Editing Kingdoms of Amalur

{{/V/}}
{{stub}}

'''Kingdoms of Amalur''', more properly known as ''Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning'', is a single-player action RPG for PC, PlayStation 3 and XBox 360 (and also Nintendo Switch, under the re-release title "Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning"). Created by a team-up between Ken Rolston (the guy who designed [[The Elder Scrolls]] 3 and 4), Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn and Image Comics), and [[R.A. Salvatore]], it released in 2012 and... didn't do too well, though it managed to release two DLCs - ''Teeth of Naros'' and ''The Legend of Dead Kel'' - before the developers went under. It was acquired in 2018 by THQ Nordic and brought back in 2020 as a revamp, with plans for a new DLC - ''Fatesworn'' to be released in 2021.

The game is set on the titular world of Amalur, although ''Reckoning'' specifically is set in the Faelands; a coastal region to the south of the Frostbreak Sea that is the traditional homeland of the [[Fey]] Kingdoms, with the Summer Fae ("Seelie") divided from their Winter Fae ("Unseelie") relatives by a vast inland sea called Driana's Vein, which also divides the southern realms of Alfaria (homeland of the Alfar) and Fortenmar (homeland of a human kingdom). It takes place many years into a long and bloody war between mortals and a newly arisen fae faction; the Tuatha Deohn, who seek to exterminate all mortal races.

With the ability of the fae to resurrect rapidly after being slain, the war would be demoralizing enough. But what makes Amalur so unique amongst settings is that Fate is a very real and central power; Destiny is a palpable force, and though there are individuals who are capable of touching this magical power, their title of "Fateweavers" is more grandiose than they deserve; they're little more than [[diviner]]s, because all they can do is tell you what is going to happen. With 100% accuracy. Because if something is Fated to happen in Amalur? It '''will''' happen.

As all divinations by all the Fateweavers of the world are saying that the world is going to end and the Tuatha are going to win, the mood in the Faelands is pretty damn bleak.

And that's when the player comes in...

==Races of Amalur==
Amalur is full of many different races, though in ''Reckoning'' only four - the Almain and Varani [[human]] ethnicities and the Alfar - are playable. Some are only known from concept material or in-game references, such as the Apotharni [[centaur]]s and the Hylaran [[lizardfolk]]

===Humans===
It's implied there are other ethnicities beyond the ones detailed here, but these are the only ones who receive any major attention.

The '''Almain''' are a warlike and highly religious [[human]] people dedicated to the worship of Mitharu, God of Order, above all things. With a social and religious abhorrence of chaos, they tend to be the most uneasy at interacting with their fae neighbors.

The '''Varani''' are [[Vikings]]; seafaring mercenaries, pirates, traders and wanderers, they tend to be more flexible but also wilder than their Almain counterparts.

===Alfar===
The [[Elf]] races of the game, the Alfar may look similar to the Fae, but are very much mortal. Originally united into a singular empire, the ljosalfar (light elves) and dokkalfar (dark elves) separated over political strife and disagreements about the best way for their culture to advance. Despite this, there remains strong ties of allegiance between them, and in particular the "Crystal War" has seen them fighting side-by-side against the Tuatha.

'''Ljosalfar''' are characterized by their frigid bluish-purple skin. Although they abhore change, they also revere the principle of justice and have long striven to defend Amalur against chaos and darkness.

'''Dokkalfar''', distinguished by their ashy gray skin and black hair, are far more mentally and morally flexible than their cousins. Whilst they share the ljosalfar love of and skill with magic, they are also master socialites, exploiting their natural charisma as politicians, spies and assassins.

===Shortfolk===
Of the three shorter-than-human humanoid races, only the '''Gnomes''' have a major role in ''Reckoning''. Steadfastedly neutral in the affairs of the other races around them, gnomes are devoted to the concept of learning more about their world around them. They are divided politically into a caste system, consisting of the Scholars (inventors, historians, and other science-y types), the Praetorians (warriors) and the Templars (the leaders). Practical and pragmatic, they are the most advanced and learned race in Amalur.

'''Dverga''' are the dwarves of Amalur, and very unlike dwarves of other worlds. Rather than being mountain-dwelling miners, they're sea-farers who rule the Frostbreak Sea... they're also loathed as a race of pirates and slavers, constantly raiding the other peoples of the sea to drag away their wealth and people to enhance the spread of their own kind. Whilst they never physically appear in ''Reckoning'', they are mentioned repeatedly throughout the Legend of Dead Kel DLC.

Finally, the '''Massariol''' are the halflings of Amalur, though they look more like [[ratfolk|humanoid mice]] (emphasis on the humanoid; picture small, cute hobbit-like humanoids with mouse ears and tails). They were planned for ''Concordance'', a scrapped MMO set in the Kingdoms of Amalur world centuries after the events of ''Reckoning'' but survive in Reckoning through mention in two items; the Brewmaster's Armor Set (magic armor created by being aged in a Massariol-brewed cask of mead) and the Massariol Libations. They are master brewers, especially in the arts of producing fine wine; their kingdom was going to be called "Vino Terra" as a result.

===Giants===
There are a number of bigger-than-average humanoids scattered around Amalur, and lorewise they shared a common culture once in their own lands. Most are just enemies to fight, however.

The most common giants in the Faelands are the '''Jottun'''; hulking, orc-like figures with a magical affinity for ice.

'''Ettins''' are two-headed, blue-skinned giants with an affinity for lightning, and almost as widely spread as jottuns.

'''Bolgans''' are massive, red-skinned giants and the strongest of their kind. They are heavily associated with the Tuatha.

'''Kollossae''' are the only non-evil giants encountered in ''Reckoning''. Introduced in the DLC "Teeth of Naros", they resemble humans with stone-like skin and glowing blue-grey eyes, but twice the height of a normal human. Despite looking like living statues, they are actually flesh and blood creatures, and one NPC even notes that their skin is no more durable than any humanoid's, so they need armor. Originally a savage race of hill giants called the Mairu, the rising power of arcane magic resulted in them developing an innate affinity for pure magical energy, which in turn propelled them into becoming the most civilized giants. They have a very Greek flavor.

===Fae===
Living embodiments of magic and the forces of nature, the fae come in many different forms, many of which are little more than magical beasts. The most advanced fae are the Seelie and Unseelie, which take the form of alfar-like humanoids. Of all creatures, the fae are most closely tied to the power of Fate, which makes them immortal; a slain fae revives fairly quickly. The drawback is that they can't ''change''; a fae essentially gets to live a single life, '''exactly''' the same, for all eternity. A fae is born, it does what it is supposed to do, it dies, and then it's reborn to do it all again.

The Seelie and Unseelie are not entirely oblivious to the fact that this may not actually be the best existence. The player can meet a Unseelie fae, the Maid of Windermere, who points out she's basically condemned to re-enact the role of a villainess in a play told out for real that has repeated itself unchangingly for centuries, if not millennia. You can't entirely blame her for wanting to go off-script and find a way to end this cycle.

Aside from the myriad lesser fae, who make up disposable enemy mooks like trolls and sprites, the major fae races are:

The '''Seelie (Summer Fae)''', embodiments of life, growth, birth, light and warmth. The three most important Seelie Houses are the House of Ballards (a "historical society" where Seelie dedicate themselves to reliving the lives of famous Seelie heroes), the House of Valor (dedicated to the princples of might and honor, fallen after their Champion was killed and their coliseum taken by a human mercenary) and the House of Seasons (mystics dedicated to preserving the great cycle of life, possibly also caring for newly incarnated fae).

The '''Unseelie (Winter Fae)''', embodiments of death, decay, darkness and cold. Though highly feared by most mortals, they aren't evil, they just embody ugly but necessary parts of the natural cycle. After all, if the Unseelie didn't clean away the old and worn out, what room would there be for the Seelie to fill with new life? The three most important Unseelie Houses were the House of Sorrows (spiritualists who worship grief and decay), the House of Vengeance (a warrior society, analogous to the Seelie House of Valor) and the House of Pride (the mightiest witches and warlords of the Unseelie).

The '''Tuatha Deohn''' are a new thing under Amalur's sun. Created when the Unseelie court jester Gadflow discovered a god called Tirnoch and was imbued with her power, he massacred most of the Unseelie, converting many of the survivors to his new religion and warping the reincarnations of those he killed into his followers. The Tuatha are driven to exterminate all mortal races, and their retained fae ability to reincarnate makes their numbers effectively endless; all the Tuatha you kill in one battle will return to fight again the next day.

==Story==
The story opens in the final days of what meta-setting lore calls "The Crystal War"; the great genocidal campaign of the Tuatha fae against the mortal races. For years, the gnomes have been working on an arcane engine, the Well of Souls, that will allow them to revive slain mortal warriors in the same manner that their fae revivals resurrect. For years, their efforts have failed outright at best, and produced flesh-eating zombies at worst.

And then they succeed.

Your character awakens at the peak of a mountain of corpses, having been unceremoniously dumped into the rejects bin with all the others, a complete blank slate that remembers nothing. You swiftly realize that wherever you are, it's under attack as Tuatha burst in and begin massacring the gnomes whilst seeking to tear down the Well of Souls. Fighting your way through their ranks, you escape and meet a Fateweaver named Agarth.

This is when you learn what makes you special. Not so much the fact that you came back from the dead, but what happened to you as a result: you are '''Fateless'''. In a world where Destiny is an inescapable force, you are able to successfully say "Screw Destiny" and carve your own path. And not just your own path! Even ''meeting you'' can destabilize a being's place in the tapestry of Fate, changing their future and allowing them to potentially escape their preordained end - assuming you don't step in and directly change things as you see fit.

In a world Fated to end with the Tuatha's victory, you are the ultimate wild card; the one hope that Fate can be changed and the world saved.

As a result, you are sent east, to fight your way across the western Faelands and then lead the counterattack against the Tuatha, fulfilling many, ''many'' sidequests along the way. Through your powers as the Fateless One, the Tuatha advance is broken, and the forces of men and alfar breach their defenses, pressing on to the Tuatha's stronghold in the heart of Alabastra.

{{spoilers}}

And this is where you learn the truth. The ultimate power behind the Tuatha is Tirnoch; a dragon-goddess with the power to control and shape Fate to her liking. 10,000 years ago, she was sealed in a [[demiplane]] called the Amethyn, and the experience has driven her quite, quite mad. Fueled with vengeance, she created the Tuatha to ravage the world that imprisoned her and set her free.

The Fateless One was originally a member of a secret society that has striven to cover up Tirnoch's existence and maintain her prison for the past 10 thousand years. He attempted a suicide mission to infiltrate Alabastra's capital city of Bhaile and assassinate Gadflow. Instead, Tirnoch killed the Fateless One, which tore them free of the Weave of Fate and caused them to be revived in the Well of Souls. Tirnoch had planned to wait for the Fateless One to return to her, so that she could feast on the bounty of stolen fate that the Fateless One had accumulated and become even mightier than before.

Unfortunately for Tirnoch, this plan backfired on her because she forgot that "being completely free of Fate" meant that the Fateless One's power to say "Screw Destiny" gave the Fateless One ''the power to kill her''. Which the Fateless One promptly did, ripping Tirnoch's destiny out of the Weave of Fate, shaping it into a giant sword, and stabbing her through the heart with it before tossing her corpse back into the Amethyn to rot for all eternity.

If you think about it, this whole Fateless One plan was a pretty stupid plan on Tirnoch's part, since Gadflow was already destined to succeed. Every Fateweaver or other Fate-aware individual in the game emphasizes that the Tuatha's victory and Tirnoch's release is inevitable if Fate is allowed to play to its established end. So creating the Fateless One literally screwed up Tirnoch's entire plan. The only defense we can offer is that she ''is'' bugfuck insane after 10,000 years alone in an empty void.

Anyway, Tirnoch gets skewered, most of the Tuatha die or scatter into the wilderness as insane remnants of their former selves, and the Weave of Fate is seemingly permanently destroyed, leaving Amalur free of Tirnoch's meddling forever.

===The Teeth of Naros===
In this DLC, the Fateless One choose to sign up with a small expedition seeking to explore a cave that supposedly leads to a mysterious valley in the depths of the titular mountain range. After the rest of the expedition party gets picked off, the Fateless One alone makes it to the valley, and discovers it is home to a colony of Kollossae. They attempted to build a floating city here in accordance with a divine prophecy, but failed to complete their masterwork by causing the central divine artifact to rise into the sky with the city. Combined with the fact it killed the last Primos (Priest-King) who tried to raise it, and the Kollossae are feeling pretty bummed out. The Fateless One has to work to raise the artifact and restore the confidence of the Kollossae.