#aetherarpg

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Queen of Wands, Tarot Card courtesy of our own Lisa Long, member of the Creative Team for the Aethera Campaign Setting.

Check out the current project she’s working on at our Kickstarter.

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Aethera Preview 3 - Iconics: Arakhu

Freelancers are working to get their first milestones of design out the door, artists are furiously working to illustrate the wondrous worlds of Aethera and you, our loyal readers, are ready for another glimpse into the Aethera Campaign Setting with an all-new iconics preview! Today's update reveals one of the okanta iconics, and his story is written by none other than Aethera freelancer Jessica Powell, who is designing the okanta race for the Aethera Campaign Setting! Kick back and take a look at Arakhu's heroics, and if you like what you see here consider contributing to our Kickstarter so we can bring more of Aethera to you!

Arakhu

Scattered in tribes across the frozen lands of Orbis Aurea, eyes directed toward the stars, exist the wandering race of the okanta. Descended from giants, the okanta are short-lived but with spirits that burn with a fire so bright that the inhospitable environment and fierce enemies that surround them have never been able to conquer them. With an inherent ability to quickly adapt to any surrounding or situation, the okanta have thrived in face of adversity and shown an indomitable spirit well suited to their nomadic ways.It is known that the most blessed among this race can hear sidereal whispering from the sky above. Many young okanta spend long nights on the frozen tundra, hoping to be one of the chosen who will become shamans and carry the song of the universe inside themselves. It is through the song that the okanta have been able to survive, transforming it into ballads that preserve their culture and way of life in the absence of the written word. It is the song that warns of all dangers of the past, and provides the knowledge to combat all challenges of the future - for the okanta are not only strong, but they are wise. They listen, they watch, and they always remember.

Hailing from one of the northern tribes, Arakhu was one of the many young hopefuls who looked skyward and listened. Coming from a long line of shamans who still told stories of the glories of Haj-Harmarandh, he dreamed of one day rebuilding the city so high that it would touch the stars themselves. Though normally such impractical fancies would be scorned by the okanta, losing the metropolis had been a huge blow to the people’s pride. The elders encouraged such dreams, even while the tribes suffered under an endless struggle against the frost giants.Yet as Arakhu grew, those divine dreams turned into bitterness. He watched as his brothers and sisters answered the whispers of the stars that he remained deaf to. Try as he might, the song that he so desperately yearned to hear continued to elude him. In despair and wanting to prove his worth, Arakhu threw himself into battle, growing more bold and reckless with each skirmish against the frost giants. Utterly fearless and able to instantly observe the enemy and determine key weaknesses, stories of Arakhu’s victories and might began to spread among his people. Still disappointed that he could not hear the song of the stars, Arakhu failed to notice that it was now his name that the tribes of the north began to sing when huddled around the fires at night. Words of his deeds began to spread further than he could have dreamed. Wanderers who travelled from tribe to tribe carried his name on their lips, calling him “the fire that burns away the frozen night”. Soon, it was not only the okanta that spoke of him, but also a nearby human settlement that had long depended on the okanta for the wisdom to survive life on Orbis Aurea. In exchange for protecting their caravans from the frost giants, he was gifted with a speeder bartered for by the tribe at the human spaceport of Wighthaven. Though considered bulky and outdated by human standards, it was a technological wonder to the young okanta and he delighted in it. Immediately, he was able to conceive of new battle tactics that he used to further surprise and defeat frost giant ambushers, who were unprepared to counter such a foe.

Arakhu only began to realize the significance of his deeds when the taiga giants giants finally came to his tribe, asking not for aid of the shamans as they always had in the past, but specifically for him. The frost giants that he had so successfully been thwarting had turned their rage upon the ancestral allies of the okanta, and the neighboring taiga giants were now under relentless siege. Knowing that even if he could not aid them in battle, that his death might quell some of the the fury of the frost giants, Arakhu swore himself to their aid. When Arakhu set off with the taiga giants, he expected to go alone. Instead, many of those he had previously fought with and protected who had been inspired by his courage followed along. Even the shamans that he had envied for so long were now walking with him, and looking at him the way they looked and listened to the stars. When the warband passed the human settlement that he had often protected, word of the upcoming battle quickly spread and Arakhu was startled to see their own warriors running to join his ranks. The trek was long and wearisome. The very environment seemed to side with the frost giants, impeding the travelers with chill winds and treacherous ice. And yet no one faltered, for each obstacle the land threw against them Arakhu was able to navigate and defeat. He listened to the advice of the elder shamans. He welcomed the technology of the humans, and he respected the tactics of the taiga giants who had been battling the frost giants since before the songs of the okanta had began. In the middle of nowhere, with the enemy very near with overwhelming forces, the three different peoples became one.

From the beginning, the battle seemed like one that would be lost. The warband was greeted with the corpses of fallen taiga giants, and the forces of the frost giants seemed numberless. In all of the songs and stories of the okanta, the ancient foe had been driven back before, but never defeated. As darkness fell and the night grew cold, hoped dwindled and the screams of the dying filled the air. Even Arakhu fell in battle, his speeder toppled over by a frost giant’s well-timed blow. Once again Arakhu felt a familiar, old despair. He had failed to become a shaman, and now he would fail here too when victory mattered the most. Laying in the snow, with the only warmth being his own blood that now surrounded him, he thought of closing his eyes and surrendering to the darkness behind the stars, for the stars themselves had never chosen to shine upon him. And then he heard it - his name on the wind. It was faint, and he could not tell if it was the voice of a human, taiga giants, or okanta. Yet it was enough. It stirred a fire in his veins, and within himself he found the song he’d been searching his whole life for. It was the song of battle, of triumph, of glory. It was not his fate to listen to the whispers of the ancestors, to tell others of fate. It was his destiny to make his own. Rising once again, Arakhu ripped the fabric of his cloak to serve as a victory banner. Looking at the battlefield and seeing all of his allies fighting side by side, he knew that it called for more than the symbol of just his tribe. Having nothing else to paint with expect his blood, he stamped the banner with his bleeding hand, and held it aloft of all to see that he, Arakhu, was not yet defeated, and neither were they. Rallied, the united forces of okanta, humans, and taiga giants did more than drive back the forces of the frost giants that night. They defeated them, nearly every single one except for a scant few that ran back to the glaciers further north. Arakhu knew that more would come, but he did not fear what the future held. He would be waiting, and he would be ready. As celebrations broke out around him, Arakhu looked at his people and their allies and felt a nearly forgotten dream rekindled within him.  It no longer felt so impossible to reclaim what had been lost. The power of of a unified people was not lost to him. What would happen, he began to wonder, if all the nomadic tribes banded together? If the okanta of the north, the south, the west, and the east once more gathered under one banner, one purpose? Haj-Harmarandh might once more be a reality, and this time it was the frost giants who would lay in ruins.

Arakhu swore that until that day, he would hold his banner high.

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Aethera Preview 2: Classes

Chapter 2: Classes

The Aethera Campaign Setting dedicates a whopping 100 pages to classes! We introduce new ideas, present older classes with new context to help you fit them into the setting, and present variant options that help explore the themes and ideas of Aethera.

This chapter contains introductory information on all of the Core, Base, Hybrid, and Occult classes introduced by the Pathfinder RPG over the years. These sections detail where these classes fit in to the Aethera setting, what kinds of roles they fill, and what story-elements affect them.

We also introduce a new class in the Aethera Campaign Setting, the cantor. The cantor is something of a hybrid class, presenting elements from bard, cleric, and even witch in some of its mechanical flourish. The cantor is a divine spellcasting music-based class that presents party-enhancing musical performances that can be accented by "verses," quick-use supernatural effects that can only be used during a divine performance. We'll have a lot more to say on the cantor in another update!

Archetypes for existing Pathfinder classes take up 65 pages of the classes section and represent the majority of Aethera's class content. Today we're going to explore just some of the classes that are represented in the Aethera Campaign Setting and talk a little bit about one of the archetypes we've designed for them. These archetypes listed represent only a small portion of the total archetypes we've designed!

Arcanist: One of the archetypes we're designing for the arcanist is the rift breaker. The rift breaker started out in development as a druid archetype, and as our author Daniel Hunt designed the core concepts based on our initial outline, we discovered that the rift breaker had grown far from our original concept (an astrologer!) and became something else entirely. We moved away from the original astrologer design and went straight at the creation of an arcanist archetype that opens short-lived rifts to the elemental planes. The rift breaker can create elementally-aligned effects, conjure creatures, or create dangerous elemental effects through their use of arcanist exploits. With how deeply the elemental planes affect the Aethera setting, the rift breaker has a very important role!

Alchemist: The bioengineer is an alchemist archetype mutates and alters life. If you've been following our Meet the Iconics series at aetherarpg.com you might recognize one of the iconic erahthi–oemathra–as a bioengineer. The oemathra loses their bombs ability for the power to conjure mutated life-forms modified by the aetherwarped creature template (which we'll talk about more in our bestiary preview.)

Bard: With four pages devoted to bard archetypes it was hard to determine which one to preview today. But, when we really sat down and thought about it only one was the clear choice: the warsinger. If you've seen Mad Mad: Fury Road you'll know our inspiration for the warsinger, the badass flame-throwing guitar-shredding Doof Warrior! The warsinger takes bardic performances and changes it from a group buffing ability into a lethal weapon, using music to call on elemental effects that damage, hinder, or manipulate their enemies. It's like the kineticist class from Occult Adventures and the bard had a really heavy metal baby!

Bloodrager: The blue-shifted bloodrager is infused with the power of aetherite, a mysterious crystalline magical power source created from the destruction of ley lines in the ancient past. Blue shifted bloodragers have innate telekinetic powers and are less vulnerable to the innate poisonous quality of aetherite.

Brawler: Those that have played the hit next-gen MMO Destiny might recognize where inspiration for the titan brawler came from. The titan blends gunplay and melee combat together into a powerhouse of heavy armor and front-line brutality. The brawler isn't a long-ranged gunfighter, instead they bring the fight direct to the front line and have unique abilities that allow them to use their firearms in melee combat.

Cavalier: Aethertech pilot is a cavalier archetype that exemplifies one of the new core mechanics of the Aethera Campaign Setting. Rather than bond with a mount, an aethertech pilot bonds with a single aethertech vehicle, be it a single-rider speeder or a powerful cruiser capable of carrying the entire party. The aethertech pilot's teamwork feats integrate with the roles on aetherships during combat and their bonded vessel levels up as they do!

Druid: With three pages of content, druid gets a lot of love in Aethera. The symbiont master brings attention to another one of the unique rule system: symbionts. In Aethera, symbionts are plant creatures grown by bioengineers on the forest world of Kir-Sharaat. These creatures also double as items, able to bond to a single character and offer unique assistance. The symbiont master can have more symbionts than any other character, and can unlock special tricks their bonded symbionts can perform, much in the way a standard druid can teach an old bear new tricks.

Fighter: The aethersoldier is a fighter archetype that focuses on combating the power of aetherite with aetherite. They gain a number of defensive capabilities against sources of magic, while at the same time learning how to briefly exhibit supernatural tricks similar to a magus' arcana pool.

Gunslinger: Like the aethertech pilot, the artillerist plugs right into the aethership rules. An artillerist is a master gunner, peerless when behind a weapon mounted on an aethership. This gunslinger archetype presents new deeds specialized for space combat.

Hunter: The tech-bonded hunter is a savvy explorer of the ruined places of the world. Each tech-bonded hunter forsakes a traditional animal companion for an aethertech robot that they bond with. Tech-bonded hunters gain special abilities for interacting with and defeating constructs, as well as ways to interface with the aethertech rules in the Gear & Magic chapter.

Occultist: The aethertech fetishist finds spirits in the technology of the past. These special occultists use aethertech items as their implements and gain abilities that allow them to interact with, and in some cases shut down, aethertech.

Ranger: When we started coming up with archetypes, we knew there had to be something really unique for the ranger. The zero ranger was our answer to "what happens to animal companions in space?" The answer? They get weird. The zero ranger is adapted to fighting in zero gravity environments, be it aboard an aethership, a derelict planetoid, or in the gulf of darkness between aetherships. Rather than an animal companion, a zero ranger gains a special aberration companion that can survive in the vacuum of space. Additionally, the zero ranger gets instant access to special skill unlocks that help animal companions better fight in areas of zero gravity.

Rogue: The salvager rogue picks through the battlefields of the Century War and always has something helpful on hand to get themselves and their party out of trouble. The salvager rogue gains an abstract pool of wealth that represents special salvaged–but not entirely functional–aethertech that can emulate special effects. By making appropriate skill checks the salvager can jury rig these items together to create temporary extraordinary and supernatural effects. They're like a dashing MacGyver, with radioactive crystals!

Spiritualist: The question "what happens to souls in space?" led to the creation of one of Aethera's most terrifying archetypes. The void incarnate is a spiritualist whose phantom represents the ghastly death suffered by those who die of exposure in the cold darkness of space. A void incarnate's phantom sucks light, life, and heat from their enemies and is a chilling reminder of what lies beyond the stars.

Swashbuckler: The last archetype for our preview is the zero adept! While the zero ranger excels at surviving in zero gravity, the zero adept focuses on fighting in zero gravity and lookingfabulous while doing it! The zero adept has immediate access to a special Arcobatics skill unlock that grants new acrobatic techniques you can only perform in zero gravity. The zero adept also learns some supernatural tricks that allow them to create localized pockets of zero gravity while not in space, so they can walk on ceilings, leap huge distances, or otherwise show off just how cool they are even when planet-side!

Find out more on our Kickstarter!

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Aethera Preview 1: Races (pt5)

Okanta: On the far fringes of the Aethera system lies the frozen world called Orbis Aurea by its human colonists. Once a research outpost for the Progenitors, Orbis Aurea features the most exotic biodiversity of any world in the Aethera system, and almost all of it wants to kill and eat you. Orbis Aurea is a harsh world with hardy people, from human colonists (stranded by an expedition attempt that settled Orbis out of desperation), to vicious frost giants, nomadic taiga giants, and other wondrous creatures. Most notable of all Orbis Aurea's inhabitants are the okanta, a race of highly intelligent and exceedingly adaptive people with a deeply spiritual connection to the dead and otherwise occult of their world.

Find out more about the additional races and classes at our Kickstarter!

The okanta do not entirely know where they, as a people, came from. Possessed of the blood of giants and bestowed with powerful traits of animals both native and not native to their homeworld, they can only trace their history back a mere 800 years. Before the arrival of humans, the okanta lived primarily in disparate tribes not unlike post-collapse humans, venerating shamanic spirits and practicing unusual forms of esoteric magic and occultism. The okanta benefit from an extremely versatile skill adaptation, after observing someone performing a task an okanta can mimic it with astounding accuracy until they dedicate themselves to another skill. Okantan communities use this adaptive mimicry to cooperate in times of strife or need, or to collaborate on art and storytelling.

When the first humans crash-landed on Orbis Aurea the survivors were taken in by the okanta and a relationship of exchange was forged between the two races. Humans introduced their written language to the okanta and the okanta shared their knowledge of local spirits, aetherite, and occult traditions. By the time the voyage led by a group of Paragons crash-landed on Orbis Aurea, humans had been living alongside the okanta for over 100 years. While only a small handful of human descendants remained on Orbis Aurea when the Paragons arrived, their ancestors presence prepared the okanta for the arrival of future visitors to their world. The okanta were quick to leverage their expertise to the Paragons and quick to ensure that these titanic humans did not take advantage of them or subjugate them as the frost giant would have, for the okanta had long ago adopted the skills and knowledge of humanity for their own communities.

This relationship forged a powerful bond of solidarity between the two races, soured only by differences in religious perspective. The Paragons sought to mine aetherite and traditionalist okanta saw this as an affront to the aetheric spirits of their world. Social divisions grew, leading to friction still present in modern day.

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Aethera Preview 1: Races (pt4)

Phalanx: The phalanx are an artificial race born in war. Near the 50th year of the Century War, humanity sought to supplement their waning military force with artificial soldiers. Unthinking constructs had been on the battlefield for decades, but independent-minded war machines had not yet been developed and would revolutionize warfare. After several failed attempts to create a construct as intelligent as a human, success came when human spellcasters infused ancient robot chassis dating back to the age of the Progenitors with a core of refined aetherite, thereby granting a spark of life.

Find out more about the additional races and classes at our Kickstarter!

Named phalanx for their intended role as front-line combatants against the erahthi, these robotic soldiers fuse science and magic in their very being and operate on a level of magical and technological sophistication beyond what humanity is currently capable of. The phalanx were born to serve and initially they reveled in the purpose provided to them by their creators and masters. Over decades, phalanx were manufactured and destroyed, treated as little more than tools and possessions to be used and then discarded in spite of their free will. Towards the end of the Century War, agents of the human Hierarchy noticed seeds of dissent and the thread of rebellion growing among the phalanx and took the opportunity of the war's sudden conclusion to offer the phalanx true independence. This independence at the same time imposed crushing restrictions on freedom for all of the Hierarchy’s people, under the guise of needing a united Akasaat to "rebuild" from the damage caused by the war. Some phalanx chose to remain soldiers for the structure it provided, while others try to eke out an existence as free people, but are met with resentment wherever they go. Some see the independent phalanx as interlopers attempting to steal their livelihood—as one phalanx can do the work of a dozen laborers. Most simply see the phalanx as a grisly and unwelcome reminder of the horrors wrought on the system during the Century War.

Phalanx are thinking constructs with a living soul. The origin of phalanx souls is not properly understood, though some claim to have fragmentary memories or dreams of what might be past lives. The mystery surrounding their creation and the origin of their souls are one of many points of philosophical debate for the setting.

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Aethera Preview 1: Races (pt3)

Infused: In an attempt to engineer human super-soldiers during the Century War, soldiers with terminal aetherite poisoning volunteered to undertake strange magical experiments. These torturous experiments went on for decades, ending only within ten years of the war's conclusion, producing just as many aetherite-infused soldiers as it did catatonic husks and raving creatures of flesh and nightmare. While a handful of truly super-human soldiers of giant stature were created from these experiments, called Paragons (which we'll talk about more in a future update.) Most subjects from these experiments were merely mutated humans with unusual supernatural powers and extremely short lifespans.

Find out more about the additional races and classes at our Kickstarter!

The infused are victims of a wartime footing; innocent civilians, soldiers, and sometimes unwilling prisoners forced into hellish experimentation that granted them superhuman powers, but dramatically shortened their lives and robbed many of their memories. The infused do not recall their pasts prior to undergoing their transformation and live for only a couple decades before burning out like a bright star. The infused veterans of the Century War struggle to find a place for themselves in the world, struggle to reconnect with their pasts, struggle to survive. Robbed of everything in their lives, they are forced to find something for themselves. What the infused have found, is one-another.

The infused share an unusual telepathic bond with their own kind. They can share thoughts, dreams, emotions, and other impressions across vast distances after bonding. Many of the infused died during the Century War, others abandoned their posts to try and find freedom on the fringes of the system, while even more lost their minds and simply disappeared. Not only were the infused robbed of their old age and their memories, but the infused were rendered infertile as a result of the experimentation that granted their powers, meaning that they—as apeople—will die out eventually unless they find a way to extend their lives or create more of their own. This quest for progeny and extension of life is a driving force motivating many infused. Others see their short lives as a challenge to create the most meaningful impact on the aethera system as they can. How an infused deals with its imminent mortality is an important factor in each infused’s personality and story.  

It is this bond alone that keeps the infused connected in a universe that has otherwise cast them aside. Because the infused were replaced by a better killing machine, a more efficient weapon of war: the phalanx.

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Aethera Preview 1: Races (pt2)

Erahthi: No one knows what the world of Kir-Sharaat was like before the collapse. If anyone does, they're not telling. Kir-Sharaat is a jungle world in the most fantastical sense. The entire surface of Kir-Sharaat is alive, a massive network of colossal trees once a part of a terraforming technology designed by the Progenitors that went out of control following the Collapse. These trees gave birth to a race of plant-like humanoid creatures called the erahthi. The erahthi are plane-touched native outsiders (like ifrit, undine, oread, and sylph) attuned to a realm of wood and nature. They are agendered creatures that do not reproduce among themselves, but are literally born from the impossibly large trees of their homeworld. The erahthi are slow to mature, living decades before adulthood and centuries beyond that, and were once content to spend the few thousand years since their awakening learning about themselves and their world.

Find out more about the additional races and classes at our Kickstarter!

The erahthi are ingenious creators of life, having developed symbionts made from plants that assist in their daily lives, from simple transportation to self-defense (and we'll discuss symbionts more in a future update!) The erahthi ultimately learned of their larger role in the universe on the arrival of humanity. First contact between the humans and erahthi went terribly wrong and leaders from both civilizations reacted even worse, leading their people into a war that would span 100 years and cost millions of lives. This war, dubbed the Century War by its survivors, pitted humanity and erahthi against one-another in an ever-escalating battle of retribution that could see no true winner.

The Century War turned the erahthi into a full-time war machine, weaponizing their symbiont development, adapting fallen human technology to develop aethertech and space travel of their own, and ultimately the development of horrifying biological weapons of mass destruction. You can read more about the impact of the Century War on the erahthi at our website!

The erahthi weren't the only race to engineer life, however. Though humanity's attempt at making life went in entirely diferent directions, resulting in a race called the infused.

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Aethera Preview 1: Races (pt1)

There's been a lot of questions on the Aethera facebook page the last few days. What better time to start talking about some of the content you can expect to find inside the Aethera Campaign Setting? Over the next few days, we'll go chapter by chapter, discussing the new content and features of the Aethera Campaign Setting and offer glimpses into the kinds of great content you can expect to find in this 400-page behemoth! Each of the below races gets a 2-page spread in the campaign setting with full-color iconic art.

You can read more about our project on our Kickstarter!

Chapter 1: Races

Human: Humanity has a long history in the Aethera Campaign Setting, unfortunately they've lost most of it. Most human historical record agrees that roughly 4,000 years prior to the start of the campaign setting, a glorious age of enlightenment, discovery, and advancement came to a catastrophic end. The collapse of a society run by an enigmatic race of entities called the Progenitors spelled doom for the entire star system (and we'll talk more about that collapse in another preview.) Humanity fell with the Progenitors, and while they were lost to the sands of time, humanity was buried by them. Their once oceanic homeworld of Akasaat dried up, turning into a barren dustball of a world marred by enormous chasms leading into dark, unexplored subterranean realms, sparse forests, imposing mountains and mesas, and vast expanses of lifeless badlands.

History says humanity warred among themselves for four thousand years following the collapse, losing their science, their history, their knowledge, and their wisdom. Ultimately, humanity pulled themselves up from the wreckage of history with the discovery of an unfathomable magical power: the Score. The Score is a mysterious signal broadcast from the white dwarf star Aethera, a musical-mathematical equation broadcasting portents of the future in an impossibly complex "if then; else" statement. The Score tells the future, but only to those clever enough to decode its meaning and understand how to manipulate the events described within to a desired outcome.

With the power of the Score, humanity led themselves into a new golden age. They settled within the ruins of towering arcologies dating back to the age of the Progenitors (once deep-sea research stations) and built cities of their own in these megalithic metal ruins. Over time humanity discovered the crystallized remains of ley lines destroyed in the Collapse, called Aetherite, and discovered how to harness the latent kinetic power contained within refined crystals. This power allowed humanity to bootstrap onto old, dormant Progenitor technology and built new even more advanced technology for themselves.

The drive to find Aetherite and the rapidity at which humanity burned through the known resources on Akasaat ultimately led to the development of space travel, colonization of Akasaat's moon, Prima, the discovery of interplanetary gate hubs floating in orbit around their homeworld, and the discovery of worlds beyond their own. Unfortunately, this expansion boom also led to conflict with another one of the setting's races... the erahthi.