The Lore of King’s Field IV: The Ancient City
Do you seek the Darkness too?
Like all FromSoftware Games, King’s Field IV: the Ancient City unwinds its story like an onion. It teases and implies but it is never quite explicit. Its narrative is a puzzle, a puzzle that the protagonist is attempting to put together alongside the player. What makes things a bit more difficult is the way things were done in the early aughts with regard to video-game localization.
If the video-game industry can be declared to be relatively young, localization and porting to the West and other parts of the world is even younger. Back when King’s Field IV first released in 2003, its localizers were not as keen on reproducing the scripts as faithfully as scripts would be in the present time. This is especially apparent in King’s Field I to III — J, as along with dictates from platform holders that mandated changes — AGETEC had to make unilateral decisions in lieu of overt guidance from FromSoftware itself.
King’s Field IV by AGTEC is one of their most faithfully localized games — unlike King’s Field II-J and III-J, — The Ancient City’s disconnect from the first trilogy, works in its favor. However, this complication plus the general way in which FromSoftware Tells its story through environmental world design and implicit storytelling make King’s Field IV: the Ancient City a tough nut to crack. It has a penchant for leaving people new to the game with more questions than they have answers.
Let’s see if we can answer some of these questions now.
A Translator’s Note
Before we begin, we should start with some translator’s notes and disclaimers. The King’s Field series, though more with I-III than IV, have, as mentioned in the introduction, not had an easy time of it as far as fidelity is concerned. According to an interview with Agetec’s Jeremy Kaufman, conducted by the YouTube Channel ‘We Review Every PS2 Game, Oh God,’ translation boiled down to a game of telephone between fromsoftware and Agetec. This, along with a general lack of interest from FromSoftware in their western audience at the time, Sony’s own interdicts about changing all Japanese Names, and Agetec’s need to outsource dubbing, would result in some less than stellar translations during the Playstation and early Playstation 2 generations.
King’s Field IV, would fare much better than the original Verdite Trilogy in the US, though its script would suffer in other ways. The Agetec release suffers from poor polish with strange grammatical errors sprinkled throughout. Names would be changed, probably still adhering to Sony localization rules, taking names from those from the official King’s Field fan forum. Agetec’s writers would also expand on the notes in the original Japanese manual, iterating upon what is already written and expanding upon the story there.
The less said about the Metro3D release of King’s Field IV, the better.
This would present a few challenges to me and to root out the true lore of King’s Field IV, the Ancient City and how best to present that lore in an easily digestible way. Therefore there are a few rules that I’ll adhere to:
- While I’m not fluent in Japanese, I have used DEEPL as my machine translator of choice as it is the most naturalistic and most correct machine translator on the internet. I’ve gone through after the fact to clean it up using my own knowledge of Japanese.
- The script will primarily refer to the US names, as those are the names this video’s primary audience will be at home with. However, I will make note of their original names either on screen, the script, or both.
- Iterations to the script, or lore written by Agetec will be noted on screen or the script.
The Primordial Dark:
“Let Our End be a Warning”
The Ancient City is a parable that warns against imbalance. Its thesis statement in the narrative weaves its way in towards the endgame, when Devian has become acquainted with the Ancient City, and has begun to reach the bottom of the Central Ziggurat tower. The curse of the Ancient City is that the civilizations that seek to call it home have repeated their mistakes again and again, a cycle that leaves nothing but ruin in its wake.
Long ago, there was nothing else but the duality of Darkness and Light. Light, itself, was the shadow of Darkness and from the light the Forest of Sacred Trees was born. The trees of the forest serve as the fulcrum between the darkness and the light, the point of which the balance between the two are held.
In a time that is too old to be called Ancient, the first of the inhabitants called the City home. Devian finds their ruins in some of the deepest reaches of the Ancient City, in the deep dark and buried both by soil and by stagnant, befouled water.
“There was only chaos in the beginning. We found darkness and welcomed it. Darkness is peace, a veil. We worshiped and lived with it.”
始まりは混沌。我らはその内に闇を見出し、闇を求めた。闇は安らぎであり、帳である。我らは闇を崇め、闇と共に在った。
The uncertainty presented by the perceived chaos spurred the ancient peoples to seek out order. In a way, this might be a stinging rebuke to conformity in a culture that seeks out a neat order among all things. Something it has in common with Elden Ring. What the ancient peoples sought was an escape from the disorder and the shifting chaos that they perceived. King’s Field IV doesn’t delve too deep into the primordial chaos which the antediluvian peoples sought refuge from, just that they did.
In the darkness they found a sort of peace and the certainty that the ancient peoples sought; shielded from the chaos that they were so afraid of. One might envision the city in the darkness as a ‘cold, dark place with kind inhabitants.’
The darkness is cold/ And hides everything/ Dark and peaceful/ The veil of life
闇は冷たく/そして全てを隠す/暗く安らかなる/命の帳
This peace was not to last as the ancient peoples’ worship of the darkness would prove folly and rear an ugly, disastrous head. The regret would be palpable in the ruins they left in the world.
“After a long time, the darkness spiraled out of control and engulfed everything. We sealed the altar and returned to the beginning.”
永き時の末、いつしか闇は我らの手を離れ、全てを呑み込むものとなった。我らは祭壇を閉ざし、始まりへと還った。
The ancient peoples had a problem on their hands. Because of their ignorance of how the world even worked and with a myopic need to escape a chaos they were uncomfortable with, they gave the proverbial keys to the kingdom to the Darkness. Their worship of the darkness was akin to throwing an accelerant on a fire. The power that they had unwittingly given to the Darkness through their worship shattered the balance of which the primordial people were ignorant to. The Darkness was a living, breathing thing and through their empowerment of it, it was able to grow out of control and threaten to devour everything, including their civilization.
偏りし力は滅びをもたらす。封じた暗闇に決して近づかぬよう。我らの末を戒めとせよ。
Unbalanced power brings destruction. Never approach the darkness you have sealed away. Let our end be a warning.
Knowing that their world was crashing down around them, the primordial peoples attempted one last thing: sealing themselves and the darkness away. Their voices reverberate in what is, in the end, a graveyard. A tomb and a monument to their mistakes, in an attempt to warn those who would find their watery graves the lessons they learned too late.
There is a balance to the world, one that rests between the light and the darkness. Empowering the darkness with worship and life, causes an imbalance that will only reward disaster.
Those caught beneath the ripples of the befouled waters would eventually, in time, become known as the Dark Ones.
TRANSLATOR ASIDE: 帳
So, one of the difficulties that comes up with the translation is actually what words FromSoftware will end up using to write lore. In fact, this is something that will trip up Japanese Lore Hunters as well as those of us working in translation. In this aside, we’ll talk about one place where these oddities come up.
The word [ 帳 ] is one example where a word will trip up a translator and force a bit digging around. Machine Translation will actually default this word (Tobari) as ‘Book.’ Though the saying ‘peace, and a book’ doesn’t actually work well in this instance and seems to muddy the meaning that FromSoftware was going for in King’s Field IV.
Dictionary definitions from wiktionary, state that this word actually has two meanings. The first, is a curtain or a drape, the same sort that the nobility would use. This actually is the primary meaning for nouns. Tobari’s other definition is notebooks or ledgers like the Machine Translation will spit out but this is strange if not archaic, as most will use the word ‘Hon’ to mean, book. However, what is interesting about this is that this definition actually can fit too as a ‘ledger’ also holds a double meaning in English. Along with possible definitions as a simple notebook, particularly in accounting, it can be used to name the flat stone that covers graves.
In Chinese the curtain definition of 帳 becomes more a curtain against mosquitos.
Because of all of this, the decision was made to see this word being used as a sort of veil — the same sort that separates the living and the dead and in this case, the Darkness from the chaos that the primordial peoples were seeking to escape from. But, this veil would only become their burial shrouds.
The Ancient City:
“Up ahead is the King’s Chamber. It is the place where those who have served the forest for generations go to sleep. And it is also where the Five Sceptors Room, where the Precept of Travel is kept.”
この先が王の間です。そこは代々森に仕えた者が眠りにつく場所。そして渡の法が納められた五枚の間もそこにあります。
Aneid Vigil/ Emil Eto
The Primordial Peoples would soon become only a memory, shrouded in death and in their watery graves deep below the earth and far below the light. After their passing, the Ancient City as the world will come to know would be built in earnest by the Forest Folk who would sprout above the dead memories of the Primordial Peoples.
The City itself would be a well-organized vertical underground metropolis. The Agetec localizations, as an aside, suggest that the Forest People did this as direct sunlight would burn them — though this is not said in the Japanese scripts and seems to be a slight misrepresentation of a poem written by Aenid Vigil. Each floor was reserved for specific trades-people so that they may hone their crafts. For instance, Machinists would live and work on the West side of Floor 2. General Crafts-people would also live on the East end of Floor 3. Each entrance to each sector would be framed by a Gate, with the Silver Gate being the link between the Ancient City and the Surface. Later on, the Earth Folk — deeply talented blacksmiths — would be invited to settle within the Ancient City as well.
In the beginning, the Holy Capital flourished and the city itself was considered a sacred place for the Forest Peoples. Dragons would fly about the city — a creature that would festoon the Ancient City’s most sacred places like the Ancient City’s crown jewel;the King’s Chambers situated near the surface. Not only was this a place of honor, it was the location of the Ancient City’s crown jewels — the Five Sceptors, each imbued with the Precept of Travel as well as a secret passed through the Ancient City’s Monarchy with its symbol of a Monarch: the home of the Moonlight Sword.
It’s rare to see a human being here… This is the forest of the sacred tree, the mother forest of us forest people.
人間の方がいらっしゃるなんて珍しい・・・ここは聖樹の森。私たち森の民の母なる森です。
One caste of the Forest Folk that should be spotlighted here, is the Priesthood. While from what we glean from the Ancient City is that the Forest Folk were makers; they were also deeply spiritual. This caste is the only caste we come to know via its lone survivor, Aneid Vigil, known as Emil Eto in the Japanese Scripts.
The Priesthood maintained the balance between light and dark, though it is difficult to ascertain from the script if the Priesthood understood that this was what they were doing. In essence, the Priesthood were charged with maintaining the Holy Forest and feeding the dew produced by the Trees to the Golems that were their protectors.
Trees are the ontological fulcrum between the light and dark, as its roots take in the nutrients of death and darkness along with the nutrients afforded by the light of the sun through its leaves. Through this they are able to synthesize the powerful drops of dew that is so prized by the Priesthood.
The others have already gone to sleep. The time will come for me, too…
It’s my destiny…他の者たちは、すでに眠りにつきました。いずれ私にもそのときが来ましょう・・・
それが私のさだめなのです・・・
Unfortunately, Aneid is one of two Forest Folk survivors and the only Priest left within the Ancient City. Her destiny is a melancholy one, to join the rest of the priesthood as they “go to sleep.” Which, from how it is presented, seems analogous to passing away. Aneid seems to have accepted this fate as her destiny, one that will come one day and ending the line of priests who have protected the Forest since time immemorial.
The Ancient City would grow and its continuing construction deep into the earth would continue. But, shadows were creeping nearer to the Ancient City as their continued expansion would put them face to face with their doom.
Sunlit Delirium:
When the light is strong, the darkness is also strong.
When the city was being built, a dark shrine was discovered at the far end of the city. The king of the forest forbade anyone to approach it, but the prince who disobeyed the king’s order was banished from the city.
The prince was eventually released from exile and returned to the capital. Later, someone opened the door to the shrine, and the capital was thrown into chaos. Then the King of the Forest was assassinated.
都を築いていた折、その最奥で闇の祠が発見された。森の王は近づく事を禁じたが、王命に逆らった皇子は都を追放された。
やがて皇子は追放を解かれ、都に戻った。その後、何者かによって祠の扉は開かれ、都は混乱におちいった。そして森の王が暗殺された。
An Ancient Conflict — Journal Entries by Devian Rosberg
The Forest of Sacred Trees would be flourishing at this point, basking in the light that shines overhead. A new people would come and establish lives here, tending to the forest and enjoying the protection of the green canopy overhead. The Ancient City continued on its expansion, racing into the earth and continuing to build until they came face to face with their destiny as they would discover the watery grave that the Dark Ones have been sealed into. The King forbade anyone from approaching it, but was too late to stop his son the Prince from becoming seduced by the Darkness. He was exiled and later forgiven, but the downfall of the Ancient City has already begun.
Hardwon lessons, however, would need to be taught once more.
かつて光を至上と考え、都を治めようとした王がいました。
王は光の集う祠を作りましたが、いつしか崇拝は畏怖の対象へと変わっていったのです。祠は閉ざされ、王もまた何処かへと封印されました。
古の王の行いは、間違っていたのでしょうか・・・There was once a king who thought light was supreme and [the king] wanted to reign over the city. He built a shrine where the light could gather, but worship eventually became an awe. The shrine was closed and the king too was sealed away somewhere.
Were the deeds of the ancient kings wrong?Aneid Vigil / Emil Eto
Light is the shadow of the Darkness, and in a similar way to what happened to the Primordial peoples, the Light entranced this unnamed King of the Forest. He worshiped the light and built a shrine where the light could gather and pool. He was fervent and obsessed and to him, the light would become a weapon in which he would be the undisputed sovereign of the Ancient City. Things spiraled out of control and the King erected the dangerous Path of Light; a place wrapped in storms and lighting and where four armed constructs holding false Moonlight Swords protect towers empowered by this befoul’d light. Of interest, though, are the treasures that are also protected by the false moonlight sword constructs. They are opened by the Ancient Key, which is obtained in the graveyard of the Primordial People, perhaps pointing to another influence upon an unraveling King.
The Balance of the world dipped another way, and Light threatened to devour just as the Dark did so long ago. In his madness, as his worship was twisted to greed, the King was a figure devoured by his throne. He was sealed away very close to the throne but forever apart from it, only attended to the endless army of skeletons at his heel.
Worship the light.
Light is supreme.光を崇めよ。
光こそ至上なり。。。
The Agetec Localization, however, does something a little bit different. Nearby, at the conclusion of the Path of Light, is a petrified skeleton that still holds the soul and sapience of its owner. The Agetec Script names this voice the “King of the Forest Folk,” which confuses the lore around this event. The Japanese Script simply names the voice a “Muffled Voice;” potentially the formally exiled Prince of the Forest. A voice that speaks of a ‘great will’ that has now entrusted everything to our protagonist, Devian.
With this in mind, we could surmise that this might have been an attempt by Agetec to streamline this bit of the story but in so doing created another King and a conflict of succession. Even so, this voice tells us something very important about the inner-workings of Light and Dark — both ontological concepts that must be balanced against each other, otherwise doom will fall upon the land:
When the light is strong, the darkness is also strong. Maybe having the power of light to resist the dark ones is not truly the right thing to do.
光強ければ闇もまた強まる。闇の者に抗う為に光の力を持つ事は真に正しき事では無いのかもしれん。
This voice speaks to the tragedies that fall upon the people who call the Ancient City their home. Seeing their beloved Forest Folk be swallowed up by the darkness, filled them with despair and — he sought the power of the Moonlight Blade. He failed, triggered by his doubt and not knowing that the answer lies in the balance. This voice became nothing else but a ghost clinging to their body mere inches from the ultimate light crystal and mere feet from the heart of the Holy Forest.
Aneid Vigil’s mention of the story of an Ancient Forest Folk already suggests how long ago it was, even for her, the last Priestess of the Holy Forest. The story is something she offers only towards the end of the game, after the player finds their way to the Ancient Ruins and Graveyard of the Dark Ones. This easily pairs with and reinforces the themes of balance: light and dark balancing one another.
The chaos that befell the Ancient City was triggered by the opening of the Shrine, and the obsession of the Former King with the Light that, like the Dark is threatening to do, devoured the King of the Forest himself and, potentially, his family.
But the War had only just begun.
The War of Light and Dark:
The King was dead, seduced by the Light — consumed by it — and sealed away in a mausoleum. The Dark Ones had been released by someone after the shrine was discovered, its own seduction of those near was near total and complete. The war and struggle between light and dark was underway.
The newly crowned King of Darkness has risen an army, led by four generals including a Dark Witch and a Dark Priest. Two men rose to the occasion to try to defend the Ancient City from the encroaching Darkness. The first, Serrack Rezmach (Serak So) and the other Lord Myu, (Sphora Miu).
At the time of the war with the Dark Ones, I created Genea and her friends to protect the city. But they have gone mad.It is the reward for foolishly violating the laws of nature. I have turned myself into stone as a warning…The secret of the rebirth of the Genea is in the water. That dirty water is the source of falsehood.
闇の者との争いの折、都の守護としてゲネアたちを作った。しかし奴らは狂ってしまった。自然の理を犯した愚かな末なのだろう。我は戒めとして自らを石とした・・・ゲネアたちの再生の秘は水にある。かの汚れた水が偽りの素なり。
Serrack Rezmach
Serrack Rezmach was a craftsman and the Lord of the Hall of Windsong who refused to stand by and watch the Children of the Forest be destroyed. Unfortunately his quest to try to save the life of his people, led him down some dark paths. His search for knowledge led him, as well, to the grave of the Dark Ones and came upon the knowledge for the Creation of Artificial Life.
In violation of the laws of evolution and committing a grave sin against Nature itself, Serrack created life, a creature he calls the Geneans. These Geneans are guardians, much like creatures that were little more than golems initially meant as weapons against the Dark. The Geneans, however, would fall to madness because of the Dark and would instead attack its creators and anyone it would see.
Wracked with guilt, Serrack regretted using the knowledge gained from the stagnant water of the Grave of the Dark Ones, and petrified himself in stone hidden away in the Mansion of Howling Winds he was master of, surrounded by the judging faces of the Children of the Forest he attempted, and failed, to save.
In the midst of all of this, the Earth Folk — the forger craftsmen invited to the Holy City by the Forest Folk would themselves face their own calamities. Its chieftain would himself be seduced by the power of the Darkness and Cold and would, under this entrancement, find the Idol of Ice, an Axe, and attack his own kin with it. At the end of the Chieftan’s rampage, he froze himself into blocks of ice and along with a Demon that would block the lava flowing into the Earth Folk’s forges, the entire home of the Earth Folk went cold and dark.
Sphora Miu is the highest ranking warrior among the forest people. It is said that he was always at the forefront of the fight when the conflict with the Dark Ones began.
スフォラ・ミウは森の民の中で最高位の戦士である。闇の者との争いが始まると、常に前線で戦い続けていたという。
Journal of Devian Rosberg, Warrior of the Forest 1
While Serrack was attempting to create weapons to assist in the defense of the Children of the Forest, Lord Myu took the fight directly to the Dark Ones. He was feared and under his leadership — the armies of the Light and its Dragons — he drove many of the Dark Ones Armies to the Battlefield back, to just outside of their broken prison. After establishing a Frontline Fortress the Battlefield was a place of horror and churning stalemate.
Skirmishes would become battles and the battles would grow in ferocity and destruction. His armor would be a symbol that would instill fear in the demons of the Dark as well as the sight of his holy sword.
However, the constant murder and the blood on Myu’s hands would stain his soul and destroy him from within. His sword and his sword arm would become cursed and Myu’s time would be cut short. Myu’s last battle, in what would become the decisive battle wreathed in miasma and dark, with toxic, foul waters around them, Myu would defeat the greatest of the Dark One’s knights. However, the cost would be great. Instead of regrouping at the Dungeon Fort of the Forest Folk’s army, Myu would cut down the bridge and commit suicide with his cursed arm, ending his life and the continued soiling of his soul.
Myu’s armor would be stripped from him and spirited away by the Dark Ones and magically sealed.The Dark Ones hoping that no one else could claim the feared Forest Warrior’s mantle ever again.
Sphora Miu, the Warrior of the Forest, has defeated many demons. Perhaps because of this, the sword he held in his hand was cursed, and it is said that in his final moments, he took his own life with it. The cursed sword still remains in the ruins of the battlefield.
スフォラ・ミウは多くの魔物を倒してきた。それ故か、手に持つ剣は呪われ、最期は自らの剣によって命を絶たれたという。呪われた剣は今でも戦場跡に残されている。
Journal of Devian Rosberg, Warrior of the Forest 3
Lord Myu’s sacrifice, however, would be for naught as the Darkness would eventually flood out from its bonds and into the City. The Armies of the Light would be routed, its Dragons falling like leaves across the Ancient Battleground to become nothing but skeletons. With no one else to protect the city, those who survived would scatter to the four winds into the world and away from the Ancient City — the once Sacred City of the Forest Folk would be razed and fall dormant, a haven for demons and their ilk.
However, the Darkness would not be content with what it won and it would strive to continue to do what it does best: consume.
The Near Past:
The Rise of Humanity:
Years would pass. History becomes legend. Ruins become the only witness that anything was amiss at all. The memory of the people who lived there only exists in scholars and dusty tomes. Those who survived the destruction of the Ancient City would scatter to the four winds, exiled from the Holy Land they once called home. Overtime, the Holy Land that was once the cradle of their civilization would become the Land of Disaster, a sobriquet that can also be translated as Mischief or Misfortune.
At the foot of what would become known as the Land of Disaster, the twin kingdoms of Haladin, or Heliodor, and Azalin, or Calcite, would rise.
A Note about Names:
The original name for the twin Kingdoms of Man featured in King’s Field IV, are Heliodor and Calcite. And both follow the old FromSoftware naming conventions in King’s Field of naming their kingdoms after magical crystals and minerals, all of which empower magic, such as Verdite. Heliodor is also known as golden beryl and its name derives from the Greek word for the Sun, Helios.
Calcite, either clear or alabaster white, is a form of calcium carbonate. It can form in any number of ways and is, in the end, quite common. What is the most interesting, though, is that much of it is formed by the shells of long-dead marine life forms.
Calcite is a fiefdom within the Kingdom of Heliodor according to the Japanese Texts.
Ruled by the ancient Rosberg family, and located along the North Sea, it is a peaceful kingdom that has maintained itself exclusively through diplomacy. Its royalty, the Rosbergs, are born with and are known for their magical powers and being staunchly anti-war. Some speculate that the Rozbergs are related to the Children of the Forest, though at the beginning of the quest, no one is sure of the truth.
In Agetec Histories, the Rosberg family is blessed with the following magical abilities: pyromancy, precognition, and general magic. Likewise, the Rosberg family are rumored to be descended from the Children of the Forest who predate the Race of Man and cannot stand in direct light of the Sun. Prince Devian Rosberg (Ixion Rozberg), is third in line for the Azalin throne and, unfortunately, does not seem to have the magical aptitude as the rest of his family. Instead, he trains under Septigo the Sword Master of Haladin.
Haladin, located at the foot of the Land of Disaster, lives and thrives almost in defiance of its infamous neighbor. Revitalized by the ascension of a new, young King, the Kingdom has been growing rapidly causing a sense of unease with the surrounding areas, most notably Azalin. This rapid growth would come to an end with the New Moon.
The new, young King of Haladin during the New Moon, was presented with a statue. Its seduction was complete and total as it consumed the young king with obsession, keeping it as his side everywhere he went. Since the statue’s appearance within the Kingdom of Haladin, dark clouds began to gather, while calamities and plagues threatened to extinguish the land. As though a mirror to his Kingdom, the young King was not spared the plagues and calamities and he found himself on his deathbed.
In desperation, the Chief of Swords was dispatched with a column of the army on an expedition to the Land of Disaster, but was not heard from again.
In lore added by Agetec Entertainment the young King was crowned King Lucian IV the Wise, after the sudden death of his father. Its aforementioned expansion was the result of a desire for colonial imperialism; annexing unconquered lands. This caused a rift with King Azalin of the Roseberg Family who was a close friend of King Lucian IV’s father.
At the Horned Moon Festival, to celebrate the New Moon, the Idol which is said to represent the Highest Ideals of Peace was offered to King Lucian. Entranced, King Lucian IV, enshrined the Idol in the Throne Room. Black Clouds roil in after this, with plague and disaster striking soon after. Lucian IV is, himself, not spared and is struck down by the Plagues that spring up within the Kingdom.
The Desperate
Though the Land of Disaster was long abandoned, it didn’t stop the desperate from entering its darkened depths. Some time ago, the so-called Stone of Life was discovered along with its healing properties. Though in truth, the Stone of Life is essentially a limestone that has absorbed the healing waters that flow through the Land of Disaster. This was not understood truly by the people who started to flock to the location and instead they believed the miraculous healing properties came from the stone itself rather than what the stone played host to.
These were the desperate and the weary, such as the Genne or Jeunet family. The Mother and Daughter found themselves within the ruins of the Surface Commons to the Ancient City because of the Mother’s named Elaine or Sharyl’s illness. In desperation their husband and Father went to work in the Mine nearby to find another Stone of Life. The people there, however, weren’t fully aware of the danger that they were in, and the threats hiding amongst the ruins of the Ancient City’s mouth. Or, perhaps, they didn’t care.
Unbeknownst to them, the Darkness’ corruptive consumption has reached the surface and was seeping upwards; the mine that sought life, uncovered death. The Darkness seeped through the open wounds in the ground like some sort of toxic miasma, and would start to kill the miners that hoped to find salvation. They would rise again as zombies continuing their final, desperate actions. The Patriarch of the Genne — Jeunet family would be one of these victims, finding his death before being able save his Wife from her disease.
Doomed Expedition (I):
Septigo, or Clouse, Swordmaster and Knight of Haladin was sent by Royal Decree to the Land of Disaster in an attempt to return the Idol of Sorrow back to the Ancient City. It was a last, desperate attempt at saving themselves. Well armed and well prepared with the ancestral sword of Heladin — the Lawful Blade — and with a column of the army at his back they arrived at the Mining Camps and ruins located at the Ancient City’s mouth.
In truth, this location is called the Temple of Oath — a ruin of a symbol of friendship between the Forest Folk of the Ancient City and the Humans who lived on the surface. Here, Septigo and his Expedition would break their initial camp. However, nearly immediately after their arrival the calamities would begin to befall the Haladin Expedition.
Imagine the silent skitter of a bug across the ground. How much would you think of it? Would you even notice it as it moves across the grasses? Do you think it would take note of the massive people in its midst? Do you think it would care? Now, imagine it crawling up a leg as you sat at a bonfire. Would you notice it then? Would you notice it as it moved into the hair? Or would you notice it too late as it sinks its mandibles into your neck and your entire world goes dark?
That was the first terror that fell upon the Haladin expedition.
Cockroaches swarmed the Expedition, demonizing and rendering undead those who were unlucky enough to be nearest to their tiny feet and near the rear of the column. The newly possessed, then, would attack those who were not possessed by the Demons of the Ancient City and in this initial milieu, the rear supply troops were annihilated speaking to the intelligence of the Dark Ones that prowl the Ancient City.
The Expedition would retreat deeper into the Ancient City past the Temple of Oath, unable to go backwards. They would leave their former compatriots, now under the control of the Dark, to roam aimlessly around the hallways swinging at anything they came into contact with; with no control over their own selves. A giant Spider would seal their point of egress, and without pyromancy the survivors of the Haladin Expedition were sealed into the Ancient City with no real method of escape.
The Temple of Oath:
人の子と森の民
欠けるものを互いに補い
共に暮らす事を
ここに近い記すThe Son of Man and the People of the Forest
To make up for each other’s deficiencies
To live together.
I write herewith near
The Ancient City’s Silver Gate was a place of vital importance as it was the border between the Surface and Underworld Metropolis that was the Ancient City. It was a place of commerce, exchange, diplomacy, and friendship and was one of the more important locations for the Ancient City. In observance of this importance, the Temple of Oath was born.
It was a monument to the friendship offered and shared between the Children of Man and the Children of the Forest. In that friendship, the Forest Priest Orson offered something extraordinary to the Children of Man: a healing spring.
Mista Fopa, or Olf Ohs, tells us the old story. When the Ancient City Flourished, Orson created the healing spring and offered it to the Children of Men to heal their weary bodies. That water was powerful and able to restore a person’s vitality as they worked and lived in the village that sprung up around the Silver Gate and the Temple of Oath. Orson modeled his fountain spring after the ones within the Ancient City itself — at its most sacred places.
But when Calamity and Chaos swept through the Ancient City, Orson did not want the healing spring to become a source of violence — he did not wish the Children of Man to commodify it, to capitalize on it, gatekeep it, or lead them to violence to fight over it in his absence. The Spring, then, was shut off.
Orson made a choice and cut the healing waters off from the Temple of Oath letting the pools become fetid, stagnant, and poisonous. Some of the waters — with no place else to go — to flow through the limestone rocks in the surrounding land, leading the desperate to seek out Stones of Life and to establish a mine to find it. This would inadvertently give the Dark the ability to threaten the surface world as it oozed up to the surface; using the mining shafts as facilitators. Perhaps that was Orson’s sin, to not trust humanity with powerful healing waters and to sentence them to their own doom, or perhaps he made the right decision to slow their doom from finding them.
死者たちが騒いでおる。先に行くなら気を付けてな・・・
The dead are screaming. Be careful if you go ahead…
Doomed Expedition (II):
With their supply line cut, and their rear now littered with their demon-processed countrymen, the Expedition continued the only way forward. But the way forward was, unfortunately, as much as a death-trap for them as retreating back to the Temple of Oath. The path that Devian takes further into the city himself, comes into contact with the scattered remains of Septigo’s column. One, Ramirez Martin (Beo Mordin), who was attacked by his fellow soldiers, can do nothing but offer advice on the golems and sell goods to Devian.
In another place, Devian encounters a Knight by the name of Linus Grise/Belric Psytar, so traumatized by his situation and confused by the labyrinthine nature of the Ancient City he can do nothing but use his Grand Lance to draw maps on the floor to try to remember who he is.
But the biggest threat the Expedition faced came in the guise of the terrifying snakemen, the Widda or the Ophidians.
The Widda (Ophidian):
古の都には数多くの魔物が巣食っているが、オフディアンたちは最も恐れられている魔物の一族である。遠征隊の一団も彼らの手によって全滅させられたという。
There are many demons nesting in the ancient city, but Ophidians are one of the most feared. It is said that a group of the expedition was annihilated by their hands.
Widda/Ophidian 2 — From the Journal of Devian Rosberg (Ixion Rosberg)
The Widda, or named Ophidian after a type of Snake in the Japanese Scripts, are the most feared demon that roam the Ancient City’s ruins. They can be found in most places, brandishing scimitars and swords and are some of the more aggressive of the enemies found within. They murder members of the column of Expedition Soldiers systematically, but the Widda are hiding a blasphemous secret. In a final battle between the Widda and the tattered remnants of Septigo’s army, the Widda capture Septigo and the Lawful blade and drag him away into the Palace of the Widda Queen. This shatters whatever remains of the Expedition, well and truly, leaving the rest to either fight futilely against their own coming doom, or to try to hunker down with each other and hope to survive; unable to save their leader and helpless in the face of the Dark.
Unfortunately, neither of these would prove to be a wise course of action. One group, hidden in the sea caves near the Widda Queen’s castle, are attempting to decide on their next course of action. They were attacked by a terrifyingly strong Widda soldier and have lost their swords in the battle. They are uncertain on how to pass through Widda Castle’s flame defenses and so they sit crestfallen and unable to do anything to save Septigo, while one of their group tries and fails to satiate their hunger.
The Widda, being reptiles, are hatched from eggs and one of the most fortified locations for the Widda is the Egg Field. Though it is unsaid if these are the eggs they hatched from; the place is so fortified that one must fight through the Widda Queen and her attendants to gain entry to it. While being hatched is one way in which the Widda can reproduce, it — terrifyingly — isn’t the only way.
Terrifyingly, the main way in which the Widda reproduce is from the wounds given to others following an encounter with them. Once again, the Dark turns friend into foe. As mentioned, the final survivors of the Haladin Expedition were attacked by a horrifyingly strong Widda Soldier. One man, in particular, Lyle Kagada (Rod Lithgow), was injured — as seen on his bandages. What he didn’t know is that the venom from his enemy was seeping into his blood and causing his intense hunger. The scales crawl up the back of his head like a rising tide and his tongue changes first — slithering out of his mouth to taste it. By the time Devian returns, Lyle has eaten his compatriots.
Devian, realizing that the Eggs are medicine as Cecil Burleigh — Oagh Burleigh informs us, causes us to pass off our last strange egg to Lyle as food. Greedily eating it, potentially an infant Widda in a life for a life, he soon is cured of the rot that was destroying him and leaving him only with the horror and guilt of what he’s done. Should Devian not seek to cure Lyle, his transformation consumes him and he finishes his transformation into another minion of the Dark.
The Widda are transformed soldiers of the expedition and one of the ways in which they reproduce is in the forcible transformation of the strong into one of their ilk using the Queen’s abilities.
Doomed Expedition (III):
His column shattered, Septigo with the Lawful Blade is dragged before the Widda Queen. Her goal was to reawaken the King of the Dark, and her attempt to raise her army of Widda is in preparation for that promised day of the King of the Dark’s return. The Lawful Blade and Septigo were recognized and locked away into the dungeon; curiously they did not kill Septigo themselves. Perhaps they were hoping to offer Septigo to the King of the Dark.
In the dungeon, Septigo dies by his own hand, using the Lawful Blade. Devian finds his corpse still heavily armored and with the lawful blade at his shoulder; completely and totally forgotten. His last words, both carved into the wall and in his own blood by his shoulder, beseeches the heir to his will, the heir to his sword, to return the statue to where it belongs and to seal away the darkness.
The Quest of Devian Rosberg:
Though we’ve gotten quite ahead of ourselves, as we followed the doomed Heladin expedition into the Ancient City, let’s take a few steps back and talk about Devian -or Ixion — Rosberg and his quest of self-discovery.
According to the Agetec localizations and additions to the story, Devian is the third in line to the Azalin throne. While he was a member of the Royal House of Rosberg, the Agetec localization stresses that Devian’s magic has not blossomed in him, considered strange as his Royal House is marked by Magical Aptitude and known for their aptitude in pyromancy, precognition, and general magics. Instead, he is sent to ward with Septigo — or Claus — and reveals his talent with a sword under Septigo’s tutelage. As a member of the Azalin Royal House, Devian is also rumored to be descended from Forest Folk who fled the fall of the Ancient City.
As a reminder, Devian’s position within the line of succession in the Azalin Royal House, nor his inaptitude with Magic is written about in the Japanese Manuals or Scripts.
Was it dark? Or was it just the clouds outside. Devian’s story begins with a sound, the loud banging on the door to his small cottage. There is a fire going on in the receiving area and its crackling continues, unbothered by the incessant banging on the door. Traveling down the stairs, there’s a hesitation — as though unsure to open the door but when he does, a heavily robed person offers the Idol of Sorrow to Devian.
The path the idol takes is shown in the abstract in the opening cinematics — from the Forest, to the Ancient City in the hands of an Armored Person whose bloody hand-print signals their failure, to the streets of the City of Heladin and the rats, symbolic of the plague that has fallen on the castle. Then, finally, into the hands of the expedition — the size and scope of it stretches for miles. From there, it is difficult to know what the path the Idol took or who the Robed figure who materializes before Devian actually are, and the game makes no attempt at explaining it.
It is simply fate. A curse.
From there, the Idol of Sorrow is Devian’s constant companion and even with attempts to leave it with others, it will always, somehow, find its way to him. Devian knows what this is and what it means for him to have it: Heladin’s Expedition, his Sword Master Septigo, has fallen and somehow he has been chosen to hold the Idol.
Prince Devian Rosberg, of the House of Azalin, despite his station and the stylings of his name does something the Heladin expedition does not. Where the soldiers of Heladin were loud about their arrival, and their massive column of soldiers, Devian sneaks into the Lands of Disaster by himself and is largely unarmed. Cloaked, he is anonymous as he picks his way through the village that has sprung up because of hope and comes across the scattered and shattered remains of the Heladin expedition, most of the survivors are wrestling with their guilt and trauma over what they’ve experienced.
Devian isn’t actually a silent protagonist in this game, instead he journals. He writes about those people who he has come across, and the places he finds within the Ancient City. He makes suppositions and writes about his discoveries. And makes a note that Leather Armor smells terribly. They aren’t very long entries, merely notes he scribbles while camped at a camp-fire but it does track his growing body of knowledge.
At the Temple of Oath, for instance, Devian finds a family, a girl, her dog, and her sick mother waiting for their patriarch to return with a Stone of Life. They do not know that the Dark’s corruptive, corrosive, and noxious influence has already killed and rendered undead the miners inside limply swinging their pick-axes; they merely think it’s manageable with some antidote grasses. They wait all the same.
Duhrin Pathwarden/WOSE TAFT is met at the edge of the town, desperate to return to his wife; but he is stymied by broken paths and is later driven into the corner of a run-down chapel, unable to cut through the monsters. Despite Devian’s best attempt, the Man meets his end by risen skeletons who have no other ability than violence.
Devian defeats the lone Reaper in the game, a sentient flesh tree monster that may have been Duhrin Pathwarden/WOSE TAFT’s wife at one point. The reaper attempts to destroy the Prince but with its defeat leaves something that unlocks Devian’s latent magical ability; the Clarity Bracelet.
Continuing, Devian meets more of the cast of characters within the Ancient City — each more tragic than the last. From the Researcher, to the Grand Lance Knight who must fight but also is confused by the layout of the City. From the Treasure Hunters who found more than they ever bargained for, and less. The Earth Folk Blacksmith who plies his trade to try to forget his recently escaped frozen prison. To the lonely Priestess who is confined to the one place of the Forest that has staved off the Darkness.
Through it all, Devian grows in strength and hones his newly awakened magical ability as he travels through the Ancient City. His arc shifts when he finds his Master, Septigo’s body with the Lawful Blade. By then, he realizes that the rumors were true — he is descended from the Forest Folk — his Royal Line is older than he can imagine. His quest to do what the Heladin expedition failed to do, also shifts in scope. It becomes less of a return to the Idol and more a finish what his forebears — Serrack and Myu — started: bring back a balance to the light and darkness dichotomy. It is Devian’s necessity to synthesize the art of the sword and the art of the book into one single power, much like the trees of the forest do as they synthesize the nutrients found in the dark rich ground as well as the bright sunlight into dew.
The lessons — the tragedies — of this are set in front of him as he seeks to bring the power of the Lawful Blade back and unlock its truth as the Moonlight Sword. By the time the idol crumbles in front of him, it becomes evidently true what the Idol was attempting to do the whole time: to find a King worthy of the Dark.
The one who sits the throne has failed. The pitiful creature has half become part and parcel of the mass, the Darkness that is ever consuming. He simply sits and waits, ever seeking the Dark. Should Devian not realize his potential and strike a balance within himself, and not claim the Moonlight Sword reborn from the Lawful Blade, Devian will fall for the Idol’s trap. He will merely replace the pitiful King sitting on a throne of flesh in the Dark.
If, however, Devian realizes his potential in himself, awakens the kingly blood within his veins, realizes the balance within himself, and claims the Moonlight Sword — he brings peace upon the land and breaks the clouds that have fallen on the Kingdoms. His name and his sword living on indefinitely, while the Ancient City grows forgotten and reclaimed by the Forest itself.
A sense of balance restored.
そして王とその剣は語り 継がれていく
And the King and his Sword lived on…
