#carian study hall

[grrudu]

Entre-terre, jour 40.

#elden ring #entre-terre #the lands between #Salle d'Etude de Caria #Carian study hall

[how-and-why-do-i-know-this]

WOAH!! THE STUDY HALL'S UPSIDE DOWN

#andy plays elden ring #elden ring liveblog #elden ring #carian study hall

[amielganger]

Sights from around The Lands Between

Limgrave: Precipice of Anticipation

Limgrave: Fort Gael and Fort Haight. Also, lamppost that *definitely* isn’t someone using a mimic veil

 Divine Tower of Liurnia and Carian Study Hall

Altus Plateau: Dominula, Windmill Village

Caelid: Redmane Castle

Mountaintops of the Giants

Ainsel River: Nokstella, Eternal City

#elden ring #liurnia #limgrave #altus plateau #caelid #mountaintops of the giants #ainsel river #precipice of anticipation #carian study hall #dominula #redmane castle #nokstella #divine tower of liurnia #screenshots #video games

[thistoowillpasss]

#Elden Ring #carian study hall

[slavonicrhapsody]

What was life as a member of Caria like? It’s weird that, despite ruling over the academy, they have their own study hall and preceptors on the exact opposite side of the region to Caria manor. At any rate — I would assume Caria went through like, four phases? Pre-academy, post establishment as royalty, and then Rennala’s children with Radagon. And of course to the present day.

I’m so glad you asked… this was the perfect opportunity for me to start organizing a collection of Carian-related lore text and I went a little insane and wrote an entire treatise on Carian culture. I hope you enjoy this frighteningly in-depth wizard family analysis

CARIAN CULTURE AND PRACTICES

We know that the Carians were descended from a group of astrologers who lived in the Mountaintops of the Giants, implied by the Sword of Night and Flame (the Carian royal family’s ancestral sword) description: “Astrologers, who preceded the sorcerers, established themselves in mountaintops that nearly touched the sky, and considered the Fire Giants their neighbors.” This group of astrologers must have at some point migrated down to Liurnia and established a society there.

I get the impression that the Carian astrologers might have once been quite numerous, since as you say, the Carian study hall is rather far from Caria Manor — perhaps at their height, they were pretty spread out across Liurnia. I’ve also said before that the Carian Filigreed Crest description might imply other layers of nobility and a wider society among the Carian astrologers, as it mentions Carian knights guarding multiple “princesses” (it’s also possible that “princess” was a noble title among Carian society before Rennala established herself as a queen, as the Discarded Palace Key description is said to be “passed down to Carian princesses” but Rennala was the first Carian queen).

Speaking of princesses, there is strong evidence that Caria was a matriarchal society: though we don’t have much information about Carian society, in the few scraps we have, only queens and princesses are ever mentioned. We also know that Ranni is the youngest child, and yet Iji names her as heir to Caria, suggesting that she might have primogeniture over her older brothers. The Carians also have ties to the Nox people (affinity for the night/moon/stars, the art of puppetry/fate manipulation, silver tear technology at Raya Lucaria and in the Albinaurics, the Nox Swordstress statue in the Church of Vows), which also seems to be a matriarchal society judging by the fact that the Night Maidens and Swordstresses are the highest clerical ranks.

There are many other details that characterize Liurnia as a unique region in the Lands Between that developed apart from the Erdtree: I’ve mentioned before that the nobles in Altus and Limgrave dress in distinctive robes…

This style of dress does not appear anywhere among Liurnians. Instead, the Carians and their knights dress in a distinct color scheme of royal blue and red, ornamented with glintstone in different shades. The sorcerers of Raya Lucaria also dress in the same red and blue, and I think that this style of dress actually comes directly from the Carians! The Queen’s robe item description is stated to be a “robe indicating the highest order of sorcerer.” We also know that the Academy’s name “Raya Lucaria” itself is named for the Carian royal family, no doubt added when Rennala took over. So it makes sense that the Carians had influence over the sorcerers’ uniform too!

Liurnian characters also have a distinctive way of speaking apart from the rest of the Lands Between; every single Liurnian character in the game is played by a Welsh voice actor speaking in their native accent (including both Raya Lucarian sorcerers and Carian-affiliated characters).

The Carians’ standout trait is their mastery of astrology and glintstone sorcery — they craft their own spells and use a distinct royal blue glintstone. Their knights were renowned for their skill in both swordsmanship and sorcery, and notably, some of the Carian knights are trolls, who are viewed as equals in Carian society! Another important magical role is the office of preceptor, which directly served the royal family as experts on reading fate within the stars. Lastly, as I mentioned earlier, The Carians had great influence over the Academy. After charming the sorcerers with her lunar magic, Rennala presided over a new sorcerers’ conspectus: called the Lazuli conspectus, these Academy sorcerers studied Carian sorceries and believed the moon to be equal to the stars.

GOLDEN ORDER INFLUENCE

Power dynamics in Carian society changed drastically when the Golden Order sent Radagon to subjugate Liurnia, and Rennala ended up marrying him: there was a peace brokered between Caria and Leyndell, symbolized by the entwining gold branches and blue glintstone of the Glintstone Kris, a “ritual blade once presented to Leyndell by the Academy of Raya Lucaria to celebrate their newfound peace.”

This peace began an era of coexisting ideas… As Rogier says, “the Golden Order was pliable enough to absorb practices that contradicted itself in the past.” Radagon himself began to learn sorcery from Rennala, and he also had an authority over the royal preceptors (commanding them to don masks as a vow of secrecy). Golden Order devotion also began to spread through Liurnia alongside sorcery. The Converted tower and the Converted Fringe tower in Liurnia show a coexisting of Golden Order faith and glintstone sorcery — there is a statue of Marika inside, and to complete the puzzle, the erudition gesture must be performed in front of her.

This theme of entwining cultures is also reflected in the Carian royal family themselves — Rennala and Radagon’s three children inherit two lineages, the moon and the Erdtree, entangled in their very blood.

Unfortunately though, this was not exactly an equal partnership… though Caria manages to stay independent, they are now inextricably tied to the Golden Order, which was not always a good thing. The telescope item states that “during the age of the Erdtree, Carian astrology withered on the vine. The fate once writ in the night skies had been fettered by the Golden Order.” Whether this description is referring to Radahn or not is a whole other post, but the simple fact is that the Golden Order is the reason why the Carians’ power is in decline. The three royal children also seemed to struggle with their dual heritages and loyalties, especially Ranni as both heir to Caria and an empyrean of the Greater Will.

Of course, we know that in the end Radagon essentially dealt the death blow to Caria’s influence in Liurnia. The Queen’s robe description states that when Radagon left Rennala, her heart went with him, “and then, those at the academy realized. That Rennala was no champion, after all.” Rennala’s weakness led the Academy to rebel against the Carian royal family and launched Liurnia into civil war. And with Rennala’s heir killing herself in the Night of the Black Knives, and the Shattering war breaking out, Caria’s power is now a shadow of its former self.

#asks #elden ring #elden ring lore #carian royal family #rennala #re: the accents rykard does not have a welsh VA but he gets a pass because he barely sounds human anyway. snake accent

[blaiddfailcam]

Fun lunar observations in Elden Ring:

There are two moons in the game. Normally, only one is visible in the northeast, but when visiting the Moonlight Altar, a second moon appears simultaneously to the north.

The northeast moon appears eclipsed by the Erdtree when viewed from Rennala's chamber or the Church of Vows.

In fact, a straight line can be drawn over the map that reveals that Rennala, the Church of Vows, the Erdtree (and therefore Radagon), the Forge of the Giants, and the northeast moon are all aligned.

Likewise, the north moon reveals an alignment of Ranni's Two Fingers, Rennala (or perhaps the Dark Moon Ring), and the Royal Moongazing Grounds at Caria Manor.

The stone astrolabe at the north side of the Cathedral of Manus Celes points directly toward this north moon. (Most of the stone astrolabes throughout the Lands Between reveal similar lore echoes.)

The northeast moon also aligns with Radahn's spawn point in Wailing Dunes and the impact crater from the meteor that falls after his defeat.

The way that the Erdtree eclipses the northeast moon resembles Radahn and Rykard's Great Runes—a sphere divided by a vertical line passing through the left side.

The northeast moon also connects the Divine Tower of Liurnia and the Carian Study Hall.

I'm always surprised so few people have noticed these details, given how heavily astrology plays into the world of Elden Ring. It also goes to show how meticulously the world map was planned if key characters, items, and locations were placed specifically to echo the lore.

Anyway, all this moon talk has me sleepy. Goodnight!

#elden ring #from software #my ramblings

[localsya]

Wake up bestie its lore time. So, i was wondering what about all those stones in marika’s chambers, taking a look around i could see there was also scripts in the ground, like if someone had been  writting/reading in there and just left them cause they were unimportant, after all its paper, unlike the other ones stored in the room.

i also took notice on how the writing is very clear, very runic-like, and i was curious if it was the common spoken language in the lands between, turns out, it is but only half way through it.   I visited the alexandria library of elden ring aka. the Carian Study Hall to check on the book pages, the writting is different, much more composed and the kind of pen used its different too, that only besides the wider parts of the paragraphs.

Next parade was Stormveil and the Raya Lucaria Academy, the writting was similar to the one found in Liurnia -Carian Study Hall-

Which made me think, maybe the language Marika was using, either for reading/writting, is different to other known languages, i checked the BlackKnife blade print, since Black Knife assasins are also Numen kind, and the runes inscripted in the blades are indeed, similar to Marika’s writting.

BUT, as soon as i got to check the notes the merchant nomades sell you, and the official monuments to commemorate certain events, are also written in the rune kind of alphabet.

This may indicate that after Marika’s conquest, she either learned the language of Leyndell, or she stablished her mother tongue as the ruling one, which is most likely cause the whole ER story is just religious colonialism.  SO NOW TO THE POINT, why does Marika has so many stones in her bedroom, i took a closer look at them and they are written in a different language, more refined on the edges as if they were more polished, like writting normally to then writte italics.

So since Marika and the Numen kind are clearly Roman/Old Greek oriented, i took a look at the ancient alphabets. This is how Greek “cancilleresco” (sorry i dont know the english word) looks like on paper.

And this is ancient greek from athens looked like written rough 

Obviously is very different, but, why would the Queen make “drafts” of the writtings in common letters before turning them to italics on stone? WELL, HOLD UR PANTS DARLING, in ancient greece, at some point the laws were only chantered by voice, which greatly benefits the aristocracy ofc, however, this changed with the arrival of Draco, the very first lawgiver, known to have written the most brutal laws that the ancient greece ever got to see, he was the first one that firstly wrote his laws on wood, as “drafts” and then, he did on stones, the image above is a part of them. They were known as the “Draconian Laws” 

These laws where known for being specially cruel and ruthless, very extreme, some examples were that minor crimes like stealing bread, meant death, or -this part specially relevant in ER- if someone was in debt, they person they owned had the right to take them as slaves (heavy coughs , trolls, bla bla bla you know you know). /EDIT took away albinaurics, @dankesdarkman​ corrected me about their position and they dont fall under the category of slaves. So, IN CONCLUSION, i wouldn’t be surprised that the table stones we found in Marika’s chambers are her laws, the equivalent of Draconian laws written in blood for how cruel they were. Its a really pretty comparison taking on point a good chunk of Marika’s character is old greek/roman oriented, the very architecture of Leyndell speaks by itself. That was today’s ted talk tyvm, Marika’s stones are the equivalent of “laws written in blood” Gn gamers.

#elden ring #text #its theory time baby #im just a girl that likes texts and pens and writting and languages leave me alone #in conclusion its queen marika ao3 collection #her entire enemies to lovers archive ikr

[miirshroom]

Mushroom Vision

I am going to attempt explaining how there is an entire vast segment of environmental storytelling in Elden Ring that is going unremarked upon. It isn't just about mushrooms. But that's where I first took notice, so that's where I will start in this post.

The above is the view from a mushroom on the entry ramp to Raya Lucaria, just above where the merchant is sitting. This was maybe my 3rd or 4th random stop back when I decided to appreciate the scenery from the point of view of the mushroom (for fun!). It is an example of perfect framing for elements in the far distance:

The North Liurnia Minor Erdtree

The Church of Vows

The Erdtree

But really, it's "perfect" framing of only the Erdtrees - the Church of Vows is blocked from view and hidden by a stone pillar with a quatrefoil symbol on it. This is a noticeable trend at many mushroom spots - it would be a great view...except there is a nearby tree or a piece of stone exactly in front of one element in the far distance. The perspectives seen from these mushrooms are missing the full picture. Rotating to the left on top of the same mushroom, there is also a perfectly clear view of the Bellum Gate in front of Mt. Gelmir.

Setting the scene a bit more, the ramp is heavily forested, populated by 4 packs of wolves (numbering 3, 3, 3, and 5 including the white wolf in the group lowest down the ramp), then the Isolated Merchant, a Trina's Lily, a corpse with 2 strips of white flesh, and right inside the impassible gate is a Bloodhound Knight guarding a corpse holding Celestial Dew. The sealed entry to the ramp is looking directly towards the Cathedral of Manus Celes.

Also, there is a second mushroom on the bridge which has a view of the Church of Vows restored, but instead this one is blocked from viewing Mt. Gelmir. The Church of Vows is directly aligned with Morgott/Mohg's Divine Tower. This mushroom is between the 2nd and 3rd wolf pack.

Paying attention to the mushrooms also calls attention to something else interesting. There are 4 stone viewing spots built into the ramp face - the two middle ones occurring at those two mushroom spots, one at the top of the ramp just before the 1st wolf pack, and one at the bottom of the ramp between the merchant and the bloodhound knight.

The lowest of these viewing points has a clear view at the Erdtree (nearest to the gate). Also from this vantage point the Liurnia North Minor Erdtree is in alignment with the withered Minor Erdtree in the Altus Plateau:

The highest viewing point near the top of the ramp has views of Mt. Gelmir, Bellum highway Gate, and the Wandering Mausoleums:

In the photos of the first mushroom (lower ramp) I placed more emphasis on the Erdtrees, as this is the view obtained by looking directly at the minor Erdtree. See below as rotated to face the pillar directly, which corrects for peripheral vision picking up certain distant objects that do not actually have direct sightline to the mushroom.

And like at the upper ramp mushroom, the transparency of the Erdtree is accounted for in what is visible from this vantage point. From the corrected viewpoint Rykard's Divine Tower is also completely obscured by the pillar and Morgott/Mohg's Divine Tower is not only behind the Erdtree, but also behind a conveniently placed rock spear. Rotating to the right, a clear view of Liurnia Divine Tower and just the top of the Isolated Divine Tower. Caelid Divine Tower is obscured by the Carian Study Hall, and Limgrave Divine Tower is exactly behind the steeple of a pillar.

So what does it matter exactly, that landmarks are blocked from certain locations? Good question! I am trying to understand this! It seems to me quite obvious from the framing of this one small corner of the map that care is being taken to craft these vistas in a certain way. Perhaps travelling up the ramp is telling a story in sequence. Perhaps there is one story told from the balcony spots while a second lens is placed on the story from the mushroom spots.

Overall, what I see are pieces of an environmental puzzle deliberately crafted at hundreds of locations. Just from mushrooms alone. But there is no reason to stop at mushrooms - I know that some people are already taking interest in the locations of Trina's Lilies and Miquella's Lilies, but has any attempt been made to really consider what is visible (or not visible) from their locations? The things that NPC's can see from their vantage points, the directions that corpses are looking and the items they hold, the view of the divine towers from rebirth monuments (previously discussed in a different post) all seem to be carefully planned. Rowa bushes are very frequently found in pairs, and at almost every location I've checked so far across Limgrave there will be something clearly visible from one bush that is just barely out of sight from the other.

For anyone wondering whether Elden Ring actually innovated on anything compared to Dark Souls? It's this. Literally - it's the depth of environmental storytelling.

#elden ring #environmental storytelling #mushroom vision #wandering around looking at stuff is more fun than making posts #but sometimes the findings need to be documented #this is basically the same skillset that I use for taking photos documenting site conditions for work lol

[thequeenofthewinter]

Carian Study Hall

We love a good spooky library.

#elden ring #clearly I’m not supposed to be here yet #shortly after this we ran away #lisinia the tarnished #winter plays elden ring

[maulthots]

Inverted carian study hall. Sexy conceptually, not sexy in reality. i.e. those ledges are so skinny. One could just fall right off them eight times in a row.

#cathy plays elden ring

[spiralcloudpassage]

letting blaidd fuck me till i cry in the carian study hall after hexes 103 and then sprinting to thursday night mass with radagon because i don't want to miss his sermon on the wonders of the gilded camel crush

#elden ring #compendium

[how-and-why-do-i-know-this]

I have made it through the inverted study hall and am on my way to the Divine Tower of Liurnia.

#andy plays elden ring #elden ring liveblog #elden ring #carian study hall #divine tower of liurnia

[luckyberet]

Marylin hiding behind books while mean sorcerers of Carian Study hall shoot arrows and summon spirits at her. She casts comets in return.

“I just want to learn secrets of Sorcery why are you all so hostile! If knowledge is not spread, it dies!”

#✧* .IC. *✧ #.V.Elden Ring(tba) #|| it's wild wizard battle

[thistoowillpasss]

#splatted #elden ring #carian study hall be like lol. lmao.

[slavonicrhapsody]

it’s so interesting to me how the sorcerers of raya lucaria and the carians aren’t just magicians, but they’re also mechanical engineers… like raya lucaria has that huge wheel and the marionette soldiers that the sorcerers created, and the carian study hall is designed to flip completely upside down.

and then you look at rykard, who has some of the most advanced tech of anyone in the lands between… it’s likely that he as a carian prince had studied their engineering, and then built off of that knowledge when designing his abductor virgins, weapons, and volcano manor itself. it also makes sense because the sorcerers’ marionettes look very rickety and often malfunction (as if they’re very early forms of technology), while the abductor virgins have a very sleek, efficient performance and a highly ornamented design. it’s a really cool potential progression of technology!!

#elden ring #raya lucaria #rykard #rykard lord of blasphemy #hyperfocuses on random ER visual design details to procrastinate my assignments

[blaiddfailcam]

I've been thinking about this shot from the gameplay trailer showing what looks to be a boss battle with a Fire Prelate in the Raya Lucaria Debate Hall, in place of the Red Wolf of Radagon.

In concept art, Raya Lucaria and the Carian glintstones were depicted with a red motif; the windows of the academy glowed an eerie scarlet. In the Forbidden Lands, embers dance about the air in a fiery aurora similarly to the blue wisps above Raya Lucaria, perhaps offering a glimpse of its former aesthetic direction. I wonder if in an earlier draft, the academy had more of a focus on use of fire?

We do know that the Astrologers descended from the Mountaintops of the Giants, where they lived in harmony with the Fire Giants. In the present, teems of Fire Monks and flame witches have arrived in Liurnia in pursuit of Adan, who absconded with the secret of the Fell God's flame. (Given that he wears a Fire Prelate's armor sans the symbolic red dress, I wonder if the boss depicted in the trailer was once intended to be Adan?)

I always wondered why exactly the Erdtree was positioned directly between Rennala and the Forge of the Giants, but it could be that in early development, the Carians still harbored a strong connection to fire, and thus Radagon worked to suppress their destiny to rise against the Erdtree. There are certainly still traces of this in the final game, though flame sorcery was relegated solely to Rykard's heretical studies of magma.

It's a bit if an interesting shift in lore presentation. Admittedly, I do feel the Fire Prelate would have made at least a little more sense than a random red wolf, lol. But I guess they wanted more of an explanation as to why they use Glintblade sorcery? Or they wanted players to face more consistent element types in the area, and splitting hazards between magic and fire would be a bit overbearing.

#elden ring #my ramblings