Re: Who hit the Bat?

From: jeffrichard68 <richj_at_...>
Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 17:22:44 -0000


I'd like to suggest that Kallyr was not centrally involved in the Bat-slaying. Starbrow's Rebellion, OiD, the Boat Planet and the Dragonrising are Kallyr's defining moments. Whitewall should be Broyan's.

> So that's fixed. My thinking for the Bat was...its kind of on
standby
> for the long-planned invasion, just like it was for Sartar. The
enemy
> is stupid enough to resist in a city (Runegate, Whitewall) so you
> call in air support. But of course if that were true, then it
would
> have been there just a few DAYS after the initial assault.

Not necessarily - you might want to have the Bat just looming there, spreading fear, encouraging dissent and treason, and eating the locals. Consider it psychological warfare.

> At the moment, I've got it appearing in Dark Season, some 17 weeks
> after the first skirmishes. Neither bird nor beast, so to speak. I
> think I did this basically to spread out major events over the two
> plus years.

This seems right to me. It takes a long time for the Bat to show up from whereever it was summoned. In fact - I don't think that Fazzur initially wanted the Bat as part of the invasion. For all its psychological effectiveness, the Bat really stirs up the Orlanthi. Imagine how its presence angers and infuriates the Orlanthi (and damages the pro-Lunar cause) as it slowly flies across Sartar, eating tribesmen along the way....

> * Move it back to the very start of the invasion - which makes
sense,
> but is kinda anticlimactic dramatically

I don't think it makes sense - and it might be logistically impossible. The Bat needs a lot of food! And it's food is the same folk that the army needs to have around so that the men can be fed.

> I've no particular preference either way at this stage. Do we want
to
> give Broyan all the glory for the bat-blat? Does Kallyr's power
and
> leadership become apparent only as the siege wears on, gradually
> eclipsing her friend and former master, and possibly generating
> leadership tensions? (Kallyr served Broyan 'personally' in 1617
> according to OID.) Or does her star shine from the very beginning,
> helping out her old buddy to make the bat skat?
>
> I'd welcome ideas on this.

Again, I'd recommend that Broyan gets the glory for the bat-blat. I think that Broyan's later willingness to throw his reputation behind Kallyr helps her out tremendously (there are an awful lot of Sartarites that still resent her for Starbrow's Rebellion). After all, Broyan is more than just High King of the Volsaxi, he becomes "the last Orlanthi" and the "last free King" in the minds of the Lunars and the Orlanthi alike.

Besides, I'd like to develop another hero other than Kallyr.

> (On a more general point, how will we resolve differences like
this?
> I'm coming at this relatively fresh, though a bit obsessively: I
know
> many of the issues have been considered in depth by some of you
over
> several years. Will we use a poll to vote on alternatives for
> disagreeable or open points? Do we want to build a concensus
model,
> or mark certain areas for multiple interpretations?)

I'd play it by ear.

Jeff

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