Under Fire Media, LLC.

Ethos: The RTS Customizable Card Game

Ethos is a trading card game built around cultures and character customization. Currently set in a medieval fantasy time period, Players assume the roles of Emperors, constructing buildings and warriors to defend them. Tear down the walls of your opponents with magic, and cut through the enemy ranks with weapons and skills. Choose from eighteen unit classes spanning six different cultures, each with their own playing style. Train classes from a single culture to maximize bonuses, or make your Empire a melting pot of cultures for a range of classes at your disposal. It's the epic clash of nations where Heroes are made, Rulers fall and Legends begin.

The War of Shadows

Humankind’s greatest power, knowledge, has often led to great transgression in the quest to achieve it. But none more so than the quest to find true freedom in a universe built upon unchangeable physical laws. In the far reaches of space, truly brilliant and misguided minds succeeded in creating a new element, named simply "Chaos" on what would be later known as "The Day of Sin." In the search to find an element that would allow the changing of physical properties in matter, space, and even time, the Chaos element was discovered to be able to do just that. However, like any other "universal solvent," it was also discovered that it could not be contained. Claiming the lives of countless, the dark cloud of nothingness caused by the Chaos unraveled the order that kept the universe together, and reality ceased to be in its wake. Those that managed to survive were forever changed by its effects, often turning into monstrosities, or falling into madness.

Salvaging their research notes as they fled, the few scientists that escaped the consumption of their world by what later they called the Void, quarantined the affected areas, and sealed the Void and the Chaos element in a different dimension. It was well known that other dimensions and universes held sentient life, and the guilt of their decision weighed heavily on their hearts until their eventual deaths. But some weren’t as repentant.

It is known that at least one of the survivors sought for the power and prestige of being able to have the Void as a weapon. The research notes and designs were stolen, and fell into the hands of fanatical groups, seeing the Void as a form of deity. In response to the breach in security, planetary governments created a special enforcement group they named the Sentinels.

The goal of the Sentinels was simple: ensure that a gateway to the Void is never opened. It wasn’t long before self-proclaimed priests of Chaos rallied members in their cults, and searched for ways to release their gods. For the most part, the campaign of the Sentinels was successful, but the fight saw no end in sight. The war against the cults escalated with the rise of an especially charismatic and sadistic being, the prophet Xar Gaz’haz. His titanic frame commanded respect, and his words commanded adoration. With his cunning and resourcefulness, he managed to acquire all that was needed to construct a doorway.

The Sentinels quickly policed Xar, forcing him to flee in his massive flagship, the Freedom. Directed to pursue and contain the critical threat, the Sentinel’s own flagship, the Harbinger, was dispatched. The crew, led by the famed war hero, Admiral Julian Pathos, gave the cultist ship no quarter, and the two eventually crippled each other and forcing both to land on an unknown world: Alhelm.

Before the Sentinels could regroup and confront Xar, the false prophet had managed to complete his gateway, opening it as the forces of both sides collided. It was open for a very small amount of time before Leon Pathos, a low level soldier and son of Admiral Julian Pathos, managed to shut it. However, the damage caused by the Void and the Chaos that came through was horrific and irreversible. Many perished, many became monstrosities, and others became one with the Void, locked forever away in the other dimension. Those lost to the Other Side included Xar Gaz’haz - whose stripped bones mark the resting place of the Chaos Gate - Admiral Pathos, and his youngest son, Varen.

Some survivors were altered by the Chaos, but maintained their forms and minds. They became the first Archons; gods created by the Chaos, but who found order within it. Together they constructed obelisks to contain the Chaos that seeped into the world, also functioning as planet-spanning lock for the Chaos Gate. As the final seal for the Gate, its keys were given to the Harbinger’s second in command, Michael Ti’Val, whose family and future bearers of the Keys were to have no contact with or connection to the Archons or their people. The Archons then led the remaining survivors of the Harbinger and the Freedom, reconstructing civilization and making their new world their home.

Desgaalgoth, Archon of Shadows, former chief tactician of the Harbinger, Darren Bale, led his people into the mountains where he could see the world below best. Obsessed with maintaining order, his empire was ruled with an iron fist. He vowed to never again let the Void touch the world.

Sarea, Archon of Nature, former medical officer of the Harbinger, Sarah Greenheart, led her people to the forests to study life and to seek wisdom in peace. Still a scientist, her rule encourages the study of the Chaos’ effect on Alhelm’s ecosystems.

Grazzik, Archon of War, former high-ranking general in the Sentinel’s elite guard, Greggory Irons, led his people to the wilderness, to live by their own hands and the sweat of their brows. Many call his people barbarians and warmongers, but their savagery promotes the mastery of their own bodies, and their tribe as a whole.

Ryleon, Archon the Fire, former foot soldier in the Sentinel’s elite guard, Leon Pathos, saw both his father and younger brother consumed by the Void, and trapped on the Other Side. Grieving for a century before letting them go, the Archon established a kingdom in the golden grasslands, teaching the honor and peace his father once advocated.

For centuries the Archons’ civilizations grew and flourished. But the rediscovery of the Chaos Gate’s location was bound to occur. A couple explorers stumbled onto the Gate, the remains of Xar Gaz’haz, and of the central obelisk in the Gate’s intricate lock. Accidentally damaging it, and consequently the fatal wrath of the ever diligent Desbaalgoth, a leak in the Gate managed to reverberate across the world. The haunting voice from the Other Side resounded in the heart of the Archon of Fire. In his mind he heard the voice of his younger brother, Varen, whom he failed in protecting and felt a bottomless well of remorse for, calling out to him, asking the Archon to set him free.

Ryleon, eventually driven mad by the poignant words, resolved to reopen the gate. He knew he was weaker than the other Archons, and would need cunning to succeed. Initiating his plan by seeking out the bearers of the Gate’s keys, the lost Ti’Val family, he sent bandits dressed as warriors of Stonecleave, Grazzik’s people. The slaughter of the key bearers’ family was partially successful: one key had come into the possession of Ryleon’s kingdom, Eslador, and Stonecleave was blamed for the attack. Desbaalgoth’s empire, Blackwind, recovered the other key bearer, and Ryleon’s plan was forced to shift in order to take it. The newly declared war against Stonecleave by Eslador and Blackwind was sure to keep Desbaalgoth’s attention away from the key bearer under his charge.

But Ryleon had another problem, the obelisks scattered around the world. The fall of one would surely attract the attention of the Archons, so he found a devout believer in him: the eldest son of Eslador’s High King Dalban Valius, Daecius. Through trickery Ryleon caused Daecius to be exiled, appearing to him later as a prophet of fate and ordering him to destroy the obelisks in order to stop the hatred and violence spreading across the land.

The Archon of Fire needed only to wait and play innocent in the company of his fellow Archon, taking sides when needed in order to get close to Desbaalgoth’s key bearer. Ryleon’s own, Ocella Ti’Val, was safe enough in the care of High King Dalban Valius’ youngest son, Tal.

Timing the end of the war against Stonecleave with the fall of the obelisks, the Archons began to fight against one another over the cause, while forced to send their champions to defend the obelisks. Forcing each other to remain in the same room at all times, animosity grew exponentially. With Daecius too strong for the Archons’ champions to stop, all out war broke out between the four armies. Waiting patiently for the moment when the key bearers, Ocella and her older brother Elendael, would be together in one place, and the other Archons to be focusing on each other, Ryleon soon saw his opportunity and took his long awaited prizes: the Chaos Gate keys.

Realizing they had all been deceived by the Archon of Fire, the other Archons and their champions called an emergency alliance and followed Ryleon to the Gate. Arriving moments before the opening of the Gate, the Archons and their champions engaged Ryleon. But Ryleon had a hold on Tal Valius, prince of Eslador, and turned him into his servant, forcing him to fight his friends and comrades. But the distraction was not enough, and Desbaalgoth fought with Ryleon. In the confusion of the battle, Ryleon managed to open the Gate, and the Void erupted from its confines.

The Void slew some of the champions, and swallowed Ocella Ti’Val in its horrible maw. Managing to break from Ryleon’s control, Tal Valius leapt in after her. Following his heroic sacrifice, the ravages of the Void receded, and a being stepped out. An Archon born entirely of the Void, it introduced itself as Ryleon’s younger brother, Varen, but eventually was revealed to be the consciousness of Xar Gaz’haz. Reaching into the Void, the former prophet pulled Ocella out, and carried her away to the remains of the Sentinel flagship, the Harbinger, for within her DNA was the access codes to start the ship, and with it he would sail across the universe as a god.

Within the Void, Tal Valius came into contact with the consciousness of Admiral Julian Pathos, who like Xar, had managed to survive the Chaos. Julian entered into Tal’s degenerating body, and they escaped the Chaos Gate, closing it behind them. With a betrayed Ryleon at their side, Julian and Tal followed Xar to the Harbinger, confronting him as the ship began to lift off. During the fight, Varen managed to regain control over his body, and the reunited family chose martyrdom to prevent the spread of Chaos. Leaving Tal’s body, Julian remained with his sons as the Harbinger delved into Alhelm’s sun. Tal and Ocella were left to fall from the ship as it left the atmosphere. However, having become an Archon himself through the ordeal, Tal managed to safely return Ocella to the ground.

With the removal of the Chaos Gate and any potential for the Void to return, Alhelm’s safety was finally realized, and peace, it seemed, was as well.

Cultures - Rules of War - Forum - News & Updates - Find Ethos -Site Map