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

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TimEd said:
the WS backed it with the Laws of (one of) their gods and the "will of the White Sky (faction)"
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To be precise, the hierophant is the being upon which they hanged the remains of the Iron King so that they would be feasted upon by crows... Which is weird, because it implies it's in or around the Glittering City, the capital of the Polar Nation, and Jaromilla has good reasons to not want to source her authority from that place if she can avoid that.
 
veekie said:
Shenhua is extreme partly because she speedran and never touched grass. Her Insights and Words skipped the refining phase where the cultivator must interact with society and then come to accomodation, her Way is as a result jagged and brutal, with few compromises for people.

Shouldn't get to that point if we keep actively interacting with a wide variety of people
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ok that clears it up a lot, thanks, part of why I was thinking about that is the intractability of the General, it felt like someone that was on the verge of becoming something similar to Shenhua. But if thats just what happens when you don't temper and refine your insights then that makes sense
 
The previous generation were adapted to an environment where they had to cut the bullshit to get anything done. Where the Hui would exploit any delay or consideration against them.

So they're rather sharp edged in general.
 
"Likely what they are trying to build with certain cloud tribes," Cao Chun said, breaking his silence, the man's expression was pinched, and his eyes seemed to fall on her now and again, when they did his wrinkles deepened with his scowl. "If these creatures are the broken off periphery of this Nidavellr, then they likely lag behind in many areas. A single group of cities, nor a province can match the united output of a civilization."
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My brain's not working right right now so I can't figure out why he's scowling. Because Qi got hurt in general or because it was in an op that turned out to be much gnarlier than he expected? Or something else?
 
Considering what he knew of the reactionary Meng's goals and how Ling Qi herself was already a target, it's entirely possible one of the reasons Cao Chun sent her to the General was so she'd be safer from the mad Sovereign out for blood.

Then she dived in anyway.
 
Karthak Urzak said:
My brain's not working right right now so I can't figure out why he's scowling. Because Qi got hurt in general or because it was in an op that turned out to be much gnarlier than he expected? Or something else?
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Because he isn't a fan of the situation in general, and because LQ snuck a pun about "New Case" into the town name. He can't call her out for it, but he's not gonna believe it's accidental from the girl who called her son/brother Real Turtle.
 
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Karthak Urzak said:
My brain's not working right right now so I can't figure out why he's scowling. Because Qi got hurt in general or because it was in an op that turned out to be much gnarlier than he expected? Or something else?
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It was PUNS! All this time! Every decision, every move, every concession and gain, was all a ploy to make the greatest Pun! How could he not see it before?
Truly, she could have been a monster, a danger even the Ministry might fail to contain.
 
Humbaba said:
Just to check the Gigaflex is next turn with Elfcation the turn after, right?

Because if so we get this hilarious sequence of events within a year of each other:

  • I have a new treaty with Uluthan for Ancient Magical Secrets!
  • Here are 8 new Orbs of Sorcery and a book about the uses pure Aether
  • I am taking an unexpected trip to Uluthan for poorly explained reasons
    • To fight Dark elves
It's so stupendously weird.
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Wrong quest. Which threw me for a loop, because I follow both.
 
Thought up a Name for Ling Qi last night:

Winter Night's Clarity

we embody Winter. The Moon are out at night (even the shadowed presence of HIdden or Grin), and Clarity is for our [COMMUNICATION]

We don't only deal with the destructive side of life or the [END], we also handle a variety of Community and related concepts for what life means for us. The Clarity we achieved for our life by surviving the tribulations of Winter.
 
The Laurent said:
Honestly Ling Qi seems like she'd have fun meeting Elves, depending on the kind of elves they are.
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Elves, at least Tolkienesque elves as used and mythologised in most of contemporary fiction, would not really fit well in a cultivation setting. Most of the standard trappings of them would be rendered moot by the fact that other people can cultivate. You live longer than humans? So does everybody who matters. You are a strong magician? Cool, we have teenagers who can wrestle concepts. You are haughty and prideful and believe yourself superior? So is the average cultivator.

Even if they get a buff to compensate, they would either be like a spirit blooded clan with a sublime ancestor (strong, but half their traits would still need to be changed to the point they are no longer Tolkieneque elves but new thing with the same name, or removed, in whgich case they are just a less interesting Ducal clan because everything that made them unique is gone) or be so strong they can break the setting and all the established balance.
 
storryeater said:
Elves, at least Tolkienesque elves as used and mythologised in most of contemporary fiction, would not really fit well in a cultivation setting. Most of the standard trappings of them would be rendered moot by the fact that other people can cultivate. You live longer than humans? So does everybody who matters. You are a strong magician? Cool, we have teenagers who can wrestle concepts. You are haughty and prideful and believe yourself superior? So is the average cultivator.

Even if they get a buff to compensate, they would either be like a spirit blooded clan with a sublime ancestor (strong, but half their traits would still need to be changed to the point they are no longer Tolkieneque elves but new thing with the same name, or removed, in whgich case they are just a less interesting Ducal clan because everything that made them unique is gone) or be so strong they can break the setting and all the established balance.
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I think this is honestly a little weirdly shortsighted? Especially the whole stuff about superiority, which really does seem to miss the point of Tolkienesque elves.
 
The Laurent said:
I think this is honestly a little weirdly shortsighted? Especially the whole stuff about superiority, which really does seem to miss the point of Tolkienesque elves.
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I mean, yeah, the point most of the time is that they are not really superior, and that they need the other races too, but they are still better magicians... and in a world where magic and technology and martial arts are the same, and where power gaps are so massive, saying that would be the same as saying they are superior period.

Unless you give them a system where they have a fragile body but can use hilariously powerful attacks? Sort of being glass canons? I guess that could somewhat work.
 
Tolkien elves are super benevolent and not strictly haughty, but more wary after the constant backstabbing from the Kingdoms of Man. Not that they lack faith either, they just keenly remember what the Hubris of Numenor cost everyone

Calling the "elves" of contemporary fantasy Tolkienesque is a massive disservice to the genuine article
 
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TehChron said:
Tolkien elves are super benevolent and not strictly haughty, but more wary after the constant backstabbing from the Kingdoms of Man. Not that they lack faith either, they just keenly remember that the Hubris of Numenor cost everyone
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Yeah, the specific plot beat of "Elves in Threadsverse" would be that they're powerful but fading, the guardians of an old and dying world who cannot seem to reverse their Doom/Fate, who have indeed worked with humans often enough and helped them, but who have not exactly found universal friendship for it. Who protected the forests and loved the world despite its costs...

In other words, IMO, the proper narrative place for them would be old allies of the Weilu, doomed to fade from history as the progress of Man chews up everything in its path and left Empire in its wake. You'd have to find some other narrative equivilent to the way that they were planning on taking ships west to leave the world, since obviously the geography there doesn't quite work.

So yes, instead of being boring we could in fact be interesting and think about narrative themes and how they would fit together. Since that's what really matters more than some sort of Vs. debate, let alone lazily gesturing towards stereotypical portrayals of Elves in post-Tolkien works.
 
TehChron said:
Tolkien elves are super benevolent and not strictly haughty, but more wary after the constant backstabbing from the Kingdoms of Man. Not that they lack faith either, they just keenly remember what the Hubris of Numenor cost everyone

Calling the "elves" of contemporary fantasy Tolkienesque is a massive disservice to the genuine article
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I mean, yeah, but there is a reason I said Tolkienesque and not Tolkien. The original post was about a WHF quest, which was one of the things directly inspired by Tolkien. Admittedly, DnDesque would be more fitting.


Edit because ninja'd:

The Laurent said:
Yeah, the specific plot beat of "Elves in Threadsverse" would be that they're powerful but fading, the guardians of an old and dying world who cannot seem to reverse their Doom/Fate, who have indeed worked with humans often enough and helped them, but who have not exactly found universal friendship for it. Who protected the forests and loved the world despite its costs...

In other words, IMO, the proper narrative place for them would be old allies of the Weilu, doomed to fade from history as the progress of Man chews up everything in its path and left Empire in its wake. You'd have to find some other narrative equivilent to the way that they were planning on taking ships west to leave the world, since obviously the geography there doesn't quite work.

So yes, instead of being boring we could in fact be interesting and think about narrative themes and how they would fit together. Since that's what really matters more than some sort of Vs. debate, let alone lazily gesturing towards stereotypical portrayals of Elves in post-Tolkien works.
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We actually kind of do have that theme with the dragons. Who, come to think of it, do act like DnDesque elves in a lot of ways. It is not exactly what you are proposing, because they were the architects of their downfall, but they are pretty much a powerful but fading race because the Heavens nerfed them.

But two fading races can occupy a different enough narrational space to be a good thing in the narrative. So I have to ask: why would the elves be powerful and fading? That is a much more important question, because there are ways to justify it in setting, but it has to be justified that keeps them benevolent while explaining why no one has fixed the problem, while still making them powerful enough to be stronger than another persecuted minority.

Also, I am not sure there is enough space in ES as it has developed to fit elves as a major thing that used to be here but now isn't.
 
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I mean the denizens of the Emerald isles are pretty elf like, denizens of a better world spared from much of the suffering of the larger world. When they leave their paradise they are struck by a powerful grief to the point even their descendants are effected, plus the little we know about those who have left the isles has them all being very powerful.
 
TehChron said:
Tolkien elves are super benevolent and not strictly haughty, but more wary after the constant backstabbing from the Kingdoms of Man. Not that they lack faith either, they just keenly remember what the Hubris of Numenor cost everyone

Calling the "elves" of contemporary fantasy Tolkienesque is a massive disservice to the genuine article
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Eh... LotR elves, sure, but Silmarillion elves had a lot of assholes among their number.
 
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