*Spoiler* Question about the Lich King

[erdrik]

... What was it that made them decide their lives were worth more, how'd they become Suul'ka?
Something like that doesn't happen overnight.

Was it chance, was it the Eldest who spoke to them, or later the Siren? Was it something else? =O

Your right it doesn't happen overnight. And it didn't.
Remember Suul'ka are ex-Eldest. Only the Eldest and most powerful of a planet can become Suul'ka.
Becuase only the Eldest and most powerful can hide from or avoid the scrutiny of the rest of the Liir on the planet.
It comes from many, many, many years of having to face that inevitable day. When they must chose to kill themselves in the depths.
Some, over the years, slowly, bit by bit, fail in their resolve and choose not to die.

The Siren has indeed lured Eldest into becoming Suul'ka. But not all. How many is not known, I think...

Of course this is all as I understand/remember, so I may be off or wrong in some things.

[Erinys]

Nope. You are perfectly correct.

--Arinn

[erdrik]

Ah good. At least my memory isn't going completely puddles.

[Darv57]

Not really on the original topic.
But did the siren ever call to the black? Back when he was the elder of murr?
and... (starts talking very quietly) ..does she still call to him?

[Erinys]

She called. He declined. She could try again, but probably will not. No woman likes to be rejected twice.

--Arinn

[theSmallerFish]

In answer to Naja's question: whether the consciousness of the devoured remains really intact in any way is obviously a speculative matter. But all Suul'ka are extremely gifted psionically, and a creature as old and powerful as the Eldest could certainly collect certain personalities like pearls within the greater matrix of himself, for reasons that perhaps only he could fathom. The Lich King remains intact and is allowed to "go out and play", borrowing some of the Traveler's power and abilities to do so.

For other Suul'ka, annihilation of the consumed is almost guaranteed. The Cannibal has little curiosity about the thoughts and feelings of his victims; he only wants to feed. The Bloodweaver, by contrast, is a naturally curious entity, and indeed the extension of his life is largely in service to his endless curiosity. A particularly intelligent or insightful scientist's mind might be rolled around like candy for years or even centuries, preserved as a pattern to be consulted.

The outcome of being consumed, in other words, is very dependent on the particulars of the psychopath involved...and sometimes on how you have behaved. You can earn a clean death from the Kraken, by fighting valiantly. If you damage the Siren, by contrast...you can expect to be punished.

--Arinn

A deity with a built in portable afterlife, convenient .

[ScoSteSal118]

1. Wouldn't the life-story (particularly focusing on later life) of the Black be an awesome/fertile opportunity for a novel or novella?

2. What were the motivations/thoughts of the Siren when the Black didn't fall to her temptations? What went on in her head from that time to the time the Black rose up against the rest of the Suul'ka (and then her) that she was caught by surprise? I am genuinely curious, because that sounds very intriguing. Please do not take this question the wrong way, I am not in any way attempting to question the integrity/self-consistency of Erinys' storytelling.

3. tSF- sortof like Zeus and Hades mixed together, with a ton of lovecraftian horror mixed in?

[Erinys]

Well, keep in mind that the Black was not the first Voice to say no to her. She had been rejected before, but always in favor of death. In general, those who shut out her song did so because they wished to be re-born, to dissolve back into the Great Sea and become part of the ocean of renewal. She assumed that the Black had rejected her in much the same way, and so dismissed him as yet another fool who would let his great bones sink into the mud of the abyss and be forgotten.

She had never had anything to fear from those who rejected her in the past, and like most sociopaths she tended to instantly dismiss anyone and anything that was not 1) serving her in some way or 2) a threat. Since she did not perceive him as a threat, he simply ceased to exist for her. If she thought anything at all, it was that she would have to wait for the next Great Elder after him to mature before she might have another companion/catspaw/plaything.

--Arinn

[Ludovsky]

Considering how badly the Black wounded her, though, one can imagine she will probably be trying to enact quite the punishment...

Then again...:

The outcome of being consumed, in other words, is very dependent on the particulars of the psychopath involved...and sometimes on how you have behaved. You can earn a clean death from the Kraken, by fighting valiantly. If you damage the Siren, by contrast...you can expect to be punished.

--Arinn

This make me worried for the Black

Especially considering that, well, despite liir space navy behind him, despite having tackle many suul'ka through surprise attacks and killed them off...
He's still much younger than the Siren in the end. And if her assault on the morrigis is of any indications of her treatment of things she fear.... I fear for what might happen once she exact vengeance on the one that didn't just simply develop something which "might be able to eventually kill her, maybe" sometime in the future, but rather definitively almost killed her, end of the line.