What's up with Tarhansar?? [spoilers for CoI]

S

samus12345

Dalayan Beginner
I recently attempted the COI quest "Mercy". I have an issue not with the quest, but with the lore. Is the Ocean Lord that the gnolls of Starfall worship Tarhansar? Because murdering a hungry child for taking an offering doesn't seem to fit a "Chaotic Good" god. I never would have chosen to worship such a being if I'd know this, but the quest was put in after choosing a deity. The book about the gods says nothing about this sort of thing, just that he's a defender and such. I don't like it that we're given so little to go on other than alignment when choosing a god. How can any being whose alignment is good murder an innocent child? It makes no sense. Sure, it fits being chaotic, but being good means caring about the well-being of others, at the very least. This action shows nothing of the kind.
 
Re: What's up with Tarhansar??

Genesis 22:2
He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you.”
 
samus12345 said:
Is the Ocean Lord that the gnolls of Starfall worship Tarhansar?
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Nope. Tarhansar is very old, but the creatures the gnolls worship was pretty weak and unimportant when they were first tricked into making sacrifices to it. The thing they worship is most definitely not Tarhansar. Indeed, Tarhansar would be quite angry if he were aware of what this false 'Ocean Lord' was up to.
 
Re: What's up with Tarhansar??

robopirateninja said:
that was old testament god though not "good" god
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This isn't a place for religious debate, but just to clarify, the old testament God and new testament God are one in the same. In this paticular story it wasn't about killing his only son. It was about faith. God had promised Abraham that through him many people would be blessed. And Abraham knew that God always keeps his promises. So later when Isaac asked:

Genesis 22:7-8
"The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?" Abraham answered, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." And the two of them went on together.


As for the question, "How can any being whose alignment is good murder an innocent child?" I don't know the lore behind the actual queset to give a specific answer (edit: oic I need to read better... I missed TM's reply on that one, hehe). I can only guess that perhaps this is where the chaotic comes in with this paticular chaotic/good alignment.
 
lazytown.jpg

The ocean lord?
 
Re: What's up with Tarhansar??

JayelleNephilim said:
This isn't a place for religious debate
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Then why'd you post some :psyduck:

Granted, a discussion about what alignment the OT god had would be interesting, but doesn't really belong in this thread.
 
samus12345 said:
I recently attempted the COI quest "Mercy". I have an issue not with the quest, but with the lore. Is the Ocean Lord that the gnolls of Starfall worship Tarhansar? Because murdering a hungry child for taking an offering doesn't seem to fit a "Chaotic Good" god. I never would have chosen to worship such a being if I'd know this, but the quest was put in after choosing a deity. The book about the gods says nothing about this sort of thing, just that he's a defender and such. I don't like it that we're given so little to go on other than alignment when choosing a god. How can any being whose alignment is good murder an innocent child? It makes no sense. Sure, it fits being chaotic, but being good means caring about the well-being of others, at the very least. This action shows nothing of the kind.
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I had the same confusion when I first did the quest. I wanted to say the god was Shojar (because I know he's evil) but then I remembered Shojar's more icy, so then I thought Tarhensar (because he's water) but then I remembered he's all good, so I was all mixed up.

Careful reading of the quest script does indicate that the being was not a god at first: just some powerful thing that lived in the water. Maybe an elemental, maybe some weird amphibian, the quest text doesn't tell us a lot about his image or body. But it does say that after some time or generations of the gnolls worshiping it, it gained some diety like abilities. (a la Dungeons and Dragons system of "becoming a deity"?) Since I doubt the gnolls have been there since before the Great War and the subsequent dawn of life, that eliminates any one of the classic and major gods from the lineup.

Now all we need is this Water-God-Thing to be put into the game so I can lead a raid to vanquish its disgustingly self-serving and impostered rear.
 
Ykari07 said:
Er, Tarhansar IS the Deep One.
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I think Iae is referring to either "The Deep Voice" or "The Eternal One", both nameds in Kedge. But nope: the Ocean Lord worshipped by the gnolls is an entirely new npc which is not currently in-game.
 
No no.. theres some named I always pick up on track in starfall that is in one of the under-island caves


He's like a water goblin or something. Powerful guy that could be considered godly to them i suppose
 
Oh, uh. Whatshisface of the Deep?

*one wiki check later*

I think you mean Tarlyx of the Lake, but I'm not sure.

The only other person with Deep in their name that I can think of is the Lady of the Deep.
 
WTF we all call him Tarlyx of the Lake cause we have a wiki but gnolls could have heard of a powerful being in the lake and call it the deep one. Those losers must not even have read the Gods of Dalaya books, how would they know of Tarhansar ?!
I think that's what Iae implied.
So ok problem solved, it's not in game (and prolly won't I guess, it's just a chimera imfo) or the pic Aisling posted :dance:
 
Dzillon said:
and prolly won't I guess
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Completing Mercy changes a dialog option with Councillor IX. Taking the dialog option generates a message along the lines of 'This is where you'll find the last quest once we put the final tier of augments in'. To wit: The Ocean Lord is not currently in game ;)
 
Thanks for the reply, TM. I'm very glad to know that my god is not responsible for the suffering of those gnolls. VERY little is known about Tarhansar, so I don't think there was a definitive way to know that this Ocean "Lord" is not him...other than the fact that he would be completely out of character based on his alignment. And for the record, I'd call the Old Testament God Lawful Neutral.
 
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