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

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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[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.
 
[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 Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn.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 carves warmth into cold.
 
[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 Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn.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 carves warmth into cold.
 
[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 Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn.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.
 
[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.
 
Adhoc vote count started by EternalObserver on Mar 31, 2024 at 8:43 AM, finished with 149 posts and 84 votes.
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[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 Thus, the greatest foe is I. No hand may reach the one who has clenched and withdrawn.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.
 
Well, I had no real expectations about what we'd find at the bottom, but if I had, it wouldn't have been "empty nest syndrome incarnate". I'm also worried that Bao Qian is just... gone. It would suck if he stayed that way. Like, we come out of the cave, and Ling Qi wonders why there are three sets of footprints going in and only two going out...

As for my vote, I go with

[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.

It seems I'm pretty clearly outvoted on this one and I don't mind being on the losing side, but yeah, I feel uneasy with option 2. Also, option 1 seems a more organic way of saving Bao Qian, if he does need saving.
 
Someday Qi Ling is going to encounter the Ash Walkers and make them all die of loneliness exploiting the inherit weakness of turning everyone into themself. They are multitude, but only one.
 
TheCount said:
You know, i gotta wonder. how often it is that parents/families tailor the traumatizing of the kids to achieve desired development? and how often does it backfire?
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Well, it's implied the Bai do this and they've maintained power for a long ass time. They probably have the occasional hiccups but I guarantee they got it down to a science. They probably subscribe to the "Neglect for Success" Sigma Parent Grindset(TM).
 
[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.
 
TheCount said:
Probably a similar separator effect and single target attack as well. Against most cultivators, this would work wonderfully.
Against the Ith though? Nah. The cultivate by suffering. and they sacrifice themselves for the others. Not to mention their lifespan gets shorter the higher they are, iirc that talk when LQ went for a recon mission there.
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Actually we've used it against the ith before to great effect.
yrsillar said:
The Mist closed in around them both as the gardener rose, but there was no longer the light and sound of battle. There was only the Gardener, her phantoms and Ling Qi herself.
She regarded him steadily, as his shoulders stiffened in panic, she felt a genuine terror there. For a being like the Ith-ia, what did it feel like to be cut off from everything. Everything.
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The ith are very used to being in constant contact with one another in a sort of hive mind/ telepathic/empathic web. Managing to cut them off is absolutely terrifying to them.
 
[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.

More offense
 
[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.

Between the two I feel like this leans more into LQ being Cai's black left hand which is hilariously ironic as the Cai's preeminent diplomat at this point lmao.
 
Aurelian said:
I'm also worried that Bao Qian is just... gone. It would suck if he stayed that way. Like, we come out of the cave, and Ling Qi wonders why there are three sets of footprints going in and only two going out...
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Hanyi and LQ emerging from the cave afterward


It would most definitely suck. I want to see how he reacts to the real Ling Qi Experience.

Is he getting kicked into gear or is he getting Liang He'd?


 
GreenReveal said:
Between the two I feel like this leans more into LQ being Cai's black left hand which is hilariously ironic as the Cai's preeminent diplomat at this point lmao.
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She removes foes and culls dissent, only rarely by doing something so crass as murder. Much better to destroy the enmity and dissention rather than the enemy and the dissenter; removing the reason for the disagreement is a chance to better yourself, to grow. Killing anyone who opposes you leads to your society ossifying and needing to be broken before the inevitable new ideas can take hold.

I think combining those roles is very in line with her theming and philosophy.
 
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Diplomats and spies have a history of being one and the same for a good reason.
Ling Qi may be the diplomat, but she is also the sneaky spy, and, if absolutely necessary, the assassin.
But Renxiang being Renxiang, we arenot going to be resortin to murder unless abso fucking lutely necessary, because Renxiang is all about law and order (in actual "keep those in power answerable" sense, instead of the more usual "fuck the poors" usage seen in the real world), and just murdering opposition is neither.
 
I'm still not really keen on the "the enemy is I option".

I guess it's in line with the theme of the concept, but it still strikes me as too bleak.
The first option has a more hopeful outlook, continuing on the previous version's idea that the efforts of a single person, no matter how mighty, will always be limited. It highlights the importance of Community and Communication to combat Isolation.

And again, refusing to stretch out your hand to others is hardly the only, or even main, cause of isolation.
How many people are there, desperately reaching for others, just to be refused and ridiculed or scorned for the attempt?

I don't want LQ's to shrine the idea that Isolation always starts with oneself, as if overcoming it was just a matter of trying.
 
Doramas said:
I'm still not really keen on the "the enemy is I option".

I guess it's in line with the theme of the concept, but it still strikes me as too bleak.
The first option has a more hopeful outlook, continuing on the previous version's idea that the efforts of a single person, no matter how mighty, will always be limited. It highlights the importance of Community and Communication to combat Isolation.

And again, refusing to stretch out your hand to others is hardly the only, or even main, cause of isolation.
How many people are there, desperately reaching for others, just to be refused and ridiculed or scorned for the attempt?

I don't want LQ's to shrine the idea that Isolation always starts with oneself, as if overcoming it was just a matter of trying.
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I read it as being similar to the idea "you have to want to be helped/get better" in therapy. You might not be isolated because of a refusal to reach out, but if you are isolated that's the only way out.
 
Doramas said:
I'm still not really keen on the "the enemy is I option".

I guess it's in line with the theme of the concept, but it still strikes me as too bleak.
The first option has a more hopeful outlook, continuing on the previous version's idea that the efforts of a single person, no matter how mighty, will always be limited. It highlights the importance of Community and Communication to combat Isolation.

And again, refusing to stretch out your hand to others is hardly the only, or even main, cause of isolation.
How many people are there, desperately reaching for others, just to be refused and ridiculed or scorned for the attempt?

I don't want LQ's to shrine the idea that Isolation always starts with oneself, as if overcoming it was just a matter of trying.
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I am ok with the isolation concept being bleak. It's not meant to contain our whole worldview, the hope aspects come from our community concept. Isolation doesn't have to have the answer to itself in it, our community concept is that answer.
 
Doramas said:
I'm still not really keen on the "the enemy is I option".

I guess it's in line with the theme of the concept, but it still strikes me as too bleak.
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And here I'm thinking the opposite yet voting the same.

"The enemy is 'I'" is a great line for an Isolation concept, but it's very different from where we've taken Isolation so far and what most of our past experiences mean. The second option drops the "suffering" clause and almost entirely eliminates "hands". If we'd never come to the sect and ended up as the Wraith of Tonghou, that would be our Isolation, though that probably would include defense not just a blade.

Aside, the fact that our domain isn't protecting us from forgetting BQ is an indicator that this spirit is using Shen, thus Cyan.
 
Adhoc vote count started by barty on Mar 31, 2024 at 12:30 PM, finished with 158 posts and 87 votes.
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[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.

69th vote lol
 
[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.
 
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