General Information
Name: Erol Klarson
Pronouns: He/Him
Aliases: The Architect
Affiliations: The Tower
Email: None Currently Known
Status: Alive
About
Erol Klarson is the only known person to have visited The Tower in the physical world, they have been in contact with Alexander and was apprehensive about creating a simulation of The Tower within Aeternus Center systems.
Timeline/Puzzles
architect-private chat
Scots: Oh hello!
just_speculating: Hello everyone.
Starling: Greetings
rysonbran: Hi!
klarson: Hello.
klarson: Give me a moment, I need to purge the Tower interface so magus and friends don't notice the logs when they return.
Starling: Take your time!
Spooky: Oh! Good evening
Scots: Welcome Spooky, we did the thing!
klarson: So, you've been digging around the Tower I see.
klarson: Are you the latest batch of Alex's recruits?
Scots: I mean, after a fashion. I joined to help a friend from the inside, but had been contacted by the Tower prior to that
Scots: And at this point we aren't recruits anymore right? We are gonna be intermediaries between all 4 groups no?
Scots: sorry thinking aloud
Starling: wait wait, why did you make the Tower? like the purpose. Why all of that?
Scots: Yeah good question!
Starling: and if you say because you could that's legit but I feel like it's more than that
klarson: To be honest, making the Tower simulation was a mistake. It was intended to be a way to prepare for exploring the actual Tower.
Starling: The one that we "found" and inadvertently opened up to an AE?
klarson: No, the Tower is a physical location. All the various simulations running on the Aeternus network are based on spatiotemporal mappings of the original Tower.
klarson: Though there are a number of instances of the Tower running on the network, some of them being used as preparation for exploration, others as training grounds for various AEs.
Starling: Gotcha, okay. There was one with a physical location that we "found" and I was concerned
just_speculating: So was the adventure you just took us through one of those AE training grounds?
klarson: No, that was just an old module I scrapped together from an old D&D campaign and more recent popular culture, as a first pass filter to filter out AEs. Luckily AC tends to train them on useful data sources, and not popular culture, video games,…
Scots: It was really fun honestly!
Starling: If I'm misunderstanding I'm sorry; the Tower simulations are us helping AEs solve the Tower?
Starling: I'm kind of word vomiting here, and I am sorry.
klarson: Some Tower simulations are for training AEs, not even necessarily to solve the Tower, its just the data from the spatiotemporal mapping provides a 'realistic' enough environment for that sort of training.
Most of the Tower simulations you've been running through are aimed at preparing for exploring the actual Tower. Though of course that's unlikely to ever happen.
Starling: Okay, thank you for answering my repetitive questions.
klarson: A question of my own, what's your interest (and AC's current interest) in the Tower? I noticed an increase in activity with the sims, though after our falling out, I'm not about to ask AC about it.
Scots: I think AC is still interested in it for the same reasons it always has been, hoping to solve it and get to the top of the real one someday.
Scots: My interest is honestly, it seems really damned cool and I could never resist a puzzle or mystery
Scots: and the random email I got from it
rysonbran: New puzzles to solve are pretty irresistible
Spooky: For me it's a mix of boredom and my friends are doing it so~
Starling: I've been trying to assist Scots but haven't done much myself.
just_speculating: Same here. I'm not here on behalf of AC. I just happened to find it and got sucked in.
klarson: Ah, I see.
klarson: Best of luck in your exploration.
Spooky: Seriously though, I want to learn more about the tower, about what it protects. I just don't want AC to really get a hold of it.
Spooky: whatever it is
rysonbran: What is the purpose of the real tower? Something that guarded must be either very important or very dangerous, or both
just_speculating: Seriously. Usually if a tower contains golems and snakes, that's bad enough.
klarson: They won't, the pieces that would have to come together to find it, then get to it, then breach it, and then activate it are beyond even Alex's resources.
But good to know their pursuit is still just about power and knowledge, and nothing more critical than that.
Don't want to have to come out of retirement to figure out the ethical implications here.
Spooky: That was a well dodged question~ c:
klarson: Its less that its dangerous by itself, but the knowledge and materials within are dangerous in the wrong or inexperienced hands.
Spooky: Oh nevermind
Scots: May I ask, we are all interested by the mysteries The Tower represents but we recognize that it is dangerous or could be used dangerously. Is there a way we can help you directly, rather than piecemeal via what we learn in the sims?
Scots: I honestly think most of us would be happy to help you and The Tower over Alex and his pursuits with it
klarson: I mean, my machinations lean towards the making sure anything that can lead to the Tower is rendered inoperable. Ultimately, getting rid of all the Tower simulations would be nice, but there are enough backups and AEs guarding instances that it seems infeasible.
Starling: Fair. Also not to be the person to drop this on you, but are you aware of the Eater? Because that's… approaching.
Scots: Yeah, Alex has somewhat put a lot of resources on that issue as of now
Starling: PLACEBOS is recombining into a thing? so everyone can work together for it.
Spooky: also I swear if it's the necronomicon im gonna be so happy
Starling: Spooky no
Spooky: Spooky yes
klarson: You say your investigation into the Tower is for the 'lulz', I say good luck and am not planning on providing help, and then suddenly you bring up the bogeyman?
Can you see how that seems a little sus?
Next you'll say the recent deaths are tied to the Seekers or something, rather than just being typical PLACEBOS covert ops.
I'm going to go check on my hydrangeas and will check on things, but I am a bit skeptical.
rysonbran: well
Spooky: I mean…..
Starling: No no no, sorry, sorry. I brought up the boogey man solely to inform you in case you hadn't heard. Please feel free to ignore me. I'll peace out
Scots: yeah…..
rysonbran: It seems you've been… A little out of the loop
just_speculating: Ok, see…
just_speculating: We found out about PLACEBOS, and the Eater, and the Seekers. And we're just trying to keep the peace as far as all of that is concerned.
Separately we know about the Tower. And we explore the Tower for fun. But it's not for Alex nor for anyone at AC. I don't think they even know we're doing it.
Honestly, if there's a connection between the Tower and the Eater, we don't know what it is.
rysonbran: Erol what are your preferred pronouns?
Scots: As everyone has said, we came to know of the Tower by happenstance (some random emails, other via AC slipping up with communications) and began to explore it for fun and we still do, we are spurred on by curiousness and that drive to solve mysteries. But through this we've learned some shit, this place and whatever it holds are dangerous and shouldn't be used recklessly if at all.
I just wanted to make it clear where we stand, apologies for the brain vomit
klarson: Sorry, maybe I'm being overly paranoid, but that's always been their biggest excuses for why we shouldn't destroy the Ark and its pieces. "The spooky Eater is going to come and destroy our world and the Ark is the only way to stop it. The fact we can make a lot of money and gain power is just a side effect."
klarson: I suppose it doesn't matter, since most of what they need were destroyed or disappeared with one of their own, and they'd need the Tower to try any of their "Morphic" experiments to recover them.
klarson: he/him
just_speculating: their biggest excuses
"they" being Alex? Because that's how we understand it too. But it seems like other people in PLACEBOS would agree with you that the Ark is dangerous.
Starling: We managed to get a hold of EBs journal from shortly before he went missing, it made mention of the Ark and his pretty fervent agreement that it shouldnt be found
klarson: Paula, Alex, Oakley about not outright destroying it.
Scots: From our understanding, Alex wants a weapon from it, Oakley wants a defense and Paula is kinda vibing as a cyberghost currently and we don't know what she wants out of it
klarson: Honestly, even Elliot was hesitant about destroying it, but for less noble reasons.
Starling: I'd love more info about Elliot if you're willing to share. His journal has been a huge motivation for me and I've been trying to understand his ramblings.
Scots: Honestly everything we know is vague and clarity would be appreciated if you don't mind
just_speculating: So you believe the Eater is made up and doesn't exist, or at least doesn't pose a threat?
klarson: I don't know all that much about Elliot, other than the couple meetings I was privy to regarding the Tower. For the most part I was an employee within Aeternus Center, until our parting and only interacted with those folks after the adventure that resulted in my discovery of the Tower. Elliot seemed to be similar to me, in being an explorer and trying to get into places/access hidden things.
klarson: I didn't interact with Paula or Oakley much, Alex meanwhile was the classic startup/obsessed with knowledge type.
klarson: I don't know whether or not the Eater exists, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence of its existence, and from the little they shared, I have no idea what it actually is, other than an excuse.
Starling: Fair.
Scots: From speaking to Oakley about it, who for the most part has been quite straightforward with us unlike Alex, they seemed genuinely scared of the Eater. Enough that they were willing to compromise and work with Alex in the near future to pool resources over the issue
Scots: We basically know as much as you in regards to the Eater I think
Scots: sorry to ramble
Starling: we do that
Scots: If there is anything you want to know, we have been in contact with a fair few people over the past few months
Starling: I'm willing to share information I have if it interests you.
Scots: (Also if possible, do you know what the "Shatter" is? We keep seeing it but no clue what it is)
klarson: AFAIK, its the location that the Ark came through.
Starling: O h
Scots: So would signals/communications coming from that region of space be unnerving to you?
Scots: Just out of curiosity
klarson: It would be interesting, but not too unexpected. We don't think that the Shatter leads to a void, since the Ark had to come from somewhere, there's probably another reality conjoined to our own through the Shatter, likely something similar to our world, given that parts of the Ark contained devices/language fragments that seem human in origin.
Scots: Ok fair enough, cos that is most certainly happening
Scots: To circle back, what are your reasons for wanting to destroy the Ark?
Scots: And what lead to your guarding the Tower?
Scots: That far back is incredibly unclear to us
klarson: It has incredibly dangerous things, and seems to be more of a threat than a boon to the human race.
just_speculating: (And on a lighter note, did you create the FMTC puzzle? Because that was some diabolical genius.)
klarson: I'm not guarding the Tower, I'm just monitoring my simulations, and am keeping the pieces I have access to, safe.
klarson: No, I came across them through https://jacoblance.wordpress.com/ and found their beauty and construction outstanding, and thought it deserver more people's eyes on them, and the particular logic needed to solve it aligns with my goals for the AE filter.
Scots: The whole thing was incredibly fun might I add, it was great to work our way through
Starling: I struggled with it so hard. My brain doesn't click like that
Scots: So, the Tower is a piece of the Ark? Or simply connected to it, I'm a little unclear
just_speculating: It took a group of humans to solve, so it should definitely make for an excellent AE filter.
klarson: Imagine that the Ark is a spaceship, the Tower is the command module/bridge.
Scots: That makes infinitely more sense
Starling: Oh. That makes so much sense
Scots: what other pieces survived? you mentioned some being lost, was that due to something Elliot did?
Scots: feel free to tell me im asking too much when i get there
Scots: im just, curious
Scots: i feel like we might share that trait
klarson: The pieces of the Ark that survived are scattered, some have been found and one piece is where PLACEBOS was originally formed. I'm not sure what pieces survived or if Alex or the others have names for the other fragments.
klarson: The things that were lost/taken are objects/items necessary to triangulate the location of the Tower.
klarson: I'll stop you before you ask what the items/objects actually are, for obvious reasons.
Scots: of course
Starling: Legit
Scots: Who took them?
Scots: the things I mean
klarson: Some of them were destroyed in experiments before it was realized they were needed to locate the Tower, others were taken/lost when Elliot disappeared.
Scots: well
Scots: thats fun
Scots: So would you put money on Elliot having information as to some of these objects locations? Being he was the sort to find hidden things?
Scots: Because I think if that is the case, the other 3 at PLACEBOS might try to search for them via Elliots old notes
Scots: Oakley had us help recover a crate full of Elliot's notes/scribblings/journals
klarson: That's concerning, but even with what Elliot had, it shouldn't be enough to locate the Tower, there's also the items they destroyed, and even if they are able to assemble all the pieces needed to locate the Tower, there's the question of getting there, getting through it, and activating it. Which are all large undertakings of their own.
Starling: That's comforting. I was beginning to wonder about how badly we messed up
Scots: We just want to help
Scots: sometimes to a fault
just_speculating: random: was there anything important in the mathroom?
just_speculating//: Other than a fantastic pun
klarson: A minor hint towards FMTC, but otherwise nothing too important.
rysonbran: Was there anything particularly important that we missed going through the first tower? There was one door we never opened under the impression it was just another turret I believe
ORCA: Yo EK, could you tell me what is the Magician?
klarson: Just various items that could make surviving the other zones easier, but nothing important.
klarson: magus?
ORCA: thanks, just needed to confirm
