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

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Hmm. It seem we will be hearing of the way their master was killed and they got trapped anyway.
 
yrsillar said:
"Ships. Lost. Land Men grew bored. Green Hell. Not what they sought. Called back, Horizon Blade. Horizon Blade said, taking Master. Master went themself, Atamai went, I would not stay behind. Went away to strange white sand. Tricks… thing's I do not understand. A guise was made. Went to this land, land of twisted dreams, where all eyes fogged. To be forgotten."
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So something happened in the Alabaster Sands? It kinda sounds like they were deniable assets who messed up so the Argent Sect had to burn them.
 
So they were born in seafolk adjacent lands next to the maelstrom. Their master seemed to be one of the few seafolk who were born without enough fish blood to survive underwater and was therefore exiled to the islands, and they seemed to have met and befriended that argent sword saint who was in the Jin treasure fleets, and eventually followed him back to the empire where they were betrayed in some way by the Jin.

I wonder if we can take custody of Zhengui's father from the sect eventually once we and Zhengui are strong enough...

yrsillar said:
"Green is rIch, grEEn is hungry, bUT ash, Atamai's fire, destroys with destruction. Watch. Watch the earth, it shoots, it sprouts, life ever blooming, your fires cannot make the earth cHoking dust, watch, spread, burn and grow, if you are in bAlance with yourself, as he and I were in balance, you will not blight any earth.
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So it looks like we have our answer of why Zhengui became a Xuan Wu too, they reached balance and harmony together with their aspects in life, and that lead to Zhengui becoming a symbol of the balance they found. Their dual harmonious nature needing to manifest as a Xuan Wu with the same dual nature.
 
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Ok, something is clearly screwy here.
We have someone who clearly was dead already being active and luring? Kohatu's master into a trap.

Now, we know that Hui had a lot of people able to do such things, but this is a while after their defeat.
This said, there were a lot of them around for a long time afterwards and they would want chaos to reign.
Someone like the Duchess spymaster could do it as well, although I do not see any motives, and he would have been long way away from home.

While originally I didn't want to get involved at all, now I think that we might have discovered an intrigue against the argent sect, one that might be relevant still. We might want to try and get more information now.
 
tenchifew said:
While originally I didn't want to get involved at all, now I think that we might have discovered an intrigue against the argent sect, one that might be relevant still. We might want to try and get more information now.
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i think whatever happened, the Argent Sect did something fucked up. Elder Ying mentioned something about them last she and Ling Qi talked:

Elder Ying said:
."Old sins. You aren't the first to make friends with foreigners, disciple, even though you might be the first to try to make it more. You know a certain elder of the old Argent Peak Sect was a traveler of the world."

That would be Elder Lang Keung, the sword saint and Xuan Shi's favorite author. He had died in Ogodei's invasion, holding back the invaders so that the disciples of the sect could evacuate. Even now, his grave on the sect grounds was guarded by the now-broken and bitter sword that he had wielded in his life.

"Then why…?"

"Wars are ugly. We make sacrifices and debase ourselves to win them. In the tales, the hero's virtue wins, but it is never so clean." Elder Ying gazed up at the sky. "Well, I have my oaths. You'll learn something of our sacrifices, running about in the liminal with your spirit beast."
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Sounds like the argent sect did something to Kohatu's master

the real questions why? if we take Atamai's comment about being locked in there for a century as accurate, there doesnt seem to be a reason for the supposed betrayal. There was no war going on then, a century ago would be well after the last Cloud Tribe invasion.
 
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We learned a lot of what matters how their Wood works, the Fire's role, how Balance is core to their thriving despite being in none of their individual natures. How they survive in the shadow of apocalypse.
 
SassyAsses said:
the real questions why? if we take Atamai's comment about being locked in there for a century as accurate, there doesnt seem to be a reason for the supposed betrayal. There was no war going on then, a century ago would be well after the last Cloud Tribe invasion.
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Whatever they did could have just been preparations for when the next bout of fighting broke out. Or there could have been some (possibly internal) war that was censored or something.
 
The driven to temporary madness or property damage by grief and then locked someplace to cool down then forgotten or intentionally neglected seems like an option. Instead of a massive grieving uncontrollable pair of creatures traveling through the empire someone might have attempted to restrain one or both and then one of the creatures died in the struggle. If nobody who was close to their master was around or nobody knew how to effectively communicate something like that could make sense. It'd be like a guy with a pet tiger.
 
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But… Horizon Blade? That could only be the Elder of the old Argent Sect, whose blade hse had spoken to at its grave. And he had died to Ogodei far more than a hundred years ago. Was the tortoise, Atamai's sense of time just twisted by endless solitude and confinement
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This is what worries me… if I'm unserstanding this correctly, they've let Atamai think his century in the sect isn't over, when I'm fact it has been far more than a hundred years???? If so, well have the RESPONSABILITY to free Zhengui's parent.
 
Vhalin said:
This is what worries me… if I'm unserstanding this correctly, they've let Atamai think his century in the sect isn't over, when I'm fact it has been far more than a hundred years???? If so, well have the RESPONSABILITY to free Zhengui's parent.
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Atamai will likely never be free again. There isn't a time limit on his imprisonment, he just stated he had been imprisoned for 100 years.
 
I wonder if Atamai is sealed in a time distortion?
Maybe it's been 100 years for them, but for the outside world, it's been longer?
 
I think the most important takeaway from this update is that Atamai was living the tomboy gf dream.

By all the spirits, from such heights he was torn....

No wonder the sect is so secretive, if their sin -their shame- be so great as this.
 
tenchifew said:
Ok, something is clearly screwy here.
We have someone who clearly was dead already being active and luring? Kohatu's master into a trap.
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The trick, I think, is that Kohatu arrived in the Empire while Horizon Blade was still alive (multiple centuries ago, before Ogodei), but the betrayal is what happened 100 years ago.

If so, it would paint the following picture: Horizon Blade brought Kohatu's master to the empire in good faith, and helped craft a disguise for them so that they could live peacefully in the empire despite being foreigners. And this arrangement worked for centuries, lasting long past Horizon Blade's death... until one day it didn't. Eventually things fell apart, the Sect and Kohatu's master fought, and when the dust settled the two were imprisoned and their master was dead.

The particulars of that tragedy, that mistake, are likely coming up next. Did the Empire discover the truth and choose violence? Did Kohatu's master turn against the Argent Sect for some reason? Was it just a tragic misunderstanding? We know who fought and we know who won, but we don't know why they fought or who among the conflict could be considered just, if anyone. Personally, my money's on "Kohatu's master is good, Argent Sect is complicated but not wholly good" or thereabouts.
 
Ok, theory- The Hui are behind this as usual. Betrayal is their bread and butter. They saw the massive power block that is the Sect, their only semi-sanctioned actions against the Cloud Nomads, the potential for Yuan He to reach the White realm, and decided to hit Yuan He in the place he and his way were most vulnerable- his companions and his relationship with them.

They had the perfect means to do so, a foreigner Sovereign unsanctioned with Imperial territory. Something even Emperor An would have to severely punish the Sect for. So, they delivered an ultimatum- "Betray and remove this clear violation of imperial law, erase him from the record, and you escape sanction. We give you the opportunity to correct your mistake, truly our generosity is unparalleled."

The death of a companion would not have effected Yuan He so deeply, but having to turn on them? Conceptual poison for his Way. The Hui get everything they wanted; a potential Sovereign threat removed (along with two 5th realm spirits) and Yuan He's Way damaged.
 
Inferno Vulpix said:
The trick, I think, is that Kohatu arrived in the Empire while Horizon Blade was still alive (multiple centuries ago, before Ogodei), but the betrayal is what happened 100 years ago.

If so, it would paint the following picture: Horizon Blade brought Kohatu's master to the empire in good faith, and helped craft a disguise for them so that they could live peacefully in the empire despite being foreigners. And this arrangement worked for centuries, lasting long past Horizon Blade's death... until one day it didn't. Eventually things fell apart, the Sect and Kohatu's master fought, and when the dust settled the two were imprisoned and their master was dead.

The particulars of that tragedy, that mistake, are likely coming up next. Did the Empire discover the truth and choose violence? Did Kohatu's master turn against the Argent Sect for some reason? Was it just a tragic misunderstanding? We know who fought and we know who won, but we don't know why they fought or who among the conflict could be considered just, if anyone. Personally, my money's on "Kohatu's master is good, Argent Sect is complicated but not wholly good" or thereabouts.
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... The timing might correspond with Jiao's arrival at the Sect, and he would see past a disguise.
 
Vikram said:
Ok, theory- The Hui are behind this as usual. Betrayal is their bread and butter. They saw the massive power block that is the Sect, their only semi-sanctioned actions against the Cloud Nomads, the potential for Yuan He to reach the White realm, and decided to hit Yuan He in the place he and his way were most vulnerable- his companions and his relationship with them.
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The Hui were already gone for around 100 years before the spirits even got imprisoned.

Vikram said:
They had the perfect means to do so, a foreigner Sovereign unsanctioned with Imperial territory. Something even Emperor An would have to severely punish the Sect for. So, they delivered an ultimatum- "Betray and remove this clear violation of imperial law, erase him from the record, and you escape sanction. We give you the opportunity to correct your mistake, truly our generosity is unparalleled."
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This part seems more likely; the sect helped a high realm outsider to "infiltrate" the empire. The moment this came out, the emperor would be forced to take action.
I mean, a project he founded (it was him that made the great sect, right?) helped a high realm outsider into the empire under a disguise.
That would just be the type of fuel needed for the factions that don't like the great sects to make a move "Look, the great sect helps our enemies and lets them see our secrets" or something along those lines

There is no need for some grant schemes when simple things work just fine. The sect has gone against the law, and now the law was enforced.
From the side of the spirit and maybe even their master, it would look like betrayal, and from the side of the sect, the sin was to do this behind a disguise and not try the "correct way".
 
Maybe Swordsong just randomly died, whether Old Age or random violence, but the Sect couldn't follow his will of allowing his companion beasts to return home for whatever reason and was forced to capture them?
 
Taking a step back from the sins of the sect, I'm more interested in this part.

yrsillar said:
The Horizon Blade met my Master. Their. Weapons SanG. Found HarmonY. Sword Song bent, the Horizon Blade chipped. Became. Man."
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If I'm reading correctly, then from this fight 'Horizon Blade' stopped being a sword saint (weapon, tool) and actually became a person again.
I'm also guessing this gave some human like emotion to the actual weapon Horizon Blade wielded, the grumpy sad broken sword we saw at his grave. I doubt a weapon would be able to feel regret otherwise.

yrsillar said:
"It is that. A great wound. But few things are one thing alone. Atamai and our master, they would meditate on this."
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yrsillar said:
Watch the earth, it shoots, it sprouts, life ever blooming, your fires cannot make the earth cHoking dust, watch, spread, burn and grow, if you are in bAlance with yourself, as he and I were in balance, you will not blight any earth.
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We know her Master meditated on ruin by observing the storm. I wonder if they also meditated on growth/renewal in order to find balance like Atamai and Kohatu have.
At least, I'm guessing Master way wasn't purely on destruction since they were able to turn Horizon Blade from a weapon into a person.

If I remember correctly, the number of Sword Saints in the empire has been decreasing over the centuries. Maybe the way of seeking balance became more widespread among weapon cultivators (or maybe it was just the term Sword Saint that's no longer popular but people still have walk the same Way)
 
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yrsillar said:
"Yes. Far fAr from here we were born. North. North. North. Beyond the girdling cuRrent, in the shadow of the Everstorm," Kohatu began, sounding almost entranced, digging down and down into half remembered things. "Where mountains belch fire, and ravenous green sweeps out in fires wake, new shoots growing up before ash has even cooled."

"Warm. WaRm. Bright Sun. Black Sand. Where men are few and tread most beneath the waves off of shore."

As Ling Qi had suspected, when first taking care of Zhengui's egg, she had looked into bestiaries and found some mention of the Volcanic Tyrant Tortoise, inhabitant of islands far out in the northern sea. But she remained silent, not wishing to interrupt. The Shade, she could see was drawing… stability from her recall, and she did not want disrupt that.
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Good to know the details about where it comes from.

yrsillar said:
"The wound in the world, the fallen piLLar," Kohatu said. "Raining, ever raining, cracking the firmament to release the blood that makes our isles of fire and green. Child you should see it, O ruin in purest form. But such is the world that even it blooms new life," Kohatu said reverently.

Ling Qi was slightly aware from her reading and conversations with Xuan Shi, of the permanent storm which churned the oceans north of the boiling seas which had been created by the death of the Sun. But only as a passing detail of geography, and a note that voyages to east of the empire were functionally impossible.
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It would be really hard to go there but is a possible thing to consider in latter years.

yrsillar said:
"Yes," Kohatu replied, her scales shook and dust sloughed off… but something dark crackled and popped like rotting static through fields of verdant green. "He was. Master was… He was of the sea, but preferred the shore. Outcast of shoal, not hated but unwanted. I do not understand the ways of humans. Above or below wave. But Master was good. Devotee of Storm and surf, blade of waters…."

Her claws dug into the packed and fossilized ruin.

"Ships came then, the great mistake…"

"No. nO, no. Was nOt mistake, not YEt later. Years and years under bright sun and verdant leaf remEmBer reMemEr, emptiness cannot HaVe IT!"

The last word was a bellow that left Ling Qi clinging to Zhengui's shell and him bobbing downward under the force of the wind.
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She's trying to hold on to her motives and not regret her choice to follow her master/

yrsillar said:
"Persist. Yes , pErsist. This is, the essence of. Green. My essence. Your half essence. Not invulnerable, not immortal, enduring invincible, but ever, ever growing. Grow when you live, grow when you are dead. NeVer stop. The. Isles live in the shadow of catastrophe. Great. Greatest Catastrophe, heaven falls sky falls, goDs War, but LiFe persists. Seeds torn away from the One Land, to float for eon on ocean wave, sleeping, not dead. Eking life from razor sand and boiling rOck. Roots stretching stretching under ashen earth, safe and ready to grow, stems burning black, but with cORe of blazing GReen." Kohatu rambled on, eyes on something distant, but every few words, twitching, turning back to focus on them, on Zhengui.

"My roots so farrrrR so faaarrrrr, cannot live, but cannot die. Should. Not. Shouldnot have come. But could not stay behind," the lizard rumbled and rambled. "Child, not born from the roots but His hope, Atamai, my Atamai. Grow your roots deep, deepdeep, and StaY and you will never die, never bReaK like I. If your GreEn persists."
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Her trying to give Zhengui heartfelt advice is really sweet and tragic in a way.

yrsillar said:
"...Ah." Zhen stilled, his eyes distant, as if seeming to realize something. "I, Zhen, understand… I could not grow before, because there was no room, not just…"

"Because the land was not mine. Because Gui was not the Garden King, but… because there was no room for roots, the Sect trees did not want me, Sisters sibling disciples did not grow things, or… when they did they were not in the land…Gui knew this but…"

"Seed of Green, like first seeds lOng ago, must be your oWn burning. Lonely, but…"

"Gui has never been lonely."

"I, Zhen have never been lonely."

Kohatu paused and focused, looking at them hard. And it was them, not just Zhengui this time.

"He is not alone, no, and never has been. That much at least, I have been able to accomplish," Ling Qi said evenly, tilting her chin up to meet the massive beasts gaze.

Not. Lonely." Kohatu's voice rumbled like the falling of a great tree. "...Not. Lie. I see. You are whole."
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Zhengui is happy with where is is and how he got there and Kohatu is thankful for LQ's part of that.

yrsillar said:
"Men. Land men, not blood of sea. Hunting. Playing in waves. Killing. Being Killed, joining the Green. The Horizon Blade met my Master. Their. Weapons SanG. Found HarmonY. Sword Song bent, the Horizon Blade chipped. Became. Man."

Ling Qi frowned to herself. The chained tortoise had said…. They were betrayed a hundred years ago. But… Horizon Blade? That could only be the Elder of the old Argent Sect, whose blade hse had spoken to at its grave. And he had died to Ogodei far more than a hundred years ago. Was the tortoise, Atamai's sense of time just twisted by endless solitude and confinement?

"Ships. Lost. Land Men grew bored. Green Hell. Not what they sought. Called back, Horizon Blade. Horizon Blade said, taking Master. Master went themself, Atamai went, I would not stay behind. Went away to strange white sand. Tricks… thing's I do not understand. A guise was made. Went to this land, land of twisted dreams, where all eyes fogged. To be forgotten."

"Not. Not. NoooOT Mistake. NoOt Yet.

"Mistake. Later."
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Okay that's really interesting didn't expect to get that much information from choosing the where did you come from choice.
 
ArcanaVitae said:
Okay that's really interesting didn't expect to get that much information from choosing the where did you come from choice.
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I suspect if we'd tried to ask her the other question we wouldn't have gotten nearly as much... Speaking of her origins first really stabilized her. Might have been one of those choices where there's a much better outcome right away of we ask the correct question.
 
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