Weakened Avilona: Why? [contains spoilers, nuts]

SanjMerchant

Explorer
First off, I know I'm really late to the party, but after my first attempt to run Zeitgeist ran aground, I only just got around to finishing reading through the path, which was an awesome read: going to try to find another spacetime to run it in.

Now, onto the topic: I know the out-of-fiction reason for Avilona's weak influence. Partially it's because Zeitgeist was originally written in 4E, which has a dearth of "things that last more than 5 minutes" and partially because being able to fly around the world Superman-style is second only to teleporting everywhere in terms of skipping the fun of traveling.

But in character, the path offers three different explanations: Adventure 1 mentions that erosion caused Avilona's pillar in the Axis Seal to break/fall partially out of place; Adventure 8 has a memory event suggesting the Obscurati's first attempt to alter the solar system, messing with the ziggaruts instead of the Axis Seal, is what screwed it up; Adventure 12 depicts Avilona as a giant, dead bird (I guess those early Skyseers were right!), and, while it doesn't outright say so, it seems to hint that the bird's death is what weakened air magic. (Although, come to think of it, if the players restore the exact original cosmology, wouldn't the bird having gone from mostly dead to all dead before the player's eyes mean that magical flight is now outright impossible?)

So which is it? Or is it one of those "as above, so below" type things where it's impossible to figure out which is the cause and which the effect (which I guess happens when astrology is in play)? Or is it meant to be one of those It's Up to the DM decisions?

Also, on a somewhat related note: I was kinda miffed that we never got an answer as to just how Gale is able to defy the ban on long-term flight. Again, I realize it's probably meant to be something each DM can play with, but still ... [trailing off in some vaguely petulant way]
 
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efreund

Explorer
This has been corrected somewhat in the Act 2 hardcover. In particular, check out the (revised) Skyseer vision in adv6 when you're assaulting Pemberton's volcano.

One detail that you're missing (and I wish I could link you the forum post where RangerWickett explained this, but it got eaten in the datawipe) is that Zeitgeist is making a wink at the backstory for War of the Burning Sky, implicitly setting them in the same world. I know next-to-nothing about WotBS, but the ZG-relevant upshot that I picked up is that "before the world was formed" there were four primordial beasts, and while I forget the other two, the two relevant ones were an eagle and a dragon. And the dragon ripped the heart out of the eagle, and said eagle-heart is I guess the immortality-mcguffin that drives the BBEG of WotBS. This is obliquely alluded to in the ZG Player's Guide, and then again in adv12. The take I got was this was more of an easter-egg for players who had done both campaigns, rather than a serious in-universe explanation.

As far as "how did Avilona break?" the revised text in adv8 makes it seem the Ob's meddling caused a big explosion. It never comes out and says so, but I took this to mean that the planar energy surge caused the Avilona-pillar on Axis Island to blow out like an overloaded fuse. Somehow this also triggered Skyfall.

Regarding Gale, again, wish I could link it, but RangerWickett said she's basically a superhero. Justification being something about her being born under the sign of Avilona and her being raised in a deadmagic zone caused all the magical energy to pile up, then once she could connect to it, it overloaded on her or something. Anyway: comicbook-style superhero.

Hope some of that hearsay helps?
 

mdusty

Explorer
One detail that you're missing (and I wish I could link you the forum post where RangerWickett explained this, but it got eaten in the datawipe) is that Zeitgeist is making a wink at the backstory for War of the Burning Sky, implicitly setting them in the same world. I know next-to-nothing about WotBS, but the ZG-relevant upshot that I picked up is that "before the world was formed" there were four primordial beasts, and while I forget the other two, the two relevant ones were an eagle and a dragon. And the dragon ripped the heart out of the eagle, and said eagle-heart is I guess the immortality-mcguffin that drives the BBEG of WotBS. This is obliquely alluded to in the ZG Player's Guide, and then again in adv12. The take I got was this was more of an easter-egg for players who had done both campaigns, rather than a serious in-universe explanation.

Yep, you are correct in as far as what happened in WotBS. I ran the entire WotBS campaign, it was amazing. Fun fact, the eagle's name in that campaign is Avilona. I can't remember if the dragon's name was Jiese or not.
 

From adventure 10 of WotBS:

Elder Elemental Spirits
The elder spirits names are Silesh-el-Mavisha for the Tidereaver, and Thuuga-el-Shembul for the Worldshaper. Jhial-el-Avilona the Stormchaser is dead except for her heart, and Khor-el-Jiese the Flamebringer will not respond to the heroes’ entreaties.



I figure some things of mythical significance should not be clearly explicable.
 

SanjMerchant

Explorer
Alright, first off, I re-read my initial post and now it reads to me as a lot more angry and combative than intended. I apologize for that.

I figure some things of mythical significance should not be clearly explicable.

True! I guess this is one of those things where my nerdy lust for detail gets into a fight with my desire to have things feel appropriately mythic. I'm sure if you dig in the right parts of the internet, you can find some rant I wrote about how [content creator] ruined [setting detail] by spelling it out rather than being all spooky and mysterious. :p
 



Samuel Cole

First Post
Sorry to ruin your vacation! If it matters, I'm a 4E subscriber, and it looks like the 4E version isn't on RPGnow at all, let alone in the subscription. :(
 

hirou

Explorer
Sorry to ruin your vacation! If it matters, I'm a 4E subscriber, and it looks like the 4E version isn't on RPGnow at all, let alone in the subscription. :(
I've just received a notification about PF version being added, it's in my subscription. 4E compilation AFAIK is not ready yet.
 

Samuel Cole

First Post
I've just received a notification about PF version being added, it's in my subscription. 4E compilation AFAIK is not ready yet.

I got the notification, too! Major props to RangerWickett for fixing that while on vacation, even if it wasn't exactly what I needed. :)
 

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