Calyx and Preservation

[mallleable]

A random question/thought

Is Calyx's VA the same as XVI's Ultima's VA?

[Levinphos]

Also, even if the ninth is now devoid of all human civilization, Calyx's terminal(s) surely must be there somewhere, right?

It could just as easily be hidden somewhere in the Everkeep. We already saw how Calyx utilized the Underkeep for clandestine purposes, so it is just as likely his terminal(s) could be hidden somewhere in the many levels of the Everkeep we haven't seen.

[Cleretic]

Do we know for sure that there's no more civilization in the ninth? Because the Living Memory zone is in the ninth, and you can clearly see a beautiful cloudy sky with sun shining and everything. Makes you wonder, with all this electrope technology some of the citizens from the ninth could easily have built a spaceship and fled to space or to the moon or whatever.

Also, even if the ninth is now devoid of all human civilization, Calyx's terminal(s) surely must be there somewhere, right?

We actually don't know for certain that there isn't someone else around on the Ninth; the subject has never come up to confirm or deny it. Which is a bit of an odd gap: we've never even incidentally gotten a line like 'before Lindblum fell they did X', the other parts of the Ninth just sort of exist only in abstract.

I'm not sure if that's a clue, or just storytelling efficiency. The story of the Ninth is only ever a story about Alexandria, so what happened to Lindblum just doesn't matter, in the same way that specifics about cities outside of Amaurot don't matter to the story of the Ancients. But unlike the Ancient world, the Ninth does have named locations, so it's entirely possible that might be setup for an execution somewhere down the line.

[Veritas-Ancora]

The Ascians were a thousand times smarter than this little brat. When he learns how to snap something into existence, we'll talk.

[thegreatonemal]

The Ascians were a thousand times smarter than this little brat. When he learns how to snap something into existence, we'll talk.

That's not a particularly impressive ability. Omega has it as a side function and a little alien guy from the Hildibrandquest has it installed on his ship.

[mallleable]

Another specific that keeps rattling around in my head is why The Ninth? Why did The Key take the Milalla from The Source to The Ninth? It could have taken them anywhere.

[Cassar]

That's not a particularly impressive ability. Omega has it as a side function and a little alien guy from the Hildibrandquest has it installed on his ship.

Not to mention that Emet-Selch himself was utterly impressed by G'raha Tia after learning that he managed to transport the entirety of the crystal tower across time and space. Not even he was capable of doing anything like that. Imagine what Calyx could do if he had access to that key!

[Cleretic]

Not to mention that Emet-Selch himself was utterly impressed by G'raha Tia after learning that he managed to transport the entirety of the crystal tower across time and space. Not even he was capable of doing anything like that. Imagine what Calyx could do if he had access to that key!

Hell, if the Ascians had a routine, group-wide character trait, it was underestimating and then getting outsmarted by everybody around them. Elidibus was beaten by the Crystal Exarch springing a trap with the Crystal Tower... while Elidibus had a crystal that let him control the Crystal Tower and know how to use it. It takes an impressive level of hubris to fall for that one.

Also, Calyx can conjure things into existence with even less effort than Emet. He doesn't even need to snap to make that tablet of his appear and disappear! If Emet's dumb party trick is really our bar, Calyx is clearing it without even any theatrics.

Another specific that keeps rattling around in my head is why The Ninth? Why did The Key take the Milalla from The Source to The Ninth? It could have taken them anywhere.

It's entirely possible that the key can only do that specific route; we've never seen it do any other, so who's to say it's not just a key to specifically a Source-Ninth connection and that's it? That its creators only ever figured out that one connection?

But if it can go to any shard and they just went to the Ninth... well, what's wrong with the Ninth? The Ninth is a perfectly good shard. It's entirely possible they could've gone anywhere, and that the decision to go to the Ninth wasn't actually one made for any deeply important reason: it was just there.

[fulminating]

Not to mention that Emet-Selch himself was utterly impressed by G'raha Tia after learning that he managed to transport the entirety of the crystal tower across time and space. Not even he was capable of doing anything like that. Imagine what Calyx could do if he had access to that key!

>if only he had an artefact of someone else’s origin he’d be so impressive

???

The electrope genius thing is more interesting to me; is he a ghost in the machine, something similar to 7.0sphene or another thing entirely? He doesn’t seem to be entirely physically there yet also tries to stay in the shadows. It would be neat albeit somewhat improbable if he’s entirely invisible to those with regulators. In some ways electrope being inscribed rock has some similarities with the giant frog guys’s memorial stones, him existing beyond death as an entity within it would be an interesting parallel.