Lifecycles

From childhood through adult and beyond, lifetimes of adventure are yours in Elyria

Elyrians are, for the most part, a healthy breed and, while Children of Mann are not human, their anatomy and physiology is similar to our own. As a result, the typical Elyrian lives to around 70 years old. As result, players get around one real-life year to play as their character, starting around when their character reaches the age of 18.

In Chronicles of Elyria, your character will grow old and eventually permanently die, leaving their mark on history. Aging is a process that every character goes through that has visual indications, attribute changes, and gameplay effects. While alive, you must choose your actions carefully, as each in-game death reduces your overall lifespan and brings your character that much closer to permanent death, or "permadeath."

Each of your characters is given approximately 70 years of life before death takes its toll and the soul its freed to return to the Akashic Record, but the journey doesn't end there: In Chronicles of Elyria, you play the soul, not body.

Not All Deaths Are Permanent

During everyday play if you are struck down by a wild beast, surrender to thirst, or are felled in combat, that "death" is a mere Incapacitation. Incapacitation renders the character unconscious for a short period of time. It is similar to dying in other games when your health is dropped to zero. If, while incapacitated, someone takes advantage of your unconscious state and chooses to strike a killing blow, you'll experience Spirit Walking. This splits your soul from your body and your connection to the physical world slowly deteriorates as time goes on. Once you enter the Astral Plane, you'll see a small silver cord which will lead you to your body where you can join the living once again.

The Soul Carries On

Souls are tangible, real things in Chronicles of Elyria, with their own memories of their past lives and the skills they developed there. They are also eternal, enduring even past the deaths of the character's they bring to life. With each lifetime they experience, the strength of the soul increases and this strength, coupled with the knowledge they have gained in their last lifetime, carries over into future characters.

This defines the cycle of souls: A spark of life awakens a soul and imbues a physical body with it to become a new character in Elyria. Together soul and character learn new skills and gain new experiences over the course of a character's lifetime. When death inevitably claims the character at last, the soul returns to the Akashic Record, waiting for a spark of life to begin the cycle again with a new character.

Grow Stronger Each Lifetime

The soul carries with it an echo of the knowledge it has gained and the skills it has learned. These echoes are a boon to the next lifetime as the new character can draw upon on these past experiences and apply what the soul has learned to its own efforts, accelerating the pace of learning and allowing that character to attain higher levels of skill mastery than it could on its own. The cycle of souls, as embodied by the soul's memory of its past lives, enables you to attain skills and master them over the course of several lifetimes, opening the door to acquiring skills that are impossible to learn any other way and reach new heights in skills already known.