Occasional Hylics Facts

Inconsistently posted Hylics facts for your mouth-tasting. Also talks about other Mason Lindroth games and projects. Transgender, she/her. Run by @braxiations

[queerstudiesnatural]

reminder that donating just a few $ to gofundme campaigns actually helps, you don't have to donate huge amounts if you don't have the funds, every little bit is useful. give $10, $5, even $1. it all adds up. don't scroll past because you think you can't help. help in your own capacity. donate a dollar. share and speak up.

[queerstudiesnatural]

here are a few gofundme links that still need a lot of help

Ahmed Iyd and family (£706/£150,000)

Ola Madi (€1,273/€40,000)

Hussein Shamiya, his pregnant wife, and their 4 year old son ($12,163/$40,000)

Al Maghari family (£1,933/£74,000)

Haya and family (€3,573/€60,000)

Dr. Wael Eldahdouh's family (€3,652/€110,000)

Dr. Mohammed Alshaer and family (€3,662/€18,000)

Laila Abd El Bari, her husband, and unborn baby Sham (€3,314/€25,000)

Maram Ahmed and family (€3,255/€30,000)

7-year old diabetic Feryal, and family (€673/€30,000)

9-year-old Sarah and little brother Adam (€2,460/€22,500)

If everyone who reblogs this post donates $5 (which I now know is the minimum you can donate on gofundme) to at least one of these, think about how fast we can help them all reach their respective goals

[queerstudiesnatural]

Since I made this post less than 24 hours ago we've collectively raised over $2000, and a lot of those donations were in the amount of $5-10. Keep sharing and keep donating. There is strength in numbers, and if those in power won't help we still have to do what we can. Small numbers add up. Thank you all for doing what you can. It does make a difference.

[el-shab-hussein]

Vetted family fundraiser masterpost 1

Version date: May 7th 2024.

This is a masterpost for the evacuation fundraisers I've vetted so far. The numbers next to the names have no significance beyond ease of navigation for me for when I check their progress in the future. You should look at the disclaimers instead and focus on those. Occasionally I will update these with new info, including new fundraisers, and the amount of cash that's been raised. Check in regularly on the original post when you see it being reblogged. In all likelihood once its reached you it's already outdated. This post is part of this masterpost series compiling fundraisers for Ghazzah and Sudan. I focus on Ghazzah as I am Palestinian and am more equipped to do verifications as I'm more familiar with my own country and its politics and dialect, but if I know a fundraiser for a Sudanese family is legit I will include it here.

Walaa Abusamra (1). 10 family members. 28.4k out of 80k €.

Ezzideen Shehab (2). 6 family members. 9.7k out of 32.5k €. LOW ON FUNDS.

Madleen Abu Jayyab (3). 4 family members. 18.7k out of 70k USD.

Jehad Shehada (4). 1 individual. 3.5k out of 15k CAD. LOW ON FUNDS.

Aser Alassar (5). 5 family members. 405k out of 550k SEK. Or 37k out of 51k USD.

My friend Mona Abu Hamda (6). 9 family members. COMPLETED ✅

Mohammed Shamia (7). 7 family members. 10.7k out of 35k USD.

Abdullah Al-Saghir (8). 9 family members. 68.2k out of 100k €.

Randa Abubakr (9). 6 family members. COMPLETED ✅

Fadi Alshrafi (10). 9 family members. COMPLETED ✅

Osama Abdelrahman. (11). 9 family members. 44.7k out of 45k €. (1 CHRONICALLY ILL CHILD, NEEDS TREATMENT) NEARLY COMPLETE. ONLY 281€ LEFT.

Alhaw family and the Albittar family (12). Between 18 and 12 family members. 8.8k out of 90k €. (EXTREMELY LOW, NEEDS FUNDS)

Verified Fundraiser by Palestine Asdiqa to help a malnourished baby with cerebral palsy. (13) 7.7k out of 31k USD. (URGENT + CHRONICALLY ILL CHILD, NEEDS TREATMENT)

Rana Abu Ahmed (14). 6 family members. COMPLETED ✅

Mohammed Abu Matar (15). 6 family members. 13.4k out of 34k CAD.

Moataz Abu Sakran (16). 3 family members. 12.4k out of 20k $ ORIGINAL CAMPAIGN COMPLETE, NEEDS TRANSFER FEES COVERED. 629$ out of 5k needed.

Ayah Abu Sidu (17). 10 family members. 15.8k out of 50.4k USD.

Said Fadel (18). 7 family members. 19.7k out of 50k USD.

Tasneem Nabil Musa (19). 7 family members (ALL INJURED, NEED MEDICAL CARE.) 10.5k out of 50k USD

Belal Azmi Msallam (20). 14 family members. 7.1k out of 160k AUD. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Mortaja Family (21). 11 family members. 28k out of 70k €.

Abu Ramadan family (22). 14 family members. 10k out of 148k €.

Mai Rajab (23). COMPLETED ✅

Amal Abu Shammala (24). 4 family members. 33.7k out of 42k €.

Maryam & family (25). 30.3k out of 50k USD.

Haneem Abdelhalim (26). 8 family members. 31.8k out of 40k USD raised.

Ahmed Masoud (27). 12 family members. 10k out of 60k €.

Mohammed Fareed (28). 30.2k out of 60k CAD.

Lena Nofal (29). 42.5k out of 44k € (NEARLY COMPLETE, original family registered to evacuate, extended family are being helped now)

Rasheda Alfaiomy (30). 6+ family members. 27.5k out of 65k USD.

Ula El Hindi (31). 1+ individuals. 8.6k out of 15k €.

Muhammad Safi (32). 5+ family members. 4.5k out of 30k BP. LOW ON FUNDS.

Yazan Khalaf (33). 18 family members. 16.9k out of 40k USD.

Afaf Masoud (34). 5+ family members (2 evacuated). 83.8k out of 110k €.

Motasem Khayal (35). 5 family members. 1k out of 43k € (26.5k needed for escape.) EXTREMELY LOW, NEEDS FUNDS.

Youseff Abu Saeed (36). 3 family members (1 is already out for treatment). 155k out of 200k USD.

Abdulaziz & Abdullah, escape & surgery (37). 2+ family members (1 has already been treated, 1 NEEDS TREATMENT). 96.3k out of 150k BP.

Nadine Abdullatif (38). 8 family members. COMPLETED ✅

Sami Salhab (39). 6 family members. COMPLETED ✅

Jehad Al Ghandour (40). 5 family members (1 already evacuated). 31k out of 100k USD

Mahmoud Algharabli (41) COMPLETED ✅ (check last section for more info)

Dr. Marah & family (42). 2+ family members. 7.2k out of 40k USD. LOW ON FUNDS.

Khaled Alshabrawi (43). 5 family members. 1.5k out of 35k € (25k needed for escape, but will begin with 10k for stable housing). LOW ON FUNDS.

Muhammad Osama Alzaq (44). 5 family members. 3.1k out of 60k BP. LOW ON FUNDS.

Mohammed Wishah (45). 7 family members + 1 pet. 7.9k out of 71.5k €. LOW ON FUNDS.

Muhe Ayman (46). 5+ family members. 6k out of 60k €. (CAUTION: If you scroll down in the GFM there are photos of mutilated and dead babies.) LOW ON FUNDS.

Abdallah Animal Rescue (47). 1 individual + lots of pets. 34.5k out of 40k USD. (NEARLY COMPLETE)

Haya Orouq (48). 5 family members (1 injured, NEEDS TREATMENT). 35.9k out of 50k.

Retaj Abu Abdo (49). 8 family members. 9.1k out of 60k USD.

Mohammed Zyad (50). 9 family members (1 MISCARRIAGE). 5.6k out of 40k BP. LOW ON FUNDS.

Souad Al-Kurdi (51). 5 family members (1 DIABETIC W/O INSULIN, CRITICAL, 1 INJURY). 3.7k out of 50k €. LOW ON FUNDS.

Mahdy Zourob (52). 1 individual. 622 out of 20k €. LOW ON FUNDS.

Ahmed Alboji (53). 5 family members. 78.4k out of 100k USD. (TIME SENSITIVE)

Sama Lulu (54). 7 family members. 5.4k out of 80k USD. LOW ON FUNDS. (CAUTION: PHOTO OF INJURED CHILD IN GFM)

Fadel Moghrabi (55). 4 family members. 33.3k out of 40k USD. (NEARLY COMPLETE)

Qosai Hani (56). 2(+?) family members. 28.2k out of 40k USD.

Khaled Khraizim (57). 14 family members. 32.6k out of 100k €.

Ahmed Raida (58). 3 family members (1 INJURED, NEEDS TREATMENT). COMPLETED ✅

Rozan family (59). 6 family members. 3.6k out of 38k €. LOW ON FUNDS.

Samah Oudh (60). 5 family members. 30k out of 35k USD. (NEARLY COMPLETE)

Qasim Al-Kafarneh (alternatively: gfm) (61). 33 family members. 1st one, 5.7k out of 80k AUD. 2nd one 86k out of 94k USD. (NEARLY COMPLETE)

Mahmoud Qassas (62). 42 family members. 6.9k out of 200k CAD. (ONE CHRONICALLY ILL, NEEDS TREATMENT)

Hussam Ramadan (63). 14 family members. 14.8k out of 148k USD. LOW ON FUNDS.

Sana'a & Sujood (64). 8 family members. 8.8k out of 50k BP. LOW ON FUNDS.

Yousef Mounir (65). 5 family members. 65 out of 50k BP. LOW ON FUNDS.

Muhammad Mounir (66). 4 family members. 1.1k out of 45k BP. LOW ON FUNDS.

Hamdi Hijazi (67). 5 family members (1 NEWBORN, 1 MATERNITY RECOVERY) 889 out of 25k USD. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Maram Ahmed (68). 5 family members. 338 out of 30k €. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Dr. Alaa Raed (69). 8 family members. 6k out of 40k €. LOW ON FUNDS.

Fadi & Shahed Sharif (70). 11 family members (1 INFANT). 265 out of 62.5k USD. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Suheir Hojok (71). 10 family members (1 INJURED, PRONE TO STROKE, NEEDS IMMEDIATE EVACUATION). 16.3k out of 70k AUD. LOW ON FUNDS.

Haitham Gibreel (72). 7 family members (1 CHRONICALLY ILL). 340 out of 50k BP. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Hatem H. Rawagh (73). 5+ family members. 8k out of 40k €. LOW ON FUNDS.

Ze (74). 3 family members. 4k out of 34k USD.

Hani Al-Hajjar (75). 10 family members. 1.7k out of 50k €. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Abdelrahman Abu Shaaban (76). 16+ family members. 3.3k out of 70k BP. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Help Little Yusuf (77). 8 family members (1 CHRONICALLY ILL, NEEDS TREATMENT). 0 out of 85k €. NO FUNDS AT ALL!!

Alia's family (78). 10 out of 30k €. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Jehad Ahmad (79). 8 family members. 290 out of 40k €. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Muhammad Al-Kurdi (80). 4+ family members. NO FUNDS AT ALL!!

Yousef Abo Zaid (81). 8+ family members. 501 out of 50k BP.EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Ruba & Mohammad (82). 2+ family members. LOW ON FUNDS.

Ahmed Zidan (83). 3+ family members. 6.7k out of 30k €. LOW ON FUNDS.

Wisam Mahdi (84). 25 family members. 9.3k out of 10k BP. NEARLY COMPLETE: 630 BP LEFT. (TIME SENSITIVE: ILLNESS)

Nael Helles (85). 8 family members. 1.5k out of 50k USD. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Alia's family (86). 7 family members. 1.3k out of 30k €. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Hala's family (87). 3 family members. 2k out of 50k. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Mohammed Al Shaer (88). 5 family members. 692 out of 50k BP. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Sahar El Tibi (89). 3 family members. 548 out of 30k €. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Amal & Ruba (90). 3+ family members (1 CRITICAL CONDITION , NEEDS TREATMENT). 1.7k out of 50k €. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Mahmoud Al Tibi (91). 15 family members (4 NEED TREATMENT). 1.8k out of 60k €. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Abdullah Haniyah (92). 8 family members (1 PREGNANT). 355 out of 47k USD. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Heba Zaqout (93). 2 family members. 1k out of 15k needed. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Mohammed Nasri (94). 5 family members. 7k out of 50k BP. LOW ON FUNDS.

Alaa & Belaal (95). 2+ family members. 47 out of 15k $. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Ahmad Turk (96). 7 family members + 1 pet. 1.5k out of 70k €. EXTREMELY LOW ON FUNDS.

Mahmoud's family (97). 7 family members. 4.6k out of 35k €. LOW ON FUNDS.

Tamar Nijim (98). 7 family members (2 INJURED, 1 STROKE, NEED TREATMENT). 11.9k out of 70k €.

Alaa Al Khateeb (99). 1 family member (INJURED, NEEDS TREATMENT). 837 out of 6k BP.

Abu El Zomar (100). 5 family members (1 INJURED). 2.4k out of 50k €.

Aboud & Elias (101). 2 family members (ORPHANS, LAST SURVIVING MEMBERS OF FAMILY). 840 out of 25k €.

Haifa Hasan (102). 5 family members. 765 out of 25k €.

Walid El Shawwa (103). 6 family members. 1.8k out of 50k €. (1 SICK, NEEDS TREATMENT)

Alaa Al Halaabi (104). 17 family members. 1.9k out of 50k €.

Jana Abu Hamda (105). 6 family members. 602 out of 65k USD.

Ottawa4Palestine’s vetted fundraiser spreadsheet (76 different families with listed fundraisers)

[braxiations]

What is Hylics Canon? - The Accretion

Preamble/Disclaimer

Hi! This post will be a bit different from my previous analysis and theory posts. Unlike those, I'm going to be doing very little theorizing or speculating -- at least, that's not my primary goal. What I want to do today is go over everything we know about "The Accretion," a vague event referred to numerous times throughout Hylics 2. Additionally, I'll try to draw some conclusions about what I think is Mason's authorial intent with the Accretion. I'll do my best to walk through my logic and view multiple sides, and whenever I speculate or make a stretch I'll try and be clear about it.

Before we start, I want to apologize for if I come off as rude or dismissive of certain headcanons or interpretations. Later on I'll be tackling 3 of the main theories I've seen floated around and I intended to be critical and clear when I think they contradict the established canon. However, I do not mean to invalidate these interpretations. Hylics' lore is very interpretive and vague and "canon" isn't something that needs to be strictly abided to. If your interpretation conflicts with what I've shown here, that's perfectly ok!

Basically, my post is for people who either care about adhering to canon or are just curious as to what evidence there is. That being said, let's jump in!

The Basics

"Gibby! Emerge from that vessel. The Hylemxylem was a failure. Only now does the Accretion's long dark age begin to subside." This dialogue, said by Wayne to Gibby before the final battle, is perhaps the only piece of required dialogue referencing the Accretion. This paints the Accretion as the cause of a "dark age," although it's unclear what this entails, which the Hylemxylem threatens to begin again. Many have taken this to indicate that the Hylemxylem caused the Accretion, but there isn't substantial evidence for or against this. It's certainly a valid possibility.

"Back when the accretion hit, the strongest gesture was buried." This line, spoken by one of the Waynes at Waynehouse is one of many indications that the Accretion was an event. Many other pieces of dialogue have wording that confirms this, this is just the first the player is likely to encounter. I bring this up to dispel the idea that "the Accretion" could be the name of the dark age itself.

This is also the first instance we see of the Accretion being claimed to "bury" things. This might indicate that certain objects either hit the ground with such tremendous force that they sank deep in. Alternatively, the Accretion might have actually produced a layer of matter that buried objects on the surface.

Known buried objects: - Disthlarn Moon. (New Muldul NPC: "When the Accretion buried the sage's great ship, Disthlarn Moon, my wife and I were stranded here on the surface.) - The Bombo-Genesis monitor (The TV Wayne and various other NPCs. The monitor is in Disthlarn Moon so this makes sense.) - The labyrinth ("The key is ancient. Whatever door it unlocks is likely deep underground, buried in the Accretion." Said by Smuldunde, referring to a key that unlocks a door in the labyrinth.)

You'll notice that many of the things explicitly listed as buried in the Accretion are specifically those that belong to the Sages. This makes sense given what we'll discuss in the next section.

"A great gesture may oppose Gibby. But accretions place it beyond our reach, and embolden his agents as they seek reconstitution." The Sage of Accretions gives this line, and like their name it confirms that the Accretion is just a singular instance of an accretion, and in fact there have been multiple. The Accretion, denoted by "the" and also capitalized (at least by me, the in-game dialogue is inconsistent) may have just been a particularly damaging one.

Given that a Sage of Accretions exists, they're likely not all catastrophic and could be somewhat akin to weather event. They happen from time to time and aren't necessarily bad, but under particular conditions or if emerging suddenly, they can be a disaster. These are all just assumptions though. Accretions could happen over massive spans of time and the Accretion is only referred to as such due to being the most recent. As we know that the "great gesture" referred to here was buried in the Accretion, the fact that multiple accretions place it beyond their reach may indicate that smaller accretions have occurred since. This is all just speculation.

The Age of Sages

"Our empire was undone by a sudden accretion. Only the cabinets recall its grandeur now." This line, spoken by the Sage of Monitors deep beneath Viewax's Edifice first establishes an "Empire of the Sages" and the idea that that empire was undone by the Accretion. The Empire of Sages is also referred to by Pongorma and Gibby. Pongorma specifically refers to Disthlarn Moon as a "remnant" of their empire. This indicates rather clearly that the "Age of Sages" as I've decided to call it was specifically ended by the Accretion, which cast the labyrinth and Disthlarn Moon deep into the subterranean.

"The surviving sages hid themselves, one in Viewax's edifice, another under the fortress at Foglast, and a third in those halls which recently held this ship." This line from an NPC within Disthlarn Moon directly implies that many Sages perished in the Accretion. The mention of three survivors is interesting in regard to the other three Sages we know from Hylics 1. This is something we'll talk about later in the theory section.

This provides us a pretty solid layout of events. For a time, the Sages led a prosperous empire. However, a sudden accretion ended this era of prosperity, plunging society into a dark age.

The Cabinets

An often overlooked detail is that the arcade cabinets provide some of our only looks at the world of Hylics before the Accretion. The cabinets can be presumed to have been built by the Sages, given that they protect items like the deep key that corresponds to the Sage's labyrinth. We see many within Viewax's Edifice in complete disrepair, with only one functional, as one might expect from ancient machines caught in a catastrophe.

The Sage of Monitors also remarks that "only the cabinets recall its [their empire's] grandeur now." This may suggest that the games within the cabinets are actually designed to tell important stories of the Sage's empire or hold information. This would make sense given the story we see play out, which follows a Wayne transforming into the Sage of Satellites. It's not a stretch to suggest that the Sages chose to immortalize the ascendance of one of their own.

With this in mind, we can use what's seen in the cabinets to date certain things to the pre-Accretion times.

A flag bears the image of Odozeir and Gibby, suggesting they're not only older than the Accretion but were even allied back then.

The, or a Hylemxylem, seen in the background. It resembles the reconstituted Hylemxylem in Hylics 2. This is probably the previous Hylemxylem before it grew into the Moon seen in H1.

A structure resembling the Waynehouse. Notice the egg pod in the basement, the bathroom, the bedroom, and the tv.

At least one Wayne (the player aka "Sat-Wayne.")

Poolmen

Coutures

Truculents

Numerous kinds of airships

Various other enemies

The labyrinth and drill site also indicate what species existed before the Accretion, albeit less directly. Tyros are depicted in numerous statues in the maze, and a tyro in the drill site seems to refer to a herd of galliforms as being pre-Accretion (although this dialogue is kind of vague and could refer to the labyrinth itself.) The labyrinth also has a pool hooked up to the Afterlife, implying that it existed back then too. There are also numerous enemies found inside the labyrinth which one could assume were sealed down there in the Accretion, but they may have crept in through breaches in the structure or other means. I'm not comfortable saying they're definitively pre-Accretion, although I won't disregard the possibility.

There is another character heavily implied to have lived before the Accretion, Pongorma.

This dialogue amounts to show us that Pongorma lived during the Sage's rule, and I believe we've successfully concluded earlier that the Accretion is what ended their empire. Thus, Pongorma is pre-Accretion. This fits in well with his introduction in the first game: we find him sealed away within a vault "through long ages."

The Three Main Theories / When Did it Happen??

Okay, so this is the real meat of this discussion. I'm going to lay out the three main theories I've seen discussed and go over evidence for and against each of them. I'll also be making the case for what I personally believe to be the canon intent of Mason lindroth.

Theory #1 - The Human Extinction theory: It is widely accepted that the world of Hylics is a post-human one, following some kind of apocalypse that wiped out humanity. This theory suggests that the Accretion is the event that caused this. Note that some believe humanity didn't necessarily die, but rather that they were transformed or evolved. Regardless, this event is what caused humanity to stop being human, which is really the only thing we can prove or disprove. I'm going to say "extinction" for simplicity.

Theory #2 - The Moon Crash theory: This is the only theory of the three that actually proposes a cause for the Accretion, being the crashing of the Moon at the end of Hylics 1. This theory states that, after Wayne's crew killed Gibby and trashed the Moon, it crashed into the planet, causing the Accretion.

Theory #3 - The Other Apocalypse theory: This theory is kind of vanilla compared to the other two. It just states that the Accretion happened before Hylics 1 (and presumably long after the extinction of humanity if you believe that to have also happened.) Because this theory says so little definitive about the Accretion, it's sort of the default if the other theories are disproven. As a result, it's the theory I personally subscribe to, and I will explain why below.

This is where we get into harsh, potentially theory-"disproving" territory, and I want to again reiterate that I don't intend to invalidate anyone's personal interpretations, I'm just speaking in terms of what the games show us and what I think to be canon. That being said...

The easiest of these theories to """disprove""" is the Human Extinction theory. This comes from the views of the pre-Accretion world given to us by the cabinets. The world depicted in the Accretion is very Hylics-y, still comprised of clay, having Hylics-age species, and no traces of human civilization or typical Earthen life. Even if the world and the people in it underwent some kind of transformation and the Sages and Pongorma were originally human, this directly shows that clay species and landscapes existed pre-Accretion. There are a few explanations for this, hence why I put "disprove" in quotations. One could argue that only parts of the world were clay'd at this point, or maybe the scenes depicted in the cabinets have changed over time as did the world. I personally find these explanations kind of contrived (the former would make the Accretion seem nearly redundant if the world is already transforming, and the second would make it incredibly strange for the cabinets to "recall" events if they can't recall them accurately.) There's also the language in which the Accretion and its ensuing dark age is described. Wayne calls it a dark age, and Gibby seeks to return to the Age of Sages' grandeur by forging a new zone. The "dark age" in this theory wouldn't just be a more stable society, it would be a completely different world that, to put it simply, none of the characters we know would fit into. It seems especially odd for Gibby to want a return to this sort of world when the fortress he launched transformed the inhabitants into surreal creatures. Personally, I find the Human Extinction theory to be uncompelling. While it can't be outright, factually disproven, explanations for it require inelegant contrivances. There isn't really any evidence for it either, and in my opinion it removes depth from the world's history.

Now we'll discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the Moon Crash and Other Apocalypse theories. First, I'll give what (to my knowledge) is the main evidence for the Moon Crash theory. As Oxford Dictionary defines it, "Accretion" can have a few definitions, but two are primarily relevant to us. 1. the process of growth or increase, typically by the gradual accumulation of additional layers or matter. 2. the coming together and cohesion of matter under the influence of gravitation to form larger bodies. The second definition, astronomical in nature, is particularly intriguing and relevant, especially with Hylics' themes of moons. This brings light to the idea that maybe the Moon crashing into the planet is what caused the Accretion.

"Pongorma, you witnessed the empire of the Sages." Here, Gibby speaks directly to Pongorma as someone who witnessed the empire of Sages, something we previously established ended at the Accretion. This heavily implies --but again does not directly confirm-- that the other characters didn't see the empire. Why would Gibby call out Pongorma specifically if what he was saying applied to everyone? And, if the gang indirectly caused the Accretion, how could they have not witnessed the time before it? There's also the general language with which the Accretion is spoken of. As previously mentioned, Wayne says the Accretion caused a "long dark age," and Smuldunde says that the labyrinth must be "ancient." The monitor containing bombo-genesis is also called the "monitor of the ancients," indicating that the Sages must be viewed as ancient too. While Hylician lifespans and therefore general scale of time may be amplified compared to ours if that was the case we would expect adjectives such as "long" and "ancient" to be equally stretched. However, there's no indication that such timespans have passed since Hylics 1. It'd be especially odd to refer to a time as ancient if most people were alive for it. While Pongorma certainly was, his age is portrayed as an exception. Although I understand that this is ephemeral, the general vibe is that only a few years have passed (or whatever the equivalent is to Hylicians.)

The only evidence against the Other Apocalypse theory I can gather is how the remaining Sages are described. One inhabitant of Disthlarn Moon says "The surviving sages hid themselves," going on to describe the locations they're found in. Another says "Tokens from the three sages." This could be taken to say that only three Sages are currently alive, which would imply that the Sage of Computers, Brains, and Monitors from the first game have since perished. Otherwise, there'd be six. I would like to counter this with two possible explanations. For one, this dialogue exists specifically to tell the player where to find the Sages. If the NPC also said "another sage can be found in the hall of deadly statues," players would be confused because that location doesn't exist in this game. It'd defeat the purpose of this dialogue in the first place. Secondly, we know that the Hylics 1 and Hylics 2 locations are different, evidenced by Somsnosa's dialogue about moving away from her island home from the first game. It'd make sense for the NPCs to not be discussing Sages from distant lands. If you were talking about a natural disaster in your country that only left 3 politicians alive, no one would correct you saying "actually, there are plenty others in other countries!" That's simply not what you're talking about. It's even possible that the Accretion wasn't a worldwide event. The Hylics 1 location could've been unscathed and thus be equally irrelevant.

Conclusion

An analysis of all the dialogue referencing the Accretion brings us to a few conclusions I find to be rather sound.

The Accretion was a particularly sudden or strong instance of an event called an accretion. This particular accretion buried numerous objects like the labyrinth and Disthlarn Moon, as well as ending the empire of Sages and plummeting the Hylics 2 location (and possibly others) into a long dark age. "Only the cabinets recall its grandeur now." We know that Pongorma, Gibby, and Odozeir witnessed the time before the Accretion, and it seems likely that Wayne, Somsnosa, and Dedusmuln did not. As indicated by the cabinets, the previous Hylemxylem (likely the one that later became the moon) existed before the Accretion. The labyrinth shows us that so did the Afterlife. The pre-Accretion world is shown by the cabinets to be similar to the current one, still made of clay and containing many of the same species. Given the general language in which it's discussed, it's likely that the Accretion occurred before the events of either games. Less catastrophic accretions may have occurred since the large one, further burying Disthlarn Moon, but this is unclear.

I hope you all enjoyed this analysis! It was tough to write because basically everything is vague, and with this vagueness, it's tough to not rope in a billion other subjects and ideas. I ended up leaving out quite a few things because otherwise, it would've come out even longer and more bloated than it already is. I might make a follow up post containing every piece of dialogue I could find about the Accretion, the Sages, and their associated artifacts, just in case there's something significant I missed.

[imogen-mangle]

In case you lost it - a link to the eSIM donation guide. Even if you feel sick and powerless, you can at least do this. And even if you really, really can't donate, you can always at least share this and remind others.

https://gazaesims.com/esim-purchase-tutorial/

[braxiations]

Encyclopedia Hylicognosia (1)

A stray page from an inscrutable, scientific tome (Part 1 for Encyclopedia Hylicognosia, explanation below)

Encyclopedia Hylicognosia is project I'm working on, being an in-universe encyclopedia for Hylics and its world.

I won't normally do this, but these guys are kinda obscure so I'll explain what they are. The top one is called "tater man" in the files of Somsnosa, and is a combination of an NPC from Somsnosa (the game, not the character) and an environmental object used in its continuation and leftover in the files of Hylics.

The guy on the bottom is an enemy from Somsnosa, the Ambulant Mass.

Sorry that I can't use a higher quality pic.

[hylicsfacts]

Check out my first page for Encyclopedia Hylicognosia!

[chucksalamone]

who's the hottest hylics character....

Blerol.

[braxiations]

Hylics Analysis - The Significance of Hylem and the Afterlife

Hi, and welcome to another Hylics analysis! I’m hesitant to call it a theory because I’ll spend the majority of this post going over what I believe to be the canon intent. Most of this stuff is, in my opinion, pretty grounded, but I’ve seen so little discussion about it online. I aim to unpack the ways hylem unexpectedly appears in Hylics, its importance to the overall story, and what its true source may be.

Hylethems

The first, and really only direct mention of hylem comes from some workers in the caves of New Muldul. The workers are seen cutting away at pink cave formations called hylethems. Specifically, they cut away at odd tendrils protruding from the hylethems presumably called fronds (which is what they’re called internally.) The fronds themselves writhe, indicating that they may be alive. The minecarts of the miners are full of these fronds. One of the miners describes hylethems as “hylem-rich cave formations.” Another, crucially, says the following:

“Glove lathing. Burrito synthesis. All starts with hylethems. Find a rich vein, translates to a lotta bones. Lotta bones.”

This gives us two uses for hylem or hylethem fronds. The fact that the fronds are what’s being harvested might suggest they’re the items of value, not hylem itself, but this is pretty unclear. Maybe the fronds are full of the hylem? Really, the two might as well be synonymous for our analysis today.

While we’re here, I’d like to take the time to clear up a piece of dialogue that I see confuse people, being an NPC in New Muldul that describes the town’s primary industry as “calthemite husbandry.” I’ve seen people attribute the word “calthemite” to both insects and juice beasts, but calthemites are a real thing: they’re cave formations. Given that the harvesting of hylethems is shown in New Muldul, I think it’s safe to say that’s what they’re talking about here.

Standard uses of hylem

Hylem is stated to have two uses: burrito synthesis and glove lathing, though the wording of miner’s speech suggests they might have many more. Burrito synthesis is odd but rather self-explanatory, and implies hylem might have healing properties for both flesh and will (this’ll be important later.) Glove lathing is more interesting. “Lathe” and “lathing” have multiple, kind of convoluted meanings, but its usage here suggests either coating or shaping the gloves. This could either mean the gloves are coated in hylem, likely as a liquid, or the gloves are cut out of pleather and shaped by… the fronds? It’s really unclear. 

The description of the tendril hand item is “The people of Mocetul shun lathing, and for gloves rely on other processes.” The long gloves are also described as “standard gestural combat garbs.” It seems clear that gloves are what enable the use of gestures, but whether or not lathing is responsible for this is questionable. The fact that the tendril hand was made without lathing suggests hylem isn’t critical to the use of gestures, however it might imply that it's the usual process that enables them. Regardless, lathing is clearly common and important and hylem is what allows it to happen.

What’s a Hylemxylem anyway?

Ah, the Hylemxylem, Gibby’s associated fortress. Before we discuss it, let’s take a look at its name. First is the word “hylem,” which is a term unique to Hylics (and also apparently the name of a music artist,) and “xylem.” In simplified terms, xylem is a sort of transport tissue within plants that takes in and distributes water and minerals throughout the plant. With this in mind we can basically translate the word “Hylemxylem” into “thing that takes in hylem.”

[Before we move on, I want to suggest an origin for the word “hylem.” This is largely conjecture on my part, but I believe Mason knew he wanted Gibby’s fortress to absorb a substance and wanted to use the word “xylem” in there. Needing a name for the substance and wanting it to rhyme, he added the “-lem” suffix. To complete it, he took from the game’s own title: Hylics. Why would he do this? Well, as we’ve seen glimpses of, hylem might be very, very important to the nature of this world.]

So, the Hylemxylem xylems hylem, that much seems pretty clear. With this in mind we can identify the pink goop flowing throughout the hylemxylem.

Seen throughout the hylemxylem is this strange, pink liquid, highly resembling that seen in the Afterlife. It fills many of the rooms, spews out of spouts, and appears to flow into the fortress via the tubes descending down into the waters. It’s this very liquid, described as “the terrestrial juice,” that Gibby floats in before his transformation. This, as implied by the name “Hylemxylem” itself, is hylem. But where does all this hylem come from? Of course, it’s possible that the tubes of the Hylemxylem bore into the ground, sapping hylem away from the Hylethems. However, we don’t need to speculate on this. In one of the few changes to the environment during the course of Hylics 2, we see where the tubes lead…

The Afterlife

That’s right. A detail I see often overlooked is that, after the raising of the Hylemxylem, many tubes appear in the Afterlife, each flowing with the pink substance that comprises the sea, up into the sky. These tubes only appear after the ‘Xylem is raised, implying they’re the very tubes pumping hylem into the fortress. A quick glance at the game’s internals confirms this, calling them “Afterlife Xylem Columns.” I really hope this isn’t ambiguous at this point: the pink liquid within the Hylemxylem is the same liquid that fills the Afterlife.

Thanks to Happy/S For Sprinkles for this photo! Also, it's a lot easier to see in-game that these tubes are flowing with the sea's liquid. You can pretty clearly see it flowing upwards.

Now, this leads me to two conclusions I hope you find reasonable:

Wait, we very clearly see the tubes of the ‘Xylem go into the ocean. Is the Afterlife in the ocean? Maybe in some weird bubble? That’d explain why there are fish flopping around in H1. Maybe it’s an underwater cave??

More relevantly, if the pink goo in the Hylemxylem is hylem, and the pink goo in the Hylemxylem is also the Afterlife goo, that must mean the Afterlife goo is hylem. X = Y and Z = Y. Therefore X must equal Z.

This is, to me at least, super interesting. Despite never being outright stated, it is very, VERY heavily implied that the sea of the Afterlife is hylem. This sea’s strange waters, mind you, comprises the pools and fountains we fall into to reach the Afterlife. It also comprises the sea that spits us out when we die. If it is true that X = Y = Z, then hylem is not only responsible for the burritos we eat, the gloves we use, or the seemingly the ascension of Gibby, but also for the repeated reincarnation of our party members. Remember how I earlier noted that burritos, synthesized from hylem, heal flesh and will? Well, that may be an extension of the life giving, healing properties of hylem as found in the Afterlife! That’s why, I believe, Mason named the substance of hylem after the games themselves. Without hylem, the story of the games wouldn’t be possible. It's a foundational element to the world itself.

This also explains the weird fixation the game has on hylem. While Mason might have some worldbuilding hidden in random item descriptions or one or two sets of NPC dialogue (the only piece of non-relevant worldbuilding mentioned more than once being Amulom,) hylem has 5, completely separate NPCs that talk about it upright (not even counting the other NPCs that talk about calthemites.) Hylethem fronds are even seen scattered around the places that Smuldunde visits for some strange reason. This conclusion, that hylem enables the events of the game, explains why; it isn’t irrelevant worldbuilding. Hell, you could even view the hylethems being mentioned so early on as foreshadowing for the Hylemxylem itself and Gibby’s ascension from the terrestrial juices. Like the ‘Xylem does, it seems likely that hylelthems sap hylem away from the Afterlife!

Conclusion

So, that concludes the analysis! Hylem is a powerful substance that enables the use of gloves and burritos, sustains the Hylemxylem, and allowed Gibby to ascend. Given the evidence we have, I think this is the conclusion intended by Mason himself. Perhaps we were all intended to figure this out on our own, but the abstract and indirect story-telling method of Hylics 2 obscured this. Hell, I’ve seen a ton of misconceptions about the Accretion despite things the game pretty directly shows us. Maybe I should make a post about that? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! I might make an addendum to this post as well going over some specific ideas like how the Moon might have processed hylem and why only Gibby ascends through it. After that I’ll probably cover either the symbols used in the world of Hylics or some speculation on Viewax. I might even put up a poll on which I should cover first!

[sforsprinkles]

I recently received and had gotten the permission from Mason Lindroth to share excerpts of Instar's overworld animations on the wiki. Also me and @amphibizzy worked together in rushing the production of this little edit.

[hylicsfacts]

The airdash animation from Hylics 2 is a reference to one of Mason's first games, Asmosnos, where the main character has a very similar flying animation.

[braxiations]

Whatley has a bad dream :[

[hylicsfacts]

In a cave in Foglast one can find an NPC that will purchase items from the player (right.) This character actually has the same sprite as the comestibles shopkeeper in New Muldul, simply recolored green and with a pink doodad attached to their head. The right image shows the component sprites (the base shopkeeper highlighted in green and the doodad highlighted in red.)

[skyhawkinsart]

Hylics TV

[dragonheadskilax]

Since not every person is in the official Hylics Discord I wanna share any bits of lore and info regarding the games, told from the creator

These two facts are regarding changed names and unused characters.

Here’s the explanation for the design changes for the main crew. (Fleam was a character in the old trailers, later scrapped)

HD images of Pongorma for references

Info on how some dialogue from Hylics 1 are not random but are from old poems

And random info like the name of the crew’s band and... Wayne eating habits

[hylicsfacts]

The small, abstract “citizens” of New Muldul are remnants of an older effort from Mason Lindroth in 2014. Old posts from his Tumblr show the same characters walking around as, essentially, background elements. In Hylics 2, there are 128 of them, and their sprites are monochrome and randomly colored in-game. Absolutely love these funky little guys. Sources: https://masonlindroth.tumblr.com/post/76397564958 https://masonlindroth.tumblr.com/post/51458591054

[braxiations]

Reference sheet for the three primary species of Grid Troopers: Cnidofolk, Dagonians, and (Argonide) Noxians. I’ll make a blog post about some culture and biology.

[sqebu]

Wayne Hylics but I lose my mind at the controls and am constantly falling into the ocean.

[meezimoo]

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!