Aether, or Unbalanced Magic, is the colloquial term used for one of the eight spheres of magic made available to some users of a Silvergate.

It uses a specific vital stat, Aether, labeled as such on the Interface. As with all magic, the stat is not visible until you obtain a Skill that uses it.

Aetherists are widely considered the “weirdos” of Northworld, as the way they use magic is completely different than most. They also like big explosions, which are dangerous as those do not distinguish friend from foe, adding to their reputation.

Aether Skills are typically associated with stats like Perception, Reasoning, and Reflexes but are also found across all stats. Almost all Aether Skills revolve around manipulating the levels of Aether in entities, living or not, or affecting the Aether in the environment.

Most Aether magics revolve around the forceful manipulation of Aether in creatures and items, with “Aether starvation” causing ongoing damage and increasingly stronger debuffs, or corrosion and degradation of items, while “Aether saturation” doing similar effects, up and including brutal destruction. A classic Aetherist trick is to use aether-enabled items embedded into crystal glass and infuse them to close to the absolute maximum (see below). Shock then destabilizes the contraption, and the item violently releases the Aether. This is a simple method to have Aether effects (“grenades”) prepared in advance.

Aether is quite different regarding the vital’s behavior than the others. Aetherists have a “target value” and an “absolute maximum” along with their current Aether vital level.

The target value for an entity is the sum of all magical Skill levels, Aether-related or not. The absolute maximum is ten times this target value.

Whenever below the target value, an Aetherist will gain Aether at a fixed rate until it reaches the target. However, whenever above the target value, the Aetherist will lose Aether at a similar rate until it drops to the target.

Aetherists tend to suffer ill effects when above four to five times their Aether target value. There are no reports of an Aetherist reaching the absolute maximum. There are, however, reports of mysterious explosions, and the only thing retrieved intact was the burned-out inactive Silvergate.

Most of the entities present on Northworld have Aether levels. This includes people, even without magic. Their Aether level has been found to be equal to their lowest Skill regardless of its type. This is also the only vital that appears to exist even while locked. Gaters unlocking Aether find themselves near their current target (which has just increased due to their new Skill), instead of starting from 0 like any other newly unlocked vital.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Of particular interest is the Aether levels of items. Any crafted item, or items found in Northworld’s locations, has an Aether amount equal to its reported level through the interface. Similarly, items collected from monsters typically have an Aether amount equal to the same visual level. The only exceptions appear to be Silvergates, who do not have Aether nor visible levels despite their obvious magical nature, Skill Stones (ditto), and pieces-of-eight, who have an Aether level of 1 to 6 (copper-to-gold, respectively), despite not showing a level through the Interface.

The imbrication of Aether with all things magical and Interface-linked has fueled the speculation that it might be the most fundamental of Northworld’s magics. This has not made Aetherists any more popular.

The vital formula for Aether is atypical:

Aether base = ∑ Skills levels

Drift rate = (Level / 10) per minute

There is no known Meditation for Aether. The closest to one is a skill that passively affects drift:

One With the Flow

Tier 5 Fortitude

Passive, Ongoing

Going against the flow never helps. Going along with it always results.

Your drift rate is greater than normal.

Passive: +(1.01skill)% to Aether drift

Other, more generic Meditations will affect Aether drifting “upward” toward the target value, but never down. All Meditation skills are incredibly rare in any case (see “Fanduk”).

Typical Aetheric skills:

Baseline (tier 5 Dexterity): togglable aether drift reduction

Drain Living Aether (tier 4 Reasoning): drain aether from a living entity; does damage if below target levels

Aether Link (tier 3 Reflexes): balance slowly Aether levels between entities

Aetheric Sense (tier 2 Perception; actually common): gauges Aether amounts in entities.

Physical Aether (tier 1 Strength): saturates an area with Aether, causing burn damage based on Aether absorbed.

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Special section on Locational Interference – Project Cartographers Eyes-Only

Aetheric locations appear to be structures that make heavy use of Aether or have high concentrations of Aether. Telltale signs for the latter are a faster increase in Aether levels than the drift rate indicates.

All Aetheric locations appear to have unique Skills, and no duplicate Skills have been found. This suggests that many Aetheric Skills might be exclusive to locational interference and cannot be obtained from the lottery.

Confirmed locations:

Earthen Keep – Physical Aether (tier 1 Strength; exclusive?)

Stones of Fanduk – Drain Living Aether (tier 4 Reasoning)

Stones of Tarquar – Aether Link (tier 3 Reflexes)

Deduced locations, unconfirmed:

Magmatic Chamber, Dungeon of Fire, Glacier County in Alpha Sector – Aether Vision (tier 5 Perception)

The Thane’s Throne, Dungeon of Moria, Glacier County in Alpha Sector – Fast Balance (tier 4 Resilience)

Secret Lair, Dungeon of Black Chambers, Glacier County in Alpha Sector – Structure of the Aether (tier 3 Perception)

Note from Vantegaard: I cannot validate that one; I already have it

The Endless Stairs (bottom), Buried Mines Dungeon, Glacier County in Alpha Sector – Aetheric Mark (tier 3 Reasoning); speculative based on a single mention.

Speculative location:

The Pyramid, near Fanduk – ???