Tales from the Dragonsong War

Seems they've got four more stories this anniversary, they just posted a fifth entry: What Remains of a Knight.

Wonder if this is going to lead into the Scholasticate quests that have been in limbo.

Haha, I just literally posted my own thoughts on this in a thread of my own. :p (That's what happens when you take too long on a post).

Hard to say, although it does give insight into why Cyr is such a pigheaded idiot, having to deal with a boss like that no wonder.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Hard to say, although it does give insight into why Cyr is such a pigheaded idiot, having to deal with a boss like that no wonder.

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Do you think he'll want to come after us for vengeance, assuming he ever figures out who we are? O:

(I can see that boss-fight, too. He'd try to use his masters' automata against us, only for them to turn on him three seconds later and for us to spend the rest of the fight trying to keep him alive, ala Brayflox.)

I wonder who will be the stars of the next three Tales?

I wouldn't mind one that is specifically about Thordan, or a second one involving other members of the Heaven's Ward.

My guess though? Hilda, Aymeric...and Minfilia.

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Originally Posted by Berethos

I wouldn't mind one that is specifically about Thordan, or a second one involving other members of the Heaven's Ward.

My guess though? Hilda, Aymeric...and Minfilia.

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As in Minfillia after she vanished or Minfilia after she became Hydaelyn's Mouthpiece?

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Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

As in Minfillia after she vanished or Minfilia after she became Hydaelyn's Mouthpiece?

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Bit of both would be neat (from her recounting of events when we meet WOTM, the two events aren't far apart, as far as I can tell).

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Originally Posted by Berethos

I wouldn't mind one that is specifically about Thordan, or a second one involving other members of the Heaven's Ward.

My guess though? Hilda, Aymeric...and Minfilia.

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I'm putting an outside bet on Coultenet, Hoary Boulder and F'lhaminn's Wacky Adventurers in Exotic Lands as one story and maybe Wilred's murder as another, though I expect that one to be addressed in the MSQ itself.

As with previous years, I've held back from commenting until I could translate all versions and consolidate the revelations.
Buuut, they're pretty much identical this time around, so let's just move on.

The timing isn't too, too hard to work out. Lahabrea wouldn't have been discussing the finer points of summoning until he'd worked out how to merge man and god (and Nabriales says that Ysayle was basically the test-run and first success). This lines up with Estinien being successful in drawing Nidhogg's attention by fleeing Ishgard with the Eye for much of 2.00, whereas the wyrm abandons the chase when he senses that Thordan (somehow) gains the power to turn the war around.

Vaindreau is the aging leader of the Heavens' Ward, watching over Thordan when he hears him discussing his ambitions with Lahabrea. He broods over this for a bit before boiling over and storming off to confront the archbishop in the dead of night. Why not cause a bigger scene? Why not flee Ishgard and engage the Scions? Why not trust in the Warrior of Light? Because he wasn't focused on the bigger picture; he was consumed by pain and rage. Fading into the dusk of a life spent entirely in the Heavens' Ward (which he joined in his early twenties), it's foreboding enough to see the Archbishop willing to lend his hear to a mythical harbinger of chaos at all... but given the chance to summon a deiform, he doesn't choose Halone? The archbishop of the very faith to which all of Isghard entrusts itself in the midst of a thousand year war, which proclaims the Fury the truest and greatest of the gods, champion and protector of the Holy See, forsakes her in favor of some thing that sounds more like a savage's primal? Vaindreau's entire life and legacy was dedicated to an archbishop who was moving in contradiction to the core ideals of the Enchiridion. This was personal.

On the opposite side, we see Charibert, still an Inquisitor at the time. Lahabrea moves him into check against Vaindreau, who had become aware of the archbishop's ambitions and was clearly not on board with the plan. This proves Charibert's skill and loyalty, elevating him to the 3rd seat of the Heaven's Ward (the 2nd seat long-occupied by Velleguine, and the 1st being handed to Zephirin of the Temple Knights at Velleguine's request). In light of this, why Hermenost is 9th at the table, despite being a loyal holdover from the previous cabinet, I have no idea.

Anyroad, Thordan gives the order for Zephirin to choose the rest of the ward on martial skill alone; with his "blessing", the Knights Twelve of the God-king would be nigh unstoppable... and if any would step out of line, he could just "bless" them a little harder. (Perhaps despite his loyalty and history, Hermenost is just still the 9th best fighter in Ishgard?)

But Rocl's got me thinking about something else: How many of the current Twelve are newbies, then?

Grinnaux surely; outside of martial skill, he's a horrible person to choose for the Ward. It's conceivable that Paulecrain came with Grinnaux; he, too, was a horrible choice (exiled from the service of House Fortemps and taken in by Dzemael to do their wetwork, which led to his knighthood), and he and the two have been buddies since.

Haumeric is a safe bet, seeing as he was chosen by Zephirin and it looks like Zephirin was only taken from the Temple Knights recently (given that 50% of the Temple Knights are still more loyal to him than Aymeric).

Guerrique I see few clues for, but he might have come from the Temple Knights with Zephirin. Can't say much for Adelphel, either, other than he's young, so it's not a stretch that he's new to the Ward seeing as he's already had a successful military career, and with Janlenoux at that. Perhaps they, too, came in as a set. Noudenet didn't seem to have any career trajectory towards the Ward until he was noticed for aetherial skill, but it doesn't say when.

That leaves Ignasse, a former Knight Dragoon who was close with Vellguine. So did he support the second-in-command's ascension to archmandirate when he was still a Dragoon, or was he already in the Ward when Vaindreau fell?

This is actually more interesting to me, because the story comments that Vaindreau is the last true champion of the ward, whereas we might be seeing only one of several such assassinations, unless a few others just happened to die untimely deaths in recent moons.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

This is actually more interesting to me, because the story comments that Vaindreau is the last true champion of the ward, whereas we might be seeing only one of several such assassinations, unless a few others just happened to die untimely deaths in recent moons.

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I wonder...what if Nidhogg's brood killed a bunch of the Ward at once and that sent the Archbishop over the edge, into Ascian corruption?