Hesha on 24/2/2020 at 10:10
The last words of the keeper in the outro of TG states that "Everything is a written. The Trickster is dead, beware the Metal Age." This could just be two seperate things mentioned back to back, but it could also be reference to a causal link, between the two.
In my opinion, there spiritual world of the setting is a form of dualism between the forces of order and civilisation represented by the Master Builder and chaos and nature represented by the Trickster. The Mechanists are basically the doctrine of the Master Builder taken to the extreme, in that they completely reject nature. Basically Karras' goal is the complete opposite of the Trickster's (wiping out all of nature within the city vs. wiping out civilisation via the Dark Project). So since the Trickster's death disturbed the "balance" between the two forces, the extremely fast rise of the extremist Mechanists became possible - maybe Constantine would have prevented their rise much sooner than Viktoria, had he still been around or maybe Karras would never have received his (probably divine) inspirations that basically led him to single-handedly advance technology by a century or two within the space of only a few months! That's a bit much for just human intellect to accomplish, I'd say.
page on 24/2/2020 at 11:53
I'm not sure about Trickster being dead "for real" as he was a god/demigod, but definitely his demise propelled The Metal Age. It's very likely that Constantine and his agents would thwart Mechanists' rise if they had a chance; I guess the Pagans are still in disarray in T2 hence Viktoria is hiding in the woods instead of scheming in The City itself.
Hesha on 24/2/2020 at 12:10
I agree. I always took it was Constantine being an avatar of the Trickster more than the Trickster in its entirety. It's a bit like Sauron in Middle-Earth, I guess. He can be defeated, his physical presence can be destroyed or "killed" if you will, but his existence is eternal.
Magic in the setting is never really explained, but it seems to me that in addition to elemental forces (analogue to the elemental crystals) and necromancy there is "spiritual" magic wielded by priests, both Hammers (and Mechanists) and Pagans. Since there are no Pagan priests in T2 we don't know for sure, but I think there are Pagan priests wielding magic in T3, right? So their existence and continued access to magic as well as the continued existence of the Maw would support the assumption that the Trickster (or at least that which he represents) still exists after Constantine's death.
