I've been going over the Prophecy lately and cross analyzing it with old logs from the Wiki which has left me feeling..unsatisfied. None of the accepted interpretations appear to genuinely align with the prophecy.
After reading it a few times, I don't even believe that it's constructed in a linearly narrative (obviously, really). So, I'm either reading it incorrectly or the plot was played incredibly loosely. The story itself started in Gemstone (minus the prophecy) along some very similar veins. At least in accordance with the box, the murdering children and a spirit within the box that would ultimately open a rift to the Vvrael's plane (rather than Tezirah).
It's such a unique piece of Elanthian lore and with it appearing to herald serious implications for the game world as our characters perceive it why would they have wrapped it up so early in the game's life? There's a few things that stand out to me but I think it was this:
Now two are one and one is lost,
Held in a sanctified place.
A dead man knows what the living do not,
But keeps a somber face.
'Held in a sanctified place' in particular bothers me. It's commonly believed that this in reference to the conjoining of the disparate pieces of the deceiver device itself. While the dead man would be Morton, who faked his death. That just feels off. I'm fairly sure his stasis casket wasn't in a sanctified place and linearly speaking that would have made the introduction of the key being a third piece.
Instead, I was reminded of this:
Abbot Kylshun (and if that isn't Iruaric for Spirit/Star of Death..)
Painted in gloomy shades, the rectangular portrait pictures an elderly Human man sitting in a throne-like chair. Slender hands jutting out of pitch-black robes rest on his lap, fingers steepled. Though the morose man's countenance is obscured in shadow, his pointy chin and wisplike hair are discernible.
When brought into context with the vision in 2017:
My dearest Kylshun says that I am matchless, that none can see so deep as I. I understand that now, just as I understand he used to be one of the sinners. And yet he saw the error of his ways; moreover, he reforged his error into the greatest Good this plane may ever witness. I have forgiven him. I would forgive him anything. We are, after all, one and the same."
I may be biased here due to my interest in the Abbey and the old lore that's attached to it. It's parallel to Gemstone's Temple of Darkness is more than just the thematic design and the mysterious poems. With both of them being places where artificial divinity was attempted at it's a lot of fun to see a sudden vision thrown into the mix while continuing to follow multiple events in the game all sharing similar motifs.
It could even be referencing Tiv in the first two stanzas. Of course the vision might have nothing to do with it in the slightest. Maybe it was only given to players in anticipation for high sorcery research.
It makes me wonder, that's all. It is a prophecy so it's open ended. With it having been delivered by a mirror wraith one can only assume some temporal play on multiple events/meanings. Gemstone and DR both play with the overall notion of events occurring simultaneously throughout time while even allowing for multiple locations to be capable of sharing the same physical space metaphysically. Time is way broken on Elanthia (thanks, Navigators and Kadaena).
When it comes down to it, Moon Mages fall into the trap in believing their visions somehow pertain to them alone (a prophecy being handed to a organization of prophets, hah) and in their arrogance fail to act accordingly to help guide the rest of the provinces. The events for the past four years have really pounded home the importance of the mythological/theological Trinity moreso now than at any other time (except, perhaps, with Maelshyve).
Even the moons are a deceit.
What do you guys think? A prophecy so full of global doom would include more than the Moon Mages. We only break it a little (while doing nothing to fix our moral compasses or to prevent cataclysms).
Everything is fine, right?
