The long-awaited isometricDiablo-esque MMORPG,Lost Ark,is finally out for everyone to experience, and wow are there sure a lot of people playing it. At the time of writing this,there are currently 1,108,025 fully immersed in the world ofLost Ark.And, with such a large audience, the race to level cap has never been stronger.
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Sadly, rushing to level 50 usually also means skipping all dialogue and cutscenes as well(though this is a polarizing choice, it seems). So, let’s go over some of the largest aspects of the background and story so that even the players who skipped everything will still be able to (mostly) follow along. Although, like most MMOs,Lost Ark’sstory is pretty convoluted, so there’s a lot to keep in mind.
Lost Ark’s original lore in Korean seems to differ from the official translated English lore in some ways, so while this is all canon info, not all of it has been “released” to the English version quite yet.Hopefully, this is fixed somewhere down the linesince the setting is so vast.
Arkesia’s Creator & The Origin Of The Universe Itself
First and foremost, let’s talk about the “God” of the world ofLost Ark. Their name was Regulus, and they were an ancient being that used something called the “Primal Ark” to create the universe itself, the infinite sun, and the world eventually known as Arkesia. Regulus created Arkesia with order and light in mind, as well as created Petrania with chaos in darkness in mind to balance it out.
Then, afterward, Regulus split the Ark into seven pieces and gave one to each of the seven other gods in creation:
These Gods then spread out across Arkesia with the Ark pieces, created their own differing races, and went back to live in the realm of the Gods. It’s not really stated in the brief overview of the lore on theofficialLost Arkwebsite, but in the Korean version of the lore, it’s said that Regulus created these gods to manage Arkesia as well as the fact that a God of Chaos, Igharam was Regulus' natural counterpart.
What Is Petrania? How Is It Connected To Arkesia?
To go a bit more into Petrania, it’s sort of like Arkesia’s “shadow” in that it seems to follow a lot of the same rules and seems to almost “mimic” it.
Again, in the Korean translated lore, Igharam, the God of Chaos, was incredibly interested in the power of the Ark, and seemed to shape Petrania in direct opposition of it. So, while Arkesia has light, order, and a variety of different races, Petrania has darkness, chaos, and the ever-adapting Demon race.
Where Did The Guardians Come From?
In that initial age of Regulus' Gods creating a variety of races such as the Lazenith and Holjak, there was a lot of conflict. Whether it was Igharam trying to invade with his Demons, the Holjak stealing a piece of the Ark from the Gods to wage war, or the Lazenith sneaking into the realm of the Gods to an Ark piece to fight off the Holjak, there was fighting everywhere. This conflict is actually how the Holjak became extinct and the Lazenith lost their wings.
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And, in the midst of all this power, chaos, magic, and bloodshed, the rifts between Arkesia and Petrania started to get larger and larger. Igharam took advantage of this and tried to take over Arkesia completely, but the conflict caused more of a reaction than anyone expected. to stop Arkesia’s universe from absorbing Petrania, Igharam retreated with their army, and the seven gods gave their pieces to Regulus to use the Primal Ark to close these rifts. In doing so, the Primal Ark fused with Igharam’s Chaos, and the Guardians were born from this fusion. The Guardians then closed the rifts and went into an endless slumber as their job was done. Later down the line, one Guardian even manages to live alongside humans as well, and this is Luen, the Guardianseen in the Martial Artist Class’opening cinematic.
Kazeros Literally Killed A God
One of the most interesting pieces ofLost Arklore is not mentioned in the English version; thankfully, the same does not apply to the Korean release. If Regulus is the God of Arkesia and Igharam is the God of Petrania, why do all the NPCs in-game only ever talk about a Demon named “Kazeros”? Well, after the events that created the Guardians, Petrania fell into an even deeper state of Chaos, and the already lawless world became a constant battlefield.
Survival of the fittest seemed to be the only rule of this age. But then, a Demon named Kazeros appeared, got Igharam’s most trusted Demons to work against their maker (called Those Who Existed From The Beginning), and literally killed this God of Chaos to become the Lord of the Abyss. Afterward, Kazeros brought order to the Demon World with Those Who Existed From The Beginning, created the Red Moon to mock Arkesia’s sun as well as give Demons more power, and started preparing to invade once again.
The Sacrian Order Started A World War Long Ago
After the Guardians beat back the Demons and Kazeros became Lord of the Abyss, all was well in Arkesia for quite a while. But then, during the peak of humanity’s growth, a group called the Sacrian Order started their Holy War to gather all the pieces of the Ark in the “name of God”. Because humans were flourishing so much, most of the other races such as the Giants, the Slyvain (the Sorceress race), the Umar, and even the Spirits had to band together to hold them off.
This conflict was so massive and so destructive that it awoke the Guardians, who swiftly came down and put a stop to it. Evergrace, the original Guardian, swooped down, punished Sacria, and had other Guardians break into the Sacrian capital to retrieve the Ark pieces. Then, the Guardians forced the Sylvain (who led the other side) to stop the war as well. Afterward, while the Guardians were deciding what to do about this problem, a new, much larger problem arose.
Kazeros Invaded During This Time & Created A Red Moon On Arkesia
During the time of weakness right after the Guardians stopped the Sacrian Order’s war, Kazeros and his army of Demons invaded. Both the Guardians and the races of Arkesia were distracted, weakened, and unprepared for such a large-scale invasion. And, because of this, Kazeros managed to beat back the Guardians and Humans, create a new Red Moon in Arkesia that massively increased his power, and force back the Guardians (and even convert some of them to his side). Thankfully, Seven Heroes (including Luterra and some othersthat players meet throughout the endgame story quests) rose up and worked together with the Guardians over many battles to fight back.
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Eventually, this fight starts to wear down the heroes, but not before they come up with a plan to restore the pieces of the Primal Ark in order to seal Kazeros and push the Demons back to Petrania. They do so with Luterra controlling the restored Ark, and Kazeros' soul abandons his body in order to escape the seal, leaving a corpse behind that humanity seals beneath Mount Antares.
The Delain Have Absorbed The Chaos From The Red Moon Fragments
Once Kazeros was defeated, the Red Moon he created in Arkesia destroyed itself, causing its shards to rain down randomly across the globe. And, anyone who comes into contact with one of these and survives absorbing its power (without going mad in the process) becomes a Delain, a half-human half-demon.
Armen is obviously one of these, but players who skip the story likely don’t know how he became one, or that the Sacrian Order exiled all the Delain to their own country of Feitan.
Players Are Just Chasing The Dragon Balls
Lastly, let’s be honest,the whole main story questline forLost Arkis basically just a search for the Dragon Balls. But, if the Ark pieces were reunited in order to seal Kazeros, how did they get spread out again?
Well, Luterra (along with the Guardians) went through and spread the pieces all around the globe once again, this time sealing them in a variety of ways to verify they don’t fall into unworthy hands. With all the Dragon Balls (Ark Pieces), the player can then create the Primal Ark (summon Shenron) and save the world.
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