The Concept of Empyrean

So what is "Empyrean"?



Empyrean derives from the Medieval Latin empyreus, an adaptation of the Ancient Greek ἔμπυρος empyrus "in or on the fire", which when ascribed to a person describes someone who is "of fire" or "contains fire". Empyrean has been used in ancient and medieval times to describe the higher realms of heaven where everything is divine fire.

In our context, an Empyrean (sometimes also referred to as an "Incarnate") is an Aethon who has incarnated as a human. Therefore in that context we are actually talking about empyrean humans, but that is needless semantics.

So what is an Aethon, then? The word Aethon is also ancient greek in origin. It translates as "fiery" or "burning" and has the same root as Aether which is, in other words, the quintessence of heaven. An Aethon could be a being of the flame of heaven, or someone who burns with that flame.

In our context, an Aethon is very specific kind of being that originates from the equivalent "Heaven" of our setting, a realm known as Yrion. The Aethons are bright, eternal beings of a fiery, and even a little creative or even chaotic disposition. They are, in essence, beings based on noble passions or ideals. Imagine the very essence of justice, or valor, or compassion, or fortitude, or a ton of other noble and epic and inspiring things. Each of them, or even a combination of several such things could be a single Aethon.

In that regard, therefore, they are also, quite a bit, like angels. However, I am being a bit cautious with this particular association, because people by default associate angels with specific religious dogma, and view them as absolute beings within the confines of said dogma and then start to draw analogies, and said analogies would be wrong. To understand Aethons, it is better to understand the essential deity, demigod, god or ancestor spirit in any mythology, from the perspective of a hero that achieves great feats, standing as a paragon, an inspiration, an exemplar of these things for others.

Thus, Aethons remind more of the norse Valkyries, the Einherjar, the archaic Elysian heroes, various solar hero archetypes, or other similar characters from other mythologies. They're great, and cool, and we admire them, but they don't have this impeccable perfection that the bible often uses to portray angels.

So Empyrean, the game, is about Empyreans - the mortal incarnations of Aethons, who were forced to leave Yrion behind, for reasons that will be revealed later, and who have found themselves in the grim, post-apocalyptic world of Arandor, and must use the full extent of their formidable powers in order to stand against a really brutal and tyrannical regime, because they... Well, because they don't have any other choice, really.

What would you do, if you were a great hero who stood up for all those great things, and suddenly reincarnated in the midst of a really dark situation? You don't really get to have a "turn off heroic self" switch, that's the gist.

Part of the reason I was inspired to make Empyrean was to help players move past the casual loot chase and power leveling that regular RPG sessions provide (even when wrapped inside cool stories), or even the typical adventuring stuff.

I wanted to throw players' characters in really dark, or really epic situations like these. Make them want to challenge what others around them perceive as their reality, and help them explore what "being a hero" really really means for them (if it does mean anything). All of this, of course, in the comfortable zone of being, basically human, or rather, more like a human with cool super-powers.

Understandably, "heroism" is not everyone's cup of tea, but when we get down to it, we all have our heroes, even when they're cynical anti-heroic bastards, so, basically, it kind of is. So if you want to play a game where you must stand strong against the impossibly towering darkness looming before you, then that's exactly what Empyrean aspires to be.

Note: It is not necessarily a story about how the players beat the baddies, but more about the struggle itself (the characters are not necessarily expected to survive).