How far to trust this
The guide was put together in October 2026 from seven sources, and they are not equally sure.
| Source | What it is | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| The game itself | Its quest list and the text of every stage, its items and creatures, where creatures roam | Which quests exist, kill counts, creature levels, what a reward item does and from which level it can be worn |
| AE Guides | A player's walk through Valinor, the three starting regions and the Highlands | Who starts a quest, the steps, gold and experience rewards |
| Ashen Empires Wiki | A page for most quests, the patch notes of 2020 to 2026 | Steps, coordinates, what changed since the guides were written |
| AE Database | A players' database: the bestiary, the list of quest rewards | A second opinion on creature levels and on what each reward is, which slot it takes and from which level it is worn |
| The community map | 1,308 markers | Where banks, gates, portals and shops are |
| Dragoneer's Den | A guild's own pages | The Trading Mercenary's level requirements, followers |
| Our own play | Two characters run through Valinor, one archer played from level 10 to 35 in Whisperdale, with the game's chat logs | What the game says today |
Where they disagree, the game's data wins on what it holds, the newest patch note wins on rules, and our own logs win on what was seen. Three things follow from that, and you will meet them all through the guide:
- The level given for a quest is a judgment, made from the levels of what you fight and the level the reward needs. No source states "do this at level 12". Take one level more if you play alone and die easily (a mage), one less if you hit hard.
- Experience numbers are rough. The guides took theirs at one moment on one server; quest experience grows with your level and during a Power Hour. Use them to compare quests, not to plan to the point.
- Both guides are older than two changes. In 2025 the way the town patrons reward you was replaced (see The patron), and several creatures were made stronger than the guides say. This guide follows the game's data and the patch notes there.
What was held against what:
- Every reward item named here was looked up in the game's own item table. AE Database's list of quest rewards agrees with that table on the level requirement of every item the two share.
- Of the 78 kinds of creature named here, the game and AE Database give the same level for all but two: the database has the Orc Renegade at 11 and the Orc Renegade Soldier at 16, the game at 20 and 22. The game's figures are used; a patch of 2025 changed the renegades.
- Where a creature lives was taken from the game's own table of what roams where, not from AE Database's spawn points. The two were not compared quest by quest.
- Not checked against anything: the pictures the wiki uses in place of directions for some quests, and whatever the game only says in a talk with somebody we have not spoken to.
Places are given as sextant coordinates, x,y, the way the game's Sextant shows them. y grows to the south.
What is still unknown is collected at the end, so that nobody takes a guess for a fact.
What nobody could tell us
Things this guide would like to say and cannot, because no source says them and we have not tried.
The patron - The prices in the Lady's shop, and whether faction with the town still decides what she sells. The prices given above are read off the game's item table. - Which creatures the patron sends a level 8 to 15 character after. Our archer took a first mission at 16.
Valinor - Why "Frump the Cook" was offered to neither of our characters. - What the Blacksmith, Carpenter, Leatherworking, Tailor and Cooking trainers give at the end, and what the Leadership trainer gives beyond "bandages and gold".
Krog - Which Orc outpost Agon's Test means, and what attacking the guard costs your standing. - What lives on the bottom layer of the sewer. - Whether the orc trainers still ask for 15 in the skill, as the elf trainers no longer do.
Silvest - What "The Fort", "The Attack" and "Of Kobolds" pay in experience. - Whether the mage quests look at your skill with or without bonuses from gear.
Whisperdale - What "Oozing on the Job" and "Into The Darkwoods" give at the end, and which citizens' favors count for the latter. - Whether "Astari Supplies" is open to characters who are not night elves. - Whether "Loyal" gives a second totem to a character who has one.
The Trading Mercenary - How many kills a mission asks for and what it pays at level 40, and whether creatures far below your level count. - Whether Roycroft can be reached by raft from Josody, for those without Talazar's Revenge.
Everywhere - Whether a town's one-off quests are open to characters aligned with another town. We believe so; we only tried it in Whisperdale, aligned with Whisperdale. - What a quest's experience is at your level. Every figure here was true for one character at one moment.
If you find out, the guide's source is a single text file: corrections are welcome.
Credits
This guide stands on other people's work.
- AE Guides by Keith Heffington (bofur24): the walk through every quest of Valinor, the three starting regions and the Highlands. Each quest here links to its walk there.
- Ashen Empires Wiki and its editors, The Mage Merlin first among them: a page for most quests, and the patch notes. Its text and pictures are licensed CC BY-SA.
- AE Database and its contributors: the bestiary and the list of quest rewards.
- The interactive map by gork3n and Sir Chris: where banks, gates, portals and shops are.
- Dragoneer's Den, a guild's site, with Grat Rochord's pages foremost: the level each of the Trading Mercenary's missions needs, the list of what can be tamed at which level, how followers work, the skill chart and much of what is known about the trades.
- Ashen Empires itself is the work of Iron Will Games. Every name, quest and picture of the game is theirs.
Each picture on these pages names where it comes from and links back to it.
These pages show 697 pictures from AE Guides and 170 from the wiki, the latter uploaded there by Dependable, HybridSoul, Jarudiel, Slayer21. Each opens with its source named and linked.