New World has some interesting features that set it apart from other MMORPGs. The game is set on the mysterious island of Aeternum during the Age of Exploration, and many explorers to reach those shores have been consumed by madness, starvation, undeath, or any other number of unkind fates. Isabella, a name that players will notice as it recurs at various points in the game, seems to have been one of these wayward travelers.
Players more familiar with the lore or more difficult challenges later in the game will connect Isabella with one of the main villains and a boss in one of the advanced Expeditions. Finding out how she came to this grim destiny is a whole other adventure on its own. In a game that has some serious gaps in the lore, Isabella is one of the most detailed characters in New World.
Who Is Isabella?
From what we can gather so far, Isabella was one of many intrepid explorers that traveled to Aeternum, searching for riches, fame, and eternal life. As the player explores the vast expanse of Aeternum, they'll come across various lost pages from journals, diaries, and random letters and notes that mention her and the expedition she led.
A few of these stand-alone, or are used to give the player hints or complete a quest, but others are parts of a much larger story. The player has to piece them together as if they were doing their own investigation on the subject. These pages are kept under the Journal tab, so the player character has them on hand once they interact with them and doesn't actually have to pick anything up.
By the time a character is a high enough level to travel to the furthest ends of Ebonscale Reach, they would have found a decent part of a larger compilation called Tales of Aeternum, provided they looked in the right places. This volume contains the literature regarding Isabella.
Tales of Aeternum and The Story of Isabella
- Captain's Log. This is the only part of the lore written from Isabella's point of view. The first two pages describe how and where Isabella found the pivotal character known only as The Heretic. The last six pages are the conclusion of the story some months later and end with the classic triple dot. That is always bad.
- Frederico's Letters. There are a total of 18 pages to this story, and it fills out most of Isabella's tragic backstory as well as the details of the expedition to Aeternum, including the connection with the Red Sign to the Expedition. These pages record the events of the voyage and end abruptly when Isabella finds them and accuses Frederico of treason.
- Álvaro's Notes. There are only three pages here, and they contain a gruesome account of an experiment that Isabella conducted on her surviving crew after they attempted a mutiny. The rumors about humans rising after death turned out to be true.
- Chronicle of Ruiz Velazquez. This chronicler takes over for Frederico, and the first entry he writes describes the punishment of his predecessor. His account goes on for 14 pages and ends when Isabella and her ever-dwindling party, led by the Heretic, reach the foot of a foreboding mountain.
- The Journal of Pilot Keyes. Isabella's expedition consisted of three ships, and the Chief Pilot of the San Cristóbal was Keyes. She describes meeting Isabella and her remaining crew after founding the settlement of Consolation. She concludes that the Heretic has lured many to the mountain, and pledges to stay and warn any others who come to these shores.
What is Isabella?
The Corrupted is one of the enemy races that players will encounter on Aeternum. It's clear from the look of her that Isabella has become a powerful Corrupted entity, but the lore has yet to define exactly what that means.
Legends float around the settlements of Aeternum as to what the island actually is, and given that this is presented in the 18th century, most of them talk about Heaven, Hell, Eden, and other biblical or mythological concepts. The Heretic might be a demon tempting weak souls, or maybe even the devil himself luring the greedy or foolish into eternal hellfire. The conclusion of Isabella's story might fill in the gaps in this part of the lore.
Where Is Isabella?
Isabella herself is easy to find these days, even if the clues to her identity and backstory are hidden. The Dynasty Shipyard is a level 55 Expedition in Ebonscale Reach, but characters as low as level 53 can pick up the related quests. It has three bosses, and Isabella is the second.
Her fight consists of two phases, the second of which also includes two of her pets. She has a Corrupted Cleave that affects multiple targets, so the Defender or Tank should face her away from the rest of the party. In the second phase, her pet tigers Oro and Joven take over, and she leaves, so the player doesn't actually kill her but the minions instead.