Lesser vruul: Difference between revisions

The official GemStone IV encyclopedia.
Jump to navigation Jump to search
m (tweak flight ability wording)
m (internal links)
Line 68: Line 68:


==Behind The Scenes==
==Behind The Scenes==
Vruul were originally called [[ICE age|"gogor"]], a special kind of artificial being. They were invented by the [[Empress Kadaena]], along with many dark races, and several [[Shards|other]] kinds of malevolent construct. ("Vruul" itself is likely an [[Iruaric]] portmanteau or composite glyphical form of "vuul" and "arul", meaning literally "The Enchanter's Sight", or more loosely "The Eyes of Kadaena.") The I.C.E. age form of [[Marlu]] (Morgu) was known for plundering ancient crypts, looking for gogor, his favored pets left over from the [[First Era]] of [[Shadow World]]. They [[Muylari#Behind The Scenes|slumbered]] in urns filled with a foul necrolytic fluid, and appear to be activated involving some brutal ritualistic sacrifice. [[Greater vruul#Behind The Scenes|Some gogor]] were able to fly off with their victims, but these ones cannot, older than the mechanics for flying creatures. (This is likely a subtle allusion to the sleeping Cthulhu having vestigial wings that should have been incapable of flight.) They were not considered undead, but unholy is plausible. His [[The Dark Path#Behind The Scenes|obsession]] with them was never given a canonical explanation in the Shadow World source material. It was said that they survived the aeons in their [[Muylari#Behind The Scenes|dormant sleep]] until dark priests of later ages awoke them from their crypts. It is impossible to understand the Dark Shrine, the work of [[Uthex Kathiasas]], or the importance of the vruul without the obsolete lore as context.
Vruul were originally called [[ICE age|"gogor"]], a special kind of artificial being. They were invented by the [[Empress Kadaena]], along with many dark races, and several [[Shards|other]] kinds of malevolent construct. ("Vruul" itself is likely an [[Iruaric]] portmanteau or composite glyphical form of "vuul" and "arul", meaning literally "The Enchanter's Sight", or more loosely "The Eyes of Kadaena.") The I.C.E. age form of [[Marlu]] (Morgu) was known for plundering ancient crypts, looking for gogor, his favored pets left over from the [[First Era]] of [[Shadow World]]. They [[Muylari#Behind The Scenes|slumbered]] in urns filled with a foul necrolytic fluid, and appear to be activated involving some brutal ritualistic sacrifice. [[Greater vruul#Behind The Scenes|Some gogor]] were able to fly off with their victims, but these ones cannot, older than the mechanics for flying creatures. (This is likely a [[Giant fog beetle#Behind The Scenes|subtle allusion]] to the sleeping [[Spectral miner#Behind The Scenes|Cthulhu]] having vestigial wings that should have been [[Greater vruul#Behind The Scenes|incapable]] of flight.) They were not considered undead, but unholy is plausible. His [[The Dark Path#Behind The Scenes|obsession]] with them was never given a canonical explanation in the Shadow World source material. It was said that they survived the aeons in their [[Muylari#Behind The Scenes|dormant sleep]] until dark priests of later ages awoke them from their crypts. It is impossible to understand the Dark Shrine, the work of [[Uthex Kathiasas]], or the importance of the vruul without the obsolete lore as context.


In the Shadow World history, the Dark Gods did not appear until the [[Second Era]]. Without being here in the First Era, there should be no link with Kadaena, or her Lord of Essaence followers from that period. The significance of the "gogor" and [[Marlu#The Broken Lands|Dark Shrine]] is in establishing this relationship between them both during and [[Black Hel|prior]] to the [[Wars of Dominion]]. [[Andraax]] notably wrote a poem addressing her dark creations that began with: "Once She whispered and life was death. Gogur arose, his wide wings spread. Talons to tear and fangs to feed, the skies were darkened with dread." This can be interpreted for us as "Gogur" referring to Morgu, the archaic form of Marlu, as being made ("spirit born of death") as her servant and master of her gogor. There is possibly an implicit relationship between him and a contemporary [[The Dark Path#Behind The Scenes|"servant of the Shadow"]] called the [[The Temple of Darkness|Master of Malice]].
In the Shadow World history, the Dark Gods did not appear until the [[Second Era]]. Without being here in the First Era, there should be no link with Kadaena, or her Lord of Essaence followers from that period. The significance of the "gogor" and [[Marlu#The Broken Lands|Dark Shrine]] is in establishing this relationship between them both during and [[Black Hel|prior]] to the [[Wars of Dominion]]. [[Andraax]] notably wrote a poem addressing her dark creations that began with: "Once She whispered and life was death. Gogur arose, his wide wings spread. Talons to tear and fangs to feed, the skies were darkened with dread." This can be interpreted for us as "Gogur" referring to Morgu, the archaic form of Marlu, as being made ("spirit born of death") as her servant and master of her gogor. There is possibly an implicit relationship between him and a contemporary [[The Dark Path#Behind The Scenes|"servant of the Shadow"]] called the [[The Temple of Darkness|Master of Malice]].

Revision as of 01:31, 14 June 2016

Lesser vruul
Picture
Level 45
Family vruul family creatures
Body Type Hybrid Biped
Undead Yes (corporeal)
Areas Found The Broken Lands
BCS <Not Known>
HP 240
Armor [?]
Attack Attributes
Physical Attacks
battle axe +263 AS
Claw
Bolt Attacks
Use the Creature ability template here {{{bolt}}}.
Warding Attacks
Calm (201) +205 CS
Silence (210) +205 CS
Interference (212) +205 CS
Bind (214) +205 CS
Frenzy (216) +205 CS
Mana Disruption (702) +205 CS
Maneuver Attacks
Use the Creature ability template here {{{maneuver}}}.
Offensive Spells & Abilities
Use the Creature ability template here {{{ability}}}.
Defense Attributes
Melee <N/A> DS
Ranged <N/A> DS
Bolt <N/A> DS
Bard Base <N/A> TD
Ranger Base <N/A> TD
Sorcerer Base +198 TD
Wizard Base <N/A> TD
Cleric Base +190 TD
Empath Base +190 TD
Paladin Base <N/A> TD
Major Elemental <N/A> TD
Minor Elemental <N/A> TD
Major Spiritual <N/A> TD
Minor Spiritual +190 TD
Major Mental <N/A> TD
Minor Mental <N/A> TD
Defensive Spells & Abilities
Spirit Warding I (101)
Spirit Shield (202)
Spirit Defense (103)
Bravery (211)
Heroism (215)
Spell Shield (219)
Lesser Shroud (120)
Treasure Attributes
Coins Yes
Gems Yes
Magic Items Yes
Boxes Yes
Skin a vruul skin
Other ?

The lesser vruul has tough, leathery hide, as black as midnight. Bat-like wings sprout from its back, but they do not look large or strong enough to support its weight in flight. The vruul's claws are long, sharp and appear to be stained with the blood of many victims. Its eyes are eerie, solid green orbs that seem to glow with an inner power.

Hunting strategies

Vruul coexist within the dark vortece area entirely, which always make warding attacks. You will want to make sure the vorteces cannot hit you. When traveling up or down the stairs you should peer ahead so you are not on your back in hard RT in front of the vruul with their battleaxes.

Other information

The lesser vruul are relatively poor compared to the Sheruvian monks, who have no magical protection spells. Both the vruul and the vorteces will damage you if you try to touch them. Teleportation is somewhat inhibited near the Dark Shrine, though it is far enough away from the crystal dome that Spirit Guide (130) works. It will return you to the hooded figures or Sheruvian monastery. Greater vruul appear very rarely in the monastery. The vruul absorb the energy from Minor Elemental spells and part of Balefire (713). They only sniff the air, growl, and glare when you are dead.

Behind The Scenes

Vruul were originally called "gogor", a special kind of artificial being. They were invented by the Empress Kadaena, along with many dark races, and several other kinds of malevolent construct. ("Vruul" itself is likely an Iruaric portmanteau or composite glyphical form of "vuul" and "arul", meaning literally "The Enchanter's Sight", or more loosely "The Eyes of Kadaena.") The I.C.E. age form of Marlu (Morgu) was known for plundering ancient crypts, looking for gogor, his favored pets left over from the First Era of Shadow World. They slumbered in urns filled with a foul necrolytic fluid, and appear to be activated involving some brutal ritualistic sacrifice. Some gogor were able to fly off with their victims, but these ones cannot, older than the mechanics for flying creatures. (This is likely a subtle allusion to the sleeping Cthulhu having vestigial wings that should have been incapable of flight.) They were not considered undead, but unholy is plausible. His obsession with them was never given a canonical explanation in the Shadow World source material. It was said that they survived the aeons in their dormant sleep until dark priests of later ages awoke them from their crypts. It is impossible to understand the Dark Shrine, the work of Uthex Kathiasas, or the importance of the vruul without the obsolete lore as context.

In the Shadow World history, the Dark Gods did not appear until the Second Era. Without being here in the First Era, there should be no link with Kadaena, or her Lord of Essaence followers from that period. The significance of the "gogor" and Dark Shrine is in establishing this relationship between them both during and prior to the Wars of Dominion. Andraax notably wrote a poem addressing her dark creations that began with: "Once She whispered and life was death. Gogur arose, his wide wings spread. Talons to tear and fangs to feed, the skies were darkened with dread." This can be interpreted for us as "Gogur" referring to Morgu, the archaic form of Marlu, as being made ("spirit born of death") as her servant and master of her gogor. There is possibly an implicit relationship between him and a contemporary "servant of the Shadow" called the Master of Malice.

The invoking element to the Dark Shrine was: "Morgu lyxatis kort. Thro dyar K'mur." The loose translation of The Temple of Darkness Poem from Iruaric was "Morgu, Cruel Master. Guard the Dark Queen." (The existence of this poem in the ruins of another temple implies its authenticity.) More literally, "lyxatis" means something like "one who is the act of causing dread", or "dread incarnate." "Kort" means "master", but Morgu is the servant in this context, more like "the master's dread" or "the dread who masters [my servants]." Cruelty would better be Malice. "dyar K'mur" is a subtle play on words. While it means "dark female Lord", or Lords of Essaence, the so-called "Queen of Evil" who was said to have created the gogor was actually the Empress Kadaena. K'daen or Kaeden itself means "queen", which were another of her foul constructs, with Kadaena as "high queen" or "Empress." Thus, the translation is more accurately a command, which can be pointedly rendered as: "Dread Morgu, Guard Kadaena."

This implies a relationship between the Lords of Essaence and the Dark Gods dating back to the First Era. Iruaric was the language of the Lords of Essaence, and would otherwise be out of place when speaking about the Dark Gods. However, there is another play on words, given the literal meaning of "dyar K'mur." The Charon (Lornon) deities were known as the "Dark Lords", and "Lady of Darkness" was the specific epithet of Orgiana (Eorgina). Orgiana was not the queen of their pantheon in the archaic theology, and resided at the time in the Black Hel with a theocracy run by the daughter of Kadaena. The Dark Path called Kadaena the "Guardian of the Forbidden", which was contemporary with her daughter, with the crypt's design being based on the temple of her theocracy. "Thro dyar K'mur" in this context means roughly the same thing as the chant "Throk Farok."

Morgu was originally a "Dark Spirit", similar to the Great Spirit Vult (Voln), which were extensions of will of the Dark Lords. It would thus make no sense for Kadaena to have made Morgu unless she was herself one of the Dark Lords. Interestingly, the poem alludes to Orgiana as the "Mother" of darkness, which plays off Morgu being "born" to guard the Dark Queen. It conflates her identity with Kadaena, who used Ordainers as bodyguards. Orgiana herself was known for fashioning demonic races out of mutilated spirits and for having her own dark host of demi-god spirit servants. The "repose in silent waiting" line of the poem plays off the Temple of Burning Night poems calling Kadaena the "sleeping queen" who "spurns death." Regardless, the invoking element should not have been made in the First Era, being an intra-language transliteration of ancient Iruaric. Since The Dark Path would have ultimately owed its fealty to Orgiana, it is quite possible that Morgu was using the Dark Shrine in the Wars of Dominion.

The Dark Grotto by implication did not exist until after the magru, and the water by the stairs now is actually an obscure warding against Morgu. However, if the cavern and huge staircase were engineered with magru they should be much older, and so the Dark Shrine would have already been present. The temporal paradox of the inscription is that it implies conditions spanning both the past and future from the time of The Dark Path. It is possible to resolve this by considering the allusions to "The Shadow out of Time", which would imply Kadaena made the shrine in antiquity but used a future form of Iruaric with the invoking element. In this sense they were all still her servants, long after her death, in the Wars of Dominion.

The Dark Gods were speculated by some Loremasters, like Uthex Kathiasas, of originating in "failed" Lord of Essaence experiments with creating non-corporeal life. (Others thought they escaped from an interdimensional prison, which may be what The Broken Lands represents.) Similarly, surviving followers of Kadaena were said to have created Great Demons, who were also demi-gods like the Dark Spirits. These followers of Kadaena were known to have worked with the Dark Gods during the Wars of Dominion. Uthex was killed in the same year one of them conquered this whole region. "The Legend of the Necropolis of Etrevion" also preserved a typo implying Kadaena was herself the first moon goddess.

The Dark Shrine itself is an allusion to Kadath from "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath". Among the borrowed features include the sheer vertical cliffs, the grottoes and frescoes, being on the moon, the fluorescent fungi, and especially the huge stairs leading up the dark tower of a great demon (whose symbol in bas-relief made one shudder without knowing its meaning. The steps led to a portal returning to the enchanted woods, forbidden to the ghouls, reflected by the forest in The Graveyard.) This associates Morgu with the same Old One premise as the Ordainer symbolism below the Graveyard. The lesser vruul lore reflects the "night-gaunts" who haunted the "peaks of Throk" in the dream underworld. The night-gaunts would refuse to fly over bodies of water, which thus contains the vruul in the same way it repels Morgu himself. They guarded the caves of the mountain Ngranek, where the gods of earth lived before ascending to Kadath, which had tunnels descending to the underworld.

References

Near-level creatures - edit
Level 43 Level 44 Level 45 Level 46 Level 47
edit edit edit edit edit