Now the simple answer would be that, similar to Prometheus’s Acrimony, it’s an in game mechanic only there for QOL. However, given that we’ve already seen Olympian essence, or something similar, with Poseidon it begs the question whether we’re speaking to the actual deity Hecate or whatever is left of her essence.
I think given the name, essence, it implies that her spirit has been somehow scattered and can now only interact with conscious being when prompted rather than moving of her own accord. Yet at the same time, Poseidon’s essence had to be summoned after potentially days of meditation, as well as immense physical growth. Though, that may have been due to his relatively recent death. Perhaps her being scattered for longer, would give her more consciousness compared to others, she may even be close to fully reforming.
Now onto the even more fun part. With the introduction of Hecate Essence, does this mean that other Hellenistic deities have their essence scattered about the world? Will we be able to find them and interact with them? Could there be a quest to try and reform some of the Hellenistic pantheon?
That last one is unlikely but perhaps this essence, may hold clues to whatever power the Order wants to unleash. Perhaps there was some deity which was scattered and sealed by the others?
Overall the introduction of divine essence brings in new and exciting questions to the lore and how involved the Olympians and other Hellenistic deities will be in the story. I await your guy’s responses, thoughts, and theories on this new addition.
Mild bump: but also something to add.
I think it would be cool if other essences could give like unique abilities or some sort of item. Maybe even a way to craft spirit weapons?
Unrelated to Hecate, but wouldn’t it be possible for the order to look into the creation of artificial gods? It’s only a speculation developed from its name (“The Order of Aesir”, Aesir being the group of major gods of Norse mythology) and what they look for (people of supposedly godly heritage), but it especially makes sense to me in the way that they seek to further the power of magic, something that gods can provide them with through curses.
So, in a way, it can relate to Hecate based on which of her versions is canon to AO, and might be why Woten (that’s the name of Keraxe’s leader, right?) is developing an interest in the dark sea, assuming that he too is a member of the Aesirs (which might be more than likely when considering what Keraxe’s culture is based off of and the name of the order).
Yeah that’s a theory I’ve considered … It’s probably why they were experimenting. Perhaps this power can only be released by the gods, and Legacies make for great vessels. It’s hard to say as most if not all of the information on the Order is unknown. We don’t even know exactly what experiments were being done. Overall it’s likely this is what they were trying to do with the Legacies, specifically. Also creation of new curses seems … I don’t know limited? Since they can only hold one element at a time, I think it would be more likely that they’d want new gods whose powers they could fully control, or maybe they just want new gods to do a better job than the Olympians? (elaborated later in point 3.)
To answer recent edits:
Keraxe, and by extension Wotan have been stated by Vetex to have little to no connection to the Order, though divine essence could be a rather enticing motivator since Poseidon’s essence is responsible for our boost in power.
The Aesir’s name is really interesting to me, because of the implications that Norse mythology has. That being Ragnarök.
3. Pretty Crack Theory, but it's fun to Think About
So I’ve had this thought for a while, that’s basically nothing more than rampant speculation based solely on The Order of Aesir’s name. I don’t have a name for it but I guess Ragnarök works fine.
The crux of the theory is that the Order is trying to in someway bring Chaos to Earth/Gaia/whatever the actual name of the planet is for AO, in order to destroy it. However, they plan to destroy it in a specific way, through a Ragnarök. What they hope will happen (in this theory) is that when Chaos destroys the world it will allow a new world and new gods to be created. They see this as a good thing since the Titans and Olympians are pretty much single handily responsible for why the world is so messed up, and they would hope these new gods, or just one god would do a better job than their predecessors.
Guarantee you it doesn’t exist in lore, because that would require Vetex to actually add something to the lore and not just subtract from what’s there.
Okay clarification time before we get more derailed. This post was speaking on the lore implications of her essence and the possibility of other divine essence(and a bit of Order theorizing). Not on Hecate’s identity nor capability, please keep future responses relevant and insightful.
while it’s possible for other essences to exist, I do doubt it (for most gods at least). I feel like Hecate’s Essence is an outlier, seeing as it’s only found in the most magically concentrated places on Earth. Why else would it only be in the depths of the dark sea?
I feel like essences only come from areas with concentrations of what a God once ruled over, like magic in Hecate’s case. Edit: I can’t particularly think of a location where God’s essence would be, but as bronzepegasus said below me, perhaps a location important to them could have their essence?
Oh, this actually a really good thought. It’s given credence too, with Poseidon’s essence manifesting in his temple. Maybe there’ll be secrets in the future similar to Charon’s Abyss, where instead of Chaotic energy being visible it would be divine/spirit energy. Maybe like an ancient library or other such scholarly institution could hold some portion of Athena’s essence?
Ngl with part of the game being that we don’t know who the members of the order are and have to figure it out as the story progress, it’s kinda lame that Vetex just told us straight up that Wotan isn’t one. This type of thing is more enjoyable when there are a lot more suspects.
True, and I really hope that later in the game we get to have more of a mystery type arc, where we piece together strange events and behaviors in order to determine who could be part of The Order.
Honestly I’d just like more build up than, strange flag going to military outpost where famous general is stationed, then you investigate and the dude is monologuing to his underling about he’s in the Order and “oh we’re so evil, ha ha ha.” Then no I’m not telling you anything more, then you head to Ravenna and in like 3 minutes you learn the king is also in The Order because of some old guy in the mines.
Like I enjoy a lot of Vetex’s writing, but the way the Bronze Sea Order is handled is just not well written.
