Ardenmoor

Ardenmoor is the land in which Dawn of Embers is set: a country of old forest and moor that has been fought over for longer than anyone can remember. In the Story campaign it is where the kingdoms of Ashmere and Corvane meet.

This page gathers what the game shows of the land, its kingdoms and its ages. For the world's history told as a story, read The world first. Everything past the opening premise is hidden in spoiler boxes.

The game is in development. Details can change before release.

The land

• Forest and moor. Ardenmoor is old woodland and open moor. The Story campaign so far takes place in forested valleys, crossed by rivers.
• Seasons. Winter comes to Ardenmoor: the early missions race to prepare for the snow, and one later mission is played on the Snowy Forest map.
• Endless war. Kings and queens have fought over Ardenmoor for generations, each for the right to rule it all. Some fight for gold, some for glory, and some for the love of the fight.
• The stones. Carved stone pillars stand in places where the ground has been fought over. See below and Pillars.

Skirmish and Multiplayer maps use the game's five biomes, with randomly named kingdoms. The game does not say where in Ardenmoor, if anywhere, a skirmish map lies.

Kingdoms

Kingdom	What the opening missions show
Ashmere	The player's kingdom. A forest kingdom on the old iron roads, of grey stone and timber halls, the colour of ash and ember. The campaign starts with a small foothold of Ashmere's in a contested valley.
Corvane	The larger neighbour across the valley: more soldiers, older walls, and the tried and true made into a creed.

Story spoilers: the kingdoms of Ardenmoor, Missions 5 to 10

This box is closed until you open it.

Above the quarrel between Ashmere and Corvane stands the King, to whom Ashmere's commander reports. He rules from a great capital ringed with armies, siege engines, walls and towers. The game names neither the capital nor his realm. After the Day of Ruin he wants the Pillars' power for himself. See The King.

The ages

The history of Ardenmoor is told in four named ages and moments. The world tells each one in full.

Order	Name	In short
1	The Age of Iron	The long era of war fought with the tools of men alone: spear, sword, bow and siege engine. There is no magic. Late in this age, carved pillars begin to rise from the earth and stand inert.
2	The Day of Ruin	The day the Pillars come to life in the middle of a battle. Lightning and fire break both armies, and the stones sink back into the ground, leaving embers that do not cool.
3	The First Spark	The moment magic is born from those embers. The first mages simply find that they can.
4	The First Dawn	The first age with magic in it: the "dawn of embers" the game is named for.

The ages in the campaign

Story spoilers: where the campaign falls in the ages

This box is closed until you open it.

• Chapter 1 of the campaign is titled after the first age, The Age of Iron. Its missions are set while the pillars still stand cold: a dormant stone stands in Ashmere's valley, and Commander Hale tells everyone to leave it alone.
• Mission 5 is titled The Day of Ruin. In it, the stone near Ashmere's town wakes in the middle of Corvane's assault. Its storm breaks the attacking army, and it sinks into the ground, leaving ash and embers behind.
• Mission 7 is titled The First Spark. By then the embers have found people, and Ashmere's first mages join its army.
• Chapter 2 of the campaign is titled The Age of Ash. That is the chapter's title; it is not among the four named ages above.

The Pillars in Ardenmoor

Over the years, stone pillars cut with carvings no one can read have surfaced across Ardenmoor, and no kingdom has been spared one. For their history, see The world; for how Pillars work in a match, see Pillars.

Story spoilers: the Pillars in the campaign, Missions 1 to 10

This box is closed until you open it.

• The valley stone (Missions 1 to 3). A dormant Pillar stands in Ashmere's valley from the first mission, unremarked. It is found and dismissed in Mission 3.
• The stone in the field (Mission 5). On the Day of Ruin, the stone near Ashmere's town wakes in the middle of Corvane's assault. When the battle is over it is spent, and it sinks.
• The stone in the forest (Mission 4). Ashmere's scholars are escorted to a dormant Pillar to study it. They learn nothing.
• The scholars' quarrel (Mission 6). The scholars argue whether a Pillar is a weapon, a wound in the world, or a door. The game does not say which, if any, is right.
• The King's interest (Mission 8). The King covets the Pillars' power, and keeps scholars at his court to learn what they know.
• The stone on the battlefield (Mission 9). A Pillar rises during the King's attack on the town. Ashmere's mages charge it, and its storm strikes both armies.
• The stone in the square (Mission 10). After months with no sign of the stones, a Pillar rises in the centre of the Captain's own town and stays dormant through the night.

What is not known

The game does not say what the Pillars are, who carved them, or why they wake. Its characters argue about it; the game does not settle it, and this wiki does not speculate.

See also

• The world
• Campaign
• Characters
• Pillars
• Biomes