the world of aetheros
Once one landmass, torn asunder by the war of the Aethereals, each Kingdom’s patrons their chosen deity. In doing so, each Kingdom and its peoples are uniquely blessed. Our story starts in Baelia.
WORK IN PROGRESS
Three Kingdoms, One empire
Baelia
Blessed by Vitana, the Aethereal of Life.
The main grain supplier in all of Aetheros, Baelia boasts fertile farmlands and vast, endless plains. With banners of all manner of color hanging between crowded rooftops, the people of Baelia celebrate all that it means to be alive. They say even the homeless of Baelia never starved.
That was, until King Jonathan Valorous inherited the throne, and whatever plague had cursed the King’s homeland seemingly followed suit.
While our story takes place in Baelia, there are many scars of the former empire that never seem to fade.
Everfaellen
Crafted by the hands of Pheonar, the Aethereal of Fire.
Once having fields of flax that span the horizon and an abundance of silk, Everfae is now burned and blackened. Taking the brunt of the war, any survivors have since relocated to Baelia while the land heals from the mysterious black blight that stains it.
Gyldenheim
Guarded by slumbering Letum, the Aethereal of Death.
Deserted. Desolate. Gyldenheim used to be beautiful, with coal-colored trees that grew silver leaves and vibrant stars scattered across the sky, even during the day.
Now, all that remains is a vast tundra of snow, its homes and churches buried beneath a never-ending blizzard, and swarming with those that refuse to stay dead.
Nobody was able to escape the mountains of Gyldenheim after the war, save for two boys. Jonathan Valorous, the crown prince, and Tjormund, a boy cursed to have no home and no Aether.
What in the world is aether?
Aether is the living essence from which the world was formed—the invisible current that binds the spirit, reality, life, and death into a single whole. Every living thing contains it. Every god is made of it. Magic is not the creation of something new, but the persuasion of Aether to remember another shape.
Some people are born with an abundance of it, and others little, but no one is ever born with none.
Some can command the waves, Water Warders. Light warders can create impressive illusions, but most can only ward one element of Aether.
Only those of the Empyrean lineage can ward two elements at once.