New to Aideum or revisiting after some time away? This reference sheet covers some of the basics in Aideum laws as are relevant to members of the Three Lanterns.
Laws of Aideum
1. No Unauthorized Blades
Carrying a visible weapon without a permit is forbidden within the inner districts.
- Complication: PCs must hide or disguise weapons in the inner districts. Getting caught gives guards cause to detain or fine.
- Exploitable: Black-market permit forgers exist—but they’re tracked, and using one risks exposure.
2. Curfew in Outer Wards
No one may be on the streets between bells three and five unless marked as Watch, clergy, or licensed courier.
- Complication: Heists and smuggling runs during curfew hours become stealth challenges or require bribing curfew enforcers.
- Exploitable: Clever PCs can use curfew to trap rivals or move unnoticed if disguised well.
3. Magical Disclosure Edict
Any magical activity within the city must be logged with Scryfall if it affects more than a single person, object, or structure.
3a – any use of enchantment magic on an official of the city or ranking nobility is punishable by death.
- Complication: Illusions, enchantments, and even healing may be considered “arcane interference” if done in public. Ignoring this can lead to surveillance or arrest.
- Exploitable: The registry office is corrupt and easily manipulated. Faked papers or misfiled enchantments create alibis or sow chaos.
4. No Unauthorized Assembly
Gathering of more than five individuals for unsanctioned purpose is considered conspiracy.
- Complication: PCs can’t move openly in large groups without drawing notice. Large-scale meetings or street-level rallies need stealth or cover identities.
- Exploitable: This law is often used selectively—noble parties and church gatherings get a pass, while workers’ groups and thieves don’t.
5. Contraband Control Act
Movement of forbidden goods such as arcanum, godsblood, relics, and illicit substance is illegal.
- Complication: Smuggling or fencing “hot” magical or wartime items is always risky. Getting caught means not just fines, but confiscation of territory.
- Exploitable: The list of contraband is ever-changing and political. PCs can plant or reclassify items through bribed officials.
6. Edict of Civic Dignity
Mockery, impersonation, or interference with government officials, clergy, or noble house symbols is considered sedition.
- Complication: Disguising as a noble, a tax collector, or even the Queen’s Mercy is high-stakes risk. Easy entry, brutal punishment.
- Exploitable: PCs can accuse rivals of sedition with forged evidence, causing them to be hunted by city enforcers.
7. The Right of Audit
All businesses and guilds must open their books to royal or noble audit on demand.
- Complication: Front operations used by PCs (fake bar, locksmith, etc.) are vulnerable to surprise audits by enemies or corrupt officials.
- Exploitable: PCs can force audits on enemies through contacts, sowing chaos or revealing hidden funding.
8. Street Tax Mandate
All coin-changing, mercantile contracts, and major purchases must be logged and taxed.
- Complication: Fencing stolen items or paying bribes is traceable if not done in cash or through proxies. Risk of exposure during downtime.
- Exploitable: The street-tax records are kept in a central ledgers vault, a juicy heist target full of blackmail opportunities.
Optional: Secret Law
9. (Whispered only) The Red Seal
Any citizen may be detained without charge by agents bearing the 5ths Seal of Silence.
- Complication: This law is rarely acknowledged, but it means PCs or allies can disappear with no legal recourse. The Queen’s Mercy uses it freely.
- Exploitable: Finding someone with access to a false Seal means framing rivals for ghost-level crimes—or staging vanishings.
Core Principles of The Game
These are foundational rules most factions adhere to. Break them, and you invite retaliation – not just from your victim, but from others who fear the collapse of order.
1. No Blood on the Coin
You do not kill during a deal, or on the way to one. Everyone gets safe passage to and from parley or a transaction.
- Violation Consequence: You’re blacklisted. All factions can target your runners, fences, or territory without warning.
2. Territory Stands
No jobs in another crew’s territory without either:
– paying a cut,
– getting permission,
– or being invited to act as a neutral third party.
- Violation Consequence: Territory war, unless reparations are made fast.
3. No Fire in the Street
You keep it quiet. No explosives, no public shootouts, no riots that bring down the Watch or the Queen’s Mercy.
- Violation Consequence: Other factions may hand you over to the authorities to protect themselves.
4. Silence is Binding
If you accept a job, you finish it. If you don’t want the job, decline it. You don’t flip, leak, or steal jobs from another crew.
- Violation Consequence: Reputation hit with fences and brokers; may get you marked for “quiet removal.”
5. One War at a Time
No gang can open conflict with more than one rival at once. You want war? Fine. But two, and the city bleeds.
- Violation Consequence: The other factions may force a ceasefire or dismantle you.
6. We Honor Selk
The black coin will be observed between parties and Selk will have their cut.
Optional Conventions (Respected but Not Enforced)
These vary by faction or region. They’re more flexible, but breaking them still risks consequences.
- Respect the Fence: Fences, smugglers, and couriers are neutral. Harassing them too often gets you cut off.
- No Work on Saintsday: One night a week is considered off-limits. Not for morals just for exhaustion. Some crews observe this, some exploit it.
- The Parley Rule: A parley request must be honored within three days. Once face-to-face, no one draws first.
- The Apprentice Rule: New blood gets a pass the first time they break protocol. Second time, they’re fair game.
The Five Houses
At the apex of Angorian governance stand the Five Houses, ancient institutions entrusted with the ultimate stewardship of the realm. Each House governs a specific domain, acting as both a counterweight to the others and a unifying force for the nation. Membership in a House is based on merit, though it is exceedingly rare for the children of House members not to ascend themselves. One exception is the Revered Court, wherein new members are ceremonially adopted into their House.
The 1st House: The House of Law
The House of Law, also known as the Royal House, is the cornerstone of Angorian governance. Tasked with overseeing law, order, and the operation of the judicial system, it also supervises the Judges, the Courts, and the town watch. Historically the throne of the House of Law remains vacant since the abdication of Queen Niobe Theia following the establishment of the Angorian Empire, unless in times of civil unrest. Currently ruled by Queen Thelia McMorrin.
The 2nd House: The House of War
Commanding Angoria’s land-based military forces, the House of War governs the nation’s fortresses, soldiers, and elite troops. Known for its rigorous training of commanders and warriors, it ensures the kingdom’s defenses are ever-ready. This House is currently ruled by the McMorrin family and their cadet branches.
The 3rd House: The House of Trade
The House of Trade oversees Angoria’s commerce, diplomacy, and naval forces. Its purview includes taxation, trade agreements, and the maintenance of the nation’s economy. The Torevir family and its cadet branches preside over this House, their influence woven deeply into Angoria’s mercantile network.
The 4th House: The House of the People
This House safeguards the wellbeing of Angoria’s citizens. Responsible for festivals, religious observances, and the distribution of essential goods, the House of the People ensures the prosperity and unity of the nation. House Wildcloak recently supplanted the entrenched Tenshadow family, marking a rare shift in the House’s leadership.
The 5th House: The House of Secrets
Known as the House of Shadows, this House governs the collection of knowledge, the practice of magic, and the realm of espionage. Tasked with rooting out corruption and safeguarding Angoria from external threats, it also holds the solemn duty of deposing rogue monarchs. Members of this House are prohibited from ascending to the 1st House, preserving their impartiality. The Naïlo family currently rules this enigmatic House.
Prime Deities
In the forming of Aethér, seven deities were pulled from the roiling wild of Chaos and given shape. Their existence in the world remains self-evident, as their gifts of magics, or their fateful or guiding hands affect and shift the cosmos. They have no fixed form or being comprehensible to mortals, but across regions and countries, their depictions follow certain trends as those who are visited by their aspects tell of or create art of their appearances. This summary records the modern Angorian depictions of the gods of Aethér, shown in main halls and temples as humans. However, individual shrines, smaller temples, personal art and altars vary greatly in their depictions.
Aleadra – (Head) Life
Radar-Riel – War
Iov – Grave
Kasya – Nature
Einar – Twilight
Anmok – Death
Selk – Trickery
Aleadra (ʌ-le’-drə)
Head of the Pantheon
Archetype: The Empress
Domains: Forge, Arcana, Life, Order
Titles: Creator, Architect of Creation
Depiction: A dark skinned woman resplendent in a silken white stola. In one hand, she holds Aether’s light; in the other, a worn and battered adze.
Holy Symbol: A simple copper adze
Temples: Long, magnificent Greek-styled halls filled with high art and artists
Followers: Artists, leaders, tradesmen
Conflict: Civilization/immortality
Origin: From where fire meets earth and gives life to new things, so stepped a woman: skin as dark as the obsidian stone around her, who took her axe and gave form to the world. And so shaped chaos.
Ally: Radar-Riel
Friends: Iov, Einar
Against: Selk, Kasya
Enemy: Anmok
Notes: As the Goddess of Civilization, cities are hers. Aleadra in enmity with Anmok is a major conflict; civilization vs. wilderness, death vs. immortality.
Radar-Riel (‘rʌ-dɑr ‘raɪ-ɛl)
Archetype: The High Judge
Domains: War, Order, Knowledge
Titles: Divine Strategist, Architect of War
Depiction: Most often shown as a powerfully built man with burnished skin draped in fine silk robes, a book in one hand and a sword in the other. He has been known to his followers to appear as a humble old man imparting a wise lesson, or as a raging warrior drenched in blood tearing his way through a battle.
Holy Symbol: Blood lotus, oftentimes inscribed with the personal philosophy of the bearer
Temples: Open air gardens meant for reflection and training, filled with debating philosophers, scholars, scribes and teachers
Followers: Philosophers, warriors, scribes
Conflict: mindfulness/justice
Origin: When first order was given to chaos, so too was the first blood spilled. From this red earth rose Radar-Riel who forged weapons from the blood of gods and bent battles to his will. And so shaped chaos.
Ally to: Aleadra
Friendly to: Selk, Iov
Against: Anmok, Einar
Enemy of: Kasya
Iov (ɔv)
Archetype: The Oracle
Domains: Knowledge, Grave, Arcana
Titles: The Lady of Mysteries, Architect of Fate
Depiction: A pale young woman draped in a cloak, the left half of her face obscured by a hood. A cosmic serpent bound and entangled by her twin sister Kasya.
Holy Symbol: entwined black serpents
Temples: Her places of worship are often underground and on the outskirts of cities, home to healers, sages, alchemists, and arcanists. She shares temples with her twin Kasya.
Followers: Sages, wizards, and grave keepers
Conflict: safety/fate
Origins: As the threads of Aethér spread, they began to form patterns and spirals of fate. So Iov was formed from these threads. She ordered them, gave shape to them, weaved them. In time, she learned to read their secrets, and in knowing the unknowable, bound all of creation in Aethér’s web. And so shaped chaos.
Codex Doctrina, the prophecy of the world: a living prophecy written across the world in sky and stone, in omens and events. It is a vast thing and an ever-changing thing. One prophecy may tell of the death of a king while another will tell of that king’s victory over his enemies. They are branches of fate. Normally only immortal or very long-lived creatures dedicate themselves to learning to read the signs or piece together the many strands of prophecies.
Ally: Kasya
Friends: Einar, Aleadra, Radar-Riel
Against: Anmok
Enemy: Selk
Notes: As Aethér’s psychopomp, Iov shepherds the dead on their final journey. In exchange, they whisper to her their secrets.
Kasya (‘kɑs-yə)
Archetype: The Witch
Domains: Life, Nature, Tempest
Titles: Lady of the Unbound Path, Architect of Freedom
Depiction: A pale young woman shrouded in a cloak, the right half of her face hidden by a hood. A cosmic serpent made of living storm entwined with her twin sister Iov.
Holy Symbol: Entwined bone-white snakes
Temples: Her places of worship are often underground and on the outskirts of cities, home to healers, sages, alchemists, and arcanists. She shares temples with her twin Iov.
Followers: Healers, druids, alchemists, revelers
Conflict: compassion/freewill
Origin: From the moment the threads of fate bound creation, so too the wild will of the world strained against the binding. From this was formed Kasya, who entwined her sister, creating balance. And so shaped chaos.
Ally: Iov
Friends: Anmok, Einar
Against: Aleadra
Enemy: Radar-Riel
Einar (ɪ’nɑr)
Archetype: The Knight
Domains: Light, Twilight, Life
Titles: The Light in the Dark, Architect of Hope
Depiction: Most often, a noble soldier dressed for battle in heavy armor, their helm plumed and visor obscuring their face. A broad shield in one hand, the other holding their lantern high to ward away the darkness. Sometimes as a young masculine figure with hands extended, or as an armored feminine figure bearing a shield.
Holy Symbol: A lantern with an ever-burning flame
Temples: Gateways, lighthouses, and crossroads dedicated to them house ever burning fires. In these places, the poor are always kept warm, the weak are protected, and the needy fed.
Followers: Adventurers, travelers, sailors, guards
Conflict: courage/honesty
Origins: The first light cut through the darkness, taking shape to ward and save. Its warmth expanded, creating courage and a path between the dark places. And so shaped chaos.
Ally: Kasya
Friends: Iov, Aleadra
Against: Selk, Radar-Riel
Enemy: Anmok
Anmok (‘ɑn-mɑk)
Archetype: Death
Domains: Death, Nature, Tempest, War
Titles: Devourer, Architect of Death
Depiction: A towering black wolf with eyes made of fire. Less often, in human form as a pallid, red-headed man draped in bloody furs, wielding a cleaver.
Holy Symbol: A snarling wolf head cast in silver
Temples: There are no temples to Anmok. Sometimes, deep in the wilds, one can find shrines covered in bloody pelts.
Followers: Hunters, rangers, murderers
Conflict: wilderness/death
Origins: See the images of truth: the dead of winter, the first death, the dying man alone in the wilderness, the hunt, the kill. These things are Anmok. And so shaped chaos.
Ally: Selk
Friends: Kasya
Against: Radar-Riel, Iov, Einar
Enemy: Aleadra
Notes: Anmok is said to devour the souls of the dead who die in the darkest reaches of Aether. All of the deepest wilderness is his domain.
Selk (sɛlk)
Archetype: The Trickster
Domains: Trickery, Knowledge, Death
Titles: The Survivor, Architect of Knots
Depiction: He appears as either a weathered old man in patchwork clothing with an ironic smile and six eyes, or as a large spider.
Holy Symbol: Blackened coin
Temples: Shrines in back rooms of shady establishments, a carving above a particularly dark passageway
Followers: Prisoners, criminals, survivors, thieves
Conflict: freedom/deception
Origins: Selk was once a mortal who was fated to die but too clever to let it happen. His antics displeased the Gods so much that each in turn attempted to kill him. He in turn tricked each one until finally tricking the secrets of Godhood from Aleadra.
Ally: Anmok
Friends: Radar-Riel, Kasya
Against: Aleadra, Einar
Enemy: Iov
Notes: Though he is the god of trickery and deception, he is invoked when making compacts, as Selk will know if there is any deception by either party and punish them. A ritual known as Selk’s Cut is used during the making of important deals. The ritual is as follows:
A chawan is placed upon the table, the inside of the bowl coated with Nerium. When the deal is made, both parties place two coins in the bowl – one for them, one for Selk. If either party is intent upon deceiving the other, the poison will kill them as they draw their coin from the bowl. Criminals will often use this ritual symbolically and only place coins in the bowl for Selk to gain his favor.
Aethérian Calendar
The Aethérian calendar measures time in rae, weeks, lune, and years. Dates are written rae lune year (e.g. 16 Harvest 358).
rae (plural: rae): the daily sun cycle
week (plural: weeks): 8 rae, each corresponding to a deity with the final rae named after a name for the sun (see detail below)
lune (plural: lunae): each lune coincides with the movement of the three moons, and varies in length between 28-32 rae. The lunae also correlate to the alignment of the outer planes and their proximity to the Prime Material plane.
year (plural: years): 360 rae, 12 lunae in a year. one year coincides with one circle around the sun
Rae (and its associated deity)
1. Narae – Einar
2. Asyarae – Kasya
3. Mokrae – Anmok
4. Runrae – Radar-Riel
5. Donrae – Aleadra
6. Selrae – Selk
7. Ovrae – Iov
8. Einrae
Lunae
1. Ethereal Moon – 30
2. Redwolf Moon – 29
3. Lonely Moon – 31
4. Prism Moon – 28
5. Guiding Moon – 32
6. Shepherds Moon – 30
7. Golden Moon – 29
8. En Sindarin Moon – 30
9. Sovereign Moon – 31
10. Harvest Moon – 30
11. Fading Moon – 31
12. Hollow Moon – 29
Major Holidays for Angoria
1 Ethereal – New Dawn (Einar)
20 Redwolf – Blazing Night
13 Lonely – Wild Hunt (Kasya)
10 Prism – Heroes’ Rest (Anmok)
2 Guiding – Revelry
17 Shepherds – Proving Day (Radar-Riel)
22 En Sindarin – Day of Lost Sea
11 Sovereign – Founders Day (Aleadra)
15 Harvest – Sun’s Close (Selk)
30 Fading – Night of Far Omen (Aether, Syphon)
29 Hollow – Day of Far Night (Iov)
Solstice and equinox
Summer solstice – 30 Shepherds
Winter solstice – 29 Hollow (Day of Far Night)
Spring equinox – 30 Lonely
Fall equinox – 31 Sovereign
Aethér has three moons.
Ayla, the largest moon. It is always visible, day or night. During particularly clear nights in the early lunae, Ayla’s soft rings are also visible.
Ember, a small-ish, red-tinted moon that rises and falls in its own orbit. Omens and foretellings are often connected to Ember.
Uriel, a small moon with glittering ice rings. Often seen as a symbol for hope and change.
4 times a year Ayla and Uriel are full moons for 1 day
4 times a year triple new moon black out, usually seen as especially portentous