Dude, Belakor is effectively the literall devil and we're working with him. Why is Big E so much worse?
The Long Night Part Two: Sparks at Midnight: A Planetary Governor Quest (43k)
- Thread starter Durin
- Start date
- Location
- australia
And he was literally i-must-screamed,
In a hell-like rotting, physically dead state for 15 millenia,
Only occasionally able to do more than watch as everything he hoped or dreamed of burned down around him,
Or warped into an obscene parody of its intentions.
Even if we were collectively fucked in the head enough to torture him as a "punishment",
Both as the Sane and from a meta perspective as US the quest participants,
What the fuck could we DO to him at this point?
He's broken to the point that ,
Barring the current set of galactic life-ending crisis's,
His current dream/ambition is seemingly to vanish into history and never try to do something important/ambitious again out of shame
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RogueInquisitor
Unexpected!
And how bad would it have been had he not acted? If he had just let Chaos get the win after the Age of Strife? Was his path the one of absolute least suffering? Of course not. Was it better than the majority? Absolutely.
Also, there are a lot of others to shoulder that blame. Erebus, Kor Phaeron, and Lorgar are just some of the most prominent.
- Location
- australia
Plus, if you're -really- going to go that route,
Rotbart/most of the avernite leadership charicters "should" be tortured to death for not evacuating everyone off a consciously murderous/hostile planet the moment the imperium fell, and warp travel was actually remotely safe again, due to the billions of deaths including kids >.>.
I get it guys, some of you have a twitching, throbbing hate-hard on for the former emperor, and I GET it,
Canon or this timeline, his fuckups have a death count in the gigastalins, but really?
torture fantasies?
Rotbart/most of the avernite leadership charicters "should" be tortured to death for not evacuating everyone off a consciously murderous/hostile planet the moment the imperium fell, and warp travel was actually remotely safe again, due to the billions of deaths including kids >.>.
I get it guys, some of you have a twitching, throbbing hate-hard on for the former emperor, and I GET it,
Canon or this timeline, his fuckups have a death count in the gigastalins, but really?
torture fantasies?
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Robinton
Probably petting Schrödinger's cat
- Location
- Scientifically proving a miracle
I'm not even convinced of this - maybe, but I'm far from certain.
By contrast, "Was he, with very flawed abilities and reasoning, genuinely trying to make things better (on the occasions he wasn't effectively blind drunk due to a not-entirely-expected side-effect of a desperate/foolish science experiment)?" That is a fairly clear-cut "Yes." With the obvious "and he kind-of sucks at it" caveats that he is perfectly willing to admit.
Robinton
Probably petting Schrödinger's cat
- Location
- Scientifically proving a miracle
Question: "What is the Black Haired Woman's "next battlefield"?"
Answer: "The skies are silver."
We're now asking "Do all Devaworlds have Silver Skies?" Because if the answer is "No, only Valinor," then I picked a good choice. If it's "Yes they are all Silver now," well, then I'll be sad (but it won't be a complete waste).
While others debate - at length - this makes me almost certain of our overall theory, and (assuming the best case) narrows our Battlefield locations from "dozens of likely targets, one that might make the most sense if we thought it through all the way (which I personally hadn't), and hundreds of unlikely alternate locations" to "Valinor."
(...Well, I suppose this also assumes that the "next battlefield" is actually the one where the black-haired-woman is assassinated. But whatever. It's not like Zahhak was personally present at the conquest of Valinor.)
Answer: "The skies are silver."
We're now asking "Do all Devaworlds have Silver Skies?" Because if the answer is "No, only Valinor," then I picked a good choice. If it's "Yes they are all Silver now," well, then I'll be sad (but it won't be a complete waste).
While others debate - at length - this makes me almost certain of our overall theory, and (assuming the best case) narrows our Battlefield locations from "dozens of likely targets, one that might make the most sense if we thought it through all the way (which I personally hadn't), and hundreds of unlikely alternate locations" to "Valinor."
(...Well, I suppose this also assumes that the "next battlefield" is actually the one where the black-haired-woman is assassinated. But whatever. It's not like Zahhak was personally present at the conquest of Valinor.)
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- Location
- The internet
I'd say that this largely turns on who the plausible alternatives were. My understanding is that in canon at least that by far the most plausible alternative to the Imperium of Man was the Empire Of Mars which frankly wouldn't have been any better for things like human rights and not killing Xenos. Though who knows, maybe the Interex in this verse were a respectable regional power of 50 sectors that could have gone the distance if not for the Imperium instead of their canon *checks notes* 30 worlds.
- Location
- australia
Sane GODS I hope we can work this one out.
Here's hoping we don't get screwed like odipus Rex..
Maybe growing/tending the entire structure from void-adapted organisms could work?
You know- collective living "structure"/colony organism of different types of void-adapted plants creatures ect, instead of a conventionally constructed structure/scaffold?
Here's hoping we don't get screwed like odipus Rex..
Huh..
Maybe growing/tending the entire structure from void-adapted organisms could work?
You know- collective living "structure"/colony organism of different types of void-adapted plants creatures ect, instead of a conventionally constructed structure/scaffold?
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He forcibly conquered every other power (even human ones) trying to make something of itself in the Age of Strife. So we don't actually know that it would be worse if he did nothing. It's entirely possible that better powers would have arisen if he hadn't run around stomping on them.
I'm definitely not convinced that he somehow beat Chaos there such that others could lose instead.
- Location
- United states
^^ THis. While the canon Emperor's actions did have some well intention in them it doesn't change the fact that he took things way farther then they needed to be including wiping out factions that could have also been better for humnity in the long run due to him thinking that he knew best.
I like to think that the canon Emperor is a great deconstruction of a well intentioned extremist thinking that anything they did was justified if it was for the greater good. Which ironically is also the motto of another hated alien faction in the Tau despite the Imperium fanboys un-ironically supporting the Imperium and Emperor for that exact line of thinking.
- Location
- Earth
Update
This is the manufacturing process of a weapon, for a given value of "weapon".
This is the manufacturing process of a weapon, for a given value of "weapon".
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
Glad I got that.
To expand current theory is that its sorcery, but we're no closer to figuring out certain bits of it.
The stinkers are this line
⛓️( 🔨 🍽️) 🟰⚙️ (☁️ 🌎 🤮 🚬 ☁️ ),
Current theories are daemon worlds, but if so why
And [⛓️ (🔨🍽️) 🟰 (🪱🍎)📚 ]. Which isn't part of the normal thing its a statement.
The rest of it is a timeline.
what makes you say daemon world? the cloud before the planet to me indicates a polluted planet, not a daemon world
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
⛓️( 🔨 🍽️) is demon.
And = means is.
So the supposition is that demons = are poisoning worlds, are being poisoned, addicted, confused or are being made into worlds.
Its a bit ambiguous cause I don't know how many specifics about demon worlds we know.
Huh, rather than poisoning could it be Chaos/Sa/Warp corruption? Or would that a bit to obvious? I was following the prophecies channel up until I got lost with the emojis.
I'm terrible at interpreting things so I haven't bothered following the prophecy, but I'm now curious. How does that mean demon?
Doomed Wombat
Let's go Darling!
- Location
- Dancing on wires!
Binding shards. ⛓️( 🔨 🍽️)
Shattering whole.⛓️ ((🔨 🪟 ),😡🤮,
),The wholes are Khrone Nurgle and Confusion the three CGs who were active when Be'lakor pioneered his sorcery.
Demons are fragments/shards of gods.
- Location
- Australia
Hammer+Ceramic Plate/Window=shards.
- Location
- australia
Maybe an attempt to literally and figuratively shatter the status Quo by sharding one of the Chaos gods to the point of impotence/decoherence, ala Khaine/the c'tan?
Bit of a blunt/"simple" interpretation, but it's the kinda thing I could see the indecisive mollusk completely overlooking due to its complexity addiction..
Bit of a blunt/"simple" interpretation, but it's the kinda thing I could see the indecisive mollusk completely overlooking due to its complexity addiction..
- Location
- Australia
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sabreFather
Dr Pepper is the flavour that I savour
- Location
- Land of Bears and Loggers AKA Oregon
Assigning blame... Well, kill Cegorach. He did not assassinate Khaine and Asuryan and return Isha to her children. This resulted in The Fall and all deaths by Chaos post-facto. We kill Belakor, as the past 30 million years he has been responsible for more deaths than the Emperor, and is responsible for the Emperor's actions Post Iron War. Then we get genocided by lizards because Imbac is second only to Mephetran the Deceiver due to breaching into the Sea and creating Chaos, making him responsible for Belakor and the Emperor and everything else. Endless Quintillions dead by his frogge hands.
Prophecy the First:
- Location
- A Place Miserably Bereft of Cats
We needed a post on this to keep it all in one place and officially put forward a theory, so here's an elaboration of the discord's generally agreed upon interpretation of the Prophecies:
Prophecy the First:
The general narrative here is that Line A details the broad strokes of the Black Imperium Rebellion (BIR) and Malcador's response to it, as well as his desired decapitation of a black haired woman. Malcador here is actually Be'lakor, who has essentially been acting as the glue that holds the whole of Chaos together in many ways, hence taking the shape of Malcador. Line B details the rise of the Triumvirate and their past and present assaults on daemon worlds. The black haired woman is Zahhak.
The latter half of the prophecy, from the crossing on, shows very recent events. Zahhak has been told as of very recently (hence why she's so familiar) that she and the other Triumvirate gods would likely need to manifest in the Warp and on various daeva worlds to push back the attempts by Chaos to reconquer them. As such, she's running herself hard, hence why she looks tired (but not exhausted or broken), and is taking to the battlefield personally as a true Lord/God. Deciding that she needs to go, Be'lakor assassinates her in the midst of a defense of a daeva world.
Bel wishes to kill Zahhak for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, is that Bel would only move to kill her if she posed a threat to his plans and schemes. He notices that there's something wrong with Alpharius, and while he may or may not realize that Vlad Tepes has taken over, he may worry nevertheless that the Sane have gained a tremendously competent spy and commander out of basically nowhere. If Alpharius was bound by any daemonic oaths or otherwise, somehow they have been broken. Else, no matter what, a threat is clearly present. So why Zahhak? This has to do with the second prophecy, which we'll get to in a moment. In essence, win or lose and no matter what Vlad is able to pull off, he represents a potent subversive force. In combination with Zahhak's priesthood (and she herself) being able to channel the domain of Free Will to break the sorcerous bindings on daemons, this poses an incomparable threat to Bel's brand of sorcery and Chaos Sorcerers in general, who (as we've seen and heard) rely hard on bound daemons to do much of anything. Seeing an opportunity to decapitate the Triumvirate, a time and place that he knows that Zahhak will be both relatively weak and exposed, and knowing that she poses a massive threat to his plans, Bel takes the opportunity to kill her. If this were just a plot to weaken the Triumvirate, Bel could have picked an easier target; of the three, Zahhak is particularly hard to kill, so it has to be bigger than just that. Notably, the development of daemon binding seems to be Bel's crowning achievement, which may make the whole thing about defending it much more personal for him than usual.
We know from Durin that the AO thinks 10 years is a reasonable amount of prep time for Bel to set up a murder of a Major God, so Zahhak is definitely within his killing capabilities. We also know from the added card that Vlad Tepes/Dalv Sepet is a major reason that the attack on Zahhak is delayed. We suspect this is because, win or lose, the moment the BIR collapses, Chaos suddenly will have a whole ton of power freed up that they can toss at the Triumvirate to reclaim their worlds. This forces Zahhak and the others to act, which makes them vulnerable, which lets Bel make his move.
We also ALSO know from bonus questions that the attack will be made under Silver Skies. The only daeva world that has Silver Skies is Valinor, which was a world run by one of Bel's daemons, who may have left backdoors in place for Bel to take advantage of and ambush Zahhak.
We stop it, then, by intercepting Bel with his shadow. That may be AO, or it could be something more abstract. The Ancient One is absolutely the most akin to Bel's shadow of anyone in existence, though. That is the Golden Path, which likely involves averting the death of Zahhak. Zahhak may still live even without the Golden Path happening, but the Golden Path is what seems to be the Best Possible Ending. The direct attempt on her life seems to be the key thing that needs to be interrupted for the Golden Path to come true.
Regardless of anything, the first domino is the end of the BIR, the second is the *attempted* murder of Zahhak, whether it succeeds or not. After that, the third domino (whatever it may be) falls and the Singularity is upon us.
Now, for the Second Prophecy: This one we have a strong handle on now, but there's still a handful of fine details that are cloudy. It primarily details Bel's plans, reaching back through the millennia, for the art of sorcery and sorcerers in general. Something about the spread of sorcery is beneficial to Be'lakor, and it's something that he wishes to keep up. Thus, any threat to it (represented by Zahhak and Vlad, for example) is a threat to a plan he's had going since the very beginning of his ascent to Daemonhood.
I will note that the prophecy specifically came to Ridcully in a vision while he was asking the Ancient One about why Bel would want to kill Zahhak. AO was still a bit loopy with the reality/fiction issues he's been dealing with, but answered that Be'lakor would act to prevent interference in one of his schemes, or if it were a part of one of his plans. So there's probably a connection between <Be'lakor's plan> and <This Prophecy>.
Feel free to comment and make recommended changes to the details, but the broad strokes seem to line up extremely well. Zahhak is in danger, and we need to avert Bel's assassination before it's too late. On the one hand, triggering the domino to fall/the BIR war to end may make sure Zahhak has more strength stored up still for when Bel comes knocking. On the other, delaying its end means we have more time to prepare for Bel in other ways. Both delaying or triggering early may have other unforeseen consequences.
@Durin @Dynamesmouse for your reference as well.
Prophecy the First:
The general narrative here is that Line A details the broad strokes of the Black Imperium Rebellion (BIR) and Malcador's response to it, as well as his desired decapitation of a black haired woman. Malcador here is actually Be'lakor, who has essentially been acting as the glue that holds the whole of Chaos together in many ways, hence taking the shape of Malcador. Line B details the rise of the Triumvirate and their past and present assaults on daemon worlds. The black haired woman is Zahhak.
The latter half of the prophecy, from the crossing on, shows very recent events. Zahhak has been told as of very recently (hence why she's so familiar) that she and the other Triumvirate gods would likely need to manifest in the Warp and on various daeva worlds to push back the attempts by Chaos to reconquer them. As such, she's running herself hard, hence why she looks tired (but not exhausted or broken), and is taking to the battlefield personally as a true Lord/God. Deciding that she needs to go, Be'lakor assassinates her in the midst of a defense of a daeva world.
Bel wishes to kill Zahhak for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, is that Bel would only move to kill her if she posed a threat to his plans and schemes. He notices that there's something wrong with Alpharius, and while he may or may not realize that Vlad Tepes has taken over, he may worry nevertheless that the Sane have gained a tremendously competent spy and commander out of basically nowhere. If Alpharius was bound by any daemonic oaths or otherwise, somehow they have been broken. Else, no matter what, a threat is clearly present. So why Zahhak? This has to do with the second prophecy, which we'll get to in a moment. In essence, win or lose and no matter what Vlad is able to pull off, he represents a potent subversive force. In combination with Zahhak's priesthood (and she herself) being able to channel the domain of Free Will to break the sorcerous bindings on daemons, this poses an incomparable threat to Bel's brand of sorcery and Chaos Sorcerers in general, who (as we've seen and heard) rely hard on bound daemons to do much of anything. Seeing an opportunity to decapitate the Triumvirate, a time and place that he knows that Zahhak will be both relatively weak and exposed, and knowing that she poses a massive threat to his plans, Bel takes the opportunity to kill her. If this were just a plot to weaken the Triumvirate, Bel could have picked an easier target; of the three, Zahhak is particularly hard to kill, so it has to be bigger than just that. Notably, the development of daemon binding seems to be Bel's crowning achievement, which may make the whole thing about defending it much more personal for him than usual.
We know from Durin that the AO thinks 10 years is a reasonable amount of prep time for Bel to set up a murder of a Major God, so Zahhak is definitely within his killing capabilities. We also know from the added card that Vlad Tepes/Dalv Sepet is a major reason that the attack on Zahhak is delayed. We suspect this is because, win or lose, the moment the BIR collapses, Chaos suddenly will have a whole ton of power freed up that they can toss at the Triumvirate to reclaim their worlds. This forces Zahhak and the others to act, which makes them vulnerable, which lets Bel make his move.
We also ALSO know from bonus questions that the attack will be made under Silver Skies. The only daeva world that has Silver Skies is Valinor, which was a world run by one of Bel's daemons, who may have left backdoors in place for Bel to take advantage of and ambush Zahhak.
We stop it, then, by intercepting Bel with his shadow. That may be AO, or it could be something more abstract. The Ancient One is absolutely the most akin to Bel's shadow of anyone in existence, though. That is the Golden Path, which likely involves averting the death of Zahhak. Zahhak may still live even without the Golden Path happening, but the Golden Path is what seems to be the Best Possible Ending. The direct attempt on her life seems to be the key thing that needs to be interrupted for the Golden Path to come true.
Regardless of anything, the first domino is the end of the BIR, the second is the *attempted* murder of Zahhak, whether it succeeds or not. After that, the third domino (whatever it may be) falls and the Singularity is upon us.
Past A, Mandatio 4, The Guilder: Hoarding, Gratification, Wealth, Social Mobility, or Favor Trading: Onset and ongoings of the Black Imperium Rebellion. Malcador is not paying much attention as he's got more important things to do. Abaddon is beating Alpharius, so he's heavier on the scales.
Past B, Arcana 17, The Astronomican: Hope, Faith, Inspiration, Optimism, Insight, or Love: Triumvirate begins acting in earnest. Given it's specifically a many colored host and notes a bloodying of the rebels, as well as specifically noting a disciplined enemy on the cusp of a victory parade, this is either the conquest of Ophelia or the defeat of Tjapa by the Triumvirate during the Grand Ritual. Either way, it represents the first major moves of the Triumvirate and the defeat of a powerful opponent, and the beginnings of their greater presence in the galaxy.
Present A, Adeptio Ace, The Inquisitor: Authority, Fear, Secrecy, False Appearances, Agents of the Throne, or Exterminatus: Vlad Tepes takes over the rebel faction of the BIR with the death of Alpharius. He is tremendously effective, to the point of increasing the weight of 'Alpharius' on the scales. Abaddon's kernel of shame is related to feeling as though he absolutely killed that guy, but seeing him apparently still active; this is also confirmation that the Abaddon on the scales is the literal Abaddon. Ridcully knows him well enough (he has Abs' sheet!) to recognize that. Malcador scrutinises Vlad/Alpharius, seeing something suspect or that he should worry about in him.
Present B, Discordia 5, The Witch Inverted: The Dangers of Freedom, Unbridled Ambition, or Forbidden Knowledge: Using resources from their prior conquests (particularly that of Ophelia?) the Triumvirate begins attacking Daemon Worlds. Now they've gone and pissed off more than just the lord of the city in the previous card: all of the Chaos Gods, and more.
Crossing A, Mandatio 8, The Collector: Effort and Hard Work Will Cause Growth, A Pause During Development, Re-evaluations: Malcador is revealed before a vast web of conspiracies. After much consideration, he decides to murder a black haired woman. This corresponds to him determining the potential threat Zahhak poses and identifying the right place and time to eliminate it.
Crossing B, Mandatio 10, The Consul: Height of Professionalism, Difficult Choices, Numerous Tasks to be Completed: Zahhak is shown between battles, having run herself ragged but not yet to exhaustion. She goes off to battle again without rest, her head held high. She's getting tired, but there's still so much work to be done, and she won't stop defending the daeva worlds.
Future B, Adeptio 8, The Assassin: Unseen Danger, Something Hidden, Sudden Death, Termination, A Simple Solution, Cleanliness: Zahhak is murdered mid-battle by assassination. It's a clean and sudden kill.
Future A, Discordia 2, The Xeno Inverted: Danger From Without, Invasion, Attack, Something Unknown: Bel gloats briefly over his victory, but then shortly thereafter leaves (to evade the other two Triumvirate members, probably. Or just the overall violence of the battlefield being what it is.) to go get back to his schemes.
The Golden Path, Excuteria 14, The Lord Militant: A Judge, A Powerful Commander, A Firm Friendship, Someone who is cautious but Confident, A Wise Counsellor, Willingness to Sacrifice the Lives of Others, To Do What Must Be Done: Bel is interrupted by his own shadow during his hunt. This is all but certainly the Ancient One, who is the only being in creation who could be called Bel's shadow, and who would have fun fighting Bel. Likewise, Bel occasionally enjoys his fights with the Ancient One.
Perhaps this is an opportunity for them to end one another...? (This is speculation on my part, but Willingness to Sacrifice the Lives of Others seems to suggest certain things, no?)
-----
How will Malcador/Be'lakor choose his time to strike?
Excuteria 12, The Rogue Trader: A headlong rush into life, strong man, bravery, a skillful and clever person, unexpected coming or going of a matter, a troublemaker, a crafty and secretive person: Dalv Sepet all the way down. His continued activity is forestalling the assassination attempt. The best explanation I can think of is that, by keeping the BIR going, the Chaos Gods are distracted and can't mount a full counterattack on the Triumvirate. This means that Zahhak still has the strength to fight and threaten Bel. Notably, she is already being run ragged in the present and that's with Vlad still in action. If she's forced to fight even harder, she's probably going to expend a lot of power— maybe even enough to be vulnerable to Bel at a crucial moment.
Past B, Arcana 17, The Astronomican: Hope, Faith, Inspiration, Optimism, Insight, or Love: Triumvirate begins acting in earnest. Given it's specifically a many colored host and notes a bloodying of the rebels, as well as specifically noting a disciplined enemy on the cusp of a victory parade, this is either the conquest of Ophelia or the defeat of Tjapa by the Triumvirate during the Grand Ritual. Either way, it represents the first major moves of the Triumvirate and the defeat of a powerful opponent, and the beginnings of their greater presence in the galaxy.
Present A, Adeptio Ace, The Inquisitor: Authority, Fear, Secrecy, False Appearances, Agents of the Throne, or Exterminatus: Vlad Tepes takes over the rebel faction of the BIR with the death of Alpharius. He is tremendously effective, to the point of increasing the weight of 'Alpharius' on the scales. Abaddon's kernel of shame is related to feeling as though he absolutely killed that guy, but seeing him apparently still active; this is also confirmation that the Abaddon on the scales is the literal Abaddon. Ridcully knows him well enough (he has Abs' sheet!) to recognize that. Malcador scrutinises Vlad/Alpharius, seeing something suspect or that he should worry about in him.
Present B, Discordia 5, The Witch Inverted: The Dangers of Freedom, Unbridled Ambition, or Forbidden Knowledge: Using resources from their prior conquests (particularly that of Ophelia?) the Triumvirate begins attacking Daemon Worlds. Now they've gone and pissed off more than just the lord of the city in the previous card: all of the Chaos Gods, and more.
Crossing A, Mandatio 8, The Collector: Effort and Hard Work Will Cause Growth, A Pause During Development, Re-evaluations: Malcador is revealed before a vast web of conspiracies. After much consideration, he decides to murder a black haired woman. This corresponds to him determining the potential threat Zahhak poses and identifying the right place and time to eliminate it.
Crossing B, Mandatio 10, The Consul: Height of Professionalism, Difficult Choices, Numerous Tasks to be Completed: Zahhak is shown between battles, having run herself ragged but not yet to exhaustion. She goes off to battle again without rest, her head held high. She's getting tired, but there's still so much work to be done, and she won't stop defending the daeva worlds.
Future B, Adeptio 8, The Assassin: Unseen Danger, Something Hidden, Sudden Death, Termination, A Simple Solution, Cleanliness: Zahhak is murdered mid-battle by assassination. It's a clean and sudden kill.
Future A, Discordia 2, The Xeno Inverted: Danger From Without, Invasion, Attack, Something Unknown: Bel gloats briefly over his victory, but then shortly thereafter leaves (to evade the other two Triumvirate members, probably. Or just the overall violence of the battlefield being what it is.) to go get back to his schemes.
The Golden Path, Excuteria 14, The Lord Militant: A Judge, A Powerful Commander, A Firm Friendship, Someone who is cautious but Confident, A Wise Counsellor, Willingness to Sacrifice the Lives of Others, To Do What Must Be Done: Bel is interrupted by his own shadow during his hunt. This is all but certainly the Ancient One, who is the only being in creation who could be called Bel's shadow, and who would have fun fighting Bel. Likewise, Bel occasionally enjoys his fights with the Ancient One.
Perhaps this is an opportunity for them to end one another...? (This is speculation on my part, but Willingness to Sacrifice the Lives of Others seems to suggest certain things, no?)
-----
How will Malcador/Be'lakor choose his time to strike?
Excuteria 12, The Rogue Trader: A headlong rush into life, strong man, bravery, a skillful and clever person, unexpected coming or going of a matter, a troublemaker, a crafty and secretive person: Dalv Sepet all the way down. His continued activity is forestalling the assassination attempt. The best explanation I can think of is that, by keeping the BIR going, the Chaos Gods are distracted and can't mount a full counterattack on the Triumvirate. This means that Zahhak still has the strength to fight and threaten Bel. Notably, she is already being run ragged in the present and that's with Vlad still in action. If she's forced to fight even harder, she's probably going to expend a lot of power— maybe even enough to be vulnerable to Bel at a crucial moment.
Now, for the Second Prophecy: This one we have a strong handle on now, but there's still a handful of fine details that are cloudy. It primarily details Bel's plans, reaching back through the millennia, for the art of sorcery and sorcerers in general. Something about the spread of sorcery is beneficial to Be'lakor, and it's something that he wishes to keep up. Thus, any threat to it (represented by Zahhak and Vlad, for example) is a threat to a plan he's had going since the very beginning of his ascent to Daemonhood.
I will note that the prophecy specifically came to Ridcully in a vision while he was asking the Ancient One about why Bel would want to kill Zahhak. AO was still a bit loopy with the reality/fiction issues he's been dealing with, but answered that Be'lakor would act to prevent interference in one of his schemes, or if it were a part of one of his plans. So there's probably a connection between <Be'lakor's plan> and <This Prophecy>.
(Line one) A long time ago, Be'lakor comes up with a method to bind the shards of the three chaos gods (chains = bound, hammer + fragile object = shards, faces are angry, ill and confused—Khorne, Nurgle, and the God of Confusion). Shards of the Chaos Gods are also known as daemons. This is the advent of Be'lakor brand sorcery, which for brevity I will call Borcery from now on.
NEW INFO: StormySky's emoji swap resulted in the globe with meridians being traded for a crown. If we assume that the 'contract' on the left side of line one is actually a 'deed,' then that means that the creation of sorcery and daemon-binding arts is Be'lakor's crowning deed, the achievement that really brought him into the spotlight. It's something personal for him, which may be also why he's so keen on protecting it as an institution. Notably, 'meridians' doesn't just mean lines on a map, it can also mean 'zenith' or 'peak' in its astrological definition, which maps with 'crown' or 'crowning' pretty directly.
(Line two) Be'lakor teaches sorcery to a wide array of students. This is the seed of Be'lakor's plan-- the one that Zahhak and Vlad pose a severe risk to.
(Line three) A very, VERY long time passes.
(Line four) The plan has matured, but perhaps not yet borne fruit. At this stage, sorcerers are wielding the power of sorcery to bind all manner of daemons.
(Line five) Daemon binding is actually a poisoned pill. A worm in the apple. Knowledge that looks tantalizing and tempting on the outside, but hides danger and poison within. I was requested to note that the square brackets here denote a general statement and can be anywhere in the timeline. Which essentially does mean that Bel always intended for daemon binding to be a poison pill: This is one of his Plots.
(Line six) Bound daemons are also used extensively to poison the spirits of entire worlds, corrupting them into daemon worlds.
(Line seven) Some more time passes.
(Line eight) The three symbols on the left form a molotov cocktail, a weapon used by rebels and revolutionaries. This may represent the alliance of Zahhak and Vlad Tepes. It leads to the destruction of Borcery as an ultra-reliable institution, represented in the long term by the loss of knowledge (burning book) and the death of sorcerers (mage getting stabbed).
NEW INFO: StormySky's emoji swap resulted in the globe with meridians being traded for a crown. If we assume that the 'contract' on the left side of line one is actually a 'deed,' then that means that the creation of sorcery and daemon-binding arts is Be'lakor's crowning deed, the achievement that really brought him into the spotlight. It's something personal for him, which may be also why he's so keen on protecting it as an institution. Notably, 'meridians' doesn't just mean lines on a map, it can also mean 'zenith' or 'peak' in its astrological definition, which maps with 'crown' or 'crowning' pretty directly.
(Line two) Be'lakor teaches sorcery to a wide array of students. This is the seed of Be'lakor's plan-- the one that Zahhak and Vlad pose a severe risk to.
(Line three) A very, VERY long time passes.
(Line four) The plan has matured, but perhaps not yet borne fruit. At this stage, sorcerers are wielding the power of sorcery to bind all manner of daemons.
(Line five) Daemon binding is actually a poisoned pill. A worm in the apple. Knowledge that looks tantalizing and tempting on the outside, but hides danger and poison within. I was requested to note that the square brackets here denote a general statement and can be anywhere in the timeline. Which essentially does mean that Bel always intended for daemon binding to be a poison pill: This is one of his Plots.
(Line six) Bound daemons are also used extensively to poison the spirits of entire worlds, corrupting them into daemon worlds.
(Line seven) Some more time passes.
(Line eight) The three symbols on the left form a molotov cocktail, a weapon used by rebels and revolutionaries. This may represent the alliance of Zahhak and Vlad Tepes. It leads to the destruction of Borcery as an ultra-reliable institution, represented in the long term by the loss of knowledge (burning book) and the death of sorcerers (mage getting stabbed).
Feel free to comment and make recommended changes to the details, but the broad strokes seem to line up extremely well. Zahhak is in danger, and we need to avert Bel's assassination before it's too late. On the one hand, triggering the domino to fall/the BIR war to end may make sure Zahhak has more strength stored up still for when Bel comes knocking. On the other, delaying its end means we have more time to prepare for Bel in other ways. Both delaying or triggering early may have other unforeseen consequences.
@Durin @Dynamesmouse for your reference as well.
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