This post has the following content warnings:
Diana Pallas, Argent(-affiliated) paladin and mage from Azeroth, lands in The Untamed, right around the time of the zombie army.
+ Show First Post
Total: 33
Posts Per Page:
Permalink

"There are other empires out there.  This one is called China," Healer Gao says.  That is probably important to outsiders trying to pinpoint their locations, even if any locals will know exactly which one they're talking about; Healer Gao is slightly embarrassed that they didn't notice this and specify earlier.  "I haven't heard of any of the places you mentioned." 

Permalink

She nods.  "I hadn't expected you to.  I originally hailed from the kingdom of Alterac, a polity sworn to the Alliance that - was the Alliance of Lordaeron, before Lordaeron fell, but if any power from my time has survived to yours, in the hypothetical universe where this was some bizarre form of time travel, I imagine you'd be more likely to recognize Dalaran, a mage-city.  ...Unless I went backwards...  No, there would be records of a China.  If not in our hands then the hands of the quel'dorei that would have surely not kept such things their secret...

"But thinking about other notable features...Gnomeregan, the draenei's fallen vessel Exodar...I almost forgot about the Sunwell, no matter that it's more...Fragile, and in my time corrupted...

"...Oh, hmm, now that I'm thinking about the Exodar, that would explain some things.

"It's inscrutable wizard shit you probably need years of study to understand or something, and I'm not to the point where I can understand its workings myself, let alone accurately explain them to others, but what I do know of it is information that's - relevant to how I would have survived the raw transmutative force of the depths of the Twisting Nether, because I'm pretty sure they did it with a shield or sheath of Light.  And that would explain how I wasn't immediately rendered completely unrecognizable, because doing something like that on such a deep level that it works while I sleep was rather necessary, where I was.

"...Regardless, I do think I ought to ask if there are any sorts of people that are not humans?  As...evidence on where I am."

Permalink

"None of those locations sound similar to me either.  Then again, my scholarly knowledge is limited to medical cultivation; perhaps it would be worth asking Sect Leader Jiang whenever he gets back.  Though cultivators tend to find travel between countries unpleasant enough that we mostly get along ignoring the rest of the world."

"I'm not sure what you mean by people other than humans.  Powerful spirits can become intelligent and take on humanoid forms.  There are gods."

Permalink

"That's a no, then.  We've got spirits aplenty back home; this is a different sort of thing than that.  ...Tell me about the gods?"

 

Her vague suspicions of things claiming divinity very carefully don't show on her face - she is not a fan of Old Gods and their agents, and the only deities she's seen do things other than that are An'she (of the tauren) and Elune (of the night elves - bother, she's forgotten which type of 'dorei they were again -), both of which would be much more obviously tied to their respective celestial bodies if their faith extended here.

...Which reminds her that it's probably worth trying to pray to them both, though she's hardly the right sort of devout.  They're still...likely to help.

 

...Perhaps it's like the trolls' loa?  She doesn't know much about them, but they do seem to be plausibly-numerous and not...hostile to existing.

Permalink

Healer Gao explains the cultivators' understanding of gods.  Or at least as good an explanation as can fit into a few sentences, from someone who vastly preferred solving problems themself and not hoping some other power would come along to do it.

There are beings who live in the heavens and hells and perform various duties there.  Meng Po, for example, who is responsible for removing memories via soup before a soul can be reincarnated. 

There are also the spirits of rocks or other natural phenomena that have gained enough power through worship to begin affecting the world around them to the benefit of those who offer them prayer.  Often they're helpful enough, curing the occasional crop blight or improving the weather.  But they aren't good at thinking at things like a human would and sometimes cause problems - setting someone who is praying for warmth on fire, or the like.   The locals either learn to live with their spirit's eccentricities or hire a cultivator to disperse them.

 

Permalink

Those last would be more akin to a loa, then, as far as she understands the subject.  (Which is further than most seem to have bothered, but not as far as she'd like, especially given this.)

Permalink

"Do you have many other kinds of people where you're from?"

Permalink

"Dozens of sorts I've met, I think, depending upon what makes a living being also a people.  And how you count the dragonflights, for that matter, though I don't think I've met any dragons I know about having met.  Or, for that matter, the elves.  If I know anything about animal husbandry I know there's a point at which crossbreeding doesn't work quite right anymore, and I think some of them have passed it -- There's probably who-knows-how-many amongst the myriad stars, too, considering that we know there are at least three planets that have grown thinking life independently of eachother and at that point you really have to assume - oh, excuse me, five planets, the sayaad...exist...and I don't think they're from Argus, even if you discount most other demons and the Titans must have started out somewhere...Anyway, the universe is vast and full of wonders, including people."

This Thread Is On Hiatus
Total: 33
Posts Per Page: