Erda

Erda is the fundamental building block of reality, which composes all living and non-living matter in the universe. The Goddesses are responsible for sculpting the Erdas of their respective worlds, occasionally bestowing the ability to manipulate Erda to certain mortals over the ages.

History

War of the Immortals

In the darkness of the beginning, the Primordial God birthed the universe and brought forth into existence a singular world, with three continental regions: Maple World, Grandis, and Tynerum. Representing each of these three lands were the Goddesses, who watched over the Erdas, with which they had once sculpted souls for all living beings in the world. Throughout the ages, the Goddesses occasionally bestowed that same power to manipulate the Erdas upon those whom they deemed worthy so that those champions could protect their world. As the world began to take shape, 365 creations were made - the sun, the moon, the stones, the trees, the wind, the rivers, the seas, and countless others - each adhering to 365 laws that governed the universe. From these 365 creations, hundreds of powerful beings emerged that embodied these natural laws, becoming known as the Ancient Gods. Birthed from special divine Erda, these beings could not be harmed by any mortal, but only by the power of another god. Though each had their own independent aims and goals, many of the gods began quarreling as they sought domination and power over all others, thus beginning the War of the Immortals.

As a result, an age of immense chaos that led to devastation and destruction spread across the world, with mortals helpless against the subjugation of such indomitable beings. Though the Erdas of mortals reincarnated in an endless cycle of creation and destruction through the Erda Flow, the divine Erdas of immortal beings disappeared upon their death. Fearing that the erasure of such massive quantities of Erda would result in universal collapse, the Primordial God sought to put an end to the gods’ chaos by creating three beings known as the Overseers to restore balance to the universe. Unlike the Ancient Gods, who were personal gods with physical form, the Overseers were abstract, impersonal beings with no material form, embodying the laws of light, life, and time. With the sole purpose of establishing order and certainty in the universe, the Overseers declared war upon the Ancient Gods, sealing them away after a long and protracted battle with the help of the Adversaries. Following the end of the war, the Overseers split Maple World, Grandis, and Tynerum into three dimensions, with the Goddesses watching over the balance of the Erda Flow across the ages.

The Arcane River

A Greater Power

Eons after the Ancient Gods were sealed away, the Black Mage awakened as the Transcendent of Light and - believing that the Overseers' influence had left the world on an unavoidable path to annihilation - sought to help the world escape the Overseers' destiny by creating a new world without Transcendents. In order to enact his plan, the Black Mage intended to conduct the Genesis Ritual, through which he would use the power of creation and destruction to erase the world and create a new one in its place. To this end, the Black Mage enacted a centuries-long plan to seal the three Transcendents of Maple World, thereby weakening the dimensional boundaries between Maple World and its neighboring worlds. As a result, Maple World, Grandis, and Friends World - a parallel world within the dimension of Maple World - slowly began fusing together, with the dimensional collision resulting in the generation of more and more Erdas from Maple World.

After the Black Mage's machinations resulted in the disappearance of Alicia, the Transcendent of Life, he began siphoning Maple World's Erdas that once flowed through the World Tree under Alicia's protection and used them to create a new world called the Arcane River beyond the Gate of the Present. As a world created from high-purity Erda, the Arcane River birthed a variety of different high-purity Erda beings that manifested alongside different regions. With the Erdas of Maple World slowly disappearing, the Guardians of Time in the Temple of Time summoned the Adversary, who spoke to the Erdas in the Erda Flow and learned that the Black Mage was siphoning the Erdas to create a new world. In order to confront the Black Mage, the Adversary met with the three Goddesses, who taught the Adversary how to control the Erdas inside them, thereby granting them a greater power. The Adversary also began fashioning Arcane Symbols from the Erda within themselves, which allowed them to safely tap into the Arcane Power of the Erda Flow, with the symbols acting as protective marks to keep their soul from being pulled into the Erda Flow.

Vanishing Journey

After beginning their quest, the Adversary first came to the Vanishing Journey - a region filled with humanoid Erda beings who lived in the Nameless Town. Due to the special properties of this region, falling into the waters of the Arcane River would cause one's memories to be erased, with the townspeople's proximity to the river resulting in their memories slowly vanishing. For this reason, the townspeople hung their precious memories upon the Tree of Memory to prevent them from being forgotten. Near the end of the Vanishing Journey, there existed a Fountain of Reflection, which was capable of reflecting memories of one's past. Soon after the creation of the Arcane River, Commander Arkarium began escorting Tana - Grandis's Transcendent of Light - to the end of the Arcane River. Due to Tana's fragile mental state, her uncontrollable outbursts of Erda manipulation resulted in her inadvertently mutating the Erdas of the Vanishing Journey, with one such creature being the monster Arma, which fed upon memories. After the Adversary reached the end of the Vanishing Journey, they learned that the waters of the Arcane River - created from Maple World's Erdas - could reflect Maple World, for which they used their Erda manipulation to send a paper boat against the Erda stream in order to inform the Maple Alliance about their journey. During this time, the Black Mage began launching enormous chains that fell all across Maple World, which would drain the Erda from anyone who came near them, causing them to disintegrate.

Reverse City

Near the Vanishing Journey, a city from Friends World was pulled through the dimensional rift and appeared in the Arcane River. There, the Erdas of the Arcane River changed their form to mimic the humans and animals who lived in the city. After a man named Barr Granger helped the people of Friends World return home, T-Boy of the Angler Company arrived in Reverse City and used his technology to reverse gravity, trapping all the Erdas of the city underground. There, T-Boy began conducting experiments to generate power for the Angler Father's imitation Godsphere, siphoning Erda from the upstream of the river and capturing Erda creatures and draining their energy. T-Boy also created extinction accelerators to generate more Erda upon the depletion of the river, after which he intended to use them as fuel for his black hole generator. However, the Adversary and Barr were able to stop T-Boy's plans, forcing him to retreat.

Chu Chu Island

In Chu Chu Island, the Adversary discovered that the island was filled with Erda monsters created from the fusion of food and animals. They also came across several animal-like Erda villagers, led by Chief Lyon - a lion-like creature made from the residual Erdas of Damien after his death. Due to the special properties of this region, falling into the waters of the Arcane River had no adverse affects upon those who entered. While helping the villagers, the Adversary learned that the residents of Chu Chu Island had no memories of their past, with the hodgepodge mixture of Erdas giving them a variety of unique tastes when it came to food. During this time, the Alliance began sending an expedition into the Arcane River, where the Alliance soldiers found it difficult to penetrate the Erda shields of the monsters in the Vanishing Journey without the ability to harness Erda. For this reason, the Alliance developed an alternative method by inscribing a disintegration spell upon Rue Ore, which could allow the Alliance's forces to break down the Erda shield around the monsters of the Arcane River. Soon after, the Adversary encountered the Will of Erda - a proxy of the Erdas sent to aid the Adversary on their quest to stop the Black Mage, which manifested as a Flying Fish in order to give it greater mobility while transporting the Adversary through the Arcane River.

Yum Yum Island

Before continuing on their journey, the Adversary began investigating strange occurrences in Yum Yum Island. There, the Apostle Kaling began conducting Erda experiments by artificially fusing together the Erdas of powerful monsters across Maple World who had been killed with various animals. Hoping to use these monsters as Vessels, Kaling fused them together with her contaminated Godspheres in the form of buttons, intending to create a new Adversary for Gerand Darmoor. These creations were birthed from special flowers, and while many were mindless monsters that surrendered to their destructive base instincts, some had a higher purpose, manifesting from the residual desires of the monsters whose Erdas they were composed from. One creature named Muppy - created from Pierre's Erdas - sought to find his other half, while Caster - created from Von Bon's Erdas - sought to find his 'sun', which he eventually found when he discovered Damien's sun-like mark on Chief Lyon's cape, invoking the relationship between Damien and Von Bon. As the Adversary investigated Yum Yum Island, they fought a powerful creature made from Afrien's Erdas. Following their departure, Kaling returned to her laboratory and deemed all her experiments as failures before abandoning the island.

Lachelein

After learning that the Black Mage planned to erase the world and his own existence alongside it, Commander Lucid used her dream magic to create the city of Lachelein in the Arcane River, where she created Erda citizens and enslaved them in a neverending festival, hoping to change the Black Mage's plan to end his existence by showing him the joys and happiness of life. Due to the special properties of this region, falling into the waters of the Arcane River would tear one apart into their component Erdas. While many of the Erda citizens were brainwashed into believing that the illusion was real, certain citizens - known as the 'awakened ones' - had realized that they were trapped in a nightmare. In addition, many aspects of Lucid's memories were incorporated into the illusion, with certain Erda citizens mimicking Lucid's personality and several dimensional cracks giving a window into Lucid's memories. After the Adversary defeated Lucid, they began speaking to the Erda citizens as the nightmare slowly lifted, causing them to realize that the citizens of Lachelein - who had been created from Maple World's Erdas - had a psychic link to Maple World, allowing them to dream about events going on in Maple World.

Arcana

Following their time in Lachelein, the Adversary continued on and encountered Arcana, a forest composed of Erda spirits. Due to the special properties of this region, falling into the waters of the Arcane River had no adverse affects upon those who entered. Soon before the Adversary had arrived in Arcana, Arkarium had led Tana through the region, with Tana's uncontrollable power corrupting the landscape and many of the spirits in the region. In order to pass through the large Vortex of Light that Tana had created, the Adversary worked with the spirits of Arcana to lift the corruption upon the forest.

Morass

In the Morass, the concentration of Erdas grew far stronger than previous regions, allowing the Flying Fish to speak to the Adversary directly. Due to the special properties of this region, falling into the waters of the Arcane River had no adverse affects upon those who entered. The Flying Fish plunged deep into the waters of the Arcane River, where the Adversary came across powerful Erda creatures that took on the form of their enemies' greatest fear as a defense mechanism. For this reason, the Adversary perceived the Erdas of the Morass as Xenoroids from their traumatic memories of Black Heaven. In the Morass, the Adversary encountered Arkarium escorting Tana, and during the altercation, Tana's overwhelming abilities overrode the region's properties, allowing her to manifest a perfect replica of Kritias from her memories. Tana's ability to manipulate Erda was so powerful that the Adversary, the Flying Fish, and Arkarium were all brought into her memory, with each of them playing out the fall of Kritias as various people from the kingdom: the Adversary became a Guardian of Time named Shey, the Flying Fish became a thief named Jean, and Arkarium became his younger self during the final years of Kritias, though Arkarium's time power allowed him to retain his memories.

The effects of Tana's abilities temporarily caused the Adversary and the Flying Fish to lose their self until they regained control over their minds through their willpower. In order to break Tana's illusion, the Adversary intervened and changed the ending of Tana's memories, allowing her to regain control of her power and destroy Arkarium. Following his defeat, Arkarium appeared before an echo of the Black Mage created from Tana's memories. Despite being a weaker imitation of the true Black Mage, this echo nevertheless retained its own autonomy, as the power of the Transcendents allowed them to go beyond the limitations of space and time. For this reason, the echo of the Black Mage carried out the true Black Mage's instructions and killed Arkarium for his failure. In the aftermath of the mission, the Adversary and the Flying Fish - who was stuck in the form of Jean - attempted to chase after Tana, who had left the Morass using a special Erda portal that pushed back anyone who attempted to follow.

Esfera

Following the events of the Morass, the Adversary worked with the Alliance advance guard to push forward into the Arcane River. By following traces of Tana, they arrived in the final region of the Arcane River: Esfera the Origin Sea, which was home to the purest concentration of Erdas and the site of the Genesis Ritual. Due to the special properties of this region, falling into the waters of the Arcane River had no adverse affects upon those who entered. Esfera was home to a myriad of creatures spawned from the pure Erda of the area, though the region was soon affected by the conflicting powers of Commander Will and Tana, who had fallen into the Arcane River after Orchid had interrupted Will's ritual for the Black Mage to take Tana's power. While searching for Tana, the Adversary discovered that Will's Mirror World powers were clashing against Tana's Transcendent abilities, which not only stained Esfera purple, but also resulted in her Erda manipulation spawning Executors and Keepers from her memories of the Temple of Light on Grandis. Because of the strength of Tana's abilities, the Adversary was able to witness memories of Tana and her sister during their mission to recover her, as well as fighting Will's spider monsters created by the power of Mirror World. Ultimately, the Adversary chose not to kill Tana and stop the ritual, allowing the Black Mage to take her power of creation. Following this, the Black Mage began absorbing the Erdas of the Arcane River and prepared to enact the Genesis Ritual in the Black Sun, Tenebris, floating above the Origin Sea.

Sellas

As a result of Tana sinking into the Arcane River, the properties of the Origin Sea began changing, turning the waters murky and opaque. In order to recover Tana's necklace that had fallen into the water, the Alliance arranged a recovery operation to find the necklace, believing it to be useful in the final battle. Due to the special properties of this region, falling into the waters of the Arcane River had no adverse affects upon those who entered. However, a submarine was necessary to navigate the treacherous waters and the dangerous creatures lurking in its depths. Similar to the properties of the Morass, the Erdas beneath the Arcane River - with the region beneath Esfera being known as Sellas - would mimic the memories of those who entered. During the mission to Sellas, Shubert's traumatic memories of the Edelstein diving unit accident began manifesting in Sellas, creating illusions of sinking ships, auditory hallucinations, and echoes of his old diving team members helping the Alliance team reach safety.

Moonbridge

As the final battle approached, the Black Mage began sending creatures made of pure Erda to attack Maple World, which began invading all major regions across the world. After the Alliance launched its airfleet to Tenebris, they faced off against the Giant Monster Gloom, who had been created from the Black Mage's malevolent thoughts. Gloom created a thick fog around Tenebris, from which he sent out the same Erda creatures attacking Maple World to stop the Alliance. However, the Alliance was able to defeat Gloom and his creatures once and for all, opening the path to the Black Sun.

Labyrinth of Suffering

As the Alliance airfleet descended upon Tenebris, the Adversary's airship was shot down by Commander Hilla, who trapped them inside a powerful illusion in order to break their spirit. Wandering around the Labyrinth of Suffering, the Adversary - with the help of Orchid - defeated Hilla and prepared to face the Black Mage at the heart of Tenebris.

Limina

Using the power of the Seal Stone, the Adversary destroyed the Labyrinth Core that sustained the illusion of the labyrinth, causing the space to collapse and reveal the true interior of Tenebris: Limina, which was home to abstract, primordial Erda entities that would become the first life forms of the new world. As the Adversary and Orchid scaled up the waterfalls of Limina, the Black Mage - using the Erda of the Arcane River - created an enormous giant from the red-stained waters of Esfera, whose heart became the Genesis Crux: the seed of the new world. The Alliance began fighting against the Erda creatures of Limina that invaded the airfleet, with the Light of Annihilation causing the Alliance soldiers to scatter into Erda. Ultimately, however, the Adversary found the inner strength to awaken the full power of the Seal Stone after Tana used her creation powers to make an illusory space from the Adversary's memories. The voices of the Erdas whom they had helped during their journey, as well as the voice of those closest to them, helped them defeat the Black Mage once and for all, though the Adversary was nevertheless killed and scattered into Erda during the battle. They awoke in the Erda Flow, where the White Mage thanked them for putting an end to their conflict by creating a new path for the world, after which he used the power of creation to bring back the Adversary and all the fallen Alliance soldiers to life as his parting gift to humanity.

A World in Motion

After the Black Mage's death, the Adversary met with all the Erdas of the Arcane River and told them about how their journey had come to an end. After celebrating with them, the Adversary met with the Flying Fish, who remained trapped as Jean. The Flying Fish explained that while the Arcane River would eventually disappear, with the Erdas returning to Maple World, it would take centuries for the process to complete, meaning that the Adversary would not have to say goodbye to the people they had met along their journey so soon.

Convergence

After the dimensional seal between Maple World and Grandis was broken, the high-energy collision between the two worlds resulted in the birth of the volatile Sol Erda. Consumed by destructive energy, the Sol Erdas began uncontrollably destroying both worlds against their own will, resulting in the Goddesses frantically attempting to remedy the situation. Unable to hear the voices of the Sol Erda, the Goddesses expended all their strength in holding back the torrent of Sol Erda, causing their bodies to crystallize in the Erda Flow. In order to save them, the Adversary entered the Erda Flow and used the Arcane Stones to revive them, after which they underwent a great trial to calm the Sol Erda torrent and master their power. The Adversary was able to speak to the Sol Erda and heard their will, utilizing this connection to draw out the memories of their adventures in the Arcane River stored within their Arcane Symbols. By infusing the Arcane Symbols with Sol Erda, the Adversary gained the ability to manipulate the Sol Erda, enhancing their abilities even further. With the Sol Erda crisis resolved, the Goddesses thanked the Adversary for saving the world once again before sending them back to the barrier between worlds, believing that their ability to control the Sol Erda would lead the world into a new age. In the aftermath of the Sol Erda crisis, powerful Sol Erda monsters began manifesting across Maple World and Grandis in the form of Elite Monsters, Elite Champions, and Elite Bosses.

Identisk

The birth of the Sol Erda resulted in many changes across Grandis, with one consequence being that their powerful existence had dispelled many of the weak, mortal-made blessings on the island of Identisk. However, these blessings were later replaced with true divine blessings by the Ancient God Enki.

Cernium

After discovering that Gerand Darmoor had cast a magical aura across Western Grandis to weaken the Alliance and the Ancient Gods, Edea used the Adversary's Arcane Symbols as an inspiration to create Sacred Symbols, which could protect the Adversary from Darmoor's aura, similar to how the Arcane Symbols protected their soul from the Erda Flow. Edea explained that she had observed how the power of the Erdas were clashing against Darmoor's power in an attempt to restore balance to the world, and that she had been able to extract these stronger Erdas and fashion them into Sacred Symbols, which utilized Sacred Power that would help the Alliance counteract Darmoor in the battles to come.

Twilight Eve Festival

While helping the people of Evernia gather the Sands of Time, the Alliance discovered that Chronica's hourglass relic had been contaminated with a foreign power. With the help of a disguised Will, however, the Alliance learned that the power of the Sol Erda, which was a primordial force that could affect even a Transcendent's power, had been infused into the relic. In order to purify the relic, the Adversary harnessed their ability to control Sol Erda and separated it out from the power of time.

The World Heart and the Draining Crystals

After the battle of Odium, the Adversary obtained the World Heart - the Overseers' relic - and began undergoing a mission to restore its depleted energy with the divine Erda of the gods. For this reason, the Adversary traveled to various locations and began absorbing the power of the Ancient Gods in those regions. Meanwhile, the Apostles of Gerand Darmoor were tasked with hunting down and taking the divine Erdas of the Ancient Gods across Maple World and Grandis, collecting that power into special draining crystals in preparation for Darmoor's great culling.

Geardock

In order to get revenge on Gerand Darmoor, the Ancient God Jupiter lured the remaining gods to Geardock, where he sacrificed their divine Erdas into Gob's furnace, Kronos. As a result, Jupiter was able to create a god-like entity created from the Erdas of the gods, which he fused together with in order to gain the power to destroy Darmoor. However, after Jupiter was defeated by the Adversaries, he was consumed by the entity, with his Erdas being incorporated into the entity's form. After the Adversary and Gob sealed the entity away into a crystal, Gob began investigating how to refine the entity's unstable energy in order to have the Adversary safely take its power into the World Heart.

Properties and Abilities

The Erda Flow

Reincarnation Cycle

As the fundamental building block of reality, Erda is the smallest unit of matter that composes all of creation. All Erda undergoes an eternal cycle of creation and destruction, with material Erda disappearing from the world upon destruction and returning to the Erda Flow: the cosmic origin of all universal energy. In the Erda Flow, Erda will be recycled and returned to the world in the form of new matter, thereby maintaining the balance of the world. The Goddesses of the three worlds live beyond the horizon of the Erda Flow, where they watch over the Erda cycle of their respective worlds. The Goddesses serve as the conduit between the Erda Flow and the material world, ensuring that the natural lifecycle of energy and matter continues flourishing eternally. While the Goddesses protect the Erdas from the Erda Flow, they are typically unable to intervene in the material world, leaving the reincarnation cycle of physical matter at risk of being disrupted. However, it appears that on Maple World, the physical cycle of Erdas remains under the guardianship of the Transcendent of Life. The exchange of Erda between the Erda Flow and the material world occurs in the World Tree, with the Transcendent of Life protecting the Erda cycle to maintain the balance of life. However, it remains unknown whether the Transcendent of Life on Grandis and Tynerum are similarly responsible for safeguarding the reincarnation cycle in their respective worlds.

Will of Erda

Although Erdas that manifest in the physical world are disconnected from the Erda Flow, their destruction and subsequent return to their origin allows them to join a collective consciousness of Erdas within the Erda Flow. From there, the Erdas are able to perceive events that take place in the physical world, with their collective desire occasionally manifesting their will. This phenomenon is reminiscent of the power of the Godspheres, which are capable of granting the desperate wish of many people. After the Black Mage created the Arcane River by siphoning the Erdas of Maple World, the determination of the Erdas in the Erda Flow allowed them to manifest their will in physical form, known as the Will of Erda. Despite being an incarnation of a collective consciousness, the Will of Erda was an individual entity with its own sense of self, similar to how the Adversary was an embodiment of the collective desire of the Maple Alliance. However, the Will of Erda did not possess any remarkable abilities beyond simply having a physical form, as its primary purpose was to guide the Adversary on their journey to fight the Black Mage. Due to Tana's power, the Will of Erda - initially choosing to take on the form of a Flying Fish - was forcibly transformed into a human named Jean, leaving him unable to change back.

Souls and Spirits

A soul is a concentrated amount of Erda that dwells at the core of all living things. Souls were originally sculpted by the Goddesses in the primordial darkness, thereby allowing living things to take form. Upon the death of living things, the Erda composing their physical form is reincarnated into new matter, while their souls eventually come to inhabit new bodies. Through their inhumane experiments, the mages of Kritias discovered that memory is tied to the body, rather than the soul. Because of this, a soul does not retain information about its past lives upon reincarnating into a new body. However, under certain conditions, it is possible for some souls to carry memories of their last lives into their future reincarnation if the reincarnation of that soul has been influenced by light magic: the power of creation. This can be seen in the case of Lucia, a girl who was reincarnated by the mages of Aurora in order to give her a happy life with Luminous in her next incarnation. Through the power of Aurora's light magic, Lucia was reincarnated into a girl named Lania, who gradually began regaining memories of her past life over time.

While most souls disappear upon the destruction of their physical body, there are many different circumstances that may prevent a soul from passing on into the Erda Flow. Souls which exist without physical forms are known as spirits. While deceased souls who wander the physical world are often referred to as spirits or ghosts, spirits are also a race of beings who have existed since the birth of the universe. Spirits exist across all dimensions and worlds, taking on an enormous variety of forms, shapes, and abilities. As the soul is a concentrated form of Erda, spirits and ghosts have the ability to use their own Erda to interact with the physical world, though the extent of their influence is limited by their innate power. While most spirits exist without physical form, it is possible for certain spirits who have amassed a great amount of Erda to create physical bodies for themselves. This can be seen in the case of Orchid and Lotus, who were Spirits of Darkness given physical forms through the powerful light magic of the White Mage. However, taking on a physical form creates the risk that the spirit may be harmed or even killed, for which most spirits view the idea of gaining a body as a taboo.

Harnessing Erda

Power of the Erdas

As most living things are unaware of their own nature, the ability to harness Erda is an exceedingly rare ability. For this reason, many beings remain unaware that their souls are a source of immense power. Though the Goddesses typically do not intervene in mortal affairs, certain pivotal events across the ages - such as the Ancient War and the war against the Black Mage - has prompted them to protect the balance of the world by teaching certain mortals how to harness the power of Erda within themselves. This process is typically done through an object called an Arcane Stone, which is capable of holding ambient Erda. With the power of three Arcane Stones from each of the Goddesses, it is possible to awaken one's hidden potential, allowing one to harness the energy of their own Erdas. This process was undergone by the Adversary after the creation of the Arcane River, in which they were tested by the Goddesses and received the Arcane Stones. This allowed the Adversary to transcend their typical limitations and unlock new, more powerful skills with the power of their own Erdas.

Arcane Power

In addition to harnessing the Erdas of the physical world, it is also possible to tap into the energy of the Erda Flow itself. However, such a feat is quite dangerous, as tapping into the Erda Flow's energy is done with the soul, rather than the body. Because of the enormous flow of cosmic energy, the Erda Flow will naturally sap away the energy of one's soul upon contact. However, in order to protect the soul, it is possible to create an object called the Arcane Symbol, which serves as a protective mark that prevents the power of one's soul from being swept away. Arcane Symbols are created from sculpting Erda into a symbol, and while this can be done intentionally, Arcane Symbols can also form organically. This was seen in the wake of Muto and Gulla's battles in Chu Chu Island, which created Arcane Symbols from the coagulation of Erda during their fights. While Arcane Symbols offer greater power, their primary purpose is the ability to grant one the power to face high-purity Erda, which are protected with a special Erda barrier that can only be pierced through by Erda of the same or greater purity.

Erda Types

Low-Purity Erda

Low-purity Erda is the most common type of Erda, which composes the vast majority of the material world. Both organic and non-organic matter - including souls - are formed from low-purity Erda, which undergo a constant cycle of creation and destruction. Because of the nature of low-purity Erda, there are no specific limitations that prevent its destruction. While magical protection can be granted to shield these Erdas, stronger destructive ability will break these protections.

High-Purity Erda

High-purity Erda is a stronger form of Erda that is extremely uncommon in the material world. Though this type of Erda is normally only found in the Erda Flow, the Black Mage's attempts to create a new world resulted in an enormous concentration of Erda to dwell beyond the Gate of the Present. This high concentration of Erda resulted in high-purity Erda manifesting in the physical world, taking on a variety of different forms and abilities as a result. Because of how concentrated the power of Erda is in these beings, it is typically impossible for beings of low-purity Erda to damage them. However, by utilizing Arcane Power directly from the Erda Flow, the Erda shield around high-purity Erda beings can be shattered. In addition, it is also possible to use special disintegration magic inscribed upon Rue Ore in order to create a substitute for Arcane Power, as this magic can temporarily break down the high-purity Erda shield.

Divine Erda

Divine Erda is the most powerful form of Erda, found only in immortal physical beings, such as the Ancient Gods. Divine Erda was first created from the physical manifestation of 365 natural laws imbued in 365 creations at the birth of the universe, resulting in the creation of hundreds of immortal entities. Due to its own nature, divine Erda can only be destroyed by other divine Erda, leading to a popular maxim since ancient times stating that "only a god can challenge another god", meaning that an immortal can only be harmed by the power of another immortal, either directly or through an object containing a non-trivial amount of divine power. Despite only being found in an exceedingly few number of beings, divine Erda composes a significant amount of all the Erda in the universe due to its immensely dense concentration. Most notably, divine Erda does not exist in the reincarnation cycle of normal Erda, meaning that when an immortal being is killed, their divine Erdas will disappear from the world altogether. For this reason, when the gods began waging war against each other, the Overseers were tasked with sealing the gods away in eternal slumber, as the erasure of the vast majority of Erda would have resulted in the collapse of universal balance.

Sol Erda

Sol Erda is an entirely new form of Erda formed from the dimensional collision of Maple World and Grandis. Due to the massive amounts of energy generated from the impact, many Erdas from both dimensions absorbed that energy and mutated into an unstable, purple form that began eating away at the world. Much like high-purity Erda, Sol Erda cannot be damaged by low-purity Erda, with even high-purity Erda remaining somewhat weak against it. However, the Adversary - who had trained their Erda abilities extensively in the Arcane River - was able to utilize their experiences and training inscribed upon the Arcane Symbols, allowing them to quickly grow accustomed to handling Sol Erda. For this reason, the Adversary was able to hear the voices of the Sol Erda when not even the Goddesses themselves could.

The process of learning how to manipulate Sol Erda is similar to the process of learning how to manipulate ordinary Erda, as one will need to capture Sol Erda within an Arcane Stone. By infusing Sol Erda into the Arcane Symbols, the Adversary was able to harness the power of the Sol Erda, allowing them to quell the destructive torrent of energy created from their unstable energy release. Despite this however, Sol Erda continues to manifest in unexpected ways. Following the defeat of the Black Mage and the Elite Bosses, the power of the Sol Erda manifested as Elite Monsters, Elite Champions, and new Elite Bosses across Grandis. In addition, the power of Sol Erda continued spreading across the world, even interfering with the power of the Transcendents, as seen with Chronica's relic being contaminated with Sol Erda.

Amplified Erdas

Amplified Erdas are a conjectural name for a special type of Erda created from a unique phenomenon seen after the Convergence incident. After Darmoor cast a magical aura across Western Grandis to weaken the power of the Ancient Gods, the Erdas began reacting to the unnatural energy, which threatened to imbalance the world. As a result of this, the Erdas that clashed against Darmoor's Transcendent powers caused them to grow larger and stronger than typical Erda. Amplified Erdas release a special energy known as Sacred Power, which is capable of counteracting Darmoor's magical aura. During the battle of Cernium, Edea discovered the properties of these special Erdas and began using them to fashion Sacred Symbols, allowing the Alliance to manifest the full extent of their abilities in Western Grandis. Following the battle of Tallahart, the Alliance discovered that it was also possible to combine the power of amplified Erdas with the divine Erdas of the Ancient Gods, similar to how the Adversary infused Sol Erda into their Arcane Symbols. As a result, the Adversary was able to create the Grand Sacred Symbols, which granted them special blessings in addition to Sacred Power.