Elyos vs. Asmodian

The first time I heard about Aion, I tucked into the official faction page. I saw the two races: the pretty good guys and the ugly bad guys. Formulaic, I thought at the time. I'm the kind of metal loving ex black-wearing anti-bogan that loves all things dark and broody so naturally I gravitated towards the Asmodian side. Mostly dark skin... okay, they can make pale skin too, that's absolutely fine by me. Hmm, it seems they're not ugly at all. Tails? Oh, manes, weird. Kind of cool, though. Wow, red glowing eyes! Black raven-esque wings, neat claws too! But they are clearly less pretty than the Elyos. It is obvious that Elyos will be the zerg faction, as Alliance was in WoW... and I love playing for the horde underdogs.


Asmodian it is.

Alas, fate had its wicked way with me. I found the perfect legion, which unfortunately was Elyos. So I made the sacrifice and here I am... a gothic metalhead in a sunblighted Elysian body.

Just kidding. I look about as metal as David Mitchell.

The transition wasn't soft. As I got more into the lore, it turns out the furbacks are pretty much as metal as they sound, while Elyos transformed from goody-two-shoes (a forgivable crime) into arrogant selfish short-sighted ignorant little shits. Joy. Still, they get the best endgame wings imo so it's not a total loss.

As awesome as black crow wings are, these do take the
caek... and quite royally at that.

Weeks passed and I got used to it, though I still retained my long-seated view that Elyos would be the more popular faction. It didn't help that there was no single poll on such matters; only dozens of individual faction polls from around the world. Our own oceanic poll had the Elyos ahead but almost everywhere else had the Asmodians in quite a kickarse lead. Still, I reasoned, that's just the beta community -- in general, we're more switched on and I guess that unique sort of sub-community gravitates towards the Asmodian culture. But come live, surely the masses will choose the pretty side. I just couldn't imagine Joe Sixpack ever even considering playing something with a mane.

Over time that view evolved to be what it is today: we're facing an Asmodian zerg. While I'm happy with that as an Elyos player, it has still genuinely surprised me. In every game I've played, the pretty/ostensibly good side has been the most populous by far. Even WoW's horde only became truly popular after the addition of Blood Elves to their side. What makes Aion different? Is it because the "uglier" side isn't all that ugly after all? Is it because the more visceral faction has the perfect blend of beauty and beast? Are Asmodians the marijuana of dark factions: the first step Joe Sixpack has been unwilling to take until Aion? Will he next be rolling Sith when TOR is released?

Or... is it just because Elyos really are pretty damn generic? Aion has thus far proven to be a rather unique world but in this world where even the critters stand out, Elyos are still pretty much just pretty rich kids from skin to bone. There's nothing particularly endearing or attractive about them and when you actually get down to it, they're actually a rather repulsive people. Things on their whoops-list include heresy, genocide and border-line retarded leaders.

Perhaps an oversimplification. Yes, those are my mad mspaint skillz

I don't know. The world is more foreign to me than it has ever been.

/cuts self with claws