Lineage II didn’t just add zones — it rewrote the world when the main story moved. Sagas, seals, red skies, new races, and starter zones that vanished overnight were all tied to NCSoft’s chronicle marketing.
NA players often got a two-minute teaser and patch notes. Korean plaync pages, press interviews, and the old NCWest “Legends” essays carried far more detail. This page pieces together that timeline — what changed, when, and the in-universe reason NCSoft gave for it.
Fan archive, not official NCSoft text. Where lore is reconstructed from press, archived NCWest pages, or community memory, we say so. Chronicle dates live on our timeline; this is the story frame around them.
Four sagas, one live world
The game follows a fictional history through sets of plots called "Sagas". There are four primary sagas on the classic Live path: "The Chaotic Chronicle", "The Chaotic Throne", "Goddess of Destruction", and "Epic Tale of Aden". Large-scale updates are known as Chronicles (also called The Throne, Chapter, or Episode depending on the saga). Our chronicle timeline tracks NA patch dates; this page is the story that justified the rewrites.
What veterans misremember
Red skies, blood moons, and “they removed night” — half true, half conflated across decades of patches.
“The Seven Signs turned the sky red every week.”
In Chronicle 3 (2005), the winning cabal changed the sky to violet (Dawn) or green (Dusk) — not red. Red skies and “bloody air” belong to Goddess of Destruction (2011+) when Shilen awakens.
“NCSoft removed night from the game.”
The day/night cycle still runs. Nights got brighter patch by patch for player comfort; C3 also removed some night-only spawns from a few hunting grounds. Early C0–C2 nights felt genuinely dark — by High Five, midnight looked almost like day.
“Kamael and Ertheia are the same ancient race.”
Kamael (2007) are giant-made living weapons from the Isle of Souls. Ertheia (2014) are Sayha’s wind-spirit people — a different creation myth entirely.
“Einhasad created humans.”
Official “Legends” lore: Gran Kain made humans from scraps; Emperor Shunaiman later taught the Church of Einhasad to claim Einhasad as creator — a political myth players meet on Talking Island.
Era by era
From creation myth through Ertheia — KR plaync promo art, embedded trailers where they survived, and links to chronicles and sources.
Before Aden · Creation myth · Legends 01–02
Einhasad, Gran Kain, and the lie humans believe
The official backstory begins with a shattered primordial world. Einhasad (light) and Gran Kain (darkness) shape the races — elves, orcs, dwarves, and the wind-born Arteia. Humans are different: Gran Kain fashions them from leftover scraps, finds them embarrassing, and walks away. Giants enslave them. Later, Emperor Shunaiman of Elmoreden launches a generations-long reform: humans are taught that Einhasad — not Gran Kain — created them. Black magic and Gran Kain worship are persecuted. That is the religion you meet in the Einhasad temples on Talking Island — state doctrine, not cosmic truth.
Talking Island as veterans remember it — Einhasad temple politics and the human origin myth start here.Source: Community wiki archive
Lore beats
Gran Kain creates humans; giants rule them
Shunaiman’s Einhasad cult becomes the official human faith
Talking Island trains human knights and mystics under that myth
The Chaotic Chronicle · 2003–2007 · Prelude through Interlude
War in the heartlands, castles on the calendar
The first saga is the game most veterans mean when they say “classic L2”: five races, Aden’s kingdoms, castle sieges, and chronicles named C1 through C5. Prelude opens the world; Harbingers of War ignites conflict around Giran; Scions of Destiny and Oath of Blood add raid narratives (Frintezza, Baium, Zariche). Interlude polishes the client and is widely remembered as peak classic before the Throne saga reshaped everything.
KR plaync Classic promo — the five-race world most players mean when they say “classic L2.”Source: plaync KR (Lineage II Classic)
Trailers
Lineage II Classic official trailer · Official Lineage II YouTube · 2018
Chronicle 5: Oath of Blood (gameplay) · Official Lineage II YouTube · 2009
The Chaotic Chronicle · 2005 · Chronicle 3 — Rise of Darkness
Seven Signs, catacombs, and the skies that weren’t red
Chronicle 3 is the lore patch many players still feel in their bones — even if they misremember the color of the sky. The Seven Seals that bind Shilen’s power crack open. Lords of Dawn (castle holders) fight the Revolutionary Army of Dusk in a two-week cycle. You farmed Seal Stones from Lilim and Nephilim in the Catacombs and Necropolises, competed in the Festival of Darkness, and logged in to find the heavens changed. Winning Dawn brought a solar eclipse and a violet sky; winning Dusk put an eye in the moon and turned the sky green. The red sky of fan memory usually belongs to a different era — Goddess of Destruction — not C3.
KR plaync underground saga art — closest surviving promo tone to the Catacombs / Necropolis era (Seven Signs launched long before modern plaync history pages).Source: plaync KR (Infinite Odyssey)
Lore beats
Seal of Gnosis: Shunaiman seals Lilim cultists in six Catacombs
Seal of Avarice: Nephilim–Lilith war fills lore skies with red energy — backstory text, not the weekly C3 effect
Seal Stones inside Lilim/Nephilim bodies power the modern Cabal war
Shilen cultists and Embryo foreshadow later GoD awakening
What players saw in-game
Six Catacombs + eight Necropolises + two Oracles
Weekly cabal war: violet sky (Dawn) or green sky with lunar eye (Dusk)
Mammon traders inside dungeons for the winning side
Seal of Strife changes siege mercenary rules
Note: “Blood moon” as a C3 login screen is apocryphal — community conflation with GoD marketing. C3 skies are documented as violet/green in official patch notes.
Early Lineage II had a real day/night clock — faster than real time, but unmistakable. Fields went dark; the moon mattered; Dark Elf Shadow Sense gave accuracy at night. Chronicle 3 explicitly removed night-only monsters from Ruins of Sorrow, Ruins of Despair, Execution Ground, and Dragon Valley. After that, NCSoft brightened nights incrementally across many patches. Korean community guides note that by High Five, midnight looked almost as bright as noon — not because the cycle was removed, but because lighting was tuned for convenience. Gracia Final even added night-only sky raid bosses, proof the clock never left.
What players saw in-game
Day/night clock still runs on Live
C3: night-only spawns removed from four classic zones
Gradual global night brightening C3 → High Five
Shadow Sense, fishing, spawn tables still respect time
Gracia Final: certain sky raid bosses at night only
Note: No single “night removal” patch appears in patch notes — this was a slow visual change, not one toggle.
The Chaotic Throne · 2007–2008 · The Kamael + Hellbound
The sixth race and the island Beleth stole
The Chaotic Throne opens with the Kamael — Korea’s 혼돈의 왕좌 (Chaotic Throne) after 혼돈의 연대기 (Chaotic Chronicle). Unlike the five god-made races, official interviews describe Kamael as giant-crafted living weapons. After the giants’ war, the Isle of Souls was sealed in a dimensional rift; they re-emerge on Aden. NCSoft left ambiguous whether Gran Kain threw them into the world to sow chaos or Eva guided them against Shilen — both explanations appear in Western press. Hellbound (CT1.5) follows: Beleth, the mage sealed under Ivory Tower, escapes to Hellbound Island and builds the Steel Citadel while natives resist.
The Isle of Souls as shown in early Chaotic Throne press — where the giant-made Kamael were sealed before returning to Aden.Source: GamersGlobal press archive
Trailers
The Kamael — CGI movie · lineage2games (era trailer archive) · 2007
Lore beats
Kamael: giant-made weapons from the Isle of Souls
Dimensional rift seal breaks; embassies and fortress PvP
Beleth: fallen Ivory Tower archmage, Steel Citadel on Hellbound
Trust system unlocks Naia and the Beleth encounter
What players saw in-game
Sixth playable race; soul-absorption combat
Isle of Souls, Isle of Prayer, Hellbound continent
The Chaotic Throne · 2008–2011 · Gracia through High Five
Keucereus, the Seeds, and the last classic shape
Gracia is the continent across the sea: King Keucereus, Shilen-worshipper exiles, and the Seeds — floating fortresses of destruction and undeath. Scheduled airships from Gludio opened the continent to Aden. Part 2 added Aurabird flight; Final brought the Seed of Destruction (Tiat) and Seed of Infinity (Ekimus) as sky dungeons. Freya and High Five closed the Throne saga with ice-queen narrative and the last big “classic structure” pass before Goddess of Destruction tore the starter zone apart.
KR plaync GoD-era promo art — Gracia and High Five closed the Throne saga before Shilen’s awakening reworked the starter zones.Source: plaync KRTauti chapter key art from plaync’s Goddess of Destruction history reel.Source: plaync KR
Trailers
Gracia Final trailer · Era trailer archive · 2009
Lore beats
Keucereus Alliance vs pagan monsters from the Seeds
Aerial warfare and clan airships
Tiat and Ekimus as floating raid fortresses
What players saw in-game
Gracia continent + Gludio Airship Field
Flying transforms (Aurabird, Final Flying Form)
Aerial Cleft 9v9 sky PvP
High Five: Dragon Valley / Swamp revamps — end of pre-GoD world
Goddess of Destruction · 2011–2013 · Awakening through Valiance
Shilen wakes — red sky, F2P, and Talking Island dies
Goddess of Destruction is the saga that changed both business and geography. Shilen — Einhasad’s fallen daughter, original goddess of water — was sealed after birthing dragons and waging war on the gods. Cultists of Embryo sacrifice blood to break the Seven Seals. When the fourth seal shatters, Shilen awakens: bloody air, red skies, the Dark Moon as her eyes. Ye Sagira crashes onto Talking Island; the walled starter village is gone. All races share a rebuilt academy hub. Mortals unlock Awakening — fourth-class archetypes (Sigel, Tyrr, Othell, Yul, Iss, Wynn, Aeore, Feoh). November 2011 NA also dropped the subscription — F2P with an item shop.
This is the red-sky era — Shilen awakens, Talking Island falls, Awakening classes arrive. KR plaync Awakening key art.Source: plaync KRHarmony chapter promo from plaync’s GoD history pages.Source: plaync KR
Trailers
Goddess of Destruction — character trailer · GameSpot (NCSoft promo) · 2011
Goddess of Destruction trailer · ONRPG (NCSoft promo) · 2011
Lore beats
Embryo breaks seals with blood sacrifice in Necropolises/Catacombs
4th seal → Shilen awakens → red sky (this is the ‘blood moon’ many remember)
Ye Sagira destroys classic Talking Island; universal starter rebuild
Hermuncus and giant survivors ally against Shilen
Awakening classes reshape every archetype
What players saw in-game
Red sky / Dark Moon marketing matched in-game tone
Note: Search YouTube for re-uploads: “Lineage II Goddess of Destruction”, “Lindvior”, “리니지2 쉬ilen”. Many 2011–2013 NC channel uploads were culled or unlisted.
Epic Tale of Aden opens with Ertheia — Sayha’s wind-spirit people, tied to the ancient Arteia of Legend 02 but distinct from giant-made Kamael. They live in the Wind Spirit Realm until the Seal of Punishment shatters and half of Faeron city falls into Aden’s material world. Ertheia seek the Grail to return home while Sayha falls silent. Female-only race with Nann (physical) and Surr (magical) paths; Alchemy and new stats followed in KR. Every later chapter (Infinite Odyssey, Underground, Helios, Salvation, Fafurion…) stacks on this saga — but Ertheia is the clean break point where dimensional strangers became the live story hook.
KR plaync Ertheia key art — Sayha’s wind spirits fall into Aden through the dimensional rift.Source: plaync KRThe Epic Tale continues — Infinite Odyssey promo from plaync KR.Source: plaync KR
Trailers
Ertheia quest trailer · Official Lineage II / NCSoft · 2014
Lore beats
Seal of Punishment breaks → Faeron falls into Aden
