Story

*dark is older than the light and surrounds the light.*

*Yggdrasil, also called the world tree, has many branches. "The nine realms" are among the branches.*

The story hints that there are *multiple* world trees and stars above the world trees. There are multiple Ashen that fly above this singular world tree.

It is explained that Ashen are the "Light itself" and "breathe light" into what they touch, and that a single Ashen gave light to all nine realms.

Although the Ashen are immortal, only because they are always reborn after they die.

*The Bral dwell in darkness and they are countless.*

*When the Ashen fell there were some few among the many races of the Bral drawn to the great beast, drawn by the pollution of its blood, both fascinated and repelled.*

*These scavengers crawled from the utter dark and burrowed amid its feathers. A multitude living and dying. Generation upon generation, breeding and building, all within the space of one breath. The Ashen’s dying light was something they both craved and despised. It ate at them, turning night-flesh to dust and ash and cinders, but it filled them with such power, such possibility. And it changed them.*

*By the second breath the Bral who dwelled upon the Ashen’s vastness had spawned new forms. Some slithered back into the dark. Some fought and died. One form prevailed. The age of the Listeners had arrived.*

*Much has been left over from the many previous ages of light.*

*The Listeners had new senses, suited to their new age. They had eyes to perceive the light and in its name they built great temples, glorifying the brilliance that sustained them.*

*By the drawing of the final breath the light had died to a glimmer. The Listeners mourned it in labyrinthine dungeons. The Ashen lay as a dead thing, covered with the skins shed by countless Bral as they had twisted into their new existence. The world the Listeners had made upon its failing body stood dim and drifted with ash, its plants and animals dying too.*

*It was then that the Gefn came, or perhaps returned, swimming from the umbral seas. She forced a final change upon the children of the Bral, taking a Listener as her mate, entwining with his spirit and birthing the first man. Born in the image of the Listeners the first man was smaller, his eyes bigger and more acute, better suited to the greying world. His form he took from his father. From his mother he took his soul. Adaptable, inquisitive, filled with the urge to explore. When the final breath ended there would be an age of darkness where nothing but glimmers remained, echoing through the ashes of their ancestors. In such an age mankind would need their mother’s gifts.*

*In that dark age the cities of men fell into ruin, proud Lathyrus drowned beneath the ash, a dozen others toppled by war or emptied by pestilence and famine. But Gefn’s children clung on. A remnant, shorn of their history, wandering, scavenging, surviving.*

*And now, as the Ashen is reborn from the ruins of its own body, it will be mankind who decide the future. Something so small steering the destiny of something so great. A new age has come, the first of many before the Ashen once again takes flight into endless possibility. This is the age of man. And the ages that follow will be their legacy.*

 It was when a single Great Ashen which is a gargantuan eagle demigod flew down to rest upon one of the tree of worlds branches that the Ashen Light awoke among the nine realms. We can assume that *this* Great Ashen was the first Great Ashen, but that the universe is cyclical.

After eons had passed the Great Ashen grew weak and fell from the tree of worlds landing upon the Planes of Darkness at the roots of the tree of worlds subsequently being in a state of near-death. Despite the metaphysical depiction that the introductory crawl suggests - we can assume that this was a physical plane of darkness as it is stated that the roots of the tree of worlds were delving into caverns within the The Gnaw and that beings such as the Elder Dark arrived from The Gnaw

 There is some confusion as a single World Seed (singular) can grow into a tree of worlds (Plural) it *isn't* however assumed that each branch of the tree is a new *World*. The assumption is made that only a singular World exists moving forward:

The singular game *world* can actually be broken down into nine realms which are:

Vagrant's Rest, Eye of the Needle, Stormed Ruins, The Whispers, Twisted Canyon, The Loom, -, Lathyrus, The Gnaw

The most important thing is to clarify immediately is what and where the Planes of Darkness are, as it is heavily implied and stated - the three Elder Dark came from this location. It is also stated that the Elder Dark came from The Gnaw which can be accessed via the portal under the Lathyrian Palace, directly under the tree of worlds. We can assume that The Gnaw is synonymous with the Planes of Darkness

We can also assume that both the tree of worlds and The Gnaw predate the construction of the Lathyrian Palace as this would have been constructed during the first age

Whilst existing within The Gnaw, drawing what few breaths remained and In the throes of death The Ashen Light dimmed. The Great Ashen's Final Three Breaths became the Three Golden Ages of The Light.

## First Age

The First Age was when Three Creatures also called the Elder Dark's being Ukkoto, Riak and Sissna from The Gnaw began to rise above all others. They likely accessed the other 8 realms via the portal beneath the site of the soon-to-be Lathyrian Palace The first to rise was Ukkoto but the eldest of the Elder Dark was Riak. It is unknown how long the Elder Dark's existed for prior to the first age and If this is canonically correct, each of the Elder Dark's would have had to climb from the Planes of Darkness far below *all worlds* to reach the singular branch of the tree of worlds where the Great Ashen had breathed light into. Presumably, when the Three Elder Dark's reached the Nine Realms they fed upon the Ashen Light that already existed there and thrived.

## War of the Elder Dark

When the Great Ashen fell into The Gnaw, Each Elder Dark sought to consume it. War followed. Ukkoto tore great Riak's Talon free and cast it into the Twisted Canyon.

## Second Age

The Second Age marked the coming of the Listener's Listener Matriarchs who predated the current Matriarchs like Amiren. They were titans and great rulers that revered the Ashen Light they had speakers who would communicate with the Great Ashen. in this time the city of Lathyrus was likely founded and the Listener's built and founded the city.

## Third Age

The Third Age was known as the Age of Humanity, and both Humanity and Listener's existed within Lathyrus Humanity were the children of Gefn. It was during this time that both the Listener's and Humanity communicated with the Great Ashen using the Heart of Lathyrus and could use the Heart of Lathyrus to channel it's Ashen Light bathing in the light for centuries. We can assume that the Great Ashen likely chose it's first Guardian during this time, a Guardian of the current age being Bataran. As Amara was a sage of Lathyrus and is a human; we can assume that both Humanity and Listener's were in communication and allied.

## Fourth Age

The Fourth Age was after the Great Ashen died. it was an Age of Darkness in that "Black Age" the "Cities of Humanity" began to fall into ruin due to a war of confusion between Humanity and Listeners who blamed eachother for the death of the Great Ashen. pestilence and famine began and Lathryrus was a proud city that drowned beneath the Ash.

## Fifth Age

The Fifth Age is when the game begins. Bataran the younger brother of Amiren and the Guardian of the Great Ashen confidently believes the "Ashen" will be reborn and a new Age of Light (fifth age) will begin. As Bataran prophesied. the Great Ashen is reborn from an explosion and the world is once again bathed in Ashen Light but the Great Ashen is frail and weak and unawoken. We can assume prior to the explosion no light existed in the universe. In early alpha versions of Ashen and promotional material is was suggested that the only Light was from volcanoes and the ash was from these, so this was likely retconned.

Most of the story revolves around retrieving artifacts via collection Journey's for followers starting with Bataran's Hammer and Bataran's Spark and during the course of the collection quest the player will run most commonly for most of the game into Vagrant's or Listener's . Although far rarer there are also Spider's, Einar's,or very rarely Shade's. All of these enemies drop Scoria which is believed to be the Ash used in Ashsmithing. This process simply repeats of collecting named artifact's that may or may not have lore implications or connotations and delivering them to respective characters.

The main goal as established by both Amara and Gefn after defeating Ukkoto a very mild and weak Elder Dark is that the Heart of Lathyrus must be recovered and restored so that it can be used to reawaken the Great Ashen. It is unknown how they believe this is correct, as this is clearly the first time they have lived through the death and rebirth of a Great Ashen. But this also has the implication that the Heart of Lathyrus actually, despite it's modern name predates all known life, perhaps even the Great Ashen itself.

The player then defeats both Amiren and Omar who each hold a piece of the Heart of Lathyrus and the heart is restored by Gefn who then instructs the player to take part in an Awakening Ritual. During this Ritual, Bataran is slain by Silaren, who was really Sissna and the Great Ashen is reawakened. The player defeats Sissna and the game ends when the Great Ashen kills the player with it's brilliance but the new Fifth Age begins.