The Factions Of Asheron, Aerbax & BZ.

[TheKnight]

Now that the live events are over across all the servers, I thought I'd post this up and see what people think about the different factions of the big three.
Those three being Aerbax, Asheron, & BZ.

Let me start by saying, much of what I'm going by is by lore I've read in AC1 as well as AC2. I'm going by this formula, because nothing shows me that this storyline won't conclude the way AC2 did at the end. So until I see otherwise, I'll continue to view this as just one big continuation of the story that is AC.

Now on with the stars of the show. (This is a very long post btw, I suggest reading it in parts and not all at once, or you'll go blind ;) )
I'm posting this for the main reason of:

I. I wish to see what people think about the main characters above, what they stand for, and who players would side with, if given a choice.
So here we go:

Part I

Asheron
Race: Yalain/Empyrean
Faction Good/Justice
AC2 Kingdom VS Kingdom

The Order of Dereth Asheron/Elysa

Attracts many "moral peacekeepers." It offers players a chance to create justice and virtue in the world by rebuilding and restoring the lost Golden Age. The Order of Dereth best represents the notion of Republic.

Ideology: Justice and virtue. The Principles of the Order include these ideals:

It is better to strive to improve the world than to live a quiet life.

That which does the most good for the greatest number is usually best.

The greatest deed is that of the one who sacrifices his life to save another—not for riches or accolades, but all unknown in the dark, where no one else shall ever know.


Aerbax
Race: Virindi
Faction: Neutral/Order
AC2 Kingdom VS Kingdom

The Dominion
Empowers those who follow the path set by the Virindi, a race of powerful creatures native to portalspace. The Virindi find our universe chaotic and destructive. The Dominion embraces their desire to see order brought to Dereth by instituting absolute lawfulness. The Dominion best represents the notion of Empire.

Ideology: Lawfulness and empire. The Dominion Directives include these imperatives:

Only as part of the group may one change the universe.

Fealty belongs to superior powers, provided those powers serve order.

The Dominion is the most superior power of order. All who oppose it will serve disorder, and must be corrected.


BZ
Race: Dericost
Faction: Evil/Chaos
AC2 Kingdom VS Kingdom

The Shadow Kingdom

Support those who align with the Shadows, dark entities of chaos magic. Those of Shadow walk the fine line between ultimate power and eternal madness. The Shadow Kingdoms offer players the freedom to "do what they will," whether that involves seeking personal power or trying to shape Dereth as they see fit, regardless of law or morality. They best represent the notion of Anarchy.

Ideology: Freedom and chaos. The Shadow Kingdoms' Doctrine includes these mandates:

The whole of our law is "do what you will."

Any means justifies the end. Only failure is unacceptable.

You are the fulcrum of the universe.


Now with all of this said, I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on these big three, which faction you'd support, why, and just in general everyone's opinions on this.

Here's my thoughts on this.

Asheron

Asheron originally represented what many players would call "Hero" qualities, as he would save us from truly great treats. He is the personification of all that is good and just in Dereth.

However of late, he has tried to help the people of Dereth and failed miserably each and every time. We Isparians have had to save his butt more often then he has saved ours, with the most recent of him being Captured by the Falatacot and almost dying imprissoned. If not for us Isparians, Asheron would have bit the dust long ago.

There is also a very large part of the Darktide community as well as others, who believe Asheron has ulterior motives then he is letting on. And while many people may laugh and dismiss these ideas, they do have some merit to them.
For example:

I. He was originally the one who created the portals for us to travel to Dereth and got us all here. However he has never once made an effort to try and open a portal back to Ispar, despite all of his powers.


II. He created the Lifestones for the sole purpose to bind our souls/bodies to them so when we Isparians die, each time we send our life essence to Asherons Empyrean Buddies still stuck in portal space. This also has the direct side effect of keeping Asheron alive, practically forever.

III. Asheron meddles in every race he comes across, and was directly responsible for bringing the Olthoi to Dereth.

IV. Has had a direct hand in causing untold disasters on Dereth via his battles with The Olthoi, BZ, Martine, Gaerlan, and others.
The common theme in all of these was Asheron's constant meddling and flat out arogance that he belived Empyreans where the superior beings.

V. Has made many mistakes that have almost caused the destruction of all of Dereth numerous times, and is unaplogitic to say the least.

So while he may say he has Dereth's best interest at heart, his actions speak a very different story altogether. Yes when the chips are down and we are about to lose it all, he shows up at the last second to "save us".

But if he had pure intentions, why does he wait until the last second to do something, and allows countless people to suffer and die before taking action?
An indecisive god is the worst kind of god.

Queen Elysa Strathelar

Elyasa was just a commoner on Ispar, and had no royal blood ties whatsoever. But when a portal appered in her home, she was drawn to it and stepped inside. Ever since that day she stepped into that portal, Dereth has never been the same.

She, Thorsten, Asheron, and a host of others battled BZ and with the help of us Isparians, defeated BZ for a time. After BZ was defeated the Olthoi Threat Emerged.

Elysa never had royal blood, but was instead elected Queen by her own people after she and Thorsten Cragstone defeated the (what was thought to be) Olthoi Queen. The people rallied around her in support and for a very short time, things seemed to be going well.

However once she and Asheron began spending more and more time together, she became extremly distant and practially lived with Asheron for a long time.
She isolated herself from her duties as queen, and her responsibilites as Queen. This spiraled out of control when she locked herself away with Antius inside her castle, while her own people starved and fought hoards of monsters, all the while her an Antius where in her castle safe.

Yet she continued to collect pyreal from every Isparian, while not preforming her duties as Queen. Her son Borelean even commented about how she can just ignore all her subjects like that.

Some of the main issues Isparians have with her are:

I. After she lost Thorsten to the Yong Olthoi Queen, Elysa has never once showed up in Dereth to help her subjects since.

II. She consistently shrugs off her duties as Queen and instead is more concerned over her love life then the safety of her own people.

III. Has been literally years since towns like Arwic, Tufu, and Yanshi where destroyed, and did not help rebuild these cities at all. It was the players and NPC town folks who rebuild those areas themselves.
Arwic was left in ruin for years, as was Yanshi, and Tufu is still in ruins.

IV. Literally abandoned Fort Teth and refused to send reinforcements during the Viamont Invasions. She kept the troops at her own castle instead and this infuriated Commander Jared Kurth.

V. Has never once done anything to fortify and protect her people like King Varicci has done to protect his people of Sanamar.

VI. Like Asheron is indecisive when it comes to taking action. She will sit on the sidelines, watching while her own people defend this land and die, and takes no action to assist at all.

Elysa is just like Asheron. She acts like she is good and just, but her actions speak a very different story indeed.

End Of Part I

[TheKnight]

Part II

Aerbax

Aerbax was just another member of the Singularity when he became self aware. Since that time he has gained a tremendous about of power by forming an alleigance with Ler Rhan. (One of BZ's shadow generals)
He has experimented on numerous creatures on Dereth over the years, from drudges, to undead, to even humans (Lilitha, Martine), and more recently his Prodigal Children.

He is by no means a saint, however his goals seem to be very focused and non-deceptive unlike the other two factions. He has stated before that he is trying to achieve perfection for all Virindi and wishes to bring Order to Chaos.
Some interesting things to note about Aerbax:

I. He has been experimenting with all manor of creatures, and as a result us Isparians have gotten much stronger then without these new creatures to battle and to test our streght against.

II. Aerbax brought us one of Dereth's greatest darker hero's, Martine.
It was with the power Aerbax bestowed upon Martine that Martine was able to defeat Gaerlan, where even the mighty Asheron could not.

III. Aerbax has never tried to blow up Dereth (Unlike BZ) and has not tied our bodies & souls to lifestones in order to sustain himself or his people, unlike Asheron.

Bael'zharon

Illservian Palacost, was just a mere man from the town of Daralat, he lived during the times of the Black Rains. The Yalaini (Asherons people) inhabitants blamed the Rains on the Dericost, saying that they were caused by the sins of the Dericost lords. As a result, the Dericost people were persecuted and starved. Illservian asked for help but was turned down, while his son Avorean Palacost was starving to death.

Five of his friends followed him into banishment: Isin Dule, Ler Rhan, Ferah, Omadin, and Elithra. For a long time Ilservian sought an edge to the Black Rains but he found nothing. At last in despair he cried out to the darkness and it answered, he then became what we all know as Bael'zharon.

BZ's power is vast, rivaling Asheron at every step of the way. Even defeated he is still not dead, only sleeping. His hatred for the Yalaini (Empyreans) is absoulte, and he is full of nothing but rage an hatred. He came very close to destorying all of Dereth, and was only stopped by the combined efforts of Asheron, The Shadows, The Virindi, The Undead, And The Isparians.

Some interesting facts about BZ:

I. He lost his son due to the direct actions/inactions of the Empyreans and turned literally into a walking Armegeddon because he wanted to save his son.

II. While nobody would ever confuse BZ with a saint, he does have a certain purity that the other two lack. He is single minded at his goal and stops at nothing to attain it. If your not with him, your against him.

III. He belives that Asheron's "Protections" are a sign of weakness and to a certain degree he is right. We sacrafice our bodies/souls to the lifestones (IE Asheron) and in return we get protection. BZ offers no such protection, he throws you into the world as is, and says "Now survive, if you can".


Overall I think this is a very interesting dynamic, and when these charecters where written for this game, it is obvious that a lot of thought and time was put into what these charecters each reprsent.

It's very interesting to note that:

I. Without chaos there is no order.
II. Without darkness there is no light.
III. Without light there is no darkness.
IV. Without challenges, there is no room to grow and imrove.

It's funny how the three very different charcters and what they represent compliment each other so very nicely. It's interesting to see some of life's greatest truths unvield here in a game. It really is a testament to how far ahead AC was of it's time, and the sheer dedication of this team, and the players to make it what it is today.

Regards

[An Adventurer]

yay a lore post :D

Most of my characters would join the Asheron/Elysa faction, since many of my characters have been around (in their backstory) since PY 10, Natalia from even earlier, arriving in PY 2. Also one of my guys is a retired royal guard who was stationed in the castle.

Also, there is a real lack of truly neutral parties. Aerbax, while not "evil" is clearly a villain. And BZ is just evil. They both lead/have led the monster factions that we fight and that fight us. The only character backstory reasons to join those factions are extremes: You wish to be a shadow, you hate elysa and asheron and all their subjects, you are a virindi/virindi experiment or wish to become one, etc.

but if for example, Oswald led a chaos/freedom faction and Varicci led an order/empire faction, it would be much easier to see myself joining those factions with my characters that aren't big time Elysa supporters.

And also, I'm not sure that Aerbax is even full virindi anymore, and he certainly isn't linked with the main collective anymore or they would have done something this arc. I think a virindi faction would be better if it represented the regular/pure virindi, and not aerbax and his chaos virindi.

----------

Asheron:
I. He was originally the one who created the portals for us to travel to Dereth and got us all here. However he has never once made an effort to try and open a portal back to Ispar, despite all of his powers.

never proven how the portals started to appear on other worlds, only connection is that asheron rediscovered portal magic, and every planet the yalaini visited, portals later opened.

II. He created the Lifestones for the sole purpose to bind our souls/bodies to them so when we Isparians die, each time we send our life essence to Asherons Empyrean Buddies still stuck in portal space. This also has the direct side effect of keeping Asheron alive, practically forever.

This one still doesn't make much since to me. We have been told that the purpose of our vitae loss is to keep empyreans in PS alive. But what was keeping them alive for 500 something years between the sundering and when isparians started to arrived and asheron made lifestones?

This is probably just one of those errors that arises when you keep adding to and changing the story for 8+ years, because I think originally the idea was right after the sundering portals began to open on other planets. And while that part of the lore has changed, the lore for lifestones hasn't.

But still, somthing to think about;)

III. Asheron meddles in every race he comes across, and was directly responsible for bringing the Olthoi to Dereth.

wasn't it the Emperor that demanded they bring back the olthoi and gaerlan that left the portal open on their planet?

---------

Elysa:
She, Thorsten, Asheron, and a host of others battled BZ and with the help of us Isparians, defeated BZ for a time. After BZ was defeated the Olthoi Threat Emerged.

huh? typo?
Basic summary of the pre-game story is: Elysa was a commoner on ispar, worked in a scribe's shop. She came to dereth and was enslaved by olthoi. Later escapes, meets up with other escaped slaves (including Thorsten) and after fleeing the olthoi they discover the underground city which was safe on an island. Elysa finds yalaini texts in the city and translates them using her knowledge of languages to learn about the empyrean/yalaini and the location of Asheron's castle.

Elysa and Cragstone travel to Asheron's isle. Intro vid happens (elysa hits a switch and teleports in to Asheron's Sanctum). Asheron had been working on a poison to kill the olthoi, and saw that these freed slaves would be the best hope to kill the queen on dereth. Elysa and Thorsten return to the underground city, apply the poison to everyone's weapons, and they head out to the black death catacombs.

Elysa, Thorsten, other early figures like Branith, Tibri, Trothyr, and about 1000 freed Aluvian slaves assault the olthoi, many die. Cragstone killed by the queen. Elysa kills the queen. Olthoi go nuts. The end.


I. After she lost Thorsten to the Yong Olthoi Queen, Elysa has never once showed up in Dereth to help her subjects since.

She has showed up a few times for lore live events. She helped destroy the shadowspire in cragstone, and was around a lot in the martine/gaerlan arc. But she usually sends out soldiers/royal guards to help the people instead of doing it herself, which makes sense.

in contrast, we have never once seen Varicci. He only sent out agents during the viamont arc, and for the most part they were there to balance out the agents elysa sent looking for the same thing. Since the Grael arc ended, I think there has been one viamont NPC sent out, and he was sent out to Ayan to help one of elysa's agents there with the investigation of Harraag.

II. She consistently shrugs off her duties as Queen and instead is more concerned over her love life then the safety of her own people.

see above.

III. Has been literally years since towns like Arwic, Tufu, and Yanshi where destroyed, and did not help rebuild these cities at all. It was the players and NPC town folks who rebuild those areas themselves.
Arwic was left in ruin for years, as was Yanshi, and Tufu is still in ruins.

I'm pretty sure that during the rebuilding of Yanshi and Arwic and/or from NPC speech that Elysa was the one that rebuilt them - it wasn't the townsfolk banding together.

IV. Literally abandoned Fort Teth and refused to send reinforcements during the Viamont Invasions. She kept the troops at her own castle instead and this infuriated Commander Jared Kurth.

Elysa did try to send troops. Varicci tried to block them from crossing the north landbridge, and later there was the battle and the shadow march. None of the troops got there cause they are all shadows now. But according to later lore (missing people investigation/mosswart fort) elysa had sent pretty much all of her forces there. The newer soldiers/guards are all new recruits.

---------

your descriptions of Aerbax and BZ are great. no disagreements here.

[<FS>]

great read TK but bz has quite the dark side and is almost the lesser of 2 evils. i would side with bz not being a rebel at heart but i myself as a person believe in " there is no order without chaos" that which is true to life as well, with out chaos there is no reason to work hard and better ones self. while there is chaos you strive to be OUT of it.

in conclusion YAY BZ!

[Viatorus]

First off, nice post. I always liked this sort of background setting in games.

As in AC2, I would choose Dominion in AC1 if it were an option. I believe there needs to be a certain amount of order and structure involved in society. You need to correct those who error, not kill whomever you choose, a la BZ; and Order is for wussies...'nuff said!

:)

[TheKnight]

Thank you Viatorus, took me awhile to write. :)
And I agree with you, there is a serious lack of order and structure in AC right now, it's pretty much fending for itself with the law books tossed out the window.

I guess it's how you all look at it, An Adventurer. Sorry if my lore on Elysa is a bit off, I started playing right after the BZ arch ended, so I missed some of the lore about her.

I'm really not sure if I agree with you & FS that Aerbax is evil. Would an evil being take the time to talk to us? He would kill all of us and ask questions later, like BZ.
That's where the grey comes into play, as King Varicci is also seen as "Evil" by the Whispering Blade, but it's all in how you look at it.

I know 100% that I'd never support Elysa, due to her lack of actions. Her son Borelean even got into a major fight with her about not helping her own people. So it's not just me and others who see her inaction's, her own son see's them as well.

I'd not support Oswalds faction, as he plays on whatever side pays him the most money. He is a hired assassin after all. Nuhmudira, is a bit more complicated so I'd have to think about that one. The only non-super being I'd follow would be King Varicci. But his views of an Empire/Order is the same as Aerbax's.

Asheron while intending good, fumbles all the time. I can understand people make mistakes and are flaw-able as that's how we learn and grow. But in the case of Asheron, his consistent mistakes, not learning from them, and failure to act when people are suffering and dying is not the sign of a true noble person.

BZ is just outright insane, driven mad by his grief over the loss of his son and is fueled by a maddening rage, that seems to have no limit on it's power. He seems to become stronger the angrier he gets. A literal walking Armageddon.

Aerbax, while part of the Chaos Virindi is still part of the Singularity. He is just using their ignorance of deception to get away with what he is doing. The virindi are more of a collective mind, akin to insects, or The Borg from Star Trek.

If I had to chose a faction, I would side with Aerbax. And while that might surprise people some, to me it's the most logical and sane choice in AC's current storyline.
Some of the reasons I'd follow Aerbax are:

I. Whether you are good/neutral/evil there must be laws to adhere to. Laws bring Order To Chaos, and form harmony more easily with one another because of those laws.

II. As a group when we Isparians work together, nothing can stop us and the Virindi share the same views on this, at least in that aspect. When we unite nothing is out of our reach.
As it says in the Constitution, "United We Stand, Divided We Fall".

III. Lawfulness & Empire. This syncs with me in the current storyline, as I'm aligned with King Varicci for this very reason. And it makes perfect sense for the King to work with Aerbax, as they both represent the same thing, in slightly different ways. Lawfulness & Empire.

IV. Aerbax made the drudges uber. And I can't hate something that makes the drudges uber.

When the Rossu Morta & Whispering Blade Events happened, I got really into the lore, the deepest I've ever been in 7+ Years. That's a testament to how good the writing was. The only event that sticks out more for me was the awesome Martine Arch, that to me was one of the single best Arch's ever. I know Bael's arch was THE best, but I came in after it was over. So I'd rank it, BZ, Martine, RM VS WB.

I came to my decision after much thinking and looking at all the facts. The Queen was not helping her people for months on end, but was more concerned with her lover Antius.
When it was all said and done, I chose to side with King Varicci as he at least protected his people, and did what had to be done to ensure their safety. A lot of people where shocked at me siding with the Rossue Morta, but like I said above I followed what I felt was right at the time.

Hopefully the new faction system will be just as good, and offer even more of the "picking sides" element as that kind of stuff is what has made AC unique in the MMORPG scene.
And besides players just love fighting for a side, any side heh.

Regards

[An Adventurer]

I didn't say Aerbax was evil, just that he is a villain. I am using villain in the sense that the player base are the "good guys" and whatever the threat is for the current arc is the "bad guy"

For pretty much the entire game, Asheron and Elysa have been on the side of the player base. Aerbax and virindi in general have been our enemy, and see all the other creatures as nothing more than lab rats to cut apart and put back together. The only things the virindi may consider equal to them are BZ and Asheron.

Aerbax is only concerned with himself, or at the very least he sees every other species as lesser beings. Even his prodigal children, which you might say is him trying to help advance the other races, is in reality just him extending and gaining power, since all the children are directly linked to him. He even speaks through them, as you can see in some of their death messages. They are nothing more than advanced puppets the regular virindi control.

My other problem with aerbax is that he is not fit to lead a faction of order. He is clearly interested in the dark/shadow power of chaos, as his minions are called chaos virindi because he exposed them to his energy source. My monarch suspects that Aerbax has exposed himself to the energy source, which would explain why he has so much power and clearly has changed in appearance, since when Aerbax was introduced he was just a rogue virindi director.

If they were to make a virindi faction they would have to introduce a new leader. Or even better, no leader, since the virindi should really be a collectivist society and not an empire. So in a sense every virindi would be a part of the leader.

[Hobo_al-Bargq]

Bravo for this post/thread! Will post my thoughts later :-D

[Gustaive]

BZ = Chaotic Evil
Aerbax = Lawful Evil
Isin = Chaotic Neutral

Elysa and Asheron = Lawful Good.
Borelean = Chaotic Good

I wont be joining an evil faction just because the queen was slow to act.

[An Adventurer]

"Borelean = Chaotic Good"

could you elaborate?

[Raui]

In your system, would there be any major game-changing advantages for introducing these factions? Like, for instance, If you join Bael'Zharon you might have the ability to be transformed into a Shadow (and the effects are NOT reversible) .. the pros are that you have better magics and might have an increased run or something like that, but you're highly vulnerable to Fire.

If you join the Virindi side, you might be able to have some type of stat advantage that compliments a player in a different way.

And if you stay with Elysa, you maintain the current balance of an Isparian and naturally have access to Virindi and Shadow slayers. ;)

I don't know how that would all work out. I think it would be very cool to be a Shadow. Say, the Lifestone Equivilant of being a Shadow would be to resurrect at some secret lair where the spawn of darkness comes from. Something along those lines.

If any of you read my stories, you'll know there's a "Shade" in it, which I would certainly turn my Hybrid guy into a shadow without a doubt.

And hey, wouldn't it be cool if you're doing a Shadow Quest of some kind (Shadow Slayer?) and have shadows @tell you with cries for help "Help us Brother, the Isparians are attacking" and won't attack you unless you attack them -- or they attack you because you're with the Isparians and deem you a traitor.. lol. I don't know. That would be cool, though.


Good read, by the way.

[Gustaive]

"Borelean = Chaotic Good"

could you elaborate?

Chaotic Good
Chaotic Good is known as the "Beatific" or "Rebel" alignment. A chaotic good character favors change for the greater good, disdains bureaucratic organizations that get in the way of social improvement, and places a high value on personal freedom. Most elves are chaotic good, as are some fey.

Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica, Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly, and Robin Hood are examples of Chaotic Good individuals.

Borelean didn't let things like his mother's rules or the politics of New Aluvia standing the way between him and the means to fight the Viamontians.

His choices haven't always been for the good options but seem to have been with good in mind.

[self_adhesive]

Given the AC2 lore I've read, I have to side with the idea that Aerbax is not Evil/Bad... I can't seem to find this lore anymore, so I'm not sure that my memory, but for now I'll entertain the thought:

He might be Evil way now, but according to lore, he is a key player in our future survival and contributes much to our whole way of life. What changes him? I think we're about to find out in this story arc.

edit:
i believe he's chaotic/neutral
while the quiddity is lawful/neutral


i think varicci might be a more lawful/evil character, but i don't remember viamontian references in AC2... maybe they merged in the 10 generations of underground survival, or maybe they were wiped out. who knows?

[An Adventurer]

Oh in case you didn't see, even Aerbax likes Elysa:
In closing, I add a final note of commentary. While the human Elysa Strathelar possesses flaws, as all humans do, it must be acknowledged that she is a wondrous specimen of the human species. If I were able to abduct her directly as the potential prodigal human, I believe the experiment might have more success. The humans do not appreciate what she represents to them and what she has sacrificed for them already. It is true that in this era she works through agents, but in truth, what power of this world does not? Once the human's ability to resist me is weakened, I believe I shall choose her to be the centerpiece of my new human strategy.

Execution Log of Strathelar Modification (http://asheron.info/~asheron/index.php?title=Execution_Log_of_Strathelar_Modifi cation)

[Heideggar]

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