Final Boss of "The Twinning" Hunting for lore (Spoilers)

[Iscah]

It's Nero Scaeva (remember him?), from the end of the CT raid series when he throws his aether detector into the Syrcus Trench (which, I believe you retrieve later in the 5.0 sidequest "You Had One Jobb").

I tried to get a good picture of it but it is at a strange angle.

Still, I'd recognize that guy, that cutscene, and that hobo trenchcoat anywhere.

Thanks for the correction - I did realise it on a closer look when I was going through screenshots the other night, and have been meaning to come back to fix it.

And yes. It's a bit hard to forget him.

Not sure about the quest though (script here).

UNGAINLY GUARDSMAN
What exactly are the contents, you ask? Among other things, there happens to be a remarkable device that's been entrusted to us in the guard by the Crystal Exarch himself, who is said to have exhumed it from the Crystal Tower!
Though it simply looks like a pretty round gemstone, it somehow has the ability to measure the concentration of aether in the air and matter around us. Needless to say, it's not something that anyone─not even the artisans at the Mean─can just toss together. If I had lost it for good...

I'm not sure if the physical description of "a pretty round gemstone" fits - and we know from the ending, and can assume from his general inability to move far from the tower, that G'raha Tia can't travel to the Source through the portal. So how then could he "exhume it from the tower" or otherwise acquire it - or what else might it be? It could be a hook for something important, or is it just another "the Exarch has access to mysterious artifacts" thing for world building...?

Something to ponder.

(Of course he did get the other beacon device into the trench somehow, but I can only assume he tossed it through the portal.)

...

...what it does make me think of is Koh Rabntah/Noah.

SYELE
I am sorry to trouble you so soon after your trials in the Crystal Tower, but my colleague Koh Rabntah has gone missing.
She discovered the oddest orb deep within the tower, and said she was returning here to analyze it.

KOH RABNTAH
You are speaking with none other than Noah, archmagus of Allag! My scholarly works are legend, my treatises of the cosmos priceless, and my very name known throughout the world!
...Or 'twas so once. My soul has whiled away the millennia within an orb. Koh awoke me from my slumber, and... Well, how could I pass up a chance to walk the world again? So I allowed my spirit to flow into her body, and here we are.

And having just redone the first part of the Ridorana unlock quest... hmm.

MIKOTO
Simpler... Right... Um... Aether is not only the building block of all things material, but those immaterial as well. Thoughts, memories, feelings, one's very will are all understood to be aetherial phenomena, and can be measured as such. Unlike most crystals, which only can emit elemental energies, auracite is tuned not only to absorb aether, but aether specific to the immaterial. That aether is then stored and multiplied within its crystalline confines until external stimuli precipitate release.

CID
Try again.

MIKOTO
Uh... Ahem. Under appropriate conditions, a strong will or desire can become imprinted upon the auracite and stored until fomentation, at which time the desire becomes manifest─

RAMZA
Fomen...tation?

CID
What my studious young friend is trying to say is that the Otius takes one's deepest fantasies and makes them reality.

The final conclusion doesn't quite match, but middle of the description certainly does - and I have a sudden suspicion as to what Noah's "oneiromantic pearls" might be made from...

[YianKutku]

'Locus' is definitely more generic (by chance or design?) but 'Rise' is specifically linked to the events of Alexander.

To be fair, "Rise" is also somewhat present in the Twinning theme "A Long Fall". Specifically, it's the bassline.

The Alexander theme which I don't think made it in was "Metal", which is definitely Goblin-specific.

(Of course he did get the other beacon device into the trench somehow, but I can only assume he tossed it through the portal.)

I just (as in, upon reading this post) realized that given everything we've seen of the First's Crystal Tower via the Twinning, it's highly likely that this beacon device shaped like a gear isn't just a random object imbued with the ability to call forth the Warrior of Light, but is specifically a gear from the Tycoon.

[AmemeAmeklin]

(Of course he did get the other beacon device into the trench somehow, but I can only assume he tossed it through the portal.)

I'm not sure how canon this is, but part of The Rising actually includes a message from Biggs III.

(-Large Bottle, Letter V-)I snuck this letter on board a certain apparatus before it was sent hurtling backwards through time and space. As it wasn't accounted for on the storage log, I could begin to calculate where─and when─it will eventually arrive.
(-Large Bottle, Letter V-)Even if I were to succeed in sending it two centuries in the past, the odds that it will safely reach the hands of that hero of legend are infinitesimal at best. And yet, the chance is not zero, and it is in remote possibility that I place my hopes.
(-Large Bottle, Letter V-)My ancestor─the first of the name I now proudly bear─once told me that the hero he befriended was, for all of her many talents, above all a woman possessed of great fortune. Fortune that suggested that the Twelve themselves truly did smile upon her.
(-Large Bottle, Letter V-)In that sense, it's not unreasonable to expect that it is indeed you who is reading my words today. And so, I say: thank you, my friend. Thank you for saving our past, and giving us hope for a brighter future. And above all, please look after him, won't you?
Yours,
Biggs, Third of His Name
Eighteenth President of Garlond Ironworks

Sentimental bits aside, he mentions 'a certain apparatus' and a storage log. Personally I find it kind of odd to refer to the tower as an apparatus but maybe that's just me...

[Ardox]

To be fair, "Rise" is also somewhat present in the Twinning theme "A Long Fall". Specifically, it's the bassline.

The Alexander theme which I don't think made it in was "Metal", which is definitely Goblin-specific.

I just (as in, upon reading this post) realized that given everything we've seen of the First's Crystal Tower via the Twinning, it's highly likely that this beacon device shaped like a gear isn't just a random object imbued with the ability to call forth the Warrior of Light, but is specifically a gear from the Tycoon.

Interesting supposition.. I wonder if it even can relate to this:

I'm not sure how canon this is, but part of The Rising actually includes a message from Biggs III.

Sentimental bits aside, he mentions 'a certain apparatus' and a storage log. Personally I find it kind of odd to refer to the tower as an apparatus but maybe that's just me...

I also wonder if people that haven't finished ShB would see that letter

[Iscah]

I got the final Alexander battle in raid roulette the other night, and was thinking... Rise is a strange thing, even at the time. This is essentially the point where Alexander says "sorry Quickthinx, im not going with your plan any more" and is testing that we're worthy.

(Interestingly, Alexander only seems to rebel after our time-travel trip to three years ago somewhere around A10 - which is actually the point at which Dayan's soul has just been pulled into the core, from Alexander's perspective...)

Separate lore-ish observation: Alexander uses the same kind of attack as Storge's laser blasts, and acquires angelic wings...

I'm not sure how canon this is, but part of The Rising actually includes a message from Biggs III.

Sentimental bits aside, he mentions 'a certain apparatus' and a storage log. Personally I find it kind of odd to refer to the tower as an apparatus but maybe that's just me...

I've been wondering about that too. I think it's definitely canon - unlike the other vague "anonymous observer" letters, this one is from an established character.

I also thought "apparatus" seems an odd term to refer to the tower by, and suggests something smaller... but still large enough to sneak a bottle aboard, apparently, so if the beacon was sent back separately, where's the rest of it...?

Though having a "storage log" suggests there's someone who's going to use it, which makes it more likely to be a deliberately vague reference to the tower.

Even though you can only see the story messages reflecting your current progress, they do just seem to be phrasing it as un-spoilery as possible - no mention of dying futures or changing timelines. If someone who'd just played ARR and didn't know any spoilers read this, they'd probably think "cool, the Ironworks eventually worked out time travel and sent a thankyou note back to us for being heroes".

(Never mind the G'raha Tia minion, anyway... but they're not going to see that if they just found the text.)

Then again, it makes sense in-universe too. He can't guarantee when we'll read it if it gets to us, and warning our ARR-self to expect a time-travelling Crystal Tower is probably not a great way to keep their plan of secrecy on track.

I also wonder if people that haven't finished ShB would see that letter

They won't - it's restricted by your current story progress.

[ICountFrom0]

I also thought "apparatus" seems an odd term to refer to the tower by, and suggests something smaller... but still large enough to sneak a bottle aboard, apparently, so if the beacon was sent back separately, where's the rest of it...?

Though having a "storage log" suggests there's someone who's going to use it, which makes it more likely to be a deliberately vague reference to the tower.

It's the strange "talking device" that you interact with at the end of SB2. It has complete logs of all things in the tower.

[Iscah]

It's the strange "talking device" that you interact with at the end of SB2. It has complete logs of all things in the tower.

By "talking device" do you mean the one with the recorded message after completing the Twinning? I can't think what else you'd be referring to, but it isn't there after completing the quest.

In any case, that device was recovered from the tower, implying it was sent back within it - doubly so since the message was meant for G'raha as he was departing - and it ended up in the First, not the Source, so is unlikely to have been dropping beacons or bottled messages for us along the way.

[ICountFrom0]

By "talking device" do you mean the one with the recorded message after completing the Twinning? I can't think what else you'd be referring to, but it isn't there after completing the quest.

In any case, that device was recovered from the tower, implying it was sent back within it - doubly so since the message was meant for G'raha as he was departing - and it ended up in the First, not the Source, so is unlikely to have been dropping beacons or bottled messages for us along the way.

Right, that is the "inventory" that the bottle does not show up in.