Lore

The original concept of Arenum is that map that you’ve probably seen in the past. The map represents the status quo for when the player, you, steps into the world. We want this map to mean much more than just locations where the player can visit for certain activities. Every small bit of the world is going to have its own thing happening for it.

We’ve placed a lot of focus on crafting a lore and history of the world in a manner that if you decide to engage in questing in various regions of the world, you’ll dab into that region’s folklore, culture, economy, political intrigue and religious belief. Every region you visit will have its own history in the world's timeline. Every character you meet should convey a sense that they either belong to the region you’ve met them or they belong to somewhere else, a place where you’ll eventually visit.

In a nutshell; I’ve already started writing lore that dates back to 700+ years before the player steps in Arenum but one of the more interesting concepts goes beyond that range: Deities.

The Deities of Arenum

The foundation of the lore takes root to the concept of Deities, divine supernatural beings that have an eye on Arenum. They serve various purposes, have their own drives but they rarely ever manifest themselves in the realm of living. These divine beings live in their own plane of existence. The likeliness of the player ever meeting one is slim to none but you will feel their influence across your adventure.

Some races might heavily rely on one Deity or more, building temples and shrines to celebrate those Deities while other races or regions might completely forgo their existence and build their society on their own principle. Atheism and Agnosticism exist for those that prefer to carve their own path instead of relying on fairytale’s story.

While the concept of “good” and “evil” are relative in Arenum, no Deities have exclusivity on those traits but there's two Deities in particular that do harbor on the extreme of the scale of good and evil. Let me introduce you to those two, I’ll start with my favorite!

You'll notice there are names mentioned down there with no further explanation who they are, I'll let you speculate on who they might be.

Nerys

Nerys reigns on a plane furthest from any other deities. She traveled to Arenum to learn about the dreams of its inhabitants before returning to her plane and built a garden to the image of the beautiful dreams she witnessed. After building the garden, she sang its name; Heaven.

When Farodan passes last judgment on the soul departing Arenum, any soul he judged as good-natured but doesn’t belong to any deity in particular would be sent to Nerys and she would give the soul an eternal home in her garden where they could be forever carefree and filled with happiness.

Nerys is said to occasionally descend in Arenum and share little pieces of heaven in the dreams of good people or those that have lost all hope. Poems are written about the Heaven people dreamt of, pictures are painted to share a glimpse of the heavenly dreams and songs are sung to praise the creator of this magnificent place. People who are at the lowest point in their life, Nerys would manifest in their dreams to give them hope, strength and a promise that she will take them to her domain where no one will ever hurt them again.

Followers of Nerys usually also worship other Deities that share the quality of being good-natured. These followers would have a shrine for Nerys accompanied by shrines of Calantha and Ceressa since all three of those deities have a fondness for each other and it’s believed that they’re trying to create a heaven in Arenum for its inhabitants.

Rasnovaal

Rasnovaal sits at the depth of the hell plane. Before claiming his plane and ascending to godhood, he was the thrall of other deities. His ability to create binding contracts allowed each deity to claim their place in various regions in the plane of existence. Rasnovaal siphoned the power of the planes through his contract till he left his patron to a plane he would claim his own: Hell.

Rasnovaal is at the head of an army of Devils and an even greater number of Demons, all spawning from the depth of hell. Devils are creatures that are intelligent, cunning and some of them are turned into Generals which would be second highest rank right underneath the Deity of Hell. Each of Hell’s Generals have a unique form together with a legion of Devils and Demons underneath them. Only the strongest of demons are allowed in the deepest end of Hell. The rest coast the outer layer of Hell’s plane.

Arenum is a plane of conflict for Rasnovaal and other deities, a playground for the Generals as they attempt to claw into the soul of Arenum’s inhabitants and attempt to steal them from Farodan. Devils would send their closest servant all over the world to offer favors, all binded by a contract; a hopeless mother might find a cure for her dying infant, a poor merchant might become rich by learning some trade secret, a king might turn the tide of a losing war; all this for the hefty price of their soul. The destitute or desperate rarely have the presence of mind to care for the price to pay till its too late.