Shaol
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Shaol is a scrapped idea for Axiom verge, sometimes referred to as just one boss, multiple bosses, or a mini-boss. It is believed to be the final boss for the first game in the early stages, but as time went on, Happ discarded it.
Some people might argue that Shaol ended up being Sentinel, Athetos, or an influence for both or just one.
As one boss
This is how people many perceive Shaol, and it is possible that its nature might change from being multiple bosses to just one in early development.
According to some sources and some coincidences in appearance, the player was supposed to meet it in Mar-Uru, its purpose there is unclear, many people created the following theories:
- It was going to be the guard for the entry to Mar-Uru. (Referring to being a beta version of Sentinel)
- It was going to be the final boss replacing Athetos or just his previous name.
- It is Athetos' tank, just looks different. (He could be inside one of the farthest sphere Shaol has)
- It is Athetos' 2nd form, when his tank in the breach attractor get destroyed he "would pass his mind unto Shaol"[1] becoming immortal.
In many media, you can see the player getting near Shaol, or some parts of it being shown.
There is not much info about this version of Shaol, most of it is mostly speculative, this might never even be intended and was just some misinterpretation made by people.
As multiple bosses
Now, if Shaol was added to the game this is how it should have behaved according to the AV documentary[2].
To understand how Shaol was going to be multiple bosses we need some backstory:
In some media, (the AV documentary[2] for example) Shaol was supposedly a multiple-form boss, this could be interpreted in two ways:
Shaol is transforming
When you think of the word "form", is mostly associated with a change, not the creation, duplication, or destruction of an entity, so, having this in mind might lead to the fact that every time you fight a boss, it is always the same Shaol but it just changed its physical body, so all the bosses were just Shaol's transformations.
Going further, one might realize that this conduct might have led to the removal of the exploding effects for the bosses in order to let people know that Shaol isn't dead, it would just transform, but elaborating on that is diverting the main topic and focusing on game design.
Shaol is "cloning"
The bosses the player encounters throughout the game just being Shaol's clones, it is just Athethos' way of dealing with the player/Trace, there is nothing surprising about it until there are seen the 2 last bosses, something's off about them, one might think Shaol's clones aren't just built for war or assistance.
Shaol variations
The following table features how Shaol fitted in AV in early stages, either being clones or transformations: (The following unused sprites and text are taken from the documentary[2])
| Area | Boss name as Shaol | Boss name in final release | Brief description as Shaol | Appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shaol - Worm Boss Form/Security worm | Xedur | "Hovering cyborg worm." |  |
| 2 | Shaol - Soldier [The only name appearance in the documentary] | Telal | It's not seen in the documentary but it might just be a brief description of the entity. |  |
| 3 | Shaol - Slug Form/Slug | Uruku | "A giant, armed, slug" |  |
| 4 | Shaol Scorpion/ - Scorpion | Gir-Tab | "Does the things a Scorpion can." |  |
| 5 | There is no boss in Indi early stages | None | None | None |
| 6 | Shaol's Manta Ray Form/ - Manta | Vision | "He flies back and forth, spraying bullets, then rises from behind, giving you a chance to hit him with your weapons." |  |
| 7 | Spitbug [This area isn't seen in the documentary, only one name is seen] | Ukhu | None |  |
| 8 | Shaol/Elsenova Hybrid | It never got in the full release, Possibly influencing the design or behavior of Sentinel or Athetos | "Squiggles the fore area while shooting you with acid. Occasionally rears back and slams down on you" |  |
| 9 | Shaol - Final/Final | It never got in the full release, Possibly influencing the design or behavior of Sentinel or Athetos | "A big eye with two tentacles that waves at you. You must destroy both to open the eye, at which point it must be hit until it closes, Repeat 3 or 6 times to kill." |  |
In the AV documentary[2] there is seen "Soldier Shaol", which by their description they must be the tentacles Shaol final form uses, otherwise, they may be summoned enemies.
As a mini-boss
Pretty straightforward, it is believed that before being scrapped, Shaol was turned into a mini-boss, serving the same purpose as Sentinel or just being a replacement.
Some parts of Shaol were used for other elements in the game, either some zones of Mar-Uru, the idea for Sentinel or Athetos, etc. A lot of people argue that Shaol was never removed, but turned into Sentinel.
Who was or What was "Shaol"?
Since Shaol never got into the full release, we may never know, but with the current information we can theorize some possibilities:
Shaol is Athetos
Very straightforward, he might be the same human with the same intentions, as mentioned before, he could be inside that machine, same story, different appearance.
Even though, this might not answer why he created a Elsenova hybrid? Elsenova did help or how an Rusalki hybrid can exist? he wanted a Rusalki on his team? he wanted to become one? what that does even?
Shaol is a Rusalki traitor
A similar case as Katrahaska or even her would turn into Shaol, caused by maybe the same beliefs, Shaol would try to get rid of the Rusalki using Trace as a war weapon and in one attempt to increase gun power, it would try to fuse a Trace clone and the Serpent body of Elsenova, resulting in the hybrid.
It could be possible that in one battle, Shaol was forced to retrieve to Mar-Uru due to critical damage, similar to Athetos' case
Still, this doesn't explain why Trace has to do with all of this, possibly he became a prisoner of Shaol when he travel to Sudra for the first time through the breach, and then the original AV timeline would run just without Athetos.
Shaol is a corrupted, twisted AI
This is the theory I liked the most:
The Sudrans in the past might have created highly advanced artificial intelligence aware of itself, due to time and some other events would have led to go insane, when Shaol crossed with Trace it would experiment on his body trying to become a Rusalki (explaining the hybrid and the variants) and get rid of the other ones in its way for achieving greatness, conquering and unknown goals. Shaol's original body would be the machine residing Mar-Uru.
Etymology
Shaol isn't particularly a word in either Hindi, Sumerian or Indian languages, but might refer to "Shaal" or "Shawl", which both refer to the type of cloth that the Indian wear.
Shaol only has a more plausible meaning in Irish ("Saol"), meaning "Life", kind of goes out of habit, AV is known for using Hindi, Sumerian or Indian variants, but since Athetos is in Greek, exceptions can happen.
Trivia
References
- ↑ Some user theory
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 AV documentary
- ↑ Axion Verge Multiverse Edition Art Book