Tales of Aeternum are a series of lore videos released by the New World Team, bringing color and background to the world you will explore!
New World released another entry to the Tales of Aeternum series talking about The Corrupted and various insights on where they may have originated from. It offers a few talking points about this highly antagonistic faction of enemies in New World, so we’re going to do exactly that.
We won’t be diving too much into further detailing the lore as with the previous factions, as a lot of it contains plot spoilers. We’re trying to avoid any plot spoilers outside of anything directly tied to the plot. So this enemy faction-focused article will be avoiding it.
The Corrupted
This entry of the Tales of Aeternum series is narrated by Dr. Theophrastus Bombastus. He’s located in a camp that’s in Weaver’s Fen, near the borders of Brightwood and Everfall.
Dr. Theo is extremely correct when he refers to the Corruption as the “scourge of this land”. The Corruption is the game’s main antagonistic faction, comprising a majority of the game’s high level content, being the main faction of enemies fought in Ebonscale Reach, Great Cleave, and Shattered Mountain. They also appear in smaller sections of the other regions, usually areas overrun by the corruption such as the Canary Mine in Everfall.
As he also states, it’s unknown if the Corruption has been here all along. There are other beliefs that it spawned from the inherent evil in humanity. Dr Theo seems to believe the Corrupted’s origin lies in the history of the Ancients and their experiments with Azoth. It is clear however, that the Corrupted are what wiped out the civilization created by the Ancients. Dr Theo warns we could be awaiting the same fate if we’re not careful.
Dr Theo goes on to explain the theories of what the Corruption itself is. Some Believe it’s a malevolent form of Azoth, twisted in some nature. Others believe it to be a parasite that merely feeds off Azoth. The only thing known for sure is that it by some means invades living creatures, turning them into the twisted forms known as the Corrupted to further spread its influence over Aeternum.
Dr Theo continues, mentioning “The Corrupted rally around a figure known as The Tempest”. The in-game lore and especially the main story become all about fighting this entity, so we’ll leave the spoiler filled details out for this specific statement.
It’s also stated that it’s unknown if it’s the corruption or some other means created the Stormwall around the land, which prevents us from leaving Aeternum. Nothing in the in-game lore suggests as such, with more signs of the Angry Earth or Ancients more likely being the main forces behind those.
Any living creature can may fall victim to the Corruption’s influence. However, Dr Theo believe that the dark side of he human psyche make us vulnerable to the Corruption. He also continues to say that emotions like rage, price and greed may even possibly draw the Corruption. There’s a lore entry that line up with this line of thought as well.
The dead claw at our barricades. Sleep deprivation weakens our resolve. All except General Carvalho, who always swore that he would never become Lost.
Today, we finally found out the true extent of his resolve. To save his soul from being Lost, he sold it to Corruption instead. How many years has he spent preparing for this final stand?
Now the nightmare is in here with us, roaring rage at the Lost outside. He’s tearing down our barricades to get at them.
It’s so hard to think. The singing has started again, rising up from under the ground. Am I asleep, or awake?
Nightmares, Templar Leutenant Sato’s Log, Tales of Aeternum
“The only goal the Corrupted appear to have is complete and total subjugation over Aeternum’s inhabitants”, continues Theophrastus, “They have long lost any connection to their humanity.” It’s very likely that they are still human, as they mostly take on human forms; however they’ve succumbed to some force or ritual that made them corrupted. It’s possible they may have become blind with rage as the above lore entry shows is possible.
Dr. Theophrastus warns, the Corrupted Priest are the ones that lead the Corruption, using dark magic to control living beings. Perhaps this is why the other Corrupted are cited as both savage and brutal, while also being cunning fighters capable of tactics and trickery.
Dr. Theophrastus concludes by talking about Empress Zhou Tai Ying, who rules over Ebonscale Reach. This is also another character of note with a lot of plot spoilers to them despite having a lot of lore surrounding her. It is said however, that she has amassed an army and a fleet of ships with the goal of spreading her influence across more of Aeternum.
This starts going into areas of plot that are best covered when talking about the Dynasty Shipyard Expedition. This endgame expedition will have you dealing more with Empress Zhou Tai Ying and her army.
Below you can watch the New World: Tales of Aeternum – The Corrupted video.
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