Stark (The Longest Journey)
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Stark is the name of one of the twin worlds in the computer adventure game The Longest Journey and its sequel, Dreamfall.
Stark, our world, is the world of science and logic, while its twin, Arcadia is the world of magic and chaos. While Arcadia is a fantasy world, Stark features a great number of cyberpunk traits. The worlds used to be one, but were split after humans combined magic and science and became too powerful. The worlds are maintained by the Balance, watched over by the Guardian, from the tower where the Divide first happened. The worlds will be reunited when they are ready.
[edit] Collapse
Immediately after the events of The Longest Journey, a global catastrophic event occurred in Stark, which people later started referring to as the Collapse. It is never explicitly described in Dreamfall but from what is stated in the game booklet, many of the advanced technologies (such as faster-than-light interstellar travel and anti-gravity) that mankind learned to use since the beginning of 21st century (the Collapse happened in 2209 AD) were no longer possible. As a result, the entire Starkian infrastructure has been shattered and although by 2219, travelling between continents of Stark and international information exchange via the Wire (wireless Internet-like network connecting every electronic device in the world) was again made possible, there was still no contact with the space colonies.
The witnesses later recalled that during the days of the Collapse, something weird was happening with the reality and, particularly, the sky. It has been suggested that since some of them also admitted that the things they saw were similar to those seen happening in TLJ, the Collapse might have included parts of Arcadia leaking into Stark. Zoë Castillo recalls that her father prohibited her to go outside of their house during those days, apparently to protect her sanity.
After the Collapse was over, people had to cope with the new situations. With the international connections disrupted and lost, most global corporations shattered, too (although some, most notably, WATIcorp, managed to survive). Another possible reason for this was the collapse of the Church of Voltec as the result of April Ryan's actions in TLJ. In any case, the crime rate in post-Collapse Stark rose dramatically and after a while, a single Syndicate established a world-wide security agency known as the EYE ("the Eye in the Sky") to enforce the law all over the world. Apparently, it has been the EYE who supported the development of the Wire, since it was thanks to this network that they managed to track any human being in Stark using his or her mobile phone. However, by 2219 more and more people installed cloaking software on their electronics for the sake of personal privacy.
A possible explanation of Collapse widely accepted by the fans is that the advanced technologies invented between 2000 and 2200 were, in fact, not scientific but magical in nature. Normally, the Guardian won't permit magic in technology-driven Stark, but with Adrian the Twelfth Guardian staying in his Tower for two "over-due" centuries, it was getting harder and harder for him to control the energy flows from Arcadia, thus, the Starkians were using magic without even knowing it. This theory would also explain, for example, why there were so many transport shuttle accidents by 2209 - since all such shuttles relied on anti-gravitational magic, its inherently uncontrollable nature was responsible for the crashes.
It should also be noted that in Arcadia, nothing comparable to the Collapse ever happened, of course, with the exception of a sudden rise of the steampunkish Empire of the Azadi.
[edit] External links
- More information about the Collapse is provided on the official Dreamfall web-site in the section "Game", subsection "Setting".
- Stark at the TLJwiki
- Collapse at the TLJwiki
| The Longest Journey series | |
|---|---|
| Games: | The Longest Journey | Dreamfall | Dreamfall Chapters |
| Media: | The Longest Journey OST | Dreamfall OST | Other media |
| Characters: | Abnaxus | Kian Alvane | Zoë Castillo | Draic Kin | April Ryan |
| Universe: | Alltongue | Arcadia | Balance | Stark |
| Related: | Funcom | Sarah Hamilton | Even Johansen | Ragnar Tørnquist |
