Page 1 of 7 1234567 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 126

Thread: Confused about the storyline (storyline q&a itt)

  1. #1

    Funcom employee Confused about the storyline (storyline q&a itt)

    I've been playing AO for about 7 years and I confess that my understanding of the backstory is poor at best. I do read NPC quest dialog at least the first or second time I do quests but I still feel as if I am missing something.

    I was reading the storyline on AO's website and from what I read, when the catastrophe took place that caused the split that became Rubi'Ka and the Shadowlands, some Xan remained in the Shadowlands area (Redeemed/Unredeemed) while others got on ships and headed for Earth. Many years later, those descendants returned back to Rubi'ka. My source is this link on the AO official website

    When The Beast was killed, Number 9 lets us know that a distress signal was sent out stating that the source was unprotected. The result of that stress signal was the Kyr Aliens coming to Rubi'ka.

    To be honest I've spoken to Number 9 but I don't remember it saying that.. probably just forgot. My source for that information is here.

    I guess that's where I get lost and maybe the quest dialog in Xan was supposed to clue me in but I don't remember any such dialogue. Here are my questions:

    - Are the Kyr Aliens some descendants of Xan as well? If not, why were they summoned.. I mean how'd they even know about Rubi'ka/Shadowlands or why would they even care?
    - If they (Kyr Aliens) were summoned back to protect The Source... why are they only attacking Rubi'ka and have zero presence in the Shadowlands? Common sense (to me) would state they'd want to investigate what the heck happened that took The Beast out of the picture and work from there.
    - If the Kyr Aliens are the long lost Xan... doesn't that make us all relatives. Why the hostility against their own kind (sorta speak)?
    - I'm lost on the whole Xan expansion and where it fits into the storyline. Anyone have any suggestions on where i can read up on that if I missed something in the quest dialog?
    - Also, how long is the Alien Invasion going to last? Its been I dunno how many years.. do we even know their objective.. is it to completely annihilate us? If so, epic fail on their part.. you'd think they'd try another tactic (guess this is more side commentary than a true rp storyline question).

    Thank you in advance
    Last edited by Traderjill; Jul 26th, 2011 at 14:44:57.
    You can find me at:
    Battlenet @ Marilata#1680
    Steam @ http://steamcommunity.com/id/marilata

  2. #2
    It is very confusing indeed. As froob I missed a lot of dialog for sure as well. A lot of dialog has been posted on ao-universe forums though: http://www.ao-universe.com/viewforum...days=0&start=0
    But it really is too much to wrap my head around it and remember everything to puzzle it together properly.
    I mostly have more questions to add, but I'm going to try to stick to replying. I don't have any clear replies to offer, but I can tell you how I'm interpreting a few things.

    Kintaii recently mentioned that he still has some undisclosed storyline information about the Kyr'Ozch.

    - I believe The Source is the source of all life. The Xan learned to use it to create more life. They seeded life on several planets, on earth this evolved into us after millions of years. Any existing alien would be formed like this. The Kyr'Ozch might be formed like that, but their strong connection with the source makes me assume they are the original Xan that lived on another planet for millions of years. I think these Xan are the master-aliens that have to stay in tanks and we don't actually get to see them. The Kyr'Ozch that we do see are probably some organic robots they created for the purpose of fighting on Rubi-Ka.
    - I don't really know why they just attack RK and not try to enter SL. I guess they just want to eradicate the people defiling The Source. Maybe they can't enter SL so easily. Maybe they put more value to the real world instead of some metaphysical soul world. Also, I'm not sure The Source is only in SL (but a coordinated big attack on Cit of Hope would make more sense). My best guess though is that it's mostly gameplay reasons .
    - Well Omni and Clan / Redemed and Unredeemed are much more related to each other then we are to the Kyr'Ozch and those aren't exactly friendly to each other either .
    - I think some Xan remained in some ruins on Rubi-Ka and were protected from the Cataclysm by a very deep sleep. There should be some dialog posted in the ao-universe forums.
    - Yeah I think they're failing pretty hard mostly . But remember, they aren't giving their best. Not all aliens are hostile to us and there actually is different camps: some want to kill us, others want a more friendly approach. But I don't think players would appreciate it if aliens would sabotage our reclaim terminals or even losing a city to the aliens so I guess their failing is mostly gameplay reasons as well . (Actually losing a small city/ big outpost to the aliens would be so cool as long as it doesn't hinder too much. For example the notum canons are a big outpost, but no grid/whompah's in there to mess with traveling).
    Last edited by Edta; Jul 26th, 2011 at 16:07:47.
    Edta 200 NT, froob , Setup, General of NEPA, Raid Leader of TLfiveplus (Froob Raids)
    Neutral For Life, AO For Ever!
    Please, let Clan and Omni return to Neutral Clan/Omni Resignation forms!

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Traderjill View Post
    - If the Kyr Aliens are the long lost Xan... doesn't that make us all relatives. Why the hostility against their own kind (sorta speak)?
    I'm sure if we look at the evolution of life on Earth we can answer that question. If you believe that we evolved from the same strain that produced modern day monkeys then I'm sure that you can agree that we arn't very nice to our relatives so to speak.

    Well, maybe taking their homes and chopping their hands off for ash trays is nice.

    Why has that happened? Maybe because Modern Humans feel that they are superiour to their lesser developed monkey 'relatives'. Don't you think that this is maybe the same way that the Xan/Kyr'Ozch feel about the people on Rubi-Ka?

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Tanana View Post
    I'm sure if we look at the evolution of life on Earth we can answer that question. If you believe that we evolved from the same strain that produced modern day monkeys then I'm sure that you can agree that we arn't very nice to our relatives so to speak.

    Well, maybe taking their homes and chopping their hands off for ash trays is nice.

    Why has that happened? Maybe because Modern Humans feel that they are superiour to their lesser developed monkey 'relatives'. Don't you think that this is maybe the same way that the Xan/Kyr'Ozch feel about the people on Rubi-Ka?
    No I didn't think that.. that's why I asked the question Not trying to be smart.. I mean I guess that is one way to look at it though I'd think they'd want to make attempts to talk to us since we're obviously intelligent beings capable of reason and back and forth logical dialogue. I don't think the same can be said when you look at the relationshp between humans and primates.

    But ty for the reply.. something else to think about.
    You can find me at:
    Battlenet @ Marilata#1680
    Steam @ http://steamcommunity.com/id/marilata

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Edta View Post
    .....

    I mostly have more questions to add, but I'm going to try to stick to replying. I don't have any clear replies to offer, but I can tell you how I'm interpreting a few things.

    ....
    TY for the reply and definitely thanks for the link to AO Universe. I never look at the forums just the zillions of guides Gong to do some reading.. nice to have a place to revist that quest dialogue that I've forgotten.
    You can find me at:
    Battlenet @ Marilata#1680
    Steam @ http://steamcommunity.com/id/marilata

  6. #6
    Personally, I think that there are a lot of assumptions made that the Aliens are some White Knights who are riding in to protect the Source.

    When the beast died The Source went into Panic mode and sent out the signal. Was it an S.O.S. Or was it simply a generic alarm?

    The Aliens, clearly more advanced than Humanity, could know how to monitor for such an alarm, see an opportunity to gain control of The Source and abuse it for their own advances.

    Kintaii mentioned here that there are old notes which indicate the Aliens are not from our universe. If they are in fact from an alternate universe they may know how to monitor for The Source because they have control of the one from their Universe. Adding a second would be a force multiplier.

    Or, alternatively, The Source may not be as unique as we think it is. I expand on that idea here.

    In either of the above cases, it would indicate that The Source is not unique in an absolute sense which would allow for the Aliens to have studied one and learned how to search for additional ones.

    I'm more inclined to believe that it is the second case, or a combination of 2 and 1, because if the Aliens know how to monitor for Sources in panic mode, it would indicate they had an opportunity to study one quite closely (implying they likely control it) and if the Aliens rolled a Source Forged Invasion fleet on Rubi-Ka I don't believe Omni-Tek alone would have been able to repel it.

    The above is all just my speculations on the topic because unless Kintaii says otherwise, I think the topic is just one of the many plot holes that currently exist in the storyline.
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO|||||||||||||||
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT|||||||||||
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO|||||||||||||||||||||Serve Omni-Tek
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT||||||||||||||||||||Join the ROTFLMAO
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO||||||||
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT|||||||||||||||||||||||||
    OTOTOTOTOTOTO TOTOTOTOTOTO||||||||||||||||
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Traderjill View Post
    - If they (Kyr Aliens) were summoned back to protect The Source... why are they only attacking Rubi'ka and have zero presence in the Shadowlands? Common sense (to me) would state they'd want to investigate what the heck happened that took The Beast out of the picture and work from there.
    - If the Kyr Aliens are the long lost Xan... doesn't that make us all relatives. Why the hostility against their own kind (sorta speak)?
    - Also, how long is the Alien Invasion going to last? Its been I dunno how many years.. do we even know their objective.. is it to completely annihilate us? If so, epic fail on their part.. you'd think they'd try another tactic (guess this is more side commentary than a true rp storyline question).

    Thank you in advance
    Kyr'ozch have tried several times to gain access to Jobe (whompas) and through Jobe to Shadowlands but their invasion attacks have been always successfully thwarted before they've gained access to Jobe. I remember several such events over the years.

    While exploring Arid Rift it's also revealed that the most aggressive Kyr'ozch faction is trying other methods to get rid of us once and for all. While the Kyr'ozch seem to be hostile, there is some evidence that not all of them want to annihilate us, there are alien factions that try to seek out peaceful solutions.

    Here's a quote from Adonis Ergo when it talks about The Source:

    Ergo, Adonis Guardian of Shadows:
    Well, this is what I can tell you without any red lights starting to blink...
    "The Source" is a phenomenon from which all Notum Energy supposedly originated from.
    It is nowhere near here though, not even in the same dimension, but its effects are everywhere.
    What it really IS no one knows for sure, but there were all sorts of theories throughout time.
    Some theorized that it was a star, a black hole, a galaxy, an alter universe...some even called it God.
    But no one knew...No one had even a theoretical chance of getting the necessary information as the source of The Source apparently was beyond singularity.
    But then someone popped up with a grain of Novictum and with the help of that substance certain hints of a pattern in the Source were proposed to exist.


    [speculation]
    As we know, Novictum is associated with death (Ergo mentions this too) and Notum is associated with life - now what I've been thinking that as we harvest The Source's Notum, the balance of Notum and Novictum must remain the same and as we gain more Notum, the amount of Novictum must go up too, thus Novictum causes death somewhere (Kyr'ozch homeplanet?) each time The Beast is killed / The Source harvested. The Kyr'ozch say they were protected by The Source, which could mean that they were immortal beings just like Xan but once we killed The Beast - the guardian of The Source, the link between The Source and Kyr'ozch was severed and Kyr'ozch lost their immortality and they began to die, which is something their species hadn't experienced for millenias... shocked by these events they left their paradise and came to hostile Rubi-ka to gain back their immortality...[/speculation]
    [220/30/70] Fixer, [199/24] Shade, [150/20] Trader, [150/19] Crat, [136] Fixer, [71/6]Agent, [60/6]Enforcer + bunch of other alts

  8. #8
    I can't really give you a complete lecture with sources and whatnot, but I can answer some of those as to what I made of the quests I encountered and things I've read. Just my 2 credits.

    Quote Originally Posted by Traderjill View Post
    - Are the Kyr Aliens some descendants of Xan as well? If not, why were they summoned.. I mean how'd they even know about Rubi'ka/Shadowlands or why would they even care?
    They are believed to be descendants of the Xan as well as humans, just a Xan "ark" stranding on a different planet. From what I recall they invaded Rubi-Ka for the same reasons humans initially did, notum.

    Quote Originally Posted by Traderjill View Post
    - If they (Kyr Aliens) were summoned back to protect The Source... why are they only attacking Rubi'ka and have zero presence in the Shadowlands? Common sense (to me) would state they'd want to investigate what the heck happened that took The Beast out of the picture and work from there.
    I don't remember a connection between the death of the beast and the kyr'ozch invasion. Then again I've never done those quests myself yet. I take it setting up an interdimentional portal is something you don't do in a couple of years, so the jobe scientists who researched the shadowlands for decades remain the only ones with a portal to the shadowlands. That said, the Kyr'ozch have shown a lot of interest in Xan artifacts on Rubi-Ka, mainly in the outzones.

    Quote Originally Posted by Traderjill View Post
    - If the Kyr Aliens are the long lost Xan... doesn't that make us all relatives. Why the hostility against their own kind (sorta speak)?
    Well, that's information not everybody is supposed to be aware of I believe. And even if everyone on both sides were, the human greed and aggression of the Unicorn company didn't make for a very friendly first contact. I suppose both humans and Kyr'Ozch want the only known notum source in the universe for themselves.

    Quote Originally Posted by Traderjill View Post
    - I'm lost on the whole Xan expansion and where it fits into the storyline. Anyone have any suggestions on where i can read up on that if I missed something in the quest dialog?
    No idea, I haven't actually done Xan encounters myself yet. Though both humans, aliens and dust-brigade members are there (the outzones) to study the Xan artifacts.

    Quote Originally Posted by Traderjill View Post
    - Also, how long is the Alien Invasion going to last? Its been I dunno how many years.. do we even know their objective.. is it to completely annihilate us? If so, epic fail on their part.. you'd think they'd try another tactic (guess this is more side commentary than a true rp storyline question).
    If the Kyr-Ozch has anything like an Omni-Tek mentality, it'll last until they own the planet.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Galilei View Post

    [speculation]
    As we know, Novictum is associated with death (Ergo mentions this too) and Notum is associated with life - now what I've been thinking that as we harvest The Source's Notum, the balance of Notum and Novictum must remain the same and as we gain more Notum, the amount of Novictum must go up too, thus Novictum causes death somewhere (Kyr'ozch homeplanet?) each time The Beast is killed / The Source harvested. The Kyr'ozch say they were protected by The Source, which could mean that they were immortal beings just like Xan but once we killed The Beast - the guardian of The Source, the link between The Source and Kyr'ozch was severed and Kyr'ozch lost their immortality and they began to die, which is something their species hadn't experienced for millenias... shocked by these events they left their paradise and came to hostile Rubi-ka to gain back their immortality...[/speculation]
    That's pretty awesome speculation. Just one note though, and this applies to all RP - The beast was only ever killed once. May 03 29478 - Inner realm of Pandemonium reached - Beast slain.

    Any Respawning of The Beast is simply a game mechanic. As it stands right now, from a storyline point of view, the source stand unprotected at all times, regardless of whether or not The beast is spawned or not.
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO|||||||||||||||
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT|||||||||||
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO|||||||||||||||||||||Serve Omni-Tek
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT||||||||||||||||||||Join the ROTFLMAO
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO||||||||
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT|||||||||||||||||||||||||
    OTOTOTOTOTOTO TOTOTOTOTOTO||||||||||||||||
    TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOT
    OTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTO|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

  10. #10
    What I wonder is: who put The Beast there to protect The Source? Is the answer to that question not the same one as who the Kyr'Ozch are...? Also all these robots around the source gong corrupt and in standby and such... it's very confusing to me. Ergo, number 9, the other nodes and I seem to have read somewhere that The Beast is some computer thingy as well.. (don't remember that well)?
    Edta 200 NT, froob , Setup, General of NEPA, Raid Leader of TLfiveplus (Froob Raids)
    Neutral For Life, AO For Ever!
    Please, let Clan and Omni return to Neutral Clan/Omni Resignation forms!

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Trousers View Post
    That's pretty awesome speculation. Just one note though, and this applies to all RP - The beast was only ever killed once. May 03 29478 - Inner realm of Pandemonium reached - Beast slain.

    Any Respawning of The Beast is simply a game mechanic. As it stands right now, from a storyline point of view, the source stand unprotected at all times, regardless of whether or not The beast is spawned or not.
    Right, I guess I hadn't thought about it that way - anyway, killing Beast and severing the connection once would have the same effect as I mentioned in my speculation.

    I just remembered to check something else from item descriptions (Codex Clavis):

    Verse 204: Ergo chose twenty Knights, each raised from the lands, each from separate houses. He set them to protect the trees, never to leave their posts, and in return for their services they gained immortality.
    Verse 232: Then the Xan realized they could not separate King Arthur from the heart of the source, and they started building Ergo, to protect the land and the veins. His knights abandoned him and for aeons he was left alone, to grow mad and corrupted with only one wish left: To be able to die. But the source kept him there, and nobody came to relieve him.
    Verse 248: So they gathered their finest knights around them and let them bathe in the source. They then gave them the keys to the arks and sent them away, each in their own direction.


    I'm not sure if those verses talk about the same knights but if they are the same, then they first gained immortality, then abandoned Ergo and finally left the planet in ARKs... 20 immortal knights (and their factions) leaving the planet... We know through quests that at least Kyr'ozch and Anansi factions were present in those ARKs. Codex Divello doesn't really give any more info - I wish we had access to more verses.

    Maybe going through Pandemonium Backstory -thread again might give more ideas.
    [220/30/70] Fixer, [199/24] Shade, [150/20] Trader, [150/19] Crat, [136] Fixer, [71/6]Agent, [60/6]Enforcer + bunch of other alts

  12. #12

    Funcom employee

    Info dump!

    On the topics of the Codex Clavis and the Codex Divello - They both state right up front that they're not all that reliable in terms of the information given. I'm personally not a *huge* fan of the "unreliable narrator" method of storytelling, but that's kinda where they went with a lot of the SL stuff - The information given out isn't always the *correct* information.

    On The Source, I'll just go ahead and give you guys this one: The Source *is* unique, but that doesn't mean it can't exist in multiple places at a single time. The Source permeates our universe, the Kyr'ozch universe, and the 'inbetween' world of the Shadowlands, but it is a singular "thing" quantumly entangled between multiple dimensions. A single instance of energy, shared among all fragments and shards of reality created during The Cataclysm.

    Number 9 and Ergo were both designed as a 'last resort' measure which, if I remember correctly, should have actually attempted to *destroy* The Source (and thusly life) should someone gain control over it again as the Xan once had. But if you read #9's dialog he said he was reprogrammed by his last master, and then contacted the Kyr'ozch - I have no solid information on this, but in my own assumption 9 (and most likely Ergo) was reached by one of the Kyr'ozch who, realizing just how bad it would be if The Source was *destroyed* reprogrammed the lil' guy to just send out a warning to the Kyr'ozch home dimension. I WAS WRONG. See further corrections in later posts.

    LoX Storyline In A Nutshell: The Xan were *almost* all wiped out during the Cataclysm; a few got kinda intelligent, though, and figured out a way to store themselves in cryo chambers designed to withstand the dimensional tearing that occurred when everything went screwy; these chambers landed on Rubi-Ka after the dust all settled and have remained there for a very, very long time.

    When Omni-Tek first scouted the planet, and submitted their reports to the ICC, deep scans showed signs of energy buried deep within what is now known as the Outzone. This area was marked off in an undisclosed contract between ICC and Omni-Tek, stating that this area of the planet was to be considered 'off limits' barring further research and information gathering - After initial exploratory probes into the area, the ICC forbid active terraforming of the region and barred settlement from Omni-Tek citizens. This doesn't exactly mean jack to the Clanners, which is where we ended up with The Pilgrims clan wandering off into the desert and never being heard from again (fun fact: i wanted to put a "corpse of Kreista Tobarl" somewhere in Neretva, but I was working on another project at the time the team was finalizing LoX).

    This actually held up fairly well for quite some time - OT knew that if they went out there against the contracted orders, the ICC would more or less have them over a barrel, so they stayed clear and instead focused on the things they could find in their alloted territory - The conspiracy behind this actually ran really, really deep, given that they not only had to keep out of the area but try to keep *others* from exploring too heavily in there. Fake documents, signal emitters, the whole nine yards were set up in the Outzones to try and generally keep people out. On the whole, though, this was probably a pretty bad move, because had people actually been out there and excavating the area someone would have noticed when the Xan woke up. Instead, people only found out what was happening when RK citizens determined the precise location of Dust Brigade communications coming from the Outzone (the "Peacekeeper Constad" questline).

    There are three Xan figures within the LoX storyline - The "good Xan", the "crazy Xan", and the "bad Xan"; this is not the entirety of the Xan which managed to survive The Cataclysm via the cryopods, mind you, but the only three we're aware of at the moment.

    The Bad Xan and the Crazy Xan both woke up at roughly the same time - Recognizing more-or-less what was happening with the situation on Rubi-Ka (Beast is dead, Source is getting used up, etc. etc.) and knowing precisely what would happen should the Source get properly tapped again, Bad Xan realizes that things have gotta change - To do that, he decides to blow the whole thing up, taking out the Source, humanity, all life and the rest of existence. Doing this alone, however, wasn't an option - After many years of being shoved in the cryopod, along with the changes in the world around them, the Xan were no longer as powerful as they once had been. So with the Crazy Xan at his side (who was also totally down for the blowing up of all existence, because he was crazy and a few hundred million years in a cryopod will kinda do that to you), the Bad Xan started putting together a plan.

    First was contacting and working with the Dust Brigade. Giving them advanced technology and information, the Xan lead the DB to discover ruins and ancient machinery hidden on Rubi-Ka, making them quite a bit more powerful than your average 220/30/70. As the DB went about their business, the Xan contacted the Kyr'ozch, offering to aid in their invasion of the planet - The Kyr'ozch want us dead to retake The Source, which is precisely how the Bad Xan pitched it to them, conveniently leaving out the whole "unmaking all of reality" bit and instead convincing them that they only wanted to blow up Rubi-Ka, freeing the Source from its entanglement to the planet (this would never work fyi - all it'd do would weaken the barriers between our universe and the Shadowlands more than they already are). There were also those that didn't really agree to the whole "blowing up the planet" part either; the Kyr'ozch society is more fragmented than initial story exploration lead people to believe.

    The "Final Solution" plan of the Xan was two-fold; The Kyr'ozch, provided with information from the Xan, were capable of creating a form of "corrupted notum" - Regular notum, grown naturally through-out the planet, which was 'infected' with a form of virus that, interestingly enough, seemed to 'super-charge' the notum, making it much, much more powerful, yet much less stable. No one could really see a major downside in the outset, but no one realized that the 'virus' would also *spread*, and eventually overtake all notum on the planet (first seen in Sector 10).

    The DB, with the aid of the technology they had taken from ruins on the planet, developed what they referred to as a "Notum Bomb" - This device would have created a resonance blast which would have echoed through all available notum veins on Rubi-Ka and detonated them at once. There were a few hints at the Xan working with the DB throughout other content we patched in - The first one I was personally responsible for was the Mezzorash used as the boss in Alappaa (The yutto at the end of the Pen Xan Civ Questline talks a bit about the Rashan - The Mezzorashes were reprogrammed by the DB utilizing Xan information/tech to serve as spies in SL for the Bad Xan; you meet another one in Neretva as one of the bosses there). Not something that was apparent at the time, but in retrospect can/should serve as a bit of an "ooooh, *now* that makes sense" thing; I tend to do that a lot, in putting in stuff and information that won't make sense until much later down the road.

    Anyhoo, thankfully you guys shut that stuff down with the quickness - Bomb was defused, the virus production was halted, the alien incursion was stopped in the Outzones and you even laid the smack down on a Xan (though not the Bad Xan - The Crazy Xan). Met a good guy alien, got helped a bit by the Good Xan, and managed to save the world overall. =)

    LoX is mostly intended to be an endcap to the stories of the Dust Brigade and Shadowlands in general - You shut down the DB's major house of operations, stopped the virus from spreading any further, and put a halt to the Bad Xan's plans. there's more that can be said about both story concepts, but at the same time I don't think any of us on the team have much interest in revisiting those ideas too heavily in our major content focuses - There's just not much more interesting 'story' left to dig into without either rehashing the same stuff or otherwise just feeling like it's all been done to death. Bigger and better things on the horizon than that stuff.

    Since we're talking about the idea of 'condensing' and refocusing the AO storyline a bit, this would be a good starting place to take questions and toss out answers regarding some of the more confusing bits of the storyline. So with that in mind:

    Ask me questions. If I know, I will answer - If not, I'll say I don't know and then make something up. ;P

    If *you* guys have questions, then it'll be good direction to look into in the future if/when we look at rewriting dialog in the game (like with the incoming changeover to all of the SL key quests and whatnot) and where we should focus on explaining the storyline a bit better. So ask away. =D

    Edit: Editing in some more direct questions already asked in the thread:

    Quote Originally Posted by Traderjill View Post
    #1: Are the Kyr Aliens some descendants of Xan as well? If not, why were they summoned.. I mean how'd they even know about Rubi'ka/Shadowlands or why would they even care?
    #2: If they (Kyr Aliens) were summoned back to protect The Source... why are they only attacking Rubi'ka and have zero presence in the Shadowlands? Common sense (to me) would state they'd want to investigate what the heck happened that took The Beast out of the picture and work from there.
    #3: If the Kyr Aliens are the long lost Xan... doesn't that make us all relatives. Why the hostility against their own kind (sorta speak)?
    #4: I'm lost on the whole Xan expansion and where it fits into the storyline. Anyone have any suggestions on where i can read up on that if I missed something in the quest dialog?
    #5: Also, how long is the Alien Invasion going to last? Its been I dunno how many years.. do we even know their objective.. is it to completely annihilate us? If so, epic fail on their part.. you'd think they'd try another tactic (guess this is more side commentary than a true rp storyline question).
    #1: The Kyr'ozch are descendants of the Xan as well
    #2: So far they just haven't been able to make it through; honestly there's been no 'in-story' explaination for this, though I personally am of the mindset that they may not be able to *survive* in the metaphysical world of SL due to the large quantities of novictum present. idk that's the best i got on that one
    #3: If your dumb cousin starts waving a knife around and threatening to stab your parents, you'd probably beat him upside his head. Same thing here - We're related, but we're literally killing the Kyr'ozch every single time we cast a nano; opening the Source and removing its protector just exasperated this. We're destroying their universe - I'd be mad too.
    #4: See all the above. =D
    #5: Until the servers shut down. ;P I hate this one too, but there's really very little I can do to logically explain it away. By now the Kyr'ozch should have won - Truthfully, given their numbers and their technology, no one should really stand a chance in a space battle against the Kyr'ozch, even with the advanced tech of the Goliath and Sunrise stations. It is really the dumbest invasion ever, but... kinda like the Beast respawning, this one's a game mechanic thing. Sometimes you just *can't* explain away some of the gameplay, much as I hate that and try to fight it as much as I can. ><
    Last edited by Kintaii; Jul 28th, 2011 at 19:44:03.
    Brad L. McAtee / Kintaii
    Former Senior AO Designer & Jack of All Trades
    (2007 - 2012)
    ~~ Twitter :: Facebook :: Norse Noir ~~

  13. #13
    Wow Kintaii, thank you for that explanation. It actually cleared up quite a bit. When I run through the LoX content again with my next character it'll definitely give me more food for thought.

    Thank you for taking the time.
    You can find me at:
    Battlenet @ Marilata#1680
    Steam @ http://steamcommunity.com/id/marilata

  14. #14
    Kintaii,

    With regards to #5 response to Jill.

    We've met a good Kyr'Ozch, which would lead to believe that there is some "humanity" (for want of a better word) in this race.

    Would it not be plausable that the way to tie up the loose end, with regards to not being overrun by bad Kyr'Ozch, that Rubi Ka inhabitants would have a means with which to completely obliterate them once and for all, but it is only by the fact that we have seen good in them, that we choose not to? After all, alien invasion is the only real threat where all sides are united to defend.

    That would efectively stop them overrunning us because we have a doomsday device of some kind, but yet willing to confront them on an ongoing basis, as we see today because they're constantly trying to undermine our ability to use it.

    Secondly, and possibly a tough one.... Kyr'ozch... what's the full name i.e. the bit between the "r" and the "o"
    ZeePhonz :: 220/30/70 Adventurer
    ZeeMedic :: 220/30/70 Doctor
    ZeeDaKeep :: 220/30/70 Keeper
    Cratscan :: 220/30/70 Bureaucrat
    ZeeStabbie :: 220/30/65 Shade
    ZeeInstein :: 220/21/60 Engineer


    President of A.R.S. (Athens Recovery Service)

    Whenever I fill out an application, in the part that says "If an emergency, notify:" I put "DOCTOR".

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Kintaii View Post
    On The Source, I'll just go ahead and give you guys this one: The Source *is* unique, but that doesn't mean it can't exist in multiple places at a single time. The Source permeates our universe, the Kyr'ozch universe, and the 'inbetween' world of the Shadowlands, but it is a singular "thing" quantumly entangled between multiple dimensions. A single instance of energy, shared among all fragments and shards of reality created during The Cataclysm.
    Does this mean The Cataclysm resulted in not 2 (RK/SL) universes, but at least 3? And the Kyr'Ozch come from the third?
    What kind of universe would this be, we already have a physical and a metaphysical one... Is it the mirror universe of our physical one?

    What is The Source?
    Is it life? Is it the origin of all life? Does the creation of new life (offspring) also taps from The Source?
    My best guess is that tapping from The Source in this universe takes away life at the other universe and the other way around. Is this correct?

    The Xan were split into 2 factions, yet when talking about LoX or the Kyr'Ozch, it is not mentioned whether they talk about redeemed or unredeemed Xan. Can the Kyr'Ozch be considered as one of the factions or a third faction or both factions? And can the Kyr'Ozch guys in the tanks be considered as remaining Xan, or should they be considered as seeds of life planted by the Xan (like we are).

    Eh, I guess this should do for now...
    Edta 200 NT, froob , Setup, General of NEPA, Raid Leader of TLfiveplus (Froob Raids)
    Neutral For Life, AO For Ever!
    Please, let Clan and Omni return to Neutral Clan/Omni Resignation forms!

  16. #16
    If I understand correctly... the redeemed and unredeemed split came after the cataclysm. the cataclysm is what put the lox xan on rubi-ka.

    shadowlands was like the original alpha dimension, the cataclysm shredded into multiple dimensions. Ours, and the Kyr'oczh being like the offspring.

    though I might be wrong as hell too :P
    Point Blank

  17. #17
    Thanks for the wall of text Kintaii. You've just explained more in one post than YEARS of playing AO has.

  18. #18

    Funcom employee

    Quote Originally Posted by Zeephonz View Post
    Kintaii,

    With regards to #5 response to Jill.

    We've met a good Kyr'Ozch, which would lead to believe that there is some "humanity" (for want of a better word) in this race.

    Would it not be plausable that the way to tie up the loose end, with regards to not being overrun by bad Kyr'Ozch, that Rubi Ka inhabitants would have a means with which to completely obliterate them once and for all, but it is only by the fact that we have seen good in them, that we choose not to? After all, alien invasion is the only real threat where all sides are united to defend.

    That would efectively stop them overrunning us because we have a doomsday device of some kind, but yet willing to confront them on an ongoing basis, as we see today because they're constantly trying to undermine our ability to use it.

    Secondly, and possibly a tough one.... Kyr'ozch... what's the full name i.e. the bit between the "r" and the "o"
    Eehhhhh.... I mean I *could*, but I gotta be honest with you - I'm not a fan of ye olde magical macguffin as a storytelling device (which i get into a bit more in my reply to edta). I mean it *works*, but... I just can't help but feel that there could be a better solution out there somewhere beyond The Ultimate Nullifier. XD

    And that is the full name. XD It's meant to imply a stop in the pronunciation. (keer-ockh is how i pronounce it, just for the record - you guys pronounce it however you want XD)

    Quote Originally Posted by Edta View Post

    #1: Does this mean The Cataclysm resulted in not 2 (RK/SL) universes, but at least 3? And the Kyr'Ozch come from the third?
    What kind of universe would this be, we already have a physical and a metaphysical one... Is it the mirror universe of our physical one?

    #2: What is The Source? Is it life? Is it the origin of all life? Does the creation of new life (offspring) also taps from The Source? My best guess is that tapping from The Source in this universe takes away life at the other universe and the other way around. Is this correct?

    #3: The Xan were split into 2 factions, yet when talking about LoX or the Kyr'Ozch, it is not mentioned whether they talk about redeemed or unredeemed Xan. Can the Kyr'Ozch be considered as one of the factions or a third faction or both factions? And can the Kyr'Ozch guys in the tanks be considered as remaining Xan, or should they be considered as seeds of life planted by the Xan (like we are).
    #1: I should note that when I say 'separate universes', I mean kinda in the classic "Sliders" sense - An alternate reality, close (or not) to our own but with key differences. As it happens the Kyr'ozch come from the Source World equivalent of Rubi-Ka in their own dimension (bearing in mind that the planet RK was 'born' from during The Cataclysm was shattered throughout all of the developing realities).

    The Shadowlands, on the other hand, aren't really a "universe" of their own (and this is where it starts to get a little hard to describe the concept so bear with me) - SL is more of an "idea", and really has no direct substance that we, as humans, can comprehend; Think of SL as the remnants of the "prime universe" that existed at the time of the Xan, half destroyed and shunted off to the sort of "bleed" between universes, and interpreted by the human mind into a form it can comprehend.

    In short: If this world right now is a universe, and the Kyr'ozch world is a reality of its own, then picture SL as what exists between those two, connected to the rest via the tether of The Source.

    #2: The Source... Is. I mean if we wanna talk about it in a metatextual sense it's a magical macguffin - It exists because the story needs a big shiny glowy source of Stuff™ to serve as a point of conflict. *What* The Source is has never been officially defined in-game, however, and I personally am kinda loathe to do so myself. In a lot of ways I think the best analogy for The Source is in a religious context - It's completely open to interpretation of the individual exposed to the concept. There's a quote from... I can't remember who, might even be Number Nine talking about this - When I get back to the office tomorrow I'll look it up and edit it in here. It can be life, death, inspiration, or god itself - All just in how you look at it. It *is*, either way, a very vital element in all of life, which is important to know when discussing the Kyr'ozch.

    There is no real 'balance' mechanic in place in terms of how The Source operates, at least not in the way you're thinking - Picture it more as a resource, one that is renewable to an extent but very slowly being drained via over-use. Again, this is getting into stuff that's kinda hard to describe so bear with me here: The Source 'radiates outward' from its central point - It spreads in a radius across all of space/time like a flat pool of water. As The Source gets used up, its radius shrinks inward toward that central point across the various realities; right now, The Source is shrinking away from the Kyr'ozch reality due to overuse in the Rubi-Ka reality - The well is drying up, and the Kyr'ozch universe is, quite literally, dying.

    #3: The Xan were split up into those two factions but they more literally *became* those factions after the Cataclysm; they were transformed from one species into another. The Xan and the Redeemed/Unredeemed are related, but not the even really the same species - Much the same way that Homo Solitus (and derived breeds) are related to the Xan, as well as the Kyr'ozch, but are nowhere even close to what the Xan were.

    The Xan you meet in LoX went into cryogenic storage prior to the splitting of the factions and all of that mess - They are the only *true* Xan ever appearing within AO. So they don't belong to any group but their own, and their actions thus far are actually diametrically opposed to that of the Redeemed/Unredeemed factions (namely in that both of those groups want to control The Source - Bad Xan wants to just blow it all up).

    I will say, though, that faction conversation in general in AO is a giant cluster of notgood. I once had this flowchart which showed the relationships and true allegiances of all of the various storyline faction groups in Anarchy Online and it looked like the bastard child of Jackson Pollock and Terry Pratchett - Lines all over the place, footnotes on footnotes, the whole nine yards. So yeah, anyone who ever gets confused over faction stuff in AO can totally be excused, 'cause it can be a hot mess at the best of times. XD
    Brad L. McAtee / Kintaii
    Former Senior AO Designer & Jack of All Trades
    (2007 - 2012)
    ~~ Twitter :: Facebook :: Norse Noir ~~

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Kintaii View Post
    Ask me questions.
    I thought I understood okay until you started clarifying!

    The bit that doesn't make sense to me is this:

    Number 9 and Ergo were both designed as a 'last resort' measure which, if I remember correctly, should have actually attempted to *destroy* The Source (and thusly life) should someone gain control over it again as the Xan once had. But if you read #9's dialog he said he was reprogrammed by his last master, and then contacted the Kyr'ozch - I have no solid information on this, but in my own assumption 9 (and most likely Ergo) was reached by one of the Kyr'ozch who, realizing just how bad it would be if The Source was *destroyed* reprogrammed the lil' guy to just send out a warning to the Kyr'ozch home dimension.
    As I understood, Ergo was created by the Xan as a control system for the flow of notum long before the cataclysm. In Scheol, he says:

    Quote Originally Posted by Ergo, Scheol Guardian of Shadows
    I was the operative system that distributed notum energy to every corner of the world. It was before the troubles and before the world was torn apart like you see it today.
    ...
    [The Un/Redeemed] are, like you, descendants of my ancient masters. I try to serve them like I was originally designed to do.
    Through the story Ergo's main concern is with the protection of the source from the brink. But here and there - especially in inferno - you get the impression that someone has interfered with the system, and locked the source terminal out from Ergo's control... and so the terminal is now The Beast - The Protector.

    Number 9, on the other hand, seems to be entirely separate from Ergo. It seems to have been programmed by a human, or at least someone who knows what modern humans are like:

    Quote Originally Posted by Number 9
    I was programmed to express human-like feelings.
    It seems to have been programmed by the same person who interfered with Ergo to create the Beast:

    Quote Originally Posted by Number 9
    It turned me into the Beast that you have already seen...
    It never says that it contacts the Aliens, rather that the message is intended for Humans. It's simply a warning. It would seem that the Kyr have their own way of divining that the source is unprotected, rather than needing a human-like robot to do it for them; one that oddly trusts the humans who have interfered with the source to answer honestly about what happened.

    Have I been wrong about this then?
    Advisor of Lumen Orien

  20. #20

    Funcom employee

    Aye - Number Nine did in fact contact the Kyr'ozch upon the Beast's first death (i believe the chat has actually been modified since he was initially put in game to remove the reference; could be mistaken on that as well).

    The relationship between Ergo, #9 and The Beast is... kinda difficult to grasp and explain. Most of what I have on those three has been gleaned from conversations with other designers & writers for AO, so I can't sit here and positively say much of anything for certain when it comes to their relationship with each other.


    The death of The Beast is what alerted the Kyr'ozch to the breaching of The Source, not #9. My fart. >< Neither Aythem nor I can find the direct quote, but the first time The Beast was killed there was a global broadcast on the servers that said something to the effect of "you feel a million voices scream out in pain and then die" or somethin' like that. That was representative of the psychic backlash of the death of the Kyr'ozch Channelers - The ones that kept them tied to The Source (and each other, given their slightly hive-ish society).

    If I recall correctly, though, Number Nine is a 'key' for Ergo - When Number Nine is activated, it was supposed to 'fully activate' Ergo and end up destroying pretty much everything (remember: the writers at the time relied heavily on the unreliable narrator concept - you can't take anything that Ergo says at face value, including what he stated his original purpose was). Number Nine (and quite possibly Ergo) have been tampered with, however, keeping that from coming to fruition. damn you ergo stop being so confusing and start making sense
    Last edited by Kintaii; Jul 28th, 2011 at 19:44:37.
    Brad L. McAtee / Kintaii
    Former Senior AO Designer & Jack of All Trades
    (2007 - 2012)
    ~~ Twitter :: Facebook :: Norse Noir ~~

Page 1 of 7 1234567 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •