Hi! Glad to see everyone again.
Mine dudes, this should be interesting. Y'all do want answers, but to whose questions? Hmmmm. Guess it's time to take notes.
There's at least one mystery that can be answered/inferred already, but I so do hate handing out answers.
And I similarly hate getting answers we haven't worked for, especially since foreshadowing and hints are getting thicker and thicker the more we don't get something.
Like Arond's siblings. We based our previous deductions on Eis' words (given his proximity to the captain), and what Crow told us, and it was explicitly spelled out this update that Eis' knowledge has its limits and Crow is capable of
basic deception.
...it's funny that we correctly reasoned out his identity based on false information anyway, when we thought Altiria was one of the twins. What we know may have been turned upside down, yet the conclusion remains.
But I thought it would be fair to at least tell us
which mysteries we are supposed to have enough information to deduce. Because it's hard to pay attention to details when your search for clues is unfocused; there are just too many nuances that may be relevant to one mystery and completely useless for another.
@Nevill Welcome back! It's always a pleasure to see what connections and observations you make. I think, technically, there's enough information around to accurately answer at least one, maybe two of the mystery questions, even with the unreliables. Negative space is quite interesting to play with at times.
Oh, definitely. I meant to have a bigger post before I wrote "why does Altiria hate Crow
that much" (since you may have become tired of our bumbling about and posed the question directly through Lisen), and realised that one of the children must be dead and everyone else is accounted for.
Incidentally... since Valicors and Viperiel are twins and share appearance and age, Crow could easily be
either twin. In fact, it would be more likely for him to be Valicors, because Crow's deception is that Viperiel is the "youngest" child, and the common knowledge (among those who have the knowledge of bloodlines in the first place) is that the youngest is dead or missing. The only reason we know it's not true is because we did a search for Viperiel, and found something instead of complete silence.
But those results are open to interpretation. Why did we get the alive-not-alive reading? Why did we have to search for him under two stars? Is it because they are twins, and one of them is dead? Is it because Crow found a way to hide? Is it because Crow is using his perspective trick to confuse the reading? We know that our read on Altiria was "right behind you" even though it was just a nightgull relay. There is simply too much we don't know about star-searching.
The final clue, then, is the painting. Tiria and Cors were close; she would be a lot more upset about his death than Periel's. And there is the suspicion that Altiria
possibly hijacked a star-reader's thought patterns to look for Viperiel personally.
So we had all this new information in the last update just to reach the same conclusion as before, predicated on circumstantial evidence. I don't know if it was supposed to be that convoluted, but it hopefully illustrates why pointing out the right mystery is important.
Right now I am having trouble reconstructing the chronology of the events. Moram was the "Keeper of the Light of Dawn" for long enough that it became his title. Who was the original owner of the Breath of the Center? When did Viperilon die? When was/did the Sheer Winter erected/begin?
...believe it or not, I didn't remember if the Vermilion Council's truce was enacted before of after Sheer Winter. I mean, it was entirely possible for Viperilon to shrug off death and come back, and phoenixes to go "look, we know you have an axe to grind with Remoriam, but how about you don't start a war, and we let you do your thing?" It was plausible... until I found a Rakky quote in Dusk 3.5:
"Did yore mentor ever mention why the Council of Vermilion voted t' keep themselves and their scions out a' the Winter? 'S said that Rekavok saw somethin' alarmin' and swayed the…"
The water drains out, and with it, Rakky's voice, as the roar of the corridor returns in full force.
"—no firebloods in the Sheer Winter. What d' ye think a' that?" she concludes. "Ye can answer yes or no."
and had to remind myself that no, these must be recent developments.
Sooo my current theory is...
Ferry turned bad, earth guy got toasted, Tarrow-Mira-Peril took Ferry down
So this was the original alliance during the First War. The absense of Remoriam is notable; perhaps he couldn't bring himself to go against his sister?
Then Peril got corrupted (?), and it took the Rising Three to put him down. There are speculations about who exactly the Rising Three were, but they are
almost certainly Remoriam, Vitarrow and Miragua. Remoriam dealt the final blow with the Light of Dawn, and Peril cursed him with his dying breath, which is how we got nightgulls, the aberrant birds who wage war against all things shiny.
I expect the Rising Alliance comes all the way back from those days, made from the first-generation scions. How old must they be now?
As Firstborn are impossible to kill forever, Ferry and Peril revived anew, presumably without their memories. I don't know if they kept to the old grudges. I have to assume they normally don't, or this world would descent into bloody madness the more it goes on. But Peril invoked the Esser with his curse; perhaps the feelings have lingered?
Since I heavily suspect Mira to be the keeper of the last Jewel of Essense (yet unnamed), I'd have to assume that BotC was originally with either Peril (if the use of relics go back to the First War) or Tarrow, and almost certainly with Tarrow after Peril got slain.
So how and why did it find its way to Vespian? I suppose he was close with Vitarrow and under his influence for some time, which is how he got entrusted with it "for his reseach", which involves...
:{No matter what, I'll complete my life's work before the end. You'll see— It'll be the dawn of a new age, brother! An age where earth will no longer be abandoned, where no bloodlines will be lost!}:
I have no idea. Uplifting the Earthbloods? Fixing the Esser of Earth and Dorian's Folly?
Either way, Ves didn't find anything better than leave the priceless artifact in the hands of his mother, Alacria. Which is to say, in the hands of the person closest to Peril.
Now, I don't know when Peril got bad. He clearly turned to worse after the Torchhead Rebellion, but he doesn't seem a complete monster from Arond's flashback. Arond loves him, even. He bears his name (Peniron), although I didn't get the significance of Ves' name (Kellinan) being different from Arond's. Do all scions get new ones?
Ves clearly avoids Peril, though, and believes his bloodline needs to be lost. What gives?
Neither Tiria, nor Cors/Periel have been born by that time.
The next time we hear about the Breath of the Center, it is in Peril's hands, and Sheer Winter is in full swing. It doesn't take a genius to guess how he got it. Alacria seems to be alive and well, though? The twins were hatched towards the end of the Winter, which means she was around even when her mate's sanity plummeted. What held her?
It is not known when she disappeared. Maybe things weren't always as bad as "pit the kids against each other in gladiatorial fights, hold your daughter-in-law hostage, and kill the grandchildren", but I feel the war and the death - and the perceived betrayal - of the firstborn were the turning point.
Rekavok, who directed Ves towards his fate, got another of his visions, and held back the Vermilion Council and their scions from tearing down the Sheer Winter. Why? Who knows, he's the only Farseer we have. Reyzan and Remoriam broke their Oath, and went to fight the Climate Change. Which makes the New Dawn Alliance the Rising Three plus Reyzan? The firebloods stayed out, and presumably most windbloods would, too. Maybe there were more participants from the Azure Court, but we only heard about Miragua and... Eithanael, I think? The patron Firstborn of the Waterstones.
Was this when the Rising Three were felled?
"You forget," the First Mate of the High Revenge replies, "I'm Winter born! And by the Sheer Winter, my head was marked from birth. I did not run from the sunless day. Not when all the world was still. Not when time itself was void. Not when the Rising Three were felled. When strength meant nothing, I survived! What were youdoing then, Swifthand?"
The legendary Rising Three, defeated? The Firstborn alliance that stood against and defeated the Black Dragon in tales, felled? How?
Jella rallies. "He's Waterstone. Of course he's one of them! Honorless traitors! Traitors to their bloodline, traitors to their Firstfather, to Eithanael! They killed the Twilit Sea!"
There certainly was at least one Firstborn dead, but original Rising Three seem to have kept their lives.
...what happened to Reyzan, the Midday Sun? What was "the sunless day when all the world was still"?
The events of the Sheer Winter are murky. Vitarrow "shattered it", which I assume is synonymous with retaking Breath of the Center, but when did that happen? Jet who is 19 was born "towards the end of Sheer Winter", or thereabouts, which makes it very plausible that the fateful battle took place around the same time Ves died, 15 years ago. The Winter collapsed, Vitarrow disappeared, Miragua was grievously wounded and entered a healing slumber, and the armies of the New Dawn Alliance were scattered to the winds or captured.
Moram's interlude dilutes the matters further. When did he die?
I cast multiple threads of light into the pinhole, the amber lines glimmering in the depths, and call the name of my brother-in-arms as I have for near seven years.
Tarrow Mylston—Vitarrow, you insufferable morning-lizard! Answer me, you scale-shedding coilsnake!
The chances of my voice reaching my old friend are abysmally low, but with Mira still immersed in a deep healing sleep (and probably snoring up a tsunami, heh), I am our greatest resource.
"It has been nearly a full score of years, old friend," I mutter aloud. "Have you not found a way out?"
He had been calling Tarrow for 7 years, which would be consistent with Jet being about 11 or 12... and then mentions that it's been nearly a full score. A score is 20 years! If I am supposed to take that as a fact, Vitarrow would need to have disappeared before Ves died, or even before the twins were born. Which is nonsensical, because the Winter wouldn't have ended without him.
The only possible explanation I have is that they last met 20 years ago, and have not seen each other since... even though they were supposed to be allies? How does an alliance work if they don't make contact for years?
(Incidentally, the very same update states Moram hadn't seen his daughter for 16 years. Assuming their disagreement happened because he went to war, it must have been ~24 years from now, making the Sheer Winter last for at least 8 years. But since Eis theorized that Jet may have been born "towards the end of Sheer Winter", and he was born 4 years before it ended, the Winter must have been far longer. Which makes me wonder why the Torchheads took that long to rebel.
How old is Rakela, again?)
There is massive timeskip there, up until the events of the story. Viperilon sends Arond after the
Red Herald as some kind of loyalty test. Why now, after all these years? Is it the first tyme Mylston was spotted after leaving the Labyrinth? Arond packs his vessel half-full of Cold Navy loyalists and half-full of New Dawn rebels, which is how everyone is busier watching their backs more than keeping outside theats out. Crow is forced to kill Cors and finds his way to
High Revenge. Vitarrow's scale awashes to the shores of Florealis as he makes a stop there. Jet falls down the beacon, etc. etc.
All we know is that if Peril gets Breath of the Center back, it will be Sheer Winter all over again, with no Alliance in sight to fight against it.
I still don't have a good grasp on what happened between Cors, Periel and Tiria, even though there may be some hints in Crow's interlude. How did he get the scar on the throat that makes him speak in hoarse one-word sentences?
Anyway, I'll be back with my suppositions on why we should not contact Viperilon to ask about anything, and maybe Altiria especially.
