#sky lore

[cf-skycotl]

Thinking about the post I saw abt Skykids just being odd, strange husks that mimic and mimic and mimic a civilization that doesn't exist anymore, yet one they're so close to, close enough to ALMOST touch, close enough to DIRECTLY learn from, one which they only know the ruins of, the mistakes, the dregs of what was.

Definitely incorporating that into my personal headcanon. That's so right to me.

To add; The more that a skykid learns from the ancestor spirits, the more they become capable of not only expression, but the genuine feelings that would inspire such. When a Moth lands from the sky they are odd, completely empty, confused creatures with only an inset desire to learn, and an instinct that guides them towards generosity.

[elders-of-the-valley]

what was your childhood like?

OOC: This took me forever to finish and kind of strayed from the original question, so I might as well explain why. More ooc rambling below the cut

This ask has been in my inbox for 3 WHOLE MONTHS because I had an Artistic Vision™️ that turned into a bigger project than expected, realized what I’d done, got scared and procrastinated the hell out of it, cursed myself for falling into this trap yet again, redrew and reorganized and rewrote it several times, then finally just ripped off the bandaid and finished 3 pages in like 2 days. Oops

The idea that sparked this whole Artistic Vision™️ came from some themes of the realm that I’ve found fascinating for a long time. Sky devs have said before that Valley represents civilization at its “peak” and was inspired in part by the Renaissance period. In addition, the Elder designs were each themed around a single word: Creativity for Forest, Protection for Wasteland, etc. And for Valley, that word is simply “excellence.” These themes reminded me of the concept of a Renaissance man, or someone who took advantage of that period’s artistic and scientific advancements to maximize their potential in all areas. Valley is home to all kinds of art, technology, music, athletics, and more, and I like to think that in the process of figuring out their identity (ies), Samekh would try it all. I see them constantly trying new things, constantly competing to be the best at those things, and getting frustrated when they still feel like something is missing. It’s something they’d always struggle with, I think, but they’d find balance eventually. Mostly.

I also like the idea that each of the Elders came along as a response to some collective need in society, using their various specialties to help people advance through the ages. Samekh are obviously different in a way that would stand out, and since that comes with a disability, I think they’d struggle to figure out why they are the way they are. And to some extent, I think the answer is “they just are,” but I also think they’d find meaning in having each other to compete against. They motivate each other to improve themselves and their realm. They never settle for less than excellence.

The downside to this, of course, is that infinitely “maximizing potential” on a society-wide scale is very unsustainable. But that’s a topic for another time LMAO

So that’s how this ask about childhood turned into a story of growing up which then turned into “how the fuck do I convey all these headcanons in a drawing”. And then I did a bunch of drawings. I’m sorry I went a little insane with it, I’d say it won’t happen again but like…It might

That is all thank you for coming to my ted talk

[leaf-in-a-flower-garden]

Hmmm i recognise these things…..

I should check the art book, maybe there's something there? 🤔

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!!! Yay !!!!

[skykidsam]

Study of Golden Wasteland's Past

Notes:

Darkstone lanterns. Even in times where people are growing mysterious dark stones on their bodies, the kingdom still hasn't given up its little luxuries.

This may indicate a level of not-yet-knowing, at least among the lower class, or a prideful insistence on the King's part not to retire these small technologies because he still refuses to acknowledge the scope of their harm.

The market. We see dye and cloth merchants, tools for measuring and sewing, a new variety of foods, teas, toys, furniture, and tools. The biggest lines of customers are present at the tea shop and the furniture stall. Guards patrol the market alongside shoppers.

The residents. Most folks seem ill. Nearly everyone coughs regularly, aside from guards (as far as I've noticed). There is an ever-moving line at the door of the building with the golden light - it seems like a location to get help.

Residents respond to some emotes, which helps give us clues about them. They're receptive to things like bowing and waving. They give mixed responses to be scared; children tend to find it funny when you scare them and they may even scare you back, while adults give responses ranging from laughter to scolding. Guards appreciate being saluted, acknowledged, shown respect, and surprisingly (if I remember correctly) being shown your Kung Foo moves.

However, there are some disliked emotes. Honking too much will get you facepalms, nasty looks, and shushes. It can also get you arrested if you pester the guards too much. Sneezing is universally disliked, but they don't respond to coughing (probably because everyone does it). And, surprisingly, the cheer emote will get you nasty looks from passersby, even if the street performers were really good.

Gated communities. There are large apartment-style buildings on either side of the main area, both beyond reach without going out of bounds, blocked off by tall metal gates and permanent guards. For ancestors, this likely meant a segregation of the classes.

Those who could afford it got to live in the safety of those tall stone buildings blocked off from the general public, with a guard stationed at each gate to ensure no one could try to make it past. Most of these buildings are relatively far, or are at least separated from, any piping. This suggests a level of knowing that it was not preferable to be near the pipes, and also that there was something to fear from other ancestors. Looting may have been an issue, or could have been a propaganda tool.

There are some additional buildings like the previous ones that are not gated on the opposite side of the gated communities and market. These have several pipes running right through them. Assuming they serve the same function, I imagine the lower class folks who could not afford the luxury of a private gated community likely lived here.

If you could not afford either option, or if the rooms were all full when you arrived as a refugee, you slept in a makeshift tent with what little items you could carry with you. In the desert of Golden Wasteland, this likely meant constant exposure to suffocating heat during the day and freezing temperatures at night. With lanterns not even being powered by flames here, warmth at night was probably hard to come by.

The main gate. The Wasteland Temple was not openly accessible to anyone in this main area. The thick, solid, darkstone-powered gate is bracketed by two guards, along with Scarred Sentry.

The mountain. Pipes and spiky spired buildings line the entirety of Mt. Eden. It's possible that these buildings are luxury housing, but what's important to note about living in a location like this is the fact that unless the tenants were hiking the steep mountainside, they likely required air boats to travel to and from their homes.

There are also layers upon layers of stone walls lining the mountainside, preventing people from making that trek if they even made it far enough to try.

Closing thoughts:

Golden Wasteland, in this era, was rife with illness and classism. Guards were stationed everywhere to keep people in line and imprisoned them when they caused any trouble. Yet, clearly these conditions were preferable to those outside the tall stone walls. With the knowledge that Darkness is closing in (TTE) and that the void manifested itself throughout each realm, absorbing all life in its path (artbook), we can imagine the kinds of horrifying conditions these refugees were fleeing.

There is more to understand about the level of awareness the ancestors had about darkstone and its adverse effects at this time. Additionally, we still need to gather more information about the glowing building and the apartment-style buildings - we don't yet officially know the purpose of either.

Stay tuned for a Part 2 when I have more energy!

[the-aonuma-luca]

ANALYSIS OF TWO EMBERS CHAPTER 4 AND HOW IT HINTS TOWARDS GAME MECHANICS AND UPCOMING PART 2 STORY

This document is a compilation of random thoughts and discoveries found (not only) in chapter 4 of the Two Embers Part 1, MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Vault of Knowledge & ascending someones spirit

One of the first vault scenes shows a lot of dead bodies of various sizes, there are children, teenagers and adults alike. All the bags seem to be branded with what looks to be either darkstone “brand” symbol originating from Hidden Forest or Vault of Knowledge one. They look pretty similar.

We then can see Lamed (Vault Elder) use darkstone on her head tablet to view the memories of Dusk Ember, possibly hinting on her being able to communicate through telepathy in a similar way too. It is unknown if all Elders or even all ancestors are able to perform telepathy or if it is exclusive just to Vault Elder and maybe Vault of Knowledge acolytes.

Dusk Ember is brought to the upper floors of Vault of Knowledge to have their memories recorded. For whom do they record all those memories? I don't know! Maybe for us Sky kids! Maybe they saw the end is near and wanted the next generation/civilization after them to know what the past was like. The memories seem to come from blue colored light motes that form into spiritual projections upon touching from individuals. It is possible that all those glitters we see in the current Vault of Knowledge are unused “memory motes” ready to record someone's memories.

We see memories flash around as they are recorded. From toymaker with young Dusk Ember to having fun with the manatee. The overlapping memory with real Dusk Ember could be just artistic choice but also yet another hint on them being Hopeful Steward.

The last memory we see is the manatee dying. A lot of people seem to hate this whole memory sequence. I personally see it as Lamed offering Dusk Ember a chance to say proper goodbye to their friend and also to offer this child some reassurance and be here for them when they need it the most, caringly patting their back as they cry. Nothing was forced, Dusk Ember went into this willingly.

After touching the spirit manatee while saying goodbye, we see it turn from blue to golden, possibly hinting to the spirit ascension we do in game. That also means this manatee has a chance to be reborn once the Light gets restored.

We see the manatee turn into a golden light mote. It could be because the whole memory is finished recording or it can be the manatees spirit itself. All of the other motes around glow golden too, was Dusk Ember able to ascend all of those? Or did they enter the floor of Vault of Knowledge where only finished memory motes are stored? Or something completely different maybe?

Dusk Ember body suddenly starts glowing just like a light creature and they pull the wooden moth toy from their chest and turn it into an actual butterfly that flies inside the mote. Could that butterfly be their manatee friend? Were they somehow able to make a “mini rebirth cycle” from their own light? We know mantas start as butterflies in their first form, does that mean manatees do too?

Shattering did not happen yet. We still see the diamond in one piece, half of it is peeking out from the ground at the bottom of this image.

The darkstone illness

The Last City uses a lot of darkstones for a lot of things and we saw some of them being directly used to drain light from light creatures, causing them to grow stones both on and under the skin and eventually die if exposed to it too much. Not only light creatures but also ancestors can be affected, growing it not only on their bodies but also masks (which could mean the masks are part of the ancestor bodies rather than accessory, they can grow facial hair from it too after all). Prolonged exposure or direct contact causes the condition to worsen. We saw the stones grow instantly on Resourceful Recluse right after knocking down the light extracting device.

“But we do see Elders using darkstones and they don't have any illness on them!” Well, of course we do. But Elders are not the same as ancestors are, they are closer to us Sky kids than to ancestors, both of us coming from the Megabird. And we do seem to be much more resistant to being affected by darkness and won't die that easily.

Maybe it is a special darkstone or there's some other magic behind it. We can see not all darkstones drain the light or not that much. Memory lanterns for example are powered by darkstones too and they don't actively drain light or cause harm. If you consider memories and everything we saw happen in the Vault of Knowledge in chapter four to be light substance, then yes it might to some degree "suck" light but it is unlikely. It still glows so it is not dead darkstone like that shard Dusk Ember picked up. And  both Lamed and Dusk Ember are light creatures as well.

Couple of other possibilities:

Potency Maybe the darkstones used for absorbing light are more potent (stronger) than the ones used in weapons. Just like you have different kinds of radiation or different qualities of gold. Something like that. There are darkstone powered lamplights everywhere in the Last City and so are up in the Eden castle as well. They glow much less than stones used for batteries. They might still drain a person's light, but at a much slower rate. Bright glowing darkstones used as batteries are encased in pieces of metal for safe handling. They are probably hot or harmful to be near when the case is opened (will drain someone's light) or maybe both. 

Size The stones used for light absorption are noticeably larger than the small gems in the weapons. Tsadi (Wasteland Elder) obviously has a bigger one in his even bigger spear but maybe it is just "equal to his size", maybe if he was big as a regular ancestor or wasn't a light creature (or both), the stone on his spear would be deadly to him too.

The "chosen ones" We don't know when exactly the Elders got their darkstones. It could be during the darkstone era, it could be during the fire era, who knows. Maybe their darkstones are not the same darkstones used anywhere else. Don't forget they were always Elders, they were tasked by the Megabird to guide little Alef the Chosen One. Maybe the Megabird gifted them those stones, either from the beginning or later. It lowkey reminds me of visions and delusions from Genshin Impact. If a god gazes upon you, you obtain vision that grants you elemental powers. It does not harm you. But those who are not lucky enough can use delusions, artificially created visions that work the same, but they rapidly drain your life force. Vision holders are more (but not completely) resistant to delusions.

Artificially created (ties to chosen ones) Humans are able to simulate certain conditions with modern technology to create synthetic diamonds. Maybe originally the darkstones were harmless once charged with light, just like the unrefined darkstones in Prairie peaks are. Unrefined darkstones also glow unlike the completely dead ones. The industrial boom quickly made darkstone ore scarce, so the ancestors might have figured out how to make synthetic darkstone (they were also experimenting on and possibly trying to create synthetic light creatures too as seen in Treasure reef) but with downside of it being "radioactive" and deadly.

The candle

I don't care what others say, this scene was absolutely beautiful. Not only was it homage to exchanging light with strangers in game, it was also a reference to the very first Sky related picture TGC shared on social media!

The Megabird reference is there too! Look at the shape light from the candle makes between people!

But what are they even doing with all those candles? Bringing comfort? Maybe! But to me personally it looks like they are about to perform a long forgotten ritual. Which one? Well, it comes from very old concept art but it recently made its way to the game in the mural that we can find where? In the forgotten temple of all places! The same temple Dusk Ember learned about candle making! Just look at the bottom of this mural! The movie even zoomed on it during the first chapter!

It very much looks like this “flame bringing” ritual from old concept art. Maybe the people will try to bring the flame back on the sacred mountain and restore the light? Maybe the lack of sun in Last City is because the Megabird is very weak now because no light flows to them?

The candles also slightly glow in the dark because they are made out of light motes. Just a neat detail.

The final scene

I'm really surprised that from all the various theories, no one really caught the same thing I saw right away. I looked at the colors and how each part is visibly a different color and just knew something is fishy about it. Something that TGC is hinting at us. As the nebula kept going further and further away, it hit me.

Can you see it? No? What if I crank up the brightness and contrast a bit then?

Still nothing? Let me sketch over it for you what I see then.

Crazy, huh? It also reminded me of this scene from one of the trailers. I'm positive we will still see a clash between Dusk and Dawn Ember in part 2 considering how open ended part 1 was.

But how am I so sure this scene portrays the Two Embers and not just some random kids? Because if you zoom really close, you can see the resemblance between those two.

Okay but what ties this scene to what was hinted in nebula? Well, outside of the basic observations of ingame murals to make connections, we can see both Dawn Ember (Alef) and The Ruler (Resh) having three points coming out of their masks. Besides that, both Alef and Resh wear the same piece of fabric as Stargazer had. It is way more obvious when I change color temperature to match each other.

Versus non color edited Dawn Ember in two different lightings.

In conclusion, while a lot of people were disappointed we did not get to see any more of Resh, I think we will see it in part 2. That the second part will not be just about Alef as a child but will show the whole growing up from Prince to King, from the Prophecy to the Shattering.

[gala-xyzz]

we all complain about how lifeless the trees in the forest look since they have no leaves or branches. but then i thought, what if there's a reason for that?

so here's what i propose: the trees are all dead or petrified as a result of the shattering and are unable to grow new leaves and branches. the light blooms could be proof of this, since they look like mushrooms, and mushrooms love to grow on and near dead trees

i also have the headcannon that the valley is in a permafrost or arctic state for the same reason

[thetomte]

What Happens When We Log Off?

[One full day-cycle in Aviary lasts one full hour in the human world. One day in the world of Sky will be one hour in real time.]

Tom’s log, twenty three Seasons, Cycle 50,376.

To say that we as a species are highly unaware of the mechanics of our hibernation patterns would be an understatement. It is so commonplace to assume that nothing changes and nothing matters; that most Descendants seem completely oblivious to what happens when they grow tired and go to rest.

The truth is that skychildren ‘hibernate’ for most of their lives. Approximately 99.0009% of their lifetime. They only wake up for around a few days before hibernating for at least weeks.

Their ability to move and thrive in this world is highly dependent on their motivation to do so, characterized visually, physically, anatomically, and mentally, by their Flame. As they get more and more exhausted and demotivated, their Flame becomes less accepting of collecting Light from the world, and of spending time out in the realms.

This betrays volumes on a vastly hidden secret about Descendant biology and health. They are not the endless spouts of energy and Light that they are believed to be. They exhaust themselves completely and wholly, more quickly than it had ever previously been assumed. And once they are exhausted, they spend a dozen or more times as long to recover their energy. If the Flame is powered by the skychild’s motivation to Be, then the skychild has very little motivation at all. They grow tired of existing almost immediately.

Once they have become decidedly too tired to remain, they ascend back up into the Sky. It is unclear whether we are returning completely to Orbit, or just dematerializing into Light in the upper atmosphere, until we are ready to solidify and take form again. Some of us dematerialize and rematerialize within our nests, as a sign of our connection to our new homes. When we dematerialize into the atmosphere, our minds and souls can prepare to form again within the Mental Space we know as the Homespace. In this Space, the souls of skychildren collect together, preparing and planning where to descend back into the world again.

The younger a Descendant is, the longer their Flame burns between hibernation cycles. Descendants that have seen less than four to eight Seasons pass by are sometimes even known to spend two to three times as long within the world before hibernating. There are many factors contributing to this. Those who are with friends for all or most of the time will be Connected and retain healthy Flame, and may stay within the world longer, and have a longer complete lifetime before completely extinguishing.

As Descendants exist for longer and longer, they will appear into the world for less and less time, and require much greater hibernation periods, sometimes even lasting months, years, and even decades. This phenomenon has common correlations with previous friends fading as well or having already had been extinguished.

When we lose our form and rest within Mental Spaces beyond the world of Sky, we often will dream of countless other realities. Within these dreams are entire worlds, and sometimes entire universes; completely beyond our comprehension. Entities made of “organic flesh”. Beings that do not live directly tied to the flow of energy within their worlds. We had known of aliens from beyond the Sky that exist outside of our natural order. Yet we do not know why we dream of them, or what it might mean for us to dream of them so. These beings do not seem so immediately connected to each other as we are. They are often selfish in nature, and cannot begin to understand each other or how the other feels. This inefficiency is similar in nature to how our Ancestors had once been. Their influence within our dreams has a tendency to affect how we interact with each other when we are together in the realms. It is a dangerous phenomenon, and requires further studying.

Perhaps, then, this is the most critical yet implicit reason to study and understand the mechanics of our hibernation. For every time we go to rest, we are bombarded with dreams of the Other. It has been examined as such that these dreams of the Other can be so overwhelming, that it can bring hibernations to become longer, and for the lifespan of a skychild’s Flame to extinguish faster and faster. These dreams are dangerous. And yet while many around me pay them no mind, and avoid discussing them, I feel compelled. Almost… drawn to them. I must understand more.

I will continue my search.

[End of Shared Memory] 🔷

[defining-skyology]

A user in Lorechat asked to learn more about the realms, which was a question I haven’t heard in a while!

When lorefolk seek to answer the questions of loremoths, there are so many complications. Loremoths are often not looking for the ‘actual’ breadth of whatever complex answers they could receive, and instead are usually just requesting simple answers. Summaries.

That can difficult for lorefolk to handle. There is so much we can address in each realm!!! Fortunately, there is a way to make simple explanations of each realm a LOT easier.

We can learn a lot about the lore, culture, and history of each realm by examining their respective Elders. So let’s get into it. 🕊️

A Brief Summary of the Elders and their Roles

1. The Isle Elder and his people took care of newborn Ancestors and raised and guided them on the beginning of their pilgrimage; sending them on their way to go to Eden, where all Light returns to. The people of the Isle taught and honored traditions, ritual, and respecting the soul migration. He was eventually outcast by the Ruler, who he disagreed with.

2. The Prairie Elder and their people created boats and pots, and used the pots to store Light for the long journeys ahead. The people of the Prairie acted as shepherds of nature, creating space for the creatures to coexist. While hardworking, these people prioritized community and happiness over economic gain. However, the Prairie Elder had a tendency of hoarding the Light that they stored, afraid of the growing darkness…

3. The Forest Elder worked on a powerful new technology known as Darkstone. Darkstone technology had the power to absorb Light and manipulate Light’s abilities! The Elder and their people worked hard to mine raw Darkstone out of the land and turn it into “charged power diamonds” for their machines. They were an ambitious, curious, and emotional people, always longing for more. They felt they deserved more.

4. The Valley Elders were the propaganda machine for the Ruler; the king of this land. They would create sports and games and challenges, and create statues of nobles and the Ruler. The highest cities in the mountains would be made of gold and be only for the richest, while many poor villages nestled lower into the mountain valleys.

5. The Wasteland Elder was the Ruler’s general. He and the Valley Elders worked together to police the kingdom, enforcing and demanding loyalty and submission from the people to honor and obey the Ruler. Under his watch, the production of Darkstone technology would not slow. He fought multiple wars against rebellions, and even after it all he felt like he could never do enough.

6. The Vault Elder was the lead archivist, storing the memories and wisdom of the kingdom in the Vault. They were able to see the future and foresaw the end of the world, but did nothing to stop it.

7. The Ruler was the king of all of these lands. He used the giant Darkstone crystal as a means to “mine” the soul migration of Light heading towards Orbit. We don’t know exactly how much this correlates with the Darkness that destroyed the world, but it is important. Statues of him were built everywhere across the realms- and perhaps most of the kingdom had at one point thought him to be the prophesied ‘savior’ of this world.

Sources:

The Art of Sky artbook

Skyfest art galleries

Elder encounters

AURORA questline

AURORA concert

Prophecy questline

And more!

And that’s all! If anyone here on Skyblr has any further questions about each Elder and their realms, let me know and I’ll make more posts on that. The next post will actually be another copy-paste from the work in Lorechat, where somebody asked about the wars the Wasteland Elder went to. 👀

Let’s keep exploring, everyone! There is much to Understand. ❤️🕯️