Revelations from Patch 6.4: The Dark Throne

[Aneshda]

I need some help clearing up some confusion I have with Pandaemonium...

In the very end, when we hear Eric's call for help with Pandaemonium, was that the same call that we received in the beginning? (back in 6.0) It couldn't have been, right? Because Eric had already met us when he recorded that in the crystal... Someone please help me lol

Well the Wol has a Name just like all Convocation Members. Emet Selch = Hades / Elidibus = Themis and we are Azem / Your Character Name. We met him in the Past but can't remember it, thx to someone who Sundered the World and everything with it. And yes it was the same call but we didn't know who called us. All the time I thought it was Themis.

[Cassar]

But when we went to the past, we went to a time when Eric didn't know us, so it must have been before the call. So did he make the call to ensure the time loop or did we just overshoot?

[Cilia]

But when we went to the past, we went to a time when Eric didn't know us, so it must have been before the call. So did he make the call to ensure the time loop or did we just overshoot?

In regards to this -

The memory crystal and the call with it were recorded during / after the Final Days, and by extension our involvement with Pandaemonium in the unsundered world, but we were only able to hear a little bit of it at the time due to it having been found only recently and us not being Erichthonios' reincarnation. Claudien is, and it's he that unlocks the full message after accepting Erichthonios' memories (and powers with it).

In regards to Lahabrea -

I assume he forgot us due to the millennia of body hopping degrading his personality and power. We interact with his pre-Sundering compleat self very, very little, and the Lahabrea we know from ARR and HW is much closer to his Hephaistos / Athena-influenced persona than the man we met during Pandaemonium. It's never stated verbatim but it's an entirely reasonable conclusion that the loss of his mental discipline needed to keep that part of himself in check caused some lapses in his memory, especially after 12,000+ years.

Plus, we were probably wearing different clothes and had a different hairstyle. A different look can make you pretty unrecognizable!

[Denishia]

So, theories on the location of Erenville's homeland?

It would be unlike XIV's world-building to limit all Viera to just Golmore and Skatay. But does this inform which continent we are dealing with next, is this a hint we should be giving weight to? Do we think he's going to be involved in 7.0 Main MSQ or is this 8.0 set-up? Or prepping for optional content in 7.0? And if so, does his return signal that we're going to meet him at said homeland or that this is just signally that he's excusing himself from the narrative for the same Viera lore reason that drives Anden's hesitancy and his sister's teasing to return to Fanow for a few patches until the writers want to bring him back, but making sure the players haven't forgotten that he exists.

Most importantly, if we do journey to Erenville's homeland, how will that location be distinguished visually/geographically/culturally to make it not just a copy of Fanow - or will it be remarkably similar?

[Cleretic]

But when we went to the past, we went to a time when Eric didn't know us, so it must have been before the call. So did he make the call to ensure the time loop or did we just overshoot?

Time loop. There wasn't a version of Pandaemonium where we weren't there, we always went back to help, and therefore yes, that message can in fact be the whole version of the fragment that we first got.

Unintentional bootstrap paradox; Erich didn't intend to cause the time loop, but he did. (And we're very thankful for it.)

[Cassar]

In regards to this -

The memory crystal and the call with it were recorded during / after the Final Days, and by extension our involvement with Pandaemonium in the unsundered world, but we were only able to hear a little bit of it at the time due to it having been found only recently and us not being Erichthonios' reincarnation. Claudien is, and it's he that unlocks the full message after accepting Erichthonios' memories (and powers with it).

Yeah I understand this but my question is: Eric in his memory asked someone to help him with Pandaemonium. We answer the call, but when we meet him, he doesn't recognize us. Meaning we went to the past on a time before he recorded the memory. So, when he asked for help in the crystal, was he asking for further help after we already left, or was he asking for help to ensure that we saw that in the future and fulfilled the time loop. (Come to think of it, did he even know we were from the future back then?)

Also in regards to Lahabrea, yeah that makes sense. That plus the influence of the Heart of Sabik probably did the trick.

[Eisi]

Btw I made some threads on Erenville, Krile's letter and the Sharlayan job for speculation so they can have room outside of this revelations thread!

[Cleretic]

Yeah I understand this but my question is: Eric in his memory asked someone to help him with Pandaemonium. We answer the call, but when we meet him, he doesn't recognize us. Meaning we went to the past on a time before he recorded the memory. So, when he asked for help in the crystal, was he asking for further help after we already left, or was he asking for help to ensure that we saw that in the future and fulfilled the time loop. (Come to think of it, did he even know we were from the future back then?)

Yes. Exactly.

He was asking someone (hopefully his soul-successor but I imagine he wasn't picky) to come to Pandaemonium after the End of Days, because he figured he wasn't going to survive things getting much worse. We got that, but because of our limited scope of Elpis travel, instead turned up before the End of Days, to the point where he actually needed our help in the first place.

[Cassar]

Time loop. There wasn't a version of Pandaemonium where we weren't there, we always went back to help, and therefore yes, that message can in fact be the whole version of the fragment that we first got.

Unintentional bootstrap paradox; Erich didn't intend to cause the time loop, but he did. (And we're very thankful for it.)

That makes sense to me. But then if that's the case, it means we overshot the call, because we went back further in time than we "wanted" to. In that sense, Eric probably lived the rest of his days thinking his call was never answered...

[Turnintino]

That makes sense to me. But then if that's the case, it means we overshot the call, because we went back further in time than we "wanted" to. In that sense, Eric probably lived the rest of his days thinking his call was never answered...

Well, yes. But my impression of the message was that he understood that he may not survive to see help arrive -- which was why he was asking for help to begin with. How else could he reasonably hope for his reincarnation to answer the call? He needed someone to watch over Pandaemonium in the event that he succumbed to the Final Days, and we may assume that he did.

What's more curious to me is that he included his wish to see the WoL again (maybe via his reincarnation, in light of the context, maybe not) in a message addressed to a future that he correctly estimates is pretty bleak, at least immediately (although it's clear he's still holding onto hope, by virtue of his reaching out in the first place). As his memory-self tells us, he didn't know we were from the future, and if my memory serves (big "if" lol), he believes the WoL is of the same creation magic so susceptible to corruption at time of recording.

I understand why someone with an Ancient's understanding of mortality, or lack thereof, would imagine that the WoL might simply survive that long (were they to avoid corruption), but it still felt a little out of place to me. And that said, from a meta-narrative perspective, I understand it was probably just there to serve as a kind of emotional closure for the player more than anything else. Nonetheless, it raised my brow lol.