VN Ren'Py Eternum [v0.8.5 Public] [Caribdis]

[MagnusTempestus6]

which would be weird considering that William claims him to be "just a man" whose overall goal is godhood and yet he already does godlike things, which would be contradictory.

Seems totally plausible to me though that the Founder could be older than we think. Because one thing I am sure of is that William is just a man. And William could be underestimating the Founder and not know about his true nature. In both cases of the Founder being just a human his apparent age or centuries old he could still have only stumbled upon an already messed up realm and the chained Idriel, as you stated afterwards.
And I would say you are quite right about the possibility of Founder/Ulysses not actually being fully aware of all aspects of Eternum/Idriel/Gates of Acheron. Maybe with Idriel revealing those pieces of information to Orion will lead to a way to defeat them?
Anyway, in either case I think we still lack enough info to accurately guess the Founder's true nature, I am personally just tending towards the theory of him being an older and even magical being because I like the idea that he might be connected to the cult of Asteroth or something similar on earth. He could be one of the earthbound examples of magic that we already saw in OiaLT. It is not necessarily required for him to have reached Idriel, but it might be an explanation on how he did it and how he was able to use his findings better than anyone else that came there.

 

[Dorfnutter]

Seems totally plausible to me though that the Founder could be older than we think. Because one thing I am sure of is that William is just a man. And William could be underestimating the Founder and not know about his true nature. In both cases of the Founder being just a human his apparent age or centuries old he could still have only stumbled upon an already messed up realm and the chained Idriel, as you stated afterwards.
And I would say you are quite right about the possibility of Founder/Ulysses not actually being fully aware of all aspects of Eternum/Idriel/Gates of Acheron. Maybe with Idriel revealing those pieces of information to Orion will lead to a way to defeat them?
Anyway, in either case I think we still lack enough info to accurately guess the Founder's true nature, I am personally just tending towards the theory of him being an older and even magical being because I like the idea that he might be connected to the cult of Asteroth or something similar on earth. He could be one of the earthbound examples of magic that we already saw in OiaLT. It is not necessarily required for him to have reached Idriel, but it might be an explanation on how he did it and how he was able to use his findings better than anyone else that came there.

The Founder is more likely a separate being from the cult as Cari had stated that while OIAL and Eternum takes place in the same universe, they are not connected narrative-wise. Plus if he was connected then Ulysses would've likely gone after the OIAL MC and his harem once they started running across the globe, and with their vast resources should've caught them and denied them their happy ending (which I doubt Cari would've done).

As for William declaring the Founder is just a man, my interpretation is that it has less to do with him underestimating the latter and more him saying that while the latter is indeed powerful, he is still quite human based on his desire (like, trying to cheat death is a very human desire) and his mortality (meaning he can still be killed). If anything, William is probably disgusted with the Founder, whom he likely views the same way as he views Orion and Alex: mere wastes of potential, talented or gifted beings that chose to be human first rather than rid themselves of their humanity to achieve greatness. It's also why he likely approves of Thanatos, a being that has quite literally ascended beyond his humanity and is now an unstoppable force of nature (at least, for the moment).

 

[BareMinimumMan]

Anyone knows why I can't enter the numbers? the keyboard doesn't type anything, I am playing on Android using JoiPlay.

Update: Fixed it by switching to Gboard instead of Swiftkey Keyboard.

 

[moonpartially]

The Founder is more likely a separate being from the cult as Cari had stated that while OIAL and Eternum takes place in the same universe, they are not connected narrative-wise. Plus if he was connected then Ulysses would've likely gone after the OIAL MC and his harem once they started running across the globe, and with their vast resources should've caught them and denied them their happy ending (which I doubt Cari would've done).

As for William declaring the Founder is just a man, my interpretation is that it has less to do with him underestimating the latter and more him saying that while the latter is indeed powerful, he is still quite human based on his desire (like, trying to cheat death is a very human desire) and his mortality (meaning he can still be killed). If anything, William is probably disgusted with the Founder, whom he likely views the same way as he views Orion and Alex: mere wastes of potential, talented or gifted beings that chose to be human first rather than rid themselves of their humanity to achieve greatness. It's also why he likely approves of Thanatos, a being that has quite literally ascended beyond his humanity and is now an unstoppable force of nature (at least, for the moment).

Please remember that I'm new to the conversation (and maybe others came and went with the same conclusion) but what if :

The Founder is indeed older than we assume him to be...which would mean that he is in fact dead and only living in Eternum as a free agent NPC, like Thanatos but with extra powers.
Or what if The Founder is actually "the mysterious man" (or from this lineage with Anima) from Caly lore dump in the saloon bath. I think it's weird from Caribdis to give us such just an old story and insisting so much on the fact that the mysterious man look just a man (hum hum William).

Perhaps this means that Idriel could be Anima the Radiant.
Meaning Calypso could be the daughter, or at least from the lineage, of The Founder and Idriel.

In conclusion, MAYBE, The Founder is the Eldari from the Calypso tale. Somehow He use the powers of his wife Anima The Radiant (maybe Idriel) in order to master connections between the reamls. He could have lost his mind doing so because of the power it gave him and he would realize too late the harm he had done to his wife, now captive (the chains, the eyes etc.) because of his new ambition. He could also have locked Calypso up to protect her / not show her what her father / ancestor did. Now aware of his mistake he would have created Eternum in the hope of finding a successor to repair the mistakes he caused. (This is where the biggest criticism of my theory lies, why would a thousand year old elf have chosen our realm and created a video game to answer his problem, I don't know, how does he supervises the production chains of the implant? etc.). Maybe the 100% compatibility marks means Orion is holding royal blood within his veins, so he could be capable of harming the unrivaled king [a.e. the founder].

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but here's a possible theory. (although a bit far-fetched, I admit)

 

[Tremonia]

DAY 3 NO FAP TILL 0.8. I CAN DO THIS NO CAP

No one cares about your masturbation routines, dude. Stay to topic.

 

[Dorfnutter]

Please remember that I'm new to the conversation (and maybe others came and went with the same conclusion) but what if :

The Founder is indeed older than we assume him to be...which would mean that he is in fact dead and only living in Eternum as a free agent NPC, like Thanatos but with extra powers.
Or what if The Founder is actually "the mysterious man" (or from this lineage with Anima) from Caly lore dump in the saloon bath. I think it's weird from Caribdis to give us such just an old story and insisting so much on the fact that the mysterious man look just a man (hum hum William).

Perhaps this means that Idriel could be Anima the Radiant.
Meaning Calypso could be the daughter, or at least from the lineage, of The Founder and Idriel.

In conclusion, MAYBE, The Founder is the Eldari from the Calypso tale. Somehow He use the powers of his wife Anima The Radiant (maybe Idriel) in order to master connections between the reamls. He could have lost his mind doing so because of the power it gave him and he would realize too late the harm he had done to his wife, now captive (the chains, the eyes etc.) because of his new ambition. He could also have locked Calypso up to protect her / not show her what her father / ancestor did. Now aware of his mistake he would have created Eternum in the hope of finding a successor to repair the mistakes he caused. (This is where the biggest criticism of my theory lies, why would a thousand year old elf have chosen our realm and created a video game to answer his problem, I don't know, how does he supervises the production chains of the implant? etc.). Maybe the 100% compatibility marks means Orion is holding royal blood within his veins, so he could be capable of harming the unrivaled king [a.e. the founder].

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but here's a possible theory. (although a bit far-fetched, I admit)

While the Founder existing only in Eternum is likely true, there is the issue of how he established Ulysses as a company if that were the case. It's likely that at some point he still existed in the real world, founded the company, then left for Eternum permanently once the gears for the VRMMO's creation began to set in motion. Unless of course the Founder managed to influence (or brainwash) a dreamer in creating the company for him, then taking the reigns back once the VRMMO is created and he could freely interact with the "players" and goad them into finding the gems on the promise of handing the company reigns to the winner (which prolly blindsided William).

As for Caly's infodump, I'm currently eyeing her story with suspicion considering that the design of her prison is similar to Linus' NPC reprogramming device (which he claimed to have been designed using existing tech). Doesn't help that the design of those devices were a retcon by Cari prior to the release of 0.6, implying that Caly's memories may be unreliable (a clue to this is regarding Caly never mentioning any lore about the Gems of Doom despite them supposedly showing in the illustration of Caly's tale, though it's possible that this is just her artistic license on her part replacing the Eldari with Orion wielding the Gems of Doom)...or worse, she's not the person who she's claiming to be and that her memories were implanted by someone else...possibly by Idriel (and thus would answer why Thanatos said that she was "created").

As for the Founder being the Eldari and using the gem hunt for a more benevolent purpose...I doubt it. The dead (which I'm guessing are what the whispers Orion heard came from) seem to be adamant that the Founder cannot be trusted. Mayhaps like Y'liar in Caly's tale the Founder gave promises to a chained and desperate Idriel/Anima that he would set her free if she tells him what he needed to know, then reneged on that promise (or worse, fulfilled it but not in the way she wanted). As for why she's chained in the first place, a possible theory is that the Eldari and Anima's story did not end on a happy note, and that at some point the former trapped Anima and their realm in what became Limbo so that they would live forever...but in doing so it killed the Eldari, scattered the gems across Eternum, and closed Acheron and stopped the dead from crossing to the afterlife. And it's been that way until the Founder came, likely in search of a way to escape death (and finding it once he learns of the gems).

"Assuming all of this is true, then how does Caly fit in the story?" Frankly that's the big question mark right now, as the only way to know is for her to find her realm (which we'll likely visit at some point). Doubt we could get anything from Thanatos as he knows an awful lot about things but likely won't tell. As personal theories go however I have a few, ranging from Caly being a copy or clone of Idriel/Anima that the latter created as her replacement as Lady of Eternum once she passes on to the afterlife, to Caly being implanted with Anima's memories as a loophole to the latter not being able to provide direct answers to Orion (possibly due to the nature of her imprisonment) and thus knows the true history of Eternum and also holds the key on how to open the Gates of Acheron.

Whatever the case, I guess we'll get our answers soon enough.

 

[MagnusTempestus6]

The Founder is more likely a separate being from the cult as Cari had stated that while OIAL and Eternum takes place in the same universe, they are not connected narrative-wise. Plus if he was connected then Ulysses would've likely gone after the OIAL MC and his harem once they started running across the globe, and with their vast resources should've caught them and denied them their happy ending (which I doubt Cari would've done).

Yes yes, I should have clarified I meant the cult of Astaroth as an example for something similar, not the Founder having an actual connection with them. I just imagine if there is one, there might be others. Don't even have to be similar in nature.

As for William declaring the Founder is just a man, my interpretation is that it has less to do with him underestimating the latter and more him saying that while the latter is indeed powerful, he is still quite human based on his desire (like, trying to cheat death is a very human desire) and his mortality (meaning he can still be killed). If anything, William is probably disgusted with the Founder, whom he likely views the same way as he views Orion and Alex: mere wastes of potential, talented or gifted beings that chose to be human first rather than rid themselves of their humanity to achieve greatness. It's also why he likely approves of Thanatos, a being that has quite literally ascended beyond his humanity and is now an unstoppable force of nature (at least, for the moment).

That of course makes quite a lot of sense and fits William's opinion of the different characters. Just thought it might be interesting if there was more to the founder than him just being a human that wishes for immortality, especially since we know magic is a thing on earth.

Makes me think though, what William is ready to do to realize his goals. He could potentially do some serious things on earth as well, right? Though I am convinced that Eternum's problems might very well come to earth at some point during the remaining updates, or at least I am hoping so.

 

[Lolicon Kami]

DAY 3 NO FAP TILL 0.8. I CAN DO THIS NO CAP

 

[Zegion101]

Anyone knows why I can't enter the numbers? the keyboard doesn't type anything, I am playing on Android using JoiPlay.
View attachment 4281627
Update: Fixed it by switching to Gboard instead of Swiftkey Keyboard.

Does the quality feel better playing on joiplay instead of usual android version?

 

[Dorfnutter]

Just thought it might be interesting if there was more to the founder than him just being a human that wishes for immortality, especially since we know magic is a thing on earth.

It's likely that there's more to the Founder's goal than what William is letting on, and that what the latter said is just the oversimplified version of it. Like while the Founder's goal is to cheat death, him searching for a set of divine-tier artifacts sounds like overkill when you can achieve the same result by doing it like how Astaroth in OIAL did it (body transferring his consciousness throughout the ages). And I doubt achieving godhood is the end goal either since OIAL's story showed that a spiritually immortal being like Astaroth can still be destroyed. And if demons can be destroyed, then so can gods. And for a guy who wants to escape death that's probably not gonna sit well for him.

My personal guess is that the Founder wants to change something in the natural order, something so fundamental that he would go out of his way to deceive millions into going through thousands of worlds in order to acquire something that William noted as "the beginning and the end" of Eternum. A while back in this thread I've theorized that using those gems could cause the whole of Eternum to unravel and be erased to make way for a new one (and William could potentially be privy to this plan, hence his intention of denying the Founder access to the gems and having them be collected by Thanatos instead), a new natural order...

...one where death no longer exists as an actual concept.

Makes me think though, what William is ready to do to realize his goals. He could potentially do some serious things on earth as well, right?

Man's likely already controlling much of the real world operations of Ulysses while the rest of the board are content with fattening their bank accounts and living the life of luxury and decadence. He probably can't do much in Eternum tho as the Praetorians mainly answer to the Founder and if he tries to do anything there he'll get excommunicated. Hence the best thing he could do is provide what resources and info he can to help someone with their own agenda for the gems win the contest (that someone being Thanatos).

Though I am convinced that Eternum's problems might very well come to earth at some point during the remaining updates, or at least I am hoping so.

Not sure the story will escalate to that point as it would disrupt the flow of the narrative being focused on Orion uncovering the mysteries of Eternum through his server hopping with his crew while also building his relationship with them. Not to mention - and I'm saying this with a lot of respect to the man himself - I don't think Cari is experienced enough to escalate the story in that direction.

Closest thing we'll probably get is Caly crossing over and the gang storming Ulysses HQ for something (which would give Chang and the Repeaters some time to shine in the real world). But other than that, I don't see the troubles of Eternum ultimately spilling over unless it leads to a bad ending of sorts.

 

[BareMinimumMan]

Does the quality feel better playing on joiplay instead of usual android version?

I exclusively play Ren'py and RPG Maker games on Joiplay, I like having the ability to play the games on both PC and Android with out having to download the game twice, so I don't know if the Android version is better or not.

 

[shdere]

Where do I see all the development logs? How much time since the last one was posted?

 

[sexypeanut]

Where do I see all the development logs? How much time since the last one was posted?

On Patreon or SubscribeStar. I don't remember if they are subscriber-only content, but they might be; the last one was posted on Sept 30th. However, Caribdis also posts sneak peeks and progress bar every now and then (he ha spromised the last batch of 0.8 sneak peeks tomorrow)

 

[Dorfnutter]

he has promised the last batch of 0.8 sneak peeks focusing on Jerry tomorrow

Ftfy.

 

[vsvsx92]

Accurate Orion representation?
Edit: IDK if I can post the link to the OG reddit post

 

[Aizen Myo]

I think it's basically the

You must be registered to see the links

effect. Daz being more photorealistic treads closer to reality, so you judge it more by real-life standards, and a lot of what's done with it is not close enough to pass those standards. HS on the other hand, as you said, looks more cartoonish, so your mind doesn't judge it by those same standards, and it looks fine.

Yeah, specially cause I don't play these games looking for something that mimics reality, nor ressembles it
So defining as an "uncanny" feeling towards it sounds about right

 

[shdere]

On Patreon or SubscribeStar. I don't remember if they are subscriber-only content, but they might be; the last one was posted on Sept 30th. However, Caribdis also posts sneak peeks and progress bar every now and then (he ha spromised the last batch of 0.8 sneak peeks tomorrow)

Tomorrow? Fuck yeah

 

[shdere]

Ftfy.

Who tf is Jerry

 

[Satou Pendragon]

Who tf is Jerry

Jerry aka Sir Dies-a-lot who's always delusional about Dalia and always dies first.

 

[MAGO-DAG]

Who tf is Jerry

New main protagonist, unless of course he dies again... maybe in the new update he can set a new record, how quickly he will lose lvl again