Pandemonium Backstory?

[stian]

We're fighting waves of ourselves.
Dig it.

I am. LOL. That one made me laugh

[Trgeorge]

Interesting hypothesis Whisperwill.

You mentioned that Unreedem have planed for Beast to fall at some exact time in human evolution. It is correct that we couldn't advance (level) before Shadowlands were enabled. But in order to tap source I think it's whole human rase strenght rather than individual, we're talking about here. So it's more knowledge than psyhical strenght. I can't speak on behalf of Unreedem, but Reedem give no clues on source. They don't rush us towards Beast. And i don't believe that if Unredeem were behind it all, they would care how many attempts we'd took. They would rather urged us on, promising wealth beyond imagination, power to the Slayers, etc...

Nice idea I must admit. And appart this character flaw, I'd say my favorite. But how would then Beast creation, Arthur and other chars fit in?

[Moridin]

I think, and hope, that Whisperwill nailed it down. Very conclusive and logical. Gave peace to some of my curiousity at least. :P

[Engelen]

I can live with Whisperwill`s theory, I really liked it.

Its kind of nasty to think if the Beast was nothing more than a puppet in a bigger scale to seal the source.

But if the Unredeemed were so intent on making us killing the Beast and triggering the Alien Invasion, did they intentionally plan to let the Aliens kill us from the beginning, leaving them alone with the source once it was easy for them to obtain?

[Moridin]

I think they wanted to do what the aliens had been doing all this time: Exploit the source for themselves.


What's a bit weird though, at least the way I see it, is that everytime you use a nano spindle or health spindle, it says you're directing a line of energy from the source to you. This would mean that in some way we're already exploiting the source to an extent, and the killing of the beast just opened the source up for further exploitation as the aliens are no longer connected to it.

That's as far as I can push it though. :P "Where we go from here is up to you.."

:P

[keyya]

But how and why do the aliens have a link to Rubi-Ka? :P

Ok, Ive gathered most of my findings with all the stories of the game I've read so far and here is a theory:

I read somewhere that the aliens were able to sort of communicate/control with something else far far away from themselfs. I dont know if its said before. But what if the aliens who need their power to stay "immortal" or keep the benefits they have from the technology they use. Had always been taking it off the Beast who then in that communicative mind controling thing that they do spread it to them. Maybe thats why when killing the beast a thousand screams came out?

Also I believe that from the begining of mankind when the redeemed either made us or planted us or whatever had in mind that we could be the ones to come to Rubi-Ka, open the portals and slay the beast. Now I don't know wether its meant against the aliens or on wich side they are or if they wan't it for themselfs. I wouldnt say the aliens wanted the Beast dead...not nescesarily.

“To your God…perhaps,” said the thing that was Vanya. On the
surface it looked much the same as the man who’d brought him out of the
Soviet Union twenty-seven thousand years ago. Beneath the tanned face
and the ordinary clothes, however, there lurked something darker and
older than time itself, something not human, not even close. Roman
couldn’t explain how he knew that; he just did. And though the creature
spoke in a human voice, spoke Russian even, the sound was of razorblades
on steel: “We have destroyed our gods, so I wouldn’t know. Nothing is
impossible to us, Roma. Life is a dream, and death a rude awakening.”
The creature spread its wide arms wide and grinned an awfully toothy
grin. “Welcome to the future, Comrade.”
Roman felt very small, very human, but he steadfastly refused to
betray his fear to this monster and instead of falling to his knees and weep,
he voiced a burning question.
“What are you doing here,” he said to the thing, “and how did
you get in?”
“You didn’t believe we’d just let you run free for all eternity, did
you Roma?”
“Don’t call me that.” Roman had found his voice again.
Vanya shrugged. “You may have forgotten one thing: you still
work for us.”
“What do you think I’m doing here?” Impossibly, fear had given
way to anger. “I wouldn’t be on this godforsaken rock, dug down in
this…” He searched for the right word. “…prison, if it weren’t for you.
I have a mission, and I’ve been doing precious little else.”
“Perhaps you should consider getting out and about,” the thing
said. “Too much solitude just isn’t good for the soul. If you still have
one.” It laughed. “We wouldn’t have need of you if you didn’t, Roma, so
don’t worry. Oh, sorry: Roman. I do apologise.”
Vanya walked up to him, and Roman saw now what was different
about the thing; its eyes were dead. It was as though the corporeal shell
had been vacated, and the spirit absent. All that remained was a puppet
with invisible strings.
The knowledge sent chills down his back.
“You didn’t answer my question,” he said weakly. “How did you
get here? And how did you know I was down here? No one can get
in…it’s impossible.”
“What is impossible? The improbable, or the unlikely? For a
human, you may be old. But you are human. And you know…so little.”
The thing brushed past him across the bridge – for a split second, Roman
thought that he was about to get pushed into the abyss – and made for
the staircase on the opposite end. “We’ve always known.”
“Then why haven’t you contacted me before now? I was beginning
to think that you were…” He stopped himself.
The thing turned to look back at him, an eyebrow raised theatrically
and an amused smile playing on its lips: the sum effect was almost
obscene.
“Beginning to think what, Roman? That we were dead and gone?
We were immortal long before you gave humanity its fountain of youth,
Comrade Dragovich. We are not going away. And neither are you. We
still need you.”
“Why now?” The thing started climbing the stairs, and Roman
followed. “There were plenty of times when I thought this entire thing
was pointless, never mind what promises you gave me aeons ago. Why
wait so long?”
The thing had reached his control centre, and when Roman
caught up with it, Vanya was admiring the consoles and screens covering
all four walls of the room.
“This is very impressive, Roman. Very impressive. Our trust in
you has turned out to be completely justified. As always.” It stared at
him. “We left you alone, Dr. Zubov, because you are the architect of
humanity’s future. You are our prophet, not our puppet. We never
wanted to put strings on you and control you like a marionette.” Vanya
moved his fingers in the air, smiling. “We gave you responsibilities, not
chains around your neck. We gave you inspiration, not orders that had to
be followed to the letter. The project is yours, my friend, not ours.” It sat
down. “I think your friend is dead.”
“Friend?” Roman was confused.
“The machine you talk to. She’s dead.”
The AI. He means the artificial intelligence. “Did you—”
“Of course not,” said Vanya. “Something is happening.”
“That’s the last thing she said.” Roman went over to one of the
panels, activated the AI’s manual controls. Everything seemed to be in
order. “Yvette?” he said. “Status.”
“You named her after a dead lover, Roman?” The thing sounded
amused. “How human of you.”
Roman ignored the aside. “It’s not responding. I have to run a
full analysis to see what’s happened.”
“I can tell you.” The Vanya thing paused. “She’s been murdered.”
“By whom?”
“I…don’t know.” Vanya sounded angry, maybe even a bit
worried. Roman found that both very reassuring and unbelievably frightening.
If a thing as powerful as this could feel apprehension…
“What’s happening?” The AI had said something else as well,
something about the two clan-soldiers. “Signs and portents,” he said.
“We’re close, aren’t we?”
“To the end? I think so. We think so. We’re not omnipotent,
Roman. And humans aren’t always easy to second-guess. You’re a wilful
species.”
“You?” He knew the answer, but he had to ask.
“You humans,” said the Vanya thing. “Don’t tell me my disguise
has had you fooled. I can tell it hasn’t.”
“It did, once,” he said. “We made contact fifteen thousand years
ago, and I knew. I knew there was a link. There had to be.”
“There are others, you know. We couldn’t place all of our eggs in
one basket, so to speak.”
“And have you made them the same promises that you’ve made to
me?”
Vanya nodded. “But I will tell you, man to man,” – it winked at
him, and Roman cringed involuntarily – “that you’re our most valued
asset. See, there are other agents too, and we never know when they’ll
strike against us.”
“Other agents?”
“Other prophets. Something’s happening, Roman – like you
said, signs and portents. We have great need of you now, and I think it’s
about time to show you the truth.”
“Which truth?” whispered Roman. He was suddenly very, very
afraid, and he wanted to leave this place.
“All of it,” said the thing that wasn’t, and took everything off.
Roman fell to his knees, and suddenly he knew, he knew what he
had done, what he had willingly become a part of.
They were here. And they were terrible but beautiful, like shadows
in the sunlight, sharp and thin and infinite, spanning dimensions and
time and alive yet not like him, not like humans, not at all like humans.
He stayed on his knees for a long time, his eyes cast down, and he
wept and laughed and wept again. He knew that from this moment on
everything, everything would be different.
They had arrived.
It has finally begun.

I think this has a lot to do with it. They whoever they are are either the Xan, the aliens or the redeemed/unredeemed.

Redeemed/Unredeemed:

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.

Maybe when they found earth they found out that us humans were *the* way to get to the Source? As stated above in the story “There are others, you know. We couldn’t place all of our eggs in one basket, so to speak.”

Ergo I think might be the Fishers King himself isntead of the beast. There is Nascence, Elyseum, Scheol, Adonis, Penumbra and Inferno who all have an Ergo in it. Thats the eight knights combined to protect the shadowlands "The Guardians of the Shadows" and they do their best to protect it and ask for your help even tho most of the time you want to ignore it and go on.
But! You do help the faction mobs...why? personal gain. With the key youre much faster off so you help the faction mobs to get yourself better while all you're doing is getting the unredeemed and the redeemed closer to controling the source.
Number 9 might be the representation of Merlin as the last spot. Pandemoneum wich isn't directly one of either lands. It isn't controled by Redeemed or Unredeemed either.

They just gave us something to strive for. Something to gain for ourselfs while not seeing the big picture.
They gave Dr. Zubov the technology to create Immortality and make the Omegas.
They might have given David and the rest of his family lines the dreams they had about the future. im sure if they wouldn't have dreamed those stuff they probably wouldn't even have bothered doing it and the future would have been totaly different.
As the description of "Prophet Without Honour" says "Three central characters play out three converging roles - one strives for immortality, one for power and control, and one for the realisation of dreams and prophecies designed to bring humanity one step closer to its eventual fate."

These could have been the things the Xan/Aliens/un-redeemed had been focusing on to get us where we are now.

Remembering the Omega story i think the Omeage secretly control everything in RK in a indirect way they control both Omni and clan and neutrals and the tides of history are twisted with their hand leading to something that is yet to discover, (someone mentioned early they controlled omni but they control everything) the SL story and the newly arrived aliens dont seem to tie very well here, are the Omega after the source? we know they were humans before so i dont think their part of the alien menace or the XAN or funcom just forgot the Omega story or is it just a small dip in the vast ocean of the universe history and the source of all of it.. it can just be a clash of both history, humans ( solitus ) who came to rk and all the omega story behind it and then the discovery of SL and the alien races.. and now were all fighting against gods pet and the aliens to reach the source and the ultimate power =X

I think the Omega thought they controled everything while they being humans didn't see the big picture either that theres something else in control.
How did Omni-Tek (controlled directly by the Omega) know exactly to come to Rubi-Ka? How did David know to come to Rubi-Ka?
Probably the work of one of these creatures wichever one it is I still haven't found out.
But I'll be digging in further. Gonna do all the Ergo quests again and considering I'm level 200 on my main I hope it doesn't take too long before answers show up. I find that I'm probably gonna have to do a lot of faction quests too...


ps. The Redeemed/Unredeemed are just as brainwashed as we are I'd say.

**Editing to add an important thing I just suddenly read reviewing my post.

“We have destroyed our gods, so I wouldn’t know. Nothing is
impossible to us, Roma. Life is a dream, and death a rude awakening.”

HELLO?! Connect the dots for me please cuz I'm dead tired [5:30 am :P]

[Tekvorian]

Hiho.

A few missing pieces can be picked up from the glyph items in-game. Each glyph corresponds to the first letter of the one it represents.

White Sun Glyph of Xum gives 'X' as the 4th and 7th letters of the top word.
Purple Star Glyph of Bhotaar gives 'B' as the first letter of the bottom word.
Orange Moon Glyph of Roch gives 'R', but this is not used.

Interesting.

I search a bit further in the database and encountered these two (not yet assigned symbols) :

Red Glyph of the Lovers

Red Glyph of the Empress

Maybe we can assign them one day with a sentence/word found ingame.

We still miss 3 more symbols though. Maybe they are the following and so forever lost?

Joker's Glyph , Glyph of the Arcana and
Insignia of the Faithful/Chosen

Yours,
Tekvorian

[keyya]

A bit late maybe, but I was just reading through some stuff and it just hit me in the face. Vanya who I mentioned before as the thing meeting with Dr. Zubov is also the Unredeemed big boss in Penumbra. And you can only summon him by first killing a patriarch, feed him insignias and then fighting Omega Carlos Truhillo [stated as being his "champion"]

*edit added a ps.*

Oh and this is some very freaky but funny stuff. Try doing a websearch for Carlos Trujillo or Omega Carlos Trujillo...youll find a lot of stuff but it doesn't have anything to do with anything. just strange.

[Keldros]

2nd it could be that it's the notum being mined and they are dying because of that. But I do not think it is this because the Notum has been being mined for a long time, and it's been said that the aliens just suddenly started feeling danger. It wasn't a gradual shirt to feeling this fear.

3rd and I feel this to be the most likely. The creatures in the SL have a link with the real world. There have been hints that if you affect something in the SLs that something happens in the real world. So lets just do an assumption that if we kill something in the SL that something dies in the RL. But what is everyone killing in the SLs? Is it the end boss that everyone is killing? No no not at all, not everyone is killing the end boss, and as a matter of fact it kills alot of people.

I have a few ideas to explain this.

1) Novictum is a sort of anti-notum. Or maybe there is a slightly more complex relationship betweeen notum, novictum, and life-force.

2)In Scheol, Ergo explains that the Redeemed think the veins of the source must be conserved (by keeping notum extraction to a minimum) and the Unredeemed think the source needs to be "bled off" to stop the Shadowlands from dying.

Assume the source is (for all practical purposes) infinite. both the Redeemed and Unredeemed can be partially correct if (1) is true. By removing life essence and notum from the source, we do not diminish the source at all but we doleave it polluted with novictum.

3) Now assume all life depends on some link to the source. (This can be enhaced by opening more links.) Pollution of the source explains why creatures all over the Shadowlands are tainted with novictum, and why the land is falling apart.

4) As mentioned esewhere in this thread, the Beast is there to guard the source. How would the aliens react when:

• Humans enter the shadowlands and begin drawing notum and life essence directly from the source
• The source becomes more polluted with novictum, causing disasters for those who depend on a balanced source to support their technology and even their lives.--At this point, the aliens are investigating the problem and ways to deal with it. (Until they find the cause of the pollution, they can always take extra precautions to remove most of the novictum)
• Within months (probably around the time they realize why the source is being contaminated) the guardian of the source is destroyed. The possibility of the source becoming entirely too contaminated for them to work with is now very real, and something must be done immediately.

Possible ways to purify the source--extract large amounts of novictum. But what can you do with it afterwards?

One short-term method: Using canons similar to those at Omni-tek's notum export facility, launch the excess novictum at alien motherships. If it disrupts their viralbot technology, you may even bring one or two down...

Second method: Export novictum to a disposal site. Possibly one of the moons, but someone may get the idea to drop it into a black hole. If only you could trust them not to sell novictum-tipped weapons to Sol Banking or the Dust Brigade....

[keyya]

On the one hand I think you are right keldros, on the other I think you are wrong tho. Novictum is claimed off dead sources as someone else has already stated. And notum is claimed of life. So if the two would be life and death than getting rid of death is the wrong thing to do. It wouldn't be natural because with life, there should be death. That's the thing the Omegas didn't learn. They sought eternal life while in reality their souls were already dead. When you lit a candle you know that it brings you light but in the end it will bring you darkness. Life and death are very natural, but seeking to end death is very unnatural. The one seeks eternal life while the other prevents it from happening. It started from the begining and keeps continueing.

Further investigation I found that the chosen insignias say:

-When they get full control of the source of life, the Chosen has got the responsibility of leading the world into its next phase.
(wich is exactly what the omega tried to do. Get eternal life, and lead the world into a next phase where everyone would be imortal)

the isignias of the faithfull says:

-The duty of the Faithful is to protect life and return the world to balance. Their reward will be to become one with the source of life.
(wich is exactly what David set to do. Protect humanity from what the omegas wanted it to become.)

Ying and Yang. Black and white. Unredeemed versus the Redeemed. Clan versus Omni. And realising that the only way to stop this predicament is to understand that both sides are actually the same, but with seperate ideas. When not respecting the others ideas, wich is what most people do, you create a war. Led by some and carried out by others who have the same type of thougths.

When you are in the new training grounds the one says this and the other says that. It's not wether the OT is right, because they wan't to better humanity.
Don't take me the wrong way and I hope you're not hurt by what I say, but I hope that you realise what I mean when saying, Some of the bigger tirants of the planet earth as we know it wanted a world where every human would be the same, There would be no distinguesh between races or kind, there would only be humanity the way they wanted it to be. In itself it's a good idea, but the way you have to carry it out and the way they carried it out was a different thing altogether. You can not make a world where everyone is the same, because all people have different ideas on how the world should be. This is what makes us human in the first place.

[Keldros]

On the one hand I think you are right keldros, on the other I think you are wrong tho. Novictum is claimed off dead sources as someone else has already stated. And notum is claimed of life.

I have to disagree here. I have never taken notum from a living source. I have taken notum from fallen creatures (just like novictum) but I have also mined novictum from inorganic sources. There is a connection between notum and life, but they are not one and the same. There is also a connection between novictum and life, but the relationship is different.

Why else are both notum and novictum required to produce a living being from a pattern?

So if the two would be life and death than getting rid of death is the wrong thing to do. It wouldn't be natural because with life, there should be death. That's the thing the Omegas didn't learn.

That is speaking from the Redeemed point of view.
My point is that the source has three elements, for lack of a better term.
Notum
Novictum
Life Essence.

We use coils and spindles to extract notum and life essence from the source, and leave the novictum behind. Inevitably, the novictum buildup begins to clog the arteries of the source, and contaminate everything that draws from the source.

Ying and Yang. Black and white. Unredeemed versus the Redeemed. Clan versus Omni. And realising that the only way to stop this predicament is to understand that both sides are actually the same, but with seperate ideas. When not respecting the others ideas, wich is what most people do, you create a war. Led by some and carried out by others who have the same type of thougths.

You're thinking in terms of duality, which is somewhat misleading.
Not ever force is expressed as a duality.
For instance, gravity is unity--there is no "negative gravitational charge".
The force binding quarks together into mesons and baryons is a trinity--quarks are designated as "red", "Blue", or "green". I'm proposing that the source is also a trinity--and both the redeemed and unredeemed have ignored that to their own detriment.

The fix for the problem would be to realize that extractiing the novictum is required to balance the source, whether you want the novictum or not. While this may not sound too appealing to many, that is likely because they've only heard 2/3 of the truth (which isn't that much better than 1/2 the truth, is it?).

[keyya]

You make some very good points wich set me to think on things differently.

I'll check on my theories and your theories and get back on this. Good work tho

[Tekvorian]

Hiho.

I found these three words all over in the room (and outside) after the beast (where Number Nine can be found) and I cant currently figure out what it means. Especially because they contain not yet assigned symbols. Does anyone have an idea?

Yours,
Tekvorian

http://tekvorian.gmxhome.de/AO/images/beast1.jpg

http://tekvorian.gmxhome.de/AO/images/beast2.jpg

http://tekvorian.gmxhome.de/AO/images/beast3.jpg

http://tekvorian.gmxhome.de/AO/images/beast4.jpg

http://tekvorian.gmxhome.de/AO/images/beast5.jpg

[Tekvorian]

Correction:

There are 3 words. The word in pic 2 is different.

Yours,
Tekvorian

[Medusine]

It doesn't seem to me that notum and novictum are so much a life/death pair as an anabolic/catabolic pair - notum builds things from raw materials, novictum takes them back apart so the raw materials can be re-used? Both fundamental to the metabolic process that sustains life.

[ZiggyGizzy]

Has anyone found out who Carlos Trujillo is and how he relates to the story of the Shadowlands and PWH? After reading over this thread I feel that maybe the original intent of the novel author was abandoned and the FC team decided to take the story in a new direction. This isn't bad, but it does leave some unanswered questions for readers and I'm not so sure how applicable it is to solving some of the mysteries in SL. Anyway, that's how I see it.

I also like the fact that some people are no longer looking at the SL as a play of good verses evil, but one about perspective. I think that makes more sense especially when one considers shadowbreeds. Were the appearance of the red/unred supposed to be taken at face value for their archetypical significance, one would assume that those neutral in the war are also "evil" since they do look a lot like the unred mobs. I don't believe that's true, and it's more likely that the invading human forces to the SL are having their perceptions manipulated for the purposes of whichever faction.

[Whisperwill]

Sorry about the very, very slow responses. It's been a while since I thought to check this thread.

You mentioned that Unreedem have planed for Beast to fall at some exact time in human evolution. It is correct that we couldn't advance (level) before Shadowlands were enabled. But in order to tap source I think it's whole human rase strenght rather than individual, we're talking about here. So it's more knowledge than psyhical strenght. I can't speak on behalf of Unreedem, but Reedem give no clues on source. They don't rush us towards Beast. And i don't believe that if Unredeem were behind it all, they would care how many attempts we'd took. They would rather urged us on, promising wealth beyond imagination, power to the Slayers, etc...

The redeemed do give clues about the source. They speak about the faithful gaining a direct connection to the source that the unredeemed do not have and how important it is to maintain control so that the unredeemed cannot use their machines to manipulate it. Also, they urge us to explore the shadowlands and gain the necessary power to take on the beast with their key quests. If they took us directly to the beast at level 200, we'd just fail, but by leading us along in progressively more difficult areas and encouraging us to gain shadowknowledge, they helped us gain the source.

But how would then Beast creation, Arthur and other chars fit in?

The Beast was once a human being, presumably Arthur, who lost himself in the light. I would guess that he was manipulated by the aliens in order for them to channel the source through him.

But if the Unredeemed were so intent on making us killing the Beast and triggering the Alien Invasion, did they intentionally plan to let the Aliens kill us from the beginning, leaving them alone with the source once it was easy for them to obtain?

That's an interesting idea, and certainly a possibility, but if they wanted us to fail then Omni-Tek would not have known about the upcoming alien attack and been able to prepare their weaponry. The Unredeemed are obviously not averse to having servants do most of their work, as we see in the Shadowlands and with the Omegas, and I do not believe that the Unredeemed mean to destroy everyone else, only those who will not serve them. A paradise of the Unredeemed would likely be something like Earth under Omega control, with the Unredeemed holding the power of the source and maniuplating the galaxy through their servants, us.

[Nobody]

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

The knights are the zodiacs, placed by the fisher king (The Beast), they turned corrupt and abandoned him, then the fisher king went insane becoming the beast...

also one BIG reference a lot of people seem to miss...

http://aomainframe.info/showitem.aspx?AOID=244717
http://aomainframe.info/showitem.aspx?AOID=244716
http://aomainframe.info/showitem.aspx?AOID=244718
http://aomainframe.info/showitem.aspx?AOID=244713
http://aomainframe.info/showitem.aspx?AOID=244705
http://aomainframe.info/showitem.aspx?AOID=244704
http://aomainframe.info/showitem.aspx?AOID=244712
http://aomainframe.info/showitem.aspx?AOID=244715
http://aomainframe.info/showitem.aspx?AOID=244714
http://aomainframe.info/showitem.aspx?AOID=244750

Read all the descriptions in beast armors and tell me who the "He" is. certainly not the beast, oh and if you don't know what a baphomet is (last one), it's an inverted pentagram...

and theres for instance this in the prof stars:

http://aomainframe.info/showitem.aspx?AOID=244701

dead giveaway....

And perhaps the pand backstory has to do with a certain pyramid in broken shores, and number nine and all, made a seperate topic here:

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...23#post3585523

[Jorgensen]

That the Kyz'Orch have arrived, has anyone found anything (perhaps with the new alien camp) that furthers the sl lore? Or is it long forgotten and will disappear into AO "myth" for SL only and all we will get with LE is mechs to kill each other with?

[Nobody]

I think the Kyr'ozch is the "they" number nine refers to after The Beast... if anything...