Player vs Player Combat
Aetolia player versus player combat is unlike anything you've played before. Its complexity and variety is literally incomparable to anything but its IRE brethren, and even then it is unique unto itself.
The base system of combat is built around a personal set of balances, physical and mental. Actions take one or both, and leave you off balance for a period of time (usually seconds). No round based combat here! Your actions are determined by you.
And we're not talking a hotbar of 12 abilities you can do on cooldown! Aetolia has hundreds of abilities to use in PvP, causing a variety of reactions from simple damage to broken limbs, sicknesses, or even meta effects attempting to make the player behind the other screen make mistakes. Death can come in many forms! From simple damage, to tearing their soul from body, even to ambushing an enemy from the shadows and holding them in a noose, every class has different routes to winning.
Unlike our brethren IRE games, Aetolia has static curing. This means that if multiple afflictions or problems share a single cure, the order of operations for curing follows the same logic every time. Aetolian combat is thusly entirely skill based, allowing you to track what affects your target and yourself, with no guessing. Make your plan and execute it, only yours and your enemy's choices matter- no wishing on the RNG.
The Hunting Grounds
The Hunting Grounds are sacred to Lord Haern, the Hunter, accessed by kneeling before the cairn stones that are dotted throughout the wilds of Sapience. Inhabited by beasts and other adventurers alike, it is a place for bloodshed and assertion of dominance as the top hunter, as only they will reap the rewards the Grounds have to offer. A variety exists and has been known to aid those in search of ylem and leylines in a myriad of ways. These ancient artifacts are impossible to give away or take save by death, making all who bear them open to combat and death at any moment.
Orrery
Every in-game year, on the 10th of Variach and the 10th of Midsummer, the Orrery becomes active for roughly 40 hours, ending at midnight on the 20th of the same month.
Essence of Spirit or Shadow will periodically spawn in a radius around the Orrery. You must pick up the appropriate essence for your tether and then take it anywhere inside the Observatory area and INFUSE ORRERY WITH , which is a short channeled action. Doing this will influence the Orrery towards your tether and away from the opposite.
At Midnight every day during the active period, whichever tether holds alignment of the Orrery will gain an attunement point, and the Orrery will reset to neutral. When the Orrery locks on the 20th of the month, whichever tether has obtained the most attunement points will gain control over the Orrery until its next active season.
Be warned, the essence is raw and volatile, and once you pick up the essence it'll begin dealing damage to its holder, increasing over time. Globes sitting on the ground longer than 5 minutes will respawn. If a globe is dropped on the ground after being held by a player, it will respawn within a minute.
The Hunting Grounds are sacred to Lord Haern, the Hunter, accessed by kneeling before the cairn stones that are dotted throughout the wilds of Sapience. Inhabited by beasts and other adventurers alike, it is a place for bloodshed and assertion of dominance as the top hunter, as only they will reap the rewards the Grounds have to offer. A variety exists and have been known to aid those in search of ylem and leylines in a myriad of ways. These ancient artifacts are impossible to give away or take save by death, making all who bear them open to combat and death at any moment.
