Sanctus

Kaelar divine gateway concept art.

When this creation of Verra occurred, the Goddess of Fate and the Goddess of Creation were very close; and the Goddess of Fate essentially warned the Goddess of Creation- only the Goddess of Creation- that the Ancients and the Others- that they had not seen the last of them; and that there would be a time essentially when those forces would seek out and try to pervert the new creation as essentially a way to thumb their noses at the other gods in retribution for their defeat. So the Goddess of Creation created a separate planet Sanctus that she knew she could bridge with these Divine Gateways at a time when it was necessary for the descendants of Verra to escape their destruction. – Steven Sharif

Sanctus is the world where the people of Verra found their sanctuary.

• The Goddess of Creation created the planet Sanctus along with the Divine gateways to allow the descendants of Verra to escape their destruction at the hands of the The Others and The Ancients.
• Very little will be revealed about the Sanctus story arc prior to the betas.

A long long long time ago, everybody lived on a planet called Verra. Something cataclysmic happened that forced people from that world to another world called Sanctus. Verra is a place of really high magic. Sanctus is a place with no magic whatsoever. People escaped through these portals into the world of Sanctus. They had to rediscover technology, because so much of their current technology was based on magic, so they had to figure out how to interact with the world. Thousands and thousands of years go by. A long dark age passes. This history that I just told you falls into myth and legend. After this time passes, these portals reopen and the players are going to take the part of people who are coming through those portals once again back to the world of Verra to rediscover that magic, rediscover their history, and try to figure out what happened to this world to force them out of it. – Jeffrey Bard

Sanctus is a key story arc, that will likely have very little revealed about it prior to the Betas. – Steven Sharif

Lore

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Verra

Verran map scroll.

Verra was created to house four separate... divine races and they're called divine races because the remaining seven gods imbued their characteristics within each of these different races. They didn't put all of them into one and make the same mistake. They had focuses really that these races took essentially. – Steven Sharif

The name of the Ashes of Creation world is Verra.

• Verra exists in the material plane.
• There are constellations and multiple moons in the night sky of Verra.
• Players start in Verra a few short months after the very first expeditionaries were sent through the divine gateways when they opened from Sanctus.

The Verdant Keeper

Shadeless Tree Tavern pre-order pack cosmetic freehold building skin.

While many families have humble gatherings amongst themselves during this time of the year, the Shadeless Tree is an ancient, venerated establishment that wishes to spread this joy to weary travelers. Here, merchants, adventurers, and citizens bereft of a place to be for the Verdant Keeper's feast may stay, exchanging stories, singing songs, and making friends. Though an already lively place to be, during the Keeper's celebrations the tavern is especially alight with joy and many are urged to join in the festivities - provided they do not rock the tavern, so to speak.

The Verdant Keeper... are a sect of people that keep track of all the things that are necessary to have successful crops and to grow things and to make sure that the cultivation of these things allows a society or civilization to keep growing. So in the transition from Verra to Sanctus these people had to relearn how to grow things without magic. There were druid like people before and now we have to go to this place where there's no magic to support those things. So they spend their time learning about the world and learning about it in sort of a scientific way and keeping track of all of these seasons of the different years, of the decades, of the centuries that go by to sort of create a map for themselves and for the civilizations that they support: Kind of a means to be successful in growing crops and keeping people healthy and happy. – Jeffrey Bard

As the months come and go, and the hand of winter looms over the land, various farmers of Verra take time to celebrate the fortune granted to them by the Verdant Keeper. Hearths are stoked, candles are lit, and fragrant delicacies are prepared. A massive celebration of food and drink takes place, marking the culmination of their hard work and preparation for the harsh, cold months to come. Should the celebrations go well, they say the Keeper will bless the next spring with a brand new harvest, ready to be plucked.

Divine gateways

Empyrean divine gateway concept art.

When you play the MMORPG you're going to be stepping through what are called these divine gateways from a planet called Sanctus and Sanctus was really a safe haven that was forethought by the Goddess of Fate and Creation as a sanctuary to provide the people of Verra who could survive the fall, the apocalypse, the exodus essentially. – Steven Sharif

Divine gateways are portals located in the ruined cities of the four ancient races of Verra.

• Divine gateways are where players first arrive in Ashes of Creation.
  • Each divine gateway is in proximity to one or more starting area.
• Players can choose their starting gateway. This choice is not restricted by their choice of race.
  • Tulnar characters have the same option of starting at any of the divine gateways as other races.
• The divine gateways were created by the Goddess of Creation in response to a warning from the Goddess of Fate that The Ancients and The Others would return from exile and seek retribution for their defeat at the hands of The Seven gods.

Where players start, they enter this portal from another world called Sanctus. Sanctus is a place of no magic, low technology; and players are the first expeditioners that are coming through this portal into the world of Verra. – Jeffrey Bard

World history

Map concept art.

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

The history of each server will be tracked and visible to players in a node's library.

• This design may have changed.

We're gonna keep track of the history of the world so that we can tell people the story up to the current day. A player who's brand new, who's come in at the six-month mark can take a look at each server, what each server has done, how each server has tackled the storyline; and they can decide for themselves what community they want to join; what version of the world that they want to take part in. – Jeffrey Bard

• Scribes may be able to collect and record information about the events of the world as they see it from their point of view.

Libraries

Academic node building.

At Village (stage 3) the academic node's unique building is the Library.

• Information about the world will be presented directly to players through the world map UI. Previously the Library was used to access information about the world, such as the history of significant narrative events, locations of gatherable resources, dungeons, and POIs.

In the past we talked about having a library that was capable of facilitating players exchanging information for map data like that, but we've moved a little bit more in a direction of just presenting that information up front to the player, because travel is such a meaningful portion of the game and we don't have fast travel. So, I think that for Alpha-2 what's planned is that we're going to be showcasing the intricate details of services offered at these node locations from just a UI presentation standpoint within the map. – Steven Sharif

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

Players can use the Library to access information, including (but not limited to) the following:

• Runic power stones for armor.
• Common armor and weapon recipes (level 25 and under).

See also

• Verra
• Lore