The Vanguard: why is it here ?

[Astralia]

Hi fellows lore fan !
I'm coming with a new question I'm struggling to get an answer from the game or bits of lore on the internet !
I don't think it has been addressed as well in the forums, so here it is:

The Vanguard, why did it appear ?
From our POV we had to get a mean to cross the barrier between the two worlds so it's like a godsend it appeared... But it was totally on the enemy's hand to build it, we did nothing except for strengthening the train we rode at that time.
Since Zoraal Ja's managed to come out of the dome with so many airships and that large, why in the first time did they need to build that fortress bridging the two places ?

[Supersnow845]

Hi fellows lore fan !
I'm coming with a new question I'm struggling to get an answer from the game or bits of lore on the internet !
I don't think it has been addressed as well in the forums, so here it is:

The Vanguard, why did it appear ?
From our POV we had to get a mean to cross the barrier between the two worlds so it's like a godsend it appeared... But it was totally on the enemy's hand to build it, we did nothing except for strengthening the train we rode at that time.
Since Zoraal Ja's managed to come out of the dome with so many airships and that large, why in the first time did they need to build that fortress bridging the two places ?

Because vanguard is what tethers the dome in the source because it physically links them

Zarool ja couldn’t send the ships through the dome if vanguard wasn’t tethering the dome to the source because otherwise the dome would be in the 9th

[Astralia]

Then is it just an in-between quests weird kink ? Because the Vanguard does not appears until we reach the cutscene where we go to it by train, or the dome appeared because they managed to build the Vanguard, and it's behind the mountains we can't see and where the cutscene plays ?

[Cleretic]

Then is it just an in-between quests weird kink ? Because the Vanguard does not appears until we reach the cutscene where we go to it by train, or the dome appeared because they managed to build the Vanguard, and it's behind the mountains we can't see and where the cutscene plays ?

Basically, yes. Heritage Found is a fairly large distance away from Shaloaani; big enough to warrant a train line. To get a vague idea of how far they intended it, The game's world map puts Shaaloani at around where Texas is in the US, while Heritage Found is off somewhere near Nevada; if that's even remotely accurate, then the fact we can even see the dome at all is because of in-game distance abstraction.

I don't think Vanguard is actually important to the dome's existence (that seems like it might be more of an Everkeep thing) so much as it is important to transit through it; Vanguard is a fortress built on the only route in and out of the place (thanks to said train line, Vanguard seems to be built on/around a mountain pass), meaning that whoever holds it has complete control of transit in and out; a very important border checkpoint in a war scenario like Zoraal Ja wanted. Unfortunately for him, that also made it the first thing to fall.

[Layte_Aeon]

So the dome appears. Within that dome, time passes until Vanguard is completed, and is able to act as a hole in the dome, truly allowing the inside and outside to temporally sync, so about 30 years. The only bit of Vanguard that comes through is a door and part of a wall, which is far enough away from us when it appears that we simply don't see it at the time.

[Iscah]

The dome appears because Sphene in the Ninth tried to merge the worlds with the artefact. At this point the flow of time remains separated and anyone pulled in there from Tural is now operating on Alexandrian time.

Inside the dome, thirty years pass. Vanguard is built during this time to breach the dome and connect the worlds directly.

I assume they've emerged with a large amount of pre-fab pieces to assemble the outside of the base very quickly. They would have had as long to work on it as the Turali group spent rebuilding the train, and they have an army of automatons to do it.

[Astralia]

I'm actually on a second run of the msq, but it seemed to me indeed the Vanguard had been achieved after the dome appeared, and after Zoraal Ja and his ships came out of the dome, it only came to me: why was there a need to build the Vanguard at all. Because except maintaining contact between two worlds (since I think the contact Sphene made between the two is unstable), and the time sync... but I don't think they're that aware of the time sync between the worlds... besides with their large ships, they have every means to attack us with large troops and go back to their world already, therefore I see no reasons why they would need to build the Vanguard.

It's actually us who would have had a need of building a way to cross the dome

[Iscah]

They're planning to invade the Source and harvest souls, so they need a base of operations to work from and supply their warships.

[Dikatis]

I'm actually on a second run of the msq, but it seemed to me indeed the Vanguard had been achieved after the dome appeared, and after Zoraal Ja and his ships came out of the dome, it only came to me: why was there a need to build the Vanguard at all. Because except maintaining contact between two worlds (since I think the contact Sphene made between the two is unstable), and the time sync... but I don't think they're that aware of the time sync between the worlds... besides with their large ships, they have every means to attack us with large troops and go back to their world already, therefore I see no reasons why they would need to build the Vanguard.

It's actually us who would have had a need of building a way to cross the dome

Vanguard was built to breach the dome. That's the whole point. In the hallway after the second boss you can see it's a tunnel between the dome and the outside. Without it, you'd be fried by the lightning. And it's a resupply base for the airships and drones, hence the name "Vanguard".

[Cleretic]

It's actually us who would have had a need of building a way to cross the dome

Exactly.

Putting aside specific uncertainties that may not matter like 'when exactly it got built' and 'what exactly is its relationship with the dome', there's one thing we know for absolute certain about Vanguard, and that's its location: it is exactly ON the train line. Not near it, but on it; we ran the Dawnblazer directly into it. The train line is the one reliable way to get into Yyasulani, and Vanguard is their way of seizing control. Alexandrian air traffic is able to get through the dome thanks to electrope ships, but on-the-ground troops from either side, they have to go through that one tunnel.

Iscah and Dikatis are right, that this is also a supply depot; that's clear to see in the first chunk of the dungeon. It also seems to be some form of logistics or administrative hub, going by the final boss arena. But theoretically, a supply depot and logistics hub could've gone anywhere: they put Vanguard where it is specifically to get in our way. To control the one point of on-the-ground access.