metal dawn on 1/3/2006 at 00:26
Quote Posted by jtr7
And then there's Azaran the Cruel, delving into necromancy, worrying the Hand Brotherhood, searching for the Book of Ash, and apparently succeeding in his schemes.
That's debatable. In a lower level of the spire, it appears he committed suicide. Perhaps this was an attempt to become a lich?
Holywhippet on 1/3/2006 at 00:51
Quote Posted by metal dawn
That's debatable. In a lower level of the spire, it appears he committed suicide. Perhaps this was an attempt to become a lich?
Didn't you read the note next to him? He says he's used the knowledge of the book to move his spirit to the elemental planes or something like that.
jtr7 on 1/3/2006 at 08:02
Personally, I always allowed room for the chance that he didn't succeed and simply died, but since the proceeding Thief missions don't contain anything proving Azaran wrong or right, nor any mention of how the Hand Brotherhood feels about his disappearance, I don't lean either way, really. It's just looks like he succeeded, since there is an effective trap created through the same magic.
But the purpose for bringing him up was only to say that he had been accepted into the Brotherhood and was creating tension among his fellows. One can only imagine how he came to be called "The Cruel." He was showing interest in finding the Book of Ash long enough to have been dealt with by the other mages, but they seem to be like the Keepers in that they held back and apparently just watched.
Azaran's actions, and the Hand Mages' apparent inactions, give some insight into their philosophy, while still maintaining mystery.
The in-game illustration referring to the Book of Ash is based on the Kabbalistic "Tree of Life," though it incorporates the four elements. Aleister Crowley is said to have studied the "Tree of Life" for it's ancient and powerful magic. Although the "Tree of Life" is supposed to be used for good, obviously one may pervert its intentions.
The Book of Ash shows a harnessing of ALL the elements, while the Hand Mages separate themselves into four groups. Azaran, it seems, was breaking with tradition. Add to this the fact that he was interested in necromancy instead of one of the four elements. It seems to me the mages show relatively mild concern for their wayward brother's choices. I guess it may be argued that the threat wasn't believable, or that Azaran wasn't seen as capable.
I dunno. I just think that to understand the mages better one must consider Azaran, since he went against their grain, thus forcing them to reveal another side of their nature, whch seems to me to be similar to the Keepers.
Yametha on 1/3/2006 at 09:56
Quote Posted by jtr7
It seems to me the mages show relatively mild concern for their wayward brother's choices. I guess it may be argued that the threat wasn't believable, or that Azaran wasn't seen as capable.
They did say that they feared his experiments would lead to disturbing depths, and that 'greater measures should be taken to correct this matter'.
Jarkko Ranta on 1/3/2006 at 12:36
I don't know much about the Spire. All notes from there are a bit... well... they could be more precise. Guess the citizens didn't mind that madman came to live next to him (if I recall right he had some human guards, too). But his connection to real-life Aleister Crowley... Wasn't that guy the famous Anti-Christ whose last words were something like "I'm confused..." when he didn't get to rule supreme with Satan... (off the topic we go)
I was thinking were all mages with tan skin colour (distant lands) or where there "western people" too.
