- Location
- FR
- Pronouns
- He/Him
That was probably only noticed by the sovereings that were paying attention, Meng Dan and miss LuoDon't forget Shu Yue calling LQ away from the party for secret lessons
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
- Start date
- Original Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- Chicago
- Pronouns
- She/They
The part that sticks out most to me is when we journeyed with for the first time, and Ling Qi took on the mantle of the representative of the dragon emperor's priestess. It was ritualized in a cool way that I think showed Qi knows the forms and rules even if she regards them mostly as things of other people, which made it cool how she seemed a bit uncomfortable with the role even though she was legitimate.
- Location
- Finland
Ling Qi is a priestess and an official representative of the empire in general, and the throne in specific.
But in most situation she very much prefers to come to amicable agreement that both parties can accept, rather than use authority as a gudgel.
Not only because she is a very minor functionary and calling on the thrones authority all the time would probably backfire on her.
But also because she genuinely considers spirits to be people.
But in most situation she very much prefers to come to amicable agreement that both parties can accept, rather than use authority as a gudgel.
Not only because she is a very minor functionary and calling on the thrones authority all the time would probably backfire on her.
But also because she genuinely considers spirits to be people.
If you get isekai-ed into Forge there's nobody stopping you from trying to get back home. It's entering without getting nuked that's the problem.
Yrsillar said:
Well that's definitely going to feed the gossipers for a while. A couple of particular things in Ling Qi and the Admirals' exchange are going to make people speculate wildly. The Admirals are open that it's Xuan Shi who made the request. Ling Qi openly stated that Xuan Shi had helped protect her kin, which In the empire's martial and clan focused culture is a big deal.
Taken together, a lot of people without specific knowledge of the two are going to assume there's already a full blown romance or something. That's just how the generic pieces of the puzzle fit together. In any case, putting the messy clan status stuff to the side, Ling Qi's publicly given Xuan Shi a strong personal claim to courtship clout, here, which I think is neat. Giving a guy courting you props for defending your family is just a huge cred boost.
I've also been spitballing the, uh, wishlist for the Xuan, in terms of what they'd want to get out of the marriage alliance. There's political, population, and strategic concerns, though that last one basically breaks down to mixes of the first two.
The Xuan struggle with demographics. They always want more man power and more turtle power. Zhengui, with his less placid elemental themes, could help with turtle populations, whether short term or long term. As an allied clan with xuan wu legitimacy, once it's established the Ling could also provide more people through marrying into the Xuan and/or favourable offspring splits in future marriage contracts. This is especially attractive to the Xuan if the Ling end up with the Xuan bloodline, but that's all sorts of complicated.
Politically, the Xuan want their voice heard in the courts of Xiangmen, pushing their interests like lumber shipment to the Savage Seas. Marriage alliances are cost-effective ways to approach this kind of thing. You get a party on the inside, capable of influencing things on broader and more subtle scales, who wants to advocate for your benefit for the benefits they get from maintaining good relations with you. Basically, a clan inside the province tends to have more pull with lower-tier assets. Not having to deploy Sovereigns to have every important chat is a pretty big benefit. The fact that Ling Qi is the heiress's retainer, is starting to walk a diplomat's Way, as clan founder is likely to influence the clan in that direction moving forwards, and the Ling are about as well set up to establish itself as possible? These are all promising signs.
A few more zoomed out strategic considerations. Ling Qi and Renxiang's White Sky diplomacy efforts are in line with some of Savage Seas' own projects. The Emerald Seas adopting them adds legitimacy to their own efforts. Ling Qi and Renxiang's good relations with the more outward-cooperation-friendly Bai faction is hopeful news for keeping trade open; the Bai as a whole aren't super reliable partners, here. Last thing, Zhengui's social and spiritual role in the Ling means that even if the human relationship sours in subsequent generations, there should be some backstop guaranteeing bargains struck are kept to for a long time. Xuan wu have really long lifespans; he'll be around for a while.
Taken together, a lot of people without specific knowledge of the two are going to assume there's already a full blown romance or something. That's just how the generic pieces of the puzzle fit together. In any case, putting the messy clan status stuff to the side, Ling Qi's publicly given Xuan Shi a strong personal claim to courtship clout, here, which I think is neat. Giving a guy courting you props for defending your family is just a huge cred boost.
I've also been spitballing the, uh, wishlist for the Xuan, in terms of what they'd want to get out of the marriage alliance. There's political, population, and strategic concerns, though that last one basically breaks down to mixes of the first two.
The Xuan struggle with demographics. They always want more man power and more turtle power. Zhengui, with his less placid elemental themes, could help with turtle populations, whether short term or long term. As an allied clan with xuan wu legitimacy, once it's established the Ling could also provide more people through marrying into the Xuan and/or favourable offspring splits in future marriage contracts. This is especially attractive to the Xuan if the Ling end up with the Xuan bloodline, but that's all sorts of complicated.
Politically, the Xuan want their voice heard in the courts of Xiangmen, pushing their interests like lumber shipment to the Savage Seas. Marriage alliances are cost-effective ways to approach this kind of thing. You get a party on the inside, capable of influencing things on broader and more subtle scales, who wants to advocate for your benefit for the benefits they get from maintaining good relations with you. Basically, a clan inside the province tends to have more pull with lower-tier assets. Not having to deploy Sovereigns to have every important chat is a pretty big benefit. The fact that Ling Qi is the heiress's retainer, is starting to walk a diplomat's Way, as clan founder is likely to influence the clan in that direction moving forwards, and the Ling are about as well set up to establish itself as possible? These are all promising signs.
A few more zoomed out strategic considerations. Ling Qi and Renxiang's White Sky diplomacy efforts are in line with some of Savage Seas' own projects. The Emerald Seas adopting them adds legitimacy to their own efforts. Ling Qi and Renxiang's good relations with the more outward-cooperation-friendly Bai faction is hopeful news for keeping trade open; the Bai as a whole aren't super reliable partners, here. Last thing, Zhengui's social and spiritual role in the Ling means that even if the human relationship sours in subsequent generations, there should be some backstop guaranteeing bargains struck are kept to for a long time. Xuan wu have really long lifespans; he'll be around for a while.
Yes that all make sense and show that the xuan leadership interest isnt only on getting zengui bloodline as part the marriege pact. They could play the long game here and be pacient. They clearly are better at diplomacy than the bao and already got a read on LQ (something the bao clearly didnt botter with) they probable wont push zengui stud services as a hard part of the marriege bargain.
They could be happy to wait a few centuries even a generation or two before starting the more agressive negotiation on that side. After LQ and shi had kids or even to the next head of the ling clan after lq die or ascend or whatever happen first.
Having a second separeted xuan bloodline on land would be usefull for marriege partners for future generagions of their clan even if they dont get zengui making xuan kids as part of this marriege contract. I dont think people are right and LQ not agreeing to zengui stud services as part of the marriege negotiations would be a reason for their clan to drop interest as much as they say and what you said confirm that to me.
I still think we could get a small art library and even a xuan bloodline preservation art for their babies even if zengui is out of the negotiation table.
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I feel like one thing that harms Xuan Shi's case is the context right now. Like, we're kind of just getting into ES politics and our plans mostly focus around our province, which makes him a worse fit.
If we were looking more at broader imperial politics then he'd be more appealing.
If we were looking more at broader imperial politics then he'd be more appealing.
Lq is part diplomacy and she already working on the concept of neiborhood the bai and the White Sky are neightbors we could be making hetter relations and avoinding future conflict with. A marriege with the xua clan would only have implications on wide empire politics but creating a merchant rode that goes WS ES TL SS and back is a great way of making sure the powerfull remain interested in peace on the long run. It would also bring coin a financial safety. That would make also a good way of working on her dao about want. So their marriege would be good for her cultivation since it would be working on the main things want diplomacy neiborhood greed. We have a lot of cultivation exploration options/material if we go xuan marriege.
- Location
- United States of America
Errr ok so the issue here that people need o remember is that while lq is the protagonist of the quest she's still very much little fish . While it wouldn't hurt our relationships with the savage seas , they very much aren't basing the trade agreement and alliance they have with the emerald seas on our small marriage (relatively speaking ) . Our position isn't that high now . (Yet)
The trade talks were and are going through regardless between the regions . The main issue here was never the xuan or emerald seas but keeping the BAI open ,and willing to engage . If the argument is that we need to focus on wider imperial politics to keep this agreement going long term then a bai marriage would be the ideal as they're the hiccup in the plan and reason to would fall through as they're main intermediary and border .
After that would be focusing on the meng /bao since again they are the regions the trade is coming through . The xuan don't need any incentive to stay invested as this is one of the largest lumber zones and they are avoiding getting fucked by Jin taxes .
The issue though is there's a healthy wariness on a potential bai marriage but that's most likely influenced yrs to outright not go down that route with anxi becuase thread hasn't been too responsive for it despite it being a major political consideration on keeping the bai invested in the alliance and showing long term foreign relations can work out despite their conservative elements wish for isolationism .
As for lq getting cultivation bonuses for doing diplo ? If that's the case , well once again as of now we aren't influencing anything with our current power block on a wider scale yet , maybe in the future but by that point we swing back to the first part of my statement about the xuan not being the issue here .
One of the major story arcs for this story in general is about overthrowing shenhua , and a large part of that will be shoring up support at home first before we can even focus on wider imperial considerations .
A meng marriage and diplomacy would go a significant way with bringing the meng on board to support crx and focus lqs diplomatic talents that shouldn't be overlooked .
The xuan will want to negotiate over zhengui stuff regardless of marriage , the marriage is just the icing on the cake for them and gets one of their more problematic members (bloodline wise ) a happy chance to start fresh somewhere else . ( though this also is a conversation in itself how xuan shis sea barb bloodline might influence how the xuan interact with our clan in the future on a wider scale outside of the admirals in that they might see our clan as being somewhat impure )
I have been a Bara Bao stan for a long time. But I'm finally giving up and throwing in for Turtle Boy. The pecs aren't enough.
Really, I think with his new chicken friend, Xuan Shi is the absolute best match. Meng Dan isn't going to hit White. But Shi could, with his Way of exploration and adventure.
Really, I think with his new chicken friend, Xuan Shi is the absolute best match. Meng Dan isn't going to hit White. But Shi could, with his Way of exploration and adventure.
Remember that the part of the reason the betrothal talks for Meizhen/Xuan Shi didn't go anywhere was because they couldn't agree on who would get the kids. They do still value Xuan Shi.
"they very much aren't basing the trade agreement and alliance they have with the emerald seas on our small marriage" No one said anything about their current agrrement being related with lq marriege we are saying that lq diplomatic importance with a new trade partner WS her friendly relashionship with the bai ducal heir her position as right hand of ES ducal heir (even more since the cai is so small increasing her influence in court) her personal potential as cultivator and har conection with a new xuan bloodline trought zengui plus the fact turtle boy is actualy in love with her make it worth for them to seriusly invest into this even if they dont get zengui stud work as part of the marriege contract. I actualy think if there is one noble ducal clan that would understand her saying zengui isnt a spirit servant but family and she wont sold his babies for some benefits during marriege negociation. They maybe even might respect that position. They probable would just keep the marriege offer very generous and maybe even offer the art that make the spirit blood run true since its in their best interest if there is more and new xuan blood among the ling descendents they might marry into the xuan clan 2 or 3 generations later.
I wonder at what point the penny will drop for the Liu and they'll realize how high profile the daughter of the woman one of their scions spent a decade and a half having abused has become.
If we jump back to the offer, as worded by the Admirals, for a moment...
There's 3 stated rationales for the offer. "For a seeker of shores far from ours" is in deference to Xuan Shi's desires and drive to find meaning away from the home of his clan. "For shared heritage" is basically Zhengui's existence. Which leaves "for the sake of many".
Now, I don't think this one is an overly blunt reference to making lots of kids. So it's gotta be other stuff. The biggest Xuan interest in ES that we know of is lumber exports, and that does touch on the welfare of lots of people. There could be other stuff, but the specifics don't really matter at this stage. What we do know is that the Xuan feel there's some kind of broader issues, which impact many lives, that a Ling marriage alliance is relevant to. At least in the abstract.
There's 3 stated rationales for the offer. "For a seeker of shores far from ours" is in deference to Xuan Shi's desires and drive to find meaning away from the home of his clan. "For shared heritage" is basically Zhengui's existence. Which leaves "for the sake of many".
Now, I don't think this one is an overly blunt reference to making lots of kids. So it's gotta be other stuff. The biggest Xuan interest in ES that we know of is lumber exports, and that does touch on the welfare of lots of people. There could be other stuff, but the specifics don't really matter at this stage. What we do know is that the Xuan feel there's some kind of broader issues, which impact many lives, that a Ling marriage alliance is relevant to. At least in the abstract.
There could be a Liu aming the wedding guests, as a vassal in their count's retinue
They live on a sleeping sentient island that uses their sect as a pillow. We are a very specific type of dream walker. Wonder if there is something there? Something they lost? Something they forgot?
Gathering Wrath 1
A light, a radiant torch was born in the south. In the ruined wastes left fallow by the great scourge by the passage of the great Khan Ogodei, a flower of radiance and rebellion bloomed, far from any civilized place, and yet the whispers of its promise reached far and wide, music to the ears of those who suffered the yoke of Hui malice and negligence. Her light stirred hope, her light stirred wrath in those long helpless to resist the will of nightmare dukes; a resolve fit to match any trial was born.
In the wake of Ogodei, the province's south lay in ruins. The Li were dead, the Wu were fallen, and countless clans were gutted or dead. The Chu crouched atop their mountain, beating their chests like mountain apes, the petty kings of the wasteland left by their negligence, spitting belligerence at the young Rushing Cloud.
The South seethed with resentment. I recall it well. That hate, that sense of abandonment. The great heroes of the Argent peak had struck down Ogodei, and for a moment, there had been hope when the Emperor came, he and his son, to laud them. To chastise the Hui and raise the Sects.
The Sects were a spot of brightness, a rallying point. But they were watch towers, not a bulwark for the whole south. The Cloud came on, pillaging, burning where they could not be. And the Liar Lords sneered at all requests for aid. There were hundreds of groups, soon enough. Hundreds of groups plotting around their malicious authority, building networks and building connections.
The Hui tore them apart, like a cat tormenting an insect, one by one. No one could trust that another group might not be a mere patsy or that they would even know if they were. You could never know if the face of your closest comrade was a mask for a smiling demon, just waiting to take your skin, too.
Until she came.
Where the radiance bloomed, entwined with its rose, the plots of the Liar Kings withered, and the people rejoiced. No tricks, schemes, or betrayals could mar the pitiless light that laid everything bare. Stripped of the pall that had lain over them, the clans of the south burst forth into restiveness, their calls for an end to the cruel negligence that had dominated the fallow lands since the fall of their rightful rulers rose.
Pitiful and unworthy things that they were, the Liar Lords only scourged their own people further for defiance.
Hui Yuxuan. The Special Liason for the Argent Peak Sect.
Dead. His southern manor and garden scourged to drifting chalk like dust, a swathe of devastation that had devoured him, his household, and all of its retainers. It was an undeniable power.
His wife, one of the more recent elders of the Argent Peak Sect, was gone as well. The reprisals were vicious. The hunters in our midst went from playful cats to hunting tigers. I cannot count the number of times I felt those slimes combing through my thoughts. I am only more able to hide secrets than most; thank the Black Madam.
As the rumors came in, we still didn't believe. The scourging truth, the light of revelation… was only another trick. Yuxuan's rivals had some new toy, and we were likely witnessing a play against the current patriarch from one of the Eight. That was the thought among those of us who had been in resistance the longest.
Then she came before me, and I could no more call her false than I could hold any name but Hui Lijie in my heart of hearts. I thought I would die then and there as the burning gaze pierced me. I would have been pleased enough for it, for in my heart, I also saw the death of my cancerous blight of a clan, who had let all the south burn for petty plots, who had allowed my beloved Li Zhiyuan and all of his family die for a game, made the mountain and vale where I had spent my youth was but a wasteland of howling ghosts.
It would have been a worthy death.
I still recall her laughter and her hand lifting me from my feet like adamant shears winding around my throat. I had good eyes, but she would better aim them, she said to me.
And so it was.
One by one, she met us, those hardened cults and brotherhoods that had survived every purge, and through her, we were given a vision, a direction. Secure communication, unbreakable operational security, and a clear goal were the gifts she offered us first.
We made good use of it.
The battered clans of the south rose, and though fear dogged their hearts and stayed their hands, the righteousness of the Radiant Truth became undeniable in time. The hunters of the Hui began to disappear one by one; their agents, spies, and informants burned under revealing light. Her grace drew the enraged eyes, locking them upon her, and in the shadow of her light, the people made more subtle motions, building up where they had been cruelly ground into the dirt by uncaring masters.
But even with her great victories, there was still much doubt. The north, the old clans who yet lived, could only be cautious, for they had so much further to fall, so many lands still intact to guard. The radiance was bright, but many felt only fear at its scourge.
Until the Radiance found the one who could speak Her message with clear eyes and a voice to stir souls.
It was a rare pleasure to be the hunter. A rare pleasure to be the one who saw another's mind cracking open, layers upon layers of masks peeling away until the true self was made bare, quivering, and vulnerable under the light.
I was a kinslayer before; I am a kinslayer ten times over now. I feel no regrets. But it was not enough. Between Lady Diao and myself, there was enough knowledge of that wretched clan's internal workings to direct our actions. She and I guided our actions to target most of the faction Yuxuan had belonged to. However, we made sure to nip and bite at the others, too, all of them. No plot descending from the eight would be so foolish as to spare its own men to obscure a trail better after all.
Efforts were made to make allusions to a culprit or two anyway, though… it helped. Our Light, our Ideal… she could not be tarnished by such scheming. I speak as if it were all wholly deliberate, but in the end, there were times when she would strike as she would, as her ideal demanded. Even lies, by implication, caused her light to sear.
…The only lies that could persevere under her light were the ones that one had come to in one's mind, thinking it the full truth. And even then, if any scrap of contradicting evidence appeared, her light would make of it a searing, unignorable sore in one's soul.
It was well that she left no survivors where she struck.
It was better still when I brought a firebrand in the southwest to her attention. He had been active for some time, first as a commander in the armies of the Chu… and then as something of a preacher and an itinerant, a priest with no sect or god to call his own. He'd been ignored until now, when, even at his relatively high realm, Hui Yunfen, the wife of the Chu head, considered him more humorous than anything. That had changed, though.
Jia Hong was to be executed.
In the wake of Ogodei, the province's south lay in ruins. The Li were dead, the Wu were fallen, and countless clans were gutted or dead. The Chu crouched atop their mountain, beating their chests like mountain apes, the petty kings of the wasteland left by their negligence, spitting belligerence at the young Rushing Cloud.
The South seethed with resentment. I recall it well. That hate, that sense of abandonment. The great heroes of the Argent peak had struck down Ogodei, and for a moment, there had been hope when the Emperor came, he and his son, to laud them. To chastise the Hui and raise the Sects.
The Sects were a spot of brightness, a rallying point. But they were watch towers, not a bulwark for the whole south. The Cloud came on, pillaging, burning where they could not be. And the Liar Lords sneered at all requests for aid. There were hundreds of groups, soon enough. Hundreds of groups plotting around their malicious authority, building networks and building connections.
The Hui tore them apart, like a cat tormenting an insect, one by one. No one could trust that another group might not be a mere patsy or that they would even know if they were. You could never know if the face of your closest comrade was a mask for a smiling demon, just waiting to take your skin, too.
Until she came.
Where the radiance bloomed, entwined with its rose, the plots of the Liar Kings withered, and the people rejoiced. No tricks, schemes, or betrayals could mar the pitiless light that laid everything bare. Stripped of the pall that had lain over them, the clans of the south burst forth into restiveness, their calls for an end to the cruel negligence that had dominated the fallow lands since the fall of their rightful rulers rose.
Pitiful and unworthy things that they were, the Liar Lords only scourged their own people further for defiance.
Hui Yuxuan. The Special Liason for the Argent Peak Sect.
Dead. His southern manor and garden scourged to drifting chalk like dust, a swathe of devastation that had devoured him, his household, and all of its retainers. It was an undeniable power.
His wife, one of the more recent elders of the Argent Peak Sect, was gone as well. The reprisals were vicious. The hunters in our midst went from playful cats to hunting tigers. I cannot count the number of times I felt those slimes combing through my thoughts. I am only more able to hide secrets than most; thank the Black Madam.
As the rumors came in, we still didn't believe. The scourging truth, the light of revelation… was only another trick. Yuxuan's rivals had some new toy, and we were likely witnessing a play against the current patriarch from one of the Eight. That was the thought among those of us who had been in resistance the longest.
Then she came before me, and I could no more call her false than I could hold any name but Hui Lijie in my heart of hearts. I thought I would die then and there as the burning gaze pierced me. I would have been pleased enough for it, for in my heart, I also saw the death of my cancerous blight of a clan, who had let all the south burn for petty plots, who had allowed my beloved Li Zhiyuan and all of his family die for a game, made the mountain and vale where I had spent my youth was but a wasteland of howling ghosts.
It would have been a worthy death.
I still recall her laughter and her hand lifting me from my feet like adamant shears winding around my throat. I had good eyes, but she would better aim them, she said to me.
And so it was.
One by one, she met us, those hardened cults and brotherhoods that had survived every purge, and through her, we were given a vision, a direction. Secure communication, unbreakable operational security, and a clear goal were the gifts she offered us first.
We made good use of it.
The battered clans of the south rose, and though fear dogged their hearts and stayed their hands, the righteousness of the Radiant Truth became undeniable in time. The hunters of the Hui began to disappear one by one; their agents, spies, and informants burned under revealing light. Her grace drew the enraged eyes, locking them upon her, and in the shadow of her light, the people made more subtle motions, building up where they had been cruelly ground into the dirt by uncaring masters.
But even with her great victories, there was still much doubt. The north, the old clans who yet lived, could only be cautious, for they had so much further to fall, so many lands still intact to guard. The radiance was bright, but many felt only fear at its scourge.
Until the Radiance found the one who could speak Her message with clear eyes and a voice to stir souls.
It was a rare pleasure to be the hunter. A rare pleasure to be the one who saw another's mind cracking open, layers upon layers of masks peeling away until the true self was made bare, quivering, and vulnerable under the light.
I was a kinslayer before; I am a kinslayer ten times over now. I feel no regrets. But it was not enough. Between Lady Diao and myself, there was enough knowledge of that wretched clan's internal workings to direct our actions. She and I guided our actions to target most of the faction Yuxuan had belonged to. However, we made sure to nip and bite at the others, too, all of them. No plot descending from the eight would be so foolish as to spare its own men to obscure a trail better after all.
Efforts were made to make allusions to a culprit or two anyway, though… it helped. Our Light, our Ideal… she could not be tarnished by such scheming. I speak as if it were all wholly deliberate, but in the end, there were times when she would strike as she would, as her ideal demanded. Even lies, by implication, caused her light to sear.
…The only lies that could persevere under her light were the ones that one had come to in one's mind, thinking it the full truth. And even then, if any scrap of contradicting evidence appeared, her light would make of it a searing, unignorable sore in one's soul.
It was well that she left no survivors where she struck.
It was better still when I brought a firebrand in the southwest to her attention. He had been active for some time, first as a commander in the armies of the Chu… and then as something of a preacher and an itinerant, a priest with no sect or god to call his own. He'd been ignored until now, when, even at his relatively high realm, Hui Yunfen, the wife of the Chu head, considered him more humorous than anything. That had changed, though.
Jia Hong was to be executed.
A Hui who successfully ran as part of a resistance cell to their own clan for a long time has to be hard-boiled as fuck.
ImperatorV
The Laughing One
- Location
- The Voyaging Realm
Hui Lijie sounds like such an interesting person. I wonder what happened to them... If there was a currently living Hui defector, surely we would have heard of them at some point? It's not like a new identity would work with Shenhua being herself.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
New names are possible without being lies. Ling Qingge is not the name she was born with, but it's her real one.
Remember that Linqin's husband was Hui, so all her living children were named Hui while he was alive (well, except her new baby with Shenhua, who didn't exist back then). Forsaking the Hui name and identity is clearly possible if you do it sincerely.
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Sirrocco
Pedantic
- Pronouns
- He/Him
...and far easier to do sincerely when you have The Radiance to sear all of those accumulated Hui lies out of you. "No, really, I have been made new."