Ending and God's request of request of the soul machine

[asnjas]

Spoilers

 

Ok so I finished the game a second time and I'm looking for clarity.

 

Rymergand, ondra and skaen all asked me to disintegrate the souls after I finished rymergands quest.

 

After killing the main enemy, skaen asks me to give the souls to woedica. What gets me is this seems contrary to skaen principles.

 

Doesn't he hate rulers and authorty and values silent slaves striking against their masters? Doesn't woedica want to get souls to regain her lost power? Woedica wants to be the leading power of all the gods. Why would the god that hates authority and values silent revenge want to help the god that wants to become the highest power of all the gods?

 

It seems like disintegrating the souls to spite woedica is aligned with skaen principle. And why did skaen habe a change of heart?

[jtbehnke]

Skaen is also the patron of the underdog. All underdogs. And among the gods, who is more of an underdog than poor, weak, outcast and silent Woedica?

Edited July 29, 2018 by jtbehnke

[asnjas]

Sure but there is something wrong then with skaen.

 

Woedica is an underdog but he also is the god of authority and rule that wants to rule over all other gods.

 

So skaen seems to be the god of endless cycle where he lashes out against authority until they are brought down. When they are brought down they now are the underdogs. Now he helps the underdog strike out against the New power.

 

What happens then when woedica regains power and becomes once again the god in control? Skaen must, according to his principles, lash out against woedica.

 

Skaen doesn't seem to be a good choice to follow.

[jtbehnke]

Given what we know about the Gods and how the Engwithans designed them, that's probably more accurate than you think.  Considering that Thaos' whole goal is to keep kith in a state of ignorance regarding the nature of souls and the Gods, having a god whose nature compels them to continually seek the overthrow of whoever is in charge at the time would be advantageous, creating just enough societal instability that kith are more concerned with revolutions and wars than, say, researching animancy.

 

Besides, that, Iovara also says "Engwith built gods from ideals, and an ideal on its own is a grotesque and vicious thing."  And Skaen definitely has the grotesque and vicious department covered, if only in his physical appearance alone.  Skaen's ideals are rebellion against any authority, so when the rebels he's helped become the new authority, he will join the first ones to rise against them, and envy that can never be satisfied, perpetually jealous of the other gods who are more beautiful or more beloved than him, but unable to truly rectify that situation, so he takes that anger out on everyone else who IS weaker than him.  When you use your envy to better yourself, it can be a good thing.  Overthrowing an individual tyrant is an opportunity for change for the better.  But Skaen lacks that context, so the hatred never ends, and the rebellions begin anew, with no regard for the collateral damage because as an ideal, Skaen can't care about it.  He, like all the gods, lacks the emotional capacity to do so outside of what he represents.

 

He ISN'T a good choice to follow.  The Skaen cultists we encounter in the games are almost always enemies, broken people who turned to Skaen in anger and desperation, and even if your Watcher is a Priest of Skaen themselves they have to repeatedly lie and be a jerk to everyone they encounter, which doesn't win them friends and favors.

Edited July 30, 2018 by jtbehnke

[fgalkin]

All the gods are massive hypocrites, and that's intended by the devs. They constantly betray their own principles- see Rymrgand refusing to annihilate the souls of his followers because he needs them as soul batteries, or Woedica being the goddess of legal authority, but also abuse of power.