jtr7 on 19/6/2011 at 22:16
We know nothing of the Golden Cherubs other than that they are freaky, and except in the earliest releases, invincible. Fictionally, how the first one appears after reading the text is unknown, but it's possibly not a coincidence that reading the Book of Ash conjures zombies in the Necromancer's Spire in the same mission. The Necromancer's Spire and the Mechanist Tower, one in South Dayport, one in North Dayport, directly aligned longitudinally (probably means nothing), built by followers of inspired and mad leaders, with forbidden texts and wielding ancient knowledge, both with roots in old Brotherhoods and obsessively involved with the earth below their feet and especially treasures of knowledge below the surface. :p
Karras knew Garrett was coming, so he didn't stick around, and told Vilnia to run things in his absence, including preparing the victrola message in his office for Garrett's arrival. More than two Pagan agents were lost on missions to Dayport, shortly before Garrett heads to Angelwatch, having learned Karras was the one who hired Truart to kill him, and the fiction already introduced the concept of interrogation for information more than once before Garrett takes Cavador to the Pagans for more of the same kind of thing, and Karras recorded confessions acting as Inquisitor (as we hear in Wieldstrom Museum in TDS), so it's possible he learned of Garrett's imminent arrival through captured Pagan agents. Although, it's never explained how some non-Keeper, non-Pagan, non-seer characters have foreknowledge of Garrett's actions, a Keeper was able to warn Garrett that Karras knew he was coming. What's odd is Karras rigged the safe holding the Cetus Project blueprints to sound the alarm, but left the plans inside. Hmmmm... Ignorance, or not?
Certain New Scriptures are for his followers to study and the clergy to teach from in Seminary, and others are not for the majority of the Order to know or understand, yet, and some were strictly meant for future reading in the Builder's Paradise, after the Necrotic Mutox apocalypse. Each passage is meant for its own mission context, and if a certain volume is locked up, you can bet it's not for the followers at that point in the timeline. We know from Vilnia that certain persons in authority under Karras were privy to knowledge not meant for their underlings to know, and that passing the information on was under discretion.
TheGrimSmile on 20/8/2011 at 22:20
Having finally made it through Kidnap, which takes the place of Framed as my least favorite mission, I can't really figure out why exactly I went there.
Maybe it's because it's been a long time since I played the levels leading up to it that I can't seem to understand it, but why exactly was Karras looking for the precursor masks?
I revisited the original Lost City and again experienced one of Thief's fun ventures into platforming, and from finding the two masks in what would become Site 2, I can only assume that's what Cavador had been looking for. Why would Karras need those masks, and 30 of them, no less? Didn't Karras just make masks? And where did the cultivators come from?
jtr7 on 20/8/2011 at 22:40
The masks are how the mind control of the Masked Servants works, though we are never told how any of the Precursor tech works.
The Cultivators are what activates the rust gas and makes it so powerful.
TheGrimSmile on 20/8/2011 at 22:46
Quote Posted by jtr7
The masks are how the mind control of the Masked Servants works, though we are never told how any of the Precursor tech works.
The Cultivators are what activates the rust gas and makes it so powerful.
Ahh, the masks make much more sense now... unexplained technology aside...
Was there any sign of the cultivators in TDP?
I can understand the masks, but I can't understand what use any precursors could have for device that has such a seemingly specific purpose.
jtr7 on 21/8/2011 at 05:34
Yeah, I would really love to know the backstory. There were no metal Precursor Masks or Cultivators in TDP/Gold, just the three wooden theatre masks.
TheGrimSmile on 22/8/2011 at 03:25
Indeed. Are there any readables or conversations about the Lost City other than the Keeper journals scattered throughout the original mission?
I would be much more inclined to enjoy the level if it had connected in some meaningful way to the original, which is certainly one of my favorite missions in the series, but other than the allusions to the burricks that had lived there, there's not much that connects it. As it were, Kidnap feels like a massive and impressive maze confined to a key hunt... with a key that walks around and a system that often made it harder to tell exactly where that key was.
Kindnap does make me want to explore the Lost City again, though.
jtr7 on 22/8/2011 at 04:18
Well, Thief Gold got the Mages heavily involved, and later, a Mechanist saw someone sneaking around the place, but only caught a glimpse of a scroll assumed to be over a hundred years old (emphasized, but not expounded on). None of that was explained further. It could easily be a Mage or a Keeper--at least, I'd prefer that over the skepticism that it was a thief, even though Sangar was known to have acquired Precursor artifacts before passing one of his commissions on to Garrett.
Cavador wrote of his deep appreciation for the Ancestors/Precursors and felt the Master Builder must've loved them to have blessed them with such inventiveness, and he wrote of his disappointment in Karras, so it wasn't a surprise that the Pagans didn't have to resort to violence to get Cavador to betray Karras's secrets, and tell them how the rust-gas and cultivator worked and what he knew of Karras's plan.
In Shipping... and Receiving, the Mechanists have their Rare Artifacts Bay in Building B, with Lost City jars, statues, and tapestries of the same type Garrett snagged when he was first there.
TDP/Gold strongly implies that there are other Precursor sites already discovered, but we don't know about them as players, how many there are, how far spread they may be, and we don't know Karras's history, if any, with those other excavations.
Thief Gold emphasizes the keen interest among the Mages to find all the Elemental Talismans, and has an man looking for them. Garrett takes the Talisman from the Lost City shortly before the Mages can get their hands on it, and the backstory has them wishing to talk to Garrett about what he did with the Talismans once he was done with them. Personally, I think the Hand Mages' story isn't finished. For decades, they've avoided coming into The City themselves and do not like being connected to it, but did venture in to get at the Talisman in the Lost City, while only talking about trying to stop Azaran the Cruel who actually had a spire in Dayport, as far as there is any evidence to the contrary.
Most of the places inaccessible in TDP/Gold due to lava or burial have been made accessible by and for the Mechanists, and a lot of whatever was in those places has been taken by the Mechanists, including most, if not all, of the very items that inspired Karras's inventions. It's quite possible the Precursors did not use the tech the way Karras thinks they did or that he believes The Builder has told him to.
One of the Precursor masks in Gervaisius's collection is based directly on the friezes of the elemental creatures, specifically, the sun. It's not stated, but I wonder if the sun mask belongs to the god emperor ("of the sky") or the priesthood.
And if you want to avoid chasing Cavador around, do not read the route list that tells the order of his Site inspections (there are three variations of the readable), and he'll stay in his quarters in Site 7. And then you can plan a shorter trip to Site 9 and conclude the mission.
