test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Options
Culd the Elachi be "The Demons of air and darkness"?
ussweatherlight
Member Posts: 16 Arc User
Look at their behaviors in both the shows, and how they're presented in-game.
We know nothing about the Iconians, and as someone pointed out, history is written by the victors. What if the Iconians created the Elachi, the Elachi rebelled, and then either attributed their own actions to their former masters, or assumed the Iconian name for a time and are the ones referenced by the stories Picard and others talked about.
Picard does mention that the place he visited didn't seem like the product of a war like culture.
I did take this from someone else, so I don't take credit for this.
What do you guys think?
We know nothing about the Iconians, and as someone pointed out, history is written by the victors. What if the Iconians created the Elachi, the Elachi rebelled, and then either attributed their own actions to their former masters, or assumed the Iconian name for a time and are the ones referenced by the stories Picard and others talked about.
Picard does mention that the place he visited didn't seem like the product of a war like culture.
I did take this from someone else, so I don't take credit for this.
What do you guys think?
_____________________________________________
"Second star on the right, and straight on till morning."
U.S.S. Weatherlight
"Second star on the right, and straight on till morning."
U.S.S. Weatherlight
Post edited by ussweatherlight on
0
Comments
The Elachi are already a known in-canon race. Go watch Enterprise's episode "Silent Enemy" and see.
that doesn't discount the op's theory.
R.I.P. Leonard Nimoy
Besides, their starship designs are very different.
"Critics who say that the optimistic utopia Star Trek depicted is now outmoded forget the cultural context that gave birth to it: Star Trek was not a manifestation of optimism when optimism was easy. Star Trek declared a hope for a future that nobody stuck in the present could believe in. For all our struggles today, we haven’t outgrown the need for stories like Star Trek. We need tales of optimism, of heroes, of courage and goodness now as much as we’ve ever needed them."
-Thomas Marrone
I know that. However, I find this to be a possibly awesome direction for the story to go, and the Iconians (the real ones) could be extinct, or found later trying to mind their own business.
Good point. But deception is an interesting trait. They could have a run of the mill Elachi in their standard ships, doing the daily work, and then a higher tier in the hierarchy of Elachi that use the most advanced ships and tech, but are different enough that no ones suspects that its more Elachi.
We do get a hint of what the Iconians look like in the New Romulus missions.
I found it to be an interesting idea. Intrigue and deception can be some a source of awesome storylines.
"Second star on the right, and straight on till morning."
U.S.S. Weatherlight
Iconians 1
Which look like quite closely of a very old artworks from an old STO interview :
Iconians 2
They are not a canon race, if you are using the show as canon, which most fans do.
The aliens that appeared in that episode are canon; however, Cryptic's decision to call them "Elachi", if it is indeed based upon that episode, is strictly non-canon except in this game.
But as far as I can tell, the two species simply share a passing resemblance.
They don't have faces in that artwork. I wonder when we'll finally take them on.
I sorta wish there were Fek'Ihre and Elachi missions amongst all the factions. They're pretty fun to fight.
"Second star on the right, and straight on till morning."
U.S.S. Weatherlight
The Iconians are the "Demons of air and darkness".
We've seen TWO representations of an Iconian in game and they look nothing like the Elachi.
The Elachi are a servant race, nothing more.
I saw ships that were supposed to be Iconian, with purple smoke inside a rib-cage structure, which is different from the Elachi ships. However, this doesn't exclude the possibility that Elachi were driving ancient but still functional Iconian tech. (They built to last!)
However, I have unanswered questions about the Elachi.
1) Why do they abduct people and put them in scientific looking tubes which morph the victim into something resembling Elachi?
2) Do Elachi actually breed?
3) How did Hakeev, fooling around with Iconian tech, end up involved with the Elachi?
This suggests to me that Elachi aren't actually a species, but are the product of technology. When they need to replace population they must grab raw material from biological races to do so. They seem to be connected with Iconians at some level, but are they masters, slaves, partners? Or do they simply use the legends of Iconia to their own advantage?
I like the idea of the Elachi as constructs of the Iconians who overthrew their masters, but they could be virtually anything else. I have no firm beliefs on this, but am happy to speculate. Perhaps this is going in the wrong direction, and the writers of this arc never considered these angles at all, having something else in mind.
The title of Demons of Air and Darkness have been associated with the Iconians for... ever.
Besides... the Iconans are supposed to be the ultimate uberevil of STO, and very mysterious. The Elachi... are just pawns.
In fact... I would compare the Elachi's relationship with the Iconians to the Drakh from Babylon 5, a servant race of the much older and more powerful Shadows.
Sometimes, if you want to bury the hatchet with a Klingon, it has to be in his skull. - Captain K'Tar of the USS Danu about J'mpok.
When the iconians do appear, they, like the Elachi should look different from the hologram.
Well, canon wise it was never established they were evil. Like Picard said about them, it's possible that the other races were afraid of their technology more then the beings themselves. If you don't know something, you're more prone to be fearful of it and conduct violent behaviour towards it.
I wonder how Cryptic will portray them however, make them wholly evil or just misunderstood beings?
(spoilers for Mass Effect series in highlight below)
Elachi = Collectors
Iconians = Mishmash of Reapers and evil Protheans
Tal Shiar = Illusive Man/Cerberus
I do like the babylon 5 analogy and it does fit well.
3 years now we have been waiting to find out what the Iconians want. I don't think Cryptic has any idea how to actually PROGRESS the story.
One of the many areas of this game where they completely fail. :rolleyes:
And the Tholians, all through S8 they were stomping around in Tau Dewa and New Romulus but to what end? There are hints about invasions and so on but all that seems to have ground to a halt since LoR.
I could have missed something, since I haven't played any of the Rommie content yet, but I doubt it. I guess the point I'm trying to make here is Cryptic are pretty good at opening up cool new story lines, but not so hot at concluding them.
*yawn*
I doubt the devs are capable to come up with something else.
I too hope they are more complicated/interesting than yet another set of would-be conquerors.
I think its clear that STO will eventually have a turning point wherein all the factions will need to come together to defeat them (likely using a deus ex machina Precursor device of some kind -- which is probably what the Tholians are looking for) and when that's over this Klingon War goofiness will also be over since it hasn't really gone anywhere and has thus become static and boring. The factions can continue to remain separate powers without the need for a war (cold or hot) as a MacGuffin. Maybe Worf or Ja'rod will even become the new Chancellor. Maybe at that point they'll declare the stardate to finally be 2410.
I just hope we will not have a ghostly child and 3 buttons.
I infer from these things that the Iconians are not large in number, and thier need to reconquer the Alpha Quadrant must be driven by some need to maintain, or overcome, some racial population issue. They obviously are not large enough in number to invade and take over this quadrant. But they are advance enough, technologically, that they can avoid detection and tracking of them. And they can successfully infiltrate every major power and manipulate them towards the goal of destabilizing the Alpha Quadrant to make it easy for their small numbers to be able to conquer us with little or no loss of Iconian life.
KDF: Dahar Master Kan (Borg Klingon Tactical)::Dahar Master Torc (Alien Science)::Dahar Master Sisteric (Gorn Engineer)
RR-Fed: Citizen Sirroc (Romulan Science)::Fleet Admiral Grell (Alien Engineer)
RR-KDF: Fleet Admiral Zemo (Reman Tactical)::Fleet Admiral Xinatek (Reman Science)::Fleet Admiral Bel (Alien Engineer)
TOS-Fed: Fleet Admiral Katem (Andorian Tactical)::Lieutenant Commander Straad (Vulcan Engineer)
Dom-Fed: Dan'Tar (Jem'Hadar Science)
Dom-KDF: Kamtana'Solan (Jem'Hadar Science)
CoHost of Tribbles in Ecstasy (Zombee)
The idea that Iconians are the Demons of Air and Darkness could well be propaganda used to villainize the Iconians to justify the war that drove them out of the galaxy, or it could be as earlier suggested, that Elachi ruined the Iconian's reputation by using their tech to rob the less technologically advanced species of the time.
It may also be that a Hakeev-type Iconian is running the show, determined to grasp power by any means, and that when the big reveal comes, it will be the players who must help the peaceful scientific Iconians bring down their renegade.
There is nothing in source to contradict any of this, so far as I am aware. Just because Iconians are called Demons of Air and Darkness by the current generation does not mean that they actually were. Look at any war in human history, then examine the propaganda used to villify the enemy by both sides. One example comes to mind in the propaganda of the Cold War. There are other examples. Many other examples.
Wouldn't that be a heck of an unexpected plot twist? The best way to save the galaxy from the Iconians is... to help the Iconians?
Am I blind?
Romulan rep mission cutscenes. The tier 5 one shows a holographic recording of an Iconian immediately before they abandoned the Dewans. Similar to the concept art, the face isn't visible, just a blue shape. They have spikey heads and more typical biped legs than the Elachi.
Now, yes, that's a recording and also doesn't preclude the possibility that the Elachi are simply usurpers of some sort.
However, let me ask you this: When, at any point, has Cryptic used this kind of storytelling? Even at its best, Cryptic's storytelling is pretty transparent. When they teased the Elachi, they were simply called "The Silent Enemy."
Now, of all the community theories, from the Hur'q to the Tzenkethi, which one was the most transparent, and required the least leaps of logic and extensive story explanation? The Silent Enemy as seen in Silent Enemy. And which one was right? I mean, the simplest theory about FE4's plot, which predated the actual episode by most of a year, was spot on. There was no greater conspiracy, no connection to other forces, just yet another example of something disappearing in the wormhole at one point in time and reappearing at another.
Cryptic does not exactly do cryptic storytelling. Things have always been as we're told they appear - the whole Undine thing, the Elachi, the Borg, etc. There's a lot more breadcrumbs and giant flashing neon arrows pointing towards the Iconians than any of the other examples of this, so I find it less likely than any of the previous examples that there is some deep, complex, hidden truth here, but that the truth is as it appears: that the Iconians really are the ancient Demons of Air and Darkness, that the Elachi are a separate race and are at best allies and more likely pawns in their schemes.
This needs a slow clap. You're having a HARD time following this story aren't you? Okay, let me break it down for you.
Elachi: Collectors
Iconians: Reapers
Clearly Iconians are way before Mass Effect, but this is just an illustration of the hierarchy.
It is LITERALLY that simple. Elachi are just a slave race, possibly made by taken races as shown in those tanks, or something older just in service to the Iconians. Clearly having star gates all over the galaxy qualifies them to be Demons of Air and Darkness. Besides, Obisek knows what he is talking about so recognize and try to keep up. They are coming back to take their rightful place amongst the stars and we would be wise to heed our overlords. Heed them with a tricobalt device.
Cryptic's storytelling has been fabulous and the slow build up of this has been great. Sorry if people have been having trouble following it. I guess it explains why people couldn't fathom Shepard being Indoctrinated in ME. I won't say they won't be good Iconians, but since we are like the buzzing of flies to them, I would say don't count on it.