The Oraculum

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The Oraculum is a device in Dishonored 2 found in the Royal Conservatory of Karnaca during the mission The Royal Conservatory, and an important part of Delilah's plan to take over the Empire of the Isles.

Description[]

Created during a collaboration between Kirin Jindosh and Breanna Ashworth, the Oraculum is part science and part magic. Its purpose is to listen in on the prophecies of the Sisters of the Oracular Order through the Void and influence them. The device mainly works by channeling the energies of the Void through effigies of the Sisters.

The engine is composed of parts of Overseer music boxes,^[1] and produces Void energies with their Ancient Music. The energy is then transmitted by coils through cables, which direct it to the effigies. The effigies themselves consist of exhumed bodies of the Sister of the Oracular Order, connected to the mind of their living successors. They are bound with various relics and artifacts to reinforce the connection, such as the Order's scarves to cover their eyes and their maces.^[2] Magic drawings complete the installation, which as it is gives a clear audio feedback of a Sister's thoughts when powered.

A single person, through their connection to the Void, can manipulate the energy feed to the effigies after attuning the device to them. A series of lenses focuses those energies, but faulty lenses can scatter these energies and even erode the person's link to the Void.

History[]

The design of the Oraculum is based on a machine invented by Anton Sokolov, which made use of a type of Pandyssian crystal, dubbed "sokolite" by the inventor, as its core component. During an exhibition held in the Royal Conservatory in 1841, Sokolov used the machine to demonstrate the crystal's ability to allow one person to see through the eyes of another. Jindosh, who was present at the exhibition, wondered if a similar device can be made to project thoughts into the mind of a person and immediately noted down potential improvements for his own version of the machine. One such improvement is to ground the crystals into lenses instead of cutting them into polyhedra as Sokolov did.^[3]

Jindosh finally had the chance to realize his design when Delilah had him and Breanna build the Oraculum to manipulate the Abbey of the Everyman and in turn the population of the Isles into worshiping her. She would use the device to influence the prophecies of the Oracular Order, which the Abbey fervently consult.

As it is difficult to acquire hair and nail clippings of an Oracular Sister to create necessary effigies, Ashworth resorted to exhuming the bodies of the Sisters from an Abbey graveyard since their minds are linked even through death. It took her nearly a month to complete the effigies and refine them to hear and influence the dreams of the living Sisters.^[2]

Jindosh completed his part of the work before the mission The Clockwork Mansion, and so his demise did not influence progress on the Oraculum. The original lenses he and Breanna devised were faulty, scattering the energies produced by the device and draining Breanna's connection to the Void. Breanna removed them and brought them to her workshop for study before destroying them.^[4] One of the witches brought them back there after hearing others planning to throw them in the ocean.^[5]

Dishonored 2[]

The protagonist first hears of the Oraculum and Breanna Ashworth from Anton Sokolov, who spied on Jindosh during his captivity. On the advice of Sokolov and Meagan Foster, they set on the Royal Conservatory to incapacitate Delilah's first lieutenant and stop their project.

The faulty lenses can be used to eliminate Breanna non-lethally by taking her powers from her. In order to do so, the lenses must be found and inserted into the Oraculum, which must then be activated by pulling the lever.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider[]

As an aftermath of Breanna's experiments, Overseers and Sisters of the Oracular Order are sent to the Royal Conservatory to seek for heretical artifacts. Two Oracular Sisters can be found near the Oraculum, discussing how the device almost influenced their prophecies and wondering what can be done against such influence in the future.

It is also revealed that, after the defeat of Breanna and her coven, the corpses of the Oracular Sisters started speaking and muttering sinister prophecies. To prevent this, four censers have been added to the Oraculum. If Billie Lurk removes all censers the voices start speaking again, wondering about Billie and her intentions.

Trivia[]

If the lenses are not manipulated, pulling the lever allows the protagonist to listen to various oracular prophecies. The achievement Oracular Echoes is obtained by doing this four times.