2007-2010 (Early Game-Big Bang)

December 2007: Pirates

(A/N: The release of the Pirate Explorer class in December 2007 kickstarted the Black Mage storyline and cemented him as the main villain of the game. This first part of the section covers a set of quests that were released as an introduction to Pirates shortly before their release.)

A traveler was contacted by Marcel in Ludibrium, who explained that the King of Ludibrium had recently received a letter from a mysterious group of powerful people, and that the king had decided to ally with them. Marcel then asked the traveler to investigate the group whom the king had allied with. The traveler went to Orbis and spoke with a half-Nymph named Lisa, who told them that she had discovered an immense, town-sized steel creature that could both float in the water and dive below.

She explained that it docked at Victoria Island and asked the traveler to investigate it, as she was worried about a possible attack. Meanwhile, Chief Tatamo asked the traveler to come to Leafre. There, he explained that while Leafre was safe under the protection of the dragons, the rest of the world might not be safe from the new group of powerful beings who had just appeared in Maple World, and so he asks the traveler to investigate.

Soon after, Han the Broker contacted the traveler and explained that he was concerned about someone purchasing an inordinate amount of steel, jewels, and alchemic sources of energy, which he explained had been in enough quantities to start a war. He asked the traveler to investigate who had made the deal, as well as to determine whether they were a threat.

In Henesys, Chief Stan told the traveler that all the people of Victoria Island were worried about rumors of a group of suspicious people who had been seen at the eastern shores of Victoria Island. He explained that the suspicious group wore strange costumes and wielded unusual weapons, with several townspeople reporting that they could hear mysterious noises by the shore.

Upon investigating the eastern shores, the traveler encountered a man named Bart manning a fort-like lookout tower. Though he initially believed the traveler to be a threat, he quickly realized that they had merely come for information. He explained that they were pirates allied with the four Wisemen of Victoria Island, and that under the leadership of Kyrin, they sailed around Maple World in the Nautilus in order to find traces of the Black Mage, as well as to destroy his followers.

(A/N: Athena Pierce, Grendel, the Dark Lord, and Dances with Balrog used to be called the four Wisemen before pirates came out. That title was deleted from the game some time later.)

He added that unlike Lord Pirate and his bandits of Herb Town, they wished to destroy the Black Mage - the root of all evil and the source of all darkness - once and for all. As the Nautilus was still finishing construction of their fort and harbor, he invited the traveler to join them in the near future in order to train and live the life of a pirate, promising to accept them with open arms.

Soon after, the traveler began exploring around the Nautilus when they discovered a crumpled letter in a trashcan near Kyrin’s quarters. Upon picking it up, they discovered that it was a letter that Kyrin had written to Athena Pierce. They soon encountered a pirate named Muirhat, who asked them to deliver the letter to Athena, as Kyrin had been afraid of sending it.

The traveler brought the letter to Athena, who read through the letter and then began explaining her history with Kyrin. She explained that long ago, Victoria Island had been split off from the continent of Ossyria. A great pirate named Destonen had fought against the Black Mage during that time and had managed to temporarily subdue him, thus protecting the people of Victoria Island.

Knowing that the Black Mage would prepare to attack again, Destonen had set off to track him down, leaving his young daughter, Kyrin, in the care of Athena Pierce. Athena explained that she had raised Kyrin for many years until one day, Kyrin had overheard a meeting between the four Wisemen and had learned about her father’s fate. Deciding that she would carry on her father’s legacy, Kyrin had run away from home and had disappeared for many years until finally returning back to Victoria Island aboard the Nautilus in order to warn Maple World about the Black Mage’s imminent return.

(A/N: Although the lore about the Black Wings hadn’t been invented yet, I like to headcanon that Kyrin learned that the Black Wings were trying to revive the Black Mage while she was sailing near Edelstein, which had prompted her to return back and warn Victoria Island.)

Athena told the traveler that though she missed Kyrin, she couldn’t leave her post in Henesys, and so she asked them give Kyrin an Orgel, an object similar to a music box. The traveler brought Athena’s gift to Kyrin, who was overwhelmed with emotion. She then thanked the traveler and told them that she would make plans to reunite with Athena.

(A/N: There are a couple more quests that you could do after this, although not all of them were related to the Black Mage. For the purposes of this guide, I’ll only be including the ones that were pertinent to the Black Mage.)

While exploring the Nautilus, the traveler encountered a Book Ghost, who introduced himself as Rolonay and insisted that he was a human. He explained that he was a reputed genius, and that many people from Maple World would frequently come to him for help. He told the traveler that one of his recent projects had been for Dr. Kim of Omega Sector, which he had just finished. As he was flooded with work, he asked them to deliver his report to Dr. Kim personally, as the information inside was too sensitive to be sent through conventional means.

The traveler brought the report to Dr. Kim, who began reading through Rolonay’s report and noted that one of the graphs depicted the relationship between the psychic wave powers of the Omega Sector aliens and the power of the ancient magicians. He then concluded that there was a connection between the mental powers of the Bernard Grays and the Black Mage, after which he thanked the traveler for bringing him the report.

(A/N: Omega Sector plays virtually no role in the Black Mage storyline, and so this plot point was likely dropped very early on, along with the hints at a hidden connection between Kyrin and Dr. Kim. You can see Dr. Kim’s face on one of the monitors in the navigation room of the Nautilus, and there’s also a warp portal in the navigation room that can teleport you straight into Omega Sector headquarters if you have a Warp Card in your inventory, although Warp Cards are no longer obtainable.)

Soon after, the traveler encountered a pirate named Baine crouched against the wall, listening through a device. He asked the traveler whether they could hear the noise as well, and so the traveler listened with the device and heard an odd sound resonating throughout the hull of the Nautilus. Baine then asked the traveler to speak with Bart at the lookout tower in order to check whether he had seen anything that might be causing the noise.

At the lookout tower, Bart handed the traveler his logs containing his observations, explaining that he had noticed something odd as well. The traveler brought the logs to Baine, who read through them and explained that the Black Mage’s spies were likely collecting information on the Nautilus’ return to Victoria Island. He asked the traveler to stop the spies and explained that though the spies would appear as ordinary monsters, they would be carrying a special token to signify that they worked for the Black Mage.

The traveler quickly found a token near Nautilus Harbor, causing them to grow worried, as the fact that they had obtained one so quickly meant that there might be many spies. They brought the token to Baine, who included it in his report, which he asked them to deliver to Muirhat. Muirhat read through the report and asked them to defeat the lead disciple of the Black Mage at the spies’ hideout. The traveler was then sent to the hideout, where they defeated several pigs until they found the right one, which shapeshifted into its true form - a strange dark blob - before disappearing.

(A/N: You can tell how different the early entries of the main story were from the rest of it by the way that they handled the Black Mage’s underlings. A blob disguised as a pig fits the much more whimsical atmosphere of the pre-Big Bang story, versus the darker, more serious version that we have today with all the tragic backstories and deaths.)