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

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Ryumancer said:
Oh dear. I feel as though this was a mistake, even if it wasn't intended to be one by yrsillar. It's a promise we cannot keep. High realms still have a lifespan, and if LQ ever ascends it might make this promise impossible to keep. 'Always' is a very, very long time.
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What you are quoting is a reaction to Snowblossom not liking the facetime shrine, isn't it? I interpret that as a promise for LQ to always do her dealings in-person.
 
This was a great first contact with Snowblossom as a Goddess.
I love how her curiosity is portrayed as both beneficial and potentially dangerous. Of course an icy lake would have a strong Want aspect!

We got the guaranteed cultivation mat plus 2 more, one of them as a crit! I'm eager to see what shape they take.
The quality fish and the health blessings were also splendidly converted into the narrative, though they aren't finished yet.

We still have the Fishery Specialization from the Boats Project and of course building the Shrine Project.
Those two sound like the natural projects to undertake next month.

Btw, now that we have finished Meditations, will we be getting the Insight options for Melodies of the Spirit Seeker?
We did plan to finish the art while communing with Snowblossom.
 
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yrsillar said:
She shuddered and tasted copper, forcing the great majority of it out of her head, leaving only the phantom impression that the variety to be found under Snowblossom's waters would soon explode. She had been right; the bounty of fish had been the thing the lake had offered first; it was what she… Wanted. Snowblossom was happy for its first gift to be desired further.
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Snowblossom is total fish geek confirmed.
 
yrsillar said:
yes you promised you or someone who could would speak to her directly once a year
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The stop motion show of Ling Qi's growth is gonna look really weird to Snowblossom. A half dozen blinks and this little fish starts looking like a peer pond. Another few score, and she's bigger. Weird! Exciting!

Jiven said:
I like her.

Reminds me, where is she in cultivation level ?
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Cyan/4th realm, though I suspect she'll creep up to Indigo as a result of her ties to the growing community of Shenglu worshipping her. And the connection to Zhengui, as he grows big enough to prop her up metaphysically.

I wouldn't expect it before 2-3 centuries, unless something odd happens.
 
yrsillar said:
"First and most greatly, we beg the blessing of Qi, to water the guardians of this place, to grow their strength, to ensure that no strife comes upon the shores of Shenglu. For these we offer our own in return, on three festival nights shall the chosen go out upon your waters and offer the the fruit of their experience, the sharing of memory and triumph and a return of a tithe

Qi grew and multiplied in cultivation, though it would take careful management, it would be possible to ensure that the offering, more complex than her spoken words implies, rippling and buzzing through the waters with values and amounts promised. The rites and proto-cultivation art exercises through which qi would be expelled and returned ritualistically.
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The Cultivation boost is nice.

yrsillar said:
"Second we ask to set in contract the bounty of your waters, teeming with wealth of scale and bone and flesh, of the great schools which flock freely under your waters, we ask bounties fit for all who will ply these waters, from mortal shallows to immortal deeps. For this we will give our prayers upon each casting of net or line or spear, and twice monthly offerings upon our altar of incenses."
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This was really effective and I'm guessing it's because of the rolls but narratively due to Snowblossom wanting the to share the bounty.

yrsillar said:
"And last we would beg for only this. The healthiest and cleanest waters, building upon the blessings you have wrought in the veins of fire with the Prince of High Garden. For sturdy bodies and spirits, to endure the cold. For this and the rest, the prince offers his roots, to drink the waters and draw your powers together. And we our art, our vision, our hope for the future, and temperate stewardship of your shores."
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The health boost is nice to have.

yrsillar said:
Blooming delight, the impression of a network of roots, spreading all across the land, a whole forest that was not one, but many in communion. This was the keystone. To make a spirit into a settlement place god was not simple. Because to make it so, the god could not be distant and unknowable, to make it so, a spirit had to be bound, not by contract or qi binding, but by the same bond which held any member of a community together.

It required that she bring a spirit to care for their flickering sparks. It was the work of mortal generations, if not immortal ones. But it was a task she would happily take up. Because while Imperial rituals were neater and less maintenance intensive and that could be fine for distant hostile spirits… when it came to your neighbor… that should not be what was important.
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You gotta do right by your neighbor if you want them to be your neighbor.

yrsillar said:
Community IV->V

Each bond brings with it new ones, branching, and branching again. Love is obligation, the desire to see another prosper. Through these countless small loves, Community blooms and evolves.
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This is a really fitting time and place for the Community Concept to get a boost.

yrsillar said:
It made it so much harder. But there were many hard things which were worth doing. And many easy things that men claimed were hard. She refused that path, The path of Still Waters and the All consuming Crucible alike. Kinship was not only blood. Community was not tradition alone. It was a continuous act, choices and motion from many minds, in harmony and not, pushing forward something greater than any one person.
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I think it's a good thing to deny both the Still Waters and All Consuming Crucible since they have a lot of flaws that LQ can't accept.

yrsillar said:
Yes Yes. New. Interesting, little figures, so far, so small, so distorted. I can touch, I can feel, will you lift your veils?"

She could feel her companions' tension rise.

"One day, Lady Snowblossom, but they are very small. It is better if only you and I speak directly now. Through the stone you may adjust your voice, to not deafen fragile ears."

As if mere deafness was the worst that she could do without meaning too.
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She's a little to strong to talk to normal cultivators let alone normal people .

yrsillar said:
"We give our thanks to Lady Snowblossom, goddess of Shenglu-by-the-lakeside. Giver of plenty and health. O Sparkling waters of cold beauty," they echoed her as she spoke. "Our offerings given, the contract set, our agreement made. Under light of the Moon, by the honor of the Celestial Court, let none shatter this covenant."

Let none shatter this covenant. Water and earth intertwine. Heat and cold intertwine. As Hearth and Firmament intertwine, since beginning of all days. Welcome little ones.

Ling Qi rose, and offered her hands up to the vast eyes looking down upon them, and accepted the invisible pressure of much larger, colder hands pressing down on hers, her qi and the lakes mingled, a faint puff of crimson clouded the glassy hands, and a rush of ice spiked in her own veins.

Her first true contract was complete.
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Well done LQ, that's an impressive first contract.

yrsillar said:
AN: Mechanical benefits and finding out what your rolls got you coming in the next update.
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Looking forward to seeing those numbers.

BeepSmile said:
Ah, now this is the spirit-speaker stuff I'm here for.
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Peak spirit speaker stuff just happened.

yrsillar said:
yes you promised you or someone who could would speak to her directly once a year
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But it doesn't have to be LQ.
 
You know, I think this scene does a lot to illustrate the damage Ogodei did, and why areas of the South are still recovering centuries later.

Imagine Snowblossom, but all those ties of those of the shore were snapped, the people fled or dead, her promised rituals neglected, and her waters dyed with the blood of those whose health and happiness she was promised.

You get an unhappy environmental spirit, and that can manifest in pretty dangerous qays. Crazy killer fish, watery hands slipping from the surface to pull wanderers under, or even the valley getting filled with a yearning cold strong enough to kill anyone under the 3rd realm.

Even if a lot of the south isn't as bad off as it could be because it was colonized under the Xi and more Imperial than Weilu methods, meaning more detached spirits on average, there's still a LOT of land. All with their own unique histories, conditions, and broken contracts. And valuable resources, either natural that attracted settlement in the first place, or developed over generations by the families who lived there.

I guess what I'm saying is we should, over the long term, abuse the scarcity of spirit seekers to try nabbing defunct baronies, etc. for ourselves and our underlings. We're doing everyone a favor, if you think about it. Meng Diu why are you looking at us like tha-
 
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Feels like the breadth of experiences Ling Qi has would be impressive by the standards of a ducal heir, much less a newly minted baron. I don't think Sun Liling or Bai Meizhen are doing anything as crazy as us so consistently.

Ryumancer said:
Oh dear. I feel as though this was a mistake, even if it wasn't intended to be one by yrsillar. It's a promise we cannot keep. High realms still have a lifespan, and if LQ ever ascends it might make this promise impossible to keep. 'Always' is a very, very long time.
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Snowblossom will probably gain some understanding of human nuance as she grows into her new role that will change her in a way that makes this not a problem.
 
CommunismWillWin said:
Feels like the breadth of experiences Ling Qi has would be impressive by the standards of a ducal heir, much less a newly minted baron. I don't think Sun Liling or Bai Meizhen are doing anything as crazy as us so consistently.


Snowblossom will probably gain some understanding of human nuance as she grows into her new role that will change her in a way that makes this not a problem.
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Of course, they're also very powerful. Bai Meizhen will probably almost always be better than LQ in a fight unless she stops growing/etc.

But it is true that, "Priest/Spiritualist, Thief, Spymistress and Diplomat" isn't a very narrow skillset... and indeed, one could even point out that similarly she has a very strong Conceptual Foundation.
 
AbeoLogos said:
You know, I think this scene does a lot to illustrate the damage Ogodei did, and why areas of the South are still recovering centuries later.
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Not just Ogodei, this is just What Happens when everyone who isn't a nomadic herder gets brutally murdered for defiling the sacred earth by nomadic herders. We're well past traditional Emerald Seas borders at this point and well into what amounts to being Primeval Wilderness because the Cloud Tribes consider it a point of faith that they don't spend any more time on the ground than they absolutely are required to, and even then they try to stay as high altitude as they can.

This is a valley and canyon region. It's quite possible that we're some of the first humans who've spent any significant amount of time in the area since Prehistory that weren't just passing through or in such small numbers as to be irrelevant.

EDIT: Point still stands, even if that wasn't the point you were making. I should sleep, my eyes are skipping paragraphs.
 
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First off, bless all the omake donors for saving my roll lol.

Second, it's cool to see Ling Qi's Communication/diplomacy path continue to grow. Wrangling all the different Count clans and scions, discovering and forging ties with a previously unknown polity, and weaving together Spirit contracts like they're nothing (Chestnut Spirit, Snowblossom).

I recall that the Sect had a group in charge of managing the different Spirits on their lands, which would likely look like this. I wonder if Ling Qi would have ended up there had she stayed? Or would her separation from CRX have led her down a different path?
 
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