#afk annih

[mysaldate]

Lilith should go back to what they had before

Crossposting from Reddit because I am tired of how the new AFK Arena writers keep trampling over incredible lore.

This is gonna be long so TLDR: Anything from ALucius onward has been one continuous middle finger to the lore community with insane retcons that ruined both characters and the world of Esperia and I just wish the game went back to what it had before.

Okay, now with the TLDR out of the way, let me preface this with brief history of my involvement with the game (just to avoid any comments accusing me of not knowing the game): I've been playing on and off pretty much since launch (missed about two or so weeks at launch) but got really into it before the Overlord collab. One thing that kept me invested for years to come was the lore. Lilith has done an incredible job crafting an interesting varied world full of all kinds of people and characters. I've been creating fanworks, crafting theories with my fellow lore nerds, bought the artbook as soon as it was announced, and also got invited to the official dev and players meeting in Germany last year. I adore old AFK lore because it is the most well-crafted world I've ever seen in a mobile game and it was definitely the main reason I've stayed for so long.

However, things shifted around the time ALucius released. His story completely retconned Lucius' original story which is what made him so lovable for me and a lot of my lore-interested friends. Lucius isn't someone who didn't join the army on a whim because he didn't want to. He was deeply traumatized as a child and even tried the military before realizing it just wasn't for him. No, instead now he's more like a petulant child who just didn't want to follow the family tradition. And let me tell you, it didn't get better from there on out. The biggest offender though, of course, are the Draconis.

The Draconis as a whole are a mess. Firstly, they completely retcon Dura's involvement in the Age of Arcana which completely breaks the world. To explain a long story very quickly, Dura gave humans magic which led to an arms race between the humans and the gods, making the gods send Annih to deal with it, leading to the creation of the Ya who would later split into Maulers and Wilders, which then led to the Cinder War where humans basically turned on each other, Quaedam was one of the powerful mages who died during this time, and finally, it made Annih the scapegoat for when the post-war mortals found out about what the gods (or rather, just Annih in their eyes) did, and of course, Annih then created the Hypogeans. If you take Dura out of the equation, there's no arms race because there is no need for it. If you remove her involvement, 4/6 factions in the game wouldn't even exist in the world. This seemingly insignificant detail (that was only edited to make Dura seem better anyway) completely breaks the world but oh boy, we're just starting.

During the Cinder Wars, dragons were nearly driven into extinction. According to the old lore, the last few remaining dragons hid underground and fell into a deep slumber to recover their strength. In their dreams, they created Tasi to guard them and ensure their safety. This was true up to when Gavus and Eugene were added into the game as they literally had a run-in with a dragon in its underground lair. These dragons also have a deep-rooted hatred for humanity to the point where even seeing two babies is enough to send them into a blind rage and try to kill them. They would've gone into hibernation before year 1 CE, meaning at least 35 years before the first Hypogean invasion even began. Instead, in the new lore, Dura took the dragons (but not the other enslaved and tortured races) and dropped them on a random island with the condition that they would "help when the need is worst" or something. And the dragons now also fought in the first Hypogean war which now supposedly happened before they were taken to the island? And nobody has any records of them fighting in it at all? And of course, they are totally fine helping out humans (let's also not forget that originally, it was Dura who gave humans the means to enslave dragons in the first place and we've seen from Gavus' story and the Chains of the Covenant comic that the dragons have little respect for the Celestials exactly because of that). There is also the idea that the dragons have always been noble and protectors of humanity but that is far from the truth too. During the Floating Isles Abyssal Expedition season, we got confirmation on what was already suggested earlier – the dragons of old were slavers themselves, kidnapping entire settlements to serve them and viewing every other race except the gods as beneath them. Given that some of the dragon characters we get in the game are supposed to have lived through that era, it certainly casts them in a very different light.

But let's not forget, the Draconis lore isn't even consistent within itself. For example, it claims that young draconis cannot control their transformation well, yet Gwyneth was supposedly able to turn fully human as a newborn baby and keep up her disguise for sixteen years (because yes, despite getting plastic surgery to get massive boobs and ass, she is supposed to be sixteen) and it only started showing because a wyvern (another retcon) suddenly got close to the capital… even though she already killed a wyvern before with no issues popping up. The Draconis lore also claims that many on the dragon isle were around during the Age of Arcana and yet, their enslavement is supposedly a secret so closely guarded that they would lock people up in isolation if they found out about it? Cassius supposedly found out through careful study and it was such a big deal he had to go on a hunger strike before Hildwin appointed him a scribe for the dragon council but in the Dwyneth webcomic, Cassius is already a scribe and Hildwin has to take him to a secret island off the dragon isle and tell him about all the history.

Let's also talk more with Dwyneth. Her story, once again, retcons what we've known about her and what made her so interesting. By making her a part of the king's hunting party who went to look for the wyvern, they got rid of her quick thinking and rather impulsive nature. And let's not forget that this wyvern was now supposedly a part of a whole group of wyverns terrorizing a nearby city? Wyverns and any draconids are supposed to be extremely rare in Esperia for reasons I'll get into later. The original story had the king's party be on a stroll and accidentally waking up the wyvern from its slumber because they didn't even know it was there. Gwyneth's quick thinking and strength gained her the respect of the king and she was subsequently allowed to join the Royal Garrison. That is not even mentioning that Gwyneth was heavily implied to be a child of the robbers Hendrik killed before he adopted her. Her strength was strange, sure, but it never needed an explanation in a world where squirrels can turn people into acorns and undead mermaids float in the sea. And then we get to her actual awakening story…

Listen, if you need to kill an NPC to make your new waifu seem cool, I will already think it's cringe. But if you kill the single most popular NPC your lore community has, one with insane history and all that, it just starts to look like you hate your own content and/or audience. Kane's death makes no sense. He is a battle-hardened warrior with elemental powers (heavily implied to once have been the elemental guardian – we'll talk about how the draconis mess those up later) with a dragon mount (demoted to a wyvern because we can't possibly have an evil dragon now) who has been around since long before the first Hypogean war. Not only is he killed by a sixteen-year-old girl, she also only just got her powers and has supposedly no idea how to use them. And she also bested him in close-quarters combat despite being an archer and Kane being a legendary swordsman. Sadly, this was not the last time a Draconis-related storyline decided to kill off an important NPC with no regard for their lore.

Next we get to Antandra. Once again, the story retcons her entire backstory, events, and personality. It actually makes her more in-line with Journey's Antandra than Arena's which is a whole another can of worms I will not get into right now. Instead of Antandra being the tribute to the temple, she now apparently chose to go and become a temple warrior. After she was banished from the temple, she apparently never saw Satrana again (retconning her union story with Satrana as well as multiple time-limited and permanent events). She is also apparently a mother figure to a lot of children living around where she is staying… which should be the Land of Exiles since she was, you know, exiled and banished. There shouldn't be any children there, it is by far the most dangerous part of the desert. The idea that there's a whole tribe of children who see Antandra as their mother figure just running around is kind of stupid to be honest. Let's also ignore that she is probably the one who gave Dwyneth her new chest because Antandra's went the opposite direction. Let's also compare how previous awakened characters got their powers vs how Antandra did: Thane and Baden went on a huge journey to learn about cooperation and self-sacrifice and took immense risks to protect their loved ones. Safiya nearly died in a game of 5D chess against one of the deadliest enemies in the desert and destroyed an entire clan's kingdom. Antandra? Well, she girlbossed extra hard and Hildwin gave her a gem for it.

Eironn's story is baffling to say the least. Not only is it copy-pasted from Journey's beta where that was pretty much the exact backstory for Bryon (before they decided they don't want a disabled character to be playable) but it doesn't fit Eironn's character. It presents Eironn as someone who chases after glory and thrill of the fight and doesn't care about the people around him. However, Eironn has never been this person. He'd been awkward and struggled to rely on others, yes, but he would never abandon his comrades to chase after a powerful enemy. And of course, he doesn't even get to be cool in his own awakening story, Dwyneth has to swoop in after deciding he was "worthy" and save him at the last minute. At least there aren't any giant retcons to his backstory I guess.

And then there is Thoran and oh boy… So remember when I said Kane wasn't the only NPC who got done super dirty and killed just because the writers could? Same thing happened with Quaedam. Forget the fact that Thoran and all the other graveborn who made a contract with Quaedam are supposed to be like a hivemind that Quaedam can tap into and read at any time. Forget that Quaedam doesn't have a body or anything material and is a spectral entity on a similar power level to the Celestials at this point. Forget also the fact that Quaedam has the Eldritch Council – a whole line-up of similarly powerful necromancers who have been working for him since the Cinder Wars. Forget the fact that Quaedam most likely had enslaved dragons and thus would absolutely be stronger than them. Forget the fact he doesn't have a material base due to his immaterial nature. No, instead, Thoran makes a deal with a dragon behind Quaedam's back, steers the Hypogeans into Quaedam's base, and then strikes him down with a single swing of the sword. Oh, and let's also not forget, the necrodragon isn't supposed to just be out and about. It was a minion of the god of the hunt, Adrax, kept in a pocket dimension of his private hunting grounds.

The other characters who have released since ALucius have been a huge hit or miss but I won't get into each of them individually because that would be way too long (I say like the post already isn't) but to quickly summarize: Raoul is mostly fine aside from the fact where he doesn't look anything like what a character from Esperia would look like. Villanelle retcons Quicksand Claws to make them more stereotypically perpetrators of all evils and sins when they should be a very directly focused mercenary group. Misha's story mentions some "Wilder goddess" who has never existed or, if they mean Dura, was everyone's goddess. Journey, however, does have some Wilder-specific gods (and they suck and break the world further). It also mentions some incursion "decades ago" which… makes no sense? There hasn't been any incursion mere decades ago. Timelines don't timeline with this one. Randle is mostly fine but retcons Niru and how the Whispering Doom (I refuse to call it Doom Spire, stop changing good names, Lilith) works. Aurelia is fine except for the part where her story makes Flora into a lazy bum who doesn't want to do her job. Knox is kinda okay except for the part where his story suggests all Hypogeans are an organized monolith. Most of the Draconis stories are already involved in what I talked about so I will just point out the biggest offender on the list is Lan and no, it is not because she has the vibes of a self-insert Mary Sue. It's because she makes the elemental guardians completely obsolete since dragons can control the elements and direct rain and wind and whatnot.

I've heard from an inside source that pretty much the entire writing department got sacked and the game was handed off to new writers, around the same time it happened with Journey as well, and I have to say, it certainly does feel that way. Between the retcons of huge world lore and warp of pre-existing playable and non-playable characters beyond recognition, it definitely feels like a spiteful rewrite where someone is trying to erase the original and do it "better" except they just end up ruining everything they touch. I'm just frustrated because I invested a lot of time and money into everything AFK-related, bought merch, commissioned art, wrote fanfiction (even won a contest by Lilith with one of my works), started running a DnD campaign set in Esperia, and more. Seeing it all go up in flames like this makes me sad and I just wish things could go back to what it was before. The War of Truth storyline was one of the peaks of AFK's storytelling ever so to follow it up with tis makes it even more jarring. The lore community right now is basically non-existant. Most of my friends left the fandom entirely or only pop in to make fun of how badly the new characters are written. Lilith killed their own lore nerds and it's a damn shame.

But anyway, that's just my rant. If you read everything, thank you a ton, I know this was long and I apologize. Please let me know what you think, if you noticed any more retcons and mistakes, etc. If you don't care about lore, this post is probably not for you so I apologize for wasting your time with it.

[orginllazyblog]

New au idea!!!

The God's Return Au

Where Dura and Annih themselves return from their long vacation, we'll mostly Dura as Annih been busy with paperwork or whatever hes been up to. Everyone is frickin panicking, especially the celestials and hypogeans. The celestials thought their goddess died by the hands of her brother, but it turned out she's been relaxing at a different dimension where no one would disturb her. It's not like Annih could kill his sister, Esperia world would be unbalanced without the goddess of life. The old tales that said Annih was jealous of Dura being the favorite. He just didn't understand why his sister found the mortals so interesting.

That is when Dura suggests a deal, creating a stable hypogean for a certain celestial.

Apparently, Dura and Annih had a deal where if a celestial and a hypogean could possibly become a lovely couple, Dura had to return back to Esperia, fix the mess she left behind, and give Annih 100 gold coins. How would the two gods remember them is the artifact "ring" they give to them. Bonus if another pair of different factions count another 100 gold coins.

In return, Annih would have to erase the hypogeans. Most of them who were created from his blood. For the rest, he would need someone who can manage to track them down quicker. It's kind of like in Naruto, where Itachi had to kill everyone in his clan because of being too OP and leaving his brother Sasuke alive.

So when Annih captured the full blood hypogeans and extra other hypogeans, Eugene and Lucilla were caught by accident. As much as he wanted him and Lucilla to escape together, he let Lucilla escape as they were almost caught.

"Go, Lucilla! Run! Don't look back! Keep running!"

Idk what's wrong with me. Maybe I just want family drama

[veyny]

I know, I was away for too long, but I’ve made a headcanons, that I want to share with y’all!

So, as we know, in elemental strife troupe, Estrilda fell sick because the corruptor injured her and she fell in coma. But in my headcanon, she fell in coma, which caused her soul to burst out of body and go to Death Realm (place where all dead souls go and there are Estrilda’s accentors(?) and even Thane’s parents and teacher). And there Estrilda met Phoebe(my oc, let’s say), which turned out to be the grandmother of Dura and Annih. And after many questions, it’s got clear, that Phoebe attacked Estrilda to get her here.

“Why?!”

“I wanted to meet you :)”

“You could just meet me in dreams”

“Bitch, I couldn’t-“

And a little comics

Now, second headcanon.

So, we know that Dura ‘died’, so she moved to Dead Realm and saw every single person from such universes as Teyvat (and all Hoyoverse multiverses), Ninjago, Crispia and Esperia. She got to know her “father” Honas and uncles (which are dead): FSM (Yang) and Phanes (Primodial One).

And during Elemental Strife, she tried to get rid of Corruptors, but they all behaved like puppies and kittens.

And last but not least, Annih sometimes visits Dead Realm (sometimes with Quedam) because of work and other deals. He saw Thoran, Baden, Theowyn and so so more. But during elemental strife, he once saw Estrilda and his grandmother(Phoebe). It did not go so well…)

And my little thought about Lutos… he’s probably still in prison, just… not dead. He often sings and talk with his nephew)

I once made a drawings for Lutos, Honas and more, but they all deleted 🫠 so I will redraw them))

[teabunnee]

Noticed something in AFK ArenaTV Tropes

I was reading the Other page for characters and...

It's interesting how much TV tropes blames Dura for Annih's downfall, and how it tries to make Annih more...sympathetic? Especially since, you know, Dura died because of Annih.

Feel very different to the Wiki on the Fandom.com too.

[theproperweirdo]

Now wtf does that have to do with the religion rewrite? You may be asking because, oh boy can I make yapping side quests likes I was born for it

That pretty much is just a result of the previous two points

Old religion/history was kinda “non-politically correct” + shallower -> we need a new backstory -> add a new minor god that the Maulers can worship, one that further aligns with their cultures and traditions

This decentralization of Dura also explains Misarte and the wilders. After all if we’re tossing the Maulers a new deity what’s one more? This story choice can help make the factions more distinct culturally as religionous culture is very important in AFK, but is also just a bit more interesting for inter-faction relationships. Specifically for example Atalanta and Lorsan’s reoccurring arguments during the deer spirit quest where Lorsan’s religious beliefs in Misarte conflicts with Atalanta’s religious views.

Okay ngl i totally forgot what the bullet points were so hopefully i got everything ;-;

Also a good analysis!

I was also a fan of adding lesser gods to the game, but I wasn’t a fan of how it happened. The way they had factions have their own beliefs, practices, etc, was really cool and the cultural influence was awesome for world building

However, they never make any actual distinctions between Dura and co. In game. I had to learn off this site that they were different 😭😭 The reason Everyone worships Dura is because of her kindness to Esperia. She convinced the celestials to give mortal magic, so they could fight for themselves. Humans, thankful to her, started worshipping her the way we see now.

But this is also why Annih, god of death, renounced his own divinity. After humans got magic, they started rapidly modernizing. Jealous of the attention Dura had, he whispered to human mages that there was a way to achieve divinity, and become immortal like celestials (This is when the cradle of truth happens). Obviously he was lying n shit, but the mages believed him and went at their lil experiments, creating the Ya.

The Ya become maulers. Then, filled with anger towards the lightbearers, they declared war on them. It lasted FOURRRR CENTURIESSSS 💀💀💀 The hate and negative feelings from the war is what created hypogeans (Hypogeans exist everywhere! They develop from disarray and hatred) but they aren’t unified at the time. It’s only when Annih brings them together to launch war that they become a big threat.

This was me yapping but my point was that; they should’ve explained why these lesser gods exist and how. Religion in Esperia is the result of Dura being the only nice god (for a while at least) and the fact that other gods got fucked up 😭😭 Before the Dawn star era (current time period of Esperia in Arena) Dura is the only god if we aren’t counting celestials, but the factions all have their own stories, interpretations, and gifts from her. I felt like that’s what made her special, that she became like a separate god to each faction despite being “one god”.

Ngl I’d be mad if they erased Annih totally and gave the graveborns their own god 😭😭 that’s get rid of so much story

[bippityboppity69]

Afk Arena OC Lore

I wrote this on a 6 hour car ride to go see relatives and this is about me two OCs. Delilah and her son Regalus. @irislazulee [Sorry I fell asleep]

“Mom? How come I don’t have a dad?”

Delilah paused in her cooking, before turning to look at her son, Regalus. The five year old boy had her curly black hair. One grey eye and red eye looking at her curiously. She knew this question was going to happen eventually.

Turning back to the pot of soup as she took a breath, “That’s because your father was a soldier. He d-“

“No, my real dad.” He spoke, a pout forming on his chubby cheeks. “They said I have his eye.”

Delilah froze, anxiety and dread curling in her veins. “W-who told you that?”

Regalus pointed to the wall, “The shadows did!”

What did he mean by the shadows had told him? Hand shaking as she continued stirring, looking back at her son. Echoing the question to him, the answer made one of her worst fears a reality.

“I overheard your shadow talking and asked.” Regalus spoke nonchalantly, legs kicking back and forth. “They told me he’s from the city and that I got his eye!”

Fuck.

He had taken after him. It had been a naïve hope of hers that the only thing he had gotten from his father was his red eye and the white streak in his hair. A sigh left Delilah as she brushed a hand down her face. Turns out he had inherited at least one power so far.

Jolting as an awful thought occurred, “Baby? Have you told anyone else about the shadows?”

Regalus shook his head, “No, they said not to tell because people wouldn’t understand. But your my mom so it’s okay to tell you.”

Shoulders sagging in relief, thank the heavens. “That’s good. You cannot tell anyone about this. Do you understand?"

"Yes mom.”

He gave a big smile. “So can I learn about my real dad?”

Delilah mulled over what to tell him. Brows creasing as she ladled up the soup into bowls. Setting the creamy chicken soup in front of Regalus along with a chunk of bread. Sitting across from him with her own bowl, appetite nonexistent.

“Do you remember how I said I was from the city?”

Regalus nodded as he ate his dinner, eagerly listening. For a moment, she reminisced about the life she had before. Countess Delilah Valerie Fairbank, daughter of Count William Fairbank and Countess Amelia Fairbank. She had been their only child and been raised as their heir.

The memory of silk gowns and gems that glittered with stars. Of laughing with her friends, the sound of clinking glasses and violins. Dancing with eligible bachelor’s, all vying to be chosen by her.

However, that was all in the past now. Gazing on her son, softly smiling. Brushing away some crumbs on his cheek, chuckling as he pouted at her. That was in the past now. She was just Delilah here in the town of Hillford. A widow who had lost her husband to the Hypogean war. That was the cover story.

“Your father was from the city as well.” She spoke. A pang rushing through her chest as a memory of him rushed through her. “He…was a brilliant man. Smart, elegant, and handsome.”

He was also a liar and centuries old. One of Annih’s children.

The Hypogean she had loved.

Oh, she remembered their first meeting. It had been the Flower Ball. She had been dressed in light green gown with silk embroidered flowers. Her friends had been talking about the new Earl of Kuilin, gushing about how perfect he was.

Of course he was perfect, he had been practicing that mask for years.

She had met him when she had gone out to the balcony. Spotting the middle aged man with salt and pepper hair. Dressed in purple finery, his light blue eyes had captivated her. He was handsome, a strong jawline mixed with an elegant air.

Earl Leofric of Kuilin.

“Countess Delilah?” He had bowed, kissing her knuckles. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’ve heard much about you.”

“Let me guess? The silver sword of Fairbank?”

Ah, her old moniker, the silver sword. Famed for her beauty and her sharp wit. Part of the reason she was unwed at twenty-five. That had never bothered her. A faint smile appearing as she remembered attending meetings with her father. Sorrow tinged her smile as she thought of her late father and mother.

They would have loved Regalus.

“Mom?”

“Just remembering baby.” She reassured him. “Your father and I began to meet each other. First as friends then…”

It had started with a chess game. She had just beaten Baron Giles’s son. The thrill of victory paired well with the frown on his face. The man had gone off with slumped shoulders.

“My, what a game.”

She had turned to him, “Would you like to play? I’m in need of an opponent.”

“It would be my pleasure.”

That had been the hardest game of chess she had ever played. Yet, it had been the most fun. He was a brilliant strategist, matching her every move. She had only won by one move.

“What a fantastic game.” He had praised. “I so rarely encounter such a brilliant mind.”

They had run into each other a few times after that. Playing chess, talking about politics and worldly news, it had been refreshing to talk with him. He wasn’t afraid of her wit, in fact, he had adored it. Oh, she remembered his sweet words all too well.

“Never hide your wit my dear.” He had told her. “And never marry a man who makes you.”

Was that when she had began to fall for him? There were few men in her life who admired her wit and intelligence. Her dear father had lovingly encouraged her to learn all she could. After all, she was the heir to the Fairbank estate.

She still remembered the day their relationship had changed.

She had been at his manor, chatting and laughing. Both jumping at the sudden boom of thunder. The rain had been unexpected and heavy enough that the carriage could not move through.

Leofric, he preferred Leo, had offered her a room. They had talked into the evening, retiring to the lounge. The deck of cards on the table had given her the idea. A friendly game of poker.

“Poker? Many would say that is an unladylike game.” He had gently teased.

"Only those afraid to lose. Are you one?”

He had chuckled, “Not al all. I’ll even let the dealer choose our game.”

The steady motion of shuffling the deck. That sweet and calming scent of clove cigars. Brandy glasses clinking mixed with the sound of rain. It had been so calming. Wins had been passed back and forth. The mixture of all had made her bold, made her desire for him rise.

“How about we add some stakes to this game?”

“What do you suggest?”

A mischievous smile on her lips as she looked at him. “A very unladylike wager.”

Interest in his eyes. “Oh?”

“How do you feel about a bet of clothing?”

“Very unladylike.” He had spoken after a moment. “Are you sure of this?”

“Of course. I did suggest it.”

Had she purposefully lost a few hands? Of course. Leaving her hair undone, the dark mass of curls reaching her hips. Shoes, stockings, and her overdress being discarded.

Leofric had then lost a few hands. Removing his jacket, gloves, and waist coat. Competitive nature mixing with a growing lust. He had won the next hand. A hunger in his gaze as she removed her corset, now in just her shift.

“Your turn~”

“…Shall we drop this charade, my dear?”

Those masks of civility had been thrown off without a second thought. Strong hands on her thighs. Soft hair between her fingers. Broad shoulders to claw as he purred praises in her ear.

God’s above, he was a beast in the bedroom.

Skipping that part and the next as she spoke to Regalus. He had made her happy in so many ways. A perfect gentlemen. Part of her regretted that day she had found those papers. Wishing to remain in that blissful lie.

Oh, that horrible paper. Filled with all the places he had visited. All his informants that dated back centuries. Lists of crossed out names and maps with X’s.

“Brother’s cult, avoid during travels.”

“Sister’s new home. Ensure Lester knows and avoid.”

Then the books, the ones written in a language that made her vision darken and her head ring. Those strange relics that felt cold and made her shake. She had always been smart and all the evidence pointed to one thing.

Leofric was a Hypogean.

She had been so scared. Yet, panic was the worst thing to do in this moment. Delilah had cleaned any traces she had left, had carefully ensured nothing was out of place. Then she had left, still wearing a smile as her mind was a mess.

The next day, the Hypogeans had attacked.

That day was burned into her memory. The arid smoke, screams echoing through the air. Her father telling her to run, throwing a sword to her. The smell of iron as he was cut down. Her mother’s wail turning into a gurgle.

She had ran as fast as she could. Purple splattering her grey gown as she sliced the Hypogean. Feet flying across stone as she fled the city with nothing but the clothes on her back and a purse of gold.

Tears streaming down her face as her home drowned in flames. Shoving her emotions away as she focused on staying alive. Luckily she knew this city like the back of her hand.

“Delilah!”

Fear and anxiety at Leofric’s voice, confusion at his fearful tone. Catching a glimpse of him, outfit torn and a bloody sword in hand. She had originally thought he had been behind this attack. Yet, she had never seen him with such a distraught look as he frantically looked for her.

Eyes wide as she saw a Hypofiend lunge at him. Breath catching as he had turned, eyes turning red. The creature being dragged into shadows, leaving a mass of purple gore.

She had turned and ran without a second thought.

It was too much of a risk. He was a Hypogean. Let him believe her gone, it was for her safety. Even if her heart wailed with grief, she would not let it win. Managing to make it out of the city, the family on the cart had called out to her. Helping her up as the group fled from the burning city.

The next few days were a blur to her. The family had been kind enough to let her ride along to their hometown of Hillford. It had been that journey that gave her time to make a cover. She was the wife of a soldier, newly prompted to general. The sword in her hand was his, taken from his still warm corpse.

“Oh you poor child.” Mary had hugged her. “Do you have any family?”

“Just him…”

Sticking to her story, weaving in details about being a lady in waiting. Mary mentioning working for a kind Lady, who was a widow herself. A kind woman who needed a governess for her young granddaughter.

Dura must have been watching over her.

Mary and her husband, Darin, had helped her meet Lady Guinevere. The older woman had approved of Delilah’s skills and offered her a job and even a room. Thankfully, the gold she had helped with clothing and food. Storing the remaining amount safely away.

A new life away from Kuilin and Leofric.

That was how life was for two months. Until one day, she had passed out while teaching young Lady Adela. A fright for everyone. She had awoken a few moments later, but Lady Guinevere demanded a doctor look her over. Which was when she had gotten the news.

She was pregnant.

The news had shocked Delilah. She had taken every precaution! The thought of canceling crossed her mind before a hand had grabbed hers. Lady Guinevere had tears in her eyes as she smiled.

“He left one last gift of love.”

Did Leofric love her? Perhaps he did, he certainly doted on her. Giving her gifts and trinkets, a gentle smile that was only for her. She had loved him, part of her still did. She had decided then and there to keep this child.

“And that little baby was you.” Delilah said. “My wonderful little Regalus.”

“Dad was a noble?”

“Yes he was, that’s why we don’t go to the cities.”

Avoid the cities. That was the best way to avoid Leofric and anyone that would recognize her. She had to be careful. After all, she had someone to protect.

“Alright, now it is time for bed.”

Regalus gave a light protest before getting up to brush his teeth. The promise of reading “The Dreamwoods Fairy” working like a charm. Brushing his hair as she softly spoke, watching as Regalus nodded off to sleep.

“Hey mom?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too baby.” Kissing his forehead. “Get some rest, you have school tomorrow.”

[magicofthepiper]

Oh, I really like this. The Wilders are supposed to be peaceful Ya*. It's the Maulers who are supposed the ones who are antagonistic towards Lightbearers.

However, AFK Arena has been out for years and has lately been subverting its own basic lore. If you read Oku's and Eorin's lore, you'll see that their animosity towards Lightbearers is justifiable.

* Ya are the chimeric beings (often just barely animal-like) in Esperia. They have Orc-ish origins in that mortal mages tried their own hand at divine creation, but they could not create, only modify. This was long before the war between Dura and Annih.

At some point, they were forced out of the empire and exiled into the desert. Here, they developed a society dependent on war to ensure their own survival. But a significant number of them longed for a more peaceful life and fled into the Dark Forest.

[annih]

I WAS SO EXCITED WHEN I SEE ANNIH IN THE AFK EPISODES AND THEN I REALIZED HE AND DURA ARE ONLY IN THE OPENING SCENE

THEY ARE STILL A FACE ON A LOADING SCREEN AAAAAA

But at least Annih’s hot

[jekyllmoth]

Afk Arena memes p.2

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4

[sins-art]

Annih, god of Death

[seashoreshell]

I'll never change my login screen ever again

[jailrose]

OH MY GOODNESS???

That. Oh that's really fucked on Dura and the other gods' part, yeah. Rewriting the entire narrative to make themselves seem like the good guys when they constantly were going to Annih to get Dura's mess fixed, THEN making him the bad guy by saying he's jealous just cuz he had enough?? Yeah that's kind of a whole new low 😭 I'd be pissed too!!

Also I've been reading through AFK Arena Tumblr and I keep finding out about Dura and her incompetence... 💀

We really need an extensive lore write-up because dear Dura this is fucked up.

Like, imagine being a Ya, right? You came to be because the literal gods couldn't handle human ambition and sent the personification of death itself to solve their shit and death itself couldn't come up with anything better than "mix human and animal DNA" and the humans fucking trusted it. There are essentially two superpowers, one being the Leto empire and the other being Bantus and NEITHER of them likes you.

Then the gods boot death from their club because even the gods hate you and think you're an abomination, and death doesn't even claim you either but instead goes to create a new race of demons. But he is partially responsible for you so now everyone hates you even more.

You have three options:

Live among the Leto and be a slave, a pet, or a circus animal, and hope the eventual genocide avoids you

Live in Bantus and most likely get brutally tortured, skinned alive, and hope they at least kill you

Go out in the wilderness among actual wild animals, traverse the literal fucking desert, and hope there's something better behind it

And after possibly decades of this, the goddess of life FINALLY decides that maybe killing you is kinda fucked up, and she offers you to stay in that fucking desert with a "but I'll make you more resilient and buff" or you can go to uncharted magical forest with a "I'll give you some magic if you never take up violence unless I call for it"

What the actual fuck

[orginllazyblog]

Sad news, I stopped playing afk journey mainly because it always lagging

Good news

[veyny]

Little WIP :)

Guess who)))))

[theproperweirdo]

If you have time I seek your guidance on afk lore. I am SO confused how the gods work. Like is dura the god for all four realms? Because the maulers have the dusk lord but dura still is mentioned at the end of Song of Strife. And is Misarte just looking after the dark forest or nature in general??? Do graveborns even have a god???????? Apparently there’s a death god in Arena but he’s never once been mentioned in Journey and my hyper fixation on the lore is crying in a corner rn ;-;

Okay wait let me break it down like this:

In Arena, Dura is basically the biggest, most openly and talked about god. Her and the god of death Annih are the two central powers in Esperia. It’s Dura who creates the celestials and other mortal life. Annih has domain over dead people but he leaves to fuck knows where and since he’s gone, the dead start resurrecting into graveborn. The graveborn don’t worship a god, but they have this guy called Quandem who was the very first graveborn, and he’s like the number one necromancer.

Basically, the Four Faction heros have Dura, the Celestials are loyal to her, and the Hypogeans used to follow Annih til he fucked off somewhere. Each faction has their own rituals and ways of praying to the gods, but I’ve always assumed everyone prayed to Dura and asked “protection” from celestials. The Lightbears follow the light, and the way they worship her is similar to Christianity where they go to church, have a system of power within the church, etc. The maulers and Wilders have similar traditions, (I assume because they’re both Ya?) where they have sort of,, offerings n celebrations.

In Journey it’s just fuck knows all 🤦🤦🤦 there’s lesser gods in Journey that are above celestials and beneath Dura, including Misarte, the Dusk god, sun god, and moon god. I haven’t actually logged into Journey for a hot minute because I got bored of the gameplay LMAO

Misarte just watched over the dark forest, I don’t think she actually every intervened very often in history, probably apart from the wars etc etc. same with the maulers (but we don’t have in game sources 😢😢) Afk Journey’s lore shares similarities but is not the same as arenas, plus it’s all over the place so some details may vary

Feel free to ask or correct me!

[illumina-ruler-of-graveborns]

Illumina, Goddess of Conspiracies, Immoralities, Wisdom, Threats, Trickery and Death: [Slowly ages, currently 100 years old] Illumina started out as a kind priestess who healed the sick and lame, and saw the goodness in everyone. That was until she became ill with an incurable disease. After visiting numerous doctors, priests, healers, alchemists, desperately praying that some miracle would save her, yet none occurred. In one final attempt to save herself, she turned to Annih and begged, groveled and pledged undying loyalty towards him and his goal to destroy Dura. Annih, pleased and amused at the young woman's weak cries of mercy, changed her into a goddess, corrupting her in the process. Annih left the newborn deity to fester in the agonizing realization of her situation, insanity and shame eating away at the last bits of innocence from her mind. No longer was she serving the light of Dura, but the ever-consuming darkness of the God of Death's shadow. Illumina used to have tan skin, straight warm black hair, and brown eyes; now she is 12 feet tall (can alter her size to be tall as she wants), has jet black hair, greyish-pale skin, glowing green eyes hidden behind a black lace mask, dark burgundy lipstick, green face paint, jet black wings, and two grick-like worms on the back of her shoulder blades. She changed her white priestess gown and veil for a dark green-blue gradient tattered dress that drags behind her. She walks barefoot, and wears various adornments, such as her old prayer beads as arm and ankle bracelets, a jeweled belt, and thick, rusty prison cuffs. Her powers consists of: a fireball attack that gets bigger with every level-up, an illusion spell that causes multiple copies of herself to appear (number of copies increase as she levels up), a floating green orb that absorbs the health of all enemies and heals her by 15%, and an ultimatum ability where Illumina casts a curse that has a 50/50 chance of either causing the most powerful enemy to instantly die or 100% heals all allies and adds attack/defensive buffs (she doesn't like to play fair). Her basic/melee attacks are using her gricks to bite or fling around opponents.

She proclaims herself as the ruler of all Graveborn characters, and although she may be bossy and has no tolerance for being criticized by her "minions", Illumina does sympathize with most of them and often lends a shoulder to cry on. Outside of her job of helping Annih, Illumina likes to create and experiment with spells and incantations, enjoys reading a good book series in her Library of Knowledge, eating desserts (dark chocolate is her favorite), and create conspiracy theories and prank on mortals. She does have a few crushes on some of the Graveborns, and with some exceptions, the hero characters as well. Despite her hating Annih in the beginning for causing her to suffer while she transformed into her godlike state, Illumina is starting to gain feelings for him due to his strange kindness and sympathy towards her; but, after meeting Thoewyn and Kalene, she decided to stop pursuing Annih for a while, and have those two lovely women as companions. [?]

"Just accept your fate, death is a part of life, and yours is inevitable."

"With Life comes Death, and with Death comes Vengeance."

"Mirror mirror on the wall, is the image you show real at all?"

"Although my soul was spared at the clutches of Death, I won't be as merciful on yours..."