Earth Eternal

Earth Eternal is a graphical massively multiplayer online role-playing game currently in open beta that was created by Sparkplay Media. It was first announced on January 10, 2007 and was released on Oct. 13, 2009. It is free to play with additional pay for bonuses. The game is currently in open beta and is playable in a browser or via a client download on Windows, but is not playable on Mac OS yet.

Earth Eternal
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Developer(s)	Sparkplay Media
Publisher(s)	Sparkplay Media
Engine	OGRE
Platform(s)	Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. Mac OS is in development
Release	Oct. 13, 2009
Genre(s)	MMORPG
Mode(s)	MMOG

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Screenshot of Bremen town

Plot

The Beginning

Almost unimaginably long ago, what we know of the Lost Ages is largely through myth and legend. As far back as the most ancient lore we have goes, the Titans were the undisputed masters of the Earth. Ruling over them all was the Titan ruler, Kronos, and his wife - Gaia the Earthmother. Then as now, a multitude of races walked, swam, burrowed, and flew across the land that the Titans ruled; but chief among these were the mighty Faerie Folk, led by Agalarna, the first created of the Faerie by the Titan called Hyperion and known as the faeries Spirit Mother. She was a primary source of their power, and they basked in her glory.

The Banishment of the Spirit Mother

Eventually, the Faerie chaffed under the capricious rule of the Titans and talk of rebellion reached Hyperion's ears. He and the other Titans punished the Faerie by slaying one in five, leaving the Faeries reeling; but the worst was to come. Kronos took Agalarna and placed her on a comet that was passing by Earth. She sped off into the Void and the Faerie Folk wailed, feeling their power diminish as she receded into the infinite distance. What Kronos and the other Titans could not have known is that this act would seal their fates far in the future. It was an act that would echo throughout the Ages to come.

Millennia after millennia passed as time flowed on. Empires on Earth rose and fell but above them all still reigned the Titans and below them, the Faerie, even bereft of their Spirit Mother whom they mourned and feared for alone in the endless black of the void. They were right to fear for Agalarna, but not because she was alone. Out in the emptiness she had attracted a malign presence, and he had joined her on the comet. It was Djall, whom we now know as the Dark Lord. For tens of thousands of years he corrupted and fed off her, stealing power from her and twisting her into something unrecognizable.

Djall's Hammer

Eventually, inevitably, the comet we now know as Djall's Hammer returned to the vicinity of our planet and Djall himself saw that it teemed with life and power that he coveted. He left the comet and arrived on Earth, determined to bring it to heel and strip it of everything bright and good.

First though, he knew he had to wait and learn, for the Titans were many and were vast in power. Djall hid deep in the core of the planet and as we now know, discovered the gates to the plane of Tartarus. He was revealed to the Titans and wove sweet promises of greater power to be found in Tartarus to the Titans. Eager and greedy, Kronos and the Titans rushed to follow Djall to Tartarus, save for Gaia who wisely did not trust Djall. The Dark Lord opened the gate to Tartarus, the Titans nearly fought each other to be the first through; and when they had all entered, Djall simply locked the gate. He was now one of the two chief powers on Earth, and his conflict with Gaia the Earthmother has been the source of much misery on Earth ever since.

The Godwars

And what of the Gods, you ask? Of Odin and Zeus, Thor and Athena, Anubis and Curnon, Pan, Loki, Osiris, Ra and the rest who have pledged themselves to the overarching causes of the Earthmother and the Dark Lord? The Gods were children of the Titans and had been locked away in a place outside of time where they slept in stasis. Kronos and the other Titans did not wish their children to challenge Titan rule. When Djall locked Kronos, Hyperion and the other Titans in Tartarus, Gaia awoke the slumbering Gods from their resting place and bade them attack Djall.

The Godwars raged for aeons and the Earth was all-but scoured of life during it. Gods whose names we'll never know perished, and Djall was wounded many times. The Faerie fled to a place near where the Gods had been kept and built their Otherworld home, but nearly all the races of the Earth were utterly destroyed during the Godwars. Finally, the toll of open war was too much even for powers on the scale of Gaia, the Gods, and Djall. An accord of some kind was reached and though the enmity between the Earthmother and the Dark Lord was not diminished, henceforth, conflict would be conducted by their agents rather than by God-like powers directly. Soon thereafter, Gaia would begin to create life anew on the Earth.

The Lost Ages had ended and the Age of Legend had begun.

The Beasts Arise

The Age of Legend began with the creation of the Anamita (also called Shroomies) by Gaia, the Earthmother. Soon thereafter, the Dark Lord Djall created Salamanzar, the Protolich, to serve as a focus for his servants on Earth. Salamanzar would be the leader of the Undead hordes that have plagued Beasts almost constantly up to and including the present day. He was a being of nearly god-like power himself and any mortal who beheld him was filled with dread. The next move in this drawn-out war between the Earthmother and the Dark Lord took place when Gaia created the original Beasts — an unknown number of races that included everyone from the Noctari to the Bandicoons to the Ursines to the Foxen and far more. Individually they were no match for a creation like Salamanzar, but they multiplied quickly and were quick and clever.

The Felines and the Ursine. along with other scholars, are constantly bickering about who the first race of Beasts were. Beowulf, hero of the wars against the evil Dvergar, is the first Beast whose name we have. Soon thereafter, Sigurd and Sigmund shine as points of light in our history, battling back with the help of the Thor, the Thunder God, against the Dvergar hordes. However the Felines have records dating unimaginably far back in history.

The Mystarchs

Time passed, and while the Undead massed in the UnderRealm, the Beasts grew in power and civilization. Eight of the greatest mages — called the Mystarchs — sought and found some of the secrets of the Mysterium Primordial, a book containing the fundamental secrets of magic gleaned during the early part of the Lost Ages.

These Mystarchs discovered the threat of the extra-planar and utterly evil Shadow Legion, and determined that they would unite Beasts to oppose this threat. The Mystarchs grew heavy-handed in their rule and when one of their number — Zahhak — tried to read the Enigma Primal without a proper key and consequently went mad with power the Beasts rebelled once and then twice. In the second revolution, the Beasts of Europe overthrew the Mystarchs, executed some and exiled the rest. Solomon, lead judge during the trial of the Mystarchs, was then given rule of the Beasts, for they needed to unite against the apparent threat of the Shadow Legion.

Solomon and the Golden Era

The time of Overking Solomon and his heirs, however, was a golden era for the Beasts. Together, the Beasts had joined into a pact of non-aggression and cooperation blessed by the Earthmother and woven into the blood of the Beasts. It was called the Covenant. Twenty-three generations of prosperity, wealth, arts and culture awaited them, and it was truly a blessed time to be a Beast. Even the Anura, creations of the mad Mystarch Zahhak's magic and later blessed by Gaia, achieved parity with the Beasts and became one of them.

During the reign of Overking Tamman, 23rd in the line of Solomon, this gilded age was ended with the invasion of the Primals. From over the Western Sea they came and stormed across Europe. The Beast Empire was completely unprepared and was on the verge of defeat when Ir'asa, the sole heir of Tamman was taken by the Primals. Soon thereafter, the Primal Invasion ended with the complete withdrawal of the Primal armies for reasons that were only made clear later — the Faerie Folk had returned and had scared the Primals so much that they simply ran. The Faerie promptly disappeared back to the Otherworld, where time runs as slow as near-frozen mud.

The Undead Wars

The next major event of the Age of Legend occurred when Vinga, first of the Vampires, decide he would no longer be a slave to Abiel, his creator, or to Salamanzar. He and his Bloodkin minions fled to the Carpathians in Eastern Europe and established there the Blood Kingdom. Salamanzar could not tolerate this rebellion and assembled the Undead army he had been preparing for so long to invade the sunlit lands of the Earth. The war was long and brutal, but eventually Suten-Hama, appointed general of the Undead army was slain by Vinga and around the same time Salamanzar was slain in Hell while seeking new power to bolster his power.

Thereafter, Vinga, the Vampire Palatine, defeated the Undead forces and took unquestioned dominion over Europe, aside from the tightly-defended Treekin stronghold of the Great Forest in Western Europe. It was the two-thousand year interminable Bleakness, during which the Beasts of Europe were reduced to a shadow of themselves. Vampires and the remnants of the great Undead army roamed Europe battling amongst each other and killing any Beast that lay in their paths.

A Hero is Born

The hero of the Age of Legend arose after generation upon generation of misery among the Beasts of Europe. Atan was a Beast of unknown race — all races claim his as their own — born in Europe and beset by the predations of the vampiric Bloodkin.

Atan left Europe, journeying to the Morning Lands of the East and there learned arts of magic first as a slave of Jishi, the Empress of the Four Winds, and later as a Mage of the Yellow River. He returned to Europe years later, and along with the White Shield — formed of his closest disciples and their students — freed Europe from the domination of Vinga, the Palatine of the Vampires, thus ending the great Bleakness. The Age of Legend eventually came to an end, of course. Sargon of the Taurians hunted and slew Vinga. The People of the Skull overwhelmed the Foxen Border Holds and the Dvergar rose once against to oppose the Ursines of Midgaard.

What truly marked the end of the Age of Legend though, was the breaking of the Covenant, thousands of years after its formation. Dog Soldiers of Amizeh, influenced in secret by the still-mad Mystarch Zahhak, slew one of their own, breaking the Covenant and cursing the Dog Soldiers to become Mankind.

The Age of Legend ended with that act, and the Age of Man began.

The Age of Man

The Age of Man began with the breaking of the Covenant and the quick rise of Mankind. Gaia had, early on in Man's reign, seen that her beloved Beasts were going to be exterminated by Man, and rescued the Beasts by moving them to the Groves — homes for the Beasts outside of reality as we know it.

Thousands of years later, through the Veiled War between the Vampires and the Ferals, and the incredible technology that Man pioneered, Man's might seemed to have no limits. He had spread throughout the Earth and dominated it utterly. His own nature though, perhaps as a result of his beginnings as breakers of the Covenant, betrayed him.

Mankind declared war upon itself and over the course of a few decades burned his own cities with weapons of primal force, and poisoned the very air itself. The Gods, in an unprecedented act of cooperation, persuaded the ancient race of the Maar to cleanse the atmosphere of the toxic energy that pervaded it, and though the story of 'how' is long, the Maar paid for this kindness with the eventual transformation of every member of the Maar into the crazed, monstrous Goliaths we know and fear today.

The Beasts returned to Earth eventually, in a movement called the Reclamation. The Age of Man had ended, and the Age of Beasts had begun.

The story of Earth Eternal and its summary are copyright of Sparkplay Media

Development

Earth Eternal has been in development since 2006, but was only announced on January 10, 2007. It was originally developed by Iron Realms Entertainment but is now developed by Sparkplay Media, a sister company of Iron Realms Entertainment. The game was initially scheduled for released in the summer of 2007 but, as a result of a substantial increase in funding [over $4million,] is now scheduled to be released in 2009.

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Questing party at night in Bremen town

As of April 2009, approximately 40 chapters of the history have been released, along with 22 male and female anthropomorphic races. In addition, the classes have been tentatively released.

On February 2, 2009, Sparkplay Media released a new website. The new website has improved features and more information than the older website, as well as new videos and information.

On May 18, 2009, Earth Eternal announced the beginning of its closed Beta phase. A newsletter was sent out, inviting the recipients to take a brief survey and thereby put themselves in the pre-selection pool of beta testers. Although the survey is now closed, players can still get into the beta selection pool by creating an account on Earth Eternal's website/forums.

On July 14th, 2009, Sparkplay Media released a Fansite Kit to the public. The fansite kit included Logos, Avatars, Images of the Playable Races, Concept Art, Screen Shots, a Fact Sheet, FAQ, and a Getting Started Guide.

On Oct. 13, 2009, Earth Eternal went into open beta, meaning that there are still a few bugs to work out, but anyone can play the game and all characters are permanent.

Gameplay

Earth Eternal is a free massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It is comparable to RuneScape and Achaea as it shares many gameplay elements with these games.

The game is free to play, with the option of players to purchase in-game content with real money; though everything that can be bought with real money can also be gotten for free by playing longer, essentially making payment a faster way to level up, obtain items and advance in the game.

The 22 Player races, while they look drastically different, will not have any racial differences among them. This means that a Clockwork, Foxen, and Fangren will all start with the same stats, and none will have an advantage in any area when they begin the game. The reason for this was because the game developers wanted a player to be able to choose any race they wanted, without any handicap or penalty for specializing in a particular class.

The developers have stated that some player versus player combat system will be implemented, although its form has not yet been released. Additionally, most of the game does not have loading zones, but rather be contiguous for most of the map, except in some far-flung areas of the map and underground areas. The game will have a 'soft level cap', so a player can theoretically gain infinite levels, though as the player progresses, it will take more experience points before they level up, such that eventually it make take years to gain another level. Lastly, there will be no 'death penalty' in terms of gold, items, or experience. When a player dies, depending on the option they choose, they can lose coins, or take temporary heath loss, and stats downed. They also lose "Heroism", which is a bar that affects luck, item drops, extra hp, and which is filled through killing monsters

Classes

Earth Eternal will feature four playable classes: Druid, Knight, Mage, and Rogue. The player can choose one of the four classes as a primary class, followed later in the game by a secondary class and possibly a tertiary class at a later point in the players advancement. The player will not be restricted to their chosen class however; a Knight could specialize in melee combat, or they could learn some Mage, Rogue, or Druid skills if they want to. Though, they will not be able to learn all the skills that a player who started in those classes can learn. The descriptions below are the initial plan for classes; although the Developers have said some changes will be made, the description is currently the only outline the Developers have released.

Knight

• The Knight is the primary up-close damage giver for the duration of combat. Others can do more damage up-close in the short term but none can tank like he can and still deal out large amounts of damage.
• The Knight is the only class capable of wearing the heaviest armor, and controlling aggro, but their damage output is lower as a result
• Knight can use bow, but only as a melee weapon and never in conjunction with a spell
• The Knight protects his or her allies from harm and is able to absorb even the most powerful blows with their near impenetrable armor. Knight abilities tend to be focused on defending other players from damage but they also wield powerful weapons in combat and can unleash massive damage.

Mage

• The Mage is a long-range damage dealer
• Vulnerable up close to physical attacks since they can only wear the weakest of armors, Cloth Armor.
• Their spells generate lots of aggro.
• Capable of calling upon the destructive elements to rain devastation upon their foes, Mages are unmatched in their ability to use magic.

Druid

• Druid is a secondary damage giver, and second most able to tank damage (behind the Knight)
• Druid can wield melee weapons, bows, or fling spells.
• Druid is the only class that can use spells specifically designed for bows
• Although every class has access to some form of healing spell, Druids make the best natural healers

Rogue

• The most damaging class up-close for a short period of time.
• Mediocre health limits the rogue in that they can't take much damage
• Rogues depend on being able to sneak up behind an enemy for maximum effectiveness.
• Rogues gain the unique ability to hide in the shadows and launch stealth attacks
• Rogues make excellent scouts, able to sneak through most dungeons by themselves

Groves

Groves will be areas, unique to each player or clan in the game. Groves are expected to provide a respite from the game world, a place separate from any world map; a place where the player can either be alone and in complete safety or a place to invite friends to hang out with while online. Each player will be able to choose from a number of different Groves, and will be able to modify the terrain, making mountains, valleys, lakes, etc as they wish. Each player will be provided a basic Grove free of any charges. Additions or amenities such as furniture to the Groves will likely cost credits.

Groves will not be available at release, though they are expected to be implemented a few months after launch of the game.

Clans

Players will have the ability to both join and form clans, though creating them will cost 10 gold. Any player may create a clan if they wish, and there are NPC's for creating a clan in Camelot, Bremen, and Heartwood. Each clan gets its own chat channel, and ranks are available for the clan leader to decide on. Additionally, each clan will have its own Grove, though it is unclear if the Grove will be free, or if the new clan must pay for it. Clans can only be created by players, no preexisting clans will be established.

External links

• Earth Eternal homepage
• Earth Eternal at IGN
• Earth Eternal at Ten Ton Hammer