Thoughts on the Traveler, Shades and Angiens

[Aelis]

  As a long-term East citizen and ever aspiring researcher I've tried to understand the relation between the Traveler, the East and the rest of the realm for a long time now. These unanswered questions make me come back to the realm year after year

I've had some of these ideas written down for a while, but they always felt incomplete. This topic is an attempt to organize some of my thoughts/research™ on these subjects and share them with the world. I don't quite know where to put it. Feel free to move it elsewhere if needed.

 

The gate to the East is located at the chasm that connects two opposites of a 2-fold balance: Necrovion and Marind Bell, which points to the special relationship of the East with these two core lands in particular (one might even think it's not a coincidence that we currently have lashtal and Chewett, two strong references of these lands, as East citizens 😬).

We also see other hints of this relationship in the AL, with both the Traveler (who came from the East even before it was open) and the Shade Sentinel playing an essential role in the Angiens development and in the events that led to the Seeds of the East. Their collision had a lasting impact on the Angiens. Additionally, we can see hints of a connection between Angiens and Shades earlier in the AL.

In the AL we see the Traveler split into two shapes in two occasions. This hints to duality (a feature associated with Angiens) within the Traveler as well. We also know it has no face, no name, and some can't even understand its shape, and that it "entered" the MD realm (apparently from outside). This reminds me of Mur's show of force :

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So lets see the clues that left a trace, to find the Mur's secret face. 
Its not exagerated, I pick my words, I know my reasons. Some think I gamble, when words and rhymes I do slightly tremble. The face i mean is there alright, as dark and black shadow, its wings show light around the night to follow. It discovered the realm, you all know to what I aim. Now think of it, I always said, the realm was there, I just discover. To follow the trace and reveal some connections, imagine the spitt in the Angiens development. A face for one to show the light, a face for one to show the dark, yet one from the other will emerge. 

I will spoil this one, because its late, I put a meaning on a plate. I wish I said this clue much sooner, but I was somehow scared, It would have turned truth to rumor, or damage logic bad. The angiens dark face hides nothing more than a reflexion. Like the mirror on that wall, a truth of history repeated, the story of our ancient fall,  with all implications on purpose intended.

 

I wonder if the Traveler is the (Tainted?) Angien that opened the box. The announcement I linked above tells us "The one tile unspoken of untill now is the clearly visible one at the East, the one most close to the Angien in the picture.". Maybe close can be interpreted both physically in space but also in terms of affection. That would make sense seeing that the Traveler came from the East. It's also interesting that we can see the dark face of the Angien that opened the box, which is also mentioned in Mur's post. Another hint that points to this is that the Sentinel cannot see the Traveler and says it has no time, which indicates the Traveler exists outside of (MD's) time. Finally, when they clash, the Sentinel says they cannot remember, which I think shows that the Sentinel got "cut off" from being observer of time (recall that they remember "throughout" time ).

These two beings already carry a lot of symbolic power by themselves, but when they collide we get the orb that is "all the cubes at the same time", a mirror of every possibility. Another important point is that apparently only half of the Traveler entered Necrovion, while the other half walked the land (maybe this other half is related to what happened with the Angiens in MB?).

 

Still, one question in particular eludes me: if the Traveler is apparently so related to Angiens, why are Angiens mainly associated with MB? It may be the case that the Traveler/East "is" Angiens + Shades, the "bigger picture", which might indicate why the collision between Traveler and Sentinel needed to happen before the East opening.

 

Finally, this has been said about the Tainted variant of the Angiens:

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Not white enough to be fully Marind's Bell, not dark enough to be Necrovion.

With this piece of information, together with the other clues, it makes me think that the Tainted Angien could be a creature associated with the Lands of the East, between Necrovion and Marind Bell. Sort of as the missing piece of a puzzle.

 

 

Thank you for reading this. It's really hard to connect all the dots and fill in the gaps, all while choosing the right words. I tried my best here, yet I'm sure a lot is missing (unfortunately I wasn't around when this stuff happened).

I'd love to hear your opinions. Please help me strengthen or dismiss these claims

[lashtal]

Thanks a lot Aelis, this is very interesting.

I wanted to throw in some more candies for the mind but it seems I lost access to some parts of the forums. Therefore, I can only share the crumbs I noted down in my docs, with no links for validation.

Sadly, I can't always discriminate what's been taken from official sources and my speculations around them.

1 hour ago, Aelis said:

In the AL we see the Traveler split into two shapes in two occasions.

The traveler is a "reverser", I don't have a better name for it yet but there are symbols that counter another and a third type of symbols that can double or reverse an other, thats the traveler, not shade, not angien, yet causes the apparition of a tainted angien. Some of you provided essential explanations to the key question I asked, but the mystery is still open. Question was: "what do you add to something to obtain its opposite?" (I'm pretty sure this comes from Mur)

At first I thought the answer to this last question was the 0 point, the gap that opens a circle (see attachment) and might create two different directions/poles.

From a mathematical point of view, the answer would be different. The question can be put as:

A (something) + X = -A (opposite of A)

Therefore, X = -2A

Which symbol can double AND reverse?

1 hour ago, Aelis said:

These two beings already carry a lot of symbolic power by themselves, but when they collide we get the orb that is "all the cubes at the same time", a mirror of every possibility

This is a very strong image.

I had it noted down with a couple of considerations that enhance its "timeless" connotation:

A prism divides light into colors and narrow their number to those we can perceive.
A cube (our mind) divides existence into a series of temporal actions.
For an insignificant moment in time the sphere was the shades view on the movement of all cubes.

2 hours ago, Aelis said:

duality (a feature associated with Angiens)

The Angiens have a religious feeling. [...] The Angiens are the answer, but the fun part is that the Angiens are actually the QUESTION. (Again, I think this comes from Mur)

In a religious system, the untouchable answer (God) is fueled by the constantly moving herd of worshippers (the question). Angiens seems to be both in AND out of MD, in and out of duality.

The one opening MD box can be seen like the 3rd observer, the one outside duality, the gap in the circle... God? Our Demon of the East in Angien's disguise?

One last thought that haunts me: compare the research clues about Angiens ("burning ability" in particular) and "page 5: a deadly secret", from Chronicles of a Shade killer. 🙃

[Aelis]

Such an insightful response, lashtal, thanks!

13 hours ago, lashtal said:

The traveler is a "reverser", I don't have a better name for it yet but there are symbols that counter another and a third type of symbols that can double or reverse an other, thats the traveler, not shade, not angien, yet causes the apparition of a tainted angien. Some of you provided essential explanations to the key question I asked, but the mystery is still open. Question was: "what do you add to something to obtain its opposite?" (I'm pretty sure this comes from Mur)

This is so cool! I was familiar with the question, but it's really nice to see it in context  (it shows up in the AL but in a more "cryptic" way).

At first I thought of a mirror, as it reflects the symbol from a certain perspective. Now that I read of the double OR reverse, I can kinda interpret the mirror as also "generating" an image (another symbol), which could be the doubling part. I think it would depend on the symbol being "reversed". Also, the mirror would be an instance of a "reverser". There would probably be others. Having said that, I think the 0 you mentioned also works as an answer!

13 hours ago, lashtal said:

Which symbol can double AND reverse?

I wonder if the answer would be the same for (double AND reverse)  and (double OR reverse). If it's double AND reverse, I think raising to the power of 2 would provide a good solution:

A² = AA = -A-A = (-A)²

Symbolically, I think this would equate to raising (doubling?) a degree of complexity (for instance: l is a line, l² is  square, so on and so forth). This would also fit nicely with Mur's 8-fold balance: A -> AA (A²) -> A²A² (A⁴) -> A⁴A⁴ (A⁸) -> How to get the final 1 though? 😛

Maybe the above would also work for double OR reverse if we are able to pick parts of the operation, but I'm not so sure about that.

 

Just a quick pointer, the quote from the Angiens is indeed from Mur, you can find it here: https://md-archives.com/217/winds-game-meeting-full-discussion/

13 hours ago, lashtal said:

Angiens seems to be both in AND out of MD, in and out of duality.

Yeah I get the feeling that the Angiens inside are the symbol for what the one outside was the actually doing "in reality". I totally agree that the opening one can be seen as you described 😄

 

Regarding the research clues and timeless aspect of the orb, I'll have to digest my thoughts I little bit more before I make any remark. 😅

[lashtal]

On 8/2/2023 at 2:55 PM, Aelis said:

I wonder if the answer would be the same for (double AND reverse)  and (double OR reverse). If it's double AND reverse, I think raising to the power of 2 would provide a good solution:

A² = AA = -A-A = (-A)²

Symbolically, I think this would equate to raising (doubling?) a degree of complexity (for instance: l is a line, l² is  square, so on and so forth). This would also fit nicely with Mur's 8-fold balance: A -> AA (A²) -> A²A² (A⁴) -> A⁴A⁴ (A⁸)

That makes a lot of sense.

Years ago when I was discussing this with Azull he mentioned the square, but I probably didn't get what he meant back then. Now it seems clearer!

On 8/2/2023 at 2:55 PM, Aelis said:

How to get the final 1 though?

All good things come to an end... 🤪