Upon learning about the chi ghost concoctions, and Rawlin's desire to speak to the ghost of his mother in order to find out why she'd been acting as if she didn't know him when she was alive (though not managing to steal a concoction by himself, Rawlin had learned about Chi Ghosts during his last "disappearance"), Galvanor reveals that he'd recently discovered Erlin's research notes after the Tribal Summit, hidden deep in the Eagle Library. Galvanor hands a copy of them to the ravens to read, and Rawlin learns the truth about how Erlin had hypnotized him into overthrowing Razar, hating the eagles, and starting the Chima Civil War, all as part of her and Rawndor's plan. Galvanor explains that he can't let Rawlin and Radnar go in case they're planning to retake control of the Raven Tribe, since Rica's Forgotten-approved monarchy worked better in favor of Chima's unity overall, as a result of Lycor becoming Lion King.
Lyrix quickly reaches the Raven HQ in the eagle jet, where he once again meets with Rica, and tells her about everything that happened in the Gorilla territory, from the revelation that King Erdrik assassinated Lycan, to the capture of Rawlin and Radnar by the eagles. In light of this news, Rica agrees to Lyrix's plan: she'll contact the Eagle King to discuss the custody of Rawlin and Radnar, and when he arrives alone to the top of the Razarian Monarchy Tower (as per Rica's demands, under threat of blackmail using the knowledge of Lycan's murder), Rica and Lyrix will ambush and capture "Erdrik". They will then expose him to Chima's populace, either by revealing his true identity (in the event that he turns out to be an impostor of King Erdrik), or by eventually summoning Lycan's Chi Ghost to confirm the truth about his death. Unbeknownst to Rica, Lyrix, whose only goal now is to avenge his father, plans to kill "Erdrik" immediately after their plan has been carried out.
Soon after, when "Erdrik" comes alone to the Razarian Monarchy Tower as planned, Lyrix, armed and powered up with chi, prepares to attack him from behind, only for the Eagle King to immediately hypnotize Rica, "locking away" her memory of her meeting with Lyrix, and ordering her to go back into the tower. Stunned at this, Lyrix still proceeds, ambushing "Erdrik" and knocking the hypnotism pendulum out of his hand (and all the way off the tower, preventing the Eagle King from hypnotizing anyone else), as well was ripping his mask off (Lyrix can't stab him from behind, due to the Phoenix armor and Fire Wing Harness he's wearing). Confronting the gryphon, Lyrix declares that he'll capture him, expose his deception about his identity to Chima, and then kill him to avenge Lycan. (6/?)
While dueling Lyrix, Galvanor says that he regrets killing "a relative". When Lyrix demands to know what he means, Galvanor introduces himself as Galvanor Anzu the First, Prince of the Gryphons. Apologizing for killing a distant cousin once again, Galvanor strikes a seemingly fatal blow to Lyrix, who tries to escape in Galvanor's eagle jet, only to be thrown off the tower by the gryphon. Certain that Lyrix is dead, Galvanor departs.
During a surprising period of peace now that the Bats have pushed back the Manta Ray Empire's first invasion, King Lycor goes to the Isle of Neutrality to meet with Lincoln face-to-face, at a prompt from the colony's leader. There, Lincoln admits that he'd been harboring Lyrix before his pardon, and that he'd been tracking Lyrix. Lincoln explains that the signal of the tracking device disappeared, and he'd also lost contact with the lion he'd sent to follow Lyrix. He proposes to the Lion King that they work together to find Lyrix and Lincoln's man, who both may be in danger, and who were both last in the Gorilla Jungle. Lycor agrees, and heads to the Gorilla territory with a mixed force of his and Lincoln's lions.
Lyrix wakes up in the Golden City's hospital, and upon leaving the hospital (now completely healed), he is met by Vamprah, who explains that he was found in the Iron Mountains, on the brink of death, by Imperial scouts, and was saved by the Leopard Druids. Lyrix spots a Fire Wing Harness (formerly Malgus') in the courtyard, and Vamprah explains that it's free for anyone in the city to try on, to see if the Fire Wings sprout from the back of the harness, thus proving if they're destined to participate in the Great Illumination; many, Vamprah states, have tried it on already, and to no avail. Lyrix dons the Fire Wing Harness out of pure curiosity, almost as a joke, and finally has his clothes transformed into Phoenix robes, as the wings sprout from the back of the armor. Lyrix and Vamprah are both left momentarily shocked.
In the Eagle Spire, just after Galvanor leaves to meet with another tribe leader, Lyrix, with his newfound powers, breaks into the secret holding block, breaking out Rawlin and Radnar to repay them for their help (as well as, somewhat reluctantly, Lincoln's lion who'd followed him). Lyrix also burns Erlin's research notes on hypnotism. Unbeknownst to Lyrix and the ravens as they fly away though, the lion, a true die-hard supporter of Lincoln, finds and takes a copy Galvanor had made of Erlin's notes, in case his leader can get any use out of them...
Meanwhile, Lycor and the lions he's with, after receiving permission from the Gorillas to search the deep, remote recesses of the jungle for the missing persons, have come up empty handed so far. Suddenly, Lincoln's "neutral" lions, who'd seemingly been lagging behind, shoot Lycor's troops with tranquilizer guns, and attack Lycor himself with the apparent intent to kill. (7/?)
-last edited on Mar 10, 2023 18:39:15 GMT by The J
Post by The J on Mar 10, 2023 18:39:02 GMT
Retribution II synopsis (continued)
One of Lincoln's lions explains that this is the perfect place for the Lion King to be killed in an "accident", and that the age of a monarchy for the Lion Tribe is over. Disappointed in Lincoln for using the disappearance of Lyrix and his own lion as an opportunity to attempt a takeover of the tribe, Lycor focuses on knocking out the enemy lions, and is soon aided by Lyrix, as he swoops in. After the cousins take down all the lions, Lycor comments on the reversal of Lyrix's prior "ice lion" transformation, and about Lyrix surprisingly being destined to wear a Fire Wing Harness. Lyrix, however, explains everything that's happened in the Gorilla Jungle, the Raven HQ, and Eagle Spire. Lyrix cautions Lycor to not make the same mistake he did, and to very carefully plan a trap for the clever Galvanor. Lycor agrees, and resolves to simply deliver Lincoln's unconscious lions to the Isle of Neutrality, with the sardonic message "it didn't work; let's focus on working together against the western invaders for now!" Lycor and Lyrix then discuss what Galvanor could've meant when he told Lyrix he was related to them.
Just as Vamprah is about to launch the Empire's surprise attack on the Icebears, both he and Lycor are contacted by Malgus II; the hypnotism on the Mammoth King having worn off a while after Galvanor's pendulum was destroyed. Malgus II tells Vamprah and Lycor that Galvanor kidnapped Malgus and Leodus, and that he seemed to be "draining" their inner chi in the process. Lycor, who at first had been planning to capture and expose Galvanor after the war with the aquatic tribes was concluded, realizes he must infiltrate the Eagle Spire as soon as possible, with Leodus' life on the line. Vamprah and Malgus II, while desiring to save the wizards but not wanting to start a war between the Eagles and the Empire, Lions, and Mammoths, caution Lycor to be extremely careful and stealthy in his infiltration. Knowing this, Lycor remembers what Lyrix had told him about Rawlin and Radnar, and resolves to contact the two rogue ravens to ask for their help.
After the radio meeting between Vamprah, Malgus II, and Lycor has concluded, Rawlin and Radnar arrive at Crystal Crater, which had been their intended destination after summoning Erlin's Chi Ghost. Rawlin explains to Radnar that, during his lone journeys, he started meeting with a representative of the Icebear Tribe, hoping to ally himself with them. Lyrix, who lands behind the ravens, asks why this is, and Rawlin brings up the revelation about Malgus' plan and the Great Illumination that'd been made public by the news recently. Rawlin argues that any tribe that ever planned a universe-resetting event could not be trusted, and that was why he refused to ally with the Fire Tribes or use the Phoenixes' invention, fire chi. (8/?)
Just as Iceslash comes out to meet with Rawlin, the Empire of Balance attacks the Crystal Crater (another instance of the story crossing over with [what I'd thought was going to happen in] the RP). Rawlin tells Iceslash that he'll leave for now, and ally with the Icebears if they prove their strength by standing their ground. As Lyrix and the ravens part ways, Lyrix tells them that, since the Fire—Ice War is obviously not over, he hopes he and Rawlin won't be on opposite sides of the conflict.
Just after this, Lyrix and Rawlin are called by Leanna Luggington and Lycor, respectively. Leanna tells a shocked Lyrix that Lincoln and his most loyal supporters have hypnotized nearly everyone on the Isle of Neutrality into an obedient army, and that only she managed to escape with her free will intact. Lyrix races to the island, managing to swoop in and take Leanna before she can be brainwashed. Lyrix flies Leanna to New Bat Island, where he gains an audience with Bliston thanks to his previous business relationship with Balthazar (unlike Gibbs, Lyrix had never betrayed the Grand Admiral). Lyrix and Leanna tell the Bat King what's happened, pleading for his aid in freeing the colonists from Lincoln's tyranny. Bliston, realizing that Lincoln plans to have his brainwashed army spread the hypnotism to eventually take control of all Chima's citizens, agrees that this is a top-priority threat that must be eliminated immediately. Since the aquatic tribes aren't currently attacking, Bliston himself leads the Bats' Second Fleet in blockading the Isle of Neutrality, with Lyrix and Leanna in tow.
Meanwhile, Rawlin and Radnar, wanting revenge on Galvanor for capturing them, agree to Lycor's request. Lycor easily infiltrates the Eagle Spire with the help of the expert thieves, only to be confronted by Razar, Rica, and raven troops as they search for the captured wizards. The Raven King and Queen, who infiltrated Eagle Spire to take down "Erdrik" now that the hypnosis on Rica has worn off, demand to know why Lycor is working with Rawlin and Radnar. Lycor tries to explain, but Razar, eager for revenge on Rawlin for his own death, attacks the other ravens. Rawlin tells Razar the truth about how he was hypnotized by his mother to assassinate the Raven King, but Razar doesn't believe him without proof. Just then, the Manta Ray Empire launches another attack on Chima, the impacts of their missiles felt all the way in Eagle Spire. Lycor goes to a balcony on west side of the Spire, and sees crackling yellow lightning (which he immediately recognizes as one of Leodus' and Malgus' magic attacks) sprout from the top of the tower, creating a magic storm in the sky, and unleashing "controlled" lightning upon the Ray ships and aircraft, decimating them, as the Eagle Army moves out to assist in fighting the invaders. Starting to realize what's happening, Lycor rushes up the tower, even as the two groups of raven infiltrators are locked in battle. (9/?)
In his flagship, Bliston curses the Manta Ray Empire, knowing that they took advantage of the Bats' preoccupation to invade again. Bliston notices though, that the Eagles seem to be doing a good job of combating the Empire, and orders the Bats on New Bat Island to assist in Chima's defense, while the Bat Fleet maintains the blockade around the Isle of Neutrality. Bliston, knowing that Lyrix contacted him specifically because of the bats' sonar location abilities, leads a force to charge onto the island, with their eyes closed the entire time to avoid being hypnotized, and with the orders to limit casualties from both sides as much as possible.
Lycor makes it to the top floor of the Eagle Spire, where he finds Malgus and Leodus, partially conscious inside some sort of glass vat, their inner chi/magic power being drained through a strange machine. Galvanor confronts Lycor, announcing with regret that he'll have to kill the Lion King, since he no longer has access to methods of hypnosis. Lycor tells Galvanor that he knows who he is, and the Fire Wing-armed gryphon attacks Lycor. The two duel even as the machine draining and utilizing the wizards' magic, armed by an unseen eagle, continues to rain fire on the Imperial Fleet outside.
Elsewhere in the Eagle Spire, the ravens continue to fight, even as Rawlin tries to convince Rica and Razar of what he was saying earlier. Just as Rica starts to consider that he's telling the truth, a missile from the Imperial Fleet hits the Spire, knocking everyone down. As the other ravens help each other out of the rubble, Rawlin and Radnar escape.
As Lycor continues to duel Galvanor (managing to shatter the gryphon's battle mask in the process), the lion asks why his adversary is doing this. Galvanor recounts his past, from the destruction of the Gryphon Tribe (descendants of a shipwrecked joint crew of lion and eagle explorers on the West Sea) at the hands of the Manta Ray Empire, to his amnesia upon reaching Chima alone, to his adoption by the Eagle King of the time, to the betrayal of the rogue Phoenix "Sorceress" who co-led the Avian Triumvirate (and her murder of the Eagle King, leaving the young Galvanor to have lost everything twice now) during their war with the Mammalian Confederation of 823-819 years prior, to Galvanor being almost killed in the crossfire during the Battle of the Purple City, and frozen beneath the waves in the Arctic, and finally to his revival, and his journey west, which reawakened all the memories of his home island. Now understanding how Galvanor became the way that he is because of his tragic life (and because of the "eye for an eye" philosophy he got from his father, leading him to want to make the rays extinct to avenge the gryphons), Lycor tries to convince him to let go of his warped thirst for "justice" as they continue to duel, but to no avail. (10/?)
On the Isle of Neutrality, Bliston's troops make it to the island's capital, and Bliston fights Lincoln, trying to destroy his pendulum. However, Bliston is outnumbered by Lincoln's non-hypnotized, die-hard supporters. Bliston manages to knock the pendulum out of Lincoln's hand, though, so Lyrix is able to swoop in and burn his way through both Lincoln's supporters, and the last copy of Erlin's research notes, even as Lincoln blasts the Bat King across the room with a chi-powered roar.
As Lycor continues to duel Galvanor on the top floor of the Eagle Spire, Razar attempts to push forward, but Rica stops him, explaining that the eagles would almost certainly discover them now, and that this would be a terrible time for a war to start between the Ravens and Eagles. Razar reluctantly agrees to leave the tower with Rica and the other ravens.
In Lincoln's office, Lyrix destroys the pendulum, pulls the chi orb out of the tyrant's chest, and corners him. Lincoln stands his ground, drawing parallels between himself and Lyrix, and arguing that they were both outcasts wronged by the Lion Tribe, so Lyrix could surely understand why "persuading" Chima's inhabitants (and the aquatic tribes) to submit to the "neutral" Lincoln's will would've been the only way to bring peace and prosperity to Chima. However, Lyrix argues that, though they had similar pasts, they couldn't be more different, since Lyrix values freedom over "unity", and free will over peace. Lyrix then savagely lashes at Lincoln, and sets the lion ablaze with his Fire Wings. Lincoln falls from his office and down into a stream far below.
Even as the magic-harnessing weapon obliterates the Imperial ships, the Rays still push on, with the destruction of the weapon being their top priority. Just as Lycor is starting to make Galvanor realize the flaws of his philosophy, a missile from the Rays strikes the top floor of the Spire, knocking down both combatants and destroying the machine; the glass vat is shattered, freeing the two wizards. Malgus immediately lunges forward and plunges his hand through Galvanor's chest, ripping the Fire Wing Harness out through him, and fatally wounding the gryphon. Malgus reforges the harness around himself, becoming the Elemental Wizard once again, and flying out of the Spire. Lycor and Leodus go to Galvanor, who laments that in his last moments, he isn't entirely sure whether he'd been in the right or not. Galvanor tells Lycor that he'll "be seeing their ancestors now", and perhaps will find the answer in the afterlife. As he dies and the eagle scientist who'd been manning the magic weapon flies down into the room, Galvanor tells Lycor and Leodus that the eagle will explain the contingency plan in the event of the King's death.
On the sea, the Imperial Admiral, having successfully destroyed the magic weapon, orders an immediate retreat of the fleet, which sustained heavy losses. (11/?)
At the same time, after Galvanor dies, the eagle scientist explains to Lycor and Leodus that the body of the impostor gryphon cannot be seen by anyone; Galvanor had ordered that, if he died, his body would be destroyed, so that the people of Chima would believe the Eagle King Erdrik had died as a martyr for their cause. If the people discovered that "Erdrik" had been an impersonator, it carried the risk of breaking the newfound unity of the tribes against the invaders. The eagle scientist explains that he will cremate the gryphon's body by setting a controlled fire on this floor, which will appear to have been caused by the Empire's missile strike. Lycor agrees, and gives Leodus an orb of fire chi, so that they can help with setting the fire, before fleeing from the top floor. While doing so, Lycor and Leodus discuss Malgus, and Leodus contacts Malgus II to tell him what happened in the Eagle Spire.
In the aftermath of the battle on the Isle of Neutrality, as the Bat Fleet breaks apart its blockade, Bliston looks out over the horizon, as Lyrix flies down and lands next to him. The Bat King comments about how someone could become so obsessed with peace and prosperity, that they'd disregard free will in pursuit of it, and wonders if Lincoln realized the problem with this philosophy in his last moments. Lyrix explains that the inhabitants of the Isle of Neutrality will know "true freedom" now that they're without a leader or any sort of laws, and also recounts what happened in Eagle Spire to Bliston, since Lycor had just contacted Lyrix to tell him about it. Bliston is surprised about Erdrik's true identity, and promises not to tell anyone. Lyrix states that Lycor and Galvanor were both only partially right with their stances on the subject of revenge, and explains that revenge being right or wrong depends on the context and the "scale", at least from his point of view. Lyrix declares that he's now achieved the perfect balance between what society deems "good" and "evil", and speculates that Lincoln and Galvanor might've achieved that balance as well, if they hadn't been consumed by their respective ideologies. (12/12)
Retribution II synopsis - Appendix / things I noticed:
The "point of divergence" for this timeline is probably Guru's RPCs not taking over the Wolf, Crocodile, and Phoenix tribes, which means no Battle of the Phoenix Isles; which also means no Second Chima Civil War, since that was the inciting event. In fact, with how quickly I got rid of Lycan, it seems like I was wanting to prevent any sort of SCCW from happening at the time (though the Lycor vs Galvanor duel was always going to happen); probably because of the inactivity from most of the tribes in the RP.
I guess the other point of divergence is Lycan's bombing of Saber Mountain actually being successful (unlike how it turned out in the RP), destroying the Sabertooths' HQ and scattering the tribe; this was during a time when the tribe was almost completely inactive and leaderless in the RP.
The Great Illumination happening at some point after the aquatic tribes' invasion (possibly after the events of the RP entirely), and the Fire--Ice Wars being put "on hold" by the Sabertooths' defeat, was another idea I'd had at the time (again, probably because of the RP "dying", so I'd wanted to go straight to the Manta Ray Empire story arc).
It's funny how I avoided using anyone else's tribes or characters as much as possible, in order to not "contradict" anything that could happen afterward in a revived RP (yet this story ended up irreparably contradicting everything that later happened in the RP anyway ), and the ones I did use really didn't have their status quo changed all that much as a result of this story's events; the exception being Rawlin with his "partial redemption" through finally finding out about his hypnotism, though I'm not sure whether or not Torahvision would've approved of that.
The characterization of Malgus and his son here is consistent with "The Last Reincarnations", but not with their recent development in the RP; understandable, since Malgus' redemption and defection to the Stinger Brotherhood was a relatively recent idea of mine, same with Malgus II's new extreme ideology and renewed alliance with the Ice Hunters.
Galvanor being smashed after a rather cliche "good vs evil" duel with Lycor (and that duel happening congruently with the Ray invasion and a weird "magic weapon" being utilized) was another idea that I'd had for a long, long time even before writing the outline for this story. However, thanks to events in the RP that changed my mind (and changed my characters' views along with it), things are now going in a much more interesting direction...
Razic not usurping his parents to turn the Razarians from a monarchy into a political party also made sense here, since that was a relatively recent addition to the RP from Thefirstdecade; same with Radnar not restoring New Talon Industries, since Shamrock had also been inactive at the time.
I'd eventually decided on the title "Retribution II" for this story after having no idea what to call it, since it involves a lot of the main/important characters from "Retribution" such as Lycor, Lyrix, Rica, Rawlin and Leodus.
Lycor and Lyrix being on relatively good terms by the end of this story is quite surprising to me in hindsight, considering the way things are currently progressing in the Roleplay.
By far the weirdest characterization in this story was Lincoln being a megalomaniac trying to take away everyone's free will, instead of the pacifistic neutral party he and his faction are in the RP. This is especially strange since I'd been planning to use him in the Legacy Trilogy, even back when I wrote this. I guess I just needed a character tied to Lyrix to fill that secondary antagonist role, and threw Lincoln under the bus. Though this outline was a first draft, so maybe I would've realized this and stopped myself before actually writing the story.
I feel like posting this since it's funny in hindsight; I had written this outline for a story in 2020 during a time of inactivity in the RP. At the time, the roleplay seemed to be "dying" (yet now that's happening again), so I ended up planning this story that would pick up where the "dead" RP left off, and at least wrap up things for my characters. The RP became super active again in late 2020 or 2021, so the events happening in the RP obviously started contradicting what I wrote in the outline. It's interesting to see how many things ended up happening differently in the RP than in this scrapped story, especially with my characters going about things differently and acting differently as a result of other roleplayers' interactions with them.
All of this was definitely for the better, but I consider the events of "Retribution II" to be an alternate timeline. I think it makes more sense to post this here, rather than on Chima Chat.
I just noticed this. Now I see that I was referencing an earlier draft of The Last Reincarnations in which Lycor and Leodus apparently went to the Phoenix Isles at the end.
I'd eventually decided on the title "Retribution II" for this story after having no idea what to call it, since it involves a lot of the main/important characters from "Retribution" such as Lycor, Lyrix, Rica, Rawlin and Leodus.
Lycor and Lyrix being on relatively good terms by the end of this story is quite surprising to me in hindsight, considering the way things are currently progressing in the Roleplay.
By far the weirdest characterization in this story was Lincoln being a megalomaniac trying to take away everyone's free will, instead of the pacifistic neutral party he and his faction are in the RP. This is especially strange since I'd been planning to use him in the Legacy Trilogy, even back when I wrote this. I guess I just needed a character tied to Lyrix to fill that secondary antagonist role, and threw Lincoln under the bus. Though this outline was a first draft, so maybe I would've realized this and stopped myself before actually writing the story.
), and the ones I did use really didn't have their status quo changed all that much as a result of this story's events; the exception being Rawlin with his "partial redemption" through finally finding out about his hypnotism, though I'm not sure whether or not Torahvision would've approved of that. 
Though this outline was a first draft, so maybe I would've realized this and stopped myself before actually writing the story.
Though this outline was a first draft, so maybe I would've realized this and stopped myself before actually writing the story.