In this Convergence we had 3 main showdown missions
The Theatre
Obrimus Manor
Villa Aurora meeting
What do you think will be main showdowns for the next convergence?
So the secret is out
The Cloak is building roads to the lost Afterlives.
Each Road requires a trinity of bridges to be built
So 7 Trinities for the 7 Afterlives is the target.
Building a Trinity requires 3 components
1. Psychopomp Item: A powerful divine item connected to ferrying souls to a specific Shaper's afterlife realm
2. Araman Anchor: An anchor forged from a weapon that killed the specific shaper
3. Opposing Anchor: An anchor forged from a powerful item connected to a Realm whose energy is opposite to the Shapers afterlife
The Trinity for the Orcish Afterlife was successfully built in the Hallowed Round
Orcish Trinity was made of the Orcish Psychopomp Item(Gavidzra Paint), Orcish Araman Anchor(Pariah Blade) and Orcish Opposing Anchor(Stone of Nightsong)
We know also know that
Halfling Trinity was to be made of the Halfling Psychopomp Item(Coffin of Olbalad), Halfling Araman Anchor(Any of the Panto would work) and Halfling Opposing Anchor(Mara confirmed to be Demonic in Nature)
Predicting what the Psychopomp Items and the Araman anchors are for each trinity is Easy.
Predicting the Opposing Realm Anchors is harder. Below is my theory on Opposing Anchors
THEORY ON OPPOSING ANCHORS
I'm guessing Opposing Energy Realm anchors have to be from a Non-Shaper Realm whose nature is opposite to Shapers divine domain. The Divine domains were specified in Lore Keepers ledger.
For example
Azgra's divine domain is War. Opposing anchor would have to be from non-Shaper realm which is the opposite of War. A non-Shaper realm of Peace. Faerie is the closest match.
Rauwyn's divine domain is Luck. Opposing anchor would have to be from a non-Shaper realm which is the opposite of Luck. A non-Shaper realm of Curses. The Pit is the closest match.
Sylandri's divine domain is Life. Opposing anchor would have to be from be from a non-Shaper realm which is the opposite of Life. A non-Shaper realm of Death. The Reaches is the closest match.
Tansul's divine domain is Sun. Opposing anchor would have to be from be from a non-Shaper realm which is the opposite of Sun. A non-Shaper realm of Darkness below. The Plane of Earth is the closest match.
Illumi's divine domain is Moon. Opposing anchor would have to be from be from a a non-Shaper realm which is the opposite of Moon. A non-Shaper realm of Consuming Flame like the Sun. The Plane of Fire is the closest match.
Trozhna's divine domain is Forges. Opposing anchor would have to be from be from a non-Shaper realm which is the opposite of Forges. A non-Shaper realm that would dissolve the flames of the forge. The Plane of Water is the closest match.
Omra's divine domain is Wilds. Opposing anchor would have to be from be from a non-Shaper realm which is the opposite of Wilds. A non-Shaper realm of Emptiness. The Plane of Air is the closest match.
THEORY ON CLOAKS RELICS
I believe the Cloak already has agents procuring the relics required to complete the remaining six trinities. The Letter of Jauf has the following quote
>
This means the Professor himself was looking for anchors for the remaining Four Trinities.
Implying he already had agents securing other Three Trinities.
Thiazi was securing the components for the Orcish Trinity and the Halfling Trinity. (Thiaizi died before he got the Opposing Anchor for Halfling Trinity-The Demonic Anchor-but he got all of the other components)
An Unnamed Agent was securing the components for another Trinity.
The Professor on the other hand was securing the components for the remaining Four Trinities.
I’m predicting that when the Professor shows up at the Orchard he will come up with the complete components for some of the Trinities. Im thinking at least 2.
THE ELVISH TRINITY
As stated earlier,
Building a Trinity requires 3 components, one of which is a Psychopomp item.
Psychopomp Item is a powerful divine item connected to ferrying souls to a specific Shapers afterlife realm
The Stone of NightSong would have been the obvious choice for the Psychopomp Item for the Elvish Trinity but its not available anymore. So a new Relic has to be used to be the Psychopomp Item for the Elvish Trinity. Some Relic that has the power to ferry souls to the Sylandris Afterlife realm which we know is Faerie.
Lady Aranessa already hinted on what this Relic could be, In a cold open ,she referenced that when a Royce dies, should they wish it, , a golden ferry takes their soul across a luminous river, bringing it to Faerie.
I believe this Golden Ferry would be an excellent psychopomp item
>!What new character do you want Travis to have now that Teors gone?!<
>!Whats your predictions as to what the DeathBoon Wicannder will get from Teor?!<
Whats your Predictions on what the Thiazis paint ritual is going to do?
So far the guesses ive seen is
1.Fix Orcish Afterlife
Summon Orc ghost army
Summon Orc ghost army and Fix Orcish Afterlife
What are your guesses?
Thanks to the Convergence, a lot of pieces are coming together regarding the Tachonis grand plans,Thiazis death and the Underworld war.
Ive combed through the Lore to create a comprehensive theoies on this topic.
Ill start with the Tachonis Grand plans: The Sea Door plan and The Orchard Plan
The Sea Door Plan
Petrah and Riyahs letter to Seggundus give us some vital details concerning the Sea Door plan, so ill be analysing some quotes from it
>Uncle,
We hope this letter finds you well, and the Castle’s Torch Garrison proves sufficient to handle the Last Minute improvisation.
We must make all haste to Dol Makyar, and from there we head north to board the Moray, and see forthwith beyond the Sea Door.
We know via Murrays Visions that the Tachonis ships are sailing somewhere with ships full of petrified Paladin statues and Sacrophagi. This part of the Letter confirms where-The Sea Door.
Also One of the other Tannesar letters from Primus has a comment on moving fast before the Sea Door closes .
I believe the Sea Door is some sort of magic portal to the Tenebral Reaches which periodically opens .
>We understand that Univere and Dorset, almost done with their harvesting, have now been reassigned to retrieve the stolen Calcidion. Is the path itself not a more worthy target than the orchard?
Throughout the Letter, The Tachonis twins express worry on how Primus was rushing and prioritising the plan to destroy the Orchard. This paragraph reveals that reassigning Univere and Dorset from their harvesting to focus on recovering the stolen Calcidion(Stone of Nightsong) is yet another example of Primus prioritising destroying the Orchard over Destroying the Path.
From this we can deduce that the Harvesting done by Univere/Dorset was to be instrumental in destroying the Path
.We know what that Harvesting entailed-It was Digging up some resource from Crypts in Timmony and gathering Petrified Paladins, the very components for whatever is happening at the Sea Door.
From this we can deduce that the Sea Door plan is instrumental to destroying the Old Path
>Having thus split our family’s forces between two extremely significant rituals on either side of the Reaches, it feels we are rushing, both when there is no need to rush either, or at least no reason that has been explained to us.
This Paragraph reveals that the split focus of the Tachonis between destroying the Old Path and destroying the Orchard is actually a split focus between two extremely significant rituals on either side of the Reaches. In other words both the Sea Door plan and the Orchard Plan involve magical rituals within the Reaches
I believe the Sea Door plan is a ritual in the Tenebral reaches that is ultimately aimed at destroying the Old Path and conquering the reaches.
The Dwarven runes Murray translated give us the detailed recipe for this Sea Door ritual.
Lets Analyse the ritual Recipe bit by bit
>"By eight champions is borne the sepulchral lord. Fiend from Fae must their judgment part and the Living from the Dead.
We know that The Tachonis were digging for a hidden resource all over Timmony-specifically from ancient crypts.I believe what they were acquiring was Corpses of Sepulchral Lords. It is this corpses that are being placed in the sarcophagi accompanying the Petrified Paladin statues.
As for what a sepulchral lord is, I will make my guesses later.
Whatever they are, we know as part of the Sea Door Ritual, they must be accompanied by Paladins whose divine sense is the Judgement referred to in this recipe
>Light must they wield to keep at bay the Guardians of the Veil and bear their lord forth unto the Sea of Lachris,
If you recall when Primus tore open the Veil at the Palazzo Davinos to summon ghouls, the tear was later mended by what looked like Mysterious Fairies of death,It was a quick scene many missed. I believe these are the Guardians of the Veil. As the Ships go through the Sea Door, the corpses of the Sepulchral lords need to be protected from the Guardians. The Paladins escorting the corpses of the sepulchral Lords are to use their Light to protect the corpses from these Guardians, .The Sea Door will take the Ships from the Mortal realm into the Tenebral reaches, specifically the Sea of Lachris.. Remember the Sea of Lachris is the Ocean of the dead in the Tenebral Reaches and is the key location of the Sea Door Ritual
>where the blood of old may give new life to rotted flesh and summoning forth the power of the living upon the dead.
The Blood of Old here is likely the Candle of Slaughter.Remember its made of the fat of Tachonis ancestors. Once ignited the ritual will give new life to the corpses of the Sepulchral Lords. The Sepulchral Lords will resurrect as form of Undead which have abilities only found in the Living.
My Guess? The Resurrected Sepulchral Lords will have the power of Paladins and be able to travel between the 8 realms of death (7 Shaper After Lives and the Tenebral Reaches).
With an Army of Sepulchral Lords, Primus can send them to the part of the Reaches were the Old Path is, and command them to destroy it.
This Army would grant Primus a pure monopoly on the Afterlife. anyone who wants a good afterlife instead of oblivion will need the Tachonis. This is why Petrah and Riyah valued this plan above destroying the orchard.
>But lo and be forewarned! Should the mist know but a single mortal breath, the spell is broken, the lord consumed by Death itself."
Plainly stated, no Mortal should accompany the Corpses of the Sepulchral Lord , as a single breath will destroy the corpse in the ritual. That’s why the Paladin escorts had to be Petrified.
THE ORCHARD PLAN
As we deduced earlier, destroying the orchard is part of a Significant ritual affecting a part of the Tenebral Reaches.
What part and what effect is the big question.
Heres my guess
I believe the Fey Demiplane( Golden Orchard) and the Shadow Demiplane ( Tachonis Castle in Death) exist in a balance.When one is stronger, the other gets weaker. Destroying the Orchard would therefore make the Tachonis Death Castle more powerful than its ever been. Thats the Ritual
Now whilst this is useful, Petrah and Riyah viewed this of a lesser importance than the benefits destroying the Path or King Gus would bring. The reasons can easily be deduced. Boosting the magic of the Death Castle, increases the Magic the Tachonis can use whilst in the Death Castle not anywhere else. It’s a Localised benefit. Whereas destroying the path, grants them monopoly of Afterlife and destroying King gus gives them political leverage over Kahad. Thats a planetary benefit to the Tachonis
So why was Primus rushing to destroy the Orchard when the Path or King Gus were more worthy targets? What made him so hasty that he couldn’t suffer the few days it would take to transport Occtis from Dolmakiar to Tannesar but instead rushed to have the ritual done in Dol Makyar?
It was that very haste, that caused mistakes to be made and for the Tanessar ritual to fail.
Occtis never became a Celestial, and so a Celestial never showed up to backup the Tachonis troops attack on the Orchard.
As a result of that the Tachonis lost a lot of troops in that’s attack and not only that Royce and their Vassals survived.The attack dis succeed in destroying the Orchard but the Tachonis have to deal with the political ramifications of Royce and Vassals surving to tell the tale of Tachonis betrayal
What on earth made Primus so hasty?
My guess? I believe Primus had secretly discovered a threat to the Castle Of Death in the Reaches. A very powerful Army of souls was preparing to attack the Shadow demiplane itself. Knowing of this threat Primus hastily pushed the attack on the Orchard because he knew the Orchards destruction would make the Castle in Death powerful enough to survive the attack and as a bonus give him anan Angel of Death he could use to enslave his attackers.
Who is this Army of souls that Primus feared?
My guess is this Army is the Gavidzra souls that were freed by Thiazi and Mara
THE GAVIDZRA ARMY
Gavidzra was a river of blood created by Azgra the Conqueror — the orcish Shaper — as his psychopomp instrument. It flowed from the Reaches to Azgras realm.
Its purpose was brutally simple. The moment an orcish soul died it was automatically seized by Gavidzra and dragged along its current toward Azgra's hellish realm. Gavidzra was a divine trap built into the fabric of orcish death itself — inescapable by design.
When Azgra died in the Shapers War the connection between Gavidzra and his hellish realm severed. The river could no longer deliver souls to their destination. But Gavidzra kept flowing. And every orcish soul that died kept getting captured by its current — because the mechanism of capture was still fully functional even though the destination was gone.
For seventy years every Rungjani orc who died and failed to find the Old Path was seized by Gavidzra and accumulated within the part of the river in the Reaches. Trapped inside the river's current, suspended in divine blood, unable to move on, unable to return, unable to reach the Old Path. Seventy years of dead orcish souls — warriors, shamans, ordinary people — all imprisoned in the flowing blood of their own Shaper's psychopomp instrument.
Things changed when Thiazi and Mara found an artificat of Azgras which contained the Font of the River Gavidzra. With the help of Tsulrechi they were able to break Azgras order, Azgras curse on the River, liberating the souls
What they did had two effects on the River Gavidzra.
1)Souls could choose to leave the River Gavidzra and go into the Old Path
The Souls who have chosen to stay in the River Gavidzra have chosen to stay and fight against the tyranny of the Tachonis in the Reaches. The River Gavidzra within the reaches is now the Headquarters of this Army led by Mara and Thiazi.
The Underworld war
Primus somehow found out about the Gavidzra Army and their preparations to attack his Castle of Death. He swiftly put in plans in place. He moved up the timeline of the Orchard plan as that would protect the Castle of death,He also shielded all entries into the underworld via his lands,because he knew Mara would be coming to lead the Underworld army. Without their commander, the Gavidzra army would be destablised.
When Thiiazi saw Mara at his execution, he knew he had to go to the underworld instead.To lead the Army and ensure they didn’t get enslaved by the Tachonis.
So its been Thiazi and the Gavidzra army vs the Tachonis and their Undead.It would have been an even match if the Orchard didn’t get destroyed.Now the Castle of death is more powerful than ever practically impregnagble.
Primus had planned to use Occtis the celestial to enslave the freed Gavidzra souls. Occtis never became a celestial, but we know through Murrays vision theres a backup plan,and that Backup plan is the Sea Door plan.The Plan to to create Sepulchral Lords. The Sepulcharl Lord are to fufill what Occtis was supposed to do.
Brings to mind what the Ancient Tachonis spirit said “What failed in life,be made right in death”
The Cloaks Plans
But theres hope though.
The Gavidzra army is not Thiazis only plan.
He had parts of it disguised as paint and sent to the Hallowed Round. He set to wave a motion of events that are to fix the Underworld crisis . A secret plan that Primus does not know. A plan that involves creating Doorways to the Afterlife. You can read the full theory on that in link below
Thanks to the Convergence, a lot of pieces are coming together regarding the Tachonis grand plans,Thiazis death and the Underworld war.
Ive combed through the Lore to create a comprehensive theoies on this topic.
Ill start with the Tachonis Grand plans: The Sea Door plan and The Orchard Plan
The Sea Door Plan
Petrah and Riyahs letter to Seggundus give us some vital details concerning the Sea Door plan, so ill be analysing some quotes from it
>Uncle,
We hope this letter finds you well, and the Castle’s Torch Garrison proves sufficient to handle the Last Minute improvisation.
We must make all haste to Dol Makyar, and from there we head north to board the Moray, and see forthwith beyond the Sea Door.
We know via Murrays Visions that the Tachonis ships are sailing somewhere with ships full of petrified Paladin statues and Sacrophagi. This part of the Letter confirms where-The Sea Door.
Also One of the other Tannesar letters from Primus has a comment on moving fast before the Sea Door closes .
I believe the Sea Door is some sort of magic portal to the Tenebral Reaches which periodically opens .
>We understand that Univere and Dorset, almost done with their harvesting, have now been reassigned to retrieve the stolen Calcidion. Is the path itself not a more worthy target than the orchard?
Throughout the Letter, The Tachonis twins express worry on how Primus was rushing and prioritising the plan to destroy the Orchard. This paragraph reveals that reassigning Univere and Dorset from their harvesting to focus on recovering the stolen Calcidion(Stone of Nightsong) is yet another example of Primus prioritising destroying the Orchard over Destroying the Path.
From this we can deduce that the Harvesting done by Univere/Dorset was to be instrumental in destroying the Path
.We know what that Harvesting entailed-It was Digging up some resource from Crypts in Timmony and gathering Petrified Paladins, the very components for whatever is happening at the Sea Door.
From this we can deduce that the Sea Door plan is instrumental to destroying the Old Path
>Having thus split our family’s forces between two extremely significant rituals on either side of the Reaches, it feels we are rushing, both when there is no need to rush either, or at least no reason that has been explained to us.
This Paragraph reveals that the split focus of the Tachonis between destroying the Old Path and destroying the Orchard is actually a split focus between two extremely significant rituals on either side of the Reaches. In other words both the Sea Door plan and the Orchard Plan involve magical rituals within the Reaches
I believe the Sea Door plan is a ritual in the Tenebral reaches that is ultimately aimed at destroying the Old Path and conquering the reaches.
The Dwarven runes Murray translated give us the detailed recipe for this Sea Door ritual.
Lets Analyse the ritual Recipe bit by bit
>"By eight champions is borne the sepulchral lord. Fiend from Fae must their judgment part and the Living from the Dead.
We know that The Tachonis were digging for a hidden resource all over Timmony-specifically from ancient crypts.I believe what they were acquiring was Corpses of Sepulchral Lords. It is this corpses that are being placed in the sarcophagi accompanying the Petrified Paladin statues.
As for what a sepulchral lord is, I will make my guesses later.
Whatever they are, we know as part of the Sea Door Ritual, they must be accompanied by Paladins whose divine sense is the Judgement referred to in this recipe
>Light must they wield to keep at bay the Guardians of the Veil and bear their lord forth unto the Sea of Lachris,
If you recall when Primus tore open the Veil at the Palazzo Davinos to summon ghouls, the tear was later mended by what looked like Mysterious Fairies of death,It was a quick scene many missed. I believe these are the Guardians of the Veil. As the Ships go through the Sea Door, the corpses of the Sepulchral lords need to be protected from the Guardians. The Paladins escorting the corpses of the sepulchral Lords are to use their Light to protect the corpses from these Guardians, .The Sea Door will take the Ships from the Mortal realm into the Tenebral reaches, specifically the Sea of Lachris.. Remember the Sea of Lachris is the Ocean of the dead in the Tenebral Reaches and is the key location of the Sea Door Ritual
>where the blood of old may give new life to rotted flesh and summoning forth the power of the living upon the dead.
The Blood of Old here is likely the Candle of Slaughter.Remember its made of the fat of Tachonis ancestors. Once ignited the ritual will give new life to the corpses of the Sepulchral Lords. The Sepulchral Lords will resurrect as form of Undead which have abilities only found in the Living.
My Guess? The Resurrected Sepulchral Lords will have the power of Paladins and be able to travel between the 8 realms of death (7 Shaper After Lives and the Tenebral Reaches).
With an Army of Sepulchral Lords, Primus can send them to the part of the Reaches were the Old Path is, and command them to destroy it.
This Army would grant Primus a pure monopoly on the Afterlife. anyone who wants a good afterlife instead of oblivion will need the Tachonis. This is why Petrah and Riyah valued this plan above destroying the orchard.
>But lo and be forewarned! Should the mist know but a single mortal breath, the spell is broken, the lord consumed by Death itself."
Plainly stated, no Mortal should accompany the Corpses of the Sepulchral Lord , as a single breath will destroy the corpse in the ritual. That’s why the Paladin escorts had to be Petrified.
THE ORCHARD PLAN
As we deduced earlier, destroying the orchard is part of a Significant ritual affecting a part of the Tenebral Reaches.
What part and what effect is the big question.
Heres my guess
I believe the Fey Demiplane( Golden Orchard) and the Shadow Demiplane ( Tachonis Castle in Death) exist in a balance.When one is stronger, the other gets weaker. Destroying the Orchard would therefore make the Tachonis Death Castle more powerful than its ever been. Thats the Ritual
Now whilst this is useful, Petrah and Riyah viewed this of a lesser importance than the benefits destroying the Path or King Gus would bring. The reasons can easily be deduced. Boosting the magic of the Death Castle, increases the Magic the Tachonis can use whilst in the Death Castle not anywhere else. It’s a Localised benefit. Whereas destroying the path, grants them monopoly of Afterlife and destroying King gus gives them political leverage over Kahad. Thats a planetary benefit to the Tachonis
So why was Primus rushing to destroy the Orchard when the Path or King Gus were more worthy targets? What made him so hasty that he couldn’t suffer the few days it would take to transport Occtis from Dolmakiar to Tannesar but instead rushed to have the ritual done in Dol Makyar?
It was that very haste, that caused mistakes to be made and for the Tanessar ritual to fail.
Occtis never became a Celestial, and so a Celestial never showed up to backup the Tachonis troops attack on the Orchard.
As a result of that the Tachonis lost a lot of troops in that’s attack and not only that Royce and their Vassals survived.The attack dis succeed in destroying the Orchard but the Tachonis have to deal with the political ramifications of Royce and Vassals surving to tell the tale of Tachonis betrayal
What on earth made Primus so hasty?
My guess? I believe Primus had secretly discovered a threat to the Castle Of Death in the Reaches. A very powerful Army of souls was preparing to attack the Shadow demiplane itself. Knowing of this threat Primus hastily pushed the attack on the Orchard because he knew the Orchards destruction would make the Castle in Death powerful enough to survive the attack and as a bonus give him anan Angel of Death he could use to enslave his attackers.
Who is this Army of souls that Primus feared?
My guess is this Army is the Gavidzra souls that were freed by Thiazi and Mara
THE GAVIDZRA ARMY
Gavidzra was a river of blood created by Azgra the Conqueror — the orcish Shaper — as his psychopomp instrument. It flowed from the Reaches to Azgras realm.
Its purpose was brutally simple. The moment an orcish soul died it was automatically seized by Gavidzra and dragged along its current toward Azgra's hellish realm. Gavidzra was a divine trap built into the fabric of orcish death itself — inescapable by design.
When Azgra died in the Shapers War the connection between Gavidzra and his hellish realm severed. The river could no longer deliver souls to their destination. But Gavidzra kept flowing. And every orcish soul that died kept getting captured by its current — because the mechanism of capture was still fully functional even though the destination was gone.
For seventy years every Rungjani orc who died and failed to find the Old Path was seized by Gavidzra and accumulated within the part of the river in the Reaches. Trapped inside the river's current, suspended in divine blood, unable to move on, unable to return, unable to reach the Old Path. Seventy years of dead orcish souls — warriors, shamans, ordinary people — all imprisoned in the flowing blood of their own Shaper's psychopomp instrument.
Things changed when Thiazi and Mara found an artificat of Azgras which contained the Font of the River Gavidzra. With the help of Tsulrechi they were able to break Azgras order, Azgras curse on the River, liberating the souls
What they did had two effects on the River Gavidzra.
1)Souls could choose to leave the River Gavidzra and go into the Old Path
The Souls who have chosen to stay in the River Gavidzra have chosen to stay and fight against the tyranny of the Tachonis in the Reaches. The River Gavidzra within the reaches is now the Headquarters of this Army led by Mara and Thiazi.
The Underworld war
Primus somehow found out about the Gavidzra Army and their preparations to attack his Castle of Death. He swiftly put in plans in place. He moved up the timeline of the Orchard plan as that would protect the Castle of death,He also shielded all entries into the underworld via his lands,because he knew Mara would be coming to lead the Underworld army. Without their commander, the Gavidzra army would be destablised.
When Thiiazi saw Mara at his execution, he knew he had to go to the underworld instead.To lead the Army and ensure they didn’t get enslaved by the Tachonis.
So its been Thiazi and the Gavidzra army vs the Tachonis and their Undead.It would have been an even match if the Orchard didn’t get destroyed.Now the Castle of death is more powerful than ever practically impregnagble.
Primus had planned to use Occtis the celestial to enslave the freed Gavidzra souls. Occtis never became a celestial, but we know through Murrays vision theres a backup plan,and that Backup plan is the Sea Door plan.The Plan to to create Sepulchral Lords. The Sepulcharl Lord are to fufill what Occtis was supposed to do.
Brings to mind what the Ancient Tachonis spirit said “What failed in life,be made right in death”
The Cloaks Plans
But theres hope though.
The Gavidzra army is not Thiazis only plan.
He had parts of it disguised as paint and sent to the Hallowed Round. He set to wave a motion of events that are to fix the Underworld crisis . A secret plan that Primus does not know. A plan that involves creating Doorways to the Afterlife. You can read the full theory on that in link below
Hey so what are your predictions as to what the Combat encounters for this Arc will be?
How many?
What are they?
Its the Convergence Arc and we have all 3 tables together.
Brennan during the Overture made sure there were never more than 8 people on the Table together.
Do you think he should so the same here?Woukd it be too chaotic to have more than 8 PCs in a scene together?
So we know thanks to Azunes level up that he is a member of a long lost people called NaviKaan. We also know his sorcerous bloodline is Draconic. Finally when Azune levelled up he had a dream of what sounded like a Dragon deep in the earth rejoicing.
I believe Luis is drawing on Latin mythology a bit with regards to Azunes mysterious heritage. Specifically I think the Dragon in Azunes dream is inspired by Quetzalcoatl
Heres my full theory
Long ago, before the Shapers came to Araman, a dragon diety which ill call The Great One sired the Dragon race. He and the Dragons were bevolent guardians of the mortal race and protected them from Primordials and Giants. Some of the Dragons mated with mortals creating the Navikan people. This Navikan people were a great people with a rich sorcerous heritage spreading the love and wisdom of their Ancestor the Great one.
Things changed when Shapers came and made war to enslave the mortals.The Great one was defeated and sealed in the earth (not killed cause Shapers couldnt do it),Dragons were killed and Navikaan people were scattered and enslaved
Thousands of years have past,and the memory of the navikaan people have faded to myth and legend. But the Great One is sealed in the earthmagically calling to his descendants to Remember. Remember their heritage.
I believe remembering will be the key to freeing the Great One.And the Great One can heal the Barrowdells
We know from the cold open of Episode 25 The Tachonis twins sent a very interesting letter to their uncle. Heres the full text
>Uncle,
>We hope this letter finds you well, and the Castle’s Torch Garrison proves sufficient to handle the Last Minute improvisation.
>We must make all haste to Dol Makyar, and from there we head north to board the Moray, and see forthwith beyond the Sea Door.
>Loathe though we are to admit it, we find ourselves condemned to some degree of confusion.
>To wit: Father will not listen to our entreaties, nor explain our sudden need for urgency. The failures in experimentation up to this point include some very dear sacrifices indeed, as you all are well aware. Are we certain we have isolated the possible risks?
>If Octus is indeed the appropriate choice, why can we not suffer the few days it would take to transport him from Dolmakiar to Tanasar? Are our forces truly so embedded within Telmora that they cannot be recalled stealthily and safely?
>We understand that Univere and Dorset, almost done with their harvesting, have now been reassigned to retrieve the stolen Calcidion. Is the path itself not a more worthy target than the orchard?
>Having thus split our family’s forces between two extremely significant rituals on either side of the Reaches, it feels we are rushing, both when there is no need to rush either, or at least no reason that has been explained to us.
>What is time-sensitive, however, is the opportunity we have once the Timinish King is dead. Oh, that political opportunity, though non-magical and therefore perhaps boring to Father, is our most urgent cause.
>With two-thirds of the council on our side, this represents the single greatest chance we have to lay low the Gray Tower, at which point we will no longer have to deceive the Barrowguard into doing anything.
>Doubling our forces, access to the Barrowdells, answering the Kahad problem.
>Let us not make the mistake of our great-grandfather and rely on magic to the exclusion of politics.
>Father will not listen to us. He may well listen to you, given your respect, given your recent demonstration of devotion.
>Please entreat him, if not to reconsider, then at least to explain why we are behaving so recklessly.
>Petrah and Riyah Tachonis
What are your thoughts? Letter hints at two significant Tachonis rituals
The Crisis
With the death of the Shapers, the doors to their realms were closed. And with the death of celestial Psychopomps, Araman had no way to access the Realm. Souls no longer passed on to the Shapers realms but remained tapped in the Underworld, sometimes spilling over to the Mortal World.This is the Underworld crisis of Araman
Thiazi’s secret plan
Here’s my guess: I believe Thiazi and his secret associates(like Mara) were a part of a secret group called the Cloak which the Tachonis referenced in their letters in Tannesar,
The Goal of the Cloak is to Fix the issues with the Underworld.
They plan to create Magic doors to the lost afterlifes.
The Goal is 7 working Doors for the 7 AfterLives.
They plan to open the Doors to the 7 Afterlives and then cast a spell through this doors to destroy them. Doing so will cause the Cosmos to reset , and souls will be able to freely to move on to whatever the Pre-Shaper Afterlife was.
To create this Doors, seem to require the Cloak to obtain Psychopomp items for each dooe(Stone of Nightsong, Coffin of Olbalad etc)
The Paint Thiazi sent to Hal seems to be very important as well
Before I explain how this doors are created, lets speculate on the Paint
THE PAINT THEORY
Assembling the clues we got from Episode 24, we know that the paint used to be some form of magical boiling blood before it was altered by Hollis mistress.
We can easily guess where this blood is from-It was likely from the Azgra relic we saw in Tannesar, that boiling pot of blood. We know that a Druid-likely Mara stole something from this Relic that made it loose its ability to generate blood. I believe she stole the Heart of this Relic so that she can generate the Magical blood for the Cloaks purposes.
So what exactly is the Blood though?
Bolaire got a big clue:That the blood is related to crossing the veil, Just like the Stone of Nightsong and Olbalad. Bolaire vaguely remembered some River of blood in Myth called Gavidzra related to crossing the veil.
So the blood is this Gavidzra.
Heres my theory: Gavidzra is the Orcish Psychopomp item.
Just like the Stone of Nightsong was used to guide Elvish souls to their After Life,I believe Gavidzra was the magical River of Blood that guided Orcish souls to their After Life.It was created by Azgra to serve this purpose.Its a horrible purpose cause the Orcish Afterlife is described to be hellish.
Gavidzra was altered by Hollis Mistress though to a form that encapsulates dreams and wishes. I believe that Form is Filament, albeit a special Filament with a Pscychopomp signature
The Secret to creating the Doors
How they were secretly creating this doors can be decoded from Jaufs letter for Thiazi.
Heres my decoding of the Mysterious letter between Shadow(Thiazi) and the Mysterious Professor.I will be breaking it down, part by part
> To Shadow
If all has gone well you'll have the stone in hand; we'll need the steel, and you said you can convince her to reshape it into an anchor. If not, anyone in the family can make plow shares
Shadow is obviously Thiazi and the stone is obviously the Stone of Nightsong. What the steel is, is unknown but The Cloak seem to need it reshaped into an Anchor. The Her who Thaizi was supposed to try and convince , If I had to guess is Thaisha and if that failed he could convince anyone else in the Lloy Family. This leads me to believe the Steel might have been some god killing weapon, Since the stone is related to the Elves, I expect the steel is as well. My guess? The Steel is the Last Arrow (or a part of it) which was used to kill Sylandri goddess of elves
>> Once it's done, the next step is to bring it to the field. Our wings are leading a charge across the border to draw the locals from the site. That hot shot I mentioned will meet you there and help prepare the arch from steel to stone. Please try to temper his confidence with pragmatism. Yes, I know you are precisely the wrong person for that.
This part of the letter explains how one of the Doors is being made-specifically The Door to Elven Afterlife. The Stone and the Anchor would be brought to a specific field which the Cloak will ensure is abandoned by leading the locals away from the site. I supect the site must be sacred to a god for it to be used as the Site for the Portal creation. The Stone and the Steel will then be forged into an Arch for the portal with help from a Magic expert.
With this we can deduce that there are 4 key steps needed in the creation of a bridge to a Shapers realm afterlife
1) Obtain a Psychopomp item connected to guiding souls to a specific Shapers realm (which is why Thiazi was seeking the Stone of Nightsong, Coffin of Olbalad etc)
2) Obtain an Anchor item connected to the Specific Shaper (which can be forged from a god killing weapon)
3) Choose a site sacred to the Specific Shaper and create/or choose a structure on the site.
4} Have the Structure be fused with the Psychopomp item and the Anchor Item . This structure can now serve as a Bridge. A Bridge that when switched on will open a Door to the Specific Shapers realm.
For example the hotshot in the letter was helping the cloak to create an Arch structure that fuses the Stone (which is a Psychopomp Item ) and the Steel (which is an Anchor item) on a field likely sacred to Sylandri.If the hotshot completes this he would have created the Door to the Elven Afterlife
I believe the Cloak also planned to create the Orcish Door to the Afterlife using the Gavidzra blood (which is a Psychopomp Item) and a reshaped Paraiah Blade (as an Anchor Item) in the Hallowed Round (Sacred Site to Azgra)
>Still, remember, until a stable trinity of bridges are built it is vital that the blood be protected. I trust that you have disguised it well. With any luck, the next time I see your face we will have undone the damage of our first attempt. More than one door will be open to us from there.
A third component for the Door creation is revealed which is The Blood which I already explained to be Gavidzra. Whats interesting is that the letter reminds Thiazi that the Blood has to be hidden and protected until a Stable trinity of bridges are built.This means that the blood was to be used for the plan only after 3 Stable bridges are built.
In otherwords,The Cloak only planned to use the Gavidzra blood to create the Orcish Door after 3 bridges were successfully built.
Why?
I believe the reason was Strategic.If the Cloak made the Hallowed Round into a Bridge for the Orcish Afterlife, its magical signature would become incredibly Loud. Anyone in Dol Makyar who gets close to it would immediately sense its true nature thus exposing the Cloaks plans to the public which they were not ready for yet. TExposure means people can stop them
The Cloak is focused on building the Bridges in secret locations currently. Once they succeed on creating successful bridges and used them to free some souls from the Underworld,Then the Cloak would be more than happy to go Public because they have the results to win the public to themselves.At that stage, they wouldnt mind creating a Public Orcish gate at the Hallowed Round.
So the Cloaks focus is to create 3 secret and successful bridges. Why 3?
The reason I think it might be linked to why the Cloak’s first attempt caused Damage. I believe The Cloak in the past ,activated a single bridge to the afterlife which caused some kind of damage. So the Door did open but it is unstable.
I believe the Cloak investigated why and came to the conclusion that opening a Door to an Afterlife when theres less than 3 bridges in existence was dangerous. So if they created at least 3 bridges, then could safely open Doors
So They planned to create 3 inactive bridges first, then after begin to switch them on, creating Safe doors.
> Until then, I search for suitable anchors for the remaining four. We may need more hands soon after.
This reveals that the Cloak already had 3 anchor items ready to go and needed to find 4 more
We already know they have the Elven Anchor which is the Steel in this letter (I explained it to be The Last Arrow)
We already know Thiazi obtained the Halfling anchor which would be the now altered Termina
The third anchor the Cloak have located is unknown. Could the letter be referring to the anchor used in the Unstable Door? or perhaps a different anchor?
The Hallowed Round as Future Bridge and a Present Weapon
Thizai had 2 reasons for wanting the Hallowed Round painted with Gavidzar Filament.
One was to prepare it to become a Bridge.
I explained earlier that Thiazi and the Cloak planned to make the Hallowed Round a Bridge to the Orcish Afterlives but only after 3 bridges were secretly built by the Cloak and they were ready to go public with their plans.
Thiazi set in motion ,plans to get the Hallowed Round ready for this. He got Hollis mistress to disguise the Blood as paint with the plan to get it painted on the Round.
If a Pariah blade is reshaped into an anchor and fused with the Hallowed Round, The Hallowed Round willl become a Bridge. A Bridge which when switched on will open a Door to the Orcish After Life.
Thiazi set for the Paint to be hidden at the Hallowed Round in plain sight until he was ready to turn the Hallowed Round into a bridge.
But the 2nd reason,Thaizi wanted the Round painted was to make it a weapon
If you recall in ancient times the Hallowed Round was imbued with ancient runes that allowed Azgra the Orcish Shaper cast amplified version of his spells across long distances. After the Shapers war the runes lost its power, but Thiazi realised that if the magic of the Hallowed Round was restored it could be used by its new Master as a weapon.
Painting the Hallowed Round, with Gavidzra blood has restored the Magic of the Hallowed Round. Just as Thiazi Planned
What will happen with Hal's Play?
The Hallowed Round is now restored to what it was during Azgras time thanks to the Paint. Its a powerful Magical item/weapon for its Master to use
For the Round to be used it needs to charged with the “Praises of Orcs’’.Its part of the reason Azgra forced the Orcs to praise him in the Round.The Praises are the battery for the Round.
Hal’s play is going to charge up the Round once more with the praises and enjoyment from the audience.I believe once fully charged the Round will wake up and seek its master choosing Hal to bond with.
Once Hal becomes bonded to the round he will be able to Magnify his magic when in the Round just like Azgra did.
I also suspect bonding to the Hallowed Round,means Hal is bonded to Gavidzra similar to Vaelus being bonded to the Stone of Nightsong.That means Hal should also gain the extra spells Vaelus got from the stone.
Finally I suspect that Hal will be able to summon Orcish Souls to serve as Minions once hes bonded to the Round.
The Crisis
With the death of the Shapers, the doors to their realms were closed. And with the death of celestial Psychopomps, Araman had no way to access the Realm. Souls no longer passed on to the Shapers realms but remained tapped in the Underworld, sometimes spilling over to the Mortal World.This is the Underworld crisis of Araman
Thiazi’s secret plan
Here’s my guess: I believe Thiazi and his secret associates(like Mara) were a part of a secret group called the Cloak which the Tachonis referenced in their letters in Tannesar,
The Goal of the Cloak is to Fix the issues with the Underworld.
They plan to create Magic doors to the lost afterlifes.
The Goal is 7 working Doors for the 7 AfterLives.
They plan to open the Doors to the 7 Afterlives and then cast a spell through this doors to destroy them. Doing so will cause the Cosmos to reset , and souls will be able to freely to move on to whatever the Pre-Shaper Afterlife was.
To create this Doors, seem to require the Cloak to obtain Psychopomp items for each dooe(Stone of Nightsong, Coffin of Olbalad etc)
The Paint Thiazi sent to Hal seems to be very important as well
Before I explain how this doors are created, lets speculate on the Paint
THE PAINT THEORY
Assembling the clues we got from Episode 24, we know that the paint used to be some form of magical boiling blood before it was altered by Hollis mistress.
We can easily guess where this blood is from-It was likely from the Azgra relic we saw in Tannesar, that boiling pot of blood. We know that a Druid-likely Mara stole something from this Relic that made it loose its ability to generate blood. I believe she stole the Heart of this Relic so that she can generate the Magical blood for the Cloaks purposes.
So what exactly is the Blood though?
Bolaire got a big clue:That the blood is related to crossing the veil, Just like the Stone of Nightsong and Olbalad. Bolaire vaguely remembered some River of blood in Myth called Gavidzra related to crossing the veil.
So the blood is this Gavidzra.
Heres my theory: Gavidzra is the Orcish Psychopomp item.
Just like the Stone of Nightsong was used to guide Elvish souls to their After Life,I believe Gavidzra was the magical River of Blood that guided Orcish souls to their After Life.It was created by Azgra to serve this purpose.Its a horrible purpose cause the Orcish Afterlife is described to be hellish.
Gavidzra was altered by Hollis Mistress though to a form that encapsulates dreams and wishes. I believe that Form is Filament, albeit a special Filament with a Pscychopomp signature
The Secret to creating the Doors
How they were secretly creating this doors can be decoded from Jaufs letter for Thiazi.
Heres my decoding of the Mysterious letter between Shadow(Thiazi) and the Mysterious Professor.I will be breaking it down, part by part
> To Shadow
If all has gone well you'll have the stone in hand; we'll need the steel, and you said you can convince her to reshape it into an anchor. If not, anyone in the family can make plow shares
Shadow is obviously Thiazi and the stone is obviously the Stone of Nightsong. What the steel is, is unknown but The Cloak seem to need it reshaped into an Anchor. The Her who Thaizi was supposed to try and convince , If I had to guess is Thaisha and if that failed he could convince anyone else in the Lloy Family. This leads me to believe the Steel might have been some god killing weapon, Since the stone is related to the Elves, I expect the steel is as well. My guess? The Steel is the Last Arrow (or a part of it) which was used to kill Sylandri goddess of elves
>> Once it's done, the next step is to bring it to the field. Our wings are leading a charge across the border to draw the locals from the site. That hot shot I mentioned will meet you there and help prepare the arch from steel to stone. Please try to temper his confidence with pragmatism. Yes, I know you are precisely the wrong person for that.
This part of the letter explains how one of the Doors is being made-specifically The Door to Elven Afterlife. The Stone and the Anchor would be brought to a specific field which the Cloak will ensure is abandoned by leading the locals away from the site. I supect the site must be sacred to a god for it to be used as the Site for the Portal creation. The Stone and the Steel will then be forged into an Arch for the portal with help from a Magic expert.
With this we can deduce that there are 4 key steps needed in the creation of a bridge to a Shapers realm afterlife
1) Obtain a Psychopomp item connected to guiding souls to a specific Shapers realm (which is why Thiazi was seeking the Stone of Nightsong, Coffin of Olbalad etc)
2) Obtain an Anchor item connected to the Specific Shaper (which can be forged from a god killing weapon)
3) Choose a site sacred to the Specific Shaper and create/or choose a structure on the site.
4} Have the Structure be fused with the Psychopomp item and the Anchor Item . This structure can now serve as a Bridge. A Bridge that when switched on will open a Door to the Specific Shapers realm.
For example the hotshot in the letter was helping the cloak to create an Arch structure that fuses the Stone (which is a Psychopomp Item ) and the Steel (which is an Anchor item) on a field likely sacred to Sylandri.If the hotshot completes this he would have created the Door to the Elven Afterlife
I believe the Cloak also planned to create the Orcish Door to the Afterlife using the Gavidzra blood (which is a Psychopomp Item) and a reshaped Paraiah Blade (as an Anchor Item) in the Hallowed Round (Sacred Site to Azgra)
>Still, remember, until a stable trinity of bridges are built it is vital that the blood be protected. I trust that you have disguised it well. With any luck, the next time I see your face we will have undone the damage of our first attempt. More than one door will be open to us from there.
A third component for the Door creation is revealed which is The Blood which I already explained to be Gavidzra. Whats interesting is that the letter reminds Thiazi that the Blood has to be hidden and protected until a Stable trinity of bridges are built.This means that the blood was to be used for the plan only after 3 Stable bridges are built.
In otherwords,The Cloak only planned to use the Gavidzra blood to create the Orcish Door after 3 bridges were successfully built.
Why?
I believe the reason was Strategic.If the Cloak made the Hallowed Round into a Bridge for the Orcish Afterlife, its magical signature would become incredibly Loud. Anyone in Dol Makyar who gets close to it would immediately sense its true nature thus exposing the Cloaks plans to the public which they were not ready for yet. Exposure means people can stop them
The Cloak is focused on building the Bridges in secret locations currently. Once they succeed on creating successful bridges and used them to free some souls from the Underworld,Then the Cloak would be more than happy to go Public because they have the results to win the public to themselves.At that stage, they wouldnt mind creating a Public Orcish gate at the Hallowed Round.
So the Cloaks focus is to create 3 secret and successful bridges. Why 3?
The reason I think it might be linked to why the Cloak’s first attempt caused Damage. I believe The Cloak in the past ,activated a single bridge to the afterlife which caused some kind of damage. So the Door did open but it is unstable.
I believe the Cloak investigated why and came to the conclusion that opening a Door to an Afterlife when theres less than 3 bridges in existence was dangerous. So if they created at least 3 bridges, then could safely open Doors
So They planned to create 3 inactive bridges first, then after begin to switch them on, creating Safe doors.
> Until then, I search for suitable anchors for the remaining four. We may need more hands soon after.
This reveals that the Cloak already had 3 anchor items ready to go and needed to find 4 more
We already know they have the Elven Anchor which is the Steel in this letter (I explained it to be The Last Arrow)
We already know Thiazi obtained the Halfling anchor which would be the now altered Termina
The third anchor the Cloak have located is unknown. Could the letter be referring to the anchor used in the Unstable Door? or perhaps a different anchor?
The Hallowed Round as Future Bridge and a Present Weapon
Thizai had 2 reasons for wanting the Hallowed Round painted with Gavidzar Filament.
One was to prepare it to become a Bridge.
I explained earlier that Thiazi and the Cloak planned to make the Hallowed Round a Bridge to the Orcish Afterlives but only after 3 bridges were secretly built by the Cloak and they were ready to go public with their plans.
Thiazi set in motion ,plans to get the Hallowed Round ready for this. He got Hollis mistress to disguise the Blood as paint with the plan to get it painted on the Round.
If a Pariah blade is reshaped into an anchor and fused with the Hallowed Round, The Hallowed Round willl become a Bridge. A Bridge which when switched on will open a Door to the Orcish After Life.
Thiazi set for the Paint to be hidden at the Hallowed Round in plain sight until he was ready to turn the Hallowed Round into a bridge.
But the 2nd reason,Thaizi wanted the Round painted was to make it a weapon
If you recall in ancient times the Hallowed Round was imbued with ancient runes that allowed Azgra the Orcish Shaper cast amplified version of his spells across long distances. After the Shapers war the runes lost its power, but Thiazi realised that if the magic of the Hallowed Round was restored it could be used by its new Master as a weapon.
Painting the Hallowed Round, with Gavidzra blood has restored the Magic of the Hallowed Round. Just as Thiazi Planned
What will happen with Hal's Play?
The Hallowed Round is now restored to what it was during Azgras time thanks to the Paint. Its a powerful Magical item/weapon for its Master to use
For the Round to be used it needs to charged with the “Praises of Orcs’’.Its part of the reason Azgra forced the Orcs to praise him in the Round.The Praises are the battery for the Round.
Hal’s play is going to charge up the Round once more with the praises and enjoyment from the audience.I believe once fully charged the Round will wake up and seek its master choosing Hal to bond with.
Once Hal becomes bonded to the round he will be able to Magnify his magic when in the Round just like Azgra did.
I also suspect bonding to the Hallowed Round,means Hal is bonded to Gavidzra similar to Vaelus being bonded to the Stone of Nightsong.That means Hal should also gain the extra spells Vaelus got from the stone.
Finally I suspect that Hal will be able to summon Orcish Souls to serve as Minions once hes bonded to the Round.
I just realised Lore Cards for certain events in Araman history was released in CritRole.Answers some questions we've all had