Due to a recent conversation ive had in a different post, id like to try and theorize about a possible greater story occurring. If you have any ideas or thoughts on what could be going on as everything happens feel free to share and discuss, im curious what people think is going on. seeing as we would be very early on into the overarching story that could be being told, we probably wont know much, but anything would be helpful to start a conversation. here are my current thoughts to get started: Dr. Arcana might have something to do with things, since he has been a strange and unusual character that pops up every once in awhile, for seemingly strange reasons. his most recent appearance has him searching for stuff in Unrest, and then ending up blasting the estate into Ultera. could he be searching for items of interest for a higher power? he also seemed to have some amount of interest in Vasty Deep, as he had us collect artifacts and items of power from there as well. he's been giving us little explanation as to why we should get these items for him Are there any bizarre or strangely placed characters so far that anyone has noticed? Aldys, the Sultan of Daggers, was kinda a strange choice of character for Ro, albeit they are a djinn, so they are a bit fitting, but in the grand scheme of the expansion, its an odd choice, and personally felt like something was off about her, and it turns out she was a pawn of The Sovereign, so im curious if theres any strange character someone has noticed in this expansion that could be a similar situation The Masquerades of Divinity maybe is hinting to the potential for another Altar of Malice arc type thing? could we be eventually getting another war against a god or two? Xebuxoruk perhaps? based off the locations we are getting camps along with the BoZ story, there could be some interesting gods returning, such as Anashti Sul and Ayonae Ro. Maybe a future expansion with be on the Plane of Music? this is a pretty out there idea. these are just a few ideas, and could be totally wrong, but i wanna throw some stuff out to try and start a conversation. curious what we can come up with
Dr. Arcana informed us of when Public Quests began during the Planes of Prophecy expansion, and then Chaos Descending, and then Blood of Luclin. He didn't show up again until the Coven had started taking over the abandoned laboratories of Vasty Deep, and he summoned us to put a stop to the witches from gaining the lost knowledge inside. He then showed up again while exploring Unrest for ancient artifacts only to witness it get blasted into Ultera because of the destabilization happening in Zimara. He didn't cause that-- he was lucky to survive, so he summoned us again to investigate and find out what might be happening. Dr. Arcana has so far only eluded to having some form of powers involves with jumping between planes, but his demeanor indicates that he has no intentions of turning against us down the road. He even acknowledges himself as a good-natured hero who does his part in ways that we don't see, even if he is asking us to do the busy work. This expansion's storyline brought attention to how Ayonae Ro is still missing from the Pantheon. It's possible, though not directly implied, that she might actually be dead, or at the very least wandering around in some mortal form in the same way that Innoruuk was a human in Nektulos Forest for a while after he was killed by his daughter. It's very likely that this will be addressed, though more likely through a Game Update than an expansion proper. Zebuxoruk has been living in the Village of Shin since we reawakened his memories in the Fallen Dynasty adventure pack. He knew the Gods were going to be coming back to Norrath as we started heading to Faydwer. He's not a threat. Never has been. Part of the conditions of his godhood is that he *will* be forced back into amnesiac human form if the risk of any dangerous knowledge may be revealed. We don't know how it happens, but it has happened numerous times over the years. His dialogue has not been updated since The Shadow Odyssey expansion was released. I wouldn't be surprised if Anashti Sul manages to get some minor attention again, but I don't see her being a player again. She was the final boss of the Shadow Odyssey, and even she never thought that her death would actually free her from the Void and allow her to reform back on Norrath. I think she's content for right now.
I am interested in the greater story as well if there is one. It feels like we are getting bit and pieces of a bigger story. For example what does Nagafen reviving Vox and the Djinjs have in common? What happened to Vox etc.
Anashti Sul got a little bit of mention during Visions of Vetrovia. The threat that Mayong posed was that he was trying to become Anashti's herald (thus gaining some of her godly powers) and that he might obtain the Ewer of Sul'Dae through that arrangement (thus gaining full control over all vampires). Anashti appeared interested in this agreement, though with Mayong's defeat, she may simply go back to whatever she was doing. It does seem rather unlikely that she'd take the stage again.
Dr Arkana turns and grasps at his face. Ripping the mask off he reveals, "Aha! It is I!!! Fippy Darkpaw! And I would have gotten away with it if not for you meddling kids!" And then he is arrested and taken away by the police.
oh shoot, I had completely forgotten about that part. Yeah, We're not done with Mayong yet btw. The lore channel on discord pointed out that his radically different appearance in VoV from his original appearance from EoF right up to before the Age's End battle against Kerafyrm suggests that he is slowly transforming back into one of Luclin's minions because he tried to get out of an eternal oath to her service.
it wasnt just Mayong, his vampire legions also looked different. although im not sure if its for a lore reason or not, Daybreak has been changing models left and right recently. what happened with Mayong and Luclin? not familiar with this interaction
General graphical updates to minions is nothing unusual. I thought it might've just been a model update as well, but there is something to ponder about it. I can't really go into it, but someone pointed out that the nubs on Mayong's head in VoV as well as his paler-than-usual skin color matches up with the horns that the Akhevans have. Luclin did make a comment at the end of RoS that she is the Goddess of Secrets, and Mayong has come back from ensured destruction a couple times now. There may be some credence that at some point he made an eternal oath with her, but tried to break out of it through various means-- probably by obtaining godhood and then giving it up or something. Either way, he's physically transforming into an Akheva or similar creature because Luclin will force him to return to her eternal service one way or another.
