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But wait.. I just had a thought.. if Calystix was able to spawn the Leviathan, does that mean (if the Coralax EAT will still be released) that us players can't be Shapers like Calystix cause we can't summon huge Leviathans like that (I doub't we'll be able to spawn zone-sized pets, lol)? and does that mean we'll be Coralax-Hybrids? that would suck, I don't wanna be human or part human or an infected human, apox on humans. =P
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As I said a few pages back, I'm almost certain that player Coralax would be hybrids. This is simply another reason why.
However, here are a few words and thoughts of comfort:
- I remain convinced that the the important part of a Coralax hybrid is the coral, not the host. If the coral budded from a Shaper, then the hybrid is a Shaper, too. So far as I know, nothing like this has ever appeared in-game, but there's no evidence against it, either. Again, other than the backgrounder, which mentions Coralax cities in the sea, we know next to nothing about the "home life" of the Coralax.
- NON-COX SPOILER! Speaking of Fish-men, consider the protagonist of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." He could be classed as an "infected human" or "part human," but that doesn't make him any less a Deep One, does it? (It's tough for me to comment here; I've never been as impressed with Lovecraft as most sf/f mavens seem to be.)
- What evidence is there that Calystix is in any way typical of Shapers as a whole? Couldn't Calystix be an especially gifted Shaper, able to call up a Leviathan where other Shapers could only manage, say, a Coral Underling? I find it easy to imagine Calystix as the Coralax counterpart of a hero or villain, possessing abilities that other Coralax might find unusual or frightening. In fact, couldn't Calystix be to Shapers (or all Coralax) as Statesman and Lord Recluse are to Incarnates, a pinnacle a PC could never hope to reach? At any rate, being the only member of the race hanging around on the surface and making deals with the Freakshow strongly implies a very unusual Coralax.
- The Shaper designation could be something left to the player, not a component of the AT. Most of the posts in this thread implicitly assume that "Shaper" is a set of physical characteristics, but it could easily be simply a social designation. By way of analogy, it could be more like "character with a backstory involving aliens" than "Warshade." Basically, if you say your character is a Shaper, it's a Shaper.
- How many Shapers are there? Might Calystix be the only one (at this time), or one of less than ten? Again, we have no way of knowing. If there are very few of them, we're unlikely to be able to play them as a sub-AT, regardless of whether player Coralax are "pure" Coralax or not.
- Even if you can't be a Shaper, that in no way implies you have to be a hybrid. Again, we just don't know.
So, I suppose my advice is, "Don't get your hopes up, but it's premature to despair." Personally, regardless of what the epic AT is, Coralax or otherwise, I will make one and enjoy it as a gameplay curiosity if nothing else.
Edited to add analogy to Incarnates and spell "protagonist" correctly.
"Bombarding the CoH/V fora with verbosity since January, 2006"
Djinniman, level 50 inv/fire tanker, on Victory
-and 40 others on various servers
A CoH Comic: Kid Eros in "One Light"
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- I remain convinced that the the important part of a Coralax hybrid is the coral, not the host. If the coral budded from a Shaper, then the hybrid is a Shaper, too. So far as I know, nothing like this has ever appeared in-game, but there's no evidence against it, either. Again, other than the backgrounder, which mentions Coralax cities in the sea, we know next to nothing about the "home life" of the Coralax.
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I'm still gonna stick with my old argument: I don't want to be made by the Coralax (as a Coralax-Hyrbid), I want to be a real Coralax who is made by the actual goddess Merulina, but let's not get into that one again, LOL.
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- NON-COX SPOILER! Speaking of Fish-men, consider the protagonist of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth." He could be classed as an "infected human" or "part human," but that doesn't make him any less a Deep One, does it? (It's tough for me to comment here; I've never been as impressed with Lovecraft as most sf/f mavens seem to be.)
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While I haven't read all of HPL's books, I'm still a big Cthulhu fan. 
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- What evidence is there that Calystix is in any way typical of Shapers as a whole? Couldn't Calystix be an especially gifted Shaper, able to call up a Leviathan where other Shapers could only manage, say, a Coral Underling? I find it easy to imagine Calystix as the Coralax counterpart of a hero or villain, possessing abilities that other Coralax might find unusual or frightening. In fact, couldn't Calystix be to Shapers (or all Coralax) as Statesman and Lord Recluse are to Incarnates, a pinnacle a PC could never hope to reach? At any rate, being the only member of the race hanging around on the surface and making deals with the Freakshow strongly implies a very unusual Coralax.
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Well, Calystix has always been a Shaper, and so far, there's no mention of Calystix being special. The limiting of the Shaper population might be just because of the devs' plans on keeping the story small. Although, Calystix is quite a popular Shaper; he's attempted to use the Leviathan against the world a few times already. Anyway, is he the Statesman or Lord Recluse of the Coralax? I don't think so, but I do think he's one of the many Shapers. I wouldn't mind being the "other" type of Coralax Merulina made after the Shapers, I just don't want to be made by Coralax instead of Merulina herself. It's like human being made in a testube.
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- How many Shapers are there? Might Calystix be the only one (at this time), or one of less than ten? Again, we have no way of knowing. If there are very few of them, we're unlikely to be able to play them as a sub-AT, regardless of whether player Coralax are "pure" Coralax or not.
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I wasn't really being serious about being a Shaper, since, overall, Shapers seem more divine and their status just makes them better NPCs. I just didn't want to be playing a Coralax-Hybrid - like I said, testube baby!
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- Even if you can't be a Shaper, that in no way implies you have to be a hybrid. Again, we just don't know.
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Right.
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So, I suppose my advice is, "Don't get your hopes up, but it's premature to despair." Personally, regardless of what the epic AT is, Coralax or otherwise, I will make one and enjoy it as a gameplay curiosity if nothing else.
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My hopes are never up, lol. The devs can refuse to make the Coralax an EAT with the snap of a finger, so I'm not even gonna be excited about it. You'll see me getting my hopes up and jumping around like crazy in the forums when a the devs give us actual official info that they're coming. So far, they're still a "maybe."
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So far, they're still a "maybe."
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Sad, but true....
@CrimsonOriole
I have not read the entire thread (Started at around page twenty XD), but one thing on Coralax I was wondering about, is Barracuda.
*Spoilers I suppose!*
You probably know this already, but in the Diviner Maros Arc, it suggested she could be controlled by Calystix if she got too close. However, then this in turn means she retained a will of her own after becoming a Coralax Hybrid.
On this matter though, it is also suggested that she became evil and cold after being transformed. It is not specific if this was the doing of the transformation itself, or her mental response to it.
So I was curious... is it touched on why she retained her will, and why her personality changed? If not, then this might tie into how the EAT could be introduced.
another matter, if i remember correctly, in the arc where you fight her and the freaks in the cult of the shaper, baracuda looks exactly as all other hybrids. she didn't have any fancy costume pieces or coral grafts if you will.
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another matter, if i remember correctly, in the arc where you fight her and the freaks in the cult of the shaper, baracuda looks exactly as all other hybrids. she didn't have any fancy costume pieces or coral grafts if you will.
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Well, actually she does look a bit different. For one, her face is a lot more humanoid.
http://paragonwiki.com/index.php?tit...:Barracuda.jpg
However, aside from that the only real difference I see is that she has more human flesh tones. Perhaps she's in a slightly earlier stage of the transformation, but that would seem odd considering her power compared to other hybrids.
you're right, she doesn't have the gaping mouth hole
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I have not read the entire thread (Started at around page twenty XD), but one thing on Coralax I was wondering about, is Barracuda.
*Spoilers I suppose!*
You probably know this already, but in the Diviner Maros Arc, it suggested she could be controlled by Calystix if she got too close. However, then this in turn means she retained a will of her own after becoming a Coralax Hybrid.
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Coralax-Hyrbids are (as we all know) humans infused with coral. All the Coralax coral are made from the goddess Merulina, thus, they're all connected to one source. Calystix, being a Shaper (Merulina's and the Coralax's assigned priests and priestesses), probably had the power to control lesser coral-infected or coral-made beings with ease. Besides, if I remember correctly, the ritual or the Leviathan needed a sacrifice.
Anyway, I have to be honest, I haven't read the "Cult of the Shaper" arc in awhile, but if I remember correctly, they didn't literally explain why we were supposed to stop Barracuda, other than keeping her from knowing about her origin and how she became a Coralax-Hybrid, or why it would be so bad if Calystix got a hold of Barracuda (she might be special, but who knows? only the devs.)
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On this matter though, it is also suggested that she became evil and cold after being transformed. It is not specific if this was the doing of the transformation itself, or her mental response to it.
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I just disregaurded that as that old saying about mermaids, how their hearts are as cold as the sea in which they dwell or something like that. It could be something to think about, but so far, it doesn't really connect with anything (to me anyway, feel free to post any thoughts or connections you have.)
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So I was curious... is it touched on why she retained her will, and why her personality changed? If not, then this might tie into how the EAT could be introduced.
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Hm, we'll see.
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another matter, if i remember correctly, in the arc where you fight her and the freaks in the cult of the shaper, baracuda looks exactly as all other hybrids. she didn't have any fancy costume pieces or coral grafts if you will.
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She's a Coralax-Hybrid, so I'm just surprised she's not exactly like them. Barracuda's actually beautiful, compared to the other bad-postured, monkey-walking Coralax-Hybrids.
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However, aside from that the only real difference I see is that she has more human flesh tones. Perhaps she's in a slightly earlier stage of the transformation, but that would seem odd considering her power compared to other hybrids.
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She may be something special, but only the devs or writers can tell us what's going on.
Anyway, out of all the sidekicks, Barracuda seems to be the least described or least explored in my opinion (compared to Ice Mistral, Silver Mantis, and Wretch.) It may have something to do with her being a contact for the Coralax EAT, but we can only wait and hope the EAT will come out, lol.
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I have not read the entire thread (Started at around page twenty XD), but one thing on Coralax I was wondering about, is Barracuda.
*Spoilers I suppose!*
You probably know this already, but in the Diviner Maros Arc, it suggested she could be controlled by Calystix if she got too close. However, then this in turn means she retained a will of her own after becoming a Coralax Hybrid.
[/ QUOTE ]
Coralax-Hyrbids are (as we all know) humans infused with coral. All the Coralax coral are made from the goddess Merulina, thus, they're all connected to one source. Calystix, being a Shaper (Merulina's and the Coralax's assigned priests and priestesses), probably had the power to control lesser coral-infected or coral-made beings with ease. Besides, if I remember correctly, the ritual or the Leviathan needed a sacrifice.
Anyway, I have to be honest, I haven't read the "Cult of the Shaper" arc in awhile, but if I remember correctly, they didn't literally explain why we were supposed to stop Barracuda, other than keeping her from knowing about her origin and how she became a Coralax-Hybrid, or why it would be so bad if Calystix got a hold of Barracuda (she might be special, but who knows? only the devs.)
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Well, I was more so touching on that she's not really a lackey. Where as the other Coralax seem to be rather unintelligent and single minded, she seems rather unaffected by this. Initially I suspected she might be a Coralax spy within Arachnos (When I first heard about her, fairly newbish to the game), but after encountering her... it seemed to suggest she knew relatively nothing about the Coralax. The main reason I brought up the fact that it mentioned Calystix could control her if she was close, it brought a few thoughts to my mind. Particularly the fact that it seemed to suggest she was not already under Coralax control, but it also made me wonder... perhaps the Coralax Hybrids require a natural Coralax or a shaper to be brought under control. Of course this is just a simple hypothesis.
However, I'm rambling. Pretty much my over all point by bringing her up was that there are perhaps people who have adverse affects to the transformation. She is far stronger than your average hybrid, retains a more humanoid form and her will. So if there is a Coralax Hybrid EAT, it is quite possible it will be more than simple lackies.
*Spoilers... just out of caution.*
Random Side Note: The sacrifice to the Leviathan was supposed to be the player, as it required a human of wicked heart to show the Leviathan that humans were "evil", and that would supposedly allow Calystix to control the Leviathan. If I am not mistaken anyway.
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However, I'm rambling. Pretty much my over all point by bringing her up was that there are perhaps people who have adverse affects to the transformation. She is far stronger than your average hybrid, retains a more humanoid form and her will. So if there is a Coralax Hybrid EAT, it is quite possible it will be more than simple lackies.
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It depends though. We haven't really been introduced to who Barracuda is, so we'll see. The same goes for Coralax-Hybrids. Maybe there are different levels of infection or hierarchy, but the only thing I was concerned about was that I wanted to be one of the actual people, not a testube baby (like my earlier example, lol.)
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Random Side Note: The sacrifice to the Leviathan was supposed to be the player, as it required a human of wicked heart to show the Leviathan that humans were "evil", and that would supposedly allow Calystix to control the Leviathan. If I am not mistaken anyway.
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Yeah.. I haven't read it in awhile.
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Oh I had ideas alright: 
Wait, no, not that.. this one..
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Ah, finally more Coralax news.
The Gaurdian? I assume this is the Leviathan. I mean, what else could it be? It can't be Merulina, but then again it can be, but it's not very likely seeing as it's almost clear that it's the Leviathan that they're digging up, the one entombed beneath Sharkhead Isle.
Although, Merulina could have been made out of coral herself, so her people and the Leviathan could have always been and may always will be a part of her, hence, the "alien presence" they're talking about. Besides, I think it's pretty obvious. Who did Calystix send after the Mu when Hequat raised that Coralax city from the depths of the sea for it to become the Mu's? Yep, the Leviathan, ergo, the Gaurdian of the Coralax.
It's just the red coral I'm thinking about. It can't all be the Leviathan, Merulina must have something to do with the red coral animating those Slag Golems. That, or another powerful Shaper maybe, but I have a feeling it's Merulina, eventhough she's nowhere to be found.
Darn, devs, please tell me this story will be in this "big storyline" for next year.
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Hmmm random speculation, maybe different "sets" of Coralax will be avaliable for different varieties of the coral shaped entities. MAYBE Slag Golems can be played as a heavy melee role. Crazy out there speculation but hey just wanted to say it. Will the expansion be an EXPANSION to CoX, or will it be the third "Co"? I havent read up on any of this lately but POSSIBLY the next box will be City of Coralax or whatever they choose to name it, with 5 or so varieties of Coralax (Hybrids Shapers Golems Who-knows-whats). I'm probably gonna get called out on how my ideas are wrong in 50 different ways but i just felt like tossing it out there. also...
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Exactly the animal headed gods, man headed animals are images you see in Egyptian art. So a shifter that can do animal or animal part shifting would be very appropriate to the mythology. And we do know that they like to take mythology and twist it slightly. We get the myths but they aren't what we think they are.
It's an idea for how the EAT might be anyway. Without more information from the devs its just wild speculation though.
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More stupid ideas, what if BotBS attacks involve single part morphing? Turning your arms into squid tentacles for a second to lash at the enemy, aligator head to bite, panther claws to scratch. Stuff like that. Instantaneous short lived body part morphing to execute powers/attacks. Also prepared to have this idea shot down lol. =p
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More stupid ideas, what if BotBS attacks involve single part morphing? Turning your arms into squid tentacles for a second to lash at the enemy, aligator head to bite, panther claws to scratch. Stuff like that. Instantaneous short lived body part morphing to execute powers/attacks. Also prepared to have this idea shot down lol. =p
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You wouldn't need an AT to do that. That would be akin to a "drawing" animation you could apply to any AT. You could have a "shape shifting" Scrapper set if that's all it was.
If Kheldians are any guide, the Epic ATs will represent something they could not do simply by creating a new powerset for existing ATs.
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It depends though. We haven't really been introduced to who Barracuda is, so we'll see. The same goes for Coralax-Hybrids. Maybe there are different levels of infection or hierarchy, but the only thing I was concerned about was that I wanted to be one of the actual people, not a testube baby (like my earlier example, lol.)
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Pretty much I figured this. I just thought I'd point out that even if it is hybrids, they would not necsarrily be the Coralax's servants. I have fewer problems with being a hybrid as long as my character has their own will. Might be partially because as a hybrid it might give the player the unique aspect of being able to see the sides of each argument with relative clarity.
Though a random thought: Perhaps the Coralax hybrids are true Coralax after they complete their transformation (Coralax already sound as if they have varying types, since the first were very special and almost "elite" as the Shapers, so the hybrids may become a lower type). Though this would not break the "test tube baby" point you had. Most of this is of course just random speculation though. I just have fun overthinking things. >.>
Edit: Oh, and I just recalled something I meant to post the first time when I posted in this thread. Its rather unimportant, but on the subject of Incarnates I noticed someone said Tartarus had nothing to do with Spiders. This is true for the most part, but there is a very small link so to speak. Tartarus is a genera of spider in the Stiphidiidae family. Though this is most likely coincidental, particularly because the Recluse Spider belongs to a different family if I'm not mistaken.
[ QUOTE ]
Hmmm random speculation, maybe different "sets" of Coralax will be avaliable for different varieties of the coral shaped entities. MAYBE Slag Golems can be played as a heavy melee role. Crazy out there speculation but hey just wanted to say it. Will the expansion be an EXPANSION to CoX, or will it be the third "Co"? I havent read up on any of this lately but POSSIBLY the next box will be City of Coralax or whatever they choose to name it, with 5 or so varieties of Coralax (Hybrids Shapers Golems Who-knows-whats). I'm probably gonna get called out on how my ideas are wrong in 50 different ways but i just felt like tossing it out there.
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Well, it's too optimistic if you ask me. 
I don't think the devs would put THAT much effort into making EATs. I'd expect at least two classes, and probably no more than 3 would be a rational assumption. I have my hopes on two though. Five is just.. alot, and I'm basing that on the fact that the devs have never went in that direction, where they make something too.. well.. more than usual. One indirect but related example would be Dark Melee from Brutes to Stalkers. They could have changed Dark Melee a bit more, but they just chose to change a few powers and basically keep it the same way. Also judging from the Kheldians, the two sets are basically the same, the only difference is in their attacks and the numbers they deal out. If they can barely make two EATs, I don't think they'd go for five, lol. Anyway, I'd say 2 at the very least, and maybe 3 if we're really lucky. I'd be fine with 2 though.
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More stupid ideas, what if BotBS attacks involve single part morphing? Turning your arms into squid tentacles for a second to lash at the enemy, aligator head to bite, panther claws to scratch. Stuff like that. Instantaneous short lived body part morphing to execute powers/attacks. Also prepared to have this idea shot down lol. =p
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I wouldn't be surprised. I'm not calling the devs lazy or anything, but they wouldn't want to do something that costs too much. So if whole body shapeshifting for every attack is too expensive, they're not gonna do it.
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If Kheldians are any guide, the Epic ATs will represent something they could not do simply by creating a new powerset for existing ATs.
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Agreed.
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Pretty much I figured this. I just thought I'd point out that even if it is hybrids, they would not necsarrily be the Coralax's servants. I have fewer problems with being a hybrid as long as my character has their own will. Might be partially because as a hybrid it might give the player the unique aspect of being able to see the sides of each argument with relative clarity.
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Like I said before, there are plenty of reasons why the devs might just let us be Coralax-Hybrids, but at the same time, we wouldn't really be playing the people, and we would be following the part-human trait the Kheldians share with their hosts.
In my opinion, there's a difference between playing a being of one race, and playing a being that is made by another race. I don't want to make it sound offensive, so don't take this the wrong way (everyone), but I don't want to play a "mixed blood" (again, I don't mean that to be offensive or personal.) I don't really know how to put it out there correctly. There's just something about playing the actual Coralax race that makes someone more important compared to playing an infected semi-human race that the Coralax made. It seems degrading in a way (or to me it is, hehe.)
Anyway, that's just me. That's just me.
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Though a random thought: Perhaps the Coralax hybrids are true Coralax after they complete their transformation (Coralax already sound as if they have varying types, since the first were very special and almost "elite" as the Shapers, so the hybrids may become a lower type). Though this would not break the "test tube baby" point you had. Most of this is of course just random speculation though. I just have fun overthinking things. >.>
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I'd love that, actually. Transforming into one is definitely acceptable since eventually, you will be one of the true Coralax, and not a human hybrid anymore.
That random thought actually popped up while I was typing the post. XD I was surprised that the thought suddenly hit me, but it was due to a few random things. Primarily I had wondered if the Coralax were divided into a "caste" system so to speak due to the fact that Shapers seemed to be high and mighty from the description. Then I also thought about something already discussed. Calystix is a shaper, or at least claims himself to be, and yet he looks like a Hybrid. Though most of his body is covered by a cloak, it cannot be too radically different, as he appears to adhere the humanoid body type of most characters in the game, and there was not too much room for an massive protrusions under the cloak.
So... assuming Calystix is indeed a pure Coralax and a Shaper... then it is reasonable to believe that hybrids are more Coralax than human in the degrees we've seen. And they appear to act almost like the serfs of the Coralax.
Though this is all just speculation as everything else I said is, I just thought I'd list what I thinking when I said that, to make sure I have my facts straight.
With that out of the way though, an interesting thought crossed my mind. What if the unique contacts given for the EAT gradually treat your character with more respect as they crawl through the ranks of the Coralax from Hybrid to full fledged Coralax or better. Kind of like how some of my contacts later in my villains life seem to treat him like he's relatively well known (Or very well known), as opposed to the early ones who seem to initially emphasize you're a "nothing".
Disclaimer: Spoilers
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Calystix is a shaper, or at least claims himself to be, and yet he looks like a Hybrid. Though most of his body is covered by a cloak, it cannot be too radically different, as he appears to adhere the humanoid body type of most characters in the game, and there was not too much room for an massive protrusions under the cloak.
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No, no, we do know he's in fact a Shaper, and don't let the cloak fool you, you never know what could be under there. Besides, the cloak was implemented for two (or three) possible reasons: (1) The devs haven't cooked up what the real Coralax would look like yet (2) The devs doesn't want to reveal what they've cooked up for the real Coralax yet or (3) all of the above.
The Coralax-Hybrid is already too awesome of a design, I doubt the difference between a Hybrid and a real Coralax differ that much, but ofcourse, I'm speculating based on the degree of the art, which is, judging from the CoV art book (came with the collector's edition) is quite creative and unique.
Anyway, Calystix is apparently one of the most renowned Shapers of all time, one proof is that he's able to summon the Leviathan, another would be that he is practically longe-aged or immortal since he's been doing this for quite some time now, even dating back to ancient Rome, and another one is that he's the only Shaper getting all the limelight. He's constructed cults, done sacrifices, and everytime he always comes back, and everytime he tries to awaken the entombed Leviathan to devour the humans. One incident in particular pit him against a goddess. A goddess named Hequat, the goddess of the Mu people, who (Hequat) raised land from the abyss to make it her and the Mu's own, only to find out that the island was already inhabited by Coralax. Calystix sends the Leviathan, but this is where the Leviathan is entombed under the island, the island in which we now call Sharkhead Isle.
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With that out of the way though, an interesting thought crossed my mind. What if the unique contacts given for the EAT gradually treat your character with more respect as they crawl through the ranks of the Coralax from Hybrid to full fledged Coralax or better. Kind of like how some of my contacts later in my villains life seem to treat him like he's relatively well known (Or very well known), as opposed to the early ones who seem to initially emphasize you're a "nothing".
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It will all depend on how the Coralax society works. So far, we don't really know anything, other than they are somewhat tyrannical, using the Virtea (a race of fish people) and enslaving them. Anyway, we'll see. We're gonna need more information on the Coralax and their society as a whole for this to be worked out.
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No, no, we do know he's in fact a Shaper, and don't let the cloak fool you, you never know what could be under there. Besides, the cloak was implemented for two (or three) possible reasons: (1) The devs haven't cooked up what the real Coralax would look like yet (2) The devs doesn't want to reveal what they've cooked up for the real Coralax yet or (3) all of the above.
The Coralax-Hybrid is already too awesome of a design, I doubt the difference between a Hybrid and a real Coralax differ that much, but ofcourse, I'm speculating based on the degree of the art, which is, judging from the CoV art book (came with the collector's edition) is quite creative and unique.
Anyway, Calystix is apparently one of the most renowned Shapers of all time, one proof is that he's able to summon the Leviathan, another would be that he is practically longe-aged or immortal since he's been doing this for quite some time now, even dating back to ancient Rome, and another one is that he's the only Shaper getting all the limelight. He's constructed cults, done sacrifices, and everytime he always comes back, and everytime he tries to awaken the entombed Leviathan to devour the humans. One incident in particular pit him against a goddess. A goddess named Hequat, the goddess of the Mu people, who (Hequat) raised land from the abyss to make it her and the Mu's own, only to find out that the island was already inhabited by Coralax. Calystix sends the Leviathan, but this is where the Leviathan is entombed under the island, the island in which we now call Sharkhead Isle.
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I knew most of the information on Calystix. I just said it like that because I'm paranoid. I do agree he is a Shaper though, as most of my thoughts pertained to him being one. I just tossed that little sentiment in just in case we're thrown a plot twist down the road. Though I should explain my main meaning behind the comments of him looking similar to hybrids. My main point was that he was humanoid, and formed from Coral, which is the appearance most of the hybrids have. Though I suppose I may of been a bit hasty, he could have a body type more like a golem or devouring earth with less defined hands or feet.
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It will all depend on how the Coralax society works. So far, we don't really know anything, other than they are somewhat tyrannical, using the Virtea (a race of fish people) and enslaving them. Anyway, we'll see. We're gonna need more information on the Coralax and their society as a whole for this to be worked out.
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And yes, I agree that we need to know more about the Coralax. I just enjoy speculating and forming ideas to toss out there. Not much else to do. XD
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My main point was that he was humanoid, and formed from Coral, which is the appearance most of the hybrids have. Though I suppose I may of been a bit hasty, he could have a body type more like a golem or devouring earth with less defined hands or feet.
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Oh gosh no.. not even real coral look that ugly, lol. Real coral are actually very beautiful.
Anyway, this comes from the (who seems to be) the concept designer of the Coralax-Hybrids (or maybe just an artist hired to sketch from a reference.) His name is Ocala Bellows Kulig, and that's from his website. Now, I'm not sure about everyone else, but I really think those drawings are very beautiful. I know the Coralax-Hybrids in the game aren't all that appealing, but those concept drawings are very, very elegant and graceful to me, and I have a strong feeling that's what real Coralax will look like, except more detailed and using more coral as clothing options.
Wow, Ocean. Thanks for linking to that site...now it's easy to see the true concept for some of the costume pieces (plants, insectoid, etc). I really hope that guy isn't a fake...though I can easily believe that he is a designer. The Coralax-Hybrids are absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Too bad CoX's colors aren't that vivid...the ingame hybrids would look MUCH better.
BTW, there haven't been any Virtean Coralax-Hybrids have there?
@CrimsonOriole
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- I remain convinced that the the important part of a Coralax hybrid is the coral, not the host. If the coral budded from a Shaper, then the hybrid is a Shaper, too. So far as I know, nothing like this has ever appeared in-game, but there's no evidence against it, either. Again, other than the backgrounder, which mentions Coralax cities in the sea, we know next to nothing about the "home life" of the Coralax.
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I'm still gonna stick with my old argument: I don't want to be made by the Coralax (as a Coralax-Hyrbid), I want to be a real Coralax who is made by the actual goddess Merulina, but let's not get into that one again, LOL.
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I'd say if it's Coralax we see, we'll see *Coralax,* or a very unusual sort of hybrid.
I'm looking at this from the viewpoint of Kheldians. In-game, we've got the three Galaxy ranks, each a little more powerful - but the player is more powerful than them.
In-game, we've got red, green, and blue Coralax hybrids... the player would absolutely be more powerful, more "developed" or "true" to a Coralax.
Now, yes, we'd probably have to face (and defeat) stronger or more pure-blooded (pure-coraled?) Coralax, much as Khelds face Arakhn and Requiem as well as cysts and whatnot. We will, of course, have far more tools to do so.
If we're not pure Coralax, we'll be closer to it than the hybrids we see. That's my guess, at least.
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Disclaimer: Spoilers
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Calystix is a shaper, or at least claims himself to be, and yet he looks like a Hybrid. Though most of his body is covered by a cloak, it cannot be too radically different, as he appears to adhere the humanoid body type of most characters in the game, and there was not too much room for an massive protrusions under the cloak.
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No, no, we do know he's in fact a Shaper, and don't let the cloak fool you, you never know what could be under there. Besides, the cloak was implemented for two (or three) possible reasons: (1) The devs haven't cooked up what the real Coralax would look like yet (2) The devs doesn't want to reveal what they've cooked up for the real Coralax yet or (3) all of the above.
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Reason 4: To make him more "priestly." Costuming does play a part in telling a story.
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- I remain convinced that the the important part of a Coralax hybrid is the coral, not the host. If the coral budded from a Shaper, then the hybrid is a Shaper, too. So far as I know, nothing like this has ever appeared in-game, but there's no evidence against it, either. Again, other than the backgrounder, which mentions Coralax cities in the sea, we know next to nothing about the "home life" of the Coralax.
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I'm still gonna stick with my old argument: I don't want to be made by the Coralax (as a Coralax-Hyrbid), I want to be a real Coralax who is made by the actual goddess Merulina, but let's not get into that one again, LOL.
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I'd say if it's Coralax we see, we'll see *Coralax,* or a very unusual sort of hybrid.
I'm looking at this from the viewpoint of Kheldians. In-game, we've got the three Galaxy ranks, each a little more powerful - but the player is more powerful than them.
In-game, we've got red, green, and blue Coralax hybrids... the player would absolutely be more powerful, more "developed" or "true" to a Coralax.
Now, yes, we'd probably have to face (and defeat) stronger or more pure-blooded (pure-coraled?) Coralax, much as Khelds face Arakhn and Requiem as well as cysts and whatnot. We will, of course, have far more tools to do so.
If we're not pure Coralax, we'll be closer to it than the hybrids we see. That's my guess, at least.
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If we're not pure Coralax, I believe we'll end up being something like Barracuda, except probably having an option to have more detail as in Coralax-related costumes.
As far as facing other Coralax, yes, I'm gonna have to agree with that one. The Coralax are already divided. One side is the passive side, the other is the vengeful side, which Calystix is on. Depending on which side you're on, I'm sure there will be signature pure-blooded Coralax to confront you in some way. Who or why, we'll find out soon enough (I hope.)
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In-game, we've got red, green, and blue Coralax hybrids... the player would absolutely be more powerful, more "developed" or "true" to a Coralax.
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Agreed. The Coralax-Hybrids in the game seem like lower ranked and mindless minions. Wether or not there will be different rankings or hierarchies in the Coralax-Hybrid faction is still a possibility, although, like I said, I'd rather not be a Hybrid if I'm gonna be compared to the already existing NPCs.
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Reason 4: To make him more "priestly." Costuming does play a part in telling a story.
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Agreed. Although, they could have given him a more traditional looking robe if that's the reason (not that I'm contradicting it.) It'll just be pretty badass if the Shapers like Calystix wore traditional priest-ware (for a lack of a better term.)
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Wow, Ocean. Thanks for linking to that site...now it's easy to see the true concept for some of the costume pieces (plants, insectoid, etc). I really hope that guy isn't a fake...though I can easily believe that he is a designer. The Coralax-Hybrids are absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Too bad CoX's colors aren't that vivid...the ingame hybrids would look MUCH better.
BTW, there haven't been any Virtean Coralax-Hybrids have there?
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That link is official. I got his name from the CoX Art Book (it came with the CoV Collector's Edition) and that's his official site (or her?), so you don't have to worry about the authenticity. And no problem 
As far as the Virtea, nope. They're another race though, they aren't Coralax. This is where the tyrannical aspect of the Coralax species come to play, because the Coralax supposedly enslaves them instead of treating them like equals. All information about the Virtea (just incase you don't know) comes from here. The exact line says:
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Extending their control over the oceans of Earth, the Coralax became masters of the Virtea, a race of humanoid fish creatures that tend to stay in very deep water. The primitive, nomadic Virtea are not overly violent but will defend themselves and their loved ones fiercely. Dominated through a combination of charm, intimidation, and mental strength, the Virtea serve the will of the Coralax.
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So maybe it's not a complete enslavement, but it's close to it.
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Wow, Ocean. Thanks for linking to that site...now it's easy to see the true concept for some of the costume pieces (plants, insectoid, etc). I really hope that guy isn't a fake...though I can easily believe that he is a designer. The Coralax-Hybrids are absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Too bad CoX's colors aren't that vivid...the ingame hybrids would look MUCH better.
BTW, there haven't been any Virtean Coralax-Hybrids have there?
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The Coralax in the game don't really look much different from that. The biggest difference is posture: the ones in the photo have their chest stand up and stand with a refined, powerful stance. They look like warriors or dancers or... whatever. They look cool.
The ones in the game plod along all hunched over. Like monkeys. While playing monkeys are fun, they don't jump out at you as "hero" material.
But personally, I'd be surprised it Cryptic stuck us with a single "look" for our characters. No other group in the game has that. Tehcno origin characters can decorate themselves in medieval armor and magical symbology. Kheldian-merged humans can look alot like walking man-bats.
I expect we'll see some new, water-related costume pieces come out, but I doubt we'll be limited to it. I suspect any "enforced" looks will come from the powersets manifestations on your person. Some Coralax will look stupid as a result of this, but some will look totally cool
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Think the Leviathan will rise? Perhaps that is the story that they're following....
/em shrug
Or maybe it's just the 5th??
LP
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It's way too big for it to rise again. It's too big of an event for that matter. If that were to happend, Sharkhead Isle will fall into ruin, with probably a few small clusters of land here and there. The Maw of the Leviathan and/or the Temple of Waters itself covers a good portion of Sharkhead Isle, and that's just the Leviathans head. For it to rise, Sharkhead would have to disappear basically.
Maybe, when Merulina returns, there will be similar Coralax Leviathans, but not as big. Who knows though. Calystix is still around, maybe he'll make some. If I remember correctly, he was the one who spawned the Leviathan in the first place.
Also, maybe instead of Sharkhead disappearing all together, maybe the Leviathan would just dive under and Sharkhead would still float? I don't know, but if you ask me, the thing is too big, although at the same time, the text (IIRC) states that Hequat entombed the Leviathan under, so maybe Sharkhead Isle can survive afterall?
But wait.. I just had a thought.. if Calystix was able to spawn the Leviathan, does that mean (if the Coralax EAT will still be released) that us players can't be Shapers like Calystix cause we can't summon huge Leviathans like that (I doub't we'll be able to spawn zone-sized pets, lol)? and does that mean we'll be Coralax-Hybrids? that would suck, I don't wanna be human or part human or an infected human, apox on humans. =P