Lore/Story The Monument's Master Shutdown

More proposed backstory (and frontstory if you could call it that) about Corkus. More specifically, the existence of a Master Shutdown button, which is more or less a Hard Mode hook for Fallen Factory.

Yes, the Tailor is back for this, and now has a proper name - Rez, if I do mention him in the upcoming bits of Corkian headcanon.

Welcome back! I've been doing a couple more requests for my clients in Gavel, so apologies for the mess. Apparently the Elves of Aldorei have expressed some interest in learning more about Electromagic, in exchange for clothing for their ambassador to Corkus. No idea who their ambassador is exactly, but they have a... rather distracting white hair. It'll be ill-fitting for sure, since I have never worked with Aldorei silk before!

Speaking of work, here's some more tales about Corkus. Now, I've said that the Avo do not want Ava to be around, because apparently they don't like Electromagic being a part of their culture. Can't blame them for sticking to the tradition, you cannot force something to change nigh instantaneously, and after I've heard that the Factory somehow came alive again, the tensions are at an all time high. Hell, the Council is at blade's edge right now because they don't know how to shut it down!

Speaking of the Council, Cerid's son (may he rest in piece- I mean, peace - he got torn to shreds by a bunch of robo-hounds) mentioned that there used to be a master shutdown button that completely and utterly disables all mechs, but it is password controlled. Now, this is why Emmett is important to the story. Emmett was a member of the Council, Factory era, with Cerid. He was one of the four people who got trusted the password to the master shutdown. Unfortunately, he forgot his part of the password, but he did write it down. Somewhere. When he finally passed away (mind you he was really old, even by Corkian standards!), Emmett's quarter of the password was trusted to the young lass under his tutelage. Therein lies the problem. The other three pieces need to be united with the one the lass currently has.

The first quarter was kept by Cerid. He has since then embedded his quarter of the code inside the framework of his creations. To hide the password leading to the Factory's demise directly inside the mechs that are plaguing the province... What irony!

The second quarter is kept by the Queen of Troms. One of the council members apparently did not want to be the only person to hold that bit of the password, so they travelled to Troms, where she met Her Majesty, the Queen of Troms. Or rather, Princess of Troms back then. ...wait, what do you mean the royal family of Troms got arrested? Does this mean the code is - oh, you're the holder... So that explains why I never heard of the King in a long while! And since you saved Wynn from a fate worse than the mechs we're dealing with, I guess that bit of the password is now yours... Somehow.

I was trusted the third quarter of the password. Keyword, was. I heard mechanical clunking coming from my workshop, and the next morning after that, I saw the whole place trashed. Something, or someone, must have stolen my quarter of the password! I don't know where it ended up, but one of the newer models might have it. The clunking noise coming from the mech was somewhat more subtle than the older ones. That is saying quite a lot, considering the old models really grind some gears to even walk. Without the other three quarters, though, it's useless, and they can't for the life of them figure out the first quarter that literally got etched onto them as their serial numbers. Serves them right.

Anyway, I'm out of stories for today, and- ...wait, did you hear that? That sounded like a large explosion... As if an airship just crashed and burned! It came from the North, so why don't you check it out? Don't worry about me, I'll keep working on the clothes, there's a strict deadline for them, you know!

[Quest Hook End: Liberation of Corkus]

Spoiler: Liberation of Corkus

Liberation of Corkus is a Level 104 (proposed) Quest that takes place in the entirety of Corkus Province, and requires the completion of every other Corkus quest before it. Completion of this quest unlocks the Hard Mode version of Fallen Factory, in which you enter the Factory to shut down all the mechs for good - as, in A Hunter's Calling, it is outright stated that the Antikythera Supercomputer has backup cores in case something goes horribly wrong.

Why Level 104? Well...