REBELLION IN THAIS

REBELLION IN THAIS:

The Venore conspiracy

Most likely, many of you, at some point in your Tibia experience, have exchanged your Life Crystal for a Life Ring with the NPC Chester Kahs in Thais, using the famous phrase „Gamel is a Rebel”. However, have you ever wondered how this quest was discovered? What is the true origin of the rebellion in Thais? Could this quest have a sequel?

This quest has been openly available to players for many years, it is generally better known among those who have played Tibia for a considerable time, since currently, a Life Ring cannot be compared to the properties granted by more contemporary items in terms of functionality. But at TibiaSecrets we are not experts in giving advice on how to optimize your hunt, but we do like to take our role as explorers in search of secrets and mysteries seriously.

If you are interested in discovering a potential unsolved quest, I invite you to join me on a long journey and dive into deep and uncharted waters, with the aim of revealing one of the most iconic secrets that our beloved and ancient game still hides.

THAIS

The city of Thais has always been recognized for its richness in lore and its interaction between the NPC’s, which allows us to immerse ourselves in the atmosphere as if we were really part of it. It is worth mentioning that small secrets of some of its inhabitants and stories can be discovered, which often transcend the borders and walls of the ancient city. These data that may seem trivial, actually can be the source of the necessary information to discover stories and secrets, or they could even contain fundamental pieces to solve a hidden quest.

But for now, we will focus on the topic that I want to share with you today: The rebellion of Thais, starting with the following question: How was the Life Ring quest solved?

The Life Ring quest, also known as „Gamel is a Rebel”, is a great example of a quest designed to be solved solely through knowledge of Tibian lore. However, the way this quest was discovered is not something that can be proudly told from an explorer’s point of view.

Although from TibiaSecrets we do not promote or incite illegality for any reason, it is necessary to mention that the explicit way how this quest was ‘solved’ was due to the leakage of files in the massive hack of Tibia around 2007. The details of this are completely irrelevant and we will not discuss this specific topic. However, in some way, this allows us to understand that probably no player knows explicitly how to reach the resolution of this quest without reading a spoiler, since the resolution method was through a leak and therefore the previous and necessary reasoning to establish the conversations that lead us to obtain the Life Ring is unknown.

Now, to contextualize the audience a bit, what is this quest about?

In summary, it is a quest in which players have the ability to exchange a Life Crystal for a Life Ring with the NPC Chester Kahs in the city of Thais. Additionally, it’s known that a certain „rebellion” is an important aspect of the plot to complete the quest. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. For this, let’s start by analyzing the NPCs involved.

Chester Kahs is the Captain of the TBI and his direct superior is King Tibianus. He is in charge of security in Thais and our mission is to report the danger that threatens the King due to characters infiltrated in the city of Thais who plan his assassination.

To understand the origin of this quest, one of the NPCs with whom we must talk first is Oswald, a character not very well-liked in Thais due to his personality linked to spreading rumors in the city. When we ask Oswald about Gamel, he tells us that Gamel usually hangs out with ‘sinister strangers’. At this point is where, in theory, the quest begins.

The following scheme illustrates the dynamics of the conversations necessary to supposedly ‘solve the quest’ step by step.

You can also give the crystal to Lugri and he will just attack you and take the crystal from you. On the other hand, there is also an item called ‘Magic Crystal’, but it is useless for Gamel to grant us the mission. For some strange reason, the Magic Crystal has the same sprite as a Life Crystal, but it is of no use to continue the quest.

But beyond understanding these strange situations, let’s start by analyzing the situation with Gamel.

According to the previous scheme, we know that Gamel at some point met a certain ‘one eyed stranger’ during the night and Frodo tells us that said stranger called himself ‘Berfasmur’. Anyone who knows Tibia’s most feared sorcerer knows that Berfasmur is actually an anagram of Ferumbras. Anyway Chester Kahs can confirm our assumptions.

But would Ferumbras really be interested in talking to a mere mortal hiding in the sewers? On the other hand, Ferumbras is not a one-eyed man, considering that said stranger is described as such. In addition, Ferumbras is not a stranger to Oswald or to anyone in Thais, since Ferumbras attacked Thais years ago. So, the description of a ‘one-eyed stranger’ definitely doesn’t fit Ferumbras, but rather someone trying to hide his true identity.

THE MYSTERIOUS DOORS OF THAIS

On the other hand we have the NPCs Topsy and Turvy. You probably know the twins who have a small trading post north of Thais. This trading post is actually a branch of Venore, and thanks to trade exchanges between the city of Thais and Venore, a group of people from the swamp city were offered a trading post to sell equipment in Thais. However, Topsy and Turvy are definitely not Venoreans, rather they are dressed in the same outfit as the women of Carlin, a city in constant conflict with Thais and Venore.

Revealing the true identity of Topsy and Turvy can be accomplished by asking them for their opinion about the King or Thais. Of course, they are very good spies and try to hide their information. However, this is where the real mystery of this whole rebellion thing begins: The door on the second level of the shop.

According to the twins, their supposed ‘boss’ should be on the second level of said trading post, however this place is empty and we will only find some mysterious mission doors that we cannot access.

All this made me think that we were facing a much bigger puzzle and the answers could, perhaps, be found outside of Thais. So I decided to switch to 'explorer mode’ in order to investigate and understand the relationships between the cities of Carlin, Venore and Thais.

I thought that, perhaps, by visiting the libraries of other cities I would be able to find clues about the rebellion or learn more about the commercial relations between these cities in order to understand the history. And well, indeed in Carlin there is a book called ‘The Silent War’ which explains Carlin’s business relations with Thais and its dispute with Venore.

In short, the book tells us that the conflict between Carlin and Thais stems from the fact that Thais have historically claimed Carlin as their own and use their political power to hinder its growth and prosperity. However, the true source of this conflict is the actions of a mysterious group called the 'Trade Barons’, who belong to Venore and manipulate the political decisions of Thais to restrict the expansion of Carlin and increase their own profits.

In this way, Venore has been using Thais as a tool to achieve its goals, while Carlin has been directing its suspicions towards Thais, without realizing that the true enemy is actually Venore. In addition, the self-proclaimed 'Trade Barons’ have been lowering prices of Carlin’s goods and banning its wares from the markets they control, all to undermine profit margins and help the growth of the black market.

At that moment, I knew I was diving into something important and even a little darker than I imagined.

We know that Venore is supposedly an ally of the Thais, however, the 'Trade Barons’ manipulate Thais to sabotage Carlin through the black market and smuggling, and at the same time conspire against Thais. Thus, they would be responsible for this supposed rebellion.

Personally, I knew some side stories, even some from the most recent updates that I couldn’t link to any other point in the lore, but here is when I was able to glimpse the background behind it all and from one moment to another, all the elements that surround Thais and the rebellion began to make sense: Black Bert’s quest, Gamel, Topsy and Turvy as Carlin’s spies, Leeland in Venore, Dark Cathedral, etc.

It is as if all these years a piece of a puzzle has been missing, waiting to be read in one of the dusty books in the library of Carlin’s congress hall.

So I took some notes that I had saved and I began to remember some vague ideas that I had in order to get a slightly clearer idea of the panorama, since until then I visualized something but without significant details that could lead to more accurate conclusions.

DARK CATHEDRAL

That’s how I remembered part of the history of Dark Cathedral: This old building was destroyed many years ago due to an earthquake caused by the arrival of the Ruthless Seven in Pits of Inferno. The corrupted monks and followers of Zathroth decided to build and use these ruins to hide their evil intentions which include demonic rituals, kidnapping, production of undeath-related potions and of course, smuggling.

We can clearly see how they train Smugglers and Assassins to carry out their duties and this is confirmed in the depths of this mysterious cathedral in their secret library.

There we can find some documents and read part of their plans. We also learn that they have sent an ‘agent’ to Thais for certain secret missions, but their infiltrator has been discovered by the TBI. Here they are telling us about Gamel himself, who had to hide near the sewers because we, the players, had reported him as part of the rebellion to Chester Kahs.

On the other hand, I decided to read again an article written by Elkolorado in a previous post on this website: Now I had no doubt that the character known as ‘One-eyed stranger’ that Oswald and Frodo mentioned in Thais, is actually Abran Ironeye, NPC of Venore and who had a clear link to the cult of Dark Cathedral. Here we are talking about arms trafficking, document falsification and issues strictly linked to the black market.

In fact, I immediately remembered the famous ‘Annihilation Bear’ and its particular weight of 43.00 Oz, since Abran Ironeye has a similar teddy in his room.

There is no doubt that inside this teddy there is some type of metal and that’s the reason it weighs so much. I even started to fantasize about the legendary Magic Longsword that possesses the same weight as the Annihilator Bear. Perhaps the famous teddy bear is related to this quest, which, as Elkolorado rightly mentions in his post, could be in the hands of Mr. Loveless in Liberty Bay.

LIBERTY BAY

So I decided to take a trip to Vandura, an ancient elven settlement during the Godwars which was torn to pieces due to powerful elven rituals from the past. Within this continent is located the city of Liberty Bay, a beautiful city full of history and mysteries, and of course, also of rebellion.

Percy Silverhand is the Governor of Liberty Bay and the representative of King Tibianus in the city. His ‘supposed’ right-hand man is Theodore Loveless, who is some sort of Venore’s ambassador in Liberty Bay. And of course, he is also an extremely interesting NPC. Suffice it to say that under his house there is a lonely demon locked up.

In the previous image, we can see how some adventurers dug a secret tunnel in the direction of the treasures that Mr. Loveless hides, but the Demon, who would be a kind of guardian of those treasures, ended the lives of said adventurers.

Definitely Mr. Loveless hides powerful weapons, perhaps from this mythical elven civilization that once inhabited these islands. Also, in some way or another, the mysterious Elethriel’s Elemental Bow has a name very similar to the NPC Elathriel from Ab’dendriel (Elethriel / Elathriel).

In some of my research I have managed to conclude that the elven castes called Kuridai and Cenath inhabited these islands thousands of years ago. Thus, knowing that the NPC Elathriel belongs to the Kuridai caste, this doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me at all. Perhaps how many treasures of this ancient race are still secretly buried on these islands…

But going back to our topic at hand, we know that Mr. Loveless wields great economic and political power in Liberty Bay, but also, he has suspicious ties and pacts. For example, the pirate Vulturenose in Nargor, warns us not to get involved in Mr. Loveless’s affairs when we ask about him.

It is necessary to emphasize that the governor of Liberty Bay, Percy Silverhand, is completely unaware of these matters.

So, considering that Mr. Loveless maintains close relationships with smugglers and pirates behind the Governor’s back, it’s not unreasonable to suggest that the mysterious „Heavy Trunk” we found in the island’s harbor may contain illegal weapons belonging to him.

We can see something similar in some Rashid missions, in which we are tasked with delivering a ‘heavy package’ that we have to get from the NPC Snake Eye in Outlaw Camp. It is no secret that Rashid buys powerful items to supply and support the cause of the nomads.

Another similar example would be the case of NPC Ahmet in Ankrahmun, who is involved in forging fake documents in one of ‘The Thieves Guild Quest’ missions and he also asks us to recover a ‘heavy’ pirate bag which the Nomads have stolen from him. By the way, the fact that said bag is a 'pirate bag’ is not a coincidence either.

Generally these heavy cargoes are clearly associated with weapons and that’s the reason for their heavy weight. Also, we know that the Nomads are enemies of the Smugglers, as we can see in ‘Arito Quest’.

I could go further and name the stories of the NPC’s Partos and Todd from Thais, who were robbing in Daraman desert from the Djinn and nomads, and in the end both ended up imprisoned in Carlin due to alcohol smuggling, and then headed to Thais to hide. In this case Partos ended up imprisoned in Thais and Todd, well, he has a big hangover in Frodo’s room, after accepting a million dollar deal regarding the smuggling of alcohol from Thais to Carlin.

But let’s return to Liberty Bay. In conclusion, it’s very likely that the mysterious 'Heavy Trunk’ is also smuggling weapons orchestrated by Mr. Loveless and the 'Trade Barons’ to continue their plans against the Carlin market. Perhaps Mr. Loveless plays a bigger role than we think.

On the other hand, in Liberty Bay we find a mysterious NPC called Isolde. She is the leader of the paladin guild in this city and has a secret love with the NPC Tristan, the leader of the Knight guild.

It is worth mentioning that Tristan and Isolde is an allusion to a well-known novel called „Tristan and Isolda”, which can be read by those who are interested.

An interesting fact about the NPC Isolde is that she is a woman from Carlin, and let’s say that she is not in this place ‘by chance’. She has an interesting story and I can tell you that she hides some secrets, and perhaps, a quest related to Topsy Turvy and the mysterious door in Thais.

My assumptions about it began in one of my visits to the Carlin libraries where I found a very curious book.

The text tells the story of a woman named Marcia Rugby, who is the youngest of three daughters from a merchant family in Carlin. Her family was involved in establishing a trading post in Svargrond. After several events which are told in said story, Marcia decides to undertake an expedition from Svargrond to the Shattered Isles, an expedition from which she never returned. Her 2 sisters waited in vain for news of her and it is believed that her ship had fallen prey to one of the violent and sudden storms known to hit that region.

Or in another more summarized way, Marcia was a woman from Carlin who had 2 sisters and owned a trading post in Svargrond and then set out on a journey from Carlin to Liberty Bay where she never returned.

The curious thing about this book is that we are told that the family was made up of 3 sisters and they also owned trading posts. Coincidentally, in Thais we have 2 twin sisters: Topsy and Turvy in a trading post. While in Liberty Bay we have Isolde from Carlin. Could they be the 3 sisters mentioned in said book?

Despite the fact the book mentions that said woman’s name is Marta Rugby and not Isolde, it’s quite likely that Isolde hides her true identity so as not to be discovered by the ‘Trade Barons’ in Liberty Bay. In fact, Mr Loveless is suspicious of Isolde and watches her closely because he knows that she comes from Carlin and obviously, he’s an enemy of the Carlinians.

On the other hand, the woman mentioned in the book had an accident on a boat when she was traveling from Carlin to Liberty Bay, while NPC Marcus tells us that Isolde arrived on the island from Carlin at the same time that a ship sank.

Coincidences or hits? Perhaps those mysterious doors in the Thais trading post are associated with Isolde and her 2 sisters.

The more I immersed myself in this story, the more questions arose. So I took my warmest clothes and decided to take a ship to the north of Tibia to continue my research to the Ice Islands.

SVARGROND

Svargrond is an ice city in the north of Tibia. An ancient elven settlement in the past that was frozen over after the ancient race used the powers of the Frostheart Spire to fend off the demonic hordes which tried to steal their relics. It’s basically for this reason that today the city is under a blanket of ice.

On these islands I learned that Carlin has influences on the Ice Islands and the city of Svargrond has been used as a small trading post and mineral deposit. From this point of view, ‘Marcia Rugby’s book’ made perfect sense. In fact, I started to find a variety of similarities between Shattered Isles and Ice Islands in slightly different themes than the subject matter at hand, which I’d love to share with you, but we’ll save it for another chance so as not to stray from the main theme.

While exploring the islands of Hrodomir, one island in particular caught my eye. Foreign hunters from Venore have also established a camp in Tyrsung in order to smuggle cargo and animal fur.

The last picture shown immediately reminded me of Mr. Loveless’s room in Liberty Bay. It always struck me that, on an island with a tropical climate such as Liberty Bay, the suspicious Venorean ambassador had a polar bear rug. Well, in the end, the characteristics of his home fit perfectly with his ambitious and evil personality.

At this point the whole picture was even clearer. Even though Venore had no sovereignty over Svargrond, they were somehow trying to sabotage Carlin’s plans in this city, but it was something I couldn’t dig deeper…for now.

On the other hand, the NPCs of Svargrond confirmed the suspicions I had about the relations between Carlin and Venore, and the influences of the 'Trade Barons’.

While the Carlinian women told me about how sacrificed it is to work on these islands, one dialogue in particular caught my attention. They tell us about rumors of a guy from the Carlin Trading Syndicate.

Considering that Marcia Rugby, the woman mentioned in the previous book, had a trading post in Carlin, somehow the guy described by NPC Nelly, who belongs to a syndicate of the same trading post, could be directly related, since he would be a worker of hers in the past.

I wanted to get to the bottom of all this, but it was getting late and the Ice Islands are usually very hostile at such times, so I went back to Thais to finish writing up my scribbled notes from my travels so that I could tell you in broad strokes what I managed to conclude.

CONCLUSIONS

Indeed, it is possible to understand Venore’s rebellion against Thais and his authorities, and that’s why they have used infiltrators like Gamel to try to sabotage Thais’ business and political plans. In other words, it is also possible to solve this quest without spoilers. But even knowing what the whole story is based on, I am still amazed by its level of difficulty and I have no doubt that, in case this quest contains a sequel, it must be a quest with a similar difficulty.

On the other hand, there are many clues scattered around Tibia to fit the pieces of this puzzle, which by the way, is not an easy task at all. Suffice to say that Port Hope also plays an important role in this story. Perhaps there we can find the missing piece to unveil the secrets and mysteries that surround the political conflicts between those cities, and why not? Perhaps we will be able to find the continuity of a quest as mysterious as this one.

And last but not least, there are an incredible amount of mysteries and incredible secret stories between these places that I have visited. Many of them are not directly tied to the rebellion, but are hidden deep between the lines and even reflect and respond to content from the most recent updates. Only time, dedication and exploration will tell what is hidden behind, not only from the two doors in Thais, but behind all the fascinating secrets of Tibia.

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Credits: Those players who contributed relevant data for this article, especially Txetxenia, a great explorer and one of the best pirate lore historians I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.