Non-Party I Ching readings

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His Majesty, Ti Lao

Saved in battle, yet lost in war,
The Butterfly's end remains in store.
Reborn with artists' and poets' name,
Still something missing from kingdom's fame.

Yet pressing forward, beyond this loss,
The Butterfly's heroes must the Empire cross,
In Worlds Above and nations lost,
Each must find his honor's cost.

For all must serve the fallen Lord,
With speed of tongue or strength of Sword,
To return the Master to proper place,
And restore the name of Butterfly's base.

Kibo, a creature of the Dream

You start to shuffle the yarrow stalks, but it's hard because some of them are caterpillars and some are swords and some are other people and they keep wiggling. After a while, you discard the ones that just don't match (like the caterpillar), and they're mostly various stars and moons and weeks. You end up laying them down into Kibo's horoscope: he became incipient in the first Year of the Magpie after the Forest Wind changed direction. His path and nature is that of a creature of selfish appetite, touching mortals only briefly and to consume and discard them. However, he is no longer following his path, and his Aspect is Yoshi.

The I Ching of the person with the strongest Chi in the Ice Pagoda

The prison of fire is ice, frozen for a hundred years. Those who carry the heart of the fire are frozen as well, yet the heart of the fire remains implacably frozen against the heart of the ice.

Meng Ao, a sage of the Strand

To see with sight beyond mortal sight is to see that which others might wish to stay hidden. To learn a secret is what all desire; to boast of a secret learned draws wrath.

Yang Tsi-Ya, a bodyguard from the House of Gainful Protection

Butterfly's egg, tiger's spirit,
honor of the heart, directed by gold.
The path is neither straight nor crooked,
but winds up the mountain.

Two birds from one nest are more rivals than allies.

Broken Sword, an enemy of Lucky Chang

One stick snaps easily. A handful of sticks is much harder to break. A handful of sticks, bound tightly together, is a better weapon than a stick. When he and Cai Wen walk along each other's path, each of them is better proof against being broken, and a better weapon against their foe.

Corporal Fa Mulan, a soldier of the North Wall

She is likely to become a warrior poet herself, but probably only about as much as Takanata is one himself (he's not such a great warrior; she likely won't be such a great poet). They (the party in Death Blossom have set her on a path that will lead her to the Hidden City. If she gets there before they do, she will die. If she gets there after they do, she will leave in triumph.

Lady Jin of the house of Beneficent Travel

Potential inherited, but not from birth. A willing ally, but pragmatic towards her goals. Careful, and slow to move, but constant and formidable in the end. Breaking alliances is like breaking relationships, she’ll sever the ties that bind, but never cut the hearts of others, for Fox knows all will be connected again before the end.

Lord Colonel Ming of the House of Valor (member of the Gate of Shen town council)

Most honorable Ming, Unlucky in Love, unlucky in War.

His honor will drive him where no man asks him to go.

Doomed to sit between, peace is his dream.


Xian's Non-Party I Ching Readings

Master Xuli Shei of the Dojo of Dark Waters, a kung fu Master of the Strand

(This reading was done shortly before the Midsummer Solstice in the first Year of the Spider since the crowning of the Viridian Queen)

He approaches a crossroads - or, more accurately, a crossroads approaches him. Foes from the south will come this way - he can protect his students, or his students can protect their land. Both cannot be protected. To ask for assistance from others will show him and his students as weak; to receive much assistance will protect them but at a cost of causing the foes to go elsewhere, for few can become one with the swamp in a way that these folk can.