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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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angelofwhim said:
so....this is very deep and all

but what would swordboi tribulation be like?

Swordspirit: You face a choice, this gold blade of jewels or this worn soldiers shortsword?

Swordboi: *cuts spirit*
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Traditionally(that is, in the cultivation mythos) , it would likely be along the lines of 'what is a sword?' 'what do you swing your sword for?' 'Cut or Stab best waifu?' etc.

Tribulations usually force confrontation with an important aspect of yourself, or just judge whether or not the thing you're holding up as an ideal/cultivation focus is solid.

A grammar cultivator could hold up 'I before E' and his tribulation would be 'but what about after c tho'...with lightning probably.


Yrs has a slightly different way of handling things but it is largely in line with this cultivation standard. Its pretty great.
 
[X] Face the world as it is. While idle dreams can inspire, only toil and sweat can create beauty.
[X] A harsh ending is sometimes necessary, for a beautiful lie is poor foundation for a new beginning.
 
[X] Face the world as it is. While idle dreams can inspire, only toil and sweat can create beauty.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by Killer_Whale on Mar 19, 2019 at 9:49 PM, finished with 235 posts and 129 votes.
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A few points on trials and tribulations:
-A tribulation requires people to push themselves to their limits in order to birth an insight.
-In order to do so, a tribulation requires either something at stake, or someone who is psychologically compelled to push themselves to their limits at a much lower threshold than normal people. However the Empire has limited uses for the latter case, pathological risk takers tend to deselect themselves from life in short order, since they also have lower thresholds for pissing off existing power structures.

-So we look to the other type of stakes:
--Physical stakes are near universal. An overwhelmingly powerful entity coming to eat your face is a consistently effective way to find out what someone REALLY believes in when their ass is in the fryer. They're also pretty easy to set up, the hard part is keeping it convincing or simply accepting that some of your trainees are going to die trying.

--Social stakes are prone to lasting consequences in a Sect environment, extending beyond the Sect, they're probably going to be less delibrate and more organically arising. I could definitely see some clans deliberately setting up a romance and then leveraging that bond to force a tribulation however. And for many parents(keeping in mind a lot of 'career' Greens would be settled down with family)...well at some point their children are going to get into shit deeper than they can help with, and that could count.

--Philosophical stakes...well either you've shaped your prospective cultivators towards a common philosophy which you then put to the test, or you have a custom tailored trial built to challenge their ideals. If you think about it this could be what Shenhua is doing to Renxiang. Put her ideals to the test with nearly impossible tasks, either she pushes through her limits to achieve her ideals AND the task, or she breaks one of them in the process and Shenhua might need a spare if that happens.

--Mental stakes, you can refer the Bloody Moon's Dream and when Zeqing hit Ling Qi with the Ghosts of Winters Past and Ghosts of Winters Future. Noting its a genre staple to go mad cultivating, pushing your mind to the limits and then it just shatters. In the worst case scenario, shattering and somehow passing the trial nonetheless, upon which you have a powerful but completely insane cultivator.

Of course, its never so simple and clear cut. Xiulan's Tribulation was a test of mental fortitude with physical consequences. She could have passed the mental test to hold out for the full barrage of lightning, and then failed the physical one when she fails to survive it. Or she could have failed the mental test, and left the peak a broken person that needed significant rebuilding and no boons.
As it is, she passed the mental test, and almost failed the physical, coming out with great power but also great consequences.

As such, while facepunching isn't necessary core to a tribulation, conflict competency remains very valuable. At the least, being qualified to fight usually means you have a variety of defenses to mitigate the consequences of failure so you might yet rebuild from a failed trial.
 
veekie said:
A few points on trials and tribulations:
-A tribulation requires people to push themselves to their limits in order to birth an insight.
-In order to do so, a tribulation requires either something at stake, or someone who is psychologically compelled to push themselves to their limits at a much lower threshold than normal people. However the Empire has limited uses for the latter case, pathological risk takers tend to deselect themselves from life in short order, since they also have lower thresholds for pissing off existing power structures.

-So we look to the other type of stakes:
--Physical stakes are near universal. An overwhelmingly powerful entity coming to eat your face is a consistently effective way to find out what someone REALLY believes in when their ass is in the fryer. They're also pretty easy to set up, the hard part is keeping it convincing or simply accepting that some of your trainees are going to die trying.

--Social stakes are prone to lasting consequences in a Sect environment, extending beyond the Sect, they're probably going to be less delibrate and more organically arising. I could definitely see some clans deliberately setting up a romance and then leveraging that bond to force a tribulation however. And for many parents(keeping in mind a lot of 'career' Greens would be settled down with family)...well at some point their children are going to get into shit deeper than they can help with, and that could count.

--Philosophical stakes...well either you've shaped your prospective cultivators towards a common philosophy which you then put to the test, or you have a custom tailored trial built to challenge their ideals. If you think about it this could be what Shenhua is doing to Renxiang. Put her ideals to the test with nearly impossible tasks, either she pushes through her limits to achieve her ideals AND the task, or she breaks one of them in the process and Shenhua might need a spare if that happens.

--Mental stakes, you can refer the Bloody Moon's Dream and when Zeqing hit Ling Qi with the Ghosts of Winters Past and Ghosts of Winters Future. Noting its a genre staple to go mad cultivating, pushing your mind to the limits and then it just shatters. In the worst case scenario, shattering and somehow passing the trial nonetheless, upon which you have a powerful but completely insane cultivator.

Of course, its never so simple and clear cut. Xiulan's Tribulation was a test of mental fortitude with physical consequences. She could have passed the mental test to hold out for the full barrage of lightning, and then failed the physical one when she fails to survive it. Or she could have failed the mental test, and left the peak a broken person that needed significant rebuilding and no boons.
As it is, she passed the mental test, and almost failed the physical, coming out with great power but also great consequences.

As such, while facepunching isn't necessary core to a tribulation, conflict competency remains very valuable. At the least, being qualified to fight usually means you have a variety of defenses to mitigate the consequences of failure so you might yet rebuild from a failed trial.
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I assume you have some quotes for this?

As in, please show WoG.

Sounds reasonable enough though.
 
yrsillar said:
The house rocked under her feet, and she knew it to be Zhengui's stride,
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Let's talk about the most important part of the update, which is, as always, zhengui.

We now have the idea of the home on zhengui in character. Moreover, and it's probably the most important here, we know LQ consider that as a dream of something perfect.

As such I would like, even if that option do not win, to not let our dream be dream and make them into reality.

What does this means ? I want to spend action into building a talisman home/fortress to put on zhengui.
 
Ya know, I just realized that the Domain of "Home" could pretty easily integrate Formations. After all, what better to build a Home out of?

Course, I have no idea if Formations even interact with Domains, especially at our level, so the point could be moot. But who knows? There are probably Formation Arts out there.
 
One person's desires cannot, alone make a home nor a family.
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I noticed some people commenting on how this option didn't appear to remix other insights as the other two do. For reference's sake, here are Ling Qi's Domain insights slotted so far:
-Sincerity is the measure by which the worthiness of the self and ones guests should be measured.
-There are endings and Endings, only the very last one is final. Just as winter ends in spring, small endings are new beginnings.
-Though a path might be hard and lonely, it has worth if you can present something of beauty to those you care for at the end.
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"Face the world as it is. While idle dreams can inspire, only toil and sweat can create beauty." looks like it combines elements from 1 and 3.
"A harsh ending is sometimes necessary, for a beautiful lie is poor foundation for a new beginning." appears to take from all three to some extent, but primarily 1 and 2.

"One person's desires cannot, alone make a home nor a family." does not obviously mirror the language as seen in the other options, but I think it is still related to more than just AM and the basic family/home related philosophy of our Domain. I believe that it draws from 3. The insight is a caution against a pitfall of the third insight leading to false expectations based on the labor, efforts, or pains that go into the "something of beauty" Ling Qi is presenting to someone. What the audience thinks is beautiful matters too, not just the scale of the trials attaining the metaphorical bauble.

It's also arguable that it's related to our 2nd insight. To make a home or a family, for a beginning, Ling Qi needs to temper (small end) her desires with understanding of the other parties involved. Which also obviously leads into the first insight; if Ling Qi's motives aren't sincere, her homemaking efforts are doomed from the start.

Basically, I think our advanced insights pull bits and pieces from our other insights, sometimes large and obvious ones, sometimes more subtle. Just the same as how our Domain effects vary in how obvious their relation is to our insights, and some effects appear to draw on multiple insights.
 
From Interlude 6 on RR:

Mother would be proud of her, she was sure, Gu Xiulan thought smugly as she fought the mess the other girl had made of her hair. It was just good sense to acquire those of good talent. Gu Xiulan had always wanted a handmaiden of her own after all.

Yes, that handmaiden turned out very well, eh Lanlan?

Had a hearty chuckle at this one.
 
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