[Aether Tuesday] The Fulgori Empire

Hello, Voyagers, it's Aether Tuesday again, and today we're bringing you information on the Fulgori.

The Fulgori are another of the races on the island of Elisi, though it seems that they're not indigenous to it like the Mikwa are. Fulgori typically stand a little taller than humans, averaging over 6 feet (~2 meters) in height. They have digitigrade legs and thick tails, and their naturally glowing eyes and jagged upper jaw give them a sinister look.

Fulgori society is very regimented and strict, valuing efficiency over individuality. Compared to the Mikwa they live in much larger, more heavily populated cities. Children are typically enrolled in boarding schools at a young age, where they are given a formalized, uniform education. Employment is decided based on aptitude tests so that each citizen can contribute where they are most effective. Most fulgori will work one job for their entire life, unless circumstance renders them unable to effectively perform their job.

The government plays a big part in Fulgori life, providing food, shelter and work for all citizens, expecting that they work diligently in return. Fulgori that work hard are rewarded with extra food and luxuries. Fulgori that slack off and do a poor job are punished with reduced luxuries and looked down upon by society as a whole.

Despite this large government influence, Fulgori home life is very private. They form tight bonds with very small groups. Personal things like displays of affection, parties, funerals and feelings are kept within these private groups, to the point where even as much as holding hands with another fulgori in public is considered taboo.

Fulgori are omnivores that subsist mostly on meat, with supplemental fruits and veggies. They prefer savory and bitter flavors. Sweets are a rarity to be enjoyed in small amounts.

The way most Voyagers will interact with the Fulgori is through their military. The Fulgori have an excessive military presence on the island of Elisi, with numerous bases spread out over the island, each garrisoned with ample troops, vehicles and weapons. The military presence of the Fulgori seems only to serve to deal with the defenses of the Precursor ruins while they excavate the technological relics from inside; though it is possible there is some other threat on the island they are holding off against.

The excavation of these relics is the number one priority of their leader, Fulgor. Fulgor is a totalitarian leader, having near absolute control over everything in his empire. He claims to be the will of the people, acting in their best interest. In truth he is paranoid and selfish, throwing soldiers at Precursor ruins in order to excavage their contents, despite knowing the dangers lying within. There are rumors that he has secret police, only spoken of in whispers, that take away citizens that dare speak out against him.

Next week, we'll talk about the fruits of his paranoia...
That's all for now, Voyagers! See you next Aether Tuesday!

[Aether Tuesday] Mikwa!

Happy Aether Tuesday, Voyagers! This week we're going to talk about the most photogenic race in Aether Adrift, the Mikwa!

The Mikwa are an indigenous people of the island of Elisi. Physically Mikwa are considerably shorter than humans and fulgori, standing around 3 feet (~1 meter) in height, with long, floppy ears that give them a distinctive silhouette.

Mikwa society is very peaceful and highly values creativity and individuality. Almost all Mikwa enjoy creating something, whether it be clothing, technology, art or even just strangely specific farming tools; no work is wasted if it goes toward creating something. Their communities tend to be very small and interconnected, and there isn't a clear divide between friends and family. Mikwa communities are most often lead by an elder that acts as a spiritual leader and arbiter for when decisions cannot be made completely democratically.

Mikwa are somewhat spiritual, believing that the spirits of their ancestors watch over and protect them. Because of this, items of significance are passed from generation to generation, either maintained or worked into new items as a sign of reverence. In lieu of grave yards, Mikwa remember their dead by placing their items of significance in a safe, communal place, that they can go to reminisce and remember their dearly departed.

Mikwa are omnivorous, with a diet that mostly consists of fruits, vegetables and roots, supplemented by fish and occasional meat. They are very knowledgeable about what plants can be used for food and medicine and which should be avoided.

Mikwa culture can be broken down into 2 distinct groups that we'll call Nomadic and Settled.

Nomadic mikwa live in smaller groups than settled mikwa, following herds of large mammals around and subsisting off of naturally growing vegetation. They tend to be much more adept at wilderlands survival, and for reasons currently unknown to mankind, their nomadic routes often cross over Precursor sites.

A small mikwa village.

Settled mikwa tend toward larger groups with homes that all offer an outdoor socializing space. They have large communal gardens that serve as both farms and social spaces. They are much more adept with technology than their Nomadic counterparts, often re-purposing found technology into useful tools. Much of their technology is re-purposed Fulgori technology that has been maintained for generations, but some mikwa have shown considerable skill in adapting Precursor artifacts into their works.

Despite, or maybe because of, their peaceful nature and their inclination toward Precursor technology, they have attracted the attention of the Fulgori empire. This attention has lead to them being run out of their homes for being so close to Precursor structures or worse, their peaceful nature and lack of a formal leaving them at the mercy of the fulgori military.

This conflict lead the Mikwa to join with the Humans to form the Voyagers, to stop the Fulgori from disrupting mikwa life and gaining any more technology from the ruins that they could use to cause further harm.

2 Mikwa Voyagers and a nomadic Chief with peculiar ears

That's all for today, Voyagers!
See you again next Aether Tuesday!

[Aether Tuesday] Robots!

Hello, Voyagers - it's Min from Demonskunk studios, here for another Aether Tuesday.

Today we're going to be talking about Robots!

While the Robots in Aether Adrift are a unique playable race, they are not a unique faction. Robots in AeAd were created by humans to serve and assist. All of the robots in Aether Adrift's world were built and loaded onto the Albatross with the human passengers and crew. While they are very advanced, they do not possess a full, unshackled AI. They have simulated personalities and can learn and adapt to different situations as required, but they are still bound by rules governing their behavior, and they are incapable of things like rebellion and mutiny.

Assuming nothing breaks.

from left to right: L1F7, 3012, C.H.A.D. and F1-X

Robots come in many shapes and sizes, each generally suited to the job they're intended to do. L1F7 and C.H.A.D. are lifter units, designed to move cargo around in the ship and heavy objects around on planet. 3012 is a recon unit, equipped with a grappling hook and retractable tow chain. F1-X is a repair unit, designed to keep the ship, human vehicles, and sometimes other robots operating properly.

Most robots are programmed with a simulated personality to make interacting with them a more pleasant experience for their human companions. For instance, C.H.A.D. has an amorous college frat boy personality; Eager to show off how much he can lift and always ready to lend a hand with heavy objects. F1-X has the personality of a telenovella character named "Francisco" who was widely known for his ability to fix anything, so he speaks with a latino accent and repeats many of the one-liners and catch phrases from the show when appropriate.

That isn't to say their programming is perfect, however. Being in operation for 10+ years without extensive maintenance has allowed some of their programming to develop their own strange quirks, like C.H.A.D.'s affection for squeezy hand workout devices.

That's all for now, Voyagers!
See you again next Aether Tuesday!

[Aether Tuesday] The Albatross and Humanity

Happy Aether Tuesday, Voyagers! Today's article will be focusing on Humanity, what their home was like, why they're so far away from it, and what they're doing on Elisi.

Human History

Humans in Aether Adrift came from the Sol system, the same Sol System you probably live in right now! By the year 2240, Humanity has colonized Venus, Mars and Earth's moon, Luna, under the banner of the United SOL Alliance, USOL.

All of the humans on Elisi - the island the core game focuses on - were colonists or crew on the USOL Albatross. The Albatross was a colony ship on a mission to establish a human presence on the distant world of Kapteyn B of the Kapteyn system.

At the halfway point of their journey, the Admiral of the ship put it in orbit around an uncharted planet to wake the crew to perform maintenance and assess the mission going forward. In the middle of their check an unknown catastrophe forced them to evacuate, launching passengers and crew to the uncharted world below.

The Albatross incident happened so suddenly that the crew were unable to properly launch their colonization equipment. The vast majority Prefabricated housing units, vehicles and inactive robots stored in the cargo areas of the Albatross were thrown to the planet's surface or left in the wreckage.

After crash landing, the Humans met with the Mikwa - a peaceful local race - and established a coalition called the Voyagers. The Voyagers' mission is to find and recover human survivors and supplies dropped from the damaged Albatross, delve into the advanced Precursor ruins dotting the island, and protect the Mikwa from the looming threat of Emperor Fulgor and his immense military force.

Human Society

Human society on Elisi is fairly comfortable, despite their predicament. The recovered prefabricated housing units allow them to live in climate controlled comfort. Each unit is independently powered and was packed with preserved food to ensure the occupants would be able to survive.

Knowing that the limited supplies in their prefab homes wouldn't last, the human colonists have learned from the Mikwa how to cultivate local crops and how to hunt the local wildlife. Despite coming from a life of luxury, most of the colonists aren't afraid to get their hands dirty.

In addition to prefab items, larger human structures have fabricators capable of manufacturing many simple items from raw metal, fabric and polymers brought with them on the Albatross, allowing them to make much of what they might need. Due to the accident supplies have become much more limited, leading to rationing in case of emergency.

Despite only having been on the island for a few months, the Mikwa and Humans have formed a very strong alliance. Humans most often trade them protection from the militant Fulgori in exchange for supplies and knowledge.

The most notable defensive structure is Voyager Base Odal, where the remaining leadership of the Albatross crew and security have pulled together volunteers from the Mikwa, Humans and even rebel Fulgori, assigning them missions ranging from simple patrols to delves into the Precursor ruins in hopes of finding useful technology. Frequently the Voyagers are dispatched to deal with possible Fulgori threats, and the Mikwa often turn to the Voyagers for protection because of their significantly more advanced weaponry.

That's all for now, Voyagers, see you next Aether Tuesday!

(Haha, almost missed tuesday, >u>;;;)

Happy New Year!

We at Demonskunk Studios want to wish everyone a happy 2018!

Some human traditions, however, are lost on Mikwa.

[Aether Tuesday] Aether Adrift Cover

What's this, we're back so soon? I did say we'd be doing regular updates, and that we were considering Tuesday, so why not start right away?

Today we're going to be showing off what will become the cover of Aether Adrift.

This is still a bit of a work in progress, but I'll walk you through it.

On the bottom, we have a shot of the floating islands, with Elisi - the big island in the center - taking up the most space because that's where the core book will focus on lore-wise.

Standing at the center of the island is a group of characters that represents the players - one from each playable race. from right to left: Mikwa, Robot, Human and Fulgori. They're giants on the island because the player characters are heroes, larger than life, able to do things others cannot.

Above them, seemingly in space, is Emperor/King Fulgor, lording over them with a giant hand reaching down as if to grasp the island. He's even larger than the heroes, so far above them in power that he's practically a god, but they look up at him with defiant expressions because they won't bow to him, even with the might that he possesses.

The final version will be cropped in closer on the sides so that it fits on the portrait-oriented book. Let us know what you think of this in the comments below, and let us know if you'd like to hear anything specific about the setting next week!

See you next Aether Tuesday!

Min L. & Sam B.

Happy Holidays from Demonskunk Studios!

Haha, oh wow. It's been exactly one year since our last post here.

Sam and I have been hard at work on Aether Adrift since our last post. In the inbetween time, we've written two adventures, one designed for quick one-shot adventures and one designed for larger, multi-session affairs. We've pretty much finished a piece of cover art for the main book. We've been slowly solidifying the setting and the lore; and most importantly:

WE SECURED THE SAVAGE WORLDS LICENSE!

That means we have the go-ahead to publish our book now. that is the best possible holiday news we could have gotten!

Our new years resolution is going to be to start posting much more frequently on this blog, so we can keep everyone informed on the goings-on in Demonskunk Studios. Currently I'm thinking Tuesdays might be a good day for updates, but that remains to be determined.

In these updates, we'll be discussing anything from the current state of the game, to lore and background information, to content and mechanical reveals, so keep your eyes peeled!

I hope you all have a happy Holiday season, see you in the next update!

Happy Holidays from Demonskunk Studios!

Writing Aether Adrift is coming along pretty well. We're really close to securing the licensing for Savage Worlds, we just need to finish the first written adventure, and write up a good villain.

But in the meantime, Happy Holidays! Enjoy this picture of some Human and Mikwa explorers bringing christmas cheer into the lives of some lucky Fulgori tankers~!

We've got a logo!

Time for my annual blog post!

Once again, I'm sorry for the long time between posts, but I have a good amount of stuff to talk about, starting with a new logo!

This is the official Aether Adrift logo, featuring the Albatross emblem behind gold lettering. Lemme know what you guys think!

Next, I've got some more finished art to share with you all!

Here we have a heavily armored lady helping a newly found survivor out of his drop pod. Where is she pointing? Isn't it obvious? TO ADVENTURE!

A beautiful environmental shot of a group of voyagers - 2 humans and 2 mikwa - set up camp in front of a precursor installation half buried in the landscape. This is also a candidate for the cover art!

Sam and I have been busily working on fleshing out the world and mechanics of the game, and we're making some good progress. I'm not going to go into extensive detail here, but I'll give you a general rundown of what we're working on.

Fulgori Society

We're trying to flesh out how the non-military side of the Fulgori culture works - how they dress, what they do and what their stuff looks like. So far we've decided that even though they put a big focus on their military, that it won't be a huge part of their home lives. All Fulgori attend some degree of military training as part of their schooling, so that if the time calls for it they have a populace of fighters, with minimal civilians. Women and men are both equal in fulgori society - every capable citizen is valuable.

Weapon + Armor Modification

We're working on fleshing out and tidying up the initial rules for modifying weapons and armor using components found in the ruins dotting the island. This will take the form of adding special qualities to armor - such as resisting extreme temperatures or specific types of damage, and adding special damage types and qualities to weapons, such as swords that can set things on fire, or guns that fire toxic barbs that disable enemies.

Precursor Ruins

Arguably the most important thing on this list is the precursor ruins themselves. We're working on outlining the types of things you can find inside of them - enemies and items - and a system for randomly generating ruins so that no two facilities are identical, and your party will always be pleasantly surprised

That's all for today!

Sorry for the long silence...

But I have a fair bit to update everyone on.

We finally got in touch with Pinnacle, and they told us that we're well on our way to getting the license, we just need to show them a more finished set of setting rules and the finalized layout with more finished artwork.

Ideally we'll have the license and be on Kickstarter this year.

But, for your patience, I have a sneak preview (Well, I dunno if it's a sneak preview, on account of this being a public blog) of the book. It's still WIP, and it's far from finished, but I hope you all enjoy taking a look at it!

http://puu.sh/moNeA/22f1143c54.pdf

A lot of the art will likely end up being moved before the final version, it's just there to take up space right now, but I put them in mostly appropriate places.

I hope you're all as eager as I am to see this progress!