We should know more about Ispar

[wolfzbane]

Considering all of our characters group up on Ispar and have only spent 6 years on Dereth. How is it that we (the players) know more about Dereth and not Ispar?

I've read as much as I was able to about Ispar and it doesn't seem like there is a whole lot. I think some bored Dev should get cracking ;)

[Someguy1]

Ispar is rarely involved in any of the storylines. Closest we got was the Elements of Revenge arc with Martine and Harlune. The viamontians didn't give us much except an explanation of the current events and general cultural back story.

Really isparian lore is relagated to a bunch of stand alone stories most of which were made before the game's first retail sale.

[Thadda Al-Munik]

Ispar is rarely involved in any of the storylines. Closest we got was the Elements of Revenge arc with Martine and Harlune. The viamontians didn't give us much except an explanation of the current events and general cultural back story.

Really isparian lore is relagated to a bunch of stand alone stories most of which were made before the game's first retail sale.


You mean Gaerlan...

[Protes]

You mean Gaerlan...No, I think he's talking about Harlune's true identity being revealed at the end of the arc, when Martine fought Gaerlan at the citadel.


excerpt from Martine vs Gaerlan:
Gaerlan says, "I have watched you Martine. You have sloughed your true form away, returning to what you once were. Why? Tell me Martine...have you seen the portal that I have created for you? I have given you the way home."

Martine says, "No! Asheron told me that it cannot be done, the research was destroyed."

Gaerlan says, "Destroyed? He never found his way there again, and then there were his greater failures to attend to. But even he forgot the other, the one who went native and lived there. Not all minds are so strong."

---

Harlune the Misanthrope tells you, "It was so much better when you people thought I was one of you. That's impossible now though, thanks to that cretin Gaerlan."

[wolfzbane]

but we should still have a complete history of Ispar. Like I said, all of our characters grew up on Ispar. We all come from there. Well except for Borelean, but he's like the only child to have ever been born on Dereth and he's only like 15 or 16 anyway

[Protes]

but we should still have a complete history of Ispar. Like I said, all of our characters grew up on Ispar. More history of Ispar would be good, I'm not arguing against it :)
We all come from there. Well except for Borelean, but he's like the only child to have ever been born on Dereth and he's only like 15 or 16 anywayNot that it matters much but Borelean is 17 going on 18 ;)

[Gaetano]

No, I think he's talking about Harlune's true identity being revealed at the end of the arc, when Martine fought Gaerlan at the citadel.


excerpt from Martine vs Gaerlan:
Gaerlan says, "I have watched you Martine. You have sloughed your true form away, returning to what you once were. Why? Tell me Martine...have you seen the portal that I have created for you? I have given you the way home."

Martine says, "No! Asheron told me that it cannot be done, the research was destroyed."

Gaerlan says, "Destroyed? He never found his way there again, and then there were his greater failures to attend to. But even he forgot the other, the one who went native and lived there. Not all minds are so strong."

---

Harlune the Misanthrope tells you, "It was so much better when you people thought I was one of you. That's impossible now though, thanks to that cretin Gaerlan."

Wow, Thanks for the reminder!

Those were really good emotional story lines. I miss that quality of story telling and adventure. Thanks again for the recap.

[Protes]

Wow, Thanks for the reminder!

Those were really good emotional story lines. I miss that quality of story telling and adventure. Thanks again for the recap.You're welcome :)
I forgot to include a link to it. You can read the entire dialog between Martine and Gaerlan here - http://ac.warcry.com/index.php?content=lore/utterances/events/gaerlanmartine

Elements of Revenge arc is my favorite arc out of them all. Whomever had written Martine's storyline did an excellent job. However despite how much I like Martine I still think Candeth Keep should of been called Locke Ridge (that was my submission of naming the town :p ).

[Thadda Al-Munik]

Martine is so badass, its scary

[Renegade Knight]

Aye, we need more characters as good as Martine. Only character I've thought to be in the same league as Martine (personality wise, not strength wise) is Oswald.

[Thadda Al-Munik]

Well, this storyline was ok. It still isnt finished as of yet, but I wanna see the surprise as to how this ends.

[Fyacin]

Martine is the best ever.


And on Borelean.. Maybe he is more attuned to the magic of Dereth since he was born here? That would explain where he got his Geomantic abilities.

[Renegade Knight]

That, or he simply was taught geomancy by his teacher in one of the teasers. Whom his teacher (the one he shouldn't have been speaking to) is still unknown. I am assuming this person taught Borelean some knowledge, as Borelean was asked to enter the library and attain books. He could've read them while waiting for that person, depending on the time interval.

[Gaetano]

To be honest:

Until Martine most character development was two dimensional. Even Asheron seemed a bit hollow and unsubstantiated. To date the characters and their stories that kindle a flame in me are:

Martine
Oswald
Nuhmidira (sp, can never remember how to spell her name)
Gaerlan

We need more emotional envoking storylines like these. Oh and have you notice, Nummy is present in most of them. She is such a badass crazy woman. Whom ever writes her stuff...cudos to you!

[wolfzbane]

To be honest:

Until Martine most character development was two dimensional. Even Asheron seemed a bit hollow and unsubstantiated. To date the characters and their stories that kindle a flame in me are:

Martine
Oswald
Nuhmidira (sp, can never remember how to spell her name)
Gaerlan

We need more emotional envoking storylines like these. Oh and have you notice, Nummy is present in most of them. She is such a badass crazy woman. Whom ever writes her stuff...cudos to you!

You spelled her name correctly, but you had better make sure that you always spell my Queen's name right. Especially since you call yourself a secret supporter of her.

-

[Crowley]

I usually refrain from correcting people's spelling on message boards, but folks, it's "Nuhmudira". :)

About life on Ispar... I don't know how many of you all remember the lore articles that Meanbeard and I wrote a couple of years ago to prep for the launch of Throne of Destiny, but here is a link to an article (http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?page_id=306) about the history of Viamont.

I have to say that Oswald is one of my favorite lore characters, too. Some day I'll tell the story of how Oswald was created and came to become such a major lore character. He wasn't in our plans from day one, I'll tell you that much. ;)

[Renegade Knight]

Hey Crowley, is there any chance of us seeing a third faction in the current war? One that follows Oswald? It was mentioned in Trials of the Vagabond that if we were to complete the tasks, we could have a chance at becoming one of his students... and since roleplaying-wise (as well as game-play wise, I am currently not tied to any faction) I am loyal to Oswald.

And, as for Oswald's origins, I think we'd all like to know.

[wolfzbane]

^ and also:

Let us swear allegiance to Dev controlled characters!

We can obviously see that Elysa, Nuhmudira, Oswald and etc aren't grinding away in any dungeons so it would make sense that all these levels that these characters are mysteriously gaining is from passup XP ;)

[An Adventurer]

I kind of like the fact that we don't know everything about Ispar. It lets you create your own past. You can say your character is related to the king of Aluvia and theres no offical lore to say, "no, you aren't"

What I would like though is a more detailed map of Ispar. Right now we only have an unoffical but dev approved map on CoD. I'd like one with more towns, names of forests and rivers, etc.

Also it would be nice to know the names of current leaders of the different countries, and every once in a while, have an update on whats happening on Ispar. After all, all the new arrivals come from there. They should bring news with them.

Thats one of the things that bugged me with the ToD lore. The viamont civil war started 8 years ago or so, but no one knew about till now. Obvisiously the story wasn't written till ToD, so theres not much they could do about it. Maybe viamonts are very strict about what information leaves the country...

[Lupus Argenteus]

^ and also:

Let us swear allegiance to Dev controlled characters!

We can obviously see that Elysa, Nuhmudira, Oswald and etc aren't grinding away in any dungeons so it would make sense that all these levels that these characters are mysteriously gaining is from passup XP ;)
There are actually some technical and policy reasons why it's in general, not a good idea for us to let people swear to us. One example that's probably reasonably transparent to players is that it's not always the same person playing the same character. As we cross storylines, that means that a different person might play Dardante in one op than in another, and so it'd be really confusing to anybody who swore to Dardante previously, but sure aren't in the allegiance of the Dardante who's standing in front of them.

There's some other tech reasons why, as well, but I can't really go into details on them for obvious reasons involving revelation admin powers.

[Silent Mayhem]

The news on Ispar is the Letter from Home a new characters spawns with telling about the country depending on origin. I would like to play a Milantos or Silveran character someday since they are countries of Ispar after all...and also...dev's play the people? So that lifestone target Martine was a dev? and what is that prismatic or pink magic that they cast? in the verdict movie martine was doing some spell that looked like an acid ring spell except it was pink and a shock wave was in the middle...and what is Geomancy?

[Thamior]

The story involving the Viamontians was at launch and is even pre-beta. I don't think many people read about it.

Also, the lore from the OLD turbine site about the Aluvians doesn't quite match the lore written about the Viamontians in 2004.

The Origins and Current Disposition of Viamont states:

The people of Gharu'n and Aluvia both eventually pushed out the Viamontian-installed puppet kings and reclaimed their lands from the invader.

While the story about the Aluvians states:

Seeking conquest, the neighboring nation of Viamont invaded and instated a king, Alfric I, to rule over the clan chiefs. The native Aluvians rebelled, but with little success; subject to often brutal Aluvian House (game rendering)reprisals, they remained thralls of a foreign monarch. That changed, however, with the coronation of High King Osric. Though a Viamonter by birth, Osric dedicated his reign to mending his divided country. He made peace with the rebellious nobles, lowered backbreaking taxes, and even named his son after an Aluvian saint, Pwyll. To this day, folk sing the praises of Osric the Wise.



Reclaiming lands is a little different than a Viamontian bringing Aluvia together under his rule, no? Reclaiming and pushing out would imply an overthrowing of the ruling house.

[Jin Saotome]

Ispar? What's this 'Ispar' you people talk about? Jin came from Earth, somewhere in the year 3090. Asheron had his portals going all over the place apparently, I mean he picked up the Virindi and all from the moon.

[Protes]

The story involving the Viamontians was at launch and is even pre-beta. I don't think many people read about it.

Also, the lore from the OLD turbine site about the Aluvians doesn't quite match the lore written about the Viamontians in 2004.Read Crowley's ToD Dev Diary, he talks specifically about the Viamontians and creating the backstory for ToD -- http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?page_id=320

[Uzi-El]

but we should still have a complete history of Ispar. Like I said, all of our characters grew up on Ispar.
So why don't you grace us with complete and detailed histories of, say: Britain, Japan, ancient Egypt, and France? After all, you should know, having grown up on this world and all ;)

[wolfzbane]

So why don't you grace us with complete and detailed histories of, say: Britain, Japan, ancient Egypt, and France? After all, you should know, having grown up on this world and all ;)


Why? Do you have a hard time using Google to look it up? ;)

[Thamior]

Read Crowley's ToD Dev Diary, he talks specifically about the Viamontians and creating the backstory for ToD -- http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?page_id=320


I'd never read that dev diary.

Check out this site as it's where I got the quote from Aluvian lore:

http://www.zogblaster.com/tweb/asherons-call/heritagegroups/index.htm

[Televangelist]

Are we sure that the moon base is Virindi land?

If so, a hell of an expansion pack someday. ;)

I'm hoping that the next expansion, if there ever is one, is Milanteans - maybe they have red skin, and Nuhmudira's magic just makes her look Gharu'ndim?

[Renegade Knight]

They could most likely add new races through monthly patches, of course that is assuming the upgrades with Throne of Destiny made the character creation system easier to work with.

Milanteans don't excite me, I'd prefer Silveran, or Roulean, simply because Rouleans are the ones who created a common language etc. Silveran, because from what I've read about them, their quite different from the other races, in terms of weaponry, such as wooden swords instead of steel.

[Roberto]

Are we sure that the moon base is Virindi land?
The moon with the lights is the one the with the Gromnatrosses...not the Vrinidi. They 'live' in portalspace.

[TreyIcefalcon]

Silveran, I'd love RPing with a Silveran character

[Pimpinsins]

its gone I nuked it

[Protes]

It would be good to see other Isparian holidays celebrated in-game besides the annual Winter Festivals/Festivus (Aluvian Solstice, Gharu'ndim Night Feast, and Sho Festival of Lights). Maybe the Devs could consider adding in a Viamontian holiday. It would be kind of cool I think to see Silyun and Sanamar decorated by the townsfolk to celebrate a traditional holiday of theirs.

[Endrin]

I don't think viamontians are very holidayish people. Seems to me it would be holding a multicultural festival in nazi germany.

[Protes]

I don't think viamontians are very holidayish people. Seems to me it would be holding a multicultural festival in nazi germany.Well I wouldn't be surprised if the Viamontians had some form of a holiday, like celebrating Karlun's B-day or an annual memorial day for fallen knights.

[Langwulf]

Sure, a Viamontian holiday is possible. Most likely centering on a military parade. Then, let the eaters disperse the crowd.

[Gengis]

Ok, this is the first thread I've ever read in the Lore forum and I loved it. Thanks to you folks who know the lore. I have missed a lot in the game by not following the lore.

In the LOTR books, I love the lore. Sure, its made-up, but that depth of detail makes it all the more fun. I had never considered what studying AC lore would do to my gameplay in AC. I think I have a good idea now.

I hope to be more active in this forum, but it will be as a reader, not a poster. I don't know any lore to speak of yet.

Thanks again.

[Iggy]

I just wanna know how the Viamonts got moved so far ;P

http://www.thejackcat.com/AC/Travel/maps/BetaMap.htm

Their territory used to be sooo much closer.