Thanks as always for the responses! I actually grew curious on a couple other things, and the "Much ado about Nothing" actually reminded me of that a bit.
It's never really explained why the Wizard could see the Nothing even though Bartleby of all people couldn't. Is this supposed to remain a mystery? One possible explanation I can think of is that we see the Nothing because it wants us to see it, since it's directly contacting us specifically, but this ties into another question: How does Sybil see it even though Bartleby can't? Is Sybil's vision better than Bartleby's? Could Sybil be using us as a medium? As in, she knows the Nothing is there because she knows we know the Nothing is there?
Also, I'd like you to comment on a certain theory of mine: It's to my understanding that the Wizard's relationship with Bartleby is similar (to an extent) to Mellori's relationship with Raven and Bat's relationship with Spider, even if our origins aren't exactly the same as theirs, we each represent the same forces as our patron: Mellori represents Light and Order because Raven represents Light and Order, Bat represents Shadow and Chaos because Spider represents Shadow and Chaos, and the Wizard represents the mortar between them because Bartleby represents the mortar between them.
My theory, therefore, is this: Bartleby is the "true" Divine Paradox, given that he binds the opposing forces of Light and Shadow together yet himself is not necessarily bound to them. Would you say that's accurate, or is the Divine Paradox supposed to be a title that only belongs to the Wizard?
Lastly, I remembered in Empyrea that it was stated if Mellori died, Light would follow. How can that be? I know she's derivative from Raven, but she herself isn't Raven, so what's going on here? Would killing Mellori kill Raven, or is Raven simply the source/representative of Light and Order, and not necessarily herself Light and Order?
Thank you so much for your responses! If I may, I have one more question for you:
The Old One is now an established character after having been in all the Pirate101 Puppet Shows for years as a "joke character." However, although they seem plausible for the most part considering the references the Nothing makes in the beginning with the Old One's memories, just how canon are these appearances? In the El Dorado II Puppet Show, he shows up at the end briefly before disappearing. Does this mean he was part of Marco Pollo's expedition to El Dorado? Not only that, did he ever seek to combine a part of El Dorado with Lemuria as a result of that opportunity?
I've noticed that Karamelle and Lemuria both heavily feature music as a story element. In Karamelle, we had our beloved Malwurf von Trap and his propensity to create explosive performances (ahem, ahem), while in Lemuria we has the World Synthesizer ans its oh-so-destructive musical notes. I've come to believe that this is no mere coincidence, and that music will be a theme that will pop up again over the rest of this arc. Can you comment on this?
Why are Zeke and Eloise different in Lemuria? They were able to travel to Khrysalis and Empyrea. Why couldn't they reach Lemuria? And will the doppelganger ever meet each other?
Btw I noticed there were a few unanswered questions on the Karamelle story thread and was wondering if you'd ever get to those?
I just finished this world, and to be honest i didnt like it much. I read that you consciously didnt want each zone to be different, but that in turn made the world feel very 'cheap'. Like there wasnt a lot of budget or cool design going into it because we've seen so many parts already, nearly all the mobs being just reskinned/slightly modified versions of previously created mobs really just gave a low budget feel and kinda ruined the magic for me. I get that thats part of the story with the whole fragments of other worlds but it still just felt disappointed going into a new area and seeing things ive already seen before just in different colours or outfits or with slight modifications.
The story felt weaker compared to previous wiz stories and the ending was underwhelming for me.
I did like the dialogue most of the time and thought it was funny.
So Lemuria is out, and it's been seen by many - thanks to streaming, anybody can watch it. It touches upon some of my favorite source material ever, and I had a lingering feeling early on that the players would have a wide range of opinions about it.
Was I right? What do you think of the world? Any questions about stuff I can answer? Any and all feedback is welcome, as we prepare to break ground on [REDACTED]!
Bring them questions on!
Curator, I think this world was phenomenal. My brother and I have been playing Wizard101 for over a decade (This account is newer). I wanted to say that this was the most entertaining, interesting and insightful world I've ever played. The way in which Dasein would make us interact and reflect on the things that were occurring was something i didn't realize I was doing (Suddenly I'd be debating and responding to the things he said). The artwork and graphics, the areas were great! Although some character models were re-used like the mushrooms from Empyrea and the milipedes from Khrysalis, and areas like Tyrian Gorge, everything else was great. Also, moving away from a crazy villain like was Morganthe, Malistaire or Old Cob that drags on to various worlds was very opportune, and I liked that choice as well.
The hero's individuals stories were epic, I thought it was a very unique feature having us help them independently from area to area. The backstory of the old one I thought was very interesting, dwelling on the past, the philosophy behind it was very eye opening.
My only critique would be the length of the world, I'd make it a bit longer (not like Khrysalis or Avalon), I feel we needed a little more character development from the Old One, and what was going on. Like others, I also agree the final fight was a little Rushed? Suddenly all the hero's turned against us, which although I understand the reason behind it, it just didn't feel very accurate to what we were doing with the story. However, the 8 character fight is very interesting and I absolutely love it. If it is to be done again in the future, try and making an 8 character fight where part of the strategy DOES NOT rely on fleeing as it removes the magic of actually being in a fight and splits it into 2.
All in all, this is hands down for me the best world. Everything was great, the music was smooth and matched the themes, the dialogue from the characters was on point, and the quests were really entertaining. I thought the spells were cool too, some need a little more work like fire and life where they just seem kind of weird in how they end.
Really looking forward to the new content that will be coming soon, if Lemuria is to set the tone to what is to come, I am more than excited! Can say maybe I am a little biased, but for me, I cannot wait to play lemuria again on my other wizards! Great job team KI!
I grew very fascinated with the "Harmonic Gates." It felt like I was an actual wizard trying to do research and locate the Attunement Stones to unlock each door. I love how Wizard101 always gave you the feeling of being a hero but having that wizard/mage/researcher feel was both refreshing and quenching.
The Mirage world/chapter, in my opinion, went down in history as one of the best worlds due to the added talking animations and conversations heard between N.P.C.s. So I was saddened to see that was subtracted in the Lemuria chapter - Telos.
I think adding lore (or recognition) to mana was brilliant! I loved seeing its importance in this world and the significance of the mana fonts.
Seeing the Hall of Heroes slowly get repaired throughout the main quest was a neat little detail. It felt rewarding.
Questions about time:
How long was the schism between the Cabal and the Arcanum? How long was Lemuria secured in the "forbidden wing"? How did the Old One enter the Arcanum without being detected?
Since I'm talking about timing, I have a question on how old Morganthe is. I think the headmaster stated at one point that the Council of Light was formed centuries ago to destroy Morganthe's deck of shadows. If that's the case, does that mean Morganthe, Lydia, Merle, Emperor Yoshihito, Diego, and Malistaire are in their hundreds? On the other hand, maybe years are not exactly 365 twenty-four-hour days in the Spiral?
Why are Zeke and Eloise different in Lemuria? They were able to travel to Khrysalis and Empyrea. Why couldn't they reach Lemuria? And will the doppelganger ever meet each other?
Btw I noticed there were a few unanswered questions on the Karamelle story thread and was wondering if you'd ever get to those?
Based on the Lemuria storyline, the Old One made Lemuria and kept it inside the Cabal Office which we later opened with Stallion and Librarian Fitzhume. Once we released the world into the spiral I believe it was still very young as there was only one spiral key (the one we had) to open the way gate. Since the old one built Lemuria and pulled hero's from other worlds to fit his narrative, Zeke wouldn't have found a way there as it was mostly known as a myth and he never had a spiral key to enter it. In comparison to Khrysalis Morganthe only warded against the council of light not Zeke or Eloise themselves, and for Empyrea, I suppose Ariel Shore was a meeting place, but it was impossible to leave according to the locals so you bring a good point! Maybe I'm wrong but hope this helps :)
Since this thread is very old I'm assuming this won't be seen, but this is a really important plot point I'd like to offer.
Since Empyrea, it's felt like the wizard just wanders through life doing what people ask without question. What made Polaris so interesting was that I started to question whether Raven was right, and the wizard might really be tainted by shadow magic. It felt like I could really react to plot points and twists. The wizard actually had reactions and questions about what was happening that NPCs were aware of and responded to. This was something Lemuria (as well as Empyrea and Karamelle) really lacked.
The wizard was faced with the possibility of harnessing a tool that could create worlds, and from what I can tell the character never thinks about the implications. You just destroy it because that's what you were told to do. The only thing crossing my mind the whole time was that this is the perfect way to restore Azteca. That was the wizard's biggest failure, something I'm sure would haunt the character for the rest of their life. The wizard is presented with the golden opportunity to fix it, and the word Azteca isn't even mentioned once.
The idea of a world created as a cruel god's experiment was very clever and generally well done, but I'm worried the writers got too caught up in the world's story to pay any attention to the protagonist. Novus will probably have the same issue, since I've seen the writers intend to "question colonialism" (the consensus is that it was bad, and just parroting the works of Fanon and Lenin isn't "questioning" anything.) I'm worried that the writers will again be so caught up in the world's narrative (parroting anti-colonial philosophers) that the characters will be neglected just like in Empyrea, Karamelle, and Lemuria. Even worse, I would hope these characters won't yet again be reduced to pop culture knockoffs.
