Complex. Mind blowing. Staggering.
If PST was a spiders web it would be a web spun by 100,000 different species and sizes. All doing their own thing but somehow connecting to each other. It would involve spiders from other worlds too, like those from Dr Who, Lord of the Rings and that creepy spider from Stephen King's IT. Even that strange spider creature from Lost in Space (modern update).
The web they would be one of the greatest creations in all time and space. It would be in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy with it's own section. In fact you probably could not describe the scope in 2D graph or even 3D as Time would need to be an element of it.
Then what about places like Limbo where even the material is not material? Where matter can be changed?
I reckon even the writers of the game could not really understand the entirety. The more you play the more questions you need to ask. THERE ARE ALWAYS QUESTIONS.
One aspect is your character. For a while I was trying to map out a time line for THO. I think it can't be done. Either it is too complex in scope due to the very large number of lives of TNO or that the writers couldn't and didn't trace back all the references and ensured they made sense.
Dhall has protected your secret, but how old is he? Has he always been the scribe in the Mortuary. If TNO is older would another scribe had been protecting my secret of immortality? The scribe before Dhall?
Sere the Skeptic said Dhall was her instructor. Was he both scribe and instructor or was he promoted? Is TNO or Dhall older? I NEED TO KNOW.
I basically need to know everything. I have a huge appetite for answers.
Did Morte kill the original me or a reincarnation? Did I arrange that as a trap so I could use Morte in the future?
When did I serve in the Blood War?
I want to know everything about the Blood War.
When did I first meet Ravel?
How did seeking immortality help me escape the price of my crimes?
When did I kill my old teacher in the Clerks Ward? What were those languages?
Am I older than the Silent King?
What the heck was that stone wall face of dividing in the Alley of Lingering Sighs?
What was the point of that section. What about that gate and house I couldn't get access to.
A recent one not mentioned in this thread yet, is if there was no way back once entering the prison area of Curst. How did the prisoners escape?
WHY DIDN'T I FOLLOW THEM!!
Why am I disappointed that I have not met Trist and Xanthia again. I was looking for them in the Clerks Ward for a while.
Isn't Annah a bit young to be a love interest. I suppose I would engage (in some flirting) if I played the game in 1999. But even if I had back then it would have been at the limits of what is acceptable. Would have been around 30 ish back then.
IT'S ONLY A GAME. I can't even talk to Annah. Just in case my daughter walks into the room.
That probably explains why I would prefer to snog Ravel than anyone else.
ONE OF THE BIGGER ONES.
AM I ZERTHIMON?
It's driving me mad.
ANOTHER BIG ONE.
What can change the nature of a man?
When Ravel asked me that question I thought about it for a long time. There was no *right* answer, only my answer. The question got me thinking about my actions. My search to be a mage. Then my search to to be *good*. My overall quest for answers.
It came clear to me at that moment there was no incarnations. Just me. It had always been me. Morte said one of my incarnations was a cruel, evil, scum motherfucker. It was always me but the differences have been perception or how history has been recorded.
Just thinking about what Lord Azlan incarnation has done. How many people I had killed. How many lives have I destroyed. I have spread mayhem and murder everywhere I go. I can't help it. Some records might suggest my actions were evil and others made me into a hero. So I answered:
NOTHING CAN CHANGE THE NATURE OF A MAN, RAVEL.
You are who you are.
Back to the timeline question.
From the Necromancer's journal in the Mausoleum:
Day 14 of the 127th Year of Factol Hashkar's reign:
After days of taxing divination spells, I finally have my answers. The divination revealed the location of an immortal to be somewhere within an ancient Mausoleum located in the Hive section of Sigil. I must make haste. I must find this creature and draw its blood before it moves on.
Day 14 of the 127th Year of Factol Hashkar's reign.
WE NEED MORE DATES. WHY DO WE HAVE TIME AND NO DATES. WHY DOES MY JOURNAL ONLY SAY DAY 1 and DAY 2 etc. WHAT ABOUT THE DATES?
Does Lord Azlan's play through count as one incarnation or do I +1 every time I die.
Hang on, "Day 14 of the 127th Year of Factol Hashkar's reign" is a fixed point in time and space. I could use it to work out a timeline. Hmmm.
Back to reality then..
***********************************
There is a lot of death and a lot of loot dropped. Prisoners run to the exit as fast as they can.
We, well I, I ponder on what I had just done. I had just set free all the criminals from a top maximum security prison from Curst.
It's a gate town on the brink. I was told there was a plague. It has probably never been weaker. And I just released all its prisoners and probably pushed it over the edge. How would history record that about the Azlan reincarnation?
Here goes Princes Irulan note in Dune:
In the 127th Year of Factol Hashkar a mysterious scarred man appeared at the gates of Curst as the town was on the brink of collapse. The man insidiously made his way through the administrators and guards and made his way to the prison hidden underneath the town and unleashed hell from below.
Yeah. I did not realise what I was doing until all hell break loose. I was warned though.
What else could I do? Was there another choice?
We travel back around to Trias and strike a clean blow against the chains that kept him prisoner. He is free!
The blade disappears from my hands. Trias approaches me for the first time, his badly burned wings flutter a little. I am glad I help this divine angel. I can't imagine that his crime deserved such a fate.
Trias: "Do you seek power over the minds of your fellow mortals? Do you hope for wishes to be granted? Do you want wealth? Do you seek more souls to torment?"
It a strange line of questions and it startles me for a bit. Do I seek more souls to Torment? I explain I only want knowledge, not any power or wealth.
I WISH TO RECLAIM MY MORTALITY
Trias: "You speak foolishness. Yet...there is one who might be able to help you with what you seek. It is a fiend, named Fhjull Forked-Tongue. He shall aid you. He is under an obligation to do charity"
Trias lips quirk into a small strange smile as he explains. As if he knows a secret that I have yet to find out. How do I find this charity doer?
Tris: "There lies a portal to the North of this prison. Its key is a broken chain link. Take this shattered link of the chain that imprisoned me. An appropriate key for one who seeks to leave Curst"
The angel bids me farewell. It is strange as I thought he would say more to someone that freed him. Ravel sent me to him saying he could help me. But Trias simply passed me on to ANOTHER PERSON. Someone called "Forked-Tongue".
I have some small doubts but Trias is not waiting for further chit chat. With a look up towards the ceiling of the Prison and probably beyond up to the town itself, he leaps and plunges into the earth above and disappears like a diver into the ocean.
To the North East I did find a locked gate but I now have the key.
However, just before I go through I think I see something else. Someones feet?
Is there another person in this prison?
It's dark but not scary. We just go a bit further and it becomes clear.
It's not a person but a suit of armour. A giant suit of armour sort of hanging in the air or waiting for something? The suit of armour holds an giant evil looking double-edge executioners blade in its hands. Gulp.
I get closer to take a better look. To inspect the armour. To take the armour. To take the axe. Lovely expensive looking loot.
Then a memory stirs. Or is it an automated reflection. A name comes to me..