The Speculation Thread

Forged in the Dark Band of Blades
61

Revisiting this in light of things written elsewhere -

  1. We know that the god of Royin has not yet Chosen (p354)
  2. Stras has mentioned (AMA thread) that the blue-skinned Bartan goddess has chosen, and that her Chosen survived the Great Breaking and may turn up in campaign #3
  3. Stras had also mentioned (AMA thread) that the third Orite god is not choosing right now. So: one Chosen, one Broken, one nervously keeping out of it.

All Panyar, Royin, Orite and Aldermani gods (and existing Chosen/Broken) are now accounted for.

[With the caveat that new Orite or Royin Chosen might come into play later, as a surprise reinforcement]

So…

  • The fifth and final Chosen struck down in the great breaking was Bartan or Zemyati. Given the special status of the Living God’s Chosen, my headcanon is Bartan unless word of god says otherwise.

  • If the surviving Aldermani twin was not one of the Chosen at - and surviving - the great breaking (and I’m assuming they weren’t, based on the way the book positions this), then the question is whether the surviving Orite Chosen was there.

…if so, three are accounted for, and the last one’s Bartan or Zemyati

…if not, only two are accounted for, and the other two are Bartan or Zemyati

Either way, that’s a maximum of six Bartan Chosen accounted for. And there are seven major Bartan gods. So at least one hasn’t Chosen, or has Chosen recently, since the Breaking…?

And on the other side of the world, we have the First Broken. Not from Aldermark or an eastern kingdom - unless one of the Living God’s ancient Chosen went wandering that way and eventually fell foul of the newly risen Cinder King, which I would not rule out.

Not from Royin.

…from Andrastus? Maybe. But one of the Broken is still fighting there now, so it’s not fallen. Which suggests Chosen support. So maybe not?

From Dar? Well, maybe not, given comments elsewhere. Then again, maybe yes…

Bone Wastes, then? But we know nothing about the gods of Andrastus or the wastes, not even how many there are, so…

(Thoughts?)

2 Likes
62

I am really really interested in what truth the Cinder King said to Render to turn him into rage/wrath and also willing to continue crusade in case Cinder King falls…
So for what reason must humanity be destroyed after Cinder Kings falls (to avoid they worship the Living God?) or just vengeance? But that truth wouldnt turn Render to rage.
Betrayal would turn to rage and/or vengeance, and the only person Render cared for was the Living God, so being told of a betrayal by the Living God seems most likely. That the Living God is somehow responsible for the Cinder King or that the Living God is lie (There is no Living God, or the Living God is Living from the death (stopping blood flow) of people and thus converting all people to Undead will undo the Living God?
This is killing me…

1 Like
63

Hello there, I think I’m late to the convo but:

The Cinder King’s objective is the annihilation of the human species (as confirmed by Stras), and he has a disdain for the divine (p. 413).

All supernatural powers and items are derived from the physical manifestation of the gods in the mortal world. Many of the problems Chosen are created to deal with can eventually be traced to a previous intercession by the gods. (p.158)

Breaking a Chosen impacts the god inside the mortal vessel (also confirmed by Stras).

The gods care about humanity, but do not care about humans. (p. 336)

So…

I believe that if we could understand why the gods care for humanity at all, we would discover why the Cinder King seems to erradicate it.

My two cents: The gods care about humanity because they’re their extension in this world, they’re the medium through they can manifest as Chosen and impact its course. The Cinder King, hating gods for whichever reason, is trying to wipe humanity to prevent the influence of gods on the world.