New to EQ(2) Lore

Hello everyone.
I'm a new player, some of you might already know me from these forums I just joined a couple of days ago.

I was wondering about the world and lore of Norrath, the general feel i get from people is that EQ2 does a really good job with these 2 elements, that it's really worth it to pay attention to the quests, voice acting and so on to get a grasp about things, especially for a new player.

In games like these i often miss that dark side of things, a dark story, characters, zones and so on, for example i remember in WoW as reference in a zone called Duskwood we come across a mage or necromancer that created an abomination using parts of dead and buried people, i was wondering if EQ2 has it's own moments of that more dark gritty site of things lore wise?

P.S.: On a side note, if anyone can tell me this, I chose Varsoon to play EQ2, it is the most populated server or is there anoher?

Hey Splat, what a coincidence, I actually just started focusing more on the lore in my videos, and here comes this request To answer your question: Yes, there are lots of dark and "evilish" moments in EQ2, but also some places that are just eerie, creepy and even sad or epic at times. A lot of the things that you see in WoW were actually inspired by content of the Everquest (1) franchise. Just to name a few things that might catch your interest:

Nektropos Castle (story at the start)

Nektulos Forest / River

The Estate of Unrest (separate lore video already in the works)

Castle Mistmoore

Harrow's end

https://youtu.be/aochkrc4Dzs

Permafrost

https://youtu.be/RrgCVBel2oI

Castle Highhold (beautiful, just beautiful, and creepy if you do the raid version)

And much, much more. As mentioned above, I'll be including lore snippets from all of these places in separate videos for the places that are already on the channel, but I'll also be including these lore "lessons" for new videos as time goes on. For everything lore check out this place: https://eq2.fandom.com/wiki/EverQuest_2_Wiki:Main_Page

Kudos and credits to all the ppl working and sharing their info on the Wiki! In addition to this, we also have some folks around here creating lore books that you can buy or get from other players in the game. I was actually going to link someones virtual book here, but I couldn't find her post. Maybe someone else can jump in and help out. Iirc someone around here was promoting her lore book in eq2, which she was either selling or giving away via the broker or her house. Something to that effect, can't remember rn. Last but not least, a bunch of lore is actually told when playing, so make sure to keep an eye out for special items, books, quests, housing items and more.

Cheers

Btw, almost forgot, some of the lore in game even has special cinematic moments all rendered with the game engine (no cgi). One prime example of this would be this scene, which can be witnessed by doing the signature quest line in the Cobalt Scar zone / region (similar to what you would know from WoW "Deathwing" cinematic, just much more impressive visually):

For whatever reason I recorded this without the voice, and revisting this place I don't hear any talk going on, but I'm pretty sure that there used to be voice over for this section of the story. Not sure if it was taken out, replaced by text or if it's just my rig glitching out, lol. Whatever the case, it actually fits the relaxation vibe not having any voice overs for this video, so I kept it that way, but there used to be talking going on iirc.

^ Technically speaking, everything in the game is a Computer-Generated-Image. I get what you mean, in that nothing is a pre-rendered cutscene (though they tried doing that for a time with the in-game engine).

Welcome to EverQuest, Splat. There's a LOT of subjects to even scratch the surface of it all. If you're interested in tales of deception, betrayal, dark experiments, etc, then I suggest you look into the general lore of necromancy.

Miragul, Dartain, and Venril Sathir are three of Norrath's greatest and most story-centric necromancers, and there's a lot of content in the game that focuses around htem.

Emperor Atrebe of the Iksar Empire was the one who experimented on various lifeforms. He uses Iksar and dragon DNA to create the Sarnak race, as well as Iksar and Froglok DNA to create the Sokokars found around Kunark.

In the dungeon of Befallen, you'll find a cult of necromancers known as the Burning Dead. These necromancers still worship Solusek Ro-- the God of Flame, and conduct horrible and grotesque rituals involving malicious sacrifices and lots of goo.

Over in the Obulous Frontier of Kunark, you'll find the Crypt of Dalnir. Inside, an undead Sarnak known as The Kly is performing wicked experiments by abducting the local goblin populace and using necromantic technology to turn them into Gooblins.

There's... quite a lot. You just have to pick a subject and others can guide you. There are some lore sites out there, but I don't keep track of those, but someone else is bound to link you to them.