Vath Beast Tribe Story/Lore - Thoughts & Discussions [SPOILERS]

[MilesSaintboroguh]

After getting to rank 7 and reaching the "end" (quotations cause there's rank 8 next, but I think it's just loose ends being wrapped up), I thoroughly enjoyed the entire quest line every step of the way. Seeing the Vath Deftarm basically follow the WOL around like an eager kid brother wanting to emulate his hero was endearing and seeing him overcome his personal troubles was a great way to develop his character without needing the WOL to do everything for him.


The scene with the deftarm overcoming the Overmind thanks to bond he shared with the WOL, the hunters, the knights, the goblins, and his own kin may have been a bit cheesy, but I was rooting for him the whole time. Kind of wished he would have put a big injury on the Overmind, but oh well.


He can't wait to come along with us once he becomes stronger and I hope there'll be a quest or even a minor dungeon run where he aids us!

[Unittj]

I want him to come with me to dungeons. Screw the Duty Finder. At least the Deftarm will learn to dodge AoEs.

Aside from that, had the curious thought.

Is this the first time we actually see the proclaimed leader of the tribe? I know the Sahagin have their Matriarch, and then there's the 1st Order patriarch of the Kobolds, as far as I know, they are only name dropped, and that's it. XD

Of course, I get rank 4 Amaljaa tomorrow. And start on the Slyph after. So I may just be the uninformed individual.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

I do believe it's the first time we see the Overmind in person.

[CyrilLucifer]

I was actually surprised to see the Overmind was an "individual" Gnath. That seemed a bit strange to me, but perhaps that was the point. I always considered the Overmind something like a shared mindspace and the term Overmind was just referring to the concept itself, with Onemind being the adjective to describe a state of being.

It makes me intensely curious on what happens when their previous Overmind dies, though. How is their internal power structured?

[MilesSaintboroguh]

I guess whoever can control the minds of their kin because the next Overmind?

[Kotemon]

I guess whoever can control the minds of their kin because the next Overmind?

It's probably more like Ants or Bees replacing a queen of a colony.

What I've learned so far is they eat manure, ferment (and a regurgitate) a type of wine in their bellies (like bees making honey), look like giant talking crabs, and have common tastes and smells with with goblins. Basically some kind of Beetle with a hive mentality.

My favorite part of the lore so far was the option to say "just pick up the damn rocks" (or something along that line)

[PArcher]

Is this the first time we actually see the proclaimed leader of the tribe? I know the Sahagin have their Matriarch, and then there's the 1st Order patriarch of the Kobolds, as far as I know, they are only name dropped, and that's it. XD

Sylphs - I think the Touched One's leader is a Fate boss actually (I don't know if I'm right, but I do recall one Fate having a Touched One Elder being the boss. In Moonspore Grove I think, in the North)

Amalj'aa - Don't think we have, the Amalj'aa we see are decently far from their homelands, so their real leadership isn't here. We do meet the leader of the Flamefang faction though.

Ixal - Not really sure who they're leader is or their society/power structure; been too long since doing the Ixal quests, and don't think they touched on it much at all. At the same time, we aren't at their home, just something more like colonies or far-flung settlements for war.

Sahagan and Kobolds - correct, we haven't seen their leaders (yet...we don't really have access to the Sahagan's city, nor the real Kobold holdings)

Vanu Vanu - We have seen the Vundu leader (think we first meet him in the MSQ when first seeing Bismark)

Moogles - Twelveswood we have not, Churning Mists we do (again, MSQ related).

Goblins - Well, we all know the Illuminati boss by now, right?

[Khalithar]

Sylphs - I think the Touched One's leader is a Fate boss actually (I don't know if I'm right, but I do recall one Fate having a Touched One Elder being the boss. In Moonspore Grove I think, in the North)

You kill the leader of that group trying to steal the podling when you're making your escape with Voyce.

As for the final story with the Vath, the storyteller informs you that even if the Overmind dies another one is chosen. So I don't think the Gnath we see is the true leader so much as a vessel, also based on his abilities I think I understand the point of it. The Overmind reaches in to the thoughts of all Gnath and as we can see it's reach is long, but that physical vessel allows it a much closer proximity to other Gnath and it appears closer proximity = more powerful control. At least that's my personal theory on it going forward.

[SaitoHikari]

I actually wonder if the Overmind is actually an Echo-blessed Gnath. If it dies, it may transfer itself to another host body much like what we saw with the Sahagin elder in the MSQ during Leviathan's summoning. The control it has over other Gnath is rather similar to tempering as well.

[CyrilLucifer]

That's an interesting idea, but not exactly for the reasons you've stated. The power of the Echo, after all, is to break the barriers of existence. We've already seen a shared mindspace with Lahayorhm so the ability of the Overmind the influence others via those broken barriers is not entirely outside the realm of possibility. The Echo itself can manifest in many different ways.

That being said, we don't really have direct evidence of it and the Overmind may instead do it partially hormonally or induce submission through alternative abilities not available to other spoken or beast races, like true insects. But speculation is always fun.