The Creatures of Sonaria Legacy Lore Summary[]
An archive project by KW1/InterconKW
Warning: WORDY
Hello. I am KW1 (Also known as Jin) not typically active on the Wiki, but some of you may know me from the Creatures of Sonaria Discord Server as a long-term member. The following document is an attempt to summarize the “Legacy” lore of Creatures of Sonaria for preservation - "Official" stories and lore events from the pre-recode game that are no longer canon.
Before Recode and the current lore document, game and creature lore was driven largely by concept artist-to-community discussion. Much of this was documented in the Lore Discussion channel on the Discord from March 2023 onwards. Please understand that although an effort has been made to tie it all together, the lore of this era was not necessarily a coordinated effort – It is my judgment to leave material open to interpretation where necessary. Some of this information is purely based on memory and I do not wish to be seen as an official or authoritative source.
(Section Tabs Below)
The World[]
The depiction of Sonaria varied with time. In 2020, as “Creatures of Agartha”, Agartha (as the name would imply) represented a fantasy ecosystem within a hollow earth. Under Naut’s leadership in 2021-2022, Sonaria was depicted as a singular island on a far larger planet or space. The large skeletons on the old map implied even larger creatures existed or did still exist elsewhere in this world beyond Sonaria.
Towards the end of Legacy, many interpreted Sonaria to be a small, individual world floating in space or some sort of void. This would explain the large number of creatures considered to be “alien” or even “invasive” visitors as depicted in the game. For convenience, the rest of this document will draw reference to this scenario.
The Wardens[]
As I understand it, the Wardens as conceived were often not necessarily designed as all-powerful gods. As the name “Warden” would imply, they were more ambiguous protectors of this world. For example, Novus (Omnibus) and Hellion (Nukzeh) were both depicted as having offspring and functioning a bit more like an actual species.
A cute baby Hellion (Credit to Xhosa, September 2021)
So Legacy Wardens are rare, powerful guardian species that control their respective domains within this small world. As the presence of the Warden Vault would imply, they had human-like intelligence and some degree of coordination in protecting Sonaria from threats and imbalance.
The Warden Vault (Or… sometimes, the sewers…) with my slightly soaked Sochuri.
From the player’s perspective, it is possible that the player-controlled Warden is a single avatar or offspring of the current leader of that respective Warden species. So, for example, there may be multiple Verdant Wardens in the world (a particular server) but only one carries the name or title “Farhaus”. It must be noted that these Wardens are much more tangible and vulnerable – Both the true Warden and its offspring can in theory be killed and should a Warden leader die or otherwise require replacement, one of the avatars or offspring could step up to that leadership role. Unfortunately, the potential story plot of this, alongside other partially developed lore elements like the needles and arm in the vault were never officially explored or completed.
Perhaps the Warden Leaders are (like they still are in current Recode Lore) responsible for the creation of the majority of Sonaria’s native creatures, and each species is associated with some specific Warden (s). The control they have over their creations is much more limited, and time and time again it is noted that the creatures don’t necessarily always recognize or bow down to their creators (or just… don’t know any better). However, certain intelligent species remain extremely close to or under the command of their creators, like Xeternos (called upon in critical situations) or Opralegion (acting like a means of surveillance and world-watching).
Last of all, to get it out of the way: Novus was never a false Warden in Legacy. The artist never depicted it as such, as far as I am aware - the “False” text and the destroyed statue imply an act of vandalism and serve as more of a curveball. Funny enough, Hellion (in July 2021 or so) was originally designed as both an actual false Warden and a Halloween species, but this was retconned, and it was never used as either.
Credit to Kyzenith (and other artists) for discussing this with me in detail back in the day.
Creatures and Categories[]
Generally, creature lore was always purely delegated to each individual concept artist in Legacy. As a result, and to no individual’s fault, this content was not particularly coordinated. Still, there are many creatures in Legacy that do have wonderfully thought-out social structures or positions in the ecosystem. Discussing them all here would unfortunately be too content-heavy. Please refer to artist trivia sections in the Legacy wiki pages of each creature for this information (Nimoona is a good one, lol. Also see Polymonstrum or Trutholbyeva).
As a result of this, however, the fan-made “Category system” was created by the Lore Discussion channel on the Discord in early 2023 to make the relationships between creatures easier to classify. It works as follows:
- “Category 1” creatures are any creatures that exhibit human-like intelligence and have actual intent and higher thought.
- “Category 2” creatures represent the vast majority of species in the game: More animalistic and motive or instinct driven than anything.
- A “Category 1A” creature is considered a world force, something with substantial influence over the fate of Sonaria. Examples would be the Warden species, or even the Void actors Aereis and Parahexilian (more on these later…)
- A “Category 1B” creature could, for example, have a human-like civilization on Sonaria, but would largely find itself at the mercy of Sonaria’s elements or even the actions of the Cat 1As. Examples would be Luxsces, depicted as a sort of space tourist visiting Sonaria who mainly just holds his own, or the Banishii and Bazelii species, who have distinct tribes and settlements on Sonaria. Picture a bunch of them fighting a Korathos like it is a giant monster movie (lol).
- A “Category 2A” creature simply refers to a feral creature of social nature (For example, a Nimoona or Ghalgeya pack).
- A “Category 2B” creature meanwhile is more solitary.
Note that these classifications do not necessarily determine individual creature strength. Could a Category 1A force (like for example, an individual Warden avatar) accidentally die to a Category 2B (like an enraged Gramoss)? Yes, it could totally happen! Of course, the species most influential on the lore are still Cat 1As. The final creature released in Legacy is Altulis, and no later species exist in this timeline.
Let’s just address this one topic in particular: Mother Ura is not a canon character, nor does Ura have a significant impact on the world. Though highly intelligent, these water dragons are somewhat frail and fall firmly in Cat 1B. This was even confirmed by Naut, Ura’s original designer. The “Mother Ura” rumors are all based on a piece of fanart.
Plots and Conflict[]
Most “major” plots in Legacy Sonaria centered on the actions of Category 1A species. As usual, these events were often not connected, so I have made some attempts to link them in a coherent manner.
1. The General Story[]
- In general, Sonaria is a small floating island or planet in space, or some sort of void. Many unique species live on Sonaria, mostly just animals simply surviving or going about their daily lives, although some more intelligent species have societies and even perhaps civilizations. The most powerful faction on Sonaria are its Wardens, 8 species of powerful creatures each with their own domains, represented by a leader with a title and several avatars, but in general, Sonaria is small and vulnerable to external threats and even the Wardens are far from invincible. The core of many plots is that some existential threat to Sonaria has materialized, and its inhabitants must deal with it to ensure their world survives.
2. Sar’Hingaro (July-August 2021)[]
Disclaimer: The Creatures of Sonaria team has long dissociated with Daimona and some individuals for undisclosed reasons. This section is only here for documentation.
- The distant world of Daimona is crippled by a virus, and a wormhole is opened from Daimona to Sonaria, unleashing the fearsome Sar’Hingaro. Sar is depicted (somewhat controversially) as an equivalent to the Wardens and their avatars with great destructive capability, and despite being a more benevolent “Overseer” in its home world, it looks down on Sonaria’s life and is also conversely seen as invasive. Sars rampage through Sonaria with poison and radiation, badly shifting the world balance and putting even the Wardens at risk.
The Daimona Wormhole (Credit to AntiThoracius on the CoS Wiki)*
- Numerous theories exist as to how Sar’Hingaro is defeated or gotten under control. The Wardens successfully fight to close the Daimona Wormhole, disabling Sar’s Overseer abilities, and deploy Xeternos “agents” to deal with Sars. Meanwhile, Parahexilians and Cat 1 factions like those under the control of Empiterium also hunt down individual Sars. With Sar greatly weakened, it becomes common for Sars to die even to regular Cat 2 wildlife. Funny enough this would have some in-game equivalence: Sar was not exactly hard to kill in PVP.
Bat 1, Alien Invaders 0?*
- Finally, a new Cat 1, Ahri'Tahmuk, ejected from a dying world, lands upon Sonaria. Though physically weaker than Sar’Hingaros individually, their strong heat-related abilities make them formidable opponents. Alongside the Wardens, the existing Cat 1s and Sonaria’s Wildlife, Sar is finally driven to extinction, coinciding with Ahri’s release in-game.
The canonical status of Paras playing cards with Ahris after Sar’s defeat remains disputed. Credit to Montejeska.*
Special thanks to Hytregos for greatly helping with this section.
3. The Void - Arguably the most popular CoS Legacy Lore topic.[]
- Opposing the Wardens for an indeterminate reason, a mysterious Cosmic “Void God” creates creatures of their own. Their first creation is Parahexilian, a powerful star-like mass bound into the form of a dragon which turns out to be "flawed" in the eyes of its creator: It cannot sustain itself. Parahexilian is rejected and cast down upon Sonaria, left to fend for itself or die.
- The “Void God” continues to create creatures: Their proudest creation is the Aereis. Winged, beautiful, but also deadly, Aers descend upon Sonaria to unleash chaos. These Cat 1As (not strong individually, but very influential in numbers) look down upon Sonarian life and embrace the cult of their creator, hunting down Sonarian creatures as a coordinated force and aiming to bring the world into the void.
- However, unbeknownst to the Void God, their rejected Parahexilians have survived on Sonaria and constructed their own civilization, forging armor from local resources in the “Iron Citadel” and even working alongside Sonaria’s Cat 1s to defeat world threats, albeit out of self-interest rather than actual care for Sonaria.
- As I understand it, this plotline was a casual collaboration between Monte and Snicker. Many interesting dynamics are present – For example, despite their antagonistic nature, some Aers exhibit free will and are allies, but even these Aers are targeted by the vengeful and rigid Paras. Even then, the motives of the Void God are uncertain: Perhaps they themselves are the actual victim here somehow? Sturbis, while not Cat 1s, are also depicted as a creation of the Void God. Their purpose remains uncertain…
Some of you may be aware that the “Void God” originally had a name and design: Aephenim (Credit to Snicker). Note that I believe the artist wished for Aeph to not be used, so Aeph is NOT CANON, and the Void God is ambiguous. I personally think it’s better that way too.*
- This conflict was still depicted as ongoing at the point Legacy Lore ended, serving as inspiration for many CoS stories. Although it seemed like by this point, the Parahexilians, alongside the Wardens, Sonarian creatures and even the Royalty Faction had at least gotten the number of Aereis under control… for now…
Special thanks to Montejeska for discussing this section with me in great detail. I believe, however, that they did not wish for Para’s use in official CoS media in the end.
4. The Royals[]
- This is a strange one. When the Royalty Tikit Gacha was released, the significance of the Royal Creatures (Initially, Empiterium and Erridea) to the world lore was confusing, and several community members and artists theorized ways for them to fit in.
- The Royalty Faction was assumed to be Category 1A: Influential by means of social order and individually strong (Empi being no slouch stat-wise ingame). The mechanics of how the Royalty species worked in lore remain uncertain: Was there a single King Empiterium and his offspring? Did they evolve from other species?
- The theory goes that Empiterium rose to control some degree of social order over some Cat 1s on Sonaria due to the Wardens being somewhat vague and not always reliably contactable. Monte did suggest that Parahexilian and Empiterium could have worked together in this regard: Para did not remotely rely on or particularly respect Empi, but it was in both their interests to hunt down the Aer threat or to defeat Sar’Hingaro.
- That being said, not every creature (Definitely not any Cat 2, and not every Cat 1) appreciated Empi’s attempts at social order and civilization. No doubt, like to any other settlement on Sonaria, many large or powerful Cat 2 creatures could prove to be a threat to the “Kingdom” and perhaps Empi’s growing influence could one day draw the ire of the Wardens themselves?
Summary[]
This section exists due to feedback, to briefly explain the relationships between major factions and creatures in Legacy Lore in case anyone finds themselves confused.
- The Wardens are powerful beings on or close to Sonaria who serve as higher authorities or guardians. With their avatars/offspring (playable Wardens) and agents (creatures like Opralegion and Xeternos) they maintain the world. They are not perfectly benevolent or fair (with unknown ulterior motives, if any) or reliable (not always present or contactable) but are more grounded and vulnerable than their Recode counterparts.
- Aereis and Parahexilian are created by a mysterious Void God who opposes the Wardens. Paras are spiteful due to their rejection by their creator. They tend to work alongside other Cat 1s on Sonaria where convenient but do so mostly out of self-or survival-oriented interest and are potentially accepted by the Wardens due to their useful nature. Meanwhile, most Aers serve their creator’s cult and cause great destruction on Sonaria, but some have free will. All, however, are hunted by Parahexilians.
- Sar’Hingaro is an Overseer (Warden analogue) of another world, who escapes to Sonaria via a wormhole. Arrogant towards Sonarian life it attempts to take over the world with its kind but is eventually defeated by Sonaria’s combined forces and replaced with the more world-acceptable Ahri’Tahmuk.
- Empiterium and the Royals are strong Cat 1A creatures who have successfully established a degree of accepted social order over Sonaria’s Cat 1s due to the unreliability of the Wardens. Their authority is not universally respected, resulting in some conflict, but they are working to establish their society against Sonaria’s natural backdrop while also playing a part in defeating world threats.
- Various other Cat 1B races exist on Sonaria. Species like Ura, Banishii and Bazelii may have their own independent settlements and societies but largely find themselves at the mercy of the world’s dangers, or simply are content with surviving, exploring and socializing.
- The vast majority of creatures on Sonaria are Cat 2s, making up Sonaria’s diverse wildlife. Of course, don’t underestimate the individual or combined strength of many of these species. Sometimes, a Cat 2 in the right place at the right time can make all the difference.
Keep in mind this article is intended to be a summary/brief archive of ideas, and there is definitely much more Legacy CoS lore than what is presented here.
Conclusion[]
Though it was flawed, and not particularly coordinated, plenty of interesting ideas persisted in CoS Legacy Lore, and there was some beauty in members of the community just coming together and going “Hey, let’s make something cool”. Personally? I think a surprising amount of depth and coherence was found regardless. Stories that not only heavily involved the community but also ones that were both playable (in terms of species, art or character making) and could vaguely be strung together to create a flowing plotline (From the appearance of this little island in space, to the Wardens, to the start of creature-driven civilization and even to how all these parties then dealt with various threats or personal conflicts).
Legacy Lore stopped around the same point Recode released, and nothing here is official anymore. But perhaps some lessons could still be learned, and it might make “modern” CoS lore just a little more fun. In the meantime, Legacy isn’t exactly dead. The old world remains just a click away, if you want to experience it. And maybe, just maybe, in that timeline, the story of Sonaria as depicted here lives on.
Compiled by:
Roblox User: KW1 / Discord: InterconKW
(I played a single blue Glimmer Sochuri for almost 2 years and 26340 in-game minutes, through regular PVP and every event until Recode dropped)
Also special thanks to various artists, a couple of testers, and the CoS Discord Lore Discussion Channel during the middle of 2023.