Nephilim background

[Fireball Fodder]

 

So, in Fort Exile, if you ask Janice about Nephilim, you get this reply: 

 

Quote

Ah. The doom of all of us, if the sliths don't get us first. Lots of them have been sent down here, along with the humans. Many migrate to lower caverns, but many more stay here, determined to take our land. A large tribe of them lives to the north. They don't arrive at Fort Exile, by the way. They teleport in somewhere else.

 

Now, I remember this intrigued me back in the day, but I guess it is never revealed where exactly the Nephilim arrived in Exile, right?

Also notice the mention of "lower caverns".

[Ess-Eschas]

Hello Fireball Fodder,

 

You’re correct, but with a slight caveat!

 

In the Exile series, the location to which the nephilim teleport is never explicitly stated. The player can make several assumptions about where this might be, but there is no concrete evidence in the game itself.

 

Personally, I’m of the opinion that the player never comes across the location. We know that, with the exception of one point in the caves, the Empire can only teleport into Exile using a pair of portals – one portal on the surface, and one in Exile. The portal in Fort Exile  is interesting both because it is extremely powerful, but also because it prevents people in Exile from entering it. The player never comes across another portal even remotely like this, and given the power requirements it would probably be hard to hide away – powerful portals in Exile are described as casting unpleasant auras, after all. To my mind, it’s probably in a set of caves that the party never discovers.

 

Since I mentioned it, the special teleportation point used by the Empire seems an unlikely option. This route is the one used by Empire spies and raiding parties, and it doesn't seem logical for them to teleport the nephilim there – after all, the nephilim would be decidedly hostile to the Empire, and I don't imagine they'd want such a hostile force clustered around their secret entryway!

 

You made mention of the lower caves. Note that the idea of the lower caves appears every now and again in the Exile series. The ancient empire of the sliths heralds from these caves, as indeed do the vahnatai. Furthermore, the darkling sliths mentioned in the Za-Khazi Run also emerged from these lower caves. And, of course, the Za-Khazi Run also has the party travel far, far deeper into the caves than any other work Spiderweb wrote!

 

It’s possible that the nephilim are teleported into a series of lower caves. After all, there are passages from these caves into the nation of Exile that have not yet been discovered (again, see the Za-Khazi run, amongst others).

 

I could stop there, but this highlights an interesting recent change. As of the most recent remake of Exile, the 2011 Avernum: Escape from the Pit, this point of lore was slightly changed. Now, if you ask Janice the same question, she says:

 

“They don't usually arrive at Fort Avernum, by the way. They tend to appear to the north.”

 

So, not only do nephilim now occasionally appear through the portal we’re familiar with, but this ties down the location a little more. As shown in the games themselves, large groups of nephilim are clustered in the lands to the southwest of Formello, and in the northeastern parts of the Eastern Gallery.

 

Maybe this gives an indication as to where this mysterious second portal might be?