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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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yrsillar said:
More than a third realm could possibly spend on cultivation without blowing their meridians out from all the elixirs and enhancers it could buy.
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A Challenge!

I'm unsure if we should see the need to invest in this personally. We don't have the budget CRX has, and frankly any short-term administration needs are already seen to by her and her work while long term we'll be inheriting the system she sets up at home. It's a good project, I'm just not sure it's one we should focus on ourselves.
 
Tylonius said:
A Challenge!

I'm unsure if we should see the need to invest in this personally. We don't have the budget CRX has, and frankly any short-term administration needs are already seen to by her and her work while long term we'll be inheriting the system she sets up at home. It's a good project, I'm just not sure it's one we should focus on ourselves.
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Monetarily sure. If Renxiang pitches in for it, then Ling Qi's contributions would probably be negligible, so there's no functional point to it in terms of adding personal funds. On the other hand, would the association of Ling Qi's name with promoting education have any meaningful symbolic/political meaning for her/the Ling clan?
 
As a reminder, this was the Ling finances during month 13 so beside the personal wealth they are the same now. (She spent some of the personal wealth on drugs.)
yrsillar said:
Personal Wealth 800 Green Stones

Monthly Income: 63 Green Stones

Gross Income: 115
Cai Stipend: 100 Green Stones
Zhengui Fertilizer: 10 Green Stones
Hanyi Revenue: 5 Green Stones

Monthly Upkeep: 52

Cultivation: (20 base-12Cultivation Art) 8
Zhengui: 30 Green Stones
Hanyi: 5 Green Stones
Qiyi: 2 Green Stones
Sixiang: 5 Green Stones
Household: 2 Green Stones
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So 100 GSS a year would be around 7.7 GSS a month and 50 around 3,8 GSS a month.
 
Wow, Ling Qi is so salty here.
So an option of whether or not we want to invest in them.....It could be worthwhile if it resulted in them eventually them in turn investing resources in our teeny tiny capital down the road....

But its also a different kind of gamble. Investing with no idea when or even if the results would bear fruit.
 
Making a donation isn't about funding the expansion of the bureaucracy - we won't represent much increase compared to Renxiang's investment.

It is, on the other hand, about making contacts with bureaucrats and teachers of bureaucrats, in addition to its implications for Ling Qi's character. And if we want to shape societies, having connections with the skeletons that hold them up is important.

I'm in favor of investing; the question is "how much."
 
So looking at the limited info we have on our budget and income streams (based off one turn) we ran a net surplus of +15GSS this month. We could afford 100GSS/yr but it would be a large commitment that could constrain later investment options significantly. It would also be a heck of a lot for a new baroness who has things she needs to be investing in and isn't actually maximum administration girl.

I think 50GSS makes most sense both in terms of keeping our options open, not committing more than our interests say, but still acknowledging that this supports our long term goals of southern development. When we're Minister of Southern Affairs we'll need good people to work for us!
 
The main issue here frankly is that we're getting this vote thrown at us on the spot and deciding on it in isolation. That isn't really what should be done? Like, this isn't the kind of thing you just decide on a whim unless you're very very rich. This is something you go off and think about.

We should really be waiting to look at what things we could be investing in, and then putting together an investment plan.
 
50 green stones a year for scholarships for people from "disadvantaged" backgrounds would be a good idea IMO. It shows that our clan is not going to hide where we came from, supports those who have the abilities but not the money and might allow us to get new members long-term.
 
Erebeal said:
We should really be waiting to look at what things we could be investing in, and then putting together an investment plan.
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I'm not sure the Emerald Sea is, hmm, liberal enough for us to invest in things without making social connections first.

JammingforHam said:
50 green stones a year for scholarships for people from "disadvantaged" backgrounds would be a good idea IMO.
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... Ah. Investment is also a little bit of leverage / grease to get members of the Ling house the opportunity to train as bureaucrats. Who are, as we are told, going to be in high demand.
 
Personally the minutia bit that fascinates me is the brief mention of a school for wee things on Trunk level. If we could snag a teacher from the kiddy school for our commoners, it would make for an interesting investment in years to come.
 
I'm leaning towards the hundred GSS per year, honestly. The Ling lack connections, people, a lot of things really.

The Gold Autumn school, nor its students, are grand connections. But the school's organizers have their quiet network stretching back to the beginning of Cai rule- an example of its worth is the 'news' relevant to Xia Lin's presence hasn't surfaced in the conversation yet, I don't believe. News of interest to our martially inclined peer is a good example of the kind of breadth of insight friendly ears in the capital can offer us. As for the students, a great number of them are expected to join the settlement push in the south, forming critical segments of the backbone of the bureaucratic body in the new lands. The fresh foundations of the ministries and some can even be expected to be the expert advisors drawn into the young noble houses springing up in the region, which have great need for such things. If we have any designs on regional influence, and I think we do, it's very useful for us to have a pre-tapped network that will be making up the institutions of the province in the south, and it might even be more useful to just have the name recognition. Priming these students to view the name Ling as a house to turn to for support is an invaluable boon 10, 20, 50 years down the line when we're orienting ourselves as a regional leader.

And heck, we're also one of those fresh new houses with a need for more scholarly blood. Donating increases the chance any oddballs or eccentrics get raised to us as a prospect of interest/potential personal Ling relevance. Maybe we can get a ninja secretary out of it, eventually. They can get bullied by FeFe.

That said, Mei Lanfen does have some pride in her school's independence. Offering the larger sum carries some risk of coming across like pursuing an arrangement like other clans have with their sponsored schools, which she could be uncomfortable with even if she didn't turn it down. That that said, I think that with the context of pursuing Cai patronage, and Ling Qi's sincerity, the risk of this is very very low. It's just something worth acknowledging as a factor. We should go big here, imo.

Oh, and typo roundup.

yrsillar said:
meng Duyi
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Meng Duyi

yrsillar said:
with a small laugh."
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Erroneous quotation mark

yrsillar said:
"But is true that
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missing "it" after "But"
 
I wish just a little that we could know how the money would be used? Would it be as the school sees fit? Would it be by our suggestion? The scholarship idea sounds pretty cute.

I'm in favor of investing either way, I think. I like that lower ground of 50; enough for them to think kindly of us. Maybe I just like donating a little.

Also, our girl being defensive about her calligraphy...! :V
 
On an unrelated note, I think it would be great to have a school in Shenglu as well somewhere in the future. It's a good idea, it works well for LQ, and expanding the system would do great for the province. Maybe we can even get the Gold Autumn to set up something there in the distant future.
 
[ ] 100 Green Stones per year

Education = good, and Mei Lanfen/her school is a good system (and we dont have to worry at all about corruption for multiple reason, not least of which Lanfen has gotten the blast from Shenhua herself)
 
CatOnTheWeb said:
sure

edit: hot damn!
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Man, we really are getting his worth out of our borrowed Geomancer, aren't we?
The mining thing, the songs to keep metal out of water (don't remember their effects in numbers) and now this.
The guy is going to start thinking we are blessed by Tsu or something.

Elsecaller said:
Rolling for cultivation manpower
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But Cultivation Manpower keeps eluding us.
I know that a 10% chance is low, but this feels as frustrating as getting duds on a gacha game.

Now the vote. I agree with the sentiment of going for the middle ground with 50GSS a year, at least for now.
It's true that whatever amount we give will pale in comparison with Renxiang's official funding, but that's not the point.
The objective here is to send a message that Ling Qi is personally invested in improving schooling conditions on the ESS, which I think is an excellent image to have. Specially if it's sincere.
As well as solidify the Golden Autumn school as LQ's personal connection, not just something we introduced to Renxiang.

The only reason I'm against the 100 option is that I fear it may restrict us a bit too much on future investments opportunities.
We also need to invest in ventures that will bring in a profit as well as produce cultivation resources we can distribute household-wise.
Those would require both a hefty initial investment as well as maintenance costs.

So yeah, let's go for the middle ground.

[ ] 50 Green Stones per year
 
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