The Arqeshi of Aetolia
The Arqeshi look almost identical to Nazetu and share the same bloodline, but they have been cleansed of Chakrasul’s Corruption and now serve the Light in the southeast. If you want a race that carries a religious conversion story, a diaspora identity, and an ongoing fight against the pull of a dead Goddess who refuses to let go, the Arqeshi fit.
At a glance
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Native region | Nazedha Isle (origin); now scattered along Aetolia’s southeast coast |
| Cultural home | Southeastern coastal communities serving the Light (no single capital; diasporic) |
| Spiritual frame | Cleansed of Chakrasul; many serve the Gods of the Light. Chakros is observed as a month of fasting, not festival |
| Distinctive trait | Cleansed Nazetu: powerful, slimy builds with a religious conversion at the centre of their identity |
| Suits play styles | Redemption arcs, religious roleplay, sea-going characters, diaspora politics |
| Gender lock | None |
Arqeshi lore and origin
The Arqeshi began as Nazetu. Same origin, same physiology, same coastal seafaring heritage. The split happened in 452 MA, after the War of Night, when the prophet Kayalenki converted a population of Nazedha invaders. Any Arqeshi born before that year is by definition a convert: a Nazetu, from the mainland or the Nazedha islands, who chose to renounce Corruption.
Chakrasul does not release what was hers. She is gone from the world in current canon, but her residual pull on the Arqeshi has not died with her. Even today, Arqeshi report temptations and nightmares, the kind that try to drag a sleeper back toward the Corruption their bloodline was built from. The struggle is the point. Being Arqeshi is not a passive condition; it is a vigil.
That vigil shows up in religious practice. While most Nazetu treat the month of Chakros as a sacred time of revelry, indulgence, and worship of their Mother, the Arqeshi treat the same month as a season of caution. They fast. They refrain from indulgence. They read the Nazedha religious canon out loud and pull it apart, contrasting old doctrine against what they have chosen to become on the mainland. If you want a race whose religious life is built around active rejection rather than passive worship, this is it.
Arqeshi appearance
Physically, Arqeshi and Nazetu are nearly indistinguishable. Both are tall and powerfully built, with a layer of slime that keeps the skin moist and helps with swimming. The smell is part of the package: oily, briny, sometimes outright rancid, and older Arqeshi can shed the slime for a little while before it inevitably returns. Skin blemishes are common across both peoples, from mild discolouration to warts, lesions, and the occasional extra finger or toe.
The visual cues that mark someone as Arqeshi rather than Nazetu tend to be cultural. Dress aligned with the Light, iconography of the southeast, a hardtack-and-shellfish diet eaten at a more disciplined cadence than a Nazedha pirate would bother with. To a Nazetu, all of that reads as a betrayal. To an Arqeshi, it reads as the visible part of a conversion that took place in the soul.
Arqeshi racial abilities
The Arqeshi have three racial abilities, unlocked at character creation, level 31, and level 61.
- Trawling (available at character creation). Syntax: `TRAWL` and `EAT
`. Your time in the water lets you trawl for food in any watery environment; in fertile spots you are guaranteed a catch, and you can eat raw fish straight from the line. - Willful (unlocks at Level 31). Passive. The legendary willpower of your race lifts your maximum willpower by 5%. Useful for any class that drains willpower on big abilities or sustained casting.
- Ice Breathing (unlocks at Level 61). Syntax: `BREATHE ICE AT
`, `BREATHE ICE AT GROUND`, `BREATHE ICE AT FIREWALL`. Your breath turns icy, dealing cold damage and chilling targets. You can also lay a sheet of ice on the floor that trips anyone without levitation defence, or freeze out an enemy’s wall of fire.
The kit reads as a climate-mirror to the Xoran. Where the southeastern fire-breathers exhale flame, the Arqeshi exhale cold. The water-foraging and ice-on-the-ground utility round out the maritime identity. Willful at level 31 is the quiet star of the set, since the willpower bump applies to almost any class.
Arqeshi base statistics
Aetolia uses statpacks, a separate choice from race that sets your five base stats. The values below are the racial baseline before statpacks apply.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Strength | 13 |
| Dexterity | 11 |
| Intelligence | 13 |
| Constitution | 11 |
| Wisdom | 12 |
Arqeshi sit slightly above average in Strength and Intelligence, with average Wisdom and lower Dexterity and Constitution. The spread is identical to the Mhun and reads as a generalist profile: a body capable of both physical work and arcane study, without leaning hard either way. Your statpack does most of the real work.
How to roleplay an Arqeshi in Aetolia
- Cultural anchor. A diaspora, by definition. The largest Arqeshi community is in Aetolia’s southeast, but there is no single homeland. Every Arqeshi character carries either a personal conversion or descent from one of Kayalenki’s original converts. The decision to leave Corruption behind sits at the centre of who you are.
- Faction-cultural alignment. Independent on paper, gravitationally Light in practice. Most Arqeshi communities serve the cause of the Light, which puts them naturally near Enorian. They are not welcome in Bloodloch, where Nazetu are the majority and Chakrasul’s worship was once the local religion. An Arqeshi in Bloodloch is either a target, a missionary, or a story waiting to go wrong.
- Religious texture. This is the engine of Arqeshi roleplay. The month of Chakros is observed as fasting and study, not celebration. The Nazedha religious canon is read and reinterpreted against what your character now believes. Nightmares and temptations from a dead Goddess who refuses to release her grip are canon, so a tortured-sleep subplot is always available.
- Common archetypes. Other players will assume an Arqeshi is a former Nazetu (or descended from one) with a redemption story, treated as a traitor by their former kin, and welcomed cautiously by the Light. Lean into that, or play against it. A second-generation Arqeshi born on the mainland and raised in Enorian, who has never met a Nazetu in their life, reads very differently from a first-generation convert who still dreams about Nazedha.
Which Aetolia classes fit an Arqeshi
Any race in Aetolia can play any class. Race never locks you out. Some class archetypes share a thematic resonance with Arqeshi lore, which can make for a naturally cohesive character.
Tidesage
Ocean mages out of Enorian, fixed on the sea and on water-shaping arts. The maritime heritage that Arqeshi inherit from their Nazedha ancestors finds an obvious home in the Tidesage tradition, and Ice Breathing at level 61 layers a personal cold weapon onto a class already built around water. A Tidesage Arqeshi is a former islander turned scholar of the same sea their ancestors raided.
Luminary
Warrior-priests of the Light in Enorian. If your Arqeshi’s conversion story is the centre of their identity, Luminary is the cleanest mechanical-thematic match: the class whose entire identity is the worship of Light maps onto the race whose entire identity is the rejection of Corruption.
Templar
Holy knights of Enorian under the patronage of Celezor. A more martial expression of the same Light alignment. An Arqeshi Templar reads as a convert who took the militant route: the body that was bred for Nazedha raiding turned toward defence of the Light instead.
Zealot
Light-aligned martial artists at the Illuminai guild. The Willful racial ability and Zealot’s psionic conditioning share a theme: the mind held against pressure that wants to break it. For an Arqeshi who treats the nightly fight against Chakrasul’s pull as a discipline, Zealot frames that discipline as a way of life.