Bibliophile

Starting with how the cultivation world works with the civilian authorities. I'm still researching but this is how I, personally, like/want it to work.

The Emperor is the TOP authority. Full stop. Over all others, even the cultivation sects, he's the big daddy and Imperial Orders are to be followed NO MATTER WHAT.

The Emperor of several generations ago didn't particularly like dealing with cultivation world shenanigans in addition to his no-magic-having nobles and court idiots so he created the office of Chief Cultivator so that whoever the cultivation sects find most worthy to mediate will be the one to deal with the intersect bickering and politics. The current sects would then send official paperwork to the Forbidden City announcing that 'This is who we feel is the best man for the job this round.' the Emperor would check out the provided accolades, go yup this works and stamp it as done, matter finished, wash his hands of it.

This is how the Emperor of many generations ago created a SYSTEM to get cultivation bullshit OFF the Emperor's plate while maintaining cultivation protections for the mundane people and keeping cultivation sects under his authority and it WORKED for many generations.

Then, due to the BIG sects having the most resources and access to the good shit and the ruling families tending to favor their offspring, for a few generations the most powerful, skilled, and diplomatic cultivators wound up being the sect leaders. The gentry (willfully) forgot that the title of Chief Cultivator was meant to go to WHOEVER was the best fit to keep all their whiny asses in line and it turned into just which sect leader was the most powerful.

The Emperor(s) didn't do much research and rarely met with the cultivation sects so they just fell into stamping acceptance of the new appointment of Chief Cultivator and moved on. So long as the sects weren't causing trouble for the Emperor or the non-cultivators, the Emperor had/has no reason to look into the cultivation sects and their chicanery.

Economics. How do the sects make their money? A large part is, of course, taxes. The mundane folk of all walks pay the sect of their territory taxes in exchange for their protection.

But each sect also has other ways they fill their coffers.

Gusu Lan has the salt trade, ink production, paper and scroll production, some very rich jade mines, silver mines, and of course Emperor's Smile.

Yunmeng Jiang's biggest money maker is the tolls for traveling the waterways. That is followed by textiles. Yunmeng is where the best fabric is spun, woven, dyed, and embroidered. Their lotus silk is famous even outside of the cultivation world and is usually how they pay their taxes, in bolts of lotus silk rather than coin. Other lotus products and fishing provide smaller but still substantial financial gains.

Qinghe Nie unsurprisingly has numerous animal products. Wool of all kinds (if it produces hair that can be spun into usable thread or yarn they have tons of the critters), leather, cured meats, and of course the livestock bought by others to slaughter. But all that comes in second for profit.

Qinghe's most profitable products are their fruit. Pears, peaches, plums, and loquats. Qinghe's trees produce ENTIRELY TOO MUCH fruit. Which means that they also have a third export of liquor.

Lanling Jin is RIFE with gold and gemstone mines and, due to their proximity to the coast, pearl farms. This, of course, has attracted the best goldsmiths and lapidaries and jewelry makers in the jianghu who, in turn, are required to give a percentage of their profits to the Jin sect as the fee for being allowed to work in Lanling.

They also have the most and, ironically, best/fairest brothels in the country. The madams are familiar with Jin Guangshan and his ilk and have solid protections in place for their workers as well as extensive training in how not to fall for predatory 'charm' of the sort JGS employs.

Jin Guangshan also personally invests in anything he thinks will net him more money. He's scum but he knows what will take off and be the next big thing and he always wants his fingers in that pie.

Qishan Wen has extensive iron mines and exceptional blacksmiths so they make a great deal of weaponry, tools, and pots but their biggest money maker is their pottery. Exquisite ceramic comes out of Qishan, both form and color so beautiful it can strain the eyes.

Starting with how the cultivation world works with the civilian authorities. I'm still researching but this is how I, personally, like/want it to work.

The Emperor is the TOP authority. Full stop. Over all others, even the cultivation sects, he's the big daddy and Imperial Orders are to be followed NO MATTER WHAT.

The Emperor of several generations ago didn't particularly like dealing with cultivation world shenanigans in addition to his no-magic-having nobles and court idiots so he created the office of Chief Cultivator so that whoever the cultivation sects find most worthy to mediate will be the one to deal with the intersect bickering and politics. The current sects would then send official paperwork to the Forbidden City announcing that 'This is who we feel is the best man for the job this round.' the Emperor would check out the provided accolades, go yup this works and stamp it as done, matter finished, wash his hands of it.

This is how the Emperor of many generations ago created a SYSTEM to get cultivation bullshit OFF the Emperor's plate while maintaining cultivation protections for the mundane people and keeping cultivation sects under his authority and it WORKED for many generations.

Then, due to the BIG sects having the most resources and access to the good shit and the ruling families tending to favor their offspring, for a few generations the most powerful, skilled, and diplomatic cultivators wound up being the sect leaders. The gentry (willfully) forgot that the title of Chief Cultivator was meant to go to WHOEVER was the best fit to keep all their whiny asses in line and it turned into just which sect leader was the most powerful.

The Emperor(s) didn't do much research and rarely met with the cultivation sects so they just fell into stamping acceptance of the new appointment of Chief Cultivator and moved on. So long as the sects weren't causing trouble for the Emperor or the non-cultivators, the Emperor had/has no reason to look into the cultivation sects and their chicanery.

So the Emperor generally doesn't want to deal with the annoyance that is the cultivation sects but that doesn't mean he has an issue with cultivation itself.

There are Imperial Court Cultivators. Some were once rogue cultivators that gained the attention of the Imperial Court through great feats or acts of service. Some are the descendants of sect cultivators that were sent to the Imperial Court to serve the Emperor generations ago.

There's usually fifty to one hundred that serve the Emperor, the number fluctuating depending on how prolific the generational Imperial Court Cultivators (heretofore referred to as ICC) have been re: children, and the majority are usually busy on missions and hunts for the Emperor.

Twelve ICCs remain 'with' the Emperor & his court at all times. To protect the Imperial family from curses, resentful creatures, and resentful energy AND to teach the Emperor's sons the foundation of cultivating.

This is so whoever becomes the next Emperor will have at the very least the seed of a golden core. The Emperor is not expected nor encouraged to have a large, powerful golden core because of the time and dedication it takes to build it. The Emperor's attention is meant to remain on governing and protecting his people.

Forming a core as well as learning the bare bones of what cultivators are MEANT to do, and cultivation history provides the Imperial Princes insight into the needs and motivations of the cultivation sects and rogue cultivators so they can make good decisions should they become the next Emperor.

The ICC are ALSO the cudgel should a cultivation sect start thinking themselves above Imperial law.

Unlike most sect cultivators who have become arrogant due to their pedigree and spend a great deal of time on sect politics, ICCs have devoted themselves to their cultivation in order to properly serve the Emperor. They are POWERHOUSES that could easily kick several sect cultivators around like hackysacks.

In addition, part of all ICCs' duties are to train the army in how to fight against cultivators and win. Should the army be deployed against one or more cultivation sect, the ICCs will be attached to various commanders as advisors and/or seconds in command.

As promised (to like two interested people lol), here’s my commentary to accompany a harmony between qin and se, some of which has been retrieved from discussions in the AO3 comments section.

step 1: pretend to be a gay lunatic (he already was a gay lunatic)

step 2: throw step 1 out of the window as soon as someone disrespects the lan clan (his life-long crush's clan)

step 3: play the flute (the instrument well known as the yiling patriarch's spiritual weapon of choice)

step 4: summon the ghost general (the yiling patriarch's right hand man)

step 5: play a song composed by hanguang-jun that only him and the yiling patriarch have ever heard

#but imagine being wwx#known free spirited rebel

#and you suddenly feel tinglies in your tummy for the most BORING nerd you’ve ever met

1st place: Luo Binghe (canonically an incredible cook)

2nd place: Lan Wangji (starts out as only able to make bland food, but adapts to make food for his husband and child. Can cook anything with a recipe.)

3rd place: Hua Cheng (a passible cook in my head canon, not sure if it was ever specified in the source material if he was a good cook or not. He would rather order a 5 star chef to make food for his gege.)

4th place: Wei Wuxian (will make everything so spicy it burns your taste buds off, but it is edible and will not kill you. Your mouth may never recover based on your spice tolerance, but it's not technically poison.)

5th place: Shen Yuan (can make instant ramen and pre-cooked meals that just need to be heated up. Loses points as it doesn't really count as cooking and there isn't any instant ramen in Ancient China.)

Xie Lian in conservative white robes, dusty from the road, delivering a bubbling pot with censorship mosaics.

Wei Wuxian in eerily drifting black robes, delivering a dish that smells good, but is red enough to be it's own warning label.

And Shen Qingqiu,

in layers of green silk and finery,

gracefully sweeping away his sleeves,

to tip hot water from a delicate teapot... into Cup Noodle.

Lan defensive techniques.

tag of the week:

@peanutbutter-nutella :

WWX is absolutely wearing LWJ's undergarments.

When I talk with other creative writing professors, we all seem to agree that interiority is disappearing. Even in first-person POV stories, younger writers often skip describing their character’s hopes, dreams, fears, thoughts, memories, or reactions. This trend is hardly limited to young writers though. I was speaking to an editor yesterday who agreed interiority has largely vanished from commercial fiction, and I think you increasingly notice its absence even in works shelved as “literary fiction.” When interiority does appear on the page, it is often brief and redundant with the dialogue and action. All of this is a great shame. Interiority is perhaps the prime example of an advantage prose as a medium holds over other artforms.

I'll show you what I mean.

Imagine an awkward confession.

In visual media, the actor/actress will use their body language and facial expressions to reflect the awkwardness of the confessor, sure, but you can also see the person they are confessing to.

The other actor/actress is also using body language and facial expressions to react to the confession in character, which immediately reveals to the audient what their feelings about that confession even if there is no verbal reply.

Contrast that with written media where you can't see the other person.

You don't know whether the awkward confession was accepted or rejected unless the writing tells you as much. If you've got first person or limited third person perspective, and there's no spoken reply, then you could have no idea what that other person's reaction was. All you know is what the person who confessed thinks might have happened, and they could be wrong.

You get more invested in the main character, their wants, worries, and goals, when you can't see everything going on around them like an omniscient god looking down and passing informed judgement on whether the character made an intelligent decision or not.

Perfect example:

In the novel, it's completely understandable that WWX didn't know LWJ likes him and that it took him time to reach an understanding both about LWJ's feelings and about his own.

But he comes off as dumb in visual adaptations because the audience can clearly see what's up.

Heck, CQL removed the gay relationship in order to comply with CCP censorship and you still look at WWX and think he's dumb for not knowing LWJ likes him.

Pretty sure you can find more examples in MXTX other works, too.

Because sure, Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian were being shamelessly cuddly, but Jin Guangyao—the man who was revealing his supervillain masterplot bit by bit throughout this altercation—spent a portion of that time on his knees in front of Lan Xichen with a tearful, "it's not true baby let me explain," routine—during which you can physically see Lan Xichen yo-yo in real-time between fully buying into jiggy's excuses, then snapping himself out of it with a colorful spectrum of emotions that are definitely in contrast with the Lan family precepts.

What's worse, not only are Jin Guangyao and Lan Xichen essentially two of the biggest celebrities of the cultivation world, but most of the cultivators present actively work for Jin Guangyao. That is their boss ugly crying on the floor trying not to fumble the man they are actively holding as their prisoner.