Yooooo it's very possible you deleted this & that's why I can't find it, but I get emails when I get tagged in stuff so I saw your SUPER interesting theory about the Preservation: 1) about them potentially taking children and 2) having connections to the vandraghor.
I'd love to hear more about this if you were interested in expanding!!! I totally forgot/missed the mention of a vandraghor in Ashkator + a whole clan being swallowed, but sadly I can see the Preservation kidnapping kids to indoctrinate them/eventually use them (like how they found the perfect bonders)
Ha! Yeah I deleted it since I felt like I was getting off track/confusing 😄
But since you’re interested…
1. Yeah I wasn’t quite sure whether the children we see in Ashkator from Zenyra’s memories were all orphans taken in or kidnapped children (I’m just going to assume a mix of both).
Now, Zenyra’s younger sister Lehar squeaked out this specific fear: “Don’t eat me!” after a member of the Preservation introduced himself (WoW Ch. 6). This scene hints the Preservation was not in good standing with the other clans (or at least Amaratir). If the Preservation were kidnapping children, that creates a lot of interesting tensions that could have fueled the war during Kal Ekana. The clans not only need children to keep their groups intact, but children were also the only ones who could bond to beasts…child soldiers would’ve been the key to winning battles given the lack of universal channeling. I can see the Preservation stating a ‘noble’ reason for kidnapping future bestial warriors, (in an attempt to cease the fighting!)—but it cannot be all good intentions as we see their need for soul bonders too. (And as you point out the indoctrination)
2. This “Don’t eat me!” fear is the exact belief characters have towards vandraghor:
“You know the old rumors? About how no clan could ally with the vandraghor during Kal Ekana because the beasts liked to…well, eat whoever came close.” (Ch. 42).
…
“Maybe they were eaten like those poor sods who bonded with the vandraghor!” (Ch. 45).
…
Who bonded with the vandraghor during KE? There is no mention of who. The only thing recorded was this:
How does this relate to the Preservation? I’m not exactly sure—also knowing my luck these rumors could all be separate fears. However, my weird little theory is that some bonders rumored to have been bonded to vandraghor were actually Preservers who deserted their clan. I mean maybe some bonders died…but I do not believe ALL did. (This part of the post is a bit of a reach 😄)
I also have a little weird theory that vandraghor bonders received visions and that’s how they came to the conclusion to bond with the seitarius (I don’t see anyone having that idea or know how to find the seitarius without some sort of help).
So you were wondering if there were vandraghor in Ashkator…I say yes given the habitat we see, Zenyra’s mentions of baby gazarou and kapizer, and this scene between a young Kaldrav and Kyrian:
“The second, wild-haired and scarred, let out a bark of laughter. “Stealing my words again. Sure you’re up to bonding with a megarya, Kyrian? An obsessive freak like you—”
“You’ve got some nerve saying that when your beast’s the freakish one…”
They may be talking about the seitarius, but I guess that the Preservers’ “training and series of trials” to determine seitarius-bonders were to see which six children could bond to various planetary beasts they had onsite. And this Kaldrav/Kyrian scene is them doing some hands on training.
@bri-notthecheese @arazan-universe