Note: I have tried to answer a lot of these questions in my fan fiction, TSA'TANCIT, but here, I'm asking for the real answers...if they do exist, that is. Until they are revealed, I'm open to fan speculation.
What is the connection between Torin’s mother’s ring and Pecand’s ring? They seem so similar it makes you wonder...
According to the TP design document, it is the royal ring. If we had seen the king's hand, he would be wearing a similar ring as well.
What position was Pecand in that he was able to kill the King and Queen so swiftly? (may have to do with my hypothesis for the last question)
The design document reasserts that Pecand is the king's brother. No more explanations needed here.
What exactly is that weird cave in Escarpa that looks like a giant mouth? It looks like half-animal, half rock. And what about that dragon poo, anyway?
Design doc says that the cave is the lair (and lavatory, apparently) of a dragonish creature called "Dino," who never made it into the game. It doesn't explain the creepy rock formations, however.
Where exactly does that door in the cave below the seraglio in Escarpa (the one with the hot tubs) actually lead?
Asthenia is the only world that was inhabited at one time, but not at the time Torin comes in. What's the history of the people? Were there multiple kingdoms or people from other worlds within Strata?
Design doc simply says that "there are no people there," but if there were, they would be "black-stained and sooty." (guess my fan concept wasn't that far off.) Doesn't say much more than that.
When Torin and Leenah part in Pergola, Torin asks her whether he will see her again, and her reply is "You have to." Yet the ending of the game just drops and then the credits roll. What happened back there? Also, Torin's lineage means that he will have to become king soon, but how? When? And what about poor, misunderstood Lycentia?
Al was apparently planning a much more complete ending where Torin is crowned the new king of The Lands Above as well as a potential sequel, but neither saw the light. Darn it.
I've developed a few semi-theories about the nested worlds of Strata, some being about how light reaches all the inner shells. Perhaps the lands exist on different planes of existence, or different dimensions, so that the higher worlds (TLA, Escarpa) are not visible to the lower worlds (Tenebrous, Asthenia). This could also explain why the worlds became separated after a time (dimension-hopping is a dangerous game).
What does the symbol on Torin's right shoulder mean anyway? It doesn't seem familiar to me, and there are a lot of wierd symbols in that game. It seems to be an image of all five worlds united by a single, bracelet-like thing. It obviously has something to do with Torin's royalty, but what is the signifigance of all the worlds being united? Is Torin going to unite all the worlds in the future?
All official sources call it a birthmark connected to his royal heritage. That's one super-fancy, uber-unusual, one-of-a-kind birthmark, I'll say that much.
Whose head is that on the piano player in the throne room in Escarpa? The one who's always playing that out-of-tune music? Could that be Mark Seibert (no, no, I'm sorry. Just a little joke. Ha ha.)
What happens to poor Dreep after Torin tricks him into jumping into the Null Void? Sure he was a huge, dumb-looking monster, but he was probably just misunderstood, right?
Is there another Torin’s Passage version out there somewhere? I was browsing the resource.aud file and found several dialogue pieces that weren’t in the game. One is where Torin asks Boogle to be an axe to chop the top off the crystal outside the guard’s house (just like in the promo movie), another has to do with somehow rotating the catapult in Asthenia, also using Boogle as an axe! Any ideas about this?
Update: On the TP Walkthrough on Mark Seibert’s webpage, he mentions numerous facets of TP that I didn’t see myself. Here are a few:
-The snails appear on the branch after you give the berries to the guard, not before
-When Torin steps up to a cliff edge in Escarpa, he teeters for a moment before regaining his balance
-There is a brief scene of the Pergolans laughing when Torin tries to kiss Leenah
-The lava pedestals in the rock-hopping puzzle in Asthenia glow for a short time when you land on them
-Boogle gets rid of the unexpected menu bar when Torin is crawling through the air duct in Tenebrous
-The two-headed vulture flies down past Torin when he and Boogle are falling out of the air duct in Tenebrous
-The vulture appears again in the Null Void
-Lycentia grows bigger as she attacks Torin
-Pecand stabs Lycentia with the dagger instead of hitting her on the head
So is Mark just a little forgetful or is there really another version of TP out there? I have heard the sound clips of several of these unseen scenes in the resource.aud file and resource.sfx file of TP, so it could be that my theory is true.
Also, Mark’s walkthrough might be based off of some of the original notes for the game, so some of the ideas are probably ones that never left the drawing board. Al's design document clarifies my theory.
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"Heroes don’t run errands...right,
Boogle?"