Summary: The Twilight God falls. The Dawn Goddess weeps.
Mission: When Angels Fall (Chains of Promathia, ch.8)
-We head out to the open Al’Taieu. Prishe asks two nearby Quasilumins: “Hey, did you guys see where Promathia went?” You know, giant beautiful evil god? About this high? No face, purple tentacle wings? Seen him?
QUASILUMIN: “All have become one… My master, his lady, their friends, everyone. All have coalesced into a single deity.” [GotG2 spoilers: Trggvat znwbe Rtb ivorf sebz Cebznguvn.]
-Promathia floats high above the spires of Al’Taieu.
PROMATHIA: “Canst thou hear me, Goddess? Thou who has sheltered my very existence. I will be reborn. It is time to surrender to thine abhorred ‘death,’ to the embrace of perpetual darkness. An eternity of silence awaits. Our farewell this time shall be forever.
“The apocalypse is at hand.”
[Later edit: Promathia’s relationship with Altana fascinates me. He doesn’t seem to hate her. It’s more like Promathia wants an end to things, maybe even sees something pure in that. Altana does not want that. Promathia using the word “shelter” tells me a lot.]
-He sets the sky ablaze. And that’s when shit starts to get trippy. We glimpse the inside of the palace, crackling with light and power.
KUKKI-CHEBUKKI: “Wait! Take us with you!” NO KIDS, DON’T GO WITH SATAN
-Prishe intuits that this “dusty old divinity” (XD XD XD) is going to Vana’diel. He plans to break the fifth mother crystal and bring Al’Taieu crashing into Vana’diel.
-When Promathia absorbed Nag’molada, he also absorbed his knowledge. How to break into Vana’diel.
-Prishe takes the amulet back from me. Why? Perhaps to communicate with the absorbed Nag’molada.
-Prishe now knows that Promathia is in the lower level of the palace.
“C’mon, Detolilla! It’s time to put the hurt on the Twilight God!”
---
Mission: Dawn (Chains of Promathia, ch.8)
-I return to the Garden of Ru’Hmet, and go down to a floor called “Empyreal Paradox.” Not sure what that means.
-Ooh!! This is where the mothercrystal is housed. It glows dark yellows, and other crystal shards are cracked, suspended in air.
-I walk towards it, and the scene changes. I’m no longer in the Garden of Ru’Hmet. I’m in some celestial void, with rock particles and crystal shards all around. Prishe’s here.
-She looks down and sees… Qufim. Qufim island. We’re floating above Vana’diel.
[Later edit: I looked up “empyreal,” and it means “heavenly.” I think I now get why this place is an Empyreal Paradox. It’s because I’m simultaneously deep within this tower/alternate dimension as well as being above Vana’diel.]
Mission: When Angels Fall (Chains of Promathia, ch.8)
-We head out to the open Al’Taieu. Prishe asks two nearby Quasilumins: “Hey, did you guys see where Promathia went?” You know, giant beautiful evil god? About this high? No face, purple tentacle wings? Seen him?
QUASILUMIN: “All have become one… My master, his lady, their friends, everyone. All have coalesced into a single deity.” [GotG2 spoilers: Trggvat znwbe Rtb ivorf sebz Cebznguvn.]
-Promathia floats high above the spires of Al’Taieu.
PROMATHIA: “Canst thou hear me, Goddess? Thou who has sheltered my very existence. I will be reborn. It is time to surrender to thine abhorred ‘death,’ to the embrace of perpetual darkness. An eternity of silence awaits. Our farewell this time shall be forever.
“The apocalypse is at hand.”
[Later edit: Promathia’s relationship with Altana fascinates me. He doesn’t seem to hate her. It’s more like Promathia wants an end to things, maybe even sees something pure in that. Altana does not want that. Promathia using the word “shelter” tells me a lot.]
-He sets the sky ablaze. And that’s when shit starts to get trippy. We glimpse the inside of the palace, crackling with light and power.
KUKKI-CHEBUKKI: “Wait! Take us with you!” NO KIDS, DON’T GO WITH SATAN
-Prishe intuits that this “dusty old divinity” (XD XD XD) is going to Vana’diel. He plans to break the fifth mother crystal and bring Al’Taieu crashing into Vana’diel.
-When Promathia absorbed Nag’molada, he also absorbed his knowledge. How to break into Vana’diel.
-Prishe takes the amulet back from me. Why? Perhaps to communicate with the absorbed Nag’molada.
-Prishe now knows that Promathia is in the lower level of the palace.
“C’mon, Detolilla! It’s time to put the hurt on the Twilight God!”
---
Mission: Dawn (Chains of Promathia, ch.8)
-I return to the Garden of Ru’Hmet, and go down to a floor called “Empyreal Paradox.” Not sure what that means.
-Ooh!! This is where the mothercrystal is housed. It glows dark yellows, and other crystal shards are cracked, suspended in air.
-I walk towards it, and the scene changes. I’m no longer in the Garden of Ru’Hmet. I’m in some celestial void, with rock particles and crystal shards all around. Prishe’s here.
-She looks down and sees… Qufim. Qufim island. We’re floating above Vana’diel.
[Later edit: I looked up “empyreal,” and it means “heavenly.” I think I now get why this place is an Empyreal Paradox. It’s because I’m simultaneously deep within this tower/alternate dimension as well as being above Vana’diel.]
-HAHAHA OH SHIT – SELH’TEUS IS FACING OFF AGAINST PROMATHIA
-HE’S GOT PROMATHIA ON THE ROPES – SOME SORT OF LANCE HE FIRES OUT PARALYZES THE GOD
-FHDJKLSFHDSFLHLDS THE MOTHERFUCKING TARUTARU TRIO APPEARS AND SUMMONS A METEOR
-AGAINST SELH’TEUS
-The Tarutaru trio has thrown their lot in with Promathia. I get that their minds are less resistant to Promathia’s temptations than, say, Prishe’s or Tenzen’s, but still. C’mon. Their meteor knocks Selh’teus down.
-Selh’teus is hurt but okay. His hold on Promathia is still active. For now.
PRISHE: “The will of Promathia, the ‘Emptiness,’ is the manifestation of complete death. Even a god would be destroyed by the full force of Emptiness. That’s why so many vessels were needed to hold it.”
-That’s where the races of Vana’diel come in. We each hold a bit of Emptiness inside us because if we didn’t, it would overwhelm existence.
AHA!!! That also explains the whole mortality thing. The Emptiness inside us is a bit of death. This is why the Zilart who lack that Emptiness are immortal.
SELH’TEUS: “Yes… to insure the Twilight God’s continued existence, Altana stole the energy of the mothercrystal to create the race of people. The mothercrystal split into five parts, and the realm of the gods was torn from its higher plane – to be transformed into the world of Vana’diel.”
[Later edit: Again, this relationship between Altana and Promathia. He wanted to be overcome by Emptiness, and she wanted him to continue to exist. Which is… sort of fucked up I guess for her to force it, but on the other hand if he got his way everything would end, so idk. Not sure if Altana wanting to “insure the Twilight God’s continued existence” is a practical or emotional choice, or both. Leaning towards both.]
“The people of Al’Taieu, with this knowledge burned into their souls, joined together to return to the Twilight God. They sought to restore the original mothercrystal and open the gates to Paradise. That was when they knew – the thing that I, once killed by the suffocating grasp of Emptiness, know only too well.
“The despair of the apocalypse. I want to end this curse. No longer shall we live in the shadow of our darkness – our arrogance, envy, cowardice, apathy, and rage…”
The paralysis ends. Promathia is back in action.
-lolol Prishe just called Promathia “Your Twilightness.” XD
-We charge him. First phase down.
-In the second phase, he goes invulnerable for a while, but we outwait it and he goes down.
-lolol the Tarutaru trio panics. Another of their temporary masters falls. What is this, the fifth?
-Prishe starts to charge for the killing blow.
FUCK NO NO NO NONO NO NONO
-HE’S GOT PROMATHIA ON THE ROPES – SOME SORT OF LANCE HE FIRES OUT PARALYZES THE GOD
-FHDJKLSFHDSFLHLDS THE MOTHERFUCKING TARUTARU TRIO APPEARS AND SUMMONS A METEOR
-AGAINST SELH’TEUS
-The Tarutaru trio has thrown their lot in with Promathia. I get that their minds are less resistant to Promathia’s temptations than, say, Prishe’s or Tenzen’s, but still. C’mon. Their meteor knocks Selh’teus down.
-Selh’teus is hurt but okay. His hold on Promathia is still active. For now.
PRISHE: “The will of Promathia, the ‘Emptiness,’ is the manifestation of complete death. Even a god would be destroyed by the full force of Emptiness. That’s why so many vessels were needed to hold it.”
-That’s where the races of Vana’diel come in. We each hold a bit of Emptiness inside us because if we didn’t, it would overwhelm existence.
AHA!!! That also explains the whole mortality thing. The Emptiness inside us is a bit of death. This is why the Zilart who lack that Emptiness are immortal.
SELH’TEUS: “Yes… to insure the Twilight God’s continued existence, Altana stole the energy of the mothercrystal to create the race of people. The mothercrystal split into five parts, and the realm of the gods was torn from its higher plane – to be transformed into the world of Vana’diel.”
[Later edit: Again, this relationship between Altana and Promathia. He wanted to be overcome by Emptiness, and she wanted him to continue to exist. Which is… sort of fucked up I guess for her to force it, but on the other hand if he got his way everything would end, so idk. Not sure if Altana wanting to “insure the Twilight God’s continued existence” is a practical or emotional choice, or both. Leaning towards both.]
“The people of Al’Taieu, with this knowledge burned into their souls, joined together to return to the Twilight God. They sought to restore the original mothercrystal and open the gates to Paradise. That was when they knew – the thing that I, once killed by the suffocating grasp of Emptiness, know only too well.
“The despair of the apocalypse. I want to end this curse. No longer shall we live in the shadow of our darkness – our arrogance, envy, cowardice, apathy, and rage…”
The paralysis ends. Promathia is back in action.
-lolol Prishe just called Promathia “Your Twilightness.” XD
-We charge him. First phase down.
-In the second phase, he goes invulnerable for a while, but we outwait it and he goes down.
-lolol the Tarutaru trio panics. Another of their temporary masters falls. What is this, the fifth?
-Prishe starts to charge for the killing blow.
FUCK NO NO NO NONO NO NONO
PROMATHIA
REACHED OUT HIS HAND AND STOPPED PRISHE IN HER TRACKS. HE’S DOING TO
HER WHAT HE DID TO NAG’MOLADA – CREATING A POOL OF EMPTINESS BENEATH
HER, TRYING TO ABSORB HER
PROMATHIA: “Yearn... Desire... Hunger for... the end of mortality.”
-The Tarutaru trio sees this and summons another meteor – this time on Promathia. Guys. MAKE UP YOUR MINDS. [Later edit: In hindsight, I am not sure whether they intended to hit Prishe or Promathia here. But they said something like, ‘yay, time for divine retribution!’ so I think they were still on Team Promathia.]
-Shit shit shit Prishe is going down into the Emptiness pool.
-HAHAHAHA NEVER MIND – SHE’S FIGHTING
SHE FIGHTS HER WAY UP AND I’M PUMPING MY FISTS
PRISHE: “This is not the end. There will be no apocalypse.”
SHE GRABS THE FRAGMENT OF DARK MAGICITE SHE KEPT [Later edit: the Star of Tavnazia], AND LAUNCHES IT AT PROMATHIA’S FACE
SELH’TEUS LAUNCHES HIS OWN SPEAR AT THE SAME TIME, AND BOTH LODGE IN PROMATHIA’S HEAD FORMING A MAGICITE THINGY
-Promathia is distracted by something. Someone is calling him.
PROMATHIA: “Who…? What faceless soul calleth me from the void…!?”
-JUST NOW, ALL THE LIGHT THAT WAS STORED UP INSIDE ME FROM ALL MY TRIPS TO THE MOTHERCRYSTALS THIS EXPANSION – LIGHT OF HOLLA, DEM, MEA, VAHZL, AND AL’TAIEU, BLASTS FORTH
???: “Canst thou… hear me… Promathia?”
Is this Yve’noile?
No. It’s not.
PROMATHA: “I hear thee... Altana…” It’s the Dawn Goddess herself. Holy shit holy shit I have goosebumps.
Promathia erupts in light coming down from high. [Later edit: the tears of Altana.] His body breaks down and scatters.
See ya.
PROMATHIA: “Yearn... Desire... Hunger for... the end of mortality.”
-The Tarutaru trio sees this and summons another meteor – this time on Promathia. Guys. MAKE UP YOUR MINDS. [Later edit: In hindsight, I am not sure whether they intended to hit Prishe or Promathia here. But they said something like, ‘yay, time for divine retribution!’ so I think they were still on Team Promathia.]
-Shit shit shit Prishe is going down into the Emptiness pool.
-HAHAHAHA NEVER MIND – SHE’S FIGHTING
SHE FIGHTS HER WAY UP AND I’M PUMPING MY FISTS
PRISHE: “This is not the end. There will be no apocalypse.”
SHE GRABS THE FRAGMENT OF DARK MAGICITE SHE KEPT [Later edit: the Star of Tavnazia], AND LAUNCHES IT AT PROMATHIA’S FACE
SELH’TEUS LAUNCHES HIS OWN SPEAR AT THE SAME TIME, AND BOTH LODGE IN PROMATHIA’S HEAD FORMING A MAGICITE THINGY
-Promathia is distracted by something. Someone is calling him.
PROMATHIA: “Who…? What faceless soul calleth me from the void…!?”
-JUST NOW, ALL THE LIGHT THAT WAS STORED UP INSIDE ME FROM ALL MY TRIPS TO THE MOTHERCRYSTALS THIS EXPANSION – LIGHT OF HOLLA, DEM, MEA, VAHZL, AND AL’TAIEU, BLASTS FORTH
???: “Canst thou… hear me… Promathia?”
Is this Yve’noile?
No. It’s not.
PROMATHA: “I hear thee... Altana…” It’s the Dawn Goddess herself. Holy shit holy shit I have goosebumps.
Promathia erupts in light coming down from high. [Later edit: the tears of Altana.] His body breaks down and scatters.
See ya.
Comets of lights start peppering the fading mothercrystal, returning to it.
[Non-rhetorical question for y’all: is this light, this “lifeforce,” that charges up the mothercrystal something that comes from Altana, from my stored up mothercrystal charges (light of Dem, Holla, etc.), or something that comes from Promathia’s death?]
PRISHE: “Now the people of Al’Taieu, and Nag’molada, too, will find peace at last…”
One of the light comets hits Prishe herself.
“Heh heh, look at that. The tears of the Goddess.”
-She was prone, but the tears rejuvenate her. She’s okay. WHEW. Christ, I was TERRIFIED that she’d be consumed by Promathia’s Emptiness, especially given her personal desire for the end to her immortality, but no. She fought hard. She survived. Thank Altana.
PRISHE: “Far above the world, Altana grieves for her lost Promathia. The facets of the Dawn Goddess, Altana… Trust, compassion, justice, courage, hope… And that which was born last…”
[Non-rhetorical question for y’all: what does Prishe mean here, by “that which was born last?” Hope?]
Prishe’s crying.
“If people learn this one thing, I think they can carry on. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you Detolilla?” Even when they want the end.
-Everyone’s okay!! Yay!!! Just this once, everyone lives! Ulmia, Tenzen, Jabbos, Louverance, everyone runs up. Promathia’s hold on them broken.
PRISHE: “Vana’diel and her people are safe. And don’t let me catch you worrying about us being the children of Promathia. Listen. The voice of the Goddess, mute for so long, should be clear to you now.”
-The tears of Altana fall down, hitting all the party members one-by-one.
-Even the fucking Tarutaru.
-So yes, the Emptiness dwells inside us, but a part of Altana herself lives within us too.
PRISHE: “When people are born, the tears of the Goddess flow within them.” We are more than our despair.
-The fifth mothercrystal is now saved. Al’Taieu remains separate from Vana’diel. The lifeforce within Vana’diel healed the crystal.
-Selh’teus plans to stay behind in Al’Taieu, watching over our world.
PRISHE: “It’s time we went home. The apocalypse is over.”
That was awesome.
???: “It’s never over!!!” Uhhhhhh wait.
“Our journey…”
“Our adventure…”
“Our tale…”
“Is just beginning.”
The Tarutaru get up, and teleport us away. Whew. I think they just means “our journey” is never over, not “the apocalypse” is never over. But we’ll see. Maybe the next expansion focuses on the Tarutaru Trio trying to bring about the apocalypse or something, though I doubt it.
[Non-rhetorical question for y’all: is this light, this “lifeforce,” that charges up the mothercrystal something that comes from Altana, from my stored up mothercrystal charges (light of Dem, Holla, etc.), or something that comes from Promathia’s death?]
PRISHE: “Now the people of Al’Taieu, and Nag’molada, too, will find peace at last…”
One of the light comets hits Prishe herself.
“Heh heh, look at that. The tears of the Goddess.”
-She was prone, but the tears rejuvenate her. She’s okay. WHEW. Christ, I was TERRIFIED that she’d be consumed by Promathia’s Emptiness, especially given her personal desire for the end to her immortality, but no. She fought hard. She survived. Thank Altana.
PRISHE: “Far above the world, Altana grieves for her lost Promathia. The facets of the Dawn Goddess, Altana… Trust, compassion, justice, courage, hope… And that which was born last…”
[Non-rhetorical question for y’all: what does Prishe mean here, by “that which was born last?” Hope?]
Prishe’s crying.
“If people learn this one thing, I think they can carry on. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you Detolilla?” Even when they want the end.
-Everyone’s okay!! Yay!!! Just this once, everyone lives! Ulmia, Tenzen, Jabbos, Louverance, everyone runs up. Promathia’s hold on them broken.
PRISHE: “Vana’diel and her people are safe. And don’t let me catch you worrying about us being the children of Promathia. Listen. The voice of the Goddess, mute for so long, should be clear to you now.”
-The tears of Altana fall down, hitting all the party members one-by-one.
-Even the fucking Tarutaru.
-So yes, the Emptiness dwells inside us, but a part of Altana herself lives within us too.
PRISHE: “When people are born, the tears of the Goddess flow within them.” We are more than our despair.
-The fifth mothercrystal is now saved. Al’Taieu remains separate from Vana’diel. The lifeforce within Vana’diel healed the crystal.
-Selh’teus plans to stay behind in Al’Taieu, watching over our world.
PRISHE: “It’s time we went home. The apocalypse is over.”
That was awesome.
???: “It’s never over!!!” Uhhhhhh wait.
“Our journey…”
“Our adventure…”
“Our tale…”
“Is just beginning.”
The Tarutaru get up, and teleport us away. Whew. I think they just means “our journey” is never over, not “the apocalypse” is never over. But we’ll see. Maybe the next expansion focuses on the Tarutaru Trio trying to bring about the apocalypse or something, though I doubt it.
-As we see the fifth mothercrystal rejuvenated, that mythology we’d heard in fragments plays, the gaps filled in now.
In ages past, a sentient jewel, enormous and beautiful, banished the darkness. Its many-colored light filled the world with life and brought forth mighty gods.
However, the arrival of death implacable brought an end to the God of Twilight. Aglow with the essence of love eternal, the Dawn Goddess sought to restore the lost divinity. Upon the fallen deity, Altana bestowed the light of the true crystal. In the bodies of mortals uncounted was the Twilight God reborn.
The true crystal shattered into five parts, its holy light extinguished. Paradise was no longer. Thus was born the world of Vana’diel.
So does this mean that it was ALTANA HERSELF who shattered the original mothercrystal? I think so. She did it to save Promathia. Wow.
The perspective of the Goddess, looking down on her world.
---
Closing Questions
[Non-rhetorical questions for y’all: Am I misreading this? Still trying to sort out the mechanics of what just happened. The main thing I’m trying to sort out is Promathia’s desire for resurrection and death.
I think Promathia wanted to die, and for the whole world to go with him. One vast unity in Emptiness, forever and ever, amen. Did Promathia CREATE the Emptiness for this purpose? (And if this gets revealed later, don’t tell me please. )
How did Promathia die in the first place? I feel like I should know this but just forgot or it didn’t click. Did the Zilart manage or bust down the Gates of Paradise, and… somehow Promathia was summoned to the battle site and Bahamut killed him? Or just that Yve’noile sealed him in place before he could do too much damage?
Cut to 10,000 years in the future, we do our thing, and Nag’molada resurrects him/wakes him up. Promathia is still on the Emptiness train, and contains a shitload of Emptiness, so he thinks that if he dies, all the Emptiness within him will overwhelm all existence. We stopped that, with an assist from Altana… but didn’t we give him just what he wanted by killing him? Or did Prishe and Selh’teus’s killing blow on him convert that Emptiness into magicite?
I guess my big question is: Huh? Where am I right/wrong? I enjoyed this expansion a lot, but feel like I misunderstood so much of the basic story it tried to tell me. Thanks. ]
---
Next time: the epilogue to Chains of Promathia.
In ages past, a sentient jewel, enormous and beautiful, banished the darkness. Its many-colored light filled the world with life and brought forth mighty gods.
However, the arrival of death implacable brought an end to the God of Twilight. Aglow with the essence of love eternal, the Dawn Goddess sought to restore the lost divinity. Upon the fallen deity, Altana bestowed the light of the true crystal. In the bodies of mortals uncounted was the Twilight God reborn.
The true crystal shattered into five parts, its holy light extinguished. Paradise was no longer. Thus was born the world of Vana’diel.
So does this mean that it was ALTANA HERSELF who shattered the original mothercrystal? I think so. She did it to save Promathia. Wow.
The perspective of the Goddess, looking down on her world.
---
Closing Questions
[Non-rhetorical questions for y’all: Am I misreading this? Still trying to sort out the mechanics of what just happened. The main thing I’m trying to sort out is Promathia’s desire for resurrection and death.
I think Promathia wanted to die, and for the whole world to go with him. One vast unity in Emptiness, forever and ever, amen. Did Promathia CREATE the Emptiness for this purpose? (And if this gets revealed later, don’t tell me please. )
How did Promathia die in the first place? I feel like I should know this but just forgot or it didn’t click. Did the Zilart manage or bust down the Gates of Paradise, and… somehow Promathia was summoned to the battle site and Bahamut killed him? Or just that Yve’noile sealed him in place before he could do too much damage?
Cut to 10,000 years in the future, we do our thing, and Nag’molada resurrects him/wakes him up. Promathia is still on the Emptiness train, and contains a shitload of Emptiness, so he thinks that if he dies, all the Emptiness within him will overwhelm all existence. We stopped that, with an assist from Altana… but didn’t we give him just what he wanted by killing him? Or did Prishe and Selh’teus’s killing blow on him convert that Emptiness into magicite?
I guess my big question is: Huh? Where am I right/wrong? I enjoyed this expansion a lot, but feel like I misunderstood so much of the basic story it tried to tell me. Thanks. ]
---
Next time: the epilogue to Chains of Promathia.
