SureAI

I'm lost. How could this is all be PC's imagination?
The veiled woman caused the explosion on ship which resulted in PC being exposed and thrown out of ship. If the whole post-intro thing is just some fabrication in PC's mind how do you explain veiled woman's role in this? She just did that so you'd have some crazy dream before you drown?

I'm not totally convinced by aged man being time incarnation theory either. From his letter as well as woman in water's words it's clear that he's more than just an observer, but has some agenda/plan to himself but failed because his 'pride'. I haven't played the Nehrim game but I think he's somehow connected to the events in it(in his letter he said something about him originally thinking what happened in Nehrim an upturning event but had eventually lost hope afterwards). Now I'm suspecting he is actually

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Narathzul Arentheal and the woman in water being Zelara

. But again I havent played Nehrim so I could be wrong. Here are some clues/questions about him I've gather so far:

+if you read the capitalized words in the books names when solving the trap door puzzle in his house you get "pride was my fall", same sentence appeared in his letter to his anonymous friend, who has likely made an appearence in previous game Nehrim?
+he thinks what happened in Nehrim 'so promising' but lost his hope afterwards because 'now everything is back at its old place'
+the woman in water is likely his lover but put to deep sleep for her mortality, she asked 'are we there yet?' when awaken by PC and said she 'still believe in our dream'. but what is their dream?
+the mannequins in ground floor are apparently refering to the black stone quests which would happen later in game, which means he can see things in future(or past in previous cycle)
+time on the clock on hearth is 7:57 or 11:39, could this mean something?
+the name Gajus(or Gaius) is derived from Latin word gaudere, which means 'to rejoice'

The idea of him being a prophet from previous cycle would seem very appealing. But it still leaves some questions unaccounted for, such as how the word of dead came in his possession, and why he didn't stop the cycle when he clearly can do something about it(unless the cycle is unstoppable).

I don't recall his exact words, but the Black Guardian mentions at some point that he can somehow observe the events in the world. The Aged Man in turn calls himself a "fleshless eye", so I wondered if there might be a connection. The Aged Man, as the Guardian himself, seems to be much older than the current cycle, or at least I got the impression, he had seen more than one Cycle.
That still doesn't explain, who the Aged Man is or who he is writing to (I doubt he writes letters to an ancient machine somewhere far underground). But if he serves the Black Guardian (who is, by all accounts, some sort of devil figure), this could be why he gives us the Word of the Dead and why he had it in his possession in the first place.

Both are dead by Nehrim's end

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.Zelara was murdered by Narathzul.He himself committed suicide.

Right. And I forgot that aged man had existed for at least centuries according to folk tale, so it couldn't be Narathzul because back then he was still imprisoned.

I've figured it out! The Aged Man has been observing the entire history of the cycles in Vyn, so it must be -- Nicolas Samuel !

Nikolas Samuel is keeping a woman in stasis ? Somebody call the health department asap!

Okay your theory explains everything about the Aged Man expect the woman in the vat.

I have another theory on the origins of the Aged Man.It is you,the prophet visiting Vyn from the future in a certain eventualities setting where you are male and picked Calia instead of Jespar.That explains the friend from Nehrim,the statues who show scenes from your quests for the Black Stones and the one who shows the Black Guardian (the legless one),the knowledge of the cycle etc.

But how did you manage to travel back in time?

What do you think about the fact that the friend mentioned in his letter could be the Shadow God? Or could be Arkt?

I would say he is one of the prophets from the past cycles who is also fleshless, who has great magic, probably illusion and manipulating objects and minds (Psionics and mentalism) with agenda to help the current prophet about the key knowledge of the cycle. He has been here so long that he practices his magic so much. He survived because he fled the cycle with his lover but his love is not immortal so he has to do his best to "preserve" her until that day comes, when someone figured out the way to "win" the cycle and she could survive again.

The Aged Man is restricted under some conditions that he cannot help the protagonist directly because it could stimulate pride on those who are on the protagonist's side and become an even worse catalyst for the cycle.

I observed from:

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- Pride was my fall hints in his manor.
- He knows the protagonist's intention on visiting him and let them live afterwords. If it would have been someone else with another agenda they will be dead. (Tealor Arantheal and bard's song said it)
- His possession of the Word of the Dead
- His ability to make his house disappear and form his own physical appearance as a servant

Isn't the Veiled Woman based a little bit on Gaia helping Zeus motif?