Last Light of a Dark Age (Warhammer 29K/Disco Elysium)

[Cetashwayo]

The first thing every self of the Progeny is shown is a map hundreds of years out of date, and told they were extremely close to "restoring God" and save the world. Then they wake to find themselves inside fallen world nesting doll, where there has been a fall not just once (the Lapsarian fall), but twice (the end of Kora and the decline of the Progeny), the promise of a restoration of what was lost deprived from them. The very first thing they meet, this being of great compassion for them, dead.

This is a memory you did not recall because you already knew she was dead in the present, but consider that Koras don't actually realize Kora is dead when they're awake. That will be one of the things they learn. The first thing you experience touching you, the thing that you first imprint on, is a dead woman, and the You you are, an imperfect copy.

Wouldn't you do anything to bring Her back?

 

[LuciDreamer]

A whole nation built around the shared trauma of a lost empire, a dream of the restoration of God, a murdered witch-queen... and yet, if you take that memory away, what is left of the soul? Everything Harmony does from the second she steps out of her shell was informed, at least in part, by her memory of Kora, the oath she took to Her, the love She expressed to her.

Is that what the Staple was trying to purge? Why, that would purge... every memory that came after. So is the Staple trying to kill her?

Rrraagggghhh I want to know moooore.

 

[Mrl567]

Looking at the old map, clearly they also had a lot of mini falls over the centuries considering:

• The rebellion of the schismatic Kora's in Jade.
• The rebellion of the strangers of Gossamer.
• It looks like they used to control some territory that is now part of the Dakaran sky watch. They clearly do not control it anymore. (Notice how they used to surround all the lands that used to be Dis).

They seem to be bad at managing their strangers, so to speak. Doesn't help that they intentionally designed their society to be majority minority. What could possibly go wrong. And what could possibly go wrong making it impossible to make people join them after they get printed. Seems like a mistake to minimize followers in that way.

 

[Cetashwayo]

Rrraagggghhh I want to know moooore.

Click to shrink...

???: A crackle like electricity runs through you. The sky of the empty plane turns pitch-black, and all around, you hear the whistle of digital snow. The static, at first nothing but noise, resolves into a vocal hiss, tinny, stilted, vaguely feminine. It is vaster than any of your thoughtforms, deeper than the floor of your soul, greater than your being but splintered into a million pieces. It speaks as if through a toy's defective voicebox, each word reverberating in the center of your form: +WOULD YOU

???: LIKE

RHYTHMS: TO KNOW MORE?+

Attribute unlocked: RHYTHMS

Click to shrink...

Perhaps when you wake up you can subscribe to its newsletter

 

[nightscribe]

[X] Copse Comedy Night. The discovery of comic rhetorical techniques among war-loot spreads a terrible infection through the copse's remaining kora-selves, especially the younger surviving diligents. They appear to think they can be funny. Unfortunately, so do you. Comedy night becomes a staple of the copse, and Immaculate Sympathy, who welcomed you into the world with a joke, tries for it again, to everyone's regret.

[X] Erupt Outwards. Push your pain out onto the world, unleashing a temper bubbling for years through +AXIOM: EXPLOSIVE DECOMPRESSION, your inner rage. Your signature attribute will be INCANDESCENCE and you will gain a +1 to the attribute.

[X] The Harpy. Her sin was isolation, and she is an enemy you will feel closer to many of your sister-selves. She is your bloodied mirror, a vampiric killing instrument of steel and savagery.

 

[The Froggy Ninja]

Perhaps when you wake up you can subscribe to its newsletter

Click to shrink...

Oh gee willikers if only we had taken the options that boosted that stat.

STILL SALTY!

Still reading though, even if democracy has failed me.

 

[Cetashwayo]

Rhythms is actually not as talkative or helpful right now for two other reasons, one of which is that you can't exactly easily access the song of the planet while you're inside your own memory. The other reason a poster in this thread guessed correctly some time ago.

You have mostly been using it to speak to and deal with machines, which is absolutely a huge utility, but its true power is locked because of your circumstances. It is a little bit like Glamour in that sense - such an externally facing attribute has important utilities missing in a memory.

You shouldn't worry about not being able to get full utility out of it - that will come later.

 

[mynameisyouQQQ]

Having just finished reading through this quest, is it weird that this gives me some sense of comfort. Right here right now in the 21st century the world is kind of shit and the horrors are only going to grow worse. Reading through this work with all its transhuman angst and depictions of a deeply cruel future it still contains humanity at its fundament in a way that is very comforting!

That being said here's my votes.

[X] Copse Comedy Night. The discovery of comic rhetorical techniques among war-loot spreads a terrible infection through the copse's remaining kora-selves, especially the younger surviving diligents. They appear to think they can be funny. Unfortunately, so do you. Comedy night becomes a staple of the copse, and Immaculate Sympathy, who welcomed you into the world with a joke, tries for it again, to everyone's regret.

[X] Erupt Outwards. Push your pain out onto the world, unleashing a temper bubbling for years through +AXIOM: EXPLOSIVE DECOMPRESSION, your inner rage. Your signature attribute will be INCANDESCENCE and you will gain a +1 to the attribute.

[X] The Siren. Her sin was subordination, and she is an ally you will fear more than many of your enemies. She is your perfumed mirror, a hypnotic killing songstress of silk and subterfuge.

 

[Skippy]

Honestly, this is a major part of the reason which pushed me towards Erupt Outwards as my vote. Our Washing Machine Heart drove us to be honest. Honest to a fault. Honest to the point of causing issues.

And the honest truth is, the situation our copse is in(and the wider war too) is fucked. There are people who we are close to that are being hurt. If literally nobody else, Sympathy is having all of her attachments cut away so she can be made into a tool that's more useful, a martyr without any distractions. And we knew this, deep down in our heart, even before Vehement Humility spoke it aloud so bluntly. Why should we continue to let such a thing pass unremarked? Erupt Outwards because we care that much. Because this world is shit, we haven't lost our fire to build a happier one, and never had an issue with speaking the truth, no matter how uncomfortable or painful it was to hear.

Click to shrink...

Yeah that's also entirely valid TBF. It's a narrow margin for me between the options, which is why I was originally on Team Erupt Outwards. But I (narrowly) prefer empathy as our defining stat. That's not because I don't want us to also be driven to try and improve the world, I think that's important too, I just think that Interlace helps us never lose sight of why we're doing it. But they're both good options.

 

[Professor Vesca]

The first thing every self of the Progeny is shown is a map hundreds of years out of date, and told they were extremely close to "restoring God" and save the world. Then they wake to find themselves inside fallen world nesting doll, where there has been a fall not just once (the Lapsarian fall), but twice (the end of Kora and the decline of the Progeny), the promise of a restoration of what was lost deprived from them. The very first thing they meet, this being of great compassion for them, dead.

This is a memory you did not recall because you already knew she was dead in the present, but consider that Koras don't actually realize Kora is dead when they're awake. That will be one of the things they learn. The first thing you experience touching you, the thing that you first imprint on, is a dead woman, and the You you are, an imperfect copy.

Wouldn't you do anything to bring Her back?

Click to shrink...

Skill issue. I shrimply would not have failed in ushering in Utopia.

 

[The Froggy Ninja]

Rhythms is actually not as talkative or helpful right now for two other reasons, one of which is that you can't exactly easily access the song of the planet while you're inside your own memory. The other reason a poster in this thread guessed correctly some time ago.

You have mostly been using it to speak to and deal with machines, which is absolutely a huge utility, but its true power is locked because of your circumstances. It is a little bit like Glamour in that sense - such an externally facing attribute has important utilities missing in a memory.

You shouldn't worry about not being able to get full utility out of it - that will come later.

Click to shrink...

I'm honestly more concerned with the Signature Skill choice. If we view Signature Skill as our primary method of interacting with the narrative, then I'd really have liked being a funk master. I suppose approaching reality from a perspective of empathy and camaraderie is a decent second choice but still.


[X] Collapse Inwards. Let the guilt of your survival weigh upon you like an +AXIOM: CROWN OF THORNS, as you wonder why you really deserve to survive, when others die. Your signature attribute will be INTERLACE and you will gain a +1 to the attribute.

Don't love the survivors guilt of it all but it still seems better than lashing out or total avoidance.

 

[Cornuthaum]

Must it be, though? LOCKS is just a small voice in a chorus of voices that make up Harmony's splintered psyche. While LOCKS sometimes succeeds in overriding Harmony's self with "Kora's" self, she succeeds only where the other Attributes have failed. She's... a source of dialogue. A connection to the culture of the Progeny. A reminder that you're supposed to be part of something greater, a political community, a state.

I sincerely doubt LOCKS is entirely responsible for Harmony's current state... at least, not her alone. She'd need accomplices. Or external pressures---perhaps from the other Kora-selves?

To be honest, revaunchism seems to be something ingrained into her being, even deeper than LOCKS is. It's in her formative memories. In a way, its not dissimilar to how revaunchist attitudes are introduced to children through school, or mass media, or culture. What a marvelous and efficient system to speedrun othering and polarization by injecting it directly into your first memories! If the other societies do similar things, it's no wonder that war eventually broke out... the whole continent primed themselves for it from birth.

Click to shrink...

The Locks are, specifically, what imparts the map of the territory held by Kora's Progeny at the height of their empire, which is then explicitly called out for immediately settling the new Kora-self on a lifelong path of revanchism, yes.

 

[13th Bee]

[X] Collapse Inwards. Let the guilt of your survival weigh upon you like an +AXIOM: CROWN OF THORNS, as you wonder why you really deserve to survive, when others die. Your signature attribute will be INTERLACE and you will gain a +1 to the attribute.

[X] Erupt Outwards. Push your pain out onto the world, unleashing a temper bubbling for years through +AXIOM: EXPLOSIVE DECOMPRESSION, your inner rage. Your signature attribute will be INCANDESCENCE and you will gain a +1 to the attribute.

Either of these is good.

[X] Copse Comedy Night. The discovery of comic rhetorical techniques among war-loot spreads a terrible infection through the copse's remaining kora-selves, especially the younger surviving diligents. They appear to think they can be funny. Unfortunately, so do you. Comedy night becomes a staple of the copse, and Immaculate Sympathy, who welcomed you into the world with a joke, tries for it again, to everyone's regret.



[X] The Harpy. Her sin was isolation, and she is an enemy you will feel closer to many of your sister-selves. She is your bloodied mirror, a vampiric killing instrument of steel and savagery.

[X] The Siren. Her sin was subordination, and she is an ally you will fear more than many of your enemies. She is your perfumed mirror, a hypnotic killing songstress of silk and subterfuge.

Both sound interesting.

 

[Past Dreams]

After thinking/feeling on it for a bit and have read @Skippy's reasoning for vote switching. I've found that I prefer Collapse Inwards over Erupt Outwards. So changing my axiom vote in the name of Harmony's Washing Machine Heart.

[X] Collapse Inwards. Let the guilt of your survival weigh upon you like an +AXIOM: CROWN OF THORNS, as you wonder why you really deserve to survive, when others die. Your signature attribute will be INTERLACE and you will gain a +1 to the attribute.

[x] Copse Comedy Night. The discovery of comic rhetorical techniques among war-lootspreads a terrible infection through the copse's remaining kora-selves, especially the younger surviving diligents. They appear to think they can be funny. Unfortunately, so do you. Comedy night becomes a staple of the copse, and Immaculate Sympathy, who welcomed you into the world with a joke, tries for it again, to everyone's regret.

[x] The Harpy. Her sin was isolation, and she is an enemy you will feel closer to many of your sister-selves. She is your bloodied mirror, a vampiric killing instrument of steel and savagery.

 

[Waith]

33-32 in favour of erupt outwards I think.

 

[LuciDreamer]

Goddamn that's close.

 

[Cetashwayo]

36-34 Harpy to Siren. 34-34 Outwards to Inwards.

@AzureShogun There is still time to alter your vote, as the prior vote closed and you have the opportunity to vote here.

Everyone else, get your votes and last-minute arguments in because it is closing tonight

 

[Nemomagnus]

[X] Collapse Inwards. Let the guilt of your survival weigh upon you like an +AXIOM: CROWN OF THORNS, as you wonder why you really deserve to survive, when others die. Your signature attribute will be INTERLACE and you will gain a +1 to the attribute.

[X] Copse Comedy Night. The discovery of comic rhetorical techniques among war-loot spreads a terrible infection through the copse's remaining kora-selves, especially the younger surviving diligents. They appear to think they can be funny. Unfortunately, so do you. Comedy night becomes a staple of the copse, and Immaculate Sympathy, who welcomed you into the world with a joke, tries for it again, to everyone's regret.

[X] The Siren. Her sin was subordination, and she is an ally you will fear more than many of your enemies. She is your perfumed mirror, a hypnotic killing songstress of silk and subterfuge.

 

[Deadly Snark]

They seem to be bad at managing their strangers, so to speak. Doesn't help that they intentionally designed their society to be majority minority. What could possibly go wrong. And what could possibly go wrong making it impossible to make people join them after they get printed. Seems like a mistake to minimize followers in that way.

Click to shrink...

Given that the Korra are also all psychic supersoldiers. The decision probably made a lot more sense before the advent of Industrialisation. They were effectively creating an exclusive caste of hyper-loyal, hyper-lethal ruling sorceress warriors. WIth printing allowing them to clone more to keep up against other polities. It is in a way, a perfected version of the ruling Warrior Class of old.

And then Koinon and Cybaris rediscovered Industrial Deathwars.

 

[Cetashwayo]

Great insights, @Deadly Snark, you are right on the money there.

Also, Kora's Progeny could produce far more supersoldiers than their equivalents elsewhere, and mobilize far more of them. The crucial social problem the Progeny was solving was not how to include strangers, but after decades of diadoch civil wars between purported successors to Kora - how to keep Koras from killing each other. It worked excellently at that - and without any social or psychological cost at all!!!

It allowed them to keep step despite their diminished territory and smaller population, and even here Kora can sustain two simultaneous fronts against multiple cubes at once. That is seriously impressive for a state much smaller territorially than Titanagalbat and Koinon.

 

[Da Boyz]

Great insights, @Deadly Snark, you are right on the money there.

Also, Kora's Progeny could produce far more supersoldiers than their equivalents elsewhere, and mobilize far more of them. The crucial social problem the Progeny was solving was not how to include strangers, but after decades of diadoch civil wars between purported successors to Kora - how to keep Koras from killing each other. It worked excellently at that - and without any social or psychological cost at all!!!

It allowed them to keep step despite their diminished territory and smaller population, and even here Kora can sustain two simultaneous fronts against multiple cubes at once. That is seriously impressive for a state much smaller territorially than Titanagalbat and Koinon.

Click to shrink...

Given that the Korra are also all psychic supersoldiers. The decision probably made a lot more sense before the advent of Industrialisation. They were effectively creating an exclusive caste of hyper-loyal, hyper-lethal ruling sorceress warriors. WIth printing allowing them to clone more to keep up against other polities. It is in a way, a perfected version of the ruling Warrior Class of old.

And then Koinon and Cybaris rediscovered Industrial Deathwars.

Click to shrink...

What I find interesting to think about is that while Koinon and Cybaris managed to Industrial Deathwar and WMD (we have yet to get to the ICBM chaos plague missiles part of the war) their way to victory the implications of doing so are going to be interesting to watch develop. Since like post WW1 and WW2 collapse of empires due to the massive population loss Koinon at least seems to be being bled dry in terms of population, and Mr. Morrow's army apparently got BTFO as well. We can tell from the post-war maps that while Koinon and Cybaris avoided the petriform wastelands that they did see some pretty severe wasteland increases, even if Cybaris 'only' had to relocate one of their major cities after the Bronze King sacked it. Their conquests/territory changes as well seem ambiguously useful as while I expect the Emerald Fleece to be 'literally millions of Koras buried as not-Versailles reparations' High Kur got absolutely wrecked and Nike might end up being a rather pyrrhic renaming.

The situation is made a bit more confusing by the fact that on Illuminata people are printed as an economic expense by the state via precious wax. I don't think its been made clear what goes into the production of that wax, or how much the global economy being obliterated will effect its production, so it might be easier or harder to replace casualties depending on how the mechanics work. Regardless while Koinon probably has the most amazing bumper crop ever right now its going to be seeing severely decreased harvests to feed new Siblings. Cybaris might literally be able to just upload backup Carnosans from the new Freeshard to replenish its losses though, and seems to have increased its economic leverage over other states in the post-war period.

Meanwhile Titans are...rather hard to put down and only two of the Immaculates are currently on the battlefield. It's possible that mass petriform bombardment will end up getting around the Godhost's defenses or the Immaculates will botch their precog rolls again and end up in
a petriform cluster but currently the only 'named elite' casualties we've seen is Scrytegon Armatos and Mecharaja Asalmysh. It's entirely possible that this war ends with mass WMD deployment on Koran/Titanagalbat territory but the psychic/titan elite being relatively untouched. Koinanon and Cybaris putting their boot on the throat of the world and forcing out concessions on pain of further bombardment. If so then similar to WW2 increasing the involvement of tanks and airplanes then we might see the weight of numbers matter less in a follow-up conflict.

Of course this could all just be revanchist cope and the Cordial got ground back in conventional warfare but I find the location of Petriform clusters on the map we saw pretty telling. There are no clusters around the Fleece, Elysian Wound or Marchforts yet somehow even Tetras and the Dakarans got nuked along with locations deep in Titanagalbat (also they somehow took down the Empyreal Aerie) which would indicate a pretty bizarre war situation if they were on the frontline. Instead it seems that Cybaris and Koinon decided what locations they wanted to keep and then hit the big red button so they could sue for peace while everyone was BTFO and reeling.

If that's the case then the Contract are in an odd situation of having political supremacy but also being absolutely despised. Between the likely involvement of Chaos and the massive war crime spree you're left wondering what exactly is Monad's stance, or if they're as lacking in influence as the League of Nations post-war. Since on the one hand they avoided backing the losers in the conflict and declaring the Contract heretics against gnosis...but otoh it sure does seem like the Contract are heretics against gnosis.