From: Joerg Baumgartner (joe@toppoint.de)
Date: Thu 19 Sep 1996 - 20:16:00 EEST
Andrew Joelson wondered:
> The part about plundering cradles I don't understand is why the
>giants didn't start escorting the cradles when they discovered that they
>were being plundered.
They did. Thog summoned some allies and attacked Robcradle. For a while, the
river was open to them again. Then both the Jrusteli with their alien magic
and the EWF with their draconic magic struck back. Especially the draconic
magic was feared by the giants, since they had suffered heavily from the
dragons before the Green Age (see Annilla write-up in Troll Gods, and GoG
Monomyth line of events, Some Early Battles).
>Imagine attacking a cradle escorted by Gonn Orta
>and five similarly powerfull giants. Particularly if they were armed
>with destructive implements that are in scale with the cradle's built in
>defenses. Sor-eel would never have been that foolish....
IIRC the cradles ceased to float down the Zola Fel already during the 2nd
Age, when draconic magic blocked their way. I am not sure why they did not
take up their breeding program after the betrayal of the EWF, but then the
city of Pavis stood in their way until well into the 3rd Age. I don't know
whether or when they learned about the city's fall to Gerak Kag, and nobody
knows how long a Good Giant pregnancy lasts - maybe they took up breeding
again as soon as the city had fallen? Or they had learned about the Closing,
and sat out the time until Dormal found a way around it, and took up
breeding again in 1580?
The 1621 cradle was unusual in several aspects. It held the first recorded
female baby - all the 2nd Age cradles which were plundered held male babies.
It had a magical guardian, Pinchining, something none of the previous
cradles had. And it was attacked by supposedly friendly forces of Moon and
Darkness - the Lunars, who had ways to bypass the ancient "Annilla" magics
(and to dismiss Pinchining so that Garrath Sharpsword had to fetch him again).
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