Lore and Story Musings (Spoilers and Speculation)

[Golden Yak]

Recently finished my playthrough. As with many games that share genres with Last Case, my favorite part is unraveling all of the sweet, delicious lore. I thought I'd share what I managed to figure out from the lore in the messages and what I recall from the dialogue.

Needless to say but I'll say it anyway, major spoilers abound, so beware.
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Ordo Ira Dei

A government-backed organization that seems equal parts occult society, religious institution, and law enforcement agency. Their purpose is to police the paranormal world, investigating the supernatural, confiscating arcane knowledge and artifacts, and curtailing abuses of occult power. Also called simply the Order.

The First Circle

A secret society comprised of alchemists, sorcerers, mediums, and other occult practioners. Formed from those who desired to escape the oversight of the Order. Responsible for numerous paranormal atrocities. The powerful Von Bothmer family were members of the First Circle, and Arthur Von Bothman was instrumental in discovering the alternate dimension that became known as Limbo.

The First Circle's abuses made them bitter enemies with the Ordo Ira Dei. Eventually their fued ignited into outright conflict. In the end, the First Circle was broken and submitted to the Order, which confiscated all their resources. In order to discourage the birth of children with natural occult abilities who might inherit their family's grudges, members of the First Circle were prohibited from reproducing without express permission from Order officials.


The Organization

A branch of the Ordo Ira Dei, formed from the orphans and victims of the First Circle. The Order believed that there would be none better to police the assets and descendants of the First Circle that operated under Order scruitiny. Organization agents were trained in combat tactics and utilized for the most dangerous of assignments, including expeditions into charting the extradimensional realm of Limbo. Their members were also used for the Order's own extreme occult experimentations, as First Circle assets enabled them to expand their knowledge further and further...

Benedict Fox was a former member of the Organization, an orphan raised into it, before an experiment bonded him with an extradimensional entity. He fled the Organization in fear of being executed and dissected, earning him the ire of fellow Organization agents and their Order masters.


Limbo

An extradimensional realm that seems closely connected with metaphysical human concepts, such as the mind, memory, and emotions. Named for the first circle of Hell from the poem Dante's Inferno. The inhabitants of Limbo are called 'demons' by the Order, and are drawn to various human emotions, seeming alternatively to derive sustenance from them or be harmed by exposure to them.

Limbo can be accessed through the minds of other humans, even those who have died. The connecting of personal psyche and extradimensional space means that the appearance every person's individual 'Limbo' is unique to them, usually formed from aspects of familiar environments and memories blended with eldritch geography. Objects born of memory within a Limbo can be brought back into the world as if they were solid and real.

Ordinarily, Limbo can only be accessed through extremely rare dimensional conjunctions, but the development of mechanical devices and personal abilities that allow for free and active travel have been made possible by experiments of the First Circle.


Benedict Fox

A private detective and former agent of the Organization, Benedict had been given up for adoption at birth and inducted into the Organization, given the callsign Fox. Fox fled the Organization and the Order shortly after an occult experiment bonded him with an extradimensional entity, whom he refers to only as his Companion. Fox became a private detective under the name Benedict Fox, using his ability to navigate Limbo and the empathic nature of his Companion to great effect in this regard. He repeatedly clashed with Order forces, frequently his former colleague from the Organization, callsign Wasp.

Eventually, Benedict discovered documents concerning his biological parents, and sought out his father, James M. Floyd. Sometime after giving away Benedict, his child from an earlier marriage, Floyd had taken another wife, marrying into the wealthy and influential Von Bothmer family and becoming the husband of Marie Floyd (nee Von Bothmer). It is unclear what James' motives may have been, but he was found to have continued several of Arthur Von Bothmer's experiments, including a mechanical cipher known as the Conundrum that resonates with Limbo energies, and the creation of a golem, an artificial being made of clay and animated by occult relics.

Beyond seeking knowledge about his family, Benedict sought the means to conduct an occult Ritual that would sever the bond between him and his Companion. Their union meant an eventually slow, deteriorating death for the both of them, as Benedict's essence would be exhausted by the Companion's presence, while Benedict's human emotions had a similar damaging effect on the empathically-sensitive entity.


The Destruction of James and Marie Floyd

Finding James Floyd and his wife dead in the Von Bothmer manor home, Benedict began an investigation, both to discover the circumstances of their deaths and retrieve the necessary documents to carry out the Ritual.

Benedict discovered the unhappy circumstances of the Floyd's marriage - Marie's desire for a child conflicted with James' occult experiments and both chaffed at the reproductive restrictions imposed on them by the Order. James played a dangerous game, delving into forbidden First Circle resources for his experiments, and resisted petitioning the order for reproductive permission so that he could evade their scrutiny. His distance caused Marie to feel increasingly isolated.

Eventually, outright rejection for reproductive rights from the Order put even greater strain on their marriage. Marie apparently discovered documents that prove James had previously had a child, Benedict, which drove Marie to take a desperate action. There are hints that Marie had an affair in order to secretly conceive, seemingly failed due to medical issues with Marie's ability to have children.

James eventually decided that he would trade his personal occult knowledge, including the Ritual, to the Order in exchange for granting them reproductive rights. Ignorant of James' plan, Marie did the unthinkable and used the Ritual on her own in an effort to provide herself with a child. It both succeeded and failed. In the aftermath of the Ritual's usage, both James and Marie died. James, torn apart by a spectre of Limbo that had fed on his anguish, and Marie driven to suicide by similar entities.


The Ritual

An occult rite described as ancient, chaotic, and evil. It taps into the powers of Limbo in unknown ways, and can open portals to that dimension, and possibly others. Sought after by many parties. Benedict seeks it so that he may separate himself from his Companion, sparing them both a painful, deteriorating death. Tomas Fernandez of the Order desires it, and conspired with James to obtain the necessary knowledge and resources to carry out the rite, but James perished before he could give the completed Ritual to Fernandez.

Fernandez believes that it may be used to open a gateway to another dimension besides Limbo, which may in fact be Heaven. Using the Ritual as Fernandez desires, however, requires the sacrifice of a truly special, innocent life...


The Last Case of Benedict Fox

As Benedict unravels the mysteries in Von Bothmer manor, he discovers the results of Marie's efforts to use the Ritual to provide herself with a child - the birth of a Pure Being, a child seemingly human in appearance but brimming with the energies of Limbo. Fernandez attempts to kill the child to complete the Ritual, but Benedict Fox sacrifices himself to save the child and kill Fernandez. The child is spirited away from the Von Bothmer manor by a mysterious accomplice of Benedict's, beyond the reach of the Order.

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What I've written here is just one man's interpretations and conclusions regarding the game's story and setting - some things may not be totally accurate, and perhaps you've discerned something different or reached a different answer. Please feel free to share your own.

[arythmia]

This so awesome. You got many things right and in many aspects you are very close! A true detective!

[Golden Yak]

Originally posted by arythmia:

This so awesome. You got many things right and in many aspects you are very close! A true detective!

Thank you! I think your team has created a very intruiging and enjoyable narrative and setting with Last Case. I hope we have the chance to learn more about Benedict Fox and his world in the future.

Please if you can set the record straight on any elements that I've gotten wrong.

edit - I'll mention that on completion of another playthrough, I believe was off-base on the idea that Marie had an affair. I thought the tear-stained letter and James' hiring of a private detective might have been signs of such, but with the contents of the 3rd Memoir Record it seems that her letter was in-fact to a doctor, a friend of her father's, which suggests that she was unable to conceive due to medical reasons, and James was simply paranoid about infidelity.