Think I figured out the skill-gem lore

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Charan wrote:

If Shavronne was Maligaro's apprentice, then who was Doedre?

Oh, sorry, I think I got Doedre and Shavronne confused.

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Charan wrote:

If Shavronne was Maligaro's apprentice, then who was Doedre?

One cold-hearted bi- *cough* witch.

Anyways I'm gonna try and go through game's entire available lore before making a substantial comment on what I think skill gems are. However, considering Diablo's influence, the soulstone-esque ideas seem pretty convincing.

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Charan wrote:

I like this thread. AiSard, in particular, has a firm grasp on what's happening.

If Shavronne was Maligaro's apprentice, then who was Doedre?

*Deer in headlights* o.o I do? lol. Might have something to do with the fact I open PoE just to check out the dialogue before posting here =p just in case I misremember
(on that note, how can you not pick up this stuff? atleast vaguely =p)

Doedre was Maligaro's apprentice (my first unique =D) Shavronne of Umbra was the necromancer that experimented on Brutus.

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Casia wrote:

Skill gems are not Virtue gems.

The Virtue gems being what created the Undying, Gemlings, Merviel, the bane gem, etc.
Merviel didn't get a skill gem implanted to her to make her a monster, she simply carried a Virtue gem around her neck.

huh, didn't think about that.. I swear I saw something about it in the dialogue but just can't quite find it -"-

Slight nitpick about the gem implant thing though. It was Kalisa (greatest singer of Wraeclast) who had a gem implanted in her throat which granted her talent and undeath (but not insanity), Daresso the Daring stole it/ripped it out for his lady love Merveil in which it was used as a necklace instead, the incorrect implementation being what I'd assume caused Merveil's insanity.

That said (unless its mentioned somewhere in the lore) I assumed Virtue gems and Skill gems were one and the same, seeing as Virtue gems have been the only mainstream gems used since the Vaal civilization, and that the Eternal Empire successfully used them for centuries at least (without the insanity drawback for the most part, but with the undying effect)

Thus Skill gems seem to be just what we call the Virtue gems we see that are dropped on the ground as I don't see any development of Skill Gem lore that is separate from Virtue Gem lore (could be wrong though) and thus no logical reason how we could have acquired these non-Virtue, super-stable Skill Gems.

Which begs the question: how the hell can we use the Skill (Virtue) Gems so safely if Merveil's necklace could drive her insane and mutilate her so horribly? >_> (unless its to do with prolonged skin contact and we're just being super careful.)

Or alternatively, who came up with this super stable Skill Gem?

Or more realistically, have we already entered the ranks of the undying and the insane and just don't know it yet due to the slow nature of the mutation?

Here's your answer: The skill gem (Star of Wraeclast) that Merveil got as a present was probably borked at creation in a way unknown to its maker(s) at the time. You can't create all handmade objects perfectly - some of them will be flawed in some shape or form.

Owing to said gem being borked during creation, Merveil happened. Granted that your conclusion about it being used for an unintended purpose (as a necklace) could also be correct of course.

Other conclusion: Star of Wraeclast, as opposed to their cousins that we use, must have been some sort of experimental prototype intended to modify a skill gem in some known or unknown way. Version 0.8a of skill gem firmware wasn't so compatible with Merveil as it was probably tailor made to that singer girl. Like trying to use Linux software on Windows and hoping for it to click together.

Quote from Eramir in the Forest Encampment:



Proves that skill gems are in fact virtue gems.

o .o huh, didn't catch the 'Star of Wraeclast' thing.
EDIT: oh wow, just read the Merveil lore on the site =p

'borked at creation' theory seems more like a non-answer tbh: 'because exception'
'experimental prototype' kinda works but I'd wonder why they'd do something like that for a singer (as opposed to experimental prisoners or something)

Kinda leaning towards the whole tailor-made conclusion tbh, as if you look at the golden-age Eternal Empire gem usage, its usually inset in to the actual people using them. The Gemling Queen's spine. Kalisa's throat. Whereas the Skill Gems we use are commoner usage? And thus using higher-end stuff on your crappy cpu will melt your graphics card =p

Really hoping they come out with some more lore about the cataclysm though? I keep hoping it links to the Gemlin Queen somehow (I'm a fan =p)

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EndOfEnds wrote:

Quote from Eramir in the Forest Encampment:

"Show me this gem from the Chamber of Sins. It has the aspect of a virtue gem, like those you carry already... yet it's clearly not made to slot in to any of your standard equipment"

Virtue gems = Skill gems.

=D Thats the one!

Huh, the mention of slots in-game.. (so not just a game mechanic) so Skill gems are pretty much standardized. Except for special cases like Kalisa and Lady Dalia, where its inserted right in to the body without any insanity. I like how this fits in to my theory last post =)

Got to wonder how all this links with the wider Undead problem though +_+

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AiSard wrote:

Which begs the question: how the hell can we use the Skill (Virtue) Gems so safely if Merveil's necklace could drive her insane and mutilate her so horribly? >_> (unless its to do with prolonged skin contact and we're just being super careful.) ...

Or more realistically, have we already entered the ranks of the undying and the insane and just don't know it yet due to the slow nature of the mutation?

I believe the story goes that Merveil became insane etc over time. As gem users, we all know that the gems become more powerful the longer we carry them on our person. So, the question begs to differ, is there an upper capacity for these gems power when worn rather when they are implanted in a person and 'protected' from the negative energies of Wraeclast. To quote the wiki...

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The very soil is permeated with dark, ancient power, the earth shivering with malice.

So far, the game seems to have about 3-4 different 'ages' and we are seeing the effects of some of them on modern day Wreaclast.

The Vaal - Really Ancient creators of constructs
Pre Cataclysm Empire - Creators of Gem 'Technology'
~Ancient Cataclysm~
Post Cataclysm Empire - Rebellion mentioned of in Act 3
Current Day - Corrupt Empire that has something rotten up it's sleeve.

So potentially,
The Vaal perverted nature with their experiments in constructs and led to the fall of their Empire
The 'Empire' developed skill/virtue gems to be implanted in people
Unimplanted gems in contact with human life force and gems that had been tampered with became 'corrupted' by the negative energy left by the Vaal as they grew in power.
This lead to the Cataclysm
The energies released by the Cataclysm perverted even lower level implanted gems causing mutations/insanity [The Gemling Queen has obviously lost the plot a long time ago not-a-cockroach]
Rival factions were in conflict over the remains of the crippled Empire
The divisions in the Empire remain till present day and the current Empire is even more corrupted internally
There is something in Wraeclast that at least one faction of the Empire wants/needs to bring them to power and it has to do with implanting gems safely into people again. See Piety and Grigor's (?) story.

If I am on the right track then Virtue gems and Skill gems are the same thing. If they are, then. potentially, there are out there gems of power far beyond what we have yet to encounter and they are very very dangerous to own and to use.

I am pretty sure virtue gems are the in game name for skill gems. I remember a piece of dialogue from either act 2 or 3, and was after I received a gem as a reward.

Went something like "..the virtue gems, like the one you have there"

Can't remember the NPC. Will have to listen to dialogue again xD

It is true. Virtue gems=skill gems.

So in my opinion the biggest question GGG needs to answer is why the fuck is the Exile able to use the gems so effectively and not go insane, etc.

This is as as close to 'chosen one' or 'special' that I can come as regards the Exile beyond the usual obviousness of 'you made it to the end of the game where no others have'.

I quite like the subtlety of it, and I just know GGG's main writer Edwin has the skill to pull it off without insulting us.

Although that could be quite a task given how many players we have who really do show a keen interest in dissecting and understanding the story and the lore.

Regarding Merveil: I suggested a long time ago, to Chris directly in fact, that we need a quest related to retrieving the Star from her, probably for Bestel I'd say, which would be the perfect reason for the Exile to actually go down there in the first place. We're self-serving and driven by one thing only: what's in it for us?

So while Nessa is all like oh no don't go there, and Tarkleigh's like, hey, you'd be doing us a favour, Bestel could be the real driving force behind it. He fancies himself a poet, and no doubt the Star of Wraeclast would be quite the artifact for a poet to own.

Anyway -- that's ambitious. That involves re-recording voice work and coming up with a reward, etc.

But I think it'd be awesome.