Which all begs the question: why do we say "I herd you was dead" the first time we meet Yelnik? The only explanation of that is the sleeper awakening in EQ1. This is also over 500 years before current events happen. Kera rampages then disappears for at least 100 years. That gives plenty of time for the Awakened Cult to form and begin to subvert other dragons that aren't inclined to simply join Kera on their own. Dragons that they feel are approachable like Harla Dar (who after the first beating should be expecting to just die when Kera approaches a second time). The return of the "sleeper" should have a much more powerful and calculating leader than the freshly "awakened" revenge trip. Some of those that form the cult would of been those that adored Kerafyrm from thousands of years ago before he was imprisoned. Others would of seen the sheer might of Kerafyrm and want to be on his side (better to be on the winning team). Some would want to extract revenge on those that will definitely stand against him. Still others would be dissatisfied with the status quo and hope for a change for the better, a return to the times when dragons ruled the world uncontested instead of hiding out in their breeding grounds. I don't think the assault on Skyshrine or the Temple of Veeshan went on for years. I don't think Kerafyrm would attack with anything short of overwhelming force. I think both the Temple and Skyshrine fell in a matter of days once assaulted. I think both probably had agents that betrayed key defenses and let the Awakened in long before the defenses would of fallen. The droag we help in Skyshrine aren't talking about a protracted siege, they are talking about being overwhelmed and beaten back in every quadrant of the city. They don't know the condition of the defense because entire units are wiped out without reporting. Until we arrive the only portion they hold is the center because all of the loyal defenders could fall back there and watch each other's back. Even then the center never gets the attention of any of the attacking dragons. As for the other dragons: its been 500 years. Maybe they got over it and put it in their past. I don't remember them mentioning a constant steam of adventurers walking in and slaying them either. As for the tomb: who says the blast wasn't created before the rending? That could be how its been for centuries. Heck, even if it happened during the rending, its been like that for centuries. So how do you tell if it happened 200 years ago, or 500? Honestly that place should be buried in snow after 50 years but ya know, artistic liberties and all that. Or maybe golem snow shovelers. As for the melting...there is surprisingly little evidence to support it happening. No mention of it in game that I can think of. And honestly, if the snow melted...the othmir shouldn't be the only race displaced by it. The Rygorr should of been whipped out. Kael and Thurgadin should of been drowning traps for dwarves and giants. The gnomish pirates should of been washed away and if any survived the monster tsunami they should of washed up somewhere far, far away. The Temple of Veeshan should be the Tomb of Veeshan filled with the twisted and broken bodies of dragons as the entire Western Wastes flooded into the chasm. Even the othmir left in Cobalt Scar survived just fine after the Upheaval cut them from the sea until the Tear of Veeshan arrived. The melt was part of beta lore, but I'm willing to bet it changed before Velious was actually worked on. The terrain certainly changed, but the Rending and Shattering didn't destroy Velious anymore than it did Antonica.
Harla says nothing of facing Kera. in fact her whole story is she watched Jaled and Phara leave..but her son stayed. her son gets eaten by Zlandicar. she is devastated, and basically goes to her den and waits to die...and that is when Kera approaches her, promising to return her family in exchange for service. you'd think she'd remember getting the hell beat out of her by him before that. You'd think Woushi would certainly remember Kera's assault on Skyshrine since he'd have to literally go through woushi to get there. You'd think in the Spirits Away book, we'd know the fate of several of those dragons as they would have been in Kera's path, like Zlandicar. I can't see how Kera coudl wake up 500 years ago, tear a path through Dragonkind, 'knocking out' everyone, and not ONE dragon that would have been effected by it, other then Yelinak, wouldn't even mention it. or that Harla might not mention it as a considering fact when he approached her, that she'd witnessed his power firsthand when he beat her to near dead/knocked her out cold. she banked everything on the idea that Kera could reunite her with her lost family. that would be like the US Abomb on Hiroshima never getting mentioned by anyone outside of the handful of survivors from the city in WW2. if Kera had woken up 500 years prior, we wouldn't be wondering where he was. we would be concerned about what he's up to. hell we don't even LEARN about Kera being alive until what? KoS? when we come across his cult and Nagafen tells us who the 'Awakened' is? you'd think if Kera had woken up at the end of the Age of Turmoil, and did what he does in EQ1, that'd be a major historical incident. we would all know who the Awakened is. and we'd be just as surprised to see Gore/Tala/Harla as we would Yelinak. not to mention, I don't recall anywhere in EQ2 where we're told Yelinak is dead to begin with. We mention we thought he was dead, and he says stories of his death were exaggerated, but I don't recall an instance of anyone saying 'Yelinak is dead'. Unless maybe Nagafen mentioned it when he told us about who the awakened was. and that would be entirely in character for him, as it eliminates a potential 'rival' for his pawns to try and find/work for.
Your analogy is backwards. It would be like a survivor of Hiroshima walking up to you today and saying "I survived a nuclear weapon." Why would they do that? I'm sure the survivors have other more recent things to talk about. But if you went up to one of them and said "I thought everybody in Hiroshima died" I bet they would tell you the story. We went up to Yelnik and said we thought he was dead. We didn't bring it up to the other dragons. We didn't even bring it up to Trakanon and last we herd he was undead. Not that we had much of a conversation with him anyways. Also Woushi and Zlandacar are two of the major dragons in Velious that Kerafyrm's script actually didn't touch. He went straight from Sleeper's Tomb to Skyshrine, then to the Temple of the Awakened then to Veeshan's Peak. He didn't put in an appearance in Waking Lands, Dragon Necropolis, Permafrost or Sol B. I'm not sure if he appeared in Western Wastes or not but I don't think he did.
except Harla specifically talks about why she become a Priest of the Awakened, and she is thanking us for putting her down. she's giving us baskstory as to why she was part of the Awakened, and why she's happy now that she can look back and see what had happened thanks to Veeshan's Clarity. you'd think somewhere between 'Fraka was eaten by Zlandicar' and 'I laid down in my den and just waited to die' that 'Kera woke up and beat the holy hell out of me, thus I knew his power' when he makes his offer would be the kind of detail you wouldn't leave out...or even as a 'I knew deep down if I refused, he'd just kill me as he could have done before'
