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Blind Mew Question About The Ophidial Palace

AuthorMessage
Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
I am one of those players that like to roam around and take in all the scenery that the wonderful artists have put into the game. I was looking at the murals and saw a lot of manticores with the snakes. Is there a back story about this? What is the connection with manticores and snakes that is so important to the Troy snakes that they have it all over their temple?
Thanks in advance for any extra color you can add to this storyline
Captain
Jan 26, 2012
646
Chrissy Th'Blesser on Jun 14, 2013 wrote:
I am one of those players that like to roam around and take in all the scenery that the wonderful artists have put into the game. I was looking at the murals and saw a lot of manticores with the snakes. Is there a back story about this? What is the connection with manticores and snakes that is so important to the Troy snakes that they have it all over their temple?
Thanks in advance for any extra color you can add to this storyline
In game reason: The Manticores are an ancient scourge of all Aquila: legend has it that ages ago, the Immortals and the Cthonic Powers fought a terrible war that shattered the islands, raising all the mountains and creating all the chasms. During this war, the Cthonic Powers unleashed hideous creatures to ravage the mortal world: Harpies and Manticores are the most common. In the early days of Ophidian civilization, hunting these monsters was considered a prime rite of passage - any warrior who could slay a Cthonic beast in single combat was deemed worthy in the eyes of They Who Slither Below.

This myth doesn't sort very well with what scholars have deduced about the prehistory of the Spiral, which makes it very curious.

Out of game reason: the Ophidian palace is based heavily on Mesopotamian and Sumerian culture. In Sumerian palaces, relief carvings of kings hunting lions is a very common motif, as are carvings of sphinxes and winged lions. We wanted to resonate with that art, and didn't have any lions running around in the zones, so we used what we had.
Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
Blind Mew on Jun 18, 2013 wrote:
In game reason: The Manticores are an ancient scourge of all Aquila: legend has it that ages ago, the Immortals and the Cthonic Powers fought a terrible war that shattered the islands, raising all the mountains and creating all the chasms. During this war, the Cthonic Powers unleashed hideous creatures to ravage the mortal world: Harpies and Manticores are the most common. In the early days of Ophidian civilization, hunting these monsters was considered a prime rite of passage - any warrior who could slay a Cthonic beast in single combat was deemed worthy in the eyes of They Who Slither Below.

This myth doesn't sort very well with what scholars have deduced about the prehistory of the Spiral, which makes it very curious.

Out of game reason: the Ophidian palace is based heavily on Mesopotamian and Sumerian culture. In Sumerian palaces, relief carvings of kings hunting lions is a very common motif, as are carvings of sphinxes and winged lions. We wanted to resonate with that art, and didn't have any lions running around in the zones, so we used what we had.
Wonderful answer, thank you. . It certainly adds a beautiful richness to the story. Well said. I do remember seeing lions in stuff all through the murals in books and museums and you are right, it is the perfect way to allude to that. Hmm hunting them, that would have been a sight to see :D.
Considering the programing for lion mounts have already been done, maybe they can be worked into the plot? I did So love riding around on my Majestic Lion in Wiz.