Sky Pride – Warby Picus

Tian was a feral child. Injured and literally thrown into the trash as a young child, he grew up alone, scavenging. Then he was joined by a spirit of sorts - very knowledgeable but limited to a tight budget of helpful advice. Some of the advice got him into a Sect, where he has been progressing as one of its youngest and most-junior members.

Sky Pride shares the basic tropes of Cultivation: Through whatever works - typically some mix of mediation, instruction, medicines, and insights - some candidates achieve a higher state. Eventually this can mean immortality and supernatural (usually elemental) powers. But the Cultivation tropes have a darker underside that is often left implicit: A Sect is an organization with a few superhumans on top and a large number of aspirants beneath them. Under them are all the regular people who do the work, provide the supplies, serve as cannon fodder when the mighty fight. Depending on the nature of those on top, it can be quite bad at the bottom.

A feral background is both a disadvantage and an advantage for Tian. He doesn’t have society’s expectations and preconceptions getting between him and what he sees. He isn’t tempted by abstractions such as wealth or position because he barely realizes they are suppose to be tempting. He assumes that people who don’t call a spade is a spade need medical help. This makes him good viewpoint character.

Tian’s Sect is currently undergoing a rare bout of introspection. The people at the top are not, in fact, cruel or callous, and do, in fact, have good morals and good intentions. And these have led the Sect to a bad place.