Work Text:
So, to begin, this will likely overlap with my analysis of Stories That Must Be Told, so some of it might be repeated information. However, some of this is new and just fairly interesting to look at.
On Moria Ecological Island, Ashveil is late on one of his payments. Given the monkey-related context clues, this is likely one of the Rangers that suffered from Dr. Primitive's Degeneration Flow and, of course, turned into monkeys like the Narrator. It tracks since Ashveil is said to be broke from supporting the Rangers of past campaigns, who suffered huge losses from their pyrrhic victories, and there are several who were mentioned in his second character story who suffered such a fate.
Now, on to the next part...
This gives even more context to Operation Zulo and how it was literally a personal vendetta. Moreover, Kronstadt was the hive of Zulo's machinations where he transformed countless people into monsters that became literal hordes that traveled across the cosmos; in the last linked meta also mentions the immense scale of Zulo's destruction across the cosmos, and how this letter furnished a fuller scope of how deeply scarred Kronstadt was by Zulo. How there was nothing left until new immigrants came to patch up a broken world after such annihilation.
With its etymology, there's two possibilities of coding: Kronstadt, a city in Russia, or Kronstadt, the Transylvanian Saxon (German) name for Brasov, a city in Transylvania. Given the heavy mentions of "fur-clad beasts" makes me think of werewolves, ala gothic horror, so I think it's the latter.
I also have a feeling the sender is probably one of the friendlier Rangers like Boothill or Rappa. While some posited the idea of Loretta (one of the survivors of Operation Zulo), I think it might be the new maid-looking woman from the Anti-Destruction Alliance trailer is also a possibility. I do have an idea of who Loretta might be, though...
The heftiest, lore-wise...
The first paragraph seems to connect with the previous letters: Kronstadt was a catastrophically pyrrhic victory that claimed the lives of every Galaxy Ranger involved and resulted in all of them becoming Sin Thirsters, or almost all of them (Tiernan remained in the Dead Sea/Sea of Nihility to act as a ferryman, but ultimately succumbed, too), trapped in the Dead Sea, that we see played out in In Our Time, And on the Eighth Day.
As for mentions of Vonwacq, this also fits because their battles with Dr. Primitive were the inciting incident that led to the Rangers becoming defunct for some time, as many had fallen victim to his Degeneration Flow and turned into monkeys, as shown in the Seat of Divine Foresight's File Repository: Ally — Rangers.
The next is incredibly interesting, too.
Based on the content we have, I actually think this might be hinting at the fact that Ashveil may have jailbroken Yingxing from the Shackling Prison aboard the Luofu, not the Zhuming. The reason I think this, despite prisons aboard the Xianzhou ships all being called the Shackling Prison, is the fact that Yingxing was said to have been incarcerated along with Dan Feng after the Sedition.
During Clouds Leave No Trace & in the achievement, Of Five People Three Are Escapees, it's strongly implied that Yingxing was likely interred briefly in the Shackling Prison, but could have been jailbroken by Ashveil himself. Given the fact that the period after the Sedition and Jingliu finding him is a great unknown, this could be the case.
I don't have much on this, but I do think the One-Eyed Owl might actually be Loretta (as I put in the meta linked in the first paragraph). Not only is she described as a woman, but her vengefulness makes sense given how disastrous Operation Zulo was for the Galaxy Rangers; although, it might also be unlikely given how she may not have lived that long.
I think this might actually lend credence to the idea that Ashveil might have been the Galaxy Ranger who sold Dr. Primitive's robes on Device IX's Dark Web. Or, at the very least, he was likely the one who sold Dr. Primitive's robe on the Dark Web after the operation in Vonwacq, especially as someone likely supporting his Rangers affected by his campaigns and needed money to do so, such as Operation Zulo or their war against Gaius the Usurper, Rubert I/II's successor. This is doubly so, as many believe that Ashveil wasn't involved in the campaigns against Dr. Primitive openly.
This we know from the DU curio The Doctor's Robe, as it specifically says that a Galaxy Ranger sold Dr. Primitive's robes on the Dark Web connected to Polka Kakamond's Device IX.
As for Isee's relic, there's a one I can think of:
The relic might be the Shadow itself or something else, possibly dressed up horribly, seeing as Ashveil himself generated the false flag story of him running away from the Rangers and effectively selling them out, as we hear in his voiceline about Boothill; however, I do doubt that he actually stole something from Isee. There are some relics of the Omen Vanguards (the faction that Isee founded after he left the AE), like the Compound Access Eye or the Broken Cuckoo Clock, but none of them have any connection to him or any Galaxy Ranger, so this is the likelier case.