Sp3 - the cultures, a mirror of the past and the future

[Ixthos]

This is a minor thing, and Brandon mentioned he used Korea and Japan as models for this story, but I really like how the two worlds mirror each other in several ways.

• Painter (Nikaro) is on a world that is evocative of modern Japan, at least in cyberpunk stories, with the hion like neon lines and signs and noodle bars, while Yumi's world of Torio more closely mirrors classical Asian cultures, with a more open, pastorial setting
• The darkness and gloom and sense of chill from Painter's world and its blackness, and Torio's bright sun and heat and redness - Virtuosity's splintering plunged Painter's world into shadow, while whatever its previous state Torio's current state is one of bright light
• Painter is a working man whose job is important but whose profession is lowly, Yumi is an honoured and revered figure held up by all who see her in ritual honour - and both are crushed by their roles
• Painter chose his role and regrets it, Yumi was born to hers and can't escape it
• Painter binds dark horrifying spirits to one form to prevent them from doing harm almost measuring them like spren, Yumi binds warm and bright spirits to one form - a bifurcated form - so they can benefit civilisation
• Nightmares are like yokai and mirror urban supernatural horror stories, spirits are like kami and mirror the respect one pays in Shintoism to the spirits of the world and with their own shrines
• Painter typically does things in the most boring and lest effort expended manner possible, while Yumi poured her soul - literally - into what she does

 

This setting is functionally a Yin-Yang world - darkness and light, cold and hot, benevolent spirits and malevolent spirits, magic revered and magic mundane. This binary aspect is likely key also to the plot, and each character coming to peace with their role, or adjusting their role to better fit what its true function is and their own needs from it, and taking the best traits from each other.

(Also, completely unrelated, can we appreciate how accurate Hoid's words about Yumi's ... "warden" are?

Quote

It takes real talent to use an honorific as an insult. I’ll give Liyun that much; it’s professional courtesy, from one hideous bastard to another.

That sums her up nicely. Who sees a child crying and scorns them for it?

I also hope Design can see Painter when Yumi visits the shop. I like how she ties in to the idea almost of the trickster spirit in the form of an attractive young woman you sometimes see in Anime.)

[+Oltux72]

43 minutes ago, Ixthos said:

This is a minor thing, and Brandon mentioned he used Korea and Japan as models for this story, but I really like how the two worlds mirror each other in several ways.

• Painter (Nikaro) is on a world that is evocative of modern Japan, at least in cyberpunk stories, with the hion like neon lines and signs and noodle bars, while Yumi's world of Torio more closely mirrors classical Asian cultures, with a more open, pastorial setting
• The darkness and gloom and sense of chill from Painter's world and its blackness, and Torio's bright sun and heat and redness - Virtuosity's splintering plunged Painter's world into shadow, while whatever its previous state Torio's current state is one of bright light

Did it? Or was that the result of interactions? The people on Yumi's world spend a lot of time on rituals and pampering the spirits. The depiction of that can be seen as empty rituals. But what if they are not?

In fact are we even sure that the Invested arts of both worlds are even different? Could Painters turn the nightmares into something useful? Could Yumi's world make hion lines, but they just do not know the trick? Would other forms of art rather than stacking rocks work, if the population appreciated them as much?

[drunkenbotanist]

Or are the spirits that Yumi binds becoming nightmares and they take several years to gain enough form to emerge but when they do if they become defeated the binding ends :/

 

The duality makes me want to look for ways that they are linked

 

[StormingTexan]

2 minutes ago, drunkenbotanist said:

Or are the spirits that Yumi binds becoming nightmares and they take several years to gain enough form to emerge but when they do if they become defeated the binding ends :/

 

The duality makes me want to look for ways that they are linked

 

I like this idea. I wish one of the villagers had asked for some Bamboo 

[Ixthos]

On 3/18/2022 at 1:40 PM, Oltux72 said:

Did it? Or was that the result of interactions? The people on Yumi's world spend a lot of time on rituals and pampering the spirits. The depiction of that can be seen as empty rituals. But what if they are not?

In fact are we even sure that the Invested arts of both worlds are even different? Could Painters turn the nightmares into something useful? Could Yumi's world make hion lines, but they just do not know the trick? Would other forms of art rather than stacking rocks work, if the population appreciated them as much?

Did it as in was Virtuosity's splintering responsible for their world being covered in darkness rather than Yumi's world, or for something else? For darkness it seems clear that, before the Nightmares came, their world was suddenly transformed. Perhaps Yumi's world likewise was changed to darkness but they found a way to transform it, but the story seems to focus on the idea of duality with Yumi's people, and the story is deliberately giving a duality with Painter's, especially the significance of each one's world's visibility in the sky of the other planet.

For the hion lines, that hopefully will be revealed in the story - Brandon did indicate that the link between hion and CYMB was intentional, with hion missing yellow while yellow is present on Yumi's world. I think it was also suggested this is basically a form of people interacting with magic and both seem tied to cognitive perception, so they likely are the same magic system, but different facets, each encouraged by the way the splintered power affects their worlds.

 

On 3/18/2022 at 3:20 PM, drunkenbotanist said:

Or are the spirits that Yumi binds becoming nightmares and they take several years to gain enough form to emerge but when they do if they become defeated the binding ends :/

 

The duality makes me want to look for ways that they are linked

 

Indeed - I'd be interested to see Yumi perhaps shape a nightmare into something like she does the spirits.

 

On 3/18/2022 at 3:23 PM, StormingTexan said:

I like this idea. I wish one of the villagers had asked for some Bamboo 

Well Painter is there now! Maybe he'll give that idea  try!

[Asha'man Logain]

On 3/18/2022 at 8:20 AM, drunkenbotanist said:

Or are the spirits that Yumi binds becoming nightmares and they take several years to gain enough form to emerge but when they do if they become defeated the binding ends :/

 

The duality makes me want to look for ways that they are linked

 

I'm of the opinion that Yumis world some how separated the planets, or at least spirits. Either all the ones who did not wish to become separated themselves were sent to painters world, or all the crazy and dangerous ones were sent away, trapped.

So my (based on little more than intuition) theory is that, just like Yumi separates the definitely not spren into two halves to make lights or pumps or what have you, the world's themselves or at least spirits were separated, and the nightmares have been trapped since that division.

[+honorblades]

On 3/18/2022 at 5:50 AM, Ixthos said:

This setting is functionally a Yin-Yang world

This is really good. The worlds kinda resemble a yin-yang: Painter's black sky with a single star in it, and Yumi's world dwarfed by a huge sun.