In the sprawling, epic fantasy of Avowed, the lore isn't just a backdrop—it's the very fabric of reality, the secret sauce that makes the world of Eora a living, breathing, and utterly mind-blowing place. Forget your standard fantasy fare; this is world-building on a cosmic scale, where the cycle of life and death isn't just a philosophical concept but a literal, mechanical process with gods tinkering under the hood. Obsidian Entertainment, the masterminds behind this universe, had their work cut out for them. They inherited a world so rich from the Pillars of Eternity games that it was already set in stone, yet they had to make it digestible for newcomers without dumbing it down for the hardcore fans. Talk about walking a tightrope over a chasm of lore! But they pulled it off, and at the heart of this intricate tapestry lies the most crucial, game-changing concept of all: Berath's Wheel. This ain't your grandma's reincarnation story; this is a soul's wild ride through crystal veins and divine bureaucracy.
The Soul's Journey: A One-Way Ticket on the Cosmic Conveyor Belt 🌀
Let's break down the absolute madness that is the soul cycle in Eora. When a person or creature kicks the bucket, it's not the end—oh no, it's just the beginning of a wild journey. Here’s the step-by-step, no-holds-barred process:
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Departure: The soul peaces out from its physical body. Adios, meat sack!
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The Adra Express: That freed soul doesn't float around aimlessly. It makes a beeline for the nearest Pillar of Adra. These aren't just pretty crystals; they're the universe's living, breathing soul terminals. Think of them as cosmic bus stops made of magic rock.
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The Underground Railroad (But for Souls): Veins of Adra, running through the world like supernatural subway lines, then snatch up that soul and whisk it away to The Beyond. This is the VIP lounge where the gods hang out, the ethereal plane where souls chill in the queue.
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The Waiting Game: The soul sits tight in The Beyond, probably bored out of its mind, until a brand-new physical body is ready to roll in the land of the living.
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Re-up and Reset: The soul gets slotted into its new body. But here's the kicker—most reincarnated beings have zero memory of their past lives. It's a total factory reset. This whole shebang is what the people of Eora call "The Wheel." It's believed to be as natural as the sunrise, and the one supposedly spinning this cosmic roulette is Berath, the god of death, life, and cycles. Hence, Berath's Wheel.
The Big Lie: When Ancient Tech Bros Became Gods 🤯
Here's where things get spicy. The people of Eora think The Wheel is a natural, divine process. Bless their hearts, they have no idea. The truth is a bombshell that would make any historian's head explode.
Around 2,000 years before the events of Avowed, the ancient civilization known as the Engwithans were the ultimate overachievers. They didn't just build cities; they cracked the code of the universe. They learned how to manually manipulate Essence—the raw energy of souls. This was a game-changer on a biblical scale.
| Timeline Event | What Actually Happened | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-Engwithan Era | The Wheel was a 100% natural, albeit sometimes glitchy, process. Soul plagues could occur. | Unpredictable reincarnation, potential soul decay. |
| Engwithan Discovery | They mastered Essence manipulation. They saw the glitches and said, "We can fix this." | The foundation for godhood was laid. |
| The Ukaizo Project | Teaming up with the Huana tribes, they built a massive, reality-altering machine in the city of Ukaizo. | This machine could direct and control the flow of souls through The Wheel. |
| The Ascension | In creating and powering this device, the Engwithans didn't just become powerful—they became the gods themselves. Eothas, Berath, and all the others were born from this act. | The Wheel became a hybrid system: part natural cycle, part divinely maintained machine. |
Let that sink in. The gods aren't primordial forces; they're advanced beings who installed themselves as the system administrators of reality. Berath's job description shifted from a mythical force to the literal maintainer of this souped-up soul-recycling program. Eothas became the guide, the usher moving souls to and from The Beyond. And the cherry on top? The movement of souls through their machine-generated Essence, which the newborn gods used as a power source to sustain their immortal lives. Talk about a sustainable energy program!
The Aftermath and Avowed's Place in the Cosmic Shake-Up 🌪️
Fast forward to the end of Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. The player, the Watcher, uncovers this monumental secret. In the canonical ending, the god Eothas does the unthinkable: he smashes the Engwithan machine in Ukaizo to smithereens. His goal? To restore The Wheel to its original, purely natural state and free the souls of Eora from divine engineering.
This is the seismic event that sets the stage for the world of Avowed in 2026. The machine is gone. The gods, while still powerful, have had their direct control mechanism wrecked. The big, unanswered question hanging over the Living Lands is: What does a 'natural' Wheel look like after two millennia of divine management?
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Will reincarnation become slower? Faster? More chaotic?
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Are the soul plagues of old destined to return?
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How are Berath and the other gods coping with their sudden demotion from systems engineers to... well, just very powerful entities?
The ramifications are expected to unfold over generations, but in Avowed, players are stepping into a world still reeling from this cosmic reset. Every strange soul-related phenomenon, every whisper of divine unrest, every shimmer of Adra crystal could be a direct result of Eothas's earth-shattering (or rather, Wheel-shattering) act.
Conclusion: Lore That Actually Matters 🏆
This is why Avowed's lore, centered on Berath's Wheel, is next-level. It's not just flavor text you skip through. It's the fundamental operating system of the game's reality. Understanding the Wheel—and the colossal lie at its center—changes how you perceive every conflict, every character's motivation, and the very stakes of the adventure. Obsidian didn't just create a fantasy world; they crafted a universe with a secret history, a theological scandal, and a future hanging in the balance. The Wheel turns, but after Eothas's rebellion, nobody is entirely sure how anymore. And that, my friends, is where the real adventure begins. Buckle up! 🚀
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