The Wardens of Aetolia
Founded in ancient teachings wrought by the legend of Segiae Clinemh and the Warden Clans, Wardens defend the balance of the Eternal Cycle and all which resides within it.
The Wardens strive to take the lessons of the collective clans of the Bear, Serpent and Raven and utilise the knowledge of their Ancestors in battle. Forged in the strength of the ancestors upon their form, Wardens earn renown in trials of combat to evoke power from memory itself.
Within the crypts themselves, a Warden is able to evoke ghostly simulacrum to manifest from the ancient Clans themselves to lend their expertise in battle, while crushing their foes with fierce wargauntlets, or piercing them violently with greatspears.
As a Pride, the Sentinels and Wardens stand together as one, bound in blood to one another for their common cause. They stand not for good nor evil, not for light nor dark, not for mercy nor cruelty. The Pride stands only for the defense of what is still natural in the world, eradicating the stain of impurity from the wilds and anything that threatens the Cycle.
Warden Skills
Through combining the ancient martial techniques of the White Bear Clan and the Red Serpent Clan, a Warden becomes a force to be reckoned with. These techniques are often animalistic in nature, mimicking motions done by their respective clan namesake. With the Bear clan's techniques, a Warden will wield both wargauntlets and cudgels to pummel and maim their opponents into submission with brute force. The ancestral weapons of the Serpent clan are the greatspear and the scythe, their techniques focusing on quick strikes and lunges.
Warding
-
Raze
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN RAZE <target>
Use your weapon to tear apart the defences auras and abilities that separate you from your prey.It will raze the following in order:
Reflections
Magical shields
Rebounding aura
Speed defence -
Fortitude
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN FORTITUDE
This ability will allow you steel your resolve and render you immune to the effects of fear.
-
Fluidity
DescriptionSyntax: WEAPON FAVOR <serpent weapon> <bear weapon>
As a master of the ancestral weapons, you are now able to reserve a second weapon in either your inventory or a weaponbelt that can be drawn effortlessly When wielding one of your two favored weapons, if you attempt to do an attack that cannot be performed with the current weapon, you will draw the second weapon and strike automatically.
There is a slight balance penalty associated with this usage if drawn from your inventory instead of a weaponbelt.
-
Block
DescriptionSyntax: BLOCK <direction> and UNBLOCK
Move into a position that blocks others from leaving your location, providing you are not incapacitated or feared.
Should you move, you will cease to block. -
Envenom
DescriptionSyntax: ENVENOM <weapon|LEFT|RIGHT> WITH <venom>
WIPE <weapon>With this ability, you may layer venoms on an edged weapon. Each time that weapon hits somebody, one venom will poison your opponent, and disappear from the weapon.
Venoms work on a last-on, first-off basis, so if you put xentio on a weapon, and then put voyria on, the voyria would come off first, and the xentio second. You must possess a rag with the venom in order to apply it to a weapon.
In order to get rid of the venoms on a weapon, simply WIPE <weapon>.
-
Irongrip
DescriptionSyntax: IRONGRIP and RELAX IRONGRIP
By gripping your weapons tightly, you can prevent others from disarming you of your precious weapons. -
Mastery
DescriptionUsage: MASTERY SHOW
MASTERY WEAPON <weapon>
MASTERY TALENT <talent>
This grants you the ability to select an ancestral weapon you wish to become proficient in, and a talent you wish to focus your abilities upon Once every so often, you will be able to change the weapon you are proficient in, and the talent you have chosen.You can choose to master the wargauntlets, cudgel, greatspear, or scythe.
The benefits of a talent require you to be wielding the correct weapon archetype, otherwise no bonus will be bestowed.Greatspear or Scythe
* Shocking : Upsets the balance of players when using Terrorize.
* Expertise : Decreases the balance penalty from Rigor.Wargauntlets or Cudgel
* Demolishing : Lowers the balance recovery of the Raze ability.
* Rattling : Increases the chance of Roaring rage to proc.Cooldown (mastery): 60 minutes
Cooldown (talent): 60 minutes -
Sentry
DescriptionThis ability is passive.
Should an enemy attempt to walk past an exit you are blocking, you will seize them by the arm and throw them to the ground. This will additionally knock them off balance and cause a small amount of blunt damage.
You can refer to AB WARDING BLOCK for more information.
-
Homage
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN HOMAGE
Providing you are wearing suitable armour, you may pay homage to the ancestors in order to receive a blessing of strength for a short time.
The completion of this ritual will be obvious to those within a three room radius as the ancestors bestow their power upon you.
-
DoubleTarget
DescriptionSyntax: TARGET <bodypart> WITH <RIGHT|LEFT>
This ability will allow you to target two separate body part locations with the Maul and Lacerate abilities.
-
Rigor
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN RIGOR
By temporarily putting all your focus onto deliberate, well-timed attacks, you will temporarily deal significantly more damage against adventurers, but strike with decreased speed. While active, your strikes will also allow the ancestors to displace twice as much of the target's soul.
Cooldown: 60 seconds
-
Anticipate
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN ANTICIPATE <target>
CANCEL ANTICIPATEAnticipate your opponent's retreat ahead of time, and when they run you will already be waiting at their destination to strike them with your weapon and knock them off balance.
If your opponent attempts to fly away from you, you will seize their leg and slam them back into the ground. If you are wielding a weapon of the Serpent clan, you will additionally constrict their movements with your blade.
-
Initiative
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN INITIATIVE <ON|OFF>
At a moderate drain to your willpower, you may remain keenly aware of your opportunities during a fight to recover some health after damaging your foe to certain thresholds.
-
Battleflow
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN BATTLEFLOW <ON|OFF>
Become lost to the flow of battle, blanking your mind as you allow your instincts to guide your actions. While in this state, paresis will take twice as long to transform into paralysis and you will be able to use two-handed weapon attacks even with a crippled arm.
- You can use these techniques of the Bear clan
-
Batter
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN BATTER <target>
Batter your opponent with your weapon.
-
Barrel
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN BARREL <target> <direction>
Barrel into your target and knock them away towards the specified direction. If there is an obstruction in the way, then the target will slam into it.
-
Pummel
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN PUMMEL <target> <ELBOWS|KNEECAPS|CHEST>
When your target is fallen or frozen, they are helpless to prevent you from pummeling their bones with your weapon. Depending on which part of their body you will attack, you will crush their bones for debilitating effects. This attack cannot be parried.
Knees: Gives the crushed kneecaps affliction. This will cause the victim to periodically fall over if one of their legs is crippled.
Elbows: Gives the crushed elbows affliction. This can cause abilities that require the arms to occasionally fail and hurt them in the process.
Chest: Gives the cracked ribs affliction, then the crushed chest affliction if it is left uncured upon a second strike. Crushing their chest will periodically cause asthma.
-
Maul
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN MAUL <target>
Attack your target and then charge after for another attack, allowing you to deal two attacks in quick succession with this technique. There is some additional bonus limb damage applied that will scale with the base damage stat of your weapon. -
Release
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN RELEASE <target>
After building momentum, release your weapon as a dangerous projectile towards your target, stunning them when it connects. You can target someone in an adjacent location to you as well as in your current location.
-
Severity
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN SEVERITY
Steel your resolve, doing whatever you must to overpower your opponent. For a limited time, when an enemy parries your weapon, you will slam your head into theirs to still bring harm to them. Additionally, your Barrel ability will be able to move those with the density defence.
-
Rush
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN RUSH <target>
Rush your opponent and slam your weapon into their stomach with the momentum, sending the force rippling through their stomach.
A few seconds later, they will collapse to the ground and develop gnawing and anorexia. If they are also frigid, it will upset their balance.
-
Roaring
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN ROARING <ON|OFF>
For a small willpower drain, you will build a roar deep within your stomach. During your Bear techniques, you'll have a chance to release a thunderously loud roar that will bring your opponent to their knees. If they are already prone, they will be knocked off balance, or further off balance.
-
Maim
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN MAIM <target>
Maim the target's head with repeated strikes from your weapon. This will initially afflict them with watery eyes.
For each 20% of the target's health that is missing after the damage is dealt, you will deal an additional affliction in the following order:
20% Indifference
40% Stuttering
60% Blackout -
Decimate
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN DECIMATE <target>
If your target is fallen or frozen, and has a crushed chest, you may permanently end their suffering. This will instantly kill the target if the conditions are met.
- You can use these techniques of the Serpent clan
-
Strike
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN STRIKE <target>
Slice your target with a basic lunging strike.
-
Shed
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN SHED <target>
Drive your blade under their flesh and shed it off, causing them to bleed and delivering it a venom. The amount of bleeding done will be determined by the penetration stat of your weapon.
-
Coil
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN COIL [ALL]
Swing your weapon in a coiling arc, thrusting everybody too close to you to the ground. This will only hit people who have attacked you recently unless you choose otherwise.
-
Lacerate
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN LACERATE <target>
Attack your target and twist with the motion to bring your blade around for a second strike.
-
Bypass
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN BYPASS <target>
Like raze, this will destroy any protective auras and abilities that may prevent you from striking your target. However you will additionally strike at them afterwards with your weapon.
It will raze the following in order:
Reflections
Magical shields
Rebounding aura
Speed defence -
Constrict
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN CONSTRICT <target>
WARDEN TWIST
WITHDRAW WEAPONWhen an enemy is prone, you can drive your blade through their chest, constricting their moments upon the blade.
You may then twist the blade, brutally shredding their insides for heavy damage. The damage will be increased based upon how much trauma their torso has.
If they are entangled or bound, then your blade will cut through their bindings and free them when you twist your weapon.
-
Encircle
DescriptionThis ability is passive.
When an enemy that is dizzy dodges your attack, you will have a chance to hone in on them and still leave a small wound. This will deliver any effects upon the blade.
-
Terrorize
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN TERRORIZE <target>
Distract your target and then feint towards them, sending them stumbling backwards to the ground. If the target is mounted, you will spook their steed and cause them to be thrown to the ground.
-
Sidewind
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN SIDEWIND
Weave through the crowd with swift movements, slashing everybody that you pass. You will hit everybody that is in the room three times over a short duration.
-
Destruction
DescriptionSyntax: WARDEN DESTRUCTION <target> <LEFT|RIGHT> <ARM|LEG>
Bring forward the results of your planned strikes against the target, amputating their weakened limb when the opportunity presents. Striking the severed limb with any targeted attack will open the wound and cause profuse bleeding.
Your target must have a mangled limb in order to amputate it.
Ready to play a Warden?
Create your character and play for free today - no download required!
Roleplaying a Warden
In an age past, long before the Sentinels, Druids and Viridian Order, the great Ithmias were home to numerous tribes of warriors. Chief amidst these were the three major clans: the wise White Bear clan of the Western Ithmia, the warlike Red Serpent clan of the Northern Ithmia, and the cunning Black Raven clan of the Eastern Ithmia. Though each of these three once worshipped Haern's ways, their customs eventually gave way to a bitter blood war that left the Ithmias defenceless when an outside force threatened it.
The Wardens formed after the death of Segiae Clinemh, high priestess of Haern, who had been sent by the Lord Hunter to quell the conflict of the clans in order to defend the forest against the encroaching danger. Her bones were the first interred into the crypts of the ancestors, marking the tradition that the clans and their descendants continue to this day. With the three clans in peace, each would send forth young warriors each generation to learn the ways of all three clans, forming a new faction, the Wardens, who were tasked with protecting the sacred ancestral bone crypts.
What are the ancestors?
The ancestors, also known as the ancestral memory, are a collective Dia'ruian consciousness formed from the memories of dead Sentinels and Wardens. With their flesh returned to the soil and souls moved onto their next life, only the bones of these ancestors remain. These bones are stored within sacred burial crypts to act as a tether for their memories. Though the ancestors have no individual identity, it is possible for them to manifest in the form one of specific individual.
What is a simulacrum?
Simulacrums are memories given form through the power of Dia'ruis in mimicry of the manifestation that the ancestors can take. Simulacrums contain only a very small fraction of the memories within the entire collective, have no unique identity, and are almost always formed from the memories of several past people.
How your skills generally work
Warding is a study of ancient battle techniques passed down from the Red Serpent clan and the White Bear clan. With the use of greatspears, scythes, cudgels, and wargauntlets, Wardens slash, gouge, and maul their opponents with brutal, feral efficiency, channeling the ferocity of the animals they emulate.
Ancestry involves beseeching the ancestors for intervention; a Warden gains renown through battle, or through trial with the Red Serpents. It allows them to ask the ancestors to intercede and block attacks on their behalf, to hinder their opponents, and to displace the very soul of their enemies.
Communion is the art of drawing forth the ancestral memories of those Wardens that came before, amalgamating them into a form that can put their skills to use. Centuries worth of ancestral knowledge coalesces into skilled simulacrums, who fight alongside the Warden and strike at foes independently.
Visual style of the class
Bestial force, savage skill, and ancestral wisdom are the hallmarks of a Warden. No stranger to feral strength, they emulate the warlike nature of the serpent and the wise but brutal strength of the bear. They wield their weapons as extensions of their own body, swapping between fighting styles with natural ease, and fight in perfect coordination with their ancestral simulacrums. When they move in for the kill, they are quick, brutal, and efficient, pulping an opponent's chest or decimating them beyond the bounds of life.
Side effects of the class skills
Though not all Wardens experience this effect, some may find ancient memories will slip unbidden into their dreams through the ancestral mark. Violent memories tend to be the strongest, especially memories of an ancestor's death, and will haunt the Warden as a nightmare. It was not uncommon for many ancient Wardens to take sedative herbs in order to dull their dreams. These memories can also occur in a meditative state or while in certain mind-altered states.
Roleplaying the class
All Wardens have, on some level, a reverence for the ancestors that came before them and continue to guide them. The main Warden job of guarding the crypts leads to being favoured by patient, solemn and reserved personalities that are able to stand sentinel for long periods of time. Their emulation of animals combined with often isolating duties finds some Wardens lacking in social skills, and often being described as somewhat feral.
Though guarding and maintenance of the crypts remains the main duty of a Warden, there are some that engage in a more lofty pursuit: the lost ancestors. For some, recovering the remains of those past warriors whose bones have been stolen or unable to be recovered at death is their driving goal.
Simulacrum customisations
When customising your simulacrums, please keep in mind the following details:
- Their 'race' can only be of Sapience, except for Arqeshi, Djeirani, Nazetu and Grecht.
- They are fleeting memories coming from different ancestors and hold no fixed identity.
- They should be ephemeral and transient.
- Their description needs to indicate their clan affinity, which should be consistent with what it was pre-customisation.
Explore More Classes
Akkari
Alchemist
Archivist
Ascendril
Bard
Bloodborn
Carnifex
Earthcaller
Executioner
Indorani
Infiltrator
Luminary
Monk
Oneiromancer
Praenomen
Predator
Ravager
Revenant
Runecarver
Sciomancer
Sentinel
Shaman
Shapeshifter
Siderealist
Templar
Teradrim
Tidesage
Voidseer
Warden
Wayfarer
