Interlude One:

Interlude One:

‘Of the Virtue of Man and the Valor of Foxes’

A Tier One Scholarly work as done by a scholar of the first Tier.

I, Tai Su, write this small letter in homage to my parents Long Su and Shu Su who have taught me of the Virtue of my people in what little ways they could thanks to their poor circumstances, as well as to honor my teacher and Valorous fox Hao Wen who has taught me how to read and write and count beyond ten and take this occasion to honor the man who goes by the name of Wen Shu and who allowed me to take the test to become a first tier scholar in the service of her Resplendent Majesty.

May The Red Sun Blaze for ten-thousand years of glory and prosperity under her reign.

Now on to the subject of this paper, the virtue of men and the valor of foxes.

It comes as no surprise that, despite the alliance between Her Resplendent Highness of a Million Banners and the Wise Council of the Nine Tails, that their subjects ,be us humans or of the fox clan, have not been able to interact cordially except when facing the verminous spider clan as our armies work together to cleanse them from the face of this world and after being taught of the nature of the fox clans by my teacher Hao Wen, I believe I have to a possible reason as to why this happens.

To answer it, one must first think of coinage, more specifically as to the material it is made out of. Imperial Coins are made out of a mix of gold and silver in this era, with gold being more valuable than silver with the Golden Tael being almost entirely made out of gold and the Half Tael being made of an alloy of silver and copper, albeit I have to admit as to my ignorance as to the exact ratio.

All coins are inherently valuable, because people find the metals they are made out of to be valuable, but not all coins are created equal, for different metals are valued differently by different people, as some might consider silver worth more than gold, or copper worth more than iron and so on. Some might choose to debate as to why that is and it is my opinion that it is because there is no single universal hierarchy of value, but debating why something is important is not the purpose of this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the human virtue and foxish valor with coinage, as both represent something I’ve taken to calling social currency due to being unable to find a more appropriate term.

Similar to how physical currency is made out of certain materials, most commonly metals, even if from what I heard from teacher Hao Wen some towns use coins made out crystals or bones, so too would social currency be made out of different materials, and these materials are best called moral traits.

I have come to this conclusion after I have learned of the treatment of merchants by both the Fox Clan and the Empire of the Blazing Sun, for how can two societies think so differently of the same people?

In the empire merchants are reviled due to their lack of virtue, while in the fox clans they have a social rank in-between nobles and cultivators and it took me far too much time, more than it should have truly, before I realized that our societies disagree so much on how merchants should be treated because we value different things and have different morals and what constitutes as moral.

I have spent far too many days of my life trying to find out what those materials are but I believe I have managed to stumble upon two equations that define the two social currencies we use.

Virtue= Chance of staying during a crisis *(value work added by yourself+ ability to help with the work of others+ social links with a given community)

Valor= Bravery*(ability to help with the work of others+ achievements)

Merchants are seen as brave by the fox clans and the bravest of them are seen as the most Valorous, while merchants are seen as without virtue because their work does not directly contribute during a crisis, nor are they likely to sacrifice to help rebuilding or averting it and will instead either seek to profit from it or leave to greener pastures.

To explain it with less pseudo-mathematics, both social currencies refer to our cultures value of different things, as while societies of virtue value the ability and willingness to stay in one’s community in times of crisis above all else, the cultures that value valor treat the willingness to brave danger and the unknown above all else.

To have virtue is to be a part of a community, to be someone that a community can rely on when times are rough and whose work directly benefits others and who when times are tough will stay, they will work hard and they will make things better. Those with virtue must prove themselves to the community as virtue itself is how such a thing is measured.

To be valorous on the other hand is to make something be possible, it is to visit exotic lands, to learn something new and to be able to do anything you set your mind to no matter the odds. The valorous are those that a community must attract for they have already proven themselves capable and thus it is society that must prove itself worthy of such valor.

This difference in values is equivalent to two assessors attempting to calculate the value of coins of different make, but one thinks that silver is worthless while the other has never heard of gold. The two can look at the exact same coin and one could call it worth more than any other, while the other calls it a useless lump of metal.

This is a fundamental difference of values, something that cannot be fixed, but it can be worked around by using the common elements of what we value so that we can understand the value of what the other offers.

The easiest way I have found was through the production of goods and offering of certain services and having them be linked to a single location, where artisans perform their tasks. By creating these Ateliers where the common points of both virtue and valor can be found, we can allow certain individuals to earn a certain amount of both currencies and would allow these individuals to act as respected individuals in both societies to serve as a bridge between a society shaped by virtue and one shaped by valor.

If others can find any other such workarounds then I welcome them to use what shred of wisdom this work has been able to offer, I am afraid that I can offer little else, but such a thing is important, for we need to exterminate the abominable spider, and for that we must work together, and to work together we must understand each other.

This slip of paper is the reason for my presence in this dump of a village pretending to be a town.

“Interesting is it not, Sister of Dawn?” My current mistress asked.

“I would call it Strange, my lady. I do not understand why this shred of paper is important or why it requires you to live in the land of the Scorching Sun.” I answered.

“Don’t call it such, not here!” She barked angrily and her ears flattened in anger.

I rose up from my chair and knelt on the floor with my head pressed to the ground.

“My apologies my lady! Please punish me in whatever way you see fit.” I all but shouted.

Great, early into my next assignment and I am already messing things over. Hopefully the punishment is light.

“No, no, no! This is not something to be punished over, not while you don’t say it where others can hear. Rise and put yourself back into your seat.” My new mistress said and forced me back into my chair.

I did not resist, as I was more confused as to why she used that tone if this wasn’t something to be punished over than by her actually helping me rise. I heard strange tales of inlanders, but I always dismissed them.

Now it seems I’ll have to learn what their exclamations mean too.

‘How annoying.’

I’ve come here a few days ago on orders of the Ancestors to help establish an outpost as one of the inlanders merchants has managed to insert herself into the local hierarchy as an actually valued member of the local community and not merely as a tolerated and despised outsider and the Ancestors have decided that they will not let this opportunity pass.

The Sisters and Brothers of Dawn were created specifically to serve the Valorous and there is nothing more valorous than allowing our people to cleanse the world of the spider.

“I beg of you to remove my ignorance on this topic my lady as I am hopelessly ignorant.” I asked my new lady.

The Empress is the Scorching Sun, she who cleanses the darkness until all that is left is ash. Why would I not call her lands, the Lands of the Scorching Sun? They belong to her.

“Calling the lands of the Empress, the Lands of the Scorching Sun, is an insult. It implies that she acts against you and thus to call her the Scorching Sun is to imply that she is an enemy. Back home it does not carry such connotations, but here you don’t use that term.” She explained tiredly.

“I will inform my sisters.” I said and bowed respectfully.

Humans and their strange taboos are annoying, but as we are in their lands we have to work around them.

“Now, what do you think of the paper and it’s importance?” She asked.

“I can see that it might be useful, albeit I would hardly call it a work of the first tier, it is far too short and seems too simple and surface level.” I replied evenly.

If this was what humans considered the apex of their literature then they were truly lacking.

“Human rank things differently, tier One is the lowest, Tier Six the highest.” My lady graciously explained with a soft smile.

So this is their equivalent of a sixth tier? Then that’s worse, but for us.

“It does not seem to fit such a lowly rank.” I replied evenly.

It is of at least the fifth tier, probably somewhere at the middle of it, but it is not some rag with written words on it like most works of the sixth tier.

“Bureaucratic nonsense, this is the first scholarly work of my student, and he hasn’t earned the right to have his work be referred to as a higher rank. From what I have read of their works they’d probably call it of the second tier as well.”

Well that was something useful to know, I just hope the foxes back home were told that.

“Imperial Bureaucracy.” I observed

“Imperial Bureaucracy.” My lady echoed.

That didn’t need any further words on it, both of those words had a reputation that needed no explanation.

“Why is it so important then?” I asked.

“It’s the first explanation both us and the Imperials understand as to why our people cannot get along and the first solution we've found that works and gives a frame of reference that we can understand. The idea for my Publishing Atelier came from my student Tai Su who wrote that paper and so far it seems to be working.”

“So we are also trying to get the Valorous Man to join the clans still?” I asked simply.

“Yes, we want that sort of mind in the clans and assuming that his younger siblings will possess something similar, the entire bloodline of his parents as well. Him wishing to be a cultivator is an issue, but as long as his family does not wish to be so, they can join the rest of the clans and in a few generations the Su bloodline will have red hair and fox ears.”

I nodded at that, the understanding of valor this Tai Su showed was shallow, but it was not incorrect. All bloodlines want to add valor to themselves and being known as the bloodline which managed to solve the current issue with the humans was bound to be an incredibly attractive proposal.

I did need to know what I was working with however. And if I can have a bit of fun while doing it?

All the better.

“Will those ears and hair come from the Wen bloodline?” I asked suggestively.

A raised eyebrow met my question and I sighed, it seems my lady was not the kind of woman that was easily flustered. This assignment was getting worse and worse.

Yes, that’s not a question so much as an observation. The Wen may be an inlander clan but their Ancestors are very much active and plotting, and I can’t even fluster my lady due to it.

“So what do you need my and my sister’s services for my lady?” I asked plainly.

It was best to hide my misery as the only good part of this assignment was the fact that my uniform is pink now as is apparently human tradition for chief servants. Whatever needed ten Body Tempering Cultivators present would quickly find itself regretting that.

We don’t have a way to vent our frustration by teasing our lady which means something will have to die until we feel better.

“The ancestors wanted you here to guarantee my safety, lest the local lord tries something, but the poor man is too busy burning favors to get his realm fixed no matter how much he might wish to leave.” My mistress answered.

That made no… wait, that paper. If he were to leave then he would lose Virtue, even if the settlements here are not worth the effort. He needs to stay and fix things or he’ll become an untouchable.

Perhaps that paper was that useful after all.

“How are we helping him then?” I asked.

My lady smiled viciously at me and I felt my tail start wagging excitedly.

“Lord Xi has been a most gracious host. I have been talking to him to offer him low interest loans to give him some funds to fix things which he accepted easily. In a few months I plan to erase said loans if he’ll write me some letters of recommendation to allow various fox Ateliers to set up in neighboring areas, as well as allowing more of the clans to settle in his domain. What I need you and your sisterhood for is to find recalcitrant elements at his court and make sure that they no longer have the standing to oppose my generous offer and patronage. Too many such vermin have been trying it before you and your sisters managed to settle in.” My lady replied with a sadistic smile.

And the fact that the Wens will be able to decide who will receive those letters and permissions remained unsaid.

It seemed that the Inlanders were just as shrewd as the rest of our people, they simply lacked the opportunities one finds on the sea, but they were just as relentless in seizing them when they did appear.

My duty was not in determining which clan gets prominent here, only that the clans as a whole benefit, and the sound of influence was oh so sweet and I am sure that her Ancestor is proud of his descendant who is as wise as he was to seize on the first breakthrough that showed itself to their eyes.

I felt my smile match hers as I spoke.

"To hear the words of the valorous is to follow them my lady. Those who dare sabotage your new friend’s attempts at rehabilitating his domain will find themselves put in their place.” I declared proudly.

Maybe this posting won’t be that bad, even if I miss the smell of saltwater. The smell of bitter tears and misery coming from those without valor will have to suffice.