Speculating about the Archaic Elevated Caste...

**Petike** · 10-19-2008, 05:30 PM

Seriously, the Archaic form the very backbone of the whole Penumbra series' plot and backstory. But what do we actually know about them ?

They are clearly a worldwide and ancient organization of some sort. Hints :

1. The note found in the toolshed in Overture, which has two types of dating - one is the usual 2001 AD, but the other states 9000-something... This would mean, that the Archaic have been around since the end of the last ice age (?!)

2. Their members found or mentioned in the entire Greenland base are of very diverse nationalities, though most of them come from the Americas, Europe or Australia.

They apparently have enough money and material to fund their secret activities, which consist of research of all things paranormal, mysterious, or defying regular scientific explanation.

Now for the questions :

Were they a religious cult/order, or a more pragmatic, atheist-like group, obsessed only with forbidden science ?
Do they recrute new members regularly, or favor people of a "chosen" ancestry ?
How many of them are there anyway ? Do they have other secret research bases around the world ?
Any mentions of a rank system or special terminology or something ?
(Carpenter kept mumbling about "rank" and "status".)
Did they have any sort of insignia ?
(I personally don't remember stumbling upon anything while playing.)

What are your opinions about them ?
Go on and feel free to speculate.
I doubt that Tom Jubert or the devs will tell us (if they ever got as far as creating a detailed background for the Archaic)... :-)

**WindexGlow** · 10-19-2008, 06:49 PM

We'll probably learn more about them in Lux Tenebras ;-)

**Petike** · 10-19-2008, 11:24 PM

WindexGlow Wrote:We'll probably learn more about them in Lux Tenebras ;-)

I doubt that. Lux Tenebras is going to be set in the 18-th century, inside a creepy old haunted castle, if I heard well...

**WindexGlow** · 10-20-2008, 12:24 AM

You'll see ;-)

**Penumbra** · 10-20-2008, 01:13 AM

hmm... That actually makes scene. The Archaic might reappear in Lux Tenebras

**Petike** · 10-20-2008, 04:39 AM

Penumbra Wrote:hmm... That actually makes scene. The Archaic might reappear in Lux Tenebras

Oh, all right then - if Penumbra and Lux Tenebras are set in the same "universe", just different time period, we might pay the Archaic Caste a visit to uncover more of their secrets.

Hehe, hope they won't become the staple antagonists of the possible future "Frictionverse" (a unifying world where Frictional's games are set)... ;-)

**Tommy Gun** · 10-20-2008, 08:22 AM

yeah, i reckon that the frictional crew aren't just going to dump penumbra, i think they'll have their games as a series of inter twined games, like references to zombie creatures in greenland or sumthin.

**cleaner653** · 10-24-2008, 03:46 PM

this idea of connection between the stories of FG's games were in the same universe sounds good, I hope it'll be sth like that Smile

**Petike** · 10-25-2008, 05:12 PM

cleaner653 Wrote:this idea of connection between the stories of FG's games were in the same universe sounds good, I hope it'll be sth like that

Tommy Gun Wrote:yeah, i reckon that the frictional crew aren't just going to dump penumbra, i think they'll have their games as a series of inter twined games, like references to zombie creatures in greenland or sumthin.

Send a PM to Thomas and Jens and inform them about your idea. Maybe they'll like it. :-)

**Yuhaney** · 10-25-2008, 05:25 PM

All the games they make just relate in one to other! All of them just tie every single games of Frictional Games into one big massive storyline! Tongue