Forums: General Aethora Chat

I was poking around in the wiki and stuff, and it occurred to me that there are a lot of things that aren’t really clear about Aethora. Or maybe I just wasn’t looking hard enough. But here are some of the questions I found myself asking:

1) What sort of government rules?

2) Is there any form of organized religion?

3) Is there any “organized” trade (i.e. guilds, unions, etc), or does the economy run on capitalism?

I’ll probably keep posting questions like these as they cross my mind, because that’s just the kind of curious, slightly anal-retentive person I am. XD

These questions are good. Do you have access to the staging server yet? These should probably be asked there, so we can discuss them without confusing people.

1. I get the impression that the territories on the map are individual realms, governed from the primary settlement. Chaduk Desert is ‘governed’ from Haven; Volum Forest has Hopitan (Port Forfare will be expanded in the future, but I think Hopitan is the ‘capital’); Martuso Mountains is basically a mining colony based at Martis; Tiasa’s Star manages the Tiasanian Flatlands; an as-yet-unnamed city rules the Realm of Xinoloux; and the unnamed city/settlement controls the coast of the Drak Hills. Each is essentially independent, but they rely on adventurers and traders to keep them safe and supplied. But ask on the staging server.

2. I haven’t seen evidence of a unified organized religion, but that may be because Sheck hasn’t gotten around to making one yet.

3. I suspect it’s some of both, but I’m sure Sheck has a better answer.

Saavik has these answered pretty well.

1. More or less what Saavik said. The individual cities are pretty independent in terms of governing, but dependent in terms of trade. Some of them, such as Chaduk Haven, only exist out of necessity for travel and trade, and are probably largely supported by trade organizations and wealthier independent traders. Others, such as Martis, are established because of their proximity to natural resources.

2. Yeah, not likely, although you might see some cultish types and spiritually-motivated tribal types. I doubt there will ever be any allegories of the Catholic church or anything like that in Aethora. Any spirituality in Aethora probably arises from the mystery of ather (you can have a good storyline with elements of spirituality without necessarily needing one or more gods and churches; I’m sure there are lots of good examples, but taking the path of least resistance I like to point at Star Wars as an easy example).

3. Trade organizations rise out of need. Aethora is a pretty rough world, and getting goods from one city to another is both extremely profitable and dangerous. This situation affords opportunities for players to partake in escort and delivery missions for various companies/agencies/organizations.

If I had time to do more detailed explanations of the cities and their governments, Aethorian economy, etc, id’d be in the wiki. At the moment I’ve got my hands full trying to keep the game fun and those extra parts get filled out when they are relevant to a particular mission or area description :)