A Sage's Journey (Original Xianxia)

[ChandraMagic]

Where in you are a young female martial artist who is on a search for Immortality in fantasy China in or around an era inspired by the Three Kingdoms.


Let me know if the image is too big or something. I tried to make it smaller, but in the process of resizing the image, the disk size of the thing doubled somehow and I am not sure how to fix this. Yes, I fail at image manipulation.

 

[ChandraMagic]

Resplendent Lotus​

You are just turned eighteen, and the daughter, and only child, of a baker. While you know your parents love you, you are also a disappointment, because you are not a son to carry on the family trade. Still, they clothe you and feed you and do love you, so it's an all right situation.

Sage Rank: F
The lowest rank of Sage. You barely have an awareness of the world around you, and only the faintest of yourself. This is the beginning of your journey, and you must work to master yourself, and the world around you, if you wish to progress.

Qi: F
In terms of your Qi, you have a tiny, tiny puddle of it. You've touched your Qi, barely. You have sparked it and you have 'seen' it circulate through your meridians. Focusing around your lower Dantian (which is three finger widths below, and two finger widths behind, your navel.

Agility: C
You are relatively quick on your feet, and have good flexibility. You can actually perform the splits, given enough time. You are generally graceful, and have an easy time to move your body about. Balance wise, you can walk along the top of a foot wide stone wall without a worry.

Endurance: E
From long hours of working at your parents' bakery, you have toughened yourself up. You do not get tired that easily, and you can take a hit or two before you break down crying. Well, a hit or two from an unskilled normal thug at least.

Strength: F
You are not the strongest Sage. No, you are not even the strongest normal human. Okay, you can admit it, you are relatively weak. Not as weak as those that refrain from performing manual labour, but in the grand scheme of things, you are comfortable only lifting something of about your weight.

 

[ChandraMagic]

Rules, because I have some, and I may as well quantify them, right?

- SO, first rule is obvious. No wirte-ins unless I specifically allow them. That is not to say you can't discuss and comment on why you are voting a certain way, you just can't write in votes/subvotes. I read all the posts, and I have been known to, a lot of the time, adjust what I write based on voter expectations.

- Discussion/comments make me happy. Like, they spur me on to write updates and such, so...do that, please?

- I will try to update this on the following schedule: Monday/Wednesday/Friday. This leave sme the weekend free to not have to worry about stuff, and it also gives voters an idea of when an update will happen.

- I will add more as I think of them.

 

[ChandraMagic]

The year is 438, and the Han Dynasty has been dead for twenty years. Today, the great country of Catai is divided into three. Three kingdoms. Three would-be claimants to be Emperor of Catai. Three armies, uneasily eyeing each other as a tension filled peace is maintained on a knife's edge.

That, however, is really, only for nobility, and the soldiers in the armies, to worry about. Most of the people of Catai do not care who is emperor, as long as money continues to come in, and food continues to appear on the table. Their only concern is when and which army will be burning their crops and raping their daughters.

Further removed however, are the Sages. Those that seek enlightenment, that seek to raise themselves up from their imperfect existence to something better. Or they just like the cool stuff they can do because of their expanded knowledge of themselves, and their place in the world. They have the chance to raise up to the very heavens themselves, or to wallow in the muck under a beggar's foot.

Some Sages follow a martial bent, learning to fight with sword and fist and feet as they work to refine themselves and their spirit, and others are more mystical, learning to listen to the world itself. Both are able to reach the highest heights of enlightenment, and both can fall deep into the muck.

It's all the same in the end, though. Where a learned Sage treads, the world itself trembles and the heavens take notice. They can grow to be living legends, and the annuls of history will remember them for ages to come.

So tell me, young Sage, about how your legend starts.


What Class Were You?
[X] Nobility
[X] Merchant
[X] Commoner
-[X] City
-[X] Rural
[X] Entertainer

What type of Sage Are You?
That is, are you in official training, in a Temple or Monastery, or are you self taught? (Both options are valid, and neither option is more powerful than the other. It is just that training and learning is faster with the former, with the penalty of having certain rules and restrictions, and the latter is slower, with fewer rules and restrictions. It also helps determine where you start.)

[X] Trained
[X] Self Taught

What weapon is your 'main' weapon?
While you can, obviously, use your body itself as a weapon, most styles also teach weapon use. Pick a weapon that you have trained extensively with, enough to be able to project your essence through it. Or, pick Hidden Weapons, which while offers you competency in use of improvised weapons, does not allow you to project your essence through them.

[X] Sword
(Double edged, straight sword. Considered elegant)

[X] Saber
(single edge, curved blade. Heavier than the sword, and considered rather brutish)

[X] Spear
(leaf shaped head, tassel lashed just underneath it. Not seen as elegant or brutish. Neutral)

[X] Staff
(length of wood, both ends clapped in iron. Considered a weapon of peasants)

[X] Hidden Weapons
(More about improvised weapons. Never as good as sticking to a single weapon, but there is more variety here at least. While you will never be creating airblades via slashing a hidden weapon, it is harder to divest you of weapons, and will probably be more comical in fight scenes, at least. Just not as epic.)

This quest is, obviously, SFW. There will never be any lewds in this do not ask. That said, if I, or the mods, feel that the blood and gore and violence get to be too much for SFW, then yes, it will be moved NSFW. Even then though, there will be no lewds.

So, important things now. This is sort of an Exalted-lite quest. Very Xianxia type. The MC will be female, and the quest will follow her from neophyte to Immortal, hopefully.

This first vote will be tallied by plan. You may, if you choose, vote for a name (that I may, or may not, pick, depending on how much I like it/feel it is suitable, though a winning name vote is more likely to see me use it than not). You may also post, BUT NOT VOTE ON, pictures for our young, nubile Sage. Of those I will either pick the one I like the most, or if there are a lot I like, then I will let people vote on which one from the ones I really like.

 

[ChandraMagic]

You may now post.

 

[Winged One]

[X] Commoner
-[X] City
[X] Self Taught
[X] Saber

Thug sage!

 

[gammoregan]

[X] Commoner
-[X] City
[X] Self Taught
[X] Hidden Weapons

The poorest and possibly weakest sage there is, with the greatest variety of everything.

 

[ChandraMagic]

Hm, creating a thread does not automatically watch said thread. Well, I feel like I should have known that.

Thug sage!

Click to shrink...

That is certainly what that plan could build...yes, I can work with that.

The poorest and possibly weakest sage there is, with the greatest variety of everything.

Click to shrink...

Technically not the poorest, as Entertainers are seen as lower, and thus, tend to be paid less, but you generally have a good grasp what those traits in that configuration mean.

Idly, the Sage you will get out of that one is, in general, sort of a Female Jackie Chan expy, as Hidden Weapons does not mean 'weapons I have hidden on myself', but rather, the 'weapons hidden amongst the scenery'. So, like Jackie Chan is likely to randomly use whatever that is around him to fight, so to, do you. This is why it is generally the weakest of the weapon arts, because your weapons tend to be flimsy, and there is no permanence with them. You don't keep hold of them longer than you need to use them to defend yourself, because that would defeat the purpose of the entire style.


Just as a reminder to everyone, currently it is voting by plan, although if I don't get a lot of voters, than I guess I could change it to vote by line (and no one gets what they want).

 

[LordVile]

[X] Merchant

The lowest class in prestige.
Second highest in money.

[X] Self Taught

Fro more options

[X] Hidden Weapons

For pulling a Fujiko Mine.

 

[mrttao]

[X] Nobility

I don't think I have ever seen a nobility MC in xianxia quest. i am somewhat partial to merchant too.

[X] Self Taught

Also something we don't usually see. and the fact we are noble would help

[X] Hidden Weapons

They will never see it coming.

 

[Seventeen]

[X] Nobility
[X] Self Taught
[X] Spear

 

[UrsaTempest]

Female Jackie Chan? Count me in!

[X] Commoner
-[X] City
[X] Self Taught
[X] Hidden Weapons

 

[DOOMPOTATO]

[X] Commoner
-[X] City
[X] Self Taught
[X] Saber

 

[Nekraa]

[X] Commoner
-[X] City
[X] Self Taught
[X] Hidden Weapons

 

[Xicree]

[X] Commoner
-[X] City
[X] Self Taught
[X] Hidden Weapons

 

[ChandraMagic]

Hm, well. I knew that I wouldn't get many votes in the SFW subforum, and I am happy that I got 9 votes (as always, I wish I had gotten more, because more votes means more people are taking an interest in what I write, which is always good, but in a low traffic subforum, I suppose I can't complain too loudly ).

So, in that vein, I will be closing the vote in two (2) hours. As it stands, this is what the vote looks like right now:


Vote Tally : A Sage's Journey (Original Xianxia) | Questionable Questing [Posts: 6-15]
##### NetTally 1.9.9

[X] Commoner
-[X] City
[X] Self Taught
[X] Hidden Weapons
No. of Votes: 4

Spoiler: Voters

gammoregan
Nekraa
UrsaTempest
Xicree

[X] Commoner
-[X] City
[X] Self Taught
[X] Saber
No. of Votes: 2

Spoiler: Voters

Winged One
DOOMPOTATO

[X] Merchant
[X] Self Taught
[X] Hidden Weapons
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

LordVile

[X] Nobility
[X] Self Taught
[X] Hidden Weapons
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

mrttao

[X] Nobility
[X] Self Taught
[X] Spear
No. of Votes: 1

Spoiler: Voters

Seventeen

Total No. of Voters: 9

 

[ChandraMagic]

Haha, so. I got this all written, and then realized I did not like the beginning, so I removed it. It was only 400 words, but still. 400 words. Anyway, this means this is a bit stilted at the beginning, and some of this may not make some sense, but hey, it's like child birth. It's always messy and painful and there is always screaming.

Er, yeah. This is a rough start, but once I get stuck in, it should smooth out a lot.

---

"Resplendent Lotus, I do not care if you turned eighteen today," your father barks from the kitchen in back of the bakery. "Stop daydreaming, and put these beef buns out on display. You will have time enough to gaze uselessly at your naval later, after we have closed for the day."

"Yes father," you sigh, knowing you can not win against him, so you brush your hair out of your eyes and put the book you were flipping through down before moving to grab the rack of steamed beef buns. A slight grunt escapes you as you heft the rack up, it settling heavily in your grasp. "I swear this thing keeps getting heavier and heavier."

"I do not think gazing at one's navel is a useless way to spend your time," comes an unknown, feminine voice from right behind you. "Why, I have spent a large portion of my time gazing longingly at my navel,and it has not done me harm."

"Cha!" you can't hleo but declare as you spin, surprised, at the handsome woman standing nonchalantly behind you. "D-don't do that! And customers should not be here. This is a prep area, and...and…."

The woman seems to find you amusing, though you admit to yourself it is hard to discern that, seeing as the woman is using a fan to hide her face below her eyes. She has long, brown hair and is wearing simple silken pants and a silk shirt with wooden togs down the front to hold it closed. She's athletic, you think, with her slim figure and the way she seems to balance on the balls of her feet.

"...oh, don't worry; I got lost, you see. Got all turned around and instead of being there, I was here, and so I was here when I should have been there," the woman natters, cutting you off easily, as she glides...yes, glides, to your side and effortlessly lifts the rack from your grasp. "And since I am here and not there, I will help you, as penance of my trespass, yes yes?"

"Yes yes..I mean, no no! My parents, they will kill me if I let someone else touch the racks," you worry, trying to grab the rack back, but unable to latch your hands onto it for some strange reason. "I don't want to be beaten to death!"

"Oh pishposh, your parents won't do that, and besides, they will never know," the woman says, and she is really starting to annoy you. "They have other things to worry about...and so do you, in a minute."

Your heart freezes and you look at the woman in fear. Is she...is she going to hurt you? Rob the bakery? Kill you?!

"Do not worry, First and Forsaken Flower. I am not an enemy of yours, or of your parents," the woman says she hefts the rack in her two hands and..wait, how is the fan staying in place? "I am but a simple traveller, who found something of amusement here. Your true enemies are…."

"...alright, old woman, hand me the liang, and I don't cut your face up," a rough, male voice comes from the front of the bakery, causing your heart to seize, again.

"...and there is your current enemy, child," the woman continues seamlessly. "Now, since your hands are free, you are capable of doing something about that. Aren't I helpful?"

"What? But…," you start to say, only for the woman's fan to snap shut and somehow get tucked into your pants pocket. Then you are somehow pushed through the door into the front, quick enough that you only get a glimpse of the woman's face...was that hair on the sides...and what was that thin furry thing waving around.

"Eh? Wot's this? Oho, your daughter? She's cute," the man said and you get your first look at him and he is..cut up and dark looking and you do not know what to do! You're not a fighter. "Tell ya what; you give me the money and the girl, and I don't harm you, or burn this shitty place down."

Your breathing is rapid and your heart hammers in your chest as you look around in alarm. Someone, do something! No, you were supposed to do something, but you can't. You never learned how.

Naval. Forsaken. Your parents Way that you never felt comfortable with. Lotus. Fan. That strange woman who was a stranger but talked like she knew you. Naval gazing.

Liang.

You feel a spark in you tummy, just behind your bellybutton. It is warm and familiar and special and you know what to do. Well, actually, you don't, but you body does.

You shift your body, like you do when you are moving a full rack into its resting place in the display, only without the weight of the rack holding you down, you end up doing a haphazard cartwheel that takes you closer to the man holding the bakery up and threatening your mother, and you. Both you and he are shocked as you come face to face less than a foot away, and while you are sure you are still looking terrified, he starts to smile evilly and reaches out to grab your arm. You manage to step to the side, like you do when a customer gets a bit too close, reaching into your pants and pulling the fan.


Flashing your second best smile, you hand the closed fan to the thug. When he dumbfoundedly takes it, you punch the back of it, right into his ugly face. That causes him to stagger, so you pluck the closed fan back from his hands before he drops it and tuck it back into your pants, because you feel it will be important. You scamper over the counter, and drop to the floor with an oof, but manage to spring back to your feet and grab the broom your mother keeps there immediately after.

Of course, the thug isn't idle and he seems to have pulled a wicked looking knife from somewhere and is advancing on you.

"Alright girlie, fun is fun, but that you are going to pay for," the thug sneers, while leering at you, as if you do not know what this base creature has in store for your nubile body. "Jus' drop the broom and no one has to get hurt."

Right, and your parents will miraculously have a son. Well, that woman got you into this, but you will find your way out of this. You purse your lips and pause, before leaning the broom back against the counter.

"Yeah, that's the ticket, girlie….hey, what gives?!"

You pelt him with steamed buns of pork and beef and even peanut, and then, when he is thoroughly distracted by the foodstuffs, you grab the broom and swing it around yourself, even as you twist your body around, to give more momentum as you strike, with the handle side of the broom. Unerringly, it strikes the thug's throat, causing him to choke, and causing the broom to break.

Oops.

You smile a bit guiltily at your mother as you drop the broken remnants of the broom, but keep focused as you scramble back over the counter to land, heavily, on the guy's hand where it was clutching the handle of his knife. Bad for him, because you think you just broke his hand, and bad for you, as it makes your footing unsteady and you fall back, onto your butt.

Oh no.

"What do you think you are doing?" your father bellows as he charges out of the back and lays a beating on the would-be robber with the large, heavy metal wok he keeps in the kitchen. "That's my wife and daughter, you scum, and this is my bakery and I won't allow filth like you ruin it!"

You just kind of stare on for a long moment as your father starts drawing blood with the wok, until you catch a movement out of the corner of your eye. Turning your head to the door to the back, you see the rack of steamed beef buns sitting where it's supposed to sit, and a furry appendage wave as it disappears around a corner.

Blinking, you pull the fan from your pants,m only to discover it is not a fan, but a book. Eyes widening, you stare at the book, wondering just what the hell is going on.

'Baby's first Enlightenment: How to start a Sage's Journey right.'

What. Just...what.

What do you do now?
[X] Read the book
(this will take a few days)

[X] Find the thug's boss
(You know the thug was not working alone, and you don't want them to come after your family)

[X] Just...go back to your routine
(Deny anything special happened and hope it was all a dream)

[X] Learn to fight
(That was kind of awesome, how you just..did all that stuff, but you were really clumsy at it.l It would be better if you found someone to teach you to at least throw a punch right)

---

I started this late because I was trying to find a good picture, but failed. So, in between waiting to update this I will try to find good pictures. You, and yes, I mean you, can post pictures for me to consider. I promise nothing, of course, but warm fuzzies knowing you helpde me find a good picture.

 

[mrttao]

but hey, it's like child birth. It's always messy and painful and there is always screaming.

Click to shrink...

hentai lied to me!

 

[Winged One]

Lotus' life just became very surreal.

hentai lied to me!

Click to shrink...

If I had a nickel for every time someone said that...

 

[mrttao]

[X] Read the book
Strange woman who helped us has not done us wrong yet, so let's do what she said and read the book she gave us.
Also, as its title says "how to start a sage journey right", knowing how to do something right is important before we jump into doing.

[] Find the thug's boss
The thug boss is surrounded by minions. too tough a fight to fight the entire gang like that.
it will take time for them to organize a response, and the response will NOT be their full force.

[] Just...go back to your routine
That would end poorly

[] Learn to fight
While a good idea on paper, reading the book the strange woman gave us will probably be more directly useful at this point in time. Also, kinda difficult to find a proper teacher at our current position in life
Incidentally, we should know what a sage is in character. and know that learning to swing a fist cannot compare, and the book explicitly says sage

 

[Winged One]

Hm. Did the thug survive his beating? I don't think anyone in his gang knew that he'd be here...

 

[ChandraMagic]

Hm. Did the thug survive his beating? I don't think anyone in his gang knew that he'd be here...

Click to shrink...

The thug did survive. Your father, oddly enough, is quite proficient at beating someone to within an inch of their life with his wok, without going over. Also, the thug is a minion. I would have called him a minion, but he was the only one. You may have noticed about halfway through I hit my stride, which was a slightly different stride I had been taking for the earlier parts. There's an entire 'scene' detailing your life growing up, but it didn't fit and was wrong for what I was trying to write, that it got removed. And tucked away for a maybe later revamping.

While a good idea on paper, reading the book the strange woman gave us will probably be more directly useful at this point in time. Also, kinda difficult to find a proper teacher at our current position in life
Incidentally, we should know what a sage is in character. and know that learning to swing a fist cannot compare, and the book explicitly says sage

Click to shrink...

Well, yes and no. Lotus intellectually knows what a Sage is, which of course, she isn't one. Like, there's no way she could be a Sgae. She's just...Resplendent Lotus (and damn her parents for giving her such an obnoxious name). Baker's daughter. She'd read the book, mostly because of curiosity, than for anything else.

Also, yes, she may have a bit of a rough time finding a sifu to teach her how to punch properly, but that's because she's A) a girl, B) having to deal with her parents and C) doesn't have much of her own spending money to pay someone. See, the way I see it, is that it isn't that she has to learn a specific way, or specific martial art styles. The act of taking in the style, of learning how to punch, and bringing that knowledge within herself, is the important part.

So anyway, this is me saying both options are okay, and will push Lotus along her Way. None of the options are bad, persee, just some of them are suboptimal for what you would want to do.

Anyway, to try to explain my thinking on this whole thing with Sage's learning stuff and Enlightenment and stuff:

A normal person learns how to make a sandwich from Bob. It's a good sandwich, but that is all it is, is a sandwich. It's tasty and filling and that is all. Now, a Sage goes to Bob and asks him to teach them. Bob does so. The Sage takes another step on their journey to Immortality (the final step of a Sage's journey) as they take in that knowledge and make it part of themselves. Their sandwich is, of course, divine. It cures disease and just nibbling a bit of it fills people up. It's also tastes pretty orgasmic. Even though they learned the exact same way that the normal person did, and used the exact same ingredients and tools.

Does that make sense?

Also, i think I lost focus somewhere in that. I think I need to get some sleep.

 

[mrttao]

The thug did survive. Your father, oddly enough, is quite proficient at beating someone to within an inch of their life with his wok, without going over. Also, the thug is a minion. I would have called him a minion, but he was the only one. You may have noticed about halfway through I hit my stride, which was a slightly different stride I had been taking for the earlier parts. There's an entire 'scene' detailing your life growing up, but it didn't fit and was wrong for what I was trying to write, that it got removed. And tucked away for a maybe later revamping.

Click to shrink...

I figured he was pretty low ranking in his gang

Well, yes and no. Lotus intellectually knows what a Sage is, which of course, she isn't one. Like, there's no way she could be a Sgae. She's just...Resplendent Lotus (and damn her parents for giving her such an obnoxious name). Baker's daughter. She'd read the book, mostly because of curiosity, than for anything else.

Click to shrink...

Ah, so crippling low self esteem to the point where when an obvious sage gives her such an obvious book and she somehow manages to beat a thug untrained... she will still deny it. funny.

Also, yes, she may have a bit of a rough time finding a sifu to teach her how to punch properly, but that's because she's A) a girl, B) having to deal with her parents and C) doesn't have much of her own spending money to pay someone.

Click to shrink...

Yep, that is exactly what i was thinking.

A normal person learns how to make a sandwich from Bob. It's a good sandwich, but that is all it is, is a sandwich. It's tasty and filling and that is all. Now, a Sage goes to Bob and asks him to teach them. Bob does so. The Sage takes another step on their journey to Immortality (the final step of a Sage's journey) as they take in that knowledge and make it part of themselves. Their sandwich is, of course, divine. It cures disease and just nibbling a bit of it fills people up. It's also tastes pretty orgasmic. Even though they learned the exact same way that the normal person did, and used the exact same ingredients and tools.

Does that make sense?

Click to shrink...

It does, yes. thank you.

anyways, since there are no wrong choices... well, i'd still like to read the book

 

[weeksauce]

[X] Read the book

A mysterious stranger, a fight and a book. Looks like a good start to me!

 

[UrsaTempest]

[X] Read the book

Ah, this remind me with Kung Fu Hustle scene.

 

[Raron]

[X] Read the book

 

[ChandraMagic]

Ah, so crippling low self esteem to the point where when an obvious sage gives her such an obvious book and she somehow manages to beat a thug untrained... she will still deny it. funny.

Click to shrink...

I wouldn't call it crippling low self esteem. It's more in denial because this type of shit just does not happen. As to accidentally beating the thug up, well, she can chock that up to luck. A lot of luck. Also, obvious sage is obvious to us, the readers (well, I am the writer so it is even more obvious, but still), but that doesn't mean it is obvious to Lotus.

Don't worry though, she won't stay in denial forever. That gets boring and tedious. Just, right now she's all confused and doesn't know what the fuck just happened, only that something did.

anyways, since there are no wrong choices... well, i'd still like to read the book

Click to shrink...

Not a problem and I wasn't exactly expecting you to change your mind. I was just clarifying stuff so you, and others, could make a better informed decision.

Ah, this remind me with Kung Fu Hustle scene.

Click to shrink...

This is, I hope, a good thing~



Okay, on a more serious note; I have been scouring the internets and I am finding it bloody hard to find pictures I am willing use. I've found a couple, but am still unsure. So, you guys can tell me what you think.

I'm thinking this one as a 'cover image' (because I like my cover images): Image1

And either this image Image2 or this image Image3 as a character image.

And yes, I put in links to the images, rather than just inlining them because I am trying to be respectful to peoples' bandwidth issues that I know some have. I ask that others have that same respect in this instance, and just refer to them as the names I gave each link.

 

[Winged One]

Image1 looks cool. Up to you if it's accurate to how stuff looks.

Image3 seems a bit fancy for a commoner.

[X] Read the book

 

[mrttao]

I'm thinking this one as a 'cover image' (because I like my cover images): Image1

And either this image Image2 or this image Image3 as a character image.

Click to shrink...

they all look good but 1 is my favorite

Image3 seems a bit fancy for a commoner.

Click to shrink...

i am pretty sure this is going to be an image of how we look in the future when we become a sage.

 

[ChandraMagic]

Okay, updated the character data post. So it actually has some things in it right now. Of particular note is the fact that I inlined the image. Let me know if this is okay, or if you would prefer me to spoiler it, or use a link.