How does Doryani know about the Beast?

[Dante]

I am a bit confused about the lore.

So the Beast is in the present timeline, same as us, and we go back in time through the portal in Act III but Doryani knows about the Beast, which is in the future for them.
Is he able to see the future? Travel through time himself? I mean he built the gate but if he can travel in time as well he surely should've seen that the end of the Vaal was inevitable.

I understand the demon of Atzoatl thing (pretty cool callback from PoE1) but I probably missed something about the Beast and Doryani.

[TyresTyco]

When we fight doryani Atzoatl the queen of the vaal is right before communing with the beast triggering the cataclysm that pretty much corrupts everything.

Hence he knows everything about it.

[Nico]

The Beat was what killed all of the Vaal. It then later got sealed into that egg that the hodded one carried around. So it's the same beast, it just temporarily got sealed up.

[Dante]

Originally posted by TyresTyco:

When we fight doryani Atzoatl the queen of the vaal is right before communing with the beast triggering the cataclysm that pretty much corrupts everything.

Hence he knows everything about it.

I get that but does that mean the Queen is in the present timeline? Or did the Beast existed in the past as well?

[Dante]

Originally posted by Nico:

The Beat was what killed all of the Vaal. It then later got sealed into that egg that the hodded one carried around. So it's the same beast, it just temporarily got sealed up.

That's what I thought. Thank you!

[READ PALE]

Originally posted by TyresTyco:

When we fight doryani Atzoatl the queen of the vaal is right before communing with the beast triggering the cataclysm that pretty much corrupts everything.

Hence he knows everything about it.

Atziri*

Atzoatl is the temple that PoE1 protagonists kept barging into from the future to kill its architects, hence Doryani calling us "the demon of Atzoatl".

[TyresTyco]

Originally posted by READ PALE:

Originally posted by TyresTyco:

When we fight doryani Atzoatl the queen of the vaal is right before communing with the beast triggering the cataclysm that pretty much corrupts everything.

Hence he knows everything about it.

Atziri*

Atzoatl is the temple that PoE1 protagonists kept barging into from the future to kill its architects, hence Doryani calling us "the demon of Atzoatl".

Yeah I confused these again. Thanks for correcting me.

[Greenegg]

This is beast 2: Sin keeps messing up boogaloo

if I'm remembering right, the beast that killed the vaal dies in poe1, and this one in poe2 was made to defeat kitava, I can't remember why we didn't kill this newborn beast as soon as we were done with it, probably some handwave-y lore blurb about not being able to, despite us killing the original.

I haven't played through poe1 in a while, I'd suggest just playing through it yourself to get a more accurate answer.

alternatively there's been a bunch of "lore you need to know for PoE2" videos posted recently.

[TyresTyco]

Originally posted by Dante:

Originally posted by TyresTyco:

When we fight doryani Atzoatl the queen of the vaal is right before communing with the beast triggering the cataclysm that pretty much corrupts everything.

Hence he knows everything about it.

I get that but does that mean the Queen is in the present timeline? Or did the Beast existed in the past as well?

I dont understand why you would think that Atziri is in the present time when the exinction of the vaal happenend because of the beast at the past where we arrived there via the portal.

[A'my]

To give a better idea on the overall timeline of the most important parts of the story: (seriously, there's a 400 page lore pdf on the full lore made by the fanbase I won't be going into lol)

Sin and many other gods ascended from mortals thousands of years ago and ruled across Wraeclast. They needed worship and followers to sustain themselves and become more powerful, but as a result their followers' beliefs fundamentally changed who they were over time until they lost all what once made them mortal. Sin, seeing this, created the Beast to put an end to their tyranny.

The Beast consumed divine energy, putting the gods to sleep and leading to an age of mortals. However, it didn't merely consume, and began to create chaos and corruption as a form of waste as a result. This, to begin with, lead to the creation of virtue gems (the gems we use for skills) and later to the art of thaumaturgy.

The Vaal eventually became a mighty empire off this power after Sin's time, built off a culture of human sacrifice. One day, their queen at the time, Atziri, became obsessed with immortality and her people began mass sacrificing themselves to her in the hope of granting her eternal life and she began implanting virtue gems into herself.

Her head thaumaturge, Doryani, was tasked with finding a solution to her wish, but when he couldn't produce the results she desired she chose a different path. She found the Beast, and communed with it which lead to the First Calamity. (Interestingly, as revealed a year ago by a god of time, Doryani simply "vanished" around this time, which we now have the answer to. Atziri is also an endgame boss in PoE1, in her own pocket dimension that was forced to exist throughout all timelines to achieve "eternal beauty".) The Vaal empire fell overnight, corrupting most of Wraeclast until a slow rebuilding began.

Centuries later, a series of Azmeri tribes descended from the mountains, all the way to the heart of the ruined Vaal empire. There, their leader planted his banner on Atziri's grave, and declared a new Eternal empire, declaring their new city of Sarn on the bones of the old Vaal capitol. (They had their own long history, which isn't important to this.)

Eventually a new emperor, Chitus, rose to power, who was obsessed with thaumaturgy. With his right hand, the master thaumaturge Malachai, they turned the empire into a thaumatocracy, with virtue gems becoming a normal part of daily life. Many of the upper class implanted virtue gems into themselves, and lead to the gemling legions, armies of soldiers who also were implanted. This brought an era of decadence, with Malachai and his 3 apprentices Shavronne, Maligaro and Doedre having unrivaled power.

This all ended in the purity rebellion, where Chitus was slain by rebels while the coast was besieged by Karui conquerors, keeping the gemling legions occupied. Malachai was spared, in exchange for promising to bring a permanent end to thaumaturgy. He brought the rebel leaders to Highgate, under which the Beast slept, which ended in the second Cataclysm. All of the Eternal empire fell, with the gemlings turning into monstrosities and corruption rampant. Only the small island of Oriath was spared.

Centuries(?) later, PoE1 begins: (and I'll try to keep it short from here)
The reigning high templar of Oriath, Dominus, spared the witch Vinia from execution after her last meal with him. She changes her name to Piety, and convicts begin to be exiled to Wraeclast instead of executed. The player is one of these exiles, who eventually slays both Piety and Dominus in the ruins of Sarn after the latter achieves a form of godhood.

To put an end to what began all of this, the player travels to Highgate where it's revealed that the second Cataclysm was from Malachai entering the Beast and becoming its heart. He's gathering power to turn all of Wraeclast into a nightmare, his "perfect" world of thaumaturgy. Using his own invention he previously used, the player enters the beast and slays Malachai, putting an end to both.

Returning to Oriath, they find that the Karui slaves are in full rebellion against the templars and join them, fighting all the way to the heart of the order. There, it's revealed that the new high templar has been possessed by the god Innocence, having become a tyrant. Sin appears right before we kill his brother, allowing Innocence to recover inside a local soldier, and warns us that us killing the Beast has allowed the gods to rise up again.

The Karui rebels are revealed to be lead by the cult of Kitava, their god of endless hunger who has now returned at the heart of Oriath. The cult begins feeding the population to Kitava, and the player is forced to flee after almost dying in battle with it. They then track through all regions of Wraeclast they previously visited again, slaying the risen gods and taking their power. Eventually making it back to Highgate, the player and Sin manage to find and recover a seed of the Beast, which together with Innocence is used to slay Kitava.

A lot of endgame content that's not relevant to 2 yet happens (including multiple elder god fights), Innocence and Sin go into hiding, humanity rebuilds. 20 years later, Sin is ambushed in Ogham with the piece of the Beast, beginning PoE2.

[Dante]

Originally posted by TyresTyco:

Originally posted by Dante:

I get that but does that mean the Queen is in the present timeline? Or did the Beast existed in the past as well?

I dont understand why you would think that Atziri is in the present time when the exinction of the vaal happenend because of the beast at the past where we arrived there via the portal.

Because I didn't think at first that the Beast that ended the Vaal was the same that we are fighting in the present timeline. So I was like, how is Atziri communing with the Beast if the beast is in the present. But now everything makes sense.

[TyresTyco]

Originally posted by Dante:

Originally posted by TyresTyco:

I dont understand why you would think that Atziri is in the present time when the exinction of the vaal happenend because of the beast at the past where we arrived there via the portal.

Because I didn't think at first that the Beast that ended the Vaal was the same that we are fighting in the present timeline. So I was like, how is Atziri communing with the Beast if the beast is in the present. But now everything makes sense.

Ah alright. Got it.

[Handbanana]

Ketzuli the architect of time has some lore. Basically he made deal with the god of time. That is how they have time travel portals. They know what is and has happened. He says that time is a fixed construct.

Anyway you can just go talk to the npcs in your hideout all of their lines are voice acted.