In a message dated Fri, 26 Jul 2002 12:30:03 AM Eastern Standard Time, FelixEisen at aol.com writes: > Good lord, some of you people talk a lot. Us? Talk a lot? Never! Why, we are the very heart and soul and appendix of Brevity, and can not even conceive of writing one single, solitary word more than is utterly, in all ways, absolutely, critically necessary for us to convey to you, our worthy audience, the humble expressions of what it is we wish to say. :) > Gobs and gobs of spoilers, so here's your spoiler space. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > [invention of Morangti weapons] > 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. Based on what Sethra says on page 37 of _Issola_, its strongly implied that Morganti weapons weren't possible until after the Greater Sea allowed sorcery. > (Besides, humans are > clearly widespread, while Dragaerans are, for the most > part, centrally located. More on this in a bit.) All the Dragaerans were originally experiments, and so presumably started off near the Jenoine research compound. And then Kieron organised them into a single nation (something that didn't happen with the Easterners). > war began between colonists and Serioli, Why must there have been war? Serioli oppose Dragaerans and their gods, but we haven't seen any ill feelings towards Easterners. > 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. But then why would they claim that Morganti weapons were invented specifically to abolish war? > 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. Hmmmm... wish we could see what the Serioli thought of the Jenoine when they arrived. > 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? That reminds me; the impression that I got from Sethra's history lesson was that the gods sided with the Dragaerans against everyone else, which I consider to be a big mistake, and perhaps its starting to catch up with them. Of course, Verra seemed to be leading the early gods, and I'm not at all impressed with her god-like intellectual abilities. > During the lull in which the Jenoine who survived/fled the > GSoC detonation We could call it "Verra's Disaster". :) I remember someone on the newsgroup arguing that Zerika should arrest Aliera as a pre-emptive move, since BOTH of her parents destroyed significant amounts of geography. > recover before trying to return, the Gods encourage the > 5,000 tribes (okay, okay, 31 or whatever) of Dragaerans to > get together -- via Zerika. Uniteing the tribes was Kieron's idea (prompted by the gods I think). I'm not certain that Zerika I was even alive then. (Paintings aren't neccessarily canonical.) > 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 I wouldn't think a Serioli would be invovled, but then myth claims the Orb was made by Jenoine, which is even less likely. > 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. According to Vlad, its Dagger-Shaped-Bearer-of-Fire-That- Burns-Like-Ice, which at least sounds Seriolian. See page 223 of _Phoenix_. > 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!!' There is speculation that it can be used like a personal Orb. --KG