Template:Corrupted Essence

The Wreckage of Carphin corrupted area.^[1]

Corrupted Essence (commonly referred to simply as Corruption) is a negative aspect of The Essence that was spread by The Ancients during the Apocalypse.^[2]^[3]

Corruption is a representation of The Ancients' magic: The Ancients hatred. The Ancients desire to strike back at the creation of what their the gods who banished them to the void have tried to accomplish on Verra. And so corruption is this influence of The Essence that permeates around locations in the world and tries to pervert what that creation really is.^[4] – Steven Sharif

Corruption was brought to Verra by the Harbingers, which are comet-like celestial bodies powered by a very strong source of magic.^[5]^[6]

Corruption in the world manifests as a result of player activity.^[7]
- Events and story arcs can lead to the spreading of corruption that players will have to fight back against.^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]
- Corruption is present in corrupted areas/zones that evolve with node progression and story arcs.^[7]^[11]^[8]^[12]^[13]^[5]^[9]^[14]
- Corrupted areas do not confer corruption onto a player. Only pvP related activities lead to player corruption (in the flagging system).^[4]^[15]
- Corrupted resources are variations of resources that are only available in corrupted areas or during certain story arcs.^[7]^[16]^[17]^[18]

What does corruption do as it seeps in through the world? It seeps in a way that's responsive to player progression. So as the nodes develop, as the world becomes more civilized by society, going out and standing up these cities and these nodes and whatnot, corruption responds to that. It is an equal pushback that it's trying to achieve. And it's up to players to thwart the advancement of that corruption through achieving certain story arc quest lines, through killing certain bosses, through, participating in content that relates to that corruption seeping into the world. But corruption is not all bad, because corruption changes spawners and it changes populations and it changes resources that become available- unique resources... So there is a relevance- meaningful component of why that corruption would want to be interacted with from the player's perspective. But it's a push and pull situation. That's really what corruption is intended to provide, push and pull between the advancement of society and what was there that's more feral.^[7] – Steven Sharif