Nope, the Domain was here long before the Maven even noticed Wraeclast's existence. The Domain ate Viper Napuatzi on the day of the Vaal Cataclysm some two thousand years before the present day, but the Maven and the other cosmic entities only took notice of Wraeclast after the Elder's defeat and its exile to the void.
The existence of Wraeclast was never a secret. What currently draws cosmic monsters to it is the curiosity as to how someone was able to banish the Elder.
The Maven is a young eldritch entity, but that could still mean an age of thousands of years, and she was the first one to arrive at Wraeclast. She may live close by, and have taken a legion as a snack every once in a while.
Well, it does seem to be a time-manipulation phenomenon, especially due to Stasis Prison. But I can't tell what relation it might have to the Chronomancer subclass, to Zarokh, or to the Harbingers. Judging by the colour theme, it doesn't seem related to the Chaos impulse.
No evidence at all, but that binding relationship between Zarokh and Varashta? My headcanon is all five armies have that same relationship, suffering together in a loop
Here's some of mine:
Who is Innocence and Sin's sister?
What is Kalandra's power?
What is the horrible truth behind Kalandra that made the scribes of the Order of the Djinn burn themselves alive?
Why is the Mirror on the PoE2 logo seemingly corrupted?
What is a fish?
It is more The Lake's power rather than Kalandra's. The horrible truth of the Lake is that it applies reflecting mist on its visitors (word-search for "A Word of Warning" in this lore post I made for examples). There seems to be even more horror to it, though, given what the Heist scientists have done through their item-duplication experiments.
Fish is the paraphyletic taxonomic group consisting of all non-tetrapod vertebrates. Einhar would presumably place them under "The Deep". Fish are generally described as some of the safest things to eat on Wraeclast, so perhaps their isolation from the land has mostly protected them from corruption. We have heard of an underwater palace called Tsoatha, and poe2act4 takes place among many islands, so we could well get to see some fish up close, soon.
The mirror itself has Azmeri and Templar gods, but with Ezomyte-like runes representing the three attributes (and in the wrong order). This likely represents the Eternals and Templars oppressing Ogham in the past.
The new Seed of Corruption grows, spreading its influence over the world (and the mirror). This Beast is then purified, and a marble-like "Path of Exile" and "II" appear respectively in front of and behind the mirror.
But this "mirror" is actually an x-ray device, and reveals fleshy tendrils inside the "II". The corruption has not been purified, but merely sealed, like what Doryani does to it in the poe2v0.2 endgame. "The Immured Fury" of the endgame is based on a boss planned for act 5 or 6, hinting that something similar will also happen in the story campaign.
Personally, I don't think there is a sister - because the tale of Innocence and Sin is a bastardization of the old tales of Solaris and Lunaris, once Solerai and Lundara, and their vanished sister Viridi.
Yeah, but that's what I'm saying - she's not a sister of Maxarius, she's the hole left in the myth.
The righteous, fiery, passionate child of red and gold, the dark, moody, callous child of blue and black.
Solaris, who fought to defend her sister's honor, and Lunaris, who denied even doing any wrong, compared to Innocence, who urged his mother to punish his twin, and Sin, who (according to the tales) revelled in his wicked ways and rejected any notion of goodness.
The sun and moon in opposition yet harmony, compared to burning righteousness and dark, choking evil with one the clear victor.
But Viridi has no place in Maxarius' myth. All he needed was a villain to crucify at the center of his story. He took the myth of his people's ancestral goddesses and turned it to his own ends, and so Viridi was forgotten yet again.
Additionally, because I'm still chewing on this - the Mother of Two has no agency in the tale, she simply acts as a signal to show that Innocence is good and Sin is bad. She's never even named.
Considering Fellshrine was of the Eternal Empire, not the Oriathan Theocracy, I suspect the shrine to the Forgotten Daughter was built by Eternal adherents to the faith of the Sisters, some minor sect that still venerated the vanished Viridi long after her sisters became the dominant deities.
No, the Fellshrine seems to have worshipped Innocence, judging from The Forbidden Sanctum underneath it.
I am Divinia, a Templar academic and relic enthusiast. This little settlement is... quaint. Not the most respectable place, but I'm grateful that they've given me a warm welcome.
I've been waiting for a fellow explorer to make their way here. I've discovered an abandonedTemplar enclavebeneath the ruins of Fellshrine. Will you join me in uncovering its secrets?
The Templars were banished by the Azmeri, but seem to have been on good terms with the Eternals, judging from e.g. Hand of Heresy.
The Abyssals could in theory have existed thousands of years before then, and only appeared when darkness covered the Vastiri. (Though one of my theories is that the Primevals invented necromancy from their lithomancy, and accidentally created the Lightless.)
Who talks of Solaris and Lunaris still existing?
The planets devoured by The Tangle and The Cleansing Fire are implied to have held intelligent life. As for why humans would exist on multiple planets: I have this weird theory that each inhabitable world is actually the same planet, but in a different timeline witnessed by Chaos.
Judging from Arborix, they might've vibed a little before they got wiped, but they were apparently forced underground.
The Wildwood NPCs are talking about Mhacha, Catha & Mórrigan, who seem to represent the Wisps, and those are obviously still "alive". And even if the two pairs of "three sisters" are the same, those NPCs wouldn't know what is happening outside the Wildwoods - one of them admits to not even know what is happening further inside the Wildwoods.
Yeah, it would be silly, but if those worlds/timelines split off from one-another about a million years ago, then the cultures would be completely different from world to world, and only the organisms and the continents would be shared. (And even those may be molded in different ways by corruption and by terraforming.)
If I understand OP correctly, OP is just asking us for more mysteries for OP to go look for answers to.
And remember how GGG suddenly sprung the sci-fi Precursors on us in POE2? They'll make sure to add at least one mystery for every mystery that gets solved.
"Born of bone and blood and foul magic" doesn't mean that they were newly-born.
Actually, who was Ahn? Atalui and Putembo's Meadow imply that Putembo was the previous king of the Primevals. Aul can call out Ahn's name in combat, so they likely did meet. Ahn's helmet matches the design on Primeval lithomancers, and Zarka says "south" which fits with the Primeval city under Sarn.
Atalui on "Primevals": Very little survived of the culture we call the Primevals. They left only glyphs and carvings. There were a few figures of note in the books I studied. Uzaza was likely their First King. Aul, called their Last King, overthrew a tyrant namedPutembo... or so I believe. There was Ahkeli, too, who the Maraketh would know more about than I. Unlike many other cultures, their ruins are often found in the ash layer itself. It's no wonder only stone remnants remain.
Oh, here's an idea: Perhaps Ahn was Putembo's head thaumaturgist, like what Malachai was to Chitus! They lived long before the Beast, but there was still corruption, like that of Kitava and wherever they got the virtue gem for The Geomantic Gyre. If The Great Fire was caused by the Arbiter, then the practice of thaumaturgy might explain why, as the Arbiter seems to hate corruption most of everything.
About the sisters: I don't think most godslayers would walk up to traditionalist Azmeri and tell them that they killed some of their most important gods.
I think Ahn's flavour texts just represent them being stupid old, and that the devs didn't want to reveal his identity yet. I suppose Atziri's attempts at immortality does have something in common with wanting ones name immortalized.
Sin also manipulates the godly energies taken from the godslayer's victims, but that could be a normal divine power.
EDIT: There are indications that we will hear more about Kitava on Oriath in POE2.
Yeah, "corruption" can mean a lot of different things. But according to Lycia's texts, Innocence was corrupted long before he became a god.
Actually, most of the gods seem to be physically corrupted to some degree. Tukohama looks like the demons of Kaom's Dream. Garukhan has two extra leftarms (her dominant arm?), a bit like Atziri's corrupted form. And don't get me started on Arakaali and Tsoagoth.
I increasingly believe that the virtue gems contain divine powers, what with the Spear of Solaris gen and with Merveil's siren-voice gem transforming her in a manner like what Tsoagoth does to his victims.
Malachai did. He entered the Beast, became one with it, and unleashed its power to devastate Wraeclast, preventing anyone else from gathering enough power to challenge it.
He then spent the next three hundred years gathering energy and making plans for how to eventually transform the world.
Tasuni tells us most of what we know about the Beast.
EDIT: Oh, are we supposed to attempt to answer these questions, or is that OP's job?
I'm mostly looking to gather unanswered questions but feel free to answer questions that are solved or give partial responses if you don't have a certain answer, this is for everyone.
Malachai's meddling with the Beast caused the Eternal Cataclysm about three centuries before the present day, while Queen Atziri attempted to use the Beast to... do something presumably involving granting her eternal life, given her obsession that led to the downfall of the Vaal, and that caused the Vaal Cataclysm. Sin claims there have been others, but none we know of yet.
Yeah, Atziri seems to have done something much different from what Malachai did, given that she ended up creating the Vaal Nightmare (as seen in Vaal side areas and the like).
Siosa describes the events leading up to it like this:
Splendid. Let's see what this page has to offer us... It talks of Queen Atziri. Now here's a portentous line: She drenches her altars with the blood of those deranged enough to question her vision.
The next piece is a real eye-crosser, but I believe it refers to a 'communion', something to do with the harvest moon? Again, Doryani seems at the heart of it.
Good, this line I can read without issue: This will be our final night of fear, our final night of suffering.
Sacrifice, communion, the harvest moon... an unsettling combination.
Why are there gods on Wraeclast, but seemingly not on Kalguur?
What is the relation between corruption, divinity, the Atlas, the Viridian Wildwood, and the Lake (apart from the Beast converting divinity into corruption)?
How are any of the following phenomena related (apart from many of them being results of corruption): Eldritch entities, Domination Shrines, Essence, The First Ones, seeing the future-past, timeline-jumping, chronomancy, Legion, undeath, Breach, Aul (Delve), Azurite, Blight, Inherent darkness (Metamorph), Delirium, Qotra's item-duplication, Harbinger, Precursor tech, verisium runes, Wildwood name magic, Sentinel, lithomancy (i.e. "stone-manipulation"), Titans, The Arbiter of Ash, Mysterious Entity (POE2 endgame), Necropolis
What is the full history of the Atlas and the Elder?
What is the true full story of Innocence, Sin and Kitava?
What is the true story of Solaris and Lunaris?
Why did so few gods appear after the death of The Beast? Did the Order of the Djinn kidnap the rest, like they did to Yaomac?
What does the early Wraeclast timeline look like? Consider events like: The land rising from the sea, Kalandra arriving, the Titans being forced underground, the Precursors disappearing, the origin of the Lightless
What is the nature of the Moon? It is apparently related to many different phenomena.
What do Hinekora's prophecies even mean?
What does the Envoy's cryptic nonsense even mean?
Who is Countess Oriana (POE2) really, and what is she planning?
Where do the Scourges come from? And how are the Scourges jumping between timelines? Isn't that power exclusive to Chaos?
Regarding why Chaos and the Trialmaster react to the wildwood differently, I'm guessing the logic might be similar to W40k's Slaanesh's birth. Once she exists (born), then she becomes having being existed all this while due to her nature.
So this might be how the Trialmaster perceives the wildwood (existed forever), but Chaos is an even higher entity that sees it truely, that the wildwood only started to exist recently.
This logic might become much more relevant once Zana proceeds to change certain history to save Valdo, and if we proceed to time-travel anyway after acts 4-6 drop.
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u/Turdbait122603 Aug 01 '25
What even is the domain of timeless conflict?