IrishWonder
05-13-2006, 05:59 AM
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New"><FONT face=Arial>I spent a lot of time in Timorous Deep in EQ1, and I came to love the Spiroc. They were so graceful, colorful, and they died real good. So when I heard that the aviaks were making their return in KoS, I was baffled to see that my parrot friends were missing. You pick up a tidbit here and there through quests and books about what happened to them, but nothing really juicy until you get to the Palace of the Awakened portion of the Claymore quest. Some of the stuff that the Salutations of Naar`Yora answers, though, is more cryptic than it is enlightening. There are still a lot of questions about the Spiroc left in obscurity. Here are some extracts from the tome of Naar`Yora to refresh memories. <BR><BR>WARNING: If you don't like your quest lore spoiled, and you haven't done the PoA portion of the Claymore quest, don't read this :smileywink: <BR><BR>---It began when the one Flock entered the great sky. It was the Flock that sang to the spirits of the Spiroc, enlightening them, uniting them in rebellion. The Flock and her army refused the wills of the scale. Soon a great war of avians would arise. Those who refused the enlightenment of the Flock rose to the call of the Scale. These were the Blacktalon, black hearted and souless aviaks. Overwhelmed, the Flock and the Aviak were eradicated or driven from their palace in the great sky. The Blacktalon soon seized the palace as their own in a final smite upon the grandeur of the Flock and her Spiroc. Thus was the civil war of the aviaks cast into history, but within the great palace of the now Blacktalon, echoes of that great Flock lay hidden. Where aviaks duel, the stolen scythes are laid to rest in homage to the great Flock. When an offering of tenfold are set forth between the two, the four heroes of the Flock will rise in circles in short in challenge for their arms. <BR><BR>---The great Flock was extinguished by the Queen Wyrm. The vanguard of the Army of the Flock lay in waste with no mercy for the wounded. Nothing would stop the forces of scale from besieging the stronghold palace of the Flock and final vestiges of the Spiroc in Sky. Aeristok was a mighty vanquisher of the Spiroc and soon would command the army of the Flock in its death throe. The Palace of the Flock lay under siege and there would be no way to victory or to escape. All Aeristok could hope to do was veil the treasures of the Flock. Beset by the merciless forces of the Queen Wyrm Aeristok's last wing repelled death long enough to allow the treasures of the Flock to be hidden within the palace. But there rest one great prize that Aeristok would hide himself. Aeristok would hide the spirit of the maidens. The maidens were the outlanders who freed the Flock and revealed her to the Spiroc. Without them there would be no Flock and her promise of freedom. There would be no glimmer of hope without the Maidens of Theer. Upon the departure of the maidens, before the great war, they left a promise of return and a way to call to them. This is the tale that the spirit knows and it is the spirit that Aeristok shields from the scale. Aeristok took the shard of the spirit and placed it within his private vault where his visage would protect it until the maidens' return. So the shard was embraced by the visage and the keys to releasing the treasures were hidden nearby. The shimmering eyes were scattered and without them the visage would not release its treasures. The eyes were tossed about in the guise of the standard exquisiteness found within the palace. But whirling forces of the prodigal maidens would return and soon sought these eyes for themselves. But whirling forces of the maidens would return to seek these shards and soon would hold a number of these eyes for themselves. Their search continues to this day and their wrath is waiting to be dispensed against those who would claim them. <BR><BR>---The Maidens of Theer were saviors to some, strangers to all. From wicked realms beyond the Sky came the armored maidens, a mysterious and powerful quartet. These lady knights from beyond arrived on the back of The Flock, her most trusted of arms. The Maidens were a mystery, but trusted ally of the liberated Spiroc. Together beside the wings of the Flock the quartet fought valiantly without fear. With their sporatic absence would follow tales of triumphs behind the lines of scale. They were unbeatable. The quartet was allied, but natives of beyond. There came a time during the great war when the four would depart, but they would leave gifts for the Flock. These gifts included the very armor that veiled their beauty. The gifts were accepted and the quartet was gone. The Flock commanded stone visages of the maidens be sculpted and set within the palace. The visages would remind the spiroc of their liberators and point the wise to the locations of their gifts. <BR><BR>The biggest question here is, who is the Flock? Judging from the tome, she/he/it sounds like a magical entity, perhaps even godlike. I know Xegony created the Aviaks, but the Flock can't be Xegony, because it seems the Flock was introduced to the Spiroc long after their creation. It sounds like the Flock may have come after the aviaks made their way to the Overrealm, which would be after the Shattering and into that obscure area between the Shattering and day 1 of EQ2... so there very well may be no other lore on the Flock. <BR><BR>Another thing to ponder, the various Spiroc ghosts you spawn around the Palace of the Awakened all have the eagle-like aviak model. Does this mean that the parrot-like Spiroc died off way before the aviaks made their trip to the Overrealm? And if so, how? Was it just evolution, or some other cause? <BR><BR>And lastly, who are the Maidens of Theer? They have to be very powerful, because it states that they freed the Flock, thereby introducing her/him/it to the Spiroc. Where exactly do they come from? <BR><BR>I know there are lots of folks out there who know way more about the aviaks/Spiroc than I do... so lay down some of those leet lore skillz :smileywink: Maybe even Vhalen can give us a cryptolore or two</FONT> </FONT></DIV><p>Message Edited by IrishWonder on <span class=date_text>05-12-2006</span> <span class=time_text>07:04 PM</span>