Elyos or Asmodian?

Elyos or Asmodian? I was impressed with the beauty of the Asmodian side last weekend. On the surface they are not the barbarians I originally thought them to be. I know the question is still up in the air for a lot of us - Asmodian or Elyos? So, being the ulitmate nerd I am I decided to sit down and take an unbiased look at what our family stands for and balance it against the values of each side.

Our only rule. Blades out not in. Members may not attack another member, verbally, physically, or in any other way. Doing so will lead to banishment from the family.

Looking at the lore from the context of our only rule what jumps out at me the most is the conflict that started the rift between the two sides. It began with the insight of Lord Israphel (the following is ripped off from the official game lore):

"Lord Israphel, one of the two Guardians of the Tower of Eternity—Lord Israphel, who despised the Balaur like no other—declared that we should make peace with the Dragon Lords. The purpose of the Millennium War, he reasoned, was not to annihilate the Balaur. It was to protect Aion.
I was astonished—astonished that one of our saviors had lost his resolve so easily, astonished that his courage and fierce determination had slipped so—so suddenly. At first, the Empyrean Lords were shocked and concerned. The mere prospect of peace was unthinkable. We were all of one mind: Israphel’s proposal was absurd.
Shortly, however, the weaker Lords showed that they had never had the stomach for the fight. Lady Ariel capitulated first. With honeyed words, she spoke of Israphel’s wisdom, his forethought, his bravery—bravery!—in daring to propose peace. She had the audacity to tell us how we, as Daevas, should think and act.


How quickly she and her followers forgot the sacrifices of a thousand years. What meager value they placed upon the shed blood of so many of our kin.


Others of the Lords still had true steel in their spirits. I had grown to know some of our Lords, and the one with whom I worked best was the great and dignified Lord Azphel. His resolve was always strong, and it was on his missions that we had the most success. His skill and his determination were an inspiration to many of us, so when Ariel’s insipid pleading began to sway some, and I saw the grimace on Azphel’s face, I knew where my own allegiance lay. Lord Azphel stood to speak, and we stood with him. He berated Ariel for her disdain for the honored dead, and he blasted the peace initiative as a naive and misguided waste of time.


The hall erupted with fury. The words still ring in my memory—the roaring, the confusion, the hateful accusations. Each side railed against the other. I saw Israphel pull Lady Siel to one side and speak impassioned words to her. When he returned to address the group, he continued to insist that we could defend Aion by working toward peace. To my horror, Lady Siel was nodding as if his words might hold merit.


To preserve some fragment of concord, all of us agreed to depart and leave the twelve Empyrean Lords to their discussion. I left with my comrades-in-arms, those who supported Lord Azphel, but others slunk off in the company of their fellow cowards. Already we were dividing into separate camps: those who we sided with the worthy or those who clung to the weak."

So in conclusion I would have to say the the Elyos, though haughty in thier "blessing of the light" and whatnot, are still more like what we stand for.

It was the Asmodians who turned against thier own kind - turned thier Blades inward - that caused the separation between the two sides.

Azphel's treachery directly lead to the tower being ripped apart and the world being torn, and all because he turned on his own kind.

Just my two cents

*cheers*

Ahhh man I checked the Aion box before I posted it to make it an Aion topic but it came up Warhammer >< Any way to edit this?

I believe when it launches we will be Asmodian.

That's what I was thinking (after playing Asmodian last weekend), and another way of looking at this too is that Azphel was true to the fight and to his people - Blood for Blood. So if we do go Asmodian then we would view Israphel's words as the treachery that turned comrade against comrade, ripping the tower in two, and Azphel only did his actions out of defense for family and home. Besides, Asmodians have better music and I like the pretty lights :D /end nerd rant

Who's Right and Who's Wrong are a matter of perspective in this game. I like your above perspective above Twilah, more than your first post. For the Asmodains feel that it was the Elyos Betrayed their people and that the Elyos caused the destruction of the world. I had this long wall of text typed out with references from both lores showing that BOTH SIDES could be/ARE at fault (and both sides having blades drawn inward), but that grew tiring so I deleted it. :) All of the Lore is back and forth, forth and back. Example: The Lore does say that when the Elyos discovered Asmodae, both sides drew their weapons and the Asmodian's charged. But some of the Elyos fled into the Asmodae home city and slaughtered women and children before they were stopped. So in turn the Asmodians went to Elysea and attacked a village. Good job to the Devs, because it is hard to ascertain black from white. Everything is grey. (doubtful I am that the Devs even want us to know who's "right"). The way I see it is that for the most part, the Elyos judge the Asmodian's based on their looks more than anything else. They must be Evil because they look more 'bestial' (though that was merely evolution because of their environment). And that Darkness is a curse and their light is a blessing. The Asmodians judge the Elyos thinking that they are cowards because they wanted peace with the Balaur. Wanting peace and a cease to fighting does not make you a coward in my belief. Although I do wonder why the Elyos thought peace was a valid option, given the Balaur's cruel History and long, furious desire to dominate all life. The only peace with them is given if you subjugate and swear eternal allegiance under them (Ex: Krall and Mau races). My vote is for Asmodian. I feel bad for them being judged for their misforunate and their appearance. But mostly I want to be Asmodian for non-lore reasons. I feel that Elyos will have the greater numbers (just as it is in WoW And WAR with the Alliance and Order), and will be more of a challenge to fight against. I like being the underdog. And the more.... um... 'Conceited' player base will be on the Elyos side making pretty pretty people, and I like to avoid that if possible. Of course every side has it's share of immaturity, but I have a feeling Elyos will have more than it's fair share of it. 33 Days, 1 Hour, 48 Minutes.

I LOVE the countdown Ainwe :) and also the points about how the Elyos judge the Asmodians based on superifical evolution due to the environment. One thing in the Lore (Book of the Asmodian)that really swayed my opnion when I read it was when the Elyos group went through one of the first Rifts and encountered the Asmodians: "Both sides drew their swords, and we charged, cutting the Elyos down like the cowards that they were. Some of their numbers escaped, but most fled toward our home city where in their anger they butchered our women and children before we finished them." Again, I hope no one is offended by my nerd rants of Lore. It's soley my perspective of what I am learning about the game and I like to talk about it :) I don't actively RP but I do enjoy immersion in games, so I always try to get a feel for my characters and how they view the events.

I'm not offended by your discussions. Quite like you, I don't actively 'RP' either (Aren't must of us RL character's anyway? we don't need to RP :)). But I also do very much enjoy the immersion of the game. And like you, I also gathered from the lore that Elyos did the first dishonorable killing. Meanies. Most of us are leaning on the Asmodian faction for our Main characters, and will prolly establish our Legion in Asmodae on whatever main RP server there is available (Whether it be official RP or self-proclaimed RP server). But that does not stop us from picking a second server for our Elyos Alts and create another Legion there. That way we can run Elyos Events where we all play in Elysea for the event. It will be a good way to learn the enemy terrain and their overall tactics in battle. For instance, it always amazed me the Alliance in WoW always had the same strategy for a Warsong battle, no matter what server they were on. We can learn their strategies and come up with counter actions. Speaking of rants and nerdiness, I am not keeping track of the countdown myself. It's a Website. :) http://kindred.aion.tv/status/ 33 Days, 0 Hours, 24 minutes, 51 seconds :P

Hrmm.. and I have a completely different perspective to consider. Neither lore state that anyone saw 'Asmodian Lord Azphel' actually killed the Balaur. Asmodian: 'The crowd shouted and milled about in startled confusion. One of the Balaur had fallen, and Lord Azphel was standing ready to fight, his eyes blazing.' Elyos: 'We still speak of the events that followed that day, of the sudden shouts of panic. A sickening certainty gripped us that the warmongers had decided that they would have their way even if they had to sacrifice all of Atreia to achieve it. Azphel moved swiftly and suddenly, and one of the Dragon Lords collapsed. The Balaur did not waste time with words. In an instant, carnage and chaos reigned.' Further on it doesn't relate any more detail. Though in-game lore may actually put it to more detail. My take is that the Balaur, whom are crafty, devious and above all willing to dominate in any way, struck first. Either by knowing the split that would be caused by the 'peace' treaty and exploiting that small crack in the pure facade of the 'Empyrean Lords' with an action that would cause a true rift. Balaur goes down [could be acting as if it was killed only to join the fight when it was started after the crowd had been sufficiently riled] the other Balaur get up and begin the swing with the most suspicious element near them, Azphel. Azphel being suspicious and ready to defend is the first to react and willing to fight. The following fight and confusion and travesty pulls apart the 'Empyrean Lords' and the separation allows for the 'blame game' to run its course. Neither side is willing to accept any fault, rather both sides willing point their anger to the other group instead of their enemy, the Balaur as they should have. The 'First Contact' does nothing to help the situation, the centuries have passed and the two camps now are secure in their belief of wrongdoing, on top of that the 'peaceloving hippy types' are walking in unknown terrain and are frightened by beasts, 'their mutated brethren,' and react by drawing blade, which elicit the same reaction from the 'hard-knock life kids' and tempers biol on over. --- Either way I say that the Balaur were masterful at exploiting the first weakness shown them and that the storyline is a well orchestrated 'he said - she said' that shows some of the travesty of poor communication and broken lines of trust. Interesting enough to want to see how it unfolds.

Well put Ludoki!! Wonder 'if' it will unfold. I doubt the devs want the two factions to make up, as it would be the end of our PvP. But I am also curious to see where it's going. :)

*claps* Very well said - I would have never seen that perspective but you are right on :)

If I were to have to take sides with either party it would be with the Asmodian side. They clearly stated that they were the ones holding the truth and the only fault that happened was 'after' the event in Conference when the badness happened at the south end not holding the line with their all. Most likely true because the Elyos probably had doubt in their hearts in regards to the Asmodians 'false betrayal' and as such were not fighting to the best of their game and were overcome. I can't see either one of the teams actually failing in their devotion to the people, though going into a fight with other things on your minds will hamper your abilities, especially when you are evenly matched if not outclassed by the enemy.