|
Post by drakkenblut on Jul 10, 2017 22:36:16 GMT
Aftermath of Wrath of the Dragonfather is not clear cut at all.
OK, Toruk got hurt worse than ever, he went back to Cryx. Dragons are like bygones on the eating of Pyromalfic, and back to licking their new wounds, should keep them occupied for a couple of centuries. Legion got half eaten again, but all of Everblights Athanc shards are accounted for and there is a fresh dragon corpse to experiment with.
So, EB is free to just survive in west Immoren long enough to forge a new generation of dragonspawn powerful enough to fight all the dragons? Not so fast, the story can still develop in strange ways.
One of the loose ends is the dragon locating system, I do not believe the Dragon alliance wants it anymore, and they will be extremely annoyed if it gets turned on again, but Everblight will want it deactivated just to be sure, and Venetrax will want to look into it . Question is what will Krueger do about it, will he protect it or trade it for something? And also Blighterghast - Krueger relations arent clear, I can see Blighty taking his actions as treason, or them cooperating again. Dragon mind works in strange ways.
Other dragons may want individual revenge on Everblight. Ashepnos will want Charsaug avenged, Scaefang will want that shard of Everblight he almost ate, and Umbargoven will see Kallus as the ultimate abomination.
Note that all of the dragons may still not be accounted for, in the novel it is not clearly stated that all of the Dragon Alliance came to fight, there may be a dragon somewhere that sat this one out.
I see a bunch of tidbits surfacing from individual battles with dragons. Say that Vayls Oraculus got lodged in some dragons flesh and she gets particular insight on that dragon? Kryssa suddenly remembering some vital weaknees of Scaefangs through her shard? Other warlocks combats can develop the story in surprising directions, and theres always Charsaugs corpse to produce some spawn, powerup, weapon or whatnot.
Also, Everblight is in a stalemate right now, and he may not be content to gradually build up a force to take on all the dragons. This position may be reason enough for him to hunt the Chimera (allying with the Skorne?), even though its madness may infect him, or for him to return to his dream of eating elven gods (they are not all that weak now, though).
The detail of Toruk eating an athanc and fully regenerating may have deeper repercussions, Toruk may decide the situation is desperate enough for him to hunt the chimera himself, or if Venetrax figured out Everblight divided his essence, Toruk may decide to eat one or more of these small shards.
Theres also Blighterghasts promise to keep Cygnar safe, it should have some influence on the story.
Any other ideas?
|
|
|
Post by Aegis on Jul 11, 2017 2:17:28 GMT
Well, Blighterghast is now the most powerful dragon after Toruk, and Everblight is quite behind him, so I don't see Everblight being even close to be a match for the Dragon alliance.
He could try to seize another opportunity to get an isolated dragon, but he will have to be very careful since the pact Saeryn made with Blighterghast only mentioned pardoning Pyromalfic, but if Everblight strikes again the Dragon Alliance can just repeat the trick and really kill him this time.
Toruk was actually winning alone vs everyone before Blighterghast got the athanc, so I think the two factions are pretty much equal right now. I don't think the Alliance has enough power to fight him into his own nest into the Sharde island.
On the promise to keep Cygnar safe, I think Blighterghast will keep the promise, but of course only when a catastrophic event is happening (like a dragon attacking them or something equally major, like Orgoth returning). I think it will be just a big Deus ex Machina that they prepared to pull Cygnar off when they want to depict a cataclysmic event without actually destroy Cygnar in the end of it.
|
|
|
Post by Stormsmith Dropout on Jul 11, 2017 2:32:36 GMT
Just finished the book. Blighterghast will likely keep his promise. Likely because of pride, or maybe out of some small amount of respect for their prolonged battles with Cryx. Either way, I don't see him double crossing Cygnar. The Alliance and Toruk are probably back on equal footing. Before Nidoboros' anthanc was fused with Blighterghast, Toruk had an edge. And once he took the anthanc of the lesser dragon, he was definitely the stronger. But now, there's no certain better. I seriously doubt Everblight will attack any dragons of the Alliance for a while. He has a reprieve from destruction, and he'll want to make use of it. I assume he'll be making new dragonspawn and seeking out another prey for now. Really great to see this plot point reach completion. And it did so in an interesting way. Also, I really wish I'd read this before I posted on the Haley/Mary Sue thread. Everyone was like "Haley's so powerful. She's a goddess. Her time powers are broken because she can just use them at will to live forever." When in truth she's like "what ever are these timey ribbon things coming out of people's chests? Who are these mysterious ladies that look like me when I was younger or older? Let's go to the city I just had a vision about being destroyed, lol".
|
|
|
Post by Aegis on Jul 11, 2017 2:43:27 GMT
Also, I really wish I'd read this before I posted on the Haley/Mary Sue thread. Everyone was like "Haley's so powerful. She's a goddess. Her time powers are broken because she can just use them at will to live forever." When in truth she's like "what ever are these timey ribbon things coming out of people's chests? Who are these mysterious ladies that look like me when I was younger or older? Let's go to the city I just had a vision about being destroyed, lol". The fact that she is surprised by her own powers and needs a bit of time to learn how to use them at best doesn't mean that she doesn't have godlike powers. Also remeber that Wrath of Dragonfather happened pretty much during the coup, so 2 years ago. Actual Haley had quite a bit of time to guess what those "Timey ribbons" are, and even at the end of the book she already had learned enough to ressurrect people just rewinding time and to look at the future and share her vision with other people (like she does with Saeryn to convince her to join). But let's not derail the topic for this, if you want, the Haley topic is still open, we can talk there.
|
|
|
Post by drakkenblut on Jul 11, 2017 7:01:37 GMT
Well, Blighterghast is now the most powerful dragon after Toruk, and Everblight is quite behind him, so I don't see Everblight being even close to be a match for the Dragon alliance. That is only athanc - size -wise. Everblight is unlimited in the number of spawn he can create, not to mention his blighted mortals. Blighty is stronger than a hundred Archangels? Everblight should spawn two hundred, then. Charsaugs corpse will certainly suffice for dragon flesh building blocks. I just dont see Everblight having patience to build up an army, he will step into some sort of action way before that. Actually Everblight building up his anti-dragon capabilities should be fun for gamers in the department of new models, I want Hellion Cavalry since MK2 started. Also, EB could now go on a scavenger hunt to gather as much dragon remains as possible, he already has Pyromalfic bits, some Umbargoven flesh in Kallus, a whole fresh Charsaug corpse, and he may try to get other sources - Skaszs blood may have been kept by Satixys, his own remains lay somewhere in Ios, he was the witness of Nektor demise, he would know where to look for that, and Toruk smuggles his own diluted blood into the mainland for his cultists to use. Also, I believe he can just go and excavate Pyromalfic bones at this point, Castle of Keys is abandoned. Battlefield where the dragons clashed should be a nice site to find some spilled blood or broken off teeth, scales and talons, just feel the blight. EB searching for a new target... what can it be? Toruk and the Dragon Alliance is out of reach ATM, there is Chimera with its insanity issues, perhaps there is an unallied dragon somewhere or another loose athanc, but I believe it would break the premise of the Caen universe too much to go that route. Lastly, he may do something unortodox - eating Elven gods, creating synthetic Athancs (see Spell Martyrs) or Skorne soul stones (See Domination fluff, Skorne warlocks talking about similarities between soul stones and Athanc shards). The Athanc sum balance of power is an interesting theme - at the beginning Alliance was down a minor dragon (Pyromalfic), then another (Charsaug) and that second one got absorbed by Toruk so Toruk had three minor Athancs advantage compared to the last historical conflict with Dragon alliance, plus a couple of percent less for any cuts and scrapes the Dragon alliance incurred in directly preceeding battles with the Legion. That would mean Nidoboros Athanc is more powerful than three minor dragon athancs, a champ dragon indeed. On the eating of gods theme, Everblight still owes Ghyrrshyld his promise to let him speak with Nyssor before he eats him, only Ghyrrshyld will use that opportunuty to save the god. It is just too good of a plot twist not to use.
|
|
|
Post by Aegis on Jul 11, 2017 12:19:57 GMT
Well, Blighterghast is now the most powerful dragon after Toruk, and Everblight is quite behind him, so I don't see Everblight being even close to be a match for the Dragon alliance. That is only athanc - size -wise. Everblight is unlimited in the number of spawn he can create, not to mention his blighted mortals. Blighty is stronger than a hundred Archangels? Everblight should spawn two hundred, then. Charsaugs corpse will certainly suffice for dragon flesh building blocks. I just dont see Everblight having patience to build up an army, he will step into some sort of action way before that. Actually Everblight building up his anti-dragon capabilities should be fun for gamers in the department of new models, I want Hellion Cavalry since MK2 started. Also, EB could now go on a scavenger hunt to gather as much dragon remains as possible, he already has Pyromalfic bits, some Umbargoven flesh in Kallus, a whole fresh Charsaug corpse, and he may try to get other sources - Skaszs blood may have been kept by Satixys, his own remains lay somewhere in Ios, he was the witness of Nektor demise, he would know where to look for that, and Toruk smuggles his own diluted blood into the mainland for his cultists to use. Also, I believe he can just go and excavate Pyromalfic bones at this point, Castle of Keys is abandoned. Battlefield where the dragons clashed should be a nice site to find some spilled blood or broken off teeth, scales and talons, just feel the blight. EB searching for a new target... what can it be? Toruk and the Dragon Alliance is out of reach ATM, there is Chimera with its insanity issues, perhaps there is an unallied dragon somewhere or another loose athanc, but I believe it would break the premise of the Caen universe too much to go that route. Lastly, he may do something unortodox - eating Elven gods, creating synthetic Athancs (see Spell Martyrs) or Skorne soul stones (See Domination fluff, Skorne warlocks talking about similarities between soul stones and Athanc shards). The Athanc sum balance of power is an interesting theme - at the beginning Alliance was down a minor dragon (Pyromalfic), then another (Charsaug) and that second one got absorbed by Toruk so Toruk had three minor Athancs advantage compared to the last historical conflict with Dragon alliance, plus a couple of percent less for any cuts and scrapes the Dragon alliance incurred in directly preceeding battles with the Legion. That would mean Nidoboros Athanc is more powerful than three minor dragon athancs, a champ dragon indeed. On the eating of gods theme, Everblight still owes Ghyrrshyld his promise to let him speak with Nyssor before he eats him, only Ghyrrshyld will use that opportunuty to save the god. It is just too good of a plot twist not to use. Actually yes, Blighterghast is stronger than an army of dragonspawns. The main advantage of dividing the athanc like Everblight did (with the notable feat of not creating lesser dragons, but remaining a unique identity) is that Everblight survives as long one of his warlocks is still alive (the main point of doing it. Everblight divided to avoid to be eaten, not because it would make it "stronger") and that this way he has access to a lot more information and world manipulation capabilities than dragons that have just to hide into their caves fearing coming out (because otherwise Thoruk would hunt them). That said, dividing the athanc changes the powers from godlike (Dragons) to human-like (Sorcery and warbeasts). In an open fight, Everblight has no chance against prepared and full forces dragon like Blighterghast (expecially Blightergast, that reuniting two of the most powerful athancs around, is powerful about 3 times a normal dragon now).
|
|
|
Post by Gamingdevil on Jul 12, 2017 7:18:59 GMT
Can anyone tell me about Chimera? That doesn't sound familiar from reading Wrath of the Dragonfather.
|
|
|
Post by chillychinaman on Jul 12, 2017 16:29:25 GMT
Can anyone tell me about Chimera? That doesn't sound familiar from reading Wrath of the Dragonfather. I second this.
|
|
|
Post by drakkenblut on Jul 12, 2017 18:54:42 GMT
Can anyone tell me about Chimera? That doesn't sound familiar from reading Wrath of the Dragonfather. Chimera is a dragon that was in the direct vicinity of the Bridge of Stars or whatever that conduit from Elves to their gods was called, when it exploded. Some say that the dragon caused it to explode by trying to pass through it. The explosion created the Abyss that divides the continent of Immoren, and it did not kill said dragon (athancs are indestructable), but it erased its memory and drove it insane. Now it is called Chimera and it shifts shape immitating creatures it comes across, but it is dragon-sized. It is described in Monsternomicon for PPs Iron Kingdoms RPG, the illustration shows it as a dragon sized creature with Rhinodon body and Titan head, with another malformed head emerging from its back. Apparently it destroys a lot of Skorne caravans coming westwards. It was not mentioned in Wrath of the Dragonfather. Now, in a setting like this, the obvious question is why do the athanc - hungry dragons not just find the Chimera and eat its athanc, since it is not in a dragon shape, cannot fly and is insane therefore a slightly softer target than a dragon in full strength? Someone (I think Doug Seacat) officially stated that all the Dragons are afraid that Chimeras madness will spread to them, so they evade it at every point. Given how much the storyline advances precisely by way of finding and consuming athancs, every time a story arc ends, it is pertinent to remember there is an athanc roaming Immoren, but is the dragon in question really that desperate to try and consume it? Also I just thought of another angle of the story, Krueger gained an extensive collection of blight samples from a lot of dragons in the course of building the dragon positioning system, and his end goal is to figure out a way to destroy dragons, so maybe he is ready to go on with research... But the logical course of action would be to get one Everblights shard, and he may have some allies, Kaya wanted to capture a Legion warlock way back in Domination, that would make it interesting, but not changing the dragon status quo.
|
|
|
Post by Stormsmith Dropout on Jul 12, 2017 19:02:12 GMT
Ooh. That would be a cool goal for Everblight.
Has there been any news of what happens to Saeryn and Rhyas after Wrath of the Dragonfather? Are they just going into hiding?
|
|
|
Post by chillychinaman on Jul 12, 2017 19:25:14 GMT
Ooh. That would be a cool goal for Everblight. Has there been any news of what happens to Saeryn and Rhyas after Wrath of the Dragonfather? Are they just going into hiding? From the Legion command book, it is stated that there was a, "traumatic falling out with Everblight." The Twins are described as to still being loyal to Everblight, but are for all intents and purposes rogue agents of the Legion with only their spawn and loyal supporters.
Maybe this will be our Merc/Minions theme?
|
|
|
Post by Rowdy Dragon on Jul 12, 2017 19:29:09 GMT
What will The Dragons do next?
The answer is obvious!
They will go to imoro disneyland!
|
|
|
Post by Aegis on Jul 12, 2017 19:37:57 GMT
Ooh. That would be a cool goal for Everblight. Has there been any news of what happens to Saeryn and Rhyas after Wrath of the Dragonfather? Are they just going into hiding? This is what we know about them now:
|
|
|
Post by drakkenblut on Jul 12, 2017 20:52:15 GMT
Actually what would happen should Everblight eat another member of Dragon Alliance?
They did not even know Pyromalfic got eaten until Krueger told them. They flew around blind and caused unneeded ruckus until Krueger built the dragon positioning system. Everblight had a year and a half of free roaming until he got into real trouble, and that was partly because of the chase after Nidoboros athanc.
Should Everblight pick a good situation again, namely>
- disable or destroy dragon positioning system, - get his own info on dragons either through Vayls scrying device which she can now easily build, or through some remnant of all the battles with dragons, - build up a purpose made anti dragon army, lots of flying spawn, new ones created using Charsaug corpse,perhaps new weapons, armor and magic strenghtened against dragon breath and dragon flesh, perhaps personaliyed againsta particular dragon, and corresponding mortals, partly to kill a dragon but also to defend himself against dragon retribution - create distractions for other dragons, influence other armies to move against them, force conflicts (Everblight is a master subtle manipulator, see his accomodations in a casket) - prepare a refuge other dragons will be hard pressed to penetrate (underground tunnels for instance, summoning storms in the path of attacking dragons, maybe building an anti-dragon fortress)
...he could eat another dragon and evade retribution. All of this is within his abilities. Bear in mind through all of Hordes fluff Everblight worked in haste, now he has time to do it right.
|
|
|
Post by Gamingdevil on Jul 13, 2017 6:20:46 GMT
I don't think eating another dragon will be in the near future for Everblight, simply because we don't know what will happen when he does. It's been stated that Thagrosh's body is at the limit of the amount of power it can contain. So if another dragon is consumed, Thagrosh will likely die and Everblight will have to find a new form, maybe even go full dragon, but that would mean he has a harder time to hide and he will need time for his body to grow.
|
|