SureAI

I loaded to the auto-save before Calia asks you to make the choice and did both but I think the sacrifice ending is the better ending. I've heard the argument made that the escape ending is better because after the cleansing you and your partner could just go back down to Vyn and use the beacon to destroy the high ones without any interruption from other people.

Also here's the full quote of what Calia says on the sacrifice ending

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A great philosopher once said that every change begins with a moment of lucidity. In these moments a veil opens. One which normally shrouds all the unwelcome truths we’re aware of but which we have buried deep within ourselves where we cannot see them, and it is only these moments in which we can make a decision. The decision to either act or to let the moment pass until the veil seals itself again and we once more are the slaves of our habits.
I don’t believe in revolutions they’re too simple, too firey and they too often end with the opposite result of what was intended, but neither am I a cynic who has lost all faith in the world. Change is possible, but it won’t come as a big bang, but rather as a long path. One that will constantly confront us with obstacles.Obstacles we can either choose to overcome or which we choose to quietly turn around and go back to being what we were. The sacrifice of the one who will be remembered as the prophet is proof that I am right. Yes some may see the downfall of Enderal as the triumph of the high ones but it wasn’t. It was neither that nor a triumph for mankind, what we were granted was a moment of lucidity, the chance to start our own walk down a long rocky path. The high ones exist because we believe in them. We, our egos give them their power and the more we listen to their words, the more we hate them, the more powerful they become. Indeed the beacon, this ancient machine of unknown origin can destroy us, but it can also free us from the high ones once and for all… if we use it right. Rumors of the Arazealeans have started constructing a second beacon and the knowledge that this time we are aware of it’s nature. Give me hope that the man I loved has not died in vain and that we continue walking.

In my opinion, you have to look at which of the endings will be possible and more trustworthy to be continued further. In the escape ending, you get to live with Calia or Jespar. I believe them to be immortal but they will eventually succumb to the hunger and thirst (as I don't remember many food trees on the Star City) and the Prophet will change their priorities to save his companion rather than the world --> new Aged man.
The other option is to sacrifice the Prophet, which blows up an entire continent of Enderal.
If you look at this from the point of the creators then the escape ending would be rather uncomfortable to explain surviving in the Star City for thousands of years and then creating completely different civilisation and world (as Yuslan said that Pyrreans lived on one huge continent). On the other hand, hard to say how much thus civilisation differed from the previous ones and having a friendly High One would be cool aspect to the game, but I suppose that won't happen.
The other ending - destroying Enderal - you would change everything even if the Cleansing happens, becouse if every Prophet would do like so then there would be eventually no ground to spread life on. Also, the Prophet is a fleshless one, so who says that if you flee the High ones lose control above you.

I believe float away is canon and makes sense. Sacrifice the few for the many. Running away is cowardice and selfish like Daddy said. Don't be a wuss. Kill yourself. The Goliath and the Aged Man are solid examples of escapees. :p

I chose Escape pod ending in the first round, and...to be honest, I think both of these endings are tragic endings.
The reason that I chose escaping ending is simple: I just don't wanna let Jespar down.(yes I went through the romance plot with Jespar) Truly, whole mankind would fade, there is no any reason to be a prophet, to take the resbonsibility of being messiah. All I want is being together with Jespar
But who knows, is that anothr illusion? All of these, even Jespar himself, is the Illusion of a Nehrimese kid?

(About the sacrifice ending, my freind told me that if prophet died, prophet would be the winner of relationship. Because the dead will always be engraved. I don't understand it actually.)

I wanted to pick the sacrifice ending (on the basis that I could pick the other one on my second playthrough, just to see what happened). But my game bugged and I only got the "Flee" option in the dialogue. Apparently the game really wanted my character to live. Blame the Veiled Woman. Or possibly all those mods I installed.

I'm a little fuzzy on whether Calia can age and die like a normal person, since she is already basically the undead, but all I can say is she'd better be really good company and/or Star City had better have a really good library.

I finished this game today.

I chose the Sacrifice option, for several reasons, here they are in order of importance.

1. The Black Guardians logic didn't convince me, so I was to become a 'god' and live on the Star City and teach people to better themselves. Ok, but my Prophet character is not a god, just a powerful person who is potentially immortal and ageless and even that is not certain. In any event the character is killable, not in any way omniscient and cant hear prayers. Even if he could be worshipped his influence is very limited compared to other deities in fantasy and from Earth history and mythos.

2. If purportedly infinite beings like those central to real world religions or mythic pantheons cant get people to overcome their nature and live without succumbing to their fears and ambitions enough to prevent the return of the High Ones, however could an immortal adventurer who has ostensibly few if any divine powers or wisdom.

3. Knowledge of how to effect a proper cleansing is more likely to happen now while large numbers of people can see the awful consequences. This is aided by Calia/Jespars testimony to foreign leaders. It is entirely likely that a subsequent beacon would be lit properly and in the right circumstances.

4. There is no reason why the Prophet should expect to die, in fact getting to the escape pods is almost as dangerous as approaching the beacon, and Calia/Jespar managed that somehow without being Fleshless. It's a case of plot fiat both ways. I think the Prophet should have a chance to smash the stones then try to escape to the pods.

5. It seemed like the cowards way out to run when millions could be saved and the Cleansing interrupted. My character was romancing Calia and it was her preferred option, despite knowing it would cause her lovers end. escaping with her would lead to an insurmountable guilt over time, and plenty of time to consider such.

6. If the escape pods allow escape, why would the Prophet assume they would still be there. It wasnt part of Tealors plan. Some of the scholars might have realised escape to the Star City would save them and taken them. The last guy on deck of a sinking ship cannot guarantee there are any lifeboats left and those were good lifeboats with room for only two. there was no preservation order against using them to our knowledg and one wouldnt have survived the actual lighting of the beason, or maybe even the battery of the gates. Archmagister Lexil is top of the list for people who would see the opportunity, and he was still alive if not mobile by the4 time the Prophet arrived back at the temple. If Calia could make the journey after teleporting back Lexil could have from the time the beacon was lit/about to be lit.


There is another factor, it is ambiguous how long each cycle lasts, do humans have to evolve again from surrounded fauna, or do the High Ones seed a population of primitive humans they themselves save to shorted the cycle. I assume the latter but some dialogue assumes the former. My character might be waiting a very long time, alone, before they can begin with work.

There are some reasons to escape though.

1. Now the knowledge of the beacon is proliferated people can build them. Like nukes there will always be someone who wants one, some madman who wants to punish the world for reasons of their own. A cleansing might be inevitable even after the banishment of the High Ones unless the knowledge is removed. However a god-Prophet can organise the building of a beacon by their faithful workers without explaining key ingredients, y sourcing black stones themselves alone and preventing contact between different stages of the assembly team perhaps over generations. Thus a beacon could be assembled without proliferation of the technology, used properly and then dismantled.

2. The Prophet can assemble a new Numinos by returning to the Sun Temple when the cleaning has burned out. The Azrealeans cannot as they lack some required skills unless the Veiled Woman creates a new prophet - the High Ones will not feel very cooperative this time.

Spending time with Calia matters too but isn't relevant on a cosmic cycle.

Unlike most people here who are explaining themselves in detail I chose to escape. My reasoning follows:

First off I think the Black Guardian has the best understanding of what's going on out of everyone you ever encounter in the game besides the high ones themselves. I must discount the high ones as their best interests do not align with your own so I can't take what they say without major doubt as their key ability is manipulation. The Guardian has told us everything he knows for sure and one of those things is that this is the first time events unfolded in such a way (to his knowledge) to allow for you to even make this decision. 1/1000 chance. So throwing your life away essentially wastes that 1/1000 chance. The one main thing left to test is whether the beacon when lit properly can work at all.

The idea of building a perfect humanity and being their god sounds nice and dandy I don't believe that is feasible. If my character got his way I'd have never tried to kill the guardian, rather flee in order to save his life as he is a essentially a tome of knowledge. There doesn't exist (afaik) a character with more years than he has that is also willing to talk to us. My plan A was that I'd have fled and returned to rebuild his body and let him free. A constant survivor of the cycle there to use your help wherever necessary. Though he may be power hungry and get all pissy if we tried to rule. Still I had no intention of becoming a forefront figure so it's fine pretty sure we'd get along. Anyways as that's been removed as an option so on to plan B.

I do believe that as a prophet who now understands the system you can essentially guarantee the success of the next cycle and figure out whether loading the Numinos with the High One's essence would work.

Short version: Drop in during the next siege and kill the two accomplices who are not the Leader and the Prophet (figure out via friendly questioning) and escape. In those thousands of years of solitude you would have progressed your ability to point where there will be no one besides other god-like immortal beings who could match your power so killing next gen Sha'Rim & Caila / Jespar will be a cakewalk.


Additionally:
You could rebuild the beacon in the Pyrean ruins and take all the black gems needed to power it up to the sky city ensuring anyone powering the next generation would need to go through you first. After your partner dies and you work through your grief (Calia was shown to age so she at least will die) you can roam the world for eons watching each generation grow and influencing them from the side for your own interest but not to take them off the set path in order for you to eventually change fate.

Plan C: Once the lightborn are in rule you could enlist their help and get it done then in exchange for saving their asses from the incoming shadowborn.


Why not to pick sacrifice:

The high ones still manipulate the people. Which means even if the masses know what's going on the people sent to get the beacon will still have someone come in to betray them via manipulation who will have seemed an ally the whole way through. The only way this isn't going to happen is if you as an outside force remove the spy from the equation using a set routine you know will play out. I would have chosen sacrifice along with the rest of you as the better option if events didnt repeat the same way over and over. But having lived it you know exactly who will be the one to fuck things up and you have a chance to fix it. The remaining people do not have this vision this knowledge. They will stumble blindly and if they succeed it'll be due to pure luck, rather than a logical conclusion to the story.

Also people who believe the aged man is another prophet and thus is proof of the failing of this plan I have one point to make. Remember that there were no starlings and thus no star city until a few cycles back during the black guardian's time. So there most likely wouldn't have been a place like that to flee too. It's possible another civilization built a "star city 1.0" but I wouldn't buy it. So he is probably something different. And in the event that he is, we are not him and have him to help us. He has his lover as a crutch to keep her alive. If we do things properly, we won't.


Problems with my theory:
- The prophet may still be under high one's control. - Seems not to be but we don't know for sure.
- The prophet may not stay sane. - Also no way to know this ahead of time
- The prophet is not omniscient so the beacon events may unfold before he/she has time to react at the appropriate moment. (right -
before the end).
- Veiled woman may get in the way and revive Sha'Rim 2.0 and Love Interest 2.0