Pantheon

"Planetarium" concept art by Ryan Richmond.

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. – Steven Sharif

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

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. – 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.
• 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.

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.

• 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.

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. – Steven Sharif

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

• Goddess of Love.
• Goddess of Creation.
  • The Phoenix is the celestial avatar of the Goddess of Creation.
• Goddess of Fate (Norlan).
• God of Hope (Resna).
• God of Truth (Shol).
• The sphere of influence of the three "Other" gods has not yet been revealed.

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

The story of creation

Sand Momma statue screenshot.

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. – Steven Sharif

The Ancients

A Lieutenant of The Ancients 3D render.

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. – Steven Sharif

Suffering Wanderer 3D render.

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. – 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.

• 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.

• The Ancients were imbued with all of the traits of the Gods, whereas the four parent races of Verra had those attributes spread amongst them.

If the Verran races were combined they’d be the ancients. – Steven Sharif

• King Atrax unwittingly alerted the Ancients to the location of Verra in his efforts to discover and exploit The Essence.

• 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.

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. – 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.
  • Grunts are the peons or soldiers on the front lines who are specifically geared toward combat, or magic utilization, or specific environments or climates.
  • Lieutenants have wing structures and more asymmetrical appearances.
  • Captains and generals are also ranks in the caste system.
  • Large raid bosses and/or world bosses are monolithic in their appearance and unlike what standard creatures look like. These are huge, imposing creatures.

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. – Steven Sharif

דת

מקדשי דת בצמתי מטרופולין

קיימות שש דתות עקריות, ובנוסף דת של ה טולנאר/ העולם התחתון

• הדתות נועדו להיות גורם מוטיבציה ולא לשם האסתטיקה.
• בחירה של דת נותנת לשחקנים את האפשרות ללכת בדרך האור או בדרך החושך דרך הבחירה שלהם במשימות ובפעולות אחרות.

יהיו שבילי משימות. יהיו פעולות מסוימות שהשחקנים יוכלו לבחור כדי לבחור אולי בצד היותר אפל של העולם.

– Steven Sharif

לפעמים משחקים בעבר ניסו להמנע מלשים דגש על דת בגלל ההקבלה שיכולה להווצר בין העולם האמיתי לבין העולם הדמיוני של המשחק. אני לא ממש תומך בתאוריה הזו. אני חושב שהדת משחקת תפקיד מאוד מרכזי בסיפור של אפר היצירה וזה בגדול רעיון מונוליתי של טוב נגד רוע, כך שזה באמת המהות של העלילה שתהיה במשחק. ואני לא מנסה לדחוף את השחקנים למקום של "כולם חייבים להיות טובים", כמו שאמרתי מקודם, יהיו הזדמנויות לשחקנים לסטות מכך אם זה התפקיד שהם יבחרו לשחק. – Steven Sharif

הדת של הטולנאר היא צירוף של אמונות של שאר הגזעים בנוסף לאמונות פגאניות של גזעי המיעוטים שנוצרו לאורך קיומם ביחד בעולם התחתון.

• גזע הטולנאר הוא לא תוצאה של Corruption.

ההתפתחות של גזע הטולנארים - למרות שהם עדיין המרכז של מה שהיה כאשר האלים של פתנאון הטוב נשארו בשביל הטולנארים, לאורך זמן הם חיו והתפתחו לחברה שנמצאת על סף החזרה לוורה. זה דומה הרבה יותר... לדרך שבא דתות הקראול התפתחו, עם מרכיבים של נצרות ובודהה וגם דתות "פגאניות" אחרות קטנות יותר; מאוגד לתוך דת אחת. זה ברמה כזו, שניתן למצוא התאמה בין איך שלתרבות סביב גזע הטולנאר יש את הצירוף הזה של מה שהיו האמונות הפגאניות של גזעי המיעוטים עם החשיפה לאמונות העקריות של הגזעים הראשיים, בגלל שהם כולם באו ביחד לעולם התחתון ושרדו באופן הזה. באופן טיבעי ניתן לראות צירוף של שני הדברים הללו. – Steven Sharif

Orders of the seven

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

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

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. – Steven Sharif

The Lightpact

Cloak of the Broken Pact cosmetic concept art.

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.

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.

• Even though these orders are from different temples and religions of the primary gods, their goal was to work together to subvert the aspirations of The Others and The Ancients and those who seek to pervert The Essence through the means of corruption.

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. – 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.

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?

See also

• Harbingers
• The Ancients
• דת
• מיתולוגיה