Open questions for Ray

Each question has a recommendation.

• Does the Mending stop the player's own Facet spells? The Story Bible says it ends asymmetric magic "for good". Taken literally, every Facet spell the player knows (Facet Seal, Bevel Lash, Prism Snare, Pavilion Wake, the First Pair's second half) would fizzle from then on, and the Mended world would lock content away. Recommendation: no asymmetric glyph surfaces again and Facet NPCs lose their casting, but the player's even pair keeps what it already holds. The cost then shows in the world (Lanternfall dark, Lio's hands quiet), not as a penalty to the player's kit.
• Does the Shattered ending end un-teaching? Recommendation: yes. Iver's whole reason is that no one can be un-taught again, so that should be true in the world he gets: courts can't seal, and the player's sealed spells come back.
• Both rites need the player. Is it right that Ondine needs a flawless mirror for the last note and Iver needs an even pair for the last cut, and that this is why both wait for the player? Recommendation: yes. It explains why the act waits for the player, makes the choice decisive, and follows from the even pair already in the Story Bible.
• The finale's structure. The Story Bible says phase one is "against" Ondine's chorus and phase two "against" Iver's shattering. This file keeps the two phases in that order on every path, but on the Ondine path the player guards the chorus, and on the Iver path they cut with Iver against Ondine. Recommendation: keep this, since it is the only way the two-phase finale fits all three paths. Settled: the finale follows this file on every tab (VEL-63).
• A fourth choice: walk away? Recommendation: no fourth path at the Pane. The open world already lets a player leave the summons unanswered for as long as they like; the rites wait.
• Is the outcome permanent? Recommendation: yes, one outcome per save. Another outcome means a new game. Letting the player redo it would make the choice weigh nothing.
• Ondine's cost in the Mended ending: her hands go still. Recommendation: keep it. It is the Wardens' rule (every spell has a cost) applied to its loudest speaker, and it stops the Mended ending from reading as the Evane simply winning.
• The First Pair. A new named composite, Brace into Facet Seal, learned from a reflected glyph that shows the Still Age drew both kinds together. Recommendation: keep it. It makes the Stop-both path something the player discovers rather than something they're offered, and it puts the theme (no side is right) into the oldest glyph in the world. The fallback (any cross-side thread) means no player is locked out of the path. Settled: the First Pair replaces the spell roadmap's Stillhold (Facet Seal into Linger), and keeps #FFFFFF on purpose instead of the cross-side #FFE08A (VEL-63).
• Companions stepping out. Tamsin leaves the chorus and Rook leaves the cut at trust 3 or more. Recommendation: keep it, and have Acts 1–3 award trust for choices where the player put the person ahead of the side. VEL-63 should check that earlier acts give enough chances to reach 3.
• Which faction heads sing. This file has Dace always refusing (so the chorus is four mirrored voices) and Wen and Hale's presence depending on earlier acts. Recommendation: keep Dace out for good; let VEL-63 decide the flags for Wen and Hale (still open after this pass). Settled: Dace refuses, and the chorus is four voices (Wardens/Tamsin, Tenders/Bramble, Keepers/Hale, Still Choir/Wen) (VEL-63).
• Epilogue form. Recommendation: six illustrated cards per outcome plus one played scene at home (4.20), not a played epilogue in every city. 18 painted stills are far cheaper than three versions of three towns, and the open world shows the rest.
• Warp-born windows in real time. Recommendation: 7-day windows, server-delivered, with an Undermere exception in the Mended world. Real time makes the world feel alive without daily login pressure, since a week is long enough not to miss one.
• New names in this file: the First Pair (composite), the Undercrack, the Pane gauge, Even-handed. Recommendation: keep them as working names. Settled: the Corran girl is Brin, Hollis's daughter, from Act 3 (not a new name, and no longer Seli), and Culet is already a Story Bible cut name, so the Culet cut is not new either (VEL-63).

From Walkthrough: Act 4 › Open questions for Ray