Obsidian Entertainment’sAvowedwill take the studio’s world of Eora from thePillars of Eternityseries while transforming the franchise’s format into a first-person RPG. While fantasy fans were quick to draw comparisons between the upcoming game’s trailer andThe Elder Scrollsseries, thePillars of Eternityuniverse has some bizarre features that are sure to make it stand out.
One of the strangest aspects of thePillars of Eternityuniverse is the way that death works in Eora. Not only is Eora’s relationship with death likely to be one of the most interesting parts ofAvowed, but just how death will work will depend on whenAvowedis set in relation to the events ofPillars of Eternity.
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The Wheel
The universe ofPillars of Eternityis divided into three known realms. The material realm is known as “the Here.” Thegods of Eoraare unable to interact with the Here in their primary forms. “The In-Between” is Eora’s version of purgatory. When a person dies in Eora, their soul wanders the hazy landscape of The In-Between until it is able to enter “The Beyond” through pillars of Adra.
Adra is a naturally occurring substance in Eora which appears in large pillar-like veins underground, believed to be connected into a single huge network.Adrais uniquely linked to Animancy, the science of souls, and can be used to channel souls. The Beyond is the realm in which the gods reside, and where souls go before they are reincarnated and return to The Here. This can take several years, but is sometimes almost instantaneous.
The process of life, death, and reincarnation inEorais a part of a natural phenomena known as The Wheel. The cycle of reincarnation goes on forever, but every time a soul goes through The Wheel it can lose a little bit of its essence to entropy. Once in The Beyond, a soul’s next life is chosen through a process known as the soul lottery. Not all souls are subject to the soul lottery, however.
Many ofEora’s inhabitantsworship specific gods in the hope of avoiding the lottery and being directed to a certain existence. The god Galawain, for example, uses the souls of his devout followers to create monsters. InPillars of Eternity, it is revealed that all Pale Elf souls go to the god Rymrgand, who prevents their souls from losing essence to entropy, but also exclusively reincarnates them as Pale Elves. This revelation causes many Pale Elves to “awaken,” or remember past lives. One clan even attempts to enter Rymrgand’s realm and die for good. This is not the first time the mortals of Eora have attempted to affect The Wheel.
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The Machine
Two thousand years before the events ofPillars of Eternity, an ancient civilization known as Engwith made huge advancements inAnimancy. At the time, many Engiwthans were suffering from “soul maladies.” Soul maladies include phenomena like “soul twins,” where a reincarnated soul splits between multiple bodies. To prevent such problems, the Engwithans created a giant machine that controlled the flow of souls from The In-Between to The Beyond.
The Engwithans also used Animancy to create the gods of Eora using the souls of thousands of their own citizens. The gods are sustained by the essence souls lose to entropy while moving through The Wheel. Eventually, the Engwithans had changed the cycle of rebirth so much that The Wheel was reliant upon their machine. During thePillars of Eternitygamesthe god Eothasattempts to destroy the Engwithan machine. However, there are reasons to thinkAvowedwill take place long before that event.
The Wheel in Avowed
Pillars of Eternitytakes place in a period of Eora’s history which is roughly technologically parallel to the real world’s early modern era, from around 1500 to 1800. WhilePillars of Eternityhas guns, bombs, and galleons, the trailer forAvowedshows more medieval architecture and weaponry. Not only that, but the trailer references oaths multiple times, as well as “kings and queens.” This hints that it is set during Woedica’s reign as the queen of Eora’s gods, as her domain includes rightful rulership and oaths.
IfAvowedtakes place during Woedica’s reign, the Engwithan machine controlling The Wheel will be in full effect.Pillars of Eternityplayers will have insight into many of the world’s phenomena that may not be discovered at the time ofAvowed. If players have the opportunity to play as a Pale Elf, for example, this would be long before they learned that they were always reincarnated as a Pale Elf.
So many of these huge metaphysical revelations, including the fact that the gods are manmade, come out during the events ofPillars of Eternity. This raises the question of what mysteriesAvowedmight explore if it is set before these universe-shattering discoveries. In any case, ifAvowedis set beforePillars of Eternitybut after the fall ofthe Engwithan civilization, the machine will still be directing the souls of the dead through The Wheel.
Pillars of Eternitywas deeply invested in exploring the metaphysical side of Eora. The player character was a Watcher, a person who can see people’s past lives. Who exactlyAvowed’s protagonistwill be and whether they’ll be a Watcher remains to be seen, as doesAvowed’s investment in concepts like The Wheel which dominated the plots of the isometric RPGs.
What is for sure, however, is thatAvowedwill be set in a world with some fascinating spiritual lore. The player character will almost certainly have lived many lives before the game, some of which they may be able to interact with depending on the game’s plot. If nothing else,Avowedplayerscan feel a little less bad about mowing down their enemies safe in the knowledge that those souls will be returning to the world through The Wheel.
Avowedis in development for PC and Xbox Series X/S.
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