Setting
The topographical world of Elder Tale Online is a fragmented one, designed and built as it is upon the foundation of numerous small-time games that threw in their lot with Altimit in the wake of Pluto’s Kiss. Primarily utilizing the Half Gaea Project, each Elder Tale Online server is founded on elements of both its home nation and an ancient and obscure web-novel known as Epitaph of the Twilight, as well as generic “high fantasy” elements that were popular in MMOs before Pluto’s Kiss.
The primary setting of the MUSH is the Yamato Archipelago, within the World of Alba. Based heavily on the real-world nation of Japan, it is an island chain comprised of five kingdoms: the Eastal Free League, the Ninetails Dominion, the Holy Empire Westelande, the Fourland Dukedom, and the now fallen Ezzo Empire. Unlike the real Japan, however, these islands are arranged in a ring. At the center of the ring lies the mysterious Aincrad, the impossible tower. It is said that at the top of Aincrad lies the key to the universe, the secret behind all things in the world of Elder Tale Online, but no one has ever reached its peak and lived to tell the tale. The four kingdoms - formerly five - are locked in a difficult struggle, while the three guild alliances seek to impose their own vision on the world and acquire the secret of Aincrad.
The ring motif is repeated in several other places throughout Elder Tale Online, most notably the Chaos Gates - the spinning travel system once used to move from kingdom to kingdom. In the wake of the Apocalypse, the Chaos Gates no longer serve their original function. However, those free people called Adventurers have discovered that a new power has been awakened in the Chaos Gates - access to dungeons and instances that exist nowhere on Yamato. Using the Keyword System, Adventurers are now capable of traveling to strange new vistas, provided they know a valid collection of keywords.
The Key of Twilight, said to be at the top of Aincrad, is rumored to be able to give some unique power to 'change the world'. And though the existence is but a rumor, its power is enough to draw people from far and wide.
Yamato
Regions
- Southwest: The Fourland Dukedom. A region of rivers and old cities.
- West: The Holy Empire Westelande. A desert region of nomads and a growing expansionist Empire.
- Northwest: The Ninetails Dominion. The largest region, known for its mercantile roots.
- Center: The home to Aincrad and the Town of Beginnings.
- Northeast: The Ezzo Empire. A region known for its flood lands and useless land filled with dangerous monsters.
- Southeast: The Eastal Free League. A heavily forested area with lost old knowledge.