[Shiek927]

Originally Posted by [thousandmaster]

It would be funny if the number 1 rank warriors here on the island would be ranked in the 30 - 40 on the mainland, powerwise.

.........Nah. I imagine a standard Dragon is the strength of an above-average AB. Who knows though.

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1.) Which factions are most likely to be destroyed?

For me personally they are the Destroyer of course, and now that Riful is dead, I would say either the Organization or Priscilla. Everything points to the possible elimination of more players on the stage until we finally see the "grand continental war" make its way onto the island.

Definitely definitely the Organization; they have nothing. They put all their eggs in one basket, and like Mike Myers quipped in Inglorious Basterds, the basket has been blown. All they have is a useless filler generation to show for all their arrogance.

Their only hope left is to make something out of Raki, whatever it may be. Even then, odds are, they probably won't control him because he's simply not the type. Developments between Raciella, Priscilla and The Ghosts could have the first, or first two killed, but at this point, the Org can be killed with the blink of a eye.

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2.) Which factions are most likely to be hurt but not destroyed?

The two that top my list are the Organization and the Ghosts. The Ghosts at present time could lose up to roughly half their strength, which would be a terrible blow to their fortunes. The Organization has already seen a massive drop in its power and will need Raki to be an amazing warrior for their decline to halt.

Definitely the Ghosts....The Org could lose it all if something happens to Raki; he escapes from confinement, he goes berserk...but the Ghosts could very well lose 3 of their members right now, and if Claire awakens and goes berserk, who knows what will happen....

Will the continental war of alliances make it onto the island?

In my opinion this is close to guaranteed. Yagi has a track record of showing things like Awakened Beings or talking about them (Dragonkin) and later revealing them. To only talk about Dragonkin would seem a terrible waste to the story when he's set up for their entrance for a very long time.


I'm gonna say....yes. I feel it is slightly increasing overtime as times goes on and current developements on the island are reaching completion. It's all too possible that Raciella may be dealt with before they even get here, for all we know. But I feel the odds of them arriving increase as times goes on.

4.) Which of the great alliances (Organization's or Dragonkins') will intervene with outside force first?

Hard to say, but I think that it is most likely to be the Dragonkins' side, as they would have much more to lose from controllable awakened beings. With 4 partially awakened ones (possibly six with Yuma and Cynthia's actions) facing off against the Organization, expect them to become aware of this fact at some point (possibly very, very soon!). When they do, also expect Rubel's employers to lose much of their previous sabotaging patience.

I remember when I was coming up with theories back in 92 or whatever, I imagined that Rubel's bosses would show up and tell them basically that; patience is wearing thin, and the situation is steadily moving away from their control. As events on the island get bigger and bigger, it feels natural that this "covert" operation of theirs will not remain covert any more.

It may be possible that their is internal warfare going on and the "central DoD government" doesn't know about the island war and what it represents. If the general public on the mainland learns about the island, they may depend full-blown war in the name of defense; which means pulling out Rubel and sending in air cavalry .

5.) If there is an invasion, what will happen to the balance of powers?

In all likelihood Priscilla will lose top spot to a horde of Dragonkin and their armies. I would expect that the Organization might be overrun, and that the survivors would fall into the Ghosts' hands. On the other hand both continental powers could intervene with massive armies at the same time, precipitating total war for the first time in the island's history.

Part of it depends on how strong the Dragons really are, but yes, they'll probably immidiately get the top spot. The Org and DoDs will war eachother and the Ghosts will be left to pick up the pieces.

As for Priscilla and Raciella, they are wild cards.

6.) What do the Ghosts do in the event of outside interference?

Consider if you will their fortuitous home city of Rabona. It has within it a legal system, a considerable army of guards, is massively fortified, and is aligned with the Ghosts. It is quite likely that the Ghosts may be leading an island unification movement from Rabona. I would expect Rabona may soon become the capital of a third rebellious power. That is what I expect to be the end-game in Claymore's story, not Priscilla versus Claire.

Agree 100%

6.) So what's the wild card in all of this?

I think there are two, and one of them has already played its hand. That one is the Destroyer, and the other is Priscilla. I expect that their presence will massively foul up the anti-Organization war Miria has been planning for the last seven years. That said, I still see it happening.

Priscilla I very much doubt will be an indepedent force for very long. Despite everything going the opposite direction I originally predicted, the possibility of her joining the Ghosts still exists.

I believe however their is a wild-card we are underestimating here: Claire, because if she fully-awakens in the near-future, she will be a rampaging beast plain and simple, one without control.

The ideal setup I imagine is: The Ghosts(and Priscilla) rallying the humans, the Organization(who will slowly lose filler warriors to the Ghosts) and their ultimate weapon Raki, the DoD's, and of course, Raciella.

The true wild-card of them all is Raciella, because she is totally on her own side and it's not changing.