Lore: Yaesha

Yaesha is a continent that has been referenced in all of the Remnantverse games, including Chronos. It is a densely forested world inhabited by the Pan, who colonized it while fleeing from a deadly disease. The actual name of the world is unknown, as Yaesha is just the name of the current continent.

History

Yaesha's history begins before Yaesha was settled, with the migration of the Pan. The Pan, led by their last great king, fled across the dark sea from the great plague.

In a fleet of one hundred ships, the surviving Pan journeyed to their new continent. Led by the last King of the Pan, Kolket the Wise, they finally saw the other side of the sea on their hundredth day. At last, they settled Yaesha. Unfortunately, Kolket passed on during the journey, and was replaced by the Pan's priest caste, the Vaunnts. During the settling of Yaesha, they ruled in his stead.

Many Faces was the God of the Pan, and the Guardian of them all. It had journeyed with them across the Dark Sea and provided guidance during the journey.

After reaching the shores of Yaesha, the Pan encountered two new gods: The Red Doe and the Ravager. Together, these two represented the Balance. The Ravager would constantly chase, but never kill, the Red Doe, and they brought both death and life to the land in equal measure.

Between these two new gods, the Vaunnt spoke only of the Red Doe. They hoped to inspire the Pan, and in doing so created a splinter cult known as the Children of the Red Doe.

From here history turns towards Jinas, a prospective Red Widow who fell sick at an early age. Fearing that her sickness was the plague that had initially caused their flight, Jinas was cast out into the jungle and forbidden from returning. She would not die though, and instead returned completely cured. During her time in the jungle, Jinas saw the Thaen, the tree of immortality. Seeing that the plague would indeed return, Jinus spread word that the Thaen was the only way to save the Pan.

Jinas would later leave the Pan with an expedition force of 500. The group was made of a contingent of Red Widows and a party from each of the villages. Together, they journeyed to find the Thaen. Of the five hundred, only forty-nine would return, but they would return as immortals. These initial forty-nine immortals would become the first nobles. Jinas herself would also return, though in her case she became the first empress of the Pan.

And so the civilization of the Pan flourished, growing in power and advancement. Ziggurats were raised and magic was spread, allowing the Pan to accomplish things they used to only dream of. Jinas continued to have visions, and all would come true, with one exception. The returning plague never appeared, despite her claims. And on top of all of that, the newly minted immortal aristocracy grew stronger, slowly asserting their will over the rest of the Pan.

Even the rise of the immortal empire could not stop death forever though. The Ravager appeared again, the very incarnation of death on Yaesha. Destroying, killing, and devouring, it proved unstoppable to the Pan. Those would would try to kill it were always slain themselves. It was only when the Vaunnt came forward and found a way to put the Wolf to sleep that they were able to stop it. With the invention of the water harp, the beast was finally calmed, and the empire began to return to peace.

And then the Thaen tree began to die.

Deprived of their source of eternal youth, the nobles finally began to die. At last, consequence had come to Jinas and her empire. The lower castes of the Pan, now having suffered hundreds of years of oppression, rose up and rebelled against her. They were inspired by one of the Empress's own, a Pan former temple guard called Navun. She had turned against her empress when she discovered rot in the Thaen and her master's attempts to hide it. She emancipated the Gul, Yaesha's slave caste, and started a rebellion that continues to this day.

It was at this point that the human Destroyer enters the picture. It was them who killed Many Faces, and in that killing blow ensured Yaesha's cosmic invasion soon after. With the war already tearing apart the people of its land, Yaesha was easy pickings for the Root. They invaded and wrecked havoc on both sides, leading to the slow destruction of the remaining Pan. This is the state of the world when Remnant 2 begins.

Religion

The Pan religion is two-fold. While many worship the One Who is Many, this is not mutually exclusive with the worship of the Balance.

Many Faces

This is Guardian of the Pan, and sailed with them across the Black Sea. It's this Guardian that the Destroyer kills in Chronos, and it's the same Guardian's body that is reanimated by the Root to act as a world boss for the Traveler. Unlike the other Guardians we've seen, Many Faces takes an active role in safe guarding the Pan, and numerous documents of it in combat have been made.

The Balance

The continent of Yaesha is governed by a force of life and death, personified in the Red Doe and the Ravager. The Balance is quite literally the balance of nature, though it seems those who understand it well enough can perform true magic with it. This differs from the other magic that the Pan can use such as the lightning magic they pull from crystals.

Social Structure

Yaesha is organized into a strict hierarchical caste system, with the Red Widows and Nobles at the top, and the Gul slave caste at the bottom.

Castes

• Vast
  • Slaves to the other castes.
• Gul
  • Larger servants, these are the bulkier Pan who frequently act as foot soldiers.
• Vaunnt
  • Priests of the Pan
• Nobles
  • Ruling caste
  • Immortals, composed of the original Red Widows who followed Jinas when she discovered the Thaen Tree.

Sects

• Laemir
  • Take care of burial and internment. During Remnant: From the Ashes, they are seeking a way to use the crystals found on Yaesha to resurrect the dead. In Remnant 2 they have turned away from the crystals and towards the Root and the Ravager as a possible source of immortality.
• Ahanae
  • Wizards and mystics, they use crystals to cast lightning magic.