Wisdom gem
Appearances	Submachine 0: The Ancient Adventure, Submachine 1: The Basement (extended), Submachine 2: The Lighthouse, Submachine 5: The Root and Submachine 7: The Core.

The wisdom gems (also known as ancient crystals of wisdom) are some mysterious crystals that appear in various Submachine games. While there are many theories about the wisdom gems the only ones that seem valid are that they are an energy source of some sort. That information is confirmed by Murtaugh himself in one of his notes, where he also defines them as "artifacts engineered in the first sub-era by unknown manufacture".^[1]

They look like some light-glowing, stretched-out octahedrons. They are also acid-proof, since in Submachine 5 it is showed that one of them is bathed in the acid remaining untouched.

Until now, even if they were showed multiple times during Submachine games, we only know 3 unique exemplars of wisdom gems; in Submachine 5 they are all used to power an unknown transporter device used to escape in the very end of the game, in the mover machine.

Wisdom gems' listEdit

The main storylineEdit

Wisdom gems are listed with the name adopted in Submachine 5:

Wisdom gem 1Edit

The wisdom gem 1 makes its only appearance in Submachine 5 and is hidden inside a metal box in the (1,2) area of the Root. The metal box is then fused in the acid bathtub in (1,0) area and the wisdom gem 1 shows up (that's where it shows its acid-proof properties).

Wisdom gem 2Edit

The wisdom gem 2 makes its first appearance in Submachine 1 (extended), where it is actually called "ancient crystal of wisdom". It is located in an hidden room inside the Basement, that can be found by pulling a lever, and climbing up a ladder which then appears near the starting room. When collected it glows green. In the current version of the Basement, however, it is now permanently grey, just like in the Lighthouse.

Since it is originally located into the Basement it is highly plausible this is the same wisdom gem Murtaugh used to teleport himself from the Lighthouse to the Basement itself.^[2]

In Submachine 2, the player starts out with the wisdom gem kept from Submachine 1, however now it is grey. It is used to power some sort of device used to drop a ladder inside Lighthouse's foundations.

In Submachine 5, the gem is collected again by accessing the same digouts location again from the (2,0) area of the Root.

In Submachine 7 you can find a wisdom gem inside a box outside The Sanctuary, which allows you to turn on the portal door.

Wisdom gem 3Edit

Wisdom gem 3 makes its first appearance in the side-game Submachine 0: The Ancient Adventure; the game's only goal is actually to collect the so called "ancient crystal of wisdom" (another common name for the wisdom gem), hidden inside the Ancient Ruins under an Anubis statue. Like wisdom gem 2, it also glows green after the Player enters the room where it is hidden.

That gem is collected once again in Submachine 5, exactly in the same room of the latter game, that can be accessed from the (2,1) area of the Root. This time, however, instead of floating in the middle of the room and glowing green, it seems to have exhausted the power to make it glow, and is laying flat in the bottom right rear corner of the room.

It is unknown why the gem is still in the same place since it was supposedly taken away after its discover in Submachine 0. Possibly Mur placed it there and later in life found other wisdom gems.

Submachine Network Exploration ExperienceEdit

The gemsEdit

There are currently 9 wisdom gems in SNEE, all salvageable. When in inventory, they seem to glow a strange shade of blue, resembling the shade from the Lighthouse's 2nd floor. Note that whenever all of the gems in a location where they are found are taken, the ambiance does not change.

Three are in The Tri-Gem Room, placed in a receiver looking similar to the one in the mover, powering something above the location. these gems glow white in a pulsating form, corresponding with the 3 energy surges created towards the ceiling.

Two are in 185, The Paired Gem Room, placed in a strangely looking receiver, seemingly reacting with each other, which illustrates the paired gem theory available in the location. The receiver is attached to two gauges, apparently showing the energy level. Both gems glow blue.

Two are in 241, The Searchlight Room, placed in receivers undoubtedly made to be used with a coil, powering the searchlights. These are blue as well, and because of the removable capability have caused the lights to malfunction: They remain off unless the gems are taken and then put back. This is the result of a glitch, and remains to be fixed. When you take one or both of the gems, your teletransporter will be turned off so if you want to continue, you have to put them back there.

One is in 917, The Looping Sphere, placed in a receiver that is powering the portal. That is, if taken, the portal becomes inoperable.

One is in 947, The Gem Harvester, placed in a harvester which is transferring it's power through the pipes. Due to a broken pipe it suffers a 20% energy loss. A Sub-bot was sent to deal with the problem. If the gem is taken, the power pipe stops arcing. It is unknown where the dripping liquid in the same room is coming from, perhaps some kind of fuel or coolant.

Gem holdersEdit

Apart from the above places, there are 2 more locations where a gem can be placed. Since they don't have a gem of their own, one must be taken from one of the above locations.

The first place is in 001, The Lab, behind the locked door (the key can be found in 277). It is made to be used with a coil, but a gem is an acceptable energy source, also shown by the searchlights in 241. When a gem is placed there, the display showing the clue to 613, The Void, is powered.

The second place is in 917, The Looping Sphere. The receiver looks the same as the second receiver in this location, and when a gem is placed it powers up a display showing the portal workings theory, which also clues to 011, The Clockwork Room's second area.

Wisdom gems powered devicesEdit

Through the game we just saw 2 devices that are powered by wisdom gems:

• An energy receiver, located inside Lighthouse's foundations almost at the beginning of Submachine 2, that is used to unlock a mechanism to control the lowering of a ladder.
• The mover, powered by 3 wisdom gems, that allows the Player to reach some unknown location (supposedly the Edge) from The Corridor.

Since it is hinted that wisdom gems were created before Murtaugh's arrival in the Subnet^[1], it is likely that those devices were already part of the Subnet itself. On the other side, Murtaugh says that he used a wisdom gem himself to power up a portal from the Lighthouse^[2], so supposedly Mur knows how to create a wisdom gem holder too.

TriviaEdit

• The Player is a wisdom gem expert.

ReferencesEdit

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} First Assignment note from Sub5
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Letter to Liz from Submachine 2

Submachine 1: The Basement items	Valve - Golden coin - Fuse - Diary 1 - Spoon - Tiles (A, B, C, D) - Old pearl - Wisdom gems