Windy and True Runes

[Starslasher]

Here's a question: Neclord, Yuber and Windy were searching for True Runes for some hundreds of years, right? So, don't you think that they should have heard about the Rune of Punishment and the incident on the border of the Scarlet Moon Empire and Kooluk? That should have been a good enough reason to at least hear some mention of them in Suikoden IV.
_________________
Guardian of Greenhill & Devoted Protector of Oulan



Bork! Bork! Bork!

[Axiose]

Rune of Punishment perhaps, but they were not looking for the Rune of Punishment. Windy was looking for the Souleater - which didn't have the limelight in Suikoden IV. Neclord and Yuber were hired by Windy in her quest for the Souleater; so she probably did hear about it, but wasn't interested and kept on her search of the Souleater.
_________________

[Axiose] [Fliktor]

[John Layfield]

The world's a big place. If they were searching for Ted on, say, the Western Continent, then it'd be extremely unlikely that Windy and her Axis of Evil would have heard about the incident in Kooluk/Scarlet Moon until many months, maybe years, after the fact.
_________________
One day, I shall come back. Yes, we shall all come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.

[Starslasher]

It did occur to me that they might have been at the opposite end of the world/ continent (e.g. nameless Lands) at the time. But i thought that they were looking for all True Runes, not only Souleater Rune at the same time. But i give thanks to you both, Lord Fliktor and Lord John, for your answers.
_________________
Guardian of Greenhill & Devoted Protector of Oulan



Bork! Bork! Bork!

[Beecham]

Did it ever say that they were looking for the Rune of Life and Death in specific? Windy wanted a second True Rune, yes? Did it matter which one it was? I got the sense that she failed to take it once, and only wound up continuing to track him down because he was one of the better leads she had. True Rune Bearers aren't exactly advertised in the Morning Gazette.

[John Layfield]

That's exactly why she continued after Ted. Finding a True Rune at all was a huge event for Windy and so picking up that lost lead must have seemed much more preferable that actually trawling the world searching for another isolated hidden village dedicated to keeping a True Rune hidden from the world. I mean, it must take quite a long time to find even ONE of those kinds of villages, right?

Also, in Suikoden I, when Ted uses his Soul Eater rune on the Queen Ant, Kanaan says...

[Beecham]

The Kanaan comment is sort of odd, now that you mention it. I'm surprised he'd recognize the effects of the Rune, even if they were described. And why describe them to him? Ah well. Going to go with my stock answer for questions like this: "It was in the script." Anyway, good point on Windy's comment, something else I forgot, as it does show that she's been hunting him down specifically.

I think she did try to find other True Runes during this time though. But... it's sort of late and I'm mildly ill after a rather successful party, so I don't know all my details. I'll post again another theory once I've had time to research it a bit.

[John Layfield]

Well, I'm pretty sure that's correct as well. Windy and her little team seem to have picked up on any other leads they found during their hunt for Ted, this would seem to suggest the destruction of Bob's Lycanthrope Village in the Grasslands amongst other references to Windy attacking villages and the like. But these seem to be isolated and more of a side-track that never lead to fruition for Windy.

I wonder if Team WYP actually stuck together/kept in contact all that time, however. It seems that Neclord and Yuber were both appointed high positions in the Scarlet Moon military by Windy, suggesting that they followed her to Toran. It seems strange that someone like Neclord would follow along for so long however.

Yuber is more explainable, I guess, with his desire for chaos and all that but then again, surely there are easier ways to cause chaos than to burn down a village every once in a while because it might be holding a True Rune from you.
_________________
One day, I shall come back. Yes, we shall all come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.

[Axiose]

I think Windy wanted the Soul Eater for the specific destructive capabilites it would entail when coupled with her Gate Rune half.
_________________

[Axiose] [Fliktor]

[Beecham]

[Axiose]

Bob was 25 in Suikoden II (so says my Suikoden II art book). Which would mean she destroyed the village at best, 10 years after the events of the first Fire Bringer war.

Unless of course, Bob was born after the village was destroyed, which would be a little odd, as presumably he would have a family to live with then as they would have had to survive the destruction of the village also.

It is likely that she was on another continent and that she was 10 years late for the Fire Bringer War, but I doubt it.

Perhaps Ted had stayed there on his journey, Windy heard this, and burnt the village to the ground to bring him out.

Perhaps she didn't like Werewolves.

But I think this is moving off Yuber/Pesmerga and into Windy territory.
Edit: Done.
_________________

[Axiose] [Fliktor]

[Beecham]

Thank you, your Highness. I think there's still some good discussions left to be had in the Yuber thread, and I didn't want this one to get preempted when one of them came along.

Interesting on the age comment. So we have a range of twenty five years, presumeably, during which Windy might have gone on her quest for True Fire. Ted would still have been laying low for most of this - he was found in northern Imperial territory until *looks it up* around 446 IS. Bob was born in 436 IS. But that still gives us more than a ten year window, since Windy would not have known Ted was found by Teo the moment Teo brought him home.

I guess the reason she never moved on Teo's house personally when she began to suspect - because if she didn't suspect, why would Kanaan know about the Rune? That -still- bothers me - is that she didn't want Ted to pick up on her scent and flee again, as it were. If he thought he was getting away with his ruse, he might have stayed put.

Let's see... the Gate Rune Wars begin at 455 IS, at least the point at which it becomes a war of True Runes. That's our real cutoff for any possible campaign into the Grasslands. She's pretty much accounted for during this time, and by 455 she not only has Ted's scent but has flushed him out and is quite firmly attached to his tail. So that narrows it down at most to nineteen years, a range of ten to twenty nine after the explosive finish to the Fire Bringer War.

Does anyone know if Bob ever mentioned - or Richmond ever dug up - any hints at all as to when his village was destroyed?

[Axiose]

[Beecham]

Right, but once she suspected, she began to tell people about the effects of the Rune. It's the only way to reconcile that idiot knowing about a True Rune; I have to cling to this belief to avoid a massive hole in the plot.

This is entirely speculation, but it's entirely possible that if her goal in the Grasslands was the True Fire Rune, she returned to Toran when she -did- suspect. Do we have a timeline on when she first came to Barbarossa and got herself a position by his side? It was only then that she would be able to begin to use proxies, and going herself would get Ted to flee before she got too close. If she only really joined the court in the few short years prior to Suikoden I starting, I could believe this is the situation. She's patient enough after three hundred years not to risk screwing this up. Certainly even Ted's description wasn't enough to go on, and she couldn't be too obvious about handing the description out. So even once she suspected, it'd still be a long time before she found Ted; move any quicker, and he'd rabbit.

[Krawnik]