Some lore questions

Against someone who is really evil (i.e. Infernals) they do.

 

I don't think Esus has ever been openly anything since he fell.

 

I remember MC stating somewhere that he had ordered the Svartalfar to help the Mercurians purge the Fane of the Infernals.

 

The One probably knew about the Gems of Creation linked to infinite plains of elements. This is never explicitly stated, however. The power that these allow is no real treat to him, although it does facilitate the lesser gods' disobedience.

(The Wells of Creation are something completely different. That term applies to the passageways that lead from Erebus to the Netherworld.

Actually, it might only refer to the specific portal located on the Isle of Nemora, a most lush paradise which was transformed into The Dead Lands once the Well was closed. The similar Well located near the Illian and Ljosalfar border was instead referred to as the Well of Shadows. The Once elves entered the Netherworld with Laroth through the Well of Creation, and left it through the Well of Shadows. They actually stayed in that well, building the city of Barathrum in this liminal world.

These wells include Bradeline's Well, but it is not quite clear if this is another name for one of the two distinct wells I just mentioned or if it is distinct from both.

I think that Kael may have referred to the Wells collectively as the Wells of Creation, but I think he also said that there are 21 of them. It would not surprise me if there was one well of each precept, meant to draw those souls most local to each respective god into the netherworld.)


I believe I did once say that Esus ordered the Svartalfar to join Basium's assault on the Fane of the Lessers, but I believe I was mistakenly confusing the Lord of the Balors and The Black Tower scenarios with each other. Esus actually acted to convince the Svartalfar to venture into The Dead Lands and help Falamar defeat Tebryn Arbandi before he could complete his Armageddon rituals. Esus is very much opposed to ending the world, but that does not mean that he wishes to break the great machine of hell. The Fane of the Lessers was very useful for the practice of claiming souls which should not have been given to the evil gods. Esus might well hope that Hell becomes home to more souls that do not belong there, and that these spirits come very close to escaping their unjust fate. His own vault is used to trick those who rebel against the evil around them into thinking the have returned to life, so that his illusions can cause them to become disillusioned with virtue. The really wicked souls, for which his fellow evil gods have a good claim, are probably less likely to end up as demons in his service than are those who were more neutral in life and who make some attempts to redeem themselves. Those who are most devoted to Esus are not processed through the great machine at all, as are those devoted to other evil gods. Esus often likes to claim them and take them to his own vault before they actually die. He likes living servants more than demons, but does still find used for demons too.



The Elohim are generally one of the most pacifistic civilizations, but they will declare war on occasion. Queen Ethne the White has shown herself willing to declare war in order to protect more vulnerable neighbors, even when her own people were not immediately threatened.

Einion Logos, the head of the order of monks, is much more of a pacifist than is the queen. He agreed to sign a peace treaty even with the Infernals, and argued that they should abide by its terms even when most of his people were demanding a new declaration of war.


The Bannor tend to think of the Elohim as being too soft, too gentle, and too lenient. They are not huge fans of their culture, but they do recognize them as indisputably good. They are not close neighbors and do not have a huge amount of interactions, but they are more allies than enemies. In The Wages of Sin scenario, we see that the Bannor were unable to mobilize the bulk of their army to fight The Infernals in the distant land of Tempus Mor (since Capria had already departed for The Fane of the Lessers, and Auric Ulvin was on his way to raze their capital city), but they still did send some troops to serve as reinforcements under the Elohim.

 

After reading his pedia entry I find it hard to attack the Elohim.

What does Arawn do? He is not bothered about creation, and neither about Laroth created an empire in the Nether.

 

Arawn does not do much, as is appropriate for a god whose precept is all about giving up and letting others go on without you.

Back when he also had the Power of Life he would occasionally take actions against those who use necromancy, but he finds it hard to care anymore. His archangel Gyra and the few angels she can convince to follow her still sometimes act against the undead, but are usually too busy trying to stop Laroth. She attempted to stop Tebryn Arbandi before he closed the Well of Creation on the Isle of Nemora and created The Dead Lands, but she was not fast enough.

 

Was Taranis defeated in the fight against Sucellus?

 

That kind of depends what you mean by defeated. Sucellus managed to trap Taranis on a tiny island, which his unchanging nature prevented him from learning how to escape. The same qualities also prevented the god from causing any injuries to the archangel, however.

While doing this Sucellus was distracted enough for Mulcarn to ambush him and break his body into seven pieces.

 

Is there any unofficial scenario based on the post - Age of Rebirth time?

 

Why did Trenton Majoisi set off to do the ritual (that was to summon Danalin into creation)?

 

According to the in-game lore, he did it because he heard that the Aifon (i.e his people) were going to suddenly disappear, and the ritual was the only way to stop it happening.

He didn't do it because he thought it would restart the Godswar.

 

Most of the prophets and seers of Erebus saw terrible visions which led them to speak of some horrible fate that would destroy the Aifon people. They shared no details though. Anyone who had a glimpse as to the cause or form of the destruction was driven completely mad, and was unable to speak coherently ever again.

Trenton Majosi did not know for sure that summoning his god would help, but it seemed like the best option he could find.

The lore says that Trenton Majosi started the ritual, but then got to thinking of all the friends he had made from other races while on his quest to save his people. He grew afraid that his god's entry into the world would rekindle the godswar and lead to the deaths of all those friends. As such, he ended the ritual prematurely.

The sane ritual would later be found and completed by the Illians, who completed it in order to bring Mulcarn into the world.

Kael has neither confirmed nor denied a theory popular on this forum, which says that the ritual itself was the cause of the Aifon's demise. Just as The Draw gets it power from killing half of the Illian population, the inchoate Aifon ritual may have devoured the soul of all those it was meant to save. It may be that the ritual was already mostly powered by the time the Illians found it, making Mulcarn's entry easier.

 

I knew the soul consuming ritual one, but yesterday I read somewhere that he started the ritual because the Aifons were losing a war.

 

A more detailed version of Laroth's story, for those who havent seen it.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8196089&postcount=22

 

How does Basium get the souls of good men who have died? Doesn't it go to their god's vault? Or is he taking them forcefully?

 

Those who are particularly devoted to a specific good (or for that matter, neutral) god are taken to that god's vault. However, most good souls go instead to Arawn's Netherworld. Basium knows better than anyone how to smuggle these spirits back from the land of the dead, if they are willing to join his army.

Some angels who served good gods become upset with the limitations of The Compact, and choose to abandon their divinities and fall in the same manner as Basium did in order to join the Mercurian army.

It would probably make more sense for Basium to get angels from good units that did not have a religion rather than from units with good aligned religions. Unfortunately, units do not have data keeping track of heir own ethical status or alignment.

 

Is there a backstory to the Three Brothers who stole the gems of creeation (you know, kinda like the story with Auric, Talia and Varn)?

 

There probably is, but Kael has never revealed very much about it.

We know that only 3 of the 21 gems of creation were stolen.

We know that the gods in general did not approve of the action, regardless of alignment. Succelus, before his death and ressurection, accused Agares of complicity in allowing it to happen. Agares was sincerely offended by this accusation, as he really did not want mere mortals to have such power. (I suspect that Ceridwen might have helped the brothers though, against the will of any other god.)

The only brother whose name we know is Tuoni, the one who took the Gen of Death. I think he was the eldest. He was the Big Bad in Kael's old D&D campaign. He intended to use the Gem of Death to kill every living thing and bind them to a whole new plane of existence which he would rule as a god. The only way that the players were able to stop him was to side with Auric Ulvin, and allow a new God of Winter to ascend instead.

All Death (or undeath) magic is said to be channeled from the gem held in Tuoni's hand, as Arawn has cut himself off from creation to stop the power of his sphere from being channeled from him or his vault.

The second brother stole the Gem of Air. He used it to become a great conqueror, who hurled whirlwinds at his enemies and destroy their armies. The characters in Kael's campaign never met him, but he was the reason why none of the friendly rulers in that world were able to provide much assistance in their quest to stop Tuoni. I think that the power of the Air sphere eventually drove this brother to become so reckless that he accidentally killed himself.

The third brother took the Gem of Water, but it is unclear if he ever really used it. He never flaunted his power or bothered anyone with it. Instead he was content with living a quiet and happy life, enjoying the company of those whom he sincerely loved who sincerely loved him. He lived to a ripe old age and probably passed on the gem as a family heirloom, possibly without letting anyone know that it was anything more than an ordinary gemstone.

 

Did Kael ever finish Ashes of Brigdarrow?

 

What's Ashes of Brigdarrow?