#pillars of eternity lore

[tarbuchyloewenthal]

"There is more wonder in this world than eyes alone can see." - Giatta Castell

the beyond seems so straightforward. it's the gods' home. it houses souls waiting for reincarnation.

but the gods can claim their own little areas and manifest surfaces, images, sounds. it required physical machinery at ukaizo to even keep a steady flow of essence to it. what mysteries might we find if not for the gods claiming it as theirs?

i am aching to know what the engwithans saw when they first gazed past the shroud. was it truly empty? or had they perhaps failed to understand the beyond on its own terms?

[cilant-lis]

The Kind Wayfarers

a mix of canon information, along with some headcanons building off of that

'The Kind Wayfarers are guides and protectors for travelers, often people of limited means traveling in dangerous areas.' poe wiki

Much less centralised, but more widespread, than other paladin orders, with at least one branch operating in each of Eora's regions, even in the White that Wends.

Recruits are usually trained by a single master. There are rarely more than two or three trainees under one master, and every full-fledged paladin can take on apprentices.

Upon completing the training, the Kind Wayfarer drops their surname (if they had any) and takes on the title of 'the Wayfarer' - for example my watcher's full name is Variel the Wayfarer

Kind Wayfarers are often looked down on by other paladin orders, seen as penniless bleeding hearts, despite having the same skillset and abilities as all other paladins. Despite this disdain from other orders, they are widely respected and liked by commoners, their kindness (pun not intended) and generosity inspiring many others to join the order as well.

They are not concerned about their recruit's pedigree, often taking in and training the destitute, orphans and such. Even those who do not finish the training and trials, and those who are retired, can still count on the support of the order.

The Kind Wayfarers also have a reputation for being fearless, to the point of being reckless with their lives. The most legendary members of the order risked life and limb to protect their charges, often becoming martyrs in the process.

'Though the order is known for not being wealthy, in recent years they've improved their finances via cartography and working with groups like the Hand Occult to develop travel guides for little known parts of Eora.' (wiki) Additionally, many Kind Wayfarers end up accompanying expeditions to dangerous places, and their protection allowed places like the Living Lands to be charted and explored.

Their motto is 'Guidance, protection, charity'

[tarbuchyloewenthal]

all these details make that final boss fight so cathartic for me. he's so supremely misguided that it feels great to have him at least begin to realize his error.

I think there's a real tragedy in Thaos' character *major Pillars Of Eternity spoilers*

Thaos killed thousands, maybe tens, maybe *hundreds* of thousands of people to create the gods, under the firm belief that he needed them to usher in an age without religious violence. And, obviously, they didn't do that. At most, they reduced the bloodshed. But there was nothing Thaos could do to bring all of those lives back.

Then comes Iovara, seeking to end his plan. Saying that ending all of those lies was a mistake, saying that kith could find their way on their own. Thaos was faced with a choice: accept that an uncountable number of people died for nothing, or keep killing.

Of course Thaos started the inquisition. So the number of people that died for his master plan grew. He got his way, sure, but it was only a matter of time until someone else came close to the truth that he had killed so many to hide. So he kept killing.

And killing. And killing. And killing.

Iovara says that there is no pain the Watcher can inflict that would make him tell the truth. Because what could possibly be more painful than to admit that you've spent millennia killing, committing atrocities, and it was all a mistake? To play arithmetic with lives, and get it wrong? Thaos' plan *had* to work. He couldn't even entertain the notion that it was all for nought.

And what finally brings everything crashing down? The very gods spawned from his first sacrifice. First they helped the Watcher defeat him in Sun-in-shadow, and then Eothas returns, to shatter the Wheel he killed so many to build. His entire plan was doomed to failure from the start, but he could never let himself see it.

[ampleappleamble]

watched an interview with ol' joshy sawyer and HOLY SHIT goldpact knights are a heretical offshoot of the kind wayfarers?????????? and the schism basically went like:

kind wayfarers: ours is a noble cause! we do not do what we do for money!

goldpact knights: yeah yeah fine okay sure but

what if..........

we did 🤑💰🪙🎩💸

[herearedragons]

Pillars Of Eternity playlist: The Devil Of Caroc

full playlist

The Oh Hellos - A Kindling, Of Sorts

[instrumental]

Tarja - Victim Of Ritual

Hysterical, tragical Victim of ritual Cynical, critical Victim of ritual She's a killer, killer

Disturbed - Inside The Fire

End your grief with me There's another way Release your life Take your place inside the fire with her

Placebo - Infra-Red

I'm coming up on infra-red There is no running that can hide you 'Cause I can see in the dark I'm coming up on infra-red Forget your running, I will find you

Disturbed - Run

I've spent a lifetime planning out your destruction You're never gonna witness another day A lonely lifetime planning out your destruction, with no other function You really don't know how long I've waited for your destruction

Disturbed - Old Friend

You can't escape your judgment I hear them calling out your name Do not beg for mercy now You never showed any to them

The Birthday Massacre - Destroyer

This is a tragedy, I meet with it gratefully It's my execution, and you're joining me When night expires across this town, I'll light a fire to burn it down

[solas-backpack-mug]

listening to every single one of karū's voicelines made me discover an amazing thing about rdc questline

they give you a submarine to get to ukaizo!!!

[cadegund]

the watcher is berath's blorbo

[adozentothedawn]

Wake up, wake up, new Readceras lore cause I just realized the strategy guide exists! 🔔 These are technically all in the game sure, but I definitely didn't remember all of that.

[neotula]

started warhammer: rogue trader and i am already infested with a warp entity help

[catdotnip]

i need to know all the pale elf lore right now

[tarbuchyloewenthal]

Avowed Tinfoil Hat Time

one tiny lore tidbit that is fairly obscure, and actually might have a lot to do with the story of avowed is that the emperor's scepter has an adra jewel which stores the souls of past aedyran kings and queens.

this comes into play in a couple of lines with sargamis from the barbarian gamescom footage, when the player and the oracle speculate a bit on just why the emperor would send our envoy in particular.

could the ancient souls in the scepter, y'know the major icon of aedyran heraldry

could the ancient souls have communicated to the emperor that our godlike envoy might have some connection to the living lands. and could that connection go all the way back to the godless and the origin of the two major ethnic groups in aedyr? both the meadow folk and wood elves are said to have originated in the far north.

north, vitally, being the direction in which lies the living lands. was there some calamity that caused the godless to flee and become the far distant ancestors to the aedyrans?

i don't quite think the timeline would match up, but if it does. . . oh boy oh boy oh boy

[duriens]

obsidian what the hell is that avowed game..... set in eora...... if you wanted to keep using pillars of eternity's lore you should've just kept doing more poe...... not.... whatever this is....... also..... guns? really?

[starlightcleric]

Sir, I find it kind of depressing that at this point in my life I understand exactly what you are saying.

[herearedragons]

Edér: So… Have you ever tried drinking? To help with the voices, I mean.

Selene: I did. It made everything worse. When my thoughts get fuzzy, it’s… harder.

Edér: Damn. Then you shouldn’t try whiteleaf, either - or anything else I can think of right now.

Selene: I appreciate the attempt.

Edér: Hey, I’ll keep looking.

Edér: Blacsonn!

Selene: What?

Edér: Blacsonn. It’s a drink. Makes you the opposite of drunk, though, so I think it could work for you.

Selene: Huh. Where can you get it?

Edér: In the Dyrwood? We’ll probably trip over a bottle if we walk long enough.

Selene: Not blacsonn.

Edér: Damn, really?

Selene: It did help, kind of. I think I stopped hearing voices for a while, but… it felt like I could see everything. Everything. And hear it. And smell it. My head still hurts.

Edér: Yeah, it’ll do that.

Selene: Did you know your hair is five different kinds of yellow? Because it is.

Edér: For no particular reason, what’d you do with the rest of the bottle?

Selene: You can have it.

Edér: Nice.

[bharv]

Hey @prideofthegate you wanted me to convince you to play Pillars of Eternity and I don't have much time to write about everything I like, so Pillars Pals, please feel free to jump on with this!

But here are just some of the things I love about it.

First thing is the writing. God the WRITING. It's SO good and rich, with just the right amount of influences from other CRPGs like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights whilst also building such a rich and enjoyable lore straight off the bat. It's a bit lore dense but...

It has a BRILLIANT codex system where you highlight words and it tells you all about it. Which means the writing doesn't feel too expositional.

The voice acting is SUPERB pretty much across the board. The characters, despite being a handful of avatars and text lines, feel so well rounded and are all really unique. They don't just slot into character archetypes like a lot of CRPGs of this scale. Even the characters you hate are just so perfectly written and performed. Theres no romance in the first game, but there is in the second.

The design is also so cool, especially of the God characters you meet.

The music is absolutely beautiful, and fully orchestrally rendered.

The combat is well judged, and offers a challenge if you like that sort of thing. Even on easy I found there was a lot of tactical choice to be made.

And finally the community is small but excellent. I think, and this is a bit elitist maybe but I'm gonna say it, a game that demands a certain commitment to the lore, to reading, to critical thinking ends up attracting some of the best thinkers and makers I've met in fandom space. We are small, but we are mighty.

One thing I would say which is a bit annoying is that the second game is MUCH more accessible, but it spoils the monumentally cool twist in the first game so I'd really recommend just sticking with the first and letting it sink in slowly. It's a bit of a slow burn (I think I didn't really realise I was hooked until about ten hours in, when I started exploring past the Dyrwood) but once you're in man, you're in!

[modwyr]

while obviously my stance is: if you think bg3 was in any way complex, pillars of eternity will knock your socks off. but also i think pretending pillars is in any way like bg3 (or da for the sake of big fantasy rpgs) is a lie (its better) because it is very different gameplay wise and lore wise and tbh my advice for the first game really is just stick with it. you'll be surprised at how much sticks in your head, and its actually perfectly fine to not pick up on every bit of nuance and worldbuilding on a single playthrough - you're not less of a fan if you find out a piece of lore from someone else. enjoy the game for yourself and if it gels with you, you'll naturally want to replay it and from personal experience pillars 1 becomes next level on a second playthrough when you're more familiar with it.