Part 88: Bonus Update: The Answers?
Bonus Update: The Answers?Rhue.
So, Venge = Kura = The Mimic = Rhue are pretty much agreed upon by fans of The Way, but the exact mechanics of that have always been up for debate. I honestly can't give a definite answer...
But I feel Venge and Kura are basically the same personality with a different name, since we never meet Kura in The City. Why and how he became The Mimic... I don't know. Did he always have the Phantom Slasher? Is his status as Venge keeping him from suffering aura overloards? The Phantom Slasher certainly implies it when it says that together they're the perfect combination.
The Last Illuminati.
Well, what happened with it? Who fucking knows. I have one half-hearted theory with scant evidence though, and that's... maybe Venge/Kura had it. And it eventually became the Phantom Slasher.
Castor gave us that little talk about the legend of the Phantom Slasher being born at the Landorin Massacre and how that was odd because the Phantom Slasher actually always spares children.
The best I have there is that... The Mimic somehow corrupted it around then? Or maybe the sword was in a somewhat dormant state and was awakened there? The Mimic is described as a legendary evil like it's something that hasn't been seen for a long time either.
Anyway, after The Mimic went into a comatose state... Jeruh found it and used it to slaughter Serena and friends. I suspect the sword might be fine with being used for child murder, but wouldn't do it of its own accord. There's some holes in this theory, but the only thing that allows for The Girl to be Serena is if that man and sword are The Mimic and the Phantom Slasher. Doesn't matter what the exact circumstances are, whether the sword was the last Illuminati being corrupted into the Phantom Slasher or not.
But I will admit it's very possible The Girl isn't Serena or... anyone important at all. She might just represent, say, the possibility of Rhue actually finding Serena. That's another mystery we have little to go on.
The Landorin Massacre sword may well be some completely unrelated Shadow Sword. It's sprite doesn't quite match the Phantom Slashers.
Gaius is the Harbringer. Please note the game actually spells it Harbringer repeatedly.
I've gone over this before, but it's almost definitely the case. He deflects The Phantom Slasher the same way, he seems to know about crimes he shouldn't, like the Harbringer who is an executioner, while Gaius is supposed to be a perfect Judge, Jury and Executioner type.
Why the Phantom Slasher felt remorse and destroyed itself.
This is partly conjecture but:
Tallgeese" post="496423884 posted:
Traziun's life was spent consumed with revenge against the killer of his mother, who he thought was his father Kalmar. Kalmar showed Traziun what truly happened. He had an opportunity to take revenge on Rhue, his mother's killer, and instead chose to sacrifice himself, proving the sword's given reasoning behind why it kills people (being unable to change and presumably move on from their sins) wrong.
Thus, it felt remorse. Phantom Slasher was supposed a holy weapon of justice. Its criteria for what is just was warped by the Lord Below, but not the fact that it is supposed to stand for justice. It could not bear the idea that it might be unjust, and destroyed itself.
Why did Slade recognise Strata?
A lot of people people suspect he may have been Scatha/Chasta's lover, but I've never liked that idea, especially since he comes off like he's meant to be just out of his teens, if even that. Slade merely confused him with Kygar, I think, much like when Rhue briefly confused Kygar with Strata.
It is worth noting that Scatha's rants about the evils of men and the falsity of romance pretty much exactly match Strata's behaviour.
If you forced me to choose a character who might be Scatha's ex, it'd be Dirk, since they seem to have had a prior history, Dirk knew her name and said she was pretty, and he comes off a womanising type.
I doubt that's the case either, sicne she's actually generally pretty respectful to Dirk and even seems fond of him. Judging by her attitude I'd expect her ex to have rejected her for her disfigurement when she found him at a later date, probably very upset. Also Dirk's like a million years old, Jesus Christ.
Dirk?
Uhm... Dirk. He says Forerunners are a myth, but that he's the closest thing to one since Tetzel killed Eyashu. I guess that means maybe... he did a full loop of The Way?
The Rolling Mists.
Are they real? They're very very rarely mentioned in the game. I think only three times in the whole series, actually. Only M 2 0 Man claims to have seen them and he doesn't say much about them.
What are citadels and why does the Episode 6 title screen feature them so heavily when they're not even in the Episode?
I don't know and I don't know. The only hint we get about them are in the very conversation that introduces them late in Episode 3.
What's the deal with the Blana Sera? Was Kalmar one of the Blana Sera or a servant of theirs?
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Twiler" post="496440030 posted:
Possibly the shadow known as the Phantom Slasher is some sort of guardian of the sword, and the shadow creature Rhue encountered in episode 3 is the Night Reaper's guardian, expelled by Traziun? Perhaps the Ghost Horror had a guardian as well, which Kalmar expelled in a similar fashion?
Right, that was what I wanted to say but forgot about. I said way back I had a spoilery idea for this and that's that it's basically Night Reapers equivalent to -The- Phantom Slasher. That'd explain why Phantom Slasher goes berserk when Rhue's fighting it, and even shoots some kind of energy beam at it if Rhue loses (???). The only other time Rhue seems to lose control over it is in the confrontation over Night Reaper where he's forced to knock it into the Pits.
Why is there a PGP-encrypted message in the code and what does it say?
quote:
PGP Start Code
In Episode 6, the starting map has an event called “CODE” with what appears to be a PGP-encoded message (there’s a long version and a short version). PGP requires two keys (a public and a private one), though…
quote:
Start Map (002,000) CODE:
Note: qANQR1DBw04DLc2KXKOZXuEQEACZTfBVTYVG1HQLv0OUtziU2B0focg2CDrVw3m3
Note: OTi+jsb45/RQQtTzFl1QOK65Elnw70aNW33ALEQp3kLmMt9cX0hmEc6tmgQzzysq
Note: +Pwf5fq2W5lCwRW2WiuUvGBEWEk2Gk0+mKNE23EbsHBdTEfq1B8eLGJzOl8BrQrf
Note: TSu9DhXYNqp5RhG6Ywoo6YJ12pH0nyzAm0JyjKXVupYMk9/VM8SoKPgOrWX10IiN
Note: Cv/8r2clE7KoWSPteDdxGsZ6cuy2XxlJuP5yfKIN27o0PoyQnN3JLsj1acosgJ4n
Note: D8IaWKbhEEnyA6GF6q3+ZwZWxBBJeelE0YUVTBIM/8+WGcXX8J2kGMPWFxmOeD97
Note: NoiI9WAEf3mPrvAGmR2txBgMAKZRxFLGR1GkBCqBFRQL4tPPd+IP1NTW/1DW/sUp
Note: K9XVgbL6k0hpuMbalIOnvnvuIdA6o4e68Vp7UAFXuHGVqTSY4utbuYu3DKQQFpLM
Note: AiWi9JFEwlHkgr8r888R65NFZbNMnDb2gpzmfRndSNWG/JDhZGDpVOwN2Z7fvGL2
Note: Mr/QIKMbcry80Ew+tHse1QiBxQyUlAhyJq7bBZFwqqaZBXVN8DooTSdIQcOPshvX
Note: RYx+UG496hCBrkylFjAosCQfnP+LADlxCuLIpNU3g98VdmA+y/S9UX1BO8b+ZvJb
Note: +kAY1BAA6XZ8zXZk2uaXYpqAnivjpCqaLZ+wgdfpPr4M/dakVuLe3P2uTfrW6O4v
Note: xl7pDVTXiFRz3G0625KfqDfYs+dZ59fIg+vHjODKBEtaD8kBG5bSI9TmDjmqhmNR
Note: kljyxByxJGICBbnhZPsq0WnTSry36NvzWbsZb9hs1pdNXVk/YuZcGLH2AdXeNwme
Note: QFzQ9u0iE2Wbz8vxl2ZRGoihr6/0Z16SYgsEHR3Kd/RdnHNNEZQqX35fsF9ynegs
Note: Mc7q/ibyHkSvBzcKqfnqVMl6FqeuovHPIhYY605o07EdpLtK6nMZrGim3F5fC7cZ
Note: moCMAuOZ35R3d6H9NKr4/379092MWDCrONtsMpNtWmjrPqz6K38RuymLUB0se9tR
Note: tVvNS/gKy6BV3J5O4a1ZeTLm7WJRh/YvLYSxv6ZG+mQuvzzlhDpinSAHA0a78xEf
Note: PZLnHhAhJkjTaZMzNLOtx8YJFIwYKSS6HHb5fZfCVk1hxbz5aI7EvAxJt8TnQhQe
Note: Fw1rkMedpb63ybFLSckE6yV1sHWZtaf5cjMSBo+TvvGhGoGttBaubme3YXElrAWR
Note: vtMZO5VIWRQPMkuJ4bFffrOYSmzJ8JaraTMaT2R9j5xPGJQDMgVcDj1llVKvZjm0
Note: IPB1U7c5YK+DJzcruKlMxaUTtB5I3kUZUDJElWCY8WbA2X+8o0DJJtgEXrJf/xPW
Note: Q1TSlZSIpv2LO713yZxxZCsCTBwmSWNc4JglX+Y5=h7os
Note: ----------
Note: ----------
Note: ----------
Note: SHORTER VERSION
Note: qANQR1DBwE4DtTAVq5jVdF4QA/sG04ZyMNhoVP+Ab7IfXzbFDE02tqRAPf+q1U2T
Note: SWdBQyudS24rdhiM3/OkPDuR1bDn4hu8ILUeIv4hx+Lc8Z7pfqaPsOXQmNYI7gsF
Note: stvDyiAMs5O5uauiGj0Bq8CXEdWKYCrOBoPkvGpjrMrUuuq0vOrklEs7xDCo6kbN
Note: Z19tkwQAg742aQivdDHDqut5CJCnyAzjrwFJG126crQ+nsYXBeO6dS/lpebbjUmm
Note: 33qWvimfls9KcCrzyScRtsU20hAdSgdMhNzgKMA/ofIPmlsxcp48MwQWkVXtOuim
Note: /d45iim2cyNhJz7W7ZmTgDyIehGxZppM0o6ArTxGN0kwebka30zJJhmMdYhwPojK
Note: qdk0n3JP1A7vPLyejnlhHP2IR9zuLQeDsRjINSeV=meur
As to what it says, and why it's there, no one knows. This was a very small part of the reason I made this LP. Hoping someone could figure out a way to unencrypt it but, I know it's a huge and unlikely to be successful ask though. But it's out there now.
Is there anything I'm forgetting?
the end