#I seriously hope Voidstar left some people behind to maintain the darkness plane while they were away

[vaalthus]

The threat to the Plane of Darkness, the inevitable return of the Shadowscythe, and what lead to the Exalted Alliance theory and speculation

Something has been on my mind lately, namely regarding the Proclamations and Reckoning war. At the conclusion of the Reckoning War, all eight Avatars of the elements were essentially left diminished, reduced to the form of elemental orbed embodiments, and are now being contained by Lock and Key until they remerge from their dormancy. The current inactive state of the Avatars explains much of why the Proclamation rifts have been such an issue to the extent that they’ve been. If the Avatars were active, we’d likely be having less of a harder time closing the ones that clearly link to the section as. What bothers me now though is that out of all the Avatars rendered dormant Voidstar is probably the one we would want down the least right now. I say this of course due to the ever-present threat that is the Shadowscythe and their agents of Doom.

It has long since been established that the Shadowscythe and its agents will never cease in their quest to plunge all of existence into Darkness in this current timeline. To remove, in their eyes, the pollution of the Elements influence on this reality at any cost.

And now, their biggest rivals, the Avatars of all eight prime elements have been forcibly placed into stasis for the time being.

Meaning the avatar of the only elemental plane that is safe for them to move freely in without heavy risk of annihilation is no longer in a position to bring the hammer down upon them to halt their corruption. While I have no doubts that much as it appears to be the case with other avatars that Voidstar has left behind some form of entourage or progeny to govern the Plane of Darkness in his absence, like Celeritas's family or the Lagohmorph royalty in the case of Haeos' plane,

I fear that may not be enough to hold back the problem the Shadowscythe present.

The Shadowscythe have shown numerous times in the past that they are more than content to manipulate and corrupt those around them when they feel that overwhelming force simply isn’t a viable course of action for a plan to be set in motion. These manipulations have ranged from outright lies, offers of comfort, or the corruptive properties of their powers. Hell, sometimes they'll use all three of those methods.

We even know that they are capable of convincing those that hail from the Darkness Plane to support them despite the fact that it is within the interest of Voidstar to maintain the balance of the elements.

So, with Voidstar now out commission, what’s to stop the Shadowscythe from attempting to gain some real ground within the Plane of Darkness, outside that potential back-up of governance I previously mentioned? Even if the Shadowscythe choose not to attempt shall we say some sort of combative assault on the governing powers that might remain in the Darkness Plane, they might still have the option of indoctrinating or persuading its inhabitants to support their cause in bringing about Darkness everywhere.

I don’t think the Shadowscythe would have a hard time amassing more followers at the moment either. There are elementals that seem to be somewhat guilty of desiring for the element they are aligned to win out over the others, so I imagine it's not going to be too difficult for them to convince some darkness elementals to side with them outright. From there it might be a simple process to make note of the absence of Voidstar to point out that perhaps to float around the idea that it’s time for the plane to be placed under a different vision and management. One that they might allege serves the interests of the Darkness plane, whether this would be an outright lie or them conflating that to what the Darkness means to the Shadowscythe would be irrelevant I imagine.

Which brings me to another advantage the Shadowscythe might have here: the chaos of the Elemental Wastes. It was established back in Awakened Depths that the Wastes are effectively a battleground for elemental beings of all shapes and sizes to duke it out to gain dominance over the others.

Furthermore, as King Thorin would imply, there are champions of the Wastes, with no specified allegiance to a single element, that seem to attempt to encroach upon the sovereignty of the other elemental planes which would indicate even more factions vying for more control within the overall Elemental Plains.

I could easily see the Shadowscythe presenting themselves as the solution to darkness residents that will end or at least ward off the chaos presented by the Wastes: namely its champions and warbeasts alike. This of course is dependent on how well the Plane is when confronted with the onslaught of forces from the Wastes, but as I’ve speculated in the past, I suspect not all planes are handling the matter equally, especially now that their avatars are gone.

Alternatively, it may also be plausible that the Shadowscythe could cause havoc within the Elemental Wastes. How could they do that, you might ask? How can the Shadowscythe, beings so reliant on the darknesss that smallest candlelight can make them go poof, be active within the Wastes? A place likely filled with a myriad of elemental entities that can harm them. Well, much like the Wastes has its champions within all that elemental dissonance, I suspect that the Shadowscythe and its doom spirits might function similar to warlords within certain “safe zones” in the Plains for them. We know that, when necessary or strategic, doom entities are capable of engulfing regions into shadows and darkness, either as means of spreading their influence or protecting themselves from being outright destroyed by outside elements, namely the light.

So, with that in mind, what if members of the Shadowscythe, if not the entire organization, have managed to section off certain parts of the Wastes for themselves by employing these shadows, on a larger scale, though not so large they would draw attention from the Avatars, and have these sections act as bases or outposts as both as a means to not always be under the watchful eye of Voidstar and to conduct operations in the Wastes and Lore abroad. It might be possible then that they might find ways to agitate other forces, be it elemental factions in the Wastes or leftover Warbeasts, into attacking all other Planes or just the Darkness Plane should taking it over be in their interests.

Now of course this is all speculation on what the Shadowscythe might do with Voidstar gone for the time being. It could be easily feasible that the Shadowscythe are simply patient and will do nothing with this opportunity as they coalesce in the shadows when they feel like the right moment is on hand…as much I doubt they’ll do nothing for now.

It is here where I want to address something else as well. I cannot help but think back to the Last Stand of Ehr’Ishin, in which the Engineer mentions specifically those that stayed low in the shadows would survive the firing of the Exalted Artillery.

This could of course just be an off-hand reference to practically any creatures or entities that would have stayed far away from the blast radius of the weapon as is the case for the other locations mentioned on the same page. However, given that beings derived from Doom and the Shadowscythe respectively are so often affiliated with shadows throughout the games. I suspect a more sinister element here.

You see, ever since we got the reveal back in Rebirth that the Shadowscythe managed to sneak their way into the current timeline, avoiding being removed after the Reset, and it was revealed that they had an embodying force that exists in opposition to the Aequlibria, I came to a suspicion.

A suspicion that the Shadowscythe, this Whisper, as Notha and Remthalas call it, was in some shape or form responsible for the Exalted Alliance forming against the Aequilibria. I don’t think that Notha was wrong in her analysis that ‘doom’ was considered to be analogous to freedom as labeled by the Exalted even when it was revealed there was a tangible force of Doom they made note of alongside the Aequilibria.

I suspect that the Whisper, whatever exactly it is, was able to instill within certain Infernals and Celestials the need to break away from whatever vision or mandate the Aequilibria had for them. Perhaps a dose of ambition if you would consider. Essentially, the basic idea behind the Exalted is to yearn for something beyond what they were meant for at their very cores and wills upon their creation. How exactly the Whisper did this I’m not sure. Coming into contact with it in some way could have corrupted/influence a few members, like what is believed to have happened with Lock and Key as well as the Avatars, and let the idea of rebellion spread from there.

Perhaps they could have actually communicated philosophical ideas with a group of Celestials and Infernals and that’s how the Alliance got started. Perhaps even the mere existence of the Whisper was enough to get the Exalted started as displaying an entity that is opposed to your god may have been enough to convince some of them that the Aequilibria were not the absolute and final law of their universe. In achieving this rebellion, the Whisper and its Shadowscythe were given the perfect opportunity necessary to remove their polar opposite off the playing field for a time.

If the Whisper and its forces playing a role in the Exalted rebelling against the Aequilibria and subsequently putting them to sleep is true, as I presented it as such, then it only further displays how conniving they are when pulling off their schemes.

Furthermore, it cements that they'll always keep coming back and that feels clearer now more than ever now that a certain doom bomb is on its way to the Mana Core of Lore. Ah, but that concludes my thoughts regarding the Shadowscythe and the role they could play in the Elemental Plains and the role they might have played in the Exalted rebelling against the Aequilibria.