Just asking, why do you guys have interest on a fictional story of a MMORPG? :P

I always skip all NPC chats (except tutorials)

Dont take it as flame, Im just curious about it

The story is very vague and nothing is set in stone. As far as I can tell, the story is:

We have crashed on a planet called Cradle. Cradle appears to be a very strange, unnatrual place crated from bits and pieces of other worlds. There appears to be a strong power source at the heart of Cradle. We want the stuff at the core to repair our shuttle and get out of there. But the core is sealed. We are currently trying to figure out how to open it.

But we are not alone. There are creatures who are standing in our way. Their motivations for opposing us aren't exactly clear yet, but there are plenty of good guesses to go around.

At this point, the most notable threat to the Spirals are the gremlins. The gremlins are a sentient race that may or may not call Cradle home. It's clear that the gremlins are trying to wipe us out. We have noticed this, and we have started to take measures of our own to stop the gremlin threat.

There appear to be supernatural forces on this planet. There's Firestorm Citadel, which seems to be stuck in an unending hell brought forth by a supernatrual power. There's the Swarm, which appear to be a dark force that slowly corrupts beings who enter into it's twisted territory. It is implied (but not known) that the swarm is the force behind Firstorm Citadel.

That's about it really. There are bits and pieces of the story floating around out there, but again, most of the story is implied.

I got A LOT of the story as precices asi could. Copy and paste... Done:

Think I figured it out, so...The below has possible spoilers of ingame stuff. Also be prepared.

Alright, lets start with Alpha Squad. Sent to Clockworks, never returned. All that's left are data entries left after each boss area or w/e. Now in the last mission( well playable one really) The King of Ashes, upon reaching the core, it is different than that of the arcade version. No one is there, that creepy music plays, and all thats there is now a new artifact left behind by none other than Alpha Squad.

What's strange is what is written:
"A Recording from Parma, Alpha Squad Recon:
We are at the end of the line. Pursued by some kind of terrible darkness we are forced into the unknown.
As we neared the Core- I don't know how to describe this really... the shadows came alive and began to attack us. Rulen became enveloped in it and by the time Grantz freed him his body was badly burned. He said it felt like both fire and ice.
And then we could go no further. As I record this, the darkness is nearly upon us, comsuming the world we see, the light.
But then the Core, it began to open, filling the place with such a light, such and intense, blinding light. Euclid has made the call; faced with the darkness, we'll enter the core, enter the light.
This will likely be my final recording."

Now we know 2 things based on everything so far, if you've looked into the lore on your own time as well.

1. Alpha squad had, for certain, traveled into the core before disappearing.
2. The core is said to give off a strange light. It also Is supposed to radiate Energy, which knights use to power stuff and stuff (lol great vocab there)

Now the third thing is what sparked my interest again. They say they were being attacked by a darkness, or shadows. They also say that it greatly hurt them when it "enveloped" one of their teammates.

I think its the Swarm (no durr). first of all, well, its darkness stuff. Basically manifestations of cradle's inhabitants in their most powerful forms.
What also ties into the mystery of the Swarm is the Echo stones and Sanctuary.

Sanctuary: My thoughts:
Ok nothing seems out of the ordinary of the place in itself to have a ton of lore. I think it's merely either A) a safehaven made by Tinkinzar, the Core's essence, or Alpha Squad's manifestation of thoughts of a safe place (which makes the alchemy station there exist).

It is NOT inside the core, as traveling deeper takes you to the outside of it. It seems to be merely a wall between the Swarm infected areas, and the core itself.

Back to the Echo stones, they reference The Architect (King Tinkinzar) and the Swarm. It says, based off of the UFSC stone:

"As I dreamed, it consumed.

It devoured the knowledge of time... Memories of the dead... The hearts of kings and the souls of their people... Good and evil... It consumed.

It grew stronger, endlessly mirroring itself within the space of my dream. Endlessly mirroring... Expanding... Infinite.

What it was before, it is no more. Neither beast nor god, it is a creation unlike all.

It is... The Swarm."

And heres the rest of the echo stones up for grabs if you need em to remember what I'm talking about: http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Artifacts#Echo_Stone:_Gloaming_Wildwoods

Now this is where I'm stumped. I can't say my full thoughts of this, as it contains SpiralSpy unreleased content, yeah, stinks I know, nearly got banned.

But its 1 of 2 things, the second is from Spiral Spy so I wont say it until it's released.
1. The Swarm is something made, but became twisted, thus consuming everything, then recreating it (such as Void Lumbers) into stronger beings.
2. Cant say on Forums cus it violates ToS by giving out unreleased information gathered in Spiral Spy.

All together it looks like the Swarm was originally a creation by something, probably not Tinkinzar, I'll say why.

The world is its prison.
Now that is the Echo Stone talking, meaning it is the CORE's prison. It says it used to be a place to merely protect it while in slumber, hence the core is a living being

Tinkinzar made the Clockworks to protect the core, for reasons unknown other than to protect it while it "slept" (hence the name Cradle) from said Swarm and other stuff.

And this is where I'm stuck. I could add the Swarm idea's I had and bring that into play, but as it wasn't released yet, I can't say any more about it specifically. Also It hasn't helped me anymore from this part onward.

Discuss. I'll update this as more info comes in and such.
All updates will be below this line
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Update 3/14/2012:

Yeah, update on the same minute I post lol.

Anyway one part I forgot to add was this.

In the very final missions out at this time, 9-3 to 9-4, one of the knights (Feron, Vaelyn, Kora. Forgot which) says that he/she had a feeling that the knights were meant to be on Cradle, as if something needed them.

So was the Core using it's Energy/powers/whatever to actually destroy Skylark and force us into this whole thing?

Think on that while I eat my soup... (litterally. I'm a soupaholic lol @_@)

Update 3/31/2012:

Also it could be just the Gremlin tech drawing in nearby planets/ objects to use as an overlay to surround the core.

(Credit to Aurais for this bit)

And thats the OP from my other thread.

You forgot that many other squads were sent to find Alpha Squad, like Arkus'.

Trojan's probally came into existence from the deaths of the spiral knights or the almirans.

Dark matter can create sentient creatures, yet it causes them to be both aggressive and cannibalistic.

ponies....

The Architect is King Tinkinzar. Seerus was in the Crimson Order, the group of Gremlins that carry out Tinkinzar's orders. (Psuedo Fanfic starts here) The Swarm are the Gremlins enemies as well as us. The Gremlins sealed the Swarm in the Shadow Lairs so they could couldn't infect them. (Fan fic stops here) Seerus was the mastermind behind the Roarmulus Twins, but Tinkinzar ordered the creation of the Clockworks. Im would be assuming that the Great Colony is in the Core, protected from the Swarm

That there are ranks with special costumes(Recon Rangers).

Almarians REALLY have the same biology as knights.

"How does Legion of Almire add to the back story so far?"

We read a page from the diary of a noble of Almire, probably one of the court nobles under hierarchy of Lord Vana.

... that's it.