Aggressive alien invaders come up to you and "ask" for help. With swords and guns out. I don't really blame them. =P

I was thinking the same thing. The gremlins and whatnot have every right to be aggressive with us -- we're just kind of waltzing into this miraculous network of living machinery in the center of the world that they helped to construct, bent on swiping whatever substance is fueling it at the core. Why?

BECAUSE WE'RE ENTITLED TO IT, FOO'!

We DO have a good reason to try to gather the core: We need that material to power our ship and leave. If the denizens of the clockworks would just let us do our stuff, the game would have already ended and the knights would be back in space. But then, why should they let us drill their planets core? That could destabilize the entire thing and blow it up! There are good arguments for both cases.

Well, they DID steal our stuff... They're really the reason we're stranded.

Given the vastness of space, it'd be pretty hard to randomly land on a planet just as equipment began to fail.... combined with the military organization displayed, it seems that someone back at HQ should know where we are. So why no rescue mission?

And until then- if the clockworks is really that vast, why not set up residence on the surface and make this a mission of peaceful exploration?

I for one am perfectly content in my role as pillager of worlds.

touch'e

you just figured this out? Our daily hobbies consist of invading kingdoms and slaying the royalty! For TOKENS!

If we ever do get off this planet, will there be other planets to pillage?

I swear to god, every time I look into those adorible little beaked faces, I'm suddenly overwhelmed by this sudden urge to kill all non-Snipe/Knight/Stranger lifeforms on the planet! And break stuff. But then again, I break things cause the Snipes say it's fun. OMG, the Snipes are making me murder things! What's that, Snipe? Kill the Mewcat?! But it's harmless and cu- *Snipe chirp* Yes master. ::kills Mewcat in cold blood:: Oh my god, what have I done?! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

The Spiral Knights are a society composed entirely of mercenaries: It's clear that the Spiral Knights would have pillaged any planet they landed on. Perhaps Cradle, in its wisdom, caused the Skylark to crash in a sacrificial attempt to spare the rest of the galaxy from their scourge.

Alpha Squad must have discovered the factory where Basil orders his recipes from. And now the strangers won't let them go.

Two words

Manifest Destiny.

You guys have no idea, Basil is the FINAL FINAL BOSS. He has enough crowns to kill anyone.

Perhaps there is no good or bad. We're just doing what we have to do to survive and go home, the Strangers are just benefiting themselves and us at the same time, and all the monsters are just being defensive of their territory. The phantoms and undead are a different matter though...

First, amazing theory. Second, what about the times people look back and realize that some things that the victor did was bad. Like the Europeans colonizing the Americas.

Yea, all this is pretty glaring, but the game goes to a lot of effort to vilify the gremlins whenever it can so we don't feel too bad about it.

Minor spoilers ahead:
The peaceful Almirian Kingdom was smashed sometime before our arrival, embroiled in a civil war that was probably incited by demonic forces aimed to destabilize the military might of the planet's defenders for some nefarious gain. Vanaduke, for one, has been possessed by the occult, and his formerly splendid castle reduced to a province of hell. It will no doubt in time be revealed that our presence here is one of celestial saviors.

This of course was pretty convenient timing for us. If they hadn't been in trouble when we showed up we'd probably still be doing what we're doing, just feeling a little more guilty about it.

Not sure where Chromalisks and Wolvers fit into this, though. Seems like they're the real victims here.

If we kill everything, we leave.
Right?

Actually, all the knights are from the same ship, Skylark. When the Skylark crashed all the knights got into individual escape pods and were knocked unconscience upon crash landing. Everytime a new player is made it is really another knight regaining conscienceness.

Or maybe it's a training simulation. The clockworks is filled with the most random levels so that knights will be prepared for anything in the real world, why else would we be able to revive?

Are they truly mechanical? You can't see what's under the armor so you can't really tell.

Especially for the devlites and a little bit for the gremlins. The devlites are just trying to run a business and the bosses aren't even aggressive. The gremlins are just trying build stuff and destroy whatever is not needed. I just love those 2 monster types and kind of wish to be allies.

"You can revive because the Knights are mechanical life forms. They can't really die, they just need energy to get back up."
-LoneKnight

From what little in-game lore exists for Spiral Knights, NPC's tell us that the Energy is to power our suits, not our life essence. However, there is this line for the Ironclaw Munitions Factory Recon Module. Take from it what you will:

SPOILERS

...Grantz took the full blast of a rocket twice, reacting only with a stagger as if he had discovered a stone in his boot. Sometimes I think that beneath his iron suit is a body of equally heavy iron. It wouldn't surprise me.

I think that if the Spiral Knights are automated, they don't know it. It might be like dreams. Maybe they've never considered what is under each-others helmets. Maybe they were programmed to ignore that line of thought and go on without even considering it. I personally don't think they're bots. I think it would be awesome if this game's lore took a serious turn towards the dark side of storytelling, but it seems too friendly and cartoony at this juncture.