Factions

From AionSource.com Wiki

There are currently 3 Factions announced; the Elyos, the Asmodians, and the Balaur. They are seperated into playable and AI controlled factions.

Playable Factions

These are the factions players will be able to choose between. They each have identical classes (names might be different). Each will also have Faction specific skills/attributes. These can either be passive, active, or a mix of both.

Elyos

Concept art of Elyos Male.

Commonly referred to as the 'Good' side or 'Angelic', they are the faction that lives on the bottom half of Atreia, known as Elysea. It receives more sunlight than the world of the Asmodians, and the people and scenes show it. Boasting tanned people, bright and colorful areas, it is lively and Eutopian. The characters are more human looking than their Asmodian counterparts.

Asmodian

Concept art for Asmodian Female.

Commonly referred to as the 'Evil' side or 'Demonic', they are the faction that lives on the top half Atreia, known as Asmodae. It receives substantially less sunlight than the world of the Elyos, and the people and scenes show it. Boasting pale-skinned people, dark and deep-colored areas, it is sober area with little light. The characters are more beast/animal looking than their Elyos counterparts, sporting clawed feet armor and hair sprouting from the body armor.

Non Playable Factions

These include the rival class, the Balaur, and the NPC class, the Shugo.

Balaur

The Balaur are a non-playable dragon race. They mostly inhabit the Abyss zones (it is unknown as of yet if they will be reachable in normal play zones) and control the castles there. They are AI controlled by the server, and will crash Castle Sieges happily. Their actions are not predictable. At one time, they may help the Elyos defend a castle, the next, they might attack the Elyos as they retreat, and another time they may attack both factions.

The race is implemented to not only add balance, but to add an air of doubt to the battlefield when the Balaur approach a RvR fight, since it is never known if they will help or hinder your faction.

Shugo

This is a short animal class that can be seen around the towns. They are unplayable and (as of yet) do not fight. The majority of them are seen moving boxes and other items around the town for shops. This in itself is quite unique, as most shops and NPCs are just standing around, or walking around.