So, taking a que from Mach, if Rajaat is indeed responsible for the great quake, how did he do it?
He did hang out for some time in the swamp discoverng magic and doing weird experiments on the area, and even has a pyramid type lab thing that's mostly hiddden.
So, did he set up some really long delayed blast sonicballs that triggered once he was imprisoned again? Course, this would take quite a bit I think, but hey, he's way epic, anything is possible.
Did he just snap his fingers and make it happen before he was imprisoned again?
Or was it something else?
Looking for some ideas here, heh.
IMO it's that simple. It's like the Fall of the House of Usher (or any kind of Villain's lair in many movies). You kill (in this case imprision) the bad guy - something bad happens. Didn't something similar happen when Kalak died? didn't the ziggurat collapse or something?
But I've not given it more thought than that.
Originally posted by Dawnstealer
You could start with a Mekillot flicking its ears in Draj...
Wait...shouldn't it be by farting!?!
:D
Originally posted by Dawnstealer
You could start with a Mekillot flicking its ears in Draj...
Darn that Mekillot!
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
Looking for some ideas here, heh.
I say natural forces. Thousands of years of water in the swamps wearing away at the base of the cliff, and eventually something just gave out. It could even happen again
Of course, here's something I'm curious about: What happened to the almost 700 cubic miles of rock and dirt that it took to form the Rift? A catastrophy that big should have created a debris field around the rift for miles and miles...
Originally posted by Dawnstealer
You could start with a Mekillot flicking its ears in Draj...
Oook, no more chaos theory for you.
:P
Originally posted by Nightdruid
Of course, here's something I'm curious about: What happened to the almost 700 cubic miles of rock and dirt that it took to form the Rift? A catastrophy that big should have created a debris field around the rift for miles and miles...
The zik-chil dragged it all off to use it to make an army of Rock Golems. :D
Seriously though, that's a good question. It probably got dragged off by the zik-chil/thorkreen/etc and was deposited elsewhere to be used for who knows what. Or just dragged out of the way and probably in huge piles somewhere near the rift.
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
The zik-chil dragged it all off to use it to make an army of Rock Golems. :D
Seriously though, that's a good question. It probably got dragged off by the zik-chil/thorkreen/etc and was deposited elsewhere to be used for who knows what. Or just dragged out of the way and probably in huge piles somewhere near the rift.
Well, to be honest, I doubt the kreen have enough labor to handle something like that...to imagine how much dirt & rock that is, imagine, if you would, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Now multiply that by roughly 700 times. It'd be THAT big. Choaking dust would cover that whole Crimson Savannah for days. Heck, probably should have wiped out the kreen
Originally posted by Nightdruid
Well, to be honest, I doubt the kreen have enough labor to handle something like that...to imagine how much dirt & rock that is, imagine, if you would, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Now multiply that by roughly 700 times. It'd be THAT big. Choaking dust would cover that whole Crimson Savannah for days. Heck, probably should have wiped out the kreen
Heh, damn fantasy worlds screwing around with reality like that.
So basically, the thor-kreen of the Crimson Savannah on the map are wiped out, and those way far west are the only ones that remain.
The nice little scout party shacking up in that citadel at the end of the rift were the only ones from the western front on the eastern side, so it's going to take weeks or longer for more to show up.
Makes you wonder how they were able to clean the mess up, then build a nice little walled citadel to block the exit of the rift into the Crimson Savannah, all in that short little period of time that they had with no where near the numbers to do it in that amount of time, heh.
Hard to say what happened really. It wouldn't be a problem to find an explanation though, but the thing is, it happened right as Rajaat was being sent back to the hollow. Now that seems like a mighty big coincidence to me if the two events are unrelated.
The other thing is that the epicenter was said, if I remember correctly, to be far to the west, west of the Kreen Empire itself. Is this true? If it is it becomes kind of hard to link them...
Anyways, I liked the idea of having a whole section of the rock face of the jagged cliff fall off, creating the rift, and being the source of the quake. In fact, the creation of the rift would most certainly have generated massive earthquakes.
This would have been cause by some... am... not sure of the english terminology, but there would have been at least 2 fractures in that spot going almost perpendicular to the jagged cliffs. When the miles-high rockface collapsed and slid in the crimson savana, the sheer amount of rock hitting the ground, and the tremedous kinetic energy released by the fracture would have certainly cause a massive quake.
When you think of it, the great earthquake has to be caused by the creation of the rift, or else there would have been 2 earthquakes.
Now for the reason and Rajaat:
I guess the easiest solution would have to have Rajaat's banishment send some wave of energy through athas. The entire world was shaken very slightly when he was sent back, almost imperceptible to those living on the surface. However, this energy was sufficiant to cause the Jagged cliffs' fractures in the area where the great rift is now to rupture completly, and the whole thing went down.
Now, as for the effects on the crimson savanna, I'm no expert, but it would surely not be good. dust would certainly have covered the whole thing for a some weeks, that's for sure, though I don't know how many. However, since the kreen cities seem somewhat far away from the swamp, I doubt there would have been any damage to the cities themselves, or the Kreen Empire, though the dust would certainly have caused some setbacks.
Anyways. I think this works best.
When that much rock comes tumbling down, it takes on properties more similiar to how liquids act. So thus it would "flow" a LOT farther than you would expect. A debris radius could be as long as 100 to 2,000 miles, with a roughly conical shape to it. Areas close to the Rift would be covered by rock up to 500' deep. Anything in the path of the landslide would be dead, period.
Since it was a landslide and not a volcanic eruption, I wouldn't expect the same ashcloud from the Helens eruption. Instead, you'd see a dust cloud settle fairly quickly, maybe only 2-3 days (dust & sand is heavier than ash, and wasn't shot 10 miles straight up). The effects of that would be not unlike a sandstorm, covering everything on the map at the very least. That could be fairly destructive in its own right, especially if the Kreen aren't used to sandstorms.
I think this means the great rift actually extends beyond the jagged cliffs, meaning that when you get passed the cliffs themselves, you're actually still on a huge mound of debris. I would think you'd never even get in the swamp if you continue straight down without turning.
Anyways... gotta run!
Though, you're right, the debris would still be there, and it wouldn't be so clean looking as the map makes it out to be.
So months later after the slide and the quake, the kreen would still probably be cleaning up, at least what cities took damage from the debris anyways, and probably wouldn't even have time to clean up the swamp area, let alone build a walled citadel.
I'll probably do this, have them send out a small team to clean the end of the rift area as much as possible and build a walled citadel blocking the entrance to the Crimson Savannah, while the rest of the inhabitants clean up the cities.
This would have to take place many months, if not a year or two later than what is described in TKoA and the adventure leading to the rift therein.
Shei-Nad, yep, I'd say there'd be a landbridge over the swamps. Fortunately, there's only one kreen settlement that'd be in the path of destruction; the rest of the map is north of the Rift. So I'd say the southern-most kreen city is gone. The rest of the map probably experienced sand storms and the like, but nothing they couldn't recover from.
NytCrawlr, that timetable is more believable. Maybe even still fairly ambitious. Actually, I could see the survivors from the nearby areas making their way to the rift, as behind them lies a wasteland. At least the Rift offers them a passage to food and survival. So maybe its not so ambitious afterall
Originally posted by Nightdruid
Shei-Nad, yep, I'd say there'd be a landbridge over the swamps. Fortunately, there's only one kreen settlement that'd be in the path of destruction; the rest of the map is north of the Rift. So I'd say the southern-most kreen city is gone. The rest of the map probably experienced sand storms and the like, but nothing they couldn't recover from.
Ok, cool.
That will work beautifully.
NytCrawlr, that timetable is more believable. Maybe even still fairly ambitious. Actually, I could see the survivors from the nearby areas making their way to the rift, as behind them lies a wasteland. At least the Rift offers them a passage to food and survival. So maybe its not so ambitious afterall
Fine by me, gives me a better reason to take out the two pterran settlements near the rift, like I did previously, other than "because they are there and the closest thing". Now it's because "because it's the closest thing that has food!"
Nice start for the kreen invasion, muwhahahaha.
Now if I can just figure out how to tie it to Rajaat now since I really liked that idea of Mach's, heh.
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
Now if I can just figure out how to tie it to Rajaat now since I really liked that idea of Mach's, heh.
Rajaat's coming activates some artifact he left behind that was supposed to help the halflings. It malfunctions, speeding up the process that ultimately collapses the cliff-face. Ooo, maybe something that was designed to create water, since water has such a nice, errosive effect on everything...:D
Originally posted by Nightdruid
Rajaat's coming activates some artifact he left behind that was supposed to help the halflings. It malfunctions, speeding up the process that ultimately collapses the cliff-face. Ooo, maybe something that was designed to create water, since water has such a nice, errosive effect on everything...:D
That just started a brainstorm or two, thanks.
:D
Now assuming every event on Athas is Rajaat's doing, he may or may not be responsible for the quake. What if the Kreens are!! It just didn't happend the way they thought it would. (it was supposed to create stairs of some kind.) or
Maybe Rajaat was counting on the Kreens invasion in its sheme and somehow was able to activate the great quake. But here's a question: How would Rajaat persive the Kreen race?? His he aware that the zik-chil use to be nature-benders Rhulisti(assuming we keep Xlorep's theory on the matter) Assuming he is, would he still consider the zik-chil and the Kreens equals to the Rhul-thaun(halflings) or would he have consider them mere tools like he did with the humans??
Cap'n Nick it's part of rajaat's ongoing plot. the rift was caused to allow the kreen to invade the tablelands, the consequences of which somehow allow rajaat's return, or some factor which in turn allows his return, at at least revenge on those who betrayed him.
The Kreen Empire is so vast that only Rajaat could stop the invasion, ensuring it's release by the same ones who emprisonned him.(just a thought)
Originally posted by Jihun-Nish
But here's a question: How would Rajaat persive the Kreen race?? His he aware that the zik-chil use to be nature-benders Rhulisti(assuming we keep Xlorep's theory on the matter) Assuming he is, would he still consider the zik-chil and the Kreens equals to the Rhul-thaun(halflings) or would he have consider them mere tools like he did with the humans??
I think he considers them part of the blue age and would like to return them as such, the kreen anyways. He probably wants to take out the zik-chil since they are an abomination of the blue age which is further causing issues now in the current age.
I can see him using this to kill two birds with one stone. Using the kreen to assault the tablelands and help get rid of the remaining abomination races. Which in turn will take out some kreen and zik-chil.
He probably also knows about the space rhulisti invasion and counts on it to wipe out the remaining zik-chil and help with restoring the kreen back to their normal, blue age, un-evolved selves.
As for how Rajaat did it? Anyone who can pull clouds out of the sky and use it for skin would easily be able the do the snap his fingers and trigger and earthquake', but that's contrived, so I'll go with a dormant artifact from one of Rajaat's swamp citidels, taken back to the capitol city of the Kreen Empire by some zik'trin'ta scouts. The zik-chil tried to tap into its power, but it backfired, creating a devestating explosion along the lines of a nuclear blast (thinking big here :D ) which could easily tigger an earthquake if a fault line is present. The kreen empire is described as already having some issues with food and living space, now, with a huge chunk of land now devoid of life and uninhabitable (and perhaps with the issues of spreding contamination from the energies of the artifact), the kreen have yet another issue to deal with. It would also support the idea of the invasion of the tablelands. The kreen are looking for greener pastures since they're homeland is slowly becoming a wasteland from the artifact's coruptive energy. It was Rajaat's temporary release that triggered the artifact while at the same time being tinkered with and taken apart by the zik-chil that caused it to go boom.
*please note, no long term thought was given to the above post*
Originally posted by Mach2.5
It was Rajaat's temporary release that triggered the artifact while at the same time being tinkered with and taken apart by the zik-chil that caused it to go boom.
Dude...
I freaking love you and your warped ideas.
:D
I might just go with that.
eh?
Originally posted by Cap'n Nick
it could have been some sort of organic manipulation artifact that als has connections to other planes?
Bah, no!
There's enough "connection to other planes" stuff in DS as it is, heh.
Originally posted by Cap'n Nick
An addition, instead of the earthquake and rift being the result of the messenger crashing/landing, you can make all effects (quake, rift, landing) be the symptom of something else, namely the artifact we've been speculating about. Rajaat's return could have simultaneously activated the artifact along with everything else, and the messenger crashed/landed and the earthquake and everything else.
eh?
At this point I am seperating the messenger/spaceship landing with the quake/rift thing.
Though, that brings up a good point, could the Rajaat imprisonment #2/artifact going off/quake signal something else to let the space rhulisti know now is the time to land?
Mwuahahaha!
wow... you guys are waaayyy too spaced for me! :D
;)
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
Though, that brings up a good point, could the Rajaat imprisonment #2/artifact going off/quake signal something else to let the space rhulisti know now is the time to land?
Mwuahahaha!
Ahhh..we're all doomed! Athas doesn't have the metal to make the tinfoil hats to protect us!
Originally posted by beyowulf
Ahhh..we're all doomed! Athas doesn't have the metal to make the tinfoil hats to protect us!
So months later after the slide and the quake, the kreen would still probably be cleaning up, at least what cities took damage from the debris anyways, and probably wouldn't even have time to clean up the swamp area, let alone build a walled citadel
Probably not, but for a race used to using big slug slime to build with (due to lack of other materials), they now have a huge and easily accessible amount of stone that could be mixed with the slug slime as a mortar (the crushed stone would probably be harder to work with than the sand that TKoA mentions the kreen using, but would likely be stronger). The excess could be carted off to the other major cities to build nearly impreginible (gad damn spelling) walls and other structures. These would add a bit of stark contrast to the natural organic nature of the rest of the kreen architecture. The slug slime could also be used to create a stable roadway across the debri fields, amking travel a bit less of a hazard (well, less dangerous for the kreen, anyone else is food for the constant patrols). Likey, in the city of Thaythilor, which would have taken the brunt of the damage from the dust clouds/sandstorms, you would find most of these changes adopted.
Thanks guys, this will work for me.
Originally posted by Pennarin
Wait...shouldn't it be by farting!?!
:D
Nono ... the butterfly effect is supposed to start with a minor movement!
This builds off of the theory that the Zik-chil are the Life-benders of old, and fought horrible wars with the Shapers. The Shapers locked them away after defeating the Brown tide in the Crimson Savanna.
After creating the new races, the bulk of the Rhulisti left Athas behind, creating a life-ship to go elsewhere, leaving a token force behind to guard over their ancient enemy (Thamasku). Go forward a few thousand years, and no one remembers this; Rajaat probably never even knew.
Anyways, after running out of food/oxygen/memory/whatever, the Rhulisti can no longer control their life-ship (why it was a comet rushing around the sun instead of checking in every once in a while - maybe they even set it up so that the orbit of their ship would one day, thousands of years in the future, intercept Athas once again). Due to the passage of time, the life ship does not land gracefully, and, instead of landing in triumph in Thamasku, crashlands in the Crimson Savanna.
The Life-Benders (Zik-chil) gain access to the ancient ship, kill off the Shapers with little effort (since they likely outnumbered them 1,000,000,000 to 1), and take the "technology" inside. After a few years of research (remember that Borys went to go investigate the disappearance of the Wanderer a few years before he "died"), the Benders finally have the means to invade the lands beyond the Savanna.
Whappo! Earthquake happens thanks to combination ritual/Shaper tech.