Teaser for Poe 2 speculation

Dont know why GGG doesnt post this also in the forums but only on X (a platform many of us left)

A teaser was released:

https://x.com/pathofexile/status/1953644399340269830/photo/1

Recovered from a long buried library in the ruins of Oriath, with a note that reads:

"The symbols are of an unknown language. Deciphering it may be possible, but it will take time... time I no longer have..."

We dont have much to decipher it.

But what I think to know are the last 3 symbols.

They are marked as winter beginning and birth.

In Act 2 we find under Keth a record of a priestess of Halani trying to survive a endless winter. A winter we have heard now from some sources in poe 1 and 2. After this winter I presume a new beginning for the world. Could winter be synonym for Cataclysm?
Also the birth part. Wenn we enter Halanis room she is gutted. Particulary the part where a baby should have been.

When we look around, every Halani statue has a pregnant belly. The boss, her son was birthed before she became a goddess so its not that child. So who is this child bírthed after the new beginning (or maybe the reason that the winter ended)?

Also the symbol that suggest some higher up like a king, could it mean count? Is it maybe a prophecy of what is to come?

Did we see those symbols in the game? Maybe on the monolith?

What do you thing and what are your guesses?


EDIT1: I looked at the monolith, they have a vague similar style but are not the same. Next I will look on a tower.

The 'well?' symbol might mean source. The bottom row second symbol looks like inverted version of it (destination), with the smaller symbol it might mean arrival.

'birth?' might mean creation

the last two symbols might refer to start/begging of of creation/growth, in context of 'after destruction comes creation/in order to create one must first destroy is often referenced.
bottom row:
high status person, arrival, created/initiated, winter event/cataclysm, lead to growth.

also for some reason the last top symbol seems menacing to me. might refer to corruption? => well?/source, ???, corruption.

i'm a bit confused about the cataclysm happening during vaal which is somewhat implied even within the story in poe2. i thought it was due to malachai and how they started to communicate with the 'beast' which then created the cataclysm 'pulse', creating corruption, raising dead etc. this whole time travel messes a lot of things up.

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Dovolan#6140 a écrit :

The boss, her son was birthed before she became a goddess so its not that child. So who is this child bírthed after the new beginning (or maybe the reason that the winter ended)?

This part reminds me of Azarian the Forsaken Son, you can hear the dialogue's part where the Water Goddess tells Azarian she was mortal when gave birth to him and then became a goddess.
Man this is a nice post, gotta hear the full dialogue to check if they say something :D

Edit: they dont mention it. Would it be too easy if we, the players, are that child born to end corruption?

There must be something in act 3

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AintCare#6513 a écrit :

The 'well?' symbol might mean source. The bottom row second symbol looks like inverted version of it (destination), with the smaller symbol it might mean arrival.

'birth?' might mean creation

the last two symbols might refer to start/begging of of creation/growth, in context of 'after destruction comes creation/in order to create one must first destroy is often referenced.
bottom row:
high status person, arrival, created/initiated, winter event/cataclysm, lead to growth.

also for some reason the last top symbol seems menacing to me. might refer to corruption? => well?/source, ???, corruption.

Interesting read. Especially that a Highborn arrived and initiated. We dont know much about Orianna but she seems always as the bride of a noble. So maybe she is a noble where she comes from. Meaning that a noble initiates the Cataclysm and its a cycle? Queen Atziri and Emperor Chitus did at their time.

"

i'm a bit confused about the cataclysm happening during vaal which is somewhat implied even within the story in poe2. i thought it was due to malachai and how they started to communicate with the 'beast' which then created the cataclysm 'pulse', creating corruption, raising dead etc. this whole time travel messes a lot of things up.

Even in PoE1 lore we found out that the first cataclysm in recorded history was the Vaal one. But the sources implied Thaumartug Doryani as the one communing with the beast and Queen Atziri funding all his research cause she wanted immortality and eternal beauty. Yeah... the Vaal society died for that.

This seems to be at the time that the Halani priest mentions the Winter. But I am not that sure as it could be older than the Vaal even. Is the Clayshaper older than the Vaal? Her tomb is in Keth and seems older than the note mentioning the winter.

Thousand of years later the events that doomed the Vaal were repeated by Malachai. History repeats itself. Different actors, same composition. Chitus wanting the power and his Thaumaturg Malachai having free rein over the research -> whispered by the beast.

Now we actually know that Atziri was communicating with the beast.

Still thats recorded history. There could be a Cataclysm event during the time of the Precursors as they invented a weapon against corruption.

"From the Well, Winter’s Birth Marks the Beginning"
"The Birth of Winter Begins at the Well"

I like the latter hopefully this is the rise of ice/cold effects in the game to the same level that lightning is

I don't think Oriana has anything to do with the cataclysm referenced in these notes. Hooded version of Sin is not in the refuge so he didn't go though the gate which i would expect to happen if she she did. so w/e happened with Oriana might be separate. the boom cutscene also involved Dory, which removes him from the boom trigger events.

My interpretation of 'high status person' is probably completely off since all these are crossed out, not even ? so it might be related but something else. I would say it is more likely that its about Sin than Oriana (Sin form the past), and would explain why Dory wasn't involved with it

I always assumed the psychic pulse form the beast was only one event (I'm not a lore scholar by any means). now that i think of it, the poe1 pulse was more localized since it affected Wreaclast but not Oriath initially. Where the cataclysm we witnessed at end of act3 in poe2 was quite substantial and event of that magnitude would definitely be noticed from Oriath. if those events are both due to communicating with the 'beast' wouldn't the scale be comparable? maybe different beast, maybe a spawn

also if they wanted to live forever they should of just ask Ketzuli :P

Isn't the PoE1 boss literally named "Ulaman, Sovereign of the Well" from Abyss league?

Maybe we're getting poe2's version of Abyss.

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Isn't the PoE1 boss literally named "Ulaman, Sovereign of the Well" from Abyss league?

Wait, I think you are onto something. Sovereign is a high status person. Furthermore he has 2 horns. Maybe he is the origin of that glyph.

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I always assumed the psychic pulse form the beast was only one event (I'm not a lore scholar by any means). now that i think of it, the poe1 pulse was more localized since it affected Wreaclast but not Oriath initially

The beast was as big as a mountain range. Actually he was under it so it didnt move. Both cataclysms spared Oriath as it was too far off.

"

maybe different beast, maybe a spawn

Both Cataclysm are from the same beast or better the one communicating trying to merge with it to get the power over Nightmare. The seedling of the beast was given to Sin from Kalandra as a measure against the gods, as Kalandra was never fond of divinity and Sin was trying to save humanity from the war between his wife and daughter.

You can find really good lore videos on the channel of Kittencatnoodle, the lore queen :)

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karsey#2995 a écrit :

Maybe we're getting poe2's version of Abyss.

now that is a hype train i can board.

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Dovolan#6140 a écrit :

Both cataclysms spared Oriath as it was too far off.

You can find really good lore videos on the channel of Kittencatnoodle, the lore queen :)

aaah i dunno, destroying entire vaal civ would need to be much bigger ordeal than to screw up some exile party imo. even the fact we are hiding in some time capsule after the boom boom in act3 trying to peace the reality together.

YT analysis will kill the fun for me, not to mention its just someones take on it. but i will study the lore a bit more, poe2 made it much more fun to follow. poe1 became very messy over the years. hard to keep up with it all these days.

My first thought was "Those look like clawed marks", and then it occurred to me that shape-shifting Druids are in the pipeline. I wouldn't be surprised if the teaser relates to them. The tellings of the first druids, perhaps, and how they came to be.

Though, given that we already know that druids are coming, there'd have to be a little more to it. Some sort of druid-adjacent game mechanic, perhaps. Bestiary seems about the most on-theme, but hopefully it's something new.