The Aethra Chronicles
The Aethra Chronicles - Volume One: Celystra's Bane or The Aethra Chronicles (also known as Aethra for short) is a classic 1994 MS-DOS shareware computer role playing game. The game was based on the Rolemaster game system, a Pencil & Paper role playing game. It was developed mostly as a one-man project by Michael Lawrence with some help from others for the graphics and sound/music.
| The Aethra Chronicles | |
|---|---|
 The Aethra Chronicles | |
| Developer(s) | Michael W. Lawrence |
| Designer(s) | Michael W. Lawrence |
| Programmer(s) | Michael W. Lawrence |
| Artist(s) | Philip Mann |
| Composer(s) | Matthew Mooney |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS |
| Release | 1994 |
| Genre(s) | crpg |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| CPU | 80286 |
| Sound | MIDI, wav |
The game is mostly played through a bird's eye view perspective where the camera is either showing the country scape, a town or a dungeon. Each version 'zooms in' closer to the ground and the resulting view shows more detail. For combat, the game uses a side view, that is dynamically constructed from the location the player's party was just before combat commenced.
The player is in control of the protagonist and two other characters and sets out to investigate the imprisonment of his or her father by the new King. Additional henchmen can be hired for a total of 6 controllable characters at the time.
The Aethra Chronicles, a Fantasy Role Playing game unlike any Shareware Game in its Genre. Incredible High Resolution Graphics are just the start. You are on a quest to save the kidnapped prince and clear your fathers name. You will create your characters, hire or find companions to join you in your quest and then you are off. Your Travels will take you across the land to find what clues you can. Clues which will lead you to discover the horrible truth behind the young princes disappearance. We believe you will truly be surprised by this one. Requires EGA/VGA, 286 or better, and 6 Meg Free on Harddrive. Mouse and Soundcard recommended.
— Advertisement used on bulletin board systems
Backstory
The small kingdom of Celystra was prosperous under its old king, "Korros the Wise". The prince, Lythare, has ascended to the throne and his wife has given birth to a child on his coronation day. However, two days later this newborn infant disappears, presumed kidnapped. Lythare blames the kingdom's Champion Knight-Paladin, as well as several members of the court for failing to protect the child, and imprisons them in the dungeon. The Champion's son, knowing that his father must not have deserved imprisonment, sets out on a quest to find the baby with his two companions.
Confusion about the sequels
The first volume 'Celystra's Bane' was made and released; it contained three chapters: 'The Book of Prophecy', 'Gems of Power' and 'Demons Might'. As was typical with shareware games, the first chapter could be freely distributed, with the other two available only to registered users. The second and third volumes were never made. Because the shareware version only contained a single chapter, some people assumed that the second and third 'chapters' (instead of Volumes) were never made and the game was left incomplete. This confusion sometimes still survives some 20 years after the game's release.