Aether Flares

Eight aetherbubbles are home to one of the Eight Rings of the Aether Kings, of whom we know little. Cities and communes compete to harmonise these rings with their respective Nexuses of Power. Aether flares are the only time the rings can change alignment. Like village revolts, aether flares occur in a predictable cycle. In common parlance, the aether rings are specific rooms on each aetherbubble which become the focal point of competition.

Organizations can erect constructs on aetherbubbles they control. Each organization has five construct blueprints, each with their own unique attributes and passive benefits. Aether flares destroy any existing constructs on the bubble when they go off. Beyond the benefits of the construct itself, 1000 power is added to the organization's nexus each month, per construct built. Only the Power Minister can build a construct.

Aether flares then, naturally result in highly competitive battles which take place both on the ground and in aetherspace as players compete both for the opportunity to build constructs of their own, and to prevent their enemies from doing so. A more detailed summary of syntaxes can be found in the in-game HELP file for CONSTRUCTS.

Claiming

The process of establishing a harmonic accord with a given aether ring may be tracked, during flares, using the command POLITICS AETHERSPACE <aetherbubble>.

Several levels of harmonic accord must be traversed before harmony is achieved. The winning organization must establish itself by a certain breadth above their competitors. Thus, the effort required in claiming a bubble will vary based on the number of competitors. The threshold for each degree of accord may be raised throughout competition over the bubble, and so it may appear that one organization may lose ground, decreasing in levels of harmony as a competitor with a stronger force surpasses them.

Achieve harmony this through only two ways: A ground team erects and focuses positively on a colossus at the aether ring location, or a aethership crew bombards the aether ring. Though a single method alone can work, both approaches are ideally used in tandem.

Ground Battle

The focal points of the ground battle are the aether ring location and the colossus. The aether ring is a specific location on the aetherbubble, and one that is unique to every bubble. The colossus is a machine which is crafted by an artisan as a miniature, then activated on an aetherbubble. To ACTIVATE a COLOSSUS takes a few minutes' uninterrupted effort - if you do not give this action your undivided attention your work will be ruined and you will lose the colossus. Every organization has a unique colossus, and only one colossus per organization may exist on an aetherbubble at any one time.

Colossi are powered by golden hearts, made by lorecrafter alchemists and spellcrafter enchanters. Once powered, they may be entered and operated by those of guild protector rank (guild appointed) or better. The presence of a colossus at an aether ring location will result in a constant increase of the harmonic accord between the ring and the operator's nexus. The ground team can increase harmony by having members focus positively on the colossus while at the aether ring location. The ground battle consists primarily of a fight to physically occupy this location.

Due to the general inaccessibility of aetherbubbles, which are only reachable via ships (either flying or flashpoints) or by transplanar contrivances (bubblixes), during flares an organization may also activate a beacon, which requires similar uninterrupted action. Also constructed by artisans, an aether beacon will allow members of that organization to TELEPORT BEACON from their Nexus Worlds to easily reach the aetherbubble.

Colossi are not mere statues: a pilot can move the colossus and to destroy an enemy colossus as well as enemy beacons. With the exceptions of tinkering and brewmeistery, all trade skills can create upgrades for a colossus, providing additional benefits which noticeably improve performance. The ground team focus negatively or positively on a colossus to slow or hasten it, respectively.

Related Note: Any focusing of a colossus creates auronidion particles. Gnomes will trade particles for auronispheres, which are used as powerstones or sold at the Facility. A maximum of 50 particles may be stored in the standard rift. They are generally stored in aetherholds, one will simply PUT 50 PARTICLE IN AETHERHOLD until they are all in. Like glaetherial dust, particles will slowly decay in aetherholds.

Ground teams must be aware of what is happening in the aetherspace around the bubble as well. Communication can be difficult, but there are certain abilities available to an empath skilled in Aethercraft to facilitate this. Orbital bombardments can do devastating damage to those in the aether ring location when they strike. It is important to avoid being hit by them - and so anyone not inside the colossus should leave the room.

Aetherspace

During flares, harmonic accordance is achieved in aetherspace via turret bombardments from aetherships. Participation on this side of the effort will require a notable degree of skill in Aethercraft and of course, access to an aethership with a turret. Bombardments take several minutes to power up before firing. The gain in ring harmony occurs in one burst instead of over time like with the colossus. Each ship can only prepare one bombardment at a time.

Bombarding requires that an aethership is positioned directly over an aetherbubble's dock. Unlocking from the turret or moving the aethership away from the dock interrupts the bombardment process. Bombardment may provide a more potent boost to the effort of harmonization, yet it is much easier to interrupt owing to its limitations. As with the ground battle, in aetherspace ships will be competing over control of one location - the dock. Naturally, ship-to-ship combat is expected.

Depending on the situation, an organization may opt to send out multiple ships with skeleton crews in the hopes of picking up several bombards in succession. This is very risky: undermanned ships are extremely vulnerable. A ship with a proper crew will have no difficulties in imploding these vessels, or at the least, forcing them to flee - which equally stops the bombardment. If a ship is destroyed, it cannot return to battle immediately, but must recover at the aetherplex for several minutes. In addition, the power stored in its active reserves is largely drained.

An effective front in aetherspace is hugely dependent on the ability to quickly get ships to an aetherbubble. The algontherine whistle is a popular artifact among aether flare aficionados. Blowing the whistle at a dock summons an aethership from anywhere. In order to prevent this, a pilot may seal the dock, blocking other ships from landing. A dock-sealing ship must be destroyed or forced to flee before any other ships may reach the aetherbubble.

Ship-to-ship battle tactics vary widely with the situation, both immediately, and in the overall effort to claim. Whether it is worth the risk to fight and continue a bombardment in progress in the hopes of bringing it to conclusion, or else flee to avoid implosion, are all dependent on what happens in the moment - as is the case with any fight.

The aetherspace crew will often have a bird's eye view of the ground situation, and are frequently responsible for relaying information, aided by the skills in Aethercraft for communication. Alerting allies of incoming enemies, and other pertinent information, as well as issuing warnings of impending bombardment strikes are all very important.