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Alsbeth has been scheming up something wicked. Ascended, you must stop her!

We are excited to introduce a new raid for RIFT Prime players to fight their way through. Introducing River of Souls! This classic, level 50 20-man raid continues the story on Prime and what was hinted at in our Grim Remembrance event.

The Soulstream

When Telarans or Planetouched die, their spirits are whisked away to the Soulstream. This place is a river of intertwining souls that drift along the border of the Plane of Death.

From the edge of the Plane of Death, Alsbeth the Discordant, has control of a device that grants her access to the Soulstream. She is now able to draw forth any soul she likes, returning the poor subject to Telara as a Deathtouched minion of Regulos. If the Endless Court keeps hold of the Soulstream, death will offer no rest to the peoples of Telara, and neither gods nor machines will have souls to draw upon for Ascension.

Besides having to worry about Alsbeth, legions of walking nightmares patrol the perimeter of the Soulstream. They are waiting to descend upon Telara. Alsbeth plucked two powerful souls from this bunch to protect her while she fishes for the most valuable souls in the river. The Ascended will have to fight their way through these undead minions, including foes they’ve faced before, and Regulos’ herald Gaurath.

All of Alsbeth’s schemes and betrayals have led to the River of Souls, and she will fight with every resource available to achieve her horrid goals of damning all of Telara.

Get out there and defeat Alsbeth once and for all! Do not let her corrupt the souls of the dead and bring about the end of Telara. It is time to prepare your friends and enter the River of Souls!

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Alsbeth has waited far too long for the River of Souls to open in Telara. Find out what secrets she has planned…

From Wednesday, July 11, 2018 at 8:30 AM PDT until Wednesday, July 25, 2018 July 31, 2018 at 8:00 AM PDT, participate in a long-anticipated series of zone events in Silverwood, Freemarch, Gloamwood, Stonefield, Stillmoor, and Shimmersand, along with some daily quests. Take part in the event to earn in-game rewards such as cosmetics, trinkets, and (Prime-only) gear. This is the prelude to the River of Souls raid, coming soon to RIFT Prime!

What is The Grim Remembrance?

The Grim Remembrance is when the Ascended mark the first of the recent apocalypses that have beset our world, when a mad cult leader would have succeeded in destroying all that exists on behalf of the Blood Storm, but for the timely intercession of a raid of Ascended who stopped their plans. Things may be a little colder than the usual weather in Summerfest, a bit gloomier. It’s not as joyful as Fae Yule, but the Ascended always mark the moment upon the parapets of Caer Mathos when time stood still, and the world was saved.

This event will take place on both RIFT Live and Prime. For RIFT Prime, this will be the event leading up to the River of Souls raid unlock. For players on RIFT Live, this will be a chance to take part in a reimagined take on the original event.

Who is Alsbeth the Discordant?

Alsbeth the Discordant was the first of the cult leaders to reveal herself since the Ascended appeared on Telara. In life, she had always sought power, be it befriending Asha Catari, the most powerful mage of her class at Quicksilver College, by moving up the social ladder in the court of King Jostir, or by choosing the side she thought she would have the most to gain from when rebellion broke out against Aedraxis. But it was only in death when her true destructive nature imperiled all of Telara. While the heroes of Telara were brought back to life as Guardians of the Vigil, or traveled back in time as the Defiant heralds of the end times, Alsbeth had returned in secret as the handmaid of Regulos, the Destroyer.

She had played her part well at first, pretending that her ascension was just like all the other miracles of the gods or science, when in truth she was returned to the World of Telara as part of an unholy deal with the dragon of death to bring an end to all things. But the Ascended do not suffer villains lightly, and time after time her plans were thwarted. From the conquest of Freemarch to the corruption of Gloamwood, the Ascended stopped her schemes and spells at every turn. Even her supply chain of sourcestone from Scarlet Gorge was shut down. If she was to make good upon the many promises she made to that unforgiving dragon, she would have to conquer the Ascended and destroy the world in one fell swoop. By unleashing the dead upon Telara, its former heroes and villains, monsters and protectors, she hoped she would cause time to stand still and in the confusion strike a blow against the Ascended that would break the ward and bring her master Regulos back from destruction and into an everlasting night of the Plane of Death.

If you missed out before, this is your chance to experience the reimagined Grim Remembrance! If you’re a new player on Prime, join this exciting event to find out what’s to come on Prime. Have something to say? Join us on the official RIFT forums to discuss the event here.

7/27 Update: we’ve extended the Grim Remembrance event until July 31, 2018 due to all the server hiccups we’ve had. Thanks for your understanding!

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Asha Catari, hero of the Defiants, is making her mark in Atlas Reactor!

We Telarans all know and love Asha, and her unique look will soon be available in our strategic, turn-based action game, Atlas Reactor. Asha’s fighting style closely matches that of the character Atlas Reactor Asana, and we are thrilled with the result of this collaboration! Atlas Reactor is free-to-play and may appeal to PvP fans of RIFT. Give it a try today! www.atlasreactor.com

Now if we can only get PuP into RIFT somehow…

THE STORY OF ASHA CATARI

For those who may yet be unfamiliar with Asha, we have some lore to share from our archives.

The Catari family has a long and illustrious history of producing the finest mages of Telara. At the peak of the ancient Eth Empire, the city-state of Catari was ruled by the family’s ancient ancestors.

Asha is the youngest Catari daughter. Her older sister, Auram Catari, was ever the shining star of Quicksilver College, and Asha struggled to distinguish herself, more often than not simply getting herself into trouble with her restlessness and rebelliousness.

Asha was as gifted as her sister, but, frustrated by the weight of expectations and slow pace of progress, rebelled against the curriculum of the college. She and Alsbeth the Discordant (then known as Alsbeth Rothmann) both experimented with dark warlock magic. Alsbeth turned Asha in, resulting in her expulsion from the College.
Angry but undaunted, Asha joined the Dragonslayer Covenant, an ancient order devoted to preserving the knowledge of the Blood Storm Wars and to prevent the return of Regulos. She became their most adept magical warrior, chasing down cult cells.
In the course of her efforts, she found proof that the Endless Court had made a deal with Aedraxis Mathos. She was then sent by Orphiel Farwind to warn the forces of Zareph Mathos.

She stayed on to fight with their forces as a part of a strike force sent to seek out the source of Aedraxis’s dark power. They failed to find it in time, and when the Shade was unleashed. Asha was among the many destroyed by its dark power.

But her story did not end with her death. Beyond the veil, Regulos drew her spirit from the Soulstream to stand before him. The Destroyer offered her his great power if she would become his general on Telara. She hotly refused, preferring death to evil servitude. Regulos resolved to destroy her, searing her spirit by igniting the very energy with which he had embroidered it as a taste of the power he offered her. She writhed and screamed in immeasurable pain, but before he could crush her utterly, her spirit was suddenly pulled away, leaving him howling in rage.

She awoke, gasping for breath, within a machine in Freemarch, shocked and confused, but alive. Orphiel Farwind, once her tutor in the Court of Mathos, stood beside her, looking at her with an expression of triumph. He explained that he had used the technology of the ancient Eth to return her to life, and that she was merely the first of the warriors he planned to return as what would become the Ascended.

Orphiel soon realized that Asha was not at all the same young woman whom he had known at the Court of Mathos. Physically, she had changed, covered in glyphs of power that flared up on her skin, but all Defiants could sense that she had changed in other ways as well, and many now found her presence strange and uncomfortable.

Asha continued to distinguish herself, leading the Defiants to many great victories against both the agents of The Blood Storm and their enemies in the Guardians. Now that the two factions have found common ground once more, her leadership has grown to lead the combined Telaran forces against planar threats.

Even among the Defiants, she is considered aloof and unapproachable, but widely revered. Few have her confidence, but none would dare question her ability to lead. She walks with planar energy in her gait, and an intense passion of purpose that stirs others to action.

Many Ascended have joined the battle since then, and lend their strength and skill to this common cause, the protection of Telara… but she will always be the first, the strange one, the marked soul.