The Lore From a New Player's Perspective

[PineReseen]

Now, I'm pretty new to Vintage Story, and It's been apparent that there is at least some lore to this game, judging from the buried homes, ruins, traders, and all that.

So, I've figured that perhaps writing all my thoughts so far from what I have seen in game and from some of the spoilers that I have not managed to avoid here would be a good idea, for... Reasons I guess.

Okay, first of all, who or what is the player character? Well, judging from the unnatural eye and skin colours, we know that's it's not exactly human. Perhaps we could be part of the ones who created the ruins? A different species? I mean, the rusty gears, according to the wiki, can be obtained from cracked vessels in ruins, and the traders when questioned about them, mention that maybe they could have not been made by human hands.

Though, the traders don't seem to be surprised or question our existence when talking to them, so I'm not so sure. Maybe I'm just digging too deep into this.

What about the drifters, bowtorns, ect.? Here, the trader once again contributes by saying that the drifters were souls who challenged god and were cast down into the earth in their drifter form. As to how they challenged god, why, and when? Well, I dunno.

As to how the player appeared in "modern times", I have no idea. Perhaps it had to do with temporal gears, or something temporal like that? It's clear that the player character must've had a past, and that there was some civilization wide-collapse judging by the ruins. And, since the player character can respawn, there may be some temporal shenanigans involved. Maybe the drifters were even seraphs (or whatever the character species is called) before they "challenged god" or something.

I think that's all I can really make out from the early-game lore. Thanks for reading!

[LadyWYT]

Posting with spoiler tags, just in case you'd like the mysteries to remain. Though I will note that some of these topics have yet to be explained, if they even receive a future explanation. Some things may just be left up to the player to decide for themselves.

4 hours ago, PineReseen said:

Okay, first of all, who or what is the player character? Well, judging from the unnatural eye and skin colours, we know that's it's not exactly human. Perhaps we could be part of the ones who created the ruins? A different species?

Spoiler

You are correct--the player is not human, but rather a "seraph". Aside from being taller, oddly colored, and seemingly unconfined to the normal shackles of time, they don't seem to be that much different from a human. They may or may not have had a hand in creating the ruins you see scattered about the landscape--depends on how you want to interpret your own character's history.

The ruins overall are part of the Old World, which was in the process of being wiped out by a plague before certain other events took place to save it.

 

4 hours ago, PineReseen said:

I mean, the rusty gears, according to the wiki, can be obtained from cracked vessels in ruins, and the traders when questioned about them, mention that maybe they could have not been made by human hands.

Spoiler

The rusty gears are most likely artifacts from a different dimension entirely, known as the Rust world, though it's also possible they could just be the remains of temporal gears that have lost their energy or pieces of lost tech that can no longer be replicated.

 

4 hours ago, PineReseen said:

What about the drifters, bowtorns, ect.? Here, the trader once again contributes by saying that the drifters were souls who challenged god and were cast down into the earth in their drifter form. As to how they challenged god, why, and when? Well, I dunno.

Spoiler

It's somewhat implied that the non-mechanical monsters were once human, and were twisted into what they are now as a result of cataclysmic events in the Old World. I suspect that the "challenged God" portion is either a holdover from medieval Catholicism(the general setting is Europe, late Middle Ages), or a reference to those who rebelled against Jonas(who was worshiped as a god by many) and his endeavors to save the world. Probably a mix of both, really.

 

4 hours ago, PineReseen said:

As to how the player appeared in "modern times", I have no idea. Perhaps it had to do with temporal gears, or something temporal like that? It's clear that the player character must've had a past, and that there was some civilization wide-collapse judging by the ruins. And, since the player character can respawn, there may be some temporal shenanigans involved. Maybe the drifters were even seraphs (or whatever the character species is called) before they "challenged god" or something.

I won't really say much on this part. However, playing through the main portion of the story will explain a good chunk of what happened and what's going on, in regards to these details.

[PineReseen]

@LadyWYT Nice, though I probably won't read the spoilers until I (hopefully) finish the story

Speaking of, I've got some more things I discovered/remembered about.

First of all, the traders say that people like our player characters have been popping up like daisies across the land, so that explains why they don't act surprised. But also, this means that there are more of the character's species that survived whatever happened and teleported in time somehow.

Speaking of teleportation, while I was exploring I stumbled upon a structure in the entrance of a cave which contained some sort of translocator (Which is probably that teleportation device from the trailer) and a bunch of junk. I left quickly though.

Another thing, which is quite big, are the clothes that each class starts with. They offer a surprising amount of information about the society of what I'd assume were the seraphs while their society still existed.

The commoner clothes don't say much, but we do learn about "refugees", which would probably be fleeing from that civilization-wide collapse I theorized about.

When faced with powerful despair, some refugees found a powerful will to survive.

The hunter clothes go into a bit more detail, with things like:

Warm and obscuring, for one who traveled overland during the last hunts.

Hunters across the land were called upon to put their talents to use and to bring mercy to their old quarries.

Provides what little protection it can against the sickness.

Speckled in lingering mud stains. Remnants of the marshlands.

These appear to hint at some sort of ecological disaster, or something that would disrupt the ability for seraphs to hunt, which prompted a nation-wide response. The ecological collapse theory is supported by perhaps the most worrying entry here, and that is "Provides what little protection it can against the sickness.". Something, like a plague perhaps, was killing seraphs and animals (Though that might be a bit of a stretch). This sickness could also have created marshlands of... Something perhaps, though this is entirely speculation, based off the fact that "the marshlands" are specifically mentioned.

The malefactor set also provides some valuable information:

Any discoloration on the mask would be deemed too dangerous to allow re-entry. Those who were brave enough to make multiple journeys would carve tallies on their masks, to show how many times they had cheated death.

Improvised to travel through the filth and mire.

Some people adapted poorly to the underground. They longed to see the forests again.

Those who committed crimes in the underground were exiled to join the scouts on the surface until they found something of value to bring back.

A thick leather cloak to protect against exposure.

Vagabonds, foragers, and thieves; the outcasts would venture to the surface in search of any remaining resources.

Some outcasts liked to keep a few findings for themselves.

This establishes that seraph society was largely underground during the ecological collapse, and that scouts, criminals, and others were sent to the surface to gather anything still left. Furthermore, the sickness was so dangerous, that those exposed to it were left to die outside of the bunkers. My theory is that the sickness was some sort of sludge, as hinted at by the references to "the filth and mire", and "the marshlands".

Moving on to the clockmaker, this one offers little lore, but it could have an explanation for one of the questions left unanswered:

Unassuming wear. The garb of a craftsman suddenly elevated to an important role.

Horology lent itself well to the new inventions, thus clockmakers found themselves in high demand.

Perhaps the seraphs invented a way to move themselves through time? Horology, from what I looked up, is the science of measuring time, and measuring time would probably go rather well together with traveling in it. Also, the flavour text for the class itself is quite interesting: "The machines never stop ticking down there. You've seen to that. You can hear them in your sleep.". Maybe it could be referencing the underground where seraph society was located during the disaster?

The blackguard is perhaps the most interesting class in terms of lore in my opinion.

A new company was formed. This one cared not for liege nor coin nor faith.

In those days a certain discipline and practicality took hold of many soldiers.

They relied on each other, using whatever means they had to ensure progress in those dark tunnels.

They maintained order while the world collapsed around them.

This "new company" was probably the Blackguards, which I assume were the pioneers while making progress in the tunnels, and probably the police force of the underground. Though, considering the way the third text was written, it may hint at something also inhabiting the tunnels with the refugees, maybe it was that the sickness got inside the tunnels?

The tailor is probably the least lore-filled class of them all:

Provides a touch of security when dealing with customers.

All those clothes - torn to pieces and left in the dark. But not forgotten.

The first text is probably referring to the sickness, while the second is probably about the collapse of the underground, also supported by the underground ruins. I don't think there's a lot to talk about here.

So, what could the sickness be? My theory is that it is the same thing that the drifters have as blood. Seeing as it is not merely an airborne plague, since it can contaminate clothes, I'd assume it is a sludge. The drifters, as hinted at by the falx's description: "The creatures hide metal in their flesh and their blood flows like sludge. A simple sword will not do here.", have sludge as their blood. I don't think it would be far-fetched to say that the sickness was a sludge that repurposed blood and other biomass into itself, hence the marshlands and filth. Though, there is also another interpretation possible, and that is that the sickness was a way to cleanse civilization by some god, and then that god turned all the seraphs who "challenged" god by hiding in caves into drifters, as said by the traders.

Maybe the flora and fauna of the lands managed to gain an immunity to the sickness at large at the last minute due to mutations/survival of the fittest/prolonged exposure, and then came back, after all the seraphs died/teleported in time? Or whatever god the traders talk about succeeded in his cleansing operation, but some seraphs managed to travel forwards in time? I don't think I know which one it could be, or even if it's any of these right now. Guess I'll figure it out later

Thanks for reading!

Edit: I chose to skip over some of the flavour texts due to them not being very lore-related.

Edited March 21, 2025 by PineReseen
Added clarification

[PineReseen]

The structure I was talking about:

[C_Man]

When you point on the translocator, you can see what stuff you will need to repair it. If you repair it, it will link up to another translocator somewhere else in the world. This is a feature for quick travel, but rarely gets used, due to the locations of translocators being fixed and underground. On multiplayer servers, many players get their own translocators for fast travel, by the server admin. These are basically teleports to get around faster.