[X] The Ministers of Works and Spiritual Affairs
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
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[X] The Ministers of Finance and Communication
That seems to be understating the difficulties of the route. Its not just sending an email after all, regular communication talismans either don't work or degrade rapidly barring Sovereign craft. You'd want somebody who can send couriers, preferably 3rd realm(as we know fourth realms and above encounter escalating qi depletion from impurity while there are entire swarms of first realm gribblies that could overwhelm yellow couriers) through relative wilderness to go there, pick up tribute or drop off instructions/materials, and then make the return trip to the surface.
This is easier than our spy trip because Shenhua did an Enthusiastic Walk, and the route she took is probably still relatively free of threats.
In short, this is either a job for the Army or the Ministry of Communication. Spiritual Affairs lacks the relevant personnel, if they want to talk to the Ha, they'd be traveling via either MoC unit or behind an army.
Inter ministry cooperation is normal, but if your task is to send things from point A to point B its always a Communication job.
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dpara
slightly confused ascendant
I think what talking to them gets us more part the picture, this is the first impression of LQ to "the empire" who she stands next to here is going to be influential for her public image.
[X] The Ministers of Works and Spiritual Affairs.
But as a programmer, I vote for this as an opportunity for the legacy codebase maintainers being catty at LQ.
[X] The Ministers of Works and Spiritual Affairs.
But as a programmer, I vote for this as an opportunity for the legacy codebase maintainers being catty at LQ.
- Location
- Colorado
The Ministry of Communication is the postal service. Their job is to deliver mail using established Imperial infrastructure. Compared to Integrity or Law who need agents that can arrest criminals, or Spiritual Affairs who need agents that can negotiate with spirits (which is always dangerous), they're much less likely to have agents suited to operate in dangerous environments like that. They're more likely to have such agents than Works or Finance since even travelling along established roads is relatively dangerous, but Communication still probably doesn't have all that many couriers who are up for this kind of job. I'm sure they exist, but you're more likely to find guys like that in the Golden Fields or Western Territories branches of the ministry than the Emerald Seas.
You can argue 'taking things from point A to point B is always a Communication job' and I can say 'negotiations with dangerous alien entities that have been forced to submit to Imperial structures is always a Spiritual Affairs job' all day long, but as Karthak and Abeo have pointed out, the upcoming casual conversation probably has nothing to do with any of this.
Ideally we'll get Law to officially acknowledge them as human, get the Golden Fields MoC to lend us some guys who think the route is a refreshing change of pace from their zombie-infested wasteland, and then (over the centuries) siphon off Communications and Spiritual Affairs personnel to form something like an 'Emerald Seas Department of State,' but that's going to be well beyond the scope of the upcoming chat.
Dunno why specifically, but this post got me thinking about talking to the Ith and one specific aspect of it. We know that Shenhua packed the Ith spokesperson we spoke with last into a Truth-laced gimp translation and life support suit. It would be nice if we could avail ourselves of our own Domain translation powers to bypass any of Shenhua's translation trinkets she might have left around for the job of talks with the Ith. Not contesting her works, obviously, but simply avoiding their activation in the first place by using a different route.
Leaving our subterranean buddies the option of holding back or even lying to us would leave a better taste in my mouth.
Twelve Stars 2
New
A sheen of rippling color, a faint distortion against the dry sandy cliffside above and the clouds overhead, and even that he only caught in the slight dissonance that lay between the sight of his beast eyes and his human ones. His saber was in his hand before the final word had finished being spoken.
"And who is it who gives me this compliment? I should like to thank you for it," Okatai said, tracking the edge of the distortion. His beast eyes saw it better, though without the differing colors of his other eyes that would not be enough.
"Funny. But a westerner wandering lost in these peaks must have some humor."
Color peeled away like watered paint, and revealed a man in loose and airy white robes that shimmered under the sun, their edges blurring under his gaze still. The wide, opaque gray crystal of his flight mask peered from beneath a wide hood of the stuff. Though Okatai noted the short curved bow of beast bone in his hand was at least not drawn.
His beast self was a strange thing, an awkward gangly lizard with a curling tail and widely splayed legs connected by flaps of leathery skin, and wide toes that clung to the vertical cliffside above. Its large wide-set eyes swiveled freely, one fixed on him while the other searched the sky. His sandy scales shimmered and blurred just the same as the man's robes.
"But well enough, I am Erzhan, son of Sanzhar. Khan of the Ghost Arrow. Who is it who so rudely seeks our water?"
"The things of the earth and ground belong to no man or people," Okatai said carefully. A tribe was named for the epithet of its Khan's most storied ancestor, and given how easily he had been taken by surprise, he did not doubt the honesty of this one. "I am only a single traveler on pilgrimage. I seek to take no more than three skins full and for myself alone."
"Pretty words, easily spoken in the lush west," Erzhan scoffed. "Things are not so easy here, where the pools boil away a scarce few days after the rain. I know little of the west, save that the lowlanders have been stirred to wrath again. I know this because I have turned away the scouts of many tribes seeking to save themselves and push us from our places."
"Have you grounded yourself then, like a lowland king?" Okatai said, drawing himself up despite the danger, could not help himself.
"Hardly, Those with wisdom I tell fly south where the marsh kin wander, but those who think to take may join the pyre flames that keep the Dead at bay," Erzhan said. "We do not want your trouble westerner."
"Our trouble will come to you if we fall," Oktai replied. The tribes of the east were some of the most stubborn against Great Khan Galidan's call, even more than the tribes of the holy peaks and the deep wall, who at least sent recognition of what he had become.
"I hear only the wind whispering in the sand. The Grave spews its wasting sickness, the curse of the Dead Worm, the rain that steals water rather than gives it, without mercy. I will worry about the things which may kill us in a hundred years in a hundred years," Erzhan scoffed.
There was no good in arguing that. Not when he did not even know what sickness the man spoke of. "Erzhan, I am Oktai, son of Mete, Khan of Dawnfire, and I swear you this, by Father Sky and our Mother Star, my tribe makes camp in Great Khan Galidan's court and does not seek yours. I am alone and intend to lead no others here. If this is untrue, let the wind curse my wings forever."
The man considered him dourly, his beast self's wandering eyes both fixing on Oktai. It was no trivial oath he had given, men had been smote by the gods for swearing false to less. "What then, is your purpose here?"
"Pilgrimage. I hear the starsong of Ruin, and she guides me to seek her Brother, the Liberation Star, who lies in these mountains. I was unaware how… stringent the eastern tribes regard simple forage."
Erzhan regarded him silently for a long moment. Okatai looked back up at him without shame, his beast self's wings half spread ready to take flight if he was attacked anyway. Finally, the lizard's tail struck the rock with a crack, scattering pebbles and splitting the stone. "I will not deny an oath like that. Fine. I will show you to my Father, where you may give your thanks as a guest and perhaps receive some water."
He grimaced behind his own mask, the song in his mind was yearning and insistent. "I wish to pass through swiftly, my pilgrimage is not a leisurely one."
"We wish you pass quickly the same westerner. My Father knows the tale of the Liberation Star. His words will speed your trip, and save us what you might drink in your wandering."
He was not wholly certain of that but… he could not say any more without being far too insulting. He gave a jerky nod and wheeled, leaving the cavern mouth that held the spring. Erzhan returned the gesture, swaying in his saddle, and his mount leaped from the cliff, spiraling up into the air on the lizard's kite-like wings. Okatai followed, leaving the rough earth behind.
"What is the curse of the Dead Worm? I do not know this tale," He asked, as they entered a soar, his voice carried despite the distance.
"Fortunate for you, You know the worms that claim kingship of the clouds and the rain?"
"The beast plagues us with its lowland master even now," Oktai growled. The sight of golden scales in the sky was the terror of children across the wall.
"Once such a beast ruled in the east, now it is dead and thinks it still does," Erzhan said simply. "When the sun fell to earth to put the lowlander's folly to rest, it was no different than the others. It rose later to plague us again. The living worms at least obey the order of seasons, the Dead Worm brings only the black bile, a rain that is not water, but will turn an unprepared warrior into a bundle of dry bones and leather in seconds, if caught out in it. It sears the land dry wherever it passes. It has passed often of late."
Oktai had the urge to comment on the ruin the living one brought so freely to the west, but thought better of it. Still, it disturbed him to see how possessive such desperation made even his kin of things that belonged to no one. Defending ones watering hole from another tribe seeking to take their whole herd through but to be so harsh as to accost even a single traveler…
"It is true then, that the Khan Galidan has awakened and bonded to the Star of Ruin?" Erzhan asked roughly.
"He has, and others have begun to do the same, among both the great stars and the less children awakened by her song," Oktai said.
One of the lizard's eyes swiveled to him, and he could tell it was scrutinizing the stone on his brow. It surely lent weight to his words, even if even this far to the east, they would have felt something when the star had drawn her blade.
He shook his head. "Shaman business."
"Our ancestors…"
"Are shaman business, at least when their unsent bones are not riding against us on a fell plague wind," Erzhan said firmly. "The Stars have been gone for very long. I do not deal in stories and songs, for all they are needed 'round the fires at night to keep the wraiths at bay."
"So yes. Shaman business."
He had heard many reactions around their camps, awe and disbelief and sullen envy from those who arrived at Galidan's court, but never had he quite thought he would see such… aggressive disinterest. Even those who had submitted to the Ice Witches had not been able to hide their wonder when he had witnessed in some among them hearing this news.
"Then I will leave it at that," Okatai said uncomfortably, not knowing where to go from there.
Erzhan grunted, reaching out, pointing at the gap between two curved peaks of glassy rock, whose tips were so bent that they nearly came together. "Stay close to me as we pass under these. There is a whorl, which can reach our camp here, which I know the way of opening. If you are too far, Father Sky's current will toss you out who knows where."
Okatai took in a sharp breath. He had heard of such things, though his tribe had no shaman who could create the songs needed to navigate them. "Then I will be in your care."
The wind shimmered in the gap between peaks, rippling like the surface of a pond as Erzhan inhaled deeply, and began to sing.
"And who is it who gives me this compliment? I should like to thank you for it," Okatai said, tracking the edge of the distortion. His beast eyes saw it better, though without the differing colors of his other eyes that would not be enough.
"Funny. But a westerner wandering lost in these peaks must have some humor."
Color peeled away like watered paint, and revealed a man in loose and airy white robes that shimmered under the sun, their edges blurring under his gaze still. The wide, opaque gray crystal of his flight mask peered from beneath a wide hood of the stuff. Though Okatai noted the short curved bow of beast bone in his hand was at least not drawn.
His beast self was a strange thing, an awkward gangly lizard with a curling tail and widely splayed legs connected by flaps of leathery skin, and wide toes that clung to the vertical cliffside above. Its large wide-set eyes swiveled freely, one fixed on him while the other searched the sky. His sandy scales shimmered and blurred just the same as the man's robes.
"But well enough, I am Erzhan, son of Sanzhar. Khan of the Ghost Arrow. Who is it who so rudely seeks our water?"
"The things of the earth and ground belong to no man or people," Okatai said carefully. A tribe was named for the epithet of its Khan's most storied ancestor, and given how easily he had been taken by surprise, he did not doubt the honesty of this one. "I am only a single traveler on pilgrimage. I seek to take no more than three skins full and for myself alone."
"Pretty words, easily spoken in the lush west," Erzhan scoffed. "Things are not so easy here, where the pools boil away a scarce few days after the rain. I know little of the west, save that the lowlanders have been stirred to wrath again. I know this because I have turned away the scouts of many tribes seeking to save themselves and push us from our places."
"Have you grounded yourself then, like a lowland king?" Okatai said, drawing himself up despite the danger, could not help himself.
"Hardly, Those with wisdom I tell fly south where the marsh kin wander, but those who think to take may join the pyre flames that keep the Dead at bay," Erzhan said. "We do not want your trouble westerner."
"Our trouble will come to you if we fall," Oktai replied. The tribes of the east were some of the most stubborn against Great Khan Galidan's call, even more than the tribes of the holy peaks and the deep wall, who at least sent recognition of what he had become.
"I hear only the wind whispering in the sand. The Grave spews its wasting sickness, the curse of the Dead Worm, the rain that steals water rather than gives it, without mercy. I will worry about the things which may kill us in a hundred years in a hundred years," Erzhan scoffed.
There was no good in arguing that. Not when he did not even know what sickness the man spoke of. "Erzhan, I am Oktai, son of Mete, Khan of Dawnfire, and I swear you this, by Father Sky and our Mother Star, my tribe makes camp in Great Khan Galidan's court and does not seek yours. I am alone and intend to lead no others here. If this is untrue, let the wind curse my wings forever."
The man considered him dourly, his beast self's wandering eyes both fixing on Oktai. It was no trivial oath he had given, men had been smote by the gods for swearing false to less. "What then, is your purpose here?"
"Pilgrimage. I hear the starsong of Ruin, and she guides me to seek her Brother, the Liberation Star, who lies in these mountains. I was unaware how… stringent the eastern tribes regard simple forage."
Erzhan regarded him silently for a long moment. Okatai looked back up at him without shame, his beast self's wings half spread ready to take flight if he was attacked anyway. Finally, the lizard's tail struck the rock with a crack, scattering pebbles and splitting the stone. "I will not deny an oath like that. Fine. I will show you to my Father, where you may give your thanks as a guest and perhaps receive some water."
He grimaced behind his own mask, the song in his mind was yearning and insistent. "I wish to pass through swiftly, my pilgrimage is not a leisurely one."
"We wish you pass quickly the same westerner. My Father knows the tale of the Liberation Star. His words will speed your trip, and save us what you might drink in your wandering."
He was not wholly certain of that but… he could not say any more without being far too insulting. He gave a jerky nod and wheeled, leaving the cavern mouth that held the spring. Erzhan returned the gesture, swaying in his saddle, and his mount leaped from the cliff, spiraling up into the air on the lizard's kite-like wings. Okatai followed, leaving the rough earth behind.
"What is the curse of the Dead Worm? I do not know this tale," He asked, as they entered a soar, his voice carried despite the distance.
"Fortunate for you, You know the worms that claim kingship of the clouds and the rain?"
"The beast plagues us with its lowland master even now," Oktai growled. The sight of golden scales in the sky was the terror of children across the wall.
"Once such a beast ruled in the east, now it is dead and thinks it still does," Erzhan said simply. "When the sun fell to earth to put the lowlander's folly to rest, it was no different than the others. It rose later to plague us again. The living worms at least obey the order of seasons, the Dead Worm brings only the black bile, a rain that is not water, but will turn an unprepared warrior into a bundle of dry bones and leather in seconds, if caught out in it. It sears the land dry wherever it passes. It has passed often of late."
Oktai had the urge to comment on the ruin the living one brought so freely to the west, but thought better of it. Still, it disturbed him to see how possessive such desperation made even his kin of things that belonged to no one. Defending ones watering hole from another tribe seeking to take their whole herd through but to be so harsh as to accost even a single traveler…
"It is true then, that the Khan Galidan has awakened and bonded to the Star of Ruin?" Erzhan asked roughly.
"He has, and others have begun to do the same, among both the great stars and the less children awakened by her song," Oktai said.
One of the lizard's eyes swiveled to him, and he could tell it was scrutinizing the stone on his brow. It surely lent weight to his words, even if even this far to the east, they would have felt something when the star had drawn her blade.
He shook his head. "Shaman business."
"Our ancestors…"
"Are shaman business, at least when their unsent bones are not riding against us on a fell plague wind," Erzhan said firmly. "The Stars have been gone for very long. I do not deal in stories and songs, for all they are needed 'round the fires at night to keep the wraiths at bay."
"So yes. Shaman business."
He had heard many reactions around their camps, awe and disbelief and sullen envy from those who arrived at Galidan's court, but never had he quite thought he would see such… aggressive disinterest. Even those who had submitted to the Ice Witches had not been able to hide their wonder when he had witnessed in some among them hearing this news.
"Then I will leave it at that," Okatai said uncomfortably, not knowing where to go from there.
Erzhan grunted, reaching out, pointing at the gap between two curved peaks of glassy rock, whose tips were so bent that they nearly came together. "Stay close to me as we pass under these. There is a whorl, which can reach our camp here, which I know the way of opening. If you are too far, Father Sky's current will toss you out who knows where."
Okatai took in a sharp breath. He had heard of such things, though his tribe had no shaman who could create the songs needed to navigate them. "Then I will be in your care."
The wind shimmered in the gap between peaks, rippling like the surface of a pond as Erzhan inhaled deeply, and began to sing.
Shenhua Portrait
New
ElizatronicWarfa
Himejoshi Supreme
- Pronouns
- She/They
Once again I have commissioned a pair of portraits for the wiki with Yrs giving visual direction, and the first one is of Cai Shenhua:
I've also amused myself with an edit:
The second one is due to be released SOON.
This art is by the talented Zaffyrr, who is currently accepting commissions: â zaffyrr commissions â
This art is by the talented Zaffyrr, who is currently accepting commissions: â zaffyrr commissions â
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- Location
- Spain
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] The Ministers of Works and Spiritual Affairs.
It´s the Empire that had better hope the eastern Cloud don´t join in on the fighting. They're flying Fremen for Tsu's sake. If Galidan reaches White and is proclaimed
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
What an amazing picture!Once again I have commissioned a pair of portraits for the wiki with Yrs giving visual direction, and the first one is of Cai Shenhua:
I've also amused myself with an edit:
The second one is due to be released SOON.
This art is by the talented Zaffyrr, who is currently accepting commissions: â zaffyrr commissions â
Well, Golden Fields are the province with second (?) strongest military, it is just their power is always occupied fighting the grave...
- Location
- Finland
Yes, they have a strong military, but only to a degree.
And also because so much of their resources are being poured into the said military.
Sure the eastern cloud nomads might be somewhat stronger than the western ones, but they also might not, because pure strength is not going to help against the ash zombies, what is needed are new tactics.
Now if other provinces were to mobilize the way Golden fields and Western Territories do, i would expect them to be able to ramp up, if not to equal strength (on soldeir/unit basis), then at least close to it, because they have a larger population base, and more spare resources, to pour into those militaries.
Damn Renxiang, you went on and on about how your mother was scary and a monster - you neglected to mention your mother was hot.
- Location
- somewhere over there.
- Pronouns
- They/It
I think they're more mutually opposed than one having a direct advantage over the other, but Zhengui is definitely nowhere near as powerful as a weird undead blight dragon and probably won't be for centuries.