[D9ME] The written history of the Moto (Expecting)

The woods surrounding Kyuden Shika
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Moto Mitsuki
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Re: [D9ME] The written history of the Moto (Expecting)

Post by Moto Mitsuki » Sat Aug 28, 2021 10:30 pm

"What makes a story good, or touching, is before all context. Hard to just select one in a vacuum."

She sighed.

"Though I guess the sky is providing me with a lot of context today.

You know the tale that Lady Sun and Lord Moon can only meet during an eclipse? Or that the the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl are only reunited during an ephemeral celestial configuration once a year?

In the north of the Burning Sands, there is that weird rock formation. Two big rocks, building-size big, who were clearly one eons ago before the wrath of nature broke them in two pieces. They face each other separated by a chasm too large for even a Unicorn horse to jump over it.

Since there is no way to cross this obstacle easily, the caravans just travel around it from a distance, and the rocks are rarely visited. They're still big enough to be glimpsed at from afar though. And from time to time, a rainbow can be seen between them.

Rainbows are pretty rare in the arid desert as you might guess, so this is already a weird phenomenon. That it seemingly joins together the two rocks adds to the mystery.

The romantic explanation is that these rocks are two lovers that were cursed by the earth spirits to never meet again, not even in the afterlife. And that the spirits of air, fire, and water, moved by their distress, unite their strength to give them some semblance of contact each time their earthly jailers are distracted."
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Kitsu Murato
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Re: [D9ME] The written history of the Moto (Expecting)

Post by Kitsu Murato » Sat Aug 28, 2021 11:17 pm

He listens to the story with attention to the details she shared.

"That is a fine story. I will gladly put it to paper for you. You are trying to create a written record of traditional oral stories then?" he guessed. "I imagine to share with the rest of Rokugan since I suspect stories like that are likely shared freely and regularly in the Unicorn?"
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Re: [D9ME] The written history of the Moto (Expecting)

Post by Moto Mitsuki » Sun Aug 29, 2021 9:36 am

"They are... But there's quite a responsibility in putting them on paper.

Each oral story exists in a myriad of variants. Even in the mouth of the same storyteller, who'll adapt it depending on their audience.

When you write it down, you choose only one of them, and the strength of the written words is such than that variant will eventually become the 'canon', the 'true' version, doomed to erase all the others.

It's kind of a spell really. You give immortality to one variant at the cost of the existence of all the others."
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Re: [D9ME] The written history of the Moto (Expecting)

Post by Kitsu Murato » Sun Aug 29, 2021 12:28 pm

"Well, see, there is a fix for that," he says with a smirk. "We just write them down in multiple variations. Two blades look the same from a distance, but up close you spot the difference. Let there be variance."
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Re: [D9ME] The written history of the Moto (Expecting)

Post by Moto Mitsuki » Sun Aug 29, 2021 6:48 pm

Mitsuki smirked:

"If you've got infinite time and paper maybe. But on a scroll with three tales, I feel like the reader would prefer to read three different stories instead of three variations of the same one.

So choices have to be made. That's where telling a story ends and writing a story begins."
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Re: [D9ME] The written history of the Moto (Expecting)

Post by Kitsu Murato » Sun Aug 29, 2021 6:59 pm

"Organize. Find writers to work alongside other storytellers of your clan. Have interested writers from each clan sit down with storytellers of yours. The way the Lion hear the story will be different from how the Crane hear it and the Crab hear it. When the stories are shared between the clans, that variation will remain," he offers as an alternative to trying to have one person write a story 20 different times.
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Re: [D9ME] The written history of the Moto (Expecting)

Post by Moto Mitsuki » Sun Aug 29, 2021 8:56 pm

"Wow. Hold off your pony. I'm talking writing a short story collection on my, very limited free time, here Kitsu-sama. Not dedicating my life to promote a book at a scale similar to the Tao or Leadership.

Let's look at the problem from another side. Why do you focus on when you write yourself?"
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Re: [D9ME] The written history of the Moto (Expecting)

Post by Kitsu Murato » Sun Aug 29, 2021 9:10 pm

He laughed at that. "Sorry, sorry. Grand ideas and undertakings. Sometimes my imagination gets away from me," he says with a smile.

"When I was learning to write, I focused on themes that called to me, religion and war primarily, and wrote original stories around those topics. But for the past few years, all my writings for entertainment purposes have just been retellings of my adventures dealing with spiritual threats. Writing from reality is significantly easier, especially when you experience unique things like that. So I get to cheat a little."
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Re: [D9ME] The written history of the Moto (Expecting)

Post by Moto Mitsuki » Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:51 pm

"Well, it requires to have both lived through interesting times and to not to be shy about one's misfortunes. So that's not given to anybody.

But yeah, I should definitely draw from my own personal experiences. Mixing things that happened to you and tales you've heard is already a common storytelling trick I'm used to. Makes the story feel more grounded, more real.

Hm... While the rainbow rocks story is interesting, I feel like the legends of the Moto should always start with movement, and people forever stuck in stone is the opposite of that.

So... The sun rider maybe. It's a simple story yet a very symbolic one. A rider is tricked by an evil desert spirit into becoming its slave if they don't reach the end of the world before the next sunset.

In its purest form, the story simply describes the Sands as the rider traverses them at full gallop. The dunes, the sun, the wind, their mount doing their best, the emptiness, the short halts at oasis full of life.

Eventually the rider manages to catch a glimpse of the sun setting on the ocean just in time, and the curse is broken.

I have of course never bargained with an evil spirit, but every other aspects of the story I can very much base on my own experience."
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Re: [D9ME] The written history of the Moto (Expecting)

Post by Kitsu Murato » Mon Aug 30, 2021 6:43 pm

"I haven't bargained with an evil spirit, but I have had to deal with a man that did. Perhaps I could add more depth to that aspect of the story in a shared endeavor," he offers. "It sounds like an interesting story."
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