Lets heap insult on injury and have snow-mouto outpunk the punk!
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.
Eh, Yu Nuan gets something out it. Lets be real, if Hanyi's nonsense is enough to disrupt her plan to find a spirit, then her plan probably wasn't amazing. Which is not to say we shouldn't apologize for the trouble after this whole thing is done, but she'll have her spirit then so I'm sure she won't be too mad.
[] A beautiful and alluring piece (Control, Balanced, Manipulation)
If we take the different pieces as influencing Hanyi's future personality, I think she definitely needs a little honey to sweeten that vinegar. Last thing I want is for her to be *more* bombastic and over-bearing, but she wouldn't be Hanyi if she was "quiet". Teaching her that you can get further with a smile and an alluring song than with an irritating brag seems like just the right lesson.
If we take the different pieces as influencing Hanyi's future personality, I think she definitely needs a little honey to sweeten that vinegar. Last thing I want is for her to be *more* bombastic and over-bearing, but she wouldn't be Hanyi if she was "quiet". Teaching her that you can get further with a smile and an alluring song than with an irritating brag seems like just the right lesson.
- Location
- Brazil
Bombastic and overbearing is certainly within her character.
Come on ling qi, just admit it, your spirits are your children. Even sixiang.
- Location
- United States of America
I'm glad that you could participate! It's always nice to have new fresh people participating in the quest. However, I am going to push back against this argument for Coldstar a bit.I rarely participate in this Quest, but I feel the need to bring up some arguments in favour of Coldstar Blade since they dont really seem to come up often in these build discussions even if someone probably already noticed them in all the pages I didnt read.
The parts of the art I want to point your attention towards are the description at the start that describes an arts placement within the world of this story.
Firstly, the whole part where people who use this art lineage are known for being especially elegant and dignified is probably pretty useful for a commoner struggling with what other think of her upbringing. Gracefulness will probably just increase as one of the passive benefits of physical cultivation, but I still see some trouble there. Most of Ling Qis arts are pretty stationary, because they are music stuff. The prominent Arts that arent will be the "I am soooo drunk, lets just have a good time" dance and the "I am an eight-year old from before manners were invented" run. Our saving grace Sable Crescent Step turned into a "Why would anyone still use limbs to move!?" technique upon extended contact with Ling Qi.
Maybe Yrsillar will let this opportunity to make us face a fun and flavourful problem pass, but I, if I were in his shoes, would just cackle evilly when hitting the Post Reply button on the update where a concerned Xiulan takes Ling Qi aside to ask her how she managed to somehow become more boorish during the cultivation ascent.
The other thing is that the whole "Endangered Art deliberately spread by its Masters" just opens a whole bunch of story-telling doors. The biggest among them is that Ling Qi will spend her immediate future in a place of learning, meaning most of the adults around us are going to be some flavour of nerd. Currently we havent given them a reason to have an opinion about our protagonist yet, so something like "Aw, how splendid to see a young student keep alive the imperilled fruits of such a storied Sect" is likely to come up just because having Ling Qi only encounter elders who dont give a shit about her in either direction gets a bit monotone to write and read.
Its also worth thinking a bit more about the fact that they are so invested in spreading their legacy that they have already created a simplified version just to make it accessible to people who arent surrounded by what the Art contemplates on. We can probably expect that effort to not end there. I wouldnt be surprised if the follow-ups comes to us with barely any effort from our side once Ling Qi has mastered the basics they have strewn into the winds, just because the Sect the arts are from are in the weird position of desperately wanting to share their secrets.
Then long term we could profit from the fact that Ling Qi wouldnt be the only person to take advantage of this opportunity. She can currently randomly go up to one of the Core Sects strongest to ask him for guidance, and that relationship pretty much started because he was happy to find someone who shared one of his Arts, so there is a precedent for Arts mattering in that way.
A downside of being a commoner is that Ling Qi lacks connections, both positive and negative ones. This can get boring. Learning Coldstar means that she can justifiably encounter other cultivators who are like "Hey, nice to meet a Cold Blade Buddy!" when she has to do stuff in a part of the Empire where none of her established friend has a reason appear.
In conclusion, Coldstar Blade not just being some Art but something rooted in the setting, with an actual history and reputation even, can matter in a lot of fun ways and the fact that most of you just overlook everything but the mathy aspects makes me sad.
To my understanding, this argument gives two reasons for why we should pursue the Coldstar art: 1) It is a graceful and elegant art and Ling Qi will find grace and elegance useful in having the other nobles view her favorably; 2) The Coldstar art will open up possible connections with Elder's here in the Argent Sect as well as possible connections with others who have learned it in areas where Ling Qi has limited connections.
First off, let's discuss the first aspect of the argument. I agree that Ling Qi will find grace and elegance useful features when dealing with the Emerald Sea nobility, especially since she is a commoner. I disagree, however, that the Coldstar art is the means by which we should pursue grace and elegance for a multiple of reasons. The primary reason is that the Coldstar art is designed as a combat art. Using a combat art for the social purpose of having nobles view Ling Qi favorably is problematic because the first, and ultimate, goal of a combat art is to win in combat. Combat arts do this by synergizing with other combat arts to present a cohesive suite of offensive and defensive options in order to defeat the opponent. Using these arts for the optics, while possible, is only beneficial if we can win with the arts. So the first, necessary, question is how does the Coldstar art synergize with our current combat style in order to improve our chances of victory.
Quite frankly, it really struggles with that synergy. It requires blades while most of Ling Qi's offensive arts are musical in nature. Second, Ling Qi sucks at blade work, which this art would require Ling Qi use. So even though the art is cool and thematically potent, it would be a struggle to fit it in our combat style and Ling Qi will likely have better options for combat meaning that the art won't be used nearly enough for the optics to be worth it.
It would be much more beneficial for us to get a social art designed to be graceful and elegant. Quite frankly, our social suite is still in its infancy and has a lot more flexibility than our combat suite. Furthermore social combat, it can be argued, is all about the optics. Focusing then on being graceful and elegant for such social encounters would be much more beneficial to us in terms of swaying the Emeral Sea nobilities' minds.
As to the second aspect of the argument, using the Coldstar art for the potential connections, I'm of the opinion that there are other, less time-intensive, means of doing just that. We already have some positive connections with Elder Ying and Elder Jiao, even if they are tenuous at best, and we have a potential connection with a Core sect student through Xiulan. Instead of using time training the Coldstar blade, I think it would be more prudent to invest that theoretical time expenditure in those connections to make them less tenuous. As noted, we only have a little more than a year and a half left here in the Sect, and so I think it would be better to strengthen the ties we already have in order for those ties to survive the transition out of sect life.
As for making connections outside of the Emerald Seas after the sect? I'm not particularly concerned with our ability to make connections given our position to Lady Cai. If we are outside of the Emerald Seas, in an area where we have no prior connections, it will likely be on business for Lady Cai in which case our association with the heir will be enough to begin forging connections.
Also... New update!
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Nice to see Zhengui and Sixiang both working to expand their repertoire, especially that they're usable at range.
Zhengui's so loyal and gullible, he and Hanyi are both adorable <3
Yay Yu Nuan! Glad to see her again, as cool as ever. Not surprised that this is all Hanyi's fault, luckily for her she's cute enough to get away with it. Shame though that Yu thinks LQ is petty enough mess with her just for an excuse to retaliate.
Also have no clue what to vote for.
Zhengui's so loyal and gullible, he and Hanyi are both adorable <3
Yay Yu Nuan! Glad to see her again, as cool as ever. Not surprised that this is all Hanyi's fault, luckily for her she's cute enough to get away with it. Shame though that Yu thinks LQ is petty enough mess with her just for an excuse to retaliate.
Also have no clue what to vote for.
I say we should go with the option that fits her better, she is a brat who like to cause damage and be praised for it, and she is neither mature enough for the beautiful piece nor quiet and contemplative enough for the other.
We shouldn't try to change who she is or influence who she'll gonna became, we should let her be who she is right now and give her space to choose who she wants to be.
That is what a good sister/guardian should do in my opinion and Ling Qi seem to want to be a good family figure for her spirit so...
We shouldn't try to change who she is or influence who she'll gonna became, we should let her be who she is right now and give her space to choose who she wants to be.
That is what a good sister/guardian should do in my opinion and Ling Qi seem to want to be a good family figure for her spirit so...
- Location
- UK
Nice, practising something with Zhengui! Although that term, ammunition...
He isn't...
...and he is.
Well, I guess a sensible disgusting system is for beings who aren't a direction beast.
Or magic at all, anyway.
...this has also reminded me of the 'do spirit beasts poop' discussion, which, well, I guess now depends on your definition of poop...
So it looks like our suspicions were right and that it was the Ugly River Eel who bullied Hanyi.
Nevermind!
The bait and switch from Yrs! He played us like a damned fiddle!
That's kinda adorable, but also dammit Hanyi. Feel kinda bad for Yu Nuan, I guess our reputation has gotten a bit too scary now for people to complain to us?
...although I kinda doubt it, I really do hope Hanyi hasn't been messing with all our previous challenges...
Good to see Ling Qi being fair about this, considering it was her mistake. I don't think there was anything we could have done to pre-empt this considering people have been saying this is Hanyi's first social action?
A very nice update overall.
[X] A bombastic and overbearing piece (Damaging, Yang, Presence)
Screamo Hanyi here we come.
Screamo Hanyi here we come.
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Mother Nyx
Mother of Elpis
- Location
- The Kei Klub
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Bombastic is the best choice.
- Location
- New Zealand
Honestly, two of these options just sound like they're copying Hanyi's older 'family members'.
[] A bombastic and overbearing piece (Damaging, Yang, Presence)
-This sounds like Hanyi's natural leanings.
[] A beautiful and alluring piece (Control, Balanced, Manipulation)
-Copying Hanyi's mother.
[] A quiet and melancholic piece (Defensive, Yin, Composure)
-Copying Ling Qi.
[] A bombastic and overbearing piece (Damaging, Yang, Presence)
-This sounds like Hanyi's natural leanings.
[] A beautiful and alluring piece (Control, Balanced, Manipulation)
-Copying Hanyi's mother.
[] A quiet and melancholic piece (Defensive, Yin, Composure)
-Copying Ling Qi.
Black Noise
Curious
- Location
- About 1AU from Sol
From discord, xepheria asked if this is a flavor vote or if it'll affect narrative and this is what yrs said:
Fun as bombastic would be, it's not the option that gets Hanyi on the path of facing the loss of her mother. Especially with "Growing Pains" as the name of the arc.
Melancholic is the obvious "help her face the loss" choice, while I'd say Alluring is "remind her that she too can grow to be like her mother" which is also valid. Bombastic would be something like "help by cheering her up" which is really not the way to address this kind of problem.
Fun as bombastic would be, it's not the option that gets Hanyi on the path of facing the loss of her mother. Especially with "Growing Pains" as the name of the arc.
Melancholic is the obvious "help her face the loss" choice, while I'd say Alluring is "remind her that she too can grow to be like her mother" which is also valid. Bombastic would be something like "help by cheering her up" which is really not the way to address this kind of problem.
the spirits anger > spirit's
the disciples homes > disciples'
well, do you want to emphasize her character
or try to change it
the disciples homes > disciples'
well, do you want to emphasize her character
or try to change it
- Location
- Third planet from the star named Sol
- Pronouns
- He/They
Or it could, because it is telling Hanyi to sing her own song, not her mother's. All of these lead to growth and self reflection, IMO. People grow and develop in different ways, and all three of these are that indifferent ways.
- Location
- Finland
I knew it.
Now where's my NoPrice for the most obvious prediction of the decade?
Anyway, i think i'm leaning towards
[] A beautiful and alluring piece (Control, Balanced, Manipulation)
option.
It's not what Hanyi is, but it is, i think, what Hanyi wants to be.
Here's an opportunity for personal growth, both in power and in character, for Hanyi and us both.
[] A bombastic and overbearing piece (Damaging, Yang, Presence)
Would not be bad either, it's more like what Hanyi is, but while i do like her as she is, i think she kinda needs to learn to how to not get into more trouble.