EverQuest 2: Unfinished Stories Part 2c

Well this is taking more work than I thought, but I'm going to continue it to the end, the faction grind is slowing me down a bit.

However back to the Ratonga History

The next time we get an update to the Ratonga History is with the release of the expansion Sentinel's Fate. We return to the continent of Odus which has been transported to Ultera when the Erudites tried to reconnect the Ulterian spires.

When we get to the Sundered Frontier one of the quests you get is to take care of some vermin, these vermin look very similar to ratonga, and as you go further in the quest you find they are actually the Roekillik.

When you do the Lore and Legend quest for the Roekillik the book you are given give a lot of insite not only to the roekillik but to the ratonga as well.

An Agenda to Carry Out

I write this for you, the young ones of the pack.

The lesser-ones, yes, the bane-touched creations given our name – As if they could ever replace us! HA! They were to carry out the Agenda. They knew enough of the plan to carry it out, say the pack elders. They were to be used. Tools to our ascension, discarded when done. But now we are cut off from them. You don’t think they could be messing it all up or worse, they could be fulfilling it, and reaping the rewards for themselves!? To even think of those pathetic no-claws conquering and spreading disease throughout the world when they only deserve to serve us, the true roekillik!

I was not there, nor was my sire, or his, or my greatsire, but oh, I know the lesser ones’ place and history! Even if they do not! We came first, carved out of the Clay of Cosgrove, by Brell Serilis, that miserable excuse for a deity! But then he didn’t like us. He attacked us, his own creations, when he learned of my ancestor’s campaign of dominating and purifying the Underfoot! What else were we to do?! We have always been good at killing! It is said that we had successfully brought about the eradication of several inferior beings within the Underfoot. Even then we knew it was our destiny to conquer all of Norrath. We are superior!

His divine wrath crushed and cut down a great many of us! The true roekillik were all but destroyed. Smote by our own creator! Unwilling or able to annihilate all of us, he imprisoned the few survivors within the Vaults of Serilis. Guess he didn’t have the spine for eradication! There my ancestors languished, unable to dig their way out, despite their teeth and claws, the very instruments bestowed upon us by Brell for burrowing through the stone of the Underfoot. Then to find that he went back to his pile of clay and created them, the lesser-ones!

Our jailer and creator tried to recreate us, but this time he employed the help of Bristlebane. Good ‘ole ‘Bane boy! A touch of mirth was to be added to these new creatures, with the intention of replacing the “darkness” that he claimed dwelled with us. At first, the plan seemed to work and Brell smiled upon our imitations. But his mockery didn’t stop there! He named them roekillik too! His creativity must have hit bedrock! Disfigured and crippled imitations, they had inferior teeth and hardly any claws to speak of. But what they lacked in menace they made up for in deception! To our glee, the King of Thieves had given them this talent in secret.

They began to spread out from the lowest reaches of the Underfoot, rebelling against Brell’s wishes, and venturing into the higher levels of the plane. Oh, how they grow up! Once there, they began stealing the riches of the Underfoot, hoarding and amassing treasures. And oh, when daddy Brell discovered this was he furious! Although, he went rather easy on them, if you ask me. Rather than decimating the no-claws, he merely imprisoned them within the Vaults, confining them within his fortress, alongside the true roekillik.

Brell’s arrogance and foolishness made our foresires livid! He had created us, and we were superior to all that existed! How dare he attempt to “improve” upon us with these new ones, and then say these lesser-ones were worthy of life, while we were not!? The battle that occurred within the Vaults of Serilis was devastating! Their pack out numbered ours, but they were no match for the deranged ferocity and wicked cunning of the true roekillik. We are superior! Before the sentries of Brell were able to separate them, nearly all of the pitiful no-claws were slaughtered, with the survivors quickly enslaved by our foresires. We were their ascendants in more ways than one!

These lesser-ones lived within the bonds of servitude, manipulated from afar by our mental prowess, for countless seasons. Pulling on their strings! During the age called “Blood” by surface-worlders, a band of dark men entered the Vaults of Serilis and met the no-claws. Using their skills of trickery and guile, they were able to convince the dark men to facilitate their escape from their divinely-imposed imprisonment. Don’t be impressed, man is stupid! This was to our advantage, for although they had not released us, the lesser-ones returned to the Underfoot, where they continued to perform nefarious deeds on our behalf, still calling themselves roekillik.

That is, most of them did -those that knew better! The majority of the freed lesser-ones were still loyal to their masters – their rightful masters! They knew their place and were prepared to carry out their part of the Agenda. The details of the Agenda did not matter to them. They wouldn’t have understood them, anyway! But our foresires heard of an uprising amongst the freed no-claws. A select few of incompetent lesser-ones were attempting to leave the pack, and break their bonds of servitude. Maybe a few of them had spines after all, but not for long! They were slain for being pathetic traitors, forcing those who agreed with them to think again, or flee.

Those who skittered away were merely putting off the inevitable. They would be slaughtered without the protection of the pack! They were doomed to meet their horrific end within the harsh world of the Underfoot before they would ever reach the surface world. Squish! Rock in the brain pan! We shouldn’t even give thought to the possibility that they survived and continued to besmirch our good name by spreading themselves upon the surface. Those that knew their place continued to carry out their part of the Agenda. They courted Bertoxxulous, the Plaguebringer! Our foresires had long admired the god of disease, and his tenacious lust for decay. A god with a kindred spirit! His help was the cornerstone of the Agenda.

I wouldn’t state here the details of the Agenda, in case this tome was to ever find its way into the wrong hands. In fact, I may have told too much as it is! But you’re one of our own. I will say that the lesser-ones were eager to please their ages-old masters, even when it meant self-sacrifice. How useful! They were to be carriers, using the caverns of the Underfoot as their means of travel. This ensured that there would be no place on Norrath that they could not reach. The world would be left a cursed cesspit of disease for everyone to wallow in, and the true roekillik would reign!

The Agenda was certain to succeed if it had not been for the damned actions of our wretched creator! Spoil sport. He sealed the Underfoot off from the rest of Norrath when he withdrew from mortal contact. Run away squeamish one! We could no longer communicate with our servants, and they help the gift bestowed upon us by the Plaguebringer! We had no idea what was happening outside the sealed realm. It was of little consequence that his absence gave us the opportunity to escape the Vaults of Serilis, for we could still not leave the Underfoot! Then came the intoxicating day of magic!

Our foresires had no idea what triggered it or what had happened outside the of Underfoot. They only knew that there was a great hum as loud as any horn, and suddenly the world felt penetrable, and their eyes were blinded by the brightest of light to have ever reached the dark recesses of Norrath! Arcane powers flowed through their veins, overwhelming them with exquisite pleasure. When they woke from the experience my ancestors could see nothing different, but they felt it. An immeasurable arcane experience had occurred, and they survived it!

It has been years since that day.Oh, how time flies when you’re killing! And a myriad of ways to escape the confines of the Vault of Living Stone have been found. Called by the abundant (and addictive) kaborite deposits within Odus, we now take refuge within the Hole, and any of the caverns and tunnels of the deep. It was not easy, but we will never be deterred! Let this be a lesson those damned lesser-ones learn! The day will come when we are no longer imprisoned! There is talk now of a magic system of travel being explored by the grey men. Could they finally be of use? Just a teensy bit? If they give us the key to our freedom, maybe their deaths should be quick. Right, young one?

Then we will fulfill the Dark Agenda!

After reading this a number of questions have been answered, the Ratonga were not only created by Brell but also with the help of Bristlebane. They ancestors of the ratonga escaped from the Vault of Serilis with help from Erudites and after there escape an uprising took place between the ratonga that continued to serve the roekillik and those that wanted to throw off the shackles of the roekillik.

So the Ratonga we see today are the decedents of those that escaped from the Roekillik.

Now as we continue along the time line we find that the Roekillik are also a divided race.

When you enter the zone called Demitrik's Bastion you encounter Pushu-ken of the Caertaxian Legion who want you to stop Demitrik from unleashing his version of the Dark Agenda because it inferior.

You of course kill Demitrik stopping his plan but who is Caertaxian and what is his Dark Agenda.

I'm going to leave it there because the grind for faction in The Hole is taking me longer than I thought, and I really want to impart my own experience and impressions rather than just taking someone else's posts and combining them.

RGX