When we hit Velious for the first time in over 500 years we already know that Yelnik is dead and we express surprise at meeting him in Thurgadin. Why is that if the Sleeper was awakened recently? The answer is because he was awakened during EQ1 pre-PoP according to the official lore. Also while I can't point to it right now, I'm sure the Awakened Cult story involves Kerafyrm's followers waiting for him to return. The internal struggle is between the dragons that want to act before Kerayfrm returns and the ones that want to wait. That is also when you hear the story of Kerafyrm destroying Luclin. While the Dresolic Crystal probably has something to do with it, there is a chance that Kerafyrm was involved. Possibly that he was attempting to capture the crystal for himself, or triggered its explosion. Or was completely uninvolved with the incident. All of the causes of the Shattering are still at best rumor mongering. Also the only Euradites that we know were around for the Feedback are the void-touched, Dartain and a retired general. Actually we're not sure how long after the Feedback the general had his war with the Hui-mein. All of the other Euradites could be born afterward. Or like with so many other Everquest stories the characters involved lived an absurdly long amount of time because it wasn't considered when the story was written. I mean seriously how old is Lucan D'Lere in EQ1? Nobody suspects a 200 year old human is anything but on the up and up? The Deepwater Knights are all dead. There are some that are trying to revive the organization, but there are no indications that they were knights before the Feedback. Then there is this whole fleeing Euradin thing. People all over Odus talk like it was a recent development. Odus doesn't seem to be an entrenched war that has carried out for even one year, much less 50 or 200.
First. Kerafyrm is a living thing. I seriously doubt he's able to fly through the vaccum of space, and managed to get to the Dresolisk Stone. basically there's only 2 methods Kerafyrm could use to detonate the stone: 1. he landed on Luclin's surface, blew open an entry to Shadowhaven so it could accommodate his size, and fought his way past an army of Diaku and the fire soldiers..planar beings that I bet could have seriously put up a fight against him at his full strength, being of planar origin. and during that fight, somehow manages to detonate the Stone, and somehow survive a planet destroying explosion. 2. from space, somehow managing to hold himself in suspension after flying there, used his breath weapon alone to punch a hole clear to the center of a planet, and detonated it that way. if in his 'weakened' state he had that kind of power, then there's no justifiable reason that Skyshrine is still standing right now, and not a smoldering pile of disintegrated dragons and ash. and yes, Vyemn wants to invade Norrath, adn Harla Dar wants to wait. Harla believes the Shattering was Kera showing a display of his 'godlike' power. the only 2 theories we have about the Shattering is Kera did it, and the Great Feedback did it. Kera doing it is a flimsy at best theory. it entirely relies that you think Kera can surivive in space, and that either he fought an army from Flame and War and then survives a planet destroying explosion...or that he's outright so powerful he can blow holes in planets. a display of power he certainly hasn't come close to demonstrating in the actual encounters we've seen him in. The Great Feedback is the most plausible theory. that the Feedback, a backlash strong enough to tear a continent to another dimension, detonated the stone. really the only thing about it that says no is the fact that the ones that have been stuck in another dimension, claim 200 years have passed, when the shattering to us was like 50 years ago. and the Deepwater Knights yes died, but the Deepwater still exist. they are the quest givers for the lab zones. the only 'Void Touched' Erudites in Odus are the ones in the Erudin zones and on that upper pavilion. the Paineel erudites, the Quel'thul ones, the Deepwater and the shcolars at the masoleum are not void touched. at best, they are affected byt the Great Feedback, but that was not 'void energy'. it's much more plausible to say that Ultera has a different time flow then Norrath. Further evidence could be the erudites in KoS. the Quelthulians. and the ones that helped us build the spires...none of them are talking about it being 200 years of time. and they are from Odus. the quest in Kos of the one that talks about going back pretty much confirms it. it's far, far more likely that the Feedback cause the Shattering, and that the time flow in Ultera is faster then that in Norrath. 4x as fast, pretty much, as the Shattering to us was 50 years ago and if hte feedback was the cause they claim it's 200 years ago to them. you can even look at the encounter between Yelniak and Kera at the end of the CS line as evidence if you want. Kera has been in Ultera doing his studies and making his plans for Theer. which is why the same dragon that not to long ago Yelniak had a fighting chance against, this time it was all Yelniak could do to just dodge him and once caught, was killed in like 1 strike. because Kera recovered a lot more then one might think from the time displacement of being in Ultera. We can't say it was the 'godslaying power' because we know that power is void against non-gods/mortals...hence why mortals were able to best Theer.
First: what gives you the impression that Yelnik ever had a chance against Kerafyrm? When you talk to him in Thurgadin he admits that the weakened Kera fresh from being Awakened charged into Skyshrine and knocked him unconscious, but before he could be killed Kerafyrm left because he was afraid of the Crusaders (thank you retcon). Yelnik is the most powerful dragon on the side of the Claws of Veeshan. He understood that at best he could delay Kerafyrm, he knew he didn't have a chance of winning that fight. And again your insisting that Kerafyrm woke up... woke up. Ok, I say it was 500 years ago pre-PoP since its part of our lore. When does Rainmare think Kerafyrm was Awakened and exactly what caused he awakening? I've got all my ducks lined up for this event, but I see this as a serious flaw in Rainmare's theory. Second thing: What leads you to believe there is a vacuum in space? Physics seem to be a matter of convince in Norrath. This is after all a magical realm where being able to hold your breath protects you from drowning, asphyxiation and the inconvenience of being exposed to a vacuum. Veeshan is shown flying through "space". If you want to say that Veeshan can do it but her mortal children can't...why not? Especially Kerafyrm who not only is the most powerful dragon on Norrath but also is worshiped by an entire cult of Dragons and their followers. Three more theories about the Shattering: Luclin (the goddess) did it. Zek/Ro's followers did it. Mayong's agents did it. Luclin could trigger the crystal or the nexus itself to explode out of spite, or a plan to get rid of the outside influence on the moon. Better to start over than tolerate further interference. Maybe she did leave with the rest but returned 50 years earlier? Zek and Ro's forces could of been instructed to detonate the crystal either at a pre-determined time or they needed to wait for a certain condition. Or it could of even been orders left with agents of Mayong that wanted to make sure the End of Ages prophecy was advanced on a time table set by Mayong over 400 years before that. Before pointing to the Feedback as the most likely cause of the Shattering you have to bring up that what caused the Feedback was a miscalculation that had the Ulterian Spire Network connecting to the original Nexus, not the Farsian Nexus the Quellthulians had build to replace the unconnectable Luclin Nexus. It was never stated why the Nexus couldn't be connected. It was also never explicitly determined if this happened before, during or after the Shattering. For all we know, the Shattering could of happened before the Feedback. We do not have dates to when the Ulterian Spires were constructed. If we did this entire theory would be either disproven or a lot stronger than it is now. While it is the strongest theory it isn't so strong that other theories can be discarded because of the Feedback's strength. Also Rainmare keeps saying 200 years in Ulteria. The reference isn't 200 "years", it is 200 "cycles". How long is a cycle? Unfortunately we don't see cycle being used anywhere else. For all we know its been 200 years, months, weeks, days since the book was written. Yes, we all want to assume that a cycle = 1 year. Without a non-odus source of when the Ulterian Spires were constructed, the feedback occurred, or an Odus source that says the Shattering occurred before the Feedback we can't say if the Shattering and the Feedback were connected or not. Probably very much by design.
Okay...we know that Kera's 'Awakening' he goes to Skyshrine. wether you think that they kept the 'he got woke up be adventure's plundering the tomb 500+ years ago (EQ1) or if you think that the Rending fractured the Tomb and he was awoken from that, is a moot point as to how he woke. but we know he goes to Skyshrine. We know that Yelniak states that even at his weakest, that only dragons as powerful as Yelniak himself could hold their ground against Kerafyrm. Yelniak even says when they fought, he could tell that his long sleep has drained his once unparalleled strength, which gave him a fighting chance. he still lost, but he was actually able to stand toe to toe with Kera. the theory that says that adventurer's woke him up invading SL, and that the retcon is that he just ran and knocked out Yelniak has a big glaring hole in it. the fact Yelniak says the first thing he does when he wakes up, besides the fact that Skyshrine is still standing but under seige, is he heads to Thurgadin to get the Coldain to come help with the Awakened, knowing they need aid. So your saying that the past 500 or so years before we see Yelniak in Thurg...he's just been sitting there waiting for his audience with whatever Dain at the time might choose to speak to him? just becuase we tell Yelniak we thought he was dead, doesn't mean much. hell most people probably thought most of velious was melted and every living thing dead. I'm sure no one expected the Coldain to still be alive, either. this leads me to believe that Kerafyrm's assault on Skyshrine was recent, the retcon is that we never woke him up in the EQ1 era...and that the Rending is what woke Kera. but enough on that. V can do it becuase as you pointed out, V is a God. gods don't have to obey rules like vaccum of space. Kera is not a godling or demi-god. he is a dragon. powerful as hell, but still a dragon. on matters of mortality, Kera is no different then Naggy. I go with the idea there is a vaccum in space as that's a rl law of physics that we haven't seen disputed as of yet in Eq for the interaction around and between planets. El'Arad's plan was flawed not in that he was using the Nexus on Luclin rather then the Farsian one, but because he was basically linking the Farsian Nexus to Luclin. those two massive power sources connecting is what causes the feedback. the farsian nexus is the focal point of the shockwave that alters the Erudite race, and shifts Odus into Ultera...and El'arad knew it, and wanted it to happen as we know. Mayong had no agents in Luclin that anyone knows of. the Vampyres in Luclin were an entirely different breed, in fact they were made by Akhevean blood being introduced to mortal races. they weren't children of Mayong or had anything to do with him. so no, I don't think that Luclin was an act of Mayong. Luclin blowing up her own moon..again, the odds of that are so small as to be non-existant. her entire M.O. is pretty much just watch and observe...not to mention I can't see her NOT saving her own race if she was going to get so drasticaly involved as to blow up the moon. that's a HUGE step out of character for Luclin. Rallos/Sol Ro detonated the stone on purpose. Why would they do that? it gives them a perfect staging point for any future invasions. and blowing up the moon is what ALLOWS the quelthulians to build the spires that are linked to the Farsian nexus on Odus...which have basically offramps/shunts that let them send us to the old combine spires. they tell you when you talk to them about it at the spires(like in Gfay) that the ones we rebuilt are linked to the farsian one...and they basically just found a way to push us to the combine ones that are for all other intents, dead. so them blowing up the moon is counter productive to that whole 'lets sever teleportation to break the mortal's unity' thing. which brings us back to the Feedback, and Kerafyrm as basically the two largest competeing theories as to what blew up Luclin. one saying that a dragon at his weakest state, or still at a very weak time...can blow up planets,yet had trouble dealing with other dragons. (even Harla Dar's story describes it as Kera using his breath weapon to blow up the moon) a breath weapon that strong should have turned Skyshrine to ash the second it got in range. and we have the Feedback, that we know was a magical explosion at least on this end of it, massive enough to rip a continent to another dimension, and alter an entire race on a genetic level. and explosion that if the same occured on the other end, and since that's usually what a feedback does, that kind of explosion would easily have been more then enough to detonate the dresolisk. but my timeline on all this is basically Rending -> Awakening -> Assault on Skyshrine -> assault on TOV /Collapse of the Western Wastes/release of Dozekar the Cursed to finish off Skyshrine -> recruitment of the Cult in KoS -> Great Feedback/Shattering(leading Harla to see it as a sign of Kera's power) -> Kera goes to Ultera (harla assumes he still flying in space/outerplanes somewhere) -> Eq2starts
My timeline would be Awakening and first attack on Skyshrine, VP and other various dragons -> Kerafyrm leaves Norrath -> The Awakened Cult forms -> CoV raises WL to protect Skyshrine from giants -> Rending -> Quellthulians build Network -> Shattering (feedback?) -> EQ2 Starts-> Kerafyrm returns to Norrath, uses cult to gain info on Rohen Theer and the weapons of destiny -> Kera travels to Odus and recruits Quelthulians into the Awakened -> Kera uses us to get the power of Godslaying -> Kera returns to the Awakened Cult to gain control over his newly acquired power -> Yelnik tries to get Coldain assistance in the face of an imminent attack by the Awakened. Probably a reaction to Scouts and Spies sent by the Awakened before the attack. -> Rallos Zek and the Giants of Kael carry out Rallos' plan to bring him to Norrath, Rallos dies -> Awakened Cult attacks Skyshrine and the Temple of Veeshan. Kera assists with the attack on the Temple as it is a more important target. Western Wastes is destroyed to get rid of the dragon breeding grounds -> we deal with that whole matter in the Ethernere -> we advance into the Cobalt Scar, Yelnik dies in his second confrontation with Kerafyrm. Maybe he's only been knocked unconscious this time too? Yeah, definitely not.
By the by, why would the Rending wake Kerafyrm? Your saying the Rending killed the 4 warders but didn't finish off a weakened and sleeping Kerafyrm?
except Kera never came back to the Cult. that's the entire point of thier internal fight. Kera has not been seen by any of the dragons of the Cult since the Shattering at the earliest. the whole point of Vyemn wanting to invade norrath is that they haven't seen or heard, from Kera since his 'godly' act of blowing up the moon. Harla is preaching patience and that Kera will return to them when the time is right, and Vyemn is saying that Kera is wating for them to show thier strength, and thus wants to invade the rest of Norrath. and since we know Harla is in Ethernere, we can safely assume all the Cult dragons of KoS are more then likely dead and thus never interacted with him. None of the dragons in the Cult in KoS have seen Kera...the only dragon that even says to have seen him is Harla, and the last time she saw him was before the Shattering, as she takes it as a sign of his power. Also..none of the Dragons know about Theer. not one. Theer was ONLY known to El'Arad/shadowedmen, and only known to him as the 'Grand Seraph' so that would have to be something Kera found out about while on Odus/Ultera. We adventurers don't find out about him until we get to Odus...where Kera paints him as a threat to get us to fight his battle for him. the Collapse of the Western Wastes wasn't to destroy the breeding grounds...it was to prevent Skyshrine from attempting to take the Temple back. the eggs are all in the Temple itself. the say that in the book 'collapse of the western wastes' that the eggs are in the temple itself...giving Kera a new generation of dragons to teach his ideology to. the Rending doesn't need to kill all 4 Warders. all it has to do is disrupt thier spell, which it might have easily done. you see that in the Chronomancy...Kera challenges the warding, and they have to reinforce it. the act of killing all 4 Warders could negate it and wake him up (like in Eq1 but again I still go with the retcon being we never woke him in EQ1) or it could simply have killed 1 of them, or prevented one from adding his power to the spell keeping him contained with a collapse to part of the building itself...and again, even weak as he was, he was still Yelniak's equal/better. so it's not like he was a pushover even at his weakest. which is why there's that big sinkhole in Eq2 there, call the pit of the awakened..I would contend that sinkhole is form kera blasting his way out and leaving the Tomb...heading to Skyshrine. Dozekar being in Skyshrine leads me to think that the assualts on SS and ToV happen very close together, like one right after the other. the assault on SS happens, the Crusader's come..Kera retreats. the Crusaders came from ToV, and we know this and Kera senses them coming so I would wager he knows that too..and knows now that without the Crusaders, ToV is easy pickings..hits ToV, conquers it, releases Dozekar, who blindsides a struggling SS with a renewed offensive and damn near conquers it, especailly now with Yelniak gone to see the Coldain. the fact that ToV is fallen, and that SS is nearly gone, could be the primary motivator for Grendish's betrayal, feeling that Kera's victory at this point is all but certain.
I'm not sure how familiar you were with EQ1's Western Wastes and Temple of Veeshan. ToV had a huge egg depository in the Northern wing (which is why CoV aligned adventurers aren't allowed there), but the actual breeding grounds and nests were in the Western Wastes. The Western Wastes is where the vast majority of the CoV aligned dragons lived. While they weren't as individually powerful as the dragons living in ToV, in numbers they could of formed a sizeable army. The dragons in WW probably fought to prevent the Awakened from taking ToV. Kerafyrm probably had the Western Wastes destroyed to make sure the eggs in the nests were lost so that he could use the only remaining depository of eggs as a hostage. Probably one of the things that had to happen before the Awakened moved against the Claws was to make sure the Crusaders weren't going to be able to stop Kerafyrm. Securing Grendish's betrayal before the assault was most likely a pre-condition before the invasion. Dozekar being sent to Skyshrine immediately after he was released pretty much says that this was one of Grendish's conditions for his betrayal. Without Grendish being on the side of the Awakened the invasion force sent to Skyshrine was doomed to failure. The invasion force was mostly made up of lesser dragon-kin. Drakota, drakes, wyrms and Droag with a few dragons to lead the forces. If the Crusaders hadn't of been betrayed the invasion would of failed. As it was, Grendish with a little backup was able to take his fellow Crusaders unaware and kill two of them before his betrayal was discovered and he lost the element of surprise. I can only conclude that the Skyshrine invasion force was so light on dragons because the brunt of the Awakened's forces were invading the Temple of Veeshan. As for Kera being released during the Rending...unlikely but possible. The Awakened wouldn't exist until after the Sleeper Awakens (duh). This in no way explains how the adventurers expect that Yelnik is dead or how they would have any knowledge that Yelnik fought with the Sleeper in the past which was part of the conversation you have with Yelnik in Thurgadin. The hole leading to the ruins of the Sleeper's Tomb are easier to explain if the Awakened dug the hole to excavate the ruins of what they consider a holy site. Either way it had to be done post-rending and probably even post shattering. 500 years ago that entire complex was in an open plain, now its located buried in the hills outside of Kael. Depending on what you want to go with either the Rending remodeled the landscape to push the complex underground or the melt happened during the Shattering and ice reformed over the complex and it needed to be dug into afterward. Unfortunately the Velious story doesn't include a whole lot of information on this. Precious little on the Uplift for that matter.
