Fathamurk questions in light of Book III
Posted: May 31st, 2014, 12:12 pm
While working on my mod, I got to thinking about the origins of Fathamurk. The story I had in mind for it doesn't seem to make sense in light of the information we get in Book III. Here's a summary of what we know.
Fathamurk is very old: "Long have the people of Mistfell shared tales of this place," "Whoever built this place must have left it long ago." The entrance was discovered 30 years before Hammond Burroak wrote his journal, which is itself "many years" old.
Fathamurk uses advanced technology: "It is clear that these tunnels were masterfully crafted, but when and by whom I do not know. These stones are cut with precision of a magnitude I do not believe even Dwarves possess," "There is a keyhole, but the mechanism within is unlike anything you have ever seen,"
Fathamurk was (probably) build by the Orakur: Hammond Burroak's journals indicates that he, the miners who found the entrance, and Chancellor Malcolm all believe it to be the work of the Orakur. Its creators used Candecium, which only the Orakur have been shown to know how to use.
The makers of Fathamurk were experimenting with time travel technology: "With enough Candecium, we can create portals that supersede the 'current' physical realm, making travel to a 'previous state' of the physical realm possible."
The Orakur evolved from dwarves in the distant future: "a few isolated groups of Dwarves will live through the cataclysm whilst they mine deep in the darkness of the mountains... In the distant future... the Orakur emerge from the underground."
A group of Orakur traveled from the future, arriving around 200 years before the events of Book III: "The Orakur... decided to travel into the past to stop this [cataclysm]... they overshot their arrival date by more than two-hundred years."
It seems that Fathamurk must have been built by the stranded Orakur, but there are several issues with that theory. It must have been at most only ~170 years old when Hammond Burroak visited it, but it seems much older. Why would the stranded Orakur have built it but then abandoned it so quickly? And they already knew about time travel - why did their notes indicate they were experimenting with it? For that matter, is ~200 years of Orakur really enough to establish such a pervasive mythology as they seem to have in Eschalon?
I believe the best explanation is that Karamiklan was mistaken about the 200 years figure. If the Orakur had been in Eschalon for longer before the start of the Book I - 1000 years, maybe - then Fathamurk's long abandonment makes a lot more sense, as does the mythology of the Orakur. It still doesn't explain why they abandoned Fathamurk or the time travel experiments, though. Does anyone have any thoughts?
Fathamurk is very old: "Long have the people of Mistfell shared tales of this place," "Whoever built this place must have left it long ago." The entrance was discovered 30 years before Hammond Burroak wrote his journal, which is itself "many years" old.
Fathamurk uses advanced technology: "It is clear that these tunnels were masterfully crafted, but when and by whom I do not know. These stones are cut with precision of a magnitude I do not believe even Dwarves possess," "There is a keyhole, but the mechanism within is unlike anything you have ever seen,"
Fathamurk was (probably) build by the Orakur: Hammond Burroak's journals indicates that he, the miners who found the entrance, and Chancellor Malcolm all believe it to be the work of the Orakur. Its creators used Candecium, which only the Orakur have been shown to know how to use.
The makers of Fathamurk were experimenting with time travel technology: "With enough Candecium, we can create portals that supersede the 'current' physical realm, making travel to a 'previous state' of the physical realm possible."
The Orakur evolved from dwarves in the distant future: "a few isolated groups of Dwarves will live through the cataclysm whilst they mine deep in the darkness of the mountains... In the distant future... the Orakur emerge from the underground."
A group of Orakur traveled from the future, arriving around 200 years before the events of Book III: "The Orakur... decided to travel into the past to stop this [cataclysm]... they overshot their arrival date by more than two-hundred years."
It seems that Fathamurk must have been built by the stranded Orakur, but there are several issues with that theory. It must have been at most only ~170 years old when Hammond Burroak visited it, but it seems much older. Why would the stranded Orakur have built it but then abandoned it so quickly? And they already knew about time travel - why did their notes indicate they were experimenting with it? For that matter, is ~200 years of Orakur really enough to establish such a pervasive mythology as they seem to have in Eschalon?
I believe the best explanation is that Karamiklan was mistaken about the 200 years figure. If the Orakur had been in Eschalon for longer before the start of the Book I - 1000 years, maybe - then Fathamurk's long abandonment makes a lot more sense, as does the mythology of the Orakur. It still doesn't explain why they abandoned Fathamurk or the time travel experiments, though. Does anyone have any thoughts?