welcome your faces to aitheaca, the realm ruled by ultimate balance and justice, where there is no room for true order or chaos.

the gods

finally got the designs for the main champions/alts done, have the original concept sketches below as well :]

infodump about forbidden piss jordan’s universe cause theres lore now

From the multiverse map, this realm in the same timeline bubble as Empires S2, and is called Aithaca. From the beginning, the three gods were always kind of in conflict, like Ianite could do her thing to try and keep balance, but it was never enough

So she turns to a darker magic that allows her to rid the realm of things that make it unbalanced , a power somewhat too powerful that ends up rendering Mianite and Dianite's powers somewhat obsolete. Mianite has not enough order, Dianite not enough chaos to try and fight back cause if anything becomes unbalanced, Ianite sends her followers to get rid of it.

As a result, Ianite becomes somewhat of a sole goddess as Dianite is imprisoned in the far reaches of the Nether, and Mianite is forced into hiding and becomes a hermit in a deep forest

Ianite’s control is through the mind of Admiral Flash Sparksize, the leader of Ianite’s army- a group of sky pirates dedicated to ensuring a balance of the world, even through violent means

- Unlike most gods and their champions, Ianite speaks to Flash through his head. As a result she can take occasionally take control of him, and read his thoughts

- He’s an incredibly skilled swordsman and melee fighter. As a child of the Eden Dimension, (a pocket dimension btwn the Overworld and Aether) he derives power from the sun/light, and is weaker at night

- Dianite’s champion (who has to brin Dianite back into existence the same way Jordan does with Ianite in S1) is a wither skeleton hybrid named Cassell (Cass for short). He’s friends with Mianite’s two champions Merina and Garrick (names im still not sure of) who came to know of their gods existence when he lead them to him

Thats as far as I got, I have more lore when I finish the narrative art ive been workin on :]

you're not looking for a mentor, i'm not looking for a friend-

consider this as my goodbye.

admiral flash has been the puppet of the Keeper of Balance for too long. in befriending the other champions he comes to see the awful truth in what keeping a strict grasp on the world can do. and enough is enough.

would it be alright if you went into aitheaca embersduo dynamic?

the watcher (merina) and the watched (flash)…

Heck yeah! :D I've been lookin for a good excuse to talk about them (also im definitely borrowing the watcher and the watched for something I love that so much)

The main bit of their dynamic stems from the fact that Mer and Flash are childhood friends; from when they were younger before she became a watcher, and Flash was picked up by Ianite to be her protégé, after he had left the Eden Dimension (which is a whole other thing with him literally gotten sealed out of his home realm, but he had come from there which is why he's got a very sun/light motif about him)

They grew up in the same village kind of on the outskirts of Ianite's initial realm of control and got into a lot of shenanigans together, but eventually as her reign spread to farther across the lands, she's able to find her champion and takes him away, effectively aiming to take control over his mind (as she eventually does). Merina tries to chase after her friend, eventually leading her to the End (knowing that to be Ianite's realm of control, from the legends she heard growing up) to not find him there. She collapses, and this is where the Watchers find her, and take her in as one of their own. As she steps into her role as a Watcher, she continues to actively seek out Flash (now being able to find him a little easier) despite warnings from her superiors across the multiverse that they are not allowed to interfere, only observe.

Regardless, while she spends most of the time in the shadows (as the champions of other gods do)she's the only one not afraid to directly confront to him once he becomes the admiral of Ianite's army. She'll regularly taunt, tease, become an eldritch horror to scare and provoke him in hopes of encouraging him to try and see what ultimate balance has done, and remember who he used to be, not a puppet to his goddess, but himself. She's seen who he was, she sees who is he is now, and she knows he wants to break free.

From Flash's perspective, she's a nuisance. Like Ianite, a presence he can feel all of the time (albiet evoking different emotions), watching, and watching his every move, that sometimes she's there to assist in evacuating a village of chaotic Dianitee's before he and his army can swoop in from the skies to take their leader hostage. He knows he's supposed to be upset, but why isn't he mad? He knows she works for the elusive hermit Mianite but he still respects her. He doesn't remember some of the things she tells him about their past that his Lady insists aren't important, but they still hold some meaning he can't quite place. He can take her taunts, and is able to fight the voice in his head telling him to up and get rid of whats ultimately a threat to their goals. She treats him like a friend but he doesn't understand why. Flash doesn't have friends, he knows this- he has allies, he has work to do.

and going back to the Watcher and the Watched you used, i think also fits really well as a descriptor of their dynamic as a whole as this banter being between two people who have this barrier between them, where there's only so far that Mer can reach through it, that Flash can peer through the veil cast over his eyes before their tie to a role given to them by a higher power has to come first :]c

There’s this song called Rakata by Arca and I think the instrumental fits Flash really well, the lyrics…not so much but the instrumental is so good

I!! I FINALLY LISTENED TO THIS AND YOU’RE SO RIGHT

ITS SUCH A GOOD SONG!!! I totes get whatcha mean by the instrumental, the timbre of the synth has this like certain shine to it that like it has like a shimmering technological sound, which is so Flash’s vibe 👀‼️ Someone bright and flashy like the sun, but his design is very much meant to feel more futuristic in nature v. like spark or jordan (specifically the boots n the patterns on his jacket) Im such a fan of the repeating lines at the heartbeat of the instrumental it gives such an imposing energy, the voice (lyrics aside, i did end up lookin up the translation n im like ayo?? /pos I was chucklin at the idea of those with Flash; man doesnt not have rizz like that xD) being someone with a lot of power and knowing it ✨ The key of the song and the repeating lines as well add to it too

Also im realizing it could so tie into the Flash’s enviormental sound too 👀 if like s1 was very natural/fantasy esque; S2 had that advanced industrial feel (in mianite's areas and dagrun was sorta renaissance flavored medievalism (in an king arthur sense except the king sucks), Aitheaca is both like liminal and cyberfantasy-apocalyptic with ianite's areas of control having a very grecian-cyber/steampunkish feel whereas mianite and dianite to represent their obscurity have a more liminal wasteland feel about them And!! this fits so well (instrumental wise) into that concept I love it so much

Song link

Flash’s lack of individuality showing through his clothing. Like tell me if I’m wrong, but all other champions/ followers had clashing colors or at least what they wore was more indicative to them as an individual. Not Flash, he is a puppet of his goddess so he’s gotta be her perfect representative, her mirror image.

He’s like fool’s gold, ya know?

!! 👀 YES ABSOLUTELY

‘fools gold’ is honestly such a good way to describe him like he really is meant to be an extension of her, both physically and visually, because everything he is, he has cause of her- she quite literally sought out this young champion from the Eden Dimension who she kept seeing in her visions to make him what he is, that yeah there isn’t much individualism about him

I find it neat this intepretation cause loke its m to think design wise (however not necessarily intentional on my part) that the gold trim on Ianite’s armor is the same shade of yellows as Flash’s coat, like she literally peeled the gold off her armor to dress her star pupil, her puppet, her champion in the way she saw him, a ye literal version of perfection

And!! Yeah like next to the other champions and their gods (even within universe) he sticks out with how similar they look compared to like, Cassell, a wither skeleton in patchwork next to Dianite or Merina (who looks like she’d belong to the Mean Gills from Limited Life) next to Mianite