[ChicletPrime]

i need to cross stitch all my whack theories somewhere :P

[ChicletPrime]

Definitely Chapter 4:

• "Xavier never told me what happened." apparently i piece things together out of bits of things. "If I'm right, this incident occurred around the Gladius Ceremony."
  
• okay, another time skip forward for some reason? "Only those who wielded the lightblade could prove themselves worthy to ascend the throne."  so there's an actual thing that Xavier has to pass in order not just be the Prince of Philos, but the Crowned Prince of Philos.
  
• n the south, in Starfall Forest, a Wanderer has made a nest there. 
  
• Wanderers make nests? 
  
• okay, so Xavier has to go do this quest... and earn a lightblade? 
  
• lore: Starfall Forest has an unstable Protofield. 
  
• wow, Xavier was in the forest for "days". Everybody else thought he'd been eaten and left over time until only I remained.  go, me! hold vigil for your Prince.
  
• "Xavier would always leave me like this. At times he joined the expedition team. Other times he was returning to the palace with the Royal Messenger. I'd always ask when he could return. He always came back when he told me he would." 
  
• so before stepping into the forest, Xavier told me "seven days". so i guess i'm camping out for a week. where's Jeremiah? 
  
• and yes, there he is. a white figure surrounded by light until the lightblade dissapates, the protocore in his hand.
  
• no joy or relief to be seen. his head lowered, he hugs me.
  
• what the heck? what did you see or find in the Forest, beloved? 
  
• what he encountered or saw in those seven days remained a mystery. a Wanderer's death should be celebrated. but Xavier changed after, as if a part of him was left behind. 
  
• okay, we're back at the statue and Xavier .. is talking about the King? "I can't become the man he wants. I will never sit on the throne he leaves behind either." 
  
• that sound was my current favorite theory about what's going on shattering on the ground. 
  
• i am guessing that the nature of Starfall was revealed to Xavier in the Forest and whatever it is, he can't support it because it killed previous me and he's not playing along with what it wants, like the King does? 
  
• i promise I will be with him when he is the next King and he asks if i truly wish to be the King's sword. of course I will be. "Even if I don't wear the crown?"
  
• uh. wow. are you really willing to abdicate? o.0
  
• "Then I'll be somebody else's knight."
  
• wut
  
• "I won't let you become another's knight. I won't let you be at another's side."  woooo! "I can choose not to become King. You can choose not to join the Lightseekers who answer only to royalty."
  
• wow, you want me to give up my dream because you say so? when apparently you've stated all of this in a very aloof manner as if it means nothing. just another option, among many.
  
• "Our teacher said this is how I should live. What else is there for me?" 
  
• SAY SOMETHING XAVIER
  
• "I'll take you to Uluru."  what's Uluru? okay, a newborn planet he found on his last expedition. a planet of only flowers.
  
• awwwwwwwwwwwww
  
• "Didn't they (who is they?) say Philos is slowly dying? How can their be new planets?"
  
• what, Philos is the creative source of.. the universe? that can't be right, but that last sentence definitely implied it.
  
• oh. oh, boy. once he settles his personal affairs, and if i give up my dream of being a Grandis Knight... we can elope. to Uluru. and spend the rest of our days there.
  
• the boy flat out proposed. take me not as your prince and future King, but as a boy named Xavier (who is in love with you). 
  
• /shades of Notting Hill, ahoy
  
• /swoons. lets park it here for about five more seconds and enjoy that, before it all goes wrong.
  
• nice. i fall asleep on the guy and the next day i wake up at noon in my own bedroom. 
  
• the night before has to be five dozen different fanfics, all of them tagged Explicit.
  
• oh boy, he looks GREAT. that is a wonderful uniform, Xavier. be a shame if it got all messed up.
  
• /approaches with messy uppy fingers.
  
• yeah. if he goes to the palace to meet with his Majesty, is he even going to be able to come back?  is this where it ends tragically? 
  
• oh boy. and before he leaves, we ask our burning question: "Who gave you that tassel with the star-shaped charm? Your lover?" 
  
• ... may i take a moment and say that, for all its faults, at least Love and Deepspace acknowledges that people are getting into bed with each other. 
  
• Xavier, smiling: "Yes. Its from the person I like." 
  
• /queue sad misunderstanding in 3... 2.... 
  
• "Are you... very fond of her?"  "Unlike any other, her brilliance holds a special place in my heart."
  
• you're really not convincing me to run away with you to a planet of flowers, you know. although here's the question as we pause at this moment. do i know i'm in love with him? if i do, am i willing to admit to myself that i'm in love with him enough to confront the fact that i am always going to be standing in the shadow of a brighter light? because he still hasn't given up the star charm and likely never will. can i go with him, knowing and accepting this? 
  
• "I clench the hem of my coat." sooo much regret for asking. because now i know. 
  
• "You fancy her."  (odd english dub)  "She deserted me years ago."  hey!  "I've sought after her ever since." 
  
• "For such a reason you accompany the expedition team? To seek her out?"  "Ah, no. Not at all." 
  
• "Do you keep the tassel to remember her?"
  
• /clutches pillow. confess, Xavier, CONFESS
  
• "Ive never forgotten her. She was the one who forgot me."
  
• and there it is. ahhhhh.  /swivels to the girlfriend.
  
• "How could she?"  Xavier does not appear to be upset for some reason (even though this is a sad moment)
  
• "We've crossed paths, but she has no memory of me. She can't even recall the time she gifted me this tassel."
  
• c'moooon girlfriend, put it ToGeThEr.
  
• "She has a certain expression she uses whenever we meet. It is one of blissful ignorance.. and wonder."
  
•  "How dare she!?"   i will point to the audience that the ?! is, in fact, her exclamation. i am not exaggerating for effect - she is, in fact, a little incensed at this forgetful person who left behind her prince and beloved.
  
• "Seeing Xavier like this, I pitied him." ooooooh boy. "I no longer regretted asking. I could only feel indignation for what he's suffered through."  you go, girfriend. offer to beat up this person who left him high and dry and who is maybe doing the pretend amnesia thing for attention or maybe trying to angle for support money(s) since everybody knows the prince is a soft touch.
  
• "Xavier, I need to tell you something." I grit my teeth and decide to be honest. "You... should give up on her!" 
  
• /facepalm
  
• this is fantastic. i need another tub of popcorn, i think i've aged a year in the last two minutes.
  
• "She doesn't even remember you... leave her and find your own happiness!"  (with me! oh, pick me! if you can just leave her shadow behind, I will burn as bright as I can for you, you only have to *look* and *see me*!)
  
• oh i am such a fool, no matter what time i'm in. I start listing off the other girls who like him in the Academy.
  
• "I see. Do you want me to pursue someone else? Chasing another skirt..."
  
• Xavier takes a step towards me.
  
• eeeeee
  
• "Is there anyone else you'd recommend?" 
  
• don't say Jeremiah, that is an entirely different otome game.
  
• lets see.. the dining hall staff... the young miss at the bakery...
  
• Xavier takes another step.
  
• "Is that it?" 
  
• oh god. the air is starting to sparkle with light.  /is entranced
  
• "Are they not enough?"
  
• I have no choice but to sit on the bed. Xavier leans down, his hand resting near me.
  
• "I don't like them." 
  
• "..It's no use then," I say sheepishly. "I heard Jeremiah say your betrothed had been selected... have you met her?"
  
• "I don't know." 
  
• "But Jeremiah also said... "  Xavier closes the distance between us. A breath away, our noses almost touching. 
  
• this close, she has GOT to pick up the wavelength, right? right?!
  
• "Do you fancy Jeremiah?"   GOOD QUESTION. he's all we seem to talk about, other than listing off every other girl for Xavier. "You always speak highly of him. If he's your suitor, I'll pay him a visit before I leave." 
  
• "For what reason?"  bless my heart I am so dumb.
  
• "He and I should have a discussion."   does it involve threats and possibly a busted hand? muahahh! it doesn't seem like he wants afternoon tea, but a duel. i try to hold Xavier back. 
  
• "Don't you dare! I asked him to inform me of the rumors."  "You are concerned about him."  yeah, Xavier! i don't want my buddy Jeremiah to have a broken leg and possibly a chick-magnet scar on his face just because he kept me abreast of the gossip, since you weren't filling me in yourself.
  
• "He's not a bad person. He's foolish and always needs my help. Of course I'd  be concerned if..."
  
• "So you fancy fools who request your aid."  wow. that was some.. that was some inflection, Mr Xavier VA. wow.
  
• Xavier sits on the bed next to me and takes off his brooch. (that is a really fancy brooch by the way, i've been admiring it the whole time. it looks like its carved out of a single amethyst or something.)
  
• "Put this on for me?"
  
• "You were wearing it seconds ago...?"  i guess madness can run in royal families. don't question girlfriend, just accept and pin it back onto him.  ah, he wants it to be straight and he doesn't think he's capable of ensuring it.
  
• "I need your assistance." a fool in need of aid, it appears.
  
• so. so clueless. i can just imagine us sticking the very tiniest tip of our tongue out as we concentrate on achieving maximum horizontalness.
  
• "What if your betrothed dislikes your inability to wear your own brooch?"
  
• "She could be as much a fool as I am, and just as incapable."  i manage to prick myself on the clasp as I wrestle with the thing. "She could even prick her finger in the attempt." he holds my hand in his white glove. "Why are injuries and you always a pair?"
  
• hey, this is a honed skill, thank you very much. 
  
• the bleeding stops and i take my hand back. i stand up and pretend nothing happened. "The palace halls are too troublesome. I'm better off as a knight. In a few days, you'll officially be the crown prince. And eventually, King. I have to work hard. If I join the Lightseekers next month, I'll be a true knight. I will protect you."
  
• didn't... didn't you hear him say he won't be king? that he's going to tell his father so? that he wants to take you away, if you'll go with him?
  
•  "Is that so? Are you sending me a gift if I take the throne?"
  
• I think and then ask... "Can I also give you a little star?"
  
• oh my GOD.
  
• no, i can't buy him one to replace the one that got dinged up during our duel yesterday, he wants it handmade.
  
• and now he stands, and has to go. i help him get into his cape.
  
• Xavier stands at the door and looks back, his silhouette basking in the soft afternoon light. I meet his gaze and it dawns on me that his person, the Prince of Philos and future crown prince.. he would be the one I would swear to protect. Forever.
  
• ... do i have elastic memory? do i just wipe out the things i don't want to hear or something? 
  
• He always smiles when he leaves.
  
• "When will you return?"
  
• "When you wish to see me."
  

[Coldsaturn]

Let it be known that this is possibly the dumbest MC has ever been between myths and main story and cards. Bless her heart, there's not a single thought going between her eyes.

- Wanderers make nests?
Put a little pin on it. Meaning that this isn't important info, but it is worldbuilding lore and will be further explored in World Underneath.

- a newborn planet he found on his last expedition. a planet of only flowers.
And what's that place the anomaly birthed in the wedding/proposal card?

- what, Philos is the creative source of.. the universe?
Let me introduce you to the biggest translation mistake of the Eng team that has yet to be corrected, for some unknown reason. Philos is a galaxy, not just the single planet. The galaxy is dying, so new planets sprouting in the galaxy is a surprising notion. The specific planet we're living on bears its name, but Xavier is the prince of the galaxy, not just of the ball in space we're inhabiting.

[ChicletPrime]

The specific planet we're living on bears its name, but Xavier is the prince of the galaxy, not just of the ball in space we're inhabiting.

What. The Fuck.

[Coldsaturn]

Or at least, that's what we think is implied. We're not being introduced to other planets in the Philos galaxy that have life, whereas Philosians engage in interstellar travel without problems. When we're told Xavier is the Prince of Philos, fans take it to mean Philos the Galaxy, not just Philos the artificially resurrected ball in space.

[ChicletPrime]

Chapter 5?

• aaaand it all goes wrong. i knew it!  Xavier never comes back, the ceremony to name him crown prince is never held and he doesn't return to the Academy. nobody will talk about it and her teacher refuses as well. a month later she passes her exam and joins the Lightseekers - "walking the path my teacher told me to follow."
  
• king dies (goodbye) and there's a 200 year mourning period. wow. they REALLY stretch out everything, don't they? aaaand with such a long time span, nobody really cares after awhile if the throne is vacant.  i guess mom's out of the picture? no queen?  and in all the time, nobody speaks of the ceremony that would have been for the crown prince.
  
• where the fuck did Xavier go? did they throw him into an oubliette? nobody went LOOKING for him? Jeremiah, what the fuck. Girlfriend also, what the fuck? you both just... never tried to figure out where your friend went? 
  
• and girlfriend continues on with her goal of Grandis Knight, for royalty that.. doesn't exist anymore? 
  
• ah, okay. the Lightseeker order weakens and the various squads scatter over Philos, becoming insular and no longer speaking to each other without an overarching authority to report to.
  
• girlfriend just keeps continuing in order to continue. 
  
• she's still holding onto the idea that if Xavier just come back or turns up one day, and decides suddenly to be King, then.... she'll be the one at his side.
  
• i will pause here and say that i really like the bones of this myth a ton and Xavier's part in it is has been superb but i am really very annoyed with the girlfriend; she is not playing into the mythos well at all and i'm not finding it easy to excuse or justify her actions. she keeps clinging to a world-view that does not exist even as she keeps pretending it does, that if maybe she just believes hard enough at it, it'll somehow work out. some magic way some magic how. and nobody looks for Xavier while he's busy scratching a count of decades on his cell wall. or he's escaped or been sent off onto a very long ranging expedition, same thing.
  
• then: YEARS LATER
  
• so busy being a badass in charge of my elite squad, fighting Wanderers in a protracted series of battles over many days in Starfall Forest.  with JEREMIAH! well. this fanfiction writes itself at this point. 
  
• no one has "made it out alive" from the Forest, so I guess we're fighting on its outskirts?  "I doubt we can take down the beast," says our bestie.
  
• hey, Jeremiah at least mentions that the Gladius ceremony took place here.  
  
• "I wonder what happened to Xavier, but I won't sacrifice everyone for that curiosity."
  
• something is really wrong here. i am not sure if its because of the writing or what, but I am REALLY having a hard time swallowing that girlie and bestie did nothing for 200 years and just continued on with their Knight plans as if their prince was a speedbump along the way, easily trampled over. as a fairytale, this has unravelling seams.
  
• okay, so reminiscing while we figure out our next attack plan, we find out that our teacher (Grandis Knight Guy) took off on an expedition to the starry sea after His Majesty died. maybe Xavier went with in a space oubliette. Jeremiah seems to blame Xavier for the knighthood falling apart, for messing up his ascension ceremony i guess, so they had no one to follow.
  
• Everybody finally goes to sleep (again, presumed on the edge of the forest) but i stay awake, only to spot a glowing white figure under the trees before it walks away after meeting my gaze.
  
• Nooooo, i think to myself. It can't be!
  
• Like the fool I have consistently shown myself to be, I charge into the people-eating forest to catch what I am sure is Xavier who keep moving ahead of me. i can't reach the guy somehow.
  
• ah. "In the depths of my heart I knew it might just an illusion..."  at least that's something. you didn't even leave a note back at camp! all your people who are relying on you are going to wake up and find you vanished. 
  
• I blink and.. the figure is gone.
  
• you fool.  (I am so channeling Gandalf here, apparently)
  
• what hey? "The forest also vanished. I was in the center of a galaxy, its expanse unending." but.. but the background still shows a forest? I start to fall into the waves of stardust. weightless, i fall down into the nebulae.
  
• "Embraced in darkness. Time and space dissolved into nothingness. Whether I opened my eyes or not, it mattered not. The line between life and death blurred. Did I... die? Death was so quiet, weightless. I'm a feather floating in the starry sea. I don't need to be afraid of dying. Still, my only regret was... I wasn't able to see Xavier one more time."
  
• huh. double huh. did the Forest suck me in with the shape of what I wanted most, ate me and then spit me into death? 
  
• ??? "It's you, isn't it?"  hiiii Xavier's voice actor! 
  
• "That voice, it sounds familiar." 
  
• look, the only time that "familiar voice" has worked on me as a person was in Endwalker in FFXIV when I heard a voice that I somehow was not expecting in that moment (although in hindsight how did i miss it?!) and promptly burst into real tears, clapping my hands over my mouth. i can recognize voices on my own, you know game. you don't have to spell it out for me. 
  
• ???: "Answer me! Where are you?"
  
• A blinding white light pierces my dream of death. Like watching the universe be created, light split the darkness and swirled. From light everlasting, the world unfolded.  (NICE!)
  
• Xavier: "Don't fall asleep! Please, wake up!"  no background at all, just white. "You can't fall asleep. Let's go home. Together."
  
• i am somehow reminded of when he falls asleep in the café, and he murmurs "let's go home... $nickname."
  
• what the heck?!
  
• Xavier returns, he's a Lightseeker and he takes me to his base camp on the OTHER side of the Forest. "He was always nearby when I was whenever I was in danger."
  
• okay, maybe THAT's what's rubbing me so wrong on this myth. This is (obviously) older content and the writing is all over the place. but this kind of exposition is unpleasant. just this stating of factual knowledge that is not supported in any other text and is not grounded in any way to anything. HOW did I know Xavier was always nearby? He was gone for 200 years, nobody knew where the hell he was, that was specifically stated at least two or three times. If you were in danger (as you must have been many times over your career as Lightseeker), then you should have seen Xavier wayyy before this, instead of being surprised now. 
  
• "Strictly speaking, Xaiver's squad was not official." so... somebody knew he was out there running a ragtag fleet of.. anyways. looks like everybody in his group is using different insignia, so he's collected these guys from different Lightseeker factions.
  
• oookay, now Jeremiah is here. which means my personal squad must also be here. on the other side of the Forest somehow. that nobody has returned from in months. who i left sleeping while i wandered off chasing a wisp.  i get this must be some sort of unannounced time skip, but jeez.
  
• so Xavier's been spending his time investigating the Forest itself. Wanderers slain, only to be reborn. He wants to attack the problem at its source. so. the pool? 
  
• we get the low down in a debriefing from Xavier, who speaks in a monotone. he seems himself but... not. 
  
• we talk a little afterwards, he gives me some water. "Over the years, I could have fallen in love with someone," i say. "Good," he replies.
  
• "Aren't you going to ask who it is?"  "It matters not. I'm happy for you. Having someone in your heart gives you hope to press on."
  
• I check his sword hilt and yup, star charm still attached, faded but there.  
  
• "You cherish that tassel," she says, unjealously, just commenting. "I do," he replies without any inflection at all.
  
• "Do you recall... " I start before I am immediately interrupted by Xavier directing my attention to their new spaceship.
  
• so time passes, Xavier is always busy. he never says why there was no ceremony when he returned to the palace, or how he joined the Lightseekers, or what he's been doing all this time, he just redirects the conversation away from those things. aaaand he avoids spending time with me. i am, in a word, suspicious. he has to be keeping something from me, right? 
  
• what are you, Harry Potter trying to figure out what Draco Malfoy is doing all the way across the castle? 
  
• so what do we do when we don't know something? you guessed it! we hit up bestie Jeremiah to find out.
  
• so i pretend to collapse for some reason, Jeremiah freaks out dramatically and when Xavier comes to find out what's wrong, we tell him that after the illusion, my "condition" has only "worsened". my condition being snoopiness?
  
• "Does it involve her heart?"
  
• oh Xavier, you are the BEST.  please give up on this MC and find a better one, this one is probably defective because she's being written by an inexperienced team. 
  
• Jeremiah hams it up, which is fantastic. Xavier just... picks me up in his arms?  /awright! FINALLY!
  
• on his headset thingie: "Are you still on the spaceship? I need to borrow it. Put Operation Backtrack on hold for now. Yes, at this very moment." 
  
• FINALLY. again. so the various faction people he's recruited into his ragtag bunch are what will be the Backtrackers. goddamn it, what was the name of the guy that was his greatest supporter, that eventually defected to EVER? hopefully he's mentioned by name in this. Isaac? Isayah? 
  
• I try and stop this plan from running even more wild. This was not my intention! I get out of his arms and prove that I'm in decent working order, no heart problems.
  
• "You lied to me?" 
  
• Terribly, yes, but in my defense, you did fall for it.
  
• "What did you discover? Does it affect someone's heart?"  
  
• He looks at where the white figure had been. (how did he know where the white figure had been??). "This doesn't concern just a person's heart. This concerns the entire planet. We found out the secret that Philos has been hiding."
  

And this has to be a chapter break!

[Coldsaturn]

"she says, unjealously"
Made me burst out laughing. Instantly added to my dictionary.

And yes, this myth is kinda painful to follow in terms of writing. It has important info that needs to be learned for lore reasons, but the whole execution and the tropes in it are...not exactly peak content. Even just the fake conflict around him speaking of MC without MC understanding that he's speaking about her. Every single misunderstanding and conflict revolves around MC being stupid. And she is.
To be completely honest, I can't even really feel the romantic development between them. Xavier yes, he's consistent with himself and this is where he starts plotting the Backtrackers so he gets busy soon. He has very present feelings for her but he's not going to waste time chit-chatting when there's a clock ticking above them. But MC doesn't look, sound, nor feel bound-by-fate in love with Xav. She likes him as a close friend, he's very mysterious, she's a bit starry eyed because he's supposed to become King and she's supposed to be his knight, but she literally has more chemistry and development with Jeremiah, who she spends 200 uninterrupted years with.
IDK. Definitely a writing team problem.

---

Oh! Forgot to add something to a comment you made: wouldn't you say Jeremiah's voice and Caleb's voice sound very much alike?
I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out it's the same VA.

[ChicletPrime]

Oh! Forgot to add something to a comment you made: wouldn't you say Jeremiah's voice and Caleb's voice sound very much alike?
I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out it's the same VA.

eh, you think? i didn't hear a resemblance but when it comes up again i'll pay more attention. i just noted (to myself and then eventually you) that the VA on Jeremiah was definitely an actual VA and not an office intern pressed into service, the quality of the delivery was heads and shoulders above most other side characters. the only other one i can think of quickly that also gave a good account of themselves was Viper. 

and i don't mean to bitch too much about the writing quality here, but yeah, you are picking up what i am putting down it seems. i can hear Xavier being frustrated, as he should be, and having misunderstandings over each other for a solid 70% of the play is how it's supposed to go, but MC just.. isn't a girlfriend in this one. at all. she's just there taking up protagonist space as she flings exposition around willy nilly. 

i've hit about four scenes already that i just want to re-write, if only to satisfy myself with a better canon version. not even to explore a new idea or anything, just to zip tie the real thing together better, yanno? smush those rough edges together until they smooth out under pressure.

i really do want to write something for Jeremiah. toss that on the pile for December.

[Coldsaturn]

There are actually two characters who sound like Caleb in game: Jeremiah, and then the guy Raf does the shady deal with in the Nest. It wouldn't surprise me because Caleb's VA had to wait a while between his first appearance and then his official comeback, and it makes sense to still use him elsewhere. There are other VAs that do multiple NPCs, although not the main cast.

Try listening here at 7:52 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsRemY5qheQ, without any visual cue making you think of one character or another. I'd be lying if I said I didn't immediately picture Caleb in my head.

[ChicletPrime]

yeah. if you'd clipped that and asked who was talking, i would have said Caleb. the cadence, particularly on the second line, is straight from the pilot's handbook.

Chapter 6 (but who's counting)

• recap: this could be the truth or maybe Xavier's on glue, but the center of Starfall Forest and the unstable protofield is the hollow heart of Philos. made by mortal hands and empty, the energy long since exhausted, it uses its immortal people as the source for that energy, eating them.
  
• awww! poor starving planet! a ravenous maw that just wants to survive. the poor thing.
  
• Wanderers were the side effect born from the abnormal phenomenon.  This is what Xavier found out during his Gladius ceremony.
  
• okay, skip back 200 years to just after the Gladius Ceremony. the prince returns from the Forest, bearing his newly earned lightblade and the (a?) Wanderer's protocore.
  
• hah! the King of Philos is so unimportant that he doesn't even have a name, he's just "King".
  
• Xavier presents the protocore and asks if it shouldn't be inspected. his dad waives it off, saying the lightblade is enough. 
  
• Xavier: "Is there no need for formalities? Or are you unwilling?"   ... that's an interesting line. "A heart was once in this protocore. Am I mistaken?"
  
• he puts the red protocore in his father's hand and makes sure he has it tightly grasped. "In another eon, this heart beat only for you." 
  
• OMG THE HERETOFORE UNMENTIONED QUEEN?!
  
• "No matter her likeness, this heart belongs to you and you alone."
  
• he... he killed his mom/Wanderer?!
  
• "Xavier, listen to me. A king cannot act on his emotions or only protect the people he holds dear. Your duty is to protect Philos. You must only do what is necessary."
  
• and now we're back to "present day" in the Forest with X and the Backtracker Guys
  
• Xavier: "Civilians and knights weren't the only ones swallowed by this gaping maw. In exchange for planet's longevity, occasionally the royal family sent in humans."  
  
• this implies that the "civilians" and "knights" weren't human. 
  
• "Wanderers would be born as a result."  dun dun dun "The Order of the Lightseekers has always kept the truth in the shadows. For the royal family's sake, no one was to be told of people becoming food. Upon my return to the palace, I learned they stopped sending people to Philos' heart."
  
• /insert Soylent Green is people! joke here.
  
• "Isn't that a good thing?" I hesitantly offer. oh, you sweet summer child.
  
• "... they found the perfect sacrifice. She can die and be reborn without end. In their eyes, she was the planet's very life force. For only she had achieved true immortality. The royal family believed if they sent her into the planet's heart when the time is right, their problems would be solved. No one asked how she felt or if she was willing to sacrifice herself. They also care little about her being left in a hole to die and be reborn again and again. Her duty was to save Philos because her existence works in such a manner."
  
• "How could I wear the crown when it means coating my hands in her blood."
  
• i .. i don't think i have any questions here but i can feel a little frown between my eyes. 
  
• more exposition: Xavier never talks about it again, the "backtracking" expedition gets closer to launching, Jeremiah throws in with Xavier.
  
• now we're in "Silvercord".  capital city? ah no, closest town to the Backtracker's camp. There's a festival every six months and they're going to buy supplies.
  
• noted:  likely due to the unstable protofield nearby, everybody in town grows strange and beautiful plants.
  
• "I figured you'd leave His Majesty behind like all the other nobles, but you're leaving Philos."
  
• awwkward english? like, i thought you'd leave behind just the concept of the throne itself, but instead you're physically going as well just to make it a super permanent decision? 
  
• "Our trip is an experiment through time and space. Nothing is being left behind. If we are to save Philos, we cannot do it in this era."  whyyyyyy.  "We selected a specific coordinate in the space time continuum. The short test trips yielded fruitful results." 
  
• awww. the kids in the town call him "Xayxay". and he feeds them candy usually it seems.
  
• and since he didn't have candy this time (because i guess his brain is stuck on trying to figure how many changes of underwear to pack) he hands off his shiny brooch instead, that identifies him as royalty.
  
• query Xavier:  what do we do about the Wanderers then? with no King for 200 years and apparently never going to be a King again and the Order scattered to the winds, what are we going to do? 
  
• "I'm not the only person who could sit on the throne." 
  
• "Do you remember... you said you wouldn't let me be another's knight or let me stand by somebody else's side." oh, NOW you remember that. you are much, much too late to find an answer to that. Xavier infers that he was being childish at the time. nice. so you too are backtracking on the "too many feelings" front. 
  
• "What about her? Have you given up?" 
  
• "I cannot. She's my purpose, my guiding starlight." 
  
• okay, next time i'm in game, i need to change my nickname.
  
• /headdesk. oh wow.
  
• "The person who can die and be reborn. It's her, isn't it?"
  
• (i will not call myself dumb, i will not call myself dumb, i am doing the best i can here)
  
• it was all for her. she influenced his entire life and every choice he made.  (awww. lookit me, being a force for upheaval and chaos, leaving entire lives shattered in my wake through the overwhelming force of my innocent cluelessness.) giving up someone you love for the planet, or saving the planet for the one you love, which was more noble? or more heartbreaking?
  
• uh... don't BOTH of those things mean the same thing? i guess if i squint....
  
• we now understand why Xavier has to leave to do this thing but she can't leave Philos, there are too many people there who also need saving. she will stay behind and protect everything.
  
• aaaaaand....what happens then the planet needs a midnight snack? 
  
• apparently a bard's been singing in the background this entire time. "in these final days, the universe nearing its demise, the noblest king shall be born in the darkness. as the true Savior of Philos, he shall lead us unto the light, unto true immortality."  death, neverending? life, unparalleled?
  
• Xavier, turning to the bard: "The king in the legend, who leads Philos into an age of light and immortality, the wearer of the crown will instead be Queen." ... "Under her, the scattered Lightseekers will band together and find true glory." and the bard nods and trundles off to compose a new masterwork.
  
• aaaand the new song sweeps across the land of the legend of Philos' Queen. after 200 years of silence, the planet would finally greet the light of a new hope.
  
• Xavier: "The spaceship will depart tomorrow." I take off my badge of knighthood (star-shaped) and give it to him (hey! he wanted 'homemade'! you cheater. where's the macaroni and the glitter?)
  
• "Is this the little star Your Majesty promised me years ago? ... Allow me to divulge a secret."
  
• Xayxay, on the eve of your complete disappearance from this timeline, what the heck are you doing rocking this boat?
  
• "Only one person has given me a little star."
  
• I am unsure what Xavier meant.  "I'll return to the capital now." 
  
• /stares at ceiling.   where's my coffee? i need some hydration. 
  
• "Lightseeker recruitment will start again. Your Majesty should visit the current candidates."
  
• "When will you return?"
  
• /immediately scrambles for the roulette table and puts all her tokens down on "When you need me."
  
• /spins the wheel
  
• /loses everything! /is tossed out onto the street, destitute
  
• "When that song becomes a reality. When we meet again, I shall be Your Majesty's knight."
  
• so i get crowned and Xavier won't stand beside me. hang on, he literallly said "the spaceship will depart tomorrow" but he's.. snubbing me at my coronation? 
  
• Xavier and his Backtrackers have long since left the Lightseekers. They are regarded as traitors.
  
• how. how are they traitors. 
  
• and now we're back in, i guess, the throne room. "The goal of the Backtrackers isn't what you told me those years ago, is it?"  and i notice that the charm on his sword is now my badge, not the original star charm. I don't know what made him replace it but there's no point in asking.
  
• ...
  
• "Our teacher said wherever a ruler points, a knight's sword must follow." he kisses my hand, his gaze unfathomable. "May Philos prosper under eternity's divine gaze."
  
• and Xavier's gone.
  
• I remember the night he brought me out of the Forest. His lightblade tore through the darkness, illuminating my world like a shooting star - reality amidst illusion, my star."
  
  

okay, i guess i do have a bunch of things going on in my head. 

people are called or tricked or trapped or fed to the pool which kills them and eats their lifeforce to sustain the very planet itself (fragmented and broken as it is). knew this, it was the crux of Voyage of the Outcast. this doesn't explain how or why "she" has suddenly appeared as if in answer to the royal family's very prayers. prior to "her", it sound like they just kept jamming anybody who was unnecessary into the maw, with some sort of distinction between who got to die and who got to live. or even anybody that DIDN'T have the conferred longevity was automatically fodder food. 

the Order of the Lightseekers seems to be involved in this, at least to the point where they keep the secret from leaking out. maybe they escort the doomed to the Forest or something and then patrol to make sure the resulting Wanderers don't head out into the local populace and decimate people before their time to be dinner.

because those that die in the Pool, who give their life force to it, are reborn as Wanderers which, when killed in turn, yield up pure energy which is how Linkon lives in an age of plenty. but Xavier says the protocore contained "a heart" (implication it doesn't any more?). so what is the planet eating, exactly, if energy is what is spit back out? 

did she.. did she just appear one day? born or arrived and dying even as she lives? i know, i know, get to Death & Rebirth already but STILL. 

Xavier met her, fell in love, took on a control collar as the price to try and save her, a red protocore clutched in his hand (who's heart did he have?) -- but it was too late and she died. then... she reappears again, no worse for wear and remembering nothing. he's older in the way an immortal is and this time he goes to the Forest to earn his right to the crown and he emerges with blade and heart-core, only to forswear his blood because now he knows precisely what's going on

so in her first death with him, he didn't know. but in this second life, he figured it out in the Forest. and he categorically refuses to tell her in this lifetime and in fact distances himself from her, as if the only version of her that he wants to interact with is the one already gone. and no mention of the exact purpose of the Backtrackers or how they will 'fix' Philos in the past. there is no mention of whether this is Traceback I or II, although I have to kind of assume its the first mission, because he makes no mention at all of it being the second.

are I and II then repeats of each other? the same ship, the same crew, split due to "target anchor lost" so they arrive at two different times? is the leader of EVER a corrupted version of Xavier?! ... oooooh.