The Aphelion¶
The Aphelion was the flagship of Avsohm, acting at different points in the empire's history as a central piece of its command structure, a hub for research efforts, and the crown jewel of its military. The Aphelion is mentioned several times throughout the map, including prominently in holotexts and books throughout the early game. At the point that the player has awoken from stasis in the Fourth Avihm, the whereabouts and ultimate fate of the ship are widely unknown.
It is left unclear initially whether the Aphelion was a seafaring vessel or an airship. Search efforts for the ship by several factions, including the forces of Maelihs and the Order of Insohm, proved fruitless, finding no evidence of the ship in the waters surrounding Drehmal or on land.
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This page or section may contain significant spoilers for Drehmal: Apotheosis. Read the additional messages below for specific spoiler information.
The remainder of this article contains SIGNIFICANT spoilers for the 75% completion story event, as well as its ramifications in the storyline.
If you have not reached 75% completion or finished the full 75% story sequence through the "Apotheosis" advancement, we STRONGLY advise that you do not continue to read this article.
Story (75% Completion Event)¶
The Aphelion comes into the story of Drehmal in the 75% network linkage event. After the events that take place at the Repository's admin wing, the player is prompted to return to the Terminus to board the Aphelion, answering Commander Verpyne's ancient SOS message.
Back in the Terminus, a previously-closed off segment of the Outer Towers wing opens upon the player's return, and a new button at the end of the hallway opens the way to a hangar bay with a space shuttle. The player must board this shuttle, which will then take them directly from the Terminus to the Aphelion, revealing that both structures are, in fact, in space.
The Aphelion in space, with Drehmal in the background.
The player arrives to find the Aphelion mostly empty, but almost entirely intact. The majority of the ship is blocked off initially by holo-doors locked from the other side, and as such, the player must navigate through maintenance tunnels to unlock most of the rooms on board.
Finding their way through tunnels, the player will eventually end up on the bottom floor, the living quarters and primary throne of Emperor Anyr. Here, holotexts and books begin to paint a clear picture of Avsohm's true ambitions. It is revealed that Avsohm learned that there was an existential threat to their realm, and Anyr's solution was to seek eternal life, ruling over the entirety of Drehmal forever, as the title "God-Emperor" is used to describe him for the first time.
The Aphelion's throne room.
On the Aphelion's top floor, the player can enter the Command Center, which contains a holotext establishing the location of the ship in space. It shows that the Aphelion was first sent to space to attempt to peer beyond the Veil, a barrier that physically blocked any kind of observation beyond the realm (the system composed of the actual planet on which Drehmal is found and its natural satellites). As such, attention was diverted to the divine moon of Lo'Dahr, the supposed home of the Aspects, as the focus of Avsohmic expansion and study. It is also shown here that the Aphelion is currently orbiting Lo'Dahr.
The command center.
Deeper in the vessel, the player can gain some insight as to what took place on the ship, including the study and fabrication of veilstone (bedrock), the most durable material known to Avsohm, growth of plants found on Lo'Dahr in the hydroponics lab, and command of Avsohmic operations throughout the realm.
The player must also venture through maintenance tunnels into the surveillance room, where some of the intricacies of Avsohm's fall begin to come to light. The ship's commander, Verpyne, is found inside of this room as a hostile entity, seemingly lost to some corruptive force. The room itself is filled with surveillance camera feeds of important Avsohmic facilities throughout Drehmal, including Sal'Mevir, Exodus Vault, the Foundry, the Av'Sal Repository, the principal rehntite mine, and the Primary Energy Collection Facility. Holotexts in the room provide accounts of the empire's collapse, including officers who were forced to watch as Sal'Anyr fell to Maelihs in the immediate aftermath, as well as the first mention in the main story of what happened to the people at Mt. Yavhlix, describing the officer watching that feed as being consumed by circular holes until ceasing to exist. In the surveillance room, the player can open the blast doors blocking access to the reactor room. where they can eject slag and open a pipe to the void of space.
Further progression requires the player to perform a spacewalk, following a series of hanging platforms along the ship's exterior until finally reaching a bay on the underside of the ship, exposed to the vacuum of space by a hole in the wall, containing the top half of a warp tower. The player initiates an injection sequence, dropping the tower below toward Lo'Dahr, out of the player's view. The final portion of this sequence involves pushing one of the set of buttons nearby, with signs labeled "THE APHELION" on all sides in the same manner as the towers spread across Drehmal.
The tower bay, after the tower has been deployed.
Pressing the button will warp the player to the tower's landing spot, granting the "Apotheosis" advancement and ending the 75% completion event, as the player finds themselves in a lake on Lo'Dahr, hallowed ground where sparingly few Drehmari have walked before.
Gameplay¶
The Aphelion and its copy of the Terminus comprise their own dimension, known as the Space dimension. Of note, the main Terminus (where the player can warp to and from the various towers) is actually located in the Overworld, and this dimension only contains a cosmetic copy of the structure.
While in the Aphelion, the player remains in Adventure Mode, preventing the destruction or placement of blocks.
In the initial shuttle ride to the ship, the player is teleported onto the shuttle by stepping onto an infused amethyst (purpur pillar) block, and must sit down (right click one of the glowing slabs) before pressing the button to begin the shuttle ride. Once the shuttle has arrived, simply shift to exit (as one would a horse or minecart) and walk towards the stained glass blocks to be teleported out of the shuttle.
Throughout the Aphelion, passive custom mobs named "Avsohmic Roombot" can be found, which behave like turtles and slowly roam the floors. They cannot harm the player, and do not drop any items.1
There are generic humanoid enemies representing lost Avsohmic officers in some parts of the ship, similar to those found at Sal'Mevir and Exodus Vault, although there are also stronger variants in the Aphelion, such as Lost Commander Verpyne.
In the same wing as the surveillance room, the player can find the avSYS Materials Exchange Unit, which was formerly in the Terminus in v2.1, but has been relocated to the Aphelion. This small entity can be interacted with to access renewable trades for important materials.
avSYS Materials Exchange Unit Trades
| Cost | Product |
|---|---|
| Iron Block x3 Diamond | Runic Catalyst |
| Diamond x3 Prismarine x32 | Moonstone (Heart of the Sea) |
| Rotten Flesh x3 Primal Pearl | Ruin Membrane x3 (Phantom Membrane) |
| Fire Charge x48 Poppy | Chthonic Rose (Wither Rose) |
| Chthonic Rose Scale x32 | Chthonic Skeleton Skull (Wither Skeleton Skull) |
| Scale x14 Glass Bottle | Arcane Bottle |
In the spacewalk area, players receive the Slow Falling and Jump Boost IV effects to simulate the very low gravity around the ship. Falling off of the Aphelion during these sections will reset the player back to a checkpoint in the spacewalk, as well as giving two seconds of Blindness and Wither, taking away about 3 health.
In version 2.2.2, a secret advancement was added, which can be obtained during the spacewalk section.
Secret Advancement Hint
This advancement, "Coming in Hot!", is given for finding another way to enter Lo'Dahr, without dropping the tower from the Aphelion or opening one of the gateways. This does not require any particular special item, and can simply be done by falling off the ship while a certain condition is met that might allow the player to survive such a fall.
How to Obtain the Secret Advancement
This advancement can be obtained by falling to Lo'Dahr from the spacewalk section with over 100 Max Health (over 5 full rows of hearts). This can be obtained through multiple different combinations of stat-boosting armor, weapons, and other items in the game, as well as through absorption hearts gained from enchanted golden apples. The player will spawn approximately 800 blocks in the air in Lo'Dahr, and come hurtling down to the ground at approximately (X=141, Z=-343), along the border between Nahyn's Domain and Moen's Domain. If a player is wearing Avsohm'Kohl during the fall, that copy of the glider will be irreversibly damaged.
Original Writing¶
The Aphelion is home to the most holotexts of any single story location in Drehmal, with a whopping 16 entries!
There are also 8 lore books in the Aphelion (6 in normally accessible areas):
- Crew Member's Diary in room A3.
- Crew Member's Journal in room B4.
- Safety Precautions outside room B4.
- Azurite's Journal in room B5.
- The Veil's Roar in a maintenance tunnel.
- Proclamation of Anyr in the throne room.
- Biology Wing Inventory in the hydroponics section.
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Lore¶
The Lore section ties in sources from the late and end-game, and may spoil some aspects of the story from after this point.
The Aphelion was used for several purposes throughout Avsohm's reign, but appears to have been a staple of their fleet for much of its history. Accounts suggest that the Aphelion was initially a normal airship, but was at some point heavily refitted for space travel. It was also kept a secret from the general public, and as such, it has effectively become a myth in the modern day.
The ship was initially used as a research vessel, but as a key component of Anyr's grand plan, the ship was thoroughly equipped with heavy Blue Exodus weaponry, and converted primarily into a warship. It was planned to be used as the most threatening element of the Avsohmic arsenal during Anyr's crusade against the entity that created Mythbreaker and supposedly held sovereignty over the universe.
Many important characters are known to have spent time aboard the Aphelion, including Anyr and his family, who appear to have spent the majority of their time in the living quarters there. Others include the ship's commander, Verpyne, and recurring Avsohmic officers such as Ekoh, Ruhnl, Hirhla, Vortu, Marto, and Historian Mo.
In the Aphelion's command center, miniature versions of the Resonant Eye (dubbed the "Harmonious Eyes") can be found, which were initially put on board in an attempt to view beyond the Veil at the realm's edge. When the vehicle could not get close enough due to the Veil's physical obstruction, another scan focused on Lo'Dahr revealed an extremely concentrated source of primal energy inside of the moon. This prompted efforts into the study of Lo'Dahr, eventually leading to the discovery of the Numencore.
Extras¶
There is an extremely well-hidden target block in the throne room on the lowest level, which will trigger an easter egg if found and shot.
Secret Easter Egg
Just through the gap at the top of the first column to the right of the throne (left of someone sitting in the throne), a target block is barely visible, and can be shot. If shot, it will give the dialogue line, "[@] Royal Flush!" This will also spawn a new room elsewhere in the Aphelion, adding a bathroom to the first floor near the A rooms.
Trivia¶
The term "Aphelion" is a real English word, and is a term used to refer to the furthest point in a planet's orbit from the sun. A generic term for such a point (if not orbiting the sun) is an apsis.
Soundtrack¶
There are two songs in the soundtrack dedicated to the Aphelion, both by Drehmal composer Chris Nesja.
The first, "Welcome Aboard", begins playing during the shuttle ride.
The second, "Imponderous", plays during the spacewalk sequence.
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i don't have to be impartial in footnotes: if you kill the roombots, you will NOT be granted favorable reincarnation by Voynahla! Do NOT hurt them they are my friends >:( ↩