lore-discussion-spoilers

[tulip aspen]

at the Elder's temples? presumably after meeting some sort of condition

[real mortar]

So are there any theories on the trapped manta, the blood stains in the dark water and the giant krill? I've heard some say the mural/map on one of the walls under the abyss reef is retelling how the spirits trapped manta and how they turned into dark creatures

[rigid mural]

Oh wow visual bug ! Funky mural

[half shadow]

there’s blood stains in the dark water? do you have a picture of that?

[covert oar]

Dragon?

[gleaming fog]

I've heard of two theories:

1.) The ancestors captured the chungus boi and use the krill to harvest it slowly, the manta are used to feed them both so the harvest continues indefinitely
2.) The entire area is a mining operation with a research lab nearby. This facility may have created Krill using the Manta. (on the left we see the manta, on the right we see the crystal that shines the blue light. Combine them and we get krill?)

I believe the second one since we've seen the crystals corrupt things before (crabs, the pollution in the geyser/wasteland/forest rain etc...)

[covert oar]

What is the origin of this "crystal "? How did it 1st apear? Where did it came from?

[tulip aspen]

i do think it would be more of a research lab, but im also p confident in the Light Dragon theory about the cinematic creature

[keen shore]

THIS SPECIFIC MURAL BOTHERED ME SO MUCH WHILE I WAS TRYING TO RECORD IT. what is the comb shape supposed to be??? my best guess is the coliseum arches but where is the rest of it?? did the muralist run out of paint?? why is it angled like that

[rustic heron]

So, there is a notion of using light creatures as energy. We see this already in butterflies, who are little more than a step above pure light.

We see these transported in vases/urns , and used to power batteries manufactured in forest.

We see that these are enough to power simple transportation, or boats.

The next logical step would be to use larger creatures (mantas).

What happens when you remove the light from a light creature? They corrupt, at least that’s how I see it.

[tulip aspen]

darkstone is a special resource that seems to suck up light and then emulate some kind of power, making it useful for all sorts of machines

the prince discovered it and the kingdom started mining it so they could use it for all sorts of devices

darkstone, when refined, creates power diamonds

power diamonds can make things float, hold things together, move large objects, and most mysteriously, either project illusions, or tap into the minds of ancestors

[rigid mural]

probably a visual bug like the king getting beaten up by tsadi in sanct

[tulip aspen]

its clearly placed wrong and no one ever called it out

guess we should head to bug report so that we can waste our time :D

[rustic heron]

So, this has been bothering me. Is concept art a source of truth? I have my reservations, since some concepts depicted conflict, and the actual game may not reflect all design concepts.

Some concept art will be true, but necessarily some of it will not.

[tulip aspen]

yes, i made a large multiple message analysis on which parts of Tom Zhao's timeline would likely still be accurate or not

i havent made it into a doc yet tho

[keen shore]

It took me a whole year to notice it in the first place so it jsut being ignored is understandable

[covert oar]

So... at which point it started going wrong?

For me it seems like a very useful stone, did someone used it with bad intentions?

[tulip aspen]

scroll down from here for some of my notes on Zhao's timeline @rustic heron

[tulip aspen]

we're not sure, it's honestly up to you to decide what you think happened!
keeps the story mysterious

[covert oar]

I see tyvm

[keen shore]

I still have my reservations on these being actual functional power diamonds instead of something else, because there doesn’t seem to be any old mining spots in isle (unless CoP had darkstone at some point??) and the lack of the hover pillars, although those could have been deemed extraneous to the spirit memory so got cut. There’s also the mining cave near isle temple but it doesn’t really seem to have anything in it. It’s just a tunnel.

UNLESS the pointing candlemaker memory happened much later than the stargazer

We need a timeline of when each spirit memory takes place at this point … anyone know how to carbon date ghosts? /j

[rustic heron]

So, I read your notes, and as far as I can tell there is no real justification for the concept timeline other than it lacks any real contradiction to it.

But that falls into that age-old issue of “the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence”.

Moreover, we see that in the prophecy murals, the child is taken to the cave of prophecy on boats that, presumably, can fly. These are used by other spirits as well.

There are also no other ways for Spirits to fly, and we know the elders guided spirits to orbit before the first sky child arrives. The voice that first speaks to us says as much. @tulip aspen

[deep osprey]

Hear me out. What if Golden Wasteland was a pier? I don't think it was a military base anymore because what would they be defending? Maybe only when the darkness arrived did it become a military base.

[real mortar]

My friend sent these, I'm not sure who they belong to originally

[deep osprey]

:0 so a giant Westwind? The Seryy would not approve of that if she were here.

[gleaming fog]

I think the golden wasteland is a massive factory. In the second area, we see a destroyed refinery much like the forest. In the sky we see clouds with gaping holes where the trees would normally be. In the distance we see a multitude of other factory districts. With no trees, there's nothing to process the waste byproduct of the crystals either so everything is polluted.

It probably included a dock though. After all, their product had to be shipped somehow

[rustic heron]

If abyss is anything to go by, corrupted water would corrupt any light creatures within.

The seas breed krills. It’s natural to set naval bases if your enemy comes from the sea.

[deep osprey]

So basically what Earth will be in 10 years.

[real mortar]

It's so sad if spirits have been using crystals to corrupt manta into krill

[gleaming fog]

I think the krill are just the night manta (artificial krill from the vault with all of those legs) with a crystal attached to their head.

Unlike normal manta (that use chimes), night manta are summoned via the crystal
Night manta are the only creatures that are seen carrying objects on their back (and could theoretically support carrying a crystal)
Night manta are manufactured instead of born, we see one created from nothing via the night manta call, we also see smaller variants of the multilegged one instead of multiple growth cycles like normal manta)
Night manta patrol in a predictable pattern (a weak point I know, but still relevant I think)
Krill eyes work the same way as the vault, they have a spotlight beneath them, a player stands underneath, and the crystal "activates" after a couple of seconds
Light creatures are shown to grow darkness around their bodies (forest) when low on energy. Krill are covered in darkness because the crystal saps their energy. Their shape likely changes as well over time due to constant drain

Krill are also summoned by actual machines in the golden wasteland (end of the level door). Kind of like an alarm system. It's odd for that to happen if they were just naturally corrupt

[deep osprey]

At this point we need a team of irl archeologists in here. Anybody know anyone?

We are so divided about what we believe. We need to call in some experts.

[rigid mural]

archeologists work on stuff that make sense tho
here we're going off data that's unreliable

[rustic heron]

Why are night manta being manufactured? Light creatures already work with spirits, as we see in the orrery spirit’s memory.

[deep osprey]

What's a orrey?

[real mortar]

My own theory is that tgc created a game to show us a dystopian world that could come to pass with acid rain, oil pollution, and vast lands of death and destruction. The krill seem to be angry and hostile because of the dark pollution dripping from them, similarly to the only angry crabs are the ones with pollution on them. I think the spirits are of many civilisations that have been wiped out from the destruction of the sky area and perhaps the realms are part of different timelines of these civilisations. If the abyss spirits have been trapping light creatures and either intentionally or accidentally creating dark creatures from them, I'm not sure. But I believe tgc wants us to reflect on our own impact in the world. Having said all that, this is very basic break down, and I probably need to read more lore from you all to widen my knowledge

[rustic heron]

I wouldn’t say that. Archeologists dig up stuff and figure out what they are used for. It doesn’t always make sense right away.

[nimble ingot]

This thing (not my image btw)

Feel free to look up what an orrery does.

[tulip aspen]

yea lapis is right, a thousand contradictions are made to work that was previously reliable, in the course of healthy hypothesizing

[gleaming fog]

Wait is orrey the guy that rides the manta? or is it the antigravity light emitter thing in the citadel?

[rustic heron]

An orrery is a model of a solar system. It’s the area before the flight race in valley.

[nimble ingot]

The golden orb with the rings.

The manta rider is called Bowing Medalist.

[gleaming fog]

Ty, not sure what the orrey is or does in relation to the story, but that area is one of the few places where we see ancients without a mask. And they look human. Noeses, eyes, everything.

My theory is that the sky bird, ancestors, all of it are just a late human civilization's machinations.

Like factorio, a small group is sent down to a planet. They seed life with light creatures and natural creatures, refining the wax and ore to create crystals and a functioning society. All of it culminates to an orbital launch site that sends excess energy/resources to space, yeilding a profit for the skybird and its masters

But at some point, the admin of eden decided that there was a lot of energy in space, so many sky birds just sitting there. So it reversed the polarity of its launch crystal and started to sap energy from all of the other skybirds up in space.

One by one they fell from the sky. Resources stopped being provided and society collapsed. The vault dwellers, programmed to follow the eden guy created krill to defend. Some conflict broke out as they realized that the eden guy was wrong and things fell apart

Our current sky bird is just a backup program. It wants to know what actually happened on this planet, and needs winged light delivered on a weekly basis for continued function

[half shadow]

yo, hot damn. That looks crazy, is anybody near this location and could try to scope it out? it sort of resembles the natural texture of the sand scattered on the dark rock underneath so it could just be a lighting glitch

[gloomy otter]

Don’t know why but there is no doubt in my mind that the Sky:CotL story correlates to either the Biblical Eden, or to Dante’s Divine comedy. On the Ascended candle run we ||always die|| and then resurrect like nothing happened. It almost seems, like… we’re not ready to get into the real Eden.

[real mortar]

Maybe we continue to ||rebirth|| since the seasons keep coming and we haven't completed all spirit ascension because of this

[gloomy otter]

Maybe, just maybe… like something not letting us enter.

[late wasp]

yeah, if we accept darkstone technology predating the king, it opens the room for a better analysis of the story; for example: the king came after they had moved from the valley into the wasteland citadel/fortress.

after their civilization was at the brink of collapse and everyone became a refugee within the walls of the GW-city (that also houses the Vault).

this is why King imagery can only be found at GW and Vault. Because he only arrived at skyworld when those places already existed.

[late wasp]

Garden of Eden is located on top of a mountain, according to Genesis
where the Material World and the Spiritual World overlap.
It's basically a 1-to-1 to Sky:CotL Eden

[rustic heron]

Sorry, but I don’t see a nose:

[gloomy otter]

Ye, thought so. Just that ||Cosmic whirlpool of spirits, mantas, birds and your friends|| makes me doubtful. Or maybe it’s how they might’ve interpreted the spiritual world.

[gleaming fog]

Let me get to the area to take a screenshot. The fact that skykids and ancestors don't have noses makes this even more odd

[real mortar]

perhaps it's a glitch, I'm trying to figure out exactly where it's located to check myself

[rustic heron]

Blood for the blood god, bones for the bone throne.

[raw crypt]

i got a vid of the place one sec

[half shadow]

It looks like the sky kid’s light might be warping the color a little but it is super particular looking huh. I don’t think we’ve ever seen any instance of actual red blood in the game

[gleaming fog]

Why would their triumph statues have noses if they themselves don’t b r e a t h e (This is really confusing me, like I can only imagine that this is an absolutely ancient statue?)

[raw crypt]

Heres the place with and without glowspell, it looks like a metallic texture thing with glow, dunno i just take vids and pics

[real mortar]

Ah yes less like blood without glow, thanks for sharing!

[gleaming fog]

Could it be rust? Since when do light creature have blood? I thought they were made of wax?

[rustic heron]

Could be due to architecture limitations; player models are less detailed than static models.

I doubt they’re humans, though, because a practice of actual ascent and rebirth is present in the world, more than a concept.

Are there other statues with noses?

[keen shore]

The thing with the concept timeline is that it’s the only solid explanation of what’s going on. The game itself is pretty vague, although evidence from that is definitely more important than concept evidence (I don’t think there’s much argument there…) and even things found in game can be interpreted many different ways. For instance, some people think treasure reef used to be some kind of manta hospital, others think the mantas were getting harvested, others think they were just being studied, and so on. For a lot of the vague stuff, our main source of actual evidence is literally jsut going through old concept art and picking out stuff that looks like it could still be feasible with the current lore

[late wasp]

it is a direct reference to an illustration by Doré of Heaven
||on top of Eden is where the gravity of Skyworld is the weakest and you can go into space||

[gleaming fog]

I think the other statues at the end of the race might also look more humanoid, let me check

[half shadow]

I think it’s fair to use the concept timeline as a means of theorizing and applying it to current Sky but always with a little asterix at the end that denotes how it’s all speculation and to insist that it’s 100% hard canon is misinformed. It’s just helpful groundwork to look back on

[keen shore]

What light creatures are made of or how they function is currently unknown, but due to the game’s age rating, I doubt that there would be visual bloodstains even if they had blood

[half shadow]

Also I believe it’s been confirmed by devs that Ancestors and Skykids are not the same race

[rustic heron]

I’m going to say this, and feel free to let me know if there is evidence that runs counter to it, but I think it’s important.

In order to preserve the mystery of the game, wouldn’t TGC only share unused concepts that are not true? Thus published concepts are inherently untrustworthy.

[keen shore]

Honestly I’m not sure if they would, I’m not super aware of their policies surrounding releasing concept art or whatnot, although someone would probably have a better answer

[gleaming fog]

Actually we see light creatures created via energized wax in the daylight prarie.

We see wax degrade into dark plants when not energized (it reverts back when we burn it)

We see dark plants on various starving manta in the forest, as well as on the bones of dead whales. It's also in the tearful light miner's memory, the plants sprout from his starving companion

And then there's the color. Most light creatures are some variant of white, like the candle wax

I think there's quite a bit of evidence to suggest that they're made of wax. But definitely possible that it's something else too

[rustic heron]

I’m honestly just airing on the side of caution. I’m speculating on motive as well, so I’m certainly not in a position to claim absolute truth.

[half shadow]

I don’t really think it’s about evidence and truth all the time, especially when it comes to concept art. I mean, there’s a fair amount in the concept art that correlates with the lore of the game that you can just sort of piece together by playing it, like the Darkstone and power diamonds usage, the implication of war, and so on. I don’t think the timeline present in concept art is 100% true to the now canon lore within the game, but they clearly felt like they could share it, so I don’t really see any issue with people using it for theorizing as long as it’s understood to not be 100% confirmed.

[gleaming fog]

Agreed,

It gives a lot of insight on how the devs were thinking, even if it's not exactly what it is in game.

And it looks cool too haha

[rustic heron]

Sure. I still consider it worth bringing up as it might push the investigation further in the direction of looking for in-game evidence.

It’s still useful, but I’d tread carefully when using it for lore-building. That’s my stance in any case, and how I’ll approach lore analysis.

Plus one for it being cool, though.

[half shadow]

Yeah! I think discussing it shouldn’t be like “This happened after this according to the concept art timeline, so XYZ must be true.” THEN AGAIN I really don’t see any issue with people using it as a base, considering Sky at its core is a purposefully vague game with a lot left up to player interpretation.

[gleaming fog]

I really want to know more about clouds.

Like I don't think that they're actually clouds. The trees seem to make them, and in the switch trailer they grow around the isle like some kind of mold. But they also exist everywhere so it can't just be trees.

Also, in the new area, the clouds at the top aren't real clouds, does this mean that they "died"?

[rustic heron]

I think it’s another form of tangible light, like butterflies. It’s the only other way to charge light other than a literal source of light.

[half shadow]

like it makes perfect sense for theorists to latch onto what is possibly the most clearcut timeline of events despite it’s dubiousness just because of how vague everything else is. obviously ingame evidence comes first over anything concept art, but there is admittedly a lot within the game that I think line up alright enough with the timeline so I don’t blame people who consider it close to canon

[keen shore]

I didn’t think of that, (although to be fair I haven’t gotten the chance to put a lot of thought into light creature composition lol) I have always just imagined them being created out of water vapor because of how you can see birds just being created from the clouds, although that may just extend to them/they could just be bird shaped cloud illusions (which is an idea I also really like)

Maybe us collecting wax each day helps keep us from starving or getting corrupted in the way you described, like a weird version of food?

[half shadow]

Like Lapis said I think if the clouds are another form of Light or maybe Light-infused, it makes sense for them to be able to spontaneously generate creatures of Light like birds or butterflies. I think the smaller and most rudimentary creatures, the smallest being the butterflies, are the closest things to the actual raw element of Light, and then the evolution to more complex life forms go from there

[gleaming fog]

And Salem too

Oh wow, if the clouds are made of wax that's just energized, does that make them just a conglomeration of dead light creatures? Would that mean that light creatures are just "born" inside, like some kind of nest?

[rustic heron]

If that were the case, why are there no dark plants in Isle? Or in sanctuary, where we see dead trees?

[keen shore]

I misinterpreted this at first and thought you were saying I was also a tangible source of light

[rustic heron]

You’re not? News to me.

[late wasp]

what is weird is how clouds cloud light, like in the case of the ark; where only after piercing the clouds and letting some sunlight touch the ark's crystals that the ship begins moving again.

implying that Eden's storm that covered some of the world in clouds was responsible for the shutting down of a few of their sunlight-dependent technology

[half shadow]

Salem, you light up the room

[keen shore]

Yes, by setting it on fire

[half shadow]

Bringing warmth to everybody

[rustic heron]

+1 for being cute. -1 for cliche.

[wise rampart]

krill

[half shadow]

Imagine clouds like sponges. In areas with lots of Light present, the clouds are infused with it, and the same goes for areas with a high concentration of Darkness pollution like Eden

[gleaming fog]

That's a good point, if clouds are made of energized wax, why would they block light? Also if light (sunlight stuff) gives energy, why don't we have infinite energy in places like the daylight prarie?

Also I totally don't remember the ark part that you're talking about, Need to go back and look at that

[rustic heron]

We do. I think our light recharges in Windpaths and Sanctuary.

[late wasp]

could say we do, with the random beam of light recharging us in sunlit areas.

[half shadow]

I also tend to think that the way clouds are might be a pure gameplay thing cus like can you imagine how tedious it would be if clouds didn’t refill your cape

[keen shore]

Clouds are weird in general because they’re just water vapor but somehow they manage to charge us with light (which might count as a point towards your idea) but… rain, snow, and water don’t recharge us, not even the clean unpolluted kind. Do clouds have some kind of special quality we don’t get, or are they just something else that resembles clouds?

(This second theory seems more likely, but saying “clouds are fake” feels like I’m putting on a tinfoil hat so)

[gleaming fog]

Wait I thought those were butterflies? I always thought of the flies as being these autonomous batteries since they react to our shouts/emotes/general existence without light

[late wasp]

butterflies are orangeish iirc, but the shape is different. at least on Switch

[rustic heron]

Fresh fallen Snow in the hot spring in village charges our light.

And clouds refract light, which could explain why they charge us.

[late wasp]

Timestamped into the relevant part.

https://youtu.be/ZAToCW7tpuo?t=116

[rustic heron]

You could say that they’re yellow, like the tips@of manta wings and tails.

[keen shore]

I don’t think that’s snow in the hot spring, but wax balls. It’s snowing constantly in the village but none of that recharges us.
The light refraction thing is a good point, I wonder if at night/when it’s pitch black they would stop charging us because there’s much less light to work with. I also wonder if thunderclouds would work differently or just… zap us instead

[gleaming fog]

Ty, I was looking for it on the wiki, no dice.

Yeah it definitely looks like the light charges the crystals there, I wonder if it's proximity to eden has something to do with it? I mean it was home to a lot of incoming/outgoing ships, so it makes sense that the area might have some way to direct light towards a certain area?

[late wasp]

I think that's just how "souls" return to the world.
At the end we see there is no "Sun" around the planet, just the Comet/Megabird.

It's the Megabird light that allows for Plants to grow, animals to eat, etc. The source of "Energy" (Souls) of that world.

So Sunlight = Soul just not dense

[rustic heron]

You get hyper charged for a while, but then you lose all your light and collapse.

[rustic heron]

Also, moonlight, since the starlight desert clouds still charge us.

[late wasp]

Note: I'm a Megabird Atheist.
I think we can "scientifically" explain Megabird without accepting those foolish mystical beliefs ||(speaking in character for the funnies)||

[rustic heron]

Heathens get turned into dark stone. That’s how dark stone is harvested without mining, and why the King became so powerful. Corrupted water is poured over a spirit, and the light is filtered afterward from the waste water.

That’s what the factories are for. Dark stone is spirits!

[keen shore]

Relating to this boat conversation earlier because EVERYTHING COMES BACK TO THE BOAT, these could be some kind of solar charged crystal versus normal darkstone, which could fit because isle is sunny.

But more likely darkstone is light powered in general, it makes sense that it also be powered using the sun… the darkstone wheels in citadel turn constantly without needing to be powered, and you could easily say that the reason we have to light it at all is because the ones we find are in low lighting conditions (raining in forest, sunset in valley, so on). But something about this bothers me. We still have to light the darkstone to repair the bridge in sunny forest. We still have to light the gondola crystals to get them to work in village, although there’s pretty good lighting there.

[gleaming fog]

I don't really see that,

When we go up to eden, you reach a cutscene where the camera zooms out, and then it fades to black. The next scene has you flying with ancestors. If you turn the camera and look around, you no longer see the planet. It's possible that it was actually a timeskip. You could be miles and miles away from the planet that we started on.

As for the glowy part. I think that the winged light people in eden are different from the normal ones. I think they transported winged light filled with energy to the sky bird before the accident. Designed in the isle of dawn specifically to combat dangerous liquids from the launch site, navigate treacherous architecture, fly through strong winds, and survive the stark cold darkness of space, it makes sense that they specifically would survive where normal winged light people (the gatherers of winged light) just kind of vaporized into dust.

I think the gold stuff is a power up provided by the gold kid (who honestly could be the elder of eden) at the end to both you and the other light transporters. Exactly like the trials in the isle.

[late wasp]

Darkstone Execution is the kind of lore I wish was explored in game.

Sentenced to death via Darkstone 💀

[rustic heron]

Who says it’s not? Why do you think there’s a battlefield without any bodies?

Traitors are criminals, and criminals are dark stone (I’m half joking)

[gleaming fog]

The golden wasteland is a dessert of gray dust. When creatures run out of light, they turn to dust. Maybe you're surfing on the bodies 🏄‍♂️

[rustic heron]

You ever notice that krills have dark particles falling off them? They’re turning to dust. That’s why they hunt for light; to stop constantly dying.

[late wasp]

something I was quite disappointed is how the crab barbecue gives off pieces of light
my disappointment was because it is likely the ancestor was simply extracting pieces of light instead of being about to eat crab barbecue

[rustic heron]

That’s another thing. How long ago did all the spirits die? Those crabs look fresh. Did someone else put them there?

[late wasp]

Another thing is how in Isle of Dawn, like the 2 mural, implies the ancestors lived as spirits.

"as spirits we became many, and lived in the clouds" something like this.
it is literally a civilization created by ghosts that refused to go to space-heaven

[hushed steeple]

I thought that too....

Till switch trailer rolled around to crushy stomp it

[late wasp]

I mean, they were still going to the clouds there

[rustic heron]

I’ve talked about this before: #lore-discussion-spoilers message

[late wasp]

I remember. It's what led me to reevaluate this

[rustic heron]

The real lore really is the the friends we made along the way!

[late wasp]

Isle murals is also very confused if Ancestors are or aren't stars.
First few murals really do call them Stars, and so does the UI Constellation mechanic make their spirits stars.

[rustic heron]

You know what’s odd? Is there a moon in Sky? I’m not counting Starlight desert due to its connection with dreams and alternate realms.

[late wasp]

I asked myself the same, but I assume it does because of Starlight desert.
but that place is confusing, however it does connect to Flight Isle, so it is real. Just hard to figure out how real.

[rustic heron]

It’s weird because that moon could be from the Little Prince’s universe.

Or maybe Little Prince is the Elder of his own realm, the tiny planet he lives on with his Rose.

[late wasp]

although I remember seeing the same moon in Eden
i might be mistaken

over the crystal

[gleaming fog]

I always thought it was to power the crystal on their heads,

Didn’t think of that though, they probably are constantly dying

[fickle wing]

sky theory forest elder is lgbt cause that rainbow in forest and also like have u seen their concepts bro they’re jsut

[late wasp]

lmao, although there are no lgbt in skyworld, because there are no genders/sexes

[keen shore]

there are no straight people in sky canon

[fickle wing]

epic win

[raw crypt]

win

[keen shore]

Sometimes I see people argue over whether certain spirits are gay, and I just laugh to myself…

[fickle wing]

petition to let teth go absolutely feral in the forest again

[keen shore]

Please, they’ve already converted enough people into furries!!! The world can’t handle much more!!

[fickle wing]

also this is wrong because im lgbt and im in sky (real) so like
diversity win

[raw crypt]

Bro i need that hair style in sky, like the valley medalist ones r vaguely like it but i need it longer and more messy

[fickle wing]

YEAH SAME

[late wasp]

unironically, I agree with this lol!
I think Sky Kids have Gender. Eg: the Prince / King (male)

but they are canonically gender fluid, I constantly go from cute pigtails into big beard, sometimes both.

[rigid mural]

gender

[keen shore]

The king invented gender and that’s why everyone is dead 😔

[fickle wing]

what a girlboss <3 i think nobody would survive concept teth n how they lured u into the forest down the wrong paths because so many folks love em n would follow this funky elder 0 thoughts i know i would

[rigid mural]

forest elder lesbab

[late wasp]

📠

[rustic heron]

The crystal theory explains why the light is blue, but why does the light turn red? More importantly, we see the crystals are like batteries. Why put one on a manta?

[late wasp]

it wasn't the darkstone technology, but the gender technology that ruined the skyworld

[livid crypt]

there are all of us in Sky. i'm breaking character from lore a bit, but it's a global game and it's great that the game is a way for people to connect with each other and express themselves. lore-wise? just because we're not going into the love lives or family trees of all the spirits and elders doesn't mean their lives were any less complex than ours if that's the way we want to imagine them!

[rigid mural]

NAUR

[fickle wing]

king 🤝 the little prince
only folks w gender
royalty

[wise rampart]

it is in eden

[livid crypt]

those are just words, not genders 😉

[keen shore]

You have to buy gender for 1000000 skydollars

[wise rampart]

The idea is, sky takes place in the realms over a day. Dawn, Day, Afternoon, Evening, Sunset, Night, and Storm. the storm takes place at night

[livid crypt]

I think the cycle of the day is more metaphorical than literal

[boreal nebula]

Why some Graritude Spirits highfive and why others double highfive?

So far I can see 2 ascended and 2 not, but I can double highfive 3 out of 4
WHAT IF.. ||Only the ones you previously met in HomeSpace can be more friendly, and I mean just met, not bonded by unlocking cosmetics or ascending them!

As of now the last arrived, the bull mask shaman, can be friendly with me cause it should have been my first TS, but I never found it or even understood what it mean seeing him there in Home||

[sharp lichen]

Yeah, we love the time stasis theory

[late wasp]

ah right, the darkest part of the night, Storm

(but yeah, thanks for clarifying the moon is canon ❤️ )

[wise rampart]

it is absolutely metaphorical, much like the idea of the aging, with birth, childhood, teenage, adulthood, midlife crisis, and the acceptance of death

[fickle wing]

anyone else see the elders and just go

[rigid mural]

YEAH

[lean siren]

ME

[wise rampart]

and eden, well, being eden

[sharp lichen]

This but everyone. Assembly Guide? Yes. The 4 Prophets? Of course. Bearhug Yeti? Why not.

[boreal nebula]

Any opinions about this?

[rigid mural]

forest elder uses they/them and is a lesbian

[gleaming fog]

I always thought of crystals as movement objects, like a tool that affects the world physically.

They get charged, they activate over ~1-5 seconds, and then they make something move (chair lifts, doors, floating platforms, etc...)

I don't have much on the red crystal and blue crystals being the same, only spotty stuff from eden:

• The big red crystal at the end is the same shape as the blue crystals
• One of the dead eden people seems to have been impaled with blue crystals. If the golden people absorb energy from the surrounding area, it's possible that they somehow nullified the absorbtion properties of the red crystal, turning it blue?
• Krill don't seem to have any moving parts in their eyes, so If it is a crystal there, it likely switches areas

But it's like you say, no concrete evidence that I've found ;-;

[late wasp]

like Sky lore, this image causes me to formulate so many questions and seek more of the Trans Spray Universe lore.

[fickle wing]

fully convinced it’s lesbian forest instead of hidden forest have you SEEN the spirits there bro

[wise rampart]

here can I dm you a document?

[rigid mural]

tfw a mod shows up on the lore chat

[rigid mural]

I KNOW RIGHT what job is gayer than being a lumberjack in the wild, forest lesbians

[rustic heron]

What’s curious is how Spirits even have families in the first place. I always assumed that spirits just arrived after descending, and were adopted by whomever.

In that sense, gender expression would be wildly different and even more important, as expression becomes the only defining characteristic of gender.

[wise rampart]

mods are no different than us other than status. We’re all people :D

[fickle wing]

i want to let lumberjack loose in a hardware and lumber store like home depot and see what happens

[rigid mural]

omg,,, set free in their native habitat...

[fickle wing]

#nature

[lean siren]

#nature

[rigid mural]

#nature

[late wasp]

(unironically my head canon)

[rustic heron]

Or even better, a wood shop. Cut all the wood.

[rigid mural]

THANK you for speaking the truth

[wise rampart]

I vaguely remember the assembly spirits being related to the lightseekers whether by kinship or by apprenticeship

[rustic heron]

What if spirits used dark stone and starlight to craft their children? Like budding, but more personal.

[lean siren]

oh maybe that's why there's a war? like people are desperate for children but the dark stone are too little

[late wasp]

also on this, I also thought about it, but it became too much for my head to handle on its own

"Scholar" is like a ""gender"" for ancestors. Considering gender to be an aesthetic that dictates behavior. You see there are these spectrum of aesthetics and behavior here and there, Scholar being one, Soldier another, etc.

[rustic heron]

Like, they don’t design anything. They just see an image of the child in their minds, and via a combination of meditation and handcraft they mold the statues to form the vision child.

Maybe the Megabird gave them the vision, and then starlight is channeled through the crafter into their child to give them life.

[rustic heron]

It would be insanely diverse, dictated only by their self perception. Gender would exist across several dimensions, all the way from profession to stature, gait, how one wears or does not wear a mask, across every vertical of a spirit’s life.

[late wasp]

about that
what exactly is the Valley Elders (Youngsters) job? Are they really just like entertainers?

[harsh pecan]

Maybe not just entertainers

[sharp lichen]

Probably, if we look at the Vault Elder cutscene murals it shows them playing an ungodly combination of cricket and hockey

[wise rampart]

crockey

[rigid mural]

Hmmm I only met the sassy drifter (as a moth, didnt even ascend them) and saluting protector (finished their whole tree), but i can double five the same as you do; maybe it's more related to their personality ?

[half shadow]

I think it’s also interesting regarding gender that while we see what appear to be family structures, what with spirits being named Parent or Grandparent, there’s still that degree of neutrality that implies a rigid nuclear family structure is just not at all apart of the Ancestor culture

[boreal nebula]

Interesting

[lean siren]

I headcanon that valley is like the city of fun sports stuff so they're the representatives

[late wasp]

looks like a very underwhelming job, compared to the other elders.

[lean siren]

well I dont think so everyone else is more gloomy so spirits need to have fun right?
pairie is more relaxed but we know tha spirits do have personality so some spirits gonna find it boring and wanted to have more excitement

[half shadow]

There aren’t any spirits named Grandmother, Mother, or Uncle or anything. Despite how a spirit might look, like how some call the Skater spirit from Dreams the “Skater girl” due to their dress and ponytail, there’s no expression of Male and Female, and thus no Mothers and Fathers to neatly explain how families work

Yeah! Throughout human history, sporting events have a heavy tie in with divinity and combat prowess. I think the twins are meant as a representation of peak performance amongst the Ancestor culture. It also makes sense seeing how Valley is the most visually affluent/“noble” looking center of civilization in the Kingdom, probably second only to whatever Eden must have looked like in the past

[wise rampart]

the belonging spirits?

[late wasp]

◈ Isle Elder: I guide the spirits to the holy land, so they might ascend.
◈ Prairie Elder: I collect the butterflies into Jars, allowing for the existence of our entire civilization, since our jars are shipped into the Forest.
◈ Forest Elder: I am the creator of crystals, mining them, fashioning them into uniform batteries, powered by the butterflies in jars.
◈ Wasteland Elder: I'm the General of our civilization, the Aegis of our people, me and my soldiers guarantees the safety of everyone.
◈ Vault Elder: I'm the Guardian of all the Wisdom of this world, the leader of all religious orders, the effective ruler of this civilization. My library contains even holograms of all lifeforms on this planet.

◈ Valley Elders: we play baseball

[rigid mural]

valley elders make me think of the dioscuri

[raw crypt]

The arts and sports seem to be a huge thing in ancestor culture, seeing the great amount of performers, athletes and musicians, and artist spirits we have, and how they also pass their music and performance emotes down to us, and so I think valley elders are representative of that corner of the ancestor life, which is important in its own right

[late wasp]

but it sounds so independent than the rest of the plot, like they are an annex, instead of being a crucial gear in their civilization

[rigid mural]

Symbolically, twins are super important in a lot of cultures, off the top of my head I recall mesopotamian gods guardians of the gate to the underworld were twins; castor and pollux (the dioscuri) were depicted on doors as well.

[half shadow]

I typed up a big thing enthusiastically agreeing and referencing Greco Roman culture as well in the intersection that sporting events have with combat and war, divinity, and inspiration for the common folk of a civilization but discord ate it

[lean siren]

discord hate big typers

[rigid mural]

YOU GET ME
valley made me think of greco roman mythos when i was a moth, esp with the collosseum

[late wasp]

before i forget, @tulip aspen
one more point on our convo earlier: the spider trial use crystals too. implying indeed darkstone tech predate the king

[rigid mural]

where ?

[sharp lichen]

OH SNAP

[late wasp]

from memory: doors right at the beginning

[sharp lichen]

It does, I checked. It works exactly like darkstone too

[half shadow]

I’d argue that they are a crucial gear in the civilization. One of the crucial defining traits of some of the most famously remembered past civilizations like the Aztec, Olmec, Greece, Rome, and many others were their association with grand sporting trials. It was a way to uplift moral and foster an expectation for members of the civilization to strive towards and was often very closely aligned with bringing up new soldiers and displaying the feats of strength they had to offer. The gymnasium in ancient Greece was famously a place of divine worship, a training facility for soldiers, and a massively social space. Golden Valley and specifically the Twins feel like they are representing such an equivalent within the Ancestors culture.

[rigid mural]

oh right ! good eye !

[boreal nebula]

Just a random idea. When did you started playing? And have you missed any TS till now (so have you never talken a break from playing)?

[sharp lichen]

So uh most darkstone theories are gone oh god this is scary where did darkstone come from

[rigid mural]

Panem et circenses

[late wasp]

there is also the fact how the water trial mural shows the Isle Elder sending the Prince to the clouds with a darkstone tech ship.

[rigid mural]

I am a Switch moth ! Started playing as soon as the game launched here lol. First TS I saw was Sassy Drifter, but because I was a moth I couldnt do much. I missed Water Prophet because I was away on holidays. First TS I ascended was Chill Sunbather.

[sharp lichen]

But that’s the Prophecy, right? They wrote an account of the future, not the present

[half shadow]

If we think about Valley in the same context as ritualistic sports, in real world the Twins would probably be the equivalent of mythological soldiers not unlike the Wasteland Elder seems to be

[boreal nebula]

Okay, then my ramdom there has little to not basis

i am just over thinking

[rigid mural]

I like to think Valley is kind of like touristic capitals irl; very attractive to tourists, generates revenue. The sports could have come from something ancestral that entered the profane world and became simple games.

[rigid mural]

context because this is my headcanon that it's relevant to valley:

[stable veldt]

Good morning lorechat, how are we today

[sharp lichen]

Personally, I just had a major revelation about darkstone. I’m not doing well

[rustic heron]

Darkstone is fundamental to the society, as it is the most fundamental unit of energy usage: a battery. Darkstone can hold and transfer power, making it also like a cable. (But wireless)

We can assume the King began discovering and innovating the use of darkstone more than had ever done before, and perhaps darkstone was being manufactured from other sources, or indeed mined on scale.

[violet sundial]

Hey lorechat do you have some references for valley high end architecture? I need it for smth related to beta that im gonna send in as feedback

[pastel brook]

Hey @wise rampart, do you think people like me?

[rustic heron]

What does “high end” mean in this context?

[violet sundial]

Like fancier?

[wise rampart]

why of course! I remember we used to be able to say your name, and you’d appear with a funny joke, or hit someone with a dragon! Those were the days.

[violet sundial]

Cus i swear i saw smth before about like the difference between the infrastructure that the lower classes of spirits inhabited vs the upper classes

[wise rampart]

that was in the concept art, yes

[violet sundial]

And i think it’d be really helpful to have it for reference

[rustic heron]

Village of dreams has towers and actual buildings. Compare this to the holes in hills in Prairie.

[violet sundial]

I mean within valley itself. I’m just gonna go look for that 🏃‍♀️

[harsh plover]

What do you mean ?

[boreal nebula]

Definetly I like more this (cause the circular shape of the stadium recalls the Roman anfitheatri (like the Colisseum) even for the fact is not fully round or at least sits are not in a full circle (so it give a Greek theaters, which were only half the Roman shapes, welll.... viceversa cause Greek came first, them Romans doubled it)

So the circenses could be indeed a good motivation, but the two races could also mean the ahteletes could be warrior with a friendly rivality (like ol Olympic Games were able to stop the waars and let the best solidier attend them)

[rigid mural]

from tom zhao's art site

[rustic heron]

Well, I personally don’t associate hobbit holes with grand architecture.

Cozy, sure. But grand? Not really.

[violet sundial]

TY

[wise rampart]

It may be the homes of the bourgeoisie

[rigid mural]

the working class concept art, same source. i love valley

[stable veldt]

Question though, how do they visit each other without using ship for the wealthy? I can imagine the wealthy person trying to bonk the ferryman just because their floaty ship doesn't go faster

[harsh plover]

Ooh ok I get it now

[stable veldt]

and their plumbing system would be absolute hell, assuming if they live near identical like normal humans

[rigid mural]

wealthy people love to brag, you bet they will forgo practicality for more opportunities to show off

[rustic heron]

Haha ||King Krill concept||.

Middle one looks exactly like them.

[wise rampart]

so they ARE bringing back old concepts

[rigid mural]

sky concept art makes me

[stable veldt]

indeed

[wise rampart]

elder manta

[stable veldt]

old whale concept 😳

[wise rampart]

actually it’s used in sanctuary :D

[harsh plover]

Looks better than the other one that looks like a shrimp

[hushed steeple]

fights urge to yell about it being a whale and never actually called a manta only an elder

[wise rampart]

it could be a whale but the whale in wasteland and eden is much more rotund

[harsh plover]

They evolve ?

[hushed steeple]

And looks like a fish. Its funny. The coelacanth actually has a lot of names. Its been called coelacanth (which is what it looks like) whale, fish, and king tuna.

All officially

[wise rampart]

my friends and I called it a whale when we saw it first

[hushed steeple]

Did the whale that looks like a whale exist at that point?

[harsh plover]

I call it “ leviathan “

My friends and I call shrimp "one-eyed dark dragon"

[stable veldt]

they age i think

[harsh plover]

Maybe…?

[wise rampart]

this was back in lightseekers so uhh, no

[stable veldt]

yeah maybe...

[harsh plover]

I agree

tell me what are your theories of the origins of dark entities and dark water

[late wasp]

natural animals.
dark water is just water with "dark particles" (darkstone dust)

[rustic heron]

Someone spilled way too much black food coloring in the water

It’s heavily implied that pollution plays a major role@for the existence of both.

[wise rampart]

here’s the gist. Big war happens, eden crystal get damaged, go boom, pyroclastic darkness flow, big sad

[harsh plover]

Jajaj i like the first one

[late wasp]

Abyss(a place in deep ocean where no light ever shines) will also show their natural habitat.
like angler fish, the krill probably hunt using light.

[harsh plover]

Summarized, direct and fits very well in the story…. I like it

[rigid mural]

i love this concept art of the valley elders

[wise rampart]

I have a whole essay thing. It used to be more in depth so I need to recompile it

[stable veldt]

i just want a krill plush as my bolster, at least 1 metre long woo

[rigid mural]

i love that they protect skykids. friend

[late wasp]

these exist though

[harsh plover]

Well that thing use the light to hunt

[rustic heron]

Real in-game footage of GW Elder fighting the King:

[harsh plover]

The first time I meet those things I thought they were cute… until they hit you

[harsh plover]

Jajajaja

[rigid mural]

i just think it would be neat
(also the first GW song we hear is titled "two heroes")

[tulip aspen]

even lore wise there's the player projection theory lol

our Skykids are a canvas for our personalities to color

[tulip aspen]

why does everything come back to the boat im at work /j

[rustic heron]

Untrue. I have yet to find a cosmetic in Sky that is specifically a “I survived the Eden storm and was reborn, and all I got was this shirt” shirt, accurately depicting my personality.

[hushed steeple]

Hang on im gonna add more megas to megamix

[wise rampart]

I think elder hairs properly represent that lol

[rustic heron]

I survived the Eden storm and was reborn, and all I got was hair care tips from depressed giants.

[tulip aspen]

yea its solid but its solid for an old story that was trashed/developed into the new story, so that's why we have to be sure of what may or may not have happened

[wise rampart]

precisely

[half shadow]

I’m not sure what “player projection theory” means beyond just… players project themselves into games naturally

[rustic heron]

It’s an extension of the “Every copy of Sky is customized” theory. The prevailing concept is that the AI present in your phone analyzes your search history, facial movements, and overall personality and passes it to Sky, which uses it to customize the realms slightly.

That’s why some people see different anomalies when playing, and why in-game lore explorations are sometimes inconsistent.

[half shadow]

by god

[late wasp]

wait what

[tulip aspen]

just because much of the civilization moves on to new realms, migrating, that doesn't mean old realms are completely left in the dark

there could be a large change isle just used darkstone boats after they were mass-made, so yeah

yall are right, i shouldnt trust in the prince still being the one who found darkstone in the forests, but i still think, in general, darkstone was discovered later, not predated
.

[half shadow]

that’s why the elders call me a big dweeb every time i see them….

[hushed steeple]

Heres more megabirds in megacomp

[keen shore]

You walk in on your kid learning how to read and gasp. They turn to you shocked. “I need to tell you something… I’m sts (soldier to scholar) transgender”

[late wasp]

my problem with that take is how in the Vault they use both

[tulip aspen]

....pls stop

[hushed steeple]

Updated

[static meteor]

man looks breaded and deep fried

[hushed steeple]

Its blocking the comp :/

I think the light and tan colors are making it think its something bad

[late wasp]

at the same time they are developing telekinesis, making things float with their minds.
or meditating and floating themselves, effectively learning how to fly.
or doing all sorts of magical things without the use of any tool

they are also the biggest users of crystals, using it to store information and power all of their machines, effectively creating crystal computers too.

Magic AND Tech to the extreme

[tulip aspen]

yes basically lol, but as a more philosophical theory about sky, it also extends to discuss how our intentions of how we play the game, for how long, with who, also plays an important factor into the projection

Sky is a social sandbox, they intend for us to interact and display ourselves to others, however we want, and I believe that's canon

[rustic heron]

Player projection theory posits that Sky exposes you to other, more experienced players possessing cosmetics that the game believes you will like and want, but don’t have, based on your phone’s AI collective data store on you.

This is used to draw you into the game via the game’s TS system, which will align this common data across the player base and selects spirits that have the most interesting cosmetics that align with the player bases’ current desires.

Effectively, the more you personalize your skykid, the more the game tries to tempt you with more appealing cosmetics that you have to grind/invest more time into Sky to get.

[hushed steeple]

I think theres too many tan colors in megabird for discord. Its considered very bad now. Guess my work is useless and will have to continue using the old one

IT DID WORK. WHY WAS IT SO DELAYED. SORRY FOR SPAMMING YALL I COULDNT SEE THE CHAT

[tulip aspen]

b r u h

[barren lichen]

Anyone got that king and prince concept art? I need to show a friend

[barren lichen]

Ahh thank you

[rustic heron]

Who drew this? Some I recognize@from the Tom Zhao artiste, but the rest concepts I can’t find.

[hushed steeple]

All are in pins. its from a load of different official concept artist.

[deep osprey]

I have a question. What if the gifted kid described in the prophecy cave is us?

[rustic heron]

Add this to the archive. It’s funny important for the player base to be aware of, and for meta-lore.

[keen shore]

This got overlooked and I would like to mention it made me smile when I saw it

[static meteor]

the way it's just a shrimp though

[hushed steeple]

~~I forgot a megabird in the megabird one ~~

[keen shore]

Yeah! That was my point, I just tend to overword things. It’s just there’s some stuff that’s not explained in game at ALL so concept art is the only answer we can get to it

I have been Thinking about this catapult head more recently. And I came up with an idea

The forgotten ark spirits built it to try to catapult themselves off the island (they are book smart but have no common sense) and it’s how they all died

[tulip aspen]

could be 👀

[tulip aspen]

first the Spears and now the catapults

[keen shore]

Quick question, does anyone remember any murals in vault besides the elder cutscene ones. I’m checking over everywhere to be sure but I want to know

[tulip aspen]

I honestly wouldn't know
remember to check all the weird spots like small little library behind the four-player door and then the star memorial place as well as that weird archive tunnel

[harsh plover]

Yes… why ?

[tulip aspen]

Salem is making a massive document that has every single mural in the game

do you know if there's any murals in vault @harsh plover

[keen shore]

I’m planning to make an even bigger one afterwards (spirit memory directory)

[harsh plover]

Yes…

But i have to check again

[tulip aspen]

okay but do you actually think there's murals in vault or are you saying you can check

[frigid tinsel]

Skykids have nostrils, you can see when they’re maskless and you view them from the side. Though they don’t have nostrils.

As for ancestors, there is one spirit with a nose: Gloating Narcissist

[harsh plover]

Yes I think there are murals

[tulip aspen]

narcissist's face isn't Canon

[harsh plover]

It's been a while since I went to the vault

[frigid tinsel]

Debatable

[harsh plover]

It’s not canon ?

[frigid tinsel]

The entire Season of the Little Prince being canon is a fierce topic of debate here

[harsh plover]

Do you think ?

[keen shore]

My god Alasdair, you can’t just ask people why they have a nose!! /j

[frigid tinsel]

tbf J0s asked not me smh.
Oh wait I sent the meme screenshot

[keen shore]

I’m doing vault tomorrow just because I’m too tired today, just want to be prepared

Off the top of my head I’m probably going to record the murals?drawings? on the sneezing geologists book as well, I’m trying to remember if there’s any hidden in like… the archives

[harsh plover]

this game has many secrets

[frigid tinsel]

I’m pretty much of that season is canon but not sure of the extent of with. With Sky, I lean toward taking things at face value unless there is evidence to the contrary. While the (un)reality of the Vault is debatable and has evidence leaning both ways, I think things are more tangible than others would let on. But tbf I’m tired of debating it myself

[keen shore]

(For clarification the only reason I don’t know about the archives is because I always get lost in there so I’ve gone in to check it like… 2 times over the past year and a half)

[frigid tinsel]

I don’t like the crabs in the archives. Why are they there

[harsh plover]

Nobody knows

[willow prawn]

I know the archives map in case you ever need a guide! I haven't inspected them because I don't have good eyesight in dark places haha I know the path but little more

Back in my moth days, I used the free lantern spells for Valley's maze and the Archives

[harsh plover]

Oooh

And how it was ?

[willow prawn]

Well, it helped me to distinguish between walls and path! But I didn't learn much, because I was new and hadn't even got all spirits

[rustic heron]

Power move. Shows dominance to other moths.

[willow prawn]

HAHAHA, omg I was a powerful moth, I got Shy Hair braids relatively soon

Btw, does anyone have the link for the mural recopilation? I want to see the murals in Forgotten Ark (the ones in the cave) but I'm not sure of the order

[rustic heron]

My first cosmetic I ever bought from mothdom was the chibi mask, specifically to chibi-fall and other exploits.

My goodness. I loathe auto-correct.

[willow prawn]

Now that's a power move!

I got it quick, but like... not "first cosmetic" first

[frigid tinsel]

this is Salem's mural masterlist: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-yA8OdJ2NzwNc8c15sQB3UALYn3psT3c6mWgIV64jFM/edit

[tulip aspen]

idk about fierce as it doesnt rly matter to the main story even if it was canon lolol

[rustic heron]

What if the little prince became the king after his rose died

Time to spend the next couple hours defending this until irrefutable evidence to the contrary.

[willow prawn]

So, checking the doc, what if the reason why those people are praying is because that's a way to canalyze energy in Sky?

We relive one spirit by praying in Vault, and it seems like the rock is charging energy for it

[smoky sapphire]

That's an interesting thought

[rustic heron]

Okay, so here me out. Starlight desert is actually a temporally shifted area, a place where dreams of the past collide with the present. The little prince is a spirit that falls in love with a rose, whom we see slowly dying. The prince returns to the stars too late; his planet is bare and gray, his rose petal-less and dead.

In his grief, the prince dies, returning to the megabird and becoming a new spirit: the first child of light.

The first CoTL vaguely remembers being the little prince, and hearing of the prophecy challenges it. He succeeds and becomes the King.

Over time, his connection to the light brings him closer to the megabird, and his past memories, including the grief over his rose. He becomes overcome, obsessed with stopping death, halting the cycle of rebirth.

Remembering Eden, he travels there to put an end to the ascension, and experiments with darkstone, which can absorb light. The Elders see what is happening, and try to stop it, as it is blasphemy to stop the cycle. They fail, and the desperate King creates the ultimate device to absorb light; the Eden crystal.

He tries to use it to absorb the light pillar and cut the connection to Orbit, but the crystal absorbs too much, and overloads, sucking the light out of everything in Eden.

The King is trapped within, his spirit filled with sorrow feeding the Eden crystal forever.

[frigid tinsel]

...it's logically consistent

[keen shore]

Okay I remembered something while at the forgotten ark today. I’m 90% sure the purple light was the one that made all the tents and stuff pop up, can someone confirm

[rustic heron]

Should be. Vault is the last realm, and purple light is in Vault.

[keen shore]

ALSO minor detail I noticed today that made me happy

[rustic heron]

Actually no, it’s the Forest light (orange).

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XkJnD23luOg

[rustic heron]

Correcting myself again, it is. I had to actually watch the video.

[keen shore]

So the murals in treasure reef are blue right? Thought this was weird because they’re all glowy yellow everywhere else. But I think I found the source of paint for them. These flowers are all over vault.

In reality they’re probably not growing in the actual vault ruins, my head canon for the entire vault illusion is that it’s just the vault elders degrading memory of what it used to look like and since memory is unreliable and all stuff from different realms and areas got put in there. My idea is that these flowers grew in Eden because it’s nearby Vault and would be an easy thing to mess up after a while of, you know, being dead

[hushed steeple]

I think you might need to take a look at the sleepy traveler boat sales man.

[keen shore]

YEAHH so the purple light is almost definitely meant to create illusions then, seeing as the spirits probably did not set those tents up by themselves

[rustic heron]

So, my issue with the Vault illusion theory is that it’s too ironic a library, a place where knowledge is preserved, is home to a degrading illusion of false memories.

You could just look through the tomes to find the information, and Vault’s Elder is the scholar among scholars.

[keen shore]

Also side note for fans of the valley elder mitosis theory, was checking out their thrones?? (whatever these are) and it may just be perspective of having to fit two people in one area but notice how the design and central hole is split between them

[keen shore]

They’re dead and trapped in an area “beyond time and space”. Getting to their library to read it might be a bit… hard, to say the least

[hushed steeple]

I believe there was one more mural of the King in the sanctuary jelly fish cave, but I can't find it so I'm not sure if its still there.
But, it was of the king being killed by wasteland elder with all the other elders watching, or at least that's what it seemed like.

[rustic heron]

In the Jellyfish cave, home of the bouncing jellyfish spirit having the time of their life? In the seasonal area meant for vacations and relaxation?

[cosmic willow]

Yes,I believe that was the case
However,the mural was patched I think so it isn’t there now

[hushed steeple]

Yes, precicly, in a place where you're meant to not worry about anything there was a mural of death right under out noses.
||it was probably replaced by the jelly fish mural||

Also in vault, there's a giant table with six giant chairs, too big for even the prophecy spirits to sit in.
And seeing as the isle elder isn't on the Eden door and a chair is knocked over, do you think isle elder could have been banished?
I mean there's not a lot of evidence, but I saw a video of someone interpreting the lore their own way and mentioned this, so I want to see everyone else's opinions.

[smoky sapphire]

that is a possibility I guess, but he's such a nice old man, what would he have done to be banished?

[keen shore]

I mean, considering Isle elders face isn’t even in the Eden door, there’s a common theory that the other elders don’t like/respect them

[smoky sapphire]

true

[rustic heron]

I FOUND IT: @keen shore please add this to the mural master list lest it become lost media again.

[smoky sapphire]

Oh, that's certainly interesting

[hushed steeple]

Thats exactly it. They're niceness wouldn't allow them to go through with all the dark stone and ignore the corruption, they wanted to stop it all. But the king didn't like that, and we don't know about the other elders. But the king, they saw this and disliked it, what did they think it was, treason?, offense? We don't know, but the king disliked it either way. The king banished the isle elder and possibly the rest of isle. But without import of isle's materials, things would start to rot and fall.

[frigid tinsel]

that's a bug when the devs were building the Caves of Prophecy, not suppose to mean anything. like, genuine bug, not suppose to look like that

[hushed steeple]

OH MY JAR IT STILL EXISTS!!!!!
ITS STILL CANON, WASTELAND ELDER IS STILL UPSET WITH THE KINGS POLLUTION!!!!!

Also, since the elders are confirmed to not have gender, do you think the king would've instead been called monarch?

[smoky sapphire]

Well but doesn't the official concept art say king?

[frigid tinsel]

king could've called themself king and still have no gender. words do not have to indicate gender

[hushed steeple]

Thats concept art though, it could still have changed.

[rustic heron]

I think it should still be recorded lest it become lost media.

[frigid tinsel]

there's always someone who pops in here who takes it seriously and derails the chat for a while

[hushed steeple]

Perhaps, hmmmmmm........

[smoky sapphire]

It's a conundrum...

[hushed steeple]

Yes, lets document it and ask a dev about it next time one pops in.

[cosmic willow]

you can headcanon them anyway you want so yeah
king’s just a title,and I think it wouldn’t matter much in a world stated to “not have gender”

[keen shore]

I got it, don’t worry!

[hushed steeple]

Guys, what if trees aren't canon in sky...............

[rustic heron]

It is called Hidden Forest.

[smoky sapphire]

What's your reasoning exaclty?

[hushed steeple]

NOW WE'VE GOT MORE PROBLEMS, PEOPLE ARE HALLUCINATING
Its called hidden caves, its raining inside caves, no trees.

[rustic heron]

Maybe the trees were the friends we made along the way.

[hushed steeple]

YOU HAVE FRIENDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THAT ARE TREES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????????????
THERE ARE NO TREES SEEN IN SKY!!!!!

I should probably stop

[rustic heron]

Maybe the friends are actually the friends we made along the way.

[hushed steeple]

By the way, we've never canonically seen leaves in sky, unless their the friends we made along the way.........

[keen shore]

I mean, that would explain how that everyone has access to wood but somehow everything is made out of stone

[frigid tinsel]

yall we have to build up our friend tree to unlock actions between friends

[smoky sapphire]

pretty sure the tree tops are replaced by clouds in sky

[rustic heron]

The saplings in each area can sprout pink leaves.

[frigid tinsel]

cherry blossoms

[cosmic willow]

that’s from last year’s day’s of bloom,which might not fit into the lore

[hushed steeple]

Wait.......
.......Sky kids are trees confirmed
also the saplings are associated with days of bloom so.......

[keen shore]

Speaking of the quest saplings, are they even real?? I know there’s no precedent for illusions in most of the places but are they just a weird gameplay mechanic?

[rustic heron]

Maybe the friend tree is actually the friends we made along the way

[frigid tinsel]

since the trees have the same starry texture of the spirits, i took it as spirit trees. so the trees are dead lmao

[rustic heron]

They resemble the trees in Vault’s third level, which kinda grow.

[cosmic willow]

explains why the big homespace bloom tree emitted those cacophonous wails of the dead

[hushed steeple]

Vault is a projection so the tree was probably fake

[keen shore]

That is a good point but it seems weird to have an actual living cherry blossom tree in, say, the middle of Golden Wasteland

[rustic heron]

I mean, there is a theory that states that. Was it the same in Journey?

[keen shore]

Lapis, out of curiosity, do you believe in the fake vault theory? And if not, what’s your take on it? :3c

[harsh plover]

What do you mean ?

[frigid tinsel]

theory that all of the Vault except floors 1 and 2 are not real but rather illusions to some capacity

[raw crypt]

i imagine the hidden forest trees r trees?? especially since one is cut down in lumberjacks memory, they just lack leaves which is probably a design (adds greatly to forests atmosphere imo) and performance choice

[harsh plover]

Ooooh…

[rigid mural]

what if they had clouds instead of leaves

[smoky sapphire]

yeah that's what I said

[willow prawn]

Hmm, the weird part is they're glowy, but we've seen blue murals somewhere else. Maybe it's these flowers, maybe they mix the normal blue with glowy yellow to end up with that effect

[raw crypt]

ohhh that could be possible, especially if i remember correctly; there one tree in the 8 player puzzle that the clouds mock a leafs on a tree look

[hushed steeple]

Thats 3 trees actually.

[keen shore]

I’m not sure how visible it is in the picture but the flowers seemed to glow here, although whether that’s true or more due to vaults lighting is up for debate

[smoky sapphire]

Well, all flowers clow when sky kids get close enough to them

[hushed steeple]

All the flowers glow in sky, also there is a patch of blue flowers in the starlight desert, and you can see a few in the wind paths and the crystal reef. Perhaps the flowers were overused?

[harsh plover]

Whuuut!?

[smoky sapphire]

Yeah, I don't really get that one

[hushed steeple]

Do you think that buildings just naturally break off into the quantum realm?
No, they dont.
(Joke)

[smoky sapphire]

Well, in sky that would be entirely possible

[hushed steeple]

Yet you only see it happen in vault.
Even the sky has its limits

[smoky sapphire]

we literally see floating islands everywhere

[rustic heron]

I’d like to think that vault is a memory projection room. It creates an abstract representation of each realm from the users memories.

Each realm grows in complexity, and so each level in vault grows in complexity.

Floor 1 is Isle. Sand is everywhere, and you light the lanterns. You also are forced to return here for another door, much the same as Isle.

Floor 2 is Prairie. The biggest feature on this floor is the 4 person door, which is also a major component of Prairie: introduction to cooperation.

Floor 3 is Forest. It’s the first realm where verticality really becomes important, and the first floor where Flying is emphasized.

Floor 4 is Valley. It’s filled with architecture, and there’s lots of other features to explore. Much like Valley, it’s plentiful (the most winged light, candle cakes), and movement of all types is prevalent and utilized.

Floor 5 is wasteland. We see a large multimanta, which contains the light. We face the manta much as we face the krill in wasteland.

The last floor is Vault. We see the remains of a cosmic manta, representing the past and memory, and an ascent to the Elder.

It’s an abstraction of the most prominent challenges faced by our sky kid in their journey across the realms.

[hushed steeple]

Yes, but they arent breaking off into another plane of existance like we see in vault.

[frigid tinsel]

basically

1. floors 3-6 look unreal, even by Sky standards. fantastical.
2. in the places that look more real like the archives there are signs of damage. they reason that floors 3-6 were more devastated, which is hidden by the illusions.
3. after the Vault Elder cutscene, you are in what is persumably the actual top floor, the room before Eden, which also has signs of ruins (sand)

that's the basis of the theory

[rustic heron]

The top floor represents a lack of memory save destruction, as that is what our sky kid most remembers about Eden, their final destination.

[smoky sapphire]

Out of curiosity what is the other plane of existence? Genuinely curious.

[frigid tinsel]

except for new moths, they don't know what Eden is like until that moment. how could they remember something they don't know?

[hushed steeple]

Pretty much something like 1d 2d 3d and 4d, that would be different planes of existance, though for sky that might be different

[frigid tinsel]

those are physical dimensions which gets into math stuff I'm not mentally sound enough to explain

[rustic heron]

You can see Eden vaguely in the distance in each realm, most prominently the shattered floating castle.

[harsh plover]

Jajajaja

[frigid tinsel]

when it comes to other planes of existence, they mean like other worlds that exist on top of, adjacent to, or utterly detached from the reality we exist on

[harsh plover]

Ooooh ok I get it now

[rustic heron]

That’s also why the final floor has thunder and lightning. The shattered crystal is the shattered castle, and the lightning from the storm we see. That’s all we know about Eden at that point.

[hushed steeple]

Ahh, I was mistaken, my bad.
This actual definition though still proves the point a bit.

[smoky sapphire]

I agree that the floors of vault represent the different realms, but I don't see how that makes them any less real

[frigid tinsel]

i lean more to the planes of existence side of things where the magic of the Vault is just so concentrated is that it either forms its own reality or is, in fact, the liminal space where realities merge

[hushed steeple]

Ok, so you can see that the walls break off and float sill like between floors 2 and 3.
What that opens up to is, well, nothing. Complete emptiness. Lack of everything when you'd expect to see the outside.

[sick sparrow]

whats the difference between skykids and spirits? do skykids grow into spirits or are they two different species

[rustic heron]

Skykid fly. Spirit die. I’m only being partly facetious.

[hushed steeple]

Sky kids don't grow up and can't stay dead, spirits can though.

[sick sparrow]

ohh

[hushed steeple]

I need to go do important things so I can finally be free, byyyyyyeeeeeee!!!!!

[rustic heron]

I got the pictures, and will post them here eventually.

[frigid tinsel]

spirits are the ghosts of ancestors, a species of being that existed in the Sky world. as others have said, they're all dead now. their spirits are stuck in this world and need our help to ascend.

skykids, also known as descendants, are the player characters. despite the name, they're not descended biologically from ancestors, rather born from stars. skykids also don't grow up, at least we think so.

[keen shore]

Oh, so you sort of believe in it @rustic heron but in a different way than I do (as in the memories it’s based off of are taken from a different person). (By the way, thank you for typing this out, I appreciate it!!)

The similarities between each realm and each floor of vault is also interesting to me, although my explanation for it is that vault was like… a historical library for each realm and phase in the kingdoms life made at the very end of its lifespan and that’s why each realm has a floor counterpart - just for organizational purposes.

The only thing that confuses me about your theory is that the last two levels don’t really increase in complexity, they’re just… really empty. For the wasteland floor to be a direct correlation to our memories you would expect more representations of krill or just danger in general, or on the forest level you’d expect there to be some mechanic similar to having to traverse the realm carefully to avoid your light being drained. There’s nothing even vaguely similar to the flying or sliding races in the valley level, even though they’re arguably the most memorable thing about that realm. There are no mantas in the daylight prairie level. From a very abstract POV, your idea makes sense, I just get the feeling that — especially considering each of these realms were recent experiences — they’d have a more direct and immediately visible correlation to each realm.
Discord ate the part where it was meant to be a reply so I’m tagging you, hope that’s okay!

[frigid tinsel]

off topic but did they change the cutscene of "Fainting" Warrior cos I relieved them for the quest and oh, they died, they definitely died.

I'll get a vod, just wasn't expecting that

[smoky sapphire]

Yeah the second to last floor has stumped, but I think the last floor was just supposed to be the Elder's space

[smoky sapphire]

Yeah they definitely died

[frigid tinsel]

i swear, before they dramatically fell over, hence the expression

“Fainting” Warrior cutscene

[wheat leaf]

I did not expect that.

[static meteor]

i love the lighthearted "I can do that too!" energy from the skid meanwhile this mans dead

[keen shore]

I’m split between being surprised by the brutality and being distracted by the fact that your skykid is… jiggling?

[keen shore]

[narrators voice] the skykid could not, in fact, do that

[frigid tinsel]

i think that's the wind blowing the afro, the 'fro physics are a bit off in this game, as in not realistic and look weird.
source: have an afro irl

[lofty void]

oh no

[wheat leaf]

I agree with this, considering that I believe this is one of the most direct instances of a spirit's death being shown.
I believe I heard of another having it but I'm not sure exactly which one, and I am still intrigued.

[keen shore]

I was like.., wait is that skykid vibrating? …Then I look over to see a dead body

Side note, don’t the massive coliseum statues have armor? If so, why weren’t soldiers allowed to have armor too??

[frigid tinsel]

maybe their armor isn't a part of their spirit attire? or that is their armor

[keen shore]

Other spirits (but not the main spirit themselves) get crushed to death/suffocate in the tearful light miners memory

[static meteor]

was gonna mention this too but ya beat me to it

[wheat leaf]

I would guess mobility. Perhaps they were simply meant to be akin to a runner (say, WWI note runners), delivering across the wasteland area. Then again, that is likely not the case, but I would say that they had the most stationary have the most armour, and the most mobile have a very small amount, or none.

[static meteor]

tearful light miner makes me feel things.. i just wanna sit with them so they dont feel alone q.q

[tulip aspen]

yes!

[keen shore]

This is probably the actual reason, although it is still a bit odd that we never see anyone wearing armor. Maybe the first few warriors weren’t well prepared for actual battle? (As in, the conflict broke out suddenly when no one was expecting it so no one was actually trained or equipped to deal with it)

[frigid tinsel]

i'm just recounting what yall said

[wheat leaf]

This is what I was thinking as well. One headcanon I had was some sort of civil war or spilt-off during the initial Season of Abyss artworks, but upon consideration that hardly made sense. At the very least, it got broken up into parts.

(I am also a sucker for conflict, being into such media and games doesn't help-)

[keen shore]

Sorry for the tag, but adding on to this list to mention that the purple light, which is shown to create illusions in the forgotten ark cutscene when you hand it over, is also located in vault of knowledge implying it had some sort of importance to that realm (the whole light lore is still kind of foggy, although from what I can tell the purple light seems to be the most… solid?? I guess. Just provides a mechanism for how the illusions are created)

[wheat leaf]

Fair enough. And why would the light itself split/disappear upon contact, if not for some to reappear later?

[static meteor]

it could be the same thing as sand in water; when the water is being used the sand is evenly dispersed more or less, but once rhe water settles if it hasn't been used in a while the sand all gathers in one place; maybe the magic just sort of gathered and went a-nyooming around the memory chamber

that was very badly explained i am so sorry

[wheat leaf]

That is fair, and it is okay. I understood what you meant.

If it's different types of magic explaining colour, then I could see that being the case.

[frigid tinsel]

thing is, I don't think the tents at the forgotten ark are illusions. they're structures, we can walk on them and such, so they're at least tangible. "illusion" implies entirely not real, deceived from reality, but in reality the tents are there. perhaps purple light is more to create structures as one imagines it so?

[wheat leaf]

Trur, plus we also have the item shops. I forgot, but do they only appear after the lighting?

[keen shore]

Illusion isn’t quite the right word, especially considering we can easily just walk around in vault without falling through the fake floor. I think we have the same interpretation of what purple light does, it’s just hard for me to phrase it correctly (translating abstract thoughts to written words is… hard lol)

[wheat leaf]

It makes one fully see what once was?

As in, you destroy a pot, or bury it. You activate the light after some time, and it's back where it was. Even if it's elsewhere.

[static meteor]

i understand what you mean regardless

[keen shore]

This doesn’t seem quite right either, unless the vision can degrade in quality over time, because it implies that vault was once like how it currently appears, which doesn’t seem right given the vast emptiness where the wall should be, how empty it is in general, and so on

[rustic heron]

Pinging @keen shore because Discord also ate the relay part for this message. Apologies.

I think it’s hard for children to understand desolation and death. For them, concepts like regret, grief, and sorrow are hard to conceptualize, especially for something that happened long before their time.

To them, the Krill and the emptiness of GW are prominent, so that’s what they remember: empty dark spaces with big creatures. They face the krills, and so we face the cosmic manta to get the lanterns.

We also see the next most prominent feature: death. We see a lot of this in GW, so the last thing we remember before the elder scene is bones.

I think it’s also important that it’s not 1:1 correspondence. These are kids; their memories blend a little. We see small manta bones in the valley floor, and we see the flame plumes a bit on the Forest floor (like the butterflies in prairie).

On the topic of Forest, abstractedly we have to hop between places of flame to get around in the level, just like in Forest. That’s probably the most prominent memory for a kid in rain not wanting to get wet.

Abstraction and symbolic thinking are primary tools in a child’s psychological kit. This is really well explained in the following scene from Inside Out: https://youtu.be/606396EJcJo

You kinda have to think in terms of child-like abstraction for this theory to make sense.

[wheat leaf]

That can be agreed.

[wheat leaf]

This is very... enlightening. I didn't consider those aspects before.

[rustic heron]

Damn, that’s brutal. It’d make sense for a kid to see that as fainting, especially since that would be one of our first encounters with death.

[frigid tinsel]

i swear, their cutscene before was them dramatically falling over, hence the expression

[wheat leaf]

Plus, a skykid's "death" is hardly permanent. From their perspective it'd make sense for it to be fainting as well, as they are essentially immortal and unknowing.

[frigid tinsel]

I do agree, at least, that we're forced to interpret things from a child's perspective given these are skykids. however, did you know trauma can hasten a child's cognitive development?

[tulip aspen]

vault is purple

[frigid tinsel]

Vault is blue, dark blue like the cape

[tulip aspen]

OPE SORRY WRONG PING AAAA

[frigid tinsel]

was about to say, you colorblind?

[wheat leaf]

As well as stunt emotional growth or at the very least suppress it when there is an excess +/- no proper coping, which is where sociopathy comes from. Then again, I don't see any skykids that have such traits thus far.

[keen shore]

This makes a lot more sense! I tend to think about things super literally so abstraction is hard for me to wrap my head around sometimes. (Plus, trying to remember how I thought about things as a kid is a lost cause, to say the least)

Maybe the truth ||(I am using this term loosely because I don’t know if there is an actual truth to whose memories are being portrayed in vault, just head canon)|| is somewhere between the two. Maybe part of the reason it’s so abstract is that the original vault architecture influenced the way the memories got projected to some extent (as in, the memories mixed somehow?) and pushed it towards something that isn’t exactly our memory of the realms but is still comparable to it

[rustic heron]

It’s probably why we seen unfazed by our duty in the Elder’s cutscene. We’ve come to know death, and we face Eden. The association between death and bones can be scene as an understanding of death and tragedy as well.

[frigid tinsel]

the best i can say is that i don't think you know what sociopathy is

[wheat leaf]

True, apologies. I'm currently trying to learn, and it wasn't very good.

[rustic heron]

This is another theory I’ve had: Vault stores the memories and emotions of spirits before they ascend. The elevator does this by letting them relive their lives, coming to terms with themselves and storing that information, before a spirit ascends.

In this way, darkstone technology was sacred because it’s greatest usage was ascension and memory.

[wheat leaf]

This is interesting. Do the gravestones use this technology as well, or would that just be an easy gameplay mechanic?

[keen shore]

I wonder if that’s what the lanterns in the archives are meant to store, and that’s why that entire area seems hidden/blocked off, because their contents are really sacred and personal

[rustic heron]

Perhaps. Sky straddles lines of mysticism and technology to create a fantastical setting. Nothing is too modern; Just look at the beta ship vs the live ship in Treasure reef and you’ll know what I mean.

Gravestones are a conduit for spirits, where they can easily be met before ascension.

[frigid tinsel]

even after ascension

[wheat leaf]

I did notice that, yes. It's interesting to think about it.

[wise rampart]

this is quite possibly one of the most well written explanations for a theory I’ve struggled to put in words for a long, long time. May I catalogue it on a doc with credit to you?

[rustic heron]

Yes, I think so. It’s literally the entire history of their people. A great font of knowledge, but sacred and emotional as well.

Straddling the line between mysticism and technology.

[rustic heron]

Of course. I love spreading knowledge. Even if this turns out to be wrong, someone can use it to build other theories.

[wise rampart]

I don’t presume it to be wrong. Not only is it parallel to many current things, but it’s also something that my lore friends and I discussed years ago. The fact that you compacted it into a simple, explainable essay is stellar.

[tulip aspen]

pain

@stable veldt projection theory

[keen shore]

If it is projecting, what would be projecting it? The giant crystal above the elevator, right? (considering it seems to project constellations)

[stable veldt]

Mmmmm back at it again. Giant crystal above is the most plausible thing to priject, since it's clearly depicted in the cutscene. Whateever that was projected is probably the skid's knowledge after meditating

[tulip aspen]

i never left

[rustic heron]

Crack. I don't understand the censor.

[wise rampart]

there is also a bunch of star looking things in the vault. They could potentially be an advanced holoprojector

[rustic heron]

The real lore is understanding the censor here. Anyway, I'm a room full of monkies banging on typewriters. After wading through a sea of joke theories, you get something halfway-decent.

[wise rampart]

like yours.

[stable veldt]

The island above the archive, like i said before, probably a really high up HQ that only the "smartest" (In this case is probably the elder) can meditate long enough to make the platform rise and finally reaching the top

[tulip aspen]

you believe the island is real?

[rustic heron]

Yes. Sky kids need to rest after reliving their emotionally trying journey. Let the kids have some fun on the grass.

[tulip aspen]

the fact that we go from the vision with the vault elder straight to the top floor had always been my main proof that at least the last floor is definitely just a dream

[stable veldt]

If it's actually real, we have this chance that the higher up the archives is, tje more valuable in information it holds. Which means that we came from isle (which is common knowledge because everybody needs to be ferried at the end of life) to finally reach GW-Vault (main info about wars and knowledge)

[harsh plover]

😂😂😂😂

[rustic heron]

I think the last floor represents the original Eden; A paradisal garden.

[stable veldt]

Plausible. We know that there's this thing where spirits needs to be ferried to ascend at the end of their lives. A little short heaven wont hurt

[tulip aspen]

if you or anyone come up with any more evidence for the projection theory or direct debunks to the dreamscape theory let me know so i can write about it

i definitely need too hear both sides of it

[wise rampart]

Yeah. Eden was supposed to be the holy land. There was the city, and at the center, the entrance to a massive temple. It’s obviously magnificent in both grandeur and size, with big statues, doors, etc etc. The light flowed clean, unblocked. It was, as lapis said, a paradise.

[half coral]

can someone please explain to me what you guys are talking about?

im just hovering rn

[rustic heron]

DEEPEST LORE

[tulip aspen]

vault is an illusion! :D @half coral

there are two theories on what type: a physical projection, or a mental dream
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B5N140v47F1FLuWHHRITYwEiLbptLZQFf0Lph-57XDE/edit?usp=drivesdk

[frigid tinsel]

tbf it's kinda out there

[half coral]

i like out there lore

[frigid tinsel]

i mean "gonna lose a bit of your mind" out there

[keen shore]

I’m trying to think through which one I’m leaning towards, I always assumed it was a really complex dream/fading memory because… it sounded cool… although I haven’t encountered the projection theory much.

Here are my thoughts:

• Precedent set for illusion/memories being complex, tangible, and realistic, and possibly created by purple light ✅ (main precedent being purple light showing structures at ark, and possibly elder and home dimensions if you believe they also count)
  -> subdivision of previous bulletpoint: elder dimensions being mindspaces also offers a direct precedent for the entirety of vault being the elders mindspace, with the knowledge that elders can create them easily, the vault elder being able to create bigger and more complex versions with the aid of magic and training is not a far logical leap)
• Precedent set for the crystal projecting complex and realistic images you can interact with: sort of? crystal definitely projects constellations but whether it can make anything more complicated than that is currently unknown.
  -> subdivision: currently speculated that the lantern-book things can project memories and ideas as well although to my knowledge there is no solid evidence in game that this is the case, just the reasoning “well, they definitely don’t work like normal books, and this makes logical sense, so…”
• identifiable thing causing dream to occur ✅ (meditation circle on elevator)
  -> subdivision i - could just be a means to focus our energy and move the elevator similar to how we move forgotten ark & treasure reef boats
  -> subdivision ii - technically this theory does not need an identifiable cause because you can say that the dream kind of permeates the air as soon as you enter vault
• identifiable projector ✅ (hovering crystal)
• reason vault inhabitants would create projections &/or complex dreams: same for both, recording memories of a civilization (1/2)

[rustic heron]

So, there are 2 (3?) competing theories for what Vault represents, due to its very abstract nature.

1. Vault is the memory of the Vault Elder, and they create an illusion of how they remember the realms. Their memory is degrading, and consequently vault becomes more and more abstract.

2. Vault is an illusion, falling under a larger umbrella of there being dreamscaps/mindscapes in which Elders reside. The upper layers of vault are the dreamscape of the Vault Elder.

[warm locust]

hi

[tulip aspen]

yes, but the reason i find it important to discuss is because the theoretical answer would tell us a LOT about power diamond tech and also the most powerful abilities of both ancestors and skykids

im sorry if it's not really something you enjoy

[tulip aspen]

three?

[tulip aspen]

[frigid tinsel]

1. Vault is an illusion/not as real as it appears
2. Vault is a projection
3. what we see of Vault is due to the naïve childish perspective of skykids

[half coral]

my personal fav bc i just read jams doc and im already losing my mind

[rustic heron]

I believe Vault is a memory projector designed to record the memories and emotions of spirits before they ascend. We see Vault in abstract terms because we are children who have undergone a complex journey, and we're remembering it abstractedly to comprehend what we saw.

AKA maybe 3?

[stable veldt]

Hmmm... Other thing for projection theory is that if it's a dreamscape, putting children of lights in some places would feel pretty out of.. Well lore? We know that children of lights are imprints of other cotl, it wouldnt made sense that the dreamscape could effect a skid permanently. If anything the floating props and stuff around is in fact real, not a dreamscape. Because if it is a dreamscape/only a mindspace of the skid, then well it's like only diggng deep into them and somehow find more "imprints" Get suddenly empoerred. One of the reason why i dont trust dreamscape hallucination because one of the factor is this. How many other skids entered in and out of your head long enough to finally make an imprint inside yourself?

[tulip aspen]

holy krill, the idea that floors 3-6 are the elder's mindscape is just

[keen shore]

(2/2)
-> subdivision: projectors may be more feasible for this as memories by definition require someone’s mind to host. Although, it may be a mixture of both, with the memories somehow becoming implanted into the lanterns (note: how would this work?)

• precedent for complex dreams and memories OUTSIDE OF vault ✅

• precedent for complex projection technologies OUTSIDE OF vault ❌
  -> subdivision: could be due to vaults technology being more advanced

• note for both: both projection technology and memories degrading over time is feasible, which is important considering how vault slowly becomes more fantastical and emptier, although it would probably take a shorter time for memories to degrade. Unfortunately, due to a lack of concrete timeline, this piece of information doesn’t do much.

Projection note: vault elder floats a diamond shaped device in the air mid cutscene which could be projecting the murals
-> subdivision: forest elder does this as well with no projections being created (again, excuse for vault technology being more advanced applies)

If I missed anything let me know. I think I covered all the important bits

[half coral]

im gonna be honest i was coming in here to input my theories about the temperature of the realms but these theories change everything for vault????

[frigid tinsel]

oh i didn't mean that to be insulting, it's just concepts that can be hard to wrap one's head around. and I already lost my mind so it's not a big deal to me

[keen shore]

Thank you! My interpretation of why the vision slowly disintegrates because I love angst like this is that the vault elder wants to project what their realm used to look like pre destruction, so that skykids can actually learn from it, but they start forgetting what certain parts looked like (and this is why the first two levels with the lantern-bookshelves have the most energy focused on remembering & maintaining them. unfortunately vault elder does not know we are illiterate)

[tulip aspen]

nah its not insulting at all lolol

[half coral]

because like the fact that vault is theorised to be mostly a mindscape/hallucination means that vault elder can probably control the temperature

[rustic heron]

Cr ack Theory: Vault is a giant cellar for fermenting mind juice, which scholars drink to have visions.

[tulip aspen]

feel free to input still! that sounds really interesting

[silk hinge]

guys what do you think about that room after vault and before eden? how do we end up in there

[rustic heron]

We take the elevator

[frigid tinsel]

that is Eden. Vault is probably inside the Eden mountain. when we reach the top floor, we leave the Vault and enter Eden

[half coral]

this may be long, plus its on my own observations/canonish climates, also everything is in celcius because metric ig

[keen shore]

It’s what the final level of vault actually looks like

[tulip aspen]

only the first floor and that last room/floor are actually real (possibly the second floor as well)

the rest is just either a dream or projection

here is the theory doc for vault, but it isn't fully complete yet
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B5N140v47F1FLuWHHRITYwEiLbptLZQFf0Lph-57XDE/edit?usp=drivesdk

[silk hinge]

yes, but if we're talking phisically, the elevator is on the floor not floating and the only kinda door like thing is to eden. how did we end up from the first floor to that room?

or i just never looked behind me in that room and didnt notice

[tulip aspen]

ive assumed there is a hole the elevator fits snugly into coming into the last room

it's the only way it could've gotten there

[hushed steeple]

Zamn i thought sky was a childrens game...

[rustic heron]

If you follow the memory theory, The last floor represents our memory of Eden. We have continually scene Eden in the distance, a fractured castle surrounded by a lightning storm. In the final Vault floor, we hear lightning, despite the fact that we never hear or see lightning in the first parts of Eden, and we see the cracked crystal.

We only rememver lightning and the destroyed castle, so that's what is being projected.

[silk hinge]

oh that makes sense!

[rustic heron]

It's a game about children.

[hushed steeple]

Children experiencing severe trauma about past

[frigid tinsel]

and being traumatized in the present

[silk hinge]

so does that mean that floor is a memory too? or is it also a real room?

[rustic heron]

All the rooms are real, just reconfigured to represent the most memorable parts of a spirit/sky kid's life. (In the memory theory. Dreamscape theory says the final floor is real, period).

[keen shore]

Also sorry for the text wall earlier, was scrolling through old messages and realized I kind of just dumped it on everyone without realizing

[frigid tinsel]

the Vault is a topic of fierce debate

[hushed steeple]

I dunno if im interpreting ur theory wrong but at the start of isle we hear the voice singing, but its not quite the right order of phrases in which it sings. So maybe that singing at the beginning is us remembering eden after seeing it again for the first time?

[rustic heron]

Very possible. Reincarnation is a hugely prominent theme in Sky. But that's outside of any Vault theory.

[hushed steeple]

Yeah ik i thought it has something to do with memory or sumth, hence saying if im understanding the theory wrong

[silk hinge]

so with the vault is real theory the way we end up in that room is like normal, we got there with the elevator, and with the dreamscape theory that room is the 3rd floor from what I've read

[rustic heron]

So memory is a huge theme in Sky. We relive spirit memories constantly to "free" them and help them ascend to Orbit, AKA the Megabird.

[silk hinge]

but when we spawn in that room we were sitting down besides the elevator and not on it... its like we never even got on it in the first place?

or ig the place where you spawn doesnt really matter that much lol

[keen shore]

This is because we moved off the elevator to meditate at the vault elder shrine :3c

[tulip aspen]

"And the first floor!!"
--Dreamscape theorist

[rustic heron]

There is the question of where the shrine is on the last floor if we meditated at it. Every other temple shows us next to the shrine after meditation. The last floor of vault is devoid of a shrine.

[tulip aspen]

ohhhh yep ive heard this point before.

and my answer last time was that, look where you were sitting

the giant crystal slammed itself into the elevator

my guess is it knocked you down off of the platform and onto the floor

[frigid tinsel]

remember, skykids don't feel pain unless it's darkness

[half coral]

starting with isle: i used to think it was a port so the temp wouldve been mildly humid but because of the switch trailer confirming that it used to be a grassy plain again, changes everything, but it is still close to a beach (the one where u get teleported to when u start the game/walk through the isle portal), so probably about 18- 25ish degrees? theres also ocean winds where its arguably cooler so maybe around 18-23 degrees
prairie: its a small, grassy village above the clouds, and from what i know aboit the lore, used to harvest light from butterflies, so it could equate to a farm i guess?? i think the average temp here would be hnghhh 16-18 degrees, likely. for the caves part of prairie it would be very obviously cooler, idk how cooler but cooler (probably by about 2 degrees), and sanc islands would probably have the same avg temperature as isle, maybe a bit hotter because its directly under the sun for all we know
forest: rainy and cloudy, cold and humid bc thats how its always like when it rains, at least in my part of the country i live in, so 15 degrees on the dot, thats all i asscociate rainy weather with 15 degrees
valley: its a mountain so cold, its so cold snow can form (per usual atop a mountain), so 10 degrees? like 3 degrees in summer? i dont actually know if tall mountains get to negative numbers in temperature lmao
wasteland: its polluted so climate change can, will and has taken its toll on the whole realm (aside from treasure reef) so warmer than usual, averaging possibbly a 25 degrees (woah), i think that forgotten ark starts out as the average wasteland temperature but then gradually cools down as you progress through the enchantment quests ||(you unpollute the air in one of them i think||, ant treasure reef cold windy and humid because reef ect

[tulip aspen]

definitely, but things could presumably still knock us around

[rustic heron]

Pretty sure my skid felt it when I slipped while emoting and skating at the same time.

[keen shore]

This reads like a loading screen tip

[tulip aspen]

frrrrrrr

[keen shore]

Hold on. I need to edit this

[silk hinge]

i didn't realize how i love lurking in this room u guys are big brains

[frigid tinsel]

at least they don't feel pain unless it's darkness afflicted or ripping light out of themselves

[keen shore]

Increased Accuracy Version

[half coral]

vault: since i always thought it would be cold because it looks like space (the beta vault was called night, no scoop mickey) so 2 degrees when its winter and 10 degrees on average

reminders this is all in celcius, this is also just some stupid block of text about temperature because i like importing sciency stuff into fantastical games please enjoy my essay

[frigid tinsel]

mate, i'm the anatomy and physiology nerd here, i get the mood

[half coral]

geology, geography, astronomy and history nerd friend

[keen shore]

Thank you for the temperature calculations!! And history/Latin nerd friend

[half coral]

no problem i came up with them on the spot

[frigid tinsel]

i'm sorta a computer nerd but that's less relevant here

[keen shore]

When thinking about how computers work my brain explodes

[half coral]

very lmao

maybe i should do the geography next (after i figure out how genshins landscape has changed)/j

[frigid tinsel]

Sky geography will make you lose your mind

[half coral]

i wont look into it then

[tulip aspen]

we need lorechat loading tips

"Remember, the King wasn't actually a bad guy. (probably)"

""But I think starlight is canon so-""

"Be nice to the lore moths, they just want to learn!"

"The real lore was the friends we made along the way!"

"WAFO"

"Well, I dont WANT it to be all a dream..."

"If someone mentions how ancestors had families, run."

"Please don't bombard Ash the moment she stops by!

"You are not immune to propaganda."

"wE aS sPirIts"

"Legends say the lore bible can be found underneath Jenova Chan's car..."

"Megabird doesn't love you."

"tAke a deeP brEatH"

"Vault is an an illusion AND underground!!!"

"Remember, we'll never actually know the answers and TGC doesn't care about the story!"

[rustic heron]

You forgot one: "The real lore is the friends we made along the way."

[pastel brook]

Make friends the way I do: in a robot factory!

[half coral]

all i know is eden=mountain

[frigid tinsel]

"you are not immune to propaganda" and the king edit

[keen shore]

The first one made me remember something, the entire idea of skykids and the player base in general being obsessed with the king and thinking they’re super neat becomes so much funnier when put in the same universe as the we’re the king reincarnated theory

[rustic heron]

Gloating narcissist.

[frigid tinsel]

skykids: the king was a cool guy, actually, lol king propaganda
elders: growing an ulcer

[keen shore]

You can’t tell them because then they know the truth and it might happen again. What do you even do in this situation

[half coral]

the elders must be like "you guys stop "

[rigid mural]

I think the king was like the ice wizard from adventure time; not evil, but not good either. A bit messed up.

[rustic heron]

Baby H-itler time paradox.

[frigid tinsel]

even had the crown driving them insane, genius

[keen shore]

“Hey, look at this cool rock I found!” [lifts up darkstone]
[elder has a heart attack and dies again]

[half coral]

"guys stop hurting meee im a wittle messed up"
sorry but i had to do this

[keen shore]

Even funnier if the skykid knows the truth but does it on purpose to mess with everyone else.
I’m going to make them friends with the doesn’t believe in ghosts skykid

[rigid mural]

I think the king would weakly try to catfight me if I threatened him

[half coral]

what i thought we were gonna spell no in russian

[keen shore]

Haha! You have fallen victim to my catperson agenda!

[frigid tinsel]

i thought it was gonna be "no you"

[keen shore]

I need to sleep it’s like 1:30AM

[frigid tinsel]

same but im on cr uber duty so i can't

[half coral]

wish i had nitro so i could use the ;kaworu; emote i have in a diff server rn

its only 5 pm for me

[rustic heron]

Yo, it's cr-ack theory time. What're your favourite cr-acked theories?

[half coral]

idk im a lore moth again

[rustic heron]

Even better! It doesn't need to make sense. Just throw 'em out there.

[half coral]

probably my temperature theory because i came up w the temps on the spot

[keen shore]

This One

[half coral]

makes no sense to me but maybe ill make a cr-ack theory on the tectonicish plates of sky

[half shadow]

Isle elder can totally bust a move

[rustic heron]

A fine vitage of cr-ack theory.

[lean siren]

I dont know if it's a cr ck theory but I like to think that the jars in vault does not only hold important memories but also stupid one

[frigid tinsel]

i mean, Valley Elder being one entity with two bodies is sort one

[keen shore]

You know the room where the sparkler parent is next to the valley temple? It was made intentionally confusing in order to hide explosives from the valley twins for everyone’s safety

[half shadow]

Scholar filing away a memory of one time they saw their teacher totally eat it and trip down the floating stairs: It must be preserved

[lean siren]

oof got eaten

[frigid tinsel]

censor is having fun tonight

[keen shore]

The reason most doors in sky have that extra rectangular opening at the top is so spirits with tall fancy masks (vault spirits, prophecy guide) don’t get their mask stuck on top

[half coral]

wait since when was 5 pm cr k theory time

[quick terrace]

plsss 😭😭

[keen shore]

The murals in the cave system in forgotten ark happened after the muralist tried to teach the crab dance spirit how to paint in order to have someone to share their hobbies, but all the crab dance spirit wanted to do was paint pictures of crabs 💔

[olive halo]

crab dance spirit has the right idea

[half coral]

i think the best criggle theory is the vault scholar one where they just have a special room for stupid memories in vault

[rustic heron]

Lookout scout fell off the tower they climbed. That's how they died.

[keen shore]

The jellyfish mural in the jellyfish cave is hidden because spirits are banned from painting murals there (due to it being equivalent to a park) but jellyfish whisperer was too excited about jellyfishes to listen

[covert oar]

Can crabs kill the spirits?

[frigid tinsel]

theoretically, crabs can kill skids. never seen that happen tho

[rustic heron]

Pleaful parent's crab ate him. That's canon*.

[covert oar]

Oh

[frigid tinsel]

Lapis canon is different from canon canon

[keen shore]

The prophecy spirits have a ladder specifically kept so they can paint on the ceiling whenever they need to remember things. At some point it got lost so now they have to stand on each other’s shoulders instead

[half coral]

o take it back thats even better

[covert oar]

In golden wasteland the firepit with cooking crabs in a stick means skykids or spirits can consume them? Even after they are turned into dark creatures?... isnt it like bad for consumption?

[rustic heron]

Vault Elder writes fanfiction of the other Elders, records it, and hides it in the far back of the archives.

[frigid tinsel]

Lapis

[tulip aspen]

ill deck that tall boi

[keen shore]

At some point they accidentally projected it from the vault projector without realizing, and now everybody knows but is afraid to mention it

[half coral]

wait question that idk if its allowed in here is can i write down my (currently unable to display in game) skids lore or do i have to go somewhere diff for that

[rigid mural]

Resh is twice divorced

[keen shore]

Elders are actually the height ancestors are supposed to be. Ghosts shrink after death

[frigid tinsel]

thought they were trice divorced, twice to Wasteland Elder

[rustic heron]

Eden actually occurred because Vault Elder couldn't take the embarassment, and sabotaged the King's crystal to destroy all evidence ofthe fanfiction.

[keen shore]

Who was the third person? Themselves???

[rustic heron]

Three? Try 300.

[keen shore]

The valley elders have attempted to play ball with the enchantment lights on numerous occasions. This is how they lost their arms

[frigid tinsel]

the high-five incident

[rigid mural]

THE HIGH FIVE INCIDENT

[rustic heron]

Isle Elder regularly dunks on the other Elders during their bi-weekly spirit ball game. This is why they are not included on the Eden door, and why they're not invited to Elder meetings anymore.

[keen shore]

flight guide is 3ft tall

[rigid mural]

Legends only

[keen shore]

The legendary art has returned

[rustic heron]

I've got the best one yet. You know how Isle has that one rock that looks like Pride Rock? Isle Elder pulls a "Circle of Life" for all the new Moths in addition to naming them (previous theory someone else made).

[frigid tinsel]

me, that was me, I still stand by it

[rustic heron]

Isle Elder holds moth in the air by the armpits, other moths look from below pride rock It's the circle of LIIIIIIIIIIIFFFFFEEEEE

[frigid tinsel]

yeet

another blessed Vela illustration

[tulip aspen]

whats that

[rigid mural]

@tulip aspen

[harsh plover]

Im back brothers

I'm glad no one asks about the king

[frigid tinsel]

the king is trice divorced, twice to Wasteland Elder.

[harsh plover]

Whut!!? Hahahaha

[tulip aspen]

ouch

[steep prawn]

Hello guys who has the picture of the concept art of the creatures for abyss like this leech startfish thing idk something LMAO

[rustic heron]

Check the pins on the channel for concept art.

[harsh plover]

what were the reasons why you started playing sky ?

[late wasp]

a small fragment of lore i want to share
the abyss crew has a cannoneer. meaning, they have a cannon and things to shoot at.
i'd expect it is the dark creatures of the sea we see a mural of.

[frigid tinsel]

Cannoneer: uses a harpoon

[harsh plover]

Maybe abyss creatures are worst

[half shadow]

They’re called a cannoneer but their ship doesn’t appear to have cannons on it and they also have a harpoon gun. Maybe that’s just called a cannon in sky world, who knows

[harsh plover]

Possibly they had cannons before

[timid crescent]

Lore discussion has two sides: dead and chaos

[harsh plover]

You’re right on that

[late wasp]

I think the implication is that the Americans make up the majority of the scholar population lol

[late wasp]

a sign of that being the case is how now they have dressers on the deck. these wouldn't remain there for long during voyages.
it really feels like they just retired in there

[harsh plover]

It make sense… maybe they just retired in there

[late wasp]

Also, Crab BBQ 🍢 giving out fragments of light 🔥 after being cooked, implies that ancestor was actually looking for these light fragments, instead of being about to eat crab meat.

This is relevant because it opens a new reading for the reason the Abyss Crew might be looking for crystals; which is it could be because they will extract and sustain themselves off the light contained within.

[harsh plover]

Wow 😯

Sorry for not being very talkative but that’s very interesting

[rich prawn]

Any lore explanation why there isn't a social area in vault?

[boreal nebula]

Random theory I came up reading your comment

They don't need to bonk the ferry man to go faster

Instead of taking a heavy crowded or full of pots commoner gondolas, the wealthy travelled on luxurious Days Of Love gondola, classy, lightweight and maybe even faster

[boreal nebula]

Or maybe just Elder

[boreal nebula]

It could be that their aging pogress make them bigger version of their own stage (like we see various size of the same regular manta or like we see the cosmic multiwings in Vault level 5 with babies on the side) and maybe they keep growing till they travel to Eden to evolve after a certain number of cycles (like our WLs progression isn't linear)

Maybe I just get the idea for the last part because it seems to me that big Regular Mantas guides younger Regular Mantas

[boreal nebula]

Where's is the first one located in GW?

Cause it could rhyme so well my theory about the two of them sealed the path ahead from their temple to keep darkness at bay (like I think any Elder did in their own way, realms as sealed compartments to save the Kingdom from the spreading), but since the Twins had the Power of Air blessed upom them by the King, beside a magic barrier they also could have created That Whirlpool with a combined spiral dance (that reminds me of the Twins statues and their Light Awaits cutscenes)

[tulip aspen]

clearly it was too be entrenched in lore obviously

[tulip aspen]

that creature is based off a fish and not a whale, while the sanctuary elder creature is a literal whale

[tulip aspen]

tempura shrimp f vs ckhvojvohv

[boreal nebula]

I could be a more serious solution, like the shipwrck cruiser they had defensive weapons (in the case of they cruiser, King Tower/Turrent on the front side)

[boreal nebula]

You made me wonder too now..

I once had a theory that back when the kingdom rising maybe both Isle and Vault each were not a "Realm"

Isle looks like they external border of the Kingdom and the Vault like the inner most important building, the library (except the king palace that maybe was Eden)

So mayve we see them as realms cause they are our game levels, but maybe the Realms where you could have a social square like the Social Areas were the 4 and King Castle (the one we know count as 7th realm)

[tulip aspen]

so i was rocketing and clipping with some friends up to that weird square high above floor 6, when i realized underneath the square..... is the canonical ceiling of the massive room floors 3-6 are in!!!!

this is where the elevator goes in, so i was right, it snugly slides into that hole, and floor 7, the top floor, might even canonically be literally right there

(whoops sorry for the double i thought it got deleted or something, weird)

[lime sinew]

Where is it?

[tulip aspen]

above floor 6

[boreal nebula]

Btw if the 4 Elements from Prophecy were bestowed upon Prairie, Forest, Valley and Golden (not yet) Wasteland then the other 2 Enchantment Lights were discovered really inside the 2 minor Realms

Vault learned the power of Imagination 🟣
Isle the power of 🔴 (which could explain why there is more explicit storytelling there in Isle, because the it shreds the darkness that cover the mystery of the kingdom, "together infinite but then tragedy")

NOTE: I already thought the 2 spots from where we collected the Red Light are connected just by either Tragedy or a Story about what happened there (but only Nodding Muralist is able to use it to show us what happened in Ark)

Btw didn't anyone mention that Isle Elder staff ⚕️ is glowing in redish circles like the Shadows ?

It could also fit in my headcanon about why Isle Elder was the fittest to sacrifice himself during Eden Catalysm, to shield away from darkness the entrance of Eden Door in order for other Elders to escape and put their seals upon it (hence, why Daleth Isle isn't on that Door!
And why he arrives in crumble from Eden in his cutscene)

He could withstand the darkness... To give the others a new "dawn" / Hope

(omg maybe I am thinking about the fight between 2 Egyptian godS to let the sun rise again each day!! Darkness, whatever was its name, VS Ra, the God Of Sun)

I want a LORE SEASON for the origins of Red and Purple now...

[boreal nebula]

This looks interesting!

But sorry I don't understand how to reach it 😅

I might need coffee😮‍💨

[rich prawn]

Makes sense. I had in my mind that the battle w dark creatures was held in the Golden Wasteland and when lost (given krill presence) they quickly went to the vault for protection. I was thinking the realms as a progression.

[sage isle]

okay, okay. really dumb question

so, this seasons masks are cracked. isn't that reeaallllyyy bad for our sky kids? I've seen some theories that the masks helps out sky kid adjust to the darkness or helps them see

[rich prawn]

Maybe that's why they learned to farm underwater for pearls and crystals, they needed more light extract in order to compensate for the cracks...

[sage isle]

[sage isle]

I suppose that would make a little sense to me. masks cracked, that's no good! SO, let's make a mine underwater to produce more light for the ones whos masks are cracked?

[steep prawn]

I think it's a different group like those who you are mentioning are the ones who built the sunken mining and light extractor facility something lmao. Ash mentioned before that the abyss crew are travellers like the enchantment crew from that season, the cracks on their masks was earned through their adventures and hardships. I may be wrong please corret me if so

[sage isle]

all these theories, and ideas. they make so much sense, and seem to work

[stable veldt]

Im hungru, so lets talk about sky cuisine. What do they eat? We can see roasted crabin GW, but that's that. What else can be noted as "food" Back then? What is the farmerman planting? What did the light creature pluck? Seeds?

[rich prawn]

I think it makes sense. Regardless, the crew knew how to farm crystals and pearls as well (as we may see in abyss quests). I understand they learned locally (given that this is not seen elsewhere where maybe they had adventures).

[steep prawn]

oh my bad actually aside from being a travellers, weren't they scavengers? It would make sense why some of them are really efficient collecting those materials for what purpose do they truly serve

[rich prawn]

That's interesting, indeed they are very skilled as scavengers. What Im not entirely sure is if both groups can be treated so distinctively. For example during the season u may get a hair piece with a jewel that appears also in the huge tower that was present in the abyss area already and also appears in one of the capes. I see this as a suggestion that both groups may have had some overlapping influence....

[steep prawn]

now that's really interesting to hear hahaha I'm glad we had this discussion!

[alpine wadi]

Maybe the purpose is for the door at krill tower we know king krill is in there so and the tower does not have a circle around it so we dont go in there for Crystal's there is a door in krill tower

[rich prawn]

The door on floor on top of it where there is a star?

[steep prawn]

that's also interesting, you guys have good conservation skills

[alpine wadi]

Its parshly in the water

[boreal nebula]

What I really like about those cracks is that it reminds me of the Japanese art of Kintsuchi, adjusting broken vases with gold, so a crack is turned into their most elegant elememt. A way to accept the imperfections.

Plus maybe the crack are a sign of their skills, each one was maybe more capable to dive deeper or with more expience

Edited ^^^^

[sage isle]

that is kinda lovely of you think about it.

[boreal nebula]

Idk what they were farming
But Belongings Grandma's dumplings are very tasty for us sky kids 😋 ||WAAX ||

[boreal nebula]

Rare footage of a Light Dragon /j

[late wasp]

finally acquired a lore seeker's greatest tool - firework staff
now the dark places can hide their lore no more

[digital willow]

Hey has anyone noticed the skykid statue in the manta constellation mural in prarie?

[nimble ingot]

Nice 🙂

If you want to upgrade the staff, you can either get the lantern spell, or get the lantern prop for whenever you want a more precise light source.

[digital willow]

I don't know what it's signifigance is, could it be a memorial to the first skykid? A religious item? Or something else?

[harsh pecan]

Not yet, but Ill probably go see there now that you mention it

[harsh pecan]

Oh, that

[late wasp]

"With the stars united, our light was infinite... ...and together, we lived in harmony."

shows ancestors living under the constellation of the Isle Elder among stars
"As spirits we soon became many... ...creating our home here in the clouds."
has far more ancestors now, they are all praying towards the clouds, where the Isle Elder temple can be seen, all of that under the constellation and stars
"But darkness came and the stars fell... and with their light we faded away."
shows the Isle Elder constellation disappearing as the stars fall. the ancestors under the clouds bow in sadness
"A long time has passed. Now we call to you. Go forth, child. Return our spirits to the stars."
the kneeling sad ancestors are shown as stars fall from the sky again, this time bringing Skykids.

With the stars united / the stars fell = seem to represent the Isle Elder constellation here, at least.

The weird part is how the spirits created their home here in the clouds.
Hinting that the Isle of Dawn is already in the clouds. And that they were always spirits there.

Although it is weird how in the mural it also shows the ancestors under the clouds. and the spirits want to be returned to the stars, meaning... the elders?

[late wasp]

where can I get the lantern? I don't have Adventure Pass ||it's too expensive where I live||

[nimble ingot]

The lantern is an in app purchase prop.
I do not remember where they could be bought, or if they were part of an event.
Let me look it up real quick.

[nimble ingot]

ah, they were part of the Days of Summer Lights pack (not to be confused as Days of Summer).
It was $19.99 (with 35 candles included) Last year, in September.

[late wasp]

too expensive
firework staff it is then lol!!

[nimble ingot]

Fair enough, you can get spells in the game though.

I use them whenever I really need them on expeditions, and the staff is not reliable enough for specific things I would be looking for.

[sly matrix]

I think that glowing creature swimming around is related to the dark dragons and a very big one became the sea monster.

[nimble ingot]

Are you referring to the one in the Anxious Angler memory?

[sly matrix]

No, I found an odd glowing creature swimming in the water but lost track of it. There’s a mural in the chasm that depicts a much larger one deep beneath the surface and a really big dark creature is shown around the entrance to the level.

[nimble ingot]

@sly matrix
If it is long and a white-blueish colour, then it is likely an light dragon (that is the nickname for it. I dont know what TGC would call it officially. I just call it an eel).

[distant turtle]

I feel that Hermit Valley is nestled right in here. It’s just not shown in the normal level. If they were to redesign it, I bet they’d put higher cliffs and more clouds, like we have a lot in Village of Dreams.

[boreal nebula]

As far as I know it's something that it doesnt have a define functionality in Live yet, I heard rumors, but I cannot tell if the are /will be true

[mild pine]

Is the "king" still in the lore?

[late wasp]

yes

[boreal nebula]

Interesting, I have a slightly different idea, have you seen the map I scribbled ?

[rigid mural]

It's the song that plays in the first area, where you crash below the clouds ! And interesting... Could the forest rain be a barrier too ? The Golden Wastelands turrets ? Prairie's abundance of light creatures ?

[hushed steeple]

Tgc: adds an underwater ravine in sanctuary

Me: l o r e ?

[boreal nebula]

Idk why same mantas fins seen in Treasure Reef can be seen in Bird Nest too!

But in Sanctuary the fins are "not stretched" as it used to be

Is TGC retconning something?

[boreal nebula]

Where?
Can you show some pictures?

[boreal nebula]

The rain? It might be.. a rain created with power of Water... but what could prove it? It could just be a natural phenomenon like the wind shortcuts of Flight, which suddenly appeared among the clouds and can only be helped to get restored

[rustic heron]

A rain created with the power of Water, A natural phenomenon?

Nah, couldn’t be

[boreal nebula]

It could have been preexistent or generated/regulated by the power of water

[hushed steeple]

The ravine itself doesnt bother me, its the shipwreck

Someone drowned maybe

[boreal nebula]

Then it's better if we don't discuss such things, we have no meean to know if they will stay or be scratched

Can you remove those picture please? It against the rule of this channel, you could move this topic to #beta-discussion or similar

[boreal nebula]

What I can say about your point is that ever since they implemented the Polluted Geyser (with that tiny boat with some 'golden container' ) ||with the last Days of Earth last April|| I wondered if that boat was a stray or from a cruiser like seen in the GW Shipwreck area

I wonder a simple yet important thing we missed even if under our nose

In which direction the Sky Sun spin? From East to West or from West to East?

It mighty seems silly, but that could help me try to understand where Eden is pointed in Maps like Hermit Peek or Citadel (well, in Citadel is quite obviuous, calculating the position of the Split Mountain relatively to Stadium). But still.. it's could be quite an interesting geographical feat formus Sky geographers xD

PS to Reika/Ash or any devs listening... is the 🇵0️⃣🇴P just ||the dumbest unique bad shape cloud on the east, behind Eden doorway in HomeSpace|| ?

[distant turtle]

Yeah it’s cool. I think you had it on the other side of Valley, like West of Valley if we were to call Eden to the North

[boreal nebula]

This badshape cloud ?!?

[boreal nebula]

Yes, cause there are a series of factors that gave me that West idea

[boreal nebula]

1. There is no other mountain visible from Hermit Peek (without counting the clouds) and those on the West seems the only ones

2. From what we can see in Valley social area there are other minor peeks which could be the Sunset Peek (that we can see visit with TLP)

3. These mounintains on the West have the right slope as the Hermit Peek

4. ||Devs like to make tunnels crossing over the others like we see in Hermit Peek quest for SoDreams and like the tunnels under Main Island of SoFlight||

Or at very least it these are the clues I consider useful that could simply means nothing if Ash or anyone could deny or tell me something specifially about the direction where the sun sets

[boreal nebula]

Exhibits West

But something beyond the map border could mean nothing

Like the thing I see beyond Starlight Desert that seems TLP with Krill Quest map... 90 degrees rotated compared to the aligment in Eden Beacon direction!

[frigid tinsel]

Someone mentioned the cracked masks so imma share this vid

And these pics (Cannoneer’s mask)

Given the big gaping holes in the mask around the eyes, I’d wager the lights we see are how skykids eyes actually look like, not just light shaped by masks’ eyeholes

[sage isle]

there's a what in the where now?

[lapis badger]

hey lore hope everything is good!

[sage isle]

so, without the masks (and not immediately going to the no mask state), sky kids eyes would just be 🌕--🌕

[nimble ingot]

yup, so no. Skykids are not blind.
The point of the maskless look is for the skykid's face to appear dark. Hence why the eyes are closed.
While the game would show the skykid with their eyes closed while maskless, one can assume the skykid is looking around while moving around (ex. flying).

[sage isle]

there's always the angst option :D

[frigid tinsel]

angst option?

[rustic heron]

I like to think that skykids eyes are so bright. It just melds into one big point of light. The mask concentrates the light so it doesn’t cover the entire face.

[frigid tinsel]

lmao that's my headcanon. that's why they keep their eyes closed while maskless, otherwise they'd just be blinding everybody.

[sage isle]

that the masks is a way for skids to cope with the darkness in the world as they are children in a sense and see things differently than others

[uneven grotto]

Where were each of the trial light elements supposed to go?

Prairie got earth and it was happy, but the other three elements seem misplaced (forest - water, valley-air, gw-fire) and I can't remember which ones were supposed to get what.

[nimble ingot]

I assume the elements are in the right places.

Looking at the murals on the way to the cave of prophecies would reveal where the wrong element would harm the realm.
For example, forest had fire. I cannot recall what the others were.

[frigid tinsel]

we can assume the elemental lights went to the realms that needed them, hence why they got them. the reason why may not be obvious to us, hence why some may say they were "misplaced"

[frigid tinsel]

the fire in forest mural may be depicting forest fires. while forest fires are actually good for the forest ecosystem in the long run, they can still be devastating, hence why water and perhaps the constant rain would be considered useful for that realm

[uneven grotto]

So maybe they were correct but misused, hence lost and wandering for us to find in daily quests.

Water element was supposed to make it so you could walk on dangerous water without being harmed, and if it was in place in forest the rain would be safe and not dangerous.

Fire element was supposed to protect you from darkness creatures, but it also is lost and wandering in Ark and Crab fields and not in it's proper place.

[rich prawn]

I'm thinking lately about a western astrology link, given that stargazing and constellations r routine mechanics. Regarding elements it makes sense with astrological knowledge: earth is linked to nature and work, prairie constellation is a vase, reminds Taurus . Gw a warzone, reminds Aries concerned with survival at all cost, the 1st sign, fighting for existence. The forest linked to water is appropriate given that is the only woman elder (apparently), water being linked with nurture, deep feelings. Valley is totally Gemini (in my pov), an air sign, the forked path, the fast pace, the erratic movement. What I'm thinking lately is actually what the other realms would represent in an astrological sense.... Interesting is that astrology understand the signs as a progression, maybe an interesting way to link the realms regarding storytelling...

[sly matrix]

There are different types of mantas and they probably change in appearance as they get older. We also know they can die and return as cosmic mantas.

[distant turtle]

Yes yes nice

[harsh plover]

Like the giant cosmic manta ?

[sly matrix]

Yes

[hushed steeple]

Cant decide if this proves or disproves my “skykids have really bright headlight eyes” theory. What yall think? These bright enough? Certainly more than normy ancestors eyeballs

[frigid tinsel]

i'd say this more proves than disproves. these are really bright headlight eyes, very concentrated points of light projecting outward.

something I've been thinking about; as you can see in the video at the side view, these points of light also bulge a bit out the face a little like actual eyes do. so their eyes aren't necessarily holes in their shell but distinct features of their bodies, orbs if you will. maybe the light inside them concentrates in these orbs to function as eyes? but the eyes we humans and other biological organisms have see by having light enter their eyes. how would it work to see with light coming out of the eyes?

ancestors' eyes might have been the same or similar, see the Switch release trailer they have eyes like this too. they may not have as much light as the other Sky beings, but they did have light.

[boreal nebula]

Yes, maybe they grow in size they grow old (from Prairie to Eden we saw the same regular manta even in huge sizes, but still the same shape) the one I mentioned seems just to be modified just like the ones we see underwater. (Like for example we see same babysize cosmic multiwings mantas next to the one we need to lit lanterns in floor 5, same shape just size)

I once wished they could return as cosmic mantas, but it might be more likely they are memories/holograms (or dreams) in more and more dreamlike floors of Vault

IMHO it seems an odd thing/retcon. Ooor maybe all regular mantas can stretch those tiny fins when needed for extra speed even if it was never showed anywhere if it's possible

[boreal nebula]

I might also add that there are actually different species of mantas, regular, great mantas (2 pairs of wings seen in Sanctuary and 4 dorsal horns and s-shape wings), multi wings (just because I know if Elder "Manta" is closer to a whale or manta I'll stop the list here) and each one maybe has the same shape all along or at least strong resemblace and that's why I think baby "pancake" mantas are the immature version of great mantas (because it shows 1 dorsal horn both in Sanctuary and in Flight memory of Lightwishperer, and today I notice they have more like a s-shape wings even if small and just one pair oddly)

Maybe instead of growing from one into another they might evolve into a new one after a certain kind of cycles.

So if I had to choose between Pokemon Evokutions and Darwin's Evolutions I'd choose Darwin's one 😁

And all this onky if we dont count "branching" (image if Baby Mantas could choose like Eevee in which form to evolve? 😂 )

[half shadow]

With the broken Cannoneer’s mask from Abyss you can sort of see that it appears the “headlight” eye on the broken side is actually situated in front of the skykid’s face instead of directly on their face. Which is likely just how the model works, but it’s sorta neat

[bright flicker]

This might be a big ask, but does anyone have like a condensed version of the Sky world’s history? Like, I know it’s pretty complicated, but I’m interested in it, and I know nothing.

[tulip aspen]

A mass of Light sits in space, a collective conscious

Ancestors came from the Light, either sent or fell by accident, falling as pure Light energy, then gaining hard shells upon landing.

These ancestors began building a kingdom, but due to the religious subtexts of worship and meditation, it's theorized that they were supposed to reconnect mentally to that Light in space, in order to ascend back up to it. (that theory may be incorrect and they might've had no real way to return)

Powerful deities; Elders, were sent by the Light to help them ascend, tasked to help the ancestors grow both spiritually and keep their kingdom thriving, but even then the ancestors still couldnt ascend..

The prophets had a vision and saw a being defeating a group of trials, and being given great power to lead them all to salvation.
Ancestors tried the trials but failed, until a special child ancestor that fell from the sky a long time later, defeated them and was crowned prince/king.
The prince MAY have singlehandedly discovered/developed darkstone and crystal technology, but that tech might've been before the prince.

There seemed to be resentment in the kingdom with one side preferring spiritual traditions, and the other preferring technology.
Civil war breaks out.

The giant diamond in eden was created/harvested for an unknown purpose, but recently i've been led to believe it was intended to send all ancestors straight back up into space without a complicated ascension process.
(Made before or during the war???)

The crystals created some sort of corruption pollution, and the giant diamond ruptured.
We dont know much about the apocalypse that followed, and there's even theories that there were multiple apocalypses all at once.
After the dust settled, likely decades later, all of the ancestors were dead.

A loooong time after that, the mass of Light sent angels to retrieve the souls of the ancestors, and that's us! Our job isnt done until every spirit hidden in new areas is found.

[hushed steeple]

Yeah ancestors do have bulging eyes also! as with sassy drifter. Diamond shaped lil eyeballs if I remember? Could be theres those type and the 3d ones.

[tulip aspen]

only base game spirits have diamond eyes iirc yes?

it prolly has no meaning, but still interesting

[deep osprey]

Here's my Google Doc on the lore. It's still in progress. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LZ299LRquWIkyMbEc0-8dRajIWrLJ3oHWyAY-izMJeE/edit?usp=drivesdk

[hushed steeple]

New spirit models keep getting fancy upgrades

[frigid tinsel]

looks like you need to adjust the share options so people don't have to request access before viewing

[deep osprey]

Oh ok

It should work now

[tulip aspen]

the trial one is fascinating

[keen shore]

The fact that eyes are just circles that kind of just hover above faces whether than being part of them is still weird to me, I want to know how that works so bad

[tulip aspen]

above the face?

wym?

they look like they stick out of the face, sure, but they dont look disconnected

[keen shore]

Like, not in sockets is what I mean. I need to get a better picture because I remembered them just Being there

edit: I think I confused them with the chest bubble

[frigid tinsel]

i've noticed a lot of light textures hover slightly above the object they're on, like murals, so that may be a computing modelling thing rather than something inherent to how the spirits are.

I'm trying to get some coursework done before this event I have to go to for the next several hours so if someone else could get a pic that'd be great

[tulip aspen]

actually, i think that those murals could be intentional, as only the glowy ones do that, so maybe those are magic and not paint

[frigid tinsel]

that's why I specified light textures, textures that incorporate light and glow, such as the drawings and murals.

i know it's really obvious in the Cave of Prophecy murals.

[deep osprey]

No, all murals do it. Try angling the camera, the mural isn't textured on the rock. It's sorta detached

[keen shore]

Scrolled up a bit and realized alasdair already got some great videos that somehow didn’t load for me earlier???

[frigid tinsel]

just to show how my skid's eyes appear in the cracked Cannoneer mask: #lore-discussion-spoilers message

there's a lot of space around the eyes where there isn't mask, so it shows their face around their eyes very well.

[tulip aspen]

hmm, the enchantment ones in the crab cave

and the intro ones too?

the candlemaker cave?

i def gotta check it out ye thx!

[keen shore]

Wait a minute, don’t our eyes usually glow with a yellowish tint?? or did I manage to mess up this one too?.

[deep osprey]

Oh, thx for mentioning Enchantment! I forgot to put that in my Google Doc!

[frigid tinsel]

They’re usually white. The exceptions that come to mind are in Wasteland, glowing greenish, and in other dark places, glowing yellowish or orangish

[keen shore]

This is neat, I didn’t know they changed colors. My guess for why the wasteland one is green is because there’s just pollution dust/smog in the air tinting everything that color. I would normally say the yellow/orange is the actual color made more obvious in low lighting, but your closeups make that pretty obvious it’s not the case. Maybe in dark areas our inner light burns hotter and brighter to help us see better and keep the darkness away?

[frigid tinsel]

Underwater they’re white, even in the dark.

[deep osprey]

Ok I added the forgotten ark murals

[deep osprey]

Or hear me out: maybe it's just a lighting mechanic?

[distant turtle]

Part of it is the devs re-use bits from old masks to make the new ones, and they probably don’t have eye models on hand that are deeper in than the mask

[frigid tinsel]

yea, everything in Wasteland has that sickly green tinge. aside from Wasteland for what you mentioned, it's sorta difficult to distinguish whether their eye color changes due to environmental lighting or something else. Wasteland does give credence to environmental lighting. if their eyes are always white, they'd be more likely to appear a different color due to environmental lighting changes

that could be why their eyes are mostly white because visible light all together is white, which makes sense – skykids are full of light. although if their flame were to burn brighter or stronger, it would appear more white than orange. however the ends of fire are almost always orange-yellow.

[half shadow]

by the way this is what I meant when saying the eye lights were separated from the Skykid’s face! you can see the little circle just hovers over their face

[frigid tinsel]

how much will science brain withstand this game's art design or computer modelling limitations?

i just really wish i could get rid of the glowy glare effect

[keen shore]

The last part is true, maybe it’s the opposite of what I mentioned — in polluted or just dark in general areas (like fire trial) our inner light can’t burn as strong so instead of looking like pure light, it looks more like a fire.
Also I’m pretty sure the eyes seeming separate from the face is just a minor visual thing and not canon. “We have light inside of us and our eyes are holes in our body for it to spill out” sounds a LOT more reasonable than “masks project eyes”

[half shadow]

Yeah lol I don’t think there’s much about skykids eyes or faces that’s beyond “it looks cool” or just the way the models work. And GOD SAME the bloom gives me migraines

[keen shore]

You know what’s worse than the glare? When you’re traversing wasteland with your brightness turned all the way up looking for tiny lore details, then you enter a new area and your eyes get fried with a white loading screen (this has happened to me too many times)

[frigid tinsel]

i don't play Sky after waking up for that reason

[half shadow]

I’m close to just putting “let us reduce the glare” in #wishlist-and-ideas-archived every damn week

[distant turtle]

I agree because there are many quirks about cosmetics, like rear of sunglasses being white and fire mask being see through only from the front

[frigid tinsel]

playing Sky: Children of the Light at night be like

today in lorechat: anatomy nerds hyperfocus on eyes, this game so honking bright

[hushed steeple]

Prolly the same as how murals work. The technical guys said they can’t lay murals right on the surface of the thing. So its gotta float. Prolly same with eyes.

[keen shore]

Sky hates eyes (both ours and our skykids)

[tulip aspen]

welp yeah, every mural across the game

hmm

[frigid tinsel]

Hmm, here (Vault) their eyes are white but their flame is yellow-orange

Cannoneer’s face

This is at the entrance to Treasure Reef.
Diamond light white
Eyes orangish
Flame pale yellowish

[keen shore]

Okay, now that their flame and eyes are two different colors I’m just confused. If I really wanted to I could make a case that their flame is kind of concentrated around their chest and fades as it goes outwards, so it looks dimmer towards the head, but to be honest that jsut seems like a stretch. Especially since the diamond doesn’t even seem to be a hole (it’s only visible on some masks) and more like… a sticker… I hate to say this but the Mask Eyes theory makes a bit more sense

[frigid tinsel]

When I say skykids are full of light, I mean their flame, winged light, and what I would call neutral light that’s just... light. The latter I think consists of most of the visible light inside them. Perhaps the color of their flame is obvious at the hole in their chest because that’s where it is, but the color gets drowned out with the rest of the light floating around them.

I’m starting to wonder whether some of the coloring of the light glare in their eyes is the underlying mask color coming through as the light fizzles out at the end

Also interesting that their flame(?) is visible from behind, courtesy of capeless moth in Homespace

[tulip aspen]

i mean what matters is light is light.
diff colors at diff orifices doesn't really matter?
its just an art thang

[keen shore]

What I’m saying is if it’s like… shell with homogenous glowy insides… you’d expect all the glow to be the same color right? It’s possible for it to be different colors in different areas but why would it be? It just seems like a stretch to justify it with that

[frigid tinsel]

I suppose it would depend on the source of the light. Their flame is a source, winged light — wherever it is — is a source. Neutral light would be floating around.

[tulip aspen]

ion see anything tho where did u get that pic from alasdair

[tulip aspen]

keep in mind
the devs dont care
not even a bit
about anatomy

because of that, the clayshell theory is just our way of appeasing ourselves with the most logical, and undebunkable answer to our anatomical questions

in the end, im sorry, i dont see the orifice output as a problem

[frigid tinsel]

Devs prob do care, just not to the extent we do

[tulip aspen]

deBatAbleb/j

[half shadow]

I don’t think that it’s the devs not caring about anatomy it’s just meant to be a fantasy game and there doesn’t need to be a logical scientific reasoning behind why Skykids eyes are closed or what their bodies are made out of

[keen shore]

So winged light is in the chest right? (Evidence is that that’s where we rip it out of in Eden) We can assume this is a glowy golden color, because it doesn’t seem to change color like our eyes do, our wedges are gold, and so on.

But the flame presents an issue if we think about them as having 3 separate light sources inside them because we ALSO take the candle out of our chest. Our winged light does not diminish when we pull out our flame, but when our light dies we can no longer light the candle, which makes it clear they’re not exactly the same thing but have some kind of weird relationship.

It’s not super important to know the ins and outs of skykid anatomy but I do like picking things apart, so…

[tulip aspen]

yes thats what i was saying fiah

[frigid tinsel]

We’re the ones scrutinizing pictures and zooming in and comparing compositions of materials and light. Devs, at best, send skybot to say “it’s not that deep” cos they didn’t expect an nerd with a special interest in anatomy & physiology to show up in lorechat

[tulip aspen]

alasdair? ^

[frigid tinsel]

It’s my picture, here’s the not zoomed in version

[tulip aspen]

i wouldnt care, but the answers we get out of this can structure our approach to what we understand about the Light and the One

i find it fascinating that tho they wouldnt intend for it to go this deep, it all still logically connects, which is why salem and i so these things

[half shadow]

the One?

[tulip aspen]

like, recent?

maybe it was a visual bug?

if not thats really interesting

you're really going to get me to go to trials in a moff tunic rn

[tulip aspen]

its a name used for the Light in concepts

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QeIMzNaPz-TzC8ZHrdUYTOZ99zObm1PYx65sejTyIfc/edit?usp=drivesdk

[keen shore]

Alteration to this: winged light could be located behind flame, more towards the back of our body/where our shoulder blades would be. The hole in the back is so that it can project the cape, and we’d still be able to reach through our chest and grab it (admittedly with a bit more effort than it would take to rip out our flame, although that’s probably why it seems painful)

[frigid tinsel]

I am not sure where winged light is stored in skykids. I think at best that the chest hole is a literal hole where light of any kind can enter and exist them, so they reach for their chest to call forth light. Do note that winged light enters skykids through the hole in their chest

[frigid tinsel]

Pic is dated Jan 15, 11:06pm, so recent recent

[keen shore]

[horrified mumble] winged light is stored in the feet

[tulip aspen]

that's honestly how i originally portrayed it ye

[frigid tinsel]

One possibility I’ve been pondering on is that winged light only manifests as their cape and isn’t inside skykids at all. That’s why their cape disappears when they have no winged light anymore

[keen shore]

I thought about this, but it’s low on the likelihood list for me because it seems like leaving it so exposed would make our cape much more vulnerable to getting drained than it currently is. Like as soon as we walk into Eden or Wasteland it gets sucked away because it’s exposed to the pollution sort of thing

If located in a hole in the back, it still sort of is, but to a lesser extent

[frigid tinsel]

I have been wondering how much skykids’ appearance and physiology (or the Elders’ or the ancestors’ or other light creatures’) reflects to Megabird’s composition. Beings of light, composed of so many little parts to make a whole, a god making living things in their image.

For instance, if Megabird is a collectivist hivemind, could the Valley Elder(s) be a mini hivemind given there’s two of them but they’re referred to as one.
this deviates into headcanon though

rip Jam having a hard time with the censor

[tulip aspen]

dont post this late at night or Salem will appear in your closet with 200 historical weapons studies

the fact that this shows multiple stars proves mp is canon to me

[keen shore]

You fool it’s already dark outside where I am, so you have unknowingly triggered the event. I am right behind you as we speak

[tulip aspen]

i totally didnt just lowkey turn my head slightly wanting to look behind me

[frigid tinsel]

I’m on a bus rn so you never know

[keen shore]

I am hanging on to the top of the bus cackling evilly

[tulip aspen]

the fact that this symbol is so blatently different than the Chosen One is what makes me so intent that the Chosen One can't be the player or a skykid in general btw, but tbf we've never seen the Chosen One OR skid symbol ANYwhere else smh

[frigid tinsel]

Chosen One didn’t have wings

And this is my stop

[keen shore]

Oh god I’m still stuck on the bus help

[tulip aspen]

dead chat dead chat

so i suddenly had had a thought: "whenever i mention TGC, is it really always negative"

i searched up any time in this server ive ever said "TGC" in a message and uh-

||I'm sorry tgc||

[hushed steeple]

Does laughing at stuff they did count as negative?

I do really love this game. But I think any channel that dedicates too much time to potential (looking at concept art that never became in game) is destined to be the critics.

Not just sky I seen it happen to every game with a colorful development history.

[tulip aspen]

okay but it's not just development to launhc-

[keen shore]

It is extremely frustrating wanting more lore but knowing that the current important thing to the player base (and company by extension) is just pretty cosmetics

[tulip aspen]

and we can't even be upset about people just wanting that or else we're ruining the fun for everyone apparently

Sky just has... a delightful audience, with the louder majority being tweens who were raised by tiktok

[keen shore]

And you know if they temporarily discontinued seasons to focus on updating lore and all most of the audience would be extremely mad

[hushed steeple]

I mean. Seasons are hyped up more than just new cosmetics. Prolly easier to sell.

I saw more people who where taking breaks come back for abyss too.

[tulip aspen]

i don't mean update on lore Salem, i mean a complete rebuff of the original game, of the "moth's journey"

idk

[keen shore]

I want that too and I’m like 90% sure I know what you mean, I just used a general term because even if it was only a minor update the same reaction would happen

[hushed steeple]

I don’t actually think the main current game is an incomplete project. Just that some things cut seemed a better fit. And I REALLY don’t think its a good idea to say “not for phone next time so we can get more advanced stuff”. Considering how many that is. How alienating.

[keen shore]

Wait, where was the phone thing said? Did I miss something?

[hushed steeple]

Im gonna go about assuming everything I liked better was just not able to work. No matter how much they say they decided on something different, I really hate to think they deliberately used a less interesting version out of just wanting to. And that its just an excuse for not getting it to work.

[late wasp]

Journey revolutionized console games
Sky will revolutionize mobile games

[hushed steeple]

Just a generalization of some chatter about missed concept potential.

Not anything TGC or a specific fan said.

[tulip aspen]

how about this

8-10 spirits added in Lightseeker season style, no new areas needed, and they each just have bland Flight/Enchantment-style quests (grab this thing from this place!) as filler nodes in between nodes with cosmetics emote-lvls and spells

it's just filler, and it's not as thematically as strong enough to hook dead vets to return, but it's something cheap that theoretically only needs 2 artists, 2 modelers, and 2 quest riggers

meanwhile the rest of the staff can work on giving actual base game spirits real interactive gameplay, and reworking what exactly it takes to go to Eden, as well as mechanics like spells and passive teamwork abilities, and also lots and lots of new quirky daily quests that spirits found inside realms would offer as fetch quests to help the grind mood

[tulip aspen]

oh of course, they simply did not have enough time before launch

[hushed steeple]

Mmmm they still change things on top of seasons already. And there would be a TON of backlash without new areas, maybe in the form or drop offs? Base Spirit memories sometimes change in seasons. and lil details like adding spirits looking at you. Even with the current form. Cr was made loads better n lil improvements happen all the time as well as occasional taking away something I liked

things I would want most are full realm changes and that sure aint ever happening

RIP mountain isle and complex path prairie

[half shadow]

I really don’t feel like is unfinished tbh. maybe because I just had such a great time playing through it and understanding the plot as it was presented in game tho

[whole arch]

How are sky kids able to breathe in space, but not only can they drown underwater it completely bypasses their cape energy and flame when they do?

Only thing that makes sense is it's not air they're breathing, but blue light.

[half shadow]

I don’t think they really “breathe” honestly. Not in the way that humans do at least

[late wasp]

Someone was commenting how Water absorb stuff. Either Light or Dark.

The evidence that it is not Air being used is how we can recharge our "Air" with light fragments.

I'm glad the masks have crystals to keep this notion alive.

[tulip aspen]

why would there be backlash without new areas

if there was that's just plain sad

the little details and the much needed chevron additions are kinda implied but i feel so spoiled saying that

[whole arch]

There's also the fact that the most well-lit areas of the Treasure Reef are breathable, mantas and fish recharge air, and there's a strange interaction with the new air meter and gem switches that causes a white bar to appear next to where it usually is.

EDIT: On the live version, fish do not recharge air and mantas might not either. They only recharge cape energy.
EDIT 2: Mantas do, in fact, recharge air.

[hushed steeple]

Not so much in people being angry, just in less likely to jump in the game.

[rustic heron]

Sky is a port of Journey that builds upon the multiplayer mechanic both concept-wise and monetization-wise.

Me and the censor bout to throw hands.

[tulip aspen]

but why?
and what exactly does that ensue?

specifically, for how long?
how long, exactly, do players jump back on the game for?
a majority of dead vets check out new map 6-12 times, and hop on for 10-40 mins to do dailies

that's literally the general definition of players 'coming back' for a season, it hardly matters

so so so so so much time went into Abyss, and people eat up all of its content within 9 hours of gameplay (altogether), then dont so much as bat an eye to it anymore

it may not bother anyone else, but it bothers me

[thin dirge]

Damn, this is why I was considering to animate some series based off of lore.

Sadly, I dont have the stuff to, or even time. Gonna have to wait for 2 years

[rustic heron]

Like I was saying, the sad truth is that most of TGC’s games are not very popular, despite how well-crafted they are. Most people don’t like to think about lore or other complex topics. It’s been this way since the foundations of civilization.

Just look at Shakespeare’s plays. They have both abstract themes for those who were capable of pursuing analysis, and low-brow humor for the masses.

We’re a minority in a minority, and we’re not profitable in any easy way.

[thin dirge]

I cant deal with Flipaclip on a small mobile phone, drawing with only fingers

[rustic heron]

Do they make styluses for phones?

[whole arch]

Warframe has the exact same vet behavior, they jump in to check out an update and then spend the rest of their time on forums shouting "dead game". Except there it's a thousand times worse and they show their toxic side when you use Steam stats to prove the game isn't dead.

[half shadow]

Shoutout to anybody who does digital art on their phone with or without a stylus yall are so powerful

[thin dirge]

I have yet to buy one... Idk which one can go for my phone, since there specific types for specific phones. And those that are for all devices are more expensive

[tulip aspen]

but as i said before, the new season maps are BARELY connected to the WAY THEY PROFIT like-

it's just crazy that this is the business model

[rustic heron]

Put some wax on the end of a chopstick. It works just as well.

[half shadow]

I mean… we don’t actually know what the business model is really lol. that’s handled on the business side of things

[whole arch]

Skipping a whole season's SC grind costs three hundred bucks.

[late wasp]

I'm just glad Cannoneer cape wasn't locked behind a pay wall. For that I'm grateful.

[rustic heron]

Same as every mobile game. Tempt the user with features that are attractive but cost money, and get them to spend that money on something intangible to satisfy their urge.

[tulip aspen]

my big fat thumb says hi ||vela give me ur drawing pad||

[rustic heron]

Yo, maybe I should post some drawings.

[late wasp]

[late wasp]

development of ancestor magic without the use of crystals or creatures
and what they could eventually achieve

Flight and Light Magic

[whole arch]

In this game they actually go dirt cheap with the shop cosmetics and adventure passes and you can get a TON of candles for your buck, but they make the season cost so much SC that you'll spend hours reopening the eShop over and over again if you intend on whaling out. They'd make more if they had tiered SC packs like they do with regular candles.

[rustic heron]

I wouldn’t cal $15.00 antlers cheap.

[late wasp]

Let us return to Lore before a mod bonk us

[rustic heron]

It’s meta-lore. Lore about the game Sky, instead of in-game lore.

It still work if only on a technicality.

[sharp lichen]

don't be like chesca

[whole arch]

Better than a mask worth $120+ in SC. Those four hearts are expensive.

[rustic heron]

Who’s that?

[sharp lichen]

A person who has done many things. They and a few others tried to get away with talking about non-lore stuff in this channel, and they tried to talk about lore stuff in other channels (they posted lore memes in #sky-memes for example.)

[tulip aspen]

wha

but
we can literally see the business model as it works?

og seasons:

make new spirits with new memories
cutscenes for end of season
//
daily quests for special season currency
half of spirit's cosmetics locked in IAP pass

lv2:

make small new maps around realms
make new spirits with new memories
bigger cutscenes for end of season
make memories with new 'carry' gameplay
//
daily quests for special season currency
half of spirit's cosmetics locked in IAP pass

lv 3:

make single large new areas
make new spirits with new memories
make season mission quests n story
//
daily quests for special season currency
half of spirit's cosmetics locked in IAP pass

the maps have slowly melted into the agenda making their mark, but they still aren't actually connected to the actual season nor the spirits you relive the memory of, and the cosmetic trees and currency towards them DEFINITELY isnt connected to the season besides theme

there's another business model to be had here, i swear it

[late wasp]

what a legend

[sharp lichen]

they also were terrible at cybersecurity

[rustic heron]

I mean, how is a lore meme not a sky meme? I get the other stuff, but that actually makes sense. I don’t think we should have meme spam in lore chat.

[tulip aspen]

memes are memes , and we're talking about the story and the development of said story atm, it's very relevant

[sharp lichen]

ok ok

[tulip aspen]

extremely, in multiple ways

rip kp

[rustic heron]

Is lore chat lore still sky lore?

If so, we should have lore on chesca.

[sharp lichen]

I forgot when, but chesca and a few others angered a mod to the point of the mod stopping them from posting too much lore stuff in other channels

[rustic heron]

Haha, That’s not a punishment. Lore chat is for lore. We need to be contained, or we’d terrify the other channels.

Like Jam said earlier, most tweens don’t like lore, or have the patience for it. And TGC needs their parents’ credit card.

[keen shore]

Literally just remembered this emote and now it’s bothering me. How did they manage to hover??