- Gypsy Queens, the
-
Unravelling the next layer of this mystery will be more difficult still. Those who know more than has been revealed so far are few and far between. Thus, the cost of
their support will be high indeed. Or, for those adventurous souls who wish to ferret out the secrets for themselves, there is the challenge of both time and traps.
The Gypsy Queens did not wish their secrets known, and took pains to trap and mis-lead those who would penetrate their world. Those factors still apply today even
in their absence. And Time has only added to the challenge: lost passwords and broken passages will now be the norm.
But for those with enough means, patience and fortitude, there is much more to learn.
Many of the Waypoint legs lead to hidden mine sites and secluded pits and quarries, some very large indeed. Not only hidden from prying eyes, but guarded by towers and
magic. Searches of these sites will show that the towers and magic not only kept strangers out, but they kept the miners in and unable to leave. Hundreds of years of
bones, from almost every race, will testify to what happened to those who worked these locations. Thus, it appears that the treasures that were being bought and sold in
the cities were paid for with gold and gems from Trishore's own soil, and mined by slaves from the races with whom the Gypsy Queens were trading.
In some of the most inaccessable reaches will be the remains of the Gypsy Queen homes. Opulent even in their ruins, there is another startling feature to be uncovered.
The Gypsy Queens were dopplegangers from another world. More intelligent than their bastard children that still haunt many dark places across Seteria, this explains the
people who "changed their minds" about their concerns with respect to the Gypsy Queens. It also becomes clear that there were not many Gypsy Queens, but that
they are extremely long-lived, even moreso than the elves.
Ultimately, maps and diagrams will show the full Waypoint network. Curiously, their main base (set well away from the heartlands of all other races) lies virtually underneath
the epicentre of Firefall. Similarly, three other mines were obliterated by the same catastrophe. And in the ensuing post-Firefall chaos, most records were lost and questions
about the Gypsy Queens were forgotten in the need to merely survive. So while questions about the real altruism of the Gypsy Queens rose as the years went by, it was only after
their sudden departure that secrets were learned -- and then fingers were pointed and wars were started. And then four hundred years after they left, a near world-shattering event
to ensure all was forgotten. And any evidence was destroyed by the ensuing cataclysm.
No one would think to accuse the Gypsy Queens for such a calamity after so long a time, except that it takes time to precisely aim an asteroid at a planet... And the Gypsy Queens
are very long-lived and in no hurry after all. So having milked a planet for 600 years, they left to enjoy their bounty and to continue their parasitic
ways elsewhere.
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