Wræclast means "the Exile's Path." But what do the natives call it?

Do we even know the real name of the forsaken continent?

I figure Oriath is a stylised England, probably at the beginning of its colonial phase. Rather than shipping its many prisoners off to distant tropical paradises (...what a crazy thought), the Authorities of Oriath send their miscreants off to the giant, untamed continent not that far to the north.

This is where much similarity to a real-life England dies, because as is well known, there is a giant but very tamed continent not that far south of the British Isles. Civilised wars with various countries of said continent kept old England quite busy, and when it came time to expand, *India* and *Hong Kong* were somehow on the menu.

Still, there is this hopefully not-coincidence: Wræclast literally means 'the exile's path' in Old English. It is the name given to the continent by Oriath, which by and large clearly knows very little about the place other than it has a very savage coast and unforgiving jungles.

I assume there are or were natives to this continent, but I also figure they're long-gone. There are church ruins in act 2, likely built by earlier Exiles...or was 'Wraeclast' colonised by Oriath long ago and then fell to ruin?

'The Exile's Path' is definitely a strange name for a continent. I am very curious as to what those who were born there, lived there, maybe even thrived there, call it.

All in all, I think 'Wraeclast' is a very misunderstood place abused by Oriath as a dumping ground for its human refuse. I also think, from the clues given as Acts 1 and 2 evolve, that act 3's story will probably be about ex-Oriathian folk rather than true natives to 'Wraeclast'. But I suppose when it comes to the origins of a colony, there may not be much difference.


Of course, maybe GGG just called it "Wraeclast" because they liked the sound of it and it fit the game...I don't see this as any reason not to capitalise on its potential. :)

I just hope 'Wraeclast' doesn't turn out like Australia, because heading inland here is generally not worth the effort; the best parts of Australia are found along its very lengthy coast. ;)

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There's no such thing as a real name for an island; it's called what it's called.

The colonists/exiles will call it Wraeclast, as everyone around them does. "The Exile's Path" is definitely a strange name for a continent, and I wouldn't call my home that all the time...but the place isn't called "The Exile's Path", it's called Wraeclast. I mean, my surname has a meaning, too, but that meaning isn't my name.

The natives, or whoever it was that came before and built the various now-ruined structures, appear to be long dead. You can ask some of the skeletons what they called their home, but I wouldn't get your hopes up for a friendly response. Which is fine. That skeleton may not tell you the name of his home but he'll also not tell you the name of his dog, or his daughter, or so many other things. History is never a complete picture.
IIRC, in the Templar video, Wraeclast's fallen Empire is referred to as "our ancestors."

I just wonder what kind of time frame is involved between the cataclysm that killed the (as-yet unnamed) Empire, and the time of our own Exiles? =0[.]o=
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... "Home" ?

Spoiler
There are natives still living there. The cataclysm destroyed the civilization, but not the people. Have a read through Eramir's dialogue :)
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Home indeed. I suppose I was considering the fact that Australia has had plenty of names, but as long as there's at least one person around to remember them, for some reason they all endure.

Gus, you missed the point pretty deftly. I'm impressed.

An Empire would imply an earlier conquest, of course. For some reason it reminds me less of NZ/Australia (well, an obvious reason, really) and more of the state of the Americas before it became 'The New World'. Naturally the word 'native' is arbitrary -- even the aboriginals acknowledge they came here some 40,000 years ago. But for lack of evidence of an earlier occupancy, they are the 'natives'.

And I would believe that whatever the earliest known people of 'Wraeclast' called the place is its 'real name'.
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I think you're missing a bit of the lore. Wraeclast used to a be civilizaed continent with cities and kingdoms and castles and cathedrals and prisons. I imagine that the kingdoms of Wraeclast dwarfed little Oriath in wealth and power. Then, some cataclysm occurred that utterly destroyed all civilization on Wraeclast, introduced the various living and undead horrors, and turned it into the wild and untamed place it is now.

I wouldn't read too much into the name. Wraeclast is just a name that GGG felt was a good fit. Old English doesn't exist in Wraeclast and therefore it's just a word that means nothing to that world's inhabitants. Just like how most geographic names in our world have no actual meaning.
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Gus, you missed the point pretty deftly. I'm impressed.
Sorry, I didn't think you had a "point". Seemed that since the answer to "do we know what the natives called it?" was pretty clearly "no, we don't know", you were actually more interested in just wondering about things. Which is fine, but if you're going to write in such a disconnected manner, please don't go telling people off for responding in a disconnected way. This isn't your blog.

I mean, if the point was along the lines of "I wonder what the history of the place is", no further posts are needed, are they? We don't know. There could have been any number of civilisations and colonies from any place, Oraith or elsewhere.

Alternately, if there was another point, perhaps you could enlighten me about it?
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tpapp157 wrote:
I think you're missing a bit of the lore. Wraeclast used to a be civilizaed continent with cities and kingdoms and castles and cathedrals and prisons. I imagine that the kingdoms of Wraeclast dwarfed little Oriath in wealth and power. Then, some cataclysm occurred that utterly destroyed all civilization on Wraeclast, introduced the various living and undead horrors, and turned it into the wild and untamed place it is now.

I wouldn't read too much into the name. Wraeclast is just a name that GGG felt was a good fit. Old English doesn't exist in Wraeclast and therefore it's just a word that means nothing to that world's inhabitants. Just like how most geographic names in our world have no actual meaning.


It's not so much the meaning that I'm particularly concerned with; it's the fact that it means what it means in a language of a people well known for their colonisation history.

I understand the cataclysmic event -- like I said, maybe earlier Oriathians (or exiles of Oriath, if there's a difference) founded the civilisation now ruined. But I don't believe even they were the 'natives' given some of the overtones of the game's flavour.

And yes, I'm reading far too much into it, but only because that's one surprisingly good way of coming up with interesting ideas. It's what I do.

Gus -- I will make sure to be more explicit with my queries next time. I sometimes make the mistake of figuring people might see questions between the lines. It's a mistake because I also forget that my passion, ephemeral for the most part, isn't necessarily anyone else's.

Re: the 'telling off' -- your tone seemed somewhat dismissive; I'm a terribly reactive person and reciprocate accordingly. The problem with that is sometimes I do unto others a little more harshly than they did unto me. Sorry. You did miss the point, it was indeed just to wonder...but that's okay, you made your own point. :)
Warhammer 40k Inquisitor: where shotgunning is not only not nerfed, it is deeply encouraged.

Dogma > Souls, but they're masterworks all. You can't go wrong.

I was right about PoE2 needing to be a separate, new game. It was really obvious.
Last edited by Foreverhappychan on Jun 8, 2012, 12:39:15 AM
Possibly the name the natives called Wraeclast cannot even be pronounced or the meaning expressed with the english language.

Maybe we will hear the name when the voice acting is in.
We also must take into consideration what type of society Oriath is like. My impression is that it is also brutal, dictatorial and authoritarian.

Looking at how the exiles we can choose, there is alot of mistrust, betrayal, a vastly stratified society of powerful wealthy elite (who are hostile factions towards each other with torture and assassinations) and the poverty stricken everybody else. Discrimination, intolerance, corruption and injustice. Step on the wrong toe, and the next thing is to be thrown overboard to swim to the shores of Wraeclast.
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