SureAI

Full of spoilers

If you were a minor character in the game but know about the cleansing as much as The Black Guardian would tell the protagonist, (about what stimulates the cleansing and who are the main emissaries).

Hypothetical questions are:
1. Which minor character would you pick?
2. What courses of action would you take in order to help the prophet and prevent the tragic endings?

Minor character means those who are not:
- A boss enemy NPC
- Named characters in the Sun Temple or any high ranks in the Holy Order.
- Any quest giver NPC

(you can still choose one of the merchants, keepers, guards, arcanists,novices)

My pick would be:

[+]

An arcanist who studies with the Arch Magister to bring up issues about pride, how it feeds the high ones, convince the Arch Magister because he seems to be a high ranking person with the least pride issues, then start teaming up the guards and keepers, start talking about it in taverns, and remind the prophet about the Aged Man's letter about how he fell from pride, and finally influence the prophet to confront Arantheal about this issue.

Though irrelavent, I would like to find a way to save Lishari too!

Hmm I guess it depends on how resilient you think the cycle is. On the face of it, the events leading to the cleansing are such a precarious rube goldberg machine of cause and effect that some well placed sabotage or murder would totally throw things off. Be the temple cook and poison Sha'rim's coffee one day.

However I understand why you'd want a solution that enlightens the protagonists since simple sabotage without the protagonists understanding things still leaves them open to manipulation and the High Ones would find another way. I think I might go with a compromise: be an arcanist in the Temple and fake an old Pyrean document explaining that the Beacon without Numinos = Cleansing, and then being like "hey guys look at this important research I uncovered".

Guy named Lijam stands out. He's in the Chronikum where Constantine calls him an errand boy, and also at Star City where Jespar orders him around as "Boy."

As an Arkanist & Mage though, he might know what Yeala & Lexil are working on. And if treated with disrespect, he probably doesn't like upper management. ; )

Lijam after one too many beers at local tavern:

"It's crazy I tell you! The beacon has no fail-safe! Three black-stones should mean three sane people have to put them into place at the same time. Then a fourth person activates it. No one person should be able to just flip a switch! That's insane! That's too much power in the hands of just one person! Power corrupts but so does weakness! First thing they teach you!

"And even if we succeed, what then?

"Once these high ones are banished, what do we do with this thing? How do we safeguard it? How do we prevent someone abusing its power? Safety in numbers I say. Four people at once so no one can play god!"

---
Lishari's murder

Heh. Very hard on second play-through not to frag Yuslan. Possessed or driven insane by grief?

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Edit: This just struck me. Never underestimate the elderly! Some nameless street vendor who's a little old lady, and knows a critical bit of information.

"Yes, I know what you're after, but I'm not going to tell you. What are you going to do? Kill Me? I'm 87 and I'm at peace with myself and the world. What you're after will only lead to violence and when you get to be my age I hope you'll realize that violence is never the answer."

Yea, I don't think poisoning Yuslan Sha'Rim would be really working as you explained, that would be an easy task for the high ones to work around.

The idea of some Pyrean documents sounds really awesome and can be very convincing, I bet Arantheal may feel a bit offended since it may tickle his pride in some way hehe. A great time to place that document could be around the time of the Aged Man quest of Old Dotholgard ruins (the place that Calia revealed her demon form killing the bandit leader) and the beacon was discovered, or may be that first temple (maybe that's older than the Pyrean civilization?) One challenging thing is to make the document look real, could be language issues and archaeological dating, or may be a few of them has to be placed in different places.

Lijam's rant at the tavern sounds a really good idea hehehe and great observation you took about he may not like the upper management. I like the idea of 4-person safe-proofing the beacon, and a betrayal-proof too! If someone tries to light the beacon alone without the Numinos, that person should be killed whether it's a teammate, superior, or Arantheal.

One thing that I noticed that's kind of a gap about Lishari's murder, if she feels that someone was going to take her life that bad (while making appointment to see the prophet at the Dancing Nomad), she should've asked the prophet or whoever she trusts to accompany her all the time, or keeping a close distance, something around that.

Yeah, if she suspected who had hired the mercenaries would she have let him get that close to her in tavern room?

So he hired someone? If so, who was it so I can have some satisfying payback!

Wonder if they had originally planned more to the investigation, and had to alter it because people left the project or whatever.

It's like an tavern I blundered into in the Powdered Desert. I'm trying not to kill the bar-keep. Why is she attacking me? Accidental hit?

Reload game. Nope. She attacks & I find these Hooka-pipe activators. It's supposed to be a glimmer-dust den or something? Part of Golden Sickle quests that had to be canceled?

Who knows!

Oh yea, you made a point of it may have been cut off by reasons along those lines. Also I recalled that tavern in Powder Desert, I think everyone was named "bandit" or "maurader" so I took no time hesitating whether to poisonshot everyone or not.

Now another idea of ensuring the lighting the beacon with the Numinos, now to be the "secretary" of Holy Order meetings, who keeps records of missions in detail, I will emphasize after the mission at the Aged Man's manor, I felt that this character is so powerful and knows a lot more than what meets the eye, as the Aged Man totally supports the prophet so every clue he left should be significant to the survival of mankind.

I will be asking the prophet it detail about the letter he left, "PRIDE WAS MY FALL" and convince every level of person in the order to keep each other in check of pride, this is especially for Arantheal and everyone who he quarrels with.

I would pick some high ranking mage, and during the siege of Ark I would open gates and let the Nehrimese through. They would dismantle the machine and actually save the world LOL. It's ironic the Order was doing the bad guy's work and the Nehrimese were the good guys. Both were unknowingly misguided though. Hail Taranor of the Northrealm!

Hey Hazzmat, that is an interesting view where I rarely hear people talk about destroying the beacon.
But I could point out some flaws if looking into that way (while obviously you are open to point out flaws from my theories)

1. If the beacon would be successfully and safely taken apart, wouldn't the cleansing still happen but in a slower and less destructive process?

2. About saying Taranor Corack and his followers were actually the good guys, while they may be able to take out the biggest chance for a massive destruction, aren't they still highly motivated by pride and willing to kill the "holy" and "religious" people as no less violent as how they were treated before? Which still fits the will of the High Ones.

Nah I don't think so. From what I understand the cleansing is man-made but obviously manipulated by the high ones. The high ones actually don't do anything. By building a beacon, the Order actually again made it possible to unknowingly do another cleansing even though they think they are stopping it. It's a double edged sword imo. You can permanently destroy the high ones but in return you make it VERY easy for the high ones just to manipulate a key few people and destroy humankind instead. Not sure about the red madness, it wasn't made clear if that would disappear or linger on if the people on Vyn simply didn't do anything.

About Taranor and his followers, I'm not saying he's good. He's willing to kill anyone who stands against him so in that sense he's quite evil and violent etc but with him the high ones's chance for a cleansing is drastically lowered because Taranor thinks it will happen on it's own (which it never will) and that the machine will stop it. So he's willing to exterminate anyone to make sure no machine gets build. I see him as a necessary evil. As I said it's ironic as Taranor thinks he's helping the high ones whilst it's the other way around.

Yea, it can be put that way, The holy order tried to stop the cleansing, but actually helped it happen faster and more violent, while Nehrim tried to make the cleansing happen and do the bidding of the HIgh Ones, but turned out ir they were successful, the cleansing may happen in a less violent way.