I had assumed the art was more symbolic. Though if her instruction of meishodo goes horribly wrong for some reason and Djinn (or something else) set the palace on fire I'll be so stoked that this art foreshadowed that event. If it somehow kills Daisetsu and Shahai feels the need to use extreme methods to get him back it would be even more impressive a foreshadow That would give Shahai a way better motivation to turn her into a maho-tsukai.

1 hour ago, phillos said:

I had assumed the art was more symbolic. Though if her instruction of meishodo goes horribly wrong for some reason and Djinn (or something else) set the palace on fire I'll be so stoked that this art foreshadowed that event. If it somehow kills Daisetsu and Shahai feels the need to use extreme methods to get him back it would be even more impressive a foreshadow That would give Shahai a way better motivation to turn her into a maho-tsukai.

I actually hope they steer clear of that route. Her using foreign sorcery to save her beloved Prince and tainting him in the eyes of the empire would actually be a better story, pit a traditionalist faction versus a reformation faction which would be a good way to steer the story away from the routes that the old story was telling. I better told revolution (the seeds of which we can see being laid with the Perfect Land Sect) coupled with a decline in the perceived virtue of the Emperor to rule (symbolized by the Elemental imbalance) leaves a lot of fresh story areas to explore.

Anything is better than Shahai's old backstory which didn't leave her all that sympathetic (IMO). That's all I want. Sympathetic antagonists. Either way would work for me, but I mean there's gotta be maho-tsukai in the story. It can't just be Kuni Yori pulling all the weight here for the Shadowland fans

I noticed that this cycle had a lot of fictions showcasing quite a few possible direct antagonists to the empire for the future: Kuni Yori, Isawa Ujina and the Lying Darkness, Shahai, Daisetsu possibly, Yoritomo and the Mantis Pirates, Naga, Djinn attacking the Kami, the lost ...

2 hours ago, phillos said:

Anything is better than Shahai's old backstory which didn't leave her all that sympathetic (IMO). That's all I want. Sympathetic antagonists. Either way would work for me, but I mean there's gotta be maho-tsukai in the story. It can't just be Kuni Yori pulling all the weight here for the Shadowland fans

I noticed that this cycle had a lot of fictions showcasing quite a few possible direct antagonists to the empire for the future: Kuni Yori, Isawa Ujina and the Lying Darkness, Shahai, Daisetsu possibly, Yoritomo and the Mantis Pirates, Naga, Djinn attacking the Kami, the lost ...

That actually makes a lot of sense. Core set introduced us to the fiction and some of the main cast. The Imperial cycle developed that a bit further. Now we get some antagonists, or at least opposing viewpoints, and the end of this cycle (hopefully) and next cycle we get some significant inciting incidents to further the plot.