Old Eridu

Lore & Background

Before the construction of New Eridu, humanity lived in Old Eridu, a sprawling urban center that eventually succumbed to the spreading influence of Etherium. As Hollows began to breach reality more frequently, the infrastructure collapsed under the weight of both physical decay and supernatural intrusion. The city did not vanish overnight; it was slowly reclaimed by the void. Survivors fled upward or outward to establish safe zones, leaving behind a graveyard of skyscrapers and technology now overgrown with crystalline flora. This history is often referenced in Prologue missions, establishing the stakes for current agents. Today, Old Eridu exists as a layered memory beneath the new city. It is a place where time seems distorted, and the laws of physics bend under the pressure of high-concentration Etherium fields.

In Their Own Story

The wind here does not blow; it whispers through shattered glass. Agent Vance stood at the edge of a collapsed overpass, looking down into the abyss where Old Eridu slept. The blue glow of Etherium crystals pulsed like a heartbeat in the darkness below, illuminating the skeletal remains of a bus frozen mid-crash. He adjusted his mask, checking the radiation readings one last time. This was not just a dive; it was an excavation of a dead past. Somewhere down there, buried under tons of concrete and corruption, lay answers about why the Hollows came in the first place.

Reader's Guide

The atmosphere within Old Eridu is suffocating, a stark contrast to the neon vibrancy of the city above. Ruined skyscrapers pierce through thick mists of Etherium fog, their glass facades shattered long ago during the Great Retreat. Players will find that corruption levels here are significantly higher than in standard Hollows, requiring careful management of stamina and equipment durability to survive extended expeditions. Key landmarks include the skeletal remains of residential towers and abandoned transit hubs frozen in time, serving as waypoints for desperate survivors from centuries past. The ground is often slick with viscous residue from past battles against Abyssal threats, making footing treacherous during high-intensity combat sequences. Navigators must watch for unstable structures that may collapse unexpectedly when triggered by heavy attacks or resonance waves. Exploration rewards are plentiful but dangerous, hidden within locked vaults or behind corrupted barriers that demand puzzle-solving skills to bypass. Some areas feature overgrown Etherium flora that pulses with a faint, menacing rhythm, indicating high-density contamination zones. The silence is heavy, broken only by the distant screech of monsters lurking in the shadows of collapsed infrastructure. Venturing deep requires courage, as this place holds the memories of a civilization lost to the void, waiting for those brave enough to uncover its secrets amidst the decay.

Did You Know?

• Old Eridu was the original settlement before humanity retreated to build New Eridu as a sanctuary.
• Many Hollows currently active in the region originated from breaches within these ancient ruins.
• Rare Etherium deposits found here are often more volatile than those harvested elsewhere.
• Some Proxies avoid this zone due to the intense psychological pressure of its history.