Ouroboros and Shadow Shards
By
Dante,
Posted on: 2008-07-09 15:32 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
PPS - Both the shards and Ouroboros also seem to like their waterfalls - again just aesthetics or something more?
And if there is a connection: Are the shards the war-torn, half-destroyed version? To me: it's always felt somewhat like an asteroid field or a floating field of debris.
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The shards are too big for it to be after-ouro. Unless it collides with something, heh.
As for the waterfalls, Eden has them too - I guess they're just easy to do and look nice. (Is it explained why the Shard falls are red?)
Interesting theories, anyway 
How can you forget the Storm Palace?
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The shards are too big for it to be after-ouro.
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Isn't the time of Ouroboros uncertain? Ouroboros may be outside of the time of the rest of the game - as may the shards come to think of it. And what value are we taking for Hubble's constant... 
Something else occurred to me:
* Do we know what the crystals/pillars of fire and ice really are? WHether they are magical/technological etc..?
* Isn't the being in the Chantry encased in ice (or similar) at one point? (Trying not to be more specific so as not to spoil...) This would mean that both the Ouroboros Citadel and the Chantry are seen with giant crystal structures at their centres...
I started this thread just being curious if the similarity of zone design had been questioned before... I'm beginning to convince myself that there might actually be something in this. Bet the Zapruder footage makes it all clear.
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
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You can see the moon in Ouroboros - not sure if you can in the Shadow Shards.
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
Shadow shard couldv been in the past an alternative dimension version of ouroboros which has been taken over obviously
If you want to go by that theory then also you could say that they are now trying to spread through into our world via the crystals since requim is physically trapped within that realm. However is he trapped via time too?
There are so many questions that are linking the two zones together (btw i think everybody presumes the shards are going to have a revamp now).
Whos the man in the crystal leaving you letters?
Why is Mender silos helping us when he is a villain in our PRESENT time?
What is the purpose of the shivan/nicti? Are they just tools of a greater force or are their powers somehow linked across dimensions?
What has brought the coming storm to our planet? Is there some sort of mystical power (energy source?) that they are after? If so couldnt that be the well of the furies? (which would open the door to incarnates - hinted at in latest issue)
Personally i think the shadow shard is going to be STRONGLY linked with ouroboros, whether we fight a common enemy in the past or future is yet to be seen though.
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I'm sure the main reason the Devs used bits of Shadow Shard terrain tilesets for Ouroborous is the same reason they used it for outside Pocket D - because it was the easiest way to show you're in another dimension with the minimum amount of extra artist time required.
I wouldn't speculate too much beyond that, tbh - for starters we don't know enough about Pocket D or Ouroborous from in-game lore - or about the Shadow Shard for that matter.
let's also consider that the game grows organically with lots of player input. I'm not even sure the Devs would have thought of half the elements that have been introduced into the game since it went live when they first began working on it.
Thelonious Monk
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I'm sure the main reason the Devs used bits of Shadow Shard terrain tilesets for Ouroborous is the same reason they used it for outside Pocket D - because it was the easiest way to show you're in another dimension with the minimum amount of extra artist time required.
I wouldn't speculate too much beyond that, tbh - for starters we don't know enough about Pocket D or Ouroborous from in-game lore - or about the Shadow Shard for that matter.
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^this^
I really should do something about this signature.
Hmmm
good speculation people. I certainly agree that using the same tileset saves on developer time.
As far as I can remember (although I cant find confirmation of this) Pocket D is an abbreviation of Pocket Dimension, a small hideaway, kept separate from the universe by big dimensional engines (go figure). So DJ Zero sets up this crossroads for travellers that can be accessed by various portals around the world which means that virtually anyone can visit the club.
Now, if I was Mender Silos, and looking to set up an organisation that existed outside of the timestream, a similar set up would be quite appealing. Itd probably be impossible to create a base outside of time so a pocket dimension would do just as well.
As for the Pillars of Ice and Flame
Theres a quote somewhere (dont ask me where, I cant recall right now) that says that if you show technology to a primitive culture, theyll regard it as being magic. I think the reason for the Pillars appearance is a reference to this idea, that although they are machines, we are too primitive right now to understand it so it appears as magic to us. Either that or sometime in the future, the disciplines of magic and science are reunited (the Midnighter arc seems to suggest this).
And Silos? Well
havent you looked back over your life and regretted some of your choices? Maybe someone or something made him change his mind? 
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
Simple explanation...
DJ Zero is Mender Silos
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
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*sigh*
When will you guys learn, it's all hami's doing.
Now that isn't fighting heroes as much as he used too he has a lot of spare time left.
In the end it's all his plot, you'll see
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As for the Pillars of Ice and Flame
Theres a quote somewhere (dont ask me where, I cant recall right now) that says that if you show technology to a primitive culture, theyll regard it as being magic.
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Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Clarks third Law.
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Other servers too.
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As for the Pillars of Ice and Flame
Theres a quote somewhere (dont ask me where, I cant recall right now) that says that if you show technology to a primitive culture, theyll regard it as being magic.
[/ QUOTE ]
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Clarks third Law.
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Clarke's, surely?
"Idealism is such a wonderful thing. All you really need is someone rational to put it to proper use." - Kerr Avon
Myopic Aardvark on Twitter
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Now, if I was Mender Silos, and looking to set up an organisation that existed outside of the timestream, a similar set up would be quite appealing. Itd probably be impossible to create a base outside of time so a pocket dimension would do just as well.
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Um, comic book science? Comic book science in a computer game?
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As for the Pillars of Ice and Flame
Theres a quote somewhere (dont ask me where, I cant recall right now) that says that if you show technology to a primitive culture, theyll regard it as being magic.
[/ QUOTE ]
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Clarks third Law.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well aware of the quote. But it still doesn't discount the possibility of a true non-technological magic existing... in comic-land anyway.
So the question of whether or not the crystals have a technological foundation can still remain.
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)
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I'm sure the main reason the Devs used bits of Shadow Shard terrain tilesets for Ouroborous is the same reason they used it for outside Pocket D - because it was the easiest way to show you're in another dimension with the minimum amount of extra artist time required.
I wouldn't speculate too much beyond that, tbh - for starters we don't know enough about Pocket D or Ouroborous from in-game lore - or about the Shadow Shard for that matter.
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^this^
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All fine - but I never saw the tileset being questioned.
Whatever tileset is used it is possibly less significant than other common factors, e.g. the roughly hexagonal design.
As far as I can see, showing that we're in another dimension by taking an existing zone fragment and making the sky lime green would have been a lot easier than designing a new zone using a particular tileset.
PS - When we have little or no real facts is the perfect time to speculate... if we already have the answers then there remains no room for speculation.
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)
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Now, if I was Mender Silos, and looking to set up an organisation that existed outside of the timestream, a similar set up would be quite appealing. Itd probably be impossible to create a base outside of time so a pocket dimension would do just as well.
[/ QUOTE ]
Um, comic book science? Comic book science in a computer game?
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Ok, you got me there.
Black Dwaves live on Pulsars etc... 
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
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Is it explained why the Shard falls are red?
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It's that red juice you get on ice creams! It tastes of psudoraspberry.
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Simple explanation...
DJ Zero is Mender Silos
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Well, his hair is kinda spkiey...
@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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As for the Pillars of Ice and Flame
Theres a quote somewhere (dont ask me where, I cant recall right now) that says that if you show technology to a primitive culture, theyll regard it as being magic.
[/ QUOTE ]
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Clarks third Law.
[/ QUOTE ]
Clarke's, surely?
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The reverse is also true. "Any sufficiently advanced form of magic is indistinguishable from technology."
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
...and isn't that quote (although I haven't come across it in-game yet myself) from Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor in Superman Returns when he is talking to Kitty about the crystal technology.
The quote directly from Clarkes third Law? or how it is written, from the said film?.
I'd say it's the quote from the front of the 2001 series.
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May be spoilers if you're very, very new to the game
or just waking up from a year-long coma...
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So I haven't seen this mused upon before - so it's probably nothing - but is it just coincidence that Ouroboros bears quite a resemblance to the Chantry.
In so much as:
* Both seem to be made up of rocks floating in a void (obviously)
* Both have a central, obviously-artificial structure (the mender's citadel and the Chantry itself) surrounded by 6 floating islands.
It's this repetition of 6 floating rocks around a central artificial structure that gets me... it seems a little unlikely to be accidental unless it happens that a roughly hexagonal layout is particularly subconciously pleasing...
Ok - The Chantry seems a lot bigger than Ouroboros... but I blame Hubble's constant or something. Maybe those pesky midnighters...
Am I having a slight neural blip or do they look cunningly similar?
PS - I reckon that the shadow shards are going to see some love/attention at some point (they're a massively underused resource, easier to use them than write off the design investment) and them thar menders have this idea about coming storms and seeing some I13+ action...
PPS - Only just considering that the Coming Storm has any connection to the storm elementals and Storm Palace. WOuld seem too obvious a connection, but you never know. That's probably been looked at by someone, but my search-fu is weaker than my wil to play a little... ho hum
By my mohawk shall ye know me!
my toons
Funny: Ee-Ai-Ee-Ai-Oh! #3662 * The foul-mouthed Handyman! #1076 * City of Norms #132944
Serious: To Save A Single World (#83744) * Marketing Opportunity (#83747)