I finally made it to the Archive today(it was incredible!), and left with several musings that I'm now left to ponder until the next update. Apologies if the following is a little disjointed--it was an exciting expedition and I had to get the musings out. Hopefully it both makes sense and is interesting to read(though read no further if you don't want spoilers!)
1. Whatever the temporal gears are made of seems to exist in both a solid and liquid state, given the tank of glowing teal fluid in the engineering room. Perhaps the gears are just made of a metal that is infused with temporal essence somehow. What this essence does, I don't know, but at the very least it provides a source of light to some parts of the facility, as well as some sort of power source for the machines. I think this temporal energy may exist in a gas form as well, given that I dropped a temporal gear near the Library's gassifier and it started emitting teal particles. I'll have to try it again sometime in the future to see if I can repeat the incident.
2. Given the lore I've uncovered from the Archives and pieced together from random bits elsewhere, I'm guessing that the Rot was either triggered by humanity delving too deep in search of riches, or nobles paying scientists to push the limits of technology without heeding the potential dangers. There could be an entirely different reason too, as the Rot's origins haven't been made clear aside from it serving as the catalyst to drive the remnants of humanity underground and Falx to build the machine noted in the "Salvation" tapestry(I'll dub this the Salvation Engine for future reference).
3. . One detail that stood out to me was the abundance of massive rusty tendrils reaching from the depths of the Nobles Quarters--I didn't see spikes like this anywhere else in the Archives. "The Spy and the Sparrow" account found in the Library suggests that one of the nobles had spies infiltrating the ranks of Falx and his allies, while other lore bits indicate nobility's disdain for Falx's humble heritage and others of common birth. The "Danger of Temporality" tapestry seems to tell of some sort of paradise dimension, while warning of messing with powers that aren't well understood. In short, something especially horrific happened in the Nobles' Quarters, and I think perhaps they stole some of Falx's technology in a bid to save themselves first(and/or keep Falx from being heralded as a hero) only to make some miscalculations and potentially trigger the invasion from the Rust.
If the nobles were secretly tampering with Jonas tech and caused the Rust to start bleeding through, it could also explain why machines--especially automatons--started to go haywire when they had been docile before. Bells, however, could be explained as simply being hostile to anything that isn't human(which, the player is no longer human). Likewise, if the nobles and their lackeys were at ground zero of an invasion from the Rust...it could also explain where drifters come from and why they seem a melted mess of flesh and rusted metal. If Falx's Salvation Engine could turn humans to seraphs, a miscalculation with similar experiments could turn humans into abominations.
4. The Echo Chamber in the center of the complex and the resonators themselves bear an eerie design similarity to the thunderlord mech thing/Dave that appears during temporal storms. Dave's head and neck look like a more twisted, inverted part of the resonator. The Library's resonator archive mentions some sort of part resembling a creepy worm, that picks up signals to record in the resonator's echo chamber for posterity. I don't know if the two are actually linked somehow or if it's just an odd coincidence.
5. The "old alchemist" mentioned in the Library almost has to be Jonas Falx. Given what the archive describes, he achieved success with his Salvation Engine, although I'm guessing it was only partial given that he doesn't seem to know where any of the targets(the players) ended up. I would assume that Falx is a seraph as well now, given the implication that those subjected to the Salvation Engine became the seraphs. As to where we might find him, I'm not sure. I recall reading that villages are planned for the game, and the traders mention rare settlements that are hidden away(as well as others "like you" who just "appeared"). Perhaps he might be found in one of those, maybe with a whole workshop and special quests. Of course, if the next story arc contains another dungeon, Falx could end up being a target to rescue as well.
