I’m done with sidequests, time to advance the plot.
Ques gives some exposition on how Kir’Ssha was seen as a holy city, but following a catastrophe that devastated it, some more pragmatic fih’jik relocated and founded Do’Ssha. Those who stayed in Kir’Ssha think this is treason and/or heresy, as they believe the event was simply a test of faith. That’s a pretty believable conflict that provides a good setup for a fundamentalist/progressive split and perhaps even a basis for some arty commentary on faith vs. doubt.

“There has been intermittent violence since the city split, but never a full invasion.”

This, though, I don’t believe. According to the glossary, the split happened nearly a millennium ago. I can’t believe the crazy fundamentalists under immense pressure never snapped in all that time, especially when the trigger here is something so simple. Are we to believe Wadassia never experienced a drought or infestation in ~800 years?

Ques also repeats what Yacatec’s wife told them about the food shortage screwing everything up. The catastrophe prevented anything from growing in Kir’Ssha, so they’re completely dependent on Wadassia for sustenance. In other words, holy crap Wadassia really does have the entire world under its thumb. If either of the cities refuse to comply with a demand, they can just threaten to cut off Kir’Ssha’s food supply, which everyone knows will incite chaos. I suppose we’re supposed to see it as a humanitarian effort, but if they really cared they could easily stop the war by letting Kir’Ssha starve or at least providing reinforcements or refuge for Do’Sshans.

You know what would be neat? If this really was a political maneuver that was foreshadowed way back in the first chapter. Maybe Do’Ssha hasn’t been playing nice recently, or a religious crazy wormed their way into Wadassia’s political machine, and suddenly Wadassia decides to force the issue and end the conflict once and for all. We wouldn’t even need such directed malice, actually – a quiet withdrawal of Kir’Ssha’s care packages once food becomes tight (out of either ignorance of foreign affairs or just plain old selfishness) would work fine too.

(It’d also make more sense for this to happen a bit earlier; it’s been over a year since the food shortage so it’s a little odd this is only coming to a head now.)

Unmapped Island, 11 years ago…

Interlude time now. I had forgotten the title; it’s pretty clever following the previous one (“The End”). Rehm’s story is over so this one is very different and actually relevant to the plot.

Dehl walks up to the sailors and starts gushing over how this is wonderful because humans are amazing, then it starts snowing because pathetic fallacy.

Captain: “It’s snowing. Hmm. It never gets this cold in this region.”

I’m sorry, it’s extra special Sue-brand pathetic fallacy because this isn’t even normal weather. Also, Wadassia’s climate befuddles me to the last.

Dehl decides to get the rest of his family, and there’s a short walkaround section where I can explore the (very tiny) island.

So Dehl’s tolerance is unusual, and the Fortians were crazy for sending reptiles to guard a frozen death trail. Good to know.

As you explore, Dehl notes that he hasn’t seen his family all day, which makes me wonder why he was separated from them and what he was doing. I suppose the previous flashback established that he likes to wander off on his own, so it’s not too much of a stretch.

Well then.

Father Sikohlon starts rambling about how he made a plan to end all violence but screwed up, and now he’s trying to fix it using shra blood. This totally flew over my head when I first played this, but supposedly what happened is that he created the Blue Plague (don’t think too hard about how a medieval monk who supposedly can’t use magic created a microscopic organism) to discourage violence (if you’ll recall, it’s spread through bloodshed), but he overdid it and now the plague kills people instead of just giving them the sniffles. Shra blood is resistant (somehow) so he tried isolating a cure from it, but now he’s killed all his kids and is no closer to the solution.

“I’ve toiled over so many samples of our blood, but I can’t isolate how to resist the infection!”

Admittedly it’s really obvious in hindsight, I’m just slow.

“Now it’s spread too far… I can’t control it any longer!”

I don’t get this, though. It hasn’t spread past this one island. I guess the implication is that he used himself as a test subject and is now flipping out over how he’s gonna die? That really should have been made more explicit, it’d have made for a great parallel with the Progenitor in I Miss the Sunrise.

“I’ve exhausted all of the blood I can find, including my own!”

I have no idea how that works but it sounds creepy so sure.

So Sikohlon advances on Dehl, whose heightened emotions or whatever cause his Spirit Crush power to manifest. This makes Sikohlon stumble back, and…

Really, what was he expecting, leaving a giant sword sticking straight out like that? Always be careful when using sharp objects, like your dad told you!

Dehl freaks out and tries to go back to the humans, but notices Moke is still alive and carries him, even though Moke says he has to stay behind.

Dehl: “N-no, Moke. You have to come with me. I do not want to go alone.”

:(

They arrive in Wadassia, and…

Urgh.

Fortunately, a much better character soon arrives. He treats Moke’s wound while Dehl bombards him with questions (oddly he doesn’t react to being asked if he’s a Sikohlon, was he disillusioned even then?), getting blood all over him in the process. This is how he became the (official) patient zero for the Blue Plague, though it does raise the question of how Dehl remained uninfected while Moke was bleeding and coughing all over him. Then, because this sequence is the convergence of every plot thread ever, the arson happens and the peasant revolt starts. Qualstio says he’ll let them stay at his place and… that’s it.

That was a good wham with good writing that finally explains some aspects of the plot, but I can’t help but feel like there should have been more. It gives me a bit of an in medias res feeling, where there’s a ton of stuff thrown at the audience but there’s not much time to process or clarify the individual bits. Perhaps there were simply too many threads to stuff into a single scene, but I feel like we should have gotten some better explanation about the Wadassia side of things at the very least. And I still don’t see how Dehl and Qualstio became friends. The previous interlude was longer and more substantial while being far more tangential, there was room for more stuff here.

Still, it works. This shows what all the interludes should have been like: important events in the main characters’ pasts that helps us understand them and the plot better. (Failing that, they should have all been based around Dehl instead of Rehm.)

I love that chapter title. The two are buzzwords in American culture that are often paired together; through freedom you can be true, and only by being true to yourself can you be truly free, empowering stuff like that. They are seen as twin, inseparable virtues. In fih’jik culture it is the opposite: the free and true homes are bitterly opposed, showing the darker pitfalls of such concepts and the extremes they can be taken to. It forces us to examine what each one really means, and the sacrifices necessary to maintain them.

Unless, of course, I’ve spent too much time in English class and the developer just thought it sounded cool. That is also a possibility.

Everyone’s present in this cutscene! I like how your private army becomes larger and more imposing as time goes on. I am, however, curious why the city is in the middle of the desert when there’s a green spot on the map that would make more sense as a habitation spot.

A Sikohlon boy appears and Dehl chases after him.

Two new characters right off the bat! That’s a good sign. Perhaps there will be more plot this chapter.

And… ooh, Mahk only has four horns because he’s only started aging recently. That’s brilliant.

The guild shows up and Dehl recognizes Mahk as the founder of the Sikohlon movement, a plot twist I suspect was added late because it’s not foreshadowed anywhere in the slightest and, as I mentioned, actively contradicted by the presence of “successors”.

Dehl: “I was so sure our family had been completely erased…”

This I don’t get either. I don’t see any reason why his father would tell him they were the only Sikohlon family, or why this is the first time he’s hearing of Mahk. Mahk is not exactly subtle about his presence here; Do’Sshans should be talking about it at the very least.

Mahk invites them to stay in the Sikohlon house, providing the guild’s home base for this chapter. He says they have to keep their weapons outside, though, and pointedly calls Dehl out on his sword, which provides a good start for Dehl’s arc this chapter. Mahk in general is polite but quite cold during this exchange, which is a good tone-setter for what is to come.

Ques then gives some exposition about how the fih’jik worship the shra, as the plague conveniently hit just as they entered the slave trade. Being superstitious, they became convinced that the shras’ resistance was a divine sign that slavery was wrong, so they reversed their stance. This works and it’s certainly something different from the typical being shra is suffering fare, but it’s very poorly foreshadowed. Lani and Fero gave a few token lines about it back in chapter 1 but never elaborated, even when they were being complicit in slave trading. (Now that I think about it, actually, Lani adhering to it seems inconsistent when she supposedly left as a child, likely before things really got cemented.)

The rest of the characters are also surprised by the knowledge, even though I’d think people would be aware of such a radical political view. The fih’jik may be isolationist but I have a hard time believing word wouldn’t get around. The point of this is that Mahk doesn’t technically own this building and just walked in to take it a few years ago. This just raises the question of where he was in the centuries before this and why no one seems to know about the Sikohlon.

It’s also kind of weird thematically, when the racism is a huge undercurrent and suddenly at the end we get an almost literal deus ex machina and a society that’s totally perfect, no work necessary on the heroes’ parts? It also undermines Skint a bit, since he could just enlist abolitionists and educated shra from here to fund his revolution, as well as giving him a guaranteed safe haven.

Nitpicking about plot holes aside, though, this is a good development. Something good happens to Dehl for once, and it provides more insight into the Sikohlon as well as a vehicle for finally advancing Dehl’s character arc. If you suspend your disbelief about the logistics, it works well.

So… Tocita was utterly convinced war was inevitable, yet nobody else in Do’Ssha sees anything wrong? I’m confused.

Dehl: “A former resident of this place warned us, and her evidence of the cause is inarguable.”

Not…really? Her explanation makes logical sense but all they have to go on is her word. She could easily have misinterpreted the message as more aggressive than it was. I’m actually curious as to how she knew in the first place, when nobody else does. The only explanation I can think of is that she was in Kir’Ssha and saw the war preparations, but I have no idea how she’d get there in the first place (or why). Secret agent?

Eventually Mahk pulls out his guest to contribute to the discussion. This guy is the unpronounceable Yfus, a priest from Kir’Ssha. He provides a jaded counterpoint to the guild’s goals by pointing out that stopping the war now will only delay the inevitable. He seems to adopt a “war to end all wars” view, saying that a Kir’Sshan occupation would end the tension and therefore solve everything forever. I’m surprised how brazen he is here – I remembered him as being more neutral, but nope, he is 110% down with wiping Do’Ssha off the map.

No one makes the obvious counterargument that his solution would involve genocide, just

Ques: “The people shall NOT be forced into your sect’s will and stringent beliefs once more.”

which I find interesting. This implies Ques is familiar with the sect’s teachings and that Do’Ssha was occupied at some point earlier in history, despite him explicitly contradicting that last scene. This appears to be a blip from an alternate dimension where the region is characterized by an endless cycle of takeovers and pushbacks instead of just a few skirmishes and border disputes. I suppose you could take the story either way, but they lead to very different themes. The cyclical background would provide for a more downbeat, pessimistic theme throughout this, as we would know Dehl’s efforts will ultimately be meaningless, as well as providing an implication that the Sikohlon doctrine fights a hopeless battle. This would also tie in nicely with the cyclical theme of the Watchers, though it makes Yfus’ argument nonsensical unless he really is arguing for genocide.

However, I do like the idea that the two cities have maintained a tense peace throughout the ages, if for no other reason than that it’s something different. It also fits with the idea that this is a fledgling, accidental world still going through its birth pains. Conflict is inevitable, but neither side is willing to make a dedicated push and face that reality. It also makes the tone the exact opposite: it provides hope that Dehl averting the war will actually mean something, as another explosion is by no means inevitable. It raises the possibility that the tension could ultimately be worked out through a less violent method. This would, of course, make chapter 6 more surprising than in the former outline, where the player would already have had to come to terms with the idea that the heroes’ accomplishments will be reduced to nothing.

I personally think the version we actually have is the better option, for once, since creating false hope and optimism works better for the deconstruction concept. Maintaining a tone of depression and nihilism the entire game turns the ending from a horrible shock into something you’ve been expecting and preparing for the entire time. That has its place, but it’s not what the game’s going for, I think.

Yfus argues conflict is inevitable – “This year, it’s a lack of food. Next year, the weather turns sour. The water goes bad.” – which is patently absurd. This the first overt war in nearly a millenium, so they clearly aren’t going to go at each others’ throats at the drop of a hat. I would argue that this particular instance is a special case with a pragmatic motive, because you kind of need food to live. Do’Ssha has the only arable land in the region, so Kir’Ssha would see them as the logical place to conquer even without the religious motive. Bad weather is not really the same thing.

Nobody makes any of these logical counterarguments, Dehl just asserts that they have to try no matter what. Desperate, illogical optimism like that has its place, but in order for it to have the full effect the opponent’s argument has to be truly irrefutable, not made of Swiss cheese.

For some reason only now does Yfus explain why he left Kir’Ssha, which is weird because it’s not anything special that would justify the big lead-up.

Qualstio: “Ah hah. So, in other words, your big mouth got you in trouble with those guys, too? So, you ran here with your tail between your legs, so to speak. Ain’t that sad.”

Our perfect, enlightened racial slur slinger. Nobody calls him out on this. I’m not surprised.

Dehl tells him to join the guild, natch. This time he has an actual reason for it: as someone embroiled in current events, Yfus can provide them with valuable insight that the other fih’jik can’t. Fair enough.

And then, completely undermining the idea of bridging conflict between two warring races, Yfus reveals he was raised in Do’Ssha. This is never elaborated on or brought up again to my knowledge, so it serves no purpose. Why couldn’t he be a native Kir’Sshan? All this does is make it look like people are only allowed to be good if they’re Do’Sshan.

Once in service to the city of Kir’Ssha, [Yfus] now seeks to find a new place in the world in service to a foreign guild. Proficient at Soul damage and healing, dispelling enchanted squares, and curing negative status effects from his friends.

Yfus is useless – he’s Santes with better stats but worse skills. His offensive skills are weak; he has a skill that boosts rush… a little, if you level it up enough; his soul heal doesn’t make turns come faster; Ease Suffering only cures status effects until rank 3, and when it does get healing it’s pitiful; Neutral Grounds negates enchanted squares, which would have been nice an hour ago but will be useless for the rest of the game. The only good thing about him is that he has a lot of support combinations.

Alito: “Goodness, our roster is almost completely filled with your addition, Master Crossar! With our present license, only one more ally may be legally added to the guild. Hmm…”

what

The only limit we’ve heard about is the “six armed individuals” one. No one’s ever brought this up before, and honestly I don’t see why the bureaucrats care about how many bench-warmers you have as long as you abide by the armed limitations. I suppose the idea is to hype/nudge players towards the super-secret ultra-special sixteenth guy, but…

…I’m pretty sure this more than suffices!

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