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eastbound2022-05-12 10:33 am
blackscales) wrote in eastbound2022-05-12 10:33 am
un: Black Prince; text
There's good news and bad news.
The positive side of this is I have a better understanding of what is happening.
The negative is the information doesn't appear to solve any immediate problems, but it does present some theories.
Firstly, it doesn't seem like the Huntress actually has any grand plans to take the fight to the Beastmaster. She was born locally and claims she just wants to visit the House of Ravens when it opens. According to her, it isn't possible to actually defeat him. I would argue she underestimates us, but I didn't want to tip my hand too heavily.
When the Beastmaster fully loses his powers she expects everyone else to as well. I did ask her if that was only magic or if it would be a drain of strength too, but she was unclear on that. Plenty of you have swords, after all.
I'm the least of the Beastmaster's fans, but it seems as if he has been against the concept of sacrifice. What I'm missing here is the full detail of what happens instead.
Let's begin at the beginning:
From what I understand, The Beastmaster was born Hyang-Won in Waihu. He came from a hunting family and had no particular fondness for the local beliefs and sacrifices. The Huntress was born in Waicai, and was fully sold on the sacrificial rites. Her birth name was Kye-geum but she married him as they were both strong hunting families and took the name Anui. One mystery solved there at least.
Regardless, they had a son and their clash of beliefs became a problem. She claims he was a good child who went to the House of Ravens willingly when it opened, but I wonder if the reason she's persued is the Beastmaster cannot forgive her the loss of their son.
The Huntress claims she doesn't hunt us, she flees him. She specifically said "if I go, it is because I am promised reprieve." That's certainly been the case here with us, and makes me wonder if someone suggested Taravast to her in the first place -- which would put a new spin on things.
Now, the House of Ravens only opens for a few days a year. Several are taken, but she suggests she doesn't know if her son was among them despite his going -- which makes me wonder if she thinks he might still be alive. She may be going to see it open to find out. Do several enter but they don't all die? A question.
So, we know the Beastmaster still takes people but supposedly is against the old ways of sacrifice. We've seen some dull-eyed villagers, which suggests something unpleasant is still done. We know along with these changes there was a White Wanderer who disliked the concept of worship only happening at the House of Ravens. We know he is associated with the dark water, which is safe when cold but has unpleasant side-effects when not.
I suspect the Beastmaster and the White Wanderer worked together on this. The dark water in the volcano is formed into some sort of mirror too, which made me think of reports of a pale man at the Ellethia tower. Experiments would be in line with what we know of the people there, especially ones that go awry -- perhaps this White Wanderer was a survivor from there, or someone who left before the catastrophic end.
Onto the volcano itself: it's been reported that the whole tribute process was not a direct sacrifice where they died due to the heat of the volcano, but a matter of absorbing a build up of magic to stave off eruption. My question here is, although many of these villagers were overwhelmed and died -- where did the Beastmaster and the Huntress gain their gifts? Did they go through a similar process yet survive, or develop them naturally?
If it's possible to survive the process, it's possible to stave off eruption safely. If we could find this White Wanderer, plenty of missing pieces might fit into place. Of course, there does appear to be a time limit.
The positive side of this is I have a better understanding of what is happening.
The negative is the information doesn't appear to solve any immediate problems, but it does present some theories.
Firstly, it doesn't seem like the Huntress actually has any grand plans to take the fight to the Beastmaster. She was born locally and claims she just wants to visit the House of Ravens when it opens. According to her, it isn't possible to actually defeat him. I would argue she underestimates us, but I didn't want to tip my hand too heavily.
When the Beastmaster fully loses his powers she expects everyone else to as well. I did ask her if that was only magic or if it would be a drain of strength too, but she was unclear on that. Plenty of you have swords, after all.
I'm the least of the Beastmaster's fans, but it seems as if he has been against the concept of sacrifice. What I'm missing here is the full detail of what happens instead.
Let's begin at the beginning:
From what I understand, The Beastmaster was born Hyang-Won in Waihu. He came from a hunting family and had no particular fondness for the local beliefs and sacrifices. The Huntress was born in Waicai, and was fully sold on the sacrificial rites. Her birth name was Kye-geum but she married him as they were both strong hunting families and took the name Anui. One mystery solved there at least.
Regardless, they had a son and their clash of beliefs became a problem. She claims he was a good child who went to the House of Ravens willingly when it opened, but I wonder if the reason she's persued is the Beastmaster cannot forgive her the loss of their son.
The Huntress claims she doesn't hunt us, she flees him. She specifically said "if I go, it is because I am promised reprieve." That's certainly been the case here with us, and makes me wonder if someone suggested Taravast to her in the first place -- which would put a new spin on things.
Now, the House of Ravens only opens for a few days a year. Several are taken, but she suggests she doesn't know if her son was among them despite his going -- which makes me wonder if she thinks he might still be alive. She may be going to see it open to find out. Do several enter but they don't all die? A question.
So, we know the Beastmaster still takes people but supposedly is against the old ways of sacrifice. We've seen some dull-eyed villagers, which suggests something unpleasant is still done. We know along with these changes there was a White Wanderer who disliked the concept of worship only happening at the House of Ravens. We know he is associated with the dark water, which is safe when cold but has unpleasant side-effects when not.
I suspect the Beastmaster and the White Wanderer worked together on this. The dark water in the volcano is formed into some sort of mirror too, which made me think of reports of a pale man at the Ellethia tower. Experiments would be in line with what we know of the people there, especially ones that go awry -- perhaps this White Wanderer was a survivor from there, or someone who left before the catastrophic end.
Onto the volcano itself: it's been reported that the whole tribute process was not a direct sacrifice where they died due to the heat of the volcano, but a matter of absorbing a build up of magic to stave off eruption. My question here is, although many of these villagers were overwhelmed and died -- where did the Beastmaster and the Huntress gain their gifts? Did they go through a similar process yet survive, or develop them naturally?
If it's possible to survive the process, it's possible to stave off eruption safely. If we could find this White Wanderer, plenty of missing pieces might fit into place. Of course, there does appear to be a time limit.