Can someone explain the plot?

[Kai Lae]

Ok, so I recently picked up and played pillars. I would have backed it when it was new if I had known it existed; reading dev diarys for stellaris and HOI3 on paradox's forums, kept seeing banner ads for something called Tyranny, finally decided to find out what it is. My good fortune. Anyway, played through entire game and white march. Some things aren't clear to me. In white march, I'm not really sure why ondra decided to send the eyeless to kill everyone. In the end of the main game, you find out the gods are created - I assume with the machine - but they actually are real. The end doesn't make a whole lot of sense, as for the trapped character to then deny they seemingly exist because they are false - which she seems to do - is odd when they converse with you several times. I'd like to get some clarification because it almost seemed like I missed an important point?

[Kaylon]

Well, if you consider the gods some superior entities who created the men then indeed they don't exist.

On the other hand you have some powerful beings created by men which are now worshiped as gods - it's up to you to decide if they should be considered gods or not. 

[Messier-31]

THE ORIGINS

• thousands of years ago Engwithans come to realization that there are no gods
• they think gods should exist, because without them civilizations will not thrive
• they use their superior animancy skills to create the gods according to their beliefs
• souls of many Engwithans are used in that proces (the machine at the end of the game)
• people who live after that are tought about the gods
• Iovara discovers that the gods are artificial, wants people to know this
• Thaos fights back Iovara's "heretic" movement using you (past life version of you) against her and wins
• one true faith covers the entire world
• Woedica is a goddess that rules over other gods
• sometime after that Woedica is overthrown by them and "exiled"

 

THING ABOUT ONDRA

• one of the gods, Abydon, has this thing called the White Forge, where he works
• the Eyeless are his minions
• Abydon thinks that all history should be available to everyone
• Ondra thinks that history should be forgotten, so the secret of the gods remains a secret
• Ondra argues with Abydon, the other gods stand by and watch
• Ondra pulls Ionni Brathr, one of the moons to fall down and destroy what remains of the Engwithans
• Abydon destroys the moon with his hammer, one part falls into the ocean
• Abydon sacrifices himself by getting killed by the other fragment
• Ondra takes control over the Eyeless
• sometime after that weakened Engwithans die out, thus other civilizations thrive
• many years later dwarves find the White Forge and build a fortress around it (Durgan's Battery)
• they use the Forge to make wonders (Durgan steel)
• Ondra gets pissed and sends the Eyeless to kill them, so White Forge remains forgotten, succeeds
• Abydon recovers as a golem, but he doesn't remember his death

 

NOWADAYS

• Thaos reincarnates for centuries as the same guy, his memories intact
• Woedica uses Thaos as his agent in order to keep the god's secret + help her regain her power
• Thaos wants to see animancy destroyed, because it poses a threat to the god's secret
• Thaos plans on stealing souls of newborns in order to blame it on animancers and empower Woedica
• for an unknown reason Eothas takes over the body of Waidwen and starts a war with Dyrwood
• it is possible that he wanted to put a stop to Thaos/Wodeica's plan
• for an uknown reason Magran sided with Woedica, so her followers constructed the Godhammer bomb
• Godhammer kills Eothas
• Waidwen's Legacy starts, animancers are being blamed
• you uncover the whole plot, the story may end in different ways
• you find out that the gods are artificial

 

Are artificial gods better than no gods? It is up to you only.