The world building and lore introduced in Secrets of the Atlas has set us up for expansions to come! We asked our Audio and Narrative Director Kane, to delve into some of the intricacies of piecing all of its components together.
Hello! Kane here. You may know me previously as the Audio Lead at GGG… Well I’m still one of those, but now also narrative falls under my wheelhouse. I often pinch myself as a reminder that I’m not dreaming because this is quite literally a dream combination of things I love… and let me tell you, it brings me a great deal of joy! Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. Secrets of the Atlas. I should mention upfront, if you want to experience Secrets of the Atlas without spoilers, perhaps don’t read this. It is a bit tricky to discuss its narrative development without going into at least some of the details. As is the case these days, Mark (Neon) and I began with some bullet points for the basic narrative of what we’d be working towards. For Secrets of the Atlas, those were something along the lines of:
Zana.
… Brother?!
…… THREE SHAPER-ESQUE BOSSES?! OMG!
After those initial conversations, I knew we were off to a strong start and I was hyped to get started and piece together the dialogue and events for the narrative design. The initial premise here was to uncover what Zana has been doing since we lost track of her in the Atlas. That expanded into three main components to the expansion's story, with Zana’s plight at the core of it all.
Introducing Eagon, a mysterious fellow claiming to be Zana’s brother, gave us a lot of interesting angles to explore Zana’s mission from. Like us veteran Exiles, he knows a lot about Zana and feels a connection to her, yet she is essentially a stranger to him. He believes that she simply must have all the answers to his burning questions about his heritage… and yet life is never so simple. He has spent his life trying to uncover and realize who he is and perhaps, why he is. 
Working towards unraveling who Eagon is and helping him try to piece things together makes him quite relatable as a person. Despite his rather pompous sense of entitlement (we are all flawed), he just wants to understand who he is, his place in the world and to save who he believes to be his sister.
When casting this character, I knew we needed a voice actor who could fully embody Eagon’s unique personality and portray it correctly. One audition immediately stuck out as the right fit. Leon Wadham brought Eagon to life in a perfect way.
Interestingly for this expansion, Zana doesn’t exactly occupy screen-time a great deal. It is what she has created that we are able to explore, and trying to understand why she has done so is what drives the story forward. Eagon discovers that Zana has been experimenting with the Atlas and manifesting memories, and even ideas, into reality. But why?
We are able to see what has mattered most to her, in the very areas we traverse and the figures we fight. In many ways, this exposure to Zana is more effective than even talking to her directly.
Her memory threads are split into 3 groups of paired themes, based on Loneliness and Neglect, Trauma and Fear, and Reverence and Dread.
This is first touched on by encountering a form of Sirus at a time unfamiliar to us, exploring the deeper part of their connection and her regrets with what became of a relationship she neglected.
Once we defeat this part of the thread, we can enter the ‘Moment of Loneliness’ where we witness Zana as a child, trying and failing, to get her father’s attention. This moment then transforms into the ‘Incarnation of Neglect’, where a permutation of her father is presented as a monstrous creation that we must overcome on her behalf.
These themes are explored by her residual trauma from the Templars and how they treated her and her father, exemplified by the fight with the Cardinal of Fear.
This allows us entry into the ‘Moment of Trauma’ where we witness young Zana making her father quite cross. This moment then becomes the ‘Incarnation of Fear’, a frightening imagining of someone her father never truly was.
This theme is shown in the form of Innocence, a God, taking the main stage as a revered but deceitful figure - yet another whose promises are to be broken. This thread line shows that even with good intentions, the grip of power can subvert even divine motivations.
After beating this form of Innocence, we can enter the ‘Moment of Reverence’ where we witness child Zana watching her father deliver a speech in Oriath. This moment is then reshaped into the ‘Incarnation of Dread’, showing just how much her fathers notoriety and influence affected her.
Zana is back, baby! It was fantastic to have Katherine Kennard back to reprise her role, and she did so quite effortlessly. It is quite amazing how actors can return to a role after some time and immediately lock-in and become the character again.
At the core of Zana’s plight is her father, as it has always been. But what do those memories mean to Zana? Moments that mean little to grown adults, but leave a permanent imprint on a child. Eagon construes these moments as mutations by the Atlas, overblown realisations of a child's memories - but are they? Or is this intentional on Zana’s behalf? And why? Good questions!
That deep and rich presence and voice… Daryl Habraken returns, but not exactly as The Shaper. This time, we hear a little more from Zana’s father, rather than who he became.
Finally, at the end of this part of the story, we learn part of Zana’s true ambitions. We learn that Eagon’s situation remains further complicated. And most importantly: we learn that we have more to learn. And I for one, cannot wait to unravel these threads even further.
Hang on… who is the Originator again? It is Zana, right? Hmm…
Until next time, friends!
