Hey all! I hope your autumn hasn’t been too strenuous – mine has been at times, as I am enrolled in what basically amounts to a your average Lit class on methamphetamines. I am enjoying my semester, though.

I’m sure some of you who read this blog are wondering “where the posts be at”, or if I’ll even continue posting at all. I must admit, hearing the Golden Sun DS announcement at E3 this year was a bit of a double-edged blade for me, as it did disappoint the part of me who was honestly hoping for a chance to be a part of its development process. Silly, I know, but… we must be allowed our colourful dreams, ‘else watch our worlds turn grey.

But, this hasn’t killed my creative spark for this project completely. I will continue my posting, starting today. I can’t promise regular updates due to my classes, but I’ll try to give you tidbits of what I’m working on/modifying/thinking about. For instance, here’s my personal wishlist for Golden Sun DS:

1. An Epic Backstory Reveal
As I’ve discovered from my own research, the Golden Sun series draws from an incredibly rich well: Hermeticism, focusing largely on the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. My now somewhat obsolete GS3 plot, The Myth of Laerad, introduced a (potential) epic backstory to the player for the first time, in the form of the Wise One’s revelation that he was the last of a secret race who watched over humanity (read more of this here). I want the secret history of Golden Sun to be revealed in a similar fashion.

2. New World(s) & Content
In the Myth of Laerad, Weyard is still available and essential to the plot. However, there are two new worlds to explore, one above Weyard (Anemos/Ji) and one below (Mu). I desire the same amount of exploration and content in GSDS.

3. Vivid & Detailed
Admit it. You are almost embarrassed about how much you love Golden Sun’s soundtrack. Well, so am I.
In fact, following this confession, I am demanding something not-so-modest from Golden Sun DS. Said simply, I want the graphics to (at the very least) match the music.
“The game is amazing enough on its own, but the soundtrack masterfully manages to weave the unique tale of Golden Sun in our minds without visual crutch, but beautiful melodies alone. When the synth kicks in, [for example], I can’t help but see Vale in all its magical and archaic splendor, its golden straw rooftops reflecting the sun’s brilliant rays.”
- xRisingForcex
I once wrote in response to this excellent quote that “I honestly could not agree more. Songs like Aqua Rock, which aurally project the sense of water into our minds with such mystery and power, to songs like The Elemental Stars, which bespeak the magnificence of the cosmos in a simple melody, bring a kind of second sense to our experience of this series.” (I didn’t even get started on Garoh… or the various Overworld themes)

I desire that the landscape match the soundscape. Read this if you want clarification on the vivid detail part. Ah, perfect time to end with…

4. Motoi Sakuraba
Nuff’ said.

I’m considering posting a top-secret letter to Camelot that I wrote on my iPod just before I fell asleep… who would want that, though?

- Daft

You’ve seen the trailer. Now watch it again – perhaps a better version. Worth watching; you’ll relate.

Screens Here

“Golden Sun™ DS: After going dark six years ago, 2010 will see a new dawn. Golden Sun DS updates the popular portable Golden Sun role-playing series with an impressive graphical style. This installment follows the story of the previous heroes’ descendants and immerses players into the magic of its adventure by pushing the boundaries of intuitive touch-screen controls. Golden Sun DS is playable on the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi systems.”

*hyperactive breathing*

NOTE: this page will continue to be updated

UPDATE 1: Plot Hint [Screen]
UPDATE 2: Second gameplay demo:

[Watch In HD]

General:

The richest environments you can imagine; highly detailed, colourful, VIVID! There is a visceral sense of power in Mu, and the environments will convey it perfectly.

Huge rivers to cross; waterfalls splashing through gullies, lofty mountain passes, sacred grottos, hidden lagoons, eerie marshes haunted by will-o’-wisps and faerie lights, the ancient mists of the northern seas, the bright sun of open plains, the broad reaches of sloping valleys, the wide and mysterious Western Moors… hidden glens with dappled sunlight, dusty mines with forgotten treasure, rain-soaked forests with deep pools… a small shrine next to one, and further back; a wise woman’s hut, hidden amongst the ferns… the friendly light of a candle in her window…

Specific:

In certain areas (deep in nature, or in any place abandoned or untouched by humanity), there is no music, but rather sound effects: trickling water, the rustle of air in the treetops, a lone wip-poor-whil calling its lonely greeting… Mu is very much wild. If all the soul’s wildness manifested, this is the world you’d get.

These ambient environments would often exhibit subtle shifts, creating a need for “dynamic listening“. I’ll give you an example: say you were sailing about on the open sea, and found a small inlet leading to a lagoon. This lagoon is beautiful, and you are already captivated by its clear water and the mossy slopes on its banks. Your crew will probably want to go swimming, but you want to look for an way leading further into the interior, as you have heard rumors there is a lost city deep within the jungle-like forests which form this part of the continent (it’s the next location you must visit). Your ship is forced to move slowly through the warm waterway, as it is small and only just big enough for a vessel of its size. Here’s where the dynamic listening comes in: you reach the end of the lagoon, and there is no discernible passage leading further inland. Naturally you are frustrated, and think this trip was all in vain. But wait… and stop the ship. Now listen: what do you hear? What do you see? Just watch, and keep your peripheral vision (and hearing) active. You will notice the sounds of the natural environment slowly begin to return to it; birds chirping, the sound of a nearby creek, perhaps the distant howl of a monkey. You see rays of sunlight shining off of a mossy log. A cloud passes by overhead. You see the shadow of a large fish emerge from underneath your boat. That’s odd, how was that there the whole time? Was it following us as we were moving? You see it move lazily towards a patch of grass near the mossy log. Suddenly, with a flash of its scales, it disappears. A trail of sediment leads right into the bank of the lagoon… without alerting your companions, you drive the ship slowly forward, on nothing more than a hunch. Noticing what you’re doing just as it happens, your companions cry out! … but it’s too late. Right before your party members’ and your own astonished eyes, you find your ship passing through a brief swath of moss and vines, and then into a narrow, sheltered waterway. The creek you heard earlier is louder; it seems to be coming from up ahead. As your ship moves forward, the broken vines and scattered moss behind you reassemble, leaving a blank wall of vegetation. You quickly look back at your friends, who are just as shocked as you are, and just as ready to fight. You look back, and…

There is a Venus Djinn perched on a nearby branch, gazing calmly back at you.

~ – ~

Sorry for getting carried away! These are just some the things I have planned for Mu. Hope you enjoyed them! Also, here’s the link for the image I used.

~ Daft

Alright guys. I know I haven’t updated for a while, and it’s because of a combination of busyness, laziness, and life. However, now that I’ve finished my first year of University, I’m ready to continue writing my story for the Myth of Laerad. There’s some major plans in my future for summer projects, but I’ll detail the three main ones here:

One: Continue writing my Myth of Laerad plot. I’m still writing “Gloom”, which tells the tale of tenacious metallon adept Demetri Vespar on his quest to achieve knowledge of Triunitas, as well as the Anti-Kythera mechanism. This story, as you are probably aware, takes place in the underworld of Mu. The scenarios of Weyard and Ji are also being written at the moment, and you’ve actually seen previews for both of them (see above).

Two: Buy the iPhone Standard Development Kit (SDK). Over the summer I want to learn how to write code and develop interfaces for Apple’s iPhone & iPod Touch. This has been a withheld desire of mine since I acquired my own iPhone back in October of last year.

Three: Publish a children’s book with a friend of mine who could illustrate it. In my poetry class last semester, I wrote a ballad about a hermit and some hobgoblins, and it received my highest mark in that class. In fact, the teacher himself urged me to attempt publishing it! So, I want to develop the poem further, and ask my friend if she would be willing to work with me on it. Wish us luck!

So yes, now you see my plannings. I’m amazed to see that my blog has an overwhelming 5700+ hits nowadays! You all are awesome, and I’m going to continue to do my best for this blog.

- Daft

P.S.: I am now administrator of Golden Sun Complete, one of the largest independent Golden Sun news sites on the Internet. In fact, when you type in “Golden Sun 3″ into Google, it’s the fourth result! I’ve been put in charge of the site as of a few days ago, and I’ll be updating it any time I find relevant news for Golden Sun 3. Cheers!

The first metallon adept came into existence around seven hundred years ago, when an especially curious Venus adept discovered an equally curious Mars Djinn, hidden away in a mine for countless years. The two befriended eachother and became such good companions that their fellow miners called them the “Hotrock Combo”. Now, although a match between a Mars Djinn and a Venus adept is rare, our story doesn’t end here.

One day, something both deadly and remarkable occurred. An accidental breech in the mine caused an outflow of vanadium pentoxide – a poisonous gas – emitted from an incredibly ancient fungus as it was exposed to the air for the first time in millennia. A feeling of icy cold dread enveloped the miners as they felt their throats constrict, their vision growing fuzzy and their knees beginning to give out. With hardly seconds to think, certain they were all dead, the miners prepared for the worst… but then, something extraordinary happened. The Mars Djinn shot over to the Venus adept’s hand, pulsed once with a fiery red glow, and fused with him. Immediately, the gas was sublimed out of the air, becoming a metallic orange compound the size of a small boulder in the passageway. The thrill of this psynergetic communion between the Venus adept and the Mars Djinn was so powerful, it manifested as an audible hum in the air. Using their now combined strength, the Venus adept lifted the fallen earth back to its original position, and the Mars Djinn followed by sealing the cracks with a blast of heat.

After this incident, their actions were labeled by the multitudes as heroic, despite some brief extremist talk about the heresy of a Mars-Venus alliance. Working together, the Hotrock combo went on to do amazing things. The orange rock they had created in the mine was soon forged into a blade; Rauthaz, which would burst into resonant flame when their intentions were joined. They even defeated the dread pirate Gölsyr, a powerful Mercury adept who had plagued the southern seas for a score and a half years. And, eventually, their skills grew to the point where they themselves merged, and they took up their now famous name and title – Erython, patron saint of Kíramyn.

I think… not sure, but I think I may have found the perfect name for the Myth of Laerad!

Honestly, this is actually the “perfectest” name there could ever be. A syzygia, in astronomical terms, is a conjunction of three or more celestial bodies. Sound familiar?

Huh. I think this is all part of some theme that I’m slowly discovering. It’s even a part of gnostic terminology as well, except it has to do with pairs rather than triads.

Well, what do you think? Good name? Should it be more subtle?

Let me know!

EDIT: I’m thinking of just using this name as a replacement for “Congruence” in the Incarnadi piece.

A lone psynergy lamp dimly illuminates an otherwise empty street, a silent sentinel in the abandoned North Sector of industrial Dregvant. Imbued with strange phosphorescence, soft tendrils of dust motes swirl leisurely through the air, eventually collected by the lamp at the end of the street. As the dust meets the lamp’s surface, a coronal discharge of atmospheric energy transfers the minute amount of energy to the lamp’s interior, creating a faint beacon in addition to forming a psynergy cache.

This city is an old one. As a established front-runner of steam and allotropic technologies, it has had to reinvent itself numerous times as technology advances have dictated. Consequently, certain areas of Dregvant, such as North Sector, have become abandoned as the technology that empowered them grew obsolete. Smugglers and rebel adepts are attracted to such forsaken areas, perhaps because the nature of such places is similar to theirs… but darker, more mysterious purposes have been known to fester in such places as well.

The soft grinding of gears can be heard endlessly churning in the distance, where the boundaries of the central sector meet North. These are where the power plants of S.R.C, or Synthesized Resource Corp, proliferate the landscape and provide much of Dregvant’s energy reserve. A lamp such as the one in North Sector is one source of this supply, known as an Isolated Sustainable Ion Stockpiler, or simply ISIS. Geothermal devices known as Damprocks provide a less abstract form of power generation, using steam turbines located deep underground.

North Sector’s original purpose was the failed brain-child of a mad scientist, desiring a form of Zero Point energy cultivated from a type of abstract psynergy which he termed Morphogone. Evidence was presented, theories were made, and after the initial rush of possibility that such a phenomena could in fact, work; Demetri Vespar, as the scientist was known, disappeared after this initial rush faded when the energy was found to be a mere oscillation of ephemeral solar radiation. However, despite the truth that many members of Dregvant’s scientific community did frown upon Vespar’s debacle, quite a few believed he jumped the gun too quickly. It was discovered soon after his embarrassing departure that the energy, although transient, could be harnessed easily through a remarkable process named Spatial Point Coronal Prominence Attraction, or much less winded; Coronal Prominence. This process magnetizes and as a result, illuminates the solar field contained within Mu’s atmosphere by Noctilucent clouds near the edge of space. Thus, creations like ISIS can work. These lamps were kept around for spare power collection in case the Damprock mechanisms ever fail. To this day, scholarly adepts still have a vested interest in such a enigmatic phenomena as Coronal Prominence. Such an achievement was found to relate highly to a fabled process known as the genesis of coronium, which was more occult than it was scientific. Nonetheless, the scientific community of Dregvant celebrated their success, while giving a silent nod to the mad genius of Demetri Vespar, the madness in front of the method.

A sudden surge of energy infused the ISIS at the end of the street, causing it to flare up suddenly, then return to normal. The avenue remained as it was; uncaring, muted, and untouched except for the dust particles in the air.
Slowly, a long shadow formed against the dilapidated wall on the opposite street. The mysterious umbrage began to move towards the source of the light, making hardly a sound as it seemed to hover over the asphalt road. A voice out of the gloom spoke; a quiet whisper laden with somber reflection.
“What has happened to my city…,” it said. “My own city, and my own Sector… abandoned, just as I have abandoned it.” The figure gazed up at the ISIS, his face stricken by sadness.
“So, they figured you out. As did I, eventually. But it was too late; I could not return. My shame incapacitated me… and now look at the outcome. North Sector, decimated by technum obsolescerum, has met a cruel fate indeed.” Turning, the man began walking down the street, heading towards a small house that had been boarded up. Grimacing, the man disgustedly spat, “So, this is how they repay a pioneer? An idealist of science? Pah.” Raising his right hand, he stared intently at the wooden planks covering the door. The nails in them quivered once, then flew towards his hand almost instantly, remaining suspended about an inch from the center of his palm, forming a levitating ball of spikes. Eyebrows set in hard determination, he closed his hand over the nails and squeezed. Instead of crying out in pain, he then relaxed and exhaled, opening his palm to reveal an iron sphere.

Pocketing it, the man turned the doorknob and entered the darkened house.

Gloom – Part 2

A pale light flickered on, dimly illuminating a run-of-the-mill workshop covered with cobwebs . An oak table with ornate legs and drawers lay blanketed in diagrams and blueprints, taking a central position underneath the single, rather pathetic light.

Demetri’s lip curled. He knew that this would be the likely outcome of his deed. As he stood wondering if the others had taken his research, he began strolling towards the table, brushing away the cobwebs obstructing his path. Peering down at the familiar workplace, he noticed an old newspaper, laying next to an even older thesis on the relation between fractal time and psynergetic interface. He picked up the paper, Centrifuge, noticing its time-worn date of one year, six months ago. The top story detailed his own humiliating departure after the ISIS debacle. Curious, he skipped over it, noticing that the tone of the article was hardly as critical as he imagined, but was instead rather sympathetic. This surprised Vespar, for he had expected the members of Dregvant’s community to be far more smug and haughty about his failure. Oddly enough, the newspaper told a simple tale of premature talent, accompanied by an unfortunate scintilla of hubris. A rueful smile crept onto the scientist’s face. It was nearly exactly what he thought of the whole escapade.
“I was young and foolhardy,” muttered Vespar. “I was too harsh on myself for my failure… thinking it would be the end of my career and even life in Dregvant. I did this to myself, but there is still time for me to change – humility is my salvation.” As Demetri mused, he fiddled through the various papers and odds and ends on his desk, attempting to find what he came all the back to retrieve. It was an ancient mechanism, designed to calculate sidereal movement – at least, that was its main function… but the legends tell of a hidden purpose, one that revealed much more than astronomical truths, and more about the nature of the Universe itself: the fabled Unity of the Triad. The device revealed the secret of this legend, spoken of in Mu for bygone eras, but never completely understood. What triad? What was it for? Myths spoke of it, often even, but never conclusively. Questions asked but never answered…
“But I am here to answer them,” said the determined Vespar. “All my research pales in comparison to the revelation of this mythic circumstance. My unwavering tenacity will aid me to discover the truth… but if I fail, so be it.” The scientist’s fingers grazed across a tiny switch on the bottom left corner of the table. With a resolute smile, he clicked the switch. A hidden drawer shot out, revealing a box covered thick in dust. Demetri carefully removed it, blowing off the dust to reveal a single word etched into the wooden container: Triunitas.
“The name of the Triad… ‘triple unity’. What does it mean? A trinity of what?” muttered Vespar. He only had one idea, but somehow it felt right to him: to travel to the Otherworldly Well… the Well of Kathanados. This decrepit shrine existed on the Forgone Isle of Verímoor, in the middle of the Sea of Aøvotum; the large expanse of water that covered most of Mu’s surface. The shrine had many myths associated with it, from multiverses and other dimensions to physical places one could travel to. However, people had stopped visiting the island recently, for there had been occasional disappearances and subsequent discoveries of the gruesome remains of travelers. A terrible beast was suspected of these mysterious events, but no one dared confirm the theory in fear of meeting a similar fate. As far as he was aware, the mechanism which Vespar possessed had never been associated with the Well of Kathanados. He was a pioneer of such a thought, and he hoped his intuition would succeed in producing conclusions on this theory. Though he was not afraid of whatever haunted the Forgone Isle, he was afraid of his idea becoming another lost cause.
“Everything I touched seemed to break, wither and cease to function… but no longer. I have been humbled with defeat at my own hands, and now I know what I must do. I must prove to myself I can do great things, and not feel worthless when I fail. I think… I have found my quest.“ Slowly but surely, a feeling of peace mingled with adventurous joy came over Demitri. Gently placing the box in his satchel, along with the few books and various miscellanea he brought with him, he exited his old workshop, with a final gaze around the place which formed his character.
“Goodbye, old house. Rest in peace.” A breeze wafted through the creaking abode, seeming to wish a silent ‘good luck’ to the ambitious scientist. Closing the door behind him, Demitri shifted his eyes about North Sector, with a sad laugh. “I will never forget my time here. Dregvant will always have a place in my heart… but now, my nascent spirit begins to move forward, to places I never dreamed, worlds I never thought possible! … and it has to start someplace.”

“I go… to Verímoor.”

I love this band.

In the research for my Golden Sun III project, the Myth of Laerad, I occasionally stumbled across the hermetism/hermeticism page on Wikipedia. Hermeticism is basically a esoteric discipline (religion) with gnostic concepts throughout. It’s set apart from other disciplines because of its amazing Mysteries, and the powerful mythology and magick that drives them. Perhaps go to its Wiki page if you want more info.

Recently, I discovered a very apparent truth as I examined the page in detail for the first time: Golden Sun and Hermeticism have incredible similarities. Not only that, but the work I’ve been doing the past three years on the Myth of Laerad is actually spiritually successive to what could be the larger, hidden plot of the Golden Sun series, which I believe I’ve may have uncovered. Let me show you my findings.

• First, the founder of Hermeticism: Hermes Trismegistus (meaning “Thrice Great”), named so because, as he claims in The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, he knows the three parts of the wisdom of the whole universe. One of those three things is Alchemy.

• Next, take a look at the Hermetic creation myth! The Maker of the world created “seven powers”: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun and the Moon. Not only this, but the classical elements of Fire, Air, Earth and Water are essential to Hermetic practice.

• Who was the Wise One? “The Latin Ops: Terra, genius of the earth.” Ops, or Opis, was the same mythical figure represented as Gaia, or Mother Earth, and thus was female. The Wise One of Golden Sun, to me at least, feels decidedly patriarchal. But compare the symbol of Ops (the Monad) to the Wise One itself:

The Stone of Pessinus: “There was an oddly shaped stone that was procured from Pessinus that represented Ops. It was put in the famous temple in Rome and worshiped by the Romans, particularly the Cult of Cybele, for a long time in numerous ceremonies.”

Even more relevant, take a look at this alchemical woodcut, dated around the 17th century, of the Eye of Providence; the infamous symbol of all things occult:

“Adeptship is the state of complete spiritual maturity so far as this is possible to a member of the human family. Deficient in nothing necessary to a life of wisdom, the adept is sufficient to his own needs and capable of determining that course of personal action most likely to lead to enlightenment. The adepts foreshadow the state of mankind when it will have attained the full release of its faculties and powers. The adept is, therefore, the truly evolved of our species.”

• One of the most famous occult writers ever (along with Aleister Crowley, Dion Fortune, etc); Madame Blavatsky “asserts the capabilities of the adept as being able to take active control of elemental spirits.“

• Lastly, and definitely the most interesting:

1. “In the initiatory system of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn(!), an adept is one who has been granted the title Adeptus Minor. Symbolically this degree represents a spiritual aspirant who, having mastered the union of the four elements under an upright and balanced spirit, is allowed passage from the Portal of the Vault of the Adepti to… Abiegnus; the center of the universe.

2. “In the lore of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Mons Abiegnus (Latin, ‘fir covered mountain’) was a mythical mountain that symbolized the spiritual journey of the initiate. Borrowed from Rosicrucian symbolism, Abiegnus is visualized as the kabbalistic tree of life in the form of a subterranean mountain.”

3. The Aleph Ritual. A Ma’aseh Merkabah ritual constructed from traditional sources and from the angelic pantheon adopted by the Order of the Golden Dawn. This ritual is to be performed in conjunction with a study of the Tree of Life.

Mons Abiegnus… Mount Aleph…

There you have it. Not only does Golden Sun originate from a secret religious discipline, but nearly all my ideas for Golden Sun III are aligned with it.

Pretty awesome.