A shadow implies darkness
An odyssey is a journey
But this Odyssey is used as a Noun meaning a place or a thing. hummm
Everyone seems to have a angle on this newly leaked domain. Some feel it has something to do with Luclin, such as Tipa from West Karana.
Others have posted on the EQ2 Forums they think it might be Odin, Kithicor forest or a number other lost places that were once known to us back in EQ. Some feel that the Rune of Sunder and Ethernere play a part in this.
The only clues we have for anything that might be coming our way is to look at the posted lore on eq2players and so far we have 3 stories to dig through; Escape from Guk pt1 part 2 & part 3, The Flight of the Mudskipper part 1, part 2 & part 3, and the current one, Shades of Hate.
Now, with the “Escape from Guk”, that we might be seeing the Guk zone again. I could not find anything in the stories that made me raise my eyebrows and sending me off on a searching frenzy.
Now with “The Flight of the Mudskipper”, there was quite a few things. The use of the “Drafling”, who’s tower is now the home of the bixies. The fact that they are building a ship which can fly, which is now called the Cloudskipper which would “carry our party to locales none had known before”.
Then the story of Shades of Hate, where The Queen murmured “Not two but three… But where is it, where is it….” and the sage had vision of lava flowing deep under the ground and of seeing a scroll passed to a “beautiful Teir’dal around whose shoulders a drake lay curled “, when he looked into the eyes of a librarian. The librarian also “hissed in a low voice, “they are all a part of it. G’Han, V’Dar, and K’Val. I am…” Also the name of Opal Darkbriar came up.
All these things sent me off to do a lot of digging, and I will share with you what I found and where so you can come to your own conclusions.
First from our old lore master Vhalen from a Dev chat from Feb 28 2008
“Mithrandyr asks: Could you address the Everling story and where it was left at the end of Nek3? Are we going to see more about Ethernere and the divided soul of Rikantus Everling?
Vhalen: He released the key to destiny
Vhalen: Everling’s story has always been touching upon various elements of each expansion. There are more revelations to come, revelations about Everling and the secrets he keeps. Also, it may not be bound to Nektropos Castle or an expansion. He has lots to tell you. Lord Rikantus Everling is on the hunt.
Vhalen: The family trade may be returning to Norrath.
Alondnar: :This is specifically for Vhalen, what ever happened with the Rune of Sunder lore in Nek 3, it seemed to just dead end.
Vhalen: The Rune of Sunder was just a key to understanding one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. What it unlocks can be found in the world. I can promise you that you will know more.'”
There is More from Vhalen from long ago, and sorry do not have a link for it.
“One of the most important resources that the Far Seas Trading Company found were the many refugees that had been marooned on any number of isles throughout the Tranquil Sea. All the islands in the Tranquil Sea were once part of the large continent of Antonica. During the Age of Cataclysms the undercontinent below Antonica, Subtunaria, erupted in violent quakes. Much of Subtunaria collapsed and this brought down large sections of Antonica, helping to create the vast Tranquil Sea and its many islands. Marooned out on these shards of a once great continent were a great many villagers, clans, tribes and adventurers.”
SO the idea that maybe odin or kithicor and such might still be out there is possible, but there has not been any real strong clues that lead me anywhere with that line of thought, so I stuck to the runes.
I went digging into The story of House Everling quest lines. That lead me to read “Beyond the Rune” where you can find this “Look to the stone of the Shissar.” Which made me look to a quest called ” The Fate of Norrath” which mention a Greenmist Oubliette which the Shissar created.
Now all these things plus the visions of lava lead me to check “The Origins of Shadowed Men”. Could the runes and the shadowed men all tie in some how? Your guess is as good as mine at this point.
I looked what I could on Opal Darkbriar, since she stole the Soulfire ( one finds this out while doing the Sword of Destiny quest line) could she have stolen or known where the items the Queen was looking for? Well Opal Darkbriar is from Everquest 1, “Opal Darkbriar is perhaps one of the strangest oddities in Norrath. While a high elf version of her heads the Order Arcane of Scientists, there is a dark elf version in East Freeport who leads the evil Clerics of Freeport. Confusing this matter even further is that one of the historical enemies of the order of Arcane Scientists are the Freeport Militia, who themselves are allied with the evil Opal Darkbriar. ”
She is also a necromancer, and one of the original members of Dismal Rage. This seems to lead me no where.
I went back to the story about “The Flight of the Mudskipper” and tried to think of why would they want a ship that could fly? This ruled out Luclin or any of the moons ( thank tunare), It would take a rocket or a transporter to reach those heights. Also could not find anything useful about “Drafling”, except he does show up in a couple other books, Adventures of Jorbo and Mappy, More Adventures of Jorbo and Mappy, Even More Adventures of Jorbo and Mappy. Where basically he is teaching two boys how to find adventure.
So while I continued to dig and search I found a story writen by Gnobrin called ” The Taven of Lost Souls”. In it there is a song that the SOE team even sang and was on SOE pod cast # 31. This hit me like a hammer: “The foreboding Deathtoll Bell Tower, it rises higher than most mountains of Norrath. A soul could be lost forever within its hallways and forever is a possibility in the land of undeath that this structure dominates. For all its grandeur, it is not a place anyone hopes to visit. Yet, I find myself in an afterlife odyssey that demands my presence upon the bleak landscape of Ethernere “. Of course this could be a great big red herring.
So here is my guess, the ship that is being built the Cloudskipper will be used to reach area’s that we have never seen before. Some place high, maybe the island where the Deathtoll bell tower is. Other lost areas from everquest before the shattering might be around this island or part of it. I belive that Odyssey is a place where the dead go, another name for the Ethermere which was one of the names used for the runes. Or at least maybe the place that holds a gate way that leads you to the Ethermere. There is also strong pointers to the shadowmen playing a part in this, how I don’t know yet. For all my guessing the Shissar race might also be a part of this.
Go take what I have dug up and go dig some more your self and see what you can come up with.
June 11th Notes:
First I never knew that there was a Deathtoll zone, shows how much I get around huh? Now with the new storms that are set to desend on us in Update 46 then maybe it does have something to do with shadowmen.
