Starwatch Tower

No fixed protagonist | No hero or heroine | Everyone gets a tragic ending | Nothing but heartbreak

The young people on the Stargazing Terrace once held blazing passion in their eyes. None of them knew that after parting, mountains and rivers would lie between them, and when they met again, their temples would already be gray.

A group of spirited young people once gathered here. Some took up swords, hoping to shatter the firmament; some took up their brushes, hoping to write the story of the land; and some set their pieces on the board, hoping to determine the fate of the world. The moonlight on the Stargazing Terrace had shone on their raised cups, reflected their solemn vows, and brushed the hems of their clothes as they turned to leave.

Some rode into the martial world, their youthful innocence worn away amid flashing blades; some lowered their eyes and entered the court, hiding their true hearts in the whirlpool of political schemes; and some stayed by their old homeland and the terrace, watching the stars flow by year after year as they waited for a reunion that might never come.

No one is the story's sole protagonist. The Stargazing Terrace simply stands in silence, witnessing the young people's journeys and partings, their regrets and moments of fulfillment, and weaving their stories into the starlight of every passing year.

Content warnings

No fixed protagonist: The Stargazing Terrace is a stage, with the light falling on each person in turn. There is no single central character, only a group of young people struggling, shining, and falling in the torrent of their times.

No hero or heroine: There is no central romance, and the story does not revolve around any particular relationship. It focuses on the collective course of their fates and the personal choices shaped by their era.

Everyone gets a tragic ending / nothing but heartbreak: This is not a story about success or happy reunions. It is about ideals, reality, the price people pay, and being forgotten. Everyone's ending is steeped in regret, just as history itself rarely offers a perfect conclusion.