Alright, it's time I finally talked about this. Do forgive the rambling
I gotta say my interest into further covered Atealan history was already piqued with the release of the Lost Constellation, and with it the introduction of Dardarayu and Yahvro.
What initially caught my curiosity regarding the lore surrounding these two mysterious beings was the design note that accompanied our encounter with them in the Inn
Now that first sentence is curious for a couple of reasons. The first being that it notes that the Ateala "rarely" sing of the legends surrounding these two figures.
To rarely speak of a particular point of history would seem to suggest that it carries negative or at least not the best of connotations within the minds of those telling the story, almost as if the subject were taboo. From my perspective, this a story with hushed breaths or ones meant serve as a warning to listeners.
The second note of interest is the fact that the design notes refer to this tale as a shifting nebula.
Nebula at their core are just a massive collection of dust and hot gas in space that either have the capacity to form new stars or happen to exist because they formed from the deaths of preexisting stars that went supernova. A fact that might make the story of both Yahvro and Dardaryu potentially that of a tragedy. What leads me to this thought process is that if we take into consideration the essence of what a nebula is, as has been established, then the text might be implying or alluding to the fact that these two characters held potential or promise but, either one or both, fell from grace or had tragic conclusions at the end of their story.
What makes me even more certain of this angle is the fact that the design notes state their constellation once "shone" upon their homeworlds. We know, based on what details can be derived in-game that time after time that the Ateala have either settled new planets on their own independently or were forced to due to one calamity or another, taking all their histories and culture with them as they did so.
When I think of the word "shone" in this context, it makes me think that the story of these two Atealans was one that previously made their people rather proud before it might have been regarded poorly or somberly.
The question here is this: What could have happened to have caused this shift in their perception? I believe the biggest clue lies solely with Dardarayu. When the Inn challenge for them was first released, three things about them immediately stood out to me: the fact that a good portion of their face was hidden in shadow, an all too familiar golden ornament, and of course the fact that their body and magic was coated in tithril.
Now admittedly, at first, I didn't think the portion of Dardarayu's face being hidden was any different from Isiri's face being hidden until I remembered that Isiri's face was obscured by the hood she wears. Dardarayu's face is completely out in the open meaning there's something about their expression the devs wanted to keep concealed beyond their simple smile. For the longest time, I couldn't figure what that could be until this last Mogloween event when we receieved both their mask and that of Yahvro.
I don't know about anyone else, but those squinted eyes seem to turn an easygoing smile into something that would appear to be more sinister in my view. Furthermore, what little can be derived from this expression is made worse by the fact that the text that accompanies this item, which merely state that "the stars weep," reinforces that the events that surrounded Dardarayu were ones that did not end on happy terms as far as the Ateala remember.
Then, there's that golden ornament that they wear. Prior to the release of their inn fight, we have seen it on two occasions. The first instance being the release of the Atealan Standard helm, the second time, and most alarming of the two, being the Star-Eating Serpent.
Based on their appearance and the appearance of the Standard helm, we can reasonably conclude that Dardarayu was the Unael of old that at one point in their history had rallied their people against an unknown adversary or adversaries. It's likely these battles Dardarayu lead against the Ateala enemies is why their reputation originally started on a high note when they became more well known.
Whether or not this was the reason they were declared an unael I cannot say, but we might be able to speculate they might not have completed their process in becoming a full-fledged unael, a suspicion possibly supported by Dardarayu's polearm weapon.
The description would seem to imply that while Dardarayu received the title of an Unael from the Empress, they hadn't actually gone through the process of being connected to the cosmos. Either that or they did go through the process but merely was among those that never merged with the Empress when they came back down. Regardless of which is the case, the details provided by the text lay it out flat that Dardarayu disappeared eventually and that no one knows what happened to them.
This would appear to be where the story for them gets left off on. They were a respected hero and then suddenly something happened to cause them to never be seen again and the Ateala mourn their lost hero forevermore. End of the story, right? See I'm not so sure.
As I mentioned previously, the obscured expression they give off seems very off during our encounter with them, I daresay it appears ominous. However, a countenance is obviously not enough to indicate that something suspicious has taken place.
Which brings me back to Dardarayu's powers. They're clearly based in tithril. Now if that's true then that has some concerning implications if it also happens to be true that tithril forms from the remains of dead Ateala, once their bodies have crystallized.
Now I don't believe this necessarily would have been problem for the Atealan people considering they crafted a weapon clearly made from Trithril and they were willing to follow someone who wore a helm made of the stuff into battle, but I think it does potentially connect to the reason why Dardarayu may have suddenly vanished without a trace.
There's also again that elepant in the room in which the Star-Eating Serpent has the exact same golden ornament attached to their head. The creature is also coated in tithril and was responsible for devouring the Ateala wherever they fled to until another unael, Anohirn, defeated them. Yet, in our boss fight with the creature, it too wears a similar adornment that was also held by another Atealan hero. I'm not entirely sure what the connection here is, but it's not looking too good to me at the moment.
That all being said, this leaves a final question: where does this leave Yahvro, our mysterious riftwalker, in the equation?
How do they fit with Dardarayu's story? Truthfully, I'm stumped on them. So, I'm gonna go through what little can be derived from them. We know based on their weapon's description that they were a well-regarded warrior within Atealan society, perhaps even an unael like Dardarayu.
We can infer they likely shared similar, if not the same, problems with Dardarayu based on the fact that their horn descriptions are identical.
And lastly we can speculate that in spite of an event or outcome that has taken place they're still listening to someone or something that might have caused that situation to have gone poorly.
What these all mean combined I couldn't say with clarity but given that we do fight both Yahvro and Dardarayu in the same place I'm going to suggest that either Yahvro followed Dardarayu wherever they vanished to or at least suffered the same fate they had in the end.
Ah, but that concludes my thoughts on these two. It'll be interesting to see if the devs cover them when we refocus on the Ateala as a whole in the future.
