War of Black Trees ?

[ekt0]

I have just watched the analysis of Avowed on YouTube from Lyle Shnub channel, and I think he made a good point.  The background of this game might be set up on the War of Black Trees event, or based on it as history.

• The first scene is depicted as forest on fire.
• "War, it forged our empire"
• Galawain is worshiped by Glanfathan.
• "Now our oaths are lost ..."
• Underground ruins look like Engwith's.
• "Is an oath worth the weight of a crown ?"

Especially the last quote, it can be related to the incident in Pillars of Eternity 2 : Deadfire that the main character party comes to rescue Oswald from Steel Garrotes. 

Edited July 25, 2020 by ekt0

[Wormerine]

Nah, I don’t think so. Dyrwood and it’s conflict is far too defined. We also have a game set there. It would give creators more freedom to explore other parts of the world.

If it was the War of Black trees Aedyrian soldier would be fighting the Glanfathans, not an invasion of vessels. 

Narration and flags clearly reference the Woedica, as well as inscription on the sword (Oathbinder). Also the statue doesn’t fit Dyrwood to me. It’s far to grand - suggesting a more powerful and older empire, My money is still It being Aedyr. 

Edited July 25, 2020 by Wormerine

[morhilane]

I'm also in the boat that Avowed is not set in the Eastern Reach. Too much Woedica symbolism in that teaser for that. Queen/king have been linked to Aedyr too.

As for Galawain, history claims he used to be Woedica's enforcer when she ruled all the gods. I can see the Aedyrans building statues in his honor if they believe that even if they do not actively worship him.

Another point, all the adra in the trailer seems covered by rocks/plants, you can see a patch on the mountain face near the "Galawain" statue for example. It might be what undisturbed Adra looks like, as the Eastern Reach and Deadfire area had people play with the Adra a lot and we mostly just see exposed crystal formation.

[Taevyr]

Eastern reach would be an odd choice: too much of it's history is already known - and thus set in stone - leaving fewer options for C&C, and it doesn't quite fit with all the Woedica imagery. Not to mention that the technology seems to point at a prequel, which'd fit better with "Skyrim in Eora" and doesn't necessitate creating first-person arquebusier animations.

The mentions of empire and "always known war" point strongly towards the 3 Empires, particularly Old Vailia, but the Woedica imagery, mentions of queens and kings, and importance of oaths - to the point of being in the game's title - make Aedyr the obvious choice. And Aedyr was built on the wars and eventual unification between the human & wood elf races, so it fits as well.

As for the vessels; I have no idea.

[hamskii]

I think it could still be Eastern Reach. "Sensible" Galawain, Woedican imagery and everything looking quite jungle-y suggests Aedyr. However the presence of adra is more indicative of the Eastern Reach, and others have said the stuff about Aedyr could be because it's set prior to or during the War of Defiance.

Aedyr a setting is like, imperial Britain except in a jungle and is very "out there" compared to player expectations (magic fantasy setting with medieval technology set in a generic temperate forest) – so is the cusp-of-renaissance level of technology. Avowed is a break from the Pillars of Eternity brand, so they're trying to bring new players in, and if those players are expecting a Skyrim clone then the setting that would most closely match their expectations without breaking the lore would be to set it in the Eastern Reach at some point in the past. I guess that solves the problem of having to continue the story of Pillars of Eternity while still bringing new players in – that might stay a cliffhanger for the foreseeable future. And yes, if it's set in the past it also prevents the player from having world-changing impacts, since the events can't deviate too much from what we know about from Pillars of Eternity.

[Guest]

The Aedyrans ended up closer to equatorial rain forests at the end of their mutual migration. Aedyran humans are known as "meadow folk". Aedyran elves are known as "wood elves".

So the landscape shown in the trailer does not preclude Aedyr; only modern Aedyr.

[hamskii]

21 minutes ago, Achilles said:

The Aedyrans ended up closer to equatorial rain forests at the end of their mutual migration. Aedyran humans are known as "meadow folk". Aedyran elves are known as "wood elves".

So the landscape shown in the trailer does not preclude Aedyr; only modern Aedyr.

Hadn't thought about the origins of the Aeydran races' names at all. Good catch!

[morhilane]

4 hours ago, Achilles said:

The Aedyrans ended up closer to equatorial rain forests at the end of their mutual migration. Aedyran humans are known as "meadow folk". Aedyran elves are known as "wood elves".

So the landscape shown in the trailer does not preclude Aedyr; only modern Aedyr.

Does it? When I saw the trailer, I thought of tropical/equatorial Asian country mountain landscape. Like Vietnam or Malaysia.

The mountains with "Galawain" reminds me of the Ninh Binh area in Vietnam actually.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, morhilane said:

Does it? When I saw the trailer, I thought of tropical/equatorial Asian country mountain landscape. Like Vietnam or Malaysia.

The mountains with "Galawain" reminds me of the Ninh Binh area in Vietnam actually.

To be honest, I've seen pictures of Thailand and China that also look like the "Galawain" shot, so I'm not inclined to have too strong of an opinion one way or the other.

The point I'm trying to make is that "forest shot" doesn't automatically rule out Aedyr or indicated the Dyrwood

[morhilane]

1 hour ago, Achilles said:

To be honest, I've seen pictures of Thailand and China that also look like the "Galawain" shot, so I'm not inclined to have too strong of an opinion one way or the other.

The point I'm trying to make is that "forest shot" doesn't automatically rule out Aedyr or indicated the Dyrwood

Oh I agree. In fact, reading the migration path of both races, the Aedyr continent is huge. 3500 miles for the wood elf, we are talking going from Northern Canada to Central Mexico/Central America. That continent isn't a single biome...

On another subject of the "forest shot". I'm pretty sure that's a wet meadow beyond the forest. Also, I'm wondering if the right side Adra formation, I don't think it's normal rock, is Ine Sycthrua. That is the place where the fercönyings and mecwyns (first kings/illustrious queens of Aedyr) go to die. It's described as a circle of huge Adra stones discovered 800 years ago by the "Aedyran" in POE1 lorebook.

I might have spent too much time look at still of that forest...

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, morhilane said:

On another subject of the "forest shot". I'm pretty sure that's a wet meadow beyond the forest. Also, I'm wondering if the right side Adra formation, I don't think it's normal rock, is Ine Sycthrua. That is the place where the fercönyings and mecwyns (first kings/illustrious queens of Aedyr) go to die. It's described as a circle of huge Adra stones discovered 800 years ago by the "Aedyran" in POE1 lorebook.

Nice!

[Adridactelo]

 I was looking at the trailer again and I noticed that for a few frames  the moons of Eora can be seen.

 

In Pillars of Eternity there is a book called The Moons of Eora that says:

Quote

315 years ago, the Grand Empire of Vailia suffered from terrible storms and terrifyingly high and low tides. Records show the same thing was happening in the Aedyr Empire and that several new Aedyran colonies along the Dyrwood coast were completely destroyed by storms and high tides that engulfed the settlements. At that time, during an eclipse, Glanfathan astronomers spotted something small orbiting near the edge of Belafa.

After much study, they realized it was a small satellite with an extremely irregular orbit. They called it Cawldha Debh, or The Black Runner. Since it is smaller than Belafa, it doesn't have much effect on the world, but when it aligns with Belafa's orbit, it wreaks havoc on the tides and weather everywhere. This happens with an erratic frequency and severity and have been dubbed ‘Lovers' Tides.’ Cawldha has been rolled into the Ondra myth and when they are both in sight, her desire to reach them is increased tenfold, which is what causes the terrible weather.

 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Adridactelo

[Guest]

I love this community

[hamskii]

On 7/29/2020 at 5:30 PM, Adridactelo said:

 I was looking at the trailer again and I noticed that for a few frames  the moons of Eora can be seen.

 

In Pillars of Eternity there is a book called The Moons of Eora that says:

 

Great find! So is this an intentional hint that this game takes place at the same time as a Lovers' Tide? If so, that could put it at c. 2508 AI (315 before PoE), or 2672 AI (end of the War of Defiance). It could of course also take place at some other previously unknown point in history when there's a Lovers' Tide, or at some point in the future. But I do think it kind of strengthens the War of Defiance setting theory.

[Guest]

Well, we know it can't be more than 425 years in the past, otherwise the references to the Aedyr Empire start to fall apart.

[Chinz]

6 hours ago, hamskii said:

 But I do think it kind of strengthens the War of Defiance setting theory.

Oh man I hope not  we know what happened at the war of defiance and how it ended. I want new stories and the world to move forwards, unbound by known history and hope that this will play after deadfire. We’ll see I guess, but if the resetera leaks prove to be true the living lands will be the setting.

[the_dog_days]

On 7/28/2020 at 5:49 AM, hamskii said:

However the presence of adra is more indicative of the Eastern Reach

Wait, I thought adra could be found all around eora not just eastern reach/deadfire.

[morhilane]

44 minutes ago, the_dog_days said:

Wait, I thought adra could be found all around eora not just eastern reach/deadfire.

It is found everywhere around Eora, it's just more abundant in the Eastern Reach/Deadfire, but that might be because people there are actively looking/digging for it. While Aedyr wouldn't touch it because of the Church of Woedica.

And we saw no "dig out" Adra in that trailer, it's all covered by moss/rocks except for the little spot beside "Galawain".