A Conspiracy Theory Emerges [Some Large Pics]

[Gannor]

<div></div><i><font size="4">On The Origins of Shadowed Men</font>, Page 5</i><hr size="2" width="100%">Delusional trotters within theFreeport Infirmary have claimed tohave journeyed to the Void and havereturned with knowledge of theShadowed Men's existance within theMana Flow, but in a corporeal state.These Shadowed Men appear ashumanoids with shaded blurryfeatures and four arms. There is littleknowledge of the Shadowed Men, butof all I know I have come to someconclusions as to their nature.<hr size="2" width="100%">There is no secret that the Shadowed Men stand in alliance with the Nightbloods. Evil Eyes, too stand arm in arm among the dark chambers of the Oblisk of Lost Souls. The experiments performed in those halls are a mystery even to those who've hunted much in among the dark halls. Only small but fierce clues of their dastardly plot are given. Names, such as the large room known as the Cistern of Immortality, where bizarre fluids and experiments pour into a great vat.I am an old Iksar, 929 years now. I remember the first elves to arrive on my homeland, the discovery of Velious, and indeed, the dark depths of the shatter moon. Familiarty began to strike me. No one can deny that the massive Luclanite rocks that hand cratered across the known world carry deep and evil powers. They taint water with a bizarre necromantic darkness hat turns life ot death. These waters overtook Stormhold. They overtook The Silent City. Even the tiny waters of Crater Lake gave birth to vile, toxic serpents.This is no coincidance. Neither is this apperant alliance. Owlbears survived Luclin's destruction. A fact that itself has haunted me from the day I saw them. Owlbears were a small pwer on the once-intact moon. In the darkest shadows of the farthest end sat a city. A great fortress build as a shrine to the Goddess of Shadows herself, for whom the moon is named. A terrible prophet named Aten Ha Ra commanded a vast race of sadistic beings known as the Akvehans. These tall, four-armed terrors gave live to a host of wretched things that plauged the moon, and themselves thought their power to approach that of the Gods. Tell me how they could not have survived?<img src="http://everquest.allakhazam.com/scenery/vexthal-eom.jpg">(Picture from Allakhazam's EQ 1 Website)My suspicion was ripened when i discovered something most unusual in the Silent City. A torn tunic crafted of delicate Shade Silk. Shade Silk is the spinnings of the Xakra Worms of Luclin. Xakra is the Akhevan word for Spirit. I can not tell if this tunic survived the shattering or if the dark waters infected the great spiders there in, and shaded their own silk. I do not know.My curiosity reached a new peak upon another startling discovery. I stood within the catacombs beneath Castle Nektropos. Indeed, the champer of Ollix Everling's coffin. As I stood over his battered ghostly form, I stopped to examine the markings engraved into the wall. I saw a symbol. A diomond with four triangles around it, as if to make a an hourglass. Curved lines decorated the lower two triangles, and the figure sat of a pair of wings. I knew this symbol. As I looked at it, I sensed a worry some similarity between the sick experiments of Everling's Castle, and the very place I had see nthat symbol. The Oblisk of Lost Souls, proudly displayed upon hallways within the monolith's interior.<img src="http://eq2images.station.sony.com/000/001/043/330.jpg"><img src="http://eq2images.station.sony.com/000/001/043/332.jpg">Do I smell future expansion?<div></div><p>Message Edited by Gannor on <span class="date_text">03-13-2006</span><span class="time_text">06:48 PM</span></p>

[Pudaan]

<div>either recycled textures, or ur on to something</div><div> </div><div>great find</div>

[Zoren Northwood]

<div>He's definitely on to something.  From a recent dev post on the shadowed men:</div><div> </div><div>""There is a time that I recall being offered safe haven within a castle in the woods of the ashlands. Something was very creepy about my guests, but all in all, the food was great, the conversations enlightening and the beds were comfortable. I was never able to discover the home of my gracious hosts again, but I recall reading a book within their library that contained very odd runes. I was unable to decipher the runes and I can hardly recall their structure. <strong>One thing I could recall was the symbol that was emblazoned upon the binder. This symbol was one I would not encounter again until I managed to compile the notes and charts from my harrowing trip into the obelisk. To think that the symbol was right in front of me all that time and I overlooked it. What was more amazing were the instances of that symbol that occurred in other locations. I wonder what this all means and how they tie together. I will find out.</strong>" - Hasten Bootstrutter"</div>

[Cusashorn]

<div><blockquote><hr>Gannor wrote:<div></div><p><font color="#cc33ff">I am an old Iksar, 929 years now.</font> I remember the first elves to arrive on my homeland, the discovery of Velious, and indeed, the dark depths of the shatter moon. Familiarty began to strike me. No one can deny that the massive Luclanite rocks that hand cratered across the known world carry deep and evil powers. <font color="#ff6699">They taint water with a bizarre necromantic darkness hat turns life ot death. These waters overtook Stormhold. They overtook The Silent City.</font> Even the tiny waters of Crater Lake gave birth to vile, toxic serpents.This is no coincidance. Neither is this apperant alliance. <font color="#ff0000">Owlbears survived Luclin's destruction. A fact that itself has haunted me from the day I saw them. Owlbears were a small power on the once-intact moon.</font> <font color="#66cc00">In the darkest shadows of the farthest end sat a city. A great fortress build as a shrine to the Goddess of Shadows herself, for whom the moon is named. A terrible prophet named Aten Ha Ra commanded a vast race of sadistic beings known as the Akvehans. These tall, four-armed terrors gave live to a host of wretched things that plauged the moon, and themselves thought their power to approach that of the Gods. Tell me how they could not have survived?</font></p><p><font color="#3399ff">My suspicion was ripened when i discovered something most unusual in the Silent City. A torn tunic crafted of delicate Shade Silk. Shade Silk is the spinnings of the Xakra Worms of Luclin. Xakra is the Akhevan word for Spirit. I can not tell if this tunic survived the shattering or if the dark waters infected the great spiders there in, and shaded their own silk. I do not know.</font><font color="#99ffff">Do I smell future expansion?</font></p><div></div><p>Message Edited by Gannor on <span class="date_text">03-13-2006</span><span class="time_text">06:48 PM</span></p><hr></blockquote><p><font color="#9933cc">Iksar don't live much longer than 170-180. :p</font></p><p><font color="#9933cc"></font> </p><p><font color="#ff6699">A chunk of Luclin fell into the water channel in North Qeynos, and it hasn't affected anything in the city. Nothing strange has happened about that. The chunks out in the Sinking Sands actually created life instead of taking it away. Also: where is it stated or told that the water inside the Silent City and the Living Tombs were tainted by pieces of Luclin? I must have missed something there.</font></p><p><font color="#ff6699"></font> </p><p><font color="#ff0000">Owlbears. My theory that makes a lot of sense. Back before teleportation was cut off, Adventurers take owlbear young back to Norrath with the intention of breeding them in captivity and trying to tame them. Some accident happens and the owlbears escape into the wild, where they repopulated in thier new home of Nektulos Forest.</font></p><p><font color="#ff0000"></font> </p><p><font color="#66cc00">The Akhevans are an immortal race. And by Immortal, I mean they cannot die of old age. They can die. Just not of old age. They're also androgenous, which means they are neither Male or female in gender, but that's something else entirely. They didn't make any twisted, sadistic things and unleashed them throughout Luclin. They were a *SEVERLY* Xenophobic race. So much so, that it was considered Heresy if any Akhevan thought about learning or speaking any other language other than thier own "Fleshless Tongue" language.</font></p><p><font color="#66cc00">The great priestess Akel Ha Ra, who's power as both a ruling figure of the Akhevans and a Priestess of Shadows matched that of Aten Ha Ra, thought that the Akhevans would benefit greatly from learning to speak the Common Tongue. She figured it would be better if they knew what outsiders were saying, and being able to communicate with them if needed.</font></p><p><font color="#66cc00">Aten Ha Ra's forces built the city of Vex Thall, where they would remain loyal to Luclin and thier fleshless tongue. They broke out into a civil war with Akel Ha Ra's forces. Aten Ha Ra unleashed a massive storm called the Maiden's Scar and unleashed it on the city of Ka Vethan, completely decimating it and the landscape around it. All that remains now are the Akhevan Ruins of Ka Vethan and the Maiden's Eye, the remnants of the once-fertile and lush land they used to live in.</font></p><p><font color="#66cc00">They never created horrible creatures that roamed the landscape of luclin or anything like that.</font></p><p><font color="#66cc00"></font> </p><p><font color="#3399ff">This is the part that really caught my interest. I find that there's a problem here. If this "Shade Silk Tunic" is indeed the same thing as Xaktra silk, then there's a big plothole here for such a tunic to exist in the Silent City.</font></p><p><font color="#3399ff">1. The Akhevans traveled to Norrath back in ancient times and gave the silk tunic as a gift to the Godking, as many cultures contributed gifts and appraisal to thier society because of thier life-giving water. Since the Akhevians are an extremely xenophobic race, as I just described above, I do not see them traveling down to Norrath to interact down there, be it intentional or not.</font></p><p><font color="#3399ff">2. An adventurer found the tunic from the Akhevans on Luclin, traveled to Akhet Aken, was killed by the undead, and had the tunic taken from his corpse. This doesn't make sense either because if the shirt is really as old as it's described to be, then it existed in Akhet Aken long before it became the Living Tombs and Silent City, which was long before Luclin was discovered. I believe the Silent City and Living Tombs wouldn't be rediscovered untill after the Rending occured, which means this occured long after travel to Luclin was cut off.</font></p><p><font color="#3399ff"></font> </p><p><font color="#99ffff">Do you smell a future expansion? Yes, but it will more than likely have nothing to do with anything in this topic. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></font></p><p><font color="#99ffff"></font> </p><p><font color="#99ffff"></font> </p><p>Very interesting though.</p></div>

[Gannor]

<div></div><div></div>Firstly, who said I was alive?Secondly, both Stormhold and Silent city cite the black tainted water as the source of their infestation. This is in quests found within both zones. I do not recall what quests, immidiately, but may look it up at a time when I'm not camping a name in another window <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><hr size="2" width="100%"><font color="#ff0000">Owlbears. My theory that makes a lot of sense. Back before teleportation was cut off, Adventurers take owlbear young back to Norrath with the intention of breeding them in captivity and trying to tame them. Some accident happens and the owlbears escape into the wild, where they repopulated in thier new home of Nektulos Forest.</font><hr size="2" width="100%">This is as much speculation as any of my observations. Indeed, you a little sketchy on how they all end up in Nektulos (and only Nektulos) and I have found nothing otherwise to give a hint of their origins. It's a viable theory, but it is a theory, and as sketchy as mine are.You are correct and I am wrong on the nature of the Akhevans of my time. You can not however deny that Aten Ha Ra's followers were the dominant power and that they were malicious. Seldom do races of this power and potential get put into EQ as benevolent forces. More commonly they wind up in a position to provide more content to the player base.I recall no mention of the 'Godking' in EQ 1. Rahotep, yes. Godking Anuk? Perhaps I missed something in the 5+ years I played?<hr size="2" width="100%"><font color="#3399ff">2. An adventurer found the tunic from the Akhevans on Luclin, traveled to Akhet Aken, was killed by the undead, and had the tunic taken from his corpse. This doesn't make sense either because if the shirt is really as old as it's described to be, then it existed in Akhet Aken long before it became the Living Tombs and Silent City, <b>which was long before Luclin was discovered.</b> I believe the Silent City and Living Tombs wouldn't be rediscovered untill after the Rending occured, which means this occured long after travel to Luclin was cut off</font><hr size="2" width="100%"><font color="#3399ff"><font color="#ffffff">Luclin was discovered after Velious. Tell me, where was Akhet Aken all this time? I walked over those dunes and never saw it? They found Takish Hiz, Rujarkain Hills both buried under the sands but never noticed Akhet Aken? Please explain where this comes from? I am baffled.</font></font>EWHatever the case here may be, the mystery behind the symbol and the possible connection between Shadowed Men and Akhevans was the central point of original post. The rest was just speculation.<div></div><p>Message Edited by Gannor on <span class="date_text">03-13-2006</span><span class="time_text">09:29 PM</span></p><p>Message Edited by Gannor on <span class="date_text">03-13-2006</span><span class="time_text">09:32 PM</span></p>

[Cusashorn]

<div>Akhet Aken, the Sul'Dal, and the Godking who ruled are all original content from EQ2. They didn't exist as game content in EQlive or EQOA, which further proves against the Akhevan's involvement with the shade silk tunic.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>And what I mean by Luclin being discovered, is that an adventurer found the tunic and took it to Silent City long before Norrathians discovered Luclin in the first place, which wouldn't be possible. I worded that poorly there. It sounds like Silent City and Living Tombs were discovered before Luclin there, doesn't it. Nah that's not what I ment.</div><div> </div><div> </div><div>You are correct though. The Akhevans are malevolent regardless of whether they wanted to learn common tongue or not.</div>

[Gannor]

<div></div>Ah, I see. The obvious answer to the shade silk is that in the time the city was a living city, after the time of EQ 1, an adventurer had simply had it with them and it remained inthe city, probably with the andventurer having die there. What I was suggesting might have been possible is this: The taint of Luclinite is a slow occurrance and varied occurance, and one that runs down, rather than radiating out. The lack of affect in the Qeynos Moat may not be such - the Down Below, Vermin's Snyre, Crypt of Betrayal. As the Luclinite slowly corrupted the city, the spiders may have been tained and began producing a form of shaded web. Noting the inherant magic, albeit dark in nature, they were likely to harvest this second-generation shade silk and using the estblished recipes, made shade silk clothing much like had come from Luclin.Just a thought, as unproven as the rest.[Edit] On an afterthought, anyone noticed the likeness between the modern Spectres and the Shades and Spirits of Luclin? Might just be that they liked the looks, it a bit more real than old-style spectres, but if they didn't meant to make the similarity, they sure left it open for misinterperetation <span>:smileytongue:</span><div></div><p>Message Edited by Gannor on <span class="date_text">03-13-2006</span><span class="time_text">10:38 PM</span></p>

[vikingthug]

<div></div>I for one hope your onto something here.. I know Id love to see you proven right and dance up and down while pointing my finger at a few folks.  And you just know who Im talking about..  Mr. I dont agree with anything I didnt come up with first.

[hahn_ba]

<div></div><p></p><hr>And what I mean by Luclin being discovered, is that an adventurer found the tunic and took it to Silent City long before Norrathians discovered Luclin in the first place, which wouldn't be possible. I worded that poorly there. It sounds like Silent City and Living Tombs were discovered before Luclin there, doesn't it. Nah that's not what I ment.<hr><p>Actually, we were the second set of Norrathians to go to Luclin, if you recall. The Combine were there long before we were, and if time matches up right, the Combine Empire was around when Tunaria was starting to age, and before the creation of the Deserts of Ro. So it's entirely possible that perhaps one of Grieg's experiments was successful before the wrathful eye of Luclin drove him mad. Perhaps someone brought Xakra back with them.</p><p>I really dig the way you proclaim your ideas as canon though. Keep it up stud, Fist of Light guys are always looking for more writers I suppose.</p>

[Cusashorn]

<div>But Akhet Aken existed long before the Combine Empire did, so it still doesn't make sense that a Xaktra silk tunic would exist in an ancient civilization that wouldn't be rediscovered untill after the Rending.</div>

[i3ry]

Or its just an oversighted coincidence of the naming.<div></div>

[j3huty]

<div></div><p>It is water that is the reason everyone in LT/SC is undead but it's nothing to do with Luclin or luclinite tainted water.  I'm a little sketchy on the details but the Ewer of Sul'Dae (the Vessel of Fyr'Un is possibly involved too) is what turned everyone undead. Not too sure where they got the water from but it happened well before Luclin blew up.</p><p>As for Stormhold, the Bone-Blade Claymore is the corruption there. The head Knight (cannot for the life of me remember the name) took the sword back to SH from Befallen, went mental due to the sword's power and slaughtered everyone (at least that's my understanding of the various bits of lore in the zone + bbc hq). Not too sure how the slimes got there, though. Summoned by the sword? Uncovered by excavations on the fourth floor? Which is another thing i'm not 100% on. it's possible they were excavating to expand before the sword got there or the head knight started it after he went crazy (which would probably explain why the entrance is in a jail cell). Anyway, wherever they came from it wasn't because of Luclin. The corruption was there before the moon blew up too.</p><p>I can't comment on the EQ1 stuff as I never played it but another link between Nektropos and OoLS are the clockwork machines guarding the entrance to Everling's basement.There is definitely a major plot concerning the shadowed men and what they're doing here. Fiddy Bobick was listed as important to the shadowed men and he's in the Peacock Club (along with another guy supposedly from EQ1). Kyle Bayle was also listed and he's involved in the claymore quest series (no idea how, though. a friend was doing one of the quests in Sanctum and when he got his update, Kyle spawned and hoofed it to the entrance).</p>

[SageGaspar]

<div><span><blockquote><hr>j3huty wrote:<div></div><p>It is water that is the reason everyone in LT/SC is undead but it's nothing to do with Luclin or luclinite tainted water.  I'm a little sketchy on the details but the Ewer of Sul'Dae (the Vessel of Fyr'Un is possibly involved too) is what turned everyone undead. Not too sure where they got the water from but it happened well before Luclin blew up.</p><p>As for Stormhold, the Bone-Blade Claymore is the corruption there. The head Knight (cannot for the life of me remember the name) took the sword back to SH from Befallen, went mental due to the sword's power and slaughtered everyone (at least that's my understanding of the various bits of lore in the zone + bbc hq). Not too sure how the slimes got there, though. Summoned by the sword? Uncovered by excavations on the fourth floor? Which is another thing i'm not 100% on. it's possible they were excavating to expand before the sword got there or the head knight started it after he went crazy (which would probably explain why the entrance is in a jail cell). Anyway, wherever they came from it wasn't because of Luclin. The corruption was there before the moon blew up too.</p><p>I can't comment on the EQ1 stuff as I never played it but another link between Nektropos and OoLS are the clockwork machines guarding the entrance to Everling's basement.There is definitely a major plot concerning the shadowed men and what they're doing here. Fiddy Bobick was listed as important to the shadowed men and he's in the Peacock Club (along with another guy supposedly from EQ1). Kyle Bayle was also listed and he's involved in the claymore quest series (no idea how, though. a friend was doing one of the quests in Sanctum and when he got his update, Kyle spawned and hoofed it to the entrance).</p><hr></blockquote>*early claymore spoiler in black*<font color="#000000">Kyle Bayle is actually the ghost that appears in the Mouth of the Scaleborn, you find that out very early in the series. If he takes on corporeal form I assume at some point you resurrect him.</font></span></div>

[RpTheHotrod]

<div></div><div></div><div></div><div>So....what is your theory of connection?</div><div> </div><div>Nek Castle and Obelisk has the same symbol.  What could the connection be? I didn't quite understand what you thought it might mean. Shadowmen are clearly from another dimension...and they were around 500 years ago. As for Everling's experiments, he just zombifies everything....which happens all over Norrath without the help of Shadowmen.</div><div> </div><div>So, what is the theory you're thinking?</div><div> </div><div>Perhaps you think the Ahkevans are the controling power over the Obelisk and has something to do with Everling's experiments? What is your evidence of this? You seem to have only found one piece of cloth in a random zone on a completely different continent....and somehow tie it to two other completely different places. It seems that the only possible thing right now is that the Ahkevans "might" have something to do with the Silent City. I don't see what that has to do with Nek Castle, Obelisk, or stormhold. Stormhold's corruption is due to a cursed sword...just like Befallen was.</div><p><span class="time_text">You also connected Nek Castle with Obelisk. What do you think the connection is? That certainly interests me.</span></p><p><span class="time_text"></span> </p><p>Message Edited by RpTheHotrod on <span class="date_text">03-16-2006</span><span class="time_text">07:05 AM</span></p>

[backya]

<div>The oblisk needs anchors to keep in on norrath, nek castle had the same symbols, maybe it is an anchor holding the oblisk in its possition or allowing it to move around norrath. It could be a source of power also. The nightbloods need host, or something needs host, maybe zombies can be used as host and not just living creatures. Erverling(sp?) may have the technology and knight blood there because he is making host bodies. Hes been doing it for so long m aybe he can make them look more alive than dead and fool anyone and give the invading nightblood a host from which they dont have to go get or wait for to come to them.</div>

[Ktok]

<div></div><blockquote><hr>j3huty wrote:<div></div><p>It is water that is the reason everyone in LT/SC is undead but it's nothing to do with Luclin or luclinite tainted water.  I'm a little sketchy on the details but the Ewer of Sul'Dae (the Vessel of Fyr'Un is possibly involved too) is what turned everyone undead. Not too sure where they got the water from but it happened well before Luclin blew up.</p><hr></blockquote><p>Basically, (spoiler in black) <font color="#000000">the Ewer was a source of eternal life... through undeath. That's the little trick that the Peacock Club folks didn't count on and didn't know about. It is also the source of the D'Morte family of vampires who were "blessed" by the waters. Also, the events there didn't just happen well before Luclin blew up, they happened when the Eldar Forest was still there and the Desert of Ro was just begining to take over.</font></p><p>As for the Shadesilk, I wondered that too. I found a robe of Shadesilk in Living Tombs and instantly thought of Luclin. As others pointed out, there are many, many ways for such an item to have ended up in an old tomb. Who's to say? Perhaps one of those many, random mummies in Ro back in EQ1 took it back with them from a kill to the as of yet undiscovered Living Tombs. It was pretty crummy armor after all. <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>