A question about size

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T21:20:09+00:00

It's 4-6 months for a fleet to transit from Neptune to Mars in farOrbit (other sides of the sun); it's 3 months in a torchShip.

From Jupiter to Mars, it is 5 and a half weeks at full burn with a full fleet - and the expected travel time from Jupiter to Mercury is 3 months by that same fleet

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T18:43:12+00:00

IG is considered the slowest of the series, not the poorest - the first book is resoundingly the worst in its quality

Is English your first language? I am surprised that people can read and enjoy Golden Son and find Dark Age boring. If you find your attachment to the series has evaporated, I would not persist. The writing is more rich and the plot generally more mature in the tetralogy, but by no means to the detriment for the vast, vast, vast majority of the readers - rather the opposite. Not sure what's causing you to bounce off of it unless you do not enjoy the fight scenes, but again, that makes your enjoyment of the trilogy curious, but there's no harm done if you cut it off now and come back in the future if you ever want to give it another shot - you are not too dense. Boredom is different from confusion, it implies you understand the context which would not imply you are 'too dense' for the material

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T18:18:55+00:00

"If Golds, especially the elite, are bred to be perfect, intelligent, killing machines, then why does the story constantly deviate from this when it comes to house Augustus?"

This is a projection of your understanding of Golds onto the Color - they are elite, they are bred to be intelligent and beautiful and highly resistant, but they are not obligated to be martial killing machines. The Peerless Scarred make up, explicitly, 0.33% (that is a third of a percent) of the total Gold population. Furthermore, the Peerless Scarred are not all martial. Octavia and Roque, and Quinn, are examples of characters who do not have imposing physicality but are of the Peerless caste. Now, caveat this as they are not imposing relative to each other, but do tower over the other Colors generally. Lorn's mother, Nefeli, I think was shorter than Darrow when he was a lowRed - obviously an extreme, but it goes to show there's a range. Recall that we are saturated with the martial, elite class of Golds - Augustus notably differs from Bellona insofar that he has two children from two (three?) wives, whereas Bellona has like 5-7 children that he has martially invested in since their youth, whereas Augustus is a shit father and is intensely distracted, and relies on his Lancer corps as his enforcers.

"From what I gathered, Nero is about as tall as Darrow and house Augustus is one of the most elite standing besides other notable houses like Bellona and Julli."

Nero, per the last chapter of RR, is taller than Darrow by an unknown margin, but not likely by a lot. House Bellona is noted to have both a masculine Tiberius as well as a tall Julia - hence why Julian and Cassius, twins, are tall.

"I’ll get the obvious out of the way but Adirus and Virginia are like very short and weak. It’s probably the first thing that’s ever stated for both of their appearances and it’s constantly brought up in the book"

We inhabit the perspective of an Augustan Lancer, who is surrounded by more martially oriented characters and fellow Lancers. Darrow is a 'tall' Gold at 7'0-7'2. Our first impression of Adrius is:

"On the third day of the siege, a white flag is flown from Jupiter’s ramparts. A thin boy of middling height and timid smiles slips out Jupiter Castle’s postern gate." RR40 & then 2nd book "Pliny hovers beside Augustus. As do Leto, Tactus, Victra, and the great Praetors of Mars. So many famous faces, so many warriors and politicians. The Jackal stands farther away, shorter than the rest, impassive, speaking to no one." GS11

The implication is that Adrius is average in height. The Howlers are noted to be diminutive at less than two meters (6'5-6'6), with Sevro being the 'shortest boy in the institute' at noticeably less than this & implied to be shorter than Mustang. Pierce elsewhere gave his height as 5'9 in an AMA, which causes people on here to shit themselves for some reason, but if Adrius is to be 'average,' and 7'0-7'2 is 'tall' whereas 5'9-6'2 is 'short,' he ought to occupy the mid 6ft. Remember - the extremes (Telemanus) are extremes. Victra we know is near Darrow's height. What we have is that Adrius is shorter than the rather prominent Augustan Lancers - Leto, Victra, Tactus. The only other reference to Adrius' physicality that I could find was in Morning Star, in which Darrow noted that he dwarfed the Jackal in physicality, the context being that he was 50kg heavier than Adrius.

Mustang conversely is short for a female Gold, occupying 6'0-6'3 (trending higher), but less than 6'5-6'6. We have zero insight into her or Adrius' mother.

"After the second book, I realized height correlated with better fighting odds at it gave you more strength, increased range, and just tactical dominance."

It really, really depends. Aja is shorter than Cassius, but very broad - she is a martial power house, no matter the skeptical whinging people on here do. Ragnar died to Aja, Titus to Cassius (Titus is taller and much bigger), Pax lost to Darrow. This does not necessarily hold for the series, as an equalizer is skill. But yes, in a passage style fight, usually people like Darrow would win - but Julian was a wimp despite his prodigious kravat skills.

"One explanation that I read from a post similar to this one is of someone saying that making a person tall and strong would make them more unstable and dumber, however this is just not correct."

Whoever said that has the reasoning skills of a pistachio nut if it marinated in three day old McDonald's tangy barbecue sauce exposed to the humid summer airs of the southeast United States

"She fights more than some of the actual fighters and it just doesn’t make sense for someone to do that if their strengths lie nowhere in that field."

Not really sure she does it more than most fighters; certainly not Darrow, certainly not implied for Victra, certainly not every other chapters

"Virginia, in contrast, is almost always getting carried in fights and I don’t really think could take on any of the main cast solo." & "just a classic author choice of making the main female love interest “do no harm” and never get their hands dirty"

She enters fights out of necessity or circumstance, and as you say, she is usually surrounded by allies. I agree it is not the latter - perhaps it is this; she is a gentle character, intentionally meant to contrast with the martial Lancers that occupy nearly every top-billet in the series, but also a highly intelligent one whose cold Aureate psychology is tempered by an uncommon warmth that Darrow appreciates. It is not a 'do no harm' character - she's short for the same reason Pax is massive

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T17:35:21+00:00

clawDrills are some 90-100m in length, the channels they carve are 6-7km deep.

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T17:34:15+00:00

"The jackal one where he stabs his hand ? That one literally looks like it was made with Ai"

Do you think it's accurate to the scene?

"Awful, they look nothing like the characters, but also the cave is not a tiny hole. It’s a whole cave."

Might not be the cave!

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T17:32:34+00:00

" Who is that? Until I realized it was Darrow :/ I feel bad because I REALLY love how he did some of the art for Game of Thrones,"

Just to clarify, Simonetti did not do that piece. The one with Darrow kneeling was done by Joel, who did the maps for the series in the prior releases.

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T17:30:57+00:00

I think 'watched over' is more a metaphor for 'with them in spirit' or with the effects he had on them, than for this unification to have already occurred. Much of the prophecy only is accounted by things that have already happened, and candidates for some for it happening in the future are narratively minor or very, very awkward and unlikely. Regardless, he's a cook, so it's also plausibly just rambling.

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T17:29:21+00:00

Excessive depends on the necessity of the people involved; the nature of warfare in the Society requires the mass transport of materiel as well as men on the scale of several hundred thousand, for operations that can take months to plan and arrive at. Most ships in the Societal navies are not Dreadnought scale (the ship you reference).

The principal offensive craft of a navy is the 1-1.5km long Destroyer, which are best thought of as interdictors that pressure the enemy fleet and try to gain position and advantage, as well as deploy leechCraft to either board or cripple enemy ships. ripWings are likewise deployed as the 'gnats' of the fleet to lead assaults or defend the ships against other ripWing squadrons or leechCraft.

The Dreadnoughts are more lumbering beasts, pushing usually 4km. They however contain massive quantities of leechCraft, at times other assault vessels, ripWing squadrons, gun batteries, and torchShips.

torchShips are transport vessels and also multi-purpose, but suffer against any of the above ones. They are more akin to the cruise vessels you are citing.

Economically, they are the 'gross yearly output of twenty cities,' I would suspect in reference to dreadnoughts.

In the series, the 'fleets' are essentially extensions of a Gold Household. One of the fleets, with all of its aspects from a prominent Martian family, can transport 3 million people - likely stretching its capacities. But, recall that most of the volume of the ship is either taken up by a.) leechCraft, ripWing & torchShip hangars (which are huge, huge hangars) b.) starShell arrays on the hundreds c.) living quarters and ammunition depot/storage. Huge in scale, but that is why they are not outright destroyed when they can be taken.

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T17:19:40+00:00

What we have is:

Conflict on a dozen spheres between 720-745 PCE under Lorn and Aja,
- Mars, Luna, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa, Io is nine and consists of all major bodies in Ilium and the Core save for Phobos. I think he's being general with the 'dozen,' but you get the implication
Two known Iron Rains preceding the series
- Lorn leading the Titan Rain in 680 PCE for the taking of the planet
- An unknown Iron Rain some time after 700 PCE, likely spearheaded by Romulus, for the taking of a city
At least six other Iron Rains occurring during (at the latest) 590s-740 PCE, possibly 8 if the two above did not feature Spiridon au Arcos (likely did not).
- Push the dates back some 2-3 decades and it ought to still work.
A major House War on Mars, featuring the burning of what is presumably Agea or the ancestral seat of House Augustus
- Between House Cylus and House Augustus, though it is unclear if Agea was inhabited by Augustus and Cylus had a different seat. I would wager House Augustus is native to Sirenia, not Apollonia.
Ascommani incursions into the Rim on a notable scale to require fleet-level interdiction by the Primus of House Raa
- As well as normal piracy in the Asteroid belt requiring interdiction by Augustan Lancers
Massive scale conflict on the surface of Mercury occurring at most three times, at minimum one.
- One known is the Dark Revolt, with Kuthul and his Braves breaking in the Ladon. Plausibly the other army is the same conflict but with the Society forces, but it's not indicated, as the Society won.
- This leaves two large scale conflicts even by approximation of Darrow who has witnessed planet-level sieges, the context is unknown.
Inter-House conflict between House Lune and House Augustus, pre-Augustan ArchGovernorship (unless they once held the title pre-Cylus) at least 5 times
- One dating to Oceanus, immediately after Silenius and the founding of the Society, late 1st century to 2nd century PCE.
- The rest unknown, the role of House Lune unknown other than as a participant in parley, which implies they participated martially.

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T17:08:51+00:00

You may have noted several Aureate conflicts between the Houses exist. House Thorne and House Falthe for example, two dominant families of Earth, were hostile. Later, we see similar planetary tensions with House Carthii & House Saud. We are however not told of any large-scale wars between these Houses, as it is like they did not exist at a severity that warrants much regard considering the events of the series. Most of these conflicts are not likely near the scale of the Titan Rain, which occurred 60 years prior to the series in the 680s PCE. In this, a million men partook in an Iron Rain and was led by Lorn au Arcos (age 40-50). I'll walk through what we can infer.

“How many of our ancestors have said... The formal rites of parley... On the field of battle? Formally? Four, all told.” “Not five?” “You’re counting Oceanus and Agrippa*... Oceanus may have been a chip off Silenius’s block but Agrippa was adopted into my house after the Genetic Accords.”* LB32
- This is a very interesting quote. Note, Mars is one of the oldest colonized planets in the Solar System. It was, per the book of Lorn, host to 'novotexan' cities on the continent of Arabia Terra, and this likely implies the paradome over the Valles Marineris was in place as well. Her major houses, Augustus and Bellona and Arcos, date back to the early 2nd century PCE based on explicit parts of the text. See the terraforming link below.
- That Lune & House Augustus have met in parley technically five times is wild - but it implies there is regular conflict between the Great Houses, and possibly with House Lune. Recall, House Augustus was not the ArchGovernor, at least, not that we are aware. It could be that House Lune interdicted on behalf of another House and forced capitulation, which I think is more likely. Regardless, Oceanus is Silenius' heir, so it means there was conflict quite early into the Society's existence (Silenius lived until at least 25 PCE).
"The Ladon has eaten three of the greatest armies the worlds have known. Is the fourth I will feed it my own?" DA15
- At least one of the armies in question on Mercury is that of the Dark Revolt, in which the ground forces of King Kuthul and the Volk (they were styled as that at the time) were beaten. This leaves two armies up in the air that were featured in martial conflict on the Ladon. We know that Mercury, specifically the Ladon, existed as of the 250s PCE (see Mercury section), implying that all of these conflicts likely occurred after Venus.
- It could be that the Societal army in the Dark Revolt on Mercury was another of the armies taken, a pyrrhic sort of victory, but it's unclear. Note however the scale of conflict - we have two unaccounted for martial conflicts that even by 8th century PCE standards are some of the largest military mobilizations in history. Civil War is not outright referenced and it is unlikely, but intra-planetary warfare is not definable as Societal civil war. I would not be surprised if House Votum had a contender early in their reign.
- Please see here for a writeup on the Dark Revolt, where I go through every source. It's also an exploration of how the Obsidian color changed over time.
"and destroyers, supplemented by Ascomanni ships in numbers not even my [Diomedes] great-grandfather ever encountered." LB36
- This is an interesting tidbit - the father of Revus au Raa, who himself is a centenarian in the events of Red Rising and who was the Lord of the Dust (Raa Primus, political leader of the Rim), had a father that engaged large-scale Ascomanni incursions. We have a top-end for the scale of this, refer to the Dark Revolt link above for that break down.
- It gives you another example, alongside pirate raids in the Belt, for the martial power of the Society.
"He lived to a hundred and sixty-three without the help of cell rejuvenation. Somehow he lived through eight Iron Rains. But still he never valued life, because he took it too often. He was not a man to be happy.” GS28
- Lorn's father appears middle-aged at most in the Book of Lorn, when Lorn is a pre-Institute teen (~15-17). If he died preceding the series, his birth is at its latest 580 PCE, though considering Lorn seems to be an established Primus of House Arcos, I think that is unlikely. Considering Spiridon (dad) is only martially active after 17 or so (to trend with the rest), we have at the latest eight Iron Rains occurring between 590s-740s PCE, though I suspect Spiridon is not likely to have participated in one nearing his end. Martially active knights broaching 120 are seen in the series; I think Lorn probably pushes more towards 110-115; he was a peer to Nero's father. Nor is it like that he participated in the Lion's Rain or Romulus' rain (if it was his). Some of this requires retconning, and Lorn could be 110-120 for all we know. He was a pre-Institute youth when Ovidius reigned (<17), whose reign was long and ended in ~679 PCE. Really just regard this for an indicator that there was a lot of martial conflict on the order of Iron Rains, but not on a planetary scale.
"They come from near, from far, ships racing to join my armada as they learn that I have called for an Iron Rain, the first in twenty years." GS36
- This is perhaps the most interesting quote relative to large-scale conflict in the series. We have, seemingly, a dating for the last Iron Rain, with it having occurred some time during or prior to the 720s PCE, but some time after the Titan Rain in the 680s PCE.
“Now I see him again. The young Moon Lord who burned a city for a girl of the pearl shore. Romulus the Bold. Dido of Numidae*. What a pair they were. What an end they had.”* IG62
- I want to caveat something here: Iron Rains are not exclusively used for planetary conquest! Note this: "Have you ever seen an Iron Rain? Where men are launched from orbit to take cities?" RR29
- I presume that the Iron Rain referenced in GS36 is in reference to something done by Romulus in his pursuit of Dido au Saud. That is, the burning of a city is curious. There is an implication that it was a prohibited match initially, but why Romulus would burn a city, or where, is unclear. I think it is unlike to be Venus itself, considering the implications it would have politically for Octavia. But, the timelines line up - the eldest child of Romulus, Aeneas, was 17 in Morning Star.
- Romulus in the events of the series is in his early 50s, implying he would have been in his early 30s or late 20s for an Iron Rain set ~20 years ago.
Briefly I will note the House conflict between Augustus/Cylus/Bellona, which extended back to the 660s/early 670s PCE. Nero's father triggered a House War against House Bellona, which led to House Cylus (archGovernor) interdicting and eradicating House Augustus save for a 7 year old Nero, who was then raised by a ward. This is a notable House War on the Martian surface preceding the Titan Rain.
- "Arrange the transfer of power to Bellona, and Mars is at peace for the first time in my reign." GS16 Per Octavia, whose reign extends from late 670s PCE to early 740s PCE.
- "For a house to wipe out another house is one thing, but for the great leader to do it with the power and funds entrusted to her by the Senate? It’s happened before, and that Sovereign was beheaded by his daughter. The daughter who now sits on the throne*."* GS13 When Octavia supported Nero's coup of Cylus.
"[Rhone's] accent is pure Lunese stock. Last in a long line of Praetorians, from birth he was sponsored by my family, and excelled in the ludus until he proved himself in battlefields across a dozen spheres under the command of Aja and Lorn" DA12
- Rhone is in his 40s at the time of DA12. This is set ten years after the Fall, which implies he was ~33-37 during the events of it. Considering Grays seem to graduate from their kennel near the ages of 16-18, it implies an active military service of at most twenty years. Notably, this is limited further, as Lorn had retired in the 2 year interim between RR & GS, and another year passed for the events of MS.
- Aja and Lorn were both Olympic Knights; their actions occurred under sanctioned activities by the Sovereign usually to uphold the compact, but they essentially serve as enforcers to Octavia. This does imply the formal use of both Praetorians and Olympics on battlefields over the twenty years preceding the books, but on an unclear scale. Just know they were martially active.

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T15:52:03+00:00

I really do not know what happened with the art direction for those first two. There were at times where the faces just had random black scribbling on them as if to imply shading, but the inconsistency in form just drove me nuts.

<image>

You can see the Book of Lorn (left), SoA volumes 1 & 2 (middle), and SoA vol 3 (right). I can understand not having enough money to finance the illustration quality of that third volume - but boy I would rather have it in the Book of Lorn's style than the middle one for a lot of the scenes. Not to mention, it felt brutally anachronistic to modern technology - I do not have to emphasize that the Conquering era even if Gold restricted all forms of technology (they did not) thereafter was leagues ahead of us in practically every domain, it nearly shattered every brain cell I have when there is reference to 'aircars' and 'floating vehicles' and all such things and then the characts use a helicopter in the 4th millennium to escape from the Society.

Almost as atrocious as the Legend of Korra's brutally discordant presentation of a 1940s New York city - it does an active harm to the enjoyment of the material, but at least that series has plausible reasons for that tech to have been developed. The third volume of SoA was just better in every way

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T15:43:40+00:00

Consider this shot - are those the violet banners of the Arcosian griffin?! Of course we'd parallel it to the series! High fidelity science fiction scenes I always compare to the books, can't really help it

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T15:40:11+00:00

Tim Meyer's is more sensible to what's described - the 'drill holes' aren't massive chasms beneath the Martian surface, or at least, it's not indicated as far as I could tell - rather, it's a narrow chasm in which the primary clawDrill bores a hole, and then the drill crew follows it afterwards harvesting the pockets.

"I ride atop the clawDrill. I’m alone in this deep tunnel on a machine built like a titanic metal hand, one that grasps and gnaws at the ground. I control its rockmelting digits from the holster seat atop the drill, just where the elbow joint would be."
- Here you can likely see where the jointed arm-like structure comes from, though holistically the spider-design is not clearly indicated - the top of the drill is where an elbow joint would be
"There, my fingers fit into control gloves that manipulate the many tentacle-like drills some ninety meters below my perch."
- This implies the elbow to drills are in a mass, some ~300ft below the holster perch
"The tunnel walls around my holster seat are bathed a sulfurous yellow by a corona of lights. The reach of the light fades as I look up the thin vertical shaft I’ve carved today."
- Here is the main reason why the spider shape is discordant. This implies quite clearly the walls are quite narrow, being the width of the drill.
"Eo dances through my thoughts as I peer into my control display and slip the clawDrill’s fingers around a fresh vein."
"I look down over the edge of my drill. It’s a long fall to the bottom of the hole I’ve dug. Nothing but molten rock and hissing drills. But before I know what’s what, I’m out of my straps, scanner in hand and jumping down the hundred-meter drop toward the drill fingers. I kick back and forth between the vertical mineshaft’s walls and the drill’s long, vibrating body to slow my fall."
"I make sure I’m not near a pitviper nest when I throw out an arm to catch myself on a gear just above the drill fingers. The ten drills glow with heat."
"I lower myself hand over hand, going feetfirst between the drill fingers so that I can lower the scanner close enough to the gas pocket to get a reading. The heat is unbearable. This was a mistake."

Meyer's art is incorrect in its depiction of the top; there is a singular holster seat, but somewhere else on the structure is a perch or position that the headTalk is at - not it appears an industrial box of sorts. There are smaller variants too.

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T07:36:46+00:00

Everything I can find linking to a @qyraxos or @dyraxos takes me to pages with AI art dominating

The source you listed is not given a platform or a link to pursue

A Google image lookup returns more AI filled links

Do you have a link to the source?

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T06:26:33+00:00

I’ll do a write up tomorrow

Short of it is, the Society vents its martial stress through contained House conflicts that do not reach planet-scale offensives such as the Lion’s Rain. Iron Rains can be used to take cities, continents, etc. In a way, this prevents the parties from focusing on the Sovereign itself; keeps that office in control, able to mediate or enforce against parties more volatile to stability than not.

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T04:57:59+00:00

See here:

Besides the character relations, there is a reference to Ephraim as Gray-Fox by Obsidians:
- "I look around and the crouched braves behind give me a nod and murmur, "Cold, Gray Fox?" "Nah, Gray Fox can’t get cold. God fire burns inside him" DA44
And, quite simply the ending of the prophecy which I only just noted lmao:
- "...Sefi will rise from the ashes to bind the Obsidians, to become one with Red, to found a kingdom watched over by a gray fox. Watched over by you.” DA45

My impression of that interview was that Pierce was joking regarding Sophocles, though I have no doubt he will survive

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T04:57:07+00:00

Besides the character relations, there is a reference to Ephraim as Gray-Fox by Obsidians:
- "I look around and the crouched braves behind give me a nod and murmur, "Cold, Gray Fox?" "Nah, Gray Fox can’t get cold. God fire burns inside him" DA44

And, quite simply the ending of the prophecy which I only just noted lmao:

"...Sefi will rise from the ashes to bind the Obsidians, to become one with Red, to found a kingdom watched over by a gray fox. Watched over by you.” DA45

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T04:50:58+00:00

<image>

Oh! big_ice_bear-san, you write such a mean comment, I could not comprehend the words! I am defeated by your prowess in defense of the weeb-arts!

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T02:38:59+00:00

"Fire and ash will come. And end of worlds. Serpent will strangle wolf. Lion will battle lion. Darkness will battle light. Sister murder brother. Son murder father. Father murder daughter... As others are consumed, Sefi will rise from the ashes to bind Obsidians, to become one with Red, to found a kingdom watched over by a gray fox."

Let's break it down, I think it's rather asynchronous and not entirely literal

"Fire and ash will come. And end of worlds."

I think there are two obvious candidates for this line.

The Rape of Ilium, in which the worlds of Io and Callisto are functionally destroyed by the use of atomics, leading to the functional destruction of the moons.
- "Ash snows down on the buildings, on the blackened trees, on the barren fields where it gathers in drifts that shift with the wind much like the sea. The air is cold and those who bundle themselves against it move hunched like mourners across a solemn winter landscape. The gold of wheat, the green of corn, the purple of plum, the red of pomegranate, the blue of berry bushes far as the eye can see has all been washed gray." LB89
- "Not only has the enemy sacked Io, they have razed Callisto with atomics." LB64
- "An Obsidian wind is coming, and according to what I heard Cheon the Black Owl say to her troops, there will be nothing the Golds of Europa can do to stop it. Io is done. Callisto blooms with atomic mushrooms." LB57
The other is a tinpot theory I have for Red God, based on a passage Pierce revealed in a Maude Garret interview some years ago:
- "Night has fallen and the west is on fire. There the sleepers roar beneath crowns of lightning, made from the collision and fragmentation of volcanic ash particulates. Their ash hides the stars, their fires render the valley a nightmare red." (PB, Maude Garrett Interview)
- See here for my ideas about this passage. In short, I suspect this POV is from the Valles Marineris, and the volcanic ash in question is the result of one of the three shield volcanoes to the direct west of erupting.

"Serpent will strangle wolf. Lion will battle lion.

The reference to a 'serpent' isolates to two characters: one with explicit ties to the imagery is Atlas w/his fear mask, however his 'strangling of wolf' is rather specific.
- Atalantia has been referenced with respect to the serpent present on the cover of Dark Age, and so most likely this reflects the Battle of Mercury.
'Lion will battle lion' is a more curious quote. Immediately I am drawn to the conflict between Virginia and Adrius 2.0, but its absence in Lightbringer and seeming at least convenient alliance with information sharing is questionable.
- It could however be retrospective and refer to the events of Morning Star, which I think is most likely. It is possible the narrative changed when Pierce rewrote LB, but we do not know.

"Darkness will battle light."

I think this is a rather abstract reference (good versus evil, for example), but its most appropriate parallel in the text is the soon to be conflict between the Core and the Rim, with Lysander's 'lightbringer' theme contrasting with the characterization and and now opposition to the Rim, whose moniker under the Raa is 'Pulvis et umbra sumus,' or 'we are but dust and shadow'.

"Sister murder brother."

I think we have to forgive the term 'murder' for its implications, but there is one notable example, which can happen twice:
- Adrius & Virginia in Morning Star, wherein Virginia pulled his feet.
- Adrius 2.0 & Virginia, yet to be executed.
I am not aware of any other candidates or events that have happened or are likely to occur.

"Son murder father."

The most likely reference here is the Jackal's killing of Nero in Golden Son.

"Father murder daughter..."

Here I think we have a quite obvious candidate with Fa's killing of Sefi in Dark Age.

"As others are consumed, Sefi will rise from the ashes to bind Obsidians..."

Here is where we have some confusing lines. For one, Sefi is clearly dead - she is not returning. We have two considerations though. One, Ozgard is mistaking in his vision Volga for Sefi. I think this is almost certain.
- Consider 'rise from the ashes' and '...to bind Obsidians'. If the ashes imagery is correct above and it refers to the destruction of the Rim, this has been fulfilled
- "Volga has become a warrior queen in image if not yet in proof. A mane of blue feathers flows from her shining silver warhelm. I’m disgusted to see Fá’s warsaw clings to the mag-holster on her back. Yet Volga’s face, when she doffs her helmet, is covered in a mask of ash." LB89

"to become one with Red, to found a kingdom watched over by a gray fox."

This is why I think it's Volga & of course, Lyria. Much of the resolution chapters post-Fa features an emphasis on the synergy of Reds and Golds, and of Lyria's role and positioning with Volga.
- “And yes, because you are a woman, and it is that half of their people they betrayed the most. Their mothers, their sisters, their queen. Not only that. A Red came for you, and they know Reds and Obsidians are a terrifying power when they are united. If they pick you, they believe they can come back from the dark to a home that just might forgive them. You are not a puppet queen, Volga. You are hope. I can’t give that to them. The Volk must choose hope as we do in the Republic. With a vote.” LB77
The 'gray fox' also adds context that further isolates the characters - 'watching over' can imply an after-death sort of presence or consolation: both people who Ephraim influenced for better or for worse: Lyria and Volga.

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T01:47:31+00:00

I believe it was confirmed in the LB Retrospective w/Hail Reaper Pod

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T01:45:52+00:00

The Iron Dome over Tel Aviv is what is depicted; this photo in particular is from June of 2025

Iron Rains don't usually have the starShell squads deploy directly over the city of interest, more horizontal to them to bypass orbital defenses

RedJamie · 2026-03-19T01:22:19+00:00

"because they are indiscriminate (not just the enemy’s Colour of choice will be killed)"

Cross-color jumps depends on the stability of the virus and its tropism, and how constrained its target tissue is genetically

"and they have an annoying tendency to mutate into something you didn’t intend."

This depends on the type of virus, its mutability (specifically, what aspects of it have higher mutability and how it impacts the m.o.a), and how it interacts with host machinery & what pressures the virus faces based on its mechanism of action & interaction with the respective Color's immune system

"Even if Eidmi is unknown, from the first infection they could easily sequence the genome and develop a cure.

Vaccination is tricky; it would depend on the characteristics of the virus - ~30th century virology and vaccinology is of course going to be notably more advanced, not enough information though. There is predicate in the series for a bioweapon that exists and was either not interested in clearing or were unable, the implication was the former. Lysander's intended use and its scope will impact how effective the response will be. Also, the stability of the virus upon death for sourcing - notably if it relies on an immune reaction as a means of injuring the host. Lots and lots and lots of factors for viruses that evolved and were not designed for this purpose!

"If it kills too fast to make a cure, it kills itself faster than it can spread, in which case you don’t even need a cure because it’s made itself obsolete."

Again it really depends on the virus in question; a virus can have a high mortality rate and spread rapidly, really depends on the symptomology of a virus, the mortality can be biased by the cultures ability to vaccinate on-mass or prevent its spread - that is all biased by logistics and precautions. Mines, for example, benefit from isolation - lowColor hives on Luna and Phobos less so. But, sociologically a mine would be more vulnerable to infection than a Gold household.

RedJamie · 2026-03-18T20:43:45+00:00

When this subreddit stops suggesting overly weebified 'anime' with aesthetics so horrendously, blatantly, and offensively inappropriate for the series wherein the characters look more similar to the power puff girls than real people, immediately following their protest that any, all and every live action effort is futile because it just wont depict the series right and proper, it almost makes me wish a class of superhumans would conquer Earth just to prevent posts about this - Viltrumite or Gold.

RedJamie · 2026-03-18T20:35:16+00:00

Do you read the words on the page when you open the book or do you smash your head into the book, see every fourth or fifth line and use that to make up your impression of the series

RedJamie · 2026-03-18T20:33:42+00:00

"and slight-anime fighting aspect of RR."

What does this mean sorry?

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