The Clave vs The Council

[thomasallencummins]

Corrupted earthpower not withstanding, how would each group fare against each other in a conflict? Ranyhyn vs. Coursers. Earthpower-Lore vs. Bloodbourne mystic energies. On the surface it would seem pretty simple. Stop the Clave from harvesting blood and you force them to use their own. If all of the members of the Clave were struggling to keep their balance from the blood loss I imagine they’d be pretty easy defeat. Not to mention that we’d all agree that High Lord Kevin and the Bloodguard would flat out kick their butts. ;D

[ram]

Yeah, if we totally ignore the "corrupted earthpower" point, we can think about this...

I would almost agree that the Council would flat out kick the Clave's butts...except that the Clave has the Banefire, which is no small thing. And if you have someone like Gibbon-Raver wielding that power, it's nothing to sneeze at. Recall that he threw around Nom - a Sandgorgon - like a rag doll with that power. I get the scenario you describe: have the Council cut off blood flow to the Banefire first. But c'mon, that's no fun -- I thought you wanted an all-out, no compromise contest of power.

Gibbon-Raver vs High Lord Kevin: okay, so we have a Raver empowered by the Banefire channeled through his own badass rukh, versus a Lord armed with the Staff of Law - and who happens to be the greatest human wielder of Earthpower the Land has ever known. Kevin can stand his ground for sure...but I'm not sure he could defeat Gibbon with "only" the Staff at his side. I mean, we're talking about the freaking Banefire he's up against. I think Kevin would have to use the Power of Command in order to beat Gibbon...but he has to drink the Earthblood first, which is only available under Melenkurion Skyweir. Foiled again! Solution: always carry around a small container of Earthblood for dire emergencies, if it doesn't eat through the container first. There is one other option I can think of: if Kevin had Loric's krill on him, maybe he could distract Gibbon just long enough to stab him with it. Yeah, that could be the ticket...

Ranyhyn vs Coursers: the Ranyhyn have intelligence, the Coursers have brute strength - and poisonous spurs. The Ranyhyn will have to outwit the Coursers somehow, like maybe luring the beasts into quicksand or off a cliff, otherwise I say it's over for the Ranyhyn.

Bloodguard vs...um, who? The Sunbane-warped? The brainwashed populace of the Land? Unlucky Clave members who forgot to bring their rukhs to the fight? In any event, it's going to be a very short struggle. The Bloodguard win, without breaking a sweat. Although it could get messy with the Sunbane-warped.

[thomasallencummins]

I submit that the Banefire, though a formidable source of power, is not equal to the Earthpower that Kevin weilded. The source of the Council's power was unlimited as it was spawned from the world itself. The Banefire was a "created" thing that must be fed at all times. Another issue that occured to me was the way the Haruchai were mastered so easily by the Clave. With the Council's combined might I believe Kevin would have been effective in countering this problem. I'm guessing of course. Were SRD interested in spending mental energy on this issue I expect he would point out things like. The Clave and the Council could never occupy the same place at the same time. Earthpower was corrupted during the time of the Sunbane, however if Kevin and his ilk had never fallen it would have been much more difficult if not impossible for Foul to tamper with earthpower in the first place etc. etc. etc.

[ram]

Oct 7, 2008 9:28:02 GMT -5 thomasallencummins said:

I submit that the Banefire, though a formidable source of power, is not equal to the Earthpower that Kevin weilded. The source of the Council's power was unlimited as it was spawned from the world itself. The Banefire was a "created" thing that must be fed at all times.

Point taken.

Another issue that occured to me was the way the Haruchai were mastered so easily by the Clave. With the Council's combined might I believe Kevin would have been effective in countering this problem.

Not sure about that. As far as I know, telepathic communication wasn't something the Old Lords did - they didn't have Vespers like the new Lords. So I'm not sure how they would prevent the Clave from "mastering" the Bloodguard. However, I don't want to underestimate the Old Lords' resources either. Maybe they would be able to dig into their lore and find some way to block the Clave's mind control.

I'm guessing of course. Were SRD interested in spending mental energy on this issue I expect he would point out things like. The Clave and the Council could never occupy the same place at the same time. Earthpower was corrupted during the time of the Sunbane, however if Kevin and his ilk had never fallen it would have been much more difficult if not impossible for Foul to tamper with earthpower in the first place etc. etc. etc.

Hey, you started this! I'm just going along for the ride!