Huh...not where I thought that was going to go, but the ending at least is still great.

So, Estarra, any comments, now that the whole thing has ended?!

Does that mean Hallifax can use its Quantum Severing devices to make a d/c gun?

I thought it was a clever IC explanation for the players, myself.

It's not exactly new though, given the events of the last book. The Portal merges the Other's soul and the adventurer's soul together, so maybe the Other is what makes the adventurer "special", since the Portal pierces through all realities and whatnot.

Personally, I think this "Other" is all bunk and those who believe such nonsense should be locked up and kept away from sharp objects. What's a fourth wall anyway?





Anyway, I hope everyone has enjoyed the Elder Wars! It certainly took longer to write than expected. I did want to release the last two chapters close to each other as I considered them rather a pair.

I know there was talk about doing the Vernal Wars, but I do not think that will happen. We have been using the Vernal Wars as background for many areas and quests, and I think that probably is best to reserve the history for that. (But you never know -- I may change my mind!)

Yeah, I have mixed feelings about the fourth wall thing. It certainly is an interesting way of looking at things, at least. But sheesh, poor Meridian. Everyone he knows and loves either dies, leaves, or splinters. Then he watches the world slowly dying around him. Then he gets told that everything he went through is a game for mystery beings in another world.

He probably splintered on the off chance he could reach through the reality and choke the out of some player.

Works for me! Ravings of a mad Elder suffering from isolation. There are reasons merians are so weak!

This is now Ileein's stance. If you can't test it, why believe it?

Or completely mangle all standards of scientific protocol and safety measures, unleashing the Taint on the world through subconscious desires, nearly leading the entire Basin to its doom in a fit of sociopathic insanity.

Oh, merians, you're as bad as mugwumps.

Am I the only one whose mind wasn't blown? I just had a good laugh.

While that's one possibility, there's probably aeons of lost lore and it might be nice to have something similar, like I said, a Divine Play, for instance. I do agree that the more in-game makes sense, but you can always do something--maybe the lost history of the gnomes, for instance, or an empire prior to the Holy Celestine one.

I feel so bad for poor Meridian.

What was a bit of a mind$*@& for me was the notion that if you (the player) was the Other, then you are no better than your character - because you, too, are controlled by an Other. And so on and so forth into what may seem to be an infinity (to what end? Are all of us leading back to some omniscient presence? The awareness of the Universe attempting to comprehend itself? AGGH!!!! My mind!).

And so, that's my take on it - if the Other exists, then so does their Other. And, operating on the belief that you have an Other, then you are about as capable of interacting with it as your character is with you.

And so forth.

At least Meridian splintered with the knowledge that he was living life as he wanted, and not as some puppet of a d-bag from Minnesota.

The Other's Other Other has an Other, who is the Other Other Other.

The Other is your mother.

I take solace in the fact that that whoever my Other is, they are probably frustrated and disappointed, but have probably bought credits and can't delete me. I wonder if we are all really Sims, and when we play Lusternia, our Others are just making us play video games because our happiness is low.

The one thing I loved about the Elder Wars, indeed a lot of the lore, is the writing from multiple perspectives. It has a whole Studs Turkel feel to it.

Such an incredibly cool concept. Two thumbs way up.