This is just something I was thinking about for a while already, and just want to put it out.
Basing off the Danger Missions, could it be possible that there are two types of undead? The first 'undead' are represented in Ghosts in the Machine, who are restless beings from a recent to ancient past. They're only restless. However, Legion of Almire shows us not just a restless set of undead, but an accursed group. This is the second undead I was talking about. These undead seem to face the fate Kats and Almire took in [sorry for the obvious call]. These, more interestingly, have a stronger impact on the lore. Being accursed, they also fall in the same fate as Arkus and the Trojans, who are found in the Fiend family. The Trojans are most likely our own fallen Knights imbued with the curse mingled with a terrifying fate alongside Darkmatter. We find a powerful Trojan in Heart of Ice known as Maulos, hoping to freeze Cradle over.
Let's jump to the Gremlin family. We have not two, but THREE types of Gremlins: those loyal to Tinkinzar and the Crimson Order, those who betrayed him [including Herex, as heard in Operation Crimson Hammer], and the Resistance of Emberlight. This may be a jump for what we have right now. Tinkinzar has been mentioned as the Architect in the Echo Stones, and as far as we know, the Crimson Order is following his every step. He was maddened and fell into a craze trying to construct Cradle's Clockworks in what we could assume as a protection against the Swarm. In his madness, he fell into using the Clockworks to destroy all who enter, and, possibly, falling into the Swarm's hands, showing the Gremlin darkness in the Unknown Passage. Herex and his rebels continue to make the Clockworks an even more devastating place for whoever enters, but against those who fell into the Swarm's ideologies. The resistance of Emberlight fights against these corruptions. The Artifact Razwog took away was probably meant for Tinkinzar's bidding to maybe experiment with the Swarm. But we go back into the Swarm. Is it possible that these things are kept inside the Core and the Shadow Lairs were only an extension to keep them from spewing further?
Then we have the Swarm and the Fiends. Fiends are not found inside the Unknown Passage, but interestingly enough, Greaver wings, mobs now classified as Elite, have the Eyes that appear on Curse, the seals of the Sealed Sword [THE PASSAGE IS SEALED], and on the entrance to the Shadow Lairs. The eyes found on the Vortex bombs as well as the pressure plate Statues may have to do something with this, but not so sure yet [but may apply to each other]. Is it possible that the Fiends are responsible for Almire's fate, the curse brought upon the Kat Tribe, and for the Swarm's infestation? Just something I was thinking of after reading other things before. Now however, I think I might be behind. -_-
I have my theories, and I think the statues were crafted by the Fiends to warn of how putting that statue on the pressure plate brings you closer to the Swarm.
I noticed the Greavers bearing the Eye, and I'm not yet sure of a theory for this yet.
The Curse of the Kat Tribe, I am starting to imagine, is the Curse the Kats brought upon themselves so that they may retaliate against the Owlites' magic.
Almire's fate was obvious. Vanaduke sealed a deal with Vog, and brought the Cursed Fire, the Shadow Fire, to Almire so that he could keep it to himself forever. Oh my....Shadow Fire! Maybe this all traces back to Vog! The Swarm! Maybe whatever it used to be made a deal with Vog! And asked for ultimate power...yes, it's been there all along. The Swarm must have once been something, someone! In the Echo Stones, they speak of how it is no longer beast or god! Maybe a self-aware beast, like Vog! And it became god, but as it absorbed, it slowly became something else!
That leaves a question. Where did Sanctuary come from? Valkyries? Sprites? Another race entirely?
What if the Sprite Mother and Vog are somewhere on or watching over Cradle. And what if the bands on Faust and Avenger that are encasing the Eye...what if they are Swarm and Anti-Swarm. The raw creations of the Sprite Mother and Vog to wage war upon each other?
What if the two of them are the way the Core will open?
Sorry, this was just a whole bunch of brain explosions coming out in a bunch of random text. But maybe....maybe I have something....I still have yet to know of the other Echo Stones....if someone could give me the full text of the Darkfire Vanaduke Echo Stone and the Red Roarmulous Twins Echo Stone, that might give me a new lead...