Messages

1

Bugs / Re: Six and the torch

« on: August 01, 2019, 06:26:43 pm »

Showing Azif the retrieved Torch sets the flag for both of them.

2

General / Re: Expedition alpha testing

« on: June 24, 2019, 06:26:17 pm »

Any spots left?

3

General / Re: I hate you all [major spoilers]

« on: May 07, 2016, 06:42:14 pm »

Let me propose a solution to another mystery: Azif is Otis. Why? Because why not!

A compelling argument, but I'm afraid it has a fatal flaw you have overlooked.

It is positively impossible for Azif to be Otis. Why? Because he gives you information you do not need to know.

Just how bright is a mindshroom cocktail on fire?

Interesting question. How does a mindshroom affect the luminosity of fire? How bright is the Cube? Is it sensitive to light levels and starts glowing only in the dark as a user-friendly feature or does it glow constantly? What color is the emitted light? We need to know more to decide its potential for revolutionizing stealth.

Jokes aside, isn't Crucible just the site where Tchort was? Nothing to do with high temperature, just a metaphorical crucible for mutagens. The console explaining Exitus reagents makes this pretty clear.

Of course you are correct, let's not over-analyze a mock theory where every line involved deliberate misinterpretation, omission of details, and assuming connections where there is none. Took me long enough to come up with it. Although this little exercise in self-criticism turned out to be so effective that I almost ended up deleting the entire post. 

Although now that I think about it, maybe not. Tchort is somewhat blocking the view. Although the scientists were thrown into the mutagen tanks, I doubt the Crucible is the whole room, or going down there wouldn't be too good for your health after pumping it full of deadly mutagen, chosen one or not. Probably that machine he is covering with his slimy mass. Either way, it probably doesn't involve any heating.

4

General / Re: I hate you all [major spoilers]

« on: May 07, 2016, 12:03:32 am »

With a title like this and constant discussion, it might look like a heated flamewar from the outside. Nice surprise for anyone who opens the thread.

So you are saying this thread at first glance tries to deceive you into thinking its content is actually more shallow than it really is? Sounds awfully familiar.

Maybe. I'm not so sure myself. I also kinda thought the bit about Knight could have been a simple mistake in his dialog, but now I doubt it's an error. Too many mentions of BCAF and other Biocorp organizations operating after Hollow Earth incident and before the reformation.

That is kind of what I meant too. That if Biocorp just split into smaller factions working separately, but did not outright disappear, then that resolves most of the issues with the timeline. Eidein could have been part of the University and selected by technocrats. The Junkyard incident could possibly have happened a bit more than 100 years ago with Wyatt still realistically suspecting he was dealing with Biocorp scientists. And Knight could have been chief of BCAF too.

Lastly, I did talk about Biocorp finding alien relics and possibly alien corpse - which was probably product of crash or progression of ongoing of supposed *disease*. It is more likely that Biocorp have stumbled into Oculus down while they were searching for the alien artifacts, rather than random scavengers found it.

Yup, pretty much what I'm thinking too. Coretech has documents inherited from Biocorp of xeno-artifacts and research data by xenoarcheologists, enough that the Cube was not completely useless to them. If Biocorp carried out any research of this kind, it must have happened before the fallout. Without large-scale cooperation figuring out anything would be near impossible.

And since the pillars were found shortly before things in HE went south, and no one had any idea what they were aside from suspecting them being alien in origin, and the only two non-pillar xeno-related places in South Underrail are at the University and Oculus, I assume they knew about both.

Even IRIS doesn't know about it and just says the elevator goes to Lower Underrail.

Well, IRIS was developed to regulate the Power Station and RAF facilities, and to be a self-learning system experiment, so her knowledge is fairly limited. Most of what she can tell you is information she heard from Bregmann.

I am only talking about Azif's origins. Biocorp has fallen and it is possible that Azif have betrayed Biocorp during the whole hollowed earth incident.
I am implying that Azif may be ex-apex technocrat and immortal based on:
1. Somehow owning Oculus, assuming that Biocorp found it first.
2. Strange interest towards Biocorp projects, as indicated from the Database collection of Oculus.

Sounds possible to me. Would possibly explain the True Sight too. It seems Biocorp had some kind of test tube baby project going on, at least based on what Slavkovic said, maybe even breeding for specific purposes. At least Bergmann was trained for his position as head of AI research since he was only 3. If you want someone to lead your alien-tech spy station, designing him with the ability to see through stealth and disguises doesn't sound like a bad idea. And his mono-black eyes make it hard to figure out what he is looking at. A bit too convenient to be a coincidence, no?

But we don't have any real evidence, so yeah. He is one disturbing fellow though. "I have been watching you even before you met my associates"? Whoa, mate, now wait a second. Jack Quicksilver is one of the very first quest givers in the game. For me he was actually the first NPC I talked to after the tutorial. Why would anyone keep tabs on you pre-SGS?

There is way too many reasons for a man working at an intelligence gathering organization, in the current climate, assisting Six, to want information about biocorp projects.

Let's not forget that near the end of the game it was suggested, however briefly, that Oculus might have been either playing both sides all along, or actually were commissioned by Tanner to steal the Cube, and maybe even tried to delay Six. Whether it's true, who knows. But it's a possibility we shouldn't discard.

That being, the writers didn't actually know themselves what was going on. They wrote it as they went, and left the viewers to come up with all the interesting connections, theories and so forth.

You are not giving them enough credit. What we discussed so far was with a few exceptions pretty grounded, and suggests very careful and conscious implementation.

Some truly wild speculation would look more like this:

Hope mentioned Otis visiting Tartarus prison, and not as a prisoner.
Vladovic talked about the magma level there being higher than usual.
We know from Dyoglash that test subjects were exposed to mutagens at a place called the "Crucible".
And Austein said the Faceless do not like where they are.

Now what would I want more than anything in the world if I was sitting on a big pile of white-hot magma? Why, I think I would want to--


Ladies and gentlemen, I propose the Cube is a state of the art air conditioner.

There. Mystery solved.

5

General / Re: I hate you all [major spoilers]

« on: May 06, 2016, 11:55:18 am »

but I expect tchortist documents to be artistic works of fiction and falsehood.

In this case what the Original Report said has some support, though. Since we established Abram already lived at the time of the Depot A incident, he should know whether there was or wasn't a Biocorp 100 years ago. And he confirms a few bits: that Eidein was a Biocorp scientist, that he created the Institute exactly 100 years ago, and that he did so by taking over the still functioning Biocorp University. This much should be true, as Abram doesn't like to mix up facts with speculation.

And if this is true, I don't see why the part about the technocrats and BCAF would be a lie. But yeah, if BCAF and BSF are interchangeable, that explains it somewhat, especially since New Biocorp kept the technocrat title too. But mainly because of the time of Depot A and the talk about wanting to slow the decline of Biocorp I'm not really convinced.

Although you are right, "Civil wars erupted all over Underrail and Biocorp dissolved into many small factions. Many technocrats, and scientists and engineers died in the following years. Biocorp was no more." and "Biocorp had only begun to recuperate from the damage it suffered during the split when technocrats called me into their office." does seem to imply that parts of Biocorp might have survived the "death", even keeping their name and rank.

Yes, I think I was wrong. Maybe there is no contradiction after all.

Hmm, all this made me ponder the history of SGS.
IRIS mentions the three elevators lead to Biocorp University (Institute of Tchort), Lower Underrail (Hanging Rat) and BCAF installation S-8 (near SGS). So SGS used to be a Biocorp military installation... well, no big surprise there.

SGS being a BCAF station is a known fact, Harold tells you as much in the battery quest when he explains that the station refuses to work with anything but optoelectric nuclear batteries. Although I suspect S-8 actually included both the Alpha and Omega stations, not just the former.
In which case it used to be ridiculously huge.

Interesting, though, isn't it? They had three elevators leading to Hollow Earth. One in their primary research and education center, one in the largest military base of the south... and one in the middle of bumfuck nowhere. Unless they knew about Oculus.

...hey, maybe SAI was Oculus. Vasilica did imply that even before Hollow Earth SAI was already in the process of going rogue ("You think SAI reports to anyone anymore?"). And it would explain why Dude knows about the "all-seeing eye". Or maybe I'm just reaching.

I wish SGS library had some consoles where you could learn a bit about the station's (recent) history...

Yeah, about that...


Never going to happen. And once again Biocorp is to blame.

6

General / Re: I hate you all [major spoilers]

« on: May 05, 2016, 09:55:28 pm »

In any case, thanks for all the lore, I greatly appreciate it! I'm fascinated by it, but I can't remember all of the details yet.

Keep notes. Lots of notes. History, politics, people, doesn't matter, jot it down. Even if you end up with a list of assistants, assistants of assistants, and all their extended families, at least you won't end up in a situation where you are not sure whether someone was mentioned in a specific source or not that often. I can never remember anything either, but at least this helps me find information faster. And it's a good way to pass time while you backtrack. At least I prefer it over speedhack.

Where do they show up?

Right, I completely forgot about mentioning the context. My bad. Actually they all came from Vasilica's and Dyson's mails.

"You think SAI reports to anyone anymore?"
"Imagine the SAI guys spying on our chat take it a bit too seriously and think you really want to kick my ass. Soon, an armed AF squad might come busting through your door. What do you think of that?"
"If you feel the need to file a complaint against my excruciatingly annoying behavior to SC, NRS or even BCHC"

It's easy to work out from context what these are, just not what they stand for exactly. Like SAI is probably something like security, surveillance, security assessment, information, intelligence, etc. But then again it might also be something completely different.

This is getting a bit meta, but that possibility is actually taken into account.

Aw yiss. I already know that the Faceless won't give you the medallion a second time if you already have it, but since I've already seen the Cube in the Research Lab, I was not sure if this was going to get resolved or I'm in for a glitch fest. So is one of them just going to go poof once Tchort is dead? Merge in the inventory? Turn into mushroom brew?

Either way, I just enjoy my pointless childish rebellion against Six. He had it coming. How can he say with a straight face that there is no way out of DC besides killing Tchort when there are not one, not two, but four tunnelers lying around, one right there behind the gate he is pointing at, is just simply beyond me. And then he gets to act all "I told you" because you can't interact with any of them.

I always assumed he came into contact with old and diluted form of the Depot A mutagen recently (which could explain why he wasn't completely mutated) when working on his assignment to free Maura.

I don't think so.
"Biocorp... ::wheeze:: happened to me. ::He coughs.:: Surely you've seen this before. Probably shot... ::wheeze:: a couple of other poor bastards... ::wheeze:: during your little excursion into Old... ::He coughs.:: ...Old Junkyard. Do no fret. ::He wheezes.:: They were no friends of mine... ::wheeze:: not since they were no longer... ::wheeze:: themselves."
If he knew those people then it can't have happened recently. He was probably just a poor sod living in Depot A at the time, completely unrelated to Biocorp or Oculus.

It's not like he is the only one who managed to more or less retain his sanity. Juke, Doubletap, Twitch (the other Twitch), and their unnamed mutie friends were all from the Depot A stock before they packed up and moved to the Core City Sewers. And they seemed pretty sane as far as muties go.

On the rest I agree with reinhark. Again the only maybe exception I can think of is Wasi, as he mentioned some accident that happened to him at the Mutagen Tanks before his doppleganger problems started.

Yes, he was. According to his own words he was  *BCAF* chief of security. That's the military of the *original* Biocorp that ceased to exist almost 200 years ago! It would make sense if he was talking about Biocorp Security Forces, which were established along with *reformed* Biocorp some 50-100 years ago and remained in place until the Protectorate's Dis takeover and the Core City riots.

And according to Oculus he was second-in-command in the Core City Security Forces. Maybe it's just a mistake. In the dialogue where he mentions BCAF he also says the player character seems too young to remember Biocorp. And although one could write a book about the many ways of life extension in the Underrail universe, I do not think he was talking about Old Biocorp here.

Anyway, there are other chronological problems, pardon, "timelapse vertigoes" in relation with BCAF.

In the Original Report Eidein writes that he was selected by apex technocrats "many years after" Hollow Earth because "Biocorp desired this expedition in hopes of at least slowing down its decline which started years ago and wasn't about to stop". He spent around three weeks down there, after which he took over the University and founded the Institute. So this happened exactly 100 years ago, which makes no sense for either Old or New Biocorp.

But the timeline also says that in year 5 BCAF was renamed to Preservation. So yeah. Something here does not add up.

7

General / Re: I hate you all [major spoilers]

« on: May 05, 2016, 12:21:18 am »

Vovin, though?
Quinton? That one doesn't seem as obvious to me.

Quinton? Nah, I very much doubt it. I mean, he is probably Biocorp like many at SGS, but most likely just an insignificant New Biocorp scientist.
Vovin is probably one of those characters that have/had an important role, and while it's good to know about them, we do not actually meet them in the(/this) game. Like General Melek.

Here I posted his bio mainly because it helps with the Ezra/Anton connection. Every time you get a new piece of info about him you also get something that confirms one of the previous ones, until it becomes impossible to misinterpret the situation.

From Wyatt you learn the two men who came to him more than 100 years ago were probably Biocorp, one being bald, pale, with a breathing mask and one mechanical eye (really, this one everyone gets instantly), the other skinny with his face burnt. Thought control was used to keep the mutagen canisters secret.

From the Beast quest you learn that Ezra knows about psimorphs (confirming Biocorp connection, making his Depot A involvement even more likely).

From Oculus you learn that Anton Matveev was an apex, infamous for unconsented human experiments (Depot A), hideous self-experimentation (mechanical eye, signs of previously undergoing mutation - the pupil of his real eye being dilated, a trademark mutie/mutant trait), worked on Phenotype Dynamics (mutagen research) and also on psimorphs, and of course was a thought controller.
And you also learn that there was this other guy, Kirill Gavrilyuk, who was also an apex, and probably a metathermics user (burnt face), but no mention of a direct link to Anton aside from some joint projects.

And then DC confirms that yes, these two indeed used to hang out and cause misery together (more or less confirming that it was Vovin with Ezra at Depot A), mentions that Anton is "frigid as a corpse" just in case you still had any doubts left, and then you learn that psimorphs were created by Parkinson at Hollow Earth, which pretty much seals it. But then DC also adds a whole new layer to the story with Slavkovic and his human experiments, although for now this is left unresolved as we don't even know what happened to him in the end, only that despite him considering it he did not become one of the Tithonus subjects.

So yeah, the whole thing is built up very nicely throughout the game.

Are both types of psionic potential natural? Furthermore is psionic potential something that was always latent and uncovered, or is it new to humans and other creatures alltogether?

It's probably better if I just quote this part instead of paraphrasing. Comes so early in the game that it's pretty easy to forget, and then skip on later playthroughs:

"It's a relatively rare inheritable complex genetic trait that triggers development of certain, otherwise latent components in the brain."

"No one is really sure. Research indicates that it's a relatively recent genetic mutation, but it sure could not have been a random one. So many things about it are just too complex and convenient to be anything but artificially designed. There are problems with this theory, though. Former Biocorp's head of genetic research, Hal Roche, outlines these problems best in his thesis. I won't bore you with details but the essence of the problem is that, with the technology that we currently have at our disposal, creating, testing and integrating such complex genetic structures is simply not possible without a colossal amount of trial and error work. So much trial and error work, Roche argued, that even if you combined all the genetic processors in the world in his time and let them work on the subject for the entire time of their existence, they would still be extremely unlikely to produce these results."

Make of this what you will.
I agree it's possible that it was an effect of the monoliths, although nothing suggests that the non-psi HE staff that interacted with and harvested the pillars developed any kind of psi abilities, with the exception of Wasi Abdul, maybe.
Also remember that Biocorp had no knowledge of the monoliths/pillars, and even Hollow Earth existed for many years before they discovered them. For example psimorphs were created before the discovery, but using shards on them later had many beneficial effects on their development.
It would probably help if we knew whether the monoliths are exclusive to the south, or present in all Underrail.

While there is a greater, sort of background plot that concerns the nature of time, the game is largely about the Underrail itself - its inhabitants, politics, strife, dangers, mysteries, as well as the player's place within all this.

Well, that was a wise decision. I have no idea where the nature of time comes into the picture, aside from the vague and confusing chronology of the visions you already mentioned, the possible time traveling or clairvoyance of Six (and for all his predictions he failed to predict that the second the Faceless refused to give me more information in exchange for the Cube I'd hit "Export Character" with it still in my inventory. Take that, Six.). Well, and that one sign on the Cube that stands for space-time curvature/event horizon/etc. (the M/W looking thing, perhaps?).

But hey, I can't wait to find out.

Unrelated question.
Some bots have True Sight, makes sense. Both Godmen have it too, sure. And the Eos psionic projections too, which is also understandable.
But Azif? From what I remember he is the only human (?) NPC in the game with True Sight. I wonder why.

Even more unrelated, but if anyone knows what the abbreviations SAI, SC, and NRS stand for in the game, I would really appreciate the information.

8

General / Re: I hate you all [major spoilers]

« on: May 04, 2016, 09:06:02 am »

This is just an example, and there can be another in the world of Underrail.

This is what I'm wondering. But in general I just wanted to bring up the conversation with Wit.
"The architects were afraid of their creations... deep in the genome... look... the latent self-destructive code..."
Good stuff.

I seem to recall that someone suggested that Ezra was Anton Matveev, though I'm not sure why him in particular, after re-reading the logs.

Someone didn't hack the Oculus terminal. Let me help you with that.



I can't even imagine what it must be like to go to DC without already knowing all this. By the time I entered the elevator I was beyond excited to finally see the infamous Hollow Earth, and every single location, email, conversation, just made my hype even stronger. When IRIS mentioned the two visiting apex technocrats, confirming they had hand in this as well, I was like "HA! I KNEW IT!".

Yes, I love Deep Caverns.

9

General / Re: I hate you all [major spoilers]

« on: May 03, 2016, 11:46:31 pm »

A so an Quark .

 
Princes of the Milky Way.

10

General / Re: I hate you all [major spoilers]

« on: May 03, 2016, 09:28:51 pm »

Oooh, I so don't have time for this, but I want to join in, at least for a bit.

Story of the alien race - to be more specific, Godmen.

You are taking all of this very literally, despite Six outright warning you not to do so. I don't think he would have objected to the titles Godman or High One if it was just a simple matter of bad translation.

But if we don't take it literally we don't have much to talk about, so let's do it anyway.

I'm not sure you got the chronology of it right, though. Not that I'm sure my version is any better.
The way I interpreted it, the illness is the earliest event in the timeline. The inhabitants of the moon, whoever they were, turned to the dead Godhead. The Godhead, in turn, unleashed the beast on them, the Leviathan.

They won the war by turning to technology and conquering space, and with the end of the Eon of the Beast, the reign of the Godmen started. The Godhead was replaced by the Machine God.

At this point however I am not sure what lead to their downfall and the eventual journey of the Chosen. It seems they had some kind of energy crisis, their stars provided them with plenty, yet not enough. Is the invisible star the sphere orbits the same Sun from the previous visions? Where is this galaxy anyway?

History of the Underrail(Or rather, Biocorp, since they controlled everything back few hundred years back then)

I'd like to add a few things to this.

First, it is unknown how humans developed psi potential. If even the head of Biocorp's genetic research is clueless about how such thing could have been designed, it is possible Biocorp had nothing to do with it. In that case there might be a third party that started tampering with human genetics long before Biocorp schenanigans. That would have some fun implications.

Second, the Junkyard incident. When exactly did it happen?
Thanks to Wyatt, we know for sure it was over 100 years ago. We also know the Hollow Earth incident started around 189 years and 75 days ago, and after it escalated Old Biocorp was done for. And finally, we know that there was no Biocorp for at least 100 years.
Wyatt identified Wight and Vovin as possible Biocorp scientists. The timing would be too soon for it to be New Biocorp, so it had to happen when Old Biocorp was still around, so at least around ~189 years ago. So was it one of the last things the two technocrats have done before pulling a disappearing act, or did it happen before Hollow Earth as part of Project Ascendance?

And last, what is the symbiont?

To think that I never bothered to look up "Rahm" and discover that it was a real word, knowing that Umbra is.
Turns out he's the high shadow!

Super secret insider info incoming, the three Godmen are called Rahm-Umbra, Sahne-Lumen, and Obers-Nihilum.

11

General / Re: Anyone know what triggers Dan's dialogue about Gorsky?

« on: April 22, 2016, 01:55:46 am »

Just tested with my character (also third import, because as utterly useless as it is, running around with both a medallion and a cube is the most amazing feeling ever) on the latest version, and it's definitely not a flag issue.

As far as I can tell the only thing needed to trigger it is knowing about the Beast crisis Foundry is having. Once he starts talking about the Beast he'll also bring up Gorsky. So talk with Leonie and try again.

12

General / Re: Unitary lore and story discussion thread (obvious spoilers)

« on: February 07, 2016, 12:45:40 am »

Today I decided to replay the Institute quests, and this time I tried to pay a bit more attention to their hierarchy.



The ranks in Preservation and Investigation are pretty evident, but Propagation is giving me some trouble as it is the youngest of the departments so there’s less historical information about it, and closed to the player as well. Especially Praepostor as Propagation’s R2 is a guess I’m not too happy with, but I didn’t want to leave it blank.

First, based on how the player and NPCs interact with Efreitors and Investigators, I’m assuming R3 is the magic line for nobility. In that case, Propagation’s R3 has to be Minister, otherwise why would they wear noble robes? That leaves Acolyte for either R1 or R2. If it’s the latter, the only options for R1 I can see are either plain Tchortists, or maybe Missionaries. But since Missionaries never show up in the Institute itself I doubt they are an actual rank.

Mediant Samuel links Praepostor Amelia to Propagation, but also refers to her as nobility, which he does not do when talking about Efreitors. She is also the only Praepostor in the game we hear about, which would be in conflict with how the rest of the hierarchy is built up. If I’m wrong about nobility starting at R3, then Minister and Praepostor can be switched, which looks much better. The only issue then is that Amelia wears regular Tchortist robes.

Another option is that Praepostor is a unique rank not connected to the core hierarchy, similarly to Protonotary and Judicator. And speaking of Judicator, narration describes it to be high in the hierarchy, but the way Azarias addressed Vladan indicates that it is lower than Provost. So I’m guessing Judicator to be R3 and Provost R4.

Aside from this, kitchen staff, etc. are probably of the lowest rank, and Monsignor is a title awarded to anyone from any rank who made outstanding contribution to the Institute, sometimes given posthumously.

And since I love the linguistic diversity of this place, especially the blatant love of Greek they inherited from Biocorp, let’s see some etymology just for fun.

Rassophore: this one is kinda tricky. Probably a combination of ράσο (robe/habit) and –phore (bearer). Since Investigators don’t usually wear robes, maybe before Propagation came around Preservation forces used to be associated with it.

Skopeftophore: σκοπευτής (sniper/marksman)

Ekrixophore: έκρηξη (explosion/burst/blast)

Efreitor: okay, this one has nothing to do with Greek. Comes from the German Gefreiter, spelling possibly taken from Russian. It’s the second military rank a soldier can be promoted to.

Harmost: another rank with historical connections, αρμοστής originally referred to some kind of military governor a long, long time ago in Sparta.

Episkopos: έπίσκοπος (overseer), sort of like harmosts but Athenian, tasked with overseeing subject cities.

I doubt the rest needs explanation. Suggestions, corrections, comments and so on are welcome.

By the by, is it just me, or do Pirophores never use their psi powers?

13

General / Re: An Anarchists thank you

« on: January 31, 2016, 05:43:22 pm »

If you decide to swallow the troll bait and go for the Drones nonetheless, you end up meeting some of the coolest characters in the game.

The biggest irony is even if you join them, none of them will be able to make a solid case for their movement. Most of them are just young people with no first hand experience or understanding of the situation, just a vague sense of something not being right, so they blindly fall for propaganda coming from a different source. Ironically Bate is the only one who gives you a specific example when he talks about the surveillance law riots. Not even by doing their questline will you find out more, you have to join Protecorate for reality to slap you in the face. It speaks volumes that even as a pro-Protectorate, convincing SGS to assist the Black Eels is absolutely crucial to get the best ending.

As for Drone ideology, the best explanation/justification actually comes from neutrals, Abram and Eidein.

14

General / Re: [Endgame Spoilers] Events at Rail Crossing and how they affect the endgame

« on: January 31, 2016, 05:20:13 pm »

Effective 55.

15

General / Re: Unitary lore and story discussion thread (obvious spoilers)

« on: January 27, 2016, 06:57:03 pm »

At the end of the day you don't have any hard evidence against him, mainly just some conjecture, so it makes some sense that you can never confront him. Sure it would have been nice to walk up to him and say "Hey Anton, sup?", but he could just as easily deny everything.

Problem is, we are still missing some details. We have no idea what happened to his partner in crime Vovin, nor what happened to Dr Slavkovic because apparently he never got himself monolith-cryo'd at Thitonus despite agreeing to check it out. We also never discovered exactly what Ezra and later Otis were doing at Tartarus, only that it was probably important. And Project Ascendance is still a complete mystery.