: There has only been one Dark Age, other than the Great
: War, since the Cath Bruig empire came into existance.
: As far as I can tell, it goes like this: Axe Age.
: Primordial time, included dark First Era.
: Age of Reason. Light Second Era. Cath Bruig Empire
: founded and grows for 431 years. At a rate of six new
: Herons every seven years, and assuming approximately 0
: deaths, that means there would be 369 Herons at the
: start of the Wind Age.
: Wind Age. Dark Third Era. Now, it seems the Cath Bruig
: were still around at the end of the Wind Age (they
: helped Connacht kill Moagim Reborn, and that's when
: their then-current Emperor died, leading his Herons in
: battle - though the Herons elected Connacht as the new
: Emperor, so there wasn't much shame involved I
: imagine), so they hung on for a thousand years. It
: makes sense that the Herons would still be around
: then, and the tourneys would still be going - perhaps
: the six warriors who held out the best during the
: latest Myrkridiam attack became Herons, or some such.
: So, over a thousand years, that leaves us with around
: 857 new Herons, plus the 369 Herons you began with.
: Say at least half of them die in the wars with the
: Myrkridia, and you've still got around 613 Herons at
: the end of the Wind Age.
: Wolf Age. Light Fifth Era. Another thousand years of
: light, and assuming around 0 casualties for the
: Herons, with the normal rate of six new Herons every
: seven years, plus the 613 left at the end of the Wind
: Age, and you've got around 1470 Herons in the Guard at
: the end of the Wolf Age.
: Sword Age. Sixth Era (maybe light, maybe dark, maybe
: neither). All but 100 Herons die at Muirthemne under
: Balor's attack. That means 1370 Herons were
: incinerated.
: The big question is, how could the Guard and the whole
: Cath Bruig manage to survive the Wind Age and those
: horrible Myrkridia for a THOUSAND YEARS, but 1 and 1/3
: THOUSAND Herons got turned to ash and the entire
: Empire was vaporized in the blink of an eye? Is Balor
: really that much buffer than the Krids?
I think the answer is yes. Think about it this way: you get inside the city walls and close the gates, and a pack of krid commandos comes rushing at the walls. Sure, they have the giants with the tathlums and all, but presumably you have about six hundred Imperial Bowmen (nearly as tough and as fast as Heron Guard) to pick them off as they get close, and the little krids can only stand there waving their arms. Add to this the fact that the krids probably have very little in the way of tactical sense and that the city can survive a lengthy siege (it has plenty of farms inside the walls) and you've got a no-lose situation. The terror the krids bring on the world will have very little effect on Muirthemne--they'd be best against unprotected farms and villages with thin walls. It would be a bad thousand years for the general populace (hence the traditional fear of the Myrks) but for anyone in the city it would be largely an inconvenience.
Now bring in Balor, who has the brains, the brawn, AND the mana. Balor in fact knows exactly how Muirthemne survived the Krids--he was the one in charge of keeping archers on the walls! So he says to himself, hmm, I can charge a hundred thousand thrall at the walls and watch them get slaughtered... or I can sit in my tent, have a nice snifter of brandy, and then lift one hand to drop a fiery vortex spell on the city without exposing myself to arrows at all. Hmm... I think I'll take option two.
The reason Balor succeeded where nobody else could before was that his predecessors were using largely medievil siege techniques, while Balor had the equivalent of a neutron bomb. The Heron Guard were ready for any kind of non-magical attack (and probably most of the lesser magical attacks at that), but they couldn't possibly be ready for Hiroshima.
