Darien Specter's travelogue

[darien_specter]

Bereft of else to do, i'm playing through SR2 again... This time i'm watching out for little details that seem interesting. As I find them, I'm going to put 'em up in this thread - things that don't really merit their own thread, or about which I really have no opinion. Sometimes my little paragraphs will possibly contradict. They'll just be little interesting tidbits...

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First one: in the Sarafan stronghold, we have the paintings of everyone killed on that fateful day 500 years before when Vorador killed six Guardians and Raziel the Sarafan brotherhood. In the paintings, (echoing perhaps a medieval convention?) all of the "martyrs" have their eyes closed, representing their death (that is, they are "asleep.") All of them - except the statue of Raziel...

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Another: the underwater ruins outside the Stronghold. They seem to me to be akin to the stature of the Elder in the caves - more relics of this long-dead, primitive society. Yet the large dias bears a great many infinity markings - the same symbol that Moebius bears on his forehead. Which leads me to wonder - just how old is he, really? And could he be in some way connected to that ancient human civilization? (Which connects with someone's question elsewhere about how does Moebius know the Elder?)Could these be ruins of some edifice they had here, before the Stronghold's construction? After all, about the specific ordering of events before the Sarafan we know little (unless it's in BO2...)

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Lastly: In one of the pre-release interviews, Amy Henning mentions that one feature of SR2 would be that paintings, etc. would sometimes appear differently in the spectral realm, and that this would at times be a factor in solving a puzzle. Unfortunately, this seems to be another one of those things that never got implemented this time. The effect only appears once that I'm aware of (and I've looked at some, but not all, of the murals in spectral): on the floor of the Sarafan chapel, where the snake is biting its tail. In spectral, as I'm sure many of you know, the snake has wings and vampiric fangs. This version of the snake symbol appears on the doors to the Pillars chamber (shrine, perhaps? - I'm trying to find a more descriptive word of what this place is. It's clearly something reverent, fitting of a better word than "cave" or "chamber." Any other suggestions?) around the blue figure's (Raziel!) hands. This seems an odd connection: that a sanctuary of those sworn to eradicating the vampiric race would have a huge symbol apparently connected to the ancient race. A thought admittedly farfetched, occurs to me: is it possible that what is now the Sarfan stronghold was originally a structure built by either the ancients or the first generations of their progeny, and subsequently either abandoned or conquered, and turned to the purposes of the Sarafan? Who would then, in the process of "redecorating," have edited that floor mural, but it's true form remains in the spectral realm?

More to come as I find them!

[warpsavant]

I just want to know why the one side of the lake has the ruins under the water, and the other side has absolutely no ruins whatsoever.

How bout the Elder Gods Lair?

[darien_specter]

A few more items after completing the Dark and Light forges.

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These have both been mentioned before, but, to be thorough, I will mention them here, lest they be lost in the old board's demise. The image of an ancient created vampire, first seen in the Fire Glyph temple, is seen throughout the Dark Forge. No word yet as to who this is, dubbed the "Butterfly Lord."

Also, I saw the image that others have described, and by golly that does look an awful lot like a winged Kain!

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The murals of the raising of the Pillars in the Light forge have nine symbols, presumably to be associated with each of the nine Pillars. Curiously, though, the symbols appear to be completely different from those actually on the Pillars themselves...

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Also in the light forge, what seems to be further evidence for my theories about the purposes of the Reaver sword, and its connections to all the fonts, forges, etc. In the open area with the dark font, where the block is pulled from the wall to gain that hallway above: That block is part of a mural depicting the ancients bringing the Reaver to what is clearly visible as the Light altar, and the Reaver - the actual sword, mind you, not the wraith blade - being imbued with Light. More on this in the other thread...

[warpsavant]

That mural in the light forge with the block looks different in the early screenshots at gamespot.

[darien_specter]

Really? How interesting! Do you mind posting a link?

[warpsavant]

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/filters/products/screenindex/0,11104,913911,00.html?page=15

:D

[darien_specter]

Thanks... unfortunately, I couldn't tell, because *switches to mockery* I'm not memeber of Gamespot complete. Why do all of these sites have to switch to this subscriber bs? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

[warpsavant]

I am not a member either, but I can still see the little picture! And its not the same picture that appears in the final version of the L.F. (specifically there is some typoe of rune/symbol where the shiny pink rock should be.

I think I copied that pic when you didnt have to be a member, and Blinc may have too. Unsure....I know I have another pic (bigger)

Also on that page you can see the variant entrance to the E.G. Lair, and the bubbly fonts.

[KainSyndrome101]

I printed that screenshot a long time ago, and I still have it. But my scanner's broken.

[darien_specter]

Yeah, it looked like there was a lot of cool pictures of different stuff... *sigh* I even tried saving the little thumbnail, and blowing it up, but it looked like crap. I couldn't really make anything out... so I'll take your word for it, and imagine what you say! :D

Oh, and I hope you don't think I was turning my scorn on you, warp! Never could I be so crass... I'm just fed up with all these things that started free and then decided they could make money off of it. IGN did the same thing, and not too long ago at that...

Maybe I'll try a smaller screen resolution...

[darien_specter]

Good evening, I'm darien_specter, and you're not. A few really minor items...

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The curious presence of a light and a dark font inside the Sarafan Cathedral. Yes, we all knew it was there; but it never really struck me until now - what are they doing in there? (Actually, now that I think of it, several light fonts...) The answer isn't just utilitarian, because there's no conceivable purpose for darkness in the Cathedral. And there, in the actual sanctuary, dark and light opposite one another - just like the symbols beneath the Pillars. It seems to me, for one, that these two elements rule over the four traditional elements; if the arrangement beneath the Pillars is any indication, then Light rules Air and Fire, and Dark Earth and Water. It also adds to the growing question of why there are symbols of the ancients within the stronghold of the Sarafan...

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Boy, the future sucks - even the grass is dead. Just a little sign of the attention CD pays to detail...

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That's it for this update; good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow...

[Umah Bloodomen]

Okay Darien, I am just reading this and responding as I go. Very interesting topic. I'm afraid that I've been waiting for something like this to pop up for awhile, but alas I lacked the time to do one myself. ;)

Anyway...here it goes...

Originally Posted by darien_specter
First one: in the Sarafan stronghold, we have the paintings of everyone killed on that fateful day 500 years before when Vorador killed six Guardians and Raziel the Sarafan brotherhood. In the paintings, (echoing perhaps a medieval convention?) all of the "martyrs" have their eyes closed, representing their death (that is, they are "asleep.") All of them - except the statue of Raziel...



Did you happen to look a wee bit closer at those murals in the Chapel? If you notice, there is a pinkish-purplish demon standing behind (and over) Dumah. I know you haven't played BO2 yet, but at the end of SR2, Kain refers to the "Hylden"


Originally Quoted in SR2 by the man himself, Kain
My God! The Hylden! Raziel, Janos MUST stay dead."

Well, darien. The Hylden did make an appearance in BO2. And they look surprisingly similar to the demon pictured with Dumah.

Originally Posted by darien_specter

Another: the underwater ruins outside the Stronghold. They seem to me to be akin to the stature of the Elder in the caves - more relics of this long-dead, primitive society. Yet the large dias bears a great many infinity markings - the same symbol that Moebius bears on his forehead. Which leads me to wonder - just how old is he, really? And could he be in some way connected to that ancient human civilization? (Which connects with someone's question elsewhere about how does Moebius know the Elder?)Could these be ruins of some edifice they had here, before the Stronghold's construction? After all, about the specific ordering of events before the Sarafan we know little (unless it's in BO2...)

I think Moebius isn't as old as Mortanius, but not as young as Ariel either. I think Warp said that Ariel was supposed to be 500 or something at the time of her death. Anyway, as far as the infinity symbol and Moebius. I merely think that it represents his Pillar and his servitude to the circle of nine. The infinity symbol doesn't necessarily mean Moebius. There had to have been other "Time Guardians" since the creation of the Pillars. I simply feel that the symbol appearing as it did was to stress that time is/was an important factor in the storyline. Granted, Moebius does clearly show off the symbol a lot. He does time stream so perhaps even he went back and ensured the symbol appeared in ancient times. I think at this point its hard to say for sure. Anything can and is most likely possible here.

Originally Posted by darien_specter
Lastly: In one of the pre-release interviews, Amy Henning mentions that one feature of SR2 would be that paintings, etc. would sometimes appear differently in the spectral realm, and that this would at times be a factor in solving a puzzle. Unfortunately, this seems to be another one of those things that never got implemented this time. The effect only appears once that I'm aware of (and I've looked at some, but not all, of the murals in spectral): on the floor of the Sarafan chapel, where the snake is biting its tail. In spectral, as I'm sure many of you know, the snake has wings and vampiric fangs. This version of the snake symbol appears on the doors to the Pillars chamber (shrine, perhaps? - I'm trying to find a more descriptive word of what this place is. It's clearly something reverent, fitting of a better word than "cave" or "chamber." Any other suggestions?) around the blue figure's (Raziel!) hands. This seems an odd connection: that a sanctuary of those sworn to eradicating the vampiric race would have a huge symbol apparently connected to the ancient race. A thought admittedly farfetched, occurs to me: is it possible that what is now the Sarfan stronghold was originally a structure built by either the ancients or the first generations of their progeny, and subsequently either abandoned or conquered, and turned to the purposes of the Sarafan? Who would then, in the process of "redecorating," have edited that floor mural, but it's true form remains in the spectral realm?

I also didn't notice a specific change between the murals of the material vs. the spectral planes. As for the snake image (known in real life as an Ourbourus) it symbolizes (I quoted this from a site btw)

OUROBORUS is the ancient symbol of a serpent with its tail in its mouth, often used in Alchemy to represent purification.
It symbolizes renewal and the constant cycle of creation and rebirth from destruction and death.

With the heavy biblical references in the LoK series, it is clear why this symbol was chosen to represent a part of the ancient race.

As for the Stronghold being constructed by the ancients, I do believe that is possible. Perhaps it was even their main place of worship/ritual/meeting. I believe that it was conquered and turned over to the humans somehow. I am unsure at this point if that occurred solely by the humans, or the Hylden and/or Hash'ak'Gik were involved.

I look forward to replying to your other details, darien. :)

[Jedilvr]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Umah Bloodomen
Did you happen to look a wee bit closer at those murals in the Chapel? If you notice, there is a pinkish-purplish demon standing behind (and over) Dumah. I know you haven't played BO2 yet, but at the end of SR2, Kain refers to the "Hylden"



Well, darien. The Hylden did make an appearance in BO2. And they look surprisingly similar to the demon pictured with Dumah.

I have to disagree on this one point, I think that "Demon" is Raz. himself, or at least the painter's interpretation of the "Blue Demon" that killed the Sarafan brotherhood. Strange that they would only put him behind Dumah though. Just a thought.

[Ender]

wow....even more cool stuff i'd never thought of or read anywhere

umah, good point bout mobeius and the infinity symbol....its something i never really noticed nor though about, but clears up a lot of stuff taht was puzzling me. (basically what darien had posted)

here's the one thing i can think of connecting all the mysterious fonts and images and whatnot: Raz himself. Regardless of where he goes in the past, he is constantly confronted with either imagery or actual structures that relate to him, or the reaver...which is essentially the same thing. Janos' near reverence at meeting Raz near the end of SR2 gives some indication of how highly respected?awaited? he was. the reaver was supposedly forged specifically for Raz, possibliy so he could in turn create the soul reaver, thus allowing manipulations of the time stream that even the time guardian cannot forsee or control. Everything about this ancient cult seems to revolve around Raz and the reaver. how does all this fit in with the topic at hand? i have no idea just yet. If someone cares to enlighten me, please do....i need some aspirin....yet another lok headache

[Umah Bloodomen]

Originally Posted by JediLvr

I have to disagree on this one point, I think that "Demon" is Raz. himself, or at least the painter's interpretation of the "Blue Demon" that killed the Sarafan brotherhood. Strange that they would only put him behind Dumah though. Just a thought.

I don't think it could be Raziel. Even throughout his "evolution" he never assumed the form of a Hylden-type creature. When you get a chance, look at the murals in the Dark Forge and in Squiddy's chamber (the depictions of the battle between the ancient race and the demonic race and the creation of the reaver and the genesis of the pillars) We all know that the ancient race battled the Hylden (from what Janos stated in BO2). The paintings of the demonic race in the murals in these other areas look strikingly similar (body form wise) to the one pictured behind Dumah (although they appear gray in color).

This leads me to inquire why Dumah had such extensive wraith-like gifts in SR1. Perhaps Dumah had been possessed by a demon (much like Mortanius was in BO1) in order to serve a darker god/purpose. At this point it is still unclear of the actual Sarafan brethren (as far as their lives other than what was briefly touched on in the SR set). I would really like to figure this demon link to Dumah though. It has been bugging me for quite sometime. ;)

[Jedilvr]

Perhaps the artist took the same "Artistic License" Raz mentions when he sees the depiction of Janos Audren. We know how different Janos was from what was drawn of him.

[Umah Bloodomen]

Originally Posted by Ender

here's the one thing i can think of connecting all the mysterious fonts and images and whatnot: Raz himself. Regardless of where he goes in the past, he is constantly confronted with either imagery or actual structures that relate to him, or the reaver...which is essentially the same thing. Janos' near reverence at meeting Raz near the end of SR2 gives some indication of how highly respected?awaited? he was. the reaver was supposedly forged specifically for Raz, possibliy so he could in turn create the soul reaver, thus allowing manipulations of the time stream that even the time guardian cannot forsee or control. Everything about this ancient cult seems to revolve around Raz and the reaver. how does all this fit in with the topic at hand? i have no idea just yet. If someone cares to enlighten me, please do....i need some aspirin....yet another lok headache

First off, I am glad you enjoyed my ramblings. It has been so long since I've been able to throw in a good theory. ;)

Raziel is indeed a "key" player in all of this. To elaborate a bit on what you've posted, I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

When the Reaver was forged as the "key" to the Pillars and their binding magic "locking" the Hylden out of Nosgoth, I believe that it had a "lifeforce" (Raziel). The imagery depicted in the murals show what I assume to be Janos holding the blade and it is imbued with some sort of energy. (See the murals in Squiddy's chamber). I don't think it was elemental, or wraith energy, but merely the life of the blade. (Which gave it it's magic to serve as a "key"). Janos Audron is the "messiah" figure of the LoK story. He is the father of "life" persay. I am willing to bet that he has the power to create the elemental fonts used to enhance his already perfect creation. This leads me to believe (seeing that we didn't know of a 10th guardian aka Janos until the end of SR2 or the fact the reaver is a "key") that this power was diverted from where it was supposed to reside. I believe that following the Hylden vs. Ancients, that Janos took the power of the Reaver and placed it somewhere else. This would ensure that the Reaver would remain safe and relatively unknown. What did he do with this power? I beleive that he placed it within a shell that no one would ever assume to be this power. (Pretty much infused the power of the reaver into a human body - Sarafan Raziel). The Sarafan were anti-vampire, and judging by them taking the reaver from Janos' retreat, they figured out that this blade had power, however I beleive it was just a blade at that time. As the events unfolded, we find out that Raziel is the entity of the blade. The "life force" of the blade. He was always the life force of the blade. I had a theory concerning Vorador being the one to bring Janos' heart back to him. If my theory of the blade being just a blade (as its life force Raziel assumed a physical and spectral manifestation) this would back up how Vorador slaughtered the Circle members in the stronghold with the bone reaver, (The dead blade).

Forgive the choppiness of this one...I am a bit tired this evening. I am more than happy to explain this more indepthly if any problems/questions arise from it.

[darien_specter]

I would like to hear more about this theory, Umah... still trying to decide what I think. There are things that relate to my other threads, too, in that... :D

I'm afraid that I'll have to agree with Jedilvr on the mural of Dumah, as I've already said elsewhere. Given the demonization of Janos Audron in the windows, it wouldn't surprise me at all that they would demonize Raziel, especially when you consider that no one else saw him except Moebius (who I figure kept his mouth shut) and Malek. Perhaps servants or lesser soldiers saw from somewhere else... In any case it is a purple-blue, naked, bare-winged demon with detailed musculature, pointed ears, and - and this I think is the clincher - vampiric fangs. It also seems more logical that the artist would depict the killer of the Sarafan rather than randomly painting a Hylden, given also that he (they? I'd say at least three different artists painted those murals) depicted Vorador killing the Guardians, though I have also wondered why he only appears behind Dumah and none of the others. I will admit that, having not played BO2 yet (damn!) I haven't seen the Hylden; but in the paintings, like you said, they are that sort of beige-ish color. I also doubt that the Sarafan or their artists would have known of the existence of the Hylden; they are too far removed from those events.

Dumah the devolved vampire's wraith powers come from his long time spent on the spectral plane; as the Elder informs Raziel, a vampire whose soul is left too long in the spectral realm becomes a wraith.

Thanks for the actual term for the Ouroborus; I knew it was actually something, connected with rebirth. Hmmm... well now. How interesting - a symbol of rebirth on a portrait of Raziel as a full-bodied ancient...

Wait - did no one catch my reference? Guess I'll have to keep using it until someone figures it out. We'll make a little contest of it; to the victor goes the prize of... the satisfaction of figuring it out. I will reveal the source when I have returned to kneeling drained, pathetic and pessimistic on the floor of the Sarafan Chapel... :D

[warpsavant]

The purple demon behind Dumah is a demonized version of the "creature" who killed the Sarafan.

That creature is Raziel.

It isn't a Hylden. Unless Raz is a Hylden!

But seriously, the purple demon behind Dumah is Raziel.


I wonder how the Sarafan opened that giant door to the lake! WTF is that GIANT door for anyway?


I also think that the Dumahim vampires are more prone to coming back as wraiths. I dont have any proof of this but it sounds good.



"...my Angel of Death...."

[Umah Bloodomen]

Originally Posted by Warpsavant

It isn't a Hylden. Unless Raz is a Hylden!

You are starting to sound like KbH...LOL
:p

[darien_specter]

Good question warp, I just wondered that myself last time through. Not just the giant doors, but also the fact that they have what amounts to a giant indoor dock or something... do they go sailing or something? Or maybe submarining, since they also have that underwater gate. Maybe they have a big light-forge remote control... ;)

[warpsavant]

Where they gonna sail? In the lake? LOL@ Light Forge Remote Control.

Maybe thay had baby squids in there. :eek:

As long as I don't sound like that guy, what was his name? He would say Morty could shoot lightning from his eyes and save Janos from the demon dimension. :p


Are you at the Air forge yet? When are we going to talk about the significance of bringing hearts back to bodies and freeing their souls or whatever happened in there?

[Ender]

Originally Posted by Umah Bloodomen

When the Reaver was forged as the "key" to the Pillars and their binding magic "locking" the Hylden out of Nosgoth, I believe that it had a "lifeforce" (Raziel). The imagery depicted in the murals show what I assume to be Janos holding the blade and it is imbued with some sort of energy. (See the murals in Squiddy's chamber). I don't think it was elemental, or wraith energy, but merely the life of the blade. (Which gave it it's magic to serve as a "key"). Janos Audron is the "messiah" figure of the LoK story. He is the father of "life" persay. I am willing to bet that he has the power to create the elemental fonts used to enhance his already perfect creation. This leads me to believe (seeing that we didn't know of a 10th guardian aka Janos until the end of SR2 or the fact the reaver is a "key") that this power was diverted from where it was supposed to reside. I believe that following the Hylden vs. Ancients, that Janos took the power of the Reaver and placed it somewhere else. This would ensure that the Reaver would remain safe and relatively unknown. What did he do with this power? I beleive that he placed it within a shell that no one would ever assume to be this power. (Pretty much infused the power of the reaver into a human body - Sarafan Raziel). The Sarafan were anti-vampire, and judging by them taking the reaver from Janos' retreat, they figured out that this blade had power, however I beleive it was just a blade at that time. As the events unfolded, we find out that Raziel is the entity of the blade. The "life force" of the blade. He was always the life force of the blade. I had a theory concerning Vorador being the one to bring Janos' heart back to him. If my theory of the blade being just a blade (as its life force Raziel assumed a physical and spectral manifestation) this would back up how Vorador slaughtered the Circle members in the stronghold with the bone reaver, (The dead blade).

awesome awesome stuff. i love it. only nitpicking thing would be the chronology of this...basically, when exactly the reaver spirt was bound to sarafan raziel. doesn't seem reasonable to me that janos would keep the reaver (in complete form) for hundreds of years during the hylden/ancient war, only to somehow imbue Sarafan Raz before his demise AT Raz's hands...

still, your idea got me thinking....we DON'T know anything about the so called 10th guardian, the reaver guardian, if there is such a thing. (I think there is) What if the guradian isn't actually Janos, but is Raz.....bear with me, cause this will take some explaining

the pillars chose their guardians from birth...they used to pick vamps, until no more were born, then began selecting humans. So the "reaver guardian" isn't actually a guardian in the sense of the pillar guardians, but is actually the one who harbors the "life-force" of the reaver....and Sarafan Raz was the one chosen. Since Janos always kept the reaver hidden, maybe the humans were never fully aware of what exactly it was meant for, and never were aware that there was a 10th guardian.

only problem i can immediately see with this idea is that if the reaver choses its guardians from birth, why wasn't another chosen when sarafan raz died.....

oh, on a random thought, anyone else felt that squiddy and his whole ancient mysterious cult seem straight outta Lovecraft? everytime i think of Cthulhu now i picture squiddy chilling in his underground temple.


Edit- oh, duh....sarafan Raz died at the hands of the blood reaver, and imediately after Wraith Raz bonded with the blade, negating the need for another guardian....

[darien_specter]

Good evening, I'm darien_specter, and you're not. And now, these updates.

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Coming through the swamp, I came across a distinctly artificial-looking wall of woven reeds. Someone blocking an entrance perhaps? I also noticed for the first time that the Time-streaming chamber is almost directly beneath the Dark forge.

Also, all of Vorador's nifty green lanterns went out. Poor Vorador... RIP

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One of the few things that dissatisfies me still is Raziel's "chat" with Ariel. Besides that he was a complete jackass, he seems to have suddenly gained some knowledge of what brought down the Pillars out of thin air. But, Raziel talking bigger than he knows is no real surprise... ;)

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And that's really about it. Warp, I'm having a relaxing dip in Janos' lake right now, and am headed off to the Air forge. Thought that would be a nice spot to stop for a bit. Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow...

[darien_specter]

Good evening, I'm darien_specter, and you're not. And now, these updates. Fresh from the Air Forge...

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Most of this, others have already mentioned, but here goes. We've got that big stone portrait of an ancient. Who is it? Janos or Raziel; he does sort of have Raziel's facial bone structure. (What's left of it...) Whoever it is, the picture is replete with ourobouri... they're all over the thing!

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Just for the sake of it: the two faced mural. Raziel and Kain? Or good Janos/evil Janos? BO2, I suspect, holds an answer, but let's just keep that to ourselves for the moment, please... :)

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And of course, we have the Air forge itself. (Warp seems to be waiting for this, he must have a good answer.) What the #@% is going on here? Here we see the ancients portrayed somewhat more cruelly than elsewhere. Vampiric skulls abound, particularly on the actual walls where the beating hearts are contained. Who or what are those creatures, bound for ages on those altars? I have a feeling we'll never know...

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Here's one: in the third of the forge locked by Light, the bricks on the floor are laid out in a spiral...

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Lastly: a thought about the wraithlike creatures that inhabit the fonts and locks. They seem nearly ubiquitous, even appearing in some of the simple Reaver locks. What if these creatures are themselves the source of the elemental energy? Imprisoned, perhaps, by the ancients, to secure the Pillars.

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That's all for awhile; I near completion, and little lies ahead of me tonight, so I might just wrap it up. Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow...

[KainSyndrome101]

In the Light Forge, where you fight the Thralls for their shields to put on the pedestals to cast light onto doors, there is a mural on the wall. It has a couple of ancients surrounding the Pillars. The one in the middle looks kinda like Janos, but I'm not for sure. At the top, there are nine symbols, obviously representing each Pillar.

No, I am not talking about the mural when you first get into the Forge. By the way, the mural on the other side of the mural when you first walk in to the Forge, the one with the guy on the Pillars with two circles on his hands(which is also in the Underground Pillars Chamber, where the Elder God resides), looks like it's depicting the Hylden being banished to the Demon Dimension.

The reason why? The guy in the mural looks like he's conducting some kind of magic spell. It must be the spell that banished the Hylden.

[darien_specter]

And now the final update...

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There really seems to be litttle that I noticed in Janos' retreat or in the fire forge. There was a lot of skeletal imagery, which I thought a little odd, but beyond that...

There is, of course, as mentioned many times before, the stature of Raziel, bearing the Reaver, and the Reaver is wreathed in fire when Raziel forges the blade...

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Raziel sure says "bahstid" a lot... :p

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While each of the other Sarafan high priests bear what would become their clan sigil upon their loinclothes, Raziel alone does not. His armor is also unique. Considered with the statue, it is almost as Raziel was more leader of the Sarafan than Malek...

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And the final observation: Moebius betrayed everyone of any importance in that age 500 years before the fall. He sacrificed each of the six Sarafan high priests to Raziel's rage; betrayed the Guardians to Vorador by halting Malek; and then turned on Malek, allowing him to take the fall for everything. Basically, only Mortanius survived unscathed. So I wonder again - where was he that he survived? I wonder if perhaps he alone of the Circle is sympathetic to the vampires; seeing as how he, seemingly trying to atone for his crimes against the Circle, engineers the Pillar of Balance being guarded once more by a vampire. And given that Moebius is running the entire show, I again wonder just how long he's been the Guardian of Time - perhaps he was the first human Guardian...

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No one figured out my reference, sadly; it's classic Saturday Night Live! Back when it was just "NBC's Saturday Night," back when it was "The Not Ready for Prime-time Players..." and back when Chevy Chase began Weekend Update with the line, "Good evening, I'm Chevy Chase, and you're not." No one wins, alas...

History has come full circle once more, and so my travellogue ends. I hope it was as fun for you as it was for me...

[SirRaziel]

Can someone send screenshots of all the murals in the Elder God's auidience chamber. There is something about the murals that has piqued my interest. If I can see all of them, perhaps I can explain my theory. Perhaps people may share it. But look very closely at the murals in that chamber. I think there are the most critical of them all.

Email is pheonicia_legacy@swirve.com

[warpsavant]

The two faced mural in the Air Forge is Kain and Janos I think.

The Fire Forge has winged ancients all over the ceiling. They look like Angels, not Vampires. i.e. The depictions of the Ancients on the roof of the Fire Forge look nothing like the earlier depictions of them seen ANYWHERE else.


The Air Forge Spiral appears on the streets of Upper and Lower City in Meridian. :D

"Here in this alien vort, I found a creature who's existence was entwined with mine far more than I could ever imagine..."