#bdo lore

[yunasstables]

Prepare for Doom!

Some Doom lore to break your heart 💔

[ekleta]

Knights of Dawn Lore

With the coming of the new storyline, we’ll be introduced to a new group. Here’s some of the lore on them from the Global Lab:

The Origins of the Shadow Knights:

The origins of the Shadow Knights can be traced back to a secret group known as the 'Knights of Dawn,' now long gone and erased from the history books.

The Knights of Dawn originally followed the teachings of the Ancient Light. Well aware of the existence of dark powers at all points throughout history, their mission was to track and keep such forces at bay.

(Calpheon Shrine was originally a temple of worship for believers of the ancient light and was once regarded as sacred ground by the Elion Church.)

Due to differences in terms of the specifics of doctrine with the Elion Church that worshiped Elion, the God of a light similar to that of the Ancient Light, they weren't publicly castigated by the Elion Church, yet were considered unsanctioned and de facto heretics.

The Coming of Belmorn and the Knights of Dawn

However, with the threat of Belmorn looming across all lands, the Knights of Dawn made their presence known to the world and formally requested assistance from each country to engage Belmorn through a coalition of their armies.

Despite these efforts, Belmorn who had fallen from battle did not simply disappear and managed to deal a substantial blow to the souls of the surviving Knights of Dawn.

Members of the Knights of Dawn stationed in the outpost erected to guard and keep the remnants of Belmorn kept away from the world began to slowly succumb to their curiosities of the dark forces.

(At first, the knights began to experiment with the dark force to gain a better understanding. However, they soon became seduced by its powers after they succumbed to its ability to make their wishes come true.)

The Downfall of the Knights of Dawn

On the other hand, having observed the might of the Knights of Dawn, each of the kingdoms began to exercise checks and balances against the Knights who were now exposed to the world.

All of this happened immediately after the last Master of the Knights of Dawn announced that the Knights would remain neutral and would not take sides with any particular country. Upon the discovery of records within the headquarters of the knights in Calpheon that the Knights of Dawn were planning to overthrow the country, the group was forcibly disbanded and the Knights Master who was attempted to resolve the matter was assassinated while in Calpheon. This was the final straw that eventually led to the dissolution of the Knights of Dawn and the coming of a purge paid in blood.

The Shadow Knights, The Fraternity of Light, and the Knights of Dawn

However, it wasn't that they all simply disappeared. Some of the knights converted to Elionism and became priests of the Elion Church. These priests formed the crux of the group that came to be known as the Fraternity of Light and became the most powerful group of priests within the Elion Church. However, questionable ties between the Fraternity of Light exist with another band of former Knights that came be known as the Shadow Knights. On the surface, they follow the teachings of the Elion Church. However in reality, they abide by their own secret doctrine that light and dark are one and quietly support the Shadow Knights. An extremely small number of surivors who had not forgone the teachings of the original Knights of Dawn became the Secret Guards who withdrew from the public and quietly sought out and became keepers of ancient knowledge. On the other hand, the knights stationed at the Watchtower to protect the seal of Belmorn managed to survive the Great Purge and self-proclaimed themselves as the Shadow Knights who began to operate within the darkness. With the passing of time, the Shadow Knights who once engaged in the study of the dark powers while attempting to keep themselves free from the whispers of darkness spilling out from the seal of Belmorn, eventually gained more knowledge of the origins of the dark powers through their exchanges and contacts with the Vedirs banished from Kamasylvia and eventually turned completely to darkness and gained eternal life through rituals learned from the Vedirs who taught them how to exceed the limits of their corporeal existence. They eventually succumbed to the endless whispers of Belmorn and became worshipers of Belmorn and Kzarka. However, they still manage to call themselves knights that worship Elion and the God of Light. "Light and darkness was one before, and it must become one again."

[ekleta]

Do you have any specifics on the traits of Vedirs, like if they act menacing, aggressive, or if some of them have good hearts too. Like the kindness of a Shai or the maturity of a Ganelle.

Vedir = Moon energy, dark energy, night time, freedom etc. (Sometimes at any cost, e.g Ahib.)

Ganelle = Sun energy, light, daytime, order, etc. (Sometimes at any cost. At one point, some almost lead a near-genocide in order to maintain peace. That’s how far some will go.)

There are apparently personality traits that are potentially attached to the different energies they have within them. It’s mentioned that beings from the sun are righteous and passionate, so Ganelle seek harmony/order. It was mentioned that Vedir seek freedom, but we’ve never gotten a clear description on how other beings of the moon are like outside of Vedir.

I should add that a lot of this is the basic generalization, as the Ganelle and Vedir become much more nuanced. There are plenty of Vedir who still respect nature and the spirits—and some Vedir have forsaken dark magic altogether, integrating with Ganelle society under Acher Guard and Kama-Grána rule or maintaining a faction-less, neutral stance.

If you want to know more about the elves I highly recommend this Kamaslyvia lore document made by Nasche and collaborated on by a lot of the lorekeepers!

[ekleta]

also! if anyone has any bdo lore questions feel free to message/ask me, it’s one of my favorite things in the game to discuss o/

[ekleta]

the old big-bad dragon was a black dragon who powered himself up with black stones that he distributed to his own kind to make them his followers, and naturally they went to war with the mortals. the people attempted to use the power of the black stones to fight back and eventually prevailed.

but he only escaped and he’s still...out there

[ekleta]

The Legend of the Golden Dragon

“The legendary dragon whose existence is not even clear. It is said to live on top of Mt. Gangsan, but due to the difficult accessibility of the area it is unable to be confirmed. There are many records of golden dragons, but most of them are predominantly inferior in credibility, as they are deceptive or uncertain.

It is noteworthy, however, that common expressions appear in the remaining documents. No one has ever seen the golden dragon fall down to the ground, but when he was in the sky his scales shone in the sunlight.”

[ekleta]

“Garmoth is the only dragon to survive in the great battle, even among Red Dragons. He ran away to survive, as it was insufficient to have the Sherekan's warriors fight against him in his adult state. Garmoth, who managed to escape from the Sherekan's warriors, hid in a cave and fell into a long sleep.

He was regaining power in a blink of an eye with the power of the black stone. The wounds left by the great battle almost fully cured him, and only the vengeance remained in his heart. Garmoth soon fully recovered, but he appeared to be stronger than before. When he awoke from a deep sleep for the first time in about a century, he had a strong desire for finding black stones."

Garmoth’s black stone meddling is CANON

[ekleta]

Illezra

llezra is a powerful sorcerer and currently the primary antagonist in the main story. Her goals are unclear, but she has a knowledge of the secrets involving the Black Stones and the Ancients. Her story is the primary focus for Mediah and will continue on into Valencia. She describes herself as having lived three lives and died three deaths, whether those are factual or metaphorical is to be discovered. While her birthplace is unknown, she states her first home was Altinova, where she began to delve into the dark secrets it held involving Black Stones. Some incident caused her to be gravely injured there (she describes this as the curiosities she gained cost her the first "life."), and was found outside of Tarif with damaged hands. Some like Eckta, the soul bound to the painting outside of the inn, immediately told Ahon Kirus, the leader of Tarif, to turn her away. Ahon didn’t listen and couldn’t stand the thought of abandoning the woman, so Tarif took her in. (Year 273) She stayed in Tarif for some time, hoping it to be her true home that would accept her power. But the darkness she found in Altinova followed her, and she began to ask the people of Tarif questions that were forbidden among the Sorcerers. She spoke of Black Stones and what mysteries lied beyond the Black Desert, and who was calling her from there. She then unearthed Cartian's book (the Great Sorceress who founded Tarif) and gained some of its powers. The book itself is extremely dangerous and most can’t even begin to handle the spells within. Either way, Illezra obtained power from the book and escaped Tarif, killing (and in one case abducting) sorcerers/sorceresses along the way out, but herself also being gravely wounded (this may be where she lost her second "life", but no confirmation as of yet.). Her motivation behind this was unclear (as we know so far...), but it did seem to connect to the questions she was asking and her desire to find answers. After leaving Mediah, she gathered up various beings that she either mind-controlled or had willingly join her (There are cases of both. Wandering rogues were controlled by her, Barbarians of the Iron Mine willingly joined in after she said their God is with them). (Year 277) Following this, with the help of the Elric Priests she plunged Mediah into a supernatural event know as the Three Days of Darkness, where all of Mediah was under a blanket of complete darkness for three days. Altinova was no exception. With neither sun or moon offering light, the people of Mediah had to rely on torches to ward off the darkness. The darkness itself is said to have driven some mad, who ran shrieking into the pitch black never to be seen again. A sizable force of Sorceresses, Dark Chasers (Giants), Secret Guards, allied Dwarves, and various others set out to put a stop to her. Huge investigative units, magic used to heal those who’d been damaged/possessed, so-on and so-forth. Some years after the event of the Three Days of Darkness, Illezra and the Protagonist met in Valencia (how, we don't know yet) and some incident occurred where the Protagonist found their Black Spirit, they were knocked out cold, and Illezra escaped.

She caused massive disruptions in the world using the magic she’d discovered within the tome and other powers, including:

-Three Days of Darkness, in which Mediah was plunged into supernatural darkness.  The darkness itself is said to have driven some mad, who ran shrieking into the pitch black never to be seen again.

-Some kind of geographic event which lead to the unearthing of Ancient constructs.

-Attempting to use the skeletons buried in Soldier’s Grave as an army.

-Working with the newly-deranged Elric Priests to summon the Skeleton King to further her power by channeling him.

-Killing the Mediahn royal family, the only survivor being Bareeds III.

-Rallying the Barbarians of the Iron Mine and telling them to destroy/siege Altinova. She mostly succeeded in what she set out to do, but then hit some bumps along the way.

- Taking Kzarka’s soul.

It was through Illezra’s attack on Mediah that people re-discovered Black Spirits as an Actual Thing to be worried about, they were simply legend before.

This is the story of Illezra so far, but what her motivations currently are and her connection to a Black Spirit is still yet to be discovered.