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Now I'm imagining the Planetmind from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, a planet wide fungus network brain, being some sort of world spirit cultivator...
Xianxia Encompassing the World! (Xianxia Rec Discussion and Idea thread)
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Now I'm imagining the Planetmind from Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, a planet wide fungus network brain, being some sort of world spirit cultivator...
There's that one forest that consists of a single tree. That would be a fun Unorthodox plant cultivator that isn't just "lots of murder, I guess". Though I've mostly played with the idea in a western fantasy context.
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Well, there's a character named Willow God in Perfect World, IIRC. And they're supposed to be one of the strongest cultivators of the past era. But I think there's a stereotype of plant cultivators cultivating faith based techniques for some reason. Most plant cultivators I've read have leaned hard into that stereotype.
ZeroXSEED
Economic Authoritarian Muslim Leftist
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In my case it's less plant ascending and they just give birth to guardian spirit after they reach certain cultivation level
The plant and the spirit are one and the same. But the spirit could even symbolize multiple plants. Or an entire mountain range.
One of them got created/born when a bunch of students used Buddha purification ritual on vengeful forest ghost.
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If you want to talk about plant cultivators, then there is also Emriss Silentborn in the Cradle series.
Not only a tree, but one of the undisputed Monarchs of that setting.
Also, xenoficiton book with interesting implications if you add Cultivaiton to the equation;
Not only a tree, but one of the undisputed Monarchs of that setting.
Also, xenoficiton book with interesting implications if you add Cultivaiton to the equation;
On a world devastated by the importation of alien grasses, Melyl is an intelligent, telepathic tree who can eavesdrop on the minds of anyone who eats her berries. She was kidnapped, enslaved, and forced to use her powers to spy on her master's rival nations. It won't be long before she is discovered, uprooted, and burned as another invader. But how can she free herself when she is rooted in her kidnapper's garden?
I think the more interesting thing is, rhubarb and grapes aren't evolved for extreme conditions, humans discovered that those extreme conditions mess up their internal chemistry in tasty ways. With rhubarb, limiting the amount of light it gets means that it produces fewer bitter chemicals. The conditions that are optimal for the plant to grow may not be the optimal ones for producing what humans want from it.
In xianxia land, you could have a plant which normally uses a balanced qi to grow itself, but if you expose it to excess metal qi it accumulates in the leaves and stems and starts producing Silver Razor Thorns or something. But this kills the plant eventually so if you want that cultivation resource you need to schlep cuttings back and forth between the pleasant fields where it can reproduce properly and the Steel Hell Mountains where it produces what you want.
Or maybe there's a "purifying herb" which works like sunflowers leaching heavy metals from the soil - it doesn't have any inherently holy quality to it, but if you plant it somewhere with demonic qi then it gradually absorbs it, and corrupted demon sunflowers aren't really dangerous compared to other things that could be corrupted by it.
ZeroXSEED
Economic Authoritarian Muslim Leftist
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You forget the fact that farming in xianxia is so underrated and everyone and their grandma hunt for whatever arbitrary age plant in the wild
Selective breeding and domestication should be a plot on it's own, but it was never a part of the genre
Selective breeding and domestication should be a plot on it's own, but it was never a part of the genre
This would be peak fiction I'd love to see the cultivator world from the perspective of a hovemind tree.
I mean, the story doesn't have to be about agriculture. My point is more that you don't have to limit yourself to "this plant naturally grows in super hostile magic environments," you can also use "this plant grows in hostile magic environments because someone put it there on purpose." Which might naturally lead to interesting follow ups like "who planted it there?" and "are they going to be mad if the protagonist starts digging up their garden?"
ZeroXSEED
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BoC to English original Xianxia is like Mushoku Tensei to Isekai. It was hardly the first, but the one get big and redefine the tropes.
And another reason I refuse to read it. I don't want it to influence my works. If there's any similarities, that would be a coincidence.
And another reason I refuse to read it. I don't want it to influence my works. If there's any similarities, that would be a coincidence.
Leingod
Immaculate Blooming Lotus
That's because a lot of the ingredients valued in traditional Chinese medicine are extremely difficult to grow at commercial scale, even with the benefit of modern technology and agricultural knowledge. Ginseng, the premier example, is not only prone to a dizzying array of devastating diseases, but needs a minimum of 4 years to grow and 10 if you want it to be really valuable, and it not only requires extremely specific growing conditions that are a lot of work to manage and will kill the plant if you fuck up at any stage, a single growing depletes said soil and makes it almost impossible to grow a second crop on that same plot after you harvest the first one without extensive soil recovery. People do still grow it commercially in farms, but it's a very high-risk, high-reward strategy; one bad season due to the aforementioned array of diseases puts you in dire straits, a second leaves you bankrupt.
An American example is huckleberries: They aren't grown commercially, even though they theoretically could be, because the places they grow are bad for intensive, large-scale cultivation. They're similarly very picky about their growing conditions, and nobody wants to live 2,000 feet above sea level in cold, snowy foothills and mountains just to grow a berry that can take up to 10 years to start producing fruit. Easier and more convenient by far, at least for people living in the area, to just go up to the mountains and pick them once a year.
Nah, I don't buy that. Cradle is the english xianxia, and it actually is a straightforward implementation for the most part. BoC isn't, but the way it isn't isn't even that new. Because there's a ton of stories, and they're also so formulaic, there's been stories subverting those formulas in every way for a damn long time. And if we're talking popular english parodies, Arrogant Young Master Template 4 preceededs BoC too.
I'm gonna be honest, i don't understand the logic. Like, if you refuse to read the best works in a genre, that doesn't mean you won't be influenced. It just means you'll be influenced by the worse versions in derivative works. Unless you just don't read works in the genre, but that seems strange too.
ZeroXSEED
Economic Authoritarian Muslim Leftist
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I don't read English original Xianxia in general.
Translated works, sure. And even then it's getting more sparse. I watched more live action and animation more than I read now.
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Especially with how specific all the other things they're doing are.
The MC gets some super-exotic cultivation technique with some odd-ball requirements at the absolute highest purity and cost, then they tack on whatever random garbage they stumble over.
There really should be some interference.
"I have an Ultra-Violet Grade cultivation, which is great, but it means I can't touch anything made by a left-handed craftsman and grain pills make me gassy."
The MC gets some super-exotic cultivation technique with some odd-ball requirements at the absolute highest purity and cost, then they tack on whatever random garbage they stumble over.
There really should be some interference.
"I have an Ultra-Violet Grade cultivation, which is great, but it means I can't touch anything made by a left-handed craftsman and grain pills make me gassy."
I'd like to rec a new (?) Royalroad thing: License to Cultivate. It's an English-language xianxia written by a husband-wife team, 30 chapters in. Chapters are long and the writing is very solid.
In terms of cultivation, this is based on the different colours of light with there being seven kinds of "lux"/ki, one for each of the ROYGBIV colors. Lux can be found out in the wild but is mostly found inside towers, so to get stronger you need to get climb towers, defeat monsters, solve puzzles, etc. In other words, it's cultivation + tower climbing.
The plot: the protagonist Wu Chang-li is a humble scribe in a remarkably more-authoritarian-than-usual empire, where roles of who does what, who's allowed to marry who, and who's allowed to cultivate are very strictly regulated. The story starts when Chang-li is trapped inside a tower and finds a relic, which he uses to cultivate when that path is officially barred to him. Things start spiralling from there.
Why I like it: the characters make sense, the writing's in good-quality prose, and the setting's pretty developed, it feels like. Obviously it remains to be seen where it'll go, but there's enough that I can unequivocally rec it for now.
In terms of cultivation, this is based on the different colours of light with there being seven kinds of "lux"/ki, one for each of the ROYGBIV colors. Lux can be found out in the wild but is mostly found inside towers, so to get stronger you need to get climb towers, defeat monsters, solve puzzles, etc. In other words, it's cultivation + tower climbing.
The plot: the protagonist Wu Chang-li is a humble scribe in a remarkably more-authoritarian-than-usual empire, where roles of who does what, who's allowed to marry who, and who's allowed to cultivate are very strictly regulated. The story starts when Chang-li is trapped inside a tower and finds a relic, which he uses to cultivate when that path is officially barred to him. Things start spiralling from there.
Why I like it: the characters make sense, the writing's in good-quality prose, and the setting's pretty developed, it feels like. Obviously it remains to be seen where it'll go, but there's enough that I can unequivocally rec it for now.
I'm pretty sure that Weapons Of The Gods and Legend Of Wulin have been mentioned here previously?
Well, there are more Xianxia TTRPG nowadays, but they seem to be attempting to take a more Western spin on things;
IE, they probably just wanted free art.
Ruthless Heavens has taken the stance that the in-universe powers that add societies and planets the whole Cultivation treadmill, whether they want to join or not, have ordered that anyone who studies or uses advanced technology is to have their species exterminated and their culture erased from history.
Largely because technological progress sorta undermines the whole "personal strength is the only thing that matters" ethos they preach.
Well, there are more Xianxia TTRPG nowadays, but they seem to be attempting to take a more Western spin on things;
^It's D&D 5E, and it uses AI generated art because "nobody was willing to produce the unique blend of Eastern and Western styles I required".DriveThruRPG
www.drivethrurpg.com
Unveil the Mysteries of Cultivation!
Step into the world of "Ruthless Heavens," a tabletop RPG supplement that merges the rich traditions of Western fantasy with the awe-inspiring power and mysticism of Xianxia cultivation. In this meticulously crafted guide, you'll find a treasure trove of new rules, concepts, and options that breathe life into your D&D 5e campaigns.
IE, they probably just wanted free art.
D20, but not the same as any form of D&D that I have encountered before.DriveThruRPG
www.drivethrurpg.com
Ruthless Heavens, Boundless Fate is an epic Role-Playing Game of cosmic adventure and power cultivation inspired by the LitRPG genre. In it, players play as Ascendants, powerful characters that due to a combination of talent, luck and sheer determination have become the de-facto rulers of their nations. Unfortunately for them, this means little in the cosmic scale, and they quickly find out that they are at the bottom of the power ladder. Their planet has just been introduced to the Path of Ascendancy by the Ruthless Heavens, and as such the rest of the Nolurian Sector is now aware of its existence. It falls to them to become strong enough to protect their homeland, exploring the sector for new opportunities while sending them resources so they can eventually be strong themselves. Through hard work and fortuitous encounters they will have the chance to do so, while reaching new heights of power and cultivation.
Ruthless Heavens has taken the stance that the in-universe powers that add societies and planets the whole Cultivation treadmill, whether they want to join or not, have ordered that anyone who studies or uses advanced technology is to have their species exterminated and their culture erased from history.
Largely because technological progress sorta undermines the whole "personal strength is the only thing that matters" ethos they preach.
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Caught up with it. Pretty solid, which puts it in the top 10% of cultivation stuff already.
Of note, there's something like 5 pov characters, and Chang-Li gets somewhat more screen time, but they're all leads. So the plotting is already comparatively complex there, and it seems well done so far.
I also want to note that the relic is really just a bunch of information, and they're already running up to the limits. It's not a cheat.