It’s happening!
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… until it does. Just saying, by game 5 it’s plausible.
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feels like there should be an option to mention the trip to Vigil to Cerlota, like it’s a pretty big deal but then everybody just totally forgot about it, or maybe I missed something?
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About Vigil… here’s my best effort to piece together the story of its founding and its fall. Who knows, maybe some of it might actually turn out to be true.
I’ll be drawing primarily on the following sections of “Chaos and Telos”:
- The Whiskered Hawk’s “tale and songs” test, particularly Kylik’s story of Cunning-Quick and the first tale of Old Rat and the stars.
- Vigil (obviously)
- Cerlota’s revelations (obviously)
- The lovely interlude: witnessing what beauty Storms can create
We begin with Cunning-Quick, a thief who is exiled by her family to the driest wastelands.
One day the great boulder on which she slept spoke to her and told her that beneath it was the Dream-spring, which could bring all dreams to pass in the waking world. Cunning-Quick became not only the wittiest but the most beautiful, strong, and long-lived of all folk who walk on earth. She poured out rivers into the desert, fountains of liquid gold and trees of jewels.
I propose that this is the founding story of Vigil: a city sustained by the Dream-spring in otherwise inhospitable wilderness — and that the lands of Vigil were reshaped by Storms: not the Xaos-storms we know today, but by forces of Change that would bend to the dreams of the wielder, fueled by the Dream-spring. So that when the people of Vigil would give a name to their holiest temple, it would be the Temple of Storms.
In case it isn’t clear already, I’m positing that the Dream-spring is, in effect, an immense reservoir of aether deep within the earth, and the great boulder is a Talisman — a meteor, or more tinfoily, a shard of the Moon, which the nomads (perhaps incorrectly) believe to be the source of the stars (aether). This places Cunning-Quick as a parallel to Hera the Thaumatarch: a clever woman who harnesses an incredible source of magic to perform miracles and to be the strongest, the most beautiful, and long-lived in the world.
And like Hera’s Thaumatarchy, so too would Vigil fall.
Her family heard of her glory and in jealousy summoned Kargash the Unmaker to undo the source of her good fortune. Kargash slipped past her defenses, discovered the boulder of dreams, and attacked with all Its power. At this point in the tale, the whole tribe joins Kylik, chanting over and over:
The Dream-spring was cracked, and the sleepers ran mad
Some of the nomads sing the words in a high wail, others in deep tuneless drones, all at different tempos and with no attempt at harmony.
The Unmaker. What is Xaos if not the adversary to a supposed natural order (Xthonos, for the more faithful)? Cerlota’s research suggests that Xaos-storms attack a “meta-telos built into the fabric of time and form: the tendency of things to return to their original nature […] The germ of a Storm affects substances’ nature to have a nature and purpose, in effect loosing it and creating a vortex in which both telos and form spiral madly out of control.”
Whereas harnessing aether is to be a Maker of Change, Xaos resists that imposition of will and cause. I posit that this is Goety, this is the Kargash that cracked the Dream-spring, and this is the Xaos — the Void that Burns — in Vigil, not some evil god.
To get more tinfoily, the Dream-spring cracking could also be the origin of the streels. The legends make no mention of streels, lending credence to the idea that they only came into existence during/after the fall of Vigil (and Old Braurach with it). Let’s say the Dream-spring existed deep below this land, and when it cracked, the earth broke with it, creating wounds in the world: the streels. And Vigil is the place where all the streels meet, and every Tower — able to withstand the full force of Storms — observed by Ulbern is accompanied by a streel.
Which brings us to sleepers: plural. The inference is that sleepers are the ones who dream, and so are the ones who wield the Dream-spring’s power. More on them to come…
Cunning-Quick came to find that all was lost
Fountains broken; riches taken,
Spilled from her spring now nightmares only
Dreams transformed into nightmares: I posit this is what the Xaos-storms are: they Change the world into one straight out of nightmares. But every once in a while, the Storms create something precious and fragile, wonders one could only ever dream of…
“This is no work of Xaos,” Cerlota says, quiet-voiced but firm. “Taratur holds no such beauties as this.”
“Perhaps there is more than one mind or intent behind the Storms.”
The sleepers may have been driven mad; their dream may have become an eternal nightmare. But deep in there, there are still those who dream, and those who work miracles.
Which brings us to the question: what work of Xaos would drive them mad? I think the answer lies in the meta-telos Cerlota describes: I think someone (Cunning-Quick’s “family”) attacked the concept of the sleepers’ form: their very existence as a distinct singular entity. And to do so, I think they tried to draw all of the aether of the Dream-spring into Vigil itself, leaving the streels behind as scars. And perhaps with enough people and the aether within them, losing their form all at once, that power would only grow. That raw concentration of power is what I believe a Theurge senses in trance at Vigil:
Barely veiled by the chaos is a blaze bright enough to burn a hole in your mind. You throw up your hands reflexively in front of your now tightly-shut eyes, but it makes no difference—the white-hot light pounds through you as if flesh, bone, and eyelids were so much dust. That giant shape behind the Storm, the stony tree or city, is incandescent with raw power. Its gaps and hollows pulse with it.
And something in it sees you.
It lashes out at the interloper who dares intrude its dreaming. It’s not the power itself, but something in it that has intelligence and malevolence. It could be one oversoul dominated by a single self (perhaps some Brauracha prince, or Cunning-Quick’s family); it could be a collective (un)consciousness of the sleepers (mages) who once wielded the Dream-spring’s power — but regardless, I believe it is now dreaming, and it has been shaped by the nightmares of the once-people of Vigil.
Obviously, this all could be very wrong, but I like what it does aesthetically: a tragic story of a people grasping at and being destroyed by powers they didn’t understand, wanting to create a living dream but creating a living nightmare instead.
And instead of an evil god or all-powerful sorcerer hidden away in a dark tower, we’d just have dreams made manifest, in all their beauty and horror, lashing out at the world.
And perhaps to end the Storms, one would not seek to battle a monster, but to wake the dreamer from its nightmare.
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I think there is something more to this aspect. That the towers are one of the few (if not the only) things that withstand the xaos storms and also not be changed. It seems like predated the fall of Vigil and were designed to deal with the result. I wonder what you would see if you followed a streel to its end somewhere out it the xaos lands? If it bottomless at the end as well perhaps it is a vast quantity of aether trying sublimate?
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Your writing is awesome, as always.
Xaos lands immersion is great, and I read through the links since it’s been a few years for me about your plans for the future and holy moly it’s ambitious but I can’t wait to see what it comes out to. With so many choices you put in I’m sure I’ll find all sorts of ways to play and routes to take through the first two games on replays.
I do want to say that Breden is my favorite character so far and I love reading the speculation. I know it’ll have a satisfying and narratively consistent outcome, and frankly I don’t even know what option I’d even prefer to be true of the speculation because any way it goes it’s really spicy and leads to great conflict – which I think really makes for a great story and you have a ton of it set up in just about every major character introduced.
And new city, apparently. I keep waffling while reading it whether it’s really ambitious and admirable or really out of touch with reality and upbeat. Really excited to see how that progresses over time too!
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Does an opportunity come up to kill Breden in the Xaos lands?
Breden is going to either be killed or kicked out of the MC’s organization for my imports so just curious.
I think my character had the wrong psychological profile when I picked that option because they couldn’t go through with it when I actually chose it.
Great chapter, I was really pleased to read this and am definitely looking forward to delving around a little more (especially as a Theurge, but I do want to finally do a Game One playthrough as a Theurge first). I don’t think I have much more to say that hasn’t already been said by others here, the Xaos Lands are thematic and desperate, and getting the chance to delve into non-Hegemony cultures has been a real treat.
To continue on the Sojourn thread though, there really is something quixotic about it, isn’t there? I wasn’t sure how to rp my character between admiring the audacity and lamenting the waste of such capable people- Herne especially is someone my COM pc would love to recruit as one of his officers (though I suspect Herne does his best work when pursuing a true passion project like Sojourn).
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Yes, you can kill your traveling companion(s).
Yeah, you gotta have I think 75 Ruthlessness. IDK if you can mess up enough for them to die, I don’t believe so.
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One more follow-up. Is that a ruth check or ruthreal?
Ruthreal.
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I chose “attracted to men” and “Simon/Suzanne” in the first options, but it was Suzanne who showed up in the recap.
Folks who’ve played Game 1 may remember that K and S are always the opposite sex from Breden, the first person you meet and might be attracted to. If you want them to be a specific sex, when you’re asked what sex Breden is, pick the opposite.
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Thanks for that reminder - I had, indeed, forgotten that detail.
Now I’m seeing something else, where I said MC was in a relationship with B but it doesn’t give me the option, when K shows up, to not get involved with her. Both the “I’m with B” and “Not into your gender” (despite choosing a male B) options are greyed out so the only thing i can choose is “take it slow.” It’s sort of true; it’ll go so slow it’ll never happen.
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Managed to find a handful of bugs and other things that stood out like they might be bugs.
“Then you gather all your remaining strength and with 's help pull Yed to the far edge of the pool. There you roll him onto his side and begin binding up his bleeding wounds as best you can.” Didn’t have a gamgee with me but still let Yed get knocked out. Doesn’t seem like there is a multiple replace for Yed getting knocked out with noone else with you.
““Do the Guardians not fear the retaliation of the Hegemony, M’kyar Siet, after Halassurq weapons fell the first Theurge in the Xaos-lands? It is not as if there is any other means by ."”" Seems like the rest of the sentence just vanished.
“[i]That can't be the way. That's[/i] not [/i]who I am.[/i]”
““Is there nowhere in all these lands where strangers find a true welcome?” I murmur to Cerlota.” Might want to have a check on that for how much you actually trust Cerlota at this point. I certainly didn’t give her a good welcome.
If you use theurgy to heal the sick in the Xaos Village, without the herbs just using what you learned from getting stabbed, it doesn’t seem to set xvwis true anywhere.
You can’t select to have saved Olynna or been noticed by Calea as a helot, neither is relevant now, but the options were in the choice lists so…
A couple of things that might be nice to have for proper import characters.
If you hesitate with Cerlota and she mentions teaching, you the Kryptast code system it might make sense to have a check for if you know one already from Brenden, and whatever else might follow from that. That will also be more relevant once you flesh out the Xaos companion bits I am sure.
When talking about Aetherial blood being not just blood, if you were a theurge who inspected a harrower fully being able to suspect what she is about say.
I’d also like to be a bit more active once “safe” with the nomads or xaos villagers about trying to find Cerlota. The game does an excellent job of beating you up in the first section before Sojourn but I can’t really use the idea of trying to find Cerlota as a reason to either keep moving or cling to hope of survival in the earliest bits of it.
As far as the new chapter content itself goes it is a banger. I felt a little useless even when trying to be helpful to Herne once in the city since so much of that section is dedicated to meeting everyone and making you feel out of your depth in the Xoas lands beforehand. I honestly don’t think there is much any character could offer at this point though, beside a theurge choosing to teach Herne’s people if Cerlota and M’kyar are not.
Also seeing Huette in the Xoas lands gets me choked up in so many ways, especially when she then asks me to escort her kids back across the ward to family.
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So first, thanks to everyone who’s posted their excitement (I’m excited too!) and enjoyed the first draft. I’m thrilled to finally, finally be able to share what I’ve been working on while all of you have been patiently chewing over Game 1. I’m glad in particular that so many of you have enjoyed the Vigil journey as much as I did – that was a scene I’ve had vaguely in mind for over a decade now, and I was really happy with how it emerged as I actually wrote it.
Special thanks to everyone who’s caught bugs or inconsistencies, or suggested ways to make the game more responsive to what’s gone before. I’ll make tweaks and fixes, not right away, but once I’ve taken a couple of weeks away from Ch 1 after spending several months living in it. 
Meanwhile, back at the laptop after a nice Christmas celebration, I can respond to a few of the more substantial questions and speculations:
I’ll add some dialogue with Cerlota about this. Her answer is that if it’s possible at all, she’s pretty confident that not even the Ennearchs and Thaumatarch know how to do it; if you could Change the tendency of aether to sublime, you could make a lot more talismans than she’s ever seen in Aekos.
As the Lykeion debate question over iron and wood suggests, this is contested among Theurges. Even when an original nature is no longer perceptible after a permanent Change, some Theurges would argue that there’s evidence in e.g. the Plektos’s shortened lifespan that the flesh is still on some level resisting its Change.
As suggested by Cerlota’s comments on “substances’ nature to have a nature,” her Xaos-research may eventually shed light on this question.
Add this to the list of things that will get some specific dialogue in the next round of edits. For a broken rebellion, she will be less intent on joining than she currently is; her desire to join you will be much more along the lines of what @roodcross has sketched out.
The displayed axis is all about your reputation, and what you’ve done off in the Xaos-lands with only a witness or two (and possibly an assumed name) can’t affect that…yet. There are various Ch 1 choices that affect your ruthreal, natlreal, and skepreal stats, but not the ruth, natl, and skep ones.
What I plan to do (and will roll out in the coming chapters) is that if you return from Xaos with a non-Cerlota (and non-kid) companion, you’ll be able to choose whether you want them to spread stories from your time in Xaos. If so, then by late in Ch 2 it will start to affect your actual rep. I’ll also go back and adjust the Ch 1 stat screen so it displays how your choices are changing you, so you can decide if you want those to affect your rep or not.
An INT 3 Theurge will have learned from these techniques and will be able to do more with less blood and go longer without unconsciousness.
Cerlota’s romance initiation dialogue in Sojourn is gated by whether you’re romantically attached to a companion Breden/Simon/Kala (if so, there’s no chance to try to cheat, with them right there), whether you aren’t actively hostile to Cerlota as a Theurge, and whether you’ve earlier chosen that it’s unthinkable for you to cheat when you’re attached to someone back on the other side of the Ward. You should be given the option if all those things fall the right way…
In Ch 3, RO Teren Leilatou will be Breden’s gender. The Diadoch (next game) will be fully playersexual, either Breden’s gender or (if you’ve gone down a nonbinary path) an alternative to Jev as a nb romance.
Joining the Loyalists will not be an option–there’s no way to get the Loyalists rebelling, interesting though I agree it is in principle.
Game 4. It won’t be left forever a mystery, I promise. Some more large hints will be dropped by the end of Game 2, as well.
There totally should be – it’s one of the things I planned to write and then forgot.
I’m not going to “like” this lest it be taken as endorsement of your theories, but of course you know I love it to bits.
Yeah, I’ll turn those on when we get to the relevant chapters. Though I’m now actually leaning toward giving Olynna a bigger sidequest in G3, kind of like Wolfbait’s Vigil quest here, and Carles something similar in G4, just to balance out the prologues – if so, Olynna may not appear at all in G2, or only super briefly.
Yes, I think I need to add in a bit more of this. I was so keen to get it playable to the end and posted that I skimmed past a few things I’d originally meant to include.
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I’m curious to see how specializing in flying, healing or killing will play out down the line for the training focus choice.
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Now, I know that you can’t tell us too much about Vigil until G4 comes out, but can you at least tell us some things about the towers? Specifically:
- If you are a Theurge, then you can sense that their stones have been purged of everything except the element of earth, something you have never encountered before. Is that something along the lines of their fundamental nature being changed? As that is not thought of as being possible, is that also a sign of the immense power used to make them?
- Can you give us a hint of their age? That is, were they a part of Vigil before the fall, or were they constructed after the storms erupted? I’m assuming that they were built before the storms, as afterwards their wouldn’t be anybody to construct them, and one of them fell in a streel, but this is currently contested on the page.
On a side note, as so many others have mentioned, the scene with Vigil was incredibly gripping. You really get a sense that you are on a perilous journey to the edge of the world to see something that almost no one else has ever seen. And when you can finally catch a glimpse of it and look at it with your Theurgy, it feels like something straight out of Lovecraft.
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By omission does that mean M’kyar is not going to be an RO? I assumed they would be but my intuition is often wrong.
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