The History of the Constant

[DaZoul]

I have decided to put my take on the lore analyzing bit, and write down everything that we know for sure.

 

The History of The Constant

 

Chapter 1: Prologue

There was once a civilization of bug-like creatures, known today as the Ancients. These people lived happily on the surface of The Constant, until they did not. For Winter came, the harvests were exceptionally bad, and their food supplies began to plunder. So, they fled to the underground, and built a kingdom. There they discovered an Ancient Gateway, which gave their leaders the power of the Dark, and the power of the Light.

 

Chapter 2: The Fall of The Ancients

With the power of the Dark, the King could give his people everything they wished for. Food, riches, technology, and skeletal guardians. With the power of the Light, however, the Queen couldn’t do anything for her people. She was useless. But one day, they used too much Darkness, and suddenly, mysterious entities known as Them started creeping through the Gateway, killing many and corrupting others. With the Light, the Queen could fight back against the Dark, but eventually, she too became corrupted. And the King, being the last of his kind, having no other choice, sat on the Nightmare Throne. This tethered him to the Throne, but with its power, he could seal the Gateway, thus stopping Them from coming over to The Constant. There he sat for eternity. Or, until he didn’t.

 

Chapter 3: A New Reign

There was a man named William Carter. He came to America full of hopes and dreams, with the plan of becoming a stage magician. Sadly, this plan did not work out. His life changed, however, when he came upon an ancient tome, the Codex Umbra. With this, he could preform actual shadow magic. His old self was dead, he was now known as The Amazing Maxwell. He was popular, everything was going well, but as he dwelt deeper and deeper into the tome, he began to slowly lose his mind. On the night of his final act, he messed up, and he, and his stage assistant Charlie were pulled into the world of The Constant. There, he took the place of the King on the Nightmare Throne. The whispers of Them eventually manipulated him into trapping other people in this world, who are known as the Survivors. Such a survivor was a man, named Wilson Percival Higgsbury. This man defeated the challenges of The Constant, reached Maxwell and the Throne, and took his place upon it. But he wouldn’t sit there for long, as Charlie emerged from the darkness. She was corrupted by the essence of the Queen, and she was here to take the Throne from Wilson, and claim its power. The Survivors eventually got their hands on the Ancient King's sould, locked inside a dark heart. They fought the Ancient Fuelweaver, the King's soul in the remains of a Skeletal Guardian, and thus, they destabilized the Gateway. We don’t know how, or when, but one thing is clear: They are coming. It cannot be stopped.

 

Chapter 4: The Return of Them

When They first started to come to The Constant, the King was able to stop them. But now, Charlie, the current Nightmare Queen is under the influence of Them. Someone has to interfere, or we are all doomed. That someone was the Moon. The Embodiment of Light, and the rival of Them, has sent a piece of itself down onto The Constant, and with it, its influence. Its influence first covered the forest, but then creeped deep into the caves as well. It infested the Blue Mushtree Forest, while uncovering a forgotten part of Ancient history: Before the Fuel, The Ancients worshipped the Moon... The Survivors eventually managed to build all three Celestial Obelisks: The Celestial Altar, The Celestial Sanctum, and the Celestial Tribute. With the power of these three buildings, a Mysterious Energy appeared...

[viberr]

but what about the TIMELESS POTATO CUP?

[sinisterrkid]

That was fantastic! I would just add some tidbits:

Charlie is a very ambivalent Queen on the throne, and seems to struggle between the corruption of the nightmare fuel and her old kind self.

1 hour ago, DaZoul said:

When They first started to come to The Constant, the King was able to stop them. But now, Charlie, the current Nightmare Queen is under the influence of Them.

I think this sentence ignores that it was the survivors who really destabilized the seal. Y'know, going down to the ruins, killing the Ancient Guardian, stealing the key, opening the portal, fighting Old Man Weaver...

I always saw both Charlie and Maxwell as these characters who have parts of them that crave the fuel, and parts of them that want to keep it at bay. In my head-cannon the whole "splitting your mind" concept is very central to the plot, and whoever sits on the throne may end up taking very contradictory actions as they fight off or are taken by the influence of the fuel. And there could really be parts of the self that split off and go rogue.

The sinkholes to the caves were plugged while Maxwell was on the throne, for instance. ["I plugged it a long time ago."]

It could be that this was to prevent survivors from going in and fighting off the shadows, mining thulecite and so on, or it was to ward off what was inside. At the end of single player adventure mode Maxwell seems exhausted of sitting the throne and wants to be rescued, but at the same time it was his traps that almost prevent the player from getting to him. Either because those were old traps he could no longer deactivate, or because part of him fought to remain on the throne.

But in my view Maxwell and Charlie, however corrupted they were, still kept Them away at some length. Either out of fear or out of ambivalence. What really tipped the scale was the survivors acting of their own accord to waltz into the depths of the ruins and see what happens when you put this key here, fight that boss there, enter this shiny portal here....

 

54 minutes ago, stranger again said:

but what about the TIMELESS POTATO CUP?

And then there was a timeless potato cup.

[minespatch]

6 hours ago, DaZoul said:

With the power of the Dark, the King could give his people everything they wished for. Food, riches, technology, and skeletal guardians

[DaZoul]

7 hours ago, sinisterrkid said:

and seems to struggle between the corruption of the nightmare fuel and her old kind self.

Yea, I'm not quite sure about that. In the trailer, she seemed to have found peace with a mixture of kind, and we have not seen her struggle anywhere else, not in the New Reign launch trailer, not in the Forge trailer

7 hours ago, sinisterrkid said:

I think this sentence ignores that it was the survivors who really destabilized the seal. Y'know, going down to the ruins, killing the Ancient Guardian, stealing the key, opening the portal, fighting Old Man Weaver...

That is true, though, so Imma edit it in somewhere where it fits

[Articestone]

10 hours ago, DaZoul said:

I have decided to put my take on the lore analyzing bit, and write down everything that we know for sure.

 

The History of The Constant

 

Chapter 1: Prologue

There was once a civilization of bug-like creatures, known today as the Ancients. These people lived happily on the surface of The Constant, until they did not. For Winter came, the harvests were exceptionally bad, and their food supplies began to plunder. So, they fled to the underground, and built a kingdom. There they discovered an Ancient Gateway, which gave their leaders the power of the Dark, and the power of the Light.

 

Chapter 2: The Fall of The Ancients

With the power of the Dark, the King could give his people everything they wished for. Food, riches, technology, and skeletal guardians. With the power of the Light, however, the Queen couldn’t do anything for her people. She was useless. But one day, they used too much Darkness, and suddenly, mysterious entities known as Them started creeping through the Gateway, killing many and corrupting others. With the Light, the Queen could fight back against the Dark, but eventually, she too became corrupted. And the King, being the last of his kind, having no other choice, sat on the Nightmare Throne. This tethered him to the Throne, but with its power, he could seal the Gateway, thus stopping Them from coming over to The Constant. There he sat for eternity. Or, until he didn’t.

 

Chapter 3: A New Reign

There was a man named William Carter. He came to America full of hopes and dreams, with the plan of becoming a stage magician. Sadly, this plan did not work out. His life changed, however, when he came upon an ancient tome, the Codex Umbra. With this, he could preform actual shadow magic. His old self was dead, he was now known as The Amazing Maxwell. He was popular, everything was going well, but as he dwelt deeper and deeper into the tome, he began to slowly lose his mind. On the night of his final act, he messed up, and he, and his stage assistant Charlie were pulled into the world of The Constant. There, he took the place of the King on the Nightmare Throne. The whispers of Them eventually manipulated him into trapping other people in this world, who are known as the Survivors. Such a survivor was a man, named Wilson Percival Higgsbury. This man defeated the challenges of The Constant, reached Maxwell and the Throne, and took his place upon it. But he wouldn’t sit there for long, as Charlie emerged from the darkness. She was corrupted by the essence of the Queen, and she was here to take the Throne from Wilson, and claim its power. The Survivors eventually got their hands on the Ancient King's sould, locked inside a dark heart. They fought the Ancient Fuelweaver, the King's soul in the remains of a Skeletal Guardian, and thus, they destabilized the Gateway. We don’t know how, or when, but one thing is clear: They are coming. It cannot be stopped.

 

Chapter 4: The Return of Them

When They first started to come to The Constant, the King was able to stop them. But now, Charlie, the current Nightmare Queen is under the influence of Them. Someone has to interfere, or we are all doomed. That someone was the Moon. The Embodiment of Light, and the rival of Them, has sent a piece of itself down onto The Constant, and with it, its influence. Its influence first covered the forest, but then creeped deep into the caves as well. It infested the Blue Mushtree Forest, while uncovering a forgotten part of Ancient history: Before the Fuel, The Ancients worshipped the Moon... The Survivors eventually managed to build all three Celestial Obelisks: The Celestial Altar, The Celestial Sanctum, and the Celestial Tribute. With the power of these three buildings, a Mysterious Energy appeared...

Of course this is just a THEORY. A GAME THEORY!!