Marcions

The Marcions lived in the Forest of Katib and are the people most wronged by the Church. Their civilization vanished "overnight" and only a faint smell of blood remains in the forest (UIQuest 10502). Their beliefs, rituals and curses reappear all through the story.

Overview#

• Faith. Marcion prophecy says the sun sinks into the sea, the Halidom is lost, and darkness follows; later the brave ignite the light of the Colossus, and then the ancient order repeats. They are not afraid of darkness and do not worship light blindly: this life is one in a cycle of lives, and only after living the past, present and future do souls rest in truth (ItemData 10013-10015).
• Tests and traps. Their devices reflect those beliefs: you must pass the test before you reach the truth. The three Time Stones (Past, Present, Future) are combined into the Marcion Puzzle Ball, which lets the party cross the poisonous black mist of Katib (UIQuest 10503-10505). A talking plant who used to be a Church priest explains this (StoryDialog story 5 rows 1186-1188).
• Customs. Warriors were called to battle with horns, and the Marcions believed warriors would follow the horn back to their hometown in reincarnation (ItemData 70051). They trained meek Woodspirits as beasts of burden, though Sendril makes them ferocious and venomous (ItemData 70053).
• Witches. Their Witches performed the white-dust ritual that fused the Demiurges with the Colossus of Edith (Demiurges#Overview; StoryDialog story 4 rows 956, 964), and put the Church's people in Katib to sleep when the Colossus began growing into the Sacred Tower (story 5 row 1186). Their curse is also behind the fast-flowing sand in Church hourglasses (ItemData 10012).
• The massacre. A Church soldier's diary describes reaching Katib and finding the Marcions already aware of the Blessedland; the Patriarchs talked secretly with the expedition's leader for days about the "Lost Ruins of the Marcion Ancestors", selected girls were gathered, and the soldiers later fought a tribe whose dancing spells failed once they were besieged (UIQuest 30502-30507). Elsewhere, speakers refer to the slaughter of the Marcions and the tragedy that preceded Vaillant's condemnation (StoryDialog story 99 row 1055; story 4 row 993). A voice in the Colossal Grave admits that "we" sacrificed an innocent Marcion girl and drank taboo water (story 8 row 2420).
• Survivors. Norwood is a Marcion (UIQuest 10708) and carries a coin with the Church's sigil on one side and a Marcion rune on the other, from his dead brother (ItemData 10050). The Witch who volunteered to open the Seal called herself the last Marcion (UIQuest 30517). The Church's own notes say the Seal needs Marcion blood (UIQuest 30515).
• The curse. One character says that the Marcion curse eventually finds everyone connected to the offense (StoryDialog story 99 row 2158). A masked companion's arm relic is described as the hand of a powerful Marcion soldier, fused with Sendrils by a forbidden ritual (story 99 rows 2148, 2170; the speaker is unlabeled, and Norwood is inferred from the mask line in row 2172).

Hidden mechanics#

• The Stones combine into one item. The Past, Present and Future stones are three separate key items (ItemData 10013-10015); a ritual joins them into the Puzzle Ball, which is what actually opens the mist (UIQuest 10505).
• Marcion items are removed on a new Journey. The three Stones and related keys have GamePlusRemove = 1; the coin and the Argil modeling clay do not (New Game Plus#What carries over and what is removed; ItemData 10013-10015, 10045, 10050; structdata/fs_itemlist.lua:137-148).
• Katib's mist is not the Sendrils. One character states that the mist there is different from the Sendrils (StoryDialog story 5 row 1187; see The Dark Mist and Sendrils).

Sources#

• ItemData.jsonl 10012, 10013-10015, 10032, 10045, 10050, 70051, 70053; UIQuest.jsonl 10502-10505, 10708, 30502-30507, 30515, 30517.
• StoryDialog.jsonl story 4 rows 956, 964, 993; story 5 rows 1186-1188; story 8 row 2420; story 99 rows 1055, 2148, 2158, 2170, 2172.
• Code: reference/lua_src/luascript/structdata/fs_itemlist.lua:137-148.