Drifters in Vintage Story - Facts and Theory

[@jthewelshwarlord6331]

The Drifters seem to originate from the Rust World as they spawn next to rifts, come from underground (which has lower temporal stability), and spawn in Temporal Storms out of nowhere. They may be the inhabitants of the Rust World or humans trapped and transformed by something in there. I personally think the Drifters are precursor humans who were caught in the first Temporal Storm after Jonas miscalculated and provoked something on the other side (eldritch horror themes make that likely) in his attempts to fight the Rot, or he made a deal with it for a cure to Rot. These people were then taken into the Rust World and transformed into mindless horrors of flesh and clockwork/machinery; unaffected by the disease now and therefore "cured", but no longer human. It explains their lack of response to damage, weight, decayed and part-mechanical appearance, aggression, and tendency to drop gears when looted with a knife. As many people were also miners according to lore docs and temporal stability decreases underground, it's possible many Drifters are miners, hence why they spawn when Bells ring. Maybe as well they need a strong connection to the Rust World to properly function in the normal world and light provides temporal stability, which is why they spawn/hang around at night, underground or during Temporal Storms, and flee when in light. By the implications, the Rust World may be a home to some malevolent eldritch entity/god with domains over time or machinery.

[@the_origame]

I've just watched a video similar to your theory, what a coincidence xD Might sound legit, who knows🤔

[@Gamer-pk9up]

3:13 when you mentioned infection, the tapestry was talking about something called the rot beast. I think this is a different entity from the drifters and that the new mob that will be added is the one on the tapestry. Just my own personal theory.

[@the_origame]

Hmm, could be 🤔

[@luxterna1106]

They attack everything tho, I lost some bighorns ewes during a temporal storm

[@the_origame]

They killed one of my bighorns, too xD But that's only when the drifter saw me and couldn't reach over the fence, instead punching the poor bighorn

[@tombotr]

My theory is that the drifters are humans that reincarnated the same way that the Nephalim did except in the rust world. Sometimes the traders will mention that they should repent or that they had it coming (or something along those lines). The reason why they attack the player is out of spite or Jealosy.

[@zithyak8758]

I think the in game (books tapestries dialog etc) should be taken with a grain of salt considering they're written/said from the perspective of in game characters who may not completely understand whats going on themselves, especially dialog from the traders considering how much time has passed.

[@malachimeeker]

1:40 NEIN! 😂

[@the_origame]

😂

[@malachimeeker]

Loving these videos!

[@TarsonTalon]

I feel like the 'lore' may be just the explanation the locals came up with for them... I'm more inclined to believe that technology got out of hand, and that it rebelled using temporal shenanigans similar to the Terminator franchise. The only difference is a clockwork doll theme instead of sleek titanium, making it visually similar to the movie 'Nine'. (Perhaps souls are used to create Drifters?) Another bit of evidence to suggest that these are artificial creations is the fact that the Tinkerer class can take control of one of them. But, people eventually forgot about the technology they created, and thus they came up with their own explanations. As for the explanation of your character's appearance, due to the temporal mess the clockwork AI has created, the world has started pulling people in from other timelines by accident. But, rather than address the temporal 'oopsie' it created, it has decided to go the classic government route of solving a problem by making it worse by doubling down on the temporal nonsense to kill you. Honestly, it could be that the Drifters might be the same few drifters, but have been temporally multiplied, hence how the clockwork machines were able to take over. But, just because the machines 'won', it doesn't mean it didn't come at a terrible cost...their own sanity.

[@stephengarforth2753]

to me they look like sloths if you dunked them in water.

[@AngullMoll]

Odji? Is it really you?