Just sharing some of my thoughts on the in game lore as I go through various scenes in the game, in Offline. And feel free to share any of your thoughts as well. Battle of Highvale When the Avatar arrives, we arrive here at the spot of an inactive Lunar Rift. Which is very interesting, and may be some kind of indicator the Avatar has experienced "some form" of time travel. In the games present age (the Age of Oracular Enlightenment) the Lunar Rifts are active. However during the Cataclysm we are told the Lunar Rifts went inactive. However it is unknown at what point they became active again. Or possibly the invading elves dismantled it. [And there is the obvious, they cannot have this active otherwise the player could accidently leave the scene]. The Avatar meets Gawain a Knight of Norgard who is under the command of Brigid, in Resolute. They are gravely wounded due to a horrific attack on the Highvale village. He claims this attack was "by elves arrived from Verdantis" who are "cruel Verdantis elves". My current understanding is there are 2 distinct groups of elves and they are the Verdantis Vertas Elves (Friendly to Neutral) and Obsidian Elves (Hostile). This appears to be a disconnect from the game's lore: If the intent and purpose of the knowledge the Avatar learns from Gawain, is to inform the Avatar about a group of vicious and hostile group of elves, the Obsidian Elves, then this is a lore disconnect. But I do not know what specific knowledge is supposed to be given to the Avatar at this point. Hostile elves from the Verdantis region attacked. Samael however seems to have the correct references: "The elves came from the Forsaken Vale, by the look of them. 'Tis strange that they should be this far north... Indeed, they're the sworn enemies of Resolute and usually keep to their side of the Vertas pass. Curious..." The elves found in Highvale Outskirts are named Obsidian Elves. Additionally Horatio states this about the attack on Highvale: Aye, 'twas a terrible thing that happened to the village of Highvale. We all knew the Obsidian elves were a violent bunch, but no one expected their unwarranted incursion upon our lands, nor the slaughter they wrought upon our people. We've been made refugees, and we're still in more danger than ever. Spoiler: Diary Entry from Elf jorris killed valnon last night, discovered in morning muster jorris said it was because valnon said jorris was too slow in patrol we killed jorris in punishment for making us weaker we need to fight soon soon maybe a bear at least something challenging Spoiler: Note found on Elf do not understand why we go north south easier, humans softer soft elves too, weak why are we not fighting want to fight, to feel, to run, to slay this writing is silly Spoiler: Brief Note found on Elf human village, guarded north humans but not wild like others from east organized with patrols this will be a good fight i will take many trophies it is overdue Spoiler: Scrawled Note found on Elf captured human yesterday. we used the old ways to get him to tell us of other humans but he did not speak. confusing. old ways always work. humans soft and fear pain. these humans different. human just started singing. voice hurt. voices hurt. i finally killed him. his voice hurt. These clues most definitely seem to be indicators of Obsidian Elves who continue to use the "old ways". When the Avatar finally arrives in the area with hostile elves, they are named Elf [type], such as Elf Patroller or Elf Fighter. I do not know if a naming convention to reinforce that these are Obsidian Elves is meant to be in here or not.
Arabella: The elves of Vertas, unlike many others of their people that you may have met, seek to live at peace with other beings. I have stopped in Vertas in my travels many times, as they are very curious about our ways.
Ah! Thank you: The Vertas Elves (Neutral to Friendly) Obsidian Elves (Hostile). And now I get my discrepancy: Elves from Verdantis of which some of them are most definitely Obsidian Elves and hostile, attacked. I see now where I was confused. Thank you!
