I'm confused with the intro

I love this game! Absolutely amazing!
I'm confused with the intro though, maybe I didn't watch it all I thought I did.. just like the first PoE though we wake up on a riverbed unsure of what just happened...
So count geonor pins the hooded one to the tree but where do our toons come from? We're we prisoners of geonor that he was going to feed to his "child" after we're hung?

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Kontagian#8591 wrote:

I love this game! Absolutely amazing!
I'm confused with the intro though, maybe I didn't watch it all I thought I did.. just like the first PoE though we wake up on a riverbed unsure of what just happened...
So count geonor pins the hooded one to the tree but where do our toons come from? We're we prisoners of geonor that he was going to feed to his "child" after we're hung?

Correct, each character in some way ran afoul of the Count and the laws in Ogham, all sentience to hang. Whatever character you pick gets lucky, and the rope snaps and you just bail into the river past the city walls, and manage to not die.

Whether he intended to feed you to the beast, or was just killing people out of his fit of paranoia and tyranny is a little up in the air. Though likely the former would happen, afterall, even if he's killing out of fear these people where trying to overthrow him, and also needs corpses, one problem solves the other.

Note for the first Path of Exile, you wash ashore on a beach after being Exiled from Oriath, rather than a river (and fleeing from the threat of death).

Both games explain pretty well who your character is.

In both you are a criminal, at least in the eyes of the local authorities.
In the first game you are exiled from Theopolis. You are brought by boat to the shores of Wraeclast and thrown overboard; you are one of the lucky survivors.

In the second game you are, again, a criminal, at least in the eyes of the paranoid and corrupted count. His little dialogue for each character reflects that quite clearly. Instead of exile, you get the noose treatment this time around; lucky again....

Also, in both games, by interacting with NPCs and other bits of lore everything comes together to figure out who you are and what you must do.

The mercenary is a wanted killer. Just like his title suggests, he does it for money.

The monk murdered the rest of his coven and started preaching some heresy stuff.

The ranger pulled a robin hood and killed one of the counts men for 'upholding the law' against a thief.

The sorceress was exiled from her homeland so she came to Ogham and burned a corn field or something.

The witch was cast out of her coven because they are idiots who fear knowledge and power. It's just a zombie, it's not a big deal. And so what if my eyes are bleeding fire.

The warrior... is not a wanted man, he's considered missing and they want his safe return. I dont know how he ended up in the gallows. he was adopted by the towns blacksmith, something destroyed his home so he grabbed a hammer, something something something, gallows.

(Info from GGG's twitter during Dec 6th release, had sketches of each class with a lore blurb under)

Best... Comment....ever and ty!