Remove ads

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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Reader mode
Black Noise said:
While hiding your true skill in a main focus area (like music skill for us) isn't too useful, there is still some merit in secrecy, specifically because it can let you eke out a win where otherwise you would lose. Take the case of CtE; someone who doesn't know to put distance from us if they're tagged by HR is liable to get hit by the full effect, very likely ending a fight right there.

In this system a win like this has knock-on effects, either a few AP worth of CP from a successful defense (and appearing weaker than you really are makes you more attractive of a target) or a jump to a new rank you might not have made if your capabilities were better known.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
One issue is that to take advantage of a secret is that there are lots of ways for the secret to not matter.

Like, lets take the situation you outlined. We have CtE, which we kept a secret; therefore, our opponent doesn't know to keep their distance; therefore, we get CtE's main effect off on them in the duel. Winning the duel gets us several AP worth of contribution points; does that mean the secret was worth several AP? Consider:
  • Even if we didn't keep CtE a secret, our opponent might not have known about it. We don't see the techniques of the people Ling Qi is challenging, so it is not at all clear that someone challenging us would know all of our publicly-revealed techs.
  • Since our opponent chose not to keep a distance, if we assume that decision was logical (before you count CtE, anyways), you might presume that they prefer to fight at closer range. Given that, even if they had known about CtE, they might have acted the same way, or if they did avoid close range that might have cost them in terms of what they could do in the fight.
  • When we use CtE, it is not certain that it will hit and end the fight.
  • Finally, it is not clear that we couldn't have won without pulling out CtE as a surprise.
If a secret moves us from certain loss to certain victory, yeah, it would be worth at least a couple of AP. But there are a lot of factors that suggest that the influence of a secret are much smaller than that, which correspondingly diminishes the secret's value.
 
regarding range: it is perfectly fine if people keep distance from LQ, she is a ranged attacker afterall. They can either rush her as soon as HR begins and eat a CtE or stay away until HR takes them down. I am ok with both scenarios
 
Meizhen situation is hilarious because it's all due to a giant misunderstanding.

Let's come back to the reputations of the Bai. They have a tendency to be terrifying, violent and terrifying once again. Everyone expect someone that bother a Bai to get a severe case of being poisonned/murdered/get into cardiac arrest from fear.

Now let's talk about meizhen reputation. Which is to say, scare everyone into submission, even your own vassals (see how the guy from the other vassal clan of the bai got scared by her last year).

So both reputation are that if you bother them you are gonna know it via fear induced heart attack.

Compare this to how she treat the guy from her vassal clan. She doesn't scare him nor do anything Bai like to him. He actually believes he has a chance because for a Bai and for her reputation she is treating him like if he actually has a chance. She isn't murdering him or trying to murder him and for a Bai this means that he isn't bothering her. He just fundamentally misunderstood that she is a radically nice snek, and due to this take her not attacking him as the proof he has a chance.

It's all a giant misunderstanding and it's hilarious because of it.
 
Last edited:
archangis said:
Meizhen situation is hilarious because it's all due to a giant misunderstanding.

Let's come back to the reputations of the Bai. They have a tendency to be terrifying, violent and terrifying once again. Everyone expect someone that bother a Bai to get a severe case of being poisonned/murdered/get into cardiac arrest from fear.

Now let's talk about meizhen reputation. Which is to say, scare everyone into submission, even your own vassals (see how the guy from the other vassal clan of the bai got scared by her last year).

So both reputation are that if you bother them you are gonna know it via fear induced heart attack.

Compare this to how she treat the guy from her vassal clan. She doesn't scare him nor do anything Bai like to him. He actually believes he has a chance because for a Bai and for her reputation she is treating him like if he actually has a chance. She isn't murdering him or trying to murder him and for a Bai this means that he isn't bothering her. He just fundamentally misunderstood that she is a radically nice snek, and due to this take her not attacking him as the proof he has a chance.

It's all a giant misunderstanding and it's hilarious because of it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Well who knows? He might actually manage to win her over during the course of the next few years somehow (or she just decides he's the least sucky option and humors him) :p

Ling Qi being Best Snek's maid of honor would probably be lulz worthy
 
1986ctcel said:
Well who knows? He might actually manage to win her over during the course of the next few years somehow (or she just decides he's the least sucky option and humors him) :p

Ling Qi being Best Snek's maid of honor would probably be lulz worthy
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

There's a good chance Matron of Honor would be more likely.

While neither of us is getting married anytime soon (in a mortal timeframe) we and Cai(for us, not herself) will likely have a tighter timeframe than Meizhen's elders.

Also, sooner or later Ling Qi will realize she wants her mother at her wedding, and Reds that start cultivating in their thirties only live so long.
 
OneArmedYeti said:
There's a good chance Matron of Honor would be more likely.

While neither of us is getting married anytime soon (in a mortal timeframe) we and Cai(for us, not herself) will likely have a tighter timeframe than Meizhen's elders.

Also, sooner or later Ling Qi will realize she wants her mother at her wedding, and Reds that start cultivating in their thirties only live so long.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

My guess is that Ling Qi will end up marrying after she hits Indigo - sometime in her forties or fifties, by my reckoning, provided we don't fuck it up too badly between now and then. So that's... twenty-five to forty years, give or take a few.

Ling Qingge should still be alive, and Ling Biyu will probably be somewhere in Cyan at that point.
 
Raising Kittens said:
My guess is that Ling Qi will end up marrying after she hits Indigo - sometime in her forties or fifties, by my reckoning, provided we don't fuck it up too badly between now and then. So that's... twenty-five to forty years, give or take a few.

Ling Qingge should still be alive, and Ling Biyu will probably be somewhere in Cyan at that point.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Probably

Or maybe we marry halfway into Cyan because there's an invasion and raising the next generation of Greens becomes more important than a marginally increased chance of getting more Fifth realms.

Edit: Actually, does anyone know how long the war with Ogodei lasted? I would love to write an Omake with a Sect training disciples while on a total war footing.
 
Last edited:
Raising Kittens said:
My guess is that Ling Qi will end up marrying after she hits Indigo - sometime in her forties or fifties, by my reckoning, provided we don't fuck it up too badly between now and then. So that's... twenty-five to forty years, give or take a few.

Ling Qingge should still be alive, and Ling Biyu will probably be somewhere in Cyan at that point.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Speaking of Ling Biyu, I was thinking of what would be the appropriate set of elements that would fit the Ling Clan 'cause for now we have an array of elements: Moon, Music, Darkness, Wind, Wood, Water. Note that I'm talking about the clan itself rather than Ling Qi. I still want her to go Moon/Music/Darkness. Biyu may have a chance to take interest and model herself to be like Ling Qi, but there's chance she may not and want to try a different build.

So that got me thinking on what would be a good overall clan element. Darkness is already there so may as well take a part of that, Moon would be really appealing. Wood/Wind is a minor but more than a small possibility (leaning towards Wood if that's the case). Water.....nah. Music is....the one I'm mixed overall. That's definitely an element I want Ling Qi to revolve around but in terms of other future clan members, I kinda have to question what the use of Music would be for them, cause when I think of how Music plays a role, I think "bard support" and that's mainly it.

Maybe I'm wrong and there are actually way more varieties to be played than what I'm thinking. Just don't want the clan to be merely limited as that "sneaky bard clan that serves the heiress". Want more variety. Maybe Biyu would take an interest in archery in our place. Maybe she'd get the Ashen Shadow Art someone in the thread (forgot who) keeps talking about.

OneArmedYeti said:
Probably

Or maybe we marry halfway into Cyan because there's an invasion and raising the next generation of Greens becomes more important than a marginally increased chance of getting more Fifth realms.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Not sure if we'd have time to contemplate marriage in the middle of a Cloud Tribe invasion which I'm actually 100% sure will happen based on the Barbarian interlude from last thread. Probably around mid-Cyan too
 
OneArmedYeti said:
Probably

Or maybe we marry halfway into Cyan because there's an invasion and raising the next generation of Greens becomes more important than a marginally increased chance of getting more Fifth realms.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Ling Qi is worth more the later she marries, and a decade either way for her first child or two really won't change much vs. how much more powerful she will be at Indigo.

And during an invasion Cyan Ling Qi is more useful being a saboteur, an officer, or on a hunter-killer team than being sidelined for any reason other than a genuinely critical alliance that will result in additional high-level cultivators coming to help the Cai.

Which is highly unlikely at Cyan - she's still a Baron at that realm, no matter her patronage or who's vassal she is - and much of the same reasoning applies to her as applies to Bai Meizhen. The Jin have sided with the Sun, the Guo are too far away (and to hard-pressed) to contribute meaningfully, the Imperial Princes are all at least a century old and have better prospects besides, the Bai are already extending Bai Meizhen as an 'ambassador', the Zheng regard the concept as a 'farce', which leaves the Xuan as the remaining option with that much potential impact.

And for that we're definitely better off waiting for Indigo.

E: Need to go to sleep now.
 
EternalObserver said:
Speaking of Ling Biyu, I was thinking of what would be the appropriate set of elements that would fit the Ling Clan 'cause for now we have an array of elements: Moon, Music, Darkness, Wind, Wood, Water. Note that I'm talking about the clan itself rather than Ling Qi. I still want her to go Moon/Music/Darkness. Biyu may have a chance to take interest and model herself to be like Ling Qi, but there's chance she may not and want to try a different build.

So that got me thinking on what would be a good overall clan element. Darkness is already there so may as well take a part of that, Moon would be really appealing. Wood/Wind is a minor but more than a small possibility (leaning towards Wood if that's the case). Water.....nah. Music is....the one I'm mixed overall. That's definitely an element I want Ling Qi to revolve around but in terms of other future clan members, I kinda have to question what the use of Music would be for them, cause when I think of how Music plays a role, I think "bard support" and that's mainly it.

Maybe I'm wrong and there are actually way more varieties to be played than what I'm thinking. Just don't want the clan to be merely limited as that "sneaky bard clan that serves the heiress". Want more variety. Maybe Biyu would take an interest in archery in our place. Maybe she'd get the Ashen Shadow Art someone in the thread (forgot who) keeps talking about.



Not sure if we'd have time to contemplate marriage in the middle of a Cloud Tribe invasion which I'm actually 100% sure will happen based on the Barbarian interlude from last thread. Probably around mid-Cyan too
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Music art users could be a sizable minority? with some clan specific Arts in the Library and maybe all young scions learning an instrument?
 
Raising Kittens said:
Ling Qi is worth more the later she marries, and a decade either way for her first child or two really won't change much vs. how much more powerful she will be at Indigo.

And during an invasion Cyan Ling Qi is more useful being a saboteur, an officer, or on a hunter-killer team than being sidelined for any reason other than a genuinely critical alliance that will result in additional high-level cultivators coming to help the Cai.

Which is highly unlikely at Cyan - she's still a Baron at that realm, no matter her patronage or who's vassal she is - and much of the same reasoning applies to her as applies to Bai Meizhen. The Jin have sided with the Sun, the Guo are too far away (and to hard-pressed) to contribute meaningfully, the Imperial Princes are all at least a century old and have better prospects besides, the Bai are already extending Bai Meizhen as an 'ambassador', the Zheng regard the concept as a 'farce', which leaves the Xuan as the remaining option with that much potential impact.

And for that we're definitely better off waiting for Indigo.

E: Need to go to sleep now.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Of which I cannot wait for Cyan Ling Qi to go kick some barbarian ass along with her small band of troops. Even better if Su Ling and the Ma Sisters join in.

Also speaking of marriage to major clans, now that you're mentioning all these factors, I'm seeing more than just a possibility now for one of the Xuan to go pine for Ling Qi. Even in Indigo though, don't think it's gonna be one of the main clan (aka not Xuan Shi). Probably gonna be one of the cousins and branch members, or one of the vassal clans (the former is a bigger possibility). The bigger question though is whether Ling Qi is getting married off to someone or the husband is marrying to Ling Qi. As much as I like the Xuan, I prefer the latter.
 
Last edited:
EternalObserver said:
Also speaking of marriage to major clans, now that you're mentioning all these factors, I'm seeing more than just a possibility now for one of the Xuan to go pine for Ling Qi. Even in Indigo though, don't think it's gonna be one of the main clan (aka not Xuan Shi). Probably gonna be one of the cousins and branch members, or one of the vassal clans (the former is a bigger possibility). The bigger question though is whether Ling Qi is getting married off to someone or the husband is marrying to Ling Qi. As much as I like the Xuan, I prefer the latter.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So long as our position with Cai Renxiang remains similar we are unlikely to be married off to any one, it would make ensuring our loyalty and covergent interest difficult.
It would be much easier to create a mutually beneficial and enriching dynamic if we were creating our own house, if practical Renxiang should have one of her nobles marry us to tie us further into the fold.

Though of course it will all depend on the situation at the time, and Ling Qi's personal preferences as well.
 
Last edited:
qwolfs said:
Renxiang should have one of her nobles marry us to tie us further into the fold.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

A couple of the Weilu Traditionalist Count families are appealing, but I still think we can land Xuan Ship if we do well.

He's far out of our league on paper, but they need an alliance with the Cai because of the lumber supply and the nascent Bai-Cai alliances' port and unless he can get Renxiang or !VeryMuchNotRyuko we're the best option to secure that.*

While the Shi-Meizhen pairing fell through because both Clan's wanted the issue for themselves, the Cai-Bai alliance is a new development that changes the whole arithmetic, possibly enough for Ling Xuan Shi to be a thing.

*Assuming that Cai Daughter 3.0 is 15 more years away, and that Renxiang can do well enough to remain heir.
 
Willing to invest Xuan Shi up to Rank 3 or 4, but in terms of marriage, nah, don't think it's happening. If we're hooking up with a Xuan, at most it would be a branch member, and this is, to me, still wishful thinking.
 
I'm a bit worried about Renxiang though. It sounds like she might be getting overworked here.

Actually, overall I feel that we need to do more Renxiang stuff. She's kinda been fading into the background here again, with us not really doing a serious Renxiang arc yet.

Remember that this year is our big chance to frienderise her without Gan getting in the way! We need to friend the hell out of her!

Also her mental health is kinda important to us. We should probably make sure we keep levelling social, and maybe politics as well so we can be more helpful to her and perhaps take some of her load off?

Next month might be a good month to focus on Cai stuff? Especially given as we'll have the Xiao Feng and Gan subplots coming up.
 
Erebeal said:
I'm a bit worried about Renxiang though. It sounds like she might be getting overworked here.

Actually, overall I feel that we need to do more Renxiang stuff. She's kinda been fading into the background here again, with us not really doing a serious Renxiang arc yet.

Remember that this year is our big chance to frienderise her without Gan getting in the way! We need to friend the hell out of her!

Also her mental health is kinda important to us. We should probably make sure we keep levelling social, and maybe politics as well so we can be more helpful to her and perhaps take some of her load off?

Next month might be a good month to focus on Cai stuff? Especially given as we'll have the Xiao Feng and Gan subplots coming up.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I have the perfect argument to convince her to spend time with us.

Just tell her we're going to slot HDW. All of sudden a connection with us increases our utility as vassals.

I'm pretty sure "Maximize Asset Utility" is written into the core of Renxiang's psyche.

Edit: Joking and my desire to slot HDW aside, I'm pretty sure the CRX SL is gated behind doing things she's directed us to do.

IIRC:
-Making Noble contacts, namely Xuan Shi
-Becoming a better Diplomat
-Keeping up on our Rank/Cultivation
 
Last edited:
Varder said:
So long as we finally pick the Xuan social link, I'm fine with CRX.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah, as much as I want to take the CRX SL+, I'll be voting for Xuan over anything other than the Meizhen/Xiulan SL5's, but I don't really expect to see those for a while.

Still, I think waiting on the "Legends of the Hidden Temple Turtle" dungeon dive for HDW and CDE to be online was the right call.
 
I want Mother's Social link. I really want to spend time with mom and Biyu. And just think, it will increase it to 4 which means she'll be included in our domain!
 
OneArmedYeti said:
Edit: Joking and my desire to slot HDW aside, I'm pretty sure the CRX SL is gated behind doing things she's directed us to do.

IIRC:
-Making Noble contacts, namely Xuan Shi
-Becoming a better Diplomat
-Keeping up on our Rank/Cultivation
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Varder said:
So long as we finally pick the Xuan social link, I'm fine with CRX.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

OneArmedYeti said:
Yeah, as much as I want to take the CRX SL+, I'll be voting for Xuan over anything other than the Meizhen/Xiulan SL5's, but I don't really expect to see those for a while.

Still, I think waiting on the "Legends of the Hidden Temple Turtle" dungeon dive for HDW and CDE to be online was the right call.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Thor's Twin said:
I want Mother's Social link. I really want to spend time with mom and Biyu. And just think, it will increase it to 4 which means she'll be included in our domain!
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

This is what I feared was gonna happen next month with the SL's as well as this upcoming turn's. Next turn is gonna be such a clusterfuck. Damn that sad Zeqing moment!!! Now I don't know where to place Xuan Shi (and the Mom option, which is probably one of the upcoming ones)
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top