[X] The Vermin God is the Power of nihilism, of belief in nothing. A selfishness so complete that it would devour itself and think itself genius in the doing. (+1 Endings XP)
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
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Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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[X] The Vermin God is the Power of personal emptiness, of isolation in multitude. A thousand devouring mouths that acknowledged only themselves. (+1 Isolation XP)
Also we of course know a lot about Sun Shao. Have you read his side story series on Tales of Destiny?
Nihilism is the belief in nothing. How can that be applied to Sun Shao, who believes in something, however self-defeating and destructive?
Also we of course know a lot about Sun Shao. Have you read his side story series on Tales of Destiny?
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
[X] The Vermin God is the Power of personal emptiness, of isolation in multitude. A thousand devouring mouths that acknowledged only themselves. (+1 Isolation XP)
- Location
- United Kingdom
[X] The Vermin God is the Power of personal emptiness, of isolation in multitude. A thousand devouring mouths that acknowledged only themselves. (+1 Isolation XP)
If/when the Western Territories implode, I wonder if many will end up fleeing south to the Twisted Pines?
If/when the Western Territories implode, I wonder if many will end up fleeing south to the Twisted Pines?
- Location
- CA
(Just grabbing the most recent one to reply to, I've seen this idea several times)
"Nihilism" isn't "belief in nothing," it's more of a "belief that things aren't important." A philosophical nihilist doesn't just believe that there's no purpose to existence, because that isn't the cultural default. To say that "there is no meaning" in the face of a standard context of "there is a meaning" is an active denial, an active asserted belief rather than a passive lack of one--a statement that other asserted meanings of life are invalid or unimportant. Maybe there's a Hermit Nihilist out there somewhere who will one day have their face blown off by exposure to the standard context ("people assume that life has inherent meaning!?") and move out of passive Nihilism, but the exception exhibits the rule there.
Similarly, saying that Sun Shao is a nihilist for accepting the Sunflower Goddess's bargain exists in the context of his people and his stated purpose. He's not just taking offered power, he's taking it from an arch-enemy, one that he and his people once willingly gave up everything to defeat. He doesn't simply have no belief regarding that, he is actively asserting through his actions that their feelings and their efforts toward the goal of defeating the Jungle do not matter, not so long as he can obtain power through working with the Jungle. That's why it's described as "selfishness."
Tbh, I think people are getting hung up on Sun Shao a bit too much. The Vermin God's story is a meditation on a twisted/false kind of Power, at least as Ling Qi's examining it.
There's nothing that strictly demands that Ling Qi look at that story while reflecting on what she's learned about the Western Territories and come to the conclusion that the Western Territories have the same problems. She could come to the conclusion that they're maybe doing an okay job, but that those pressures towards failure exist around and throughout them. Ling Qi doesn't actually need to think of Sun Shao as a big failure of a leader. Because, like, for her, he's not? She doesn't actually care about the guy?
I think looking at the options and saying one of them doesn't fit Sun Shao, so we shouldn't vote for it, is missing the forest for the trees. If we take that as true, what it's really telling us is that the vote isn't about Sun Shao in the first place.
Edit: more specifically, it isn't about dissing Sun Shao.
There's nothing that strictly demands that Ling Qi look at that story while reflecting on what she's learned about the Western Territories and come to the conclusion that the Western Territories have the same problems. She could come to the conclusion that they're maybe doing an okay job, but that those pressures towards failure exist around and throughout them. Ling Qi doesn't actually need to think of Sun Shao as a big failure of a leader. Because, like, for her, he's not? She doesn't actually care about the guy?
I think looking at the options and saying one of them doesn't fit Sun Shao, so we shouldn't vote for it, is missing the forest for the trees. If we take that as true, what it's really telling us is that the vote isn't about Sun Shao in the first place.
Edit: more specifically, it isn't about dissing Sun Shao.
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- Pronouns
- They/Them
[X] The Vermin God is the Power of personal emptiness, of isolation in multitude. A thousand devouring mouths that acknowledged only themselves. (+1 Isolation XP)
Abby Normal
High Clerk of the Ymaryn
- Pronouns
- He/Him
AFTER THOUSANDS OF YEARS and several incidents of 'wait what do you mean its 2 in the morning???' I HAVE CAUGHT UP! VICTORY FOR ME!
...now if you'll excuse me i think i need a nap
deeper thoughts/review and joining the voting will wait for tomorrow, for now i will leave you all with the central truth that i have taken from this story:👏 LET👏MEIZHEN👏HAVE👏NICE👏THINGS👏 
...now if you'll excuse me i think i need a nap
deeper thoughts/review and joining the voting will wait for tomorrow, for now i will leave you all with the central truth that i have taken from this story:👏 LET👏MEIZHEN👏HAVE👏NICE👏THINGS👏 
[X] The Vermin God is the Power of nihilism, of belief in nothing. A selfishness so complete that it would devour itself and think itself genius in the doing. (+1 Endings XP)
I think this is a cool idea for the setting. Nothing about the self is sacrosanct so the God defeated themselves by losing everything that they were previously defined by. Other one is cool as well generally.
Edit: I also support letting Meizhen having nice things.
I think this is a cool idea for the setting. Nothing about the self is sacrosanct so the God defeated themselves by losing everything that they were previously defined by. Other one is cool as well generally.
Edit: I also support letting Meizhen having nice things.
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[ ] The Vermin God is the Power of nihilism, of belief in nothing. A selfishness so complete that it would devour itself and think itself genius in the doing. (+1 Endings XP)
Part of my vote is just that I want to focus more on Endings than on Isolation. More materially, though, the Vermin God to me represents the famine, the pestilence and the destruction of a million hungry mouths that care for nothing but consumption. The Vermin God dies gorging themselves on poison and knives, unable to believe that anything that feeds them can harm them.
Part of my vote is just that I want to focus more on Endings than on Isolation. More materially, though, the Vermin God to me represents the famine, the pestilence and the destruction of a million hungry mouths that care for nothing but consumption. The Vermin God dies gorging themselves on poison and knives, unable to believe that anything that feeds them can harm them.
Aliya
Someone I might become
- Location
- Kazakhstan
- Pronouns
- They/She/It
Yes, I have. But Ling Qi haven't. So...
And his marriage to the Sunflower can be viewed as ultimately cynical betrayal of driving ideology of WT.
[X] The Vermin God is the Power of personal emptiness, of isolation in multitude. A thousand devouring mouths that acknowledged only themselves. (+1 Isolation XP)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
What Ling Qi knows is irrelevant for this vote. We're not deciding what she chooses here, but what is true about the world (the actual text of the story is determined by the vote). Voting Isolation is totally fine, but it has nothing to do with Ling Qi's knowledge or lack thereof either way.
[X] The Vermin God is the Power of nihilism, of belief in nothing. A selfishness so complete that it would devour itself and think itself genius in the doing. (+1 Endings XP)
"Really!? I have to fight naked in shitty death jungle for who knows how many days and you just get an insight in the middle of a walk!"
"My fortune is a mystery to even myself, Baron Ji."
Sure must be irritating talking with your rival and then they just spontaneously get a cultivator powerup.
"Really!? I have to fight naked in shitty death jungle for who knows how many days and you just get an insight in the middle of a walk!"
"My fortune is a mystery to even myself, Baron Ji."
Missing an 'X' in your brackets.
Hmm, I'm not sure that's actually true? It's a story. The art, I mean. Ling Qi's searching her own feelings for what the theme/purpose of a portion of the story is. There's even musing about the story not matching the original subjects.
The final form of the Vermin God's tale Ling Qi walks away with doesn't strictly require meta retroactive mechanisms at all. She can just be tweaking themes and focus herself.
That said, it's perfectly fine to make your vote based on meta priorities, even narrative ones.
That said, I do think the fixation on Sun Shao some have is weird here. Both in and out of character, he's not actually that relevant a figure. Not for us, for the story we're playing out.
You know who is a lot more relevant from the Western Territories? Sun Liling. A peer we have a history and probably future with. Who we just witnessed first hand struggling with purpose and meaning within her circumstance, within her kin even. There's some interesting things that could be said about, or maybe to, Sun Liling through the second option's perspective, I think.
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- He/Him
Now it might be me, but I think the first option is far more fitting to what's going on with Sun Liling.
Really? The issue we identified is that the foundations she drew meaning and purpose from are basically all cracked up. She's not even really just in it for herself, because she doesn't know who or what that's supposed to be anymore. But she's still on the path to be a leader, one whose belief in the shared purpose is in shambles. She might not love the jungle, but does she even care if the charge against it she leads consumes her people? Will she try to stop it? Would she stop it if she could?
These are broadly open questions, and they fit more into the theme of the second option
- Pronouns
- He/Him
You're missing, in my view, what those foundations actually are. Sun Liling was taught that it was the Sun Family and the Western Territories against the world. The Sunflower Goddess and the Bai were the biggest enemies, but everyone couldn't be trusted. You're with us (in a particularly strict sense) or against us.
Except, it turns out Sun Shao, the man who set these foundations, taught her everything, the man at the very heart of the fortress was colluding with one of those enemies all along. The heart of the family, who was willing to use her just as much as the Bai did, because when he says 'family', deep down he really means 'me.' She isn't selfish, Liling loves the rest of them even if she knows Sun Shao is playing them all for fools.
But they have been tricked, and the purpose is false. If 'family' means 'I', then what does that make all of them? A destructive horde channeled towards one self-centered purpose. Why, one might call them a thousand devouring mouths that only acknowledge only themselves. Or perhaps, they aren't yet, but they might become in time.
Oliver_Twister
Idea-Man, He Who Shits Ideas
- Location
- West Africa
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I disagree. We're voting for her interpretation of a character in an art, which would then alter said art. What LQ knows is extremely important since she's taking from her knowledge base and experiences to come up with the winning vote
Guess it's just a difference of perspective. Or maybe emphasis. Ultimately, I don't think either option is wrong, which is nice.