Live Your Hero's Journey
LORE
Etheria is an expansive sandbox packed with history, settings, and conflicts for both GMs and players to explore.
MAGIC
Starlight runs through invisible Astral Veins all across Etheria, providing both mages and deities with powers beyond imagination.
HEART
Primarily a storytelling experience, Etheria encourages characters to grow through their personal story as well as the overarching one.
Welcome to Etheria
The best journeys are the ones you make with the people you love.
Etheria's experience is customizable, yet structured. The character creator provides players with a set place in the game's story, and our two-phase resolution mechanics give both dice-based strategy and roleplay their own chances to shine. If you like the dramatic character work of big-time tabletop shows, this is the system for you.
Critically, Etheria is a full experience out of the box. The game comes with a lore book, GM support, and several prebuilt story frameworks (some of which you can get glimpses of on this page). Additionally, its lightweight mechanics are perfect for homebrew lore elements or even porting into brand-new settings. We can't wait to see what you do with it!
The World of Etheria
Run Wild in the Wilds
The Wilds are parts of Etheria where the Astral Veins overlap, allowing Starlight to seep into the very ground the forests grow from. Trees are pink, water is purple, green mist rolls in the mornings, and logic doesn't seem to apply.
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Because of their topsy-turvy nature, special guides called Outlanders are hired to help people cross these forests without being eaten by plants or trampled by strange creatures. Without an Outlander in the Wilds, you're in serious danger!
Explore 8+ Pre-Written Kingdoms
Etheria is often sectioned off via the territories of its five gods. These sections are called Realms. Within these five Realms are powerful kingdoms, each with their own trades, cultures, contributions, and problems based on the god they call their Patron.
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During your Journey, you can explore these kingdoms to gather intel, resources, and stir up all kinds of trouble with your party.
Stand Up Against the Darkland Forces
The scarred section of Etheria, called the Darklands, is where the main conflict of Etheria's story comes from. Their king, Fenrir Graystone, promised them healthy land and unlimited resources if they can take the rest of Etheria by force.
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It is your job - should you accept your quest - to protect your homelands from this evil army, defeat their king, and get to the bottom of the strange origins of Fenrir before it's too late.
The Order of Etheria
Etheria’s story starts with the land itself; a crescent-shaped continent in the center of a sparkling blue ocean. Unlike land in our world, Etheria is somewhat alive, seen in the movement of Starlight across the Astral Veins like blood in a body. Without this Starlight, Etheria would wither away and die.
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In order to keep itself alive, a being coalesced from excess Starlight into the first, most ancient being in Etheria: The World Mother. It is through her gentle hand that Etheria began to flourish into a livable place for many creatures of The World Mother’s making, including the mortals who inhabited it.
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The Dragon Father was the first of her creations - an equal and a shepherd for the beasts of Etheria. He crafted the dragons from stones and fires to be his companions on the mortal plane. Desiring the same sort of connection, The World Mother created her children from Starlight and, with help from Fate itself, brought into existence the gods.
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These gods became the Order of Etheria, who reigned over mortalkind for a thousand years. They were mentors, brothers and sisters, and kind, guiding hands to their mother's creations in times of need. It was through them that mortals gained access to Starlight and could wield the blood of the universe as mages and druids. All was perfect until The War Bringer betrayed his kin, destroying the Age of the Order and severing the connection between mortals and gods for all time as he killed each member of the Order. Disgusted with her son's crime, The World Mother banished him to the Hellplane to rot where, allegedly, he is imprisoned to this day.
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Without any gods to keep the balance of Starlight in check, The World Mother was forced to find replacements quickly. Select mortals - mages tutored under the late gods - rose to godhood in place of their mentors. Though they weren't as powerful as the Order, these mortals harnessed their newfound powers to keep Etheria and its Starlight in check. Unfortunately, as often happens with mortals, the power went to the head of some of the chosen, resulting in cults, dictatorships, and merciless killing.
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Newer, younger mages challenged the chosen, and upon defeating them, gained their godlike power and abilities. It's clear that these ascended mortals cannot fully take the place of the gods, especially after the past four hundred years of constant fighting and killing. The World Mother hasn't been heard from directly at all in that time, and without another solution in sight, magic, Starlight, and Etheria itself are all in danger of fading away entirely.
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Between the threat of losing Starlight and the growing power of Fenrir Graystone, Etheria needs its gods to return. To achieve that, though, Etheria first needs heroes. No one has yet been brave enough to rise to the occasion and restore Order to the land. No one, that is, until you.
Joan
The Muse
Symbol: A Spider - Mortal Form: An Orc
Joan is the goddess of creativity, ingenuity, self-expression, and all of the arts. She is the patron goddess of musicians, painters, potters, architects, engineers, authors, and infinitely more who provide Etheria with diverse and bold creative expression.
As for personality, Joan is calm and even-tempered. She's the second oldest sibling, but acts like she's the oldest. Her composure is key in keeping her siblings in line and she is often revered by mortals as the most "human" of the gods.
Laurence
The Elemental Master
Symbol: A Phoenix - Mortal Form: An Elf
Father of Scholars and Harbinger of Starlight, Laurence is the god who brought magic into the hands of mortalkind. He is the Patron of curious souls looking to explore and explain the world around them, encouraging the use of both science and magic equally among his followers.
Though he spends much time with his mortal followers, Laurence's favorite companion by far is his twin brother Liam. He's the calculated and logical of the two, more likely to follow his head than his heart. Laurence may be gentle and kind, but he lets reason guide his decisions, even if it's at the expense of someone's feelings.
Evyn
Kaleb
The Grave Keeper
Symbol: A Vulture - Mortal Form: A Dwarf
Of his siblings, Kaleb is certainly the quietest. His position is not one to envy; as the Patron of the grieving and dying, Kaleb looks mortality in the eye more often that the other gods are comfortable with. He is a great comfort to his followers, who often are the extension of his kindness on the mortal plane.
Kaleb is the oldest sibling in the Order, and even though he's somewhat distant and rarely emotional, he loves his siblings more than anything. His followers admire his empathy and aspire to be as gentle as the hands of the Grave Keeper.
The Rover
Symbol: A Jellyfish - Mortal Form: A Fairy
Evyn does not keep followers like her siblings do. She has a small circle of mortal friends who wander the Wilds by her side, but other than that, she is no Patron and rarely spends time with mortals.
As the youngest sibling, Evyn is certainly the most mischevious member of her family. She's loud, witty, and full of love for her older siblings.
Liam
The War Bringer
Symbol: A Unicorn - Mortal Form: A Human
Betrayer. God Killer. The Death of the Order. Liam is not remembered for the thousand years as the Patron of warriors and knights, but as the deity who ended the Golden Age by murdering his four siblings in cold blood. In his prime, Liam was a brother in arms to soldiers everywhere and protected the defenseless with all his might.
Despite being the god of war and blood, Liam has the biggest heart of all his siblings. He leads with his feelings and (often to his detriment) lets his heart guide him more than his head.
Nobody's seen or heard from Liam since his banishment - not that anyone's gone looking. Some still wonder what exactly happened between the gods that led to the kindest of them killing the others. It's hard to believe Liam, protector of the innocent, is the same god who'd slay his family in a desperate attempt for power...
