Good lord, some of you people talk a lot. OTOH, that's what I'm here for, so
you don't hear me bitching -too- hard...
All right. Consider that I don't have my books, so I can't give you specific
locations. However, I have a -quite- good memory of things I've read (and
enjoyed), so ... topics in no particular order, save that they occur to me in
that order, and (maybe) I'm trying to fit them into the timeline. Gobs and
gobs of spoilers, so here's your spoiler space.
17 traditional Great Weapons, a whole host of Morganti blades. It is clear
(from commentary -- Kragar's?) that the Morganti weapon was the Serioli plan
for the elimination of war, and maybe murder, too -- make the idea of killing
someone so repugnant ('cause you're destroying their 'immortal soul') that
the entire concept of war/murder becomes anathemic to your society. The
Great Weapons don't exist, just 'regular' Morganti blades.
Considering the timeline: I'd give a 95% chance this happened BEFORE the
arrival of humans (Easterners) on Dragaera; if it'd happened before that,
then the Serioli would have been willing to accept the existence of the human
colonists amongst them. (Besides, humans are clearly widespread, while
Dragaerans are, for the most part, centrally located. More on this in a bit.)
It is possible, however, that it happened shortly -after- the arrival of the
colony, but only if the Serioli are functionally immune to Morganti blades,
as follows: war began between colonists and Serioli, and the weapons which
the Serioli forged -- for -all- 'sharp artifacts of steel' made by the
Serioli are Morganti, because that's the (maybe only?) way they make
knives/swords/spears/etc. -- did more than just kill their opponents, it
destroyed their comparatively weak spirits. The Serioli, horrified by this
'capability' of their weapons, withdraw and 'surrender', offering peaceful
co-existence with the humans. (Humans, hereafter, spread throughout the
world, generally mixing their villages with Serioli villages, etc. etc.)
There were still, I imagine, a few zones where there are nothing but Serioli
villages, and others where there are nothing but human residences. Please
note -- for this suggestion of mine, Serioli don't make ordinary kitchen
knives; ALL of their implements are (as such) Morganti. It's just the way
they make things, the attention to crafting, the 'power' of themselves. The
'desire to cut' that is the ordinary Morganti weapon is, for these purposes,
more a simple design philosophy; you want an edge that WANTS to cut, just as
much as you would want a wheel that WANTS to turn, or a candle that WANTS to
burn.
Then the Jenoine show up. Immensely powerful, they form their own enclave,
with which to experiment on the 'surrounding critters'. In this case, the
primary 'surrounding critter' was the human; clearly sentient, they were a
perfect subject for experimentation. The Serioli, having long since reached
their 'no more war' policy, maybe send in a few protests, but they're not at
the same power level as the Jenoine, so the Jenoine tell 'em to bite it
before returning to their experiments. The Serioli shrug, and wander off.
Humans aren't -that- high on their important list, and it's not like the
Jenoine are destroying their souls, right?
Then we have a big kaboom, a Great Sea of Chaos, a few gods, etc. etc. These
aforementioned Gods have two primary motives: survival and freedom. For the
moment they have freedom, and their enemies are (ahem) in chaos; the Gods
turn to individuals they -know- will be their allies -- the 'new humans',
i.e. Dragaerans, and the old humans, who undoubtedly dislike the Jenoine
because, well, would YOU want aliens coming by to abduct and experiment on
your sister? ... if you live in a remote area that has experienced
abductions, PLEASE don't answer that one. The Primary assistance comes from
the experiments (i.e. Dragaerans) who, having been direct victims, of course
team up.
During the lull in which the Jenoine who survived/fled the GSoC detonation
recover before trying to return, the Gods encourage the 5,000 tribes (okay,
okay, 31 or whatever) of Dragaerans to get together -- via Zerika. Zerika
most likely was one of (if not -the-) the most powerful Shamans of the
Tribes; she, possibly Sethra, maybe a Serioli, and maybe Verra (I don't
recall if Verra was there, so someone can correct me if they want...) get
together and create the Orb. This has the following effects:
1) The Orb, tapping the GSoC, feeds back into it, rendering it (essentially)
immune to the influence of the Jenoine.
2) The Gods, tapping both the 'safe' power of the Orb and the 'dangerous'
power of the Great Sea, create the Paths of the Dead between this world and
'the next', so that they can sift through the Dragaeran souls. (Humans
aren't quite as useful is my conjecture -- more for the 'mass worship' power
source than being actual tools.)
3) The Dragaerans gain a tap on a vast source of power, lowering/eliminating
the risk of another such 'accident'; to ensure that it doesn't happen TOO
often, Zerika outlaws 'elder sorcery', offering a link to the orb to everyone
who agrees with her. This, incidentally, sets up ...
4) Zerika becomes the First Empress, forming the Empire of Dragaera, with
noble houses and yadda yadda yadda. Why her? Because she had the tap on
power, duh. He who has 'the gold' makes the rules, and Zerika had the gold,
as well as a friend -- a brother? -- with a big-assed sword who was quite
willing to 'debate with' the Council of Shamans at swordpoint to get 100%
conformation to Zerika's idea. (This is what Zerika knew, or expected, or
hoped, was going to happen. I suspect Sethra was just hoping that everyone
wouldn't kill each other.) Once the Shamans agreed, they could influence the
other leaders of the tribes, etc. etc. And EVERYONE could link with the Orb:
voila', we have an Empire.
Please note: the Dragaerans, during this last step, were under attack by
other tribes of humans -- Easterners. Clearly someone 'on the other side'
decided that the abominations made by the Jenoine shouldn't continue to
exist, or that they were going to pose a major threat, or whatever. Dolivar
& Crew (aka the House of the Jhereg) made Our Warlord Kieron (no, I DON'T
think he was emperor, though he might've been the first Dragon emperor...)
promise to include them in the agreement in exchange for scouting and spying
services; Kieron gets to have LOTS of problems with the other tribes in
enforcing this. I figure that when he died and went down to the Paths (being
honorable), he commanded/cajoled/forced the Gods to create the physical
representation of the Cycle, and made sure the Jhereg were on the wheel.
Once the Empire got started, though, it -had- to expand. So they did, right
out through Serioli and Easterner tribes, conquering and kicking ass, all
with the encouragement and support of Our Lords (and Ladies) of Judgement. A
few of the Lords, I imagine, circulate through the Easterners, to gain
influence on THAT side of the coin, too; it never hurts to make EVERYONE you
can your ally. Unfortunately, during that 'expansion phase', plenty of
Serioli villages get the torch; the Serioli, not being stupid, can see that
it's not the Dragaerans' fault, but that of the LoJ, who are encouraging this
expansion in order to widen their own power base. The Easterners are no
help, of course, 'cause too many of them are already agog over the LoJ. So
where does a good, vengance-seeking Serioli turn in order to find help?
The Jenoine.
The Jenoine and the Serioli get together, and one genius Serioli smith (named
in Issola, I don't remember what it is) figures out how to make one of their
weapons not only -want- to cut, but even want to do other things -- i.e., how
to bind a sentience previously in a human (or Dragaeran, or Serioli, or
Jenoine -- or whatever) form into a very, very well-made (i.e. powerful)
weapon of their manufacture, i.e. Morganti. After some experimentation, and
probably a few failures, you have a Great Weapon -- say,
'Wand-In-The-Form-Of-A-Sword-For-Creating-Death', aka Blackwand, whose
primary purpose is, let's face it, killing as many thousands of opponents it
can. ('Infantry battalion disguised as a sword', I think Vlad understates
once.) So they create others -- Pathfinder (what was it, 'Artifact for
Finding When The Path Is True'?), Godslayer/Lady Teldra ('Artifact for
Removal Of Aspects of Diety'), Iceflame, and others.
Side note: I find it interesting that we never find out the Serioli name of
Iceflame; it would, I expect, be REALLY telling about what power Dzur
Mountain represents, how it got there, etc. My personal pet theory is that
it was the first (and probably enormous) stockpile by the Jenoine for
cracking back against the Lords of Judgement -- but someone slipped up, and
Sethra got the one and only key. 'Take that, Bambridge Scholars!!'
Likely the first time the Gods were 'informed' of the existence of the Great
Weapons is, perhaps, when they were first used. A possible scenario might go
like this: in concert, three or four Great Weapons are brought to a place
where Verra can be often found, perhaps in the Paths of the Dead. This is
the plan: one is used to clear away the riff-raff (Iceflame), one is used to
trace the way between starting point and destination (Pathfinder), one is
used to take down defenses and -- this is important -- eliminate the
capability for the deity to split their essence, i.e. pin them down
completely (Godslayer), and one is used to perform the coup de grace, utterly
destroying the deity (Blackwand). Godslayer slays the 'god' part, you see;
it doesn't kill the being, but rather, as the Serioli put it, 'removes
aspects of diety' -- making yon god(dess) mortal once more.
This scares the everliving shit out of Verra & Co., who put three of the four
weapons into the hands of trusted retainers, err, lackeys, errr ...
Dragaerans, and take the critical one -- Godslayer -- and rip it apart.
Doesn't destroy it, but there you go.
Anyhow. I don't remember if I even covered everything that I wanted to
cover, but that's most of it. Oh yes, -- in FHYA, Iceflame is not mentioned
by name, but is -definitely- mentioned by implication -- re-read the scene
where Aliera and Sethra meet for the first time. 'I know that I have a
greatsword to your dagger, but knowing something about that dagger, I believe
I do you the honor of not overmatching you,' or something to that effect --
Aliera acknowledging that she with a greatsword against Sethra with Iceflame
would, well, be 'at best' an even match.
I wonder if Aliera and Sethra ever had that duel. For some reason, I think
they did, Aliera with Kieron's Greatsword vs. Sethra and Iceflame. I can
also clearly picture Sethra coolly defending herself until Aliera runs down,
then politely (so to speak) asking, "Would you like to continue when you have
regained your strength?" That or else letting Aliera slash, slash, clip a
sliver of hair from her (to satisfy her honor), and then hammering her into
oblivion, and giving her a couple of days to view life from the inside of
Iceflame before revivifying her. "Don't piss me off again, little Dragon."
Ahem. Hrm. Well... anyhow. :P Considering the implications, though, would
-you- want to be called a 'yendi'? It's clearly used the way 'Machiavellian'
tends to be -- generally an insult in casual conversation, but showing
approval when describing a plot.
Felix Eisen
aka Thomas Crain