Brood Brother |
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Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2005 10:11 pm Posts: 515
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I think the real mystery is where the Ethereals come from. It *could* happen that they were the cross product of 'exact' interbreeding of the other four other castes(perhaps more), or even that they were 'there' all along, but had only recently 'became' the Ethereals we know. However, I believe the 'distinct groups'(castes) were already formed 'evolutionarily' when the Land's Vision was about, so we don't need to worry about that, the Ethereals 'could' just be an interesting byproduct that took a long time to 'get it's act together'.
Or, as is suggested, they could come from Space! This has reasonable plausibility, but it IMO lessens the quality of the Ethereals.
It can be noted that many of the races have 'control' elements, Ork Brainboyz for instance, the ability to 'create' the Emperor of Humanity(literally the best leader the species ever had), the 'Gods' of the Eldar etc etc. So it would seem possible, given a precedent that the Old Ones could have 'engineered' the Ethereals not only to be damn good leaders and such, but actually to be able to 'augment' that control with whatever it is they do(Psychic Power, Pheromone, box of chocolates...whatever!?).
Even more so, we can see that the C'tan are simply as devious as anyone. Well, one C'tan anyway. The Deciever. Not only that, but there's good call for it all on the basis that the Deciever's forehead looks remarkably like the forehead of an ethereal. The C'tan/Necron alliance already exceeded the Old Ones technology levels in all but Warp Tech, so it's not implausible that what I suggest for the Old Ones(ie a 'controlling group' for a race) would also hold for the C'tan as 'contenders' on the conspiracy.
Next we have the 'lesser' races. First up: The Eldar. They seem good candidates for manipulating the universe, but can they still do it? I'd say no. However, there's also the Laughing God, and his Harlequins. I suppose it's possible they could do it, but they aren't as tied down to the story as we'd like, but there's really no hints of this(which could be a huge indication that it's them). Other Eldar, again it's possible, but it is a bit mundane. I'd much rather see a 'natural coincidence' than engineering by 'just some eldar'.
For the next of the 'lesser' races, we have the Demiurg. Not exactly strong contenders, but I don't see why they couldn't have just spotted T'au in passing, noticed whats going on and realised the potential of a certain cadre of individuals, plucked them out, 'tinkered' with them, and put them back in. Harking back, the same could be said of the Eldar, but there's also the possibility of the Eldar and Demiurg working in concert with each other to achieve this. I fully expect the Demiurg will turn out(if they turn at all) to be an 'intermediary' race that existed between the Eldar Empire and the rest of the 'suppressed' worlds of the Galaxy(ie the Janitors and maintenance technicians of the Eldar Empire, who were left in the lurch, besieged by orks who were breaking out due to the loss of Eldar power, and now we're only just seeing their 'significant' re-emergence after the Craftworlders and soon to be Exodites fled, and the rest became the Dark Eldar).
Certainly there are two 'big' arguments for the ship wreck found on a moon of T'au VII; 1 that it's the remnant of an Imperial Ship from the colonisation fleet that was lost, or two that a Demiurg ship was 'lost' there(or left) in passing. We know the Demiurg must have been about then as the Tau had Super Heavy Ion Cannon tech by the time they initiated the Tau'n Campaign, which was their first 'out of system'(literally worded as 'off world', but this contradicts the idea they'd settled all of the T'au system first, which is also stated), and it's also said that the Demiurg sold the Tau Super Heavy Ion Cannon tech. So, the Demiurg and Tau must have contacted each other before the Tau'n Campaign(unless the background changes).
I also happen to think that, aside from the 'Psychic Space Polar Bears' comment on the Nicassar, that they'd have been prime candidates for 'neo-slann', that is Slann that were lost, regressed culturally, forgot their heritage, and now only just returned to the stars in the form of the Nicassar.
Now I've taken quite a detour.
The only 'real' contenders(unless I'm forgetting a major one, but I don't think I am) are the Chaos Gods, and their servants. Now it's possible they'd do all this, threading everything through time, but I simply find it difficult to imagine. Why allow a 'useless'(to them) race to survive? Well, perhaps they're only useless from a food and possession PoV. I mean, Tzeentch isn't said to be stupid, is he? So, he may well have reasons, but again these could vary wildly and hugely. It's also questionable whether the forces of Chaos exert enough power 'out that way' to do so.
So, I'd likely be best pleased going with Demiurg, Old One, a variation on the joint combo of Eldar, Old Ones and Demiurg or simple 'quirk of evolution' trait on how the Ethereals were created.
The Warp Storm...could be anyone with that power, though an Eldar-Demiurg combined effort sounds plausible, probably safe to rule out the C'tan for this part, at anyrate... but they could have tricked someone else to do it.
The last part of the puzzle, the space ship wreck on a moon of T'au VII. I'd favour Demiurg once again, they're known to lurk around that area, and it seems likely they may have accidently(or deliberately) crashed there 'to help them along'. It could have been any number of other things, but between the Demiurg, and the simple(if humanocentric) view that it was part of the Colony fleet, it doesn't sound too far out.
In all honesty, I doubt they'll ever really tell us.
Xisor
_________________ "Number 6 calls to you The Cylon Detector beckons Your girlfriend is a toaster"
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