Beginning Guide/Introduction

The World
Azuria, the Jewel of Gaia, is a world powerfully alive. Above, beyond the sky, is the Aura Kingdom, realm of light and spirit. Deep below the earth is the underworld, Pandemonium, realm of the dead and home to demons of destruction and decay. Between is Terra, the living land of Humanity and the other mortal peoples, where the energies of the realms above and below combine in beauty and strangeness.
The peoples of Terra are, above all, artists. Some weave magic from song, others craft cunning devices; even the pirates have flair. The Church in Navea has spent generations creating rituals and celebrations around the Cube of Gaia, the mortal world's link to the creative force of the universe.
Beyond the lands of Humanity, there are the lion-like warrior nomads of the Ventos Prairie, the robot-building Dwarves of the Cactakara Forest, the amphibious Sarpa of Candeo Marsh, and even stranger races besides. The world is old, and many civilizations have come and gone, leaving ruins and mysterious monuments for travelers to explore.
The Situation
As the Church in the great city of Navea provides moral order, the Church's Templars provide temporal order. When monsters, bandits, or weirder things threaten civilization, the Templars send knights to deal with it. The greatest of the Templars was Reinhardt, the Templar commander. For twenty years, he fought and bled to drive back those who threatened the peace.
When Reinhardt stepped back from command to marry Suna, the love of his life, the people celebrated. They had admired Reinhardt as a warrior, and saw his happiness as the just reward for a life of service. So, when Suna fell ill with a mysterious, deadly disease, the people mourned. Reinhardt once more donned his armor, questing farther and farther into the world to find a cure. He returned empty-handed and heartbroken, and has since disappeared.
Suna's illness and Reinhardt's disappearance seem to have been omens, announcing a dark time for the realm. Pirates and bandits threaten the villages, emboldened by the hero's absence. Hostile creatures disrupt the farms and stalk the forests. Rumors of monsters and evil ghosts and worse things are heard from the edges of civilization. Now a black-armored Knight has appeared, with death and demons following wherever he travels.
The Player
The power of Gaia still works in the world. In times of crisis, when the survival of the peoples of the realm is at stake, this power awakens spiritual gifts in certain individuals. Such a person becomes an Envoy of Gaia, and their actions will shape the fate of the world.
When the power awakens within the Envoy, a spirit of the Aura Kingdom is drawn to them. This spirit takes its shape and its personality from the hopes and fears of the Envoy. In this way, the spirit becomes an Eidolon, an outward image of the best of what's inside the Envoy's heart. Together, Envoy and Eidolon stand against those who would destroy Azuria.
Category:Beginning Guide