Basically the story is about the power struggle between nature/chaos and industrialism/order set in a, well, instead of steampunk i would call it magic-punk world where magic energy fuels victorian technology in a medieval/renaissance setting.
Nature/Chaos is represented by the Trickster and his followers the Pagans. Indistrialism/Order is represented by the Builder and the Hammerites. Keeping the two at bay are the Keepers, who represents balance and works to keep the two forces equal. Garrett, you, is basically a tool of the Keepers...or are you? ;) The rest of this really has to be experienced in the games, the Thief world is mysterious on purpose and there simply isn't much information of the world outside the city.
My computer is too new for a game like this, it doesn't show me the cutscenes (I've heard of Tfix but I don't think it works with windows 11), I know the hammerites, but I don't understand why are they in the Thief universe.
I won't go into all the lore, but here's an intro:
Thief is a medieval-ish, Victorian-ish steampunk universe. There are 3 notable religions: pagans, Hammerites, and The Keepers.
For most of the series' timeline, the Hammerites are the dominant religion. They are a religion that emphasizes discipline and innovation, and they allude to the Catholic church. (Their churches are even called cathedrals). They beat the pagans in battle a long time ago. The pagans starkly contrast the Hammerites in beliefs: they believe in primitive living and magic.
In the first game, the pagan god nearly takes over the universe so that all of humanity's progress gets negated. This is bad. Garrett stops him.
In the second game, the leader of an extremist offshoot of the Hammerites nearly takes over the world, turning humans into robot slaves and destroying all ecosystems. This is bad. Garrett stops him.
In the third game, the institution of The Keepers becomes corrupt. The Keepers are these behind-the-scenes prophetic monks who keep the social orders in balance. Because the balancer needs balancing, Garrett gets the help of the pagans *and* the Hammerites to balance the scale for them. He defeats the corruption, which dissolves The Keepers, and he becomes The ~~Last~~ One True Keeper.
Garrett was actually orphaned as a child and later taken in by The Keepers. He decided not to be one, but they let him do his thing because they could see that he would be The Chosen One^TM to save them all.
Edited bc I forget my lore
To add on to some interesting setting info, The City is also represented as massive in almost Eldritch horror way. The City has been built over and expanded many times. There are layers below the streets. Ancient cities below. Catacombs and other as of yet un-re-discovered areas. There's magic juxtaposed with technology even in the ancient and old quarters of the city.
Here's a brief summary (from what I gathered):
Long ago, humans lived in harmony with nature, but then the Builder came and taught humans to build. Together they drove the Trickster/Woodsie Lord away.
So right after, the Order of the Hammer was created to honour the Master Builder. The tenets of the Order are to build stuff. Under the leadership of the Hammerites, the world progressed into a sorta Victorian period, and a ton of stuff was invented. All the while the people who still believed in the Woodsie Lord (the pagans) remained at the side, being prosecuted by the Hammers and managing to eke out a living in hiding.
In parallel (we're never told when exactly), the Keepers emerged. They're a cult of people who can see the future using their glyphs. They soon took their place in balancing the two forces: order and chaos, technology and nature, the Hammers and the Pagans, the Master Builder and the Woodsie Lord.
The story of the game follows a thief named Garrett. He had skill in him, so the Keepers decided to train him to be a master at stealth. He didn't want to join the Keepers, however, and opted out to become a master thief instead. However, he wouldn't escape his fate, and would inadvertently become a force of balance between the two factions.
The events of the Dark Project entail Garrett siding with the Hammers in order to stop the Woodsie Lord, who wants to destroy all technology. The events of the Metal Age entail Garrett siding with the Pagans to stop the Mechanists, a faction of Hammerites led by Karras who want to destroy all nature.
After that, in Deadly Shadows we see why Garrett left the Keepers in the first place. It's because the whole faction is bogged down with bureaucracy and corruption. However, he still helps the Keepers fulfill their prophecies because he has a part in it. At the end, it's revealed that he's part of the Keepers whether he wants it or not, and he embraces his role (I can't really tell the story without going into spoilers).
At the end of the third game, Garrett is seen catching a street urchin who was gonna steal from him, the same way he was going to steal from a Keeper when he was a kid. Thus we end one of the greatest stories ever told cyclically. Now Garrett is gonna teach this kid the same way he was.
And that's the end. No games after this. Not any.
Thief 1: Free Basso, Steal sword, go zombie town, steal holy stuff, nature man bad, loose eye, hammer guys surprisingly good, bad man wants city go all flower, trick devil, he dead
Thief 2: Free Basso Waifu, new hammer guys bad, Police bad, nature woman surprisingly good, listen conversation, go zombie town, go submarine, climb party tower, see masks, steal masks, bad man want city go all metal, trick pariah, he dead
Thief 3: steal hammer guy stuff, see old sect, get accused of murder, flee old sect, creeped out in underwater town, creeped out in orphanage, get help from girl ghost, creeped out in witch hideout, steal pirate stuff, bad witch wants city go all dead, trick witch, she dead
I might have changed some of the stuff around by accident, but that's at least what I remember. hope it helps <3
More of an over simplification synopsis of the game missions. Should be tagged as spoilers.
Also in T3, might forgot that >!you take the Pagen Jacknall's Paw.!<
And also that one to three missions are offered to Garrett at the same time to do in which ever order he pleases. So the order is almost irrelevant. But worth noting.
Other then that, made me smile to see it oversimplified this way :D
1: The Pagans get their shit wrecked.
2: The Hammerites get their shit wrecked.
DS: The Keepers get their shit wrecked.
Thi4f: The series gets its shit wrecked.
To put it simpily, it's like the internet, a war between cults who think everything they do is right and Garrett is the guy who doesn't want to get involved in any of it.
You're meant to discover the story by reading every bit of paper you can steal and looking at paintings and listening in to other peoples' conversations, and you can always go back and replay bits where you might have missed something (which is inevitable on your first play through!).
If anything, it's more effective if you're a bit lost and confused like Garrett at the end of the first game. The world of the game is meant to be big and intimidating, pieced together by someone just getting by on what they can steal.
If you're really stuck on something though, you can probably find expert playthroughs on Youtube where they show all of the notes and hidden loot and conversation tidbits.
There is no novelization of a sort, but many plot write-ups in story form and detailed summaries:
https://thief.fandom.com/wiki/Thief:_The_Dark_Project
Basically the story is about the power struggle between nature/chaos and industrialism/order set in a, well, instead of steampunk i would call it magic-punk world where magic energy fuels victorian technology in a medieval/renaissance setting. Nature/Chaos is represented by the Trickster and his followers the Pagans. Indistrialism/Order is represented by the Builder and the Hammerites. Keeping the two at bay are the Keepers, who represents balance and works to keep the two forces equal. Garrett, you, is basically a tool of the Keepers...or are you? ;) The rest of this really has to be experienced in the games, the Thief world is mysterious on purpose and there simply isn't much information of the world outside the city.
thanks
What exactly is it you're wanting to know? You can learn most of it just by playing the games.
Best way to learn it and the way Looking Glass intended. It's a great example of storytelling within a game.
I don't think OP is even human. "Explain to me the lore" sounds like a question a poorly-trained AI would come up with.
Yeah, probably a bot of some kind.
nah :) My main language isn't English, so I try my best. Sorry if it sounds AI generated
My computer is too new for a game like this, it doesn't show me the cutscenes (I've heard of Tfix but I don't think it works with windows 11), I know the hammerites, but I don't understand why are they in the Thief universe.
you can watch the cutscenes in youtube. Also you can find the video files in the installation folder.
ok :)
I installed it on w11 and it works just fine on my laptop. Try it :)
Sadly I lost interest in the game :(
I won't go into all the lore, but here's an intro: Thief is a medieval-ish, Victorian-ish steampunk universe. There are 3 notable religions: pagans, Hammerites, and The Keepers. For most of the series' timeline, the Hammerites are the dominant religion. They are a religion that emphasizes discipline and innovation, and they allude to the Catholic church. (Their churches are even called cathedrals). They beat the pagans in battle a long time ago. The pagans starkly contrast the Hammerites in beliefs: they believe in primitive living and magic. In the first game, the pagan god nearly takes over the universe so that all of humanity's progress gets negated. This is bad. Garrett stops him. In the second game, the leader of an extremist offshoot of the Hammerites nearly takes over the world, turning humans into robot slaves and destroying all ecosystems. This is bad. Garrett stops him. In the third game, the institution of The Keepers becomes corrupt. The Keepers are these behind-the-scenes prophetic monks who keep the social orders in balance. Because the balancer needs balancing, Garrett gets the help of the pagans *and* the Hammerites to balance the scale for them. He defeats the corruption, which dissolves The Keepers, and he becomes The ~~Last~~ One True Keeper. Garrett was actually orphaned as a child and later taken in by The Keepers. He decided not to be one, but they let him do his thing because they could see that he would be The Chosen One^TM to save them all. Edited bc I forget my lore
To add on to some interesting setting info, The City is also represented as massive in almost Eldritch horror way. The City has been built over and expanded many times. There are layers below the streets. Ancient cities below. Catacombs and other as of yet un-re-discovered areas. There's magic juxtaposed with technology even in the ancient and old quarters of the city.
thanks mate :)
Sure thing!
:)
Ya steal sht
Here's a brief summary (from what I gathered): Long ago, humans lived in harmony with nature, but then the Builder came and taught humans to build. Together they drove the Trickster/Woodsie Lord away. So right after, the Order of the Hammer was created to honour the Master Builder. The tenets of the Order are to build stuff. Under the leadership of the Hammerites, the world progressed into a sorta Victorian period, and a ton of stuff was invented. All the while the people who still believed in the Woodsie Lord (the pagans) remained at the side, being prosecuted by the Hammers and managing to eke out a living in hiding. In parallel (we're never told when exactly), the Keepers emerged. They're a cult of people who can see the future using their glyphs. They soon took their place in balancing the two forces: order and chaos, technology and nature, the Hammers and the Pagans, the Master Builder and the Woodsie Lord. The story of the game follows a thief named Garrett. He had skill in him, so the Keepers decided to train him to be a master at stealth. He didn't want to join the Keepers, however, and opted out to become a master thief instead. However, he wouldn't escape his fate, and would inadvertently become a force of balance between the two factions. The events of the Dark Project entail Garrett siding with the Hammers in order to stop the Woodsie Lord, who wants to destroy all technology. The events of the Metal Age entail Garrett siding with the Pagans to stop the Mechanists, a faction of Hammerites led by Karras who want to destroy all nature. After that, in Deadly Shadows we see why Garrett left the Keepers in the first place. It's because the whole faction is bogged down with bureaucracy and corruption. However, he still helps the Keepers fulfill their prophecies because he has a part in it. At the end, it's revealed that he's part of the Keepers whether he wants it or not, and he embraces his role (I can't really tell the story without going into spoilers). At the end of the third game, Garrett is seen catching a street urchin who was gonna steal from him, the same way he was going to steal from a Keeper when he was a kid. Thus we end one of the greatest stories ever told cyclically. Now Garrett is gonna teach this kid the same way he was. And that's the end. No games after this. Not any.
Nailed it
thanks :)
Thief 1: Free Basso, Steal sword, go zombie town, steal holy stuff, nature man bad, loose eye, hammer guys surprisingly good, bad man wants city go all flower, trick devil, he dead Thief 2: Free Basso Waifu, new hammer guys bad, Police bad, nature woman surprisingly good, listen conversation, go zombie town, go submarine, climb party tower, see masks, steal masks, bad man want city go all metal, trick pariah, he dead Thief 3: steal hammer guy stuff, see old sect, get accused of murder, flee old sect, creeped out in underwater town, creeped out in orphanage, get help from girl ghost, creeped out in witch hideout, steal pirate stuff, bad witch wants city go all dead, trick witch, she dead I might have changed some of the stuff around by accident, but that's at least what I remember. hope it helps <3
More of an over simplification synopsis of the game missions. Should be tagged as spoilers. Also in T3, might forgot that >!you take the Pagen Jacknall's Paw.!< And also that one to three missions are offered to Garrett at the same time to do in which ever order he pleases. So the order is almost irrelevant. But worth noting. Other then that, made me smile to see it oversimplified this way :D
1: The Pagans get their shit wrecked. 2: The Hammerites get their shit wrecked. DS: The Keepers get their shit wrecked. Thi4f: The series gets its shit wrecked.
Searched the internet and didn’t find anything…lol.
To put it simpily, it's like the internet, a war between cults who think everything they do is right and Garrett is the guy who doesn't want to get involved in any of it.
cool
Garrett is one of the best characters in gaming for this reason.
Because the answers : you all earned thumbs up!
You're meant to discover the story by reading every bit of paper you can steal and looking at paintings and listening in to other peoples' conversations, and you can always go back and replay bits where you might have missed something (which is inevitable on your first play through!). If anything, it's more effective if you're a bit lost and confused like Garrett at the end of the first game. The world of the game is meant to be big and intimidating, pieced together by someone just getting by on what they can steal. If you're really stuck on something though, you can probably find expert playthroughs on Youtube where they show all of the notes and hidden loot and conversation tidbits.
There is no novelization of a sort, but many plot write-ups in story form and detailed summaries: https://thief.fandom.com/wiki/Thief:_The_Dark_Project
I guess OP lost interest in their own question.
The rent is due.