The curse of Ro? You mean when he turned Tunaria into a big desert? If memory serves, Solusek came to visit it in person, and the Dal, being arrogant twits, insulted him to his face.
Yes, a few posts up they said the elves were busy trying to fight off the Curse of Ro, so I looked it up. But I couldn't find any info about why Solusek Ro just randomly ruined Tunaria. TY for the info. =)
A quick copy and paste from Zam's entry on Solusek Ro: "The last curse of the gods came from Solusek Ro in the Age of Blood. The Lord of Flame arched the spine of the Serpent Mountains, bringing heat from the burning sun to the ancient forest. The rivers ran dry, it rained less each year, and while the great elven druids fought long and hard, using their powerful magics to combat the change, they could only delay the inevitable. Slowly the forest gave way to desert, and eventually even great Takish-Hiz crumbled and the elves were forced to flee Tunaria, leaving much of their greatness behind. Thus began the Lost Age." -Zam, EQ2 pages. I don't really remember the story. I think it was one of those events where one deity grew jealous of another due to the arrogance of that other deity's worshipers. Something along the lines of Tunare being great and Solusek taking exception to what was said. Sorry, I'm really hoping someone else can chime in with a much better answer.
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/zones.html?zstrat=345 Allakhazam's lore post about Takish-Hiz. "Takish Hiz was once full of palacial white towers surrounded by lush gardens, and was a thriving home for the Elddar, Tunare's ancient tribe of elves. Legend has it that Solusek Ro grew jealous of the Elddar and arched the spine of the Serpent Mountains, unleashing the blistering heat and sun on the homeland of the elves. The Elddar fought against the burning sun for some time; however, the rivers eventually ran dry. The city crumbled and the elves were forced to flee. " So yes, it was one of those vengeful God things.
I'd like to start by saying this is one of the most interesting threads I've read on these boards in a long time. It's really neat to see everyone's take on what the Druid persona in eq2 should be. I feel like Rainmare put it best though.
You got the jist of it,... tho... I thought there was a footnoot more,... about Marr, Mithaniel and Solusek had a "gentlemens agreement" or a rivalry against each other to which the depths weren't clearly defined. However I believe the old EQ1 PoK (and EQ2 books) mentions a half elven follower of Marr who lead a zealot army to the south of old Tunaria to establish outposts and colonies at the southern edge of the Elddar forest but were struggling against constant Troll raids. Eventually the Half elven woman (who's name escapes me atm) lead the army against a famous troll shaman and defiler, and other Troll leaders in a grand campaign to finally establish themselves. The war was going poorly and she died but one of her human generals asked her grandfather who was a wizard at Takish'Hiz to help against the Troll menace... the book goes on to say the wizard told the general that the Innothuule swamp can't be burned naturally as the deep dark magics hold it together or something. Eventually the grandfather of the slain half elven leader has the other wizards from Tak'Hiz create a huge arcane-firestorm raining fire down from the heavens on nearly the entire spanse of Innothule. The human general was told by the elven wizards to go to the Elddar's southern border and wait. When the storm starts he was ordered to slaughter any and all of the troll race that tried to flee north... and he did.... the general and the remaining zealots of the army slaughtered soldiers, merchants, women and children of the troll race who fled north from the firestorm. I'm thinking maybe the story of Ardathium mentioned above may be what caused Solusek to become vengeful against the Elddar elves even though many of the elven casters worshipped Solusek themselves. The "assist" the elves gave Marr's followers tipped the scales in their favor and to top if off the elves did it by ... raining fire... I'm sure it wouldn't go unnoticed by the lord of flame.
The source is the Ardathium Books and the person in question was Grenic Drere. You later encounter him on the Plane of Valor in EQ Live. The EQ2 Ardathium books are copies of the EQ Live Books. Although Jindrack made a correction on the forums as to the proper directions and location of Ardathium (the description in the books is 180 degrees off.)
As I see it ( in my own storyline ) It's not a matter of being aligned with a particular city, but unfortunately, the game itself forces neutral classes to reside in one or the other. My druids are both DEs and are only members of FP due to their prestige homes are there, and that's where they started. They are neither aligned with FP or Neriak. My warden is melee and basically similar to the character in the " Sword of Truth " series. kind of like a policeman. My fury is more the " nature is hard and violent, but balanced in it's continuation." Some see this as evil, some see it as neutral towards humanoids. Nature has it's defenses, but the sentient races have overcome and are ruining the balances. Druid roles are to maintain the balances, as in Nek Forest. They do not eliminate the goblin, wolves, spiders, etc. population because they serve a purpose in the balance of things. Some say it's evil to let them exist, some say it's needed so they cull the population of the other creatures. My characters are not what most consider " evil " but they do sometimes do acts that are considered evil for the sake of balance.
Even evils need to eat, grow crops and harvest. And being of Freeport might simply mean that you were born there. You might not be inherently evil, but simply loyal to the city of your birth.
well for most us old timers, Freeport or Qeynos was a moral choice. but city/time of birth can influence your morality. and Freeport's version of morality is very corrupt, to say the least. a very much kill or be killed..as long as the wraithguard don't catch you...or provided you have the money to bribe the militia. punishments are quick and harsh. usually execution...and questioning the actions of a member of the Wraithguard or the Militia is almost an offense in and of itself. Qeynos is a work hard, do good by others, and you will reap rewards from the seeds your work in both standing and allies, crime is punished pretty fairly and discouraged and there's no 'bribing' of the Guard so to speak, since the guards could get in just as much trouble since people might actually look into it if they are accused. the druids of Qeynos, by extension, are more about conservation, and integration, like they've done with the Elddar Grove and Oakmyst Forest. they see healing and restoration as thier biggest pursuits, and thier offensive powers are just part of the package deal to protect what they love Freeport's druids, on the other had, have literally tried to sink Freeport into the ocean at one time with the Sunken Ruins/City newbie area (I believe it was a druidic sect that was responsible...Prexus/Karana worshippers I think) and are more about seeing nature as an awesome and powerful weapon against their enemies...and maybe heal their allies if the mood strikes them and the Overlord would approve.
Each city has its own character and approach to religion too. Qeynos, Freeport and Nerriak have large organized religion, and tend towards Clerics (Templars and Inquisitors). Clerics are the most "civilized" of the Priests. There is practically no visible support for shaman or druids in Freeport or Nerriak. Druids are slightly more supported in Qeynos, though its green areas are more due to the elven influence than the strength of the druids in Qeynos. Again, shaman aren't favored in Qeynos. Freeport's religion has been hijacked by the Overlord in an attempt to make him a god. Officially the Overlord Cult is the only allowed religion in Freeport and other worship is punishable. Inquisitors rule over religion in Freeport, with other kinds of priestly activity is tolerated. Neriak is split between the Cristanos Cult in her attempt to become a god, and the resurgence of Innoruuk worship after the gods return. Cristanos hasn't cracked down on Innoruuk worship but she also hasn't renounced her attempt at becoming one or discouraged her cult from continuing. Again, priesthood ruled over by inquisitors. Druids have their own establishment outside of Nerriak proper, and shaman cling to the edges of the priesthood. Neither denied or encouraged. Qeynos has the Temple of Life as the center of religion. The Temple of Life is a space ship that Rodcet Nife first desended to Norrath in search of the Xelous Force. (I am seriously not making this up) From here he was invited to join the pathenon of Norrath as the Prime Healer. The fish in the pool below the temple are from his home world. Templars rule over regilion in Qeynos, though there are large natural perserves due to the strong Tunarian/Elven influence during the rebuilding of Qeynos. Ironically the scouts are settled in the Elddar Woods quarter, and the druids hang out at the Temple of Life. Kelethin definitely favors Druids, and Tunare specifically. There isn't a huge amount of "civilized" structures devoted to supporting clerics, nor is there a huge support for shaman in this Tunarian based community. Gorowyn is rather unique in that it doesn't have a long history. Its inhabitants were in a storage unit of unhatched eggs. These eggs were created in a laboratory to be an improved version of the Sarnak race but the labs were abandoned long ago. Recently the labs were disturbed by the primitive Haeoran and accidently hatched the Sarnak. As such religion is something they are discovering. The Gorowyn are more of a military mindset, so in bad times they are more likely to look to themselves rather than asking for divine aid. They also know that their creator wasn't a god, but rather a series of arcane experimenters. Who you want to call the race's creator is actually up to some debate. New Halas was actually a small community of coldain dwarves that was washed out to sea. Not sure if it was during the Rending, Shattering or Upheval. The dwarves there were under constant attack by Ry'gorr orcs that were also on the same chunk of velium. Mithanial Marr discovered this place when he went to find a location to put a statue of his sister on Norrath (huge story behind this). The dwarves agreed to build more of a city and piligrims started flocking here to see the statue. This helps the dwarves a lot with a sudden influx of allies against the Ry'gorr. New Halas doesn't seem to have a long standing religious tradition. You would expect the Coladin to have already established a temple to Brell long ago, but there isn't one. The statue to Erollisi Marr has attracted some of the Sisters of Erollisi from the Ocean of Tears. The barbarians have a strong shaman tradition and this is probably the community that shows the most support for them. Even at that, none of the priest classes dominate religion on this isle.
