RE: Puzzler's Space - Lesson 2: It is my Star who Sits in the Sky
04-09-2018, 04:03 AM
(This post was last modified: 04-11-2018, 03:20 AM by Kaynato.)
That night, Liu Kui was given the task of lighting the sighting-lamp on the top of the wooden cottage. This was the custom of those who had seen Desolation with their own eyes - for if no sighting-lamp were lit afterward, Desolation would return and create an infestation in that which had seen it.
A ladder was dropped against the side of the wall, clattering: A rickety thing creaking in the night wind. Liu Kui set one foot before the other upon its rungs and slowly reached the rooftop.
A bird flew down from a faraway cloud and pecked at Liu Kui's hands.
Now, Liu Kui had brought up a torch to light the sighting-lamp, and so desperately held on, intent on avoiding unnecessary arson. With a tightly-gripping hand, knuckles white as the flame it held, Liu Kui crawled forward despite the pecking bird and touched the fire to the wick of the sighting-lamp.
With a soft puff, the oils ignited and began to smoke. Sighing in relief, Liu Kui retreated from the roof and descended the ladder. The bird's talons were sinking into the meat of Liu Kui's hand.
Throughout all of this, Liu Kui did not cry out in pain.
But then the bird flew away, and Liu Kui fell off the ladder, screaming in frustration.
Puzzle 4: Many have sought to quantify authority by measure of those that it commands. For instance, judging the authority of a ruler by the number of subjects, or creating an ordering of logic describing its applicability. After the Indefinite Authority incident which ended the two-month reign of Mikthiparak Yivi-Sharsa, it was apparent that doing so was unquestionably incorrect. Name two of the corrections which were implemented in the following decade and the necessity of their creation.
"Tell me - the night sky, is it not too bright?" Thus spoke Ban Songqi, who was sitting outside the cottage. "Each of the stars which is torn into its thick covering is allotted its reign there, given power and will. Still in their dominion they are isolated like rulers of the overseas cities, surrounded by great unfriendly waters, where meeting, they shall consume each other without goodwill. Invariably there are too many; a great number will be destroyed."
A silence sat momentarily.
Liu Kui, nursing the wounds on that bitten hand, continued: "Then the stars are as lions. They sleep in the cosmos, nestling at the centers of their claimed territory, and in meeting another will circle about until one is consumed."
Ban Songqi responded: "And what is the life-span of a lion? It is measured by the coming and going of the seas, of the clouds and the sun. The seas of the stars, do they come and go? The clouds of the firmament, where do they travel from, from which waters do they arise? Where is the sun of stars? What manner of light does it cast the lighters? Indeed, what is the life-span of the stars, if they are like lions?"
"The life-span of the living is not determined when they are born, for it is often interrupted by both nature and nature through life. That is - the nature of the Earth and the Skies. Have you seen the stars interfere in the realm of the land?"
Ban Songqi knew that this question was best left unanswered.
The night began to grow cold - many questions were left to linger outside, where they drifted away on the smoke of the sighting-lamp.
Puzzle 5: The rocks of the earth cannot witness that they are not alive; They cannot get up and say "I am not living, for I am a mere rock! I am dead, and not alive." No-one knows if any might say to the lives of the ocean and the exhale of the earthly shell, which houses the deep-fire of the ground, that we live as they do. Is there any method to do so? What would be the consequences if it were to exist?
A ladder was dropped against the side of the wall, clattering: A rickety thing creaking in the night wind. Liu Kui set one foot before the other upon its rungs and slowly reached the rooftop.
A bird flew down from a faraway cloud and pecked at Liu Kui's hands.
Now, Liu Kui had brought up a torch to light the sighting-lamp, and so desperately held on, intent on avoiding unnecessary arson. With a tightly-gripping hand, knuckles white as the flame it held, Liu Kui crawled forward despite the pecking bird and touched the fire to the wick of the sighting-lamp.
With a soft puff, the oils ignited and began to smoke. Sighing in relief, Liu Kui retreated from the roof and descended the ladder. The bird's talons were sinking into the meat of Liu Kui's hand.
Throughout all of this, Liu Kui did not cry out in pain.
But then the bird flew away, and Liu Kui fell off the ladder, screaming in frustration.
Puzzle 4: Many have sought to quantify authority by measure of those that it commands. For instance, judging the authority of a ruler by the number of subjects, or creating an ordering of logic describing its applicability. After the Indefinite Authority incident which ended the two-month reign of Mikthiparak Yivi-Sharsa, it was apparent that doing so was unquestionably incorrect. Name two of the corrections which were implemented in the following decade and the necessity of their creation.
"Tell me - the night sky, is it not too bright?" Thus spoke Ban Songqi, who was sitting outside the cottage. "Each of the stars which is torn into its thick covering is allotted its reign there, given power and will. Still in their dominion they are isolated like rulers of the overseas cities, surrounded by great unfriendly waters, where meeting, they shall consume each other without goodwill. Invariably there are too many; a great number will be destroyed."
A silence sat momentarily.
Liu Kui, nursing the wounds on that bitten hand, continued: "Then the stars are as lions. They sleep in the cosmos, nestling at the centers of their claimed territory, and in meeting another will circle about until one is consumed."
Ban Songqi responded: "And what is the life-span of a lion? It is measured by the coming and going of the seas, of the clouds and the sun. The seas of the stars, do they come and go? The clouds of the firmament, where do they travel from, from which waters do they arise? Where is the sun of stars? What manner of light does it cast the lighters? Indeed, what is the life-span of the stars, if they are like lions?"
"The life-span of the living is not determined when they are born, for it is often interrupted by both nature and nature through life. That is - the nature of the Earth and the Skies. Have you seen the stars interfere in the realm of the land?"
Ban Songqi knew that this question was best left unanswered.
The night began to grow cold - many questions were left to linger outside, where they drifted away on the smoke of the sighting-lamp.
Puzzle 5: The rocks of the earth cannot witness that they are not alive; They cannot get up and say "I am not living, for I am a mere rock! I am dead, and not alive." No-one knows if any might say to the lives of the ocean and the exhale of the earthly shell, which houses the deep-fire of the ground, that we live as they do. Is there any method to do so? What would be the consequences if it were to exist?