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PART 1 Ynarra… land of eternal light. A place of untamed beauty and wealth, rich in every conceivable resource desired by man. For millenia, peace and prosperity have prevailed here, and life for those fortunate enough to call Ynarra home has been idyllic; ample harvests, little work, no war, poverty, crime, or disease. A true Garden of Eden, if ever there was one. According to legend, the secret of Ynarra’s ongoing prosperity is that deep within her interior, hidden to all but a few devoted disciples, stands the fabled sanctuary of the Earth-mother, Gaia, provider of all and guardian of the Great Temple of Origin. Local belief has it that all of Earth was once protected by Gaia and, as such, was once as lush and beautiful as Ynarra. But Gaia was tricked by her older siblings, Skye, keeper of the heavens, and Pyros, lord of the underworld, into prematurely letting men rule the world. Skye – who was fiendishly jealous of Gaia’s extraordinary beauty – enlisted the help of her brother, promising to share Gaia's powers with him if they could convince their naive, younger sister that men were ready to tend to the Earth. Skye knew that mankind would ravage Gaia's terrestrial sanctuary, scarring it deeply, and in-so-doing, would scar Gaia herself. Given the gift of fire by Pyros, men greedily slashed, burnt, and mined their way across the hills, leaving nothing but smoldering wastelands where once stood proud forests. And, cloaking the beseiged land in darkness, Skye ensured that her younger sister could not regain a foothold there, as Gaia’s magic was weak without the power of the sun. Stunned and scarred deeply by this treachery, Gaia was driven to a far corner of the Earth, to the one land where the native people still loved and worshipped her and were not overcome with greed at the prospect of plundering her vast resources. Seeking refuge here, she summoned all her remaining strength, and pierced the dark skies over Ynarra, showering the land with light once again. It is here, with the support of her Earth-children, that Gaia slowly recovered her strength. And in exchange for their love and worship, which sustains her, Gaia sees that all who live in these lands are provided for and protected. For many generations, Gaia mourned, but her strength returned and made Ynarra impenetrable. After a time, its people forgot about the war. History became legend, and legend, myth -- stories told around campfires that only the most ancient scholars lent any credence to. The war was still raging all around them, but, showered in the light of Gaia's enduring love, Ynarra was oblivious, and life continued much as it always had. But stung by defeat, and more jealous of Gaia’s beauty than ever, Skye continued her tireless barrage, raining missiles from the heavens, while Pyros blasted great mountains of fire through the fragile shell separating Gaia from the underworld. And while the rest of the Earth was rendered a dark, fiery wasteland, Ynarra remained impervious to these attacks. Heedless, Skye vowed not to stop until Gaia, beaten and deformed, groveled pitifully in darkness before her. Only then, Skye believed, would Gaia pay the price for having so impudently flaunted her beauty. Such sibling rivalry may seem petty and cold-hearted, but it is often the way of the Gods, or so legend has it. But first, Skye would have to learn the secret of Gaia's strength, as, no matter what she tried, she could not penetrate Ynarra's frontiers. That was about to change, though. Her spies having returned with new and valuable information, Skye was doubly emboldened, and a plan began to hatch. The winds of change were soon to usher a new era, one of great turmoil and strife, for Ynarra's peaceful inhabitants. PART 2 Darkness now periodically consumes Ynarra, covering the sky for hours, even days, at a time. Expedition after expedition attempted to locate the Great Temple of Origin, the one place in Earth-realm where it was believed Gaia could take physical form, but none returned successfully: worse, many did not return at all. The people stood by helplessly and watched in horror as the nights grew longer, their crops shrunk, and as want and disease slowly took over their once carefree lives. With the onset of these hardships, it wasn’t long before infighting began tearing the citizenry apart, and where once all of Ynarra had shared one voice, it was now becoming fragmented and embittered. Where men once cowed in horror at the fearsome army that magically rose from Ynarra's forests to protect her, they now roamed her borderlands without trepidation. Where once there was happiness and contentment, there was now fear and insecurity. The people were confused. Who would shelter them? Who would provide for them if not Gaia? Had they failed their protector? Had they not sufficiently worshipped her? Was she punishing them, or was she in danger and in need of their help? Those who believed that some tragedy had befallen Gaia decided it was time to part with tradition and took up the matter of defense themselves. This was no easy task, though. Since Gaia’s return, Ynarra had no military. It had no need of one. She was their guardian. They were starting from nothing. But there were many who believed the suffering they faced was evidence of Gaia’s growing displeasure with them rather than a sign of her vulnerability. They believed Ynarra had become decadent and that its people had taken Gaia, and all she did for them, for granted. Worship, they insisted, not a break with tradition, was the only way to restore their land and their way of life. PART 3 This infighting among the Ynarrans continued for several seasons, the rift between the people growing deeper and wider with each disappointing harvest. Little did they know that their troubles were just beginning. Without warning, massive firebombs began raining from the sky; they terrorized Ynarra, scattering her people throughout the hills and valleys. Frightened and unorganized, the majority surrendered easily to the invading armies of men that soon followed. Some bravely took up arms to join the young militia, but, badly outnumbered, they too, with the exception of a few scattered pockets of resistance, were soon forced to accept defeat. Ynarra, its guardian nowhere to be found, had fallen, and its people systematically enslaved. Still, in the coming months, there was for some a glimmer of hope. Total darkness had not yet descended upon the land. Occasionally, the sun managed to peek through the black skies, and where it touched the ground sprung life, even if just for a moment before darkness closed in again. Gaia is alive, they thought, but where she was or what had happened to her, they could only imagine. Our story begins one evening – it’s almost always evening now in Ynarra – in a secluded, still overgrown valley deep in Ynarra’s interior. Having escaped the slave gangs by hiding here, a badly injured young priestess, driven by a force she does not fully apprehend, stumbles onto an ancient burial ground, where she makes an all-important discovery. The bodies entombed here are those of Ynarra’s legendary heroes, buried and all but forgotten since the time of the first darkness many centuries ago. It is said that each swore an oath to rise and protect Ynarra if night once again enshrouded the land. Kneeling before each tomb, weeping tears of fear and joy, she commanded every last ounce of strength she had, and called to them. Ynarra had fallen; their summoner was here; their time had arrived. |
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INTRODUCTION
PLOT
(MILD SPOILER ALERT!) | PEACE |
PAX AETERNA |
ETERNAL |
STORY |
INTRODUCTION |
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| PLOT
(MILD SPOILER ALERT!) |
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| The war of the Gods was at a stalemate. Try as they
might, her older siblings had not been able to overpower Gaia. Neither
Skye's meteor storms nor her cloak of darkness had pierced Ynarra's
protective cloak; Pyros’ fits of volcanic rage had proven similarly
futile. It became clear to them both that the only way to defeat
Gaia was to steal her source of power, as she was too formidable to be
taken on directly. At great cost, Skye's operatives learned that Gaia draws her strength from the sacred Book of Knowledge, which is housed in the Great Temple of Origin. The Book is divided into five tomes, or scrolls, each bound to one of life’s primary elemental forces: earth, water, fire, time, and light. When all five tomes are housed together in the Great Temple, the Temple acts as a focal point for the life-giving knowledge contained within. As long as even one of the five scrolls remains within the walls of the Great Temple, the Temple cannot be destroyed; moreover, as long as the Temple stands, Gaia herself cannot be killed. Armed with this new information, Skye devised a plan to steal the scrolls and destroy the Great Temple, thereby rendering Gaia vulnerable to a crushing, final assault. In a bold move, killing and then assuming the identity of one of Gaia’s highest priestesses, Skye managed to gain access to the Great Temple. This was a bold move indeed, since, in human form, although she still possessed special powers, Skye was as mortal as any man or woman. Taking great care her true identity was not exposed, she waited until the time was right and, according to plan, poisoned all but four of the Temple's high priestesses, upon whom she cast a spell of Control. This too was risky, because the Temple itself interfered with her magic. As such, the potency and duration of her spell could not be accurately predicted. In all, however, Skye and her captive priestesses managed to escape with all five scrolls. However, her ultimate plan to destroy the Temple was stymied when the priestesses broke her spell and regained their will. Taken by surprise, Skye was badly injured by the priestesses and almost killed before she managed to escape Earth-realm with the scrolls. Skye gave each of the four Kingdoms of Man one of the stolen scrolls and hid the last one for safe-keeping. Receiving the scrolls’ blessings, the armies loyal to Skye and Pyros were immediately strengthened in battle against Gaia. Thus, using Gaia’s own powers against her, Skye hoped to weaken and demoralize her younger sister into accepting defeat. With that defeat now seemingly inevitable, Gaia had but one option remaining. Speaking in a voice both commanding yet gentle, Gaia led a young priestess – injured during Skye’s escape – to the secret Burial Ground of Champions. Reaching deep into the past, she channelled her spirit through the priestess and resurrected a party of Ynarra’s greatest heroes to defend her once again, a company of champions to rival any that had walked the Earth before. Ynarra’s last hope was at hand. Would this intrepid party succeed in finding the scrolls and returning them to the Great Temple before it was destroyed? Would they be able to defeat the forces assailing Gaia and come to her rescue? Would they be strong enough to save Ynarra and bring eternal peace, Pax Aeterna, to the land? |
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INTRODUCTION
PLOT
(MILD SPOILER ALERT!) | PEACE |
PAX AETERNA |
ETERNAL |
GAME OVERVIEW |
FEATURES |
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| CHARACTERS |
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| Pax Aeterna is a role-playing campaign that
pushes the limits of RTS-based scenario design. Taking full advantage
of Age of Mythology’s rich and diverse character/unit base, as
well as its impressive God Power system, Pax Aeterna creates a
mystical world of magic and sorcery where your heroes come to life. In
classic RPG fashion, you start your quest by creating a party, exploring
your surroundings, and gaining experience. If you include a magic-user
in your party, you will also have the ability to cast spells and, as your
party gains experience, “level-up” to learn new ones. Every aspect of Pax Aeterna has been meticulously designed and balanced, from party formation options to spell selection, categories, and arrangement, to market, apothecary, temple, and armory inventory costs, distribution, and weights. Pax Aeterna features:
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FEATURES
CHARACTERS
| PEACE |
PAX AETERNA |
ETERNAL |
GAME OVERVIEW |
FEATURES |
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| CHARACTERS |
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| At the start of the campaign, you will need to select
the four permanent characters you want to include in your party. Each
selected character fills one character slot, and each of these
slots can be filled by one of up to 3 characters (4 in the case of Spell-Casters).
All potential party units are detailed at length in the Pax
Aeterna Resource Guide (see the Fighters and Magic Users tabs). FIGHTERS: The first three character slots are reserved for Fighters. Fighters (as are all units) are categorized by different attributes. Some have regenerating hit points, others may have a ranged attack. Some move faster, attack at a faster pace, or have a greater line-of-sight than other characters. Some are just mean, tough hack-and-slashers. It's up to you to determine what qualities are most important to you in forming your party. Perhaps you want a party that consists of all ranged units. Or perhaps regenerating hit points is most important to you, or speed. Characters have been distributed among the three Fighter slots in such a way that you can create a party that focuses on one attribute (such as brute strength), or you can create a mixed party that contains characters of different strengths and abilities. Please examine the Pax Aeterna Resource Guide to determine which characters best represent your combat style. SPELL-CASTERS: The last character slot in your party is reserved for a spell-caster. You have a choice of three spell-casting units to fill this slot, each with its own spellbook, but you can only include one magic-user in your party (I’d like to say I have a better reason for this than that it's just too difficult to implement, but I can’t). You can, if you so choose, decline to include a spell-caster in your party in favor of a powerful myth unit (an Avenger), but you will lose out on the ability to cast any spells (God Powers), which are a very useful component of gameplay. Because playing/replaying the quest with different party members will offer you new challenges and experiences, you may want to try it once without a magic-user. However, completing the quest without a spell-caster will require you to utilize different strategies and will undoubtedly be more difficult than if one was included. That being the case, and in order to take advantage of the complex spell-casting system, it is recommended that first-time players include a magic-user in their party. There are three classes of spell-caster in this scenario: mage, warlock, and sorcerer. Although there is a certain degree of similarity between the classes, each has its own unique focus. The spells of each class fall into four skill levels, higher level spells generally being more powerful (please see the spellbook tab in the Pax Aeterna Resource Guide):
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FEATURES
CHARACTERS