[Dragaera] Speculation about Sethra Chapter XCLVIX

[Jonathan Carey, CHRL via Dragaera]

So, what's up with Sethra?

Where do you even start?  She's apparently ~250,000 years old or more and a
vampire.  Before she died, she became part of Dzur Mountain itself; so
presumably her physical body is incidental, and not related to her being
able to exist.

1) How long has she been Undead?

To answer this question, I think we need to understand something of
necromancy--ie, Alive or dead is simply a matter of distinguishing between
various energy states from different planes of existence; therefore undead
is also a specific state of energy.  In fact, it might be one of the
pre-requisites of becoming a God--being both alive and dead starts to get
close to the idea of being in two places at once (assuming physical
location is, again, just a function of what your energy state is)

So, I think that Sethra has been ALMOST undead for almost as long as she's
been alive, give or take the natural lifespan of a Dragaeran, if indeed she
IS a Dragaeran and not something else altogether.  When I say almost, what
I mean is that she is undead in every way except for the fact that she
never actually DIED, and so can't be UNdead, technically.  But in all the
other ways, I think she is indistinguishable from someone who is undead.

The "scandal" that broke upon the discovery that she had, in fact, finally
died, and that she was undead, therefore seems to be more a product of
ignorance and prejudice, rather than originating out of some kind of
objection or aversion to people who are undead.

2) What type of undead is she?

Sethra's been described as a vampire.  But if she IS actually a vampire, I
think "vampire" is only part of what she is.  Our lore on vampires in
popular culture is that, the older they are, the less they need to sustain
themselves, because their "selves" are less and less what they were
before...ie, there's less of a guise of humanity to maintain through the
farce that is drinking blood etc.  I calculate that Sethra's been a vampire
for 1750 years (500 years before she was discovered as undead, in 750 BI, +
247+219+34 (the age of an adult so that the answer is a nice, round 1750)

In our lore, 1750 years old is VERY old for a vampire; old enough to
account for how Sethra is portrayed, even though 1750 years is a miniscule
portion of Sethra's actual age, and not even older, by itself, than a
normal Dragaeran can live.  But we'll assume the loss of humanity happens
at an absolute speed, such that 1750 is more than enough time to develop
the "ancient" vampire look/bearing--though as I've stated above, I think
her physical body is an incidental, so we might not be able to put too much
intepretative weight on any physical aspects of Sethra.

But...vampire doesn't really explain Sethra's history.  I mean, she's only
been a vampire for 1750 years, and she's lived for 200-250 THOUSAND years,
with a good number of those years being part of the rock of Dzur Mountain.
So what explains those abilities?  However long she's been a vampire, she
hasn't been one her whole life, right?

I suspect that Sethra is (also) a lich.  I believe her soul resides outside
her body.  She might even have more than one phylactery--or shall we call
them Horcruxes :P  I think that likely suspects are, in order of likelihood
(very likely to not really likely), Iceflame, Dzur Mountain, the Cycle
itself in the PotD, and/or Tukko?

This would explain her longevity; it would also require that she be an
exceedingly skilled necromancer, which would be VERY necessary if you
wanted to, say, protect the planet against incursions from the Jenoine who
gate in from different planes of existence.  It would also potentially
check the "be in two places at once" requirement of godhood.

It's entirely possible that Iceflame drank her soul long ago; and that it
is Sethra, and not the dagger, that is the tool being wielded.  This jives
with her Sethra described it--that Iceflame found its weapon in her, and
not the other way around.  It also explains how her body seems to be more
of an afterthought.  Nightslayer conjures an illusory wielder in
_Desecrator_. Iceflame, being more powerful than Nightslayer, might be able
to do more than illusion; it might be able to project a soul (its soul?)
into a body it's created for the purpose of having someone carry it around.

3) What exactly is she, otherwise?

Sethra is described as having features of both the Dragon and the Dzur.
Here is my speculation as to her genetics.

Sethra was originally a Dragonlord, until such time as she melded with the
rock of Dzur Mountain.  Doing so, she became more attuned to the Dzur, so
much so that, when she reincarnated, she appeared to be a pure-bred
Dzurlord, who then fought her way into the House.  When her actual origin
became known, well, that would be enough of an insult to the Dzur that an
unending stream of Dzurlords seeking to destroy her would be plausible,
even if it weren't for the fact that anyone trying to destroy her would
have the odds RIDICULOUSLY against them.

Perhaps when she returned from the Paths (or even at some earlier point),
her new body reflected this "soul duality" by giving her a mystifying
combination of both Dragonlord and Dzurlord features.

4) The Ennui of Sethra

After 250,000 years, even killing these guys would become an exceedingly
annoying task...imagine having to constantly swat away mosquitos your
entire life.  I suspect she toyed with various ways of dispatching them,
for amusement's sake if not the satisfaction that one might get when
killing a mosquito.  But even THAT would eventually become a chore.  I
fully suspect that she doesn't kill them anymore.  I suspect she does
something along the lines of offering them a choice, which to a Dzur, is an
offer they couldn't refuse.

Sethra offers the Dzurlord a choice: they can fight her, and die, possibly
Morganti, or they could fight someone even stronger than her.  This would
be enough to give pause to even the most rabid Dzur hero.

Who is more powerful than Sethra?  A pretty solid argument can be made that
Sethra is, if not the equal to, then at least in the same ballpark as a
God.  She was offered Godhood, and carries Iceflame, which is only rivaled
in power by Godslayer.  A weapon capable of slaying a God is presumably at
least as powerful as a God.  So Gods are out of the question.

No, Sethra has bigger fish to fry: the Jenoine.

Dzur Mountain exists, in part, to deter, detect, and repel incursions of
the Jenoine into Dragaera.  Perhaps the Dzurlords consent to become part of
the mountain itself, to lend their power to the fight.  If they refuse,
Iceflame will have them, at which point...the same result is achieved.

This gives her the chance to assess their souls by whatever means she does
so, and to thereby identify people like Zungaron, who will be much more
useful wielding a Great Weapon than being absorbed by one.

Thoughts?

Jon