[TGO SPOILERS] Aorsi/Dagliash

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The Sharmat

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« Reply #45 on: August 16, 2016, 07:29:19 pm »
Once the the war moves into Agongorea the Horde is a hindrance. It can do nothing but confuse their own operations and crowd out their movements, all while consuming everything their non-Sranc units need to survive. I think the Horde was pretty much done with at this point, but Kellhus managed to salvage more from the explosion than was anticipated, including the bulk of his sorcerers. So call it a victory, albeit a narrow one. Just my analysis.

I also gotta agree the nuke was the plan. I suspect Aurang was just dropping by to remote trigger it. The fact that they had a working nuke is troublesome, incidentally. They were supposed to have exhausted all the old tekne weapons.

Cynical Cat

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« Reply #46 on: August 17, 2016, 09:00:42 am »
Why should the Few exhaust themselves so some soldiers don't have to walk?  Sorcery is demanding and barring crossing huge obstacles like the river, it's simply a bad idea.  The chariots, which are cool, require trained drivers, horses that won't panic, and a sorcerer strong enough to sustain the cant.  It's probably pretty demanding and not worth the effort except in situations where you have a badass Nonman Quya and you want to cover a lot of Sranc haunted wilderness quickly.

As for the Tekne, the Consult have had a lot of time to search the vast halls of the Ark and find anything left behind.  They have also mastered enough of the Tekne so that they can create new abominations like Skin Spies.  If there was anything left behind or forgotten in a dark corner they may have found it and it's possible they have reclaimed sealed or damaged rooms.  In additions, they might be able to fix, recharge, or jury rig devices from whatever they have found based on the skills they now possess.

MSJ

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« Reply #47 on: August 17, 2016, 07:17:01 pm »
Sorry, I wasn't meaning to transport the Ordeal, but there could be all kind of uses also. The Cant of Translocation takes Serwe and Co. from horizon to horizon. In a mountinous area, that's not very far. And this is physically draining of Serwe. I just wonder if using a Raft or Chariot would be worth the time to take important personal and the like. Supply runs, quick attacks and not only against Sranc but humans it would work a lot better. You guys are assuming it's more physically draining, yet we have zero evidence to support that. Or hell, maybe Kellhus came up with the idea of the Raft after seeing the Chariot in WLW. Which would make a lot more sense than its physically draining when the CoT is also.
“No. I am your end. Before your eyes I will put your seed to the knife. I will quarter your carcass and feed it to the dogs. Your bones I will grind to dust and cast to the winds. I will strike down those who speak your name or the name of your fathers, until ‘Yursalka’ becomes as meaningless as infant babble. I will blot you out, hunt down your every trace! The track of your life has come to me,

sohorat

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« Reply #48 on: August 17, 2016, 10:54:14 pm »
Something that struck me when rereading The Great Ordeal was the idea that the Inchoroi actually seem to have used a nuke to soften their original landing (Arkfall):

"Those who witnessed and survived the event claimed that the cataclysmic impact of the Ark somehow preceded the Ark, that the great golden vessel dropped no quicker than an apple into the flash and upheaval of an earlier, far more tumultuous strike." 

Dagliash was the second time the Inchoroi detonated a nuclear weapon on the surface of Earwa. As a result, the Nonmen histories may contain a record of nuclear fallout, and radiation poisoning. 

The text also mentioned that Arkfall was preceded by the "waxing" of Imburil (the Nail of Heaven) by three years.  Are we supposed to think that these events are related?



MSJ

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« Reply #49 on: August 18, 2016, 12:10:23 am »
Something that struck me when rereading The Great Ordeal was the idea that the Inchoroi actually seem to have used a nuke to soften their original landing (Arkfall):

"Those who witnessed and survived the event claimed that the cataclysmic impact of the Ark somehow preceded the Ark, that the great golden vessel dropped no quicker than an apple into the flash and upheaval of an earlier, far more tumultuous strike." 

Dagliash was the second time the Inchoroi detonated a nuclear weapon on the surface of Earwa. As a result, the Nonmen histories may contain a record of nuclear fallout, and radiation poisoning. 

The text also mentioned that Arkfall was preceded by the "waxing" of Imburil (the Nail of Heaven) by three years.  Are we supposed to think that these events are related?

Yea, it's been brought up and I believe you guys are right. Also, note that on the Earwa maps that there are other craters like that of Golgoterreth.
“No. I am your end. Before your eyes I will put your seed to the knife. I will quarter your carcass and feed it to the dogs. Your bones I will grind to dust and cast to the winds. I will strike down those who speak your name or the name of your fathers, until ‘Yursalka’ becomes as meaningless as infant babble. I will blot you out, hunt down your every trace! The track of your life has come to me,

The Sharmat

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« Reply #50 on: August 18, 2016, 12:59:05 am »
Something that struck me when rereading The Great Ordeal was the idea that the Inchoroi actually seem to have used a nuke to soften their original landing (Arkfall):

"Those who witnessed and survived the event claimed that the cataclysmic impact of the Ark somehow preceded the Ark, that the great golden vessel dropped no quicker than an apple into the flash and upheaval of an earlier, far more tumultuous strike." 

Dagliash was the second time the Inchoroi detonated a nuclear weapon on the surface of Earwa. As a result, the Nonmen histories may contain a record of nuclear fallout, and radiation poisoning. 

The text also mentioned that Arkfall was preceded by the "waxing" of Imburil (the Nail of Heaven) by three years.  Are we supposed to think that these events are related?
The fact that it was preceded by the arrival of a new star gives me two hypotheses:

1. The Ark was not itself FTL capable. There is, somewhere in space near Eärwa, an absolutely massive abandoned vessel/station that is the actual FTL device, while the Ark was their living space and warship.

2. Inchoroi FTL is achieved via wormhole. The new star is actually just the star of the Inchoroi's home system seen through it.

Similarly, I have two hypotheses for the greater cataclysm that immediately preceded Arkfall:

1. Orbital bombardment meant to weaken the natives prior to touchdown (I favor this one. Though I doubt it was a nuke. Sounds far too big. Some kind of huge rail gun I'd guess). If this is the case it may well the source of the other crater like mountain ranges (although I also think it's possible the Ark didn't land intact but broke up on the way in, creating the other craters)

2. It's some strange byproduct of Inchoroi FTL and they simply started decelerating too late for whatever reason, causing the place to be bombarded with a ton of exotic energy prior to the Ark itself impacting.

Cynical Cat

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« Reply #51 on: August 18, 2016, 05:13:28 am »
The Ark is more than large enough to be a generation ship and the Inchoroi were effectively immortal.  That means FTL is not required for genocidal star hopping.  The brightening of the Nail of Heaven and the light that proceeded the fall of the Ark could be the drive flare of massive engines, decelerating. 

The Sharmat

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« Reply #52 on: August 18, 2016, 10:29:37 am »
The Ark is more than large enough to be a generation ship and the Inchoroi were effectively immortal.  That means FTL is not required for genocidal star hopping.  The brightening of the Nail of Heaven and the light that proceeded the fall of the Ark could be the drive flare of massive engines, decelerating. 

Even traveling substantially faster than the speed of light this would be an incredibly slow process. The Inchoroi would have to be doing this for millions upon millions of years to "descend like locusts upon countless worlds" like Wutteät claims. The universe is huge. Also if that's the source of the Nail of Heaven, why is it still there?

Cynical Cat

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« Reply #53 on: August 18, 2016, 10:36:29 am »
It's going to be a slow process unless fold space and burn a world in a day or something like that.  It'll be faster with FTL, slower without it but either way we don't know.  "Countless worlds" could mean dozens, it could mean billions.  We don't know how many worlds the Inchoroi have ravaged or how long they've been at it.

I wasn't suggesting that they were the Nail of Heaven, but that they were coming from the direction of the Nail of Heaven.  The go to that star system, do their evil thing, and then head to Earwa.  When they get close, the drive flare makes the Nail seem visibly brighter and they try to land on a pillar of nuclear fire.  Things go wrong and whammo, buried Ark.

JRControl

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« Reply #54 on: August 18, 2016, 10:48:25 am »
The Nail of Heaven could also be a kind of a stargate-type thing. It flared when it was used and was charging before the passing through.
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The Sharmat

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« Reply #55 on: August 18, 2016, 11:03:19 am »
I got the idea that the Nail waxed from being visible only with instruments to being a its current brightness and staying there.

Somnambulist

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« Reply #56 on: August 18, 2016, 02:22:40 pm »
Something that struck me when rereading The Great Ordeal was the idea that the Inchoroi actually seem to have used a nuke to soften their original landing (Arkfall):

"Those who witnessed and survived the event claimed that the cataclysmic impact of the Ark somehow preceded the Ark, that the great golden vessel dropped no quicker than an apple into the flash and upheaval of an earlier, far more tumultuous strike." 

Dagliash was the second time the Inchoroi detonated a nuclear weapon on the surface of Earwa. As a result, the Nonmen histories may contain a record of nuclear fallout, and radiation poisoning. 

The text also mentioned that Arkfall was preceded by the "waxing" of Imburil (the Nail of Heaven) by three years.  Are we supposed to think that these events are related?

Specifically regarding a pre-impact explosion:  this wouldn't necessitate a nuclear device being detonated.  Planetary impacts from comets/asteroids, dependent upon the size of the object, can produce explosions that rival or even surpass that of a nuclear device (at least ones we're familiar with).  Using Tunguska as an example (even though its not clear whether an object actually impacted or just exploded in the atmosphere), that explosion flattened nearly 800 square miles of forest, at an estimated 3-5 megaton detonation, compared to Little Boy (dropped on Hiroshima) which 'merely' detonated at 15 kilotons.

So, it could be that a piece of the Ark hit/detonated before the main body, causing the pre-explosion.  Maybe there's something beneath the Ark proper, waiting to be discovered.  Or maybe the Consult already did.
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Bolivar

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« Reply #57 on: August 18, 2016, 04:07:19 pm »
Something that struck me when rereading The Great Ordeal was the idea that the Inchoroi actually seem to have used a nuke to soften their original landing (Arkfall):

"Those who witnessed and survived the event claimed that the cataclysmic impact of the Ark somehow preceded the Ark, that the great golden vessel dropped no quicker than an apple into the flash and upheaval of an earlier, far more tumultuous strike." 

Dagliash was the second time the Inchoroi detonated a nuclear weapon on the surface of Earwa. As a result, the Nonmen histories may contain a record of nuclear fallout, and radiation poisoning. 

The text also mentioned that Arkfall was preceded by the "waxing" of Imburil (the Nail of Heaven) by three years.  Are we supposed to think that these events are related?
I also think it adds color to the letter Ninjanjin wrote to Cujara Cinmoi, specifically ash blotting out the sky and choking all seed.

If Kellhus was able to figure out the effects of radiation and fallout on his own, this would be why.

The Sharmat

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« Reply #58 on: August 19, 2016, 04:58:57 am »
Ash would blot out the sky and lead to devastation of plant life from any big impact. If Kellhus was able to decipher any remaining stories of the Cuno-Inchoroi wars, that could explain how he understood symptoms of radiation poisoning. I imagine the Inchoroi did their best to exhaust their arsenal.

Borric

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« Reply #59 on: August 22, 2016, 04:50:20 pm »
Could be the Ships shields that impacted before the Ark hit.