The refugee races of Terminus arrived from distant stars, homeless and stranded. What caused these forced migrations this scholar cannot say, but the nature of each races' arrival is well documented. I say that collision is a misnomer because, as the histories teach us few such events were "especially violent". I propose that 'collision' is a misnomer for the Sacred Sixes appearance on this world, a term derived more from emotional experience than reality. In fact, they were merely distinct arrivals of "old orphans" in need of a refuge.
The first question that must be asked is: what exactly "collides" with Terminus during one of these events? Certainly the races themselves, as well as their gods. But not all of their number make it to this planet. Only a fragment of the Ginto alive on their homeworld were spared, and it stands to reason that this played out for each race.1 Even logically speaking, the losses incurred in the Deicide War and other small altercations do not explain the relatively small numbers of persons from the orphan races if the entirety of the species were brought to this planet.2 I must confess that my assumption that all gods arrived in a similar fashion to their charges is a conjecture from inductive reasoning. Due to the nature of the Dragon Accord and Celestial Boundary, it is impossible to prove that those gods who have not Descended actually exist if they have not manifested.3 On the other hand, mortal entities outside the Sacred Six races clearly survived their homeworld's cataclysm, as the suspected presence of the Silent Wraith of the Kiri demonstrates. It seems that who or whatever caused the transmigration was intent on preserving what they could, regardless of what might be called their inherent nature.
Many objects survived the arrival on Terminus as well. There are many notable examples, but the most prominent example that is of course Skyhold, the enigmatic floating city of the Gnomes. With its power source of stellar energy, the machine is a testament to the engineering prowess of the Gnomish homeworld of Stormona. For our purposes, it is mostly relevant as an example of an object clearly not of this world arriving from another.4 The common thread among the objects brought from other worlds, incidentally, is that any magic they once held seems to have persisted, indicating the magic is a universal power and not unique to Terminus or distinct therein.5
On the other hand it is not clear that, for example, landscapes or biomes were similarly transported; in fact, there is compelling evidence of the opposite.6 The tragedy of the Dark Myr stands as the most prominent testimony to this sad fact. Their arrival on Terminus was punctuated by the dread realization of their inability to breathe the water. In other words, they had arrived, but their home had not. Were it not for the swift and great sacrifices of Nythir and Syronai, Myrrish deities, they would have perished as a result of their arrival.
I believe that these anecdotes from the arrivals of the Sacred Six can inform us of what a Collision actually is: a swift, impromptu salvaging of the denizens of a doomed planet. Once again, Semina's Eyeless Eclipse casts its dread shadow upon these events. The imagery of dying planets and crushed deities is powerful, but more importantly it serves to explain why we were transported in such a hurried way. For the native peoples of Terminus (or Rhystyrrok as I'm sure they'd prefer) this transplantation and the subsequent endless wars must certainly have felt like a collision. For our peoples, however, they are migrations, profugean myths of our respectives exoduses.
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1. As in many things, the Last Confession of Semina is a guide star on this topic. The only known description of the events surrounding the shattering of the old worlds, Semina notes:
"The ground beneath my feet splintered as my own planet's invincible beauty was crushed by an unseen hand, only a fragment of my people spared."
2. Frankly it's remarkable that any Ogres exist at all. Outside of the Deicide Wars, they have been in a state of almost constant conflict with the Wos Che, with an astounding 12 distinct wars between the two races. This is to say nothing of the massacres of Rothuk the Black Moon King. Their bloodlust rivals the Skar in its reckless and suicidal underpinnings.
3. My primary favorite is that of the Nine God of the Skar for this example. The Skar are a simple, barbarous and cruel, but they have so far been unsuccessful in scourging life on Terminus as they were wont to do on their native planet. I can only believe that, with the death of their apostate denmother and the seeming lifting of their initial curse the Nine God is still attempting to prevent their virulent spread. This is impossible to prove, but would explain much of their behavior.
4. Other examples notable in the shared history of Terminus are the seed of Lucent, the sacred Elvish tree, and the Seven Tomes of War of the Ogres.
5. This helps as well to explain how the Archai retained their magical tattoos, as a form of magic wholly unique to their planet would have of course been of no help to this ritual on Terminus.
6. How our shared history would have been different had Elos, the star at the center of Stormona, been transported!
Thank you, although I'll probably update this a little bit. I did it mostly from memory so I didn't parse things like the Castigue letters, but to be honest I don't think there's anything that adds to the answer. Simple fact of the matter is that Collisions are one of those Big Unanswered Questions (TM) that we'll get to see play out.
Thank you guys for the replies, it was a long day at work so it's nice to come back and see that people actually read this stuff lol. While we all might disagree on mechanics in other parts of the forum, I'm entranced by the prospect of a world ripe for exploration and love sharing it the best way I know how. Thank you again.
I'd like to make some addendums to parts of this, namely one major and one minor:
The minor addition is that we know that at least some Collisions involved the actual exodus of physical features of the original world. Near Skargol on Reignfall is a jagged geographical feature called "the Dead Shear", which is a piece of D'shoth, the old world of the Skar. It stands to reason that there may be other features from other worlds present throughout the land of Terminus.
The second addition is one I consider major, but whose implications I am unsure of. The Collisions seem to follow a pattern: they almost always come in very quick succession separated by centuries. For example, the Dwarves, Elves and Ogres all arrived within 5 years of each other shortly after the Dragon Accord was formed (7IH - 12IH); the Humans, Dark Myr and Archai all arrived within 6 months of each other (458-459IH) and indeed the Ginto themselves arrived only slightly before them in 450IH. Finally, the Halflings, Skar and Gnomes arrived within 3 years of each other, from 620-622IH. This seems incredibly unlikely to have been a coincidence in a world with gods and viewed from a cosmological scale. It suggests to me that the Collisions (and the ostensible destruction of the old worlds) are not random in nature. I believe this lends credence to the theory of Terminus as a planet of asylum, but at this point that is still speculation. I leave the rest, dear readers, to your imagination.
Always a pleasure to read your take on the lore. After reading your first set of primers, I became hooked on the lore of Terminus. I sent a PM to Istuulamae about a week ago asking if they would have a "summary" of the lore ready at some point later on when VR decided to market the game. I would definitely recommend you as a resource to that end.
Jimmayus said:The minor addition is that we know that at least some Collisions involved the actual exodus of physical features of the original world. Near Skargol on Reignfall is a jagged geographical feature called "the Dead Shear", which is a piece of D'shoth, the old world of the Skar. It stands to reason that there may be other features from other worlds present throughout the land of Terminus.
The second addition is one I consider major, but whose implications I am unsure of. The Collisions seem to follow a pattern: they almost always come in very quick succession separated by centuries. For example, the Dwarves, Elves and Ogres all arrived within 5 years of each other shortly after the Dragon Accord was formed (7IH - 12IH); the Humans, Dark Myr and Archai all arrived within 6 months of each other (458-459IH) and indeed the Ginto themselves arrived only slightly before them in 450IH. Finally, the Halflings, Skar and Gnomes arrived within 3 years of each other, from 620-622IH. This seems incredibly unlikely to have been a coincidence in a world with gods and viewed from a cosmological scale. It suggests to me that the Collisions (and the ostensible destruction of the old worlds) are not random in nature. I believe this lends credence to the theory of Terminus as a planet of asylum, but at this point that is still speculation. I leave the rest, dear readers, to your imagination.
Maybe the Borg are using the Death Star to destroy any planets it cannot assimilate and Terminus is run by the Time Lords preserving cultures in Braniac's bottled cities.