The Woodsie Lord on 27/10/2006 at 13:49
Using a few things I noticed and read (cradle.pdf) and watching the "Gamall Revealed" video again, I thought of this:
The Cradle burned off about 50-60 years ago, about the same time of the cataclysm.
We all know that the Eye caused the Cataclysm, but what if Gamall helped it during her visit in the catacombs of Fort Ironwood.
When all the zombies rose from the dead in the Cathedral in Old Quarter, a fire started, no-one knew how. What if the burning of the Cradle and the Cataclysm happened silmutaneously Maybe it was the Pyromaniac in the Cradle that started it, and the fire spread northwards, burning the Old Quarter down, eventually reaching the Cathedral.
We know very little of glyph magic, but maybe the Cradle was somehow "infected" by the presence of Gamall, which made the puppets rise again.
I'm only starting, so I'll try to look up more clues...
@T-Smith: Do we actually have proof for that, and since the time between The Dark Project and Deadly Shadows is only a few months-years, it could've well happened at the same time. I couldn't find any information regarding the date of the burning of the Cradle
T-Smith on 27/10/2006 at 14:02
Sorry, but you seem to have your times mixed up. The Shalebridge Cradle fire occurred roughly 20 years prior to Thief 3. The Old Quarter Disaster occurred about 50 years prior to The Dark Project.
I can't claim to know all the specifics regarding the Old Quarter Disaster, but as far as I recall from notes found in The Dark Project, it's implied that it had something to do with The Trickster attempting to return to power (an attempt which was foiled by the Keepers, and they mentioned that time they almost revealed themselves to the world).
If there's anyone who has any more information on the walled off section of the OQ and the incident, it'd be great to hear. It's been a while since I played TDP.
T-Smith on 27/10/2006 at 15:36
Your edit confuses me.
I'll see if I can dig up where I got the information regarding the 20 years. I've been working on a Thief 3 Lexicon, gathering information on every person, group, place, thing, and event, and recording them all. However, I'm fairly certain it was 20 years ago.
Also, it's doubtful the Cradle being cursed started in between TDP and DS. Inspector Drept talks about it becoming a dark and haunted place right after the fire.
Poison Ivy on 28/10/2006 at 00:28
There used to be a thread - can't find it now for some reason - 'Why did the Cradle become a dark and haunted place'. The possibility of Gamall having influenced the catastrophe was discussed there.
As for when it had occured, I'm fairly certain it can't be twenty years. The information we get from Lauryl and, more importantly, from Null himself tells us that the riot started soon after the patient blamed for her death was lobotomized. Lauryl would have been about eight or nine at the time, and Drept would be roughly the same age, perhaps a bit older. So if it had been twenty years ago, Inspector Drept would be in his thirties in Deadly Shadows, and although this is easily a point of argument, he probably can't be that young. While spending your life chasing a villain nobody else believes exists can probably make you look a bit older than your age, I'd say Drept is about 50-60 in DS.
Still, I don't think the fires occured simultaneously, simply because the information we would've gotten would be different. "One night a fire started, no one knows how" is what Garrett tells us of the Cradle, all of it common knowledge. Had the fires occured simultaneously, it would have been said that the Cradle was destroyed along with the rest of Old Quarter, or something like that. The point is, assuming it was all one fire, if people knew the fire that destroyed the Cradle started in the building itself, they would know how the fire in Old Quarter started. Hope that makes sense.
