Avowed trailer transcript and speculation

[Achilles]

Quote

We have always known…war.

Based on the line that follows, my guess is that this is a reference to conflicts between folk and elves prior to their joining force to become the Aedyr empire.

 

Quote

It forged our empire

Seems like an obvious reference to the Aedyr Empire which formed in 2399 AI, approximately 425 years prior to the events of the first Pillars of Eternity game. So, whatever setting this is, it's not more than 425 years in the past.

 

Quote

Turned heroes into queens and kings

And this seems like an obvious reference to the Aedyran system of government; a joint monarchy consisting of a human king and an elven queen or consort. Interesting that the queen is reference first. Could it be that our story is being told from the elves' perspective?

 

Quote

And decimated our foes

This is where I start to get stuck. Obviously, the annals of Aedryan history are still largely unknown to us, but the next major conflict that we know about after the formation of the empire is related to adventures in colonialism. This could be a throw-away line, but I doubt they would include throw-away lines in a world premier trailer. Remains to be seen if these referenced-but-undocumented conflicts are important to our story. Or maybe I'm too narrowly focused on Aedryan history to see the context.

 

Quote

Now our oaths are lost - forsaken

And you must face the monsters

…our sins have born

 

Obvious Woedica all over this.

 

So, after animancy was discovered in Aedyr, it almost as quickly became outlawed by church of Woedica and the monarchy. My guess is that our narrator is referencing some event where overzealous Aedyrans decided that this rule didn't apply to them and opted to study animancy anyway. Hence the skeletons and flaming arrows, etc etc.

 

Quote

Is an oath worth the weight of a crown?

These rebellious Aedryans broke the oath not to study animancy because they wanted a shot at their own kingdom???

That's all I got folks. Your turn!

Edited July 24, 2020 by Achilles

[Chinz]

Here is some speculation from avowed’s Reddit page by user Auriga_PoE I found interesting, thanks for the permission to post here:

 

link to thread :

 

[draego]

interesting speculation about the timeframe for game

[Chinz]

33 minutes ago, draego said:

interesting speculation about the timeframe for game

That why I wanted to post it here, most people seem certain that this is going to be a prequel, I rather hope it’s a sequel.

i don’t think I would have much fun playing avowed at least from a story perspective after all we know from Poe 1 and 2 if it was a prequel. We all know what the gods are why they exist and what happens to the wheel so I‘d much rather see how the world continued after.

[Wormerine]

Aedyr as the whole seems very much dedicated to Woedica. Steel Garrote, as a protagonist's identity is a possibility, though my gut feeling tells that's not the case (my gut feelings aren't the most reliable). What about Arcane Knight? - the thing Aloth trained for. Melee and magic and stuff. Though if going by PoE2 multiclassing, one could very much be Steel Garrote pallading and Wizard resulting in an Arcane Knight. 

Avowed doesn't advertise itsels as PoE title (nothing in title, no que in music) so I would be surprised if there were a strong, direct connections to PoE1&2 (such as the Watcher). I expect it to be a stand-alone IP.  Woedica's fall or post PoE2 seem the most fitting possibilities IMO when it comes to timeframe - danger coming either from other God's attack on Woedica and her faithful, or breaking the wheel completely messing things up. Naturally, myself I champion the first option, as that wouldn't erase the possibility of PoE3 happening at some point in the future. 

I don't think Animancy had enough time to flourish in Aedyr - from what I understand the practice was outlawed after one disasterous experiment. Considering how dedicated to Woedica Aedyr is, I find it unlikely she would allow animancy to be developed for long enough time to create an army of monsters.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Wormerine

[Achilles]

57 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

I don't think Animancy had enough time to flourish in Aedyr - from what I understand the practice was outlawed after one disasterous experiment. Considering how dedicated to Woedica Aedyr is, I find it unlikely she would allow animancy to be developed for long enough time to create an army of monsters.

Everything in the trailer would seem to suggest that it did. And that fact that it was outlawed dovetails into the narrative ("our oaths are lost - forsaken")

The arrows are being fired from a castle with Woedica's banner. This faction is clearly loyal to Woedica. The arrows strike vessels crawling out of a fissure. Inside that fissure is our protagonist holding a blade with "Oathbreaker" engraved into it. This faction is clearly no longer loyal to Woedica.

I also don't know how comfortable I am assuming that Woedica (or any of the gods) possess omniscience. My assumption has always been that the Leaden Key exists *because* Woedica specifically, but the gods generally, don't know what's going on unless told. I mean, why else would Berath need the Watcher to find out what Eothas is up to in Deadfire? All this to say that if the this "Oathbreaker" faction of animancers were able to keep their activities secret from the Leaden Key, then Woedica wouldn't know.

My 2 cents anyway

[Wormerine]

Interesting interpretation. For now, I don't see an indication that there is an opposing Kith faction - thought it is not impossible. All we see are hostile vessels, and whatever Balrog is hiding there at the end doesn't sound like a Kith. I wouldn't necessarly put our protagonist on anti-woedica train because of his sword, thought it most likely has relevance. 

Looked a bit for Animancy and Aedyr history and found only this, which is more or less what I remember:

Not long after the kingdom was formed, the Aedyran people began studying animancy. Still largely unknown at that time, it was an exciting, terrifying new realm that Aedyran scholars saw great potential in. This potential came to bear fruit in in 2260 AI, when a group of animancers - working together - transferred the soul of a recently departed man into another body, creating the first of what would later come to be known as the "undead." The reaction to this discovery was swift and decisive. Both the king of Aedyr and the church of Woedica condemned this event and the study or practice of animancy was outlawed. It would never again be practiced openly on Aedyran soil

There are however couple things to keep in mind:

1.  History in PoE world is unreliable
2.  Kith don't have full understanding of forces surrounding them
3.  Gods need agents to act in physical realm

I do think you are right, that secret animancy could flourish without Aedyr's authorities knowledge, especially if game would take place after Thaos' fall. However I find it questionable that Animancers would work at large in Aedyr, when other countries are so much more supportive. I also don't think that narrator has to be right - even if they believe that whatever is happening is result of their sin and broken oaths, it doesn't need to have to be true. Just as whatever people in Dyrwood believed, had actually little to do with what was really going on. I find it more likely that large scale vessel invasion would have other cause (be it wheel being broken or whatnot) even if they blame whatever is in their sights. 

[Achilles]

25 minutes ago, Wormerine said:

Interesting interpretation. For now, I don't see an indication that there is an opposing Kith faction - thought it is not impossible. All we see are hostile vessels, and whatever Balrog is hiding there at the end doesn't sound like a Kith. I wouldn't necessarly put our protagonist on anti-woedica train because of his sword, thought it most likely has relevance. 

Looked a bit for Animancy and Aedyr history and found only this, which is more or less what I remember:

  Hide contents

 

Not long after the kingdom was formed, the Aedyran people began studying animancy. Still largely unknown at that time, it was an exciting, terrifying new realm that Aedyran scholars saw great potential in. This potential came to bear fruit in in 2260 AI, when a group of animancers - working together - transferred the soul of a recently departed man into another body, creating the first of what would later come to be known as the "undead." The reaction to this discovery was swift and decisive. Both the king of Aedyr and the church of Woedica condemned this event and the study or practice of animancy was outlawed. It would never again be practiced openly on Aedyran soil

 

There are however couple things to keep in mind:

1.  History in PoE world is unreliable
2.  Kith don't have full understanding of forces surrounding them
3.  Gods need agents to act in physical realm

I do think you are right, that secret animancy could flourish without Aedyr's authorities knowledge, especially if game would take place after Thaos' fall. However I find it questionable that Animancers would work at large in Aedyr, when other countries are so much more supportive. I also don't think that narrator has to be right - even if they believe that whatever is happening is result of their sin and broken oaths, it doesn't need to have to be true. Just as whatever people in Dyrwood believed, had actually little to do with what was really going on. I find it more likely that large scale vessel invasion would have other cause (be it wheel being broken or whatnot) even if they blame whatever is in their sights. 

 

From the source:

Quote

It would never again be practiced openly on Aedyran soil

Emphasis mine. That underground ruin where all the undead are coming from sure looks like the opposite of "openly" to me The fact that we're shown a sizeable force of undead tells us that it *is* being practiced and at scale. The allusion to "monsters that our sins have born" screams "hey, we did something we knew we weren't supposed to, we got some result we weren't expecting, and now we're really starting to rethink our choices" to me (ala Mary Shelley's Frankenstein)

Obviously the trailer won't tell us outright why they did this, but I think the last line is a strong hint.

Edited July 24, 2020 by Achilles
typo

[Chinz]

39 minutes ago, Achilles said:

Everything in the trailer would seem to suggest that it did. And that fact that it was outlawed dovetails into the narrative ("our oaths are lost - forsaken")

The arrows are being fired from a castle with Woedica's banner. This faction is clearly loyal to Woedica. The arrows strike vessels crawling out of a fissure. Inside that fissure is our protagonist holding a blade with "Oathbreaker" engraved into it. This faction is clearly no longer loyal to Woedica.

I also don't know how comfortable I am assuming that Woedica (or any of the gods) possess omniscience. My assumption has always been that the Leaden Key exists *because* Woedica specifically, but the gods generally, don't know what's going on unless told. I mean, why else would Berath need the Watcher to find out what Eothas is up to in Deadfire? All this to say that if the this "Oathbreaker" faction of animancers were able to keep their activities secret from the Leaden Key, then Woedica wouldn't know.

My 2 cents anyway

I thought the inscription of the sword says oathbinder? 
 

also is there a way to answer to a post without completely copying it?

[Amentep]

8 minutes ago, Chinz said:

also is there a way to answer to a post without completely copying it?

The quote function will always quote the full text, but you can edit the text in the quote ti reflect what you want to respond to.

[Gfted1]

You can also l-click and highlight a particular section. At the end of the highlight a "quote" box will appear. 

[Achilles]

16 minutes ago, Chinz said:

I thought the inscription of the sword says oathbinder?

Ooo, you are correct!

Ok, so still two factions, but our protagonist appears to be aligned with the guys firing the arrows rather than against them

[Boeroer]

Oathbinder is an alternative name for Woedica by the way. Thaos calls her that in some of his prayers in PoE.

[Achilles]

9 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Oathbinder is an alternative name for Woedica by the way. Thaos calls her that in some of his prayers in PoE.

Good chance that our player will be "the Oathbinder" the same way that previous protagonists have been "the Courier", "the Watcher", "the Exile", etc.

[the_dog_days]

1 hour ago, Achilles said:

Good chance that our player will be "the Oathbinder" the same way that previous protagonists have been "the Courier", "the Watcher", "the Exile", etc.

That would be a very confusing title considering that it's one of Woedica's and we are/were loyal to her.

[Achilles]

32 minutes ago, the_dog_days said:

That would be a very confusing title considering that it's one of Woedica's and we are/were loyal to her.

Would it?

[Wormerine]

5 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Oathbinder is an alternative name for Woedica by the way.

So she is selling swords now...

[morhilane]

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

So she is selling swords now...

Romance option? The setting has a precedent.

 

It's probably just a "sword of office", that tells people whom you are working for...might be soulbound. Kinda sucks if you can only use a sword thought.