I thought I'd make a generic "what if..?" thread where people can post up their own questions about what would have happened if something in the setting or story of Arcanum had been changed, and other people can discuss possible answers or add further what if questions. It'll be just like if we had our very own What If Machine but a million times better! The what if question I thought of today was what if Loghaire had told M'in Gorad to go fuck herself? It seems like a pretty pivotal part of the dark elves' plan was getting dwarves into the void, and without Loghaire's approval for banishment I can't see how else they could have managed this. I don't think this is an entirely unrealistic question either; after conversations with Loghaire it is very evident he regrets not telling her to suck his hairy dwarvern balls, and also he burnt Lorek the Abjurer alive along with a truckload of his followers so at one point he was pretty badass. Could the dark elves have worked around this problem or would they have had to wait until Loghaire croaked to take further action? Also Loghaire would have undoubtedly got suspicious when a war with the elves never materialised.
As far as I recall the civil wars against Lorek the Abjurer was the main reason Loghaire did not engage a war with elves, after seeing the destruction and suffering the war brought upon fellow dwarves. Maybe we can change the question what if there were no civil war brought upon by Lorek and dwarves were craving for a bloody war, and no other race (maybe orcs) would make a better enemy for dwarves than elves. Myn Gorad might have better hid her poop trail to hide Tseng-Ang, as dwarves wouldn't then wait for elves to come out. My answer to your what if is, probably Myn's followers would trick an elven party into dwarven territory and would initiate an elven-dwarven war. and at the heat of the battles would imprison a massive party of dwarves to banish. Elves would not notice it as dark-elves look as elf as them, and they know there are other elves out there, so they would think it is just an elven aid. Dwarves would not suspect any conspiracy as they would think some fellow dwarves were slain in battle. there you go. Here comes my what if; What if human society refused down Bates' steam machine and cast him away or slain him? Many reasons comes to mind for such an act, mages foreseeing the incoming threat of technological spread; conservationists in society refusing such a major change in social structure, or other businessmen(who then has money, therefore power) noticing the threat of Bates' monopoly on high profit production and get rid of him before he comes into real power. Without Bates, technology would be kept within dwarven society only and Arcanum would be what it was 100 years ago, wouldnt it? Then character creating menu would be much duller assume. Tarant would still be minor capital of nowhere significant; Delhorm still strong in power with mighty Dragon Knights; Elven forest intact without human lumbering companies and still as powerful as before, Mages being the upper class of society. But most importantly there would never be a Liam's Workshop where we can slay till we reach lvl 35 in the end of the day!! Here is another what if; What if we could enter the portal near Liam's Workshop and got killed inside. Then Arcanum would be doomed to be annihiliated by Kerghan, no?
I thought something like this, or maybe they'd bribe some dwarves, either way they'd get a group of dwarves for their evil designs somehow. I'd like to think sooner or later technology would have found a way; there's only so long you can let a society stagnate before people want to change it. That being said if Bates had been cast out it would be tough to say how long things would take to change, few people are ever in the position Bates was having first hand experience with the dwarves. Quite possibly someone might have happened upon the ruins of Vendigroth and a technological revival may have started from there. As everyone else was clueless about his plans, yes I'm sure he probably would have just killed everyone. Either that or one of your followers, if one was still alive, may have continued the quest and succeeded in stopping him. Here's another what if: What if you don't kill Gorgoth, The Bane of Kree or Kraka-Tur in the void? Arronax returns, wouldn't they just return and plunge Arcanum into a new age of darkness? If they were so awesome they had to be banished before would things have changed so much since then that they could easily be put a stop to when the story is set?
The Bane of Kree might try to amass some followers of his own, a nomadic barbarian kingdom to ravage the land. He's the worst out of all of them, and he's number one. Gorgoth was only trouble when he was hungry. I get the feeling he'd be a welcome addition to the Tarantian Zoo. If he starts to get anxious, throw him a cow. Of course, I'm not sure how much he would have to eat over any length of time...or if he could be kept in a large cage. Kraka-Tur had a severe inferiority complex during his life. That's why he became a dragon. He hides behind his massive draconic frame, a shell. Powerful, but still a shell. If you choose the alternate dialogue path and decide to irritate him until he attacks you, it'll never happen. The only way to fight him from there is to exit dialogue and attack. I think that if there were a few stronger NPCs in a city, and they called his bluff, he'd cower like a slow loris.
Yeah you're probably right on all counts, I would have loved an ending sequence clip summarising these events though. I made sure to kill them all with my last whiter than white character to prevent them from returning. So is there any more questions? Anything at all? I've got a question, and it is a biggie: what would have happened to the setting if Vendigroth hadn't of been destroyed? Would we still have dark elves without that one crystalline moment where Arronax demonstrated the might of magic and elven superiority? If he hadn't had been banished would he have become a leader of those elves? Would Vendigroth have become expansionist, taking over most of the world, as it seems the current main tech city Tarant is keen to with it's boarder disputes with Cumbria and one sided treaties with Caladon? What if anything would have happened between Vendigroth and the dwarves of Arcanum? After all in Pelojian's words "The people of Vendigroth mastered technology long before the dwarves" so surely they would have had some interesting interaction with the leading technological race. This question is something I've always wondered about, I would have loved a prequel where you have fun times in Vendigroth and get to abuse on all the lowly magic users of Arcanum! This video always puts a smile on my face.
I do have some questions: What if Virgil was a double agent after all? Or what if the portal (at Liam) have not been destroyed? Would the whole world have been terrorized by the creatures that came through the portal?
If Virgil was a double agent I guess sooner or later he'd make his move and then you'd have to kill him. He would have probably waited to see how you reacted to the dark elves before doing anything too hasty though. And I don't know, I wouldn't think the world would become entirely overrun. Firstly you'd think there'd be a limit to the amount of creatures that could come from the void, unless there really are millions of creatures in there or the void somehow produces them periodically. Secondly the creatures don't seem smart, they'd probably spread through Cumbria and to the east of the Stonewall Range but I can't see them getting much further than that without any reason for them to do so. Once enough of them had spread people would eventually find and close the portal too, they wouldn't just sit and let some exotic new monsters wreak havoc them without trying to locate their source.
What if the murder of the king or prince of Caladon (I think it was, but I am not sure at this moment) would lead to a civil war?
You can kill both of them in different quests, and I think that if a civil war did break out Tarant would be quick to capitalise on it and take over Arland.
I am not sure how many people here played Planescape:Torment but as one who did so, I was %500 certain at one point we would learn that Virgil is not what he seems to be but a double agent, but one that can be converted to our side by certain play+stats. As it didnt end that way it made me wonder whether I missed something in the game that would trigger it. By the way I was almost certain that when Virgil left "AHHA!!! that's it!!" to no avail later.
