What is Aetolia?

Aetolia is a multiplayer RPG (role-playing game) set in a dark fantasy world.

The difference between Aetolia and other games is that Aetolia is played entirely in text with minimal graphics. This genre of games is called MUDs or Multi-User Dungeons.

Characters in Aetolia talk, trade, fight, plot and even kill and eat each other. They roam the continents and explore dungeons, killing (or helping) foul creatures, gather gold and treasure while increasing in power and prestige.

Unlike other fantasy settings, Aetolia enables you to play characters of all alignments and creeds, and it's entirely in the hands of the player whether to become a hated villain, vaunted hero, or anything in between.

The Dyisen-Ashtan Arena

Hi folks! Within the Memoryscape, the fog has coalesced into a new, long forgotten memory – the Dyisen-Ashtan Arena. Inside the arena, you can run some basic mock battles using the spectral and ghostly divisions that utilise the war system mechanics for whatever you need. You can PROBE the divisions/objects within the arena for extra…
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Second Life Skills

The removal of second life skills talked about in Announce #3488 is no longer temporary and will be the norm going forward. There is a few further fixes however: – Fixed Soulcage / Remembrance not proc’ing before Starburst (although technically should not be stackable). – Fixed the Ulgar statue allowing you to stack Starburst with…
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Spirited Away

Near the close of the summer of 508 MA, the rattling of bones against wood could be heard throughout the balmy Western Itzatl. Suspecting that these sounds were connected to a recent vision experienced by many councillors, Durian was swift to respond. In short order, they questioned various residents of the rainforest and neighbouring Saluria,…
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Bloodborn: Born Again

Throughout the summer of 508 MA, the imperious Consanguine toiled away in search of greater power. Goaded on by the Progenitor, the Imperial Dominion sought control over ancient magic related to the four humours of blood, phlegm, and yellow and black biles. Though they mustered their all, they found themselves unable to handle the demands…
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The Runecarver Class!

Following the arrival of Senvet from the Jalaja region of Albedos and the spiritual journey that ensued, the Runecarver class is now available within the Shamans Guild! With the skills of Runecarving, Malediction, and Sporulation, this class draws much of its power from the Dia’ruian guardians – both familiar and newly discovered – to strike…
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The Bloodborn Class!

Having delved into hitherto unplumbed secrets of blood magic and rediscovered arts thought lost to time, the Bloodborn class is now available within the Dominion Guild! With the skills of Humourism, Hematurgy, and Esoterica, this class marries arcane sorcery, blood magic, and a grotesquely intricate control over the body’s humours. Bloodborn is a mirror of…
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Keg Race tweaks

Hi folks, Ahead of the Keg Race, I’ve made some adjustments to make it a little less snowball-y. From my experience with observing past races, those that get an early lead tend to maintain it throughout the entire course and get further and further ahead from the rest. These changes are designed to hopefully bring…
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Artistic Antiquities

Hi folks! Today we’re bringing an upgrade to a familiar system that we hope you will be just as excited about as we are! In the shops for both Beneath and Portent/Glandor, you will now find transmute beetles that can be applied to your antiquated ring and antiquated gauntlet respectively. This means that you will…
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To give light, one must first burn

Just beyond the pristine walls of Enorian’s eastern flank was a community fraught with the downtrodden suffering from a disease born from the cruel experimentation conducted by an alchemist named Jirken. Though the then self-proclaimed Beacon had eventually brought justice to the wayward scientist, the damage was already done and a disease-ridden colony was born.…
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PvE / XP Gain Tuning

Hi folks! We’ve just completed a bit of a pass on auditing some bashing areas and identifying issues with difficulty and also with xp gain and I have the following updates to announce: – First up: xp gain from bashing in groups is now buffed by 30%, reduced from 50%. This was set at 50…
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How Can I Play?

Aetolia is a free-to-play game that can be played on several different platforms. To play directly in your browser, you can click this link, or the play button above.

If you're coming from another MUD and already have a MUD client of choice, you can connect to Aetolia at aetolia.com, port 23.

You can also play on mobile with the Iron Realms Entertainment Nexus app.

View the Nexus app in the App Store.

View the Nexus app in the Google Play Store.

Intricate

Player vs Player Combat

Aetolia has some of the most detailed and intense PvP ever created.

In addition to traditional RP initiated combat, Aetolia has numerous systems to encourage and reward its most skilled and bloodthirsty:

  • Open PK areas with world altering effects for those brave enough to enter
  • The Sect of Blades, a ranked system of organized combat
  • Twice monthly contests for the Orrery, a powerful location that boosts the faction of the team with the best showing
  • The power of Ylem regularly tears into Sapience, leading to clashes to control these Foci, for personal and organizational gain

Of course, PvP isn't just PK. We also have elected city positions to backstab your way into, rankings of everything from most powerful merchant to best minipet collector, and even racetracks for said pets to earn their owner winnings!

Unique

Character Classes and Skills

We take our skill system seriously, and want every class or talent to feel unique and different. Whether you are an assassin leaping from the shadows to abduct your foe, a powerful knight slashing enemies with your flaming blades, or a monk utilizing your self control to heal wounds and devastate foes, all classes have their own unique mechanisms and abilities.

  • 15+ Unique Classes
  • 12 Guilds
  • 2000+ Different Abilities
  • 80+ Skillsets of Crafting/PvE/PvP
  • 60+ Race skills

Our skillsets each include 30+ skills, varying between general skills, crafting, and class based. Every guild has its own class with unique abilities, modified by a core of abilities common to everyone. And of course, add to that our mercantile, tradeskills, and talents... you get hundreds of possible combinations!

What is a Mud?

They're the original massively multiplayer real-time online games. Before there was World of Warcraft, there were MUDs.

They aren't single-player text adventures like Zork or choose-your-own-adventure games. They're very much real-time and multiplayer.

Ultimately, you can think of MUDs vs. graphical games as books vs. movies in some respects. Just as many people feel books are more immersive than a movie, many people feel MUDs are more immersive than graphical games.

Are you one of those people? Only one way to find out. Try out our game world right now!

Storytelling

The World and Your Place In It

Aetolia is an entirely unique, ever growing world and storyline. For over 17 years our realm has worked through a player driven storyline, and it has seen some changes no other setting could imagine. Almost 20,000 rooms are explorable to players, and 13,000 more are just waiting for the story to catch up...

The drive for this? Roleplaying. Aetolia has a true player-driven storytelling with depths yet unseen. Regular events keep the story moving, while the Administration supports when our players unseat it all and take the reins! Our stories are crafted from the intricate RP of our players, with a vast overarching plot decades in scope... and all without a cutscene showing some NPC swooping in to steal the show.

Your World

Crafting, Building, Leading

Aetolia is built to let players create and lead. Our organizations are designed with player-led positions, and our crafting skills mean that the clothes you wear, the swords you stab with, even the healing potion you drink from are all player designed and created.

  • 20+ Crafting skillsets
  • Over 100,000 player made designs
  • Castles and Havens for your character's private home
  • 4 Completely player run City/Council/Empires
  • 12 Player led guilds
  • Player run packs of shapeshifters

Our crafting is complex and wide reaching. Cities expand their buildings when their leadership decides to. Characters earn their own Haven and design it themself. And again, everything is player designed and crafted. Start your mercantile empire, then run the Imperial Dominion, build a castle, and corner the market in fancy hats, everything is possible!

No Download Needed

Online Dark Fantasy MUD Game

Be ready for the dark fantasy horror world of Aetolia, which is an RPG text game of Iron Realms Entertainment.  Terror, dark forces and vampires are everywhere in the land of Aetolia. If you want to survive in the fantastic world, you will have two chances; fight back or join! Every decision that you will make affects your destiny in the world of Aetolia. When you make a decision in the land of Aetolia, you will have to deal with the consequences. You can discover more than 20,000 rooms in Aetolia, the world is massive!

Aetolia is a multiplayer online RPG with no download necessary. The MUD game Aetolia does not rely on graphics because it is an RPG text game and can be played with minimal or no graphics. Its story in the dark fantasy horror world is unique and player-driven. Characters have many different abilities and skills in Aetolia, giving you great control over the game itself.

Fantasy Vampire MUD

Horror RPG

Sapience is the continent of the everyday Aetolian world. For hundreds of years, Sapience has had its own problems until flying death machines filled the skies and led to the discovery of an antagonistic other continents. Now squabbles over resources, Dark and Light, land, and life vs death play besides an overarching worry of invasion from eldritch abomination Gods from the continent of Albedos.

There are many different abilities on Aetolia encapsulated by your skills in the game. Besides the basic skills everyone shares, hundreds of other skills vary by class, and how you play is your choice. In addition to class, there are mini skills to passively protect you, mercantile skills to generate life's necessities, hobby skills, agricultural skills, practical skills, and trade skills that you will be able to learn through varying methods in the game. You can have many different talents that you can increase, separate from level, all to help you survive and thrive.

In Aetolia, you might deal with, or even become, an undead. Vampires also walk the lands, seeking blood and domination. Light counters these unnatural beasts with Duamvi symbiotes brought from higher planes to empower the select worthy few. Help either side, or neither, your choice is free.