BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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- Lickwidget
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I do not remember the lake thing. Can you supply the wog you're thinking of please?
Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)
- Thread starter yrsillar
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Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
Sirrocco
Pedantic
[X] Invite Xuan Shi to help you with building his breakthough nest. Surely his knowledge will improve it
[X][M] Ask Cai Renxiang to put it up for auction
by the time we get out far enough to turn the mirror into anything useful, we'll have other stuff to exploit, and we need as many accelerators as we can get in the next two years. If it had some personal connection to us, it might be worth hanging onto, but it doesn't - it's just as valuable to its eventual buyers as it would be to us, and the short-term boost is going to matter to us a great deal more.
[X][M] Ask Cai Renxiang to put it up for auction
by the time we get out far enough to turn the mirror into anything useful, we'll have other stuff to exploit, and we need as many accelerators as we can get in the next two years. If it had some personal connection to us, it might be worth hanging onto, but it doesn't - it's just as valuable to its eventual buyers as it would be to us, and the short-term boost is going to matter to us a great deal more.
I'm on mobile, but it's from discord in general on October 23 2018:
(Referring to why Yao the Fisher is called 'The Fisher')
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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- Lickwidget
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Ah I see! Cool.
- Location
- The Temple of the Winds
I don't think CRX actually relaxes, she just fakes whatever needed to have Ling Qi relax in her presence without really feeling it.
It is good that she can better fake being human now. It'll be useful in relaxing political enemies down the line.
That's fine. Even if she is faking, if she does it enough it'll become real.
- Location
- The United States
- Pronouns
- He/They
Props to Yrs for knowing that Tin was the rare metal (with Bronze age smelting) in the Tin-Copper pair.
Just to highlight something here. Renxiang immediately knew who Shen Hu was, and his background, off the top of her head.
I was giving us shit about our Academics before, but in terms of general knowledge and stuff? That's something we need to be able to do. If we're gonna be all social and spy-y and Renxiang's left hand, we need to know about all the major families in Emerald Sea (and later beyond). We need to know the politics, and the history of the Weilu. In the immediate term, we need to know about everyone who might be interesting and relevant in the Inner Sect. We shouldn't have to rely on Renxiang to know who everyone is.
And if we have to burn an AP studying this kind of stuff? I'd totally be willing to do it. Because it's something we need to know.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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Same here, since it's something she will expect of us going forward as it is part of the job she took us on for.
NaanContributor
Provider of delicious flatbread, and nothing else.
- Location
- Hawaii
[X] Invite Xuan Shi to help you with building his breakthough nest. Surely his knowledge will improve it
[X][M] Ask Cai Renxiang to put it up for auction
[X][M] Ask Cai Renxiang to put it up for auction
- Location
- The United States
- Pronouns
- He/They
You know what helps memorization?
Writing a mnemonic song.
Writing a mnemonic song.
I expect that this will take considerably more than an AP. She has been soaking up general knowledge for years at this point, Ling Qi has only been picking up this sort of thing for a couple months under her tutelage.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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A lot of the general idea and scope should be reachable with books on hand, and I'm willing to spend AP quite vigorously so we can do the title job we were given.
Or a Hidden Moon divination art!
- Location
- The United States
- Pronouns
- He/They
Let's find us a Perception/Divination/S.Def (not necessarily all those) art that trains Academics and call it a day.
Also, we have a mandate to practice our calligraphy, so maybe more formations lessons are in order.
Also, we have a mandate to practice our calligraphy, so maybe more formations lessons are in order.
BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
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I gotta speak up here.
But I really despise the "Immediately leap for grabbing Art of X to solve a problem and then forget about it" idea which this post basically seems to espouse. Closely related and the source is the idea of "everything we do must have an art".
It's what I was talking about when I quoted your post about music arts with the response about composing. If the main avenue of us fulfilling this information/intel/spy work need comes from an art, it cheapens it, because we are only fulfilling it with an art when we could be going above and beyond by spending personal effort on things. We have some amount of it by using an art, but narratively we can benefit from doing more with the entire sphere of intel gathering and will be expected to if current trends are anything to go by.
With music it's even worse, because, for as much as Ling Qi does know music and does practice and study it in her spare time basically none of that actually gets translated into stuff we can actually read about. Thus I would strongly argue that music is only a part of her life in the context of cultivation, which is honestly a massive loss given that it can act as a means of connecting with her family, personal relaxation and stress relief, and we have a requirement now to approach it and expand our horizons as an entertainer.
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Yeah. Similarly, like I was complaining about with War before I would say that there are some skills that really can't be trained effectively via cultivation. Or at least not just via cultivation.
Academics is going to, as a practical matter, require us to actually learn stuff. Hell, it isn't even about getting high academics there! The actual issue is that there is stuff we need to learn. Government is similarly something that we're going to just have to learn and won't be using arts for. War? We need actual groups of people and the right wargames and theoretical education for that. Practicing casting buffs from random art X isn't really going to teach us those things.
Library Workers have it Rough
- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
Library Workers have it Rough
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Shen Wuhan grumbled to himself as he took books, scrolls, and tomes off the shelves. He carefully put these terribly old and fragile pieces of knowledge onto the cart he was pushing ahead of him. Using some qi tricks older archivists had taught him he carefully cleaned off years of dust so he could read the titles. Once the book was marginally cleaner he would write the title and location the book was found into the ledger he carried with him. When all the books on a shelf were stored and marked he would move to the next shelf. If Shen Wuhan was lucky it was simply a mind numbing process, he had not been lucky today. Shen Wuhan grimaced as he looked at the cover of the book he had dusted off. It didn't have a title on the front.
These were the worst books. He would have to open the book up in order to check the title. Depending on how old and fragile the book was he could damage it severely just by opening it without the correct qi flows. He prepared himself and slowly cracked open the book. A small piece of paper fluttered out and landed on the cart. He leaned a little to take a closer look what the paper had written on it.
"I've been watching you Shen Wuhan."
Shen Wuhan gently took the piece of paper and slipped it back into the book. As he slipped the note back the book began to scream and it's pages looked far rougher, and far sharper, than parchment should be. Shen Wuhan slammed the book shut and quickly put it back on the shelf where the book began to quiet down.
As Shen Wuhan looked at the nameless book he was able to say only one thing, "fuck." This was the third book he had found today that had been possessed by a crazed library spirit. He had already banished the other two spirits but his qi had run low. Slowly Shen Wuhan turned to look out of a nearby window making sure the book stayed in his view. The sun was almost touching the peak of the Misty Rains mountain and in a few minutes it surely would. As he turned back to the unknown book he felt the library spirit flex it's qi. He could feel the sweat that had started to form on his neck as the book stared back at him with it's blank cover. After a few minutes had passed he checked the window again. This time the sun was touching the peak.
"What a shame," Shen Wuhan announced out loud. "My shift seems to be over." Shen Wuhan turned his library cart around and he heard the book shuffling it's cover back and forth in what sounded like a crude laugh. He heard at least two other books doing the same further down the aisle.
"Yah, Yah," Shen Wuhan called over his shoulder. "I'll be back tomorrow though so don't get too comfortable."
As Shen Wuhan descended he could see his fellow archivists emerging from their aisles and the night crew walking through the doors. When he passed by the history section he gave a wave to the older archivists who were busy helping to suppress a library spirit that had gained enough strength to pull a great deal of pages together. Right now it was in the form of a bear trying to maul the head archivist. Those library spirits were the worst. You couldn't simply force the spirit away because that might damage some of the pages containing precious knowledge. No, you just had to endure it's attacks as you slowly suppressed it.
As Shen Wuhan passed through the main floor and gave his cart over to the archivist manning the front desk he turned back towards the library to observe the art taking place before his eyes.
Great hills and valleys were being formed as books where stacked higher than a man could reach. It was a field of paper and ink that stretched before his eyes and continued deep into the shadowed aisles of the library.
He sighed as he turned around a left the library. Being an archivist was normally a cushy job. He usually had only three tasks. Find the book. Put the book away. Suppress the odd mischievous library spirit. It was only when a fucking higer up order a fucking full audit of the library that things became hell. The library spirits that normally dozed years and years away awoke and started to defend the books they thought were being removed. Now the archivists had to fight the very books they loved so much in order to make someone who may never visit this library happy. Hopefully the audit would be done in a couple years and peace would return to this library again.
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@yrsillar Omake for the Omake throne!
So here is an omake since you guys liked my comments about libraries so much. Full disclosure I worked at the college library during my days as a student there. When I finally left college and thus my library job I was likely the 3rd most superstitious person on campus only being beat out by my two bosses at the library. If you are not a superstitious person when you start working at a library you will be superstitious when you stop working at the library. For example during the audit my library had to do I found a blank covered book. When I opened the book a note fell out saying "I've been watching you insertrealnamehere." I checked the book and it had last left a library in 1937. That was before my college was founded. I did not put that book on my cart. I left that book for someone else to audit.
Please critique! It helps me become a better writer.
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Shen Wuhan grumbled to himself as he took books, scrolls, and tomes off the shelves. He carefully put these terribly old and fragile pieces of knowledge onto the cart he was pushing ahead of him. Using some qi tricks older archivists had taught him he carefully cleaned off years of dust so he could read the titles. Once the book was marginally cleaner he would write the title and location the book was found into the ledger he carried with him. When all the books on a shelf were stored and marked he would move to the next shelf. If Shen Wuhan was lucky it was simply a mind numbing process, he had not been lucky today. Shen Wuhan grimaced as he looked at the cover of the book he had dusted off. It didn't have a title on the front.
These were the worst books. He would have to open the book up in order to check the title. Depending on how old and fragile the book was he could damage it severely just by opening it without the correct qi flows. He prepared himself and slowly cracked open the book. A small piece of paper fluttered out and landed on the cart. He leaned a little to take a closer look what the paper had written on it.
"I've been watching you Shen Wuhan."
Shen Wuhan gently took the piece of paper and slipped it back into the book. As he slipped the note back the book began to scream and it's pages looked far rougher, and far sharper, than parchment should be. Shen Wuhan slammed the book shut and quickly put it back on the shelf where the book began to quiet down.
As Shen Wuhan looked at the nameless book he was able to say only one thing, "fuck." This was the third book he had found today that had been possessed by a crazed library spirit. He had already banished the other two spirits but his qi had run low. Slowly Shen Wuhan turned to look out of a nearby window making sure the book stayed in his view. The sun was almost touching the peak of the Misty Rains mountain and in a few minutes it surely would. As he turned back to the unknown book he felt the library spirit flex it's qi. He could feel the sweat that had started to form on his neck as the book stared back at him with it's blank cover. After a few minutes had passed he checked the window again. This time the sun was touching the peak.
"What a shame," Shen Wuhan announced out loud. "My shift seems to be over." Shen Wuhan turned his library cart around and he heard the book shuffling it's cover back and forth in what sounded like a crude laugh. He heard at least two other books doing the same further down the aisle.
"Yah, Yah," Shen Wuhan called over his shoulder. "I'll be back tomorrow though so don't get too comfortable."
As Shen Wuhan descended he could see his fellow archivists emerging from their aisles and the night crew walking through the doors. When he passed by the history section he gave a wave to the older archivists who were busy helping to suppress a library spirit that had gained enough strength to pull a great deal of pages together. Right now it was in the form of a bear trying to maul the head archivist. Those library spirits were the worst. You couldn't simply force the spirit away because that might damage some of the pages containing precious knowledge. No, you just had to endure it's attacks as you slowly suppressed it.
As Shen Wuhan passed through the main floor and gave his cart over to the archivist manning the front desk he turned back towards the library to observe the art taking place before his eyes.
Great hills and valleys were being formed as books where stacked higher than a man could reach. It was a field of paper and ink that stretched before his eyes and continued deep into the shadowed aisles of the library.
He sighed as he turned around a left the library. Being an archivist was normally a cushy job. He usually had only three tasks. Find the book. Put the book away. Suppress the odd mischievous library spirit. It was only when a fucking higer up order a fucking full audit of the library that things became hell. The library spirits that normally dozed years and years away awoke and started to defend the books they thought were being removed. Now the archivists had to fight the very books they loved so much in order to make someone who may never visit this library happy. Hopefully the audit would be done in a couple years and peace would return to this library again.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@yrsillar Omake for the Omake throne!
So here is an omake since you guys liked my comments about libraries so much. Full disclosure I worked at the college library during my days as a student there. When I finally left college and thus my library job I was likely the 3rd most superstitious person on campus only being beat out by my two bosses at the library. If you are not a superstitious person when you start working at a library you will be superstitious when you stop working at the library. For example during the audit my library had to do I found a blank covered book. When I opened the book a note fell out saying "I've been watching you insertrealnamehere." I checked the book and it had last left a library in 1937. That was before my college was founded. I did not put that book on my cart. I left that book for someone else to audit.
Please critique! It helps me become a better writer.
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BungieONI
Seven gremlins in a trench coat
- Location
- Lickwidget
- Pronouns
- She/Her
There's two things here, one is a meta level technical piece and one is simply a reading aesthetic technical idea. The meta level is that you have multiple repeats of "[Emotion/thing/action] Shen Wuhan does something". An example is "Grimacing Shen Wuhan looked at the cover of the book he had dusted off." This repetition draws away from your use of the third person, and you should be careful about third person present and third person past. Either work, but not both.
The reading aesthetics thing is that the second "Once" can be a "When" and make everything flow better.
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- Location
- The Star Kingdom of Manticore
Thank you for the advice! I have never really written before and so these comments are very helpful. I've done some editing that will hopefully make the piece better.
I will note that this is partly in jest, partly because we picked the Hidden Moon as our second patron, but don't have any arts which would enhance our ability to fulfill the Hidden Moon's desire for learning.
I.e. the Serious part is that we do need a Perception art(AM is hardly one, its just psych shields), Hidden Moon is good for a number of Divination arts for pulling knowledge out of nothing and Cai DID affirm that our role is spymistress, which while not exactly optimal to personally infiltrate, does want the ability to verify information obtained.
Our Moon arts are currently:
-FVM - Grinning Moon
-SCS - Grinning Moon
-PLR - Dreaming Moon
This is not a super urgent or critical task, but if we take a Moon as a patron it is actually quite useful to our cultivation to trigger their bonus as often as possible, rather than continuing to lean on the Grinning Moon's bonus alone with Hidden Moon bonus as a random drop.
Academics being linked to it is not important. Its not even really nice(really nice would be an Occult based one so we can Spirit even more)
It occurs to me that books are going to be one of the most common object spirits. They're rarely brought into danger, they're usually well cared for and preserved, they contain a great deal of experiences for a relatively sessile object(most object spirits are prone to be pretty shortsighted because they only ever do one thing, while a book can well...read itself...and its neighbors).
And then when the book is lost in a ruin or tomb and yet the object spirit of the book valiantly does its duty, fighting off the spirits of rot, decay and damp.
And then its recovered and brought to a librarian or scribe. Who now has to struggle with translating the ancient text while fighting with the PTSD book spirit without damaging it.
- Location
- The Temple of the Winds
That's because Shenhua is the result of this quest's tutorial thread. Alpha build. Very exclusive participation.
Since it obviously worked yrsillar went ahead and started FoD on a more public setting
