Preface

P.S.
This article has been completely reworked and includes a lot more juicy lore.
There are several completely new chapters containing new twists and turns. I hope you enjoy.
D.S.

This is a tale of the most mysterious island in Tibia, and how it was hidden for over two decades.
It’s also a tale of the ancients, how they rose to godhood, and how they fell.
It’s a tale revealing the true nature of Variphor, it’s a tale of the magic web.
We’ll even uncover secrets of Troll Sabotage, and the ancients of the ancients.

This took me 5 months to write, alongside making this site. I hope you enjoy it.

It’s going to sound so out there that you’ll probably not believe it at first, but there is a method to this madness. I hope I can inspire you to dig further into this mystery.

If you’d only like to see the Island Dianscher mystery, you can read the chapters: 1, 2, 8 & 9.

For those of you that have read my previous research, I will show another path of this fantastic lore. And in the beginning, we’ll use mostly old-school nostalgic hints that everyone knows and loves.

We’ll begin with the hidden hideout in Thais’ Troll Cave.

1: Serpentine Demona

{more-1: The Trolls’ Cave-1}

The Trolls’ Cave

Many of you know of the Thais Troll Cave, and most of you know of the secret room in the cave. Accessible by using levitate in a non-obvious, awkward spot.

There are some odd things in this room, and it clearly stands out from the rest of the cave.

Some notable things are:

• To the east lies a locked room with a magic light wand, some gold, a scroll, a lever, and a single bed.
• To the south is a chest with 132 gold coins.
• We see anvils and fresh blood.
• Somehow upper-class trolls are inside. As far as I know, they can’t levitate.
• There is some oddly satisfying symmetry with all these stones and pillars.
• On the ground level - exactly above, we see 4 dead snakes by 4 stone pillars. Those are facing north, west, south, and east instead of this floor’s diagonal stones.
• The fire on the ground floor is also placed above the center tile of the room below.

It also seems like someone left the stove on. And I find it odd that there’s a burning barrel by the bed; someone must’ve been here recently.

Something easily missed yet extremely important can be found in the center: a white stone tile. It’s not ordinary marble. These are very, very rare. Only a handful exists in Tibia.
I believe this is all other places they can be seen in:

We are going to return to these white stone tiles a bit later; there are other things to understand first.

To figure out what it’s all about, we’ll start by following a huge hint that’s right in our faces, namely:

Trolls

I promise they’re not boring, they’re quite the opposite and full of secret surprises.

When researching trolls, we quickly stumble upon their loyalty to the warlocks, as seen in the libraries of the lava city.

Demona

To reach Demona, you have to go through the Maze of the Lost Souls.

Imagine it’s the year 2001, there is no Wiki, there is no information on GameFAQ, and you try to tackle this maze.
That’s the, at the time, extreme difficulty level of the Maze of the Lost Souls.
Even if you know the way, it still takes up to 10 minutes to get through it.

(Credits: Marcos Lourenço)

When finally reaching Demona, we find that they have three libraries totaling 65 books. Some are written by the ancients, some are written by the current warlocks.

We are going to start with the history of Demona, as speculated by a warlock historian.
Keep in mind that the books are not 100% accurate.

{book-The_Magic_City_Demona_I} The magic city Demona
Written by Danae, historian of the warlocks
Part1
We dont know exactly when this city was build.
But it must have been centuries ago.
I have collected the few information we have from the past and tried to reconstruate the birth of this city:
Our ancients used their mighty magical power to control the lava down here. With the help of our loyal trolls, they somehow build this city.
A city only for serving one goal: The investigation of the magic in our world Tibia!

They also speculate that they used the trolls to build the Maze of the Lost Souls in record time.

{book-Maze_of_the_Lost_Souls} The maze of the lost souls
Centuries ago, our ancients built this maze to protect our city Demona from bandits and warriors.
With the help of our loyal trolls they finished this giant maze within 1 month!
This maze has been protecting us for centuries and we hope that it will be the same for many following centuries too.

To me it sounds highly unlikely they did this with pickaxes and shovels in under a month, considering the gargantuan scale of the Maze of the Lost Souls.

But we do know that both the ancient and the current warlocks have some form of connection to the trolls.

To uncover more, we can follow another glaring question.

What Are Trolls?

Trolls are all around Tibia, but what are trolls? It’s a really difficult question, so we’ll have to go on fragments while not really getting any concrete answers.

In Jakundaf there is this huge secret library containing a whopping 48 books.

In it, we find that someone else tried to answer the same question as us:

{book-The_Adventurer’s_Guide_to_the_Dungeons_-_Troll} The Adventurer’s Guide To The Dungeons.
Troll: Trolls are some kind of strange monsters. They run around without having a target, telling stories no one can understand because of their unclear pronunciation (which results from the fact, that trolls do not have teeth at all). Trolls can easily be identified by their appearance: red skin, not too big, mostly in groups, often carrying a spear and a wooden shield to fight (of course, they do not know how to use these things properly…). Some Trolls (they are supposed to be the leaders of troll-groups) carry ropes and money with them - reasons are not known, but it is believed that they use ropes to climb down wells, what does surely not explain why trolls need money…

This book shows some funny properties. Trolls are red, have slurred speech, and for some reason they carry gold and ropes with them.

Curiously we can find traces of them in Jakundaf along with some dogs.

Funny thing, in another book we find that the ordinary rope you used to carry around is actually made out of rat tails!

{book-The_Adventurer’s_Guide_to_the_Dungeons_-_Rope} The Adventurer’s Guide To The Dungeons.
Rope
A rope consists of many rat-tails tied together.
…

Anyhow, we can read in the Desert Dungeons’ 11 potion recipes that these items are actually important for various potions!

Hmmm, dogs.

{book-Potion_of_Living_Dead} How to mix magical potions Potion of living dead
Lost a friend? Your pet died? If it is like that, there’s a solution for you!
Just follow the instructions. You’ll need some ingredients:
the head of a (dead) dog
some oil
a rat’s tail
two teeth of an orc
flour
a fishbone
2 potions of fresh green or red slime
a piece of wood a bone of an undead
and, of course,
a rapier to stir with
…

That’s some oddly simple ingredients for a potion with the power of creating zombies.

This other recipe has some other interesting ingredients.

{book-Potion_of_Invisibility} How to mix magical potions
Potion of Invisibility
This potion is one of the most difficult potions to mix. Besides you need lots of time, you also need great magical abilties. The ingredients you should have are:
a rat’s tail
2 teeth of a dead troll
a piece of a ghouls robe
2 ghoul-breads
a dragon’s eye
green slime
Put these things together in a pot …

And since troll teeth are so important, do they rip out their teeth just for potions of invisibility? Maybe even to silence them? ..considering their slurred speech. Could be good for hiding secrets. Sheesh.

If you’ve done errands for Eclesius during The Scatterbrained Sorcerer quest, you find that some of the items used for his rituals and potions are quite alike!

Some thoughts arise:

• Those 132 gold coins we found in the chest in the Thais Trolls’ cave, maybe the troll champions over there stow away their collected coins to their masters? It was fair money at the time of implementation, but not crazy much.
• Gold must be important for something more than just buying stuff.
• The Island trolls all go around collecting wood, fruit and fish - which is odd too. All of them being common potion ingredients.
• Gold is also a common ingredient.

Since trolls seem … dumb, we might consider exploring alternative angles as to what could’ve built the Maze of the Lost Souls, I mean it’s full of sophisticated traps - what must be deliberately weird dug pathways and many, many confusing invisible teleports.

What also could’ve happened is bonelords.

{book-Black_Knight_Meets_Bonelords} What I thought to be digging men are in fact strange green creatures with many arms or eyestalks, who can dig very fast. I think they are called “Bonelords”.
They did not attack me yet, although I am sure they can sense me. Who knows, maybe they have no interest in me, and I can use their tunnels to get out of here? …

And we do know that bonelords were close to at least some of the ancient clans and races.

This gets a bit interesting too, because, a little known fact is that there are three bonelords in the Maze of the Lost Souls. You actually have to go out of your way to find them as they are not visible from the common, known path into Demona. And they are smart, right? But this could also be mercenary bonelords - who knows.

So, to summarize, we can now begin to address the question:

What’s the purpose of Trolls?

Well, they seemingly go around and collect all of these potion ingredients for their masters, doing menial, boring tasks and collecting mundane items which are actually valuable potion ingredients. Workers. This is further pointed out in the Adventurer’s Guide to Trolls.

As we don’t know where they come from or how they came to be, I will list two things of note when trying to explain them.

There’s a witch west of Kazordoon who has an interesting book, suggesting that mating, might be possible.

In Dusalk’s Troll cave just south of Kazordoon, we find they also conduct ancient, even sacrificial rituals. We can’t yet fully explain the purpose yet, but it tells us they must have some sort of memory of their old ways.

{book-Rituals_of_Trolls} Mystic Rituals of the Ancient Trolls

You read: Deraut kadet ul al cadert!
Herot kar Gurxat

We cannot really explain yet where they come from, that will require a bit more digging.
We do know that they were close to the ancients, that gives us something to pursue.
And out of all places - we can find some interesting hints in the Serpentine Tower.
Exciting!

{/more-1: The Trolls’ Cave-1}

{more-2: Serpentine Tower-1}

Serpentine Tower

There’s some groundwork we need to cover before we can start to get a bigger picture and tie in this troll thing, but this is where we find juicy hints that blow up this mystery.

In this tower of astrology, we find they conducted various researches as shown in their seven research papers. What we will try to find is where they conducted their experiments. They must have had a lab somewhere where they could investigate violent magic - such as controlled demon summoning.

{book-Researchpaper_56-09_A} We lost three mages in our last attempt at performing a controlled demon summoning. It is still too difficult to predict in what way the fabric of time and space is affected by the breach of the sphere, and from what we have seen the backlash of nature against demonic incursion can range from a slightly offensive odour to a sizeable explosion such as the one we saw yesterday.
…
By the way: The summoning of lesser creatures, the so-called ‘reds’, progressed comparatively well. Of course, these creatures are mere borderdwellers and may consequently not be considered true demons. However, it may prove that the development of summoning spells for ‘reds’ will prove a rewarding spin-off of demon summoning research.

A common debate is whether the ‘reds’ are Fire Devils or not. What do you think?
Take note of the Sphere. We’ll return to this.

The next paper contains other hints we need to look at before being able to connect some dots.

{book-Researchpaper_33-16_H} The ‘stoneskin’ spell is still flawed. The test subjects complained about severe problems when moving, and some actually suffered from partial paralysis or even from acute petrification! However, I still believe the spell might be useful as some sort of emergency measure because I imagine that turning oneself into a statue for a while might come in handy when all other options have failed. Oddly enough it is quite simple to focus the spell into an object, preferably an amulet, so the change is still bound to an object that serves as a transmitter. Obviously the problem is related to the one we had when we tried to channel certain spells through runes. I’m afraid that while research covering spontaneous magic has made great advances since the early days we are still at the beginning when it comes to channelled spells.

This is a very interesting paper. They were experimenting with channeling spells into objects. And they might have been successful. Is this how magic rings and amulets were created?
Seems like a test subject wore some bling and the spell hit it - ka..ching? leading to an accidental finding of magic jewelry.

I would like to point out that trolls carry them too, sometimes.

One interesting note is that these guys were seemingly working with both earth magic and demon summoning.
Which is quite odd from a lore perspective. Druids going wild?

{book-Researchpaper 77-04 D} Researchpaper 77-04 D
The ‘move earth’ spell seems to be ready to enter the stage of field testing. The results so far were quite convincing, and the priests were pleased. The recent studies we have carried out together have proven that we can indeed learn from each other. I must admit I would certainly like to add this useful little spell to my personal repertoire. After all, shovels and pickaxes are heavy and pretty unwieldy, and I would very much like to leave them at home. I envy the priests for the elemental powers they are wielding.

This ‘move earth’ could actually explain how the Maze of the Lost Souls was built, the moving of lava to form Demona, or even Stone Golems.

However, a great surprise arises when we find through our vague hints that all of this can be connected to Draconia!

Draconia

Let’s go over this proposal:
We can actually find a lot of common elements:

• I count three graves: The researchers lost three mages.
• I see test subjects: Some of them petrified, like that Wild Warrior in Ghostlands. Stoneskin spell!
• I see an unknown rune: We know they experimented with channeling spells into gems and items; they were semi-successful at times with potentially dangerous results.
  
• I also see a stalagmite rune, akin to ‘move earth’.
• That huge pyramid could’ve been created in the same ‘move earth’y way.

Bonelord Shield

There’s also a bonelord shield on top of one of the graves. In other texts, we find that bonelords built these pyramids.

So it’s conflicting - but it can actually be explained by… them simply working hand-in-hand, along each other.
I mean it’s already on top of the bonelord-infested Hellgate.
And I consider that the bonelord shield is a sign of a person and a bonelord being allies, perhaps for communication or something else.

Old Dragon

One of these dragons is very old. So this place must’ve been active for a long, long time.

Player: hi
An Old Dragonlord: AHHH MUSHRRROOOMSSS! NOW MY PAIN WILL BE EASSSED FOR A WHILE! TAKE THISS AND LEAVE THE DRAGONSSS’ CEMETERY AT ONCE!

Rewards

Another fun jab but important reward is the Serpent Sword, shaped in a serpentine pattern, imbued to deal earth damage. Along it, we get Stone Skin Amulet, Ice Rapier & Energy Ring.

I want to think that it’s not ice, but highly enchanted volatile magic channeled into a sword, imbuing it. (ice melts according to numerous mini-world-changes and quest items)

Demons

There are rooms here that look like they could house something huge, grounds for controlled demon summoning?

The wonderful thing with Tibia’s lore is that with our knowledge of some papers, we can actually relate another:

{book-Researchpaper 02-56 A} The work on the cat-eye spell is progressing well. Soon we will be able to reproduce this spell that is used by several of the elder races. Once this has been accomplished we will finally be able to see in the dark without attracting unwanted attention. The problem is to stabilise the spell so it can be maintained during a predictable period of time. Also, the hurtful effect of sudden light to the spell caster must be palliated.

Now imagine refining that spell while just focusing on the hurtful effect of sudden light.
Laser beams? Yes.

{book-About Demons} The famous knight Apoc once wrote: “Demons are the most malevolent, powerful, and dangerous creatures in Tibia. In addition to their awesome physical strength, they can also use powerful spells, such as fireballs and fire fields. Especially dangerous is their gaze, which can produce beams of pure energy to annihilate their poor victims.

We can find an interesting book depicting a time before Arkhothep.
It is oddly similar to what we’re exploring.

{book-Rahmen Tah and the Vizier I} In the second year of the reign of pharaoh Rahmen Tah there was a vizier who was said to consort with demons and to tamper with the powers of oblivion. He lived in a majestic tower that stood on a little island close the harbour. It was a marvel to behold, made of black glass and gold, and everybody who looked at it was filled with an eerie sense of foreboding.

It’s obviously a tale for kids, but if it were a bit more factual and perhaps not distorted over time, it could maybe fit. All the common elements are there - just a bit off or warped. It’s as if this book is from the time they started going ham with dark magic.

But what I really wanted to show is that at the time, they were summoning demons - as well as tampering, researching the powers of ‘oblivion’.

Small Bits

To tie in Ankrahmun even more:

• Chayennes key leads us to a dragon lair.
• The warlock by Rahemos is intriguing, Rahemos can summon demons, and has both a Crystal Wand and a Necrotic Rod in his tomb. Items used by the ancients and intensely studied by the current warlocks.
  • Reward from Demona’s Crystal Wand quest, and the Necrotic Rod is found in both Serpentine Tower and in Demona - A druidic item of death.

In the controlled demon summoning paper, they mention these reds. What could they be?

It could fit with fire devils, but it could potentially be trolls.

They are also red!  

But we can’t be really sure with what we’ve looked at so far.
Let’s investigate the trolls a bit further, to see if it could actually fit, then we’ll return with some new knowledge.

If you would like to skip to the juiciest parts, you can go to 8: The Magic Web. (But you will miss some cool stuff, and won’t understand everything!)

{/more-2: Serpentine Tower-1}

2: The Fire Trolls

{more-3: The Fire Trolls-1}

Fire Trolls

While stumbling upon parts by chance, something in the creature library about Salamanders really had me wondering, what followed turned out to be an epic trail.

{book-About_Salamanders} …
Salamanders are considered very distant relatives of the dragons, an assumption that is based solely on the fact that they are lizards and have a penchant to collect hoards. The so-called ‘hoards’ of the Salamanders usually consist only of a few shiny things they have gathered in the swamp
…
Due to their tasting odd, Salamanders are hunted by trolls and orcs for food when times are dire.

You have likely seen all the dragon hoards around Tibia! And due to us finding, not one, not two, but … many dragons in Draconia - we have something to go off.

And it is quite cool that both dragons and trolls are mentioned together.

Then something hit me, we can find that salamanders are actually friends of the trolls, since these buggers exist!  

Troll-trained Salamanders! Isn’t that quite amazing.
It seems as if they listen to commands, they’re summoned when the Salamander Trainer ‘shouts’.

We have seen to what extent the Trolls serve their masters, it’s quite possible that the trolls trained the salamanders for the ancients, to be used in later shenanigans.

I asked myself, what training has been done?
What if we compare normal ‘Salamanders’ to ‘Troll-trained Salamanders’ to see what has changed?

Not much really, except for one major thing:

Did you see that?

They spit!
The trolls taught them to, ahem. ‘expel stuff from their mouths’.
After some changes and altering of their physique, I imagine they’d be well prepared for shooting fireballs.
Dragons.

We can get some more cool stuff in another hidden place in Ankrahmun, Forbidden Temple, which is filled to the brim with lizards and cultists.

At the end, we can find a ritual-altar and some hidden ‘poems’ inscribed on a pair of statues.

This part caught my eye:

Lizard of gold, lizard of old.
Salamander of fire, salamander of ire.

A fiery salamander that likes gold?

The Confusing Creation

I’m going to mix in some rudimentary real-life stuff here.

The main difference between Salamander and Lizard is that Salamanders are smooth-skinned amphibians while lizards are scaly reptiles. Salamanders start their life in water, and lizards on land. They share a common ancestor - though about 340 million years ago.

In Tibia, it gets weird.

On the lizard templar, we find a shield with a salamander on it. There’s also a crest on the templar and zaoguns heads.
A crest of this size and shape can only be seen on lizards in the Basilisk genus. (also known as the ‘Jesus Christ Lizard’ for their ability to run on water)

With some ritual fire-magic a.la. Dragon-tamer Mahrdis, we could get a fire-breathing snake-thing that likes gold. (as salamanders already like gold.)

Another difficult to explain thing is how some of them have big ears and others do not, like the Snakecharmers.
Or the dragons’ split tongue which only comes from snakes, not from Lizards nor Salamanders.

Neither do they have ears like that. They have earholes.

Another thing that really stands out is the wings of the serpent spawns.
They’re huge, and it looks like they could’ve belonged to a bat.

The Dragon Priests look way more like a salamander (axolotl?) than a lizard or snake.

For some reason, it’s also two-toed and five-fingered.

Even more fascinating, there is a statue in the Secret Library by the fireplace - it looks to be some sort of salamander or maybe even a bat. Possibly wearing Blue Spectacles?

Big ears seem to correspond with a big brain and magical abilities.

But it does not explain how dragons fly or have wings.

A huge amount of creatures in Tibia are mixes and experiments. e.g. mutated tigers or werebeasts, a mix of many animals or corrupted as heck.

Considering these serpent spawns have wings, dragons could be similar to some salamander-lizard-snake-bat-cobra-falcon-lion-thing

But to truly explain this without looking at just images, we need to try understanding what makes dragons, or oven lizards.

Deep, deeeep down in Banuta, there is an old priest. If you decide to stay and talk in the mayhem of medusae, hydrae, serpent spawns and more, he shares knowledge particularly interesting for our study.

Player: creatures
Ghost of a Priest: They are the false-born. They hatched from foul eggs - poisoned by the egg stealers. They are numerous and like a plague for the world.

This priest has a lot to say about egg stealers, but this seems to suggest that their hatchlings can perhaps be changed.

With corruption?

Player: corruption
Ghost of a Priest: There are many forms of corruption in this world. All of it is the work of the egg stealers who spread their taint. The creation hatched by the Great Snake was perfect without even the option of corruption.

This is fascinating, it shows us that the egg-stealers must’ve meddled with bad, bad magic.

We can read more about this phenomenon in The tomes of knowledge we deliver to Cael.
This particular one has been censored, an attempt at rewriting history:

Player: origin
Cael: … Parts of the tome were obviously erased and later overwritten. …
Cael: … In the parts of the original text that I was able to reconstruct with the help of some alchemy, there were some references to lizard spawns that were sighted in the Tiquanda area and linked to the snake god. …
Cael: Admittedly, it is just a hypothesis that is based on a few hints in these tomes and my correspondence about serpent spawns with the sage Edowir… …
Cael: …However, considering everything that I could figure out about their origin, they seem to hatch from the same eggs like ordinary lizardmen. …
Cael: It seems that some of those eggs are imbued with spiritual or magical power and as a result bear a serpent spawn. It appears that this changed when the dragon emperor became the ruler of this land. …
Cael: Unlike serpent spawns, the draken hatched from some of the eggs in the hatcheries. …
Cael: I can only imagine what this might imply.

During a small time frame, we can talk to the Awareness of the Emperor about this.

Player: draken
Awareness of the Emperor: The draken are an exploit of the lizard kin’s special breeding procedures. Certain influences under which an egg develops affect several aspects of the creature that is born from it. …
Awareness of the Emperor: Gender, intelligence and physique are only a few of them. Special influences create special creatures. …

This is pretty much the only thing that could explain all of our… findings.
Big ears, intelligence, magical abilities, wings, fiery breath, and the ability to fly.

And here comes the shocker.

{book-Researchpaper 44-33 C} The divination spell designed to specify the gender of an unborn child has been completed successfully after several tests using other divination spells. The lack of worthwhile studies in divination magic hampered our efforts considerably, but I’m convinced this spell will provide future researchers in the field with invaluable information to work on.

Imagine refining that spell.

When I first read this book along with the dwarven report on elves changing their appearance, I imagined some humanoid carrying a child, altering it slightly.

But an egg is also an unborn child.
And we’ve seen so much lore to support it, it’s undeniable at this point.

With this magic to alter unborn children, corrupting them, we can explain a lot of the creatures in Tibia. Also why the egg-stealers really want to steal eggs.
A must-have for creation. Women could be good, too - there are many locked away women in Tibia. One example is the orc kings’ ladies. Bleh.

Recall the Adventurer’s Guide to the Dungeons about Trolls and Ropes, there is a third installment, and it’s about dragons! Can’t be a coincidence, right?

{book-Adventurer’s Guide to the Dungeons - Dragon} The Adventurer’s Guide To The Dungeons.
Dragon: This is a well known species in our lands. Dragons once were very shy and there didn’t exist many of them. And there’s the paradox thing about it: Because they were hunted more and more, and more and more of them got killed, the dragons population increased! It’s a very mysterious thing, that a species’s population increases the more they are killed, but it’s what happend with dragons…
So the conclusion is obvious, that many monsters want human population to increase and therefore try to kill as many of them as possible!

This suggests one thing: egg-stealers. (Which is a great way to get a pet dragon to boost your power)
We could also create even more powerful dragons with some magical shenanigans before it hatches.
We can also spare the mothers, or women, and just take the eggs. Moving eggs to different places will cause a lot of dragons to be spread around Tibia.

Remember that research paper on the move-earth spell that mentions turning oneself into a statue?

They are also in a lot of places in Tibia, of course. Such as Banuta, or Zao!

Similarly, the Medusa knows this magic. “You will make sssuch a fine ssstatue!”

We can even explain the cat-eye spell here, though that will take a long time. But I like that mystery so much I’ve made a video about it. See it here. But if you’d rather take my word for it, you can click the spoiler below. (I’d recommend watching it, though.)

{more-Spoiler: The Cat-Eye Spell}

Short and without much explanation:

{book-The Ghosts of the Jungle} The Ghosts of the Jungle
Even though it is true that many people who have not returned from the jungle have fallen prey to animals and other natural dangers, it is quite sure that not in all cases this explanation is applicable. For all we know it is quite certain that there have to be other dangers in the jungle than such mundane ones. How can it be explained that several watchmen of expeditions have vanished over night while none of the people asleep in the camp was harmed? How is it possible that well armed and seasoned adventurers got lost in the jungle? Considering the expertise of some of the victims this jungle has taken, it would be highly ignorant to assume that a simple beast of some kind could be the source of their ultimate doom. In conclusion we have to assume that ‘something’ is out there. A malicious, unseen power. Never seen but often felt. Noticed only by the ‘inner eye’ but never actually seen. Everybody that has ever set foot in the jungle knows this eerie feeling of being watched and traced. Sometimes you can almost imagine the movements of something invisible in the bushes.
And do all those glowing eyes in the darkness belong to animals? I don’t think so.

The Cat-Eye Spell is actually.. ‘Snake-Eye’ or ‘Lizard-Eye’ Spell.
Cat and Lizard-eyes have the same slit.

Snakecharmers perform this invisibility spell

{book-Combine Magic Power with the Sword}
How to combine your magic power with the sword?
Ten ways to use the spell “invisibility”
by Cipreii
…

But, the hurtful effect of sudden light to the spellcaster leaves their eyes glowing - the rest of the body is invisible.

{book-Researchpaper 02-56 A} The work on the cat-eye spell is progressing well.
…
Also, the hurtful effect of sudden light to the spell caster must be palliated.

The poem inscribed on the statues in the Forbidden Temple resembles the Cat-Eye Spell.

burn world to ashes burn world with flashes
let us be stars in night let us be sunfire bright
snake-eyes lord

The achievement for taming the Midnight Panther, ‘starless night’, is then a result of us removing the ‘stars in night’ when we tame it. The invisible Panther’s glowing eyes are no longer visible, making the night ‘starless’.

I’d still recommend watching the video, there is so much to this spell and it complements this article.

{/more-Spoiler: The Cat-Eye Spell}

Recap

Pretty much everything we’ve looked at so far can be seen in this (round Tibia) area. Everything is close to each other.

And we can pretty much confirm the involvement of the Serpentine Tower researchers and the Lizards in this one big, confusing creation.

Interesting notes:

• Ring of the Skies are worn by both Warlocks and Spellweavers.
• The Pharaohs and Snakecharmers’ capes are too similar for being a coincidence.

So it’s clear that not only did they research on Draconia, but also in Zao and Tiquanda.

Basically:

• Ancient trolls trained salamanders, probably for draconic tasks later on. Also, they spit!
• We looked at the basic differences between normal salamanders (they’re smooth and start life in water, similar to frogs) and lizards (scaly and start on land). Snakes are quite alike and are everywhere in Tibia.
• Creatures in Tibia mix up features from different animals. Seems like magic or something funky is going on to make new, mixed-up creatures, like lizards with features that should belong to other animals.
• There are “egg stealers” who mess with how creatures are born, making them different or more powerful.
• Magic and some bad vibes might be changing creatures from what they originally were. -The magic we’ve seen in Serpentine Tower and Draconia also happened in Zao and Tiquanda.

What’s next?

This segues into another interesting topic.
The First Dragon.

{/more-3: The Fire Trolls-1}

{more-4: The First Dragon-1}

Player: the first dragon
Tamoril: The First Dragon? The first of all of us? The Son of Garsharak? I’m surprised you heard about him. It is such a long time that he wandered Tibia. Yet, there are some rumours.
Player: Garsharak
Tamoril: Brog the Raging Titan once released as much of a painful flame into the world as he could. The searing fire mixed with his rage, and from it rose Garsharak, the progenitor of all dragons. …
Tamoril: He sired the first dragon that wandered the world of Tibia and later a whole race of intelligent, giant lizards, a race that would eventually bring terror and chaos into the world.

Giant lizards, could that be the lizardmen? I mean, they are pretty giant compared to regular lizards. And there are snake/lizard adornments pretty much everywhere in Tibia - by the fire-feathered serpent, some opticording sphere sites, towers all over Tibia and many, many more places. Terrifying and chaotic, indeed.
And from this conversation, it’s clear that Garsharak is not a dragon, but the father of the dragons.

What likely happened is, the first dragon was born from some salamander or snake egg, imbued with magic and shaped, mixed together.

Darama and Zao are filled with snakes, lizards, and dragons with all of this sne~a~ky lore on the early days of snake-kind, we can learn even more here, but we have to take another path first. An awesome path.

Families

By the tomb of Horestis, there’s an ancient priest who may or may not be overtly zealous, though he gives us some fascinating leads on ancient families.

Player: lizards
An Ancient Priest: The lizards were powerful and many. They wielded magic unknown to the race of man at this time. Nothing could oppose their rule in these days. …
Player: spirits
An Ancient Priest: The spirits of nature and of the animals began to talk to selected individuals. Individuals that used forbidden arts derived from what had been stolen from the lizards.

Stolen from the lizards! Like we’ve seen in the Serpentine Tower!
Could this then be some time after Garsharak, when the lizards ruled?

Player: arts
An Ancient Priest: In the jungle, the humans had learned some of the most basic principles of magic through observation and experimentation. …
Player: studies
An Ancient Priest: The first shamans of mankind wielded only little power and there was only a small distinction between magic and making fire or creating a tool. …
An Ancient Priest: But when their dabbling with magic brought them into connection with the spirit world it became a breakthrough.
Player: breakthrough
An Ancient Priest: The spirits talked to the shamans and taught them many new things. …
An Ancient Priest: … spirits revealed their secrets, big and small.

This phenomenon can be found when Morgathla (or Margathla) revealed the secrets of the Helmet of the Ancients and the Soul Ruby to Arkhothep.

Player: secrets
An Ancient Priest: With the emergence of these secrets, the shamans came out of hiding and boldly rose to power. Fights ensued and only the most mighty would prevail as leaders.
Player: leaders
An Ancient Priest: The most powerful shaman and fighter became the chieftain and the others became priests under his rule. …
An Ancient Priest: The chieftain married only into the families of priests and soon the first dynasty emerged.

Were these the same priests we saw mentioned in the move-earth spell?

A small summary of the full conversation: According to the Ancient Priest, the lizards once ruled with unmatched magic - but humans eventually learned magic through observation and experimentation (like the research papers). Their breakthrough came when they connected with the spirit world (divination, dream magic), learning powerful secrets, with this knowledge, shamans emerged, competing for power until the strongest became chieftains and the rest priests. The chieftain married only families of priests, forming the first dynasties.

Ancient Families

In Tibia, we can actually find a lot of families, but people mostly use first names. Surnames are seemingly quite new, but some few families did use two names. Either way, we rarely hear of second names, especially not in ancient times.

Most commonly, names are passed down with small alterations, with a suffix or prefix. e.g.

• Ashmunrah, Dipthrah, Vashresahmun
• Maharuh and Mahatheb
• Ferumbras and Fermubras
• Arkhothep and Othehothep
• Morgaroth, Othmor, Gaz’haragoth, Zathroth…

This pattern is also performed by elves and explained to some extent:

{book-Elven Names} Elven names are chosen in adulthood. Until they acquire a name, elves are called ‘son/daughter of ___’ usually naming the parent with the same gender. Upon reaching adulthood, the young elf gets his first name, divined by the elders who know him in dreams. It is merely a single name, a description of the elf in the elven tongue. Usually elves love to add a translation of their name which is often mistaken for a second name by other races. Since the elven language is far more complicated and has thousands of nuances, often elves with the same ‘second name’ have a different first name, confusing the other races even more.

From our little list above, the families of ‘rah’ and ‘oth’ are quite common - especially in Ankrahmun.

Interestingly, while we see all these elven names in Ankrahmun, the ancient priest of Horestis was adamant that the first dynasty was formed by humans.
Even Arkhothep himself?

Player: arkhothep
Mazarius: The pharaoh, on the other hand, claims that he left human weaknesses behind, by becoming undead. I’m not convinced that this is sufficient, though. …

Anyhow.

They have tombs they put their dead in, and these guys wore what seems to be their family insignia, a silver brooch brightly colored with red and green.

Amazingly, this pattern holds true in several places, as seen on the castle shield.
We can speculate that the liches carrying them must’ve been high-ranking priests of their families. (Interestingly, there’s a snake on the lich staff)

A very rare, unobtainable item is the Elven Brooch, which comes in even more colors.

Green on the left, blue on the right, black on the bottom, and red in the middle.

So which family is which color? Does each color represent an elven caste?

During the research, I happened to stumble upon the quest for Wizard’s outfit.

You can see that snake here again!

To get this outfit, you need to perform some sacrifices to Zathroth.

Player: Outfit
Lugri: This skull shows that you are a true follower of Zathroth and the glorious gods of darkness. Are you willing to prove your loyalty?

Specifically, he asks for four items: A Dragon Scale Mail, Ring of the Sky, a Medusa Shield, and Crown Legs.

Now we finally have a strong connection and can see that the colors are indeed connected to the families. And we now have corresponding items which we can use to identify the families.

(These are also all the colors of the Mystic Tomes, except for purple, a fifth color.)

• Red: Crown items were worn by the Red Legion, the elite army of Thais.
• Green: Dragon family.
• Blue: Ring of the Sky, worn by Warlocks and Spellweavers, also the demons Ghazbaran, Morgaroth, and Orshabaal. Found in treasure chambers of pharaohs.
• Black: Medusa Shield, seems to be a family heavily into snakes, lizards, and the like.

Fascinating how a couple of items and colors can tell us so much about the history and timeline of Tibia.

The family name for red can be found when checking the graves of the Red Legion, after their battle against the green orcs north of Carlin.

A lot of names end with either ‘us’ or ‘ius’.

Tibianus, Eclesius, Spectulus, Adrenius, Jaccus Maxxenius, Mathemicus, Albinus, Arkulius, Armenius, Mazarius, Azerus, Lucius, and so on. And they are predominantly magicians.

I wonder if “Heroes” who go around with crown armor might be some corrupted~ defected guy from the Red Legion. They wear crown armor and are red, after all.

Plains of Havoc

I’ve found that a lot of lore about ancient families can be found around the Plains of Havoc, but it’s very hidden and we can only see glimpses of it, hints hidden in plain sight that we wouldn’t see without previous knowledge.

Such as: the real name of the Necromant King is actually useful to us now. This is from when the Nightmare Knights battled the Brotherhood of Bones.

{book-Facing Goshnar} The time of war is at hand. At last we will face Goshnar the evil one! The man that was formerly known as my brother Falnus betrayed our order, humanity and the gods. …

Falnus. (did you know there is also a ‘Gesnar’ mentioned by the warlock Alawar, who might be connected to Alatar)

Another book found in the Necromant’s House is called “The Ferumbras Files”, where they speculate on how Ferumbras became so strong. It’s a good and long book, but the ending really ties this together: (click the book icon to read all of it)

{book-The Ferumbras Files} … Zathroth’s library seems an all too easy and convenient explanation for his stellar rise to power. Others attribute this to his bloodline, which included the likes of Goshnar and dates back to the first magician kings of Ankrahmun who unified their people against the lizard threat.

WOW! Exactly what we saw Horestis’ old priest talk about regarding the lizard threat. And it strengthens the connection that at least parts of the red family ended up in Thais.
Why magician king and not pharaoh? They had princesses and the like.

However, right now we are more interested in the dragon family.

The green and red Castle Shield has a golden crown on it, it suggests the green were close to the red family - and both being quite royal. Further seen on the silver brooch, which is brightly colored with red and green.

There is actually another ancient family in Thais, though mostly dead.

Deep down in the Ancient Temple, we can find many old ruins and buildings, the kingdom of Kormarak.

Inches from his grave, we find my first dragon: The Clawer

This trail on ancient families is quite ancient, this lore was built during the infancy of Tibia, see e.g. Amber on Rookgaard.

She has a notebook that’s very important to her, it consists of names and stars.

{book-Amber’s Notebook} Hardek *
Bozo *
Sam ****
Oswald
Partos ***
Quentin *
Tark ***
Harsky ***
Stutch *
Ferumbras *
Frodo **
Noodles ****

Commonly believed to be a list of how much she likes different people from 0 to 5.
But there’s no evidence for that and it’s quite a stretch, why would she need that book when she can remember how much she likes people?

There is another theory that explains these, you can start putting two and two together with this book found in Jakundaf’s secret library:

{book-Mixing Potions} On mixing potions.
…
So, to prevent misuse of this knowledge i will write down these formulas in ****, a very old language only known by the wisest sorcerers.

I’m not going to go into more detail on that, but I 100% believe she is a powerful sorceress and that many of the names are allies.

You probably recognize all the names, except for maybe Tark.
He has some very interesting & hidden lore.

To give you some context on how hidden this lore is, Cip expected you to ask around about him, where only Maryza of Kazordoon has something to say. We could reason she has likely heard many drunkard’s stories.

Player: Tark
Maryza: He loved my dragon steaks. Heard he died by a cave in while fighting dragons in the Plains of Havoc.

This could be enough, but if you go meet the butcher in Carlin and ask him about our newly found keyword dragon steak, we get a bit more.

Player: dragon steak
Lector: Dragon steak was the favourite meal of Tark Trueblade.
Player: tark trueblade (both words)
Lector: Tark Trueblade was the greatest dragonslayer of all. I heard he died in a battle with an ancient dragon lord.

When we find something as hidden as this, it usually means that there is more to it, but it will likely be very hidden.

Now we know that Tark was fighting with someone in the Plains of Havoc, and it seems to have been an ancient dragon lord.

Let’s visit the ancient dragon in Plains of Havoc.

Demodras

While there are dead bodies here, we find no Tark.
But Maryza did tell us that he did die in a cave-in, suggesting that we might need to use a pickaxe.

Here we find a dead body and his last words.

{book-Devious Dragons} This is the Journal of Krendorak, the last of the Nightmare Knights:
I tried to discover the secret of my ancestors, but I failed.
The damned dragons tricked me!
I escaped but I know I’m mortaly wounded.
Even if I could get out off here, I will never make it to Knightwatch Tower to use its secret to resupply.
Since now that Camdrek is dead I will never be able to open it…
It is so hot, my sight is fading…
May the gods forgive my failing…

So his real name must’ve been Krendorak, not Tark Trueblade.

Ornamented Shield could very well be a family shield, Dragon Necklace too, considering Jerom’s Family Necklace with the same sprite.

The Gemmed Book with two musical notes on it is found on top of Draconia, whose secret leads you to Ankrahmun. Full circle.

{book-The Dragonlords of Tibia} … Furthermore, we found out that many Dragonlords carry a strange book with them. We dont know why, yet, but we are working on it.

We are looking for the green family, a.k.a. the Dragon family, i.e. the ‘rak’ family, as in Garsharak.

Since Garsharak seemingly created giant lizards, then we should see some lizard ‘rak’s too, right?

In Zao:

Player: name
Zurak: Me Zurak.
In the Isle of Strife:
Player: name
Chrak: For you I’m ze mazter of ze ceremony. Zat iz all zat haz to matter to you.
In Yalahar:
Player: yalahar
Zarak: My people know a lot about lossst greatnesss. Ssstill, don’t expect to sssee me mourning.

We saw earlier that some ‘rak’ family members came from Kormarak kingdom in Thais, I think we can see one of them in Yalahar, a human.

Player: Thais
Tarak: I grew up there, so I still have pleasant memories of it.

And a really interesting and important one: a Yalahari. (a false Yalahari?)

Player: name
Yalahari: I’m Tirak, the replacement of the recently vanished Azerus

Now is a good time to take a small break, we are going to Yalahar.

{/more-4: The First Dragon-1}

{more-5: The Yalahari-1}

Yalahar

But we’ll begin near Yalahar.
Because of our good old friends, the trolls!

Beregar

Beregar lies hidden, deep beneath Mistrock.
Once a great empire - has since split into two. A ‘quarrel’ led a considerable amount of dwarves to tunnel their way east. They eventually founded Kazordoon.

In present-day, we find the Beregar dwarves are expanding their crystal mines, but were surprised by an ambush.

Player: what
Tehlim: The expedition had the task to check for new veins of crystal….but before we could find one, THEY found us. Those trolls are…. different.

Which is fantastic for us because there are some interesting well-trained trolls here hiding in the tunnels.
They have tons of traps, and they even know how to turn invisible themselves.

Oddly enough, it seems that the dwarves didn’t even know about them, so they must’ve lived in isolation all this time.

Player: troll
Rehon: I have never seen such well-trained trolls. I wonder if there is a conspiracy behind that.

What kept these trolls so ‘well-trained’? What were they doing in the tunnels?
And were these the same kind of trolls that built the Maze of the Lost Souls, i.e. good tunnelers?

Were the trolls perhaps used by the Yalahari as well?

Let’s get some understanding of the Yalahari and what happened to them.

There are some plaques in Yalahar which we can read, it seems like these were written kinda recently, as it talks of the false Yalahari that currently lives here.

Is #2 a pyramid?

I’ll try to show key parts and summarize the story.
According to the plaques, the Yalahari was (or is depending on how you look at it) an advanced race created during the godwars.

The Yalahari retreated from the war because of their intelligence and questioning of the war’s purpose. They founded Yalahar on a northern island where everyone was welcome. They pursued knowledge and science, getting unheard of magical and technological powers that allowed them to defend against pretty much any attackers. However, their deep research into the universe revealed a ‘missing factor’ that eluded understanding.

After countless years of research on this missing factor, the most brilliant minds of the Yalahari approached a first success, they eventually managed to establish an ‘approximation theory’ of a place between reality and non-reality, a place that should not be. And that place was not void, but inhabited by one thing which our words could only feebly describe as an ‘entity’.

They gave it a name, Variphor.

But their findings turned into fear as some of the involved scientists simply turned insane when their minds suddenly grasped a piece of the incomprehensible.

The horrified Yalahari tried to undo their actions, but it was too late - most of them had gained too deep an understanding of the things that were not supposed to be. Tainted with forbidden knowledge and unable to resist that influence, sisters and brothers turned against each other and in a night of slaughter, most of the once proud race was wiped out. The remaining Yalahari knew about their irreversible corruption and decided to part from this world.

The corrupted Yalahari left their city in the custody of their minions and vanished from history. Their minions took care of Yalahar and tried to hold up the Yalaharian ideals. However, they were soon overcome with vanity, first acting as representatives of the Yalahari and later even as Yalahari themselves, wearing golden masks and living in luxury. Over the course of time, Yalahar became known as a city of splendor rather than knowledge. (the end)

Alright, we know that the Yalahari evoked Variphor and did everything in their might to combat it, reverse it.

They eventually created The Lightbearers, in an attempt to try to fight this darkness all over Tibia. While they didn’t succeed, they at least slowed it down.

Those we’ve seen not hiding under a rock eventually succumbed to it. Corrupted over time.

The Great Escape

The Yalahari are rumored to have fled to Beregar under the threat of Variphor over a thousand years ago.

This rumor stems mainly from Zarak who stands by the harbor close to Mistrock and Fenrock.

I don’t know how old this lizard is, but it’s the only one that worships a serpent-god and talksss with lotsss of sss. The Ozzerzz uzzezz lotzz of zzz when talking.
This gives me some confusing thoughts about his age and knowledge.
He has something very interesting to say:

Player: yalahari
Zarak: They can’t hide under their rock forever. Asss sssoon asss they leave their shelter, the predatorsss will ssstrike.

Hiding from what? probably ‘Variphor’.
And what rock are they hiding under?

The Dragon Pythius the Rotten gives more insights, he was once involved in the battle north of Carlin with the Red Legion, and he even saw the Yalahari fleeing.

Player: Yalahar
Pythius the Rotten: I HAVE SEEN THE GLANCE OF THIS CITY BACK IN THE DAYS AND I WATCHED THEM DOING THEIR RESEARCH. IT WAS FUNNY TO SEE THAT THEY COULDN’T HANDLE WHAT THEY EVOKED. I TOOK THEIR TREASURES AFTER THEY SLAUGHTERED THEMSELVES. HAHAHA!

That’s a neat hint on the timeline, the true Yalahari were still around when the Red Legion of Thais helped defend the new settlement of Carlin, fighting the green orcs.

A controversial yet difficult to ignore thought I’ve had..
Could the dwarves themselves actually be old Yalahari? or Yalahar inhabitants.. changed over time?

It would make sense, abandoning all magic and became knights, as to not be influenced by Variphor - whose grasp is strengthened when thinking about it, researching it. There’s definitely no room for curious mages meddling with forbidden knowledge.
Like a reverse find-person spell - once you find it, then it finds you. Once you have someone’s name, they can exiva you.

How do you even hide from that?
Possibly by shaping yourself and your offspring into something that can’t even meddle with Variphor and don’t want to change.

The research paper in Serpentine Tower talks of magic being able to change appearance over time.

The divination spell designed to specify the gender of an unborn child looks to be the same as this divination.

{book-Dwarven report VII}
Enemy magic
Our elemantarists have successfully unrevealed the the secrets of what is called “dream magic”. It is a subconscious way of influencing the surroundings. It is mainly used by elven parents that want to shape their unborn child

Which could solve another age-old question: how can we, tall beings wear dwarven items?

Player: yes
Emperor Rehal: Look at these dwarven legs. They were forged years ago by a dwarf who was rather tall for our kind. …

Tall enough to fit perfectly on humans. In my opinion, it could only be explained by one thing. They were once some tall Yalahar inhabitant of sorts. Exactly what is difficult to know since everyone was welcome to Yalahar and there are several races which can shape, elves & humans included, but not dwarves.
However, being a Yalahar inhabitant kinda makes sense, we can see that they have been in a lot of places we’ve talked about.

This spiral stone-tile pattern is found in the Serpentine Tower, Yalahar, and Beregar.
This can’t be just a coincidence, it’s clear that these guys have been here.

It also explains the pyramid in Yalahar, Ankrahmun, and the plaques.

Another weird thing that can be explained with this is the dwarf here named Frafnar

Player: beregar
Frafnar: The citadel under the mountain. How poetic! Maybe I could use that in my poem for Bolfona.

A huge hint for studying the god Fafnar, the symbol of the Lightbearers.

Which explains why the Lightbearers have a base east of Beregar, accessible from Kazordoon.

In Gray Island, The Hive, we find even more obscure hints that fit this way of viewing Dwarves.

We can read an 8-book series about a scientist gone mad by IT, Variphor.
These were Yalahari scientists, trying to create critter-creatures, preparing for battle - to save themselves and the world, with creation.

I recommend reading the books in their entirety, they are epic, but here is one part that caught my eye:

{book-The Hive VII} … Rehus was attacked and killed by one of his experiments today. My only concern upon learning this was that he might join the ghosts that haunt me.

This is extremely subtle, but quite huge as it gives even more meat to the theory - you can see why I’ve talked about family names so much.

Player: name
Rehon: I’m Rehon, son of Rehal. Don’t be afraid, I don’t bite.

• This name coincides with the name of the Emperor of Beregar and his son. Rehal, Rehon, Rehus.
• It also coincides with the time when they were fleeing from Variphor.
• Rehus already experimented with combining and altering creatures, there’s enough knowledge here to dwarf something.
• It explains how there’s a dwarf named Frafnar in Beregar.
• It also explains the Dwarven legs, and the style of the items.

• It explains this unknown tall emperor or king.

What’s interesting, those pillars are only(?) found in Kazordoon and Beregar. And Demona!

That’s cool and all, but something still very unclear is what a Yalahari even is.

They look quite human to me, considering their mask.
There are other scholars who look quite alike, bearded and studious holding a book.
Could they be the same?

Celestial Paladins

Something “weird” is how there are Celestial Paladins.
Even though both elves and dwarves don’t like each other at all, they both have a relationship with these celestial paladins, they worship them.

Player: Durin
Emperor Kruzak: Well, Durin is one of the celestial paladins, messenger of the gods. He’s the protector of the dwarven race.

Player: crunor
Faluae: I praise the Great Tree and Mother Earth, who gave birth to all life, and Nera, the celestial paladin.

This book from 2003 is widely believed to have been written by someone who may or may not be a celestial paladin.

{book-You Cannot Even Imagine} You can not even imagine how old I am. In your wildest dreams you won’t see the things I have seen. I am the last of my race and even though I am several centuries old I am not immortal and will eventually die. …
… I was there when Rorak slew Tingil at the stairs of the seven temples. I was there as Riik led his peaceloving people to the far north to find refuge from the war. I was there to witness the betrayal of Asric for the whims of a female that was long dead by then. I fought with the last Frdai a futile battle on the plains of Weskurt against the unseen legion. I witnessed Ss’rar making his move on ascension to become the serpent god. I watched the first elves struggling to form a nation with the help of the lightbearers. It was me who assisted the great calculator to assemble the bonelords language. …

Several of these events can be connected to the plaques we read in Yalahar, and I believe the events are listed in order, as the author remembers them.

• Riik leading his peaceful people north to find refuge from the war. This could very well be when Yalahar was founded.
• Ss’rar tried to become the Serpent God. The second(?) mention of a serpent god came with Yalahar.
• They watched the first elves form a nation with the help of the lightbearers.

The mention of helping the elves is quite interesting, it suggests the first elves came after whoever wrote this book, as if they were not the first races as the genesis portrays, nor what several other historians depict in the books we love.

{more-Lore Inconsistencies}

A book introduced with the Isle of the Kings back in 2003 can explain these inconsistencies.

{book-Philosophy of the races} Philosophy of the races
You await to read a book about philosophy of the elves, dwarves, minotaurs and so on?
Well, forget about it! There’s nothing a book can teach you. Go and talk to the philosophers of those races and you MIGHT begin to understand a small percentage of that philosophy. In a book you will find only misconceptions. Written by people that neither live, nor embrace that philosophy, a book is destined to be flawed. Further by having been written by a member of another race there’s no chance to understand what a philosophy of another race is about. You will read what the author has in prejudices and expectations but no truth. Further …

So what we’re doing is cross-referencing hints from several places to figure out what truly happened.
A method that Knightmare architected for the mysteries of Tibia.

Interview with Knightmare 2010: “People tend to think what they read in (real life) history books is the one and only, true and definite history of the world. Well it isn’t. What we read in books was pictured out by historians from several source texts that they took as reference. Those texts are often biased and sometimes forged, sometimes based on misconceptions or hearsay. Instead of providing a definite history without doubts of blind spots, I try to give the players source material. In most cases they have to picture out the course of events on their own. It’s their choice which text or NPC they believe. It’s up to them to cross reference texts to figure out what truly happened.”

Back to topic.

{/more-Lore Inconsistencies}

If the events in the book are listed in order, then the first elves were formed after Yalahar was built.

• When Rorak slew Tingil, a war, divide, a sundering might have started - one family going wild. Perhaps.

There are a lot of indications of a war between the green and the red.

Western Edron has Trolls in the north and Goblins in the south.
Red Legion fought the green orcs north of Carlin.

Shaburak, Askarak demons fight an ancient war (I like the dragon fountain there as well.)

Something else of notice, there is this mention of a serpent god, which could be the same as the serpent god that Zarak worships. “The Great Snake”

What happened with the Serpent God?

This is where we again get a strange hint from the dragon Emperor of Zao, which we can only get momentarily during the quest if you decide to stay and talk (and let your teammates wait)

Player: catastrophe
Awareness of the Emperor: I have to admit I figured out quite late what is happening. It seems we are both involved in a scheme of it who is known as the snake god rising to power. A process that could mean the end of the world as you know it.
Player: snake god
Awareness of the Emperor: I don’t know what it is or was. But I heard that this thing tried to become a god in the past and was trapped in a state ‘in between’. …
Awareness of the Emperor: Its current plan seems to be to use my crystal matrix which I use to amplify my control over the dragon kings in a reverse way to steal the vital force of the dragons, those bound to them, and even from the land itself.

This corruption is seen all over Tibia and commonly attributed to the influence of Variphor.

But it doesn’t end here.

There are some ancient goblins in Krailos that have some ‘night snake’ that they are afraid of.

Player: night snake
A Goblin Exile: No story to tell in dark times, not here. Might come when called! Suffice it to say that it chases Frog God and hates cool earth and water, no friend of goblins.

All of these goblins have changed their names, and as the Yalahar plaques read, there is power in names. If you have the name of someone, you can exiva them, another example is if you know a djinn’s true name, you can do fun stuff with them. Probably loads of forbidden spells as well.

Player: night snake
Nibble: Evil dark, lie in wait for Frog God. You not talk of it so loudly, hu-man.

Exactly like the snake god that the Emperor of Zao talks about.

• Comes in the night.
• Should NOT mention its name.
• Trapped in a state ‘in between’

Recall the text from the plaque:

a place between reality and non-reality, a place that should not be. And that place was not void, but inhabited by one thing which our words could only feebly describe as an ‘entity’.”

It’s the exact same phenomenon.

Player: snake god (click npc image to read more)
Awareness of the Emperor: I don’t know what it is or was. But I heard that this thing tried to become a god in the past and was trapped in a state ‘in between’.

We have three different sources that all talk about the same thing. That’s a lot of evidence.

Another, new hint we get here is that it hates cool earth and water.
So a rock (made out of earth) under the cool water fits perfectly with Beregar. A place that Variphor hates. Hide under a rock.

So according to the book and this theory, Ss’rar made his move on ascension to become the Serpent God, which created Variphor. After some time studying and evoking this entity - The Lightbearers was founded to combat the darkness, and they eventually helped the first elves form a nation.

Which makes sense! At least from a timeline perspective.

As The Lightbearers helped the first elves to form a nation, it’s not far out to think that the Celestial Paladins are among The Lightbearers.

• Both elves and dwarves are known to have a relationship with the celestial paladins
• The Lightbearers helped the first elves build their first nation.
• We’ve seen remnants of The Lightbearers in Beregar and Kazordoon.

The Celestial Paladin

In the Ancient Temple above Mintwallin, some minotaurs depict an encounter with a special guy while digging.

{book-Dungeon Excavation} Yeah! This was the final blow. The wall is broken! But, what is that? Behind the wall, there is a human warrior. He seems dangerous. He has a glowing sword, a blue armor and green pants made of dragon-skin. He screams something like “Tataah!” and attacks! I don`t understand the humans! What does that mean?

We can find that this is actually the Mad Mage

Player: Karl
A Prisoner: Tataah!

a.k.a. the guy in Paradox Tower tower a.k.a. surreal 1 13 49 94 mathmagic numbers guy.

Durins “graveyard” is found by the Paradox Tower, which the dwarves dearly protect.

Some rewards from his quest include a wand of cosmic energy, phoenix eggs (that the dwarves know and can handle!), and some talons that the warlocks were studying.

What vocation is he? We can find some books in his house, which at some point in time were written by the wisest people.

Player: books
A Prisoner: I have many books in my home. But only powerful people can read them. I bet you will only see three dots after the headline! Hehehe! Hahaha! Excellent!

Which is just like we saw with the mixing potions book and Ambers’ notebook. But we can at least read the headlines.

{book-Use a Bow Instead of Runes} Don`t be surprised!
You could also use a bow instead of runes.
by Galadriel
…

{book-Magic Fields and Walls} How to use magic fields and walls in combat?
by ishara.
…

{book-Combine Magic Power with the Sword} How to combine your magic power with the sword?
Ten ways to use the spell “invisibility”
by Cipreii
…

He seemingly knows all vocations, which only paladins do.

Let’s explore this thought a bit more.

Phoenix eggs could make phoenixes, fire birds.

{book-About Summon Paladin Familiar Spell} … So the gods reached out and found a breed of firebirds that were trapped in the Pits of Inferno since aeons for the amusement of the demons. …

Which is a spell only castable by paladins. See that icon? it looks like a person in space, celestial, cosmic.

Another thing, to be able to wear all Yalahari equipment, you need to be all vocations. A strong paladin.

There are more! Those dragon scale legs only exist in two other places.

In Kazordoon:

In Beregar:

The items are very similar, which makes sense as some Beregar dwarves went east to found Kazordoon.

Since the items are very similar, and the items found by Pythius were worn by the Yalahari, we get some strong indications that some of the Yalahari actually did become dwarves.

Other things of note are the Dragon Fetish, Soul Ruby (Blood Orb), Helmet of the stars, the Pharaoh, and Djinn items.
There’s also that silver brooch in Kazordoon.

And… Star Amulet!

This item exists in just a couple of other places.
By the elves in Ab’dendriel(!), in the Kazordoon Treasury, in a couple of Pharaoh tombs, and in the Draconia treasury(!).

And… we get one from the mad mage!

IF you decide to for some reason zoom in and check the colors of the pixels, you’ll find these are also colored, like family.

There’s a clear red, green, and blue ‘gem’, but instead of black, there’s white.

What I’m trying to say is, it’s really confusing.

But it’s clear that some of the Yalahari became the dwarves, dwarves and elves are like brothers and sisters, and some of the elves are from Yalahar. But even that is not clear.

Some of the upper-class Yalahari seem to have been human, who’ve created elves. For example, the Mad Mage, or rather Durin, is human.

But there’s also other indications, see Mortiur.

Player: crunor
Elathriel: I have no use for the treething. I worship Mortiur, the ravager, of course.
Player: mortiur
Elathriel: The celestial paladin of revenge. He was one of the greatest elven wariors of all times.

Is this The Ravager from deep below Rathleton, that ‘Pharaoh’ thing who uses Daramanian waraxe? And according to Mazarius’ comment on Arkhothep, Mortiur was human once too.

Enough, let’s try to settle this thing.

Elven Casts

The elven caste Kuridai (e.g. Elf Arcanists) remembers certain things.

{book-The Kuridai} The Kuridai took refuge in a volcanic area, inhabited by vile monsters and ravaged by the eruptions of the mountains. …
So the elves begun to develop a more devious way to fight, with assaults, traps and hit and run tactics. After over hundred years they had enough resources to leave the burning lands and adopted their way of live to their new enviroment. So they became the secretive people under the hills.

We see a community of these Kuridai in Yalahar, god knows how long they’ve been here.

They are dabbling with dragon magic. There’s even a serpent spawn downstairs.

But what’s particularly interesting is how the Kuridai keep trolls around. Like warlocks and the ancients did.

Player: troll
Eroth: The Kuridai have the distasteful habit to keep some trolls for inferior work.

It just ‘happens to be’ that the well-trained trolls are deep beneath the trolls that the Kuridai of Ab’dendriel tend to.

They’re right below the barkless cult and The Isle of Evil.

The well-trained trolls are a bit different from other trolls, they turn invincible, have a couple of teleporters, and can handle catapults and ballistas. They do ‘hit and run’ tactics, ambush, or ‘assault’ on the Beregar dwarves, they also have traps, this particular trap spawns ‘Mechanical Fighters’ which are only seen here and in Kazordoon.

Which fits the description of the Kuridai quite perfectly.

It seems the trolls too resemble elves.

Player: troll
Brasith: I don’t claim to understand these creatures but sometimes they are more close to the roots than we are.

Being more close to the roots than them(s)elves strongly suggests they were elves, with ancient instincts.

To partly explain the difference in appearance of the Dwarves and the Trolls, according to the Elemental Spheres quest, some places in the world emanate different magic.

This is why there are flowers growing in the caves beneath Paradox Tower, or how Carlins royal trees grew so big - their fallen leaves sprung to life, Leaf Golems.

But Isle of Evil? Certain influences from certain magic alter how children and themselves are shaped, corrupted over time.

So trolls must be elves too, right!

Perhaps not just servants after all considering shapeshifting magic, but instead some ancient elves, or a former friend or foe.. maybe that fishmonger who ripped off a noble, or the one who saved some guy from a demon. Sad.

Player: kuridai
Briasol: Our caste are workers out of passion.

Another question left unanswered is why trolls go around with dogs.

The well-trained trolls even kept dogs of all sizes, in their prison we find wolves and even huskies. Current day trolls can seemingly only handle dogs.

The ancients at the very least talked to wolves, evident from the supposedly ancient Ishara’s censored book on how to talk their language, found in the Mad Mage’s library.
Crystal wolves also come to mind. Orcs breed wolves as well, I wonder if they are related.

Player: Elves
Appaloosa: I heard the elves ride every animal that roams the woods. From wolves and bears to squirrels, the elves befriend and ride them all. Just amazing!

Beregar sheds some light on how strong the ancient trolls were - I imagine that the trolls we know of today have gotten stupider and stupider with generations upon generations of trolls, making them lose their old ways. But we have seen ancient rituals in Dusalk’s Troll Clan cave, the training of Salamanders, the recipe-gathering behavior & the “training” of dogs, or canines, that there are some old instincts left.

{/more-5: The Yalahari-1}

{more-6: Troll Sabotage-1}

Troll Sabotage

Something never discussed is why a dwarf, troll, orc, or anything wouldn’t come screaming at us, begging us to change them back into their original form.

But they can’t for two reasons:

• Late stage corruption is irreversible.
• When you become something, you become it.

Let me show you what I mean.

Eclesius accidentally turned his assistant into a Frog, and our mission is to try to reverse it.

Player: Frog
A Confused Frog: You know… being a frog isn’t that bad. Ribbit. I don’t want to be a human again. I just wish I could get out of this cage and live by a lovely little pond.

Said pond is north of Thais, Alatar lake.
We’re not able to reverse the frogginess, but oddly enough he doesn’t seem to care.

Player: frog
A Frog: I love being a frog! Rrrribbit! Especially now! I just need to find me a frog girl and all will be well.

He even enjoys it.

Another experiment of Eclesius is when he tries mixing an elf and a dwarf, which turned out bad.

The shocker here, is that the outcome can be either a Gozzler, a Toad, or a Mutated Human. How do you even explain that?

A rare frog boss found in Alatar lake, ‘The Frog Prince’ might suggest that even more frogs are humans. Funny how two frogs want to go to the same pond. Though this prince and the Pig princess in Thais seem to rather be creature illusions and not creature transformations. Or?

Could it is the case that the longer you are stuck, the more you accept your fate?

Player: piedpiper
Rata’Mari: Meep? I mean - hello! Sorry, Player… Being a rat has kind of grown on me.

Even abandoning their former identity.

Player: name
A Frog: Well… ribbit… my name is Turian. But that doesn’t really matter anymore. Frog will do.

Maybe this could be why the trolls are so content with their lives, Stockholm syndrome.
Or why they might’ve lost their tongue after or even before transformation… snip snap.

What more, I think this is a hint towards Noodles and the Dog Lady.
Could even be Heroes and Princess Lumelia.

And the troll, Chief Grarkharok.

Player: Tibia
Chief Grarkharok: Tribe Grarkharok will rules Tibia! Me only need troll lady, then start tribe!

The difficulty level of explaining the hints found in Troll Sabotage is so high we’ve had to gain all this knowledge, go through all this text, read several chapters, solve countless of small riddles, wade through lore spanning the entirety of Tibia with all its confusing and unexpectedly fun (or dark) twists and turns.
But now, with our knowledge, we can finally explain them.

His quest is still not completed yet on the quest log (since 2008), but I think we could be on the right track.

Like Turian the frog, he’s content with his life. He’s looking for a troll lady, a hairy one.

We find him on top of the largest mountain in Edron, I think it’s reasonably comparable to that lovely pond the frogs like. Or even the king’s castle for Noodles.

Basically, the quest is about Jerom and Chief Grarkharok.
Jerom wanted to start a pet shop, he eventually settled for Edron and set up his little zoo below the big mountain.
But, the chief didn’t like that, so he ‘threw’ a huge boulder down the mountain - right on Jerom’s shop.

After throwing the rock, he also went into the broken shop to steal Jerom’s family necklace, but forgot his rope.

The quest log tells us to find a ‘troll lady’ for him.
Let’s investigate the hints!

The Hints

He supposedly stole a chief club from Fragratosh, the chief of his old tribe.

Player: Chief
Chief Grarkharok: Yeye, me stole chief club from Fragratosh, hrhrhrh! Now make me own tribe!
Player: Fragratosh
Chief Grarkharok: Fragratosh stupid. He chief of me old tribe. No frogs, no snakes, no smashing humans with rocks. Booooooring tribe! Now me make own tribe!!

Interestingly, frogs and snakes are mentioned, you can give him some and he’ll gladly eat them if fresh. Suspicious.

Something that we can sort of grasp now is the following conversation we for some reason can only find during the quest.

Player: Gurak cha rak
Chief Grarkharok: You say troll speak!! Hmmm, sound like south tribe! You know Ingortrak ?? He chief of big tribe in jungle! Good chief he is!

Talking of a tribe in the jungle, and another rak there’s something really important here.

There are only so many jungles in Tibia, and at the time of implementation there were pretty much just Tiquanda.
We don’t find any lady there, though there are swamp trolls north of the river - but they talk and write in English.

In the southern part of Tiquanda, there are some dworcs, and they seem to talk in a similar way.

Grow truk grrrrr. Brak brrretz! Prek tars, dekklep zurk.

Weird. Voodoomancers and Merklins have clubs - maybe that could mean anything?
But it’s as if he’s from another time or something, nothing makes sense.

Edron is heavily into time-travel quests, e.g. Jack to the Future.
There are also many parallels with Eclesius and Troll Sabotage, in one mission we entered that “Space-time Continuum” to mix that elf and dwarf.
We also do know from Dreamer’s Challenge that time does not pass when standing still in the ‘Space-time Continuum’.
We do some weird stuff with Bozo when traveling back in time to cut off a former emperor’s silver beard.
So it’s not completely out of the question.

Another gargantuan hint I skipped is the unique elvenhair rope and Jerom’s family necklace.

Grarkharok took the necklace from Jerom, and during the quest, he instructs us to give the necklace to the troll lady.
Why did he take the necklace?

Then there’s the elvenhair rope, how in the world did he get that?

What does this all mean?

I think that Grarkharok stole the dragon necklace because he remembers it, familiar.
I think the elvenhair rope is a hint that he’s been around elves.
Since trolls are hiddenly and heavily connected to dragons, the Dragon Necklace would certainly be familiar, it’s what Krendorak wore as well.

What if it’s his old rope? Was he involved with elves and dragons?

Recall the Chieftains of the old dynasties, what if he’s an old chieftain?

It all makes sense, if:

Player: Gurak cha rak
Chief Grarkharok: You say troll speak!!

Player: Hi
Chief Grarkharok: Me Chief Grarkharok! …

Gurak Cha Rak!
Grar kha rok!
Gar sha rak!

Chieftain Garsharak, the progenitor of all dragons.

He also stole a feathered cloak from a swan maiden. Does he remember?
Did he swim to Edron from Zao? It’s very close by.

If he’s of the rak family, the dragon necklaces he wants us to give to a troll lady could be their old family traditions.

{/more-6: Troll Sabotage-1}

{more-7: The Ancients of the Ancients-1}

The Princess of the Sea pt. 1

Shortly after or during the war depicted by the paranoid scientist at The Hive, a certain ‘princess’ Ramora showed up to help some surviving humans living in the ruins of Rathleton. These humans were troubled by an ‘ancient evil’, possibly The Ravager.

These events are said to have occurred when ‘dead men walked’, suggesting the time of The Corpse Wars when Variphor had already been evoked.

{book-Investigating Oramond Folklore I} … Nonetheless, dark times of servitude began for the people of the isle. Slavery and taxes in blood was their lot for many generations. …
This did only change with the arrival of ‘princess’ Ramora. Now this person is shrouded in mystery, too. Though each story claims highest nobility for her, there is no record at all about such a princess in any archive that I had access to. …
… Still, the nobility of this princess is disputable. Granted, there is next to no record that survived from those times. It is entirely possible that the princess was some tribe’s ruler or something like that. The key here is that no heritage or title but that of ‘princess’ in her name connect to her in any existing lore. Knowing to what an end the nobility goes to preserve their family names, at least ist must strike one as odd that no traceable surname survived in all those tales. The next thing are clashing reports about how the exodus took place.

Given our knowledge, it is not surprising that no surname was found. But what little we have is the mention of a ‘princess’, why does she have a title? Who had titles at the time?

There were princes and princesses in Ankrahmun, and south of Ankrahmun we find the Zaoan empire, also composed of kings and princes, at the time, there were no emperors.

When I said there weren’t another jungle, I kinda lied.
There is another jungle-isch~ south of Ankrahmun and Tiquanda.
One year after Troll sabotage was introduced, we got Zao.
Zao is currently not a jungle, but it was before it was corrupted. Both share the same flora. And we do know that quests and lore get implemented spanning over several years.

In Zao is also where we find our other Lizard ‘rak’s! Could Ingortrak, or even Garsharak originate from here? In the south tribe, south of Tiquanda?

Finding out what has happened in Zao is somewhat of a meta-quest which you don’t have to follow in Zao but which gives those who are interested in history and background some playground. It is like a puzzle: Find the clues, piece things together and decide what to believe and what not. - Knightmare

Royalty

The royalty in Zao we do know of were King Chong, who erected the dragon wall, and King Tzuzak VII (again, no surname), who dealt with the arrival of many dragons fleeing from some catastrophe, marking the beginning of the corruption in Zao, and the beginning of the dragon emperor’s rule.

The land was divided into two by the dragon wall, where the less noble lived in the south.
North, where Spirittrails now is, we find ancient ruins and a Cranky old Crone - supposedly a spirit, she remembers when the gardens weren’t corrupted and speaks of working for the people who once lived here.

Player: hat (sedge hat, looks like jade hat)
Cranky Lizard Crone: Do I look like your perzonal hatter?! …
Cranky Lizard Crone: Well, on ze ozer hand, I do have zome experienze from my time working for zeze people. And zat hat surely needz a makeover. Care to give it to me?

Zeze (these) people, is she actually talking about lizards?
We will try to explore this angle, but we need to gather more information.

Dragons

Dragons are fascinating in this land, we have the dragonblaze peaks, the dragon emperor with dragon kings under his rule.
We can actually tell that dragons did exist before the arrival of the dragon kings, before the corruption, but it’s well hidden.

The last lizard ruler was King Tzuzak, and the dragon wall was built before him. It’s also suggested in a book), and Cael tells us how the lizards had at least two cults, one of the dragons and one of the great snake. While the cult of the dragons was small at the time, Cael speculates that their old legends of dragons made the lizard-people accept the dragon kings upon their arrival, and perhaps because they seemed to be similar to each other, yet somehow made differently - here I speculate that it’s creation, both giant lizards and dragons were likely created from the same source, snakes.

A fascinating part here is how the lizards in both Tiquanda and Zao worshipped the great snake before the arrival of the dragon kings. They must’ve come from the same place initially. In a round Tibia, they are very close to each other, and with Ankrahmun being Ankrahmun, i.e. also full of dragons and lizards, we can assume that both of them had the same creators. Perhaps north and south tribe? Today, the northerners of Tiquanda continue worshipping the great snake.

Moreover, The First Dragon keeps boasting about his various adventures with a lot of conflicting statements, similar to Avar Tar.
One of which is how he really likes human books, stating they’re an amazing invention - opposed to draconic glyphs the lizards seemingly use, them being more contextual and not as direct.

This is seemingly what they’ve used for pretty much all books we find in Zao, i.e. the encrypted Tomes of Knowledge we can only read with the help of Cael.

But there is an exception.

A few ‘rare’ books written by the scribe of Tzuzak are scattered, hidden all over Zao, and for some reason, they were written in English.

Why? We shouldn’t have anything other than ‘encrypted’ lizardry text.

Some angle to explore now considering ‘zoze people’ and their English, is there could’ve been non-lizard humanoids here, long long ago, before the corruption, before the dragons.

Could this have been the place where Garsharak created the first ones, the birth of lizards, creation, maybe even the birth of it all?

Maybe, let’s quickly check Spirittrails for hints.

Spirittrails Detour

The Souleaters here for some reason walk around with- or turn into lizard essence, they also carry our recurringly seen Wand of Cosmic Energy and Necrotic Rods.

The Souleaters themselves do not look like softskins, but there are ancient items found here that don’t make any sense.

For example, no lizard would use a comb, they don’t even have hair.
But this could be due to the tigers we find here, mutated. From that, we can ponder why we find them also in Tiquanda, and why the lore on cats tells us that they are a manipulated species originating from tigers - we found these cats in Yalahar.
A small comb for a tiger, though.

The carpets here are also very strange, and from what I found, they are not found anywhere else in Zao. We use these magic carpets to fly from Roshamuul, where we find it’s inscribed with magical symbols. We can probably use them to ascend into the sky.

Strange hints, but still out of place and yearn for answers.

From a timeline perspective, Spirittrails might have been built by these non-scaled softskin humanoids way back, around the time that Garsharak supposedly created the lizardmen that would spread terror and chaos all over the world.

Ancient Zao

We know that some humans lived in parallel with the lizardmen.

Player: Lizard
Cael: Did you know that the lizardmen were among the first races roaming this continent? They were waging war against the orcs, minotaurs and humans on Zao and for a long time it seemed that the forces were even.

We can actually find remnants of these humans.

Imagine a group of people living in total isolation for millennia, developing their own culture, language, and way of life, never contacted by the outside world, unaware of common things like beer which is all over Tibia. Yet, they worship the same gods with almost the same names as everyone else. How unbelievably unlikely would that be?

That’s what happens with the primitives.

Player: gods
Lazaran: We know many gods. Pandor, god of war, Uzroth, god of spirits, Krunus, god of food and Fasuon, watcher with two burning eyes.
You see, we know many gods, more than I can count.

• I see Banor
• Uman-zathroth
• Crunor
• Fafnar and Suon.

How do they even speak English?

Player: holy language
Lazaran: You speak language of priests. You language is holy language only leaders and priests speaking. That why we know you good. …
Lazaran: Language of my people other language is. Tribe only know few words in holy language from prayers.

English is the language of priests.
Those who do not speak the holy language can tell us some interesting words at random.

Player: (any word, random)
Kito: … ungh….
Kito: Ungh?
Kito: Pun sa med lo kiroki.

Could this translate to: Are you crazy?

Is this where Kirok The Mad came from, too?

We can also find their ancestors date back to what one could call “neanderthal”.

Cael talks of how there used to be minotaurs, orcs, lizards and humans on Zao, the tomes talk of how the lizards lived in the north under threat of the ‘barbarianz’ in the south, divided by the dragon wall. But these tomes are from a time after the giant lizardmen had been created, and after the arrival of dragons.

There’s no real telling of what happened before, though Cael has made some attempts.

Player: founder
Cael: It seems that some parts of the tome are just copies from other sources and rather unrelated to each other. As far as I could piece them together, there was a mythical founder of the lizard civilisation. …
Cael: His name was Zao and his deeds and exploits are immortalised in lizard folklore. Some of the earliest records in the tomes suggest a slightly different story though. …
Cael: Many records talk about an early lizard dynasty, but I doubt that Zao was a single person born into that dynasty. …
Cael: My guess is that several members of this dynasty are responsible for or connected to the feats that were attributed to the mythical ‘Zao’. …
Cael: The improbable lifespan of ‘Zao’ can thus be explained with the time the Zao dynasty reigned. On the other hand, we all know larger-than-life heroes did exist and some of them had an extremely long lifespan. …

Does Cael (and Cip) here suggest that there’s a possibility Zao was a god?

Given all we’ve uncovered, I think this could very well be ground zero, no other lore in any place in Tibia is as comprehensive as this on the early days. That is, the Zao & Tiquanda region. This could be the birth of everything: the evolution into humans, where the gods took their first steps on the Zaoan steppe, played with wooden toys, and lost their first milk teeth, before eventually discovering magic and “ascending” into godhood.

Let me quote Knightmare:

“In the actual Tibia timeline, the influence of ascension and ascendants is most prominently seen in Ankrahmun and Zao. In Ankrahmun, the god king Arkhothep patiently works on his own ascension via mystical means. Around him, a whole cult has sprung up that sees being undead as the one true path to ascension. In Zao, someone, or something, makes his own move to ascend (for a second time) whereas another creature there might be on a path to ascension on its own.” - Knightmare

From our findings, it’s roughly:

1. Evolution
2. The first humans
3. The birth of the gods
4. Discovery of magic
5. Snake time
6. Creation and the quest for power
7. The birth of dragons, giant lizards, elves, and other creatures.
8. Ascension / godhood
9. Variphor
10. Corruption, World war
11. The corpse wars
12. The cataclysm marking the end of the old world
13. The exodus
14. The beginnings of the new world, “post genesis”

Yet another, more direct hint, but obscured in secrets (and still theory) is the name of the land.

Player: land / continent
Ztiss: Ziz land iz ze home of our people. We call it Zao, after ze firzt great leader of our people! Zao ruled for many hundred yearz. …

Zao was the first great leader. In a snakes tongue, it could come from Zathroth. Zoze (those) pesky consonants ‘thrth’ that snake-creatures have issues with are excluded. (Do you know of Zazroth?)

Uzroth -> Uman-Zathroth -> Zathroth -> Zao

Wherever you see cults, trails, or worshippers of Zathroth, you will find snakes, try it!

Here’s a not-so-obvious one, found in Roshamuul (where there’s predominantly eyes all over), the warden: Gaz’haragoth, who seemingly stayed behind to guard The Dreamcatcher Device.

But it’s not that surprising, as there are also eyes all over Zathroth’s places, such as his library.

The Princess of the Sea pt. 2

Returning to the princess and the exodus, we can place these events in a broader timeline. We just looked at the time before the exodus, now we can piece together some of the events that caused the exodus.

The arrival of the corrupted dragons during the reign of King Tzuzak coincides with the imprisonment of Prince Drazzak. This period marked the culmination of a giant war, a cataclysm of epic proportions that shattered continents and ended the great Corpse Wars, this is also when the gods disappeared, or according to prince Drazzak, ‘escaped’. This event is according to theory considered the end of genesis, the royal archives suggest we are now about 950-1000 years post-genesis.

In the second installment of Oramond Folklore, Princess Ramora and the ‘Warlord with alien knowledge’ are said to have emerged from a major battle. From what we’ve explored, all points to the time of the Corpse Wars, or rather, the end of it.

We can find even more hints of this in the family names we covered in previous chapters:

• We have the dwarven Emperor Kruzak, the king Tzuzak, and the prince Drazzak. Too much royalty with similar names, right?

• Zak and rak is close, same with Ulderek and Camdrek, then we have rah and rax as in Dipthrah, Ashmunrah, Sheldrax, Tulax and Shuldrax. It seems like a lot of names stem from some rak, zak, rax or rah.

• Perhaps the warlord with alien knowledge was Durin with his warlord sword, who supposedly assisted The Great Calculator to create 469.
  Hopefully it wasn’t Lurin

Anyhow, let’s continue with the exodus.

On their ‘Exodus’, they met some seapeople.

{book-Investigating Oramond Folklore II} Most descriptions of the seapeople picture them to be tall, slender, with pointy ears and bluish skin. I believe here the natives mixed up the seapeople with the elves from the stories of the newly arrived settlers.

The weird part is that these seapeople are described as potentially being elves. Tall, slender, pointy-eared, and bluish-skinned. The deeplings we see are tall, bluish, with pointy ears but not slender. They aren’t exactly appealing for mating, as Ramora supposedly did (no judgment here).

This could be explained by The Navigator, who sneaks around the Deeplings’ hatchery, manipulating their eggs and supposedly controlling everything in the city of light, Fiehonja. (More egg magic!)

Moreover, the Deepling guard has a snake tongue, varying numbers of fingers and limbs, and all others have a distinctive mohawk, but the pointy ears stand out.

Moreover, the spiral adornments on the deeplings are similar to those on the serpentine tower.

Player: yalahari
Maritima: Some centuries ago, the Yalahari used to visit tlhe bottom of the ocean. Then all of a sudden, their visits ended.

The deeplings’ god-king Qjell, who brings light, could be linked to the Lightbearers.

The small, petrified “Lightbearers” found by the giant golden anchor are quite amusing.

Anyhow, Fiehonja is actually really close to Zao, so the snakery doesn’t surprise as much, everything is just so consistent.

Their language is cool though, it also consists of symbols - we see them being frighteningly similar to the lizard writings, dragon writings and… ancient language.

To show you, let’s again put Demona into the loop, we find they have this book made out of odd leather.

{book-Summoning_Creatures} *This book is made out of an odd leather and it’s covered with strange symbols. You are not able to decipher the title but according to the pictures you guess it is about summoning creatures.*

Could that be lizard skin? And what language is it written in?

Player: books
The First Dragon: Your books are an amazing thing. Draconic glyphs are so different. …

In Drefia, we find some confirmation of what these draconic glyphs look like, somewhat like this:

>>> ooo <<<
-- // .. \\ --
... xxx ...
oo ** oo ** oo
~~~ (( o )) ~~~
^^---{8[-^-]8}---^^
___III___III___
TTT---III---TTT 
°°^^°°^^°°
(Thank you Leon Nake for providing these!)

We find very similar glyphs on these obelisks that are found all over Ankrahmun. (Serpentine Tower included!)

And we do know that the Zao people use encrypted tomes of knowledge, we find the Tiquandan ones use it as well, of course!

A more advanced form is also seen in Jekhr: ~-"->, )^|J-| "J^° B^C.

The Mad Mage has em too!

‘It’s all connected!’

So basically we have a dictionary here of ancient language! Neat.

I’ve made previous research which shows this ancient language and how we can find some translations in the wild, I recommend reading that, but here are some of them:

{more-Tatak}

armed=tanakk

“Tanjis arm/tanakk the deep and Qjell watches.”

Here we find a very similar word used by the cavemen who live side-by-side with the deeplings.

I interpret tatak as: when sounding the war drums you are effectively telling everyone to arm up, preparing for battle, signaling everyone.

At the very least, tanakk and tatak is:

1. Similar look
2. Similar pronunciation
3. Very close by geographically (Zao and Fiehonja)
4. Similar meaning, about battle / arming up

{/more-Tatak}

{more-Oskayaat}

down=osk

fallen=oskijah

The land down under? Land of the fallen? It do be bloody.

Oskijah is pronounced Oskijaa(t?).
Oskijaa(t?) very similar to Oskayaat.

{/more-Oskayaat}

These two translations tie in Jekhr with both the language that the Cavemen use, and Oskayaat - which is between Ankrahmun and Zao.

Fun! either way

When comparing the faces and physique of the various trolls and the deeplings, we find that they are quite similar. Very similar.

• Mohawked
• Pointy ears
• Smashed face

Probably originating from the same thing.

The deeplings are also sometimes called ‘frog’ people, also evident by the pictures we looked at earlier, this would be why chief Grarkharok likes both snakes and frogs. It could also in a strange way explain how Eclesius created a Toad from an elf and a dwarf.

Everything is just so damn weird, creation is weird.

Likely, the creation that went on here spawned the first elves, but it could have been the family of Krunus, as the elves are peace-loving people who adore Crunor - This would explain the elven rope, using your enemies in nasty ways.

Confusing, right?

So to answer the question of, what is trolls? what are elves?
They are the same.

Deeplings, too.
Even gnomes.

Trolls, elves, and deeplings also share the same languages.

Elves would be the creation of humans who might’ve enhanced themselves by imbuing not just amulets and rings, but themselves, like how vampires become vampires, how Zalamon became this horrid snake-thing, how the old pharaohs got so big and corrupted, and how some of the old gods ascended into fire-feathered animal kings or serpent gods.

Consider when we level up to 20, we can become ‘premium’, where a powerful magician imbues us with a permanent buff, allowing us to regenerate faster.

Imagine not using just one buff from one magician, but from stolen mana all over Tibia, everyone’s mana, but store that mana for years, and then imbue yourself with it in a single spell. There’s a reason Gaz’haragoth is so powerful - standing by the dreamcatcher device, collecting mana. Anyhow.

Funny Elves

There’s also a funny theory that elves are part bunny.

• A reason why Loui on Rookgaard calls them demons
• A reason for their pointy ears
• A reason for carrot of doom

{book-Dwarven Guide to Warfare VI} Dwarven guide to warfare
Lesson VI
Luring elves with carrots has proven to be an ineffective tactic.

Player: swampelves
Boozer: Some elves turned evil so to say. They now live in a small village to the south called Shadowthorn. No big deal. Who cares about some carrot-eating musicians after all?

But this is merely a side note.

Thanks for reading so far, I hope you enjoyed this journey that I took you on, it was not meant to become this lengthy, I just couldn’t stop writing for months.

Now we are going to cover the most deranged mystery of the magic web, and how it ties into all of this.

We are going to continue on the warlocks we talked about so much in the beginning.
It’s gonna be a wild ride.

{/more-7: The Ancients of the Ancients-1}

3: Island Dianscher

{more-8: The Magic Web-1}

Let’s get deranged

I’ve covered this numerous times, here, here, here, here and here … Safe to say it’s my favorite mystery, but, I’m gonna cover it anyway with a lot of new things!  

In Demona they have several libraries, but the one we are going to focus on is their ‘Main Study Library’.  

To get a sense of what they are studying, this book gives a general view.

{book-The_Magic_City_Demona_II} The magic city Demona
Written by Danae, historian of the warlocks
Part2
Our world of Tibia is filled with various kinds of magic. Until now, we dont know much about this magic. Only a small part of the whole magic power is under our control.
Our goal is to research into the magic web of our world and to control it, so we can finally reach our purpose: the immortality.
But before we could start with the research, our ancients had many problems to solve.

The Magic web and how to control it.

What can you do with the magic web?
The book suggests you can do EVERYTHING with it.  

One use-case seems to be actively researched across several books: teleportation

{book-A_Teleportation_Through_the_Magic_Web} A teleportation through the magic web
Written by Zuania
I was one of the first who was allowed to teleport through the magic web.
I could easily open the gate with the power of my will. But after I was in the magic web I lost control. So I came out near Carlin although I wanted to come out near the east gate of Thais.
All others made the same experience.
It went all so quickly when I was in the magic web. I could only see a red light and some other gates far away for some seconds. And then I was already in Carlin.
Maybe one day we can just teleport into the magic web and stay there. I would love to investigate it.

So they wanted to come out near the east gate of Thais, but ended up close to Carlin.

We can find some hints in the following book on where they ended up. 

{book-The_Magic_City_Demona_III} The magic city Demona
Written by Danae, historian of the warlocks
Part3
In the beginning, our ancients lived in total isolation. They thought, that they can survive down here without any contact to the outside world.
But after some years they realised that they cant cast enough food and water for all warlocks.
They also realised, that it was necessary to be under the free sky to cast some spells (Like the spell “Path of the Stars”, that only works if the caster can see the stars in the night).
So they made a direct tunnel to the surface.
All seem to work well. But after some years new problems appeared.

“East of Thais” is actually where we started this whole journey, The Trolls’ Cave!

“near Carlin” We find some other interesting things.

So what the ancients were seemingly able to do is to teleport into this place now called Demona, with no other entrance than teleportation. Their enemies had no way of attacking them, no way of getting in. The perfect place for research.

We find that one of these spells is called “Path of the Stars”.
This is eerily close to what we do in Explorers’ Society quest.  

Player: mission -> yes
Angus: Fine. The society is looking for new means to travel. Some of our most brilliant minds have some theories about astral travel that they want to research further …

In this quest, we gather some ectoplasm, some spectral dress from the Queen of the Banshees, and do some attuning by smearing this weird concoction on these strange carvings, then use an orichalcum pearl and… woop!

Astral travel! … where we teleport to Northport, which is.. ABOVE DEMONA!

Another place “near Carlin” are the Ghostlands. A cursed place since long, long ago - built by the ancients.

Player: race
The Queen Of The Banshees: The race that built this edifice came to this place from the stars. They ran from an enemy even more horrible than themselves. But they carried the seed of their own destruction in them.

Exactly like the Yalahari.. who later slaughtered themselves - they seemingly had ‘Celestial’ paladins, which the elves also worship.

Astral is the same thing as Celestial.

Back to the ancients, if they needed to be under the free sky to cast some spells, we can start to speculate that the reason they wore the Ring of the Sky is because it fulfills just that that purpose. The sky in a ring.

And something that really tickles me fancy, is the old teleport sprites.

Wow!

The Nightmare Knights called this teleportation phenomenon ‘dream paths’ where we also use orichalcum pearls to teleport to various places around Tibia.

{book-Camdrek’s_Last_Hope} I sealed Goshnar’s grave so noone can enter the pits without knowledge of our secret. I will try to retreat to knightwatch tower and wait for a dreamer in possession of the key, so we can travel one of the dreampaths to a safer place to regroup and plan a counterattack.

If traveling through a dreampath is traveling through the magic web, then we can assume that the magic web is the dream realm. Two names for the same thing.

Which leads us to dream machines.
Where we fall asleep to teleport somewhere - The dream realm.

Recall how there were white stone tiles in The Trolls’ Cave, they are also found in the dream realm and by the dream machines!

{more-See the picture again}

{/more-See the picture again}

So it’s definitely both the magic web and the dream realm.

We can confirm this when revisiting Demona. In their Main Study, there are TONS of maps.  

{book-The World of Tibia} The world of Tibia
Written by Unaris, adventurer of the warlocks
These maps of our world Tibia could help us to understand how the magic web of Tibia was made by the Gods.
*In the following pages, you can see many maps with parts of Tibia*

And if you click below to expand, you will see something that Cip just screams at us to check out.

{more-See them all here}

{book-Tibia Map} *You see a map of our world Tibia*

{book-Magic Web Maps} *You see a collection of maps in this big book.
Some have strange red lines on them.
You can read the words
“known parts of the magic web in red and known gates in gold” at the bottom of those pages*

{book-Cartikus’s Magic Web Maps I} The Magic Web - Maps - Book 1
Written by Cartikus
*You can see several maps of Tibia with red lines and golden points on it*

{book-Cartikus’s Magic Web Maps II} The Magic Web - Maps - Book 2
Written by Cartikus
*You can see several maps of Tibia with red lines and golden points on it*

{book-Gargail’s Magic Web Maps} Maps of the magic web
Written by Gargail
*You see several maps with red lines and golden points on them*

{book-Fields of Glory Map} *You see a map of the surface of the Fields of Glory. There are many red lines and two golden points on it. You wonder what their meaning is.*

{/more-See them all here}

A LOT of mentions of red lines and golden points. This must be really important, why else would they mention it so many times? Or create some 7 books about just these red lines and golden points?

Within the ‘dream realm’, we actually find that it’s full of red lines and golden points(!).

But there’s even more to these maps. One map stands out in particular. A quest object, commonly used for decoration. At the time it was the only place to get this map.

It looks like someone has drawn lines on it, what looks like a web. The lines are a bit faded, but they are there. In the context of the magic web along all these other maps we have found, it must have been someone drawing on this map.

We could probably do this on the Tibia map? Cip is basically screaming ‘do it!’ with all those books.
As it’s heavily suggested, let’s draw some lines!  

When going north from the mysterious contraption in The Troll’s Cave:

We land right on..

An eye! With these strange, astral travel carvings! It’s actually insane, and I was absolutely ecstatic when I found this.

So you can imagine that I dug even deeper!

This dream machine has some interesting way of activating it, putting opposing forces, Life and Death, Fire, and Water.
It seems to be powered with Slime and Electricity.

It doesn’t end here.

If we expand from the Thais Trolls’ Cave, we find that it’s actually a bit more interesting than that.

At equal distances from the contraption, we find some significant places.

North:

• Life, paradox tower - where even grass grows beneath it in the caves.
  West:
• Water, an old cistern on Rookgaard. East:
• Fire, Excalibug - deep down in The Pits of Inferno. South:
• Death, an eye in Zathroth’s Secret Library.

Which is mind-blowing that we could’ve predicted where the secret library was, just by drawing lines on a map.

And we find that the mysterious device in The Trolls’ Cave is actually.. a Dream Machine itself.

Isn’t that bed way more interesting and fitting now? Considering we use a bed to get into the dream realm.

{/more-8: The Magic Web-1}

{more-9: Island Dianscher-1}

Time to go Absolutely Deranged

In Demona we find over twenty books of formulae, but only four of them in the Main Study Library.  

We find several formulae that are being actively studied by these warlocks.  

These are seemingly based on the ‘honeminas formula’, which to me is one of if not THE most interesting book in Tibia. Written by Mathemicus which the above formulae are based on.

{book-The_Honeminas_Formula} The honeminas formula
Written by Mathemicus
The honeminas formula is one of the basic formulas that describe how the magic web was made by the gods.
It is not completed yet, because honeminas itself died by 2 intruders who found out the way into our city. But we are trying to finish his work.
And Im sure that one day we will finish it and then we will be a big part closer to our goal.
As far we solve the following formulas:
(Note: g stands for gate, g [a_,x_] for the coordinates of the gate in the 2-dimensional-area and e for the strengh of the magic energy that flows into this gate.
For all other formulas look in your collection of formulas)
g[a_,x_] := a g[3,2] + (4,3,1,5,3).(3,4,7,8,4)
e=3m*2g->3p
.
.
.
.

The honeminas formula describes the magic web.  

It describes how to find gates through the use of coordinates.

A teeny tiny minor but absolutely crazy detail is… that…

In all the 20+ different books on formulae, and all the different 50 odd books with names @ this place, not a single one lacks capitalization. Except tridiag formula written by Donazia, but Donina formula written by Donina explains this detail. Names.

Why do honeminas lack capitalization?  

Why did honeminas ITSELF die?  

And curiously:

• ‘3478’ appear 24 times in the Hellgate 469 books  
• ‘4315’ appear 15 times  

My only explanation for this, is, that honeminas itself was… a… Bonelord!  

Player: bonelord
A Wrinkled Bonelord: Our race is very old. Over the time, we have been given many different names by other races …
A Wrinkled Bonelord: The term bonelord sticks to us for quite a while now …
A Wrinkled Bonelord: In our language the name of our race is not fixed but a complex formula, and as such it always changes for the subjective viewer.

If you want to see some gates and part of the web before we go further, see GATES

Batsh*t Crazy

Since we now have a way of looking at “469” using coordinates in some weird way, we can do some other shenanigans.

In the Main Study Library, there is a book containing the coordinates for the Island Dianscher, written by Mathemicus, the author of the honeminas formula.

{book-Dianscher Coordinates} Coordinates for the area around Dianscher Written by Mathemicus
I think I found out some coordinates for the Island Dianscher.
p3,q9,0o and p3,23,0t.
Yet, we must wait until we can control the destination gates and open them without problems.

To tackle this decades-old mystery, we will take another look at the quest map, keeping the formulae and coordinates in mind. It surely must be an important map.

With a lot of time, headache, and reverse-engineering…

We can see that the map could actually be some sort of tool to plot coordinates.

We got a pretty sweet thing going on here, although completely mad and undoubtedly… doubtful. However, considering their research on the ‘path of the stars’, their rings of the skies and coordinate mapping, it’s not too far-fetched. It’s enough to keep looking.

Drefian Astrology

The folks over at Drefia have an entire section dedicated to maps, astral charts, magic, and astronomy… complete with even more formulae! Yippie! This math must be related because, despite the evolution of language over the centuries, both places in different times share Mathematica syntax.

From here, we could get some hints on how to work with this strange, wickedly complex map.

And I wonder, could that armillary sphere with lines corded around a small globe be the red lines of the magic web around Tibia?

Let’s dissect.

1: Area of a Triangle

\frac{1}{2} ab
It’s written in LaTeX syntax, and renders like this: \(\frac{1}{2} ab\)

This is most commonly known as the formula for the area of a right triangle, given two sides a and b.

     /|
    / |
   /  | a
  /   |
 /____|
   b
Area = (1/2) * a * b 

While we might not be able to use it directly, it’s important to understand why these formula exist. Our goal is to understand why these formulae are important and find their relationships and functions. Figuring out their use should give us further clues.

We’ll continue with formula 3, as formula 2 is really complex with many possible interpretations.

3: Vector

\vec{P} = \begin{pmatrix}p_1 \\ p_2\end{pmatrix}

LaTeX: \(\vec{P} = \begin{pmatrix}p_1 \\ p_2\end{pmatrix}\)

The vector P, represented as a column vector with two components:

P = |p1|
    |p2|

Vectors are heavily used in coordinates, and we can see that the coordinates for the Island Dianscher could be represented similarly: (p3, q9, 0t).

In a two-dimensional space, a point with coordinates (x, y) can be represented as a column vector: \(\begin{pmatrix} x \\ y \end{pmatrix}\)

Similarly, in a three-dimensional space, a point with coordinates (x, y, z) is represented as: \(\begin{pmatrix} x \\ y \\ z \end{pmatrix}\)

You’ve likely seen this pattern already, such as in the URL of tibiamaps.io, which could be represented as: tibiamaps.io/map#(32368,32198,7,0), where the coordinates are:

• x: 32368
• y: 32198
• z: 7 (floor)
• zoom: 0

2: Mystery Formula

A_G \cdot h

The formula can be interpreted in various ways.

• In Mathematica, A_G could be a variable name, a pattern matching variable, or a function. Capital letters typically denote matrices. (such as the column matrix (or rather, vector) P)

• The symbol \cdot usually represents multiplication or the dot product of two vectors.
• h could be anything. Considering the various elements here involving time and energy as well as the dot product, it’s more plausible that h represents a scalar related to time or energy rather than height. In the area of the triangle, height was represented by a or b.

Combining the Demona Formulae

Let’s combine the formulae from Demona and Drefia to see if we can find any relationships or patterns.
Lets first get a basic description of formulae and their possible interpretations:

1. Honeminas Formula: g[a_, x_] := a g[3, 2] + (4,3,1,5,3).(3,4,7,8,4)
   This indicates a combination of scalar multiplication and a dot product. The dot product yields a scalar value.

2. Tridiag Formula: g[a_, l_] := e * g[1, 1] -> 9g * 3a This implies scalar multiplication involving energy e.

To understand what ‘scaling’ means, consider the following example:
By applying a scaling factor to the coordinates of tibiamaps.io, we can see the transformation, using the example scaling factors of 1.012 for the x coordinate and 1.03 for the y coordinate, we get:

This scaling operation results in new coordinates:
\(\begin{pmatrix} 32760 \\ 33194 \\ 7 \\ 0 \end{pmatrix}\)
These coordinates have shifted slightly in their x and y directions, resulting in a new vector at a different place on the map.

We could also add a time-based scalar to a set of coordinates, e.g. h = 1.05, effectively predicting past or future coordinates of a gate or area in the magic web. It could also be how much energy is present in a set of coordinates, i.e. how strong the magic energy of the gate is. But I think we would have seen A_G \cdot e in that case.

1. Mystery Formula: A_G \cdot h
   If A_G represents an area and h is a scalar related to time (hour?) or energy, it suggests a calculation related to the coordinates of the gate at a specific time.

Variables a, g, and h seem to represent different quantities across formulas but show quite close connections. I mean, they could’ve named them whatever they wanted, but they chose these specific letters, matching them across different formulae from different places, Drefia and Demona.

In The Honeminas Formula:
g[a_, x_] := a g[3, 2] + (4,3,1,5,3).(3,4,7,8,4)
We see g a, a g. A_G?

In The Tridiag Formula:
a = 3er * 8g -> 99k
g[a_, l_] := e * g[1, 1] -> 9g * 3a
h := 3pe - 34u

A weird ‘coincidence’ is that we have definitions of a, g, and h here, and they are all related to each other. A_G \cdot h?

Again, a and g seem heavily intertwined.

The tridiag suggests h is more related to energy or time, where u and p are not really seen together with a and g in the other formulae, but we see it as an input to a g function, perhaps an element of time.

The Donina Formulae explain the pulsate of the red light in the magic web:

In The Donina Formula I:
ft := E[3, 2, 3] * fd(3.2), as -> 20
io = g[i, u] -> 2

In The Donina Formula II:
ds(%) = “[tr3 -> 12/32p - q]”
gh/3u -> 32 = <%sd>

Which would explain why we see lots of new variables, for a pulsate - we would need both energy and time elements, e.g. how fast a red line pulsates over a period, possibly between gates.

Each book seems to use a, g, and h in closely linked contexts. These pairs of a and g being connected, and the presence of h in many formulas, suggest strong relationship between these variables.

Considering a paper found by the astral charts in Drefia:

{book-Star Constellations over the Centuries} Star Constellations over the Centuries

It seems that they have been calculating the positions of stars over the centuries. Time.

The Triangle

Given the pattern in the formulas:

• A_G might represent “Area of Gate”.
• The dot product indicates some interaction between vectors or scalars.
• The terms a, g, and h are interdependent, possibly denoting geometric or physical properties like area, coordinates, and a scalar related to time or energy influence.

To get a better grip on what the formula means, we can get an excellent summary from researchers of the Serpentine Tower, just south of Drefia.

{book-Suns and Stars I} Suns and Stars, Part I
It stands to reason that the stars and the suns influence the flow of magic. The astral patterns wax and wane like the tides, and it is not possible to perform certain summonings on inappropriate days, to give but one example. The study of astrology is pointing at further influences that go well beyond summoning creatures, though. For instance, the influence of the stars and the suns seems to increase with the power level of the performed incantation or ritual. The more mana is used in a spell the more it is susceptible to extratibian influence. For this reason it seems quite safe to assume that certain powerful rituals are only possible when the stars are correctly aligned. We consequently hope to achieve through close observation and through careful calculation a measure of exactness concerning the right timing of rituals which we did not dare dream of so far. Several magic incantations we have never managed to reproduce until now might actually be achieved once we know the ideal stellar constellations. This would explain why all our previous attempts to achieve these effects were doomed to fail.

Does the magic web wax and wane twice a day, corresponding to night and day?

It likely does, as we rotate around the sun(s), and our Tibian globe spins, causing the stars to appear as if they are rotating from our perspective.
With A_G \cdot h we could calculate stellar constellations and how they shift ‘over the centuries’ (among others), possibly influencing the magic web. Currently in Tibia, it feels like we are moving towards a dark age happening every millenia.

Well, A_G \cdot h is very versatile and general, and can be used in a lot of ways.

The armillary sphere is a model of the celestial sphere, depicting the positions of stars and planets, and is used to track the movements of these celestial bodies.

By imagining more lines and celestial bodies on this sphere, it could represent the magic web at any given time, or be able to calculate when the stars are manipulating the magic which is flowing through the web in certain ways, when it’s optimal for whatever you’re trying to accomplish.

The red lines of the magic web seem to shift over time, with their energy levels fluctuating, pulsating, greatly influenced by night and day. At certain times, the gates may be more accessible as the red lines and stars align perfectly, powering the magic web.

While most depictions of the magic web are static, showing gates in fixed locations and red lines connecting them, these could be snapshots taken at specific moments when the red lines are at their peak energy levels, making the gates most accessible.

Player: (The Curse Spreads - Grimvale)
Milos: In addition, take this ancient inscription. It is a map of some of the known Tibian ley lines. Perhaps it can be of use for you. …

We can piece together that the ley lines are the red lines of the magic web, connecting the gates.

Player: (The Curse Spreads - Grimvale)
Milos: You could call them ancient, straight ‘paths’ in the landscape which have spiritual and arcane significance. This means, on a ley line, spells could be enhanced or weakened, potions or artefacts might work differently than expected. …

Player: ley
Milos: Most Tibian cultures have some knowledge about those straight lines that run across the landscape, connecting both, natural and sacred sites. Some also call them ‘fairy paths’ or ‘spirit lines’. …
Milos: As far as I know, in Zao they are called ‘dragon lines’. Markers connecting the ley lines can be mounds, cairns, standing stones, stone circles, ponds, wells, shrines, temples or cross-roads.

See all those markings on the map below? The small ‘x’ markers, those are Dark Stone Piles on ley lines. Though there are more not visible on this map!

It is also possible that there are more gates than we currently know, with the red lines constantly moving, possibly connecting different gates at different times.

From a book in Secret Library:

{book-The 49 Forbidden Gates} The 49 Forbidden Gates

Moreover, the red lines might not just be lines but rather a three-dimensional web. These red lines, or ley lines, converge at the gates. Where two ley lines intersect, their combined energy could make the place more accessible, and be called a gate.

We can see from the depiction of the magic web with its red lines and golden gates, the red lines are quite chaotic, not following a straight path. This could be due to the influence of the stars and the suns, causing the red lines to shift and change over time. There might always be some energy connecting the gates, i.e. the straight lines, but the energy levels seem to fluctuate, making the gates more or less accessible at different times.

This explains why the giant celestial body (a.k.a. The Moon) causes were- transformations once a month, as the moon is a celestial body, and the magic web is influenced by alignment of celestial bodies, the stars and the suns.

Old depictions of the web might not be entirely accurate anymore, as in, this lore was created around 2000 or even earlier. The map is from 1999.

I found some modern depictions of it, which includes concepts such as ‘elemental spheres’, where there can be different kinds of magic flowing through the web, and it may not be just red lines, it could be different colors, representing different types of magic. Those of earth and Crunor could be seeing emerald green, dragon dreams are supposedly golden. The Fae end up in this fairy place, while the nightmare knights situated on top of some really bad magic saw only red and demonic and undead onslaught, like trying to have a sweet dreams while sleeping in The Queen of the Banshees bed in the cursed ghostlands.

I managed to snag this gif from ‘the void’, when killing The Unarmored Voidborn of the Orc’s cult.

Clearly showing different colors, and a pulsate.

And as we hinted, at some of these pulses, the gates are more accessible, as if a door is opened, ley lines creating a new connection, or teleportation pathway to a new destination.

{book-Suns and Stars II} Suns and Stars, Part II
Very basic rituals depend on the influences of dawn and dusk, or of night and day. Other, more complex rituals may only be performed at very specific times, perhaps even at a specific hour. Other rituals that are more complex still are bound to specific days, and to specific times as well. In fact, some individual spells can only be performed once a year or once every other year, while the most powerful of rituals may only be carried out during stellar constellations that are so incredibly rare that centuries may pass before the ritual can be performed again. Given the power and knowledge of the ancients it seems reasonable to assume that they have prepared rituals whose time has not even come to this very day. Since most of the ancient races have disappeared from the lands it is well possible that some of the rituals are still be buried in some long forgotten ruin, while others might actually be in the possession of some surviving heir of one of the ancient races.
Who knows. The astrological knowledge of the ancients is yet to be rediscovered. We are perfectly positive that some of the discoveries we have made can be considered as the groundwork for further, more elaborate theories which one day might rival that of the ancients. Still, it would be an immense progress if we could rediscover some of the ancients’ lost astrological writings.

With Demona, I think we rediscovered some of the ancient’s lost astrological writings.

To summarize,
Since h and other variables are so heavily intertwined with each other, we cannot really get a true single definition, but I’d say we have found enough to be able to draw stellar, close enough conclusions on it being astral calculations involving energy or time and how it could be used.

With this in mind, I think that it represents the coordinates for the area of a gate in the magic web, with a scalar related to time and some energy influencing the ley lines’ energy, position, or pulse at specific times. (Throwback to that armillary sphere and grandfather clock!) If we think about the armillary sphere, the red lines of the magic web seem to move around, shift with time, power levels dictated by time of day. And at certain points in time, the gates might be more accessible as the red lines and stars literally align.

Gate to gate teleportation via a path, a path of the stars.
I wonder if Frozen Starlight and Ring of the Skies circumvents this somehow.

And I can’t shake the feeling that A_G \cdot h is the honeminas formula in disguise.

a g[3,2]from honeminas formula is already quite close: (a g, A_G), and there is a dot product (\cdot) involved, i.e. + (4,3,1,5,3).(3,4,7,8,4), and a theorized scalar, which would be the value of (4,3,1,5,3).(3,4,7,8,4).

• a g[3,2] + (4,3,1,5,3).(3,4,7,8,4)
• A_G \cdot h

Where h could be honeminas.
Maybe.

{more-Read all formulae}

{book-The_Donina_Formula_I} The Donina formula
Written by Donina
This is a formula based on the honeminas formula.
It should help to understand the pulsate of the red light in the magic web.
ft:=E[3,2,3]*fd(3.2),as->20
io=g[i,u]->2

{book-The Donina Formula II} The Donina formula
Written by Donina
Part 2
ds(%)="[tr3->12\32p-q]"
gh/3u->32=<%sd>

{book-The Tridiag Formula} The tridiag formula
Written by Donazia
This formula bases on the honeminas formula.
It is not completed yet. But here are our results until now:
a=3er*8g->99k
g[a_,l_] :=e*g[1,1]->9g*3a
h:=3pe-34u

{book-The Honeminas Formula} (Note: g stands for gate, g [a_,x_] for the coordinates of the gate in the 2-dimensional-area and e for the strengh of the magic energy that flows into this gate.
For all other formulas look in your collection of formulas)
g[a_,x_] := a g[3,2] + (4,3,1,5,3).(3,4,7,8,4)
e=3m*2g->3p

{/more-Read all formulae}

The Dianscher Triangle

Let’s try to plot the Dianscher coordinates. At first glance, they suggest that they plot to three points respectively.

p3, q9, 0o and p3, 23, 0t.

I spent hours to figure out how to apply this system and how it could make sense with a LOT of reverse-engineering.

Until it FINALLY sorta made sense!

And the pants-shitting part is…

Coordinates for the area around Dianscher!

Okay… But.. But…

This seems forced, doesn’t it?  

The origin (0, 0) starts at top left instead of bottom left, and isn’t that X on the map just a compass?  

With (p3, q9, 0o), then just the first two (p3, q9) could be seen as vectors or points.

As both sets have a third ‘coordinate’, or, component, and this component begins with a number instead of a character, it could be that it’s a scalar related to possibly even this h factor.

In the third formula @ Drefia, we saw a column vector with two components, so chances are we only need to use the first two.

If we use our results from just the first two components (p3, q9) & (p3, 23), we actually create three points, as p3 is duplicated, we get a triangle.

The Triangle of Terror Insanity.

And it’s a much tighter triangle.

And by the way, this is probably what they do in the Triangle Tower!

The Other Arguments

Lately, something was implemented, called the ‘ley triangulator’.

When Knightmare celebrated his 20th anniversary as a content creator, we got a quest named ‘20 Years a Cook’. Keep in mind that he has been architecting the lore and most of what we have covered with Ankrahmun, Zao and Demona, even 469.

In it, we are supposed to use the ley triangulator to get three coordinates in Ankrahmun, but we only have 5 minutes to do it. Time is of the essence.

We use these coordinates to teleport(!!!) into the Serpentine Tower’s secret basement, I guess it too could be a gate, or a hub?

This is exactly like what Mathemicus was talking about in the book of Coordinates for the area around Dianscher, the need to open the destination gates, teleportation via triangulation.

The Other Map

Cip actually made another huge hint to this map, during Krailos quest, we get this very same map, very same sprite, from an ‘Ankrahmunian’ looking sarcophagus in Fafnars ancient temples.

We show it to the Explorer Society guy Larek in the Ogre village.

Player: quest
Larek: Have you found the secret room in the ruins? Was there something of interest inside?
Player: yes
Larek: What an ancient map! It must be hundreds of years old. Let me see, please. This is a map of Krailos and the surrouding ocean. Oh, that’s incredible! They charted many nowadays completely unknown sea routes on this map!

Larek claims it’s a map of Krailos, let’s try it!

If we flip it, it kinda fits. Not great, not terrible.
Larek did mention though that it must be hundreds of years old, and we did find it in an ancient Fafnarian temple.

It’s not out of the question that the waterlevel has changed some during the centuries, and by the look of the ruins, the map might be many centuries old.

What more can we find, what’s on the X? Is it just a compass, denoting north, south, east & west, or does X mark the spot?  

There’s another, hidden piece of information in Krailos.
Some days, an unannounced ‘mini world-change’ occurs, and there is a ship full of pirates on the northern coast, and they’ve crashed.

Exactly where the X is on the map!

And theres friggin gold here! Too much of a coincidence, right? Is this map actually related to these pirates? Is this a treasure map?

If we look in the captain’s cabin, we find a book with some cryptic coordinates(!!!), there’s even an astral map next to the book.  

In it, we read:

{book-Pillaging Krailos} Captain Blackteeth’s log, first day of the 345th week of our voyage.
Anchoring some 2° northwest of the 15th latitude of Fafnar. Sea’s a bit rough and the wind’s choppy. Quite a bit of fog in the morning.
Well, old Jack Rumbone’s map seems to be right, there is indeed land here.
…

Now I wondered, could we actually plot this on the map, using the same system as we did earlier, Demona style?

Actually, I think we can. I didn’t know exactly how to tackle this at first, as both ‘northwest’ and ‘15th of Fafnar’ is quite far from the system we used. Until, I thought of the coordinate from Dianscher, p3, 23, where 23 plots as (23, 23).

We did some doubtful reverse-engineering for the Demona map,where we started the axes with numbers and continuing with letters, 1,2,3…7,8,9,a,b,c… we could try to do the same here.

1,2,3...7,8,9, A, B, C, D, E, -> F <-, G, H, I...
               10 11 12 13 14 -> 15 <- 16 17 18...

Wow!
Fafnar, the 15th item in our system.

Now it’s quite clear how to plot it, (15, 15) and then 2 steps northwest!
Let’s try:

And it sorta seems like it works!
We land to the right of the mountains separating the ogre-filled Krailos and the minotaur-riddled Oramond.

Hmmm.. Well, it doesn’t look great at first glance. But hey, at least it lands in the water.

But the more I think about it, the place they anchored is pretty much the only safe place to anchor, away from ogres, minotaurs, and nasty waves.
It can’t be near the coast, we find no ships there, and we cannot see any pirate ships from the land.

Which actually rules out almost all of the Krailos area - but we cannot rule out where 2 degrees northwest of Fafnar lands. Sometimes there’s another raid on the east coast, Pirats, which would also support the anchor point, that area could be a common place to anchor.

I guess you’ve seen the captain of Port Hope offer a cheap, dangerous shortcut to Yalahar, likely going south through the harsh winds of the north, a.k.a. Chyll.

I think they came from the bar in Port Hope, and likely went through a pirate infested area - there’s friends in Yalahar, Tyrsung and the Barbarian Settlments on this route. Since they just arrived, likely from the east, we might be able to rule out the western side of Krailos.

But what more can we find?

There’s something else underground, on the 15th latitude.

It’s actually Fafnar herself!

Hot diggity dam. Doubtness starts to fade.

There’s something else.

What’s at the anchor point of the map? The part where it looks like a lot of red lines are converging?

It goes underground, to the Sunken City, the place of the fire-feathered serpent, where we see more snakes and remnants of Zathroths work.
And oh my god.

A time COMPASS(!!!) that we can use to teleport!  

Island Dianscher

Think about it, Cip actually made a whole island in 2015 to fit with this map created 1999, so I wonder, where is Island Dianscher?  

Me and Sopel spent a long time trying to see where this map could fit to the Main continent, at a time before Cip introduced Krailos, From a time when Tibia was a single continent, back in 1999. Really goes to show how old ‘469’ is.

We found that there’s only one possible place to put it. In Krailos, we ‘anchored’ the converging lines to the time compass in Sunken City, but on the main continent, we instead anchor it on the The Trolls’ Cave dream machine.

And the X lands in an awkward spot, in the Venore swamps. Not an Island at all.   Let’s go there and investigate!

If we get a good bird’s eye view, and remove some bridges…

You gotta be kidding me.

An island, IN THE SWAMP(?!?)

That’s insane!

When visiting Island dianscher, we find our beloved trolls!  

The rooms that were sealed with crates and boxes looks unlike anything else in the cave, it looks more towards what we find in Thais Trolls’ Cave.

The straight line between Thais’ dream machine and the ‘masters’ bed is uncanny. Everything just fits.

There’s even an earthern ‘elemental sphere’ here, which we can teleport to with emeralds. Were they good druids, or priests at this point in time?

And I think, that the Serpentine Tower is a converging anchor as well, and funny thing is, we got sneks here.

Simply amazing, bravo Cip.

Some other Gates

(WIP)

Here are a few of many magic web lines and gates when putting the cardinal center on the Mad Mages’ tower, the guy who created 469.

You can try yourself here on a Cyclopedia map, but to properly switch between other floors you have to press P to get default map.

Based on previous research

{/more-9: Island Dianscher-1}

{more-10: Create a Magic Web-1}

P.S.: This part could be difficult to digest and has confusing revelations if you haven’t read all parts of the series.
It’s going to be a bit more ‘book heavy’ than the previous parts, but I hope you’ll enjoy it, the books are very revealing now with our current knowledge.
I’ll revisit this and try to get a better flow of writing, but I wanted to get it out there. Let’s begin.

From Grimvale quest, we learn some gates seem to be source, as in emitter, and others are termination points, start and end. This might suggest that the magic web was, in fact, created by “the gods”, same thing the honeminas formula is trying to figure out.

Milos singles out and specifically mentions that they are named ‘dragon lines’ in Zao, clearly leading us on to check Zao for further clues, which is great as we talked so much about them in previous chapters, here we find some truly interesting hints.

After handing in the 12th and final Tome of Knowledge to Cael, he tells us something.

Player: thrones
Cael: … From what I can tell, the lizards are bound to those dragon kings by some kind of magic. I’m not sure what this magic does, but I guess it ensures their loyalty to some extent. …
Cael: On an interesting side note - there were some hints in the tome that the dragon kings themselves are somehow bound to the dragon emperor through the same kind of magic. …
Cael: It seems this kind of liege system was formed sometime after the arrival of the dragons in this land. It’s definitely an interesting field of research and shows us how much we still have to learn and to discover. …

So after the arrival of the dragons, they created a ‘liege’ system, which Ezean tells us a bit more about:

Player: movement
Ezean: Zere are only a few of uz who can rezizt zat pull in our mindz. Our people are bound to ze dragon kingz in zome magic way I don’t underztand. …
Ezean: Zoze few of uz, born wizout zat connection are uzually killed az zoon az zey are dizcovered. Zome of uz zough, zeem to develop a reziztance to zat prezenze in our mindz. …
Ezean: It iz hard for zose who don’t feel ze conztant urge to zerve ze dragon kingz to zurvive in our zoziety let alone to find each ozer. …
Ezean: Ze great znake haz gifted Zalamon with ze ‘zight’. He can zee who iz not captured in ze web of ze dragon kingz zat zpanz ze land. Ziz iz how he found uz. …

Holy moly, the magic web of the dragon kings that spans the land, and Zalamon was seemingly born with the ‘sight’ to see who is not captured in it.

Player: sight
Ezean: I don’t underztand ze zpecificz but it zeemz Zalamon zeez an invizible band zat connectz mozt of ze lizard people to one of ze dragon kingz. …
Ezean: And if I underztood it right ze dragon kingz zemzelvez are connected zrough zuch a bond to zomezing in ze imperial palaze, probably ze dragon emperor itzelf. Everyone bound zat way feelz ze urge to pleaze and obey ze dragon kingz. …

The dragon kings are connected to the dragon emperor, and the lizard people are connected to the dragon kings, through a web.

Remember our serpent god, it seems as if IT’s using the web in a reverse way, to spread corruption.

Player: snake god
Awareness of the Emperor: I don’t know what it is or was. But I heard that this thing tried to become a god in the past and was trapped in a state ‘in between’. …
Awareness of the Emperor: Its current plan seems to be to use my crystal matrix which I use to amplify my control over the dragon kings in a reverse way to steal the vital force of the dragons, those bound to them, and even from the land itself.

It could be using other webs as well, as it seemingly took over the dragon emperors web with ease, cooorrrrrruption all over Tibia.

Here we see more of the flow of the magic web, as mentioned by the people over at Liberty Bay (which is very close by our whole Zao / Darama drama), we see how it could be altered, like that ley line going through Grimvale.

Player: secret / magic currents
Malunga: Magic is not available everywhere at the same strength and intensity. There are areas that are dry like a desert, magically spoken, others are rich of magic. At some places magic flows as strong as if there were springs of magic …
Malunga: At those places the savants build magical centres of great importance. My researches have shown that the chaotic currents of magic must have been more structured once and much stronger than today …
Malunga: With the right knowledge the civilisation of the past could have worked literally marvellous with those energies …
Malunga: Even today some use the now chaotic currents of magic to further their evil ends … but … that’s nothing I am supposed to talk about.

They built towers and stuff on the ‘gates’, and the magic web was much stronger and structured in the past. Now it’s chaotic and in disarray, and some use it for evil ends.

How was it created?

There is something, a quite large concept of a celestial gang opening gates and teleporting all over Tibia, and being transformed into various creatures and things.

{book-The Network of the Shapers} The network of the Shapers was a marvel of magical science. It is certain though that it was completely useless to anyone lacking the magic senses the Astral Shapers possessed. This network seems to have been some kind of communication device and knowledge storage. Almost like a library, the Shapers had access to it as long as they were close enough to certain transmitting towers. At the height of the Shapers’ power those towers must have dotted the whole world. The Shapers became not only highly dependent on this network but also highly addicted to it. Even more, most of their communication was handled via this network. When it was destroyed, the single Shaper was overwhelmed by loneliness and lack of information. Moreover, they had lost the ability to teach younger generations without using their network. It was reported that some Shapers that found refuge by other non-hostile races became passive and depressed, sometimes they even refused to drink or to eat. This explains the swift vanishing of the race. When something that had been an integral part of their culture all of a sudden no longer existed, they were unable to cope with the changed circumstances.

They seemingly sensed the network, were they also ‘gifted’ with the sight?

With everything we’ve uncovered, can understand almost everything about these books.

{book-The Fall of the Astral Shapers I} The Fall of the Astral Shapers by Teruvax Tristem - Part 1
Nowadays the beings commonly known as the Astral Shapers have largely been forgotten. Back in the days, however, they were one of the most important races of the God Wars. Favoured by Uman and Zathroth alike, they were blessed with a unique kind of vision that enabled them to see magical structures and flows. Their speech was a mixture of verbal communication and magical emanations. Their true name was a mixture of barely pronounceable syllables and magical symbols. For this reason, the other races of that time referred to them as Astral Shapers or just Shapers.
…
In their earliest days the Astral Shapers were relatively insignificant. Some of them were enslaved or hired as advisors for all kind of magical matters. The creation of enormous, magical towers in their cities was their first major accomplishment. Those towers somehow connected the minds of all Shapers in a city and enabled them to access some sort of hive mind in which they stored and shared their knowledge.
…
For a while the Shapers prospered. However, their special status and the constant flattering of the other races that wanted their favours turned the Shapers vain and greedy. Seeing themselves as higher beings, they increasingly relied on slaves for the more mundane tasks. Often the Shapers were paid in slaves for their services. These unfortunate slaves served under their uncaring masters until they died.

Those syllables and symbols must’ve been draconic glyphs. Were they the elves?
Celestial Paladins?
Or even the long lost empire of the Bonelords that spanned the entire world?

{book-The Fall of the Astral Shapers II} The Fall of the Astral Shapers by Teruvax Tristem - Part 2
The Astral Shapers relied more and more on their slaves’ workforce as well as on their knowledge network. This situation worked well for them for a while. But then a new powerful warlord arose. The wars were often a back and forth like the tides of the sea[Comment: moon alignments]. This was the way things were and the races had grown accustomed to it. This new warlord, however, was tired of that game. He decided to eliminate the one advantage that turned the tides of battle once and for all. Instead of fearing to lose the support of the Shapers by fighting them, he speculated on bolstering his own strength if he managed to steal the Shapers’ powers somehow.
…
Soon the Shapers’ cities were razed to the ground by a tidal wave of armies. In a last-ditch effort some of the Shapers used their quickly dwindling knowledge to forge themselves into living weapons. This, however, only led to more severe retaliation against the Shaper populace. Within less than a decade the cities of the Shapers lay in ruins. Their people were enslaved and deported into remote realms.
…

{book-The Fall of the Astral Shapers III}
The Fall of the Astral Shapers by Teruvax Tristem - Part 3
…
Even worse, the Astral Shapers had been so accustomed to access the network that they found themselves unable to handle the knowledge of their ancestors. Access to recourses necessary to operate their complicated artefacts had been lost as well. [Comment: astral forges?) Often lacking important skills needed for day-to-day survival, the whole race seemed doomed. Many hideouts became death traps that turned into tombs for those who had hoped to find salvation there. Only a very small number of these colonies managed to survive for a significant amount of time. The harsh environment of the hideouts took a heavy toll on the survivors and slowly moulded them into new beings who only remotely resembled the noble figures of their ancestors. [Comment: Trolls? Bonelords?]

Here I think that Teruvax Tristem got some things wrong.

{book-The Fall of the Astral Shapers Critique}
The Fall of the Astral Shapers - A Comment
Again Tristem delivers us a half-baked compilation of half-truths. Just as with his former works, he omits sources for most facts. This means the reader can only rely on his words. Even worse, obvious speculations are presented hand in hand with the few verified historical facts without any distinction.

I actually think that these could’ve been the guys living in Roshamuul, with bonelords, where the end of The Corpse Wars happened and the genesis ended.

I think he is mixing up several different races, attributed to the same things.
It’s as he’s talking about some of the elves, some of the celestial paladins, and some of the bonelords, some of humans with the help of bonelords.

The shapers could be The Dreamers. The book series on the events that happened in Roshamuul is bone-chilling and goosebump-inducing. I highly recommend reading them all, link here.

{book-The Dreamers I} First of all, the name of my people is nothing meant for vocal chords. It is a thought pattern, half a dream and untranslatable into any tongue.
As is the language we use with our own people. It was a hard thing to learn to communicate with others. It is somewhat disgusting , having to rely on grunting and gasping to communicate with our allies. The latter gave us many names, rarely though to flatter us. Dreamstealers, dreamvampires, dreamshapers and so many, many more that I’ve forgotten them. Most of the times I preferred to refer to us simply as the dreamers.

Dreams and astral stuff were the same, as we have seen, and I guess they didn’t flatter Blinky:

Player: name
A Wrinkled Bonelord: I’m 486486 and NOT ‘Blinky’ as some people called me … before they died. So don’t … confuse your numbers, as my kind says.

Hehe.

{book-The Dreamers II} … We were no great warriors, but we served in our own ways in the god wars. In the service of the gods, we helped those allied to Zathroth. We were spies, messengers, advisors; and we manufactured weapons of war in our own, special way.
…
All the great achievements of our race were initiated by others. …
Early on, my people developed a mastery of dream, unparalleled before. We shaped dreams, and dragged them into reality. We constructed dreams, with the only purpose to use them as facilities to forge other dreams in them. The concept has become so natural and trivial to me that it is hard to explain. It is like explaining colours to a blind man.

But where does bonelords come into the picture?

Player: land / continent
Ztiss: Ziz land iz ze home of our people. We call it Zao, after ze firzt great leader of our people! Zao ruled for many hundred yearz. …
Ztiss: He united ze tribez under hiz rule. He tamed ze firzt animalz and taught hiz people to zeed and harvezt. …
Ztiss: He ztole ze zecret of zteel from ze evil lordz of ze deep and flooded zeir cavez to drown zem. …
Ztiss: He fought ze many-eyed horrorz and enzlaved zem. When zey finally rebelled, Zao had learnt enough of zeir magic to crush zem. …
Ztiss: He led hiz armiez to conquer ze whole continent. After many centuriez, he choze ze mozt worzy of hiz offzpring in a battle on ze Izle of Ztrife az hiz zuccezzor. …
Ztiss: Zen he azcended to ze zky to watch over hiz people from the cloudz for all eternity.

The many-eyed horrorz, is another name for the bonelords.
How Zathroth found them.

I wonder about the history of the world before that, pre-history.
The neanderthal skull of the Zaoan cavemen does indicate there could’ve been a prehistoric civilization in Zao.

Basically, they built towers all over Tibia, put energy and crystals at the towers, amplified it, used it in a reverse way to steal dreams, harnessed it for themselves, became greedy, became gods, evoking gods wars, and then got destroyed by a warlord.

That warlord with alien knowledge? Most likely Durin.

What about the serpentine tower guys? What timeline are they from?

There are ancients, and there are the ancients of the ancients.

The ancients of the ancients are the ones who came from Zao, the ones who made the magic described in the research papers. Some less ancient ancients are the ones who wrote the research papers.

I hope you enjoyed reading.
Thank you!

{/more-10: Create a Magic Web-1}

{more-Food for thought-1}

Food for Thought

• Opticording sphere: Opti could be optical, and cording is to put string around something, a sphere, strings of the magic web? Or is it an optical coordinating sphere?
  

• Let’s say Dreadeye has a conversation with Blinky: Dreadeye stands at the coordinate p3, then that’s 00 for Dreadeye.
  Blinky stands at q9, then that’s 00 for Blinky The coordinates for them are different relative to each other, and as such, it always changes for Dreadeye and Boney whenever they move.

Player: bonelord
A Wrinkled Bonelord: In our language the name of our race is not fixed but a complex formula, and as such it always changes for the subjective viewer.

• Is this a coordinating machine? We find it in underground boats with no windows. They are in a lot of different places. The NPC ‘Eighty’ @ Gray Beach is interesting, as it’s a number. 4 eyes and a wheel that looks like a cardinal system, like on the bonelord shield or a compass.
  

• What if we could teleport from the Island Dianscher bed into the room of that dream machine in The Trolls’ Cave? Or somehow use the magic web to teleport into a completely new area.

• Don’t we get a bed from the Opticording Sphere quest?

• Can you find the two golden points on the map of Fields of Glory we found in Demona?

{/more-Food for thought-1}