To kill off or not to kill off julia, merlin and saridas?

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Put down those pitchforks!!!

I have being speculating on how age of wonders story would continue and i stumble upon an interesting roadblock.

Julia, merlin and saridas.

Merlin is dangerously close to becoming deux ex machina.

Julia love for life prevents a great many possibly wars.

And saridas is julia's husband.

From all the senario's i came up with i found the most interesting one where saridas and julia died.
Making sunderen queen of high elves.
Her rule would be vastly more interesting then julia's all life is sacred mentality.

And i dont want merlin to be used as an excuse.
Shadow gate's missings?
Merlin did it.
Throne room rerout wand?
Merlin did it.
Before we know it we end up with:
My cloth's are missing.
Merlin did it.
Or my spoon is dirty.
Merlin did it.

So i like to know the general opinion:
Do you think getting rid of julia, merlin and saridas is a good or bad idea.

Relate note:
Please no more plot device's like the osilator gem or the prime seals.
Those are lazy man story telling device's.

[sarcasm]
Need a solution?
No problem just insert: anciant and power artifact that gives us the exact solution we need,
Just laying around.
[/sarcasm]

Good stories shoud have the heroes find there own solution.

[Anvos]

Merlin is the only real problem and it wouldn't be that hard to strech it that he could be a secret villian since Shadow Magic if he was effected more by the realm than those who rescued him knew.

Plus the Tigrans and Frostlings don't have a major beef with the Elven Court, but have a major one with the nearlly Phobian Empire called the Commonwealth, considering their the ones that stole their racial homelands on the Blessed Contient.

[Not Your Heroes]

Anvos님이 먼저 게시:

Merlin is the only real problem and it wouldn't be that hard to strech it that he could be a secret villian since Shadow Magic if he was effected more by the realm than those who rescued him knew.

Plus the Tigrans and Frostlings don't have a major beef with the Elven Court, but have a major one with the nearlly Phobian Empire called the Commonwealth, considering their the ones that stole their racial homelands on the Blessed Contient.

that idea does sound kinda plausible. he coulda sealed off the magic as an act of defiance or it could of been the shadow demons plan, imagine if magic is returned to athla the new sovereigns will be stronger than the wizard kings, with their own new forms of magic and the old forms combined.

they'd make such a delicious feast for my lovely shadow demons, so tasty and scrumptious.

[Lavo]

but then merlin would had to make his move for power against the commonwealth or the elven court

and btw.... yesterday my belt broke.... merlin did it =(

[Not Your Heroes]

Lavo님이 먼저 게시:

but then merlin would had to make his move for power against the commonwealth or the elven court

and btw.... yesterday my belt broke.... merlin did it =(

that pesky merlin he broke me toilet.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Ravage님이 먼저 게시:

that idea does sound kinda plausible. he coulda sealed off the magic as an act of defiance or it could of been the shadow demons plan, imagine if magic is returned to athla the new sovereigns will be stronger than the wizard kings, with their own new forms of magic and the old forms combined.

they'd make such a delicious feast for my lovely shadow demons, so tasty and scrumptious.

Not likely.
The flaw in your logic is that the shadow demons fear magic and are currently being hunted by syrons, archons, meadors wizards and there troops.
Also the shadow demons want to eat souls, not magic.
In fact after recently replaying the age of wonders 2 shadow magic campaign the devouror(see plot device) wanted to break merlin so he never had to fear magic again.
They also seem to lack reasoning skills.
Working mostly on predetoral instinct.

Honestly the shadow demons remind me alot of alien.
Hive mind, check.
Race that just want to feed, check.
Suprisingly cunning but cannont be resoned with, check.
Centeral leader(something hives shoudnt need and is a crap plot device), check.

But back to the topic at hand.
Is killing off julia, saridas and merlin a good or bad idea.

[Anvos]

Actually your off as the shadow demons like magic since the souls of the magically strong are more useful than that of your average peon. (hence why the syrons sent their warriors to athla in the past to try and stop wizards from rising to act as a beacon to Athla.)

Plus you have the fact that there is also the daemons/demons that the Archons were fighting in the larger astral plane the shadow realm is part of.

Not to mention the main reason Merlin claims he closed the gate was partially because something was causing the shadow demons to finally be able to push back against the clearing wave that came after the destruction of the All Devourer and some of the wizards were gaining power from the shadow realm.

[Not Your Heroes]

Malaficus Shaikan님이 먼저 게시:

Honestly the shadow demons remind me alot of alien.
Hive mind, check.
Race that just want to feed, check.
Surprisingly cunning but cannot be reasoned with, check.
Central leader(something hives shouldn't need and is a crap plot device), check.

But back to the topic at hand.
Is killing off julia, saridas and merlin a good or bad idea.

aliens don't just want to feed.. they want to breed they are the destroying angels the creatures who are the balancing act of their universe.

and back to the topic at hand, the Shadow demons do actually like magical beings, as above me said. and also they seemed less predatory more, intelligent you just said why they wanted to break merlin, that's not an animal thinking that is a higher intelligence trying to remove your enemies strongest point.

the shadow demons are basically an intelligent race that has no need for technology, they just have bodies more adapt at killing than others.

also as above me said the lore between sm and aow 3 does kinda hint at another race in the shadow realm, something that might be worse than my beloved shadow demons perhaps even their master or their predator, who knows.

[Lavo]

i think at some point merlin should retiree ( leave mortal affairs) or do like gabriel, give the spot to other... maybe larissa ?

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Ravage님이 먼저 게시:

also as above me said the lore between sm and aow 3 does kinda hint at another race in the shadow realm, something that might be worse than my beloved shadow demons perhaps even their master or their predator, who knows.

Personaly:
I suspect inioch.
It was never explained how inioch gained so much power.
Last i checked getting murdered by humans doesnt grand you godlike powers.
And the fact archon's didnt just take his power from him means he is either too powerfull for them.
Or there power is overrated(and given there arrogance, it woudnt suprise me)

What is known is that inioch hasnt lost his power.
He lost his body in age of wonders 1.
Got banished in age of wonders 2 wizard throne.

And the bad endings in age of wonders 3 heavily implement an undead invasion.
It is possible that inioch has raised the fallen in the war against the shadow demons into a vast undead horde.
Remember that (Asfar we know) any cropse can be reanimated.
Including the devourer, the wizard kings, meador....
I see it already: meador returns as puppet for inioch.
Leading an army of undead wizard king's, reanimed archon's, syrons and shadow demons.
And yes i know people dont want inioch back.
But i just want to finesh him off for good.
Not just keep banishing like an idiot.

[Anvos]

Not sure if Meandor could be undeadified as isn't he a phantasm.

[BBB]

Inioch was resurrected by the Cult of Storms and took control of the Undead, which in AoW1 were far more fearsome than in AoW2 or SM.

Personally, when he first showed up it was cool, ditto Joseph making a cameo in SM, but I do believe that 1,000 years has passed since the fall of Inioch the first time, and the raising of Julia to the ruling position. It's high time she stepped down imho, as per elven tradition (rule for 1000 years then go away) and the much more morally ambivalent Sundren would indeed make a better leader imho. BY better I mean more nuanced and morally grey, more "Human" actually.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

BBB님이 먼저 게시:

Inioch was resurrected by the Cult of Storms and took control of the Undead, which in AoW1 were far more fearsome than in AoW2 or SM.

Thanks.
However that still begs the questions:
1: How did he take command of the undead.
2: Why did he had a will of his own.
3: Why was he undead if he was ressurected instead of reanimated.
4: how does that explain him possesing julia and tricking the wizards in age of wonders 2 wizard throne.

BBB님이 먼저 게시:

Personally, when he first showed up it was cool, ditto Joseph making a cameo in SM, but I do believe that 1,000 years has passed since the fall of Inioch the first time, and the raising of Julia to the ruling position. It's high time she stepped down imho, as per elven tradition (rule for 1000 years then go away) and the much more morally ambivalent Sundren would indeed make a better leader imho. BY better I mean more nuanced and morally grey, more "Human" actually.

I agree that i want to see sundren rule.
I didnt know elven rulers steped down every 1000 years.

[Sol]

Malaficus Shaikan -

Have fun finding even one modern fantasy product that doesn't use Tropes, Stereotypical Characters, Cliches and other lazy man tools.

"The child of prophecy was...
And the gem of eternity, fell into the hands of the great evil wizard!
And he uses it to try to summon a Sealed Can of Evil!
It wakes up and devours him, now the world is next!
But the child of prophecy comes in, and... group hug.
20 minutes of dialogue, then press the win button.
And, to think the evil wizard kidnapped this child, but left him into the care of a dufus of a guard who fell asleep on duty."

Yeah, good luck.

Could be worse.

But if you are going to criticize the plots used in fiction you didn't contribute to, what are your credentials? Are you just a John Q Average? Yeah, thought so. Nobody cares what you think.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Thadian님이 먼저 게시:

But if you are going to criticize the plots used in fiction you didn't contribute to, what are your credentials? Are you just a John Q Average? Yeah, thought so. Nobody cares what you think.

You apprently do.
Why else are you attacking me?
Also i have already thought up a story that doesnt use any cliche's.
It isnt that hard.

[Not Your Heroes]

Malaficus Shaikan님이 먼저 게시:

Thadian님이 먼저 게시:

But if you are going to criticize the plots used in fiction you didn't contribute to, what are your credentials? Are you just a John Q Average? Yeah, thought so. Nobody cares what you think.

You apparently do.
Why else are you attacking me?
Also i have already thought up a story that doesn't use any cliches.
It isn't that hard.

it is the trial of the creative to be criticised my friend Shaikan. don't pay any attention to his angry rage mate.

also to answer the question why he had a mind of his own. being undead does not mean mindless my friend it simply means no living beat. some undead still retain their soul.