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Thread: Pandemonium Backstory?

  1. #1

    Question Pandemonium Backstory?

    I`m a big big sucker for these "Final Areas", the "Apocalypse" and the End of the World stuff, so its only natural that I`m totally blown away by the images and thoughts of Pandemonium. Just checked out Faunlore`s updates, and I found myself staring at the screen.

    Then I came to wonder..

    How did Pandemonium begin? Exactly what created it, what created The Beast behind it, and all that? Please tell me there is a backstory behind it, I`m so dying to hear it.

    Why isnt Ergo in Pandemonium? From what I`ve understand, Pandemonium is more or less a floating island inside Shadowland`s core or something, the very essence of the evil that threatens Shadowlands. What I dont understand, is how it came to be. And the Zodiak beasts, they too stirr my attention far more than anything else.

    So, I wonder, does anyone have some FACTS about Pandemonium? Even the devs who made it, or created it..someone? I`m so curious(And I cant wait to get there)
    Last edited by Engelen; Feb 12th, 2004 at 20:53:20.
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  2. #2
    well......not FACTS in that sense, but you might want to read
    this
    to get more of [["Final Areas", the "Apocalypse" and the End of the World stuff]]


    regards
    Arima

  3. #3
    Yeah... the Codex Clavis is one of the most interesting items in the game, so far as Pandemonium goes. In fact, it was this item that I used to equate Fisher King with The Beast, and make an assumption about its drops. As to where all this is going, I can't say... at this point we have elements of Norse myth, Christian myth, Arthurian legend, FCs own sci-fi universe, the Zodiacs, and more. I feel that the best avenue to mine would be Arthurian legend... wish I hadn't completely deleted my storyline of Tarasque, since it may have been closer to what FC had in mind than I thought.... At this point, I was hoping to have gotten some of the background a little more clearly, but it's not happening at this point, hehe.

    As to why Ergo may not be in Pandemonium, the Codex may shed some light on that, I think.
    Last edited by Krystanova; Feb 13th, 2004 at 01:41:45.
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  4. #4
    But that doesnt explain the unredeemed/redeemed which as put forth on ARK Tours. Which says they are the Xan just split factions warring at each other over control of the source. Which started over how they were to use the source.

    From reading that its like they were cooperating till the very end not warring like most of the game/quests seem to put out. Infact it seems that according to Pen Garden quest that thier 'source extraction' knowledges seems limited.

    Almost as if all they know is their war and Ergo and all of his components dont exist. And they care nothing for the land which is rotting away beneath them.


    The Zodiacs present another dilema, they seem to be Avatars for the brink and something bigger still looms on the horizon. Their involvment in the storyline seem either small or just loot mobs.

    Also verse 41 and 73 seem to conflict. Verse 41 states that time split, thus the introduction of the brink mobs, "Creatures of Chaos" and a "silence fell over the newly created Shadowlands", while 73 metions the "Old and new world were split in two forever" So? Was RK created in 41 or 73? cuase they seem to indicate more than one "split".


    Also of some note there are 6 Redeemed/6 Unredeemed Heros, total of 12, there are 12 Zodiacs concidence? Maybe.
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  5. #5
    Originally posted by Allanor
    But that doesnt explain the unredeemed/redeemed which as put forth on ARK Tours. Which says they are the Xan just split factions warring at each other over control of the source. Which started over how they were to use the source.

    From reading that its like they were cooperating till the very end not warring like most of the game/quests seem to put out. Infact it seems that according to Pen Garden quest that thier 'source extraction' knowledges seems limited.

    Almost as if all they know is their war and Ergo and all of his components dont exist. And they care nothing for the land which is rotting away beneath them.


    The Zodiacs present another dilema, they seem to be Avatars for the brink and something bigger still looms on the horizon. Their involvment in the storyline seem either small or just loot mobs.

    Also verse 41 and 73 seem to conflict. Verse 41 states that time split, thus the introduction of the brink mobs, "Creatures of Chaos" and a "silence fell over the newly created Shadowlands", while 73 metions the "Old and new world were split in two forever" So? Was RK created in 41 or 73? cuase they seem to indicate more than one "split".


    Also of some note there are 6 Redeemed/6 Unredeemed Heros, total of 12, there are 12 Zodiacs concidence? Maybe.
    The events described by Ergo take place after the events described in the early verses. It is only in verse 232 that Ergo the machine is constructed, and the Redeemed/Unredeemed split did not occur until after that stage. The implication of verses 41 and 73 is not to be contradictory (though this is possible) but to describe the creation of Rubi-Ka and the Shadowlands as separate but connected entities by arrival of the source, which are then completely separated by the death of the Fisher King and its transformation and ascension as the Beast, the Keeper of the Source (but note, not the Source itself... can't wait til the Beast is killed ).

    The verses seem out of order, especially in that some middle ones seem to tell a story that would occur between verses 41 and 73, and thay also seem to occassionally tell different stories, true, but the main point comes in the first connection with the Source (verse 41) and the last verse, which essentially describes the moment at which the Unredeemed/Redeemed rift would begin (one side feels it has washed away the stains of its past, the stains of the Xan, the other doesn't, which is the whole point of Ergo's long winded Adonis speech).
    Last edited by Krystanova; Feb 5th, 2004 at 06:45:42.
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  6. #6
    Also verse 41 and 73 seem to conflict. Verse 41 states that time split, thus the introduction of the brink mobs, "Creatures of Chaos" and a "silence fell over the newly created Shadowlands", while 73 metions the "Old and new world were split in two forever" So? Was RK created in 41 or 73? cuase they seem to indicate more than one "split".
    I think that you're right in your first assumption: Verse 41 tells of the Brink creatures and eating away of the edges of SL, and Verse 73 of the physical separation of SL and RK. The confusion comes in overthinking.
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  7. #7
    Ohh yah, I read that afterwards, and found it very interesting. Its when you start piecing together this that you know that SL HAS a rich and interesting storyline, which lays hidden beneath all the quests and camping. I just wish the story would be shown better, Either as dialogues you could ask Redeemed/Unredeemed/Ergo about or more items like this.

    So, "The Fisher King" was a good guy, until he died and turned into the beast? Or...And the Xan(Redeemed/Unredeemed before the incident) was the ones who released the rift, creating both Shadowlands and Rubi-Ka? But wasnt Rubi-Ka just a normal planet? Or...was it once a blooming earth until the incident?
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  8. #8
    Rubi-ka was supposedly a planet (many many light years away from earth) colonized by Earth people.

    The Omega is mentioned several times...and if anyone has read Prophet Without Honor, you'll know that the Omega were the first ones who used nanotechnology to become "immortal." They also unleashed a deadly virus on Earth to "cleanse" the planet, while they hid underground.

    Does anyone know if there is an organized storyline of RK and SL explaining things like, Tarasque, the Mercs, The Temple of 3, Inner Sanctum, etc., and all the new stuff in SL? I would really like to read into this more, because it really helps me enjoy the game when I know what I'm fighting for
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  9. #9
    Originally posted by Engelen
    Ohh yah, I read that afterwards, and found it very interesting. Its when you start piecing together this that you know that SL HAS a rich and interesting storyline, which lays hidden beneath all the quests and camping. I just wish the story would be shown better, Either as dialogues you could ask Redeemed/Unredeemed/Ergo about or more items like this.

    So, "The Fisher King" was a good guy, until he died and turned into the beast? Or...And the Xan(Redeemed/Unredeemed before the incident) was the ones who released the rift, creating both Shadowlands and Rubi-Ka? But wasnt Rubi-Ka just a normal planet? Or...was it once a blooming earth until the incident?
    The understanding I've gleaned on the relation between Rubi-Ka and the Shadowlands is that they were both once one and the same, the location of the Source in the universe. Eventually, a gigantic cataclysm removed the Source from existence in this universe, separating it into the Shadowlands in another dimension, and leaving Rubi-Ka the barren, dead world, removed from the font of life as it was.

    Many of the creatures we see that share existences in the Shadowlands and on Rubi-Ka, including Eremites, Baratons (the Slithers of SL), Golems (the Hecklers of SL), Anuns (the Cripplers of SL), and others either came there by accident after the separation (same way we do when we fall from the Brink) or were trapped on Rubi-Ka at the moment of separation. Either way, these creatures were forced to adapt to Rubi-Ka in order to survive, which indeed they did (the harshness of Rubi-ka's wastes helps explain why every version of the creature mentioned above that lives on RK would seriously pwn their SL counterparts, except perhaps Hecklers... they're nasty everywhere).

    The original inhabitants of the united world is a cloudy thing, but the long and the short of it seems to be we are descendants of the original inhabitants, as are those we see as the Redeemed and Unredeemed (it's why our Shadowbreeds resemble them).... and thus we are Xan. This is why, from our (RL) stand point, the creatures of Rubi-Ka and the Shadowlands are aliens, but from an RP stand-point, they are creatures we were familiar with eons ago... they are as native to us as we are to RK/SL.
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  10. #10
    Not that they add any timeline to these events since they were created after the war broke out, but Turn Soirits also have great stories about the people they were created by or after. If you havent give the Turn spirit descriptions a read.

  11. #11
    I think the backstory with ToTW and IS is something along the line of this:

    Hezak the Immortal is actually a Xan Unredeemed named Prophet Hezak (there is a new SL item that refers to an entity named Prophet Hezak, I forget which one - EDIT - they are below).

    Hezak fell, jumped, was pushed, or in some other way came to Rubi-Ka (or Earth, since the cult is supposedly quite old) from the Shadowlands.

    After coming to Rubi-Ka Hezak set up the Temple of the Three Winds and the Inner Sanctum. Sometime before AO began the temple was closed to new Members. Perhaps Hezak went into the Outzone looking for a way to get back to the Shadowlands. Whatever the case Hezak is now back in the Inner Sanctum.

    Prophet Hezak has some ties with JAME, or converts amongst them, because he started letting people convert again shortly before the Shadowlands were announced to the public as a whole. I do not believe this is a coincidence.

    [EDIT]
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    Last edited by Bekrowe; Jun 21st, 2006 at 07:14:53.

  12. #12
    Yeah...but Pandemonium. Pandemonium guys....thats the fun part!

    damn...makes me curious...Did Pandemonium exist before everything began, or was it a result of the accident, but horribly twisted and seperated by the source and the energy?
    I'm a runaway train on a broken track,
    I'm a ticker on a bomb that you can't turn back this time,
    that's right, I got away with it all and I'm still alive

  13. #13
    Pandemonium might be the center of the Shadowlands?

    The huge incarnator thing in the middle of Pandemonium has a swirling vortex running through it, might this be the source? Or some outlet of the source, since The Beast is said to be the guardian of the source and he sits inside this thing.

    Its def interesting
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  14. #14
    I hate to resurrect a dying thread (though it's an awesome discussion topic, IMO ), but this is an excellent elaboration of the varying theories involving the Fisher King. And when you read some of the theories, it seems to fit quite well with how the Devs have structured the story of this ebul, ebul place...
    Last edited by Ammicus; Feb 12th, 2004 at 01:17:37.

  15. #15
    Hmm there are some confusing things in the Codex also

    Originally posted by Krystanova
    It is only in verse 232 that Ergo the machine is constructed
    I think that might be an important part, the problem though is that it also confuses things since in Verse 49 you see Ergo mentioned before he is built in Verse 232.

    Verse 49: But when the crowd had grown weary of trying to open the lid, a young boy appeared. He was Merlin. He thrust the sword through the lid and the source poured through him. He had been chosen and Ergo immediately set him to guard the source.
    If the verses are going chronologically then Ergo existed before that not as a machine but something else.

    I made a joke in a thread on Reet's a while back about Ergo being behind the whole thing now, I'm starting to wonder if that might actually be the case. Ergo seems to be a little bit more then just a machine the Xan made to protect the land going by some of the other verses.

    EDIT:
    My only other question is in verse 232 whose knights are they talking about abandoning him King Arthur's or Ergo's?

  16. #16
    Wow its rooted, maybe someone higher up noticed it and can enlighten us?

    Yeah, from what I understand, the whole SL, and even AO seems to base itself in the Arthur mytho, with Merlin, Arthur, the Fisher King, Camelot, Excalibur, Morgan Le Fay(Actually she is called Morgana Le Faye) and so on.

    I can understand the different zones up until Inferno, but Pandemonium is still a mystery. The place must have a meaning?

    I`m so dying to know it!!!
    Last edited by Engelen; Feb 12th, 2004 at 20:58:17.
    I'm a runaway train on a broken track,
    I'm a ticker on a bomb that you can't turn back this time,
    that's right, I got away with it all and I'm still alive

  17. #17
    Originally posted by Krystanova

    The understanding I've gleaned on the relation between Rubi-Ka and the Shadowlands is that they were both once one and the same, the location of the Source in the universe. Eventually, a gigantic cataclysm removed the Source from existence in this universe, separating it into the Shadowlands in another dimension, and leaving Rubi-Ka the barren, dead world, removed from the font of life as it was.
    As much as I don't like quoting myself (you know, how it's just a fool for a source and all that), but I wanted to emphasize this point in light of something Marius said in RPG Vault's interview about the alien race on its way to RK:

    Originally posted by Marius (RPG Vault)
    When "something" happened, this ancient species living on the brink of the universe felt threatened for the first time. As many of their own were mysteriously killed, they started to scan for the cause of this, and quickly saw that Rubi-Ka, the planet where AO takes place, and the Shadowlands had something to do with it. What they found on Rubi-Ka upon closer inspection was not what they expected. In fact, it shocked them. For the first time in thousands of years, they felt fear, and they understood they had to do something about the situation.
    This definitely implies that some catastrophe did indeed occur eons ago, a catastrophe so huge that it drew this alien civilization from across the universe. The events that led up to the cataclysm are now of increased importance to the storyline, it seems, because they are the events that brought the aliens in RK's direction (and may be why this thread got rooted, hehe).

    As Rubi-Ka's connection to the Shadowlands was severed, so was the font of all life, The Source, removed from the universe. This may be what caused the mass dying of the alien race, and protecting what remained of the Source in this universe (as notum) may be the reasons behind their invasion. That, or they're able to move really fast, they are reacting to the mining and removal of notum... and are coming to RK to stop us from mining all the notum from RK.
    Last edited by Krystanova; Feb 13th, 2004 at 02:06:08.
    Rhiannon "Krystanova" Pourier
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  18. #18
    Originally posted by Krystanova
    ... they're able to move really fast, they are reacting to the mining and removal of notum... and are coming to RK to stop us from mining all the notum from RK.
    I'd tend to agree with this explanation, but I do have one conjecture. Remember, the actual fracture of the Shadowlands from the "regular" universe happened eons ago. If this civilation is as advanced as it seems, would it have taken them that long to return? This explanation also fits with the fact they'll be attacking EVERYONE on Rubi-Ka, by the sounds of things.

    But - BIG but - when the SL catastrophe did happen, the Xan were cast out into the universe. One group landed on Earth, and began to plot and scheme their return. So, technically, it took the Xan just as long to get back to Rubi-Ka as it would this other alien race, as in your earlier explanation.

  19. #19
    About the Xan coming to earth - I remember reading that after the Unredeemed/Redeemed split, the Redeemed traveled from planet to planet sowing the seeds of life (As mentioned in the verses- traversing on their 'Arks'), and that the Unredeemed followed and attempted to destroy all of the "new life." That is, until Earth, for on Earth they discovered that the life the Redeemed had planted would prove usefull to them in returning finally to 'The source.'

    My theory is that the unredeemed "missed" a "Failed" "sowing of the seeds of life" done by the Redeemed, which became this alien race.... Ill try and find the exact source where I read about the Redeemed/Unredeemed planet hopping.
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  20. #20
    hm....but what about something that happened recently as reason for those aliens to come to rk? meaning, the opening of the portals to the shadowlands. after all that also means reconnection to what now is the brink. i don't see why THAT wouldn't have an effect on rubi-ka (and the rest of the universe) just like the reconnection to the source would have (or should have anyway). besides, for the clan garden quest in nascence, remember what that scientist said? Donna Red was her name i think but i might be mixing her up with the other one. anyway, she said something like "i am researching the effect of biological contaminants on the wildlife of rubi ka" and then you can ask her something like "but how can what happens in the shadowlands have an effect of what is going on on rubi ka" which she doesn't know about and hopes to find out.

    Edit: (forgot to make the point =P)
    so basically, it seems established that through the reconnection, rubi ka and the shadowlands are linked beyond simply having a few portals. and since the source was the source of ALL creation, that should also apply to the rest of the universe,
    Edit end ^^

    i think it might be related to that. on the other hand, i might just be as wildly guessing as anyone else

    regards
    Arima
    Last edited by Arima-kun; Feb 13th, 2004 at 10:09:47.

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