#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.

[carlsdraws]

been playing PoE i love getting to be the weirdest person my companions met all day

[karjalantroll]

Muffin's ancestry just because I wanted to

[valentineveils]

okay im curious . everyone share your favourite pillars class

[tarbuchyloewenthal]

i knew it. i KNEW it!

Are the Pargrunen supposed to be some flavor of fantasy slavs? I'm going purely off of names (like Lena and Kostya) and the fact that some residents of Solace Keep have a very noticeable accent.

[ladyjmontilyet]

Giatta.

[warden-commander-aeducan]

My favorite part of Pillars of Eternity so far is going down into the Endless Paths of Od Nua and getting to about level 8 before I shouted: just how endless ARE these paths?! Only to find out they average around ten hours of in real-life gaming time to complete, if not more. Endless Paths indeed, well played Pillars of Eternity, well played.

[harlequinalis]

Avowed is really fun so far but it's making me want to play Pillars of Eternity again SO bad ✌😔 anyways I just found the Death Knight armor in Emerald Stair and while it didn't suit my Envoy's build I had to paint a new portrait for my priest of Berath Watcher immediately

[the-sailing-snail]

Still chugging through pillars of eternity! Not bc it's bad but I am slow and have no idea what I'm doing. Very excited to be in act 2!

[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

[herearedragons]

thinking about Selene's cipher stuff again.

specifically thinking about how when she was an Ondrite child priestess "taking bad memories away" she didn't have her Watcher powers or any animancy knowledge yet, just her cipher powers. which, I think, means that she was erasing the memories from the person's mind, not their soul; she was basically just forcing their brain to stop thinking about that forever. but if they ever Awakened in a later reincarnation, the memories would still be there.

so Selene's help was temporary. but you know what wasn't? her experience of watching those memories play out. those ARE etched in her soul alongside her own experiences now. if she ever Awakens in a next life she WILL remember them.

which. makes it a pretty one-sided bargain, all things considered.

[fangmich]

listen you all need to play Pillars of Eternity and especially Deadfire and all the DLCs!!!

LISTEN👏👏

it's the best game series ever!!!

it gives you enough content and story but also leaves enough room for you to create your own fucking story!!

that's right, it's a creative project!!

why are you sleeping on it listen 👏👏

[glamfellens]

replaying poe!!!! so im having some Tarren thoughts:

born in old vailia, her parents emigrated from the white that wends

need to work on the specifics for why but they left young...I want to say it was a love match that was frowned upon so they decided to be together and make a new life elsewhere

Tarren was a twilight baby who came much later

by the time she was born her parents were well established in old vailia in service of a (middling) landed family.

disparity in ocean folk lifespan vs glamfellen lifespan.... in return for a couple of generations worth of service, family offered to pay for Tarren's education, making her a ward of the family

(for reference on tarren's standing and familiarity with the family following this, using Wickham's position, and his and Darcy's relationship from pride & prejudice as a model)

her cipher abilities manifested as a child...perhaps around 11 or 12

they were treated as more of a novelty and parlour trick more than anything by her friends and peers, family took it more seriously

Tarren leaned into this, enjoying showing off by giving foreboding, cheering or mysterious readings depending on her mood/who she was doing the reading for (and who she was Performing for)

Tarren's parents pass on at some point later... sad but not tragic, they had long rich lives. Tarren is independent now

later on, well into adulthood, is when a rival family causes the downfall for Tarren's family, causing her to flee Old Vailia entirely.

[yesistolethisurl]

!! MAJOR SPOILERS !!

So a question to people more well-versed in PoE lore: since Lödwyn died in the living lands, does that mean the closed circuit of adra would prevent her from being reborn elsewhere in the world?

I would assume that it isn't completely closed off from the other adra since Yatzli and the Envoy reincarnated from Enkida. Then again, with her being a death guard, the point may be moot.