spirit of Ending we know of and can talk to (Crone might be closest?).
Human cultivators can create their own avatars (that's what multi presence is).
I would be very surprised if Hanyi and Zhengui would not be able to create avatars if they wanted to.
Wether they will want to, i don't know.
Zhengui might want to meet new people and so send smaller pieces of himself to travel.
Hanyi is all about adulation and having dozen of her all over the place means more people can worship her in person.
And Hanyi effectively is an avatar of Ending.
It's just that there is no Great Spirit of Ending we know of and can talk to (Crone might be closest?).
Human cultivators can create their own avatars (that's what multi presence is).
I would be very surprised if Hanyi and Zhengui would not be able to create avatars if they wanted to.
Wether they will want to, i don't know.
Zhengui might want to meet new people and so send smaller pieces of himself to travel.
Hanyi is all about adulation and having dozen of her all over the place means more people can worship her in person.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Actually, can a Spirit Beast become a Great Spirit?
Depends on what you mean by GS. They can ascend and become a Great spirit like thing. Grandma Snake, Stone Ape, Living Isle, Death Owl and Imperial Dragon say hi.
But they do leave a body behind when they do their thing. Which is where Sublime Ancestors come into the picture for the ducal houses as they can wake them up if they really need to.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
Gotcha, but yeah, my guess is that Spirit Beasts can split themselves, but have to become Great Spirit-Beasts before these splits become permanent or potentially get into freaky "Aspect" territory.
If Ling Qi hits 4th Realm and divides in two, one half doing paperwork while the other starts trying to get into fiction reading at the advice of one of her several love interests, they're both Ling Qi. They're not Ling Qi the Bureaucrat and Ling Qi the Reader the way the Moon can literally work cross-purpose with itself.
If Ling Qi hits 4th Realm and divides in two, one half doing paperwork while the other starts trying to get into fiction reading at the advice of one of her several love interests, they're both Ling Qi. They're not Ling Qi the Bureaucrat and Ling Qi the Reader the way the Moon can literally work cross-purpose with itself.
- Location
- Chicago
- Pronouns
- She/They
I'm reminded that the cloud nomads (old guard) regard the crone as an evil demon, on the same level as the gnawers. And there's been hints of a connection between the fallen star daughter and the crone? Through Starson's vault, although I might be reading too much into that.
There's an answer to this! The royal road bonus chapters explicitly say that spirit beasts do not ascend, they become White+ beings with potentially more power than any cultivator, but they largely spend time in torpor with their attention elsewhere.
It's called out as a bit of a loophole, since both humans and pure spirits ascend, but spirit beasts become sublime ancestors and keep accumulating power.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This also appears to vary by Cultivation system, since the Egypt-equivalent people strongly implied that their own Gods did basically the same thing as Spirit Beasts do despite starting out as humans.
It makes sense logically, as human cultivators who follow the inner path become more like beasts and don't become spoopy ghost manifestations of a philosophical concept like Jiao is.. Beasts don't really have philosophies so much as they get stronger they become more an exemplar of the type of beast they represent. Grandmother Serpent IS the manifestation of snakeness. That they embody the very concept of the beast they are will always tie them to the physical plane of existence.
In contrast Inexorable Justice became the very idea of their name and went out into the cosmos to do whatever ideas do outside of human ability to perceive dimensionally.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
The funny thing is that we know basically nothing about the Great Spirits/etc involved in the Imperial Cult and so on. Like, 100% if we were playing someone in a Sect nearer to the throne, or indeed playing someone who hasn't reinvented Weilu Reformism from first principles with her own little twists, we'd have probably wound up involved in the petty feuds and disagreements and so on that surely must exist among the more Imperial sources in the same way that the "Weilu" are hardly pulling together.
Instead we're like, "Oh, guess those people are doing stuff" just like the alternate-universe Ling Qi would have had no real idea how complicated Moon and Dream politics are.
Instead we're like, "Oh, guess those people are doing stuff" just like the alternate-universe Ling Qi would have had no real idea how complicated Moon and Dream politics are.
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Turn 18: Arc 1-2 Starlight
"What would you say is the mood among the common White Sky," Ling Qi asked casually. The observatory was looming tall ahead of them now as they left the still incomplete areas and entered the organized roads and gardens closer to the completed construction.
"Difficult to say," Meng Dan said. "I may be disarming, but no one is exactly willing to pour out their hearts to me."
"As if that is more than a minor obstacle with lower realms," Ling Qi said dryly. While they could hardly read minds, mortals, first realms, and even the less experienced seconds could not help but telegraph their mood and feelings in their aura, and give away more than was intended in their words.
"It makes bringing the situation into legibility difficult," Meng Dan replied. "Dissatisfied."
"Dissatisfied?" Ling Qi asked.
"There is a certain edge, a grumbling, that they are being tugged about on one persons whims," Meng Dan said. "It is kept quiet, in check. They are suspicious of us though."
"Is there any concrete reason, aside from the obvious?"
"The General, the other high realms about. Our position in the North. I understand that typically only bad things come from the north, terrible cataclysms, jungle demons, and raiding nomads," Meng Dan said, his lips curling into a wry smile.
Ling Qi frowned. "Are the nomads a significant problem? I had thought…"
"Much less of one, and the attitudes are softened by the history of tribal assimilations," Meng Dan said, they passed from dirt onto a path of cut stone, surrounded by fresh growth, the new plateau feeling more natural with each step they took away from the construction. A soft cool mist curled among the roots of planted fruit trees and flowers.
"...I see, more bad neighbors than inhuman monsters?" Ling Qi wondered.
"Something of the sort. Mm, well you know my opinions, peoples exist on a spectrum, rather than being distinct pieces on the board, historically speaking."
Hard lines between Forest, Hill and Mountain were later conceptions. She understood. Of course, just because they had begun that way did not make them any less real. "Their own rank and file are discontent as well though, it bodes poorly."
"I think so long as your counterpart does not upset her own religious hierarchy too much, it should be well," meng Dan said quietly. "Those Crows… they are more like our own masked minders than they would admit I think."
Ling Qi gave him a sharp look as they approached the doors of the observatory, pausing a moment to allow some red faced workers past, hauling furnishings and material. "What do you mean?"
"I get the sense that their commoners look at them and see a policing force. The eyes that watch the mighty. It is not dissimilar to what Emperor An conceived of when establishing the Ministry of Integrity," Meng Dan said. "Indeed while no one speaks of their capital with a special respect, compared to what we might expect, I have heard the title of 'Voice of the Hierophant' spoken in similar tones as Emperess."
That was something to consider, Jaromila had her own troubles beyond merely herding cats it seemed. She was not at a completely free hand here either. She had suspected as much. Even if they were well disposed toward each other, that was not enough on its own.
"I do hope that was helpful?" Meng Dan said, looking back at her.
"It gives me another lens to view my counterparts actions through," Ling Qi said. "Now, where are we meeting?"
"At the top in the telescope chamber. The meeting rooms do not have their full security formations in place yet."
Ling Qi nodded, following him as they mounted the stairs, winding their way to the top of the observatory. At the top was a strange and luxurious room, with a floor of black marble, spiderwebbed through with lines of white and dark, dark blue, giving an impression similar to that of a night sky in motion. The walls were panels of carved white jade, panels depicting legends of the seasons and sun and moon. Overhead, the room was a dome of polished stone, set with glittering stones. In the center of it all was this 'telescope' device, a long conical tube of brass and silver, like a spyglass blown up to titanic size, there was a seat build into the bottom of it, where a person might sit and peer into the small end, and the whole construction hummed faintly, hovering over a disc of deep green, nearly black jade.
It was… impressive if only because she could feel the power of the formations and materials that made it up. She suspected that a sizable minority of the total expense for this whole region was here… Which meant that the Duchess found this observatory to be as important as everything else going on, most likely.
That was troubling.
Waiting for them here was Cai Renxiang, who was wearing her hair loose today, a curtain of black falling near to her feet. With her was a tall, thin and bookish looking man who it took her a long minute to place. She frowned a little, without Sixiang, she didn't quite remember his name, but he was the court astronomer that had spoken up for her in court.
"Lady Cai, Astronomer Wu," Meng Dan greeted smoothly. As she followed him inside, the door behind them quietly clicked shut, and hissed softly as it sealed, the air around the edges of the frame expelled by the locking formations.
"Ah Sir Meng, Baroness, welcome, welcome. I'm always glad to see the younger generation taking interest in my work. I was just speaking with the Young Miss here on the paths and trajectories of Celestial debris in the modern day. It really is a fascinating subject…"
"And one I would like to discuss more, when we have the time. What is the reason for your tardiness Baroness?" Cai Renxiang asked.
"There was a worksite accident, the foundations of a building pierced one of the mountains cores. I was the nearest on hand who could calm the spirit," Ling Qi said. Her liege hadn't been accusatory at all. Renxiang understood she would have good reasons, even if she couldn't sense the fluctuations from the earth in this room.
"How awful. What in the world are the planners and geomancers doing?" Astronomer Wu asked, looking scandalized.
"We fear that the mountain's turbulent state must have caused a seismic shift since its internal energy channels were mapped," Meng Dan said smoothly. "It is being investigated."
The tall man grimaced. "Ah well, that is true I suppose, the Generals method was effective but… disruptive."
"Indeed. Please do not concern yourself too much, Astronomer Wu, it will be seen too. Let us begin the meeting, now that everyone is here." Cai Renxiang said crisply, gesturing for them to come closer. There was no seating or furnishings aside from the telescope itself in the room, so they were left to stand in a loose circle near to the wall.
"Yes, yes, I suppose you all are very busy," the Astronomer said. "Well may I ask how much you know of the ordering of the heavens?"
"There are considered to be three divisions, the Lower Heaven which contains the air and other components mortals and low cultivators require. The Middle Heaven, in which the toxic elements of solar, lunar and stellar qi are mixed and strained into usable energies. This is the layer which the Cloud Districts and the higher peaks of the Wall enter. The Upper Heaven, which bars the emptiness of the outside and stellar predation from the lower spheres, is largely impenetrable to human entry, being lethal to any beneath the Violet realm, and corrosive even to those who can survive it. This is divided further into a number of layers, which I have not had occasion to study," Cai Renxiang said crisply.
"I understand that the thirteen Solar and Lunar Palaces are located among the heavens on a liminal level, and are further divided into the one hundred and eight celestial demesnes," Ling QI offered. The 'homes' of the eight moon and five sun aspects were connected to certain points in the heavens, and the movement of the actual physical sun and moon through them was important for measuring the seasons, predicting weather and and other astrological divination. Of course, the actual palaces existed outside of physical reality, being the realms of the actual great spirits. Even she had never dared try and venture so deep into the liminal as that.
"Good, good, it seems between the two of you there is a ground in the basic understanding of the Celestial SPheres, and I know young Sir Meng is similarly educated, so I may dispense with the introductory lecture," Astronomer Wu said cheerfully.
"As you know, I was dispatched by her grace to establish this observatory and study the phenomena you described in the south, which had previously been considered merely legendarium. I have been most enthused by the level of support given to this project!"
Ling Qi did wonder about that. Why did the Duchess put so much effort and investment into that? She knew the Duchess funded artists and natural philosophers quite handsomely, but this was beyond even that. She could see the same considering calculation in Cai Renxiang's eyes.
"Well while I am still in the preliminary stages, I have made some discoveries. Namely that the Upper Heaven is configured differently near to the southern pole. The Upper Heaven in the region where these heavenly lights are cast consists of only a single layer, to my observations, being comprised of a much thickened and more robust Zenith Palace."
"The Minister of Midday must be working to exhaustion in the region," Meng Dan said mildly.
"Perhaps so," Wu replied animatedly.
Ling Qi frowned. Most of the Palaces were set in the Lower and Middle Heavens but the Upper was supposed to hold the Eleventh Lunar palace as well that was… the home of the Grinning Moon. For it to be absent over a whole section of the sky was troubling.
"Well the effects of this are mostly academic, and beyond your interests, but It needs to be established, because my true discovery is that Those Daemon lights, as the regular folk are calling them, are not stellar leakage, or any kind of external energy leaking through the heavens. Indeed, the Zenith Palace is so dense there that I doubt even the scraps of safe and filtered stellar qi which some use to cultivate might come through there," Astronomer Wu prattled on.
"They do not come from outside?" Cai Renxiang said, frowning.
"No, nor are they some manner of trapped energy field between the Heavenly spheres," Astronomer Wu said. "No, these lights the visible form of an energy that is constantly being dispersed and destroyed, and which emanates upward to claw upon and break against the heavens. And it is a regular emission, it's intensity rises and falls, but never stops. Indeed, something in our guest's lands produces those lights."
Ling Qi frowned, thinking back, to that awful crawling sensation, that urge to act that looking up at the sky in the south had given her. The certainty that something was terribly wrong.
"They have spoken of Gates, behind which are sealed a multitude of demons. Indeed, they have named their overall organization the Nation of the Polar Gates," Cai Renxiang offered after a moment. "Leakage through such defenses then?"
"Perhaps, Perhaps," Wu said, looking at them excitedly. "Now, that comes to the reason I have asked for Lady Cai's attention. I have of course been relaying my studies to her grace, and she has indicated an interest in this. I would like to request that a formal academic exchange of information about Celestial Phenomena be made a point of negotiations."
Ling Qi frowned. "...My contact did show some interest in the observatory… but I think we would likely need to promise them equipment access?"
The Astronomer nodded along like that was no problem, but Renxiang and Meng Dan frowned. She could read their concern. The Ministry might not like it much, and the Meng who were one of the major, non ducal sources of funding for the facility would probably be testy too. But at the same time, if her grace was interested, that gave this region more value and thus, weight at court…
Cai Renxiang looked at Ling Qi and tilted her head. The silent question obvious. She had considered it before, but the time had come to make a decision. Would it be good to make academic sharing and facility access a major point of negotiation?
[ ] Yes, so many potential ties are made difficult by the sheer distance involved, but not this. Knowing the White Sky is a center of research for the polar nation only makes it a better choice.
[ ] No adding more factors is a poor decision, minor deals on the side can be made, but anything more intensive should come later.
"Difficult to say," Meng Dan said. "I may be disarming, but no one is exactly willing to pour out their hearts to me."
"As if that is more than a minor obstacle with lower realms," Ling Qi said dryly. While they could hardly read minds, mortals, first realms, and even the less experienced seconds could not help but telegraph their mood and feelings in their aura, and give away more than was intended in their words.
"It makes bringing the situation into legibility difficult," Meng Dan replied. "Dissatisfied."
"Dissatisfied?" Ling Qi asked.
"There is a certain edge, a grumbling, that they are being tugged about on one persons whims," Meng Dan said. "It is kept quiet, in check. They are suspicious of us though."
"Is there any concrete reason, aside from the obvious?"
"The General, the other high realms about. Our position in the North. I understand that typically only bad things come from the north, terrible cataclysms, jungle demons, and raiding nomads," Meng Dan said, his lips curling into a wry smile.
Ling Qi frowned. "Are the nomads a significant problem? I had thought…"
"Much less of one, and the attitudes are softened by the history of tribal assimilations," Meng Dan said, they passed from dirt onto a path of cut stone, surrounded by fresh growth, the new plateau feeling more natural with each step they took away from the construction. A soft cool mist curled among the roots of planted fruit trees and flowers.
"...I see, more bad neighbors than inhuman monsters?" Ling Qi wondered.
"Something of the sort. Mm, well you know my opinions, peoples exist on a spectrum, rather than being distinct pieces on the board, historically speaking."
Hard lines between Forest, Hill and Mountain were later conceptions. She understood. Of course, just because they had begun that way did not make them any less real. "Their own rank and file are discontent as well though, it bodes poorly."
"I think so long as your counterpart does not upset her own religious hierarchy too much, it should be well," meng Dan said quietly. "Those Crows… they are more like our own masked minders than they would admit I think."
Ling Qi gave him a sharp look as they approached the doors of the observatory, pausing a moment to allow some red faced workers past, hauling furnishings and material. "What do you mean?"
"I get the sense that their commoners look at them and see a policing force. The eyes that watch the mighty. It is not dissimilar to what Emperor An conceived of when establishing the Ministry of Integrity," Meng Dan said. "Indeed while no one speaks of their capital with a special respect, compared to what we might expect, I have heard the title of 'Voice of the Hierophant' spoken in similar tones as Emperess."
That was something to consider, Jaromila had her own troubles beyond merely herding cats it seemed. She was not at a completely free hand here either. She had suspected as much. Even if they were well disposed toward each other, that was not enough on its own.
"I do hope that was helpful?" Meng Dan said, looking back at her.
"It gives me another lens to view my counterparts actions through," Ling Qi said. "Now, where are we meeting?"
"At the top in the telescope chamber. The meeting rooms do not have their full security formations in place yet."
Ling Qi nodded, following him as they mounted the stairs, winding their way to the top of the observatory. At the top was a strange and luxurious room, with a floor of black marble, spiderwebbed through with lines of white and dark, dark blue, giving an impression similar to that of a night sky in motion. The walls were panels of carved white jade, panels depicting legends of the seasons and sun and moon. Overhead, the room was a dome of polished stone, set with glittering stones. In the center of it all was this 'telescope' device, a long conical tube of brass and silver, like a spyglass blown up to titanic size, there was a seat build into the bottom of it, where a person might sit and peer into the small end, and the whole construction hummed faintly, hovering over a disc of deep green, nearly black jade.
It was… impressive if only because she could feel the power of the formations and materials that made it up. She suspected that a sizable minority of the total expense for this whole region was here… Which meant that the Duchess found this observatory to be as important as everything else going on, most likely.
That was troubling.
Waiting for them here was Cai Renxiang, who was wearing her hair loose today, a curtain of black falling near to her feet. With her was a tall, thin and bookish looking man who it took her a long minute to place. She frowned a little, without Sixiang, she didn't quite remember his name, but he was the court astronomer that had spoken up for her in court.
"Lady Cai, Astronomer Wu," Meng Dan greeted smoothly. As she followed him inside, the door behind them quietly clicked shut, and hissed softly as it sealed, the air around the edges of the frame expelled by the locking formations.
"Ah Sir Meng, Baroness, welcome, welcome. I'm always glad to see the younger generation taking interest in my work. I was just speaking with the Young Miss here on the paths and trajectories of Celestial debris in the modern day. It really is a fascinating subject…"
"And one I would like to discuss more, when we have the time. What is the reason for your tardiness Baroness?" Cai Renxiang asked.
"There was a worksite accident, the foundations of a building pierced one of the mountains cores. I was the nearest on hand who could calm the spirit," Ling Qi said. Her liege hadn't been accusatory at all. Renxiang understood she would have good reasons, even if she couldn't sense the fluctuations from the earth in this room.
"How awful. What in the world are the planners and geomancers doing?" Astronomer Wu asked, looking scandalized.
"We fear that the mountain's turbulent state must have caused a seismic shift since its internal energy channels were mapped," Meng Dan said smoothly. "It is being investigated."
The tall man grimaced. "Ah well, that is true I suppose, the Generals method was effective but… disruptive."
"Indeed. Please do not concern yourself too much, Astronomer Wu, it will be seen too. Let us begin the meeting, now that everyone is here." Cai Renxiang said crisply, gesturing for them to come closer. There was no seating or furnishings aside from the telescope itself in the room, so they were left to stand in a loose circle near to the wall.
"Yes, yes, I suppose you all are very busy," the Astronomer said. "Well may I ask how much you know of the ordering of the heavens?"
"There are considered to be three divisions, the Lower Heaven which contains the air and other components mortals and low cultivators require. The Middle Heaven, in which the toxic elements of solar, lunar and stellar qi are mixed and strained into usable energies. This is the layer which the Cloud Districts and the higher peaks of the Wall enter. The Upper Heaven, which bars the emptiness of the outside and stellar predation from the lower spheres, is largely impenetrable to human entry, being lethal to any beneath the Violet realm, and corrosive even to those who can survive it. This is divided further into a number of layers, which I have not had occasion to study," Cai Renxiang said crisply.
"I understand that the thirteen Solar and Lunar Palaces are located among the heavens on a liminal level, and are further divided into the one hundred and eight celestial demesnes," Ling QI offered. The 'homes' of the eight moon and five sun aspects were connected to certain points in the heavens, and the movement of the actual physical sun and moon through them was important for measuring the seasons, predicting weather and and other astrological divination. Of course, the actual palaces existed outside of physical reality, being the realms of the actual great spirits. Even she had never dared try and venture so deep into the liminal as that.
"Good, good, it seems between the two of you there is a ground in the basic understanding of the Celestial SPheres, and I know young Sir Meng is similarly educated, so I may dispense with the introductory lecture," Astronomer Wu said cheerfully.
"As you know, I was dispatched by her grace to establish this observatory and study the phenomena you described in the south, which had previously been considered merely legendarium. I have been most enthused by the level of support given to this project!"
Ling Qi did wonder about that. Why did the Duchess put so much effort and investment into that? She knew the Duchess funded artists and natural philosophers quite handsomely, but this was beyond even that. She could see the same considering calculation in Cai Renxiang's eyes.
"Well while I am still in the preliminary stages, I have made some discoveries. Namely that the Upper Heaven is configured differently near to the southern pole. The Upper Heaven in the region where these heavenly lights are cast consists of only a single layer, to my observations, being comprised of a much thickened and more robust Zenith Palace."
"The Minister of Midday must be working to exhaustion in the region," Meng Dan said mildly.
"Perhaps so," Wu replied animatedly.
Ling Qi frowned. Most of the Palaces were set in the Lower and Middle Heavens but the Upper was supposed to hold the Eleventh Lunar palace as well that was… the home of the Grinning Moon. For it to be absent over a whole section of the sky was troubling.
"Well the effects of this are mostly academic, and beyond your interests, but It needs to be established, because my true discovery is that Those Daemon lights, as the regular folk are calling them, are not stellar leakage, or any kind of external energy leaking through the heavens. Indeed, the Zenith Palace is so dense there that I doubt even the scraps of safe and filtered stellar qi which some use to cultivate might come through there," Astronomer Wu prattled on.
"They do not come from outside?" Cai Renxiang said, frowning.
"No, nor are they some manner of trapped energy field between the Heavenly spheres," Astronomer Wu said. "No, these lights the visible form of an energy that is constantly being dispersed and destroyed, and which emanates upward to claw upon and break against the heavens. And it is a regular emission, it's intensity rises and falls, but never stops. Indeed, something in our guest's lands produces those lights."
Ling Qi frowned, thinking back, to that awful crawling sensation, that urge to act that looking up at the sky in the south had given her. The certainty that something was terribly wrong.
"They have spoken of Gates, behind which are sealed a multitude of demons. Indeed, they have named their overall organization the Nation of the Polar Gates," Cai Renxiang offered after a moment. "Leakage through such defenses then?"
"Perhaps, Perhaps," Wu said, looking at them excitedly. "Now, that comes to the reason I have asked for Lady Cai's attention. I have of course been relaying my studies to her grace, and she has indicated an interest in this. I would like to request that a formal academic exchange of information about Celestial Phenomena be made a point of negotiations."
Ling Qi frowned. "...My contact did show some interest in the observatory… but I think we would likely need to promise them equipment access?"
The Astronomer nodded along like that was no problem, but Renxiang and Meng Dan frowned. She could read their concern. The Ministry might not like it much, and the Meng who were one of the major, non ducal sources of funding for the facility would probably be testy too. But at the same time, if her grace was interested, that gave this region more value and thus, weight at court…
Cai Renxiang looked at Ling Qi and tilted her head. The silent question obvious. She had considered it before, but the time had come to make a decision. Would it be good to make academic sharing and facility access a major point of negotiation?
[ ] Yes, so many potential ties are made difficult by the sheer distance involved, but not this. Knowing the White Sky is a center of research for the polar nation only makes it a better choice.
[ ] No adding more factors is a poor decision, minor deals on the side can be made, but anything more intensive should come later.
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