Black Desert/Lore
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Lore
gods, stones and the civilizations they ended
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The Thornwood Forest of O'dyllita From the update notes, Pearl Abyss
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| Covers | Mythology and cosmology, not events |
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| Events are in | Timeline |
| Central object | The black stone |
| Named powers | Elion, Sylvia, Hadum and Kzarka |
Lore in Black Desert means the mythology behind the map rather than the history on it. Who the gods are, where the black stones came from, and what happened to the peoples who handled them before anyone alive.
The setting is unusually consistent about one thing. Every catastrophe in it traces back to the same material, and the states currently fighting over that material are repeating a mistake with a very long record.
1 The stone✎
A black meteorite struck the land that became Valencia and broke apart on impact, scattering the fragments now called black stones across the desert.
They are not inert. An early Valencian civilization used them as a power source, and what they drew out destroyed the minds of its people and brought the civilization down. It left the sunken structures and wandering constructs still found in the sand.
The pattern repeats at every scale. A plague was blamed on them and a thirty-year war was fought for them. Cultists at the Cadry Ruins eat their powder expecting eternal life, and every adventurer alive grinds them into their weapons through enhancement.
2 The gods✎
Elion is the god of the western continent, and the Elionian church that carries his name is the one institution spanning every border. Its authority is not merely spiritual: its priests supplied the accusation that sent Calpheon to war.
Sylvia belongs to the forest. She came down among the spirits of nature, planted the Kamasylve and blessed the land with the sun and the moon, from which the Ganelle and the Vedir descend.
Hadum is the god of darkness, and he is invoked rather than worshipped. The summoning that destroyed Cron Castle was an attempt to reach him, offered to a king who wanted to live forever.
Kzarka is not a god but is treated as one. Sealed in a shrine in southern Serendia by people whose names are lost, the Lord of Corruption has a following that expects his return.
3 The peoples before✎
Three groups predate every state on the map. The Edana are remembered for ending an age when the world turned on itself and people attacked each other with strength they should not have had, and they did it with black stones.
The Aakman guard what the Valencian ancients left behind, which is why a Valencian king who massacred them is remembered as having brought a curse on his own country.
Orzeca is the kingdom the exiled Ahib found already ruined when they arrived, and built O'dyllita on top of.
4 What is not explained✎
The setting keeps several things deliberately unresolved. The Black Spirit attaches itself to every adventurer and its nature is never fully stated, the golden key that legitimizes a Valencian succession has simply gone missing, and nobody accounts for how Guy Seric died.