: First, David mentions a "fiery vortex" spell,
: which I assume is detailed in GURPS. What powers are
: attributed to Connacht and Damas by GURPS? (I'm
: curious because it has to do with the solo scenario
: contest).
Well, Connacht is said to be a master of great magics. It doesn't list any spells of his, but we know that he could melt Trow cities and imprison the Trow themselves (via teleportation, maybe?), that as Balor he could ressurect the dead[1], create a firey vortex to destroy Muirthemne, summon the Fetch from another realm with a special variant of the Planar Summons spell, and create those big-ass lightning bolts we see him use in The Last Battle. As for Damas, he wasn't even a sorceror until Myth II, and all we see him use are body-enhancing spells, the removal of his heart to make him immortal, and that Cloudspine-shattering thing he tried to cast in The Forge. His ability to turn into crows is, apparently, natural.
: Second, in one of the Myth pre-game texts, it says very
: specifically that Connacht vanquished Moagim. Are you
: sure you haven't made a mistake, or is it just an
: inconsistency?
Hence the "some call him Moagim reborn" in GURPS. I suspect that Bungie decided to define the cycles a little better when consulting on the writing of GURPS, and wrote in special things to fit what had already been written[2]. Hence, the Wolf Age/Age of Light confusion (Age of Light was only used in the TFL manual prologue until GURPS came out), the so-called "historical error" of calling the Leveller Connacht defeated "Moagim reborn", and a number of other things.
: Third, is it also spelled out by GURPS that the Leveler
: was alive when the Trow were imprisoned? If so, does
: that mean that the Trow were serving the Leveler?
To the first question: yep. It's said that Connacht appeared out of Gower or somewhere beyond, and the Leveller chose this moment to attack the West. Connacht fought the Myrkridia, commissoned the Smiths of Muirthemne to build the Tain, and imprisoned them all within it. That got him a huge following. Then he turned towards the Trow and imprisoned them beneath Rhi'anon, and melted their iron cities into the ice (though that phrasing doesn't make much sense to me). Only then did he go west and kill the Leveller with all his great armies backing him; the Cath Bruig emperor died leading his Herons in that final assault, and Connacht was appointed the new emperor.
To the second question: nope. The Trow had always been occupied with themselves, and while they considered all of the continent their own, they only occupied some of it. Human empires spread out wherever there weren't Trow. Over time the Trow had become oppressive masters of whoever they found usefull, and killers of everyone else. They had just finished exterminating Humanity's elder cousins, the Oghres, leaving their numbers decimated and their cities in ruin, when Connacht came and finished the job.
: Fourth, you say Connacht's "rise" was during
: the Wind Age...wouldn't the destruction of the Dark be
: just that, and Muirthemne's golden age be the Wolf
: Age?
I don't quite get your question, but to clarify any confusion: Connacht showed up at the very end of the Wind Age, defeated the Dark, and ushered in the Wolf Age (or "Age of Light"), over which he presided. Likewise, Balor showed up at the end of the Wolf Age and ushered in the Sword Age, which he would have presided over if Alric hadn't defeated him (which he wasn't supposed to).
: Fifth, does GURPS specifically say that all the Trow were
: imprisoned beneath Rhi'Anon, and not somewhere else?
: Do we know how?
It doesn't say that they were imprisoned anywhere else, just that Connacht imprisoned the Trow beneath Rhi'anon. Some could have been elsewhere, though.
Footnotes:
[1]In GURPS, ressurection is the dead is a common thing. However, it was said to be "Balor's greatest secret", and that Soulblighter taught it to his human associates. I suspect this means that raising the undead DOES require the Dream of Unlife, that Balor found it, then Soulblighter found it and taught it to a bunch of humans, and now it's common knowledge).
[2]Though contradicting this "Bungie changed their story" idea is that it now makes sense that Mazzarin was called the most powerfull sorceror of the "Four Ages" when we thought we were in the Seventh Era or 14th Age; an Age is the same as an Era, and there have only been four of them prior to the current one.
[3]This project you're working on wouldn't happen to be with Adam Jakob Adamczyk and Bloodluster, would it? 'Cause they're working on a little thing about the defeat of the Myrkridia, and I'm consulting with them on it.
