This has probably been discussed before, but what do you think happened to Azel after she gave birth to Orta?
I can envision a scene where Azel carries Orta in her arms to the Seekers asking for help, and they attack and murder her for causing the Great Fall. Then, they lock her daughter in a cage to use for their own means.
However, this is only one of many possibilities. Perhaps, Azel is still out there, hiding from humanity, waiting until the time is right to return and play another part in the future of the world. There was talk of whole villages of drones out there… if there was one place that Azel might go to after being betrayed by the Seekers, it would be to her “own” people.
[quote=“Solo Wing Dragon”]This has probably been discussed before, but what do you think happened to Azel after she gave birth to Orta?
I can envision a scene where Azel carries Orta in her arms to the Seekers asking for help, and they attack and murder her for causing the Great Fall. Then, they lock her daughter in a cage to use for their own means.
However, this is only one of many possibilities. Perhaps, Azel is still out there, hiding from humanity, waiting until the time is right to return and play another part in the future of the world. There was talk of whole villages of drones out there… if there was one place that Azel might go to after being betrayed by the Seekers, it would be to her “own” people.
Thoughts?[/quote]
I don’t think Azel gave ‘birth’ to Orta - I think she was grown in an artificial womb, considering drones do not have reproductive facilities.
I don’t think Azel was betrayed by the seekers - I think she gave Gash the responsibility of raising Orta, and it was Gash who was later betrayed by his own people. This would explain why Orta was chained and imprisoned at the beginning…
I think Azel is still out there, possibly in another Tower, trying to restore what little balance there is to the devastated world.
I do believe when Azel created Orta, she was thinking in the long-term and not the short-term. I believe that Orta’s whole purpose was to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ thus creating a special tribe of humans who can interface with ALL of the Ancient technology, thus effectively freeing them from the Will of the Ancients, permanently. I believe that was her intent from the very start.
I’d like to think that the Seekers didn’t betray anyone, but were forced to keep her locked up by the Empire for observation. It’s quite a flimsy theory, but there could have been some “Keep her your prisoner or we’ll wipe you out” kind of deal going on.
Much in the same way as Lundi’s village supplied the Empire with Coolias - I’m pretty sure there wasn’t a “Y’know, we don’t fancy giving you our best Coolias this year” option for them.
To be fair, I’m sure there’s not meant to be one “correct”, detailed explanation for what happened to Azel; the facts the game gives us are so few that any number of explanations could fit without contradicting them. I expect this bit of the plot was just left vague because a detailed explanation wasn’t deemed important, and/or because the team recognised that mysteries catch people’s interest.
With that disclaimer out of the way; if I had to choose one explanation of what happened to Azel, I’d go with the idea that Azel had to sacrifice her own life as part of the process of creating Orta.
This appeals to me because it’s simple and because it conveniently answers the three big questions regarding Azel’s disappearance: it explains why Azel couldn’t be with Orta as she grew up; it explains why Azel had the foresight to leave the message in Sestren, which Orta finds in the game; and it explains why Azel has never since tried to recover her daughter from the Seekers (as far as the story goes).
I also think there’s a nice symmetry to the idea of Orta being the product of “gene data” (or whatever the game termed it) from two dead parents.
With this explanation, we could also just suppose that the Seekers who captured Orta found her alone in the ruins when they were doing some routine exploration. Raiding ruins is, after all, what Seekers are meant to do.
My mind trips over the idea that the Seekers (or anyone) simply found Orta somewhere. Given the security in the ruins where she was supposedly ‘born’ I don’t buy anyone stumbling across her “in utero” as it were. And we don’t have any indication that she is obviously distinguishable from a human, it doesn’t seem likely to me that anyone would know she’s a drone unless she had been given into someone’s charge initially. Gash does seem like the best candidate for that, although Azel may well have made some other friends we know nothing about.
This is a very harsh world, and I don’t really have a problem with the notion that Azel lacked any real maternal feelings about Orta, at least not fully developed and defined the way we might want to sentimentalize them. I have also never had any particular sentiment about the Seekers, they have never been “good guys” in this story to me, so I don’t need to believe there was any great betrayal involved in Orta’s situation with them. It may just have been a Devil you know kind of thing, if Azel knew she would not be around, and the Seekers were the only group she had any relationship with at all. An expectation of being raised with ‘love’ would be somewhat alien to her anyway, given that the Seekers never got around to dissecting Orta or anything, you could argue that she was being “taken care of” at least.
Anyway, I’d have to say I’m on board with Lord Craymen’s general take on it, that Azel may have had to merge with Sestren in a similar way as the Heresy Program in an attempt to restart some of the environment stabilizing processes. And with similarly irreversible consequences regarding her independence.
Even after finding Edge’s cold lifeless body floating in Sestren, Azel still couldn’t bring herself to accept that her love was lost forever. With much sorrow, she mounted her faithful coolia steed, and rode hence forth into the fading sunset, never to be seen by any living man again. Thus she passed into song and legend, her tale told around the campfires of many generations to come.
Poor choice of wording on my part. This image is shown next to the words “sexual act” in the PDO guidebook, so perhaps this device was used to create Orta? moonapples.com/lagi/pd_orta/worl … al_act.jpg
I think while Orta dying is a conviienent for Orta’s story, it is lame that she survived Saga only to die off camera- doesn’t seem like what they originally intended for her post Saga- otherwise she should have just died more dramatically in that and passed her genes on or something.
If she is dead in Orta it just seems like Saga’s ending was a bit of a waste, alluding to something way more interesting. But it really does seem like she died or why would she leave all these messages but not find her?
On the flipside, a sequel to Saga could happen chronologically before Orta would be interesting.
Also, is there a known meaurement of time between Orta + Saga? I forgot…
I always went with Azel creating Orta in an artificial womb of some sort (maybe in an intact genetics lab?), then giving her to Gash/another high ranking trusted seeker. I always assumed that after that there was some sort of cataclysm in the seeker culture, like a rebellion or something (there are some changes to the way they behave in Orta that made me think regime change). As a possible WMD Orta would have been kept by the “new” seekers for a future battle - or as insurance against a battle. Gash dies/is dead already and Azel is driven out.
She records the message in sestren, then, I dunno, joins a travelling circus as a lion tamer. Or maybe falls into a conveniently placed tolp eloh. Or looks about for some more drones, whatever floats your boat.
I’ve always thought this to be the best idea, since it explains a few things. It’s better than my other theory of drones having sell-by dates and Azel recording the message in sestren with the knowledge that she’d soon deactivate, thus never seeing Orta.
Idk, maybe Azel is just a horrible mother? Maybe she just had Orta so that Edge would have to pay her maintenance then skipped off to Miami with the money leaving poor aunty Gash to look after the baby? Hopefully smile a bit will make a sequel for Orta where we find out what happens.
Its pretty hard to know if Azel is still alive or not. Although I wanted Azel to come back alive. The only quotes that may hinted about Azel’s fate is probably this:
((You may lead a life of hardships,
but know that I will always be here. ))
(( Orta…
Your name is Orta. ))
(( My child… you carry my spirit.
And his spirit, as well… ))
Again, maybe Azel didn’t live to be with Orta. If she did live, then Abadd or other drones will go after her and kill her. Or after creating Orta, Azel decided to stay in Sestren and join Edge. When Gash and his men (maybe Paet as well) explore the ruins, they found Orta.
“She is the seed of our future…”
“We must protect it at all costs.”
Also, maybe Azel and Lagi met each other once again after the end of PDS. I think Lagi saw Orta’s birth with his own eyes, thats why Lagi would always protect her.
And as far as Azel’s maternal instincts, or lack thereof, I find it interesting that she seems to dote on Orta with her words by calling her her child and that she bears both of their spirits. Almost in an adoring sort of way. Then again, perhaps when she left the recording, she had been through some experiences which had further “humanised” her and allowed her to be more empathetic. This seems indicative by her statement about Orta leading a life of hardships.
