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

[promethus]

so contrasting with the existing insight "As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus is born suffering. But, one has only two hands with which to reach out. Yet, others have two hands as well. The cold, sad street cannot be unmade by the efforts of one." 1 feels like LQ defining the terms a bit more and leveling it up.

[] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. From lack and loss is born suffering, in many forms. One soul has but two hands, yet in multitude the chain is unending. The blade Isolation cannot be dulled by one heart alone.

the origin of the birth of suffering is more well-defined. and the wording for reaching out to be more confident in community and multitude but there isn't a huge change in the core of the concept
[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.
this on the other hand feels like an evolution or the next step on the journey. instead of just saying we cannot defeat isolation alone or that multitude is the answer to isolation's cold and so we need to reach out, we identify the root cause of why beings do not reach out .

 

[yrsillar]

Ah and due to some family arrangements tomorrow there will be no Monday update, though I do still intend to release a commission.

 

[Nemonowan]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[weeblypanda]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[Anderein]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[CornyBones]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[Oliver_Twister]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

The arguments convinced me. Let's explore another side of Isolation! Also, I'm hoping this means we can play more with Xuan Shi's take on Isolation, and hopefuly discuss it with him too. Option 2 has major "Isolation Within Community" vibes

 

[Foursteps]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[BlanketsDorrito]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[Vanguard_D]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[ActionKermit]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[Trilobite]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[AbeoLogos]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

I wonder how common weaponizing their trauma is for imperial cultivators?

Click to shrink...

I forget her name, but one of the Argent Sect elders very much did this. The music elder who oversaw our music duel with (then) Yu Nuan. When the elder isn't all wrapped up in silks and a mask, she's some kind of vengeful demon-summoning burnt fire queen. Her backstory is she was rescued from a raided village, where she'd been trapped under burning debris. She's been heavily scarred by flame her entire cultivation career, and she turned it into her Truth.

 

[Mr.Error]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

Is it just me, or does this insight feel like an intersection between the Communication side and the Winter/Endings side of our cultivation? I mean like, Reach out, Communicate, huddle together, and keep warm, because Winter is coming, and if you're Alone when it does, well.... your bones will make a good fertilizer, come spring.

 

[memoryofglory]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[wabbitking]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[PowerLeca]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[Zithinoth]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[Lena27]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. From lack and loss is born suffering, in many forms. One soul has but two hands, yet in multitude the chain is unending. The blade Isolation cannot be dulled by one heart alone.

 

[ArcanaVitae]

"...I'd think so. That would probably be over the line of politeness," Ling Qi said, peering thoughtfully into the inky, impenetrable darkness. It wasn't just a lack of light down there. She could hear something like a whisper, or… no. It sounds like a woman, softly weeping. An awful, melancholy grief, that left her vision going grey. Distance yawning, all she loved was….

Click to shrink...

This is going to be trying isn't it.

[ABANDONMENT]

Ling Qi reeled backward, it felt as if the very walls were rushing away from, all but fleeing her repulsive sickening presence. She who never rested, she who could never be content, her expectations would flog them all, kin and friend and acquaintance. She would be alone. Alone alone. Alone. Alone. AlonealonealonealonealonealonealonealoneALoNEaLONeALOnE.

Click to shrink...

Abandonment is a pretty dark concept and is heavily tied to Isolation.

The spirit's avatar rose from the poolside, limbs unfolding like that of a human spider, too long, too gaunt. Like a pale reflection of Shu Yue. And yet the spirit's shoulders shook still with wracking sobs, and the tears poured into the pool of bubbling black waters.

Weeping Mother of Lonesome Streams

All children leave home. The ice recedes, she is abandoned. The waters flow away, she is abandoned. The winds take her children, you take her children. She is forgotten. Mother is always forgotten. They flee. They flee. They flee. Ever eager to leave her. Ever eager to leave you. From you too they will flee, flee, flee. Little winter, little cold. Neither will your hands hold anything. Motherhood is loss.

Abandoned. Empty. Alone.

Click to shrink...

Little ice, little ice, twinkling bright, 'neath distant stars and over far off vales. Excuse, excuse, the hearth is cold. The shutters dark. In depths of black a heart dies, no wrong, no wrong. Daughters far daughters free, scattered scattered, yet a Mother's heart doth weep. All things go, all winters end, flow, flow little tears, little springs, far away and gone.

And still we weep. And still we weep. And still you weep.

You weep. You weep. It all disappears. sister, mother, husband, brother, father, friend, comrade, child. Winter takes it takes it takes it all one by one plucked from eaves and beds and arms, who dares bar the toll, dares whisper price else but what is taken.

Click to shrink...

That is an extremely sad spirit.

And she met the spirits eye without flinching as Hanyi shook beside her. "I am a singer of snows, and a guardian of my kin and the people of Snowblossom alike. I am Ling Qi, retainer to the Cai, who speaks for the Throne of Seasons, and I dare."

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Ling Qi saying who she is.

The world struggled to tear away from her, struggled to rip Hanyi out of her grasp, tear and bite and nip at her memories of warmth. Ling Qi let out a hissing breath. The formal rites were less familiar to her, but here and now, they had a power she could not refuse. "I invoke the Bountiful Earth, the Master of Turnings."

The wracking sob and wail made her ears bleed, wetness trickling down her neck. Even so she scented woodsmoke . She had not been wasting these past months. There was a reason she had come up here where the ice was at its coldest, most concentrated. It was only here, before the seasons authority that such words held meaning.

"I invoke Steel Words Binding, Magistrate of Heaven." Fresh ink, the whisper of a brush over a page. The Spirit's hair whipped about its head in fury.

"I invoke the Celestial Dragon, Spark of Civilization, the font of all authority," She felt sparks jump between her teeth and sting her tongue. "I say again. I am Ling Qi, Baroness of the Celestial Empire, and steward of Shenglu and the Snowblossom Vale."

Click to shrink...

Ling Qi throwing out the names of her bosses.

In the black depths of the cavern Ling Qi felt a true Law of Isolation press down on her, and her own understanding…

Isolation IV->V

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There's been a lot of growth from facing Laws.

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

Not going to lie the whole reason I'm choosing this is the The Greatest Foe is I line because it's a really cool line.

 

[ALostMortal]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[Astro Ambulance]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[fictionfan]

I wonder how common weaponizing their trauma is for imperial cultivators?

Click to shrink...

I would expect it to be just about universal. Or at least for all the Cultivators that are called talented. Waste not want not and all that. Trauma is just a shorter way to say tribulation. What did you think that the Bai children raising methods were just for fun or something?

 

[meow]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.

 

[ChronOblivion]

[X] As starvation is privation of the body, isolation is privation of the soul. Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn. The blade Isolation rends all warmth into cold.