Venril Sathir and Mayong Mistmoore

[Oeg]

If my memory serves me, back in EQLive Mayong Mistmoore kept in contact with Venril Sathir via the Drachnids (which were in the Dreadlands, but on Mistmoore faction).  I've been on a break from EQ2, and I was wondering if there have been any developements there? Is there any word of the drachnids, and any link between Sathir and Mistmoore in EQ2 as of yet?  It certainly could prove interesting with RoK coming out soon.

[Zabjade]

<span style="color: #00cc00;">I think one of them is taking his time on his next move in chess, also they are likely discussing the young upstart Lich Lucan. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span>

[Cusashorn]

<p>So far, there hasn't been any revealed information about what Venril Sathir has been doing these last 500 years other than reuniting the Iksar together into a new empire. Nothing is known about his relationship with anyone outside of Kunark right now.</p><p>Could you imagine the conversation though?</p><p>Venril: "So, What have you been up to these last 500 years, Mayong?"</p><p>Mayong: "Oh you know. Same as always. Became a god once, but the job didn't come with a retirement plan, so I quit and went back to just being immortal. You?"</p><p>Venril: "Not much, not much.. Reunited the Iksar race into an empire even stronger than it used to be. Cabilis is destroyed, but Trak'anon moved out of Sebilis, so... hey. Free city to raise an empire from. The people hate me, but thats ok, because I give them a reason to hate outsiders more."</p>

[Oeg]

I find it interesting that both "evil" empires are ruled by undead liches.  It'd be interesting to find out what Venril thinks of Lucan, and vice versa. 

[Cusashorn]

<cite>Oegen wrote:</cite><blockquote>I find it interesting that both "evil" empires are ruled by undead liches.  It'd be interesting to find out what Venril thinks of Lucan, and vice versa.  </blockquote>If I were Venril, I'd be quaking in my boots. He knows that his new empire doesn't even relatively compaire to the military power of Freeport. Gathering all the evil races together only made them 5 times stronger than before.

[Oeg]

Perhaps, but we don't really know the extent of Venril's strength.  Does he still have his army of Drolvargs and Drachnids? All of the denizens of Karnor's Castle and then whatever else he's come up with in 500 years could be pretty formidable, particularly in combination with this new Iksar Empire.  I'd like to think that Venril probably has his old undead army hidden away somewhere just in case.

[Sapphirius]

I'd like to think that too, but until the devs throw us a teaser, we may just never know.

[Chanaluss]

venril and mayong have had examples where theyre opposing factions in EQlive, however that changed a bit post-timeline shift in EQlive, when both mayong and venril used the shadowspine curse. we really dont know their connection at all. i personally had a theory that the vampiric iksar Chosooth was either working with mayong, or was mayong himself, but have never had any proof to show either way. we might see something interesting in kunark, but until then we still have no clue

[hahnbard]

<p>I'm not entirely sure about Freeport being a bigger military threat than the Iksar Empire.</p><p> When the Rallosian Armies were on the march, Freeport's salvation came through luck, whereas Cabilis itself was able to successfully repel the Rallosian army - a feat no other city can boast about. </p>

[Eriol]

<cite>hahnbard07 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I'm not entirely sure about Freeport being a bigger military threat than the Iksar Empire.</p><p> When the Rallosian Armies were on the march, Freeport's salvation came through luck, whereas Cabilis itself was able to successfully repel the Rallosian army - a feat no other city can boast about. </p></blockquote>Where's that info from?  From what I've seen of the lore (which is much less than many here) the Rallosians were just on Antonica, not everywhere.

[teddyboy4]

<cite>Eriol wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>hahnbard07 wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I'm not entirely sure about Freeport being a bigger military threat than the Iksar Empire.</p><p> When the Rallosian Armies were on the march, Freeport's salvation came through luck, whereas Cabilis itself was able to successfully repel the Rallosian army - a feat no other city can boast about. </p></blockquote>Where's that info from?  From what I've seen of the lore (which is much less than many here) the Rallosians were just on Antonica, not everywhere.</blockquote>Word. I've never seen anything that said that the New Rallosian army ever went anywhere off of Antonica. Of course, that was back before the Rending so Norrath was still "whole" and people could travel from one continent to the other relatively easily. But that being said, as far as I know, there is nothing to support the idea that the New Rallosian army was defeated, or reflected by Venril's rebuilt Iksarian empire, or ever even made it to Kunark for that matter. Also, as far as we know, at the time of the New Rallosian army, Venril hadn't reclaimed his throne or rebuilt the Empire yet as this was all before the Rending.So I'd say that the evidence we have now strongly refutes your statement hahnbard07, unless you know something that we don't?

[Rabid-Othmir]

"Now, beyond Kunark the world was deep in its Age of War. We had our plans but we keep them close to our scales for we know that there is no one that we can trust. Our scouts brought word over and again of the Rallosian Army and its victories. We readied for battle. They came from the Frontier Mountains, where the sarnak lived. We sharpened our claws and our teeth. The new army of Rallos Zek was large, but we are <span class="highlight">iksar</span>, and the strength of the ages flows through us.Though the battles raged on, we defended no one else, nor fought for any other. When we were under siege, no one came to our aid; we would go to no one else?s. Some say this is selfish of us. Is it selfish to treat others as they have treated you?Soon enough, the skies opened and what many had thought was a tale of old scales happened again: the Green Mist. The Rallosians were defeated as were the shissar so long ago. The others knew then that the <span class="highlight">iksar</span> had told the truth about the death from above."From the History of the Iksar.

[Cusashorn]

I bet the army on Kunark was pretty dang small compaired to the main forces of the ogres on Antonica though. The Iksar probably only fended off like 1/16th of the entire worldwide forces.

[Zabjade]

<span style="color: #00cc00;">It might not even be that much more like an expeditionary force as they where already committed on two fronts, at the least. </span>

[teddyboy4]

<cite>Rabid-Othmir wrote:</cite><blockquote>"Now, beyond Kunark the world was deep in its Age of War. We had our plans but we keep them close to our scales for we know that there is no one that we can trust. Our scouts brought word over and again of the Rallosian Army and its victories. We readied for battle. They came from the Frontier Mountains, where the sarnak lived. We sharpened our claws and our teeth. The new army of Rallos Zek was large, but we are <span class="highlight">iksar</span>, and the strength of the ages flows through us.Though the battles raged on, we defended no one else, nor fought for any other. When we were under siege, no one came to our aid; we would go to no one else?s. Some say this is selfish of us. Is it selfish to treat others as they have treated you?Soon enough, the skies opened and what many had thought was a tale of old scales happened again: the Green Mist. The Rallosians were defeated as were the shissar so long ago. The others knew then that the <span class="highlight">iksar</span> had told the truth about the death from above."From the History of the Iksar.</blockquote>Ok, now this is interesting. It seems at least some of the Rallosians made their way to Kunark and the Iksar engaged them.But what is even MORE interesting IMO is the fact that a new generation of Ilksar saw the wrath of their god, Cazic Thule. Now, I don't know how long lived Iksar are, but I'd think at the most the Green Mist descending on the Rallosians wouldn't be any more then 5 generations of Iksar ago. MUCH fresher in the minds of the Iksar people then the last time the Mist descended, as the majority of the Iksar forgot about, or didn't believe the stories of the Green Mist. Now I put this to you, what in the heck did Venril do to make his people believe he is more powerful and dangerous then their god who can kill a whole army of Rallosians in an instant? Seriously, Venril must've done something pretty darn impressive to make his people turn their backs on Cazic and possibly incur his wrath.

[Dreyco]

Okay...Venril doesn't shake in his boots.  We're talking about an Iksar that desired immortality, was murdered, ressurected, and, right under the Iksar's noses, began raising an army of undead to one day take over what he felt was rightfully his.Also, he's had between 150-300 years to amass a force that, at this time, we have no clue as to how large or powerful it is.  But if it is enough to start taking out ships from BOTH cities and cause this much of a fuss? We can feel pretty rest assured that Venril's legions are not something to be triffled with.And in the end? I think that it's probably the other way around.  If Freeport was truely so militarily strong, they would have marched all over Qeynos at this time, as Lucan's been spouting about since release.  Now his ships are being destroyed, his navy is being decimated, his citizens are spreading rumors of an Iksar Army on the seas.  Lucan's probably getting pretty tense as to what's out there.

[ShesSoSurreal]

((Hey Dreyco! Check your PMs <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> ))

[Gasheron]

<p>I think you all are greatly underestimating Venril and the Iksar, primarily for the reasons that were stated by Dreyco.</p><p>Also, in the Second Rallosian War, what comprised the army that Freeport faced? Ogres, Orcs, and enslaved lizardmen from the Temple of Cazic Thule. What rallosians were there on Kunark for the Iksar to face? Giants. IMO an army of giants is not something to be looked down upon.</p>

[Zarafein]

<p>Qeynos had to face giants(and more) as well, i don't think Kunark was attacked as heavely as Qeynos and Freeport.</p>

[Dreyco]

Kunark was attacked, yes, though they had the help of the Greenmist to really get those evil Rallosians away from their precious city <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Daine]

<cite>Eandiil@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite><blockquote>Now I put this to you, what in the heck did Venril do to make his people believe he is more powerful and dangerous then their god who can kill a whole army of Rallosians in an instant? Seriously, Venril must've done something pretty darn impressive to make his people turn their backs on Cazic and possibly incur his wrath.</blockquote>It wasn't the lizardmen that turned their backs on Cazic.  It was the other way around.  If you'll recall, the gods left Norrath.  The lizardmen have always been fanatical in their devotion, so when the object of their devotion left they probably clung to the closest thing to a god they had left:  a resurrected power-hungry lich-king.  They went long enough with him as god so may not have converted back to Cazic Thule when he reappeared. Another point:  Kunark was probably affected by the Shattering too.  When your god is gone and everything is in ruins, you're going to gravitate towards the person who's saying that he can pull everything back together into a new empire.  Venril already had an empire once, why not believe that he could do it again?

[Dreyco]

<cite>Daine@Everfrost wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Eandiil@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite><blockquote>Now I put this to you, what in the heck did Venril do to make his people believe he is more powerful and dangerous then their god who can kill a whole army of Rallosians in an instant? Seriously, Venril must've done something pretty darn impressive to make his people turn their backs on Cazic and possibly incur his wrath.</blockquote>It wasn't the lizardmen that turned their backs on Cazic.  It was the other way around. <b> If you'll recall, the gods left Norrath. </b> The lizardmen have always been fanatical in their devotion, so when the object of their devotion left they probably clung to the closest thing to a god they had left:  a resurrected power-hungry lich-king.  They went long enough with him as god so may not have converted back to Cazic Thule when he reappeared. Another point:  Kunark was probably affected by the Shattering too.  <b>When your god is gone and everything is in ruins, you're going to gravitate towards the person who's saying that he can pull everything back together into a new empire.</b>  Venril already had an empire once, why not believe that he could do it again? </blockquote>Bingo.Those also keep in mind that Venril had the Cult of the Arisen already, so he had followers.  Whether or whether not the Iksar of Cabilis, after its destruction, really and truly went to follow Venril afterward is yet to be seen.  He might have simply claimed the empire as his own, and the other Iksar (AKA: The Swifttails perhaps?) came flocking to him.  With his reputatin and history, it's a strong possibility that this isn't the case.

[IrishWonder]

I think a lot of people are jumping the gun in assuming that the Iksar are fanatically following Venril and have forsaken Cazic-Thule. The first time Venril led, the Iksar empire followed him while still worshipping Cazic-Thule. You can do both. Who's to say Venril just hasn't come back and reformed the empire, but still views Cazic-Thule as the empire's patron diety? The Iksar nation may not have to give up their beliefs in Cazic just to follow Venril.

[Cusashorn]

<cite>IrishWonder wrote:</cite><blockquote>I think a lot of people are jumping the gun in assuming that the Iksar are fanatically following Venril and have forsaken Cazic-Thule. The first time Venril led, the Iksar empire followed him while still worshipping Cazic-Thule. You can do both. Who's to say Venril just hasn't come back and reformed the empire, but still views Cazic-Thule as the empire's patron diety? The Iksar nation may not have to give up their beliefs in Cazic just to follow Venril.</blockquote>In my opinion, I'd find it rather hard to allow my people to worship another god when I worship another one who gave me my immortality in the first place.

[Zarafein]

They don't follow Cazic Thule according to this <p>I finally got around to running the new Kunark Expedition quest, and I was struck by the random comments of the Iksar who attacked my ship.  Specifically, they seemed to be boarding and attacking Freeport vessels in search of "Deserters" and "followers of Cazic" and threatening death and destruction on those who stood between them and their prey.</p><p>from <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=382754" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=382754</a></p><p>i wouldn't call the relation between Venril and Innoruuk worshiping, they rather used each other imo</p>

[Rabid-Othmir]

Why the assumptions that the majority of Iksar still worship Cazic? According to the history book the Iksar seem to feel that Cazic-Thule abandoned them and therefor only rely on themselves.

[Cusashorn]

<cite>Rabid-Othmir wrote:</cite><blockquote>Why the assumptions that the majority of Iksar still worship Cazic? According to the history book the Iksar seem to feel that Cazic-Thule abandoned them and therefor only rely on themselves.</blockquote>And the new world events proves that they no longer do.

[Zarafein]

<p>Hm they don't mean that the majority worship Cazic and the Iksar of Kunark don't know what Danak did since the return of the god.. maybe Venril used hate against Cazic/since the gods left) as a tool to unite the Iksar of Kunark and to make them fight the other Iksar, so he just said the others still worship Cazic Thule.</p>

[ke'la]

<cite>Dreyco wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Daine@Everfrost wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Eandiil@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite> <blockquote>Now I put this to you, what in the heck did Venril do to make his people believe he is more powerful and dangerous then their god who can kill a whole army of Rallosians in an instant? Seriously, Venril must've done something pretty darn impressive to make his people turn their backs on Cazic and possibly incur his wrath.</blockquote>It wasn't the lizardmen that turned their backs on Cazic.  It was the other way around. <b> If you'll recall, the gods left Norrath. </b> The lizardmen have always been fanatical in their devotion, so when the object of their devotion left they probably clung to the closest thing to a god they had left:  a resurrected power-hungry lich-king.  They went long enough with him as god so may not have converted back to Cazic Thule when he reappeared. Another point:  Kunark was probably affected by the Shattering too.  <b>When your god is gone and everything is in ruins, you're going to gravitate towards the person who's saying that he can pull everything back together into a new empire.</b>  Venril already had an empire once, why not believe that he could do it again?</blockquote>Bingo.Those also keep in mind that Venril had the Cult of the Arisen already, so he had followers.  Whether or whether not the Iksar of Cabilis, after its destruction, really and truly went to follow Venril afterward is yet to be seen.  He might have simply claimed the empire as his own, and the other Iksar (AKA: The Swifttails perhaps?) came flocking to him.  With his reputatin and history, it's a strong possibility that this isn't the case.</blockquote>I am not so shure the Swifttails are alined with him. My reasoning for this is because a repersentive of the Swifttails is on Maria begging the Softskins for an alliance, If they are followers of Venril I would think they would consiter themself strong enough with out those monks. On the otherhand if they are aposed to Venril and consiter themselfs the true Iksar, then that could have drove them to seek the aid of the soft skins, and thier iksar pride could be keeping them from telling the monks of Maria the true reason why they want an alliance.

[troodon]

<cite>ke'la wrote:</cite><blockquote>My reasoning for this is because a repersentive of the Swifttails is on Maria begging the Softskins for an alliance, If they are followers of Venril I would think they would consiter themself strong enough with out those monks. </blockquote><p>That's a really good point.</p><p>If the Venril's Iksar are so haughty that they won't even let Freeport Iksar join their ranks they certainly aren't going to be begging some humans for their help.</p>

[Emerix]

<p>If Ventril challenges the Freeport Armada (which is huge according to the Qeynos admiral) he either knows not what dragon he awakens or he knows it quite well and doesnt fear it.</p><p>Pfft. We have Soulfire now. I'm not scared. Especially since i know Sony wont make Norrath Dark Fantasy hehe.</p>

[Cusashorn]

They didn't exactly beg for the Whistling Fist's knowledge. They demanded it.

[troodon]

<cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite><blockquote>They didn't exactly beg for the Whistling Fist's knowledge. They demanded it.</blockquote><p>They weren't demanding it, they were doing the same thing as the other orders; trying to argue that they were most worthy of an alliance.</p><p>But it wouldn't matter even if they were demanding it.  If they're so stuck up that they will not suffer Freeport Iksar to live, they certainly wouldn't debase themselves by using Human martial arts techniques.  </p>

[andersonim]

<cite>Cusashorn wrote:</cite><blockquote>They didn't exactly beg for the Whistling Fist's knowledge. They demanded it.</blockquote>your sooooo right!!!

[Senliten]

<cite>Aviola@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>If Ventril challenges the Freeport Armada (which is huge according to the Qeynos admiral) he either knows not what dragon he awakens or he knows it quite well and doesnt fear it.</p><p>Pfft. We have Soulfire now. I'm not scared. Especially since i know Sony wont make Norrath Dark Fantasy hehe.</p></blockquote>XD.. plz OH PLZ say its the sleeper he awakens.. XD then itil go hand in hand with Eq1 and its SoF expansion and we get a fun lil thing going.. Putting the sleeper back to bed.. hehe... would be nice if it happens

[steelbadger]

<cite>Senliten wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Aviola@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>If Ventril challenges the Freeport Armada (which is huge according to the Qeynos admiral) he either knows not what dragon he awakens or he knows it quite well and doesnt fear it.</p><p>Pfft. We have Soulfire now. I'm not scared. Especially since i know Sony wont make Norrath Dark Fantasy hehe.</p></blockquote>XD.. plz OH PLZ say its the sleeper he awakens.. XD then itil go hand in hand with Eq1 and its SoF expansion and we get a fun lil thing going.. Putting the sleeper back to bed.. hehe... would be nice if it happens</blockquote>I think its a metaphor, the sleeping dragon is Freeport.It is quite possible for the new Iksar Empire to be extremely powerful, the landmass it controls should give it a massive population from which to draw troops.  Freeport, on the other hand, is just a city state.  A big city, no doubt.  Lets not forget that the Iksar are in constant war with Dragons and Sarnak, and still consider their power sufficient to open up another front with the old Antonican city states.  I very much doubt that the power of the Iksar empire is wanting.Then again, what we see of Freeport in game is but a small part of the actual power of the city.  Freeport, through intimidation tactics primarily, forced Neriak to accept an alliance.  Neriak's power is hardly trifling, supposedly being the capital of a large and extensive empire in the underfoot.And Qeynos just seems far too weakly lead to achieve much at this kind of scale.  Their power should be roughly proportional to Freeport's, but the lack of motivation to use said power really holds them back.

[Rainmare]

You assume that Cristanos was intimidated. She's got nothing to fear from Lucan D'lere, no reason for him to intimidate her. However, lucan is a braggart. of course he'll make it sound like he walked in there and demanded they form an alliance and she quaked and said yes. just like Lucan thinks that Mayong is afraid of him.Or, as Tier'dal are notorious for, she played him. He came in, acting like he normally does. she put on a wonderful acting job. Now Lucan thinks he's a badass like he wants, and that he 'forced' Neriak into an alliance, and Cristanos gets to go about her buisness without an undead braggart hassling her or having to worry about Freeport's military being a thorn in her side.Qeynos isn't weak...they just don't use force so rampantly. Antonia looks to inspire people to follow her lead, and Qeynos prospers. Qeynos gains power because people want to be part of it. Freeport gains it's power by killing those that oppose it and threatening to do the same to the rest.And I'm sure that the Sathirian Empire has nothing to worry about from freeport. the size of Kunark is testament. Kunark is a huge landmass, and the Sathirian Empire apparently controls virtually all of it. Freeport controls the Commonlands, and Nek Forest. I think that's a pretty big difference in power and size.