Lore is what brings a world alive for me. Chronicles of Elyria does not yet have enough lore revealed for me to really sink my teeth into, but, I am not worried. They have good reason not to expose everything yet. Soulbound Studios are looking to employ a Story Director, attracting the best talent means leaving them space to do their job. Why become Story Director of a finished story, where you cannot leave your mark? The team has built up the lore over the last 10 years, it is not that they are lacking in it, it is just that it is not final. They hear our cries for lore though and they have responded! Just be aware that this is subject to change.

This image is not our view of Elyria. Do not worry this has not suddenly become a Sci-Fi game! That is art made by an Elyrian to represent a cataclysmic event they believe to have happened in the past. The artist follows the same religion whose name we do not yet know, as Anara Starsong. The image shows us the effects of the Burning.

Jeromy ‘Caspian’ Wash jumped into the regular Saturday night live panel over on DM21 Gaming to share this image and the lore related to it:

Angelica created the world, which was populated by all the ancients. She was not the only God, there were others. One named Daemon, the God of fire, the first God to die. When Daemon was destroyed the element he controlled started to run wild across Elyria. The Burning. The fire was starting to destroy Elyria and no one knew what to do about it.

The Gods took action. They took hold of Elyria and literally pulled it apart to prevent the fire from consuming everything. Elyria was broken into three. Haven, the capital of Elyria. Karcion, the flames were what was left of where Daemon lived. The remnants of the world, Elyria. Between the three, the Astral Plane.

So that is what we are seeing here, a world torn asunder. Though do not be mislead, this is just an artists impression. We do not know for sure this event happened any more than we are sure of the great flood mentioned in religious texts in our own world. What we do know is that some Elyrians believe it to be the case. Is it far fetched to think that Gods pulled apart the world? Or is it the only explanation for the history of Elyria? It will be interesting to see how various characters approach this, and other religions, in the game.

There are some other interesting ideas that come out of this possible shattering of the world. One being about magic. There is the possibility, that if the Burning did occur that it explains, in part, why there is now so little magic in Elyria. Mann and his children, our characters ancestors, had at this time been banished from Haven. The divine ancients who had magic and power remained in the capital. As the world is torn apart those ancients ended up either remaining in the plane of Haven, or in Karcion. Few were in the area that makes up what remained of Elyria, thus magic became scares.

Of course, it could just be that the amount of magic became less through breeding. Dilution of magic, those with magic not having as many children. Perhaps it just fizzled out with no spectacular cataclysmic event. Maybe it never existed.

Oh, and one final thing. Anara Starsong and other of her religion have a name for those from before the burning:

Those ancients that lived on Elyria before the fire are known as the Antepyrovians, those who existed before the fire.

Antepyrovians… haven’t we heard that word before?