A Special Sneak Peek!

As content creation continues in the background for ships and airships, we're excited to offer a slow rollout of previews for some of the destinations you'll soon be able to visit to tide you over until the eventual release. Content creation remains our biggest hurdle in this development process, as we want you to have a selection of compelling and diverse locations to explore with vessels. Please note that all of the preview content is still a work in progress, so the final implementation might differ somewhat from what we describe here. So consider these previews as a glimpse into our development vision rather than finalized features.

For our first preview, we'd like to show you:

Destination Preview - The Isle of Eurimines

Shrouded in an ever-present mist, the Isle of Eurimines beckons the brave and the bold with its mysteries and dangers alike. Blanketed by a dense jungle canopy, the fog only grows thicker the further into the island you delve. The isle teems with rare wildlife, and beneath the surface, vast cave systems harbor creatures far more sinister.

Navigators speak of the island's peculiar nature, with cartographers never able to pinpoint its exact location on any map. Sailors who have found it once often struggle to locate it again, as if the island itself shifts through the ocean mists, appearing and disappearing at will. The constant fog that spills across the beaches and through the jungle adds to its disorienting effect, challenging even the most experienced explorers.

Tahlv, the renowned big game hunter whose exploits are legendary across the realm, will help guide you on a special hunting expedition to this enigmatic destination for a special season of the Legendary Game Hunter quest line. And the final hunt may require more than just your skill with blade or magic, so prepare a full crew and ensure your ship is properly outfitted with weapons...

The Echoes of Power Ring Forth!

As the Curator retreats into his sanctum to prepare for his next heist, Sapience has turned its attention towards another fateful aspect of the Celestial Conjunction: the reawakened landmarks! Throughout the weeks following the conjunction and its immense outpouring of energy, Aetolia's four city-states hatched their schemes and each laid claim to one of these old sites of power, with the eldest citizens amongst them recalling that they were once used by priests and necromancers who sought to bolster their essence or lengthen days and nights.

The Theocracy of Spinesreach seized control of the old Fist of Dameron and used their magic to transform it into the Labyrinth's Grasp to empower their personal Chaos plane, resulting in a need for blood sacrifice and occult practices. Intent on using the Grasp to ascend to godhood and lay claim to secrets held by Lexadhra, the Goddess of Memory, the city urged the Archivists to lay the foundations of their heist via a numerological ritual that would ascertain the location of these secrets within the Source of Knowledge, the private repository for all of Lexadhra's gathered wisdom regarding Sapience's many obscured ages. Though the Archivium succeeded in their attempts, such success came at the price of their lives - and the ire of Odravh, the abyssal deity of the leylines and master of all Aetolian magic. Armed now with a roadmap to achieve their ambitions, the city has but one more preparation to make before they can cross the line from man to God.

As the Theocracy toiled away, Enorian - Hammer of Dawn, Bastion of the Light - made haste with their preparations. Under the command of Celezor, the God of Fire and Light, the city set out on a naval expedition to recover one of the lost landmarks from the bottom of the Emerald Ocean, resulting in a fraught battle betwixt mortals and undersea horrors born of the dreaded kerrithrim. Though the city succeeded in their aquatic excavation, they discovered that the landmark - a massive hourglass capable of controlling day and night - was in a state of absolute disrepair and soon formulated a plan to refurbish it and restore its magic in full so that it can make use of the energies trapped within it following the Celestial Conjunction. Even now, the city labours to drain oceanic water and seafloor muck from its chambers and restore its engraved runes to complete working order with the help of their many priests, mages, and even some brawny soldiers!

Meanwhile, the council of Duiran formed a pact with the Living Totem, an abandoned landmark situated upon the desecrated isle of Ulangi. Eager to heal the land and aid the totem with undertaking a sacred spirit journey, the council delved into the land's memories in search of clues - but found only pain that manifested as raging spirits they were forced to put down and recapture as raw energy to feed to their newly claimed landmark. Though it was a labour of many seasons, Duiran succeeded in arranging for the Living Totem to travel via songline, an ancient form of travel magic used by Sapience's shamans. The final moments of the journey saw the totem move from Ulangi to the Aureliana forest, which soon surged through years of growth in mere moments. With the Aureliana brought to new heights of glory and given a new lease on life, the totem released any remaining celestial energy to the plane of Life, and its powers fell dormant in full once more.

Seeing an opportunity to further their own ends, the empire of Bloodloch bound themselves to the Blood Falls, the ancient site of power found within the Dun Valley. Though initial communion only yielded hints of an all-encompassing hunger, the landmark soon made its will known to its new partners-and-masters: blood as an unending feast in exchange for its power. Hearts and bodies aplenty were offered to the Falls in hopes of sating its hunger, though no morsel availed the imperialists who gathered before its sanguine headwaters week after week. Resolving to supply quality over quantity, the city renewed their slave-driving enterprise and set about attacking villages for several weeks, resulting in the capture of almost five hundred slaves marked for brutal sacrifice for yet unknown ends.

Throughout this tumultuous reignition of the Wars of Power, lost souls have begun to wander the realm, shorn from the Curator's curious exhibits after a terrible mishap with his magic. Gathering before temples or else at the Soul Mirror itself, the large throngs of angry spirits have drawn the inquisitive and the ambitious alike, raising concerns about the stability of the underworld, the safety of the God of Death, and even some darker designs to further personal ambitions.

The Echoes of Power event is racing towards its conclusion - what will be the fate of Morvaethe, the ancient wizard capable of claiming landmarks on his own? What devious scheme could he be waiting to hatch next? What does the reawakening of Sapience's landmarks mean for its future in this fraught age?

Fancy Yourself a God?

The Pools of Creation are once more open for new applicants! We are pleased to announce a new Celani call - and not just for active players, but those who wish to return in a new capacity! Have you ever thought about playing one of Aetolia's iconic gods, or designing a new area or running a fantastic event alongside our creative staff? Now's your chance! Feel free to send in an e-mail to celani@aetolia.com with the following information attached:

1. Your real name.
2. Your real age.
3. Your occupation (or course of study if you're a student).
4. Your character(s) in Aetolia.
5. Why do you think we should make you a Celani and perhaps eventually a God?
6. Why do you want to be a Celani, knowing that you must keep our plans secret from players who might be your friends?
7. Any special experience you have outside of Aetolia that you feel may be useful in a Celani postion?
8. Two flawless room or denizen descriptions of 80+ words each. Please be sure to read HELP STYLE (available on our website!) before submitting these, and do not skip it!
9. A brief outline for two original and engaging quests. These can be situated in an existing area or a hypothetical new area. We're looking for more than simple fetch or killing quests here.
10. One sample 'global' message - i.e. a message that goes out to the whole game, usually during an event script or other big story moment.

We hope to hear from plenty of you!

- Razmael, Keroc, Emellan, Watson, and the Aetolian Volunteer Team