About Us

This site is rated 18+. While you not find any mature content in the site's documentation, you must be eighteen (18) years old to join, create a character, and write with us.

What happens when you take A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, The Witch World by Andre Norton, The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey, add a dash of J.R.R. Tolkien, and a pinch of Earth history and folklore, put it all into a high-powered blender and turn it on? Out comes The Chronicles of Aereth (aka, Aereth), a world that is steeped in magic and where dragons are unique and sentient beings. Join us for the dragons, stay for the action, adventure, and political intrigue!

We do not advertise The Chronicles of Aereth as a completely original forum roleplay. Instead, we refer to it as an original concept roleplay because it blends many different genres into one unique world. Speaking of worldbuilding, that’s half the fun. We encourage our players to work with the site’s staff to expand the world of Aereth. Not all requests for new races, lands, species, etc., can be met, but we will do our best to work with players to provide a world they enjoy writing in.

Please read on for more information on the world of Aereth.

Our Site

Our site is powered by Vesta, a forum software created for the online storytelling RPG community. For more information, please visit our Credits page. Vesta offers far too many features to list them all in site introduction document. However, to give you an idea…

• One account with an unlimited number of associated character accounts.
• Easy to use automated IC timelines.
• No post template coding, Vesta auto-magically does it for you.
• A gallery of avatars and characters images that rotate on page refreshes (or you can use just one avatar and one secondary image).
• Site is integrated with Discord so new threads and replies send an alert to our Discord server.
• Easy dropdown menu for selecting the character you want to use for a thread or thread reply.
• No word counts and no mandatory activity checks (more on this in the Rules).
• ‘Shippers are not required but are easy to set up and use.
• Thread Trackers are also easy to set up and use.
• Theme can be switched from light to dark at the click of a button.

Aereth vs. The Real World

If you are looking for a totally accurate portrayal of life in a Medieval time period, this is not the roleplay for you. Aereth is an imaginary, fantasy world. Certain concepts, traditions, cultures, etc., have been drawn from the real world. Where the science is iffy, insert magic as an explanation (*points at the word fantasy in the previous sentence). Our backdrop is loosely based on Earth’s Medieval period. However, there are some technological, scientific, and cultural anomalies and anachronisms. Accept it and move on. After all, Aereth is home to a species of sentient dragons that defend the world from evil.

The World of Aereth

Aereth is an extremely large moon that orbits a mysterious gas giant planet in a parallel universe to Earth’s. Gwydion, the gas giant, appears to have a ring system in Bel’s (the sun) habitable zone. The rings are visible energy fields and the source of Aereth’s magic. The rings are called Ley and appear as blue, silver, and gold bands with hints of green and purple. The Ley looks very similar to Earth’s auroras.

Along with the usual time period divisions such as decade, century, millennia, etc., Aereth has one more designation based on the waxing and waning of Gwydion's great rings. A full cycle of brightening and dimming takes four thousand years. These four-thousand-year increments are called Turns. The cycles of the Ley (rings) affect Aereth's seasons. When the Ley are full and at their brightest, Aereth's lands enjoy four distinct seasons with relative mild winters. When the Ley are diminished, at their dimmest, the world enters a thousand-year ice age where the sun barely illuminates the world.

Playable Characters

Right now, Aereth has four distinct species of sentient beings. Three of the four are hominids (i.e., humans). There are minor genetic differences between the three hominid species but these differences do not preclude mating and giving birth to viable offspring. The fourth, the Ddraig, are a species of sentient dragons. There are the Shadowborn, but these are generally non-playable creatures. Humans may be Shadowborn as well, but they become that way by choosing to follow the Shadowed One.

Ddraig

• Draconis Sapiens (Dragons)

If they used a scientific designation for their species, it would be Draconis Sapiens. However, they simply refer to themselves as the Dragonkin or Dragonkind. Ddraig is the ancient human name for their species. They have adopted it as it makes life easier. Indigenous humans also call them many less complimentary names. Not only can Aereth’s dragons bond with certain hominids, they have some minor magical abilities.

Llenan

• Homo Antiquus (Ancient Humans)

Races

• Aes Sídhe, Sídhe
• Drakeri (Dragonkin)

The Llenan are the first species of hominid to evolve on Aereth. They are inherent magic users although they are not born knowing how to use their powers. Their magical abilities are steeped in tradition and ritual and require many years of training. They are also feared and loathed by many of Aereth’s other human species. If they had chosen a scientific designation for themselves, it would have been First Humans, Homo Primus, or First Man. 

Humans

There are two species of humans on Aereth. However, the genetic differences are minor and both species can mate and produce viable offspring.

Murians

• Homo Sacratus (Sacred Humans)

Originally, Aereth’s second species of hominid were called Sifakas Lemurias since they evolved on the now submerged island-continent of Lemuria. They are still sometimes referred to as Lemurians or Murians. Instead of great apes, their ancient ancestors were a primate creature like Earth’s Sifakas Lemurs. Lemuria itself was very similar to Madagascar. Some humans, those with unknown Drakeri and Sídhe ancestry, can learn and use magic.

Travelers

• Homo Extrarius (Foreign Humans), Homo Sapiens

Travelers are Earth humans (homo sapiens) that stumbled into an ancient gateway (portal) and wound up trapped on Aereth. They must adapt or die. Few have managed to adapt. In fact, they are rare enough to be considered mythical beings by some of Aereth’s races. Travelers come from a myriad of Earth’s time periods. However, modern technology is strictly prohibited and vaporizes the second the person is decanted from the gate along with any articles of clothing that are not entirely natural (i.e., leather, cotton, linen, silk, etc.). If the Traveler is wearing all synthetic fabrics, they will find themselves naked.

Note: All races (ethnicity) are represented within each of the human species although we may not have documented them or their individual homelands.

Magic

We want to emphasize the character's story, who they are, and their journey, not their magical abilities. We are allowing characters to have special abilities based on their genetics. These abilities are called magic by the Murians (indigenous humans that evolved on Aereth) and many fear and loathe the Sídhe, Drakeri, and Ddraig for having and using these gifts. For those that follow The Faith, magic is inherently bad. The Sídhe and Drakeri consider these abilities to simply be part of their nature, not magical in any way at all.

Only characters that have some Sídhe or Drakeri ancestry will have special abilities. Limitations and weaknesses to these abilities must also be detailed. It takes years of training to hone and be able to perform the rituals allows the use of these abilities. There is not such thing as waving a wand and poof, you've turned your foe into a dancing weasel. The powers, abilities, or magic - whatever you choose to call it - is based in ritual and the earthly elements.

Affinity

Characters are born into an Affinity. To some extent this drives or dictates their behavior, but it does not mean that the character cannot change and develop. They may also change affinity through the choices they make or through means outside their control.

Lightborn: This is where a majority of characters start out and remain. This does not mean they are all sweetness and light throughout their lives. It just means they do not follow nor have they been touched by the Shadow Lord. They may still have the personality of Tywin Lannister or they might follow such a Lord.

Grayborn: The Grayborn are those that were born to parents or one parent that was Shadowtouched. Inherent to their nature is the Calling of the Shadow Lord. It is a constant internal battle lest they be seduced by Tar'garath. Some give in. Once they do, there is no going back, no regrets, they are a Follower of The Lord of Shadows.

Shadowtouched: These are people that have willingly or unwillingly been seduced by Tar'garath and now carry a sliver of his soul within him. Like they Grayborn, they are not physically discernible from other humans. They wreak their havoc and chaos subtly. Unlike a Lightborn who can choose to do bad things and maybe later regret them and choose another path, there is no choice for the Shadowtouched, no regret, no remorse. They thrive on Darkness and Chaos.

Shadowborn: The Shadowborn are various types of creatures that have crept through the Veil / escaped from the Abyss. They are corrupt and evil things. We would call them monsters.

Note: The Ddraig will always be Lightborn unless their eyes are taken and they become a Drakhmar (a soulless Ddraig). Some individuals have less than savory agendas, but they are not Followers of Tar'garath. Only the Drakhmar are part of the Dark Horde and tend to be leaders and mounts for leaders.

Flora & Fauna

All of Earth’s usual array of plants and animals can be found on Aereth. Along with the normal fauna and flora, Aereth is host to magnificent megafauna (known as the Ice Age animals on Earth). From placid mammoths and mastodons to vicious sabertoothed cats and dire wolves, it can be found on Aereth. There are also a few critters unique to Aereth such as kraken, Sidan Silkweavers (spider), manticores, wyverns, and basilisks.

Final Word

All the information above can be found in Lore section of the website. The documents go into greater detail on the currently allowed playable species, etc. You do not have to read every document to play, but do read any articles that pertain to your character’s species.

Before you begin the process of creating an account and character, read the Rules.