Can I get a brief summary of the lore so far

[Steve from America]

That answers the following questions:

Who is Kataru?

What are their motives and origin?

Are they are ones who kidnapped Bain?

If so, why?

What do they have to do with Garrett and Murkywater?

Are there any other notable organizations involved?

What are the artifacts we've been collecting for?

Who is this Baldwin guy?

What does this have to do with Duke?

How is the dentist involved?

Why has Locke "betrayed" us and what does he have to do with any of this?

When did this story arc start?

[hedy]

That's what story mode is for but I'll answer some of your questions to the best of my ability anyway.

1) We don't know. But they share the name of three kings long ago who had the intent of ruling the world.

2) to rule the world, just like their namesake, presumably. I don't know what THEIR origin is. Maybe it has something to do with beyond yesterday.

3) It's unknown yet who kidnapped bain but based on the image we see at tne end of henry's rock, the dentist kidnapped bain.

4) Don't know. I don't think they are related in any way.

5) Beyond Yesterday.

6) We don't know what the artifacts are yet, that's what duke's been trying to solve in the kitchen for so long.

7) Don't know who the ♥♥♥♥ that is.

8) I think he's just really interested in this whole thing, so he's doing anything he can to solve it. I don't think whatever this is building up to has anything to do with Duke.

9) Well, again, we don't know. The dentist has been keeping that a secret since 2015, when golden grin came out.

10) Locke "betrayed" us because OVERKILL is bad at writing a complex story and didn't quite know what they were doing, that's why they hired someone else to write up a climax to the game.

11) Technically, Golden Grin. Because that's when we get the first artifact. However, I don't think at that point OVERKILL knew what they would do with that story, so I'd say Reservoir Dogs.

[Strider]

Don't know the proper answers to most of these but I'll answer what I can. Some of the more deeper stuff involving the Kataru are better answered by the current lore and mythology experts like Finale.

The Kataru are some sort of ancient organization intending to keep the peace by keeping some powerful artifacts secure in the right hands - their own. Somewhere along the way they were corrupted and one of their own fled with the most powerful of their artifacts - Baldwin's Lament.

In the present day, the Kataru kidnapped Bain because he was searching for Baldwin's Lament. According to Bain's message, this all started with the job in Vegas (the Golden Grin Casino) where they caught the attention of the Kataru by stealing the mysterious box for the Dentist. They probably kidnapped him to find out what he knows about the location of the artifact and its true nature.

Garrett got involved after the FBI started digging into Bain's disappearance after the Reservoir Dogs job (this is all documented on the FBI files emails and the secret thread on the forums. The Kataru offered Garrett a deal - turning over Bain to the FBI in exchange for acquiring another one of those mysterious boxes, which happens to be in the possession of a corrupt politician, The Elephant.

Duke is tied into all of this because his grandfather's friend August Lindenhurst was involved with the Kataru. I'm not sure if I'm correct on this but he also disappeared with Baldwin's Lament and Duke's grandfather and subsequently Duke has been searching for it ever since.

Murkywater appears to be either controlled by the Kataru or working together with them. Most notably, the red uniformed Murkywater soldier seen in Henry's Rock might be Jiro's son based on his dogtags naming him as Kento. We currently don't know if any other organizations are involved but we have a few loose ends that were never resolved that might tie into the story. One of them being Dragan's unknown associate that he's been speaking to over the phone about what could be Bain.

We don't have a clue as to the function of the artifacts we've been collecting but they seem to be smaller parts to something bigger. Before the Shacklethorn Auction was fully released people were certain it was going to be parts of an astrolabe but apparently not.

As for the contractors involved, the Dentist appears to be someone involved with the Kataru. There are theories that he is some sort of immortal being or possibly a title passed down across generations - all this is based on the various iterations of green-glassed figures seen in the trailer for The Diamond. He is also seen on the screen in Henry's Rock torturing what seems to be Bain.

Locke "betrayed" the Payday gang to move them out of D.C because the Kataru were already hot on their tail. Bain had knowledge of this and played along but the Butcher did not. Ever since Bain's disappearance he's been leading the Payday gang in his stead.