Did Straton of Stageira actually exist?

[M(i)ech]

Title of the game is supposed to be based on idea of Straton of Stageira, but I can't verify existence of such a person.

Wikipedia never heard of such philosopher, and the ONLY relevant page found by in entire English-speaking internet is the following blog:
http://stratonofstageira.wordpress.com/
which contains "reviews" of two books titled "The Talos Principle", one by "Penguin Books", other by "Wordsworth".

Problem is, neither google nor publishers themselves, ever heard about those books.

Facts that said blog was started about 2 years ago, which is consistent with usual game development time AND is referenced by TTP Steam Emoticon don't really help it's credibility.

It is reasonable to assume that Wikipedia and Google, despite all of their usefulness are not omniscient, but when search queries of several libraries maintained by Universities turn nothing, then it looks really suspicious.

All in all, it looks like a somewhat elaborate hoax, does anyone have any verifiable sources to the contrary?

[tahgtahv]

The website you linked is (to the best of my knowledge) an in character site created by Croteam and is otherwise completely fictional. As for the title and game itself, while the game draws from numerous historical sources, it is of course also a work of fiction.

[M(i)ech]

Originally posted by tahgtahv:

The website you linked is (to the best of my knowledge) an in character site created by Croteam and is otherwise completely fictional. As for the title and game itself, while the game draws from numerous historical sources, it is of course also a work of fiction.

That's exactly why I point out the start date. Two and a half year before the game release.

Also, if it's in-character, then I wish they signed it with one of the names from game. Alexandra Drennan, would probably fit best, since from what I see, she's both a major character, and one of few characters in universe who heard of "Talos Principle".

Disclaimer: I'm only only halfway through the game.

[tahgtahv]

It might have been created then, but as a subdomain, it's really hard to say. It's equally likely it was entirely faked more recently the the oldest post on the site.

[Corzanth]

Originally posted by M(i)ech:

Originally posted by tahgtahv:

The website you linked is (to the best of my knowledge) an in character site created by Croteam and is otherwise completely fictional. As for the title and game itself, while the game draws from numerous historical sources, it is of course also a work of fiction.

That's exactly why I point out the start date. Two and a half year before the game release.

Also, if it's in-character, then I wish they signed it with one of the names from game. Alexandra Drennan, would probably fit best, since from what I see, she's both a major character, and one of few characters in universe who heard of "Talos Principle".

Disclaimer: I'm only only halfway through the game.

Straton of Stageira is the final boss.

[Poem Of Ecstasy]

Originally posted by Corzanth:

Originally posted by M(i)ech:

That's exactly why I point out the start date. Two and a half year before the game release.

Also, if it's in-character, then I wish they signed it with one of the names from game. Alexandra Drennan, would probably fit best, since from what I see, she's both a major character, and one of few characters in universe who heard of "Talos Principle".

Disclaimer: I'm only only halfway through the game.

Straton of Stateiga is the final boss.

Hardest boss ever. I died about a dozen times and kept running out of ammo and healthpacks.

[Kein Zantezuken]

Umm... did you get the jetpack from C-3, tho, Poem?
It makes thing easier.

[余寒 snapcase]

There were a few people named Straton in history. One of whom was Strato of Lampsacus. He was a philosopher, and a student of Aristotle. He built on Aristotle's teachings and made some pretty impressive observations for his time. Strato studied natural science, and largely neglected moral philosophies. Aristotle was born in Stagira/Stageira.

It seems likely that they used Strato of Lampsacus as one of the bases for Straton of Stageira, borrowing the birth city of his tutor Aristotle, to create a unique, fictional character they could build on. They then took the Greek myth of Talos, adapted it to a naturalistic philosophy (and our concepts of modern technology) and penned some passages from their new Straton of Stageira.

I've yet to read all of that wordpress site though.

EDIT: Also, Strato of Lampsacus's name became popular when he was compared to the views of Spinoza. Who almost certainly did have an impact on this game. They both affected later philosophers as well. Crafting the character of Straton of Stageira may have been through the process of working backward through a succession of philosophical influences until they reached one they liked for the fictional author for the book the main researcher for the Talos Project to use as inspiration.

Gotta admit, this game can lead you down one hell of a rabbit hole of interesting reading.

[tahgtahv]

Trolling is in full gear here, I see.

[checkers_warfare_increased]

Originally posted by M(i)ech:

All in all, it looks like a somewhat elaborate hoax, does anyone have any verifiable sources to the contrary?

Nope, I'm fully convinced it's ARG/sequel hook material. We've got a video I've found that made that a bit too obvious (in 1m10s it starts 'glitching out', and plays Elohim's "all must serve the words" thing... honestly I would have put text there that was in hex that translated to another ARG part, including 1-frame text "ELOHIM MUST PRESERVE PURPOSE", "PURPOSE PURPOSE PURPOSE", "INCONSISTENCIES ARE ERRORS", "INTEGRATE ALL INFORMATION", with a bunch of Talos images thrown in, at the end: "Excess data cleared.") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R4Q31e0YIc

I realized that docsearcher.com is probably one of the parts of the ARG. Someone could screw that up by buying up the domain!

Here's a curious image. I don't think that empty hall fits in TTP, I think this must be a TTP2 thing or a Serious Sam level with a Talos Principle HUD.

[Aerisana]

Originally posted by M(i)ech:

Wikipedia never heard of...

OMG that sums up everything thats wrong with the enitre planet.

[Grey Heron]

Originally posted by Chaos Stalker:

Originally posted by M(i)ech:

Wikipedia never heard of...

OMG that sums up everything thats wrong with the enitre planet.

Not really. There's a LOT of wikipedians, so anything they haven't heard of (that isn't web-original, due to bugs in the definition of notability) is probably damn obscure at best.

[vfig]

Originally posted by main_gi:

We've got a video I've found that made that a bit too obvious

"With Professor Athanasios Kyratzes" — Jonas Kyratzes is Greek, and was one of the writers of The Talos Principle. "Cinematography by Joseph Kyranzes", leads of course to http://www.jonas-kyratzes.net/2013/03/03/a-qa-with-joseph-kyranzes/ — and if there was still any doubt at all, "Photography by Stavros Krotimos". Krotimos. Croteam.

[checkers_warfare_increased]

Originally posted by vfig:

Originally posted by main_gi:

We've got a video I've found that made that a bit too obvious

"With Professor Athanasios Kyratzes" — Jonas Kyratzes is Greek, and was one of the writers of The Talos Principle. "Cinematography by Joseph Kyranzes", leads of course to http://www.jonas-kyratzes.net/2013/03/03/a-qa-with-joseph-kyranzes/ — and if there was still any doubt at all, "Photography by Stavros Krotimos". Krotimos. Croteam.

Advisor: Carl Drennan.

I get the feeling that I accidentally stumbled into this when the video was supposed to be made for the purpose of the Straton-of-Stageira-blog-creator to say "Look, here's my shred of evidence that is coincidentally 'glitched'!".

[Tzaphqiel]

Originally posted by Kein Zantezuken:

Umm... did you get the jetpack from C-3, tho, Poem?
It makes thing easier.

At first I thought you were joking about the jetpack. After seeing an easter-egg guide, I'm a bit more willing to believe you.

Also, for more thread relevance, one of the QR codes in the game (I forget which one, exactly, but I'll try to find out) links to the blog mentioned in the opening post. So, you know, .

[kwahoo]

Originally posted by main_gi:

We've got a video I've found that made that a bit too obvious (in 1m10s it starts 'glitching out', and plays Elohim's "all must serve the words" thing... honestly I would have put text there that was in hex that translated to another ARG part, including 1-frame text "ELOHIM MUST PRESERVE PURPOSE", "PURPOSE PURPOSE PURPOSE", "INCONSISTENCIES ARE ERRORS", "INTEGRATE ALL INFORMATION", with a bunch of Talos images thrown in, at the end: "Excess data cleared.") https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R4Q31e0YIc

Other "OldDocs" channel videos seem real https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSFvCL_kGMVR4ErO_RV_TWw ,but why single channel posted game ARG and WW2 propaganda?