IXION is a complex sci-fi story on the back of a world-building strategy game. You play as an Administrator on board of the Tiqqun, housing the last percentage of humanity on board. As you traverse the stars, in search for resources, you must keep your crewmembers happy and safe. But many dangers are amongst the stars. Not only this but, your Tiqqun seems set to fail from the get go. With Vanir’s influence on humanity being at the forefront. Wanting to destroy humanity by creating his own initiative for the Tiqqun to follow. As you progress through the story, the Cult of the Hull presents itself. Do you choose to join or suppress? This is the Cult of the Hull in IXION explained.
What is the Cult of the Hull?
The Cult of the Hull is a reoccurring Cult that appears throughout the story of IXION. Whilst it is not at the forefront of its narrative, the Cult acts as a religious group which spreads through the Tiqqun as the story progresses. The Cult is more of an idea than a living, breathing concept. It manipulates and tricks the Tiqqun civilization into joining its ideology. Through propaganda and general panicking, those who join the Cult, pray towards the Tiqqun, believing that they are the last of humanity.
The Cult of the Hull first appears in Chapter 3, claiming that a Sector of the Tiqqun has converted. You are given two options at this point in IXION:
- Embrace the Cult and begin worship. Believing that the Tiqqun is something to worship and sacrifice.
- Suppress the Cult.
As you are told that this is not breaking any DOLOS directives, you got to wonder if this is what Vanir and DOLOS really wants from the people of Tiqqun. The Cult worships the Tiqqun and its SEO, Vanir who is the main reason for the humanity being in the dire situation they are currently in. What makes this all stranger is that the situation appears to be looping like some sort of Paradox seen in the likes of Coherance, Blair Witch and Interstellar. Where you can find the corpses of your Tiqqun crewmates floating as debris outside the craft. The same crewmembers who are in fact currently alive inside the Tiqqun at the time of finding their corpses. Meaning that there is an infinite number of Tiqqun ships searching to save humanity from damnation.
Related: How to Move and Rotate Buildings in IXION.
The Beliefs of the Cult
The Cult of the Hull follows the beliefs of Barjaville, referencing the writing of time travelling and paradox by René Barjavel. Presenting the Grandfather Paradox:
“If one goes backwards in time and kills one of their ancestors before he had children, the traveller cannot exist and therefore cannot kill the ancestor.”
Le Voyageur Imprudent (1943)
That the DOLOS system which the Tiqqun crewmembers follow is repeating history. The search for humanity has been done time and time again. This is shown in the searching of Cryopods to awaken humanity to join your civilization, found across the stars in your search for resources. Equally, you find DOLOS crafts that appear exactly the same as the Tiqqun, with its crewmembers dead and the interior being iced over as if loads of time has passed. The initial space jump of our Tiqqun itself appears to have taken place 100 years ago as well.
Those you awake are later used to form your civilization in the new planet, by becoming part human, part plant through assimilation with the Remus ending. Should you choose to go down the path of the Remus option, the Cult of the Hull grows tremendously inside your Sectors of the Tiqqun. By visiting three Temples in Chapter 5: Temple of Merit, Free Will and Common Sense. Your crew sent to these areas will either kill each other, themselves or get lost in the Temple. This path ends in your crew being assimilated and for those who knew of the cost of assimilating into another species and chose to reject this path, were turned into trash. Literal trash. With your Sectors filling with trash as your population dwindled, preparing to leave the Tiqqun for good.
The Meaning of the Cult of the Hull
The Cult of the Hull derived from Barjaville is an attempt from Vanir. For the Tiqqun colony to fall into the depths of sacrificial nonsense. Believing that the Hull of the Tiqqun is going to save them. It makes them believe that their only hope is to assimilate with another species. Removing all free will and selfishness of what makes humans, humans. The NAOMI Protocol is a backdoor code to the Tiqqun AI. Offering the Administrator (player) to make decisions that are of free will and common sense. It gives the player the choice to make the moral decision. Unlike the original goal of the AI to strip all free will. Through the following of every DOLOS order. The NAOMI Protocol takes the mind of a human with free will and entraps in through code.
NAOMI expresses that the Cult following Barjaville’s words is the end of humanity through her cipher. To follow this Cult and in turn, every DOLOS order, you will change and ruin humanity forever. We recommend that players do not always choose NAOMI options when available. In fact, a lot of DOLOS actions are logical and the right choice to make. However, this backdoor code is essential in offering humanity a chance of freedom and free will. This is likely the outcome of every parallel universe where the Tiqqun tried to find a new habitable planet. Unfortunately, no matter the outcome in your playthrough, in a way Vanir will win.
We hope this article on the meaning of the Cult of the Hull in IXION was helpful. It makes for a unique and complex story to accompany the challenging gameplay of IXION. Let us know which ending you got and your interpretation/opinion of IXION on Gamer Journalist at Facebook. You can stay up to date with all the latest content, including more strategy, city-building games. Are you interested in IXION but have not started playing yet? Feel free to check out our other articles, Where to Find Resources in IXION and How to Unlock More Sectors in IXION.
Published: Jan 6, 2023 10:07 am