Ghostwalker Theories, * Spoiler/speculation warning! * Options

[Azralon]

I'm convinced that there are key facts out there that I've just missed, so I'm hoping this thread will fill in my blanks (or, worst case, illustrate my capacity for wild speculation).

I read the whole Ryan Mercury novel stuff ("Dragon Heart" saga) when it came out and was surprised at some of the revelations it offered. Such as:

* Drakes. Heaven help us when they become available as PCs.
* Spirits. I was very surprised to see that recently-dead people can get recycled like that; it's kind of a slap in the face for a lot of religions.
* Dunkie. Wow, that's some potent cybermancy to trap something like that.
* Lethe + Billy = Miniature god in a box.

So here's the thing: Ghostwalker bears a striking resemblance to Dunk, but there are some physical differences and definitely some differences in attitude. His agenda seems mostly aligned with Dunk's, though, and he's already hooked up with the Draco Foundation on superfriendly terms.

My two theories over the true identity of Ghostwalker are thus:

1) It's Icewing, who somehow spent the entire last downcycle on an astral quest. Ice and Dunk always looked a little like each other and were allies, even if Ice thought ol' Mountainshadow was naive.
2) It's an immensely powerful free spirit impersonating Icewing (which would explain why he "picked up his body" after he emerged from the rift -- that is, he physically manifested). That spirit would in fact be the Burnout gestalt, which would explain some aforementioned resemblances as well as the new in-your-face attitude.

That's where I am now. Any facts I'm missing that might contradict those possibilities? Ancient History, you got any light to shed?

[stevebugge]

I believe Dunkelzahn and Ghostwalker are brothers from the same clutch, which explains the physical characteristics but differing attitudes. Dunkelzahn was clearly a radical in draconic terms while GHostwalker is much more of a traditionalist, though both are much greater idealists (Dunk in his pro meta idealism, and Ghost in his belief in Draconic Tradition) than say Lofwyr who is very utilitarian in his observance of draconic traditions.

[Ancient History]

Not a great deal, no.

[Azralon]

[Grinder]

Doesn't Mountainshadow has a Drake with the name Dunkelzahn? I'll always get confused over that topic.

[Ancient History]

The general idea is that Mountainshadow is Dunkelzahn, he was just pretending to be a drake.

[Grinder]

Way to easy for me to get this idea :D

Thank you :)

[emo samurai]

Dunkelzahn was the world's oldest and most powerful dragon, even in the Fourth Age? The world is FUCKED.

[Dale]

Whoa, I was told that Dunkelzhan IS a cyberzombie now. Literally. Therefore not really dead.

[Azralon]

[Dale]

Holy crap that's cool.

All my Shadowrun characters from now on are going to be Dunkelzhan worshippers.

[Draco]

Well, it is worth mentioning that there is probably only about a dozen individuals in the 6th World that are aware of the true circumstances of The Big D's death.
Heck, apart from those mentioned below, everyone in the world still thinks he was assassinated.

A brief list of those that were in Beyond the Pale and highly likely to know:

Harlequin - aka "The Laughing Man"
Aina Dupree
Jane "Frosty" Foster
Ryan Mercury and Assets Inc
Nadja Daviar
...can't recall any others at the moment

It is quite likely that most of the Immortal Elves and Great Dragons have knowledge of what went on, if not the exact details (Ehran didn't seem to know that Dunky killed himself in the "Post Mortem" short story).

Furthermore, it is almost guarenteed that Ghostwalker/Icewing knew quite a bit, considering how he targetted the Azzies in his Denver takeover.
Funny thing is... how did he find out the details so quickly after he came through the DC rift?

[Grinder]

[Gothic Rose]

[JongWK]

[Azralon]

It's not so much that Dunk was "powerful," it's that he held a lot of status among the GD's. He was, if I recall correctly, the first GD to have achieved Greatness in the 4th world. Basically he had a lot of seniority in addition to his indeterminate level of uberpower.

Ghost was big into spirit magic, which may explain both his peculiarly dramatic entrance as well as how he knew about his brother's fate. For all we know, they had a metaplanar powwow before Ghost emerged from the rift.

I had wondered if Ghost was actually Dunk's free spirit masquerading as his brother because A) Ghost knew an awful lot about what's going on despite his absence, B) his attitude bears a resemblance to the Burnout gestalt, C) he "picked up" his body at some point during his first flight, which to me might suggest he just manifested, and D) it's odd that he showed up from that rift astrally rather than just waking up when all of the other dragons did.

I mean, free spirits can run around in human form and fool us. A sufficiently powerful one might be able to assume draconic form and fool even the big lizards.

But, given two choices like that I'll invoke the wisdom of Occam and assume that Ghost and quasi-Dunk just had a long talk in some metaplanar chatroom.

[Grinder]

n/p

[hobgoblin]

even tho one is holed up on the astral does not mean one is cutt of from the world. if anything, being able to live on the astral would allow one to get hold of a whole lot of info others may not be able to ;)

[Dalamar]

I belive that he was a prisoner of Mama Iaga a very very powerful spirit. Talon or the Comet, or a combination of both were the cause of Ghostwalker being freed. This info was taken from "The Burning Time". This is where all those spirits that were making the dead walk came from.

Just my take from what I read.

[Azralon]

The Shedim? This is news to me.

[Ancient History]

A host of unfamiliar spirits broke through Dunkelzahn's Rift with Ghostwalker, which coincided with the Mam's little difficulties and the appearence of the shedim. Coincidence? P'haps, p'haps not.

[SL James]

[Azralon]

Yeah, I recall the influx of spirits but figured if they were naughty then Ghost would have smacked them on his way out. Sounds like I need to go read me some Burning Time over the holiday.

[Dalamar]

Yeah, look at chapters 25, 26 and 27 for the specifics

[Dalamar]

I think Ghost was just happy to be free, god knows how long he was imprisioned. He also probably wanted back into his own skin.