[Esp]

When the T'lan Imass held the ritual, does it say anywhere that they looked any different from regular Imass at first? Like, right after the ritual, did the Tellan warren instantly decay them, or did time simply wear them down?

[Daemonwolf]

I always thought from the ways the were described and the different ways past damage was shown that the ritual just made them 'undying' and that fighting and time Tom it's toll of their flesh, clothing, etc. I have no quote Fu to support this however.

[Abyss]

That was my take as well, altho i suppose the idea of them drying up upon completion of the ritual isn't out of the question either.

In fact, now that i think about it, considering that every time an Imass has been released from the ritual, they immediately returned to fulsome health and life, it may be that the former is more likely.

[Aptorian]

I'm racking my brain but I can't quite remember the details but there was some passage that mentions that in binding them selves to the ritual it either took their soul or it bound their soul to their body, can't remember which one it was, something like that... which is the reason why they can't die and even when broken and scattered they still can't find peace.

Anyway, seeing that the Ritual, as shown in RG, took so much energy that it literally killed Burns flesh over vast stretches of land I suspect it probably also ate their life energy killing them on the spot.

[Sinisdar Toste]

the tellann ritual may have been so powerful that it turned them into desiccated husks immediately, but i don't think so. i think that it occurred more along the lines of what is happening to the Crimson Guard, with them drying up and being preserved as time passes, their bodies able to withstand much more damage than should be possible. though these two instances have a key difference, that being that the Crimson Guards flesh is still alive, they still heal and all that. not sure how to reconcile that but i'm hoping that ICE is going to make this a key point in his books; the similarity between the t'lan imass and the crimson guard.

[Kanese S's]

I think Sinisdar Toste's post is kinda what the OP was getting at. Or it seems that way to me.

We have glimpses of the Imass before the ritual, and obviously we've seen them thousands of years later as well. But do we really know what they looked like a couple decades after the ritual? I really like the Imass - Crimson Guard parallel.

[Kanubis]

Sinisdar Toste, on 20 July 2011 - 05:49 AM, said:

the tellann ritual may have been so powerful that it turned them into desiccated husks immediately, but i don't think so. i think that it occurred more along the lines of what is happening to the Crimson Guard, with them drying up and being preserved as time passes, their bodies able to withstand much more damage than should be possible. though these two instances have a key difference, that being that the Crimson Guards flesh is still alive, they still heal and all that. not sure how to reconcile that but i'm hoping that ICE is going to make this a key point in his books; the similarity between the t'lan imass and the crimson guard.

Do you think the T'lan Imass were a bit peeved when they first came across the Guard then? Kind of like "why the fuck didn't we just swear a vow like these guys?"

[Use Of Weapons]

Hmm, it's kind of like the Old Captains from Asher's Spatterjay novels, then.

[Aptorian]

Because they needed something more powerful than the vow and that is what they got. They needed the ritual to be able to survive the iceages that the Jaghuts had created. They needed to be time less so that they could afford to lie in wait for 10,000 years.

[Abyss]

Kanubis, on 20 July 2011 - 07:13 AM, said:

Sinisdar Toste, on 20 July 2011 - 05:49 AM, said:

...the similarity between the t'lan imass and the crimson guard.

Do you think the T'lan Imass were a bit peeved when they first came across the Guard then? Kind of like "why the fuck didn't we just swear a vow like these guys?"

Pennyapt, on 20 July 2011 - 09:24 AM, said:

Because they needed something more powerful than the vow and that is what they got. They needed the ritual to be able to survive the iceages that the Jaghuts had created. They needed to be time less so that they could afford to lie in wait for 10,000 years.

Apt correctly points out that there was a big difference... the Imass were basically turning their entire race undead to survive starvation and extreme winter, while the Guard gave up their hope of an afterlife to become super soldiers and then ghost phones. What the Guard did wouldn't have allowed the Imass to survive the Jaghut ice age strikes.

That said, i wouldn't be surprised to find out that Cowl or whoever triggered the Vow had studied the Imass Ritual.

UseOfWeapons, on 20 July 2011 - 09:22 AM, said:

Hmm, it's kind of like the Old Captains from Asher's Spatterjay novels, then.

Interesting analogy, allowing for the sf vs fantasy elements.


- Abyss, not immortal but working on it...