Broken Realms: Morathi - SPOILER Discussion + Lore Summary

[Overread]

Morathi suggests in her deal with the Idoneth that more would be coming their way through an alliance. I can't see her sacrificing her allotted quota when she's clearly going to be aiming for an expansionist military program now and has just stabbed Sigmar in the back so can, at the very best hope for being ignored if not attacked from that front. Idoneth are powerful allies, but their interests are all sea-ward whilst the DoK are landbased. 

So that suggests she might have used this moment to get more souls from Slaanesh than even her twisted magical alterations originally allowed for.

 

I do agree she's not a soul-vampire, I was more commenting on her use of that kind of magic and ability. It's highlighting how so little is beneath her when it comes to her potential desire to attain power. Consuming the souls and power of her once kin and even her once lover (her hesitation is described as only short and there's every chance she'd have consumed him as well if he'd not struck out when he did) is a very dark move for the living who are not attuned to Death. 

The real test might come when she faces another God. She might now have attained a level of divinity, but we dont' yet know how powerful that has made her in relation to the others. If she finds herself weaker than ideal will she try to prey on other "divine-touched" souls.

 

 

[NinthMusketeer]

There's nothing to suggest her regular stream of souls from Slaanesh was disrupted, so she is of course still getting souls from Slaanesh. But she was already taking more than her share without Teclis & Tyrion knowing, she isn't arrogant enough to think she could just turn on the soul faucet and fight off the other three aelven gods when they take issue.

The notable part of these souls is they are not elves from the old world. These are souls that were remade by Teclis into the first of who would become the Idoneth, then they died in the Realms and were consumed by Slaanesh again. Morathi's achievement is not in getting a sudden gush of new souls, it is pulling out these specific souls over other ones.

Edited November 14, 2020 by NinthMusketeer

[Overread]

1 minute ago, NinthMusketeer said:

There's nothing to suggest her regular stream of souls from Slaanesh was disrupted, so she is of course still getting souls from Slaanesh. But she was already taking more than her share without Teclis & Tyrion knowing, she isn't arrogant enough to think she could just turn on the soul faucet and fight off the other three aelven gods when they take issue. 

I dunno, that's pretty tame compared to slicing a great big cut in the belly of Slaanesh, consuming the most powerful souls stored within (friends/relations/historical figureheads of the remaining Aelf gods); risked Slaanesh breaking free (which in the end a part of it did); stabbed Sigmar in the back and used extensive Chaos and Blood magics to attain godhood. 

Against all that taking more than her fair share again is quite tame in comparison to all else she did and risked. I'd wager she'll be fighting the two light gods pretty fast after betraying Sigmar and stealing away those most prized souls. Her son might or might not turn, we've a Malign Portents story that he was aware of her extra share and didn't "mind", but then he viewed her as a small kingdom in the corner of his empire. Now she's attained Godhood and is clearly moving to expand her territories, his attitude might indeed change. 

 

Granted we've no lore to say either way so at this point its just debate on possibilities. 

[Kaleb Daark]

Getting the hump just because shes a wannabe god and as a result kicks off ww3.

 

wouldn’t have happened if she was a dwarf i tell ya.  She’d have had a word with herself and behaved.

Trouble... always starts with an elf.

[Overread]

Just now, Kaleb Daark said:

Getting the hump just because shes a wannabe god and as a result kicks off ww3.

 

wouldn’t have happened if she was a dwarf i tell ya.  She’d have had a word with herself and behaved.

Trouble... always starts with an elf.

If Morathi were a dwarf she wouldn't have a book of grudges

 

She'd have a library of them! She'd probably also mobilise it through machinery so she could both take it everywhere with her to keep it up to date; and to crush and squash those who gave her reason to put their names in the Grudge Library. 

[JackStreicher]

We shall not forget that Malerion was hinted at at the very end: A Shadow Demon freeing Keiser Van Brecht (funny name, if you are German xD). Therefor Malerion seems to be

a) On Sigmar‘s side for now

b) Seems to be against Morathi (still)

c) It suggests Malerion‘s forced will join the fray within the Broken Realms Saga.

Edited November 14, 2020 by JackStreicher

[NinthMusketeer]

Morathi didn't cut him open or gain access by force; she created a portal into Slaanesh's metaphysical gut while he was suffering a severe bout of indigestion. And I don't think she used Chaos magic either; the intricate process of preparing the varanite was described as being for the purpose of purifying it. Something to consider is that varanite probably isn't inherently made of chaos; it is the realmstone of the Eightpoints, and back in the Age of Myth it was the uncorrupted Allpoints. As for fighting Teclis and Tyrion because she betrayed Sigmar, that does not make much sense; they are still pissed about Sigmar's actions with the Stormvaults. They aren't even on speaking terms with Sigmar.

[Kaleb Daark]

Just now, Overread said:

If Morathi were a dwarf she wouldn't have a book of grudges

 

She'd have a library of them! She'd probably also mobilise it through machinery so she could both take it everywhere with her to keep it up to date; and to crush and squash those who gave her reason to put their names in the Grudge Library. 

Yes but she’d be a dwarf which makes it ok.

[Double Misfire]

Right, read the book. Is Morathi even a god, or just announcing to people that she's a god? 'All' she's done has been visit the inside of Slaanesh, eat the souls of the 10 Pheonix Kings who aren't Aenarion (presumably imbued with some of Asuryan's essence, otherwise they wouldn't be especially worth eating, though they couldn't have contained all of Asuryan between them, as the Shrine of Asuryan was able to create a Pheonix King post Finubar in Malekith - if you ate every Stormcast Sigmar would still be there), get her spirit form cut in two by Aenarion because she's still horny for him, and he's ****ing Aenarion), and come back as one soul/mind in two miniatures bodies, picking up a load of very old Idoneth souls nobody really cares about on the way.

After doing this, Morathi tells her followers and the Idoneth they're fighting that she's now Morathi-Khaine, and has 'bonded with the last vestiges of the Bloody-Handed God', when we the reader have seen her devour some of the last, but certainly not the last when Aenarion's soul and Malerion both still exist bits of Asuryan, unless you grasp at some very abstract straws and conclude that 'last vestiges of [Khaine]' alludes to Asuryan and Khaine being twin brothers, or to the soul of Aenarion (who's probably got more of Khaine in him than any other elf) transforming into what's clearly the Sword of Khaine to go King Solomon on her, and somehow passing on Khaine's last scrapings that way.

There was also a bit of the Oak of Ages namedropped as part of the ritual, but the Oak of Ages has always been more about the scheduled rebirth of an existing god in Kurnos (who seems to be around in AoS, albeit with a different syllable at the end of his name) than the creation of new ones.

 

In conclusion, I don't really know how it's possible to infer that all 'Morathi-Khaine's' actually done has been absorb probably less than 1% of the essence of Asuryan, a dead god who isn't Khaine, not finish what she'd Fantastic Voyage'd Slaanesh to do (whether just eat Aenarion's soul, or eat Aenarion's soul and more), and wake up back in Uglu with a bit of divinity, but not very much, and both her previous looks at the same time. It's nice to imagine that she never had a clue how to become a god, and subconsciously went to all this trouble because she wanted to see Aenarion for a bit, only for the first and greatest of the Pheonix Kings to be repulsed and enraged enough at the site of her to chop her up.

[Double Misfire]

1 hour ago, JackStreicher said:

Keiser Van Brecht (funny name, if you are German xD)

I'm now very curious what this translates to. Have we got another Bögenhafen situation on our hands?  

[The World Tree]

I haven't quite finished it yet, but I am incredibly impressed with this book. It really nails the kind of meaningful narrative I want to see in the game. After Wrath was a bit flat, this has impressed me.

[Mutton]

Real narrative progression with in-game consequences are exactly what I want from AoS. I'm curious if the Newborn will just be Slaanesh 2.0, or if it shapes into some new, unforeseen Chaos god.

I'm also happy Morathi finally got what she wanted. She's definitely put in the work.

[KriticalKhan]

I've said in the past that Morathi deserves everything bad that comes to her, but reading the bits about Malekith and Aenarion almost made me feel bad for her. She endured eons of torture and woke up in a nightmare-shadow realm with no idea where she was, then found her son, only for him to tell her she's nothing but a corrupted abomination. She finds the soul of Aenarion, the only person she's ever truly loved, and in her moment of weakness, he tried to kill her.

Admittedly, she definitely deserved the second part, but that's still gotta  sting.

[NinthMusketeer]

3 hours ago, Double Misfire said:

In conclusion, I don't really know how it's possible to infer that all 'Morathi-Khaine's' actually done has been absorb probably less than 1% of the essence of Asuryan, a dead god who isn't Khaine, not finish what she'd Fantastic Voyage'd Slaanesh to do (whether just eat Aenarion's soul, or eat Aenarion's soul and more), and wake up back in Uglu with a bit of divinity, but not very much, and both her previous looks at the same time. It's nice to imagine that she never had a clue how to become a god, and subconsciously went to all this trouble because she wanted to see Aenarion for a bit, only for the first and greatest of the Pheonix Kings to be repulsed and enraged enough at the site of her to chop her up.

A spark is only a tiny fragment of a fire, but it can still start one. Maybe Morathi had the kindling of a god, and just needed a few sparks.

At any rate, we know because GW has stated her to be a god outside the context of in-world narrative. If a character says something in a story the character could be wrong, but if the author says something about the story it is cannon.

Edited November 15, 2020 by NinthMusketeer

[JackStreicher]

8 hours ago, Double Misfire said:

I'm now very curious what this translates to. Have we got another Bögenhafen situation on our hands?  

Keiser is spoken the same way as Kaiser which means something like Emperor or King of Kings (the word  really just exists in German). The Van is a Durch Title for Nobility)  and Brecht is the surname of a German Poet (Berthold Brecht)

[Lord of the Isle]

Keiser / Kaiser of course comes from Latin Caesar...

[JackStreicher]

32 minutes ago, Lord of the Isle said:

Keiser / Kaiser of course comes from Latin Caesar...

Indeed

[El Antiguo Guardián]

Lore summary:

 

 

[Overread]

9 hours ago, KriticalKhan said:

She finds the soul of Aenarion, the only person she's ever truly loved, and in her moment of weakness, he tried to kill her.

Admittedly, she definitely deserved the second part, but that's still gotta  sting.

True, but yeah she did just "soul vampire" style suck the lifeforce out of all the other Kings. She also tossed aside all the other aelf souls that flocked to her and who likely wanted release from Slaanesh. Instead of using her power and trick to enact a vast escape (which might or might not have happened since we know a large number of Ideoneth at least did escape) she used it to steal from them and advance her own agenda. 

 

Plus having read Soul Wars recently I'm reminded that souls without form are often more instinctive creatures in the Realms. Beings that are confused and fragmented about their thoughts and intentions (a soul being different to a ghost/ghast etc..). So they are likely operating on a very instinctive level. What love Morathi felt in recognising the soul of her lover might not have been reciprocated as the soul looking at her might have not even had the memories in order to recognise her; it just saw danger and hostility. 

[Double Misfire]

10 hours ago, NinthMusketeer said:

A spark is only a tiny fragment of a fire, but it can still start one. Maybe Morathi had the kindling of a god, and just needed a few sparks.

At any rate, we know because GW has stated her to be a god outside the context of in-world narrative. If a character says something in a story the character could be wrong, but if the author says something about the story it is cannon.

Not casting any aspersions, just haven't been paying the most attention to tie in articles, ect for this book, but could you direct me to where GW have said this?

Quick skim and all I've found is the GW store page for the book (which is almost defiantly not written by different people to the ones who wrote the book's background, making authorial intent bunk) saying it contains 'The epic story of Morathi’s rise to godhood', while the Broken Realms website gives more ambiguous descriptions of 'the story of Morathi's aspirations to ascend to godhood', and Morathi herself as having a 'quest for a divine apotheosis'.

 

Bearing in mind that GW publicity material has previously described the Dark Angels as loyalists and Slaanesh as a guy you'd want at parties.  

[HollowHills]

It seems like elves in aos are like Eldar in 40k now. If they die their souls automatically go to Slaanesh unless something happens to stop that. Hence the deepkin doing their best to keep all their fallen souls in the coralaium. 

I'm not clear on exactly how it works, but it seems to be the case that living deepkin can communicate with the stored souls of their ancestors. These can also then be used for powerful magic, such as summoning the eidolons.

I'm guessing it was quite a big deal for Volturnos to get the original souls back. Plus it seems like they only wanted the lantern to stop Teclis having it. So overall, other than the casualties of battle, it seems like the deepkin got what they wanted. 

I'm not really sure why they would want to side with Morathi long term unless she has a specific plan in mind. Though I suppose "I'll pay you in souls" is a good enough reason as any.

[Overread]

I don't think that's the case. If it were the Aelves of the realms would have their gods preserving their souls at the point of death to avoid Slaanesh eating more of them. Especially considering that its clear they gain fewer from the belly of Slaanesh than they do from simple reproduction in the realms. Considering that soul capturing is something we know can be done and is done by several gods, if it was needed, then the Aelf gods would be doing it. 

 

Instead I suspect its more true that Slaanesh focuses on Aelves more so than other races when looking to consume souls. So those souls that his legions consume end up within Slaanesh, which results in a bias toward him having more aelf souls in his belly. Chances are Nurgle would be found to have more of the treekin and other Life Realm creatures souls within his bloated festering belly. 

Plus Morathi's spells and lures were all focused on the souls of the Aelves, so chances are souls of other races were simply not part of the rite. 

[Euphanism]

All I can say is that I hope Volturnos is watching his back.

It's not like Morathi has a history of betraying and lying to allies...on every other page of this book.

[Overread]

57 minutes ago, Euphanism said:

All I can say is that I hope Volturnos is watching his back.

It's not like Morathi has a history of betraying and lying to allies...on every other page of this book.

To be fair at the moment she's brokering the deal he's basically at a very low point. His elite guard broken; himself dismounted by force; his main army hammered hard by a surprise rear attack by Slaanesh; not to mention the defenders. He'd likely agree to anything to get away and there she is offering him fresh reinforcement souls in the deal. He also gets to leave with his life and not test to find out if he can kill a goddess (who likely was his match before her change). 

It will remain to be seen if he honours the deal. He has one bonus in that of all the races, his live under the sea so its very hard to attack his actual settlements without major use of magic. Gods have a lot, but they are limited and Morathi has more than enough enemies on land to not need to devote vast powers to attacking undersea settlements. 

 

For her its also an interesting situation in that the Idoneth really don't "need" land territories. So any major land assaults are purely for her gain. The result of it is that the two are very odd allies and Morathi is likely going to have to work hard to pay for the Idoneth services. 

 

edit - thinking on it the best move Morathi could make would be to give the Idoneth the idea of living like Vampires do. That is giving them an actual land settlement and terrain to "farm" the population for souls. Shift them from Viking Soul Raiders into farmers. Make them appreciate the willing offering and easy harvesting of more souls from a living settlement and the idea that they could spread to more and more land. Even if it just secures coastal kingdoms it a big shift and could be a huge thing for the Idoneth to have some reliable soul access that isn't reliant on raids. 

[Kaleb Daark]

19 hours ago, Double Misfire said:

Right, read the book. Is Morathi even a god, or just announcing to people that she's a god? 'All' she's done has been visit the inside of Slaanesh, eat the souls of the 10 Pheonix Kings who aren't Aenarion (presumably imbued with some of Asuryan's essence, otherwise they wouldn't be especially worth eating, though they couldn't have contained all of Asuryan between them, as the Shrine of Asuryan was able to create a Pheonix King post Finubar in Malekith - if you ate every Stormcast Sigmar would still be there), get her spirit form cut in two by Aenarion because she's still horny for him, and he's ****ing Aenarion), and come back as one soul/mind in two miniatures bodies, picking up a load of very old Idoneth souls nobody really cares about on the way.

After doing this, Morathi tells her followers and the Idoneth they're fighting that she's now Morathi-Khaine, and has 'bonded with the last vestiges of the Bloody-Handed God', when we the reader have seen her devour some of the last, but certainly not the last when Aenarion's soul and Malerion both still exist bits of Asuryan, unless you grasp at some very abstract straws and conclude that 'last vestiges of [Khaine]' alludes to Asuryan and Khaine being twin brothers, or to the soul of Aenarion (who's probably got more of Khaine in him than any other elf) transforming into what's clearly the Sword of Khaine to go King Solomon on her, and somehow passing on Khaine's last scrapings that way.

There was also a bit of the Oak of Ages namedropped as part of the ritual, but the Oak of Ages has always been more about the scheduled rebirth of an existing god in Kurnos (who seems to be around in AoS, albeit with a different syllable at the end of his name) than the creation of new ones.

 

In conclusion, I don't really know how it's possible to infer that all 'Morathi-Khaine's' actually done has been absorb probably less than 1% of the essence of Asuryan, a dead god who isn't Khaine, not finish what she'd Fantastic Voyage'd Slaanesh to do (whether just eat Aenarion's soul, or eat Aenarion's soul and more), and wake up back in Uglu with a bit of divinity, but not very much, and both her previous looks at the same time. It's nice to imagine that she never had a clue how to become a god, and subconsciously went to all this trouble because she wanted to see Aenarion for a bit, only for the first and greatest of the Pheonix Kings to be repulsed and enraged enough at the site of her to chop her up.

Seee.. See, told you... Elfs for ya.

So she starves the prisoner and can't understand why he now can wriggle free and fit into his skinny jeans and she can't as she's eaten herself fat and has to split in two unless she wants to buy a new wardrobe.

 

... And after all that, she's still got to explain to big hat and her boy why the prisoner is a damn site thinner than he should be.

Elfs for ya..

trouble.