>>>I think it was the head that screwed things up. I'm not sure what exactly he was trying to do, but breaking the cycle seemed to have been part of it. Without his interference, the light would have lost in a year or so.<<<
Those were Dan Rudolph's comments about the Head and his interference.
Though I don't frequent this forum much anymore, my biggest concern was the Head and the Watcher when I used to browse this site's vast wealth of information.
I was always under the impression that the Head was working with Soulbighter in order to ensure his rise to supremacy, but with the events described in GURPS, I believe he was working with Soulblighter because he had the greatest potential to hurt the cycle.
First of all, the Head seemed to screw everyone over in one way or another, except not-a-thing happened to SB. First off, the Head sealed the defeat of Shiver by telling Rabican how to kill her. Shiver out of the way. Next, the Head told the Legion to go after the Codex, and in my opinion, it knew the Watcher wanted that book really badly and once uncovered he would track it down until retrival. The plan was to get the Watcher to follow the Legion and press them towards the Cloudspine where other armies and distractions would naturally be. BTW - Have you noticed that the Codex served no real purpose for the Legion?
Now, as the Legion is fleeing Covenant with the Codex, we all remember Soulblighter standing on that little cliff watching the events unfold? He could have easily slaughtered the small army of 10 that held the book and that would have been the end of the story. But, he watches them flee, and he himself flees the scene. He was simply making sure the plan was falling into place and the Watcher was in fact chasing the Legion's men.
The Deceiver is looking for the Watcher's arm back at Silver Mines because their feud is extremely deep and this arm will be a useful tool. Perhaps the Deciever was tipped off by SB as to the rough location of the Watcher's arm, but in any case the Deceiver is busily searching the mountain. The Head and Soulblighter use this to their advantage. Naturally, the Legion will escape from Covenant with the Codex and head towards the Cloudspine, that's the only place to go. The Watcher is right with them and on his way after the Legion, he clashes with Rabican and annihilates him. Rabican's gone. Somehow, and I'm assuming Soulbighter tips the Watcher off, he finds out the Deceiver is looking for his arm and this pisses him off to no end. He deviates from his attack on the Legion and is so filled with rage he attacks the Deceiver nearly killing him and making him a non-issue. The Watcher didn't even go after his own arm, he went after his arch-enemy and the Head and SB made sure to play on this feud because a fight between these two usually means the downfall and disablement of one for at least a decent period of time. Basically, the Deceiver is out of the picture. (I know he comes back later, but oh well.)
*Also, Alric was sent by the Head through the Cloudspine into Dark forces. Alric could have easily been killed at this point, and that was what the Head was probably counting on. But Alric survived and was later used to their (The Head and SB's) advantage.
After some time, the Legion is in the Dire Marsh and is moving towards Balor's fortress with the Watcher standing in their way. Soulbighter actually does something and pushes his army towards the Legion's rear flank, making their only option to force their way through the Watcher. The Head (or not him, the real key here is Soulblighter pushes the forces North) tells the Legion to use the bone-tipped arrows to defeat him, and soon enough, the Watcher is out of the picture.
As for Balor, well, his defeat is imminent anyway, and perhaps the location of the Eblis Stone was brought into light by the Head. Nonetheless, Balor is defeated and Soulblighter just happens to be a second too late and watches Balor's head soar into eternity leaving the throne to the Dark army open. All that is left in the way of a Soulblighter victory is Alric (it had to be somebody, someone else had to defeat Balor, so by default another Avatar or Fallen Lord has to live at this point and it just happens to be Alric, which probably was not their first choice because he should have perished months ago) the Legion and the Province. Oh! But wait, the Head started up a Civil War in the Province ensuring Soulblighter had a good amount of years to rebuild his forces and develop sorcery before the Legion could be rebuilt into a pwerful fighting force.
Sounds like a plan to me, at least the rough outline of what could have taken place.
Chris
