Balance (The Longest Journey)
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The Balance in the computer adventure game The Longest Journey and its sequel, Dreamfall, describes the relationship between two fictional worlds, Arcadia and Stark.
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[edit] The Divide
In the alternate universe of the games, the Earth has been home to an advanced (both scientifically and magically) human civilization as early as 10000 BC. However, at approximately that time a global techno-magical catastrophe had became imminent if the Terran civilization continued to develop the way it did. To prevent it, the planet has been separated into two independent worlds, Stark and Arcadia and while before the Divide, both scientific development and magic were possible on Earth, after it, magic became only accessible in Arcadia and technology - a Stark-exclusive.
The Divide itself consisted of "slicing" the reality as it was back then into multiple pieces and recombining them into two smaller worlds that could coexist at the same place and time without intersecting. To do so, six of the world's most brilliant scientists and the same number of the most powerful wizards were assisted by Draic Kin, a race of friendly extraterrestrial beings, and with their immense knowledge, the humans succeeded. The one Draic Kin who assisted them (it isn't clear who exactly that was) and the three others remained on Earth (two in Arcadia and two in Stark) to observe the aftermath of the Divide.
Later, the term "Divide" has also became a common word to describe the barrier dimension between the two twin worlds, impassable for normal humans and, possibly, even Draic Kin themselves.
[edit] The Guardian
Not only Draic Kin watched over the Balance for millennia. The thirteenth human who participated in the Divide ritual was a mysterious woman of unknown origin who later became the first Guardian. The Guardian is a human being, born in Stark or Arcadia, who is capable of preventing the exchange of magic and technology between the twin worlds and, thus, maintaining the Balance for another one thousand of years.
In order to do so, a Guardian is supposed to find their way to the semi-spiritual dimension called Guardian's Realm, pass the three Trials and leave every aspect of their previous life behind for one thousand years. During this time, the Guardian exists in a cryptobiosis-like state on the top of the Guardian's Tower in the middle of the Realm, with only their mind and willpower working to the fullest degree to prevent and fix any "leaks" that may occur in the Divide. Whether this action is conscious or not is unknown.
A single Guardian can maintain the Balance for about a millennium, meaning that after this time, he or she is supposed to locate the new Guardian within the Twin Worlds and help them to reach the entrance to the Realm and, later, the Tower. If necessary, a Guardian can prolong their "term of service" for some time, e.g. the 12th Guardian, Adrian, has "stayed late" in the Tower for two centuries before he has been finally expelled by the Realm.
The main objective in the The Longest Journey is to locate the 12th and the 13th Guardian and bring them to their Realm. April Ryan, the protagonist of the game, goes on this quest because, as she is told, the 12th one has waited as long as he could for the 13th to emerge, but after a while, he stepped down from his position and disappeared himself, resulting in the instability of the Balance and potential destruction of both Twin Worlds. The identity of the 13th Guardian is unknown at the beginning but later on, April is told that she is the one, which is not true, since the true 13th Guardian is, in fact, Gordon Holloway, the right hand man of Jacob McAllen, the major antagonist of the game.
[edit] Shifters
However impassable the Divide may be for humans, there are a few who can travel between Stark and Arcadia. Such people can open "Shifts" (portals visually resembling bluish gaps in the reality) between two worlds at any time with their will. Opening a Shift doesn't require any training because it is intrinsic for all Shifters, however, it usually takes some time to learn to open them at will, especially, if one has never imagined to be capable of something like this. The traffic between two worlds is limited by the property of the Shifts that makes them usable only by the one who opens them.
Despite their clearly magical abilities, Shifters are born into both worlds, as April Ryan's example clearly shows, since she is one herself despite spending her entire life in Stark before departing on her quest for the Guardians. Shifting generally disrupts the Balance and, maybe, that is why Shifters are so rare in both worlds - in fact, April is the only one depicted in the games, which is also why she was assigned to her mission in the first place.
It should also be noted that there are other ways to travel between Stark and Arcadia save Shifting. E.g. Brian Westhouse, who lives in Marcuria, the capital of the Arcadian Northlands, in TLJ and occasionally visits it by the time Dreamfall takes place, was born in Stark and has found a way to move to Arcadia using some arcane knowledge he found in Tibetan monasteries. This way is much more time- and effort-consuming than Shifting, however, it (apparently) doesn't require any special abilities from the user.
It is also likely that the Draic Kin also have a way of crossing the Divide. In fact, it was one of the Kin, Cortez, who inspired Westhouse to undertake the journey to Tibet in the first place, and he also mentored April about her Shifting abilities. Moreover, since April herself is a direct descendant of the White Mother of Draic Kin, it is possible that her powers are rooted in her bloodline. Another hint that the Kin are capable of Shifting is that after being born in Arcadia (since that is where the White Kin resides), April was then transferred to Stark - apparently by her progenitor, since she was unlikely to Shift herself as an infant.
Another way of travelling across the Divide is by dreaming. While most people can usually only see the other Twin World in their sleep (much like April saw Arcadia in the beginning of The Longest Journey), a few really powerful Dreamers can go as far as to project their physical images (avatars) to the other world and interact with the people there. One such Dreamer is Zoë Castillo, the primary protagonist of Dreamfall, although she requires support of an advanced technology (also referred as "Dreamer") and drug-enhancement (by a sedative and hallucinogenic called "Morpheus") to make her avatar visible. Apparently, this method of travelling does not have any negative effects on the Balance, for the Guardian is generally unaware of and unconcerned by the dreams passing through the Divide.
[edit] Other realms
Except Stark, Arcadia and the Guardian's Realm, there are also other fragments of Earth left over unaligned after the Divide. Such fragments are, for example, Lady Alvane's house, that April briefly visits one her way from Stark to Arcadia, and the Storytime, where the Vagabond resides and where Brian Westhouse encountered the Undreaming in 1933. Apparently, these fringe realms are so small that the Guardians mostly ignored them ever since, judging that they'll never seriously endanger the Balance.
[edit] Contemporary views
After twelve thousand years, the Divide and the importance of the Balance have been forgotten in Stark, for its progressive technological nature led people to abandon the ancient legends and concentrate more on the present and future. In Arcadia, however, the order of Sentinels, the watchers of the Balance, still exists. Its function is primarily to arrange the meetings between a new Guardian and the old one and assisting them with whatever they can. Another minor function is to keep the ancient Balance-related traditions and customs, e.g. the annual three nights long Feast of the Balance, alive, which makes the Balance a kind of cult or even religion, particularly in the Northlands of Arcadia. A similar organization existed in Stark, as well, but as the tales of Arcadia and Balance gradually vanished from the people's memory there, the Starkian Sentinels either disappeared or became revolutionaries known as the Vanguard.
As seen in Dreamfall, the Sentinel Order, already weakened by the war against the Tyren, was delivered a severe blow when the zealous Azadi moved into the Northlands and ruthlessly hunted down all "religions" other than their own. With the Northlands' Sentinel forced into hiding, the legends of the Balance are now rarely recalled in both Twin Worlds.
[edit] Future
Approximately at the same time that the Divide occurred, the Draic Kin predicted that the Balance would maximally last for 13 thousand local years. Whether that was a prophecy or a scientific theory is unclear. However, many knowledgeable people within the game awaited that during the term of the 13th Guardian, the Balance would crumble and the worlds be reunited. In fact, Jacob McAllen has done everything to accelerate the process, going as far as kidnapping or brainwashing both contemporary Guardians to prevent them from maintaining the Balance.
However, the prospect reunification concerned most of the Draic Kin, since they believed that it could also lead to the War of the Balance and consequentially the destruction of Earth if Stark and Arcadia collided. That is why they sent April, the only available Shifter at the time and, in a way, their own blood relative, out to locate and free the 12th Guardian and assisted her in it as far as possible, believing that she is the 13th one.
[edit] External links
- Balance in 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 |
