Hello!

Just to flog a favourite dead horse of mine about the Crimes Towards Lore perpetrated in the global loot table, I was wondering if there is anything official or in-game about the Defiant Gear's origins?

Other sets of No-Drop/Attunable armour usually have a story behind them even if its just 'Some guy made them - turn in gems to get it!'

I don't know why Norrath (and eveywhere else) is now full of Defiant gear, is a powerful wizard somewhere churning them out?

While I don't think you'll get an official "no."  Sadly, that seems to be the answer.

Maybe the gnomes of the Ak`Anon Strikeforce created the defiant gear as a way to beef up their forces opposing Meldrath?  The Defiant stuff was pushed life during SoF, and gnomes are defying Meldrath...

It's a stretch, but I'm trying here.

Antibane wrote:

Maybe the gnomes of the Ak`Anon Strikeforce created the defiant gear as a way to beef up their forces opposing Meldrath?  The Defiant stuff was pushed life during SoF, and gnomes are defying Meldrath...

It's a stretch, but I'm trying here.

Well, weren't they pushed in anticipation of the Living Legacy event?

The Ak'Anon Strike Force is looking for a few good adventurers to help them with their latest project. In their efforts to defeat Meldrath once and for all, these brave gnomes constructed an unstoppable clockwork juggernaut: I.R.A., the Infinitely Regenerative Automaton. Before they unleash I.R.A., however, they need to test it out. Are you up for the challenge?

Yes, I admit I was thinking of Meldrath or the gnomes, but it would be nice if there was an in-game or officially announced connection.

At the moment, one day it wasn't there and the next day it was more common that Sunshard Dust

Look at it this way:

During the Living Legacy, discordant mobs were appearing disguised as normal mobs throughout Norrath.  These discordant mobs included some named mobs.

Perhaps the defiant gear is because the mob you just killed was simply a weaker member of the discordant army sent out to sow chaos, and the gear is a piece of its armor?

Zanderon wrote:

Look at it this way:

During the Living Legacy, discordant mobs were appearing disguised as normal mobs throughout Norrath.  These discordant mobs included some named mobs.

Perhaps the defiant gear is because the mob you just killed was simply a weaker member of the discordant army sent out to sow chaos, and the gear is a piece of its armor?

Didn't they say, somewhere near the beginning that the Defiant Gear was for all those willing to take up arms against the invasion? Like the rebellion, or something along those lines?

It was me, actually. I did it.

I like the idea of it being a part of the Discordian invasion lore.  Even if there isn't any official Dev lore on them at the moment, the playerbase can retcon it and make some up.  If they tell us we're wrong, well, that's another step toward the Defiant stuff having canon lore.

Antibane wrote:

I like the idea of it being a part of the Discordian invasion lore.  Even if there isn't any official Dev lore on them at the moment, the playerbase can retcon it and make some up.  If they tell us we're wrong, well, that's another step toward the Defiant stuff having canon lore.

Thanks for all the ideas guys

I think I prefer the Discord connection than the gnome connection. I'm actually picturing its being the detritus of a retreating army - rather like the Napoleanic retreating from Spain and leaving all its stuff behind - this stuff is left over from the Discordian invasion and is now filtered down into all aspects of Norrathian life.

Actually I just read Sharpe's Honour which is about the Battle of Vitoria - the French wagons contained 'the loot of a kingdom' quite literly the treasure of all Spain - and the British army plundered it all!

I think this is how I will view Defiant Gear now

My opinion is that defiant gear was seeded in the past by players in the future...

Check out Zebs words after Discord had been defeated... I highlighted a portion I think is most important.

You say, 'Hail, Zebuxoruk'

Zebuxoruk says 'All has been restored; all that remains is the final merging of the tired shards of reality into a unified whole. Norrath, as you knew it, is [saved] . . . For now.'

You say, 'It's saved'

Zebuxoruk says 'There is no escape for either of us, however. The gods will never notice that I have served my eternal sentence of imprisonment many times over, so I will yet linger in my cage when Norrath is reconstituted. You, of course, will return to Norrath with your friends, and do the great things you do, live out your life, leave your [legacy], until at last you pass on. Then, the cycle will someday begin anew as the lamentable Discordians again dabble in time.'

You say, 'What about our legacy?'

Zebuxoruk says 'It is my fate to be punished for the endless eternities, for giving mortals the power you needed to save yourselves, to prevent the destruction of Norrath and the planar realities it touches. Your legacy will be to remember me, and to use the time you have gained to [prepare] for what is to come. Norrath cannot stand forever against its invaders.'

You say, 'We will prepare'

Zebuxoruk says 'Soon you will leave, and I will watch you go through the portal. Later, as the portal shimmers to show a different vista, I can see what I call the Thing's Eye . . . something which waits for the right moment to strike. Perhaps when the [weave] of time becomes too weak, it will come.'

You say, 'The weave?'

Zebuxoruk says 'There are many curious creatures beyond the shattered shards of time. The Discordians are aware of some of them; some they even created, others they evicted from the worlds they struck. Others are completely foreign and beyond your vaguest appreciation. Watch for them. They will sweep aside the very foundations of Norrath in the cosmos, and they will destroy me and all the other gods. I have [foreseen] this. I have spent eternities gazing through the portals, looking upon impossible visions.'

You say, 'What have you foreseen?'

Zebuxoruk says 'When the timeline is weak enough, a new assault will come to Norrath. By then your powers will be so great that both past and future will be evacuated, their peoples to make a last stand in the Now. What a magnificent effort that shall be, though it will be utterly futile. At the moment of your greatest despair, look up and see the Alabaster Tower which shall offer your [salvation].'

You say, 'Our salvation?'

Zebuxoruk says 'You ask too much of me. I saw what I saw, but can offer no evidence. It is but another path among ruined timelines, perhaps one that will yet not be taken. Go now, and savor your victories. I shall wait here in endless timelessness, here with this forlorn tree, for your unwitting return.'

The timing of the gear coming just before the temporal incursions of the Discordians is significant.  Perhaps players in this future decided that they could help the past by seeding it with gear, while not having to actually come back in time and fight this first battle themselves...

The lore text on all defiant gear states, "For the use of anyone willing to take up arms",  This would seem to imply that "someone" has put the gear there, and that the purpose would be to increase the power of "anyone willing to take up arms".  This would fit with my theory.

That's a good theory Dawgrim!

I never thought to check the Lore text. Should have broken out the old Silvey Mask  

Or it could just be normal armor that was somehow infused with the power of Discord.

I wonder if there is some lore explaining why non-humanoid creatures are dropping the armor. I know loot tables have always been a little weird like this, but it irritates me that spiders, beetles and snakes can drop armor.

Absor Smash did it.

brwdladr wrote:

I wonder if there is some lore explaining why non-humanoid creatures are dropping the armor. I know loot tables have always been a little weird like this, but it irritates me that spiders, beetles and snakes can drop armor.

Conversely, it's extremely amusing to watch a hedge devil model attack you with a h2h weapon.

brwdladr wrote:

I wonder if there is some lore explaining why non-humanoid creatures are dropping the armor. I know loot tables have always been a little weird like this, but it irritates me that spiders, beetles and snakes can drop armor.

I always figured the classic explanation is they killed another adventurer and were caught up or otherwise kept the defiant gear on them that the other adventurer had had.

When in doubt - a wizard did it.

Saroc_Luclin wrote:

brwdladr wrote:

I wonder if there is some lore explaining why non-humanoid creatures are dropping the armor. I know loot tables have always been a little weird like this, but it irritates me that spiders, beetles and snakes can drop armor.

I always figured the classic explanation is they killed another adventurer and were caught up or otherwise kept the defiant gear on them that the other adventurer had had.

But does that explain swashbuckling birds??

What Saroc said. Conversely, that would be same explanation for humanoid creatures having all the pelt/ore/silk tradeskill drops. They hunted something else and collected it, then we killed them and took it again. Because adventurers do that.

Maitreya_Firecaller wrote:

What Saroc said. Conversely, that would be same explanation for humanoid creatures having all the pelt/ore/silk tradeskill drops. They hunted something else and collected it, then we killed them and took it again. Because adventurers do that.

It makes a little more sense that a humanoid creature would collect items from the bodies of things they have killed. It is a little bit of a stretch to think that a scaled wolf picked up a defiant breastplate and ran away with it, or that it got stuck in a defiant buckler and has been accidently carrying it around with him.

*shrug* It really doesn't bug me that much. It's just one of those things that has always puzzled me.