Anyone either in Polaris or interested in the game's lore will know about the Zafaria Cave Paintings that display Grandfather Spider and his children. I'll quote directly what is said about the children here:
'Here we have the Scorpion, a master Alchemist and ruthless Warlord, prophesied to rise from the desert sands and steal the sun!
This, this is the Bat, a brilliant shapeshifting Vampire, a master of illusion and subterfuge, and with a heart as black as night.
And last, the Rat, eldest of Spider's children, a mad creature of corrupting influence! He steals into men's minds and make them his puppets!'
Turns out Rasputin (does this even need a spoiler alert?) is the Rat. But what of the other two? Given how Qismah Shasa, our new Death Scholar, describes Mirage; the Scorpion is a perfect fit. I'm unsure whether Mirage will be the 2nd world, or the 3rd; but I'm certain it's in the arc somewhere and I think it's going to be early.
Next we have the Bat. This is a bit of an odd one. Many people think the Bat's world is Empyrea, but I think simply flying is a stab in the dark at a connection. A more interesting connection is to Darkmoor as a whole world, but again I think it's a bit strange. Reread Old Cob's speech at the end of Khrysalis:
'Fly through the Spiral, to Polaris, Empyrea, and Mirage, to the Hidden Lands and the Broken Shores.'
Capitalisation? Sounds to me less like 3 worlds, more like 5. 'a master of illusion and subterfuge', I doubt the Bat would fly to the worlds we already know of, Vampires are more tricksy and secretive. It sounds to me like the Bat would have gone to the Hidden Lands. But what, exactly, are the Hidden Lands anyway? Check the lore of the schools:
'it is an underlying, reality-defining and bending magic'
Is it just me, or is anyone else thinking the Hidden Lands are a world of pure Shadow? It would also explain what the Arcanum is even doing, existing everywhere and nowhere sounds like the Auroracle got bored and made a story. Oh yeah, the Auroracle. I have a lot to say about these topics and my own personal expansion on them; but first I'll just set out a plan of how I personally see the 3rd arc:
1st World - Polaris: The Rat with Earth Magic.
2nd World - Mirage: The Scorpion with Alchemy Magic.
3rd World - Hidden Lands: The Bat with Shadow Magic.
4th World - Empyrea: Old Cob gets tired of us and decides to get rid of us himself.
5th World - Broken Shores: The FirstWorld remnants, every Titan imaginable, get Ymir on our side, get the Mother Drake on our side, go to Celestia and summon the Storm Titan. Just an epic finale of Titans, and Children of the Spider, the Spider himself; and us. Just thrown in the middle.
What's that? You didn't notice any Earth Magic teachers in Polaris? Well neither did I, you haven't gone mad, just me. But that work with Borealis Golems? The mention of Scorpion's Alchemy? The Bat being a master of illusion? I'll elaborate in a later post. For now though, I'm out of space.
Anyone either in Polaris or interested in the game's lore will know about the Zafaria Cave Paintings that display Grandfather Spider and his children. I'll quote directly what is said about the children here:
'Here we have the Scorpion, a master Alchemist and ruthless Warlord, prophesied to rise from the desert sands and steal the sun!
This, this is the Bat, a brilliant shapeshifting Vampire, a master of illusion and subterfuge, and with a heart as black as night.
And last, the Rat, eldest of Spider's children, a mad creature of corrupting influence! He steals into men's minds and make them his puppets!'
Turns out Rasputin (does this even need a spoiler alert?) is the Rat. But what of the other two? Given how Qismah Shasa, our new Death Scholar, describes Mirage; the Scorpion is a perfect fit. I'm unsure whether Mirage will be the 2nd world, or the 3rd; but I'm certain it's in the arc somewhere and I think it's going to be early.
Next we have the Bat. This is a bit of an odd one. Many people think the Bat's world is Empyrea, but I think simply flying is a stab in the dark at a connection. A more interesting connection is to Darkmoor as a whole world, but again I think it's a bit strange. Reread Old Cob's speech at the end of Khrysalis:
'Fly through the Spiral, to Polaris, Empyrea, and Mirage, to the Hidden Lands and the Broken Shores.'
Capitalisation? Sounds to me less like 3 worlds, more like 5. 'a master of illusion and subterfuge', I doubt the Bat would fly to the worlds we already know of, Vampires are more tricksy and secretive. It sounds to me like the Bat would have gone to the Hidden Lands. But what, exactly, are the Hidden Lands anyway? Check the lore of the schools:
'it is an underlying, reality-defining and bending magic'
Is it just me, or is anyone else thinking the Hidden Lands are a world of pure Shadow? It would also explain what the Arcanum is even doing, existing everywhere and nowhere sounds like the Auroracle got bored and made a story. Oh yeah, the Auroracle. I have a lot to say about these topics and my own personal expansion on them; but first I'll just set out a plan of how I personally see the 3rd arc:
1st World - Polaris: The Rat with Earth Magic.
2nd World - Mirage: The Scorpion with Alchemy Magic.
3rd World - Hidden Lands: The Bat with Shadow Magic.
4th World - Empyrea: Old Cob gets tired of us and decides to get rid of us himself.
5th World - Broken Shores: The FirstWorld remnants, every Titan imaginable, get Ymir on our side, get the Mother Drake on our side, go to Celestia and summon the Storm Titan. Just an epic finale of Titans, and Children of the Spider, the Spider himself; and us. Just thrown in the middle.
What's that? You didn't notice any Earth Magic teachers in Polaris? Well neither did I, you haven't gone mad, just me. But that work with Borealis Golems? The mention of Scorpion's Alchemy? The Bat being a master of illusion? I'll elaborate in a later post. For now though, I'm out of space.
Now I'm certain I confused a lot of you with that ending, but clarity is going to have to wait because right now; I'm talking older than Titans. The Grandparents.
Grandfather Tree, Grandmother Raven, Grandfather Spider, The Auroracle. I think that's it. The only beings we know of that are older than the Spiral itself. Then if we go back to Celestia, specifically the Crustacean Empire, we read this:
'Bartleby and Grandmother Raven each set a gleaming sphere in the sea of darkness...
Bartleby's was golden, and burned bright and lit the sky. Raven's was silver and cold, but could not pierce the dark.'
Is it just me that thinks this means while Bartleby could sing the Titans into creation, perfect Titans whose magic would multiply into many things. Yet Raven was too cold, she couldn't create a single type of magic. If Bartleby is golden (), & Raven is silver (); then Spider must be black (). But I mentioned the Auroracle, a wondrous idea of pure colour & light guarded by bird-wolves claiming to be from the FirstWorld; what does every colour put together make? White (). Now while gold might be bright and colourful, I imagine the Auroracle could create and control infinite possibilities of magic. Yet she chose not to create a single life; except of course the bird-wolves. Now what I think is these wolves are the combination of every magic and power not brought from .
So Tree made the magics we know and love, Raven made nothing, Auroracle made one; then what did Spider make? We already know of , which I imagine would be the perfect representation of Spider's purest magic, but think of the Rat; the firstborne. Spider would still have memories of Raven, and use them to create the Rat and Earth Magic. Solidity between the nothing and the almost. Next came either Bat or Scorpion, I think Scorpion. Spider reminisces his times with Tree, and Alchemy is born. Potions, changes, volatility. Finally, born from loneliness: Bat and Shadow.
Now I'm certain I confused a lot of you with that ending, but clarity is going to have to wait because right now; I'm talking older than Titans. The Grandparents.
Grandfather Tree, Grandmother Raven, Grandfather Spider, The Auroracle. I think that's it. The only beings we know of that are older than the Spiral itself. Then if we go back to Celestia, specifically the Crustacean Empire, we read this:
'Bartleby and Grandmother Raven each set a gleaming sphere in the sea of darkness...
Bartleby's was golden, and burned bright and lit the sky. Raven's was silver and cold, but could not pierce the dark.'
Is it just me that thinks this means while Bartleby could sing the Titans into creation, perfect Titans whose magic would multiply into many things. Yet Raven was too cold, she couldn't create a single type of magic. If Bartleby is golden (), & Raven is silver (); then Spider must be black (). But I mentioned the Auroracle, a wondrous idea of pure colour & light guarded by bird-wolves claiming to be from the FirstWorld; what does every colour put together make? White (). Now while gold might be bright and colourful, I imagine the Auroracle could create and control infinite possibilities of magic. Yet she chose not to create a single life; except of course the bird-wolves. Now what I think is these wolves are the combination of every magic and power not brought from .
So Tree made the magics we know and love, Raven made nothing, Auroracle made one; then what did Spider make? We already know of , which I imagine would be the perfect representation of Spider's purest magic, but think of the Rat; the firstborne. Spider would still have memories of Raven, and use them to create the Rat and Earth Magic. Solidity between the nothing and the almost. Next came either Bat or Scorpion, I think Scorpion. Spider reminisces his times with Tree, and Alchemy is born. Potions, changes, volatility. Finally, born from loneliness: Bat and Shadow.
I'm out of space again, hmm.
I'm going to call the Auroracle 'Grandmother Aura' from now on. So where did Tree, Spider, Raven & Aura come from. We have a plant, an insect, a bird, and light: how do they link together? I did a quick search online and found a north-west Native American legend called 'Raven the Trickster', that includes all of these things. Almost at least. In the beginning, there was only darkness. One man owned a box, that contained infinite boxes until eventually the smallest box there could be contained light, infinite light. The man hides the box in fear of his daughter being ugly. But Raven wanted light, so he flew into the daughter's mouth, and later she gave birth to a small boy. The man accepted Raven as a grandson, and Raven pleaded repeatedly for the man to open the boxes, until eventually the man yielded. When the box holding light is opened, Raven stole it and flew free, spreading light everywhere. Another character called Eagle flew into Raven on the way, spilling light into the moon and stars. Until finally the box itself becomes the Sun.
Who was who? The man - Spider, Raven - Raven, the daughter - Tree, the light - Aura. How is the daughter Tree? Because at the end, the daughter is described as being 'as beautiful as the fronds of a hemlock tree'; that's oddly specific. Now if this story does (or will) inspire the plot of W101 (it probably doesn't; but weird coincidence right?) then that will mean many things. This is my take. In the beginning, there was only Aura. But then, from the places she did not light grew & Spider. Spider hid Aura to rule in darkness, but from the combination of & during the battle grew (silver is white+black) & Raven. During Spider's rule, Bartleby was made, and Raven used Bartleby to free Aura. In the battle between all four, the FirstWorld was created, Spider was trapped by Raven; and then the plot we already know happened.
Now what about Aura? She probably hid, in the world furthest from Spider; Polaris.
Anyone either in Polaris or interested in the game's lore will know about the Zafaria Cave Paintings that display Grandfather Spider and his children. I'll quote directly what is said about the children here:
'Here we have the Scorpion, a master Alchemist and ruthless Warlord, prophesied to rise from the desert sands and steal the sun!
This, this is the Bat, a brilliant shapeshifting Vampire, a master of illusion and subterfuge, and with a heart as black as night.
And last, the Rat, eldest of Spider's children, a mad creature of corrupting influence! He steals into men's minds and make them his puppets!'
Turns out Rasputin (does this even need a spoiler alert?) is the Rat. But what of the other two? Given how Qismah Shasa, our new Death Scholar, describes Mirage; the Scorpion is a perfect fit. I'm unsure whether Mirage will be the 2nd world, or the 3rd; but I'm certain it's in the arc somewhere and I think it's going to be early.
Next we have the Bat. This is a bit of an odd one. Many people think the Bat's world is Empyrea, but I think simply flying is a stab in the dark at a connection. A more interesting connection is to Darkmoor as a whole world, but again I think it's a bit strange. Reread Old Cob's speech at the end of Khrysalis:
'Fly through the Spiral, to Polaris, Empyrea, and Mirage, to the Hidden Lands and the Broken Shores.'
Capitalisation? Sounds to me less like 3 worlds, more like 5. 'a master of illusion and subterfuge', I doubt the Bat would fly to the worlds we already know of, Vampires are more tricksy and secretive. It sounds to me like the Bat would have gone to the Hidden Lands. But what, exactly, are the Hidden Lands anyway? Check the lore of the schools:
'it is an underlying, reality-defining and bending magic'
Is it just me, or is anyone else thinking the Hidden Lands are a world of pure Shadow? It would also explain what the Arcanum is even doing, existing everywhere and nowhere sounds like the Auroracle got bored and made a story. Oh yeah, the Auroracle. I have a lot to say about these topics and my own personal expansion on them; but first I'll just set out a plan of how I personally see the 3rd arc:
1st World - Polaris: The Rat with Earth Magic.
2nd World - Mirage: The Scorpion with Alchemy Magic.
3rd World - Hidden Lands: The Bat with Shadow Magic.
4th World - Empyrea: Old Cob gets tired of us and decides to get rid of us himself.
5th World - Broken Shores: The FirstWorld remnants, every Titan imaginable, get Ymir on our side, get the Mother Drake on our side, go to Celestia and summon the Storm Titan. Just an epic finale of Titans, and Children of the Spider, the Spider himself; and us. Just thrown in the middle.
What's that? You didn't notice any Earth Magic teachers in Polaris? Well neither did I, you haven't gone mad, just me. But that work with Borealis Golems? The mention of Scorpion's Alchemy? The Bat being a master of illusion? I'll elaborate in a later post. For now though, I'm out of space.
You've probably been waiting for my thoughts on the Earth, Alchemy & Shadow Magic, haven't you? Well this is what Bartleby made:
Now I think is both the last magic he created; and the first. The magic that was created once Aura was freed and the 4 beings lived in harmony; Bartleby harnessed it into magic. Then he later sang , & into being. Now if is Bartleby's magic, then I'll simply show Raven as . When Spider was trapped, he was simply left with his and the memories of & . With it, Spider created Alchemy () & Earth ().
What are the missing spaces? I'm not sure. What would Bartleby & Raven create together? How would that mix with & ? But I can answer why I think Spider made these. would be completely foreign to all other types of magic, after all, the only pure magics are & , so mixing the two would be volatile, explosive; chaotic. And mixing with would invert what was, the absence of anything; but so close. is the opposite, so close to breaking that it needs something to start it; but it's quite possibly the most physical magic I can think of.
So what do you think of this idea? Should we learn in Empyrea perhaps? Or maybe in Mirage? What would they do, would Gretta Darkkettle be brought back, would Aura have a 3rd primal magic, would we learn it? What would fill in the blanks? Let me know in a reply.
For once, I'm not out of space.
Edit: I've tried to spread out the icons twice now, but the edit isn't going through, but if you search for the Triangle of Magic you should fin what I mean.
That was very detailed. I think it makes sense. One thing I'm curious about- this was started in the thread "Will we ever battle Merle Ambrose?" In there, the author mentions the possibility that instead of trying to give a school to Merle, he might have created his own. Now this leads into 2 possibilities, both of which I will elaborate on.
1- Merle is a "Grandparent" Well, it could happen. As far as I know, we have never seen Merle young. As we also never see the Grandfather tree young either, could there be a relationship here? Maybe Grandparents are created appearing old, perhaps representing their knowledge and power? Perhaps Merle created as Bart. created the 7 main schools, and to learn it we must fight him? (I could be wrong , seeing as I am not momentously far in the game, and there could be a story element I am missing here) Perhaps Merle built Ravenwood around Bartleby, as to be near his fellow Grandparent. Or- well, that leads into theory 2.
2- Merle is the child or grandchild of Bartleby Bartleby and Merle seem to have a very close relationship. It seems that Bartleby is getting on in years, and Merle is taking care of him, as a child or grandchild might take of a failing relative. That could explain another reason why he is "The Grandfather Tree" It would make sense that Merle, finding taking care of Bartleby was getting too difficult by himself, so he would build a school around the tree, and making sure even if he wasn't there, there would always be others to care for him. Bartleby is surrounded by the most competent magic users from all worlds that never leave their posts, and students galore, that assist in bringing potions, and other medical things to Bartelby. How did Bartleby have children you may ask? Easy. In addition to the 7 types of magic, he created magic. We have seen that magic can be represented by characters, so either Merle could be the representation, or the representation's offspring, making Bartleby his grandfather.
), & Raven is silver (
); then Spider must be black (
). But I mentioned the Auroracle, a wondrous idea of pure colour & light guarded by bird-wolves claiming to be from the FirstWorld; what does every colour put together make? White (
). Now while gold might be bright and colourful, I imagine the Auroracle could create and control infinite possibilities of magic. Yet she chose not to create a single life; except of course the bird-wolves. Now what I think is these wolves are the combination of every magic and power not brought from 
, which I imagine would be the perfect representation of Spider's purest magic, but think of the Rat; the firstborne. Spider would still have memories of Raven, and use them to create the Rat and Earth Magic. Solidity between the nothing and the almost. Next came either Bat or Scorpion, I think Scorpion. Spider reminisces his times with Tree, and Alchemy is born. Potions, changes, volatility. Finally, born from loneliness: Bat and Shadow.
) & Earth (
).
I think it makes sense. One thing I'm curious about- this was started in the thread "Will we ever battle Merle Ambrose?" In there, the author mentions the possibility that instead of trying to give a school to Merle, he might have created his own. Now this leads into 2 possibilities, both of which I will elaborate on.