Originally uploaded to Bilibili.tv
This event was set up to pretty much follow the Nefer Character Quest we played through during the Archon Quest. But there really wasn't any important information nor real world basis for any of it.
However in the middle of the story we found some old notes belonging to someone called "Zandik" which means Manichaeist in Persian. This is the name of the character Dottore who is likely going to become the major antagonist of this Archon Quest. Therefore this event and the majority Persian emphasis of the Archon Quest's story was probably to set up his motivations in the next two parts of the story.
I'm not sure I really appreciate that. A few years ago the release of that same Persian region, Sumeru gave us a major antagonist that came from the Japan-based region. I found it weird to have a Japanese antagonist for a Persian story since Japan and Persia don't have any common history at all. The same applies to the Baltics and Persia. But I suppose we'll see what happens.
And if you like discussing the storylines of games please click here to check out Hive Gaming Theories!
You know originally this game told a story while having direct context with something that happened in real world history. For example the Persia-based story of Sumeru featured a society focused on the teachings of Zoroastrianism with schools named after the Amesha Spenta. The region was broken up into the rainforests of India, bordered by mountains that led to the China-based region further to the east, urban areas filled with Islamic architecture and then a far western desert with pyramids and underground catacombs reminiscent of Egypt.
Nod-Krai doesn't quite do that. The region should be based on the semi-autonomous territories of the Russian Empire like modern day Finland but besides the use of some Finnish words, there really isn't anything Russian or Baltic to it. As for a story related to Persia, the Slavs never really interacted with Persia at all. At best, the Vikings that dwelled in Slavic territories on their way to raiding Byzantine might provide some connection since the descendents of those Slavs would go on to form those Baltic states along with the East Slavic states we're more aware of while Byzantine would be taken over by the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Actually if anything Russia proper had more direct relations with Persia as the expansion by the Russian Cossacks caused five separate incursions against Persia but Nod-Krai isn't based on Russia proper.