Aethion

**Aethion** is a fan-made tribe created by FestusTheMechWing.

## Overview

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> ###### *In a world divided by war*
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> ###### *When it's people fight forevermore,*
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> ###### *When the Darkness has risen*
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> ###### *The victorious Aethion!*
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> ###### The first part of the Legend of the Aethion poem, from the Book of Legends held in the Library of the Lost's Vault
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This is a legend that has captured the imagination of many for decades. But, when the Cymanti and Polaris invaded from the south and north, it became clear. *In a world divided by war* - that means the Square, or Unidus. *When it's people fight forever more* - that means all the Polytopian tribes, fighting for supremacy. *When the Darkness has risen* - that part is undetermined, but it is believed to be the 'Special Tribes' that have invaded from the realm of Duodus, or possibly something from Triadus, the realm the Vengir were banished to after the Treason of Vel and the War of Vengeance were over. But, there is still one more possibility. The Darkness could be from the Quadrus or Quintus realms, both of which are purely theoretical. Either way, the Aethion will rise to defend the many realms of Polytopia when this Darkness has come to Unidus, and the Moonstones are broken.

## Gameplay

The Aethion have a unique gameplay, as they live above the Polytopian Square in a realm of clouds (the Cloudlands). Their terrain is just flat expanses of clouds, with some gaps. The Aethion have cities in a gridlike pattern and there are no villages to capture. Everything in the Cloudlands gives almost double stars than it's Polytopian equivalent. But, they gain almost nothing until the make Stairways. The Aethion, because they live in the Cloudlands, the automatically get the Eye of God when they unlock navigation. They do not get an explorer for upgrading cities. They also get less stars. The chance of encountering them as AI is 3/100 when you have them, and 0.1/100 when you don't. They have no starting technology, but their extra starting unit is a giant.

## Units

Aethion units are all the same, except for the naval units. There are none, as all units have wings and can fly over oceans. Mind you, they have less health than most boats when flying over water, so it may be better to swarm them with flying units rather than send three mind benders. Converted units get wings. Riders and any other things that are ridden have wings on their animals. Any normal Polytopian naval units can fly across gaps in the clouds.

## Buildings

### Stairway

Unique structures that allow the Aethion and the other Polytopians to traverse between the Cloudlands and the Square. The Aethion cannot unlock anything past tier 1 technologies unless they make a Stairway; with each Stairway, they can move up a tier. Super units cannot be made until a Stairway has been established.

## Strategy

### As

Stock up on a massive army. Then, create a Stairway and invade through that single Stairway. That is all I have to say about it. Use the gaps as defense areas, as ports will be made on them and boats will sail across. Have archers and catapults positioned across the gap to destroy incoming ships while swordsmen and giants charge the incoming enemy forces.

### Against

To deal with them, keep reading. To play as them, go to the next sub-heading. To defeat the Aethion, invade around an empty spot so they can only place a Stairway there. Then immediately invade the Stairway and try to get at least three to four super units up there. Then defeat two to three cities to make a starting point. Remember, they will get more and more powerful as they upgrade their tech tree. They will have to stop your army from advancing, and the gaps will be their rallying point. They will have a map the quarter of the size of any map bigger than Small, so fire away. Cool fact: The Aethion have no capital, but as soon as they lose a city, all units from that city are defeated by the closest unit to them. Ignore the archers, go for the defenders and swordsmen as they are the ones likely to turn the tide in their sheer numbers.