Quote:tl;dr version: This has nothing to do with game mechanics. Instead, this is a lore post -designed to track down the storyline behind RO, and hopefully motivate some fanfiction writers.

Purpose: To discuss and share lore.

Administrative stuff: Still cleaning up grammar and thoughts and whatnots.

Updated on April 20th: Thanatos Tower, a little to the bottom of this page.

Actual post: Yes. You heard me right. RO has a story. Gravity created one entirely by accident - a story that rivals everything from L2 to WoW to [insert other MMO here]. This is mostly ramble, speculation, and a lot of in-depth analysis that probably should have been spent on better things such as hunting gear or you know, playing the game.

If, on the other hand, you would like to have your mind blown by what Gravity has subtly hidden, then ... read on. I'll probably be updating periodically after sorting through screenshots and making some sense of the notes I've taken while playing the game.

Section I: The Rekenber Corporation.

As some of you may know, I hang out in Lighthalzen. In game, the city-state is pretty much entirely driven by the Rekenber Corporation. In order to sort out the mysteries behind this particular corporation, we need to look at what the game actually give us in terms of plot.

Let's start with the Einbroch murder quest. Even though the only thing we've seen inside that lab is a broken (albeit, artificial!) Heart of Ymir, we know from the Airship quest that the Heart of Ymir is pretty RO's equivalent of nuclear fission. We know that the Heart of Ymir underneath Yuno supplies enough power to float an entire city, in addition to allowing our players to reborn. So, at the very least, we know that the RKB is involved in its research given what we know from the Murder in Einbroch and the President quests.

We can therefore also infer the following details: when it comes to the Heart of Ymir, the RKB Corps is involved in structural analysis and research, while the Einbroch labs are responsible for its applicative research. This conclusion is reasonable. The Heart of Ymir acts as a powerful energy source that could be used for ... just about everything.

However, given that the Heart of Ymir is a vital energy source, the security around the laboratories is unusually lax. Even given the author?s familiarity with a research setting (in which the casual atmosphere is purposefully maintained), it seems a little suspicious that even the headquarters could be broken into with a simple disguise. This goes far beyond with what one would expect from a realistic corporation.

Another mystery to add onto the pile is the quest NPC Ghalstein. We learn that in his 20s, he was the assistant of the one of the pseudo-legendary founders of the RKB corporation. There is one little problem here. That particular scientist joined the corporation nearly one hundred and fifty years ago. Either RO has a distinctively different system of aging, or something fishy is going on.

So, what is the true purpose of the RKB corporation? Here is what we do know. We know that it is a vital aspect of the Schwartzwald Republic. All of the kingdom?s industry is concentrated, more or less, in Einbroch and Lighthalzen. We know that its primary venue for revenue comes from piloting the airships, mining and refining ores, and also exploring ancient ruins. Other than that, its function seems to be similar to the Kafra ?
An interrupted note here. It is amazing how a corporation could grow so rapidly. In less than two centuries, their power rivaling that of the Kafra, which more or less has been around since forever*

*A note. On the official Chinese servers, they?re also responsible for distributing the cash-mall items. While cash mall, obviously, have no bearing on the plot, it is amusing to think of the RKB has fourth-wall breaking abilities.

So, from the surface, we can?t really see anything wrong with the corporation. All of their businesses seem to be legal.
Seem, right? Let?s see of all the places the RKB has become involved in.

- Abandoned Coal Mines (Mjolnir): Only dead miners here.
- Doll Factory (Kiel): We cannot say for sure whether or not this place was due to RKB?s direct influence, but we definitely know that the RKB played a role in it.
- Thanatos Tower: I really, really don?t need to comment on what went on here, right? Monsters got unleashed, bad things happened, people died.
- Ruins of Juperos. Same as above.
- Lastly, Somatology Labs.

Biolabs, as the Somatology Laboratory is more commonly known, is probably the most obvious one. What we can see from the quests that involve the RKB corporation is downright chilling. Anyone who is close to the center of the corporation or is deemed suspicious will be dead. Examples include the old man in Einbroch Murder Quest, that one guy who died in the Friendship quest, the killer who committed suicide in the Lovers quest, and Shinokas, your spy in the first part of the President?s quest? the list goes on.

Here is where the Biolabs come in.

The first floor seems to be very ? normal. There are things like podiums, stairs, carpet, and things like that. If we explore the lab further, we notice that other than some artificial lawns and a boatload of security-esque checkpoint like doors (and the hordes of angry, vengeful firefighters and 1-1 classes), the place is normal. It makes the player go "Huh, you know, people could've lived here, or used the spaces here. And people can probably still do."

In comparison, the second floor shows signs of obvious fire damage. The lightning grows dimmer. Half the vats are overturned or broken. There are a lot less firefighters here, and, in addition, it has one thing that is prevalent in many, many creepy sci-fi mad science labs: nutrient tanks, which seems to be absent on the third floor. Makes you wonder just exactly what was going on - or perhaps the tanks in the third floor has been destroyed?

In the third floor, the whole place seems to have been destroyed. The lighting is chilling, and this does not look habitable at all - in fact, the players emerge from what seems to be a pile of rubble. Again, charred remains of various kinds of lab equipment lie strewn about, and most of the area has signs of fire damage. The only reasonable conclusion (and an obvious one): one really big fire. The fire, then, seems to have started on the 3rd floor, and spread out towards the second, then the first.

Hmm. Nutrient tanks. What did the RKB study before? The Heart of Ymir, only this world?s most powerful energy source?

You put two and two together, and it is very reasonable to conclude that the true purpose of the Somatology (literal meaning ?body) Laboratory is to forcefully infuse the power of the Heart of Ymir into living creatures, circumventing the training they would have needed regularly, and creating a monstrous clone army. This is obvious, and I'm certain most other players have already thought of it before I posted. As for what the hell do they want to do with it? Beats me. But remember: the leveling process in Ragnarok represents an adventurer becoming stronger and stronger. It seems to be that the RKB is simply trying to accelerate that process? with some curious results.

Wait, you say. This doesn?t explain why or how there are monsters present. If there was a giant fire, shouldn?t everything have burned up instead?

Not quite. This brings us to our second point of discussion: The biological weapon quest. In the first line of the introduction of the biolabs quest, they tell us that the research specialization of the lab is viruses and biological enhancements. So, it?s pretty damn obvious, then: the Somatology lab is also researching biological weapons.

From a real life biologist-in-training?s perspective, viruses are very difficult to isolate. Special protective materials are necessary. It wouldn?t be a stretch to guess that the fire may have destroyed whatever protective vessel that held the viruses within. With the Heart of Ymir fragment acting as a huge power source, and the Medicine/Biological Weapon quests hinting at the virus originating from the Heart of Ymir, we could reasonably infer that the virus itself was a highly infectious agent, located in the third floor. As the fire occurred, destroying the vessels containing them, the following may have happened.

- Due to the laws of diffusion, the virus is at the highest concentration on the 3rd floor, followed by the second, and then the first.
- Removers are firefighters who were either reanimated or infected by the virus. The lack of Removers on the third floor is due to the concentration of the virus: they would not have had a chance to fight the fires on the third floor as they would have been infected the second they entered the lab.
- The fires on the third floor burned out naturally, which explains the extent of damage.
- As for the actual fire itself, there is no way of knowing what started it. If the virus is indeed from the Heart of Ymir (related quests), or the Heart of Ymir acts as the power source that is used to create powerful biological weapons, then it may be that the RKB corporation itself lost control of their agents, and the fire was caused by the RKB in an attempt to stop their own weapons from turning on them.
- The humanoid mobs are reanimated by the virus (if dead), or infected by the virus (if still living). Either way, the Heart of Ymir grafted onto their bodies may confer special resistance, which explains why they aren?t turned into undead, unlike the normal firefighters (Removers).

A clue is further given with the mob distribution. Since we know that a large fire has occurred in the lab before, we could reasonably infer that the monstrosities created here do not yet meet whatever standards the RKB has. In addition, we know from pilfering the lab notes in the quest that the experiments themselves seem to involve purifying the Heart of Ymir, and artificially replacing the heart within an individual. It is likely that a large degree of unfortunate people died gruesomely here, with those who may survive being transferred onto the second floor.

Notice the drops of the Biolab mobs ? Research Charts (A chart, written in a language you can't recognize, that details the history of research) and Handcuffs (A pair of metal restraints which still seem to smell of blood), and it is not a far stretch to assume that the Heart of Ymir does something to its users, which provides power (reborning, perhaps?). Those who survive the experiment is transferred into the 3rd floor, and further experimented on.

Given the statistics of the normal 1-1 mobs, they were likely failures as experiments. Even so, their strength is far beyond what a normal human (player)?s power would be at those levels. The disproportionately large number of bodies needed for these things probably comes from the slums nearby, where the residents are cajoled, kidnapped, or lured into the lab to be experimented on. We?ve got the NPCs from the slums to back up this particular claim.

This explains why all the NPCs who ended up finding out about the lab or the core of the research group are murdered. You simply cannot let a secret like this out ? it?s against the morals of the RO world, and it?s probably going against the way of the gods as well. The proof to the RKB?s ability to silence individuals is that until the player is involved, the higher-ups of Lighthalzen has no idea at all as to what was going on in there. The experiments, as we have discovered in the biolab quest, has been going on for at least fifty years.

But that isn?t all. Let us finally turn our attention towards the mobs on the third floor ? the transcendent classes. Out of the six individuals present, we should begin to see some patterns.

- Howard Alt-Eisen: People who did the Sign Quest should recognize the name ? or some aspect of it. The NPC who repairs the Sign is, incidentally, also named Howard. Engel Howard. Notice the similarities. Then note that in a particular dialogue, Howard (the living Smith) tells you that his father disappeared some years ago, leaving him to take the family trade?
- Kathryne Keyron: The old Wizard Job Change Quest text has the girl on top of Geffen Tower introduce herself as Kathryne. Incidentally, they shared a similar hairstyle. Of course, whether or not they?re the same person is another story?(Kathryne is possibly Takius from Ragnarok the Animation (Thanks WorldGovernment))
- Margaretha Sorin: Redemptio Quest. Sister Linus tells you her story. Young nun who was prompted to High Priestess after saving her party?s life and discovering Redemptio in the process. She left a few years ago on a mission to Lighthalzen, and hasn?t been heard from since. Her name? Priestess Sorin. High Priestess Margaretha Sorin. I am personally convinced that this is the strongest evidence for the RKB's experimentation, and for all we know, the MVP could, quite literally, be her.
- Seyren Windsor: Part of the God items Quest, and you?ll meet him as one of the NPCs on the Megingard quest.
- Cecile Damon: Archer job quest, that huntress you meet? Yeah, same person.
- Eremes Guile: Out of the six Biolabs NPCs, this is the only person that I cannot uncover any information. Perhaps I missed someone somewhere along the way, but ?

If the other mobs are simply clones of the original, then it is reasonable to infer that the MVPs in Somatology Labs 3 are the people you?ve either met or heard of in the game, and that they are probably the prototypes for whatever twisted thing that the RKB came up with. It is interesting to see that the LK and SinX is no longer Demi-Human, but Demon.

Why Demon? Perhaps Seyren and Eremes are the ones who were experimented upon first, and thus, their infections and mutations are more complex. Or that when the researchers were about to turn on the other four, that fire occurred, rendering the lab useless and halting the experiment. Without the equipment keeping the Heart of Ymir, the biological weapon, and their powerful research subjects in check, experimentation has to be stopped.

So, then, the humanoid mobs found in the Biolabs are either still-living, but infected by the agents, or that they are dead but is kept in a stage of unlife by that biological weapon that the RKB was developing. While the official description explains it as ?angry, vengeful spirits of the people experimented on,? it makes one wonder why they didn?t try to take over Lighthalzen or at least extract revenge on the people who likely caused their death in the first place.

One possible interpretation may be that they are truly dead ? but the biological agent keeps them ?living.? Given that the virus is contained inside the laboratory, they simply cannot step out of it because the lab is self-contained. So they're almost like zombies in that regard.

Coming up next: City Politics. Hugel, Rachel, and more plotting.

Quote:Anyways, let?s get back to the Heart of Ymir, since the thing pretty much drives your storyline anyways. Note that you use the Heart underneath Yuno (the complete, and presumably, the original piece) to transcend. But you know, the RKB probably uses it for other things.

In the second part of the President quest, you will recall the mercenary rebellion, in which the mechanized inventions totally replaced them, and thus, having no choice, the mercenaries initiated what would ultimately become a failed rebellion. One thing we should, perhaps, pay attention to is the description of the machinery. We know they?re powered by the fragments of the Heart of Ymir. We know they?re made out of metal, being tireless, emotionless, and immune to pain, and once there is some sort of a mechanistic error, the machine as a whole will go berserk.

Attentive players may notice that this is the exact description of the monsters in the Juperos ruins.

So, we know that the Juperos mobs are related, somehow, to the RKB. However! It doesn?t stop there, as in-game evidence proves that Juperos was long there before the RKB is around. From here, though, we could figure out something else. Wander around on the first floor of biolabs, or even the first floor of the RKB headquarters. What do you see?

Guardians. Tons and tons of them. Same guardians you find in Thor volcano and the SE castles. It wouldn?t be a stretch to say that the RKB is somehow behind their development, no?

It?s not a stretch. In fact, take a close look inside the second floor of Thor. Those are either rock patterns, or they?re upside-down versions of the emblems of the Republic, from Einbroch. If I had more health on my Pally, I would have been able to get to another spot which is more obvious, but for now, you?ll have to be content with these.



(Custom aura/colored sprite. omg i r spirte hax grf no ban plz)

Either way, we know that the technological level of Rachel is pretty much fail, compared to everywhere else. There is no way Veins or even Rachel could have developed these weapons on their own. Whether or not Rachel is stockpiling mecha in order to declare war on Rune-Midgard isn?t what we?re concerned with (for now), but for now, we?re pretty damn sure that those stupid things that oneshot us all the time in Thor is created by RKB.

So far, we?ve seen artificial life-forms, biological enhancements, and mechanical units. Does this give you an idea of how the RKB runs their business? It is entirely chilling ? no matter from which direction, the RKB is directly trying to surpass life itself, which is ? rather contrary to what the rest of Rune-Midgard believes in, which is a delightful blend of Judeo-Christian values and Norse mythological traditions.

Thus, we head over to Hugel. Peaceful little place, eh? Except, for you know, Odin?s temple, the last of the mercenaries, Schuwell, and a lot of hints at to what the Rachel church and the RKB is up to. We know that the Heart of Ymir is once again involved, and something about reviving an ancient race?

Ignoring everything else, I wonder if anyone else has noticed certain details in Odin. For a ruined temple, why is everything unusually intact? Even the broken status have whole hands, whole heads, and fresh cuts ? no signs of erosion, no nothing.

For that matter, where is ? Odin? You know, the wide-helmed, dude with an eyepatch we see in Rune-Midgard. Why in the world is this called Odin?s Temple?

The answer, to me, seems to lie in the Valkyrie Randgris. It is strongly suggested in the Odin Excavation quest that she is sent down directly by Odin. The temple is destroyed, at Odin?s orders, to warn the residents of Rune-Midgard that they?re pushing the natural limits. Mankind will not surpass the divine, and should not attempt to do so ? just like Thanatos Tower, which appeared almost overnight.

Speaking of Thanatos Tower, we find out inside the tower that the whole place itself is arguably an alteration of reality. What we know is that ? there are many legends associated with it. According to the church, the Gods built the tower in one day to demonstrate their strength to humanity. According to other legends, it is a fortress built by demons as they tried to invade Rune-Midgard (this stretches all the way back to Geffenia, by the way), and after their defeat, the tower ceased to be functional. Whatever the case, the RKB stopped excavating after a series of accidents, and so far, they?ve only managed to head up to the third floor.

It is interesting to note that there are no records of the Thanatos tower in Yuno?s libraries, either. This is an explicit point that is noted in the official lore. It seems that either the Yuno sages didn?t know anything, or something may have intentionally removed them.

The commonly accepted story, as revealed by talking to NPCs in town, is that the legendary champion, Thanatos fought Satan Morroc for ten days and nights, as a colleague of mine has pointed out, and that the divine commemorated the event by building Thanatos Tower. Thanatos himself presumably perished after the event, and disappeared into history. Over time, history became myth, and myth became legend.

Note the word I used is presumably, because it is never explicitly stated that he dies, at least in the cRO version. Instead, the players discover what happened to humanity?s finest champion inside the Thanatos tower.

We get a bit of information from reading Balmont?s notes. On page 6, we see a bunch of scribbles ? and a lot of incoherent ramble. Something about the powerful sensation of magic and something from Thanatos himself. This is again, in present tense?

Well, screw him and his notes.

Let us look at the mobs that appear in the tower itself. Ignoring the mutated junk (Deathwords and elders and whatnots), the true inhabitants are Solace, Observation (Sentinel), Shelter, and Retribution. This is evident in the fact that as the floors increase, the deathswords, mimics, and other smaller things stopped appearing. Instead, the only things left are the angels.

? Along with their counterparts, Dolor (Sadness), Odium (Hatred), Maero (Sorrow), and Despero (Despair). Not only are these four attributes key aspects of Freud?s ?death drive,? (Thanatos), but something about the naming looks familiar, doesn?t it?

You?re right. It does. In fact, here?s a clue. The translation is slightly botched, and I believe in this case the cRO/jRO translations from kRO directly makes more sense than their English ones. Shelter is more aptly translated to ?One at rightful rest.? Observation translates to ?One keeping diligent watch.? Retribution translates to ?One carrying out divine justice,? and Solace to ?One who brings recognition,? though more aptly to ?one who replenishes,? or ?one who refills.?

As the player advance further into the tower, they realize that with each mechanism, it is almost as if they are reliving Thanatos? past. Without a party, and my old guild disbanded, I am unable to re-enter the Tower. What I can remember, however, is the ninth floor. We were bugged at that floor, and I remember the text quite vividly because it was both badass and pertinent to the plot.

Approximated from cRO. If anyone has the English one, I?d love to see it.

- The Demon King? only he remains -
- Come! This is the last time! ?
*crack*
You hear the mechanism turning
- Indeed! This is ? the last time ? -

And also, note that this is ?someone?s memory directly injected into your mind.? This is taken from an English fansite, but the text below I'm sure is 100% accurate.

- This battle will determine the fate of mankind -
- We must defeat Satan Morroc. There is no alternative. Who?s with me? -
- *Cough cough* the demon ? is too strong! We c-can?t? -
- Foolish, weakling humans. You should have known better ?
- AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! H-HOW DARE YOU HUMANS. -
- HOW DARE YOU?!-
- ?. -
- ?? -
- ?? -

?The images faded from your mind as quickly as they appeared. What could have happened in the past??

Memories only belong to the living or spiritual. It is no accident that you got the memory.

Once you get to the top floor, though, look at what you have to do. You have to put the memory fragments back, fighting the mobs again, and then ? conjuring the ?Memory of Thanatos.?

Why is it called the Memory of Thanatos? Why not ?Thanatos?? Herein lies the reason. Once again, Gravity gives us clues in the form of drops. In particular, the Cursed Seals. As powerful as Thanatos is, it is impossible that he could have remained unaffected by Satan Morroc. My interpretation is that sealing Morroc away did not cost his life ? but rather, his very existence. As we learn from side materials in some of the Morroc quests, it is necessary for the individual to be living in order for the seal to persist. Those cursed seal things? Representative of the actual seal on Satan Morroc.

Wait, Thanatos is still alive?

At least, that?s my interpretation. I?m getting to it. And yes, Thanatos is alive. Those angels you see? They are his allies in the physical sense, and also the personification of his ideals, dreams, and hopes in the spiritual sense. In order to keep Satan Morroc in check, he locked himself away at the top of his tower, perhaps casting some sort of a magic veil so that he will not be disturbed. Thanatos is human, too, and suffers through all the things we humans do ? including some random chick named Lucil which he seems to be attracted to. But, that?s a different story. Sufficient to say we know Thanatos kept the seal going for at least a few hundred years.

But living in solitude is a maddening experience. And sealing away the greatest evil in the world isn?t the easiest task, either. As we know, Satan Morroc has many methods of influence. As the curse slowly ate away at Thanatos, all of his emotions changed. The rightful rest he should have earned he cannot have, because he needs to keep Morroc in check. Keeping watch for an eternity is a thankless job, with no one to remember what he did. Slowly, and slowly, hope became despair. Solace became restlessness, and then sadness. Peace became rage, joy became hatred. Waiting for the "thank you" that will never come...

The rest, you could piece together. The only other evidence I have to present are the lines Thanatos utter when he is defeated.

??Thank you. It is over.?

And then, as you?re warped out, if you?re the first guild on the server that did this, you get ?

*??No? it is not over?I must return ??

*This is what I believe to be the case. Subsequent parties on cRO did not get this line, but my guild had screenshots of this because they thought it was extremely badass.

Contradictory? Here?s my take on the whole thing. This is almost entirely due to speculation, but nonetheless, may be useful.

- Thanatos Tower, like the Odin Temple, is something that is either raised by the Gods in warning, unveiled by the Gods in warning, or, because the RKB is screwing around, managed to get the thing to surface.
- Thanatos himself is still alive, but locked in that semi-living state as a memory.
- All of the angels and stuff? Those are the ?good guys.? The memories of Thanatos are corrupted versions of his feelings, just like the Memory is a shadow of himself.
- Fragment and pieces you collect allows you to coalescence all the fragments of Thanatos together, giving him his identity back.

Note that part of the tower collapses after you defeat Thanatos. Which may suggest a few things. In particular, the top level cannot be accessed. Suggesting that perhaps, we have finally given the swordman the rest he deserves. Or ... we actually screwed our own world over by destroying one of the few things keeping cthulu-wannabe in check.

o The tower itself is constructed and powered from Thanatos? memories, and by defeating his memories and giving him peace, you?ve not only killed Thanatos and sent him off to Valhalla, but also broke one of the few things that?s still keeping Morroc in check. This interpretation explains both of the lines he utter. The first line is thanks, and the second is abject horror as he realizes that he can no longer keep Satan morroc sealed.
o Or: the seal is persistent, Thanatos is already dead, has been dead, and it?s just that Thanatos is trapped in a maddening experience, and you?ve freed him from his torment. This particular interpretation explains the first line in a similar fashion, but interprets the second one as a wistful comment, that since Thanatos died all these years ago there is no one else to fight Morroc. After all, it is mentioned in the tower that the success chance for an entire guild of Assassin Crosses is less than one percent?

Either way, I really want to read some sort of fiction piece - perhaps I'll even write it myself or something.

Wow, that was a long detour. Either way, if I haven?t convinced you that RO has a decent story yet, I should probably try harder next time. Rachel's coming next. And hooboy, there is a LOT to say about that place...

Quote:Don't worry, no EXP was lost. That's why I thought it looked like the emblem - in addition, that little thingie in the center looks like the emblem, flipped upside down.

And stealing my thunder? Hardly. If everyone in RO started to do what I'm doing, then this game'd be a lot funner for everyone! Just remember, there is no "right" answer. We can only draw conclusions based on what we're given.

Quote:
As far as the link between Thors Volcano and Rekenber, I'm sure I'd know better if I did the quest, but the feeling I get from reading over the Thors Base Quest is that there is a military base (affiliated with Arunafeltz obviously) that operates within the Volcano, hence the presence of Guardians. Since the Rekenber Job Quest clearly shows that Rekenber builds, and distributes, Guardians such as the ones used in War of Emperium, as you said I don't think its a stretch at all that Rekenber is involved with the Guardians there.
Exactly. If the Volcano is so sacred, why are they in there in the first place? I mean, we find littered boxes and other things all over the place. My guess is that the guardians are brought there to excavate whatever it is the RKB wanted, and as usual, large MVP awakens, gets pissed, and nukes everything, RKB flees and ditches everything else, leaving us (the players) to clean up their messes.

Which brings the second question. What kind of bastards make things that can oneshot a level 99 Pally?

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@ Odins Temple: As far as I've been told, the story behind the temple is that humans built it however many hundreds of years ago to worship Odin, but Odin didn't have the same love for them that the people had for him. So after a cruel and oppressive rule, the populace of the temple either left or died, so the only thing remaining there are the Guardians Odin had placed there, being the Skogul, Frus, and Skeggiolds. Occasionally, Valkyrie's from Valhalla are also dispatched to defend the temple from intruders, one of which being Randgris.
Except, in cRO's storyline, Odin's actually one of the "good guys." It'd be interesting to see what the English versions of the story is, though, given that we're looking at two perspectives. The bit I gave in my writing is what I cobbled together using the in-game text, so it's not so much speculation as much as it is grounded in something.

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@Thanatos Tower: I don't remember which quest it was, but I seem to remember one quest mentioning that it was the ancestors of the prontera royal family that sealed Morroc, so I would tend toward the argument that Thanatos himself, whether he died during the battle with Morroc or afterwards, is dead now. As the MVP itself is named either 'Memory of Thanatos' or 'Thanatos Phantom' depending on your server, the game seems to be hinting at the fact that what you're fighting isn't Thanatos himself, but a shadow of Thanatos, or a specter that resembles what he used to be. To put it into an analogy, The Memory of Thanatos would be on the same level as the Incarnations of Morroc in dimensional gorge, in that they are a manifestation of Morroc's Power, but not Morroc himself. Explaining it like that also helps to explain why the Thanatos MVP is so much weaker then the Morroc MVP, though I realize thats more game mechanics then story, so it doesn't really play as evidence (Alternatively, we could assume Thanatos wasn't alone in his effort against Satan Morroc, which would make the analogy into Morroc = Thanatos, Incarnations = Dolor/Maero/Despero/Odium)
Thanatos wasn't alone, if you look at the text dialogue in the tower itself. However, we're pretty certain he is the one who struck the mortal blow/is the main player of the bunch. He was probably an Assassin Cross, given the references to the Assassin's guild.

Incarnations of Morroc has less of a direct correlation with the four attributes given in Thanatos, though, especially since the four listed are explicitly references to Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis theory. That point, I think, cannot be accidental.

King Tristan is a totally different thing, and if we take Thanatos' lore, it makes more sense for Thanatos to have done it, and then having the location be Morroc. I'll address Morroc in a later post.

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The Dandelion quest tells you that Thanatos Tower was a place where Monsters came from after Satan Morroc invaded, so it seems more then likely that the Tower was built before Thanatos and Morroc fought. This kind of detracts from the theory that the Tower was used to help seal Morroc, but gives rise to another theory that the secret the Tower is hiding relates to Satan Morroc, or if I can stretch the theory a little bit, in how Satan Morroc summoned his minions into Midgard.
This would fit with the second theory, which is given in the official materials. I.E. Thanatos Tower was originally used as a base for Morroc's invasion, but was later on (persumably taken by Thanatos?) transformed into something else.

Quote:
It would then make sense as to why the Angels appeared to defend the tower, as clearly morals aren't something that would stand in Rekenber's way, so it would be more then likely they would abuse such a power, whether it resulted in their profit or loss was irrelevant. It might even be considered that if Rekenber had managed to completely reconstruct Thanatos Tower, it would act as a portal again, which would also explain why there needed to be Divine Intervention. Though thats speculating quite a bit off the evidence I have at hand.
It doesn't have to be a portal, right? Thanatos, for all we know, could have had a lot of other stuff. Hell, if we knew why the Rekenber corporation was there in the first place, I wouldn't be writing this in the first place.

In terms of Thanatos' presence... I'm a hopeless romantic at heart, which is why my interpretation is, ultimately, one in which the tragic hero is redeemed by the players.

Quote:
To explain why the Memory of Thanatos is in the tower, I imagine that after Thanatos died (and presumably was sent to Valhalla), he left behind a remnant of himself to prevent the secrets of the Tower from ever being discovered. I also wouldn't consider it unreasonable for the Phantom to have been summoned by the same entity responsible for dispatching the Angels, giving the summoned guardian similar characteristics to Thanatos but not actually calling Thanatos himself. Then again, there's nothing to say Thanatos himself COULDN'T have been summoned, so there's that possibility as well!
This idea is good, but makes things more complicated. What is the tower hiding? Who summoned the guardians? Why Thanatos? Etc, etc, all of which are open to speculation. It's more fuel for the fires, that's for sure.

The thing is (I take it you haven't actually been up to Thanatos Tower and fought to boss, have you?) is that the "power" is unlocked, and not summoned. In other words, whatever's on top of the tower is quite literally reconstructed from the player's efforts, instead of an entity waiting to warp in to await the player's challenge like say, Baphomet.

Quote:
I've never heard the story that the tower collapses after you defeat Thanatos, but I guess thats a difficult thing to express in an MMO
Oh, uh, the top floor collapses as the rest of the tower sinks into the ground. You get it as a description when you try to go into the glowing portal again. So, from a lore perspective, yeah, the tower does sink into the ground and disappears, which to me seems to suggest that the tower itself is directly linked to Thanatos.

EDIT: In regards to the cursed spirit quest: I just read that, and I don't ever recall seeing that on cRO. That's a pretty cool story, and what's better is that it doesn't really run contrary to my proposal either. Either way, it just makes the Bio stuff much more intriguing.

Quote:A few other notes. There's a Sir Windsor in one of the knight tests. Also, I think I found eremes. Reverse engineering Aegis script shows us this.

Quote:
//-------------------------------------------------------------
//------- THAILAND EVENT SCRIPT by eremes "Sieg Zeon!"--------
//----------------------- eremes@gravity.co.kr ----------------
//-----------------------------20030911 ~ 20030916-------------
//-------------------------------------------------------------
Quote:
i dunno about the virus idea myself, BUT one thing that may support it (or just be a geeky reference) is the official name of the lab: regenschirm. german for "umbrella"
Virus idea is a theory I cooked up using data from the biological weapon and related quests. We know that lab that made the viruses basically burned down in a huge fire. Which other lab in the game do we know for sure that's been burnt down? Biolabs.

Quote:
I wouldn't call that off topic, I'd call that pretty awesome.
AWESOME. And also, supported by this. In-game text explaining the origins of Juperos and Juno.

Quote:
Thesis: The Fall of Juperos By Fayruz Khrhiyha Sage Castle Researcher

Scholars are certain that the Juperos civilization used to be located above the ground, but it is now buried beneath the El Mes Plateau. The reasons for the city's ruin are still in debate...

However, new findings regarding the history of Juperos have allowed us to make a few conclusions. Juperos was built over a thousand years ago in an era of peace just after a major war. There is now direct evidence linking Juno to Juperos proving that Juno was but a part of Juperos.

Just like Juno, Juperos was a society that prided itself on its advancement in the sciences which played a permeating role in civilized life. Science was reponsible for Juperos's rise and downfall.

What is most unsettling is recent evidence, including a first hand written account, regarding the role of one of Jupero's foremost scientists in that city's rise and fall.

If these writings are authentic, then what actually happened was that a scientific revolution occurred as a direct result of one scientist's effort to manipulate the energies of the artifact known as Ymir's heart.

This one man and Ymir's Heart are credited with the success and prosperity of the Jupero's civilization. However, there are various accounts prior to Jupero's fall detailing his work with chimera...

This scientist, supposedly in his passion to benefit his people by finding a scientific method for immortality by using chimera for testing, was driven insane. He experimented on himself with disatrous results. There was an error in the energy calibration of Ymir's Heart and the scientist was transformed into the monster we now know as Chimera. He and his test subjects were set loose into the city of Juperos.

These immortal Chimeras (Author?s note: So ? the scientist is vesper. Are venatus and dimiks defense drones, and Archdam the test subjects?) razed the entire city, killing countless people. Apparently, a team of scientists were able to salvage a fragment of Ymir's Heart, and use it to lauch part of Juperos into the sky.

That section of Juperos eventually developed into the city of Juno. Since the scientists who launched Juno into the sky all immediately died afterwards from an unknown cause, they left no documentation.

The Chimera, and the laboratory in which it was created, is rumored to remain beneath the ruins of the once great city of Juperos.
As for the Japanese fansites, they get a lot more lore than we do. Here's an excerpt detailing the mercenary rebellion that I'll translate at a later time.

Quote:
バルムント
300年程前に活躍した大賢者として知られる。A.W667年生まれ。貧しい家の生まれで正規の教育を受けることができなかったが、天才であったため同じ 村に住むヘッジー教授に預けられる。14歳でジュノー国立大学に推薦入学、学問や芸術などあらゆる分野で才能を発揮、21歳で最年少の大学教授となる。そ れまでタブーとされていた古代文明の遺跡発掘に着手、学界から発掘費用の支援を受けられず頓挫していたとこ ろに、レゲンシュルムが目を付けてパトロンとな る。そして遺跡調査により古代科学を解明していく。その後、A.W.700年にレゲンシュルム研究所に迎えられレゲンシュルム擬似ユミルの心臓研究室に所 属。ガーディアン制作のため発掘済みの古代遺跡に残されてる巨大な人型の有機体を単独で再調査 した際、人間女性としか思えない有機体を発見、その魔力の痕 跡をたどる旅に出発、大陸中を旅してタナトスタワーを発見したが公表することなく再封印してい る。

その後、長年の研究の末に擬似ユミルの心臓を作り出し、それを動力源にすることでガーディアンなど理論上の 夢だったものが次々と実現してく。しかし、擬似 ユミルの心臓の研究を続けると世に悲しみをもたらすことになると考え完成状態の擬似ユミルの心臓を破壊、助 手のヘリコに自分の考えをメッセージとして残し 研究所を去った。この事によりプロジェクトの大半が停止?凍結され、レゲンシュルムはバルムントの抜けた穴を埋めるべく有機体であるガーディアンの研究 を 進めるために人体実験に手を染めていき生体研究所を設立する。また、本物のユミルの心臓の欠片を武力によっ て強奪することに反対して裏から擬似ユミルの心 臓開発を支援していたアルナベルツ教国の穏健派の権力衰退と、急進派の台頭を招くことにもなった。そして残 された資料から作られた擬似ユミルの心臓（ルー ン機関）は、バルムントの研究を欠いた不完全な状態のままガーディアンや飛行船などに実用化されている。レ ゲンシュルムではユミルの心臓のイミテーション であるルーン機関を完全なものとする「バルムントプロジェクト」なる計画が進められているが詳 細不明。
レゲンシュルムの研究所を去った後、自宅を堅固な研究室に改装。単独で古代文明の研究を重ね、創作物の中に は古代文明のオートマータであるアリスを完全再 現したものまであったという。

A.W781年に、実用配備されたガーディアンの誤作動で共和国守備隊所属の傭兵が死亡する事件が発生、レッケンベル社 が事件の揉み消しを謀ったため以前 からガーディアン配備に反発していた各傭兵団が呼応して「傭兵反乱」事件を起こす。ガーディアン配備の反対 を唱えていたバルムントはガーディアンに敗れた 傭兵団を自宅に受け入れたが、レッケンベル社のガーディアンがバルムントの邸宅を包囲、篭城していた傭兵団 を殲滅してバルムントの創作物や資料などを持ち 去った。バルムントはこの際に姿をくらまし、現在は消息不明。なおこの事件はレッケンベル社の情報操作によ り世間一般では、ガーディアンに職を追われそう になった傭兵団がバルムントを恨んで邸宅を襲撃?占拠して、共和国守備隊との交戦時の出火でバルムントの邸宅にあった創作物や資料などは全て焼 失したこと になっている。
（ゲーム中に登場するバルムントの伝記はA.W1003年の発行となっている。200-300年程昔に活躍した人物であるが、傭兵反乱の生き残りは故人で あるものの近年までは老齢ながら存命しており、ヘリコは現在でも存命している。）

Note the bit I highlighted, which is a mysterious female life-form. My personal suspicion is that this is Lucil, the same person Thanatos seems to have an attachment to in the Thanatos Tower quest - this makes more sense after you see the whole thing.

Quote:WARNING: Extremely disorganized. Will be editing and re-editing over the next couple of days.

EDIT: Kiel is a sad man. Sympathetic, but a little sad.

Before we could really talk about Rachel, and all the mess that went on there, though, we should direct our attention to RKB's direct competitor, the Kiel Hyre Academy.

In one line, to summarize my theory: Kiel is also trying to build himself (or someone) an army.

Why army? Well, the original intent of the RKB is to provide the "military arm" for the Schwartzvald republic, chiefly in the form of guardians. While they may be similar in form to Rune-Midgard's Guardians, I am going to argue here that the RKB guardians are nothing like Rune-Midgards. It is mentioned in one of the RKB side quests that the Heart of Ymir is used to power their guardians, and here, I suspect that Kiel Hyre has obtained a similar degree of technology, as the current generation III robots are powered with some sort of a memory matrix made from the Heart of Ymir that allows them to have human-like emotions and thoughts.

Many questions, then, are left unanswered. Is the security of Yuno so lax, that not only the RKB can obtain pieces of it, but that a corporation like Kiel can obtain enough of it to mass produce their own robots as well? How in the world did the RKB leak their homunculus technology to a competitor?

The second answer can be attempted. Both references Varmundt(Varmundt, the founder of the RKB*, guy who more or less initiated the biolabs stuff), the "Great Sage," though Kiel himself states that his development was markedly superior.

Quote:
I've been researching robotics for thirty-two years now, I'm proud to say that I've succeeded where the great sage Varmundt did not.
-Kiel, when you first meet him in person.

As he was able to combine Yuno's unique strain of sage magic, along with homonculus technology into a new artificial lifeform. The homonculus quest itself also has a reference to this guy as well, suggesting that whoever he is, the great sage was quite interested in artificial life forms. Given that Kiel seemed to have known the sage in person, or at least have heard of him, it wouldn't be unreasonable to conclude that the research of homunculus went about in different ways, with each researcher discovering a unique method to them.

*Guy referenced in RKB's history. More or less responsible for the company's sudden rise in A.W. 700)

A brief note on Kiel's robots: most of these are capable of blending into society. Elly, for example, seems perfectly normal as a human being. Imagine how powerful they'd be as assassins, and imagine the psychology of fighting these things - guardians are huge hunkin' things of metal. But would you really be willing to lift your sword against a 14 year old girl?

My apologies for digressing. RO lore is interesting to me, and I think there's a lot of it that could be entertaining, especially for fanfiction writers.

Insofar as the first question, the answer once again, seem to suggest, Rachel. We know from the Rachel entrance quest that there are hundreds of pieces of Ymir's heart underneath the temple complex itself. Earlier on we concluded that it is reasonable to infer that the Church provides the RKB with the Ymir's Heart fragments. Is it also reasonable to conclude that the Church has secretly been supplying Kiel? If so, why?

That question has not been revealed in lore. We do not know whether or not the church is threatened by the presence of the RKB, nor do we know how much competition exactly can Kiel offer. What we do know are these things.

- The Yuno Republic is staunchly against both in the sense, but is capable of very little. The government has to resort to stealth tactics and espionage in order to accomplish anything - a sad shadow of its days when Juperos was still functioning.

- The RKB has attempted to infiltrate Kiel, and failing in the attempt. It is not known if the reverse is true, but we know that Kiel has Lighthalzen guardians sitting in his laboratory on the first floor, along the northern wall.

- Kiel has homunculus technology, arcane magic, highly advanced robotics at least on-par if not superior to the RKB, and also, possibly RKB guardian technology as well. It is not known how Kiel would have obtained this information.

- Kiel himself is skilled enough to not only hide his activity from the Republic's agents, but also somehow managing to foil the RKB as well. In fact, if it weren't for the player's meddling, neither parties would have made any headway. Kiel is either a skilled bureaucrat, has connections inside both the RKB or the government, or he's James Bond.

- The RKB is aware of Kiel's activity. The Yuno government should also be aware of Kiel, but again, has made very little headway until the player's interactions.

- In Kiel's academy, one of the NPCs refer to having visitors from a "Far-away land." It is a stretch to say that this is Rachel, except for the fact that inside Rachel, one of the priests mention that he has business in the El Mes Plateau.

Really, now, why would a priest be out there? As we know, the only things outside of Yuno are:

1. Goats.
2. Ruins of Juperos, which the RKB has begun excavating.
3. Kiel's Academy.
4. ?????

- The artificial lifeforms constructed within Kiel are markedly different from RKB's guardians, though no less powerful. While Aliza, for example, might vaguely classify as a domestic servant robot, it is clear that the other stuff is meant for something else.

- In addition, because we know from Allysia's conversation that Kiel has been developing robots in direct competition with the RKB, it is clear that whatever Kiel is up to in Hugel, the intent is to compete with the RKB - and that's why we see the guardians mounted in the laboratory. reverse engineering for the win.

- In that sense, then, Kiel's robots are INFINITELY MORE DANGEROUS than RKB's Guardians for at least one reason: they're capable of independent thought. Kiel's managed to overcome the 6-year hard limit on the 2nd gen bots, which means that these robots, due to their pseudo-biological nature, are essentially self sustaining.

This would make one wonder why haven't the RKB attempted to stop Kiel yet. An answer? They don't know. Another answer? Perhaps they can't. If they can't infiltrate, they have no idea what Kiel's up to. Or, perhaps, they simply don't take Kiel seriously enough.

...Who'd have known that a kindly looking old guy who seems obsessed with the Meido archetype could turn out to be a threat?

Quote:First of all... THANK YOU !
I'm a player who's addicted by stories, exspecially the RO-Story which is just awesome!
But I'm also a player who had no chance to excperience Locations like Upper Thanatos Tower Floors or Sealed Shrine. The one Rebirth I have is not taking along in partys (NatCrit SinX with love! q.q) and I also never was in a guild that could accomplish anything like that - cause I'm not a WoE player and it's mostly those players who got this chances.
Now, I finally have the chance to get the story parts missing to me.
Also, I'm writing a huge FanFiction (looking for translating help btw q.q) in which I want to take parts of the original story and this helps a lot !

Though, there are some parts where I either have additional information or another opinion I want to share. Note that some of this may be an error of the german translation on euRO! But normally, the text is the same in english and german, so it may also be not the case.

To Rekenber:

Did you know, that the laboratories had another name, too?
It's also called "Regenschirm" several times ingame.
This may not be any hint for you, but it was very strong for us.
Regenschirm is german for Umbrella.
(who didn't get it till now... In Resident Evil is the bad Umbrella Corp. guilty for the T-Virus that mutates humans into zombies)
And Rekenber has also a "Corp." behind his name.
Btw, many things in Lighthalzen have german names, mostly seeing on the house walls.

Than, to the first Cls. Here is also a NPC in the names. While you don't get any real informations about Assassin Cross Eremes Guile, you get a human counterpart to the Thief Whikebain Tres! The Assassin with Cat Ears and Cat Tail in Morroc, taking part in the Blacksmith Job Change Quest, is called Whikebain!

Also to Kathryn. The NPC in Geffen Tower is also called Katherine here. And there's a funny little cat next to her who's very angry that Katherine turned her into a cat for stealing gems ;3


Geffenia:
Geffenia has a huge and solid backstory - in the original Manwha! Check it out
It was once the city of the elves, protected by a huge, powerful gem that is also found ingame if you look closly while turning the camera around. It's a huge gem which is placed in the air, in the middle of the city itself! It also has a name based on it's maker but I'm too lazy to stand up and check it now. Maybe later XP


Juperos:
Hm... don't know if the Machines are really coming from RKB. As long as I have it in remember, there was a scientist way back than, who created the robots to protect the city - but the experiment backfired and killed everyone living there. That caused the people outside to forget about the city till it was explored after a really long time again.
A nice note here is the originally name and story given by Gravity. Ragnarok is the end of the world, the big fight of the gods which causes into complete destruction and a complete new start. The world of Ragnarok is on it's way to this fight, which is also shown in the doing of the humans, who raise up with technoligy and start to fight against each others - which may also lead into a big destruction. Maybe this process is repeated over and over again - Juperos may be still existing from the Time before the last Ragnarok and may explain the further technoligy. But this is just basic theory.
Also, the heart of the giant Ymir was used to build the world at the very beginning and creation of the world by the gods. They basically killed Ymir to use him and his... stuff... to make anything on earth. Blood became oceans and rivers and such.

Odin's Temple:
I guess it was build by humans to praise Odin. And either the place got forgotten or Odin destroyed it. Randgris could be a reference to the opera "Der Ring der Nibelungen" from Richard Wagner. In this story, the leader of the Valkyrie's decided to turn her back to Odin to protect his son, who should have been killed from Odin's own plans. The Story is very ... stupid, didn't fit up the real mythologie in whole, but it is interesting, that Brynhild, this Valkyrie I'm speaking about, was expelled and had to live on earth, sleeping in a firecircle that only the hero Siegfried could surpass, waiting to help and belong to her savior. Randgris may also be a Valkyrie that fell in misery to Odin and got expelled to his old temple.

Than the signs on your screenshots...
This may be pure accident. The places you show are an example of what can be found through the whole world of Ragnarok Online: Sometimes, Textures don't reapeat, they got mirrored to look more fitting to each other. And every screen of you shows exactly that. 2 textures coming together and got mirrored.

Varmundt was not the founder of Rekenber. He worked for them though.
There are A LOT of hints to him in the Biological Weapon Quest.
Varmundt was all into researching Ymirs Heart and created the first robots: The Guardians. But as the Guardians led into the war with the mercs and were used against them, Varmundt was blaimed and he dissapeared. If I remember right, he took shelter somewhere, regret what he created and wantet to take his research further without the evil mind of Rekenber.
Btw, the Guardians from the normal Castles are also made by Rekenber. You find that out in the Shadow Mission Quest. You have to protect the goods that are brought from Rekenber to Izlude, to a very... fishy guy. And as the quest goes on, you learn that the goods are weapon, and finally Guardians for the Guilds. Black Weapon Market if you want it that way.

For the Heart Pieces (tatatataaaa you got an heart piece! Find 3 more to get an heart container!) and Kiel's supply... Rekenber AND Arunafeltz Churches are trying to collect the heart pieces. They both should have a nice supply of them. Rekenber just won't tell how much, but it's very clear, that Kiel got his Heart Piece Parts from them.

Also, you state out that the Schwartzwalt (not Yuno) Republic and RKB work together. That's wrong. The president of Schwartzwalt even tries to stop Rekenber. Rekenber got very mighty and rich, and controlls a lot, but is still in focus of the real government.
I think, Kiel actually works for RKB, to continue the work that Varmundt didn't wanted to do anymore. And succeed.

At least, I didn't read anything in this thread, it's just tooo long XD
Some of this may be statet out allready (like the Regenschirm part and the history of Juperos, where it seems that I'm wrong with it ). So please excuse that.

Quote:I think I have some lore stored in my head about Rekenber, Schwartzwald and Arunafeltz. All the info that I'm going to write is completely based from what I've seen and read in quests, with little fictional linking and conclusions. Some of these quests were done months ago, even a year for Morriphen's (but it was my first, so i remember it quite well), but I happen to have a good memory for otherwise useless, but also intriguing, pieces of fiction, mythology and trivia. Also, I started writting all this just after starting page 3, so I won't forget. Here goes nothing:

First is Biological Weapon Quest. I took notes for this quest, but I lost them in the end. An NPC in Einbroch requests help from you so he can get medicine for his and his "wife"'s disease, so you visit his friend in Lighthalzen. In the end, said NPC tells you the whole story: he (Morriphen I think it was) and his friend worked as top researchers at Rekenber. One of them was doing research on weapons, strictly speaking HUMAN weapons. Between these researches, Morriphen saw a beautiful woman in a test tube and fell in love with her, visiting her from time to time (she was asleep the whole time). One day, he learned from his friends that the test subjects were a failure were gonna be dispatched. Morriphen couldn't stand his beloved dying, so he set up a plan: at night, he got into the labs, broke that woman's tube and set the lab into fire to cover his escape. Unfortunately, the fire released some other biological experiments (a.k.a.: the virus) that infected both him and the girl with that disease that was killing them slowly. He ran and ran, but once he got tired, he fell unconscious somewhere near Abyss Lake. There, some cloaked man (whose name was very important but I can't remember) found them and brought them to Hugel, where Morriphen thought both of them could live happily, until money started being scarce and had to move to Einbroch to get a job. Also, after the incident, a lot of people, including his friend, were fired.
There's also Crow of Destiny Quest for another case of a lab in fire, but according to the locations (the lab was near Juno, but nowhere near, let alone under, Lighthalzen) and NPCs, it looks like it was in no way related to Rekenber, just some crazy sage's experiments. I'd need to play it again to point out the exact lines that cut any possible relation with Rekenber, though.

About Thor's Volcano, nothing strange going there: the most radical faction of the Freya cult, leaded by one of rachel's High Priests, has a secret militar camp in the volcano, training for war against Rune-Midgard for the Ymir Heart pieces. They have huge stocks of weaponry in that camp. that weaponry has the Schwartzwald emblem, so it is assumed that they were sent by Rekenber (a link that is later revealed in the quests). Guardians happen to be part of this weaponry developed by Rekenber. That's why you have those guys dressed like Arunafeltz people that summon both a sword guardian and bow guardian - they are belong to them.

Also, it was Sage Valmunt who first created guardians, inspired by the race of Giants, whose traces were found at Odin't Shrine (also, Schwartzwald group there is interested in a rumored Ymir's Heart piece. this group has some business with Rekenber). What he didn't know is what they were going to use them for. Ultimately, he left the company, but not uninjured, like Cursed Spirit Quest shows. In fact, that quest shows you many memories of people that once worked for Rekenber but were later dispossed (eeither because they were no longer useful or because they discovered things) or used as test subjects for diseases.

About robots, as stated by Ellysia, there are 3 generations, developed with some help from Rekenber (they were interested in battle-robots as an alternative for Guardians. Though Kiel's original aim was for the robots to blend in society and help people. Also, the help and money he got from Rekember [as in the beggining he was too poor to do anything] let him completely ruin and oblitterate James' family, the one who took Ellysia's love). The first generation was built with a heavy frame and was completely mechanical, with synthetic skin and a memory scroll for a brain. Ellysia is its more noticeable sample. The second generation got the same mechanical skeleton, but homunculi technology was used for the rest of the body. they had a condensed memory scroll as their core, but it was unstable and the series was disposed. Kiel Hyre was only allowed to keep Kiehl from this series. The third generation is made with homunculi technology from flesh to bone and a perfected and stable memory scroll (you can get most of this info from Ellysia whenever you want after being granted access to Kiel's house). This generation was indeed developed by Kiehl himself. Kiehl Hyre later tried to turn this last generation into mindles assassinating bots, after an agreement with Rekenber. Kiel Hyre tried to protect them with the Academy, but failed. Alicel and Aliot are presumably some of these student-robots turned into mindless drones, that would be why they are wearing school uniforms and a case. I'm very certain about this quest, I did it one month ago for the last time.

More about Rachel Sanctuary, Vanberk, Isilla, Echio and Agav are just Freya followers, at least in looks. You can find many NPCs dressed like that, hat included (the quest to summon ktunallux). About the summoning in Rachel Sanctuary, the only summoning I can remember in the whole Arunafeltz storyline is the one Hibraim did at Nameless Island. His diary states that he doesn't know whether what will be summoned is good or evil, but he'd do it anyways.
Also, are you sure that Rayan did read a book at Juno (sorry, joined RO too late to do that quest) and that Hibraim later found it? I thought he found it at Nameless' monastery.
Also I can't remember the High Priest at Thor's Volcano base being Hibraim, and he seemed to be quite old (there were many radical High Priests, afterall), though I can be mistaken, it's not like I remember any other name in its place.
What I can say for sure is that Arunafeltz wants all the Ymir Heart pieces to revive Freya (and looking at RO2, looks like they succeeded... and Rekenber failed, as they had some), a tip that was given to Freya by Odin himself. Then there's the radical faction that wants to take said fragments by force. Lookd like Rune-Midgard unawaredly has some, maybe Geffenia's crystal is one?

About Wickebine, the cat-assassin in Morroc. At Charles Orlean's kitchen, in Prontera's castle, there's a cat-girl. Said cat girl, according to one of Orlean's assistants, is the younger sister of Wickebine Tres, whom Orleans is in love with, so that's why he doesn't get the girl out of his kitchen.

About Payon, I do remember too an NPC in new Payon (or Archer's Village) stating that due to lack of time and money, they threw dead workers and people into the dungeon, and that they were recently coming back to life. They are a threat, as when they are brung down, they rise again.

About Cool Event Corp., it's just a small company that tries to rule the same trade as kafra Corp. They got help from Rekenber to bully Kafra out of their territories, that's the whole reason why Kafra Corp. aids Secret Wing.

Quote:Quote:
Originally Posted by Deses??
Also, are you sure that Rayan did read a book at Juno (sorry, joined RO too late to do that quest) and that Hibraim later found it? I thought he found it at Nameless' monastery.
Also I can't remember the High Priest at Thor's Volcano base being Hibraim, and he seemed to be quite old (there were many radical High Priests, afterall), though I can be mistaken, it's not like I remember any other name in its place.
Wait, Rayan like Rayan Moore?
I'm very sure that he isn't connected to Nameless Island in any way.
The Book Hibraim used to summon was connected to Belzebub, a really strong demon (org. based in christian myth).
Rayan Moore used a different book. His goal was the summoning of Satan Morocc, and he and his followers succeeded in that summoning later with the episode 12.1.
While you could help stopping the ritual before (Dandelion Quest), it couldn't be stopped in the end. The seal was weakened, Satan Morocc raised and took Morroc and half of the Sograt Desert with him, also creating the dimensional gorge. Accourding to the follow quest of Dandelion, Satan Morocc flew through the gorge, and as the assassin guild, bound to this case from the beginning, followed him, they actually came to Ash Vacuum.
I don't remember the follow quest 1:1 atm, but I remember the Dandelion Quest very well.
From all over the world, children gone missing. The Assassin Guild became two important missions and recruited adventurer's (a ka you) to help.
There were two missions aviable:
You could help Kyd, who had an assassination mission for the one behind the child abductions, or you could help Lin, who got an bodyguard mission for Mr. R.
Either way you choose, it comes out, that Mr. R is Rayan Moore and he try's to ressurrect Satan Morocc, who's sealed away under Morroc by Thanatos. He and his followers kidnapped the children, using them as sacriface. So Lin and Kyd worked against another without knowing it, because Lin had to protect Rayan from Kyd
In the end, Rayan tries to kill everyone, Kyd saves Lin live, Lin got hurt badly during this and Rayan fled.
In Ash Vacuum, you find Kyd, who asks you for your help again. They're still searching for Rayan. On your way through the quest you also meet up with Lin again, still recovering from that incedent. You're able to find Rayan and he's possessed, even killed his own followers.
If I remember correctly, he's holding captive by the assassin guild now... or dead... Only did that quest once, while I made Dandelion about... 25 times or such
(mostly in the one day between euRO server merge and 12.1 update, because they announced that update during the merging progress and you really had only one day left to do that quest with all missing chars...)

Quote:I have sat down with all 10 volumes of the Manwha... And here is what I have found to be referential. I'll be starting with the first volume going sequentially through until 10 (the most interesting of them all). As you may know Myung Jin Lee's Manwha is the basis for the game itself. I figure the lore from the books is a good place to start with figuring things out in the actual game.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragnarok: Volume 1
Volume 1: Nothing too interesting pertaining to current game lore.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragnarok: Volume 2
We have a few pages in direct reference to the fight between Satan Morroc and Thanatos. Basically there are some guards standing around in Morroc guarding. A few of them talk about Satan Morroc and Thanatos (called Tanat and Surt respectively but there's no mistaking the drawings... 100% Satan Morroc and Thanatos). This also goes on into the beginning of Volume 3 referencing a lot that we've seen in game. You'll see as you read.

Direct Transcription:

Page 1:
Guard A: ... You mean no one's told you the legend around here? Can I at least assume you know about the war of the gods?
Guard B: Aah! Yes sir! 1000 years ago fire demons sought to destroy Midgard! They lost!
[Insert black bordered remembrance pages here]
Aye, but 400 years later, Satan Morroc, their master raised a new legion and sent them to burn away the world! It looked like no one could stop them until a lone warrior faced the fiery giant!
[Page with this transcript has Thanatos standing in front of Satan Morroc with a huge ass sword in his hands, ready to fight.]

Page 2:
[Image of Satan Morroc's ugly mug, speaking to Thanatos]
Satan Morroc: Puny mortal! What chance have you? I am Satan Morroc, Lord of Muspell!... You are NOTHING!
[Thanatos standing behind his sword, very smug looking]
Thanatos: My name is Thanatos. And I am far from nothing! As you shall see!

Page 3:
[Epic fight between Thanatos and Satan Morroc]
Thanatos and Satan Morroc fought for 10 days and 10 nights splitting the heavens and earth.
[Thanatos driving his sword into the ground, somewhat looking like he's sealing something]
Guard A: At the very last... Thanatos defeated the Fire Lord, Forcing him back to Muspell. He sealed the way by which Satan Morroc had come, creating a shrine to protect it.
Guard B: Then... Then... That shrine is...
Guard A: Yes, the castle sits on the site of the original shrine. Understand now?

[After talking about this the guards get ambushed by a bunch of assassins including Loki. Some scenes of these guards fighting the assassins, with the assassins dropping them using weird magic like snakes and stuff. After the guards are taken care of, some creatures come up out of the roof of the Morroc Castle. These things are solid black and faceless, with masks and remind me a LOT of the minibosses in Thanatos Tower]

Assassin, speaking about some people that they've come to intervene (sorcerers or something): "They've already begun to open the way for Satan Morroc!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragnarok: Volume 3
[Assassins staring down at the faceless monsters, which look enough like Thanatos minibosses to remind you of them, but not carbon copies... And far enough off they COULD be something else. For the next several pages the assassins fight them down with the same weird methods as the last volume.]

[After the fighting is over, you see a guy that looks an awful lot like Sinestro from the Green Lantern looking out a window noticing the fighting. He seems pretty angry about the assassins coming to interfere. On the next page you see a bunch of children hanging from the ceiling by chains above a pot of boiling liquid.]

Sinestro looking guy: "You eliminate them all quickly! Before anything goes wrong with our glorious mission".

[The guys daughter ends up walking in and sees what is going on, very startled and starts to yell at him about what's going on. He replies as so...]

Sinestro looking guy: It is still not enough! We must sacrifice more! Only through the blood rite can we open the way! The time draws near! Our master Satan Morroc will tread upon Midgard once more!

[The assassins eventually all bust into where this guy is working on sacrificing children to revive Satan morroc. The assassins speak with him and the "balance" of the world is discussed.]

Sinestro looking guy: "Now, now... There is no reason for all of this. Isn't the objective of the assassins' guild to preserve the balance in this world?"

Assassins: "Indeed... And that's why your master cannot be permitted to return."

Sinestro looking guy: "But do you not see? You have it all wrong! The world is already out of balance! The gods have all under their iron rule! Even the giants act only as their puppets! Satan Morroc's return will tip the scales to be even again!"

[More discussing between the Sinestro guy and assassins. Nothing seems to be good enough to post here about the resurrection of Satan Morroc. Basically it's just "Ahahaha! He will return!" and "NU UH! WE WILL STOP U!"]

[More fighting and arguing occurs, and eventually the Sinestro guy reveals that he is not human and has been turned demonic by the power of Satan Morroc. Once he turns into this form he looks a lot like a cross between Palkia from the Pokemon series and Gloom Under Night minus the glowyness.]

[Continued on in a 20 or so page battle, with the Sinestro guy eventually destroyed by the assassins (Loki specifically).]
Subsequent Volumes coming later on!
There's lots of awesomeness! Like the history of Geffenia!


*Note: The English versions were adapted by some dude named Richard A. Knaak so I don't know how off any of this is. If I could read/write Korean I'd gladly do the work off the original writing... Otherwise... Meh.

Also... So so happy my mother decided to ninja replace my copies via the internet! Half.com is love! I loaned all 10 out to someone years upon years ago... Never got em back needless to say.

Quote:Originally Posted by shilin??
Quote:
Originally Posted by Doddler??
The book in question remains in Beelzebub's right hand.
does that mean it's the ledger of death? but how can it corrupt so many people but become so easily destroyed? if it still retains some of its power, why does it not possess any more subsequent owners of it? and if it's not destroyed, why does it not provide the player some of the knowledge that its previous owners sought?
About the book, this is just my speculation, but maybe players are unable to fully read the book? This might explain why only Sages (the knowledgable class) can use the book's Hell's Judgement power because they can read part into the book.

Quote:
Originally Posted by shilin??
beelz being the mastermind that connects pieces together is well-orchestrated but his defeat sounds a little anticlimatic and poorly explained. from the sounds of it, beelz's importance in the development of events seconds only next to morroc (i.e., valk, ifrit, etc are only consequences of what is occurring in the world, not the cause) so if morroc deserved such an impressive episode finale, so did beelz ):

I wished ni3 episode had explained more now that I know beelz isnt just another random monster that emerged from his slumbers due to the disturbances
Speaking of the origins of MvPs, I wonder why there isn't much of a story behind Sealed Shrine Baphomet. I get that his seal weakened due to Satan Morroc's power breaking free into the world. I also get that he was sealed there some ancient time ago by some brave warriors. But, he's a demon that also thretened the entire world for god's sake. How come the 3 kingdoms didn't pay any attention to it and that Friar Patrick, knowing that Bapho's seal was weakening, was just patiently standing there for some random adventurer to pass by. If an adventurer (the players) didn't randomly pass by the monestary, then won't that mean giant bapho would have been unleashed into the world as well?

Quote:Dark Lord and Baphomet have somewhat similar stories, in that they are both 'ultimate evils' that can't properly manifest in Midgard. In Dark Lord's case, his true body is in the fiend realm (whatever that is) and the Dark Lord in GH is just a manifestation of the small amount of his power he is able to get into Midgard. This is what you learn during the Sign Quest.

I forget where I read it, but I believe that Dark Lord's true incarnation is supposed to be roughly on the same level as Naght Seiger, except where Naght Seiger excelled in physical combat Dark Lord excelled in magic.

Baphomet is similar, except the story of Sealed Shrine hints that Baphomet was able to get his true body from the Fiend Realm into Midgard. He was subsequently sealed by the Ancient Hero(s) that you talk to in Sealed Shrine in the Monastery.

As for why Friar Patrick didn't do much to warn the world of Baphomet's impending revival, I would imagine that is because the entire world was already coming together to fight Morroc; there wasn't exactly many people left to deal with another threat. And after all, the entire purpose of the Monastery (and the monks who train there I believe) were to keep Baphomet sealed, so it was only an act of desperation that they called out to the adventurers when Baphomet was breaking his seal. It is likely they expected to be able to hold the seal themselves, and if it hadn't been for Morroc's meddling, they probably could have. In addition, the players were only called into the Monastery to help strengthen the seal, from the dialogue's in the instance it looks very much like the NPCs there never intended you to actually fight Baphomet.


As for people thinking Beelzebub doesn't have a very 'glorious' death considering the amount of trouble he's causing, there's a couple things you have to remember. Firstly is that Beelzebub himself isn't overly powerful, in the sense that Morroc, Randgris, and Ifrit are. Most of his power is derived from working behind the scenes, being crafty, and the like. After all, you don't summon Morroc to destroy the world if you can do it yourself right? Beelzebub himself probably isn't fond of directly fighting himself, hence the revival of Satan Morroc and him leaving Hibram in the Cursed Monastery. He seems to me to be the sort of 'why get my hands dirty when I can make someone else do it' kind of guy.

So it makes sense that, if confronted head on, he wouldn't be able to put up a huge fight in comparison to the other top tier bosses of the game. Obviously he does his best, and his nature truly shows through his skill set (Magic Mirror, Critical Wounds, Magnetic Earth, Evil Land, Stone Skin and him just being Ghost property all show he fights more using tricks and tactics then brute force).

And yes, the Ledger of Death and the Necronomicon are different. After all, giving the book that summoned Beelzebub to players would just get the players possessed, and have Beelzebub resummoned somewhere else right?

As for Gloom Under Night, I was unaware he was actually summoned into Rachel Sanctuary. The feeling I had gotten from the quest was that the higher ups in Rachel had been gathering Ymir heart pieces in the Holy Ground (you can see them on level three), and the Gloom Under Night was simply attracted to the massive amounts of power that had been stored there. The Seekers, Beholders, Hodremlins, and Gremlins were all summoned into the Sanctuary by Gloom, and the Echios, Agavs, Isillas, and Vanberks were all priests of the temple who had been either possessed or driven insane by Gloom's influence. Though reading through this thread I do now see the resemblence of the Isillas and Vanberks to stone workers of some sort, I'm pretty confident by the dress of the Echios and Agavs that they were some sort of clergy.

But again, thats just the feeling I got from the quest. I don't remember ever hearing of anything being summoned during the quest, but I guess I'll have to pay more attention next time I go through it.

Quote:My mistake for not specifying. Yes, Rayan as in Rayan Moore. Doddler said so some pages ago. And that's what I was doubting, since I don't remember anything about Hibraim being related to Rayan, his family or his house. Hmm, maybe I could read the diary again and learn something... oh, but Father bampth kept the diary after the quest was over, didn't he?
Not to mention, now that I think about it, it wasn't the book that drove Rayan mad, but that lone dark crystal fragment that could be later found between Rayan's clothes.

I knew the storyline by reading lines, but I am missing the details that can only be seen by playing it (I even know about placing the elemental ores in key places and let them dull). Reading the quest guides, now I also recall something about Rekenber being interested in Thanatos Tower to learn how to gain control over Satan. Aww, aren't they the kind of thing you love to hate? A quest involving their final defeat would be so satisfying.
Damn, I feel tempted of looking for a pserver just to do this quest. Two times.

Quote:Sorry for my bad english but I wanted to share my thoughts about Eremes in Bio3.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ying Hua??
[...]
- Eremes Guile: Out of the six Biolabs NPCs, this is the only person that I cannot uncover any information. Perhaps I missed someone somewhere along the way, [...]
Quote:
Originally Posted by Thyrial??
[...]
As far as the story behind Eremes goes, there may be something about him somewhere but the way I look at it, these characters are all supposed to be rather skilled at their jobs. If Eremes was a particularly good Assassin Cross then no one would really know anything about him. [...]
Anyone noticed the single Eremes in Lvl 2? I always wondered why there is a single Lvl 3 mob in Lvl 2. Maybe Eremes was one of the best Assassins out there, like Thyrial said. Maybe he found out what stuff is going on in the Rekenber corporation, sneaked in Lvl 2 and wanted to stop them. He was caught and was used for experiments too. Thats what I think.

Quote:Quote:
Originally Posted by Deses??
When burning the laboratory and taking Siria, Morriphen and her got in contact with some chemicals that started deteriorating their tissues. So maybe, biolabs 2-1 mobs also didn't want to become weapons and were thrown away?
So he's the reason Biolab is in ruins? It would make sense with what was said earlier about biolab 3 been the most damaged one, he probably started the fire to escape with Siria there (makes for a good distraction) then the fire spread to the higher levels.

Quote:Quote:
Originally Posted by Kinnay??
Prepare for my own lengthy post here. Hopefully this information can help fill in a few gaps that are out there.

I have sat down with all 10 volumes of the Manwha... And here is what I have found to be referential. I'll be starting with the first volume going sequentially through until 10 (the most interesting of them all). As you may know Myung Jin Lee's Manwha is the basis for the game itself. I figure the lore from the books is a good place to start with figuring things out in the actual game.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragnarok: Volume 2
We have a few pages in direct reference to the fight between Satan Morroc and Thanatos. Basically there are some guards standing around in Morroc guarding. A few of them talk about Satan Morroc and Thanatos (called Tanat and Surt respectively but there's no mistaking the drawings... 100% Satan Morroc and Thanatos). This also goes on into the beginning of Volume 3 referencing a lot that we've seen in game. You'll see as you read.

Direct Transcription:

Page 1:
Guard A: ... You mean no one's told you the legend around here? Can I at least assume you know about the war of the gods?
Guard B: Aah! Yes sir! 1000 years ago fire demons sought to destroy Midgard! They lost!
[Insert black bordered remembrance pages here]
Aye, but 400 years later, Satan Morroc, their master raised a new legion and sent them to burn away the world! It looked like no one could stop them until a lone warrior faced the fiery giant!
[Page with this transcript has Thanatos standing in front of Satan Morroc with a huge ass sword in his hands, ready to fight.]

Page 2:
[Image of Satan Morroc's ugly mug, speaking to Thanatos]
Satan Morroc: Puny mortal! What chance have you? I am Satan Morroc, Lord of Muspell!... You are NOTHING!
[Thanatos standing behind his sword, very smug looking]
Thanatos: My name is Thanatos. And I am far from nothing! As you shall see!

Page 3:
[Epic fight between Thanatos and Satan Morroc]
Thanatos and Satan Morroc fought for 10 days and 10 nights splitting the heavens and earth.
[Thanatos driving his sword into the ground, somewhat looking like he's sealing something]
Guard A: At the very last... Thanatos defeated the Fire Lord, Forcing him back to Muspell. He sealed the way by which Satan Morroc had come, creating a shrine to protect it.
Guard B: Then... Then... That shrine is...
Guard A: Yes, the castle sits on the site of the original shrine. Understand now?

[After talking about this the guards get ambushed by a bunch of assassins including Loki. Some scenes of these guards fighting the assassins, with the assassins dropping them using weird magic like snakes and stuff. After the guards are taken care of, some creatures come up out of the roof of the Morroc Castle. These things are solid black and faceless, with masks and remind me a LOT of the minibosses in Thanatos Tower]

Assassin, speaking about some people that they've come to intervene (sorcerers or something): "They've already begun to open the way for Satan Morroc!"

Quote:Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragnarok: Volume 4
Not much here of importance...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragnarok: Volume 5
Direct Transcript

[Some mentioning on the origins of Ymir's heart, as discussed by Sara Irene with some narration to the female 'necromancer' Himmelmez. Basically they are both currently attacking the city of Prontera from above in some type of 'undead plant based airship'. The circumstances around this discussion are somewhat irrelevant, however it may help with some of your ponderings.]

Sara Irene: Lets talk about the 'Heart of Ymir'.
[Image of a dark figure from behind, most likely this is Odin.]
Sara Irene: Gone more than 1000 years, after the war against the Vanir, Odin himself created Midgard with it.

[Panning of homes in Midgard, people in town, and the landscape generally referencing the 'scattering' of the heart pieces. No images of the heart pieces themselves are shown.]
Sara Irene: He spread it's powerful fragments all over the world, structuring Midgard into what it is today.
Sara Irene: The fragments maintain Midgard's integrity and feed its growth. It'sbecause of them that civilization even developed on the mortal plane.

[Scenes of Sara Irene and Himmelmez discussing their own personal need for these heart pieces, which is the reasoning for them attacking the city of Prontera.]
Himmelmez: The 'purification of Midgard'... For Freya to recreate the world in her image, she needs vast power.
Sara Irene: Combined, the piece of the heart will give her that and more.
Himmelmez: Enough to alter reality itself!
Sara Irene: Which brings us to where the greatest fragment is buried.

[Shot of the Prontera castle at night, with explosions all around it from the attack on the city.]
Sara Irene: The very midst of Prontera, underneath the royal castle itself.

~

[Later on in the book, our group of 'heroes' is seen atop the Prontera castle with one of the Prontera Army Generals. He makes some mentioning to them that he needs a little help defending something of great importance...]
General: ...I think I know what this monstrous army wants... Somehow they must know Prontera's secret.

[Fenris looks slightly puzzled from the side, as we get a couple views of things that look like stalactites and sewer walls.]
Fenris Fenrir: ...Secret?General: Right. Only the king and a few select subordinates know about it. As the commanding general of all Volsug, it became my duty to see that the secret was always protected.
Soldier A: Hmph! Duty? Over the years it?s been more of a curse?

[The general and his forces open a locked door together, which is closed by some kind of clockwork mechanisms. We?re clearly in the basement of the Prontera castle.]
Iris Irene: What?s the secret? What?s in there?
Fenris Fenrir: Could it be? No?

[The general stands matter of fact, door opening behind him]
General: Beyond this door lies legend itself? The essence of all of which we dream, including our worst nightmares, I might add. Come and see.
Iris Irene: Wha?What is that!?
General: It began as a tiny fragment? Then grew to this.

[View showing a close up of the Ymir heart piece, almost exactly as it appears in game.]

General: Behold, the very foundation of Midgard, the heart of Ymir.

[A couple battle scenes are occurring, so the story goes into that for about 4 more pages, then we return to the underground ?cavern? that includes the heart piece. ]

Fenris Fenrir: It?s as I thought? The heart of Ymir--- but whole!

Quote:Doppelganger was waaaay before Lighthalzen and I don't think he's connected to them in anyway. I think he just is what his name tells: a Doppelganger, mirroring the people who fight against him - and Swordman was the first First Job ingame, am I right?
In the anime he fought like a mirror against the main character (I forgot his name...) and another clue, that he isn't involved in any Rekenber story's, is his mob of Nightmare's. A bunch of ghost horses.

I think though that he was a human once.
There's an interesting quest (cursed Emerald?) involving a swordman with Doppelganger's look, though, who went crazy on the kobold map. I don't remember what story was right, if he went crazy because his friends died or if he went crazy and killed his friends. I think it was the first one.
The rescue team had no chance as to kill him though, cause he attacked them.

Quote:interesting, it seems that the whole story of this ragnarok game follow from the manhwa i assume, the sad part is the manhwa stopped to early??

btw dopelgangger looks like this from quest unlucky emerald
and he appears in geffen map ..

Quote:Not sure if it's been asked already, but I'm curious anyway.

Does anyone know the story behind the kid in Ice Dungeon? The one where after you defeat Ktull, the portal to "level 4" opens, where there's a kid encased in ice. It says Ktullanux was 'trying to protect him' or something. It looks like his clothes are reminiscent of the robes the people in Rachel Temple wear. Anyone know anything on it?

Quote:The boy in Ice Dungeon 4 is indeed the pope's twin sister.
The pope in Rachel is selected based on her likeness to their depiction of Freya; specifically, silver hair, one red and one blue eye, light complexion, etc etc. When the current pope was born (we never learn her actual name do we?) she was almost perfect, except for the fact that she had a twin brother. The pope could only be a girl, so it was unthinkable for there to be a male pope, so thats how they decided which of the twins would actually become the pope, but the High Priests of the Sanctuary also believed that if the public knew of her twin brother, it would detract from her divine nature in the eyes of the common people.

With that in mind, since apparently killing children is atleast beyond them, the High Priests of the Sanctuary sealed the boy in the Ice Cave, demanding that Ktullanux guard him to prevent anyone from discovering his existence. Threatening to destroy the entire ice cave if he didn't, Ktullanux reluctantly took on the job of guarding the boy, which is why you have to defeat him before you can get to Ice Dungeon 4, and why when you defeat him his last words are asking you to protect the Ice Cave ("Please save this place from Thor's fierce fire!" or something like that).
Thats all stuff I pieced together from memory, pretty sure its mostly accurate though xP

Quote:Dark Lord, Naght Seiger, and Baphomet were all very, very high ranking demons in the Fiend Realm (think on the level of King or Warlord or something). However, being in the fiend realm, it is not so simple to just 'appear' in Rune Midgard. Whatever happened at Glast Heim, a very, very weak incarnation of Dark Lord managed to appear there, and now haunts the place. The same with the Baphomet in the Hidden Temple, its just a weak incarnation, not the actual full-strength version of him.

During the sign quest,
Spoiler Alert:
Serin attempts to hold a ritual using the power of the symbol of the nine realms to summon the real Dark Lord into Rune Midgard. However, thanks to the players meddling, she ends up failing and the player manages to defeat Dark Lord long before he is able to attain his full power.


As far as baphomet, not much information is given as to how he did it, but he certainly did manage to incarnate fully in Rune Midgard some time long ago in the past. After his brief reign of terror, what soon after became the monks of the Capitolina Monastery managed to weaken him enough to seal him away. With the true baphomet sealed away, only a very small amount of his power was able to leak out, which explains why the Hidden Temple Baphomet was so much weaker then the Sealed Shrine Baphomet.

With the ressurection of Satan Morroc, I'm not sure whether it was directly because of his meddling or a side effect of his resurrection, but something happened that weakened the seal on Baphomet to the point that HIS resurrection was imminent. Of course, with the whole world working hard to defend against Satan Morroc's invasion, there was no one left to help against Baphomet.

When the player arrives at the Abbey, it is really just in time (or too late, depending on who you are asking), as the monk there only asks for you to go down and strengthen the seal, not actually fight Baphomet. Of course, Baphomet breaks free, and you are forced to fight him at his full strength. Ridiculous aspd and movement speed, huge matk, immune to damage...it is somewhat understandable how he manages to be one of these three great evils from the Fiend Realm, despite only having ~4mil HP.

As far as Endless Tower goes, as most people have probably already figured out, the story revolves around Naght Seiger and Entweihen. Naght Seiger was a demon of about the same rank in strength as the original Dark Lord. However, while Dark Lord specialized in magic, Naght Seiger specialized in physical combat. However, as can be expected, having a high rank means there will be people who want to take that rank from you for themselves, thus Entweihen. Entweihen was a lesser ranked demon who desired the position held by Naght Seiger. In order to take it from him, he created Endless Tower and began gathering all the strength in the world in order to bring him down, hence all the monsters from various places all being in the tower together. Realizing far too late what Entweihen was planning, Naght Seiger had very little he could do to stop him, and he could only sit and wait as Entweihen continually became stronger and stronger. Then, whether the Endless Tower appeared in Rune Midgard as some sort of trick of Naght Seiger in a desperate ploy for self defense, or whether it was already there and the player's intervention was pure chance, the player arrives at the Endless Tower and begins fighting there way up shortly before Entweihen launches his attack on Naght Seiger. The player then ends up not only clearing out all the monsters Entweihen had gathered there for his attack, but killing Entweihen himself. Eventually, Naght Seiger himself challenges the players once they prove themselves strong enough to do it all over again, and ends up being defeated himself.

Quote:One of the readable books, the Rune Royal Family Book, is about the king of Glast Heim, Walter von Schmitz--who shares his name with the king who established the Royal Guards which is kinda proof that RGs are members of an evil cult.

According to the book, he used to be the king of Rune-Midgard, but went insane in his middle years. He lived in decadence funded by taxes, had Glast Heim built when he became unsatisfied with the palace in Prontera, and, in his later years, turned to sacrificing people to demons in order to obtain immortality.

Spoiler Alert:
Quote:
Clearly an insane tyrant in his twilight years, King Schmitz sacrificed humans to demons in hopes of attaining immortality. He was finally overthrown in A.W. 529 by his cousin, Grenholm Von Gaebolg, that led a coup de etat against him. Grenholm's rebel troops defeated the royal army, and advanced unopposed to Glast Heim Palace. Upon entering Glast Heim Palace, Grenholm's soldiers encountered a demon army that King Schmitz had summoned from hell. Many of Grenholm's soldiers perished in the violent struggle, but they eventually triumphed over their enemies. They saw the extent of King Schimtz's lunacy when they finally captured him in a small tower in Glast Heim Palace: his body was mutated and misshapen since he had experimented on it in his quest to attain the immortality enjoyed by demons.

The ward captain entered the captive king's room a few months later, and found that Schmitz had vanished. There was a large scale investigation, and it was discovered that the king used a mysterious demonic power to hide in his room's mirror.
And he apparently turned into a Dark Frame. No mentions of Baphomet or Dark Lord by name, but we can assume?

An off-topic aside: he's also the one responsible for the construction of the Izlude Arena, "to showcase adventurers that would kill demons for sport."

Rankin Wrote:Pretty sure I posted this on the Behe forums too.

Incarn Wrote:also i've always wondered WTF gloom under night is and how it was inspired

Quote:I've always been curious about the origins of some of newish MVPs, like Atroce and RSX. I have an idea as to what Gloom Under Night is, although it's purely speculation based on looking a bit at sprites. My thoughts on what Gloom is, is that he is a highly mutated(Leveled?) gremlin, mutated by the Ymir heart pieces found in the Rachel sanctuary quest. This is purely based on shared traits between a gremlin, gloom and the inbetween, Hodremlin.



A: All three share tube like necks and hodremlin and gloom share a pointed head.
B: All three share three leg segments.
C: Hodremlin and Gloom share fin like arms, possibly due to bone loss from being exposed to ymir heart replicas power.
D: Glowing hands, probably concentrated power absorbed from the heart fragments. on Hodremlin one can see glowing veins on his upper arms which probably become the "vents" for the energy on gloom's back.

Just throwing this out there seeing as how gremlins might be a living weapon of Rachel's army along with Beholders (which seemingly also undergo a mutation in Rachel sanctuary), seeing as how they are supposedly used to attack the airships that are powered on ymir heart pieces presumably created by Rekenber. Not sure if this is significant, but Gloom's mob of Echios and Agavs may be priests crazed by the heart fragment that view Gloom as a god or messenger of Freya. Of course this is all speculation based on looking at sprites for too long, and maybe there will be/is lore explaining what Gloom is.

I just like to know what it is I'm killing and what it's place in the world of Ragnarok is. I'm also curious as to what the Hierarchy of MVPs is, not what tier it is, but it's standing and rank in the grand scheme of things in the Ragnarok. I'd also like to know what the hell Phreeoni is, what on earth spawned that thing?

Quote:Gloom Under the night was actually a summon mistake because they actually tried to bring Freya, I do not see that is an actual "evolution" of hodremlin.