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You know the eerie thing about this? Every single crackbunny has a solid base in canon.
So far, the 'verse incorporates:
1. The idea that the Numair executed in EM was the real Numair, and the Numair we saw starting in the menagerie scene was a simulacrum. Given what little we know of simulacra - and who we know uses them - this is not that unlikely.
2. The idea that Numair really did commit treason against Carthak. The idea of him being a Tyran agent stems from this, mostly because it's about the only plausible reason, given his character, that I could see him as a traitor to Ozorne, but also because it explains another inexplicable thing in canon: why he flees to Tortall instead of Tyra, where he still canonically has living family, and goes to work for another foreign crown, one he has absolutely no connection to. Plus I get to piss Jon off, which is always worth it. XD Also, it allows me to explore Numair the Tyran more; from what we know of Tyra, Numair is remarkably deferent to and competent at dealing with nobles/royalty.
3. The idea that the Numair we see is a clever facade. Numair really underreacts to most things in canon, which was pointed out to me a long time ago back on my meta post on his character; at the very least, he's canonically repressing and glossing over a lot of his real emotions - or he's got ridiculously flat affect. Because I cannot imagine anyone without a dark side, especially not someone who was canonically on the run from the Emperor Mage, living on the streets of Tortall, I suggest that the real Numair is ... not that nice. Which is not implausible. Also, we do sorta see slips in Numair's mask in canon, which sorta bolster this theory. If you squint.
4. The idea that Daine as a god, had she chosen that route, would manifest more of her father's inhuman traits. Admittedly, I've taken that to an extreme here - deliberately - because I think that her overflow of wild magic and ability to shapeshift might really eff her up. Incidentally, almost all of the animals she manifests parts of are personally significant to her, which I hope is kinda obvious. XD
5. The notion that Numair did Daine no favors by magically "fixing" Daine's insanity in WM. This bugs me as a trope in general, but here - I mean, magic can fail. Or be removed. And she'd be less equipped, if that ever happened, to handling her losing herself to her magic than she would if she'd had to learn how to hold onto her sense of self.
6. In the third installation, this 'verse will start incorporating the notion that Numair steals the Dominion Jewel. This is admittedly less directly rooted in the books and more an outgrowth of #2 above; if you had access to an enemy's or hostile ally's secret weapon, conveniently pocket-sized, and the ability to get away fast, wouldn't you snag it? Especially if it could ensure your teeny mercantile republic's security and stability amidst several larger expansionist powers? It also stems from my frustration at the Jewel being reduced to a trinket post-Immortals; the famine is a half-assed explanation that I frankly don't buy, but Jon carrying around a replica of the real Jewel to reassure his people is scarily plausible.
7. Ozorne really has divine blood. Admittedly, as I said in my post on him, this is crackish, but. This is a universe with real gods, who really do go down and tell people what to do. Immortals borks SotL by having the gods interact with people at the drop of a hat, but even in SotL, having real, physical gods who manifest sometimes, however rarely, would have a drastic effect on how people relate to their deities. And one of the things that is just flat suicidal is declaring yourself a god without any reason for it. Given that I generally read EM!Ozorne as sane, if not exactly nice, he needs a solid reason for that particular shenanigan.
8. I have wondered this for ages: if Daine has, in EM, dead-raising powers, and she is, in EM, pissed off that Numair is, well, dead, why the HELL doesn't she go track down his corpse and raise it? It's heavily implied with the dinosaurs and Bone that the actual soul/spirit of the corpse in question comes back to life. (It would, admittedly, be hilarious to see Numair the Headless Mage...do we even know how exactly he's executed?)
9. Daine in EM is out of control at the end, and this is blown off as a joke, or worse, something understandable and sympathetic. I'm sorry, she's either a mass murderer or a war criminal. But there is one notion I can get behind that makes her, if not more reasonable, more sensical as a character: the notion that being a demigod means one is ... rather unstable. That works, for me. I don't like EM!Daine any better, but I can get a handle on her that way. But then it raises the immediate question of why people - anyone, really - lets such a walking menace roam free.
...I think that covers all the crackbunnies I've thrown in HtP so far. All the ones I can remember off the top of my head, anyway.
So far, the 'verse incorporates:
1. The idea that the Numair executed in EM was the real Numair, and the Numair we saw starting in the menagerie scene was a simulacrum. Given what little we know of simulacra - and who we know uses them - this is not that unlikely.
2. The idea that Numair really did commit treason against Carthak. The idea of him being a Tyran agent stems from this, mostly because it's about the only plausible reason, given his character, that I could see him as a traitor to Ozorne, but also because it explains another inexplicable thing in canon: why he flees to Tortall instead of Tyra, where he still canonically has living family, and goes to work for another foreign crown, one he has absolutely no connection to. Plus I get to piss Jon off, which is always worth it. XD Also, it allows me to explore Numair the Tyran more; from what we know of Tyra, Numair is remarkably deferent to and competent at dealing with nobles/royalty.
3. The idea that the Numair we see is a clever facade. Numair really underreacts to most things in canon, which was pointed out to me a long time ago back on my meta post on his character; at the very least, he's canonically repressing and glossing over a lot of his real emotions - or he's got ridiculously flat affect. Because I cannot imagine anyone without a dark side, especially not someone who was canonically on the run from the Emperor Mage, living on the streets of Tortall, I suggest that the real Numair is ... not that nice. Which is not implausible. Also, we do sorta see slips in Numair's mask in canon, which sorta bolster this theory. If you squint.
4. The idea that Daine as a god, had she chosen that route, would manifest more of her father's inhuman traits. Admittedly, I've taken that to an extreme here - deliberately - because I think that her overflow of wild magic and ability to shapeshift might really eff her up. Incidentally, almost all of the animals she manifests parts of are personally significant to her, which I hope is kinda obvious. XD
5. The notion that Numair did Daine no favors by magically "fixing" Daine's insanity in WM. This bugs me as a trope in general, but here - I mean, magic can fail. Or be removed. And she'd be less equipped, if that ever happened, to handling her losing herself to her magic than she would if she'd had to learn how to hold onto her sense of self.
6. In the third installation, this 'verse will start incorporating the notion that Numair steals the Dominion Jewel. This is admittedly less directly rooted in the books and more an outgrowth of #2 above; if you had access to an enemy's or hostile ally's secret weapon, conveniently pocket-sized, and the ability to get away fast, wouldn't you snag it? Especially if it could ensure your teeny mercantile republic's security and stability amidst several larger expansionist powers? It also stems from my frustration at the Jewel being reduced to a trinket post-Immortals; the famine is a half-assed explanation that I frankly don't buy, but Jon carrying around a replica of the real Jewel to reassure his people is scarily plausible.
7. Ozorne really has divine blood. Admittedly, as I said in my post on him, this is crackish, but. This is a universe with real gods, who really do go down and tell people what to do. Immortals borks SotL by having the gods interact with people at the drop of a hat, but even in SotL, having real, physical gods who manifest sometimes, however rarely, would have a drastic effect on how people relate to their deities. And one of the things that is just flat suicidal is declaring yourself a god without any reason for it. Given that I generally read EM!Ozorne as sane, if not exactly nice, he needs a solid reason for that particular shenanigan.
8. I have wondered this for ages: if Daine has, in EM, dead-raising powers, and she is, in EM, pissed off that Numair is, well, dead, why the HELL doesn't she go track down his corpse and raise it? It's heavily implied with the dinosaurs and Bone that the actual soul/spirit of the corpse in question comes back to life. (It would, admittedly, be hilarious to see Numair the Headless Mage...do we even know how exactly he's executed?)
9. Daine in EM is out of control at the end, and this is blown off as a joke, or worse, something understandable and sympathetic. I'm sorry, she's either a mass murderer or a war criminal. But there is one notion I can get behind that makes her, if not more reasonable, more sensical as a character: the notion that being a demigod means one is ... rather unstable. That works, for me. I don't like EM!Daine any better, but I can get a handle on her that way. But then it raises the immediate question of why people - anyone, really - lets such a walking menace roam free.
...I think that covers all the crackbunnies I've thrown in HtP so far. All the ones I can remember off the top of my head, anyway.
