Present History

The present state of the Lands Between—the world the Tarnished is summoned to—is a post-apocalyptic stasis. The Shattering war is long over, and it produced no victor. The world is now a graveyard of demigod ambitions, locked in a state of arrested decay.

Here is a detailed breakdown of the "present" situation.

1. Metaphysical State: A Broken Order

The most important fact is that the Golden Order, the set of physical and spiritual laws that governed reality, is non-functional.

  • The Elden Ring is Shattered: The laws of life and death are broken. The core concept of a divine, orderly cycle of souls returning to the Erdtree is defunct.

  • The Erdtree is Sealed: The Erdtree, the center of the Golden Order and the path to godhood, is sealed by a wall of impenetrable thorns. No one can enter and no one can become the new Elden Lord.

  • Queen Marika is Imprisoned: The vessel of the Elden Ring, Queen Marika, is "nowhere to be found." She is, in fact, imprisoned and impaled within the sealed Erdtree as punishment by the Greater Will for her heresy.

  • The Greater Will has Withdrawn: Having seen its divine order collapse and its chosen demigods fall to madness, the Greater Will has "renounced" them. It has abandoned the Lands Between to its fate.

2. Physical State: A Land of Blight and Ruin

The land is not just politically fractured; it is physically corrupted by two major plagues that resulted from the pre-Shattering conflicts:

  • Deathroot (Undeath): Because Godwyn the Golden died in soul only (as part of the Night of the Black Knives), his soulless body festers in the roots of the Erdtree. This has created Deathroot, a spiritual cancer that spreads throughout the land, causing the dead to rise as "Those Who Live in Death" (skeletons and Tibia Mariners). This is a direct perversion of the Golden Order's cycle of rebirth.

  • Scarlet Rot (Decay): The climactic battle of the Shattering, between Malenia and Radahn, ended when Malenia "bloomed," unleashing the full power of the Outer God of Rot sealed within her. This act instantly rotted the entire region of Caelid into a toxic, scarlet wasteland and drove General Radahn insane. The Rot continues to fester and spread from this epicenter.

3. Political State: The Stagnant Shardbearers

The demigods who fought the Shattering are no longer waging open war. They have retreated to their respective strongholds, where they hoard their Great Runes. The "mad taint" of the runes has amplified their flaws, driving them insane and locking them in a pathetic stalemate.

  • Godrick the Grafted: The weakest of the lineage, he hides in Stormveil Castle. Driven by an inferiority complex, he has become a grotesque monster, "grafting" the limbs of other warriors onto himself in a desperate attempt to gain power.

  • Rennala, Queen of the Full Moon: Though not a demigod, she holds a Great Rune. After being abandoned by Radagon, her mind shattered. She is found in the Grand Library of Raya Lucaria, catatonic and obsessively cradling the amber egg Radagon left her, using its Great Rune to "rebirth" her sorcerer "children" into flawed, infantile forms.

  • General Radahn: Once the mightiest of the demigods, he is now a mindless beast. Having been consumed by Malenia's Scarlet Rot, he aimlessly wanders the battlefields of Caelid, devouring the corpses of friend and foe alike, held in place only by his gravitational magic (which still holds the stars).

  • Morgott, the Omen King: The "veiled monarch" of Leyndell, the Capital. As an Omen, he was shunned and hidden, yet he is the most loyal to the Golden Order. He secretly rules the capital and defends the sealed Erdtree from any who would approach it, viewing all other Shardbearers as traitors.

  • Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy: In his fortress on Mt. Gelmir, Rykard committed the ultimate heresy to gain power. He fed himself to a great serpent, merging with it to become an immortal, god-devouring entity. He now presides over his "family" of inquisitors, waiting to devour all other champions.

  • Mohg, Lord of Blood: Another shunned Omen, Mohg has stolen his cursed twin, Miquella, and hidden him in an underground palace beneath Caelid. Mohg is attempting to elevate Miquella to godhood (and himself to consort) using blood rituals, hoping to start his own "Mohgwyn Dynasty."

  • Malenia, Blade of Miquella: She has retreated to the Haligtree, a new, would-be Erdtree created by Miquella to cure their curses. She rests in a deep slumber at its roots, awaiting her brother's return, while the Scarlet Rot slowly consumes her and the tree from within.

4. The New Variable: The Return of the Tarnished

This complete and total stagnation is the "present state." Nothing can change.

The only new element is the Tarnished (the player). In a final, desperate act, the long-lost Grace of the Greater Will—which had been withdrawn from the demigods—is now being extended to the Tarnished, who were once exiled.

The Tarnished are being summoned back from death and exile. They are guided by Grace to the one objective the demigods failed to achieve: to fight the Shardbearers, claim their Great Runes, enter the Erdtree, and mend the Elden Ring, becoming the new Elden Lord.