Torsten Hewson
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On Spirit Beasts
🕑 Added 2022-12-13 21:27:51 +0000 UTCAnother Lore post. Chapter later tonight!
On Spirit Beasts:
There are several Types of Spirit Beasts
The first type is the “True Spirit Beasts”, or in general, what one thinks of when one thinks of “Spirit Beasts”
These are Spirit Beasts who are born with Qi; they all have semi-human intellect, ranging from a toddler to smarter than humans. However, they tend to have a different morality than humans, and see nothing wrong with killing humans. A lot of them feel at least a bit of distaste towards humanity in general, though this is likely a bloodline legacy; humans have been killing and fighting against them for so long a distaste for humanity is literally in their blood.
They also have divergent forms. Huge, spines, fire breathing, ect. They’re D&D monsters. Their abilities are “Instinctive cultivation”, and surrounded by others of their own species/human intelligent level parents, tend to live for a long time.
Spirit Beasts do not generally challenge heaven, and all of their abilities, no matter how strong they get, are often considered “part of the natural order”. Spirit Beasts that cultivate to cultivate, instead of it being cultural/instinctive are rare, but normally terrible beasts, as they treat humans like humans treat other spirit beasts. That is as fuel and resources.
The next are awakened animals. These are “rarer” than normal Spirit Beasts—though this is actually not entirely true. They’re not common, but sheer number means there are always some in the process of becoming more than themselves.
However, awakened animals seem to trend towards “evil”. This is often due to treatment in their formative years. A chicken is likely to see many of his kind being eaten, kicked at, or generally not treated particularly well. Same goes for most animals. If left alone, they tend to kill the humans that abuse them, then flee. Awakened Spirit Beasts also have instinctive cultivation, but lacking a true Spirit beast Bloodline, they have no ancestral memory. Instead, their personalities seem to form from things they suddenly just “know”. An Awakened Spirit beast will have a personality reminiscent of a human, for the most part, and will know of concepts they could have never possibly learned about. Many a cultivator has studied this, only to come up without an answer. Some say the world itself imprints these beasts with knowledge…
Their rich scent also attracts the “True” Spirit Beasts, who try to eat them. And as their consciousness is hazy, in the early days, and many as ninety-nine out of a hundred succumb to Spirit Beast or Cultivator within the first year, and then ninety nine of a hundred that survive their first trial perish in the next five years after. In more Qi Rich provinces, there are commandments to report Spirit Beasts when they are found, to prevent hungry “True” beasts from coming in search of a meal.
They also seem to have trouble Awakening in cities; some postulate that the weight of “Human Order” forces away the awakening process.
Thus “Awakened Spirit Beasts” are vanishingly rare; they also seem to swiftly mutate from their base forms if they survive, turning to look more and more like a “True” Spirit Beast with every moon.
There is another hypothesis, off the back of “True” Spirit Beasts being able to achieve human form, that “Awakened” Spirit Beasts actually turn into humans more than they mutate and simply live amongst the populace. It appears overwhelmingly in tales and legends; but many of the most profound minds of the Crimson Phoenix Empire have dismissed this, as it lacks evidence. They can tell a “True” Spirit Beast Tiger Bloodline, formed from consuming a tiger’s core or its blood, from that of an Awakened tiger with ease.
Finally, there are “Divine” Spirit Beasts. Things associated with the Heavens, who always have human level intelligence, and are oft benevolent.
Things such as Phoenixes, Dragons, and Temple Dogs. While not Taboo for a cultivator to lay one low, its considered a dishonorable act sure to invite retaliation.
Comments
Arin Storm
At this point we have no evidence dragons are ever "natural born", but we do have evidence implying all dragons start as carp.
linkhyrule5
A carp that climbs a waterfall becomes a dragon, but not all dragons were once carps. A natural born dragon counts as Divine; I'm not sure Washi does.
Arin Storm
While we know that divine spirit beasts are stronger than others at the same level of cultivation, farmer's explanation leans more heavily on the facts that they are in some way associated with the heavens, and unilaterally have human intelligence as what defines a divine spirit beast. The reason I suggest some carp might be inherently divine is because Washi has always proclaimed himself to be a dragon, he was one of the quickest animals on the farm to develope obvious human intelligence, doing so with the smallest amount of recourses, and has consistently shown natural intellect beyond that of the other animals, all before passing the storm gate. The scene of Washi challenging the storm gate shows us that Washi was one of potential hundreds doing the same thing, implying that carp are constantly trying to pass the storm gate, yet we're show that only Washi succeeded, setting him apart in some way from the others he saw. Though the scene may have also described the other carp as sparkless, and Washi being awakened might be the difference.
HawkwardEgal
Wait, so can both True and Awakened Spirit Beasts become Divine if they cultivate enough (like a cat cultivating into a Baihu, or a snake/turtle cultivating into Xuanwu?)? Or is Divine just a category that humans created to differentiate between the Beasts who want to kill humans and the Beasts who are kind to humans?
Folke Wester
You can think of divine as a measurement of strength/potential strength. A carp is not divine, as being a carp is not a guarantee that it'll be a future dragon.
Arin Storm
Ok, neat. Though this brings up the question: what are divine spirit beasts relative to other spirit beasts? We've been lead to believe that carp that manage to pass through the storm gate gain a dragon form, so is that them ascending to become divine, or are certain carp technically already divine, and the storm gate unlocks their sealed divine nature? And what of the temple dogs? IIRC we've been told that it's believed they are actually from the heavens, and directly serve the gods. Are they actually transformed divine spirit beasts, like dragons, or are they true divine spirit beasts?
