The Shugo are the small furry merchants of AION 2, and NYERK! is their verbal tic: they tack it onto the end of almost every sentence. You meet them at shops, in quests and at the Shugo Festival, and players have carried their NYERK! over into chat and Discord. Here is who the Shugo are, what NYERK! actually means, where to find them in the game and why they are among the most loved characters in AION 2.
Who the Shugo are
The Shugo are a small race of merchants you run into from your very first hours in AION 2. They buy, sell, send you on quests and run their own trading posts. In the quest A Perfect Wedding, for example, you help two anxious Shugo, Romi and Benvoli, who are chasing a lost wedding order at the Steel Hammer trading post.
They are not heroes. Into a world full of wings, bosses and PvP in the Abyss they bring everyday worries: goods, customers and money. That contrast is exactly why they work.
They are not new to AION 2 either. The Shugo have been part of the series since the original AION from 2008, where they even had their own event, Shugo Kingdom Adventure. Players temporarily turned into Shugo, and fans waited a long time for it to come back.
What NYERK! means
NYERK! does not translate to anything – it is a verbal tic. The Shugo add it to the end of their sentences, and sometimes they just shout it on its own.
A few examples straight from AION 2 dialogue:
- “Nyerk! Nyerk! Over here!” – a Shugo Merchant calling you across the whole trading post.
- “Oh, nyerk! What do I do!?” – Romi, as the wedding falls apart.
- “Is there any Daeva who will help Uru, nyerk?” – Uru in the quest Spacetime Rift.
- “Do Shugo return to Odyle’s embrace? It’s a figure of speech, nyerk!”
Because the Shugo say it all the time, players pick NYERK! up fast. In chat you will see it as a greeting, as a reaction to an expensive purchase from a merchant and as an in-joke only AION players get.
Where to find the Shugo in AION 2
At shops and in quests
The Shugo run trading posts and hand out side quests. These are usually short, light-hearted stories where something is missing, something went wrong or they are scared of something. In Spacetime Rift, Uru confides that this world is far too harsh for such a delicate merchant.
Shugo Festival
You see the most Shugo at the Shugo Festival, a series of short minigames that start every hour on the hour, server time. Rewards start at level 10 and one minigame takes a few minutes. Nine minigames give rewards:
- Jump Jump
- Wraith Evasion
- Mysterious Track
- Hidden Lugi – hide and seek where the game turns you into a Shugo or a Lugi
- Odyle Flight Frenzy
- Goldrin’s Treasure
- Defend Shugo Merchants – team up with other players to protect the Shugo Merchants from waves of enemies
- Up! Up! Up!
- Not This Tile?
As a reward you get Centuryroot Tokens (40 to 50 per game depending on your level) to spend in the Festival Shop. Daevanion crystals are worth buying first, then Stigma shards. Rewards need keys: you get three a day and can store up to 12, or 21 with Quai Membership.
Why the Shugo are so popular
- You meet them early and often. Shops, quests, the festival: the Shugo are everywhere something happens outside combat. After a few hours you know them better than most of the main characters.
- They talk like nobody else. You recognise NYERK! the first time you hear it, and it sticks. No other character in the game has such a strong “brand”.
- They lighten up a serious world. AION 2 is about a war between two factions, the Abyss and climbing the rankings. The Shugo worry about weddings, lost deliveries and their own fears, so players get to breathe around them.
- The festival is a break from the grind. Short minigames are exactly what you need between dungeons. Anyone who wants to switch off from regular combat and quests for a while heads to the Shugo Festival.
- NYERK! is a badge. Type it in chat and you instantly know who plays AION. That is why it became a joke players pass around across servers and communities.
Shugo and NYERK! merch
Because NYERK! is probably the line we hear most in our community, we made our own merch with it. Everything is on black fabric and we print each piece after it is ordered. We ship within 7 working days of payment.
- Shugo with a NYERK! speech bubble – a drawn Shugo with a red scarf. The T-shirt comes in two drawings (scarf or coin pouch), with a large design on the back or a smaller one on the chest. There is also a polo shirt and a hoodie or sweatshirt.
- NYERK! with a Shugo silhouette – large lettering with a Shugo in a red scarf standing between the letters. On a T-shirt, polo, hoodie, mug and cushion.
- Plain NYERK! lettering – for a more low-key piece. Those who know will recognise it. T-shirt, polo, hoodie, mug and cushion.
Browse the whole collection: AION 2 clothing, AION 2 mugs and AION 2 cushions. We ship within the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
We love hearing the Shugo’s NYERK! on our GamersTogether Discord too, where we have an AION 2 channel and event alerts.
FAQ
NYERK! is the verbal tic of the Shugo, the small merchants of AION 2. It has no translation – the Shugo add it to the end of sentences, as in “Oh, nyerk! What do I do!?”. Players then use it in chat as a greeting or a joke.
Small furry merchants that players compare to weasels because of their looks. They run shops, hand out side quests and appear in the Shugo Festival minigames.
Every hour on the hour, server time. One minigame takes a few minutes and rewards start at level 10.
Three a day. You can store up to 12, or up to 21 with Quai Membership.
No. The Shugo and NYERK! merch is GamersTogether’s own line, not a licensed NCSOFT product. That is also why it costs less than licensed merch.