Speculations on the Ark and the Tentacomet (SPOILERS)

Hello.

Recently I have had huge interest in the Starbound lore (I am writing a novel about it so it's good to know a lot about it). However, what strikes me, and most others the most is the ark. No one knows its origin, no one know of its power. And then I read up on the Tentacomet.

The Tentacomet is a planned boss for the future. The wiki says it might be linked to the creature that ate Tellus, though nobody knows for sure. It also states that the player might encounter this boss after going through a black hole.
Now, I don't think this is true.
Firstly, we don't know anything about the ark, and how (according to the language of the ark) it is the only thing able to control black holes using the six keys of the races.
However, those who inspect the portals a little extra will notice an eight socket in the portal's frame. An alien eye.
Now, we have no clue to what it is. We do however know that the sockets matter (The last socket has been pulled out of the oupost-portal, the amount of sockets probably controls the end portal's location).

If you haven't seen the Tentacomet, check out the wiki. You will then understand why I think it's the last part of the puzzle.

What if, we aren't supposed to travel to the ark itself? Or, if we do, and actually have to open the black hole to fight it (the tentacles and etc. in the ark would strenghten this theory), what would we get?

The Tentacomet's eyes. What if, the player would get two of them as items for completing the boss. And what if, those eyes could be placed in the sockets of the outpost portal to bring you to a whole different world?

We won't know for certain yet but I think we've got some good information. Maybe all we miss is one piece of the jigsaw and we'll understand everything.

 

This thread looks familiar...

The 8th slot is an 8th race that, as far as we know, was killed off.

Yes, we don't know much of anything because Chucklefish has been stingy on the lore on purpose. What it all means will be revealed later on when they decide to start releasing lore updates, but that won't happen till after the mechanics updates.

 

Right now gates do not have 8th race on it (just an empty place), but on this picture we can see eye which looks like tentacle monster's eye.

 

I am aware of that image, but the gateway arch was retconned to have the 8th race removed. Which is the true versions, we don't know. We do know that the 8th slot is not he tenticle monster. IIRC Tiy said it wasnt.

Also this adds to the mysticism:
http://starbounder.org/Ceremonial_Cave_Art

Notice 7 smaller figures with an 8th scratched out. All praying to a larger being.

 

Maybe it has something to do with the Agarans? It's just a thought and I would consider such it highly unlikely since it could just as well be about the penguins or the frog people.
The Floran know about it. This does not surprise me, nor do I consider it strange. Frustrating that they do not offer any details..
Eighth (what a strangely spelled word) race could be scratched out for multiple reasons.. Maybe they 'sinned' against the beings that ascended the other races, much like the Forerunners in Halo did against the Precursors with the whole Mantle business? Or maybe they're extinct? Still, interesting. I hope the developers will further advance the lore soon. It's getting very interesting.

 

The story so far seems to be:

There was a Creator (or a creator race) of some sort making things. (Maybe the ones that gave techonology to avians and built Glitches? Dunno.)

Gate shows 8 (main) races: Avian, Human, Floran, Apex, Glitch, Hylotl, Novakid and Tentacle i dont have a better name. Yes tentacles as a race since there are multiple (Tentacomet boss, Earth-Destroyer-Beast which is not tentacomet which I posted proof for in this thread: http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/ark-explained.102192/#post-2693277 Even the gate carvings depict many tentacle creatures).

The tentacle race decided to fu(think of the kids) sh(THINK OF THE KIDS) up.

Creator was like 'no' and sealed the tentacle race into the black hole/some other dimension universe whatever.

Because the Tentacles were so badbad they were erased from the gates and other places.

Six races (Floran, Human, Apex, Glitch, Hylotl, Avian) are given keys to the gate.

This is currently the best explanation and the simplest one. And simplest answer is usually the best one. Of course Chucklefish can pull off a shamalamadingdong twist...

 

The penguins are a sub species of Avians and the frog people as a sub species of the Hylotl (unless im misaken). So i somehow doubt that they would get their own face on the gate.

No idea about the Agarans. Since we do not realy have that much lore about them even with all the items and the Agaran event (that didnt realy go anywhere).

 

The 8th race is NOT tenticles. IIRC Tiy cleared this up, but alas I have no citation.

Also calling the big being "creator" is no bueno because we don't know who they are. The name "Progenitor" is more fitting till we know more.

 

I gotta dig that Tiy quote up...

And yep Progenitor is better. Weren't they actually called that somewhere? It sounds so familiar.

I guess you're mistaken. Nothing like that has been said or implied - unless I'm missing another quote from a dev.

 

From the first thread about the ark after it was added, it was used to describe the figure by many because we really don't know who/what they are. If could be one, or a whole race of beings.

 

Somebody might have already beaten me to this theory, but what if rather than a "history" of sorts, the Ark holograms are a set of instructions? Something
along the lines of "In case of evil tentacle monster, activate Super Ark Mecha Swirly Nipple Deity Thing and punch evil monster in face."

 

Maybe both. We know the tenticle monster destroyed earth. What its up to now is unknown.

 

agarans are mutant florans?

 

Probably eating up our precious metals.

Or worse, pulling a Straumli Blight.
It would be neat if the tentacles had a more hidden purpose in their destruction of planets. I wonder if they propagate and spread sorta like the Zerg or if they just enslave the population. I think SoopaDerpcat has a really interesting view on the whole thing. On the other hand, what if the tentacles somehow got out and the gate and all that was their prison. It'd be sorta like Erebos where the Titans in Greece mythology were put IIRC. Only slightly backwards because we'd probably have to put it back in the prison.

It'd be really neat if the tentacles were an intelligent and borderline if not outright psychopathic entity/species that'd try to convince you that really, it's not doing much or any harm. We know from the lore that the Progenitors/Ancients uplifted species but we have no clue as to where they went and it reminds me a bit of the Halo arrays. What if the prison was fired up and both the Ancients and their enemies got trapped inside the black hole that the player will visit? It'd be neat to have a choice to either destroy everything inside or choose a side between Ancients/Cthulu planet devourers. One consequence could be that a lot of planets suddenly have tentacle biomes. Or what if we tamper with it and accidentally open Pandora's Box and have to fix it?

I dunno though. I hope the developers solve this in a clever and not entirely bog standard way. So far (and I mean no ill will with this) the lore is not that unique. It's the bits that fill up the middle (character observations, logs and race relations) and on top of that everything else that goes into the crockpot of lore that makes this stew so interesting.

 

In truth... Starbound IS the Ark... a special reality built to preserve the conciousness of the individuals who were fortunate, OR unfortunate enought to be selected and put into this vast universe, using their memories to replicate world after world, being and monster as well. In a never ending voyage thruought their own ideas and fears, building the worlds they set foot on as they go. The codexes, villages and villains all written, made and moved by the Ark itself so as to promote the continuity of the project, but something went wrong, the Ark got infected and the reality on which it was to build eternally has been beset on by a monstruous infection represented solely by the image of nothing but a Moon, an entity that grows its infection in the form of tentacles, and eyes to forever see what lies ahead...

This isnt serious tho, just a couple ideas I built on by exploring

 

The Ark is the dimensional rift leading to the dimension of the Tentacomets or possibly Ancients, I suggest.

 

What if the tentacle beast is the good guy, defeated by the evil Progenitor who then rewrote history? And at some point it died but left cryptic clues on how to restore him. The tentacle beast is actually destroying to prevent the spread of corruption through the universe. Thinking it evil, we try to open the gate which will eventually release the much worse progenitor!