SureAI

And that's also a valid point. Although I personally don't want to delve into the origins of the High Ones, I'd rather that remained a mystery forever.

same here.

Me,I want anwers!Maybe the High Ones were created by the original servants of the Dark.They sure share a lot of qualities.

I am okay with speculating about them. I merely don't want Enderal to become Mass Effect. The aftertaste after the ending of ME3 never really disappeared...

Given how the only compulsory part of the Cycle is the Beacon, then maybe the Cycle predates the High Ones. Humanity might have built the Beacon to, hm, to do something, it backfired and cleansed them, creating the first High One.

funny, that's just what i was thinking.
and in my opinion the beacon is the magical equivalent of a nuclear weapon, and the chain-reaction was completely uncontrollable.

---edit
or a poor attempt to tap into a massive energy channel, for some reason.

Very interesting idea,that the first malfunctioning Beacon created the first High One.I imagine it was during the course of an hybris or a malicious act since the High ones are the result of the human ego.

If SureAI wants to continue work on Enderal or some hypothetical next big mod, I am okay with no explanation provided. However, if they ever get to the point where they are sure that they won't continue, I think it would be better to explain some questions that were left unanswered. I, personally, don't like when a story ends with more questions than I had in the beginning.

Seconded. Since there's no concrete plans on a sequel or anything like that leaving plot threads hanging forever without explanation is just bad story telling. Veiled Woman has been a Deus Ex Machina for the whole Enderal story. Not to mention the inconclusive ending

I myself liked the inconclusive story, because any shoehorned canon ending just wouldn't fit with the deeply psychological theme of the story. In Ending A, can the humanity truly destroy the High Ones? You have to answer that question on your own, based on how much you believe in humanity. The devs can't answer that for you. And in Ending B, do you believe that the Prophet, as you formed that character and their morals, can guide the new humanity towards altruism? Again, I think only you can answer that question, not the devs.

As for the Veiled Woman, read what Nicolas Samuel posted here on the first page, he mentions a possible quest about her in the possible Story DLC.

I would just like to chip in here, if I may, and point out a few things:

I find no certain indication the High Ones were created by the Cleansing, only that "this is how they reproduce".

What I mean is that a High One obtains its artificial consciousness by absorbing the collective memories of an entire civilization, by devouring the souls of the beings that lived then.
I do not know if many have noticed, but by the table, to the right, inside the dreamworld's Daddy's home, there's this painting by Francisco Goya:

http://www.19thcenturyart-facos.com/art ... s-children


This is, as the title indicates, Saturn devouring the "meat and blood" of everything he "created" (his children).

Do note that there are implications to this:
If Saturn needs to "produce" children and then eat them (when their "fat" and "delicious"), that means that he does not create what he actually feeds upon. Saturn creates the body and animates it with an animalistic soul, a divided consciousness (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anima_and_animus), but what Saturn actually feeds upon is on what he can't create: the uncreated spirit, that attaches itself to the souls.

Anyway, going back to the High Ones parallel, they can already exist prior to any Cleansing and merely use the Cleansing to reproduce by the consumption of the pure essence of other beings, fooled into participating in this process - this is implied by the presence of Goya's painting, especially in that setting, where Daddy, for better or worse, is trying to dissuade the Prophet from partaking any more in the actions that will culminate in another Cleansing (or Feeding).

The High Ones, as it is often hinted at during the game, are an empty shell, a void container with no life of their own. It is the essence of the beings consumed during the cleansing that gives them an appearance of "own existence", that is, an appearance of actual Life. In truth, the High Ones are complete parasites, under the guise of divinity (given by the access to the collective genius of a consumed civilization).