A brief, speculative muse on the Coming Storm

He was killed? Where does it say that? The souvenir for the Apex Task force says that Battle Maiden may have attacked Paragon in defiance of his orders, but it doesn't say that Marchand died anywhere.

I believe they use the Kheldians as fuel in the future. They're not doing that yet.

They use Kheldians as fuel now. In the future, they use something else, because they've used up all but one of the Kheldians, and Twilight's Son just isn't worth $1,000,000/gallon.

The specific wording there is: "Some see their discovery of Primal Earth's dimension as inevitable; a "coming storm" which could rival the Rikti Invasion in destructive potential."

That is "A coming storm...." rather than The Coming Storm

It's not necessarily the definitive version... and there do seem to be some false leads and/or blind alleys. Let's remember the Devs have form in this, and take great pleasure in misleading us indirectly - which I generally believe is a good thing and fun for them to do. Gets the speculative juices flowing and all that.

One of the big hints that there could be "Titan Involvement" is the fact that all the major names are taken, and yet I've never seen a titan name in game. That seems to be on all servers - and Prometheus clearly has some agenda here that's more than his stated aim.

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

Actually, Tyrant is pretty annoyed at Battle Maiden over what happened in Steel Canyon too. It's shown in Max's Personal Story (which is still in Beta so it can change, but I think it'll stay the same). Not to say that Tyrant isn't an evil maniac... but things would be a LOT better if he didn't surround himself by people that make him look sane by comparison.

SPOILERS FOLLOW!!!!




After finishing his mission in Dark Astoria, Max goes on to his next assignment. Malta has learned that Vanguard is keeping Battle Maiden prisoner after the events of the Apex TF, and that their agents in Praetoria have reported that Emperor Cole has no intention of recovering her. Not after she disobeyed direct orders and attacked a city center instead of a military target. Malta thinks they can use her, in particular her nanites that power her, so Max is sent in to retrieve Battle Maiden and her Halberd.

Max infiltrates a remote Vanguard base where Battle Maiden is being kept prisoner. He speaks to the captive warrior, and she's at first confident that Cole will come and break her free, and she will have sweet revenge on those those who hold her captive.

However Max explains the situation to her, and Battle Maiden says that she is betrayed by Cole. But she's not surprised that he lacks the will to do what must be done to send fear into his enemies. She agrees to Max's deal, and says she will help turn Malta into true warriors.

Again, where does it say this? I know the clue in Twilight Son's task force says that he sold the Kheldians out in the future to escape, and may have sold out the ones in the present to escape twice, but I'm not sure if there's anything that shows that the Battalion has actually begun harvesting Kheldians in the present day.

Granted, we're talking about events in deep space, here, so anything could have happened by now, but I don't see anything showing what's happened one way or the other.

Rularuu is involved in the coming storm, but the Battalion are the main threat - the new DA arcs will tell you more

Run the iTrials and then go talk to Prometheus in Ouro. Depending on how many of the trials you've run, he gives out more and more information. Yes this is a dumb way to disseminate the information.

Anyway.

According to Prometheus, in game, Twilight's Son is from the future, a future where the Battalion have taken over the Kheldian race's Well, and enslaved them all. The khelds are used as fuel for the Battalion, as they go dimension hopping seeking more wells to consume and add to their own. Twilight's Son traveled through time to try and prevent this from happening. Wells exist in a way that just moving through time doesn't affect the connection between the well and the race, so Silos somehow got the squid attached to our well.

There's more in there, and stuff about the Talons of Vengeance, and the Furies, and such. But yeah, dopey way to put the info out there.

I've already read all of that. Again, I see nothing saying that the Battalion is currently using the Kheldians

Maybe that's the reason they're specifically coming to Earth now. We do have quite a few kheldians hanging around.

Here's an excerpt from the most recent Freedom Friday discussion:

I'd say a direct statement from the devs carries more weight than one possible interpretation of an exploration badge's text.

Y'know, you didn't give any mention as to what they were the last time I saw you mention those documents, so I have to wonder why you're saying this again, but not saying much again.

I think the Drowning in Blood trial gives correct clues.

The Beastie Boys can take 'em.

That's the kind of plot someone's quite likely to have thought of.

Lamenting the changes in story from what I remember to what we have now really. When I first read about them, the Battalion were described as a vast armarda that travelled from galaxy to galaxy, seeking out power sources and consuming them somewhat similar to a horde of locusts. They stripped planets and systems bare, consuming stars as they went and laying waste to anything that stood in their way. That which could not be consumed was destroyed, leaving darkened, dead space behind them. They never stopped, always moving, always hungry.

There was something about the way they were described that made them utterly relentless, never ceasing and I liked that, as if we were finally going to face an enemy that couldn't be bargained or reasoned with, that never stopped. It was these descriptions that got me very excited to know about the Coming Storm, there felt some real terror, a sense of foreboding. And, as I said, there was not a hint of Incarnates or Wells in it. Oh, and knowing that one of the Menders used to be one of the Battalion was quite a twist as well.

Now I know little of how things get developed behind the scenes but from the descriptions I read compared to what the Coming Storm is now being built up into, the Battalion doesn't sound anywhere near as interesting. I think the threat of being utterly consumed just sounds more thrilling than "Oh no, they're going to eat our Well!" Our Well's nuts anyway, they can have it. It's one of the reasons I think Rularuu is terribly underused as a foe: he doesn't care about us or ruling us, we're just a snack to him.

But in all honesty, I should keep my mouth shut. Whatever I remember from back then has clearly been either superceded or developed into where we are today, turning the Battalion's devouring of any energy sources into voracious Well hunters, causing our Well to seek out useless champions like Cole. Call it regret or lamentation if you like I guess I just wish the Battalion sounded like more of the immense, all consuming invasion force rather than them being after our Lucky Char... our Well.

So feel free to ignore the above but you did ask.

That would be awesome.

If they get power from Wells, and Wells get their power from each species, why wouldn't they consume the species along with the Well?

GG makes a valid point. Besides, what self-respecting swarm of space-locusts would eat a Well of the Furies and leave all those tasty squishy things running about untouched?

Doesn't Battle Maiden tell the players directly that Marchand was rather violently over ru...

{after readin Paragon Wiki}

Damn, I really am off the ball aren't I? My apologies.

I don't see much difference between what you read before and what we may be getting in the future, so I don't know why you're disappointed. All of the essential components are still there.

Yeah, it sounds much the same as what he said, with the addition of Incarnate elements.

And why wouldn't the Well try to act in its own defense? It seems to possess some degree of volition.