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Aion 3.0/4.0 Lore + Nostalgia


Esialeth-KT

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I started playing aion around 5.0, so I wasn't around for most of the "good old aion days," as most people call it. But I was reading the wiki, and I'm super interested in the lore, particularly the stuff about Brusthonin and Sarpan. Is anyone here knowledgeable about the Brusthonin and Sarpan campaigns? I barely know anything about the Reians (like Kaza - I keep seeing him mentioned). And in Brusthonin, I know a little bit, like about the adma drama, but I'm not familiar with things like Villaire's story because the campaigns were removed.

Basically, is there a place where I can read about the campaign quests and watch the cutscenes? Finding and joining a private server for the lore seems like a bit much.

Additionally, can anyone tell me about the culture surrounding aion? Like notable people, fanartists, etc. I'm super interested in that stuff.

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Well, I cannot tell you the whole story behind those topics, not because I dont know them (-pretentious laugh-). I can tell you the story of Brusthonin and Sarpan from the perspective of their campaigns.

Brusthonin (In this case, some of this lore is still present in the game, as special quests)

As a normal Daeva, you are called in to Brusthonin by the captain of the squad assigned to restore the region. He tells us the story of what led to Brusthonin's corruption. Back in the old days, it was considered the main source of crops and supplies, being Atreia's rural pride. This however changed when Beritra led a legion into invading the land. However, people here had the Red Sky Legion to protect them, and they eventually succeeded on driving them off, but causing them all to die battle after battle. They were all buried in the Baltasar Cementery, in a unique section called Legend Shrine (it used to be Brusthonin's loading screen, and one of my personal favourites).

As you might know, Beritra than laid a curse on this land, affecting the ground and anyone who remained on it, turning them into the zombies you see around. After that, few people dare to visit any other location outside Baltasar's Hill Village (Baltasar is the giant Elim in the main village, who protects the residents from the infection).  As part of the first campaign, you are sent there to investigate the pillaging of one of the heroes' tomb. Once you investigate it, you discover the tomb was empty, so you try talking with the spirit of one of the other heroes. The summoned soul tells you that tomb is Villaire's and it has been like that for a while, shortly after they were buried there. The campaign ends there.

The second campaign continues the tale of Beritra's curse. It started spreading slowly, turning everyone into undead. The ones not infected by it fled to the Adma Castle, the mansion of the feudal lord at the time; Lord Lannok. However, Lannok ordered all entrances to be sealed and barricaded, preventing the villagers from entering. This, of course led the ones outside to fall to the infection (there is a very interesting book, takes a long time to get though, which is a diary from one of them, which tells it form their perspective... extremely creepy). There is another storyline related to this. Lord Lannok was married to Ntuamu, and held the title of "queen". She was a seiren (another good letter, describing her backstory) and eventually was overthrown by Karemiwen, a manipulative lady to made Lannok fall in love of her. Secretly, she was just a gold digger, and because she despised common folk, she made Lannok order to ignore the pleads from them. However, Karemiwen's selfish desires did not end up good, because the corrupting reached even inside Adma Stronghold's walls, and all butlers, maids, even Lannok and Karemiwen remained cursed.

The campaign states that the way into Adma Stronghold is still sealed shut. It is crucial for the squad to confirm any threats inside that ancient castle. The quest also states how there are rumours of a secret passage into its sewers, and that there is a spirit of a boy roaming around them. You did a lot of useless crap to get information about the passage (the Skurv elder... oh my) and finally find it and the key required. The campaign ends there.

Then the final campaign, you venture into Adma Stronghold and learn what actually happened. As you enter the sewers, you find the spirit of a boy, who starts attacking you. In reality, he was Villaire disguised as one. It is revealed how he was helping the contamination spread, even within the gates of Adma. As you fight him, one of the souls of the Red Sky Legion shows up and defeats him for you. This sets his soul free. In the end, Villaire was being controlled by Beritra's curse; he abandoned his tomb and helped spreading it. Knowing this, you go back to everyone to report it. As you share these events with the captain of the Red sky Legion, all the souls raise from their graves, saying they are ready to return to the flow of Aether, as they are hopeful Brusthonin will be back to its former glory eventually... (spoiler: After 6.0, it wont. Devs: "LOL")

Sarpan (most information isnt available in-game, and there is a lot to cover, I will do my best)

First, Reians' backstory. As you might know by now, when the Cataclysm happened, Siel sacrificed herself to protect Atreia from complete destruction and Balaurea remained outside of the Aetheric Field protecting all Daevas and humans. There was a legion, following Siel's orders to explore the Balaur's lands, called Siel's Spear Legion (Salute!). After the Cataclysm, they did not only lose Siel's presence and aid, but they also got locked out. The legionaries lost their ability to flight (they stayed with one wing) and  immortality (books say both were because Siel died, but I like to think it was long term exposure to Drana in Balaurea). Now, Sarpan's backstory. This region was originally under Tiamat's control, serving as a Drana farm. Once the ground got drained from all of its nutrients, becoming a desert, Tiamat abandoned it. Seeing this as a safe place to settle, the legion established here. However, despite being completely useless to her, these powerless creatures inhabiting her land enraged her. She sent out troops to annihilate them. All hope was lost, until a strong leader rose between them; Kahrun, driving the Balaur away. Under his command, this group of people gave birth to a new faction, the Reian Tribe.

Kahrun is a very important character, so I better explain his really interesting backstory. Not sure if you have ever played as an Elyos, but the temple (Eracus Temple) on the north-west of Eltnen served a purpose before the Cataclysm, hidden from any curious eyes. Love between Empyrean Lords was forbidden, but Nezekan and Triniel gave up to this rule, and secretly, had a child together. They hid, of course, in this temple, serving as a playground. Such a big temple for a child indeed, but no one other than the son of two Empyrean Lords. They visited him from time to time, but, he disappeared, and the Cataclysm broke out. The two Empyrean Lords looked for him all across Atreia, but failed. You can guess who that child was and where he was. Kahrun made its way into Balaurea. And, so, the Reian tribe settled their presence, while still surviving Sarpan's natural dangers as well as the undeniable presence of Tiamat's Balaur.

Lets press forward a few hundreds of years, this is where in-game campaigns begin. Daevas had taken control of Gelkmaros/Inggison and were now preparing a full-on strike on Tiamaranta (Tiamat's main headquarters). Keep in mind both factions acted separately. As the invasion progressed, advancing into Tiamat's citadel seemed an incoming threat to her. Tiamat is seen talking with Israphel (by now, you knew Israphel had plotted against Daevas, and conspired with Beritra to cause the Cataclysm, motives unclear). Israphel seems to have been allied with Tiamat, and warns her of the assault incoming, worried about Siel's Relics landing in the Daevas' hands. Tiamat, unaltered, transforms into her Dragon form and takes on the invaders. As she stands to stop them, she is revealed to be in possession of an artifact of great power, the previously mentioned relics. Tiamat freezes time with them and stomps on the Daeva army. Fortunately for them, Reians had been spectating this act from distance, and predicting this fate, they create a distracting and teleport all Daeva survivors to their ship, fast enough to foul Tiamat.

A bit more of backtracking here, since Siel's Relics is pretty much the central focus in this storyline. After Siel gave up her life, Siel's Relics were forged to vessel her remaining power, granting its owner basically a god's power; manipulate time at will. They originally made their first appearance in the Gelkmaros campaigns, so not sure if you want to listen about it. Eventually, they fell under control of Tiamat.

We resume the story with the Reians saving the Elyos and Asmodians. As expected, they fight against each other at first glance. Kahrun then appears and, even after deliberating with each army's head captains, he finds Daevas incapable and a bunch of idiots (which I agree with!). He declares and puts in action Kahrun's Will, prohibiting any Elyos and Asmodian quarrels on Reian land. This feature used to be present through most of Sarpan and Tiamaranta as safe zones where PvP wasnt possible. The only places were it could happen was in zones where Tiamat's control was stronger than Kahrun's (central fortress of Tiamaranta, Tiamaranta's Eye, the four Hearts, etc). As a result of the failed assault, both factions reluctantly agree by the will of the Reians to work together and focus on the real threat that is the Balaur.

This is where the first Sarpan campaign happens. Through the first ones, you learn about Sarpan's dangers, such as Strigiks, Calydon, Balaur, Dragonbound, etc. The second campaign is where it actually starts with the main story. You are invited, strangely, by a Lepharist Revolutionary to talk. If you read anything about Lepharists, you would know they follow this cult leader called Lephar. Basically, that Lepharist says that Lord Lephar wished to talk with the player, and so you agree. As you are transported, Lephar shows up and reveals his true identity is Israphel (it is more impactful since you have been fighting them through most of the game, especially as Elyos). He tells you how you should dismiss all your previous encounters against Lepharsists (and you somehow agree to that) and explains how much of a threat Tiamat is with Siel's Relics empowering her. You convey Israphel's warning and status to others. From this point on, Reians and Daevas begin working together... but not actually.

You are summoned by Garnon to Kamar, the emissary dealing with the interactions between the Reian tribe and Daevas. She informs you how Balaur have been relentlessly looking for something, the only thing able to nullify the power of Siel's Relics, Protector Oriata (a Reian with great power who went missing a long time ago). You are then redirected to explore her last known location before her disappearance (Debarim Petralith Studio, which was a PvP area). As you arrive, you are ambushed by Elyos/Asmodians (depending on your race, obviously), but are instantly saved by Israphel. He warns you that finding the Protector with the opposing faction or Reians means they could either use it against your own race or use them in their own favour. As a result, you take off, accepting Israphel's warning, and report to your captain, who insecurely concurs with it.

Some time passed, and to the eyes of the Reians, no progress have been made. Garnon is suspicious of you, so she summons you again and gives you a necklace, saying it belonged to Oriata. From the information gathered from the Debarim Studio, you eventually find Oriata. In her own plane, she is a spirit now, and she needs some time to recover after centuries of her dormant state. As you are aiding her, however, Balaur appear and start attacking (I had so much trouble with this part on my Chanter... the nightmare). Once fully recovered, Garnon appears (using the necklace as a tracking device) along with an Elyos/Asmodian hero (faction-dependant). Garnon is a bit mad at the player for not informing her of Oriata's state, but seeing how the Protector trusts the player, she and the hero agree to Oriata granting her blessing (the ability to negate the relics' power) to you.

And that is how the Sarpan campaigns happen. After that, Tiamaranta's, and then Tiamaranta's Eye and beyond. I did forget to mention Oriata also has an interesting backstory (a tale of love with a sad ending), but that book is no longer available in-game. Since I have written a crap load of text now, I will stop here. do tell me if you wish to know more. Still not done though, I will answer your other questions now.

4 hours ago, Esialeth-KT said:

I barely know anything about the Reians (like Kaza - I keep seeing him mentioned).

Kaza is an element that has little to no relation with Reians. That is part of 4.0's campaigns. As a quick reply to this, you are saved by this person, Kaza, after being captured by the Balaur in Katalam. This famous researcher then allies with you to uncover the location of the last Hyperion (damn it, I cannot elaborate on this!). When you find it and power it up, you discover that Kaza is actually Beritra disguised. Who fouled you into aiding him because ide-based energy source (cannot elaborate more, but I can if you want!) was extremely unstable and dangerous for him to work with.

4 hours ago, Esialeth-KT said:

Basically, is there a place where I can read about the campaign quests and watch the cutscenes?

If you want to read summaries for the main storyline, see the wiki. To read the quest itself and dialogues, I would recommend AionCodex (you need to know the name of the quest though). As fro cutscenes, Youtube. Through the years, many have uploaded them.

4 hours ago, Esialeth-KT said:

Additionally, can anyone tell me about the culture surrounding aion? Like notable people, fanartists, etc. I'm super interested in that stuff.

I cannot help you with that though. :P

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woah.....that's...a lot. thank you so much for this, it was a great read. i do have some more questions, though, if you or anyone else is interested in answering.

is there a website where old books are transcribed? i've seen some on the wiki but i'm not sure if that's all of them. additionally, what happened in the 4.0 campaigns? (like in katalam and danaria, if i have my info right.)

 

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1 hour ago, Esialeth-KT said:

is there a website where old books are transcribed? i've seen some on the wiki but i'm not sure if that's all of them.

Aionpowerbook has them. The only one it lacks are the 4.9 ones onwards.

1 hour ago, Esialeth-KT said:

additionally, what happened in the 4.0 campaigns? (like in katalam and danaria, if i have my info right.)

I guess I will just continue from where we left off. :P That way, it will just flow.

Tiamaranta

So, you are given the blessing of Oriata, and you move your operations to Tiamaranta. These quests just show you around the region, how you figure out how the only way to access Tiamaranta's Eye is by taking down the Hearts of Tiamaranta (the four fortresses) during their weakest times by killing the incarnate. Ready for the assault, Reians, Asmodians and Elyos decide to storm into Tiamaranta's Eye and hopefully take down Tiamat. However... the squads arrive at different times. (Narrating this from the Asmodian perspective, easier that way) Your unit reaches Tiamaranta's Eye, and surprisingly for your troops, Kahrun's Will is overruled by Tiamat's presence. And Elyos show up shortly afterwards, and you all begin fighting. Tiamat's Protectorate shows up then, and finally Reians. Garnon sees the Elyos defeated and decide to retreat as the Balaur are too strong for the united force. Garnon interrogates you on the events of this failed strike. Here, you can choose to say the truth or lie (saying you saw the Balaur and Elyos fighting and then you joined to the fight). The decision doesnt affect progression, but telling the truth makes Garnon go mental.

The following campaign is definitely my favourite one of all. Hearing of what happened in the Eye, Kahrun summons you and decides Elyos and Asmodians are not to be trusted, and that is up to the Reians to finish off Tiamat. You are sent back to Sanctum/Pandaemonium to report this to the head priest. During your meeting, Kaisinel/Marchutan himself (he is actually just a floating shiny sphere, not himself in person) appears, and tells you to convey a message to Kahrun to convince him to let you take part on the battle, predicting utter annihilation to everyone if this fails. The Empyrean Lord's words/command makes Kahrun agree to your assistance. and, so you part your way into Tiamaranta's Eye for the ultimate showdown against Tiamat.

(The following part is still actually in-game, accessible if you enter and complete DLR. There are a few differences, such as Tiamat being in Dragon form instead of Drakan, but still) Kahrun and you meet up in the Throne of Blood (Tiamat's throne room). Kahrun offers to spare her if she agrees to surrender to the power of the Reian tribe. Logically, Tiamat refuses, and suddenly uses Siel's Relics to vanish Kahrun into another dimension. And, so, you are left alone with Tiamat, face to face. As she prepares to crush you completely, suddenly Kaisinel/Marchutan comes in your aid. With Oriata's blessing, you disable the power of Siel's Relics and Tiamat becomes vulnerable, vulnerable to the Empyrean Lord's attacks. The battle ends, with the fifth of the Dragon Lords laying dead on her throne. Her death permits Kahrun to return. Suddenly though, all three of you are paralysed, and Israphel appears. He steals the relics and leaves. Kahrun now feels enraged, believe this whole situation to be a facade and considers banishing all Daevas from Sarpan and Tiamaranta (now in control of Reians). The Empyrean Lord now makes you in charge of looking for the relics. And thus, the hunt for Israphel begins.

The next section, is a short one. Basically, you and the Reians work together to uncover Israphel's location, and ultimately succeed to, and you are sent there alone. Once you meet with the Tower Guardian, he agrees to give you an explanation due to how much you have helped him. The truth behind Israphel's plan is that he had grew tired of everything even way before the Cataclysm; the war, Balaur, protecting the Tower, the looks of humans who mocked Empyrean Lords because 12 of them couldnt handle 5 Dragon Lords with ease. He had tried several occasions, trying to convince the other Lords more proactive plans, but all were rejected. Sick of this, he decided he would lure the Dragon Lords towards the Tower and use its whole energy to exterminate them all at once. Israphel's plot was to make Beritra agree with him and call forth the other Dragon Lords and hold the peace conference. Unfortunately, this didnt work out and the Cataclysm happened. Israphel ran away, seeing as there was no point of him sacrificing himself in favour of the Tower, leaving everything on Siel's hands and make it look like he did everything he could.

This is where his true ambition is revealed. Israphel found out about Siel's Relics, and decided that with Siel's power on his side and his powers over Space, he could revert the timeline back to the very first days and recreate an Atreia, with him as the one leader, as opposed to having 12. After hearing this, you swiftly attempt to nullify the power of the relics again, but Israphel deflects your attacks and pushes you back. Without any hope left, as he tries to activate the relics, Siel's voice can be heard. Israphel worries, and then he is "killed" by Siel's presence, as she follows "Aion's will". You then recover, and find the Siel's Relics have been ultimately destroyed. So, you then return, Kahrun is even angrier than before, you become a hero, but Israphel's betrayal is left as secret in order for humans and Daevas not to lose their trust on the Empyrean Lords.

Thats the end of the events in the 3.0 areas. There are actually more events that happen in Sarpan afterwards, such as Kamar Battlefield, and... 4.8 (-cries-).

Katalam

I suppose we will need to address some key parts here. The Danuar play an important role here, and I wrote a huge article there which explains their history and what not. Katalam also introduces a new cosmic energy, much like Aether, called Ide. Ide is the resource you could see all across Katalam, buy think of it as a substance, incredibly dangerous in bare hands (causes mutations) and an extremely powerful fuel.

Some months after Tiamat and Israphel, Daevas investigate further into Balaurea and find Katalam (consisting of a zone of the same, Danaria and Idian Depths). As expected, after they have settled in there in ancient ruins, they notice a strong presence of Balaur troops, but Beritra's, and logically the opposing faction's. Fighting between them break out instantly of course. You arrive in the middle of a fight against the opposing faction and get knocked out by one of their attacks. You wake up three months later, and a lot has happened in the meantime. The presence of Beritra Balaur grew, and Kahrun had gone missing. after waking up, you do a variety of tasks for your faction and nearby Reians (introducing you to the camp system in Katalam). One of them is interrogating a Balaur captive.

Tiamat's army had lost its leader, and their legions ran in disarray. Some of them gave up on the war, others joined Beritra's troops, others were contaminated by ide, but most died to the hands of the Beritran Army. Surprising how Balaur fight each other? The 4.0 trailer explains this. It is revealed that Tiamat was originally the one in control of Katalam, and that she was the one who drove the Danuar against the ropes. She was looking for a Hyperion; a mechanical weapon created by the Danuar, known across all lands for their devastating power. One the last efforts by the Danuar was to make sure they did not fell under the power of the Balaur, and destroyed most of them, except one. With the Danuar completely annihilated, Tiamat was in possession of the last Hyperion. She had sent messengers to inform Fregion, but they have all been intercepted by Beritra, who gained this knowledge and plotted against Tiamat. A while ago, back when Tiamat was losing ground to Daevas and Reians, she requested aid from Fregion, but they were silenced, which led to her death (random fact, the reason why the silence godstone is called "Beritra's Plot" is this). Beritra then took the chance to send his troops, ending Tiamat's domain over Katalam and claiming the Hyperion as his. Kind of a grim revelation how without Beritra's involvement, Reians and Deavas would have perished in Tiamaranta.

After some other tasks, you meet with Garnon again in Katalam, who was investigating Kahrun's disappearance. As part of the main story, the campaigns follow your efforts on finding Kahrun's trail across Katalam and Danaria. you also join forces with another Daeva looking for him. You discover Kahrun had begun a search and investigation for Ide, but the trace went cold (pun not intended, because this happened in the snowy parts of Katalam HAHAHAHAHA...). As you investigate, you are knocked out again and captured by Balaur. You wake up in a cell along with a famous researcher (Kaza/Lucullus), saying Balaur guards will return and perform experiments on them with Ide. With your own strength you escape. The researcher offers you to become an assistant seeing how good you are handling Idgel Cubes (ide containers, btw).

You do some other tasks in between, like helping former Tiamat Army members escape the Beritran Army. You then meet with the researcher again, this time in Pandarunerk's Delve (main city in Danaria, Shugo-controlled). The central plaza holds a broken down Hyperion, which you are tasked to attempt to activate with the Idgel Cube created by your friend. It does not fully activate, but the test was a success, as the Idgel Cube's settings are now ready to be tested on a real functional Hyperion, which your researcher friend had already found.

You are then transported to the Infinity Shard, the hangar holding the last Hyperion, and find Kahrun, laying unconscious on the ground. Suddenly, the Daeva you worked with to find Kahrun in Katalam shows up (but the opposing faction one). Believing you harmed him, they attack, and then your own Daeva partner shows up stopping them. They both reveal themselves to be Empyrean Lords in disguise; Triniel and Nezekan, who had been looking for Kahrun as their son for all this time. They then agree to take Kahrun to a safer place to recover. As they leave, your researcher friend shows up, and instructs you on how to install the Idgel Cube. It ends up being a complete success as the Hyperion is fully operational and ready to be deployed. However, your researcher friend is delighted, and settles to kill you, but you are safely transported out of his sight by the captain. The researcher reveals himself to be Beritra himself and rejoices on him finally having a Hyperion in his possession. Without enough power to fight both at the same time, you return to Katalam and chat with Marchutan/Kaisinel. It is revealed that during your unconscious state, the Empyrean Lord had modified your brain to make you more suggestible and lure Beritra out. He was also the one who foresaw your demise by the hands of Beritra, so he sent Triniel/Nezekan to change this fate.

And thats it for 4.0. The story continues in 4.7 and so on, but that is still available in-game. the Levinshor/Kaldor campaigns will show you the rest. Then Enshar/Cygnea, then the Abyssal Winds campaign in Upper Reshanta. There is a quiet time after that in regards to Balaur, but then the Dredgion Invasions on the capitals will begin Ereshkigal's involvement.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

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oof now i have to go to pvp areas...;-;

anyways thanks so much again! just one more question for now. since i rolled asmo, i don't know about kaisinel. so my question is...is he an nyerk? 

 

haha anyways i might reply later with more questions. in the meantime, thanks so much for your help!

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1 hour ago, Esialeth-KT said:

anyways thanks so much again! just one more question for now. since i rolled asmo, i don't know about kaisinel. so my question is...is he an nyerk? 

He is regarded as a nyerk by some. :P I assume this comes from his character (unstinting, refuses to acknowledge others, etc), or because his dialogue/attitude after Beritra activates the Hyperion is ruder than Marchutan's.

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On 16. 4. 2018 at 7:10 AM, Bryos-DN said:

you also join forces with another Daeva looking for him.

Runa for Asmodians and Thersu for Elyos. These are obviously fake names for Trin and Nez, but in case you wonder why you get Runa's/Thersu's pieces of armour... (if you still get them?)

Without enough power to fight both at the same time, you return to Katalam and chat with Marchutan/Kaisinel. It is revealed that during your unconscious state, the Empyrean Lord had modified your brain to make you more suggestible and lure Beritra out. He was also the one who foresaw your demise by the hands of Beritra, so he sent Triniel/Nezekan to change this fate.

They sent them? o.O I thought Trin/Nez got there because they wanted to find Kahrun...

 

15 hours ago, Esialeth-KT said:

i don't know about kaisinel. so my question is...is he an nyerk? 

Yes. Totally. Absolutely. Yes. Marchutan at least apologises for tampering your mind, but this butterfly lord thinks there was nothing bad with it. >:(

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2 hours ago, Mayinne-DN said:

They sent them? o.O I thought Trin/Nez got there because they wanted to find Kahrun...

At least on the Asmodian side, Marchutan sends visions of the future of you being killed by Beritra to Triniel or the NPC that saves you.

2 hours ago, Mayinne-DN said:

Yes. Totally. Absolutely. Yes. Marchutan at least apologises for tampering your mind, but this butterfly lord thinks there was nothing bad with it. >:(

Marchutan doesnt apologise either. But he does show some kind of regret.

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