The Guides ◆ Avowed ◆ Lore
Lore Compendium
The world behind the game — Eoran theology, the gods, the Dreamscourge fully explained, and the Living Lands' place in a centuries-old conflict. Essential for new players. A different view for Pillars veterans.
Contains story spoilers beyond Act 1 · April 2026
Eora — The World
Eora is a world where the gods are real, observable, and active — not matters of faith but documented historical actors who intervened in mortal affairs within living memory. Eoran civilization is shaped by this fact in ways that make it fundamentally different from most fantasy settings. There is no "does god exist?" debate. The question is what the gods want, and whether you can survive the answer.
The world has a soul — literally. Eora's metaphysics hold that souls are a physical substance, Animancy is the science of studying and manipulating souls, and death is not an end but a transition through the Wheel — Eora's cycle of reincarnation. Every living being has a soul. When they die, that soul passes through the Beyond, is judged by Berath (god of death), and eventually returns in a new life. The Living Lands sit at a fracture point in this system.
Eora's cycle of rebirth. Souls are born, live, die, pass through the Beyond, and return. Berath governs this passage. Anything that disrupts the Wheel — trapping souls, preventing death, or forcibly cycling souls outside their time — is among the most severe transgressions in Eoran theology.
The scientific study of souls. Controversial throughout Eora — some nations banned it as sacrilegious; others fund it as a military asset. The Aedyran Empire's relationship with Animancy is complicated by political necessity: it's useful for war but unsettling to the religious establishment.
A crystalline mineral that forms at sites of high soul-energy concentration. Adra conducts soul energy, stores it, and can be used to reformat a soul's attributes — which is why Adra pools allow attribute respeccing. The Living Lands has unusually high Adra concentrations, which is partly why both Aedyr and the Dreamscourge are drawn to it.
The realm between death and rebirth. Not heaven — a transitional space governed by Berath. Gods themselves reside in an adjacent realm called the Void. The boundary between the Beyond, the Void, and the living world is thinner in the Living Lands than anywhere else in Eora. This is not metaphor. It is the source of most of the game's problems.
The Gods of Eora
Eora has twelve named gods, each governing a domain. They created Godlike — mortals touched by their influence — and they occasionally intervene directly in mortal affairs, though rarely with clarity of purpose. The gods relevant to Avowed:
The dual-aspected god of death and passage — sometimes depicted as two figures sharing one body. Berath governs the Wheel and ensures souls cycle correctly through rebirth. His/her Godlike (Death Godlike) are feared across Eora as walking omens. Berath's interest in the Dreamscourge is direct: anything that traps souls in dream-states prevents them from completing the Wheel.
God of the hunt and the frontier — the force that drives living things to compete, survive, and become stronger. Galawain has a strong presence in the Living Lands through its indigenous peoples, whose traditional beliefs align more closely with his domain than with Aedyran theology. Nature Godlike are his marked, and the Sacred Stair bears his name in its deepest zone.
Goddess of fire and martial craft. Magran's worship is prevalent in the Aedyran military and among smiths and soldiers. Fire Godlike — her marked — are common among Aedyran veteran lineages. Her relationship with the Dreamscourge is adversarial: fire destroys the dream-substance the Scourge is built from, which is why fire damage is generically effective against Spirit enemies.
Goddess of the depths and the mercy of forgetting. Ondra takes memories — she offers peace through oblivion, which makes her beloved by those who suffer and disturbing to scholars. Moon Godlike carry her mark as a kind of perpetual reminder that all things eventually pass. Her Silver Tide passive reflects her domain: she keeps pulling her chosen back from the edge of loss.
Goddess of oaths and legitimate authority. Woedica is significant backstory in Pillars of Eternity — she was overthrown by the other gods and her influence fragmented. The Aedyran Empire's legal and political structure reflects her traditional domain, and her absence from active divine intervention is felt in how Aedyran institutions struggle with legitimacy questions throughout the game.
The Dreamscourge — What It Actually Is
The Dreamscourge presents as a plague — victims fall into catatonic states, trapped in endless nightmares they cannot wake from. Their bodies remain alive. Their souls are absent, cycling in an internal dream-loop rather than existing in the waking world. The Aedyran Empire classified it as a disease and sent an investigation (you). This is wrong in the most consequential way possible.
The Dreamscourge is not a disease. It is a divine exhalation — the breath of an ancient divine entity that has been sleeping beneath the Living Lands since before Aedyr existed. This entity, the Dreaming God (the final boss), predates Eora's current theological framework. It is not one of the twelve recognized gods. It is something older, something the current gods have no consensus on how to handle, and something that the indigenous peoples of the Living Lands knew existed and built their entire spiritual tradition around containing.
When the entity's dream-state intensifies — which it does cyclically, like a sleeping person entering REM — its dream-substance bleeds through the thin barrier between the Beyond and the living world in the Living Lands. Mortals caught in it have their souls partially drawn into the dream. Not killed — suspended. Their souls are cycling in dream-loops rather than the Wheel. Berath cannot collect them. Galawain cannot drive them to survive. They are outside the system.
The Living Lands — A History
The Living Lands are geographically remote from the established nations of Eora — separated by ocean and difficult terrain. They were known to exist for centuries before Aedyr formalized colonization, largely through trade contact with the peoples already there. The indigenous communities had been living in the Living Lands, building their cultures around the unique metaphysical properties of the land, for generations.
Aedyran colonization arrived approximately 40 years before the game's events. The official justification was resource extraction and expansion of imperial territory. The actual trigger was the discovery of the Living Lands' unusually high Adra concentrations — for an empire investing heavily in Animancy research, this was strategically significant. The indigenous peoples had known about the Adra. They had also known about the Dreaming God, and about why the Adra concentrations existed where they did.
The colonial period created the political structure you navigate in the game: Aedyran settlers and military with institutional authority, the Paradis independence movement emerging from both settlers who turned against the colonial project and indigenous people allying with them, the Steel Garrote as an imperial internal security force operating with extra-legal latitude, and the indigenous communities navigating all of it while trying to maintain their relationship with land that is literally spiritually active.
The Kith — Eora's Peoples
Eora uses the term Kith (meaning "those who know") for all sapient peoples. Six Kith races exist in Avowed:
| Race | Description | Presence in Living Lands |
|---|---|---|
| Human | Most populous Kith. Span all social classes and factions. | Dominant among Aedyran colonists and Paradis equally. |
| Aumaua | Physically large, seafaring people. Two subspecies: Ocean and Island. | Common among frontier settlers; strong Paradis presence. |
| Dwarf | Stocky, deeply traditional culture. Strong crafting and trade heritage. | Dawnshore and Emerald Stair settlements; merchant class. |
| Orlan | Smallest Kith, keen senses, historically marginalized in Aedyr. | Significant indigenous community presence in Sacred Stair. |
| Elves (Pale/Wood/Death) | Three subtypes with distinct cultural identities. Long-lived. | Wood Elves have deep roots in the Living Lands pre-colonization. |
| Godlike | Any Kith marked by a god at birth. Physically distinct. You. | Uncommon but significant — the Dreamscourge investigation draws attention to them. |