Questionable ethics - Living Memory

[Basteala]

Congratulations, you realized the plot of the zone.

We don't hold any authority in Sphene's kingdom and don't have the right to wander around switching off parts of her realm as we please. The only reason why we do it is because one of the Endless asked for it, but she doesn't have the right to make the decision for all of them either.

Also the fact that Sphene was going to consume our world's aether to sustain the Endless. That's...kind of an important detail. Remember that shutting down the Meso Terminal would have switched them off in the end, anyway.

Note 1: if Endless are your precious citizens, dear Sphene, why the heck didn't you try to protect them? Put at least some guards around monoliths, you know? Especially considering that you saw and knew that we, hostile forces, have arrived into Living Memory.

Because crossing the rift is considered impossible. Sphene DID take the key with her, and the Living Memory is not entirely bereft of security. It IS very much a security by obscurity situation--which is a fallacy in and of itself--but to say the terminals were out in the open for anyone to shut down is erroneous.

Why we do even have to erase them instead of just shutting the system down?

It's explicitly stated that shutting down the terminal erases them. It probably works similar to RAM on a PC. Once you stop providing power, the data is lost.


Note 2: when the fight with Robo-Sphene starts and she talks again about protecting her precious Endless, why couldn't anyone tell her - sorry, lady, we just erased all of them, so you don't have the reason to fight anymore?

Now, one could counterargument that we are effectively at war with Sphene's nation and we make harsh decisions in extreme circumstances. But erasing Endless doesn't serve to diminish Sphene's battle power. We are just targeting civilians, which is a warcrime - at least from Sphene's point of view.

Because she said her people. There are still plenty of living, breathing subjects of Alexandria in Everkeep, and Heritage Found, come to think of it.,

Summary. I have a feeling that thay wanted no matter to implement the art decision of shutting down the beatiful realm, because they knew it would have emotional impact. But in doing so, they hammered the whole plot logic into a very questionable, to say the least, writing.

What do you think?

There's some flaws in Living Memory's writing, but I think it comes more from the poor handling of urgency at the very beginning, that sets up the whole premise of the zone, rather than the zone story itself.