Will the solarium GOOD ending ever be cleared?

[Silvercloud29]

The Yellow Sign became associated/was associated with Hastur and the King in Yellow essentially became another part of the Lovecraft/Cthulhu Mythos. If I recall there's already some Cthulhu mythos shenanigans with the solarium. Recalling from memory though, if you read the book, you will begin seeing the King in Yellow...but he doesn't have his mask if I recall. What of his "Pallid Mask". I should attend these Solarium things more often. I don't have enough information to work with to narrow things down well.

A pallid mask could just be a fancy metaphor for a pale face. Possibly an unusually stoic face.

From the short story in the book called 'The Mask'

Camilla: You, sir, should unmask.
Stranger: Indeed?
Cassilda: Indeed it's time. We have all laid aside disguise but you.
Stranger: I wear no mask.
Camilla: (Terrified, aside to Cassilda.) No mask? No mask!

I believe it is mentioned somewhere that the king is the stranger. I also have had the king in yellow follow me before. After I put on the ancient armor. I managed to take it off by going into horror form. However I did start to see him before that, right when we started to shift the cave walls. He doesn't follow you though unless you put the armor on.

[Dabir]

He starts following you if you read the book.

[Silvercloud29]

He starts following you if you read the book.

Thats weird... It's been a good while since I done that round but I was pretty sure I never read the book. The person I was traveling with did. All I did was put on the armor

[atomic1fire]

Isn't the king in yellow supposed to be fatal.

[BaneOfGiygas]

No, the Yellow King just some freaky thing that happens to freak you out. No actual harm.

[BaneOfGiygas]

What follows is a thesis I made on the nature of the Solarium in the context of the in game universe. This isn't really any solid evidence towards any specific course of action, but it puts together some pieces, highlights the importance of a few particular aspects of the event, and reveals just what the hell all of this stuff even IS.

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The pieces of the gigantic puzzle that is Solarium are, seemingly, disparate and wildly varied in their distribution and scope. There seems to be little cohesiveness to the adventure as a whole...until you realize that the creatures known as “The Darkness” speak in a tongue identified as ancient Sumerian. When one translates these sayings, pieces start to connect together and the bigger picture starts becoming revealed.

The Darkness, who refer to themselves as the Yellow Elders, are members of a cult dating at least back to the original days of human civilization, seeing as they're speaking ancient Sumerian, focused around ascending to a state of enlightenment, becoming the creatures we know as the Darkness in the process. The Elders themselves describe the process as “slipping and opening their eyes”, going so far as to say that normal humans don’t exist. They follow a king, or “Minister”, that is most likely the King in Yellow, and various proper nouns come to attention when observing their terminologies: The Butcher, the Metal, and the Copper Servant.

The Copper Servant, the description of which bearing a heavy resemblance to the automaton found in Solarium, is apparently associated with knowledge, and is the centerpiece of an ancient rite that will “bring light”. This “light” is presumably the fire and destruction brought by Sol upon triggering the disaster. In addition to this, the Copper Servant is commanded by the Elders to watch or guard the Butcher.

The identity of the Butcher is vague, as is that of the Metal, but one key phrase hints towards the nature of the two: “hul-ál. lúír-lá-ene ina im-dugud-ene. n-ene. e-zé.” The preposition “ina” is vague and can mean a number of things depending on the context, but in any case, the Metal is the source of the Butcher, and the Elders seem to blame Space Station 13 for it. “ene” is a suffix used to denote high status, which suggests that the Metal refers to NanoTrasen as an organization, or perhaps Space Station 13 specifically.

As to the identity of the Butcher, the likely source of destruction is Sol itself. After all, Sol is the source of the solar flares, radiation storms, and fire that are the result of the Solarium’s activation, and its nature is definitely very curious. This hypothesis is strengthened by the fact that the Solarium seems to be luxuriously outfitted and contains various machines. Perhaps NanoTrasen sought to harness the energy of Sol for their megalomaniacal purposes...and it’s not too large of a stretch to say that Sol could very well be the source of plasma, the enigmatic and incredibly powerful material that NanoTrasen has great interest in. Examination of the Solarium shows that the only damage done is to the computers and machines, and the presence of a note written in more ancient Sumerian is evidence that the Elders staged an attack on the vessel in an attempt to stop the potential activation of Sol. As to the Copper Servant, the automaton spends most of its time watching Sol, and it requiring a number of keys to activate suggests that it is guarding against its activation, as well.

The Darkness makes repeated mention of a Gate. They use the ancient Sumerian word “ganzer” to describe it, which is usually a proper noun meant to refer to the gateway to the netherworld, in addition to being used as a synonym for darkness. When one considers the location of the Darkness, a large and sealed-off pit that is unfathomably dark and otherworldy in nature, this suggests that the location I've semi-jokingly referred to as the “hellpit” could very well be, truly, a pit to hell. The fact that the Darkness is hostile towards any intruders, not to mention the presence of the onyx key, both lead to the conclusion that the Elders, in their attempts to prevent Sol from being unleashed, hid one of its keys in the netherworld itself.

The Elders also seem to be responsible for the widespread dispersal of the keys to Sol, and they did a damn good job of it. However, there’s one curiosity that catches the eye: In the caverns of biodome, guarded by mythical runes and Skinners, the latter of which possibly being manifestations of the King himself, is the ancient armor. This seems out of place, but translation of one particular saying by the Darkness shows that they specifically ordered for the burial of a secret, calling it “the armor”. The ancient armor, then, has clear significance to the Elders, as does the obsidian crown by way of association.

There’s one more piece of evidence, the exact implications of which are much less clear. There's an onyx tombstone in an area of Meat Station can only be unlocked by the onyx key, which is found in the aforementioned hellpit. This unearths a crystal skull. If one considers that, through the biodome caverns, there are the remains of what is most likely Indiana Jones (or an expy thereof), the crystal skull and the Yellow Elders suddenly become connected. The story of the Crystal Skull states that the Skull belonged to a society of psychically powerful aliens that watched over humanity’s cultures and civilizations since the beginning. Multiple details don’t quite match up, but there is reason to believe that the civilization of the Elders is, in essence, the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The play titled after the king of the Yellow Elders notable mentions a “pallid mask”, and while this is pure guessing, this could refer to one of two things: The crystal skull itself, being a monochromatic visage of a human, or perhaps the paleness given to those who tap into the hidden power of the ancient armor and obsidian crown. In any case, however, this evidence illuminates the purpose and function of the Solarium, the Automaton, and the nature of Sol, in addition to providing reason to believe that some particular artifacts not directly relating to Solarium itself might have significance in the grand scope of things.

[Ali0en]

I went over the king in yellow a while back

Just gonna say nothing is real and the answer is actually obvious. Read the latest changelog entry by Marquesas and READ INTO THE WORDS.

[Readster]

The great and eternal Zoldorf has beheld your destiny!

You shall soon summon the unlit horde... but take heed, for the pallid sun might exalt you! Remember to kill the quaint keys and you will surely betray your apocalyptic omens.

[APARTHEID]

[Abinmorth]

One of the tombstones in Biodome states SHA NAQBA IMURU. This is a reference to the epic of gilgamesh, in which the hero gilgamesh goes on a quest to find immortality. In the telescience areas there are different ways that promise immortality, but none of them grant "true" immortality.
(true immortality := both your body and your soul are immortal)

- Biodome: This area has two paths. One of the paths will lead you to the ancient armour. Wearing this armour together with the obsidian crown will make your body immortal. But your soul is still mortal and after your death the body will be claimed by the demons living inside the armor and the crown.
The second path will lead you to the philosophers stone. The stone is rumoured to grant eternal life. (but nobody has figured out how to use it in game.)
Another thing you can find in biodome is a beaker of a Strange Reagent that can revive the dead. But this reagent is not really safe to use, theres a chance it will gib bodies and apparently the reagent was also responsible for the Zombie outbreak in biodome.

- Lava Moon: Here you can find the Shield of Souls, another item that grants its wearer immortality. While the Armour and Crown make your body immortal and leave your soul mortal, the shield of souls does the opposite: it will gib your body and respawn a new body each time that you die. Not true immortality, because the old body is destroyed.

- Ice Moon: Outpost Theta was the place for some kind of biological research. We don't really know what the researchers found, but I think they created the wendigos that haunt that place. According to the myth Wendigos are said to be immortal. (in the game not really since you can easily kill them with lasers )
There is also the forerunner ruins which lead to the Ominous Pit which symbolizes the Underworld.

- Solarium: The Automaton is one of the four archetypes of death.
There are four common personifications of Death: The Macabre, The Gentle Comforter, The Gay Deceiver, The Automaton
The Automaton personality of death is that of a robot who does its job without showing any emotions.
Giving it enough keys and killing the server will unleash death and destruction.
One particular key - the solar key - will kill the automaton (kill Death?)
If you give it a certain skull it will recite a quote from Shakespear. In the play Hamlet reflects about his Mortality.
Interesting symbolism there:
We broke in and out of the underworld to steal a key and used that key to rob a skull from a tomb.
When we show this skull to the Automaton/Death he will remind us of our mortality.

[A4Brogan]

One of the tombstones in Biodome states SHA NAQBA IMURU. This is a reference to the epic of gilgamesh, in which the hero gilgamesh goes on a quest to find immortality. -snip-

So, From all that information, I get the feeling that we need not only the keys, but the items as well.

And if we are going on the Automaton being a form of Death, where are the other 3?

Another thing that is bugging me is the possibility that the keys may not be FOR the Automaton, but for something that we are overlooking. If the station is such a pain to these...things... Maybe the keys should do something with the station itself...

Okay, Enough talking out of my ass. I will join in the expeditions and find answers for myself.

[Ali0en]

Well my theory has been that the whole thing, SS13, is a VR sim. You can see VR from mars and this has never been "fixed". The solarium is just the control room and the automaton its guardian. Nanotrasen put the keys in as a debug method to kill the AI's (crewmen) who grow to intelligent.

This still doesn't explain why there's Soviet gear on most telesci areas.

[DyssalC]

Well my theory has been that the whole thing, SS13, is a VR sim. You can see VR from mars and this has never been "fixed". The solarium is just the control room and the automaton its guardian. Nanotrasen put the keys in as a debug method to kill the AI's (crewmen) who grow to intelligent.

This still doesn't explain why there's Soviet gear on most telesci areas.

If you read the logs in a lot of the telesci areas and some of the stuff you find at these places you find out that most telesci locations are Syndicate owned.

And that Discount Dan is quite likely a part of the Syndicate. Or the people who set the telesci areas up were too lazy to make different portrait sprites.

[Twoflower]

my theory is that the darkness built the automaton as a protector against the void, and using the keys on it cause it to stop whatever its doing to keep the void out of the world, which is why the station gets teleported into the void

[pizzatiger]

Question time, If the crown and armor makes your body immortal and the shield makes your soul immortal, what happens if you have both?