The game
A dark fantasy MMO with 300 levels, five classes and three starting cities in a world twisted into monsters by the shards of a broken stone – and you are the only one death cannot keep.
The story
Nareth is a cracked world above a hungry nothing called the Void. For a thousand years the Dawnstone held it together: while it shone, the fields bore fruit, the cities grew, and no one asked what peace cost. Then Morgrim, the Ash King, shattered it. The shards fell upon the world as glowing ash, and wherever they landed, beasts became monsters, heroes became tyrants and hope turned into madness.
For thirty years the ash has fallen. Every shard grants power to whoever touches it, but twists their deepest desire: a sheepdog becomes a pack lord, a caravan leader becomes the mistress of the sands, a priest becomes the prophet of a mad god. The dead, silent for a thousand years, have begun to whisper. Something has changed at the border between the world and the beyond, and no one knows what.
“The sky rains ash, the earth smoulders. Those who will not take up arms now will not even be remembered by name.”
Your first memory is the ash rain. A glowing shard pierced your chest, and you died. Then you woke. The shard stayed inside you, and after every death it pulls you back to life. In a thousand years you are the first the ash would not let go. Aldo the Chronicler, the old scholar who found you, says every shard finds its way home, and you are the one who will carry them there. The only question is what you will do with them.
The factions
All three factions fight the Ash King, but each wants something different from the shards – and each guards something it will not speak of.
Seat Bloodmoon Keep
Descendants of the Dawnwardens' soldiers, warriors sworn under the Red Moon. They believe in order, discipline, and that the world must be held together whatever the cost.
The Order wants the stone reforged.
Seat Suncrown Keep
An alliance of merchant houses and nobles, the richest city on Nareth, where the sun never sets above the domes.
To them a shard is not a curse but a resource: a forge, a weapon and eternal light.
Seat Veilharbor
Mages, scholars and seafarers who study the Veil, the border between the living and the dead. They are the first to hear when the dead whisper.
The League believes the shards must be destroyed before it is too late.
Five peoples
The four starting heroes are fixed race-and-class pairs: Ironvowed (human), Moonshade (Shadowblooded), Ashcaller (Demonblooded), Runecaller (half-elf). The fifth people, the Dark Elf, unlocks after level 300.
The youngest and most numerous people of Nareth, at home in the lands of all three factions. They light lanterns for their dead, of whom they have not dreamed in a thousand years.
Descendants of the orphans of the Silent Hand and the Moonarrow: a slender, dark-skinned people raised by moonlight. They creep by night and see in shadow. Other peoples shun them, for their name recalls an old forgotten war, yet it was they who kept the old Shadowpaths alive.
Descendants of the survivors of the ancient Breaking, with horns and ash-grey skin. They are feared and shunned, yet they are the first to hear what the darkness whispers, and the ones who resist it best.
Children of the forbidden union of elves and humans a thousand years ago: neither the Bloodpine Woods nor the cities call them their own. In return they hear both peoples, and the Runevoice Circle gladly takes them in.
A warrior of the Shadowspear order. Not a starting people: it unlocks after level 300, and the new hero starts at level 1.
Unlocks after level 300
Classes
Five classes, four to start with: the Dark Elf unlocks after level 300. Each class has two paths of six abilities. Every role a party needs is here: tank, healer, support and damage.
Class
Race: human. Heir to the Iron Vow. The Ironvowed holds the front line: the Destroyer cleaves wide areas with a two-handed weapon, the Defender draws the monsters with a shield. Their resource is Rage, built with every blow dealt and taken.
Weapon two-handed weapon or sword and shield
Resource Rage
Path 1
Two-handed weapon: wide, heavy blows across a large area.
Path 2
Shield: draws the monsters and soaks up the damage.
Class
Race: Shadowblooded. Shadows of the Silent Hand and orphans of the Moonarrow. The Shadowblade stalks with dagger and sword and strikes from behind; the Moonarcher decides fights from afar with a bow. Their resource is Energy and combo points.
Weapon dagger, bow or sword
Resource Energy
Path 1
Dagger and sword, stealth and backstabs – strikes before anyone notices.
Path 2
Bow: decides the fight from afar, from ambush.
Class
Race: Demonblooded. The Ash Knights, heirs of a fallen order who turned to the light. The Cursedblade reaps with the sword and drains life; Shadow Magic strikes with curses and dark sorcery. Their resource is Bloodforce, fuelled by life drain.
Weapon sword
Resource Bloodforce
Path 1
Sword: life drain; as your health runs low, the drain doubles.
Path 2
Dark sorcery: curses, and mana that returns from fallen foes.
Class
Race: Half-elf. Ancestor-speakers of the Runevoice Circle. The Stormcaller strikes with lightning and elemental runes; the Lifewarden heals and shields with the blessing of the ancestors. Their resource is Mana.
Weapon rune bell, rune staff or rune fan
Resource Mana
Path 1
Lightning and elemental runes – the power of the storm in your hands.
Path 2
Heals and shields with the blessing of the ancestors.
Class
Not a starting class: it unlocks after level 300. The Dark Elf is a warrior of the Order of the Shadowspear. The Spear Dancer fights on foot with fast piercing strikes, the Shadow Rider charges on horseback – and a shadow bow is in hand too.
Weapon spear, horse spear and bow
Path 1
Fast, piercing melee on foot with a spear.
Path 2
Mounted charges, mobility and area strikes – the shadow bow speaks here too.
Act I · Levels 1–59
In the starting valleys the beasts have gone wild. The tribes of the Green Gloom fear their own guardian spirit. On the Riven Spine, orc hordes gather around a chief who would forge a weapon from a shard. In the Silenced Library a scroll hides the origin of the Dawnstone. The Ash Cult preaches that the Ash King is the new god. And in the Drysand Waste, caravans vanish. Gather the shards and face the one who shattered the stone.
Morgrim is watching. And he has something to tell you.
Companions
Four companions, four paths – each stands at your side for reasons of their own.
Knight · Order of the Blood Moon
Knight of the Order of the Blood Moon. He believes in his oath, and he guards your back.
An orc chieftain's daughter
Daughter of an orc chieftain who does not believe her father's promises. She seeks the voices of her ancestors.
Mage · Azure Veil League
A demonblooded mage of the Azure Veil League. He hears the dead, and he is too curious for his own good.
Envoy · Suncrown Alliance
Envoy of the Suncrown. Witty, generous, and convinced that a shard could end poverty.
The land of Nareth
Searing cauldrons, frozen peaks, swamps and misty jungles – almost forty maps, each with its own sky, its own dangers and its own legends.
Starting valleyLevel 10
The starting vale of the Blood Moon lands, where you survive your first ash rain.
Starting valleyLevel 10
The starting vale of the Suncrown lands, golden fields under an ash-filled sky.
Starting valleyLevel 10
The starting vale of the Azure Veil lands, lakes and mist at the edge of the Veil.
JungleLevel 10
The ancient jungle where the tribes fear their own guardian spirit; all three starting roads meet here.
Mountain ridgeLevel 20–30
The ruined stronghold of an orc warlord on the rocky ridge, where weapons are forged from a shard.
Cursed landLevel 40
Barren rock and sand where the dead have risen and repeat a single question.
DesertLevel 50–60
Drysand and caravan roads where water is worth more than gold; the oasis is where the factions meet.
SwampLevel 70
A glowing mushroom forest where spores turn travellers into living puppets.
JungleLevel 100
Misty marshes and silent lakes where the whispers of the dead blur above the water.
HighlandsLevel 110
Rocky highlands where the dwarves built a maze around a shard.
WoodlandLevel 120
A forest of red pines, home of the elves, where even the soul-tree has gone mad.
WoodlandLevel 130
The ancient trees of the great wood wander closer to the cities every year.
CoastLevel 140–150
A black-sand coast where the people of the sea stormed ashore with the light of a shard.
Volcanic cauldronLevel 180
The split Cauldron where the fire in which the Dawnstone was forged still burns.
Frozen peaksLevel 200
Ice-bound mountains where a mage has kept a rift sealed for thirty years.
Mountain passLevel 220–230
A mountain pass with patches of snow where golems have awoken on the road to the Ash Throne.
Three realms, three capitals and the lands of the peoples – places for trade, rest and great gatherings.
City
The scarlet fortress city of the Order of the Blood Moon, where the warriors of the Red Moon begin.
City
The golden keep of the Suncrown Alliance, where the sun never sets above the domes.
City
The harbor city of the Azure Veil League, where mages and seafarers study the Veil.
Game systems
Systems built around the Ash, the Chronicle and the secrets of the factions – designed so you can focus on the adventure, not the menus.
A 30-chapter story in five acts. Your choices have consequences, and your companions may die – or turn their back on you.
Four starting heroes – Ironvowed, Moonshade, Ashcaller, Runecaller – and a fifth class, the Dark Elf, that unlocks after level 300. Each class has two paths.
A timed endgame run that goes ever deeper: 150 tiers and a weekly leaderboard.
Seal the rift gates with modifiers: harder fights, bigger rewards.
A live world event: the ground cracks open and monsters pour out in waves – everyone who fought shares the reward.
Each week the three factions clash in the borderlands; the winner earns a bonus for a week.
Reroll a single property of an item at the Runebinder – the rest stays.
Weapons and armour grow stronger tier by tier, from materials and gold – with no risk of breaking.
List your items for sale and buy from other players – your listings sell even while you are offline.
Every look you earn goes into one collection: armour, cloak and mount – without losing any stats.
Automatic group finder for dungeons, the Ashwell and the arena: tank, healer, damage dealers.
Hungarian, English, German, Romanian, Polish, Turkish, Spanish and Italian client.
Create your account now and be there when the Age of Ashes begins.
