Pantheon

Ashes of Creation community empowered Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
"Planetarium" concept art by Ryan Richmond.[1]

The beginning of the creation of the universe that exists within Ashes of Creation was a result of a group of god beings. There were ten of them and there was a celestial struggle in this universe that resulted in a fraction of those gods. And there exists within this story two components of good and evil.[2]Steven Sharif

The ten deities within Ashes of Creation formed a pantheon of gods that existed in a realm outside of the material plane.[3][4] There was a celestial struggle among the gods that fractured them into good and evil.[3][2] Some gods influence the corrupt side of beings that exist in the Universe.[5][3] It is possible through questing and player decision to join or worship those gods.[6][7]

The gods are an active part of the story; and each of the cultures have their own interpretation of the whims and desires and focuses of the Gods.[8]Steven Sharif
  • The Others are three of the ten gods who embraced teaching all facets of The Essence (both good and evil) to The Ancients, and elevating them to the plane of the gods.[3]
  • The Seven gods' opposition to the Others resulted in a great celestial battle. The Seven were able to defeat the Others, banishing them and the Ancients to The Void. They went on to create four divine races and split their qualities between them.[3][2]

The Gods are beings of The Essence, which is a metaphysical energy or life-force of sorts that can be manipulated to create what could be viewed as magic.[3]

  • The Gods are capable of reaching into the material plane through the souls of their divine beings. In the case of The Seven these are the four great races and their descendants.[9]

There were these pantheon of gods that existed in a realm outside of the material plane that Verra exists in and they were really beings of what's called The essence. The essence is essentially this almost metaphysical energy or life-force that can be manipulated to create magic and/or what we would we would view as magic; and different planes have different degrees of strength when it comes to their proximity to the essence. The material plane is not the highest on that on that scale of being close to to the essence; and the gods exist on a plane that is the most connected to the essence.[3]Steven Sharif

The Gods in Ashes of Creation represent different aspects of the Universe, and feelings as well.[10]

Each god... has a specific realm that they relate to in the world and its creation.[2]Steven Sharif

We have a very rich lore on the pantheon of gods, but it's something that I want to make sure players discover in-game, not told about.[10]Steven Sharif

The story of creation

The story of creation tells us of a race of beings known as The Ancients. Created in the likeness of what was once The Ten. The Ten imbued all of their qualities into one race to have stewardship over all of creation. The power of the Ancients grew and a rift divided the Ten in how to accommodate their new creation. Three of the Ten separated from the others and began to teach the Ancients the Secrets of the Essence. When the Seven learned of this, a great celestial battle ensued. Eons passed and you watched as the fight continued within the celestial kingdom. Some say it was the fight that created the stars and heaven we see today. With every blow between the Ten a star was born. When the battle was complete, the others and the Ancients were banished by the Seven into the Void. The Seven found the error of their ways and decided to split their qualities into four races instead of one; and this is how the Humans, Elves, Orcs and Dwarves came to be. You watch as the Seven created Verra and placed each of the races within their respective locations. As the story came to an end, a dark figure at a distance grew closer to you. Until all you could see was the darkness. And you wake up in a sweat after a nightmare.[18]Steven Sharif

The Essence

The Essence is a metaphysical energy or life-force (Chi) that can be manipulated to create what could be viewed as magic. There are different planes of existence (realms) with varying degrees of strength (of magic), determined by their proximity to the Essence. The planes of existence in Ashes of Creation are connected across bridges created by the Essence, referred to as Rivers of Essence.[19][20][3]

The higher up you go in these planes, the closer to the source of the Essence you really are. And that's where you can see stronger manifestations of the magical aspects of the Essence.[19]Steven Sharif
The essence is a stream that exists across all planes of existence, but it exists at different levels of strength essentially at different levels that can be utilized; and the void is the furthest... There is a very minute amount of essence that can be found within the void. However the planes of existence that are in Ashes of Creation- they are connected across bridges created by the essence. So these ley-lines in a sense that exist within the different planes provide conduits of access and on Verra, which was a planet that was made after the ancient- the celestial battle.[3]Steven Sharif

Souls (also referred to as Mortal coils) are the conduits for The Essence to travel between the different planes of existence. This idea is an integral component of the broader features in the storyline.[19][20]

When you think about souls being a conduit, what are conduits used for? Conduits are passages: they're methods by which Essence can travel between realms, between planes. And there hasn't been any definitive understanding of just how many planes exist. We understand that there is a disparity between the planes when it comes to their connection to the Essence, and because Essence is so powerful; and it flows through these planes almost like a river. You can think that conduits help to maintain that flow and/or even exaggerate the flow; and there might be something at play, that I don't wanna touch necessarily, as to why one would want to create these types of conduits, these souls, this creation on the material plane: Something of significance.[20]Steven Sharif
  • The Essence is so powerful it flows through the planes almost like a river. Soul conduits help to maintain or even exaggerate this flow.[19][20]
Souls acting as conduits is a very integral component of some broader features in the storyline. If you think about souls being a conduit for Essence and you think of the gods as masters of the Essence: If you think of the Essence being separate from the Gods- let's say they're parallel to each other- one didn't create the other, but they coexist in this almost symbiotic form with one another: almost to the point where their manipulation of the Essence is perfection: They can perfectly manipulate it and lesser beings- and I say 'lesser' in a sense of their alignment or closeness to Essence. They're still perfecting that manipulation and some never achieve perfection almost to the degree of ascendency or enlightenment- Essence being that sort of Chi that exists. In that regard, when a perfect being such as the gods- and I'm not saying 'perfect' as the correlation between sin and not sin, I'm thinking perfect in the sense of how you can control and manipulate the Essence: That control is perfection for them.[20]Steven Sharif
  • The gods are masters of the Essence, but they are separate from it. One didn't create the other, but they exist together in a symbiotic form where the gods have achieved an almost perfect manipulation of the Essence and of "lesser beings" who exist further from the Essence.[19][20]
One of the great differentiators between mortal divine races and the gods is that aspect of mortality. And one of the ways that the divine races were created in order to interact with the Essence was through the use of a mortal coil; and that mortal coil was malleable. Your soul was malleable. It could change to adopt a greater connection with the Essence around one particular school of magic perhaps, or one type of magic that you might use Essence for. And the more you experienced that, the more adept you became with utilizing that magic. And that's because your coil would start to mold itself to best facilitate that flow of essence: whatever school of magic you were manipulating with it.[19]Steven Sharif
  • King Atrax was the first ruler of Verra to discover the purpose of The Essence, allowing the manipulation of matter and exploitation of magic for any means.[9]
When you have the story of the original Ancients, the predecessor race to the divine races, their coil began to warp and change to best facilitate Essence through the use of corruption and corrupt magic, because it was in their history that they learned the most powerful use- or at least what they believed was the most powerful use of Essence was, through corrupt magic. And that's what allured them towards it. So to give you better context about why that conduit is so important is as your base character, as your core archetype continually learns and manifests things in the world of Verra through the use of the Essence. It will continue to shape and change its conduit towards that purpose.[19]Steven Sharif
  • The Tulnar have souls and these souls act as conduits for the Essence.[21]
Now, how does the soul act as a conduit to the other races, to the other realms? Remember, that Essence is like a river that flows through the planes; and when it touches mortal coils that use it in a certain way, it has reverberations throughout the river that is felt across the planes. And that's how important the divine races are when it comes to the war over their soul, so to speak, is what impact it has across the universe.[19]Steven Sharif
  • Shape-shifting (changeling) is done so through the Essence by focusing on that specific type of magic.[23]

Corrupted Essence

Corrupted Essence (commonly referred to simply as Corruption) is a negative aspect of The Essence that was spread by The Ancients during the Apocalypse.[22][26]

Corruption is a representation of The Ancients' magic: The Ancients hatred. The Ancients desire to strike back at the creation of what their the gods who banished them to the void have tried to accomplish on Verra. And so corruption is this influence of The Essence that permeates around locations in the world and tries to pervert what that creation really is.[27]Steven Sharif
  • Corruption was brought to Verra by the Harbingers, which are comet-like celestial bodies powered by a very strong source of magic.[28][3]
What does corruption do as it seeps in through the world? It seeps in a way that's responsive to player progression. So as the nodes develop, as the world becomes more civilized by society, going out and standing up these cities and these nodes and whatnot, corruption responds to that. It is an equal pushback that it's trying to achieve. And it's up to players to thwart the advancement of that corruption through achieving certain story arc quest lines, through killing certain bosses, through, participating in content that relates to that corruption seeping into the world. But corruption is not all bad, because corruption changes spawners and it changes populations and it changes resources that become available- unique resources... So there is a relevance- meaningful component of why that corruption would want to be interacted with from the player's perspective. But it's a push and pull situation. That's really what corruption is intended to provide, push and pull between the advancement of society and what was there that's more feral.[29]Steven Sharif

Respawn lore

Alpha-2 player death animation.[42]

The lore behind how death and resurrection exists within Ashes of Creation is the concept of this Avatar of the Phoenix being represented of the Goddess of Creation, from which all life on this plane has has come from essentially... Because when you do get reborn it's that connection with your soul to the essence that binds you with the Goddess of Creation that brings that spark of the of that Avatar of the Phoenix back and brings you to life through that manipulation of the essence. So this is a little update on the ash effect.[43]Steven Sharif

Characters entering into the world of Verra are empowered with the spark of life that comes from the Goddess of Creation. This spark houses a portion of what represents their mortal coil/soul and their conduit to The Essence.[44][43][45][46] When a character dies they disintegrate into ashes, in accordance with the mythology of the cycle of life, death, and rebirth that is associated with the celestial avatar of the Goddess of Creation, the phoenix.[43][45]

  • The ash pile conveys the location of the body, so that the character may be selected for resurrection.[43]
  • The ash pile is also interractible to allow players to loot any dropped items.[43][45]
  • This effect applies to players and not mobs.[43]

The reason for why respawning occurs, as you guys know, the avatar of the Goddess of Creation is the phoenix; and the phoenix obviously has some very stable mythological lore to it with regards to the cycle of life and death and rebirth; and that type of thing. As you enter into the world of Verra you are in a way empowered with the spark of life that comes from the Goddess of Creation herself, and in that sense you're able to house a portion of what that represents in your soul and your... conduit to the essence.[45]Steven Sharif

The Ancients

A Lieutenant of The Ancients 3D render.[5]

This is one of the lieutenants that exists of the Ancients; and you can see they have an almost alien look to them and that is because they have deviated over such a long period of time from their original creation, which looked something very very different: more akin to the Elven and Human races that we have now. But over time through their manipulation of the Essence and the corruption that has ensued within their race, they have taken the form that you can see.[48]Steven Sharif

Suffering Wanderer 3D render.[49][50]

You're going to see really a dark, more insidious creature that's present as the primary antagonist within the storyline of Ashes of Creation. You know they don't have the typical physical attributes you come to expect from a bipedal species like eyes and a mouth, but more something alien- that exists something that is just not natural in its appearance.[32]Steven Sharif

The Ancients (the original creations of the Ten gods) and The Others (the banished gods) are the primary antagonists in the lore who defiled and perverted all of creation.[5][3][51]

  • The Ancients learned from The Others how to use The Essence to achieve immortality. This was a pure form of immortality, more akin to the godhood that exists among the Pantheon. This immortality prohibited them from encompassing undeath in the manner of King Atrax.[52]

If the Verran races were combined they’d be the ancients.[55]Steven Sharif

  • The Ancients arrived at Verra through the Harbingers, which are comet-like celestial bodies powered by a very strong source of magic that essentially acts as a bridge between The Void and the Material plane where Verra exists.[5][3]

You're going to see lieutenants, captains, generals, and raid bosses and they're all going to take different forms because their whole perversion of Essence through the corruption is to take creation on the material realm, that the Pantheon of good Gods did, and twist and bend it to the corruption that exists within the Essence, because they view that as a more powerful form, a more raw and arcane form of what magic is meant to be used for. There's no point in these false constructs of morality when utilizing and harnessing the power that comes from the Essence. That is a social construct that was created by inferior gods, according to the Others; and it limits the ability of their creation to really capitalize on what the Essence is to be used for in its pure, innate nature.[23]Steven Sharif

  • The Ancients' race exists in a caste-oriented system because the Essence has a profound effect biologically, physically, and visually on the appearance of the creatures that are manipulating it and are corrupted by it.[56][23]
    • Grunts are the peons or soldiers on the front lines who are specifically geared toward combat, or magic utilization, or specific environments or climates.[56][23]
    • Lieutenants have wing structures and more asymmetrical appearances.[56][23]
    • Captains and generals are also ranks in the caste system.[23]
    • Large raid bosses and/or world bosses are monolithic in their appearance and unlike what standard creatures look like. These are huge, imposing creatures.[56][23]

The gods... wanted to represent their qualities, their characteristics, their attributes within creation with the creation of something, so they started with a race that are now known as The Ancients; and they imbued them with all of their qualities. Essentially now that that turned out to be a mistake because with those types of qualities all in one species there was a a pride that happened- a desire to become more; and that led a little bit of conflict between the Ancients; and actually there was a partition created between some of the gods within the pantheon that embraced the idea of introducing the Ancients as part of essentially their plane of existence and teaching them the ways of the Essence, in all of its facets: not just what can be used for good, but also what could be used for evil as well. And three of the gods split off and went against the quorum that was established about not interfering with the Ancients after they started this down this road of learning more of the essence and how to manipulate it; and these three gods are known as The Others. So the others really embraced teaching the Ancients knowledge of the essence that they had learned through their eternal existence; and this caused a celestial battle to occur; and the pantheon of the Seven were able to defeat the others; and they banished the Ancients and the Others from the material plane and from the plane of the gods to the void which is the furthest from being connected to the essence.[3]Steven Sharif

Religion

Religious temple in a Metropolis node.[57]

We're talking about a pantheon here, not necessarily separate religions. They're all offshoots of who is the better god, or who is the god who identifies best with you.[2]Jeffrey Bard

There are six primary religions as well as a Tulnar/Underrealm religion.[58][59][60]

  • Religion is intended to be a motivator, not an aesthetic.[61]
  • Choosing a religion enables players to walk a light or a dark path through their choice of questlines and other actions.[6][7][2]
    • Players will not be able to worship The Others at temples, but certain quest paths will allow darker forms of worship.[62]
There will be questlines. There will be certain actions that players are capable of taking to perhaps pursue the darker side of this metaverse so to speak.[6]Steven Sharif

Sometimes games in the past have tried to shy away from heavy emphasis on religion because of the parallels that can occur between what is in the real world and this fantasy realm. I don't really subscribe to that theory. I think that religion plays a very significant role in the story of what Ashes of Creation is about and it is very much this almost monolithic idea of good vs. evil; so that is really at the crux of what the overarching narrative will be in the game; and I'm not trying to pigeonhole players into "everyone has to be good", like I said earlier there will be opportunities for players to deviate from that, should they so choose to roleplay in that regard.[58]Steven Sharif

  • PvP wars between religions are not a planned feature for the game.[63]

The Tulnar religion is a combination of religious beliefs of the major races as well as pagan beliefs of the minor races over time as they coexisted together in the Underrealm.[64]

The progression of the Tulnar- while they are still the staples of what were once the primary deities of the good pantheon remained for the Tulnar, over the time they existed and evolved into the society that they are at the return to Verra. It's much more similar... to the way the Creole religions advanced, with using components of Christianity as well as Voodoo and other smaller, more "paganesque" religions; and incorporated them into one. To that degree, you can correlate the way that society around the Tulnar has this almost combination of what were pagan beliefs from the minor races as well as the introductions of the major beliefs and religions from the major races, because they all came together in the Underrealm and survived in that regard. So you’re gonna see naturally a combination of those two things.[64]Steven Sharif

Orders of the Seven

The orders of the seven are religious organizations corresponding to the seven grand temples of Verra.[15]

  1. The Order of hope is an Aelan human order based in the capital city of Aela. The patron deity is Resna.[15]
  2. The Order of fate is a Kaivek orc order headquartered in the capital city of Ren. Patron deity is Norlan.[14]
  3. The Order of truth is a Pyrian elven order headquartered in the capital city of Amera. Patron deity is Shol.[16]

Within the temples of the seven there exist different levels of organizations that call on only the most devout followers to serve. Depending on the follower's skills, services could mean many things. For those among the followers who hold a certain set of skills, there are the orders of the seven. Each of the orders answers to a different hierarchy within the various grand temples of the seven that are found throughout Verra.[15]Steven Sharif

The Lightpact

Cloak of the Broken Pact cosmetic concept art.[66]

This flowing silken mantle of the Lightpact inspired hope in all those that caught a glimpse of them during the terrible final days of Verra. Fighting tirelessly against the pressing darkness, the fluttering capes were often the last rays of light seen before escaping to safety. Tragically, it was only the cloak itself that was recovered after the finishing blows were felled.[66]

The Lightpact was an alliance of the Orders of the Seven, created by the four major races of Verra in order to solve the mystery of the Harbingers.[67]

Even though they have different focuses and reasons why their followers worship specific gods, at the end of the day, they're all a Pantheon of good. So there's a reason for them to work together to subvert the goals and/or aspirations of the Others and the Ancients. And those who seek to pervert what the Essence is capable of through the means of Corruption.[68]Steven Sharif
  • There are key individuals within the Lightpact and within the religions that have a longer objective that ties into the overarching metanarrative, in terms of the reason for the return to Verra.[68]
Standing against the heralds of corruption, the Lightpact once carried the hopes of all Verrans on their shoulders. Their flames would ultimately be dashed on the rocks of betrayal and destruction. Corruption, death, and evil now grasp and consume the light that once led the way. With the re-emergence of the Divine Gates, will the beacon of faith be set ablaze once more?[69]

See also

References

  1. May newsletter.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Livestream, May 26, 2017 (15:37).
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 Livestream, November 8, 2020 (0:00:00).
  4. Livestream, May 26, 2017 (10:58).
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Livestream, November 8, 2020 (11:48).
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Podcast, November 15, 2020 (20:04).
  7. 7.0 7.1 Livestream, 2018-04-8 (AM) (16:50).
  8. Livestream, December 2, 2022 (1:18:26).
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Livestream, November 8, 2020 (00:49).
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Livestream, 2018-04-8 (AM) (10:02).
  11. Interview, July 20, 2020 (13:33).
  12. 12.0 12.1 Interview, October 31, 2018 (6:00).
  13. steven-phoenix.png
  14. 14.0 14.1 Livestream, November 3, 2018 (0:01:18).
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Livestream, November 3, 2018 (0:00:20).
  16. 16.0 16.1 Livestream, November 3, 2018 (0:06:56).
  17. Video, July 29, 2022 (1:58).
  18. Livestream, November 3, 2018 (0:00:39).
  19. 19.00 19.01 19.02 19.03 19.04 19.05 19.06 19.07 19.08 19.09 19.10 Livestream, April 7, 2023 (16:42).
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 Podcast, November 15, 2020 (36:29).
  21. Podcast, November 15, 2020 (40:24).
  22. 22.0 22.1 Livestream, November 8, 2020 (9:51).
  23. 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 23.6 Podcast, November 15, 2020 (42:22).
  24. Video, October 31, 2023 (5:06).
  25. Video, March 31, 2023 (9:32).
  26. Ashes of Creation - A world with consequences.
  27. 27.0 27.1 Livestream, March 31, 2023 (54:22).
  28. 28.0 28.1 Week 1, entry 1.
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 Interview, July 9, 2023 (47:05).
  30. 30.0 30.1 Livestream, March 31, 2023 (53:30).
  31. 31.0 31.1 Livestream, March 26, 2021 (22:53).
  32. 32.0 32.1 Livestream, November 8, 2020 (12:47).
  33. skotty-story-arc-2.png
  34. Video, March 31, 2023 (3:32).
  35. Video, March 31, 2023 (1:22).
  36. Video, April 5, 2018 (35:01).
  37. Livestream, June 25, 2021 (1:32:24).
  38. Livestream, March 31, 2023 (59:10).
  39. Video, March 31, 2023 (16:42).
  40. skotty-story-arc-1.png
  41. Interview, July 9, 2023 (49:48).
  42. Video, August 31, 2023 (4:01).
  43. 43.0 43.1 43.2 43.3 43.4 43.5 Livestream, September 24, 2021 (51:20).
  44. Livestream, April 28, 2023 (1:19:56).
  45. 45.0 45.1 45.2 45.3 45.4 Livestream, March 26, 2021 (1:07:33).
  46. Podcast, May 11, 2018 (51:39).
  47. Podcast, April 11, 2021 (34:41).
  48. Livestream, November 8, 2020 (11:57).
  49. Livestream, March 26, 2021 (26:31).
  50. Blog: Creative Director's Letter, January 2021.
  51. Interview, July 19, 2020 (50:10).
  52. 52.0 52.1 Livestream, November 8, 2020 (05:31).
  53. steven-ancients-1.png
  54. steven-ancients-2.png
  55. 55.0 55.1 steven-ancients-3.png
  56. 56.0 56.1 56.2 56.3 Livestream, November 8, 2020 (10:41).
  57. Node series part II – the Metropolis.
  58. 58.0 58.1 Podcast, November 15, 2020 (29:23).
  59. Interview, July 19, 2020 (23:15).
  60. religions2.jpg
  61. Livestream, May 8, 2017 (44:51).
  62. Livestream, July 30, 2021 (1:13:11).
  63. Forums - Livestream Q&A 2022-08-26.
  64. 64.0 64.1 Podcast, November 15, 2020 (31:13).
  65. Livestream, November 22, 2019 (24:33).
  66. 66.0 66.1 Ashes of Creation Store: Pantheon.
  67. Week 2, entry 1.
  68. 68.0 68.1 68.2 Podcast, November 15, 2020 (25:27).
  69. Ashes of Creation Store: October cosmetics.