Just finished the game, question about ending (SPOILERS)

[AudBall]

I took the deal, if you know what I mean: I exchanged no burdens from death for 'something' that was revealed in the end.

First of all what exactly did I trade by taking the deal?

Second question: The plague docs said I didn't find the papers - what papers???

I think because I took the deal, I have no idea what's going on. My interpretation is this: It seems like that guy, the fellow traveler, has something to do with sickness, even the personification of the plague itself. Now that he and the Haruspex are bound together, we will always work together, creating and healing sickness. But.... this interpretation has nothing to do with the polyhedron or the abattoir so I must be wrong.

Any hints? I really don't want the story spoiled for me necessarily because I'm going to play this game until I figure it all out. I'm just clearly missing connections here.

[Birbinator]

I haven't finished yet, but my guess is that by allowing Traveller to take your place even for a moment you made Haruspex not fully your avatar in this world. He is no longer "whole", it's like allowing different actors to play same character in same act

[AudBall]

Originally posted by Rymrgand:

I haven't finished yet, but my guess is that by allowing Traveller to take your place even for a moment you made Haruspex not fully your avatar in this world. He is no longer "whole", it's like allowing different actors to play same character in same act

Ah so you don't think the traveler is symbolic of anything other than that? Hmm. I wonder why that affects the ending.... I know Mark Immortell sort of explained that it wouldn't captivate the audience in the same way, but what does that have to do with the plague and the structures..... and immortality?

[FiLo_SpiNaTo]

Oh nothing with Plague and Structures.
It has to do with the challenge. As the player you gave up the possibility of failure, you renounced the chance of anything going wrong, of real consequences. So... In a twisted logic, if you give up the only thing that makes this challenge worth taking, if you willingly refute the idea that this is a game and want to avoid death at all cost, "That's the door, coward" (that's what mark says). By taking the deal you become immortal, so there's no sense in playing no more. Rewards will be completely empty, the mask has fallen. Goodbye.

[FiLo_SpiNaTo]

That's why, to some extent, the devs hated the idea of the difficulty slider so much. It's veeeeery similar to The Traveler's Deal, but bare of actual consequences LoL. Can you imagine? Don't take the deal, but just lower the difficulty to EASY and that doesn't take anything away from the meta narrative. That's oughtta feel bad for them..

[Gentleman Bird]

The Deal doesn't really affect the ending you got, but it does effect what happens when you find the papers.

[[NRG] Michal]

taking the deal means taking the easy way out and not being willing to make sacrifices to overcome the odds that are stacked against you. there can be no heroism without sacrifice and as a consequence, you will not be able to reach the story's conclusion.

[RaptorTwitch]

To be precise, he literally takes the ending from you. You can still beat the game, but you will not get the ending.
What you got however, was the "Being Late" Ending, where you failed to progress far enough in your quest and failed to acquire (or learn about) important papers for the ultimate choice to make.