An Adventurer
04-27-2007, 02:23 PM
First I’d like to discuss geography of Auberean. I’ve made this map to help with the discussion:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/thilsten/colorAuberean.jpg
Its made from the image in the game data files for the map of Auberean, then I added color. We know for sure (the devs said so) that dereth is the tiny island colored green. Reading the lore intro on CoD (http://ac.warcry.com/index.php?content=lore/intro) reveals a few details given to us by a former dev. First, Yalaini lands are a chain of islands – on my map either the red or purple chains. The Yalaini islands are said to be south of Dericost. Which leads us to think that the Yalaini islands would be the purple chain, and Dericost the orange continent north of it. However, the intro also says that Dericost is southeast of Dereth, which would make it the yellow continent. Futher confusing the location of Dericost – when the Falatacot left Dereth because of an ice age, it says they fled south and came into contact with Dericost. But the only lands south of Dereth are the red chain of islands. And last, Dericost has a frozen plateau on the northern part of the lands with wastelands to the west where the sand kings lived. Haebrous lands are not defined. But I believe that they are on either the blue or yellow continent. Grael’s tribe which I’m fairly certain were a tribe of Rushck was said to be from “the frigid northern edge of the King's [Haebrous] domain.” It’s my belief that Rushck came to Dereth from the peninsula north of Dereth – either walked across the frozen sea during the last ice age, or floated over in an iceberg which we see they are perfectly comfortable living in.
Next, the timeline. CoD has a very good timeline available at: http://ac.warcry.com/index.php?content=lore/timeline with explainations of the ages at: http://ac.warcry.com/index.php?content=lore/ages
I’m not sure how long it has been since the timeline was updated, but it is missing most of the events of the Viamontian/Grael arc.
First on Grael: These events have to take place before the shadow wars, because there is mention in some of the lore behind Grael that the shadow gods knew he was not the one (the one being Bael) but they decided to beef him up anyway. Also the Haebrous kingdom was still around. The Grael rebellion book mentions when Grael and the gladiators went on a rampage, “Ten thousand Haebreans and no small number of visiting Yalaini and Dericostians died.” So this would mean that before the Dericost empire grew strong and learned the arts of blood magic, there was peace between the Yalaini, Dericost, and Haebrous. It says later in the lore “Twenty years later, he is a ruined and wasted man, a shadow of the strong and admirable leader he had been. His weakness has emboldened the ever-grasping Dericostians, there is no clear and qualified successor, and I fear war will come soon between the Kingdoms.” So this all took place before the millennium war for sure. I’m not sure on all the details of what happened to Grael after he found the shadow gods as was transformed, but I believe it was the Falatacot that imprisoned him? So all the events of Grael would have to take place before the ice age that made the Falatacot leave Dereth, making it one of the oldest events on the timeline.
Next the Viamontians. First when did they arrive on the Halaetan isles? I think it was 7 or 8 years before the fiun barrier was brought down – which happened in PY 16. This would mean they arrived in PY 8 or 9, if I’m correct about them coming 7-8 years prior to ToD. This would mean they arrived before the story of the game started (PY 10)
The viamontians must not have had lifestones at this point. Besides recalling an NPC in Sanamar mentioning something along those lines, its obvious they did not have lifestones as Eleonora was killed, along with many other Viamontians before the rebellion was crushed. Now according to the timeline on CoD, lifestones began to appear in PY 0 – however, they didn’t work at the time and instead reanimated your corpse making you undead. The source of this is dev quote. But I believe that this is no longer correct. At the time of the launch I don’t think there was a real story for undead or how one could become undead. So we had things like the undead defender and other zombies that were supposed to be isparians. However the timeline, even without any Viamont info added, seems to contradict this. In PY 5 it says Neydisa passes away. In PY 6 it says Holtburg is attacked by Tumeroks – this is when all the children escaped to Rithwic and the adults were killed. And even later in PY 9 it says that Wardiel the Mighty (an isparian) was killed in the fort where Lytelthorpe now stands. All these things seem to point to Lifestones not being around until PY 10 – the launch of the game. If Lifestones were not around until PY 10 it would make the Viamontian lore work a bit better too. It would also explain why the lifestones are Asheron’s stones and not Nummy’s even though she helped Varicci establish his power. The lifestones simply appeared the same time they did on the mainland.
Another event missing from the timeline is when the fiun arrived. According the history of fiun it seems clear they arrived here because a random portal opened up on their world – meaning they arrived after the sundering. This event took place in ME 1. Its said on CoD that PY 0 is equal to ME 579. So, the fiun could have been here for some time. interesting to note that Isparians don’t arrive till over 500 years after the sundering. Anyway. The fiun and the Halaetans seem strange. We know there was only 1 female fiun left – though its unclear if perhaps the fiun arrived 500 years ago and after several generations and unlucky eater encounters there was just 1 female left, or if when they arrived there was only one woman. Its possible for both but I believe that its more likely they arrived more recently with lunnum being the only woman, who was killed later, meaning there were no new generations of fiun born on Dereth.
This is where things get confusing. Asheron seemed clueless about a chain of islands off the coast of Dereth. Yet its obvious that the fiun arrived much later than the time Yalaini settled Dereth. So you would think Asheron would have known the islands exist, and more importantly, that a barrier appeared which made the islands unreachable and invisible. The Haleatans have many dericost and falatacot dungeons and ruins, but its unclear if there was ever a Yalaini presence. Lifestones could be a sign the Yalaini were once there, as lifestones were first Yalaini portal beacons. Also the tower outside Ayabars Lab has a very Yalaini feel to it – very similar to the spear of the given heart tower. There are also the ruins of giant stone statue near PoTB which do not seem to be the Falatacot/dericost style of statues. To add to the confusion of the Halaetans – there is a crashed shadow spire there. It is either from the first shadow wars the Yalaini fought, or it was from the shadow wars of Isparian times, and the Viamontains took it down themselves. either way it adds to the confusion of the Halaetan isles.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/thilsten/colorAuberean.jpg
Its made from the image in the game data files for the map of Auberean, then I added color. We know for sure (the devs said so) that dereth is the tiny island colored green. Reading the lore intro on CoD (http://ac.warcry.com/index.php?content=lore/intro) reveals a few details given to us by a former dev. First, Yalaini lands are a chain of islands – on my map either the red or purple chains. The Yalaini islands are said to be south of Dericost. Which leads us to think that the Yalaini islands would be the purple chain, and Dericost the orange continent north of it. However, the intro also says that Dericost is southeast of Dereth, which would make it the yellow continent. Futher confusing the location of Dericost – when the Falatacot left Dereth because of an ice age, it says they fled south and came into contact with Dericost. But the only lands south of Dereth are the red chain of islands. And last, Dericost has a frozen plateau on the northern part of the lands with wastelands to the west where the sand kings lived. Haebrous lands are not defined. But I believe that they are on either the blue or yellow continent. Grael’s tribe which I’m fairly certain were a tribe of Rushck was said to be from “the frigid northern edge of the King's [Haebrous] domain.” It’s my belief that Rushck came to Dereth from the peninsula north of Dereth – either walked across the frozen sea during the last ice age, or floated over in an iceberg which we see they are perfectly comfortable living in.
Next, the timeline. CoD has a very good timeline available at: http://ac.warcry.com/index.php?content=lore/timeline with explainations of the ages at: http://ac.warcry.com/index.php?content=lore/ages
I’m not sure how long it has been since the timeline was updated, but it is missing most of the events of the Viamontian/Grael arc.
First on Grael: These events have to take place before the shadow wars, because there is mention in some of the lore behind Grael that the shadow gods knew he was not the one (the one being Bael) but they decided to beef him up anyway. Also the Haebrous kingdom was still around. The Grael rebellion book mentions when Grael and the gladiators went on a rampage, “Ten thousand Haebreans and no small number of visiting Yalaini and Dericostians died.” So this would mean that before the Dericost empire grew strong and learned the arts of blood magic, there was peace between the Yalaini, Dericost, and Haebrous. It says later in the lore “Twenty years later, he is a ruined and wasted man, a shadow of the strong and admirable leader he had been. His weakness has emboldened the ever-grasping Dericostians, there is no clear and qualified successor, and I fear war will come soon between the Kingdoms.” So this all took place before the millennium war for sure. I’m not sure on all the details of what happened to Grael after he found the shadow gods as was transformed, but I believe it was the Falatacot that imprisoned him? So all the events of Grael would have to take place before the ice age that made the Falatacot leave Dereth, making it one of the oldest events on the timeline.
Next the Viamontians. First when did they arrive on the Halaetan isles? I think it was 7 or 8 years before the fiun barrier was brought down – which happened in PY 16. This would mean they arrived in PY 8 or 9, if I’m correct about them coming 7-8 years prior to ToD. This would mean they arrived before the story of the game started (PY 10)
The viamontians must not have had lifestones at this point. Besides recalling an NPC in Sanamar mentioning something along those lines, its obvious they did not have lifestones as Eleonora was killed, along with many other Viamontians before the rebellion was crushed. Now according to the timeline on CoD, lifestones began to appear in PY 0 – however, they didn’t work at the time and instead reanimated your corpse making you undead. The source of this is dev quote. But I believe that this is no longer correct. At the time of the launch I don’t think there was a real story for undead or how one could become undead. So we had things like the undead defender and other zombies that were supposed to be isparians. However the timeline, even without any Viamont info added, seems to contradict this. In PY 5 it says Neydisa passes away. In PY 6 it says Holtburg is attacked by Tumeroks – this is when all the children escaped to Rithwic and the adults were killed. And even later in PY 9 it says that Wardiel the Mighty (an isparian) was killed in the fort where Lytelthorpe now stands. All these things seem to point to Lifestones not being around until PY 10 – the launch of the game. If Lifestones were not around until PY 10 it would make the Viamontian lore work a bit better too. It would also explain why the lifestones are Asheron’s stones and not Nummy’s even though she helped Varicci establish his power. The lifestones simply appeared the same time they did on the mainland.
Another event missing from the timeline is when the fiun arrived. According the history of fiun it seems clear they arrived here because a random portal opened up on their world – meaning they arrived after the sundering. This event took place in ME 1. Its said on CoD that PY 0 is equal to ME 579. So, the fiun could have been here for some time. interesting to note that Isparians don’t arrive till over 500 years after the sundering. Anyway. The fiun and the Halaetans seem strange. We know there was only 1 female fiun left – though its unclear if perhaps the fiun arrived 500 years ago and after several generations and unlucky eater encounters there was just 1 female left, or if when they arrived there was only one woman. Its possible for both but I believe that its more likely they arrived more recently with lunnum being the only woman, who was killed later, meaning there were no new generations of fiun born on Dereth.
This is where things get confusing. Asheron seemed clueless about a chain of islands off the coast of Dereth. Yet its obvious that the fiun arrived much later than the time Yalaini settled Dereth. So you would think Asheron would have known the islands exist, and more importantly, that a barrier appeared which made the islands unreachable and invisible. The Haleatans have many dericost and falatacot dungeons and ruins, but its unclear if there was ever a Yalaini presence. Lifestones could be a sign the Yalaini were once there, as lifestones were first Yalaini portal beacons. Also the tower outside Ayabars Lab has a very Yalaini feel to it – very similar to the spear of the given heart tower. There are also the ruins of giant stone statue near PoTB which do not seem to be the Falatacot/dericost style of statues. To add to the confusion of the Halaetans – there is a crashed shadow spire there. It is either from the first shadow wars the Yalaini fought, or it was from the shadow wars of Isparian times, and the Viamontains took it down themselves. either way it adds to the confusion of the Halaetan isles.