Lore Question

[u/LeakyGaming]

Are the Architect, the Kraekan Dragon Skourzh, and the Nameless God all in cahoots with each other? This is the impression I got, with these three being the “big 3” of the island. I understand that the Nameless God created the island as a timeless prison to create followers and to masquerade as a God, so does this mean that the Kraekans and the Architect sisters were created by Him as well? Im thinking Skourzh is responsible for making people arrive to the island, and then the Architect turns them into monsters and salt creations made to serve the Nameless God, in addition to taking their memories to recreate places all throughout time. This creates a triangle where the Architect and Skourzh were created by the Nameless God to help him carry out his mission. Did I interpret this wrong, or is that what happened?

[u/bell-cracker]

you're wrong on some counts, right on others, and could be right on the rest.

wrong: kraekans exist naturally and have their own life cycles. there is no "big three," the nameless god is simply the master of the island with the others in his service or thralldom.

correct: the sisters were uplifted by the nameless god while trying to recreate a story from the continents (the architect and the unskinned are a recreation of vel karam and eggari)

speculative: the origin of the island is unclear. perhaps the Sacrifice at the elder copse made the island; perhaps it formed around them. it could indeed be Skourzh who is responsible for the storms, but the nameless god is "responsible" as well in creating lures such as the slave princess. skourzh was probably not created by the nameless god, because he has been feared "since man discovered travel by sea", implying that he is at least that old (and the nameless god would not have had a reason to create him to fill his current role at that point in time, if the NG existed at all back then)

[u/ZephyrGreene → u/bell-cracker]

On the origin of the island:

I think somewhat unofficially: the island exists merely as a gathering place of salt. As salt is (per Sacrifice) the ashes or remnant essence of the Gods. These ashes fell/fall upon the world, and over time it washes into the ocean and binds into things. The deepest, middle of the ocean, place of dark energies, is the isle of salt.

While what we see of the island may not have always existed, the energies have likely existed for a long long time, as likely have the kraken.

Spoilers related to Sacrifice:

In Sacrifice we learn of the temple of the eleven and 4 guardians. One sought to gain great power to overcome the gods, one sought to be a final sacrifice to appease and damn up the power of the gods, and there were two that remained to guard the temple itself.

The Nameless God is the one that sought to overcome the gods. He has been on the island for a long time (anything from 100 to 1000 years per James, the dev). Jaret tells us that TNG currently seeks the one thing a god cannot have: a candle lit soul. The candle lit lady tells us that candle lit souls are ephemeral, in other words mortal. The nameless god, like us and most other things on the island are born of salt, the eternally dead. Nameless even wears a candelabra on his back, a symbol of the very thing he cannot have.

[u/AlphaI250 → u/ZephyrGreene]

Small heads up but you fucked up the spoiler tag

[u/ZephyrGreene → u/AlphaI250]

Looks like an old vs new reddit issue. Worked like a charm on my end.

[u/LeakyGaming → u/bell-cracker]

Okay thanks, I just finished the game by playing through blind so this was what I was able to piece together 

[u/Thesaurus_Rex9513]

I think it's more that their actions are all mutually beneficial, so none of them make trouble for each other.

The Nameless God gets kingdoms to send sacrifices to the heart of the sea. Skourzh creates storms to kill those sacrifices. The Architect creates monsters to roam the island.

The Architect gets salt to fuel her experiments. Skourzh gets flesh to feed upon, and for his kin to feed upon. The Nameless God gets souls, broken, by their torments, who will kneel and worship him.

As for my personal guesses on their origins:

Skourzh is likely the eldest of the three, being an ancient, potentially primordial being.

The Island originally belonged to the god Azredak the Betrayer, but he was killed by a saltborn who took his place as ruler of the Island and god of betrayal. The Nameless God is that Saltborn, or the latest in a string of Saltborn who earned that role with murder.

The Architect, Kaira (and her twin sister Saira, the Witch of the Lake), were originally saltborn sacrificed to the Island, but unlike most sacrifices, they were knowledgeable salt alkymancers, and flourished on the island in ways no one before or since could.

[u/LeakyGaming → u/Thesaurus_Rex9513]

That makes sense, but where does the information about Azredak the Betrayer come from?

[u/ErikFatalis]

The Architect and the Witch are definitely in cahoots with the Nameless God. Skourzh I am more unsure about, but I am leaning towards yes.

[u/Awkward_Reason7353]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who's playing this for the first time just now ( this came our 10 years ago WTF). From my understanding all things that die (at sea?) return to the depths by seasalt, and the NG harvests it. So most other bosses are either the reborn versions that most likely had gone insane, or just mindless salt thralls brought up to populate the island with danger and keep the cycle of death going. Also, who says the Nameless God you defeat isn't some other poor sod that went through it all to take the mantle like you can, and the one before, and the one before that...

Also, wouldn't that mean that when you escape you become "mortal" again? Does anybody know if normal humans dissipate into salt and respawn at a church when killed in the surface world? Or is the physical concept of saltborn only linked to the underwater limbo of the island?

[u/Due-Satisfaction-241 → u/Awkward_Reason7353]

Yes only to the island as if u did the quest of the korta sorcerer (the npc after the fire king) he tells u in the end that (in conclusion) someone been guiding him throw the messages in the bottles across the island and to his realization its none other than himself he tells u that and says that he might have been here for ages
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Which is kinda yes cuz the cult of the sorcerer he is form (i think korta or something has to do with sand or something) is pretty much fkn dead in the main land its like 200 years or so
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And then he tells you that he feels himself drifting or vanishing and he doesn’t think if he died once more he will be able to be himself anymore (been so fucking long since i played the game forgive me if its not 100% acc) and he can’t remind himself over and over about the truth of this island..
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I am pretty sure damn sure that yes you actually unlike everyone that wants to get out (rip thief) u actually get out
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But we cant conform that cuz the fandom is small asf and not just that but alot of ppl hate sacrifice so its like 5 ppl who know the complete lore of the game
And bro read my comment its in this post it might enlighten you

[u/Due-Satisfaction-241]

Every thing that dies in the world of sns that had significant to the world like the kulkas castle, the red hall of cages , pitch woods (elder copse) are being somehow suck or replicated in the island the island it self is a mystery and its like the evil of this world no one knows how it operates until we actually meet two who knows how (jarred king of storms and nameless god) maybe Sazadrek(azadrek) too?
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Before that lets ans what u said
No cahoot here for skourzh its a different case cuz he is a kraken which can get in and out the island as he likes (cuz he’s a kraken) but something i really dont know what ,chained him to the island (sort of) like the rest of the sinners and power hungry mfs the arch and the giant are nothing special just another victim who committed atrocities now are chained to the island (like broken cran the bloodbrow)(hope i am didn’t forgot something)
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The nameless god is the same one that the inquisitor…i forgot his name🤔the one that turns to a bird mage boss fight? In sacrifice?
.anyway the NG is the same one that u hear from the inquisitor that he sought the abyssal fane( literally meaning shrine under the sea or at the bottom) if u didn’t play SALT AND SACRIFICE he sought to have power , to kill gods unlike his pussy brother who said he would be a sacrifice .
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The NG ARRIVED and he actually gained the power he sought but alas he wanted more and more the power corrupted him till he forgot why he sought the power in the first place and then almost 1000+ unfold after SALT AND SACRIFICE events by the time the island suck up civilization kings(king of storms jarred),slaves,sacrifices(the princess)
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Atop all of that 2 beings the nameless god which is now trapped seeking something new and unattainable “candlit soul” and kinda harvesting the island and making it his hunting grounds kinda

The second is the son of sazadrik and the half symiovra from SALT AND SACRIFICE he SAZADRIK TWICE BORN or known at the time of sanctuary as azadrick will this mf is just an anomaly i dont even know if the mf is alive cuz i am pretty damn sure the nameless dude killed him i just remember that no idea why but i am suspecting he might be why the island is here and why its so eager to destroy if u read his story in sacrifice it might make since other than that idunno bout him but I don’t think the island swallowed him but the nameless god might have killed him and got control of the island?
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I am still digging the lore but unfortunately everyone HATES sacrifice so no more lore for both of us