A fiction on Epic Evolution

[Meirril]

<p>I'm going off of a few assumptions. First, the void story seems horribly incomplete. We get introduced to Aeur(sp?) who is apparently a god-killing being created by the Nameless to keep the lesser gods in check.</p><p>Said god-assassin was trapped in The Void to prevent him from doing his job. Later Anashasti is tossed in the same cell. The two plot excape with Anashasti apparently being forced into serving Aeur.</p><p>Freeing and potentially slaying Anashasti doesn't conclude this story. That isn't a credible ending in my eyes. With the Euradites being involved, and a potential continuation of this story line I think it lends a high level of credability to Odus being the next expansion.</p><p>Epic weapons being what they are will probably receive some sort of upgrade quest. While I'm growing tired of the void story it does offer an intriguing possability for the epic upgrade quest story background.</p><p>Imagine our heros desperate to take on creatures from beyond Norrath who have been preparing for eons to destoy Norrath. Desperate to gain any advantage they can on the force of the Void they explore bits of their realm and their catch of weapons. They discover the vast repositories of (now corrupted) energy the void has been gathering from the various souls they have captured in invading multiple realms of existance. In one way or another, each class is able to infuse their weapon with this energy.</p><p>While this makes their already epic weapons substantially more powerful, it also corrupts the weapon. That corruption threatens to destabalize the fabric of reality if left unchecked. After the void invasion has concluded the heros of Norrath would turn to discovering a method to remove the void taint from their epic weapons. Seeking out Divine aid, or perhapse the assistance of Norrath's oldest living creatures (the Dragons) they may discover ways of purifying the epic weapons in Velious...or perhaps use their extra-planar energy to travel to far realms currently unknown to Norrath.</p><p>I'm thinking the upcomming lore kinda has to go in this direction. Maybe there are no plans to upgrade the epics. Maybe the void won't end in Odus. Maybe Odus isn't even the next expansion. But, I think at least parts of this are likely to come up in the next year and beyond.</p>

[Garnaf]

<p>Roehn Theer, the Godslayer, not Aeur...Anashti isn't dead, by "killing" her, we cut her link with the void.  She's returned to Norrath as Anashti Sul the Undying, Goddess of (for now) Undeath.And the Void story HAS been building since EQ2 launch afterall, even with a few expansions of time off from it (Desert of Flames and Kingdom of Sky) it's always been one of those things that has been nagging there.</p><p>Also, no more Dragons.  Zebuxoruk's Prophecy should have been enough for that, but the examine text on the Trakanon trophy makes it clear, Veeshan's children arn't in much a position to do much of anything but struggle to survive.  (the text for the curious is something to the effect of "The Ring of Scale is slain, the Age of Dragons has ended")</p><p>As for divine aid, we regularly kill Avatars (which may be somewhat akin to cutting off a god's finger, annoying but non-life threatening).  Why would the gods help us in the least?  Heck the one best able to use Void energy has openly declared war on half the pantheon as it is, and wants to zombify all Norrath.</p><p>As for Velious, well I'll be honest, I'd like to go back there just to see what 500 years and the rise of Kerafyrm the Awakened has done to that place.  (I'd also like the chance to go kick Kerafyrm in the balls, but that's just me).</p><p>Since storylines seem to run for an expansion or two then fall to the wayside for a bit, I expect we'll see a bit on the Qullithulians on Odus (if that is indeed the next expansion), maybe a little void (probably not TOO much, we've averted a full fledged invasion for now at least)The thing that worries me the most is the possibility to picking a fight with Roehn Theer the Godslayer, I dunno if mere mortals stand a chance against an Avatar that can kill full fledged Gods.  (and was apparently just barely sealed by the previous form of the pantheon, which I'll remind everyone, has gotten smaller since the Shattering, what with the Gods absorbing their Demi-Gods just to survive.).  That's a frightning idea when you get right down to it.  The old pantheon of 20+ Deities barely won, how the heck are 24 mortals gonna stand even the slightest bit of chance of even ANNOYING the stupid thing?  (since this is an Avatar that apparently is stronger than full powered Gods.)</p>

[Rainmare]

<p>well Theer already mentioned that Najena's conjurer trinkets can nullify his power...that was why Najena became a top priority threat. I imagine, that while Theer is an incredible power in his own right, that Exonus and Aeteok are the main sources of his power at killing the gods. his right and left hand, that are so powerful that no living creature on norrath, save maybe mayong, even has an inkling as to how to wield it's full potential.</p><p>But it also appears, that like Anashti, Theer has to find a way to 'cross over' from the void. I imagine if we attempt to move against him that's how we'll do it. stop him from coming over, rather then face him in combat. I mean to beat Anashti, first we severed her from the void itself, which weakened her to be defeatable in the void. in fact, it seems severing her ties did her a favor, as her power has increased apparently, now that she has a way to fight for/touch the plane of health which she claims was made of her own essence.</p><p>Theer however, was meant to defeat the gods, permenantly, outside of the void's influence. at thier strongest. so I imagine in the void, he is probably as far as raw power as close to an 'untainted' god the Void has known. the Monoliths will probably serve as a method to barring him from crossing over. Provided of course, Mayong intends to stop him. he very well might want him to cross over. I mean the first mention of Theer didn't seem all that bad for norrathians before they threw him in the void...</p>