Dragon Nest Lore Talk

Welcome back, fellow adventurers.

If you remember, we had a massive thread on the Old Forums that allowed players to discuss the lore of Dragon Nest. Calling it a successful project is an understatement; during the transition stage of the game to its new publisher, it had 7,403 replies and a massive 1,043,993 views, making it one of the most active and longest-running threads in the Old Forums. And now, with the move to a new forums, we'll have a new place to discuss Dragon Nest lore.

But we have some things to do before we can finally settle down.

Currently, Verbena, one of the moderators of the Old Forums, did not guarantee a publisher-side archive of the Old Lore Talk thread. So first off, I request those who have online archives of the old thread to have the links posted here. For the meantime, I'll have the Old Dragon Nest Lore Talk thread linked to remind those from the old forums. Alternately, we can just use the DNSEA Wiki to document most things that we need. (The DNSEA Wiki also has articles on more Dragon Nest-related things.)

Spoiler scholars, newbies and experienced players, welcome! This thread is the place to go if you're interested in knowing more about the story of Dragon Nest, from Altea's poisoning to the advances of the Apostles of the Red Dragon and the Dragon Followers to the ongoing campaigns in Mistland.

Let's talk about the lore of Dragon Nest.

The Story So Far: The Saga of Vestinel [Levels 80-93]

With the threat of Feder and the Dragon Followers finally vanquished in Lagendia, peace is slowly returning to Altea's dreamworld. However, the gate connecting Lagendia to Mistland is still open, and while there is a way to keep the gate closed from Lagendia's side, there is no guarantee that the same can be said on Mistland's side. In order to secure the Monolith for certain, the adventurers travel to Mistland through dimensional rifts opened by the Priestesses of Darkness, and they stumble upon Merca's Heart, a bustling merchant town in Mistland. Immediately, they discover that Mistland isn't the harsh dreamworld they were told about.

Not long after, they discover the ongoing conflicts in Mistland between the Anti-Goddess Faction, people who hold the "goodwill of Lagendia" in their hearts, and the Holy Edart Empire, who worship the will of their creator-goddess Vestinel. In this conflict, siblings Hiver and Grele struggle to live impoverished lives as commoners, while the sudden appearance of the adventurers is sought after by the leader of Merca's Heart, Vernicka, who would use their skills in combat to maintain a precarious power balance between opposing forces. After much suffering, Hiver started taking a more aggressive stance by joining the Anti-Goddess Faction, but her death in the hands of the forces of Tryan, who rules the region around Merca's Heart, causes a change in Grele. After killing Tryan in an act of vengeance, Grele becomes a Child, a powerful being of Mistland whose will is directly connected to Vestinel herself. In a painful irony, Hiver was also turned into a Child, and due to the power-hungry nature of Childs, Hiver and Grele would find themselves in constant conflict with each other.

As Hiver started becoming elusive, Grele, who manages to keep Vestinel's control in check, joins the adventurers in a sprawling refugee town south of Merca's Heart called Rhadames. Here, the adventurers help the leader of the Anti-Goddess Faction, Norfe, to deal with forces affiliated to the Holy Edart Empire while facing the problem of Rubinart's corruption. Sadly, even Norfe's expertise in technology and medicine can only slow down Rubinart's condition, and as the original Red Dragon loses control of his actions, he falls in the hands of Vestinel, in the form of Pitya, the Oracle of the Holy Edart Empire. However, to the surprise of the adventurers, the barrier that has been keeping the forces of Mistland at bay has strengthened, and there may be still hope in saving Rubinart by looking for an artifact called the Chalice of Healing.

The new quest for the Chalice of Healing enters several complications. Mamon, another powerful Child leading her own piece of the empire, started her movements, while the adventurers discover actions of treachery from within the Anti-Goddess Faction. Hiver and Grele reunite, but only for Hiver to push Grele into one of Mamon's traps. Grele survived the ordeal, but Mamon uses his jewel to transform into the Rune Dragon, and it was revealed soon after by Vernicka that the trap was a part of his plan to have Hiver killed. This action severely frayed the ties between Vernicka and the Anti-Goddess Faction, and the adventurers find themselves lost over who to trust in their journey within Vestinel's dreamworld.

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