The story of Aeolia

In short

The islands stay up because the wind holds them up, and Volana carries the wind to the faraway springs. Volana has fallen asleep at Crowstone, and the sky of your temple is drying up: the Veiled come back empty-handed and pray. Their prayers pass through you, the spirit of the temple. Refolo, Volana’s last breath, knows the way to her: the Route of the Winds. At Crowstone, whoever wakes Volana chooses where her first breath goes: to one sky only, or to all of them. And someone from the south, Sterpa, is already on the way.

The sky of the islands

Once the land lay under the clouds, all in one piece. Then the wind began to come out of the rock, in certain places, so strongly that the land rose up in pieces. Those pieces are the islands: that is why they have roots of rock hanging underneath. They stay up because the wind holds them up. Nothing you can see is left under the clouds. Every group of islands, with its wind, is a sky. A match is played in one sky; the Route of the Winds crosses fifteen of them. The wind comes out of the rock at the places the game calls springs. It goes round the islands and holds them up. A spring does not last forever: sooner or later it dries up, and the wind comes out somewhere else, on other lesser islands. That is why new springs are born in pairs, one per side: the wind does not choose a temple.

The gods

The very first wind came out of the rock at Crowstone, from the first spring, which never dries up. It was a single wind with four characters. From those characters four gods were born, one per element:

• Volana, the Wind: the oldest. She carries the wind of the other three from one sky to another, all the way to the faraway springs. She speaks little, in gusts.
• Saetto, the Lightning: impatient, he loves whoever challenges him. He speaks loud, in orders.
• Nembra, the Rain: slow, she counts time in seasons. She speaks softly.
• Lucerno, the Sun: he repairs and looks before he strikes. He speaks warmly, with questions more than orders.

The gods live on faith, the way temples live on wind. They have no hands: to move the sky they need the temples. They give their element to the temple that calls them with a spring and a Collector, and in exchange they ask for the prayer of the Veiled. Miracles are gifts of the gods paid with faith: Nembra’s Stone Cloud, Saetto’s Landslide, Volana’s Current, Lucerno’s Dawn Bridge. Since v18 the gods also pass by during matches: see Visits of the gods.

The elements

Every spring has an element: Wind, Lightning, Rain or Sun, that is, the character of its God. The wind you collect is just one, the same from every spring. Whoever puts a Collector on a spring learns to build with that element, and forgets it when they lose the last spring of that element. The sky has its moods too, and every sky helps some element and slows down another: see Weather.

The temples and the Keeper

On the biggest islands people raised the temples, to collect the wind. The Temple on its own draws little, from the air around it. Most of it comes from the springs. The temple spreads the light of the four elements around itself: a building holds only in the light of its element. Farther away, the light is carried by the Steles: see Steles and light. Everything the temple builds, bridges included, stays firm as long as it is tied to the temple: a cut-off stretch gives way slowly and falls. The temple prepares the planks of the bridges itself, three pieces at a time, in the Rack, and they cost no wind. A plank just laid is fresh and fragile; a plank that has waited is seasoned and holds better. Every temple has a Keeper. It watches over the temple and goes back and forth from the altar to heal it. The temple and the Keeper are bound: when the temple collapses, the Keeper falls to the ground, stunned. If it wakes up, the temple rises again.

The Veiled, the followers and faith

Around the temple live the people who follow it: the followers. They arrive when the temple has connected springs and held lands; they leave when they see bridges and Veiled fall, out of mourning. Some followers take the veil and become Veiled: the more followers the temple has, the more Veiled are born. The Veiled walk empty-handed to the Collectors and come back on foot with the wind in their bundle. They are not soldiers: one hit knocks them down, and the wind they were carrying flies to whoever fired. When the Veiled rest at the temple door or pray at the altar, faith is born: see Faith and followers. The sky warns both temples before the rock moves: that is why the warning of a miracle can be seen from both sides.

The village, the prayers and the believing islands

The followers who stay build their homes around the temple: first huts, then houses, then great houses that bring stone to the temple. The village grows when the temple has wind and people, and shrinks with mourning. Along the route the people of the temple walk with their bundles and do not stop: the village, the believing islands and the prayers arrive in the last three skies. On the lesser islands live people who have no temple. They watch the nearby temples: the houses, the Veiled passing by, the springs looked after, the miracles. When they believe enough in one, their island goes over to that temple by itself: their prayer holds it in place without a bridge. But those who pray do not fight: towers go there only when a bridge ties it to the temple. See Island belief. Every now and then the people ask for something, and a God carries the request: Volana a new island, Saetto an enemy tower knocked down, Nembra the Veiled safe, Lucerno something healed. See Prayers.

What God you are

You can tell the young God by how they treat those who do not fight. Whoever repairs and protects is a Guardian God, like Lucerno; whoever kills Veiled and breaks houses is a Storm God, like Saetto; in between is still a young God. See Character of the God. Don’t mix up a Guardian God with the Keeper: the Keeper is the one who watches over the temple.

You, the spirit of the temple

You are the spirit of a temple. You do not walk and you do not carry anything: you choose where the bridges go and where the towers rise. The Veiled, the Keeper and the Carrier go on their own. The Veiled pray to you, and their prayers pass through you to the gods. The spirit goes where its Veiled pray. That is why, when your people set out on the route, you set out with their prayers, and in every sky you light up an old temple again.

Refolo

Refolo is the last breath that Volana sent all the way here before falling asleep: a puff that came out of the small Wind spring of your island. He cannot hold up an island, but he knows the way to Volana, and he teaches the spirits of new temples how it’s done: he is the one who guides “Learn to play” and who comes with you along the route.

Cirro and the hand

Every temple has a guardian, Cirro: a cloud bird with a heart of stone, made of a thread of Volana’s first breath. He is young like the God of his temple and learns from them: he does one thing at a time on his own, and the God tells him “Good job” or “No”. He never gets stronger, because the thread he has is always the same; he only grows in size and colors. The young God also has a hand, a small one: it takes a rock from its island and throws it (The hand). And it calls the gifts of the gods with their sign: Nembra’s drop, Saetto’s bolt, Volana’s curl, Lucerno’s ray (Miracle signs).

Two temples, one wind

In every sky there are two temples, and the wind of that sky is enough for only one. For a while they share it. The game calls the other temple the enemy: it is not evil, it has its own Veiled, its own followers and its own Keeper, and it wants the same wind. Towers are there to hold the springs and to stop whoever walks on the other side’s bridges. Every sky has its hours. When the Late hours come the wind drops and is no longer enough for two: the sky begins to wear down the temples, a little more every minute. A temple that falls in the late hours does not rise again. That is why matches do not end in a draw. The Carrier is the only one who walks on the enemy’s islands. When the enemy Keeper is down, it goes to get it and carries it to the altar of its own temple. There the Keeper turns to light: five signs light up, and the sky is left to one temple only. If the altar falls during the rite, the Keeper is free again: see Rite at the altar. The Keeper who turns to light does not die: it rises to the gods, and that is an honor for a Keeper. Its fallen temple rests. If neither side breaks through, the two temples can make a Truce: they keep sharing the wind and nobody wins.

Volana’s sleep

Volana carries the wind far away, but after many seasons she stops to sleep in the first spring, at Crowstone. While she sleeps, the wind no longer reaches the faraway skies: there the springs dry up and no new ones are born. The faraway skies dry up first. The first was a sky in the south; then it was yours. Volana wakes up when a Keeper turns to light on the altar of Crowstone and rises to the gods. Her first breath goes wherever the temple that woke her chooses.

The Route of the Winds

The springs around your temple have dried up. Your people set out to look for the wind: this is the Route of the Winds, fifteen skies one after another, all the way to Crowstone. In every sky there is an old temple to light up again and an enemy temple that wants the same wind. Before you set sail, the card of each world tells you what that sky is like, what is new and how its enemy temple plays. Along the route you meet the gods one at a time. Each one tests you in a sky and gives you their element: that is why on the route you learn one thing at a time. The skies are split into six chapters:

1. Volana’s Breath: you start with what Volana left you and what Refolo taught you.
2. Saetto’s Trial: Saetto gives you Lightning.
3. Nembra’s Patience: Nembra gives you Rain and teaches you to pray.
4. Lucerno’s Light: Lucerno gives you Sun, the Dawn Bridge and the healing of those who carry the wind.
5. Sterpa’s Temple: the race toward Crowstone.
6. Crowstone: the end of the route.

The worlds of each chapter: The Route of the Winds. From the third sky on you find a dry dust on the springs: Sterpa has passed by, the spirit of a temple in the south, the first sky that dried up. He is going to Crowstone too, and he is ahead of you.

The world that answers

After Crowstone the sky answers the young God. Where people live and pray the wind brings up more rock, and the island grows; an island that people have left slowly dries up (Changing lands). The temple grows with the village, in stages, and its stone follows the character of the God (Temples in stages). The gods give a great gift only to a God with a grown temple: each one has their own, and a temple calls only one per match (Great miracles). The springs back home blow again: the home sky has no enemy temple, and the wind is enough for one (Free world). On the route each God gave a gift after a trial; now each one tests the new God, twice (Gods’ Challenges).

The World of the Day

Every day the wind opens a new sky, the same for all the spirits of the temples: the World of the Day. Whoever wins it in the shortest time stays on the leaderboard of the day.

Every rule has a reason

• Wind is the only resource: the wind holds up the islands and keeps the temples alive.
• The temple gives little wind, the Collectors most of it: the temple only takes the air around it; the wind comes out of the springs.
• The wind arrives on foot, with the Veiled: the wind is carried in a bundle, and only the Veiled carry it.
• A Collector opens the element of the spring: the element is the character of the spring, and whoever collects learns it.
• A building holds only in the light of its element: the light comes from the temple and from the Steles.
• A cut-off stretch gives way slowly and falls: everything of the temple stays firm as long as it is tied to the temple.
• The pieces from the rack are free, fresh ones are fragile: the temple prepares the planks; waiting seasons them.
• A neutral island touched by one of your bridges becomes yours: the temple holds what it reaches.
• Springs dry up and are born in pairs elsewhere: the wind changes its path and does not choose a temple.
• Followers grow with springs and lands, shrink with mourning: people follow the temple that has wind, and leave the one that loses its own.
• More followers, more Veiled: some followers take the veil.
• Faith comes from the Veiled who rest and pray: the prayer of the Veiled is the faith of the temple.
• Miracles cost faith: they are gifts of the gods, and the gods live on faith.
• Miracles are announced to both sides: the sky warns before the rock moves.
• Temple fallen, Keeper stunned; if it wakes up the temple rises again: temple and Keeper are bound.
• Late hours: the sky wears down the temples, and a fallen temple no longer rises: the wind drops and is not enough for two.
• The Carrier is the only one who goes to the enemy: it is the only one who can walk on the enemy’s islands.
• The rite at the altar wins the match: the Keeper turns to light, rises to the gods, and the sky is left to one temple only.
• You give orders only on bridges and buildings, the figures go on their own: the player is the spirit of the temple, and does not walk.
• Wind bubbles to tap above your lands: the sky lets go of a little wind, and whoever is underneath takes it.
• On the route you learn one element at a time: every God gives their element after a trial.
• The lesser islands believe: on the lesser islands live people who have no temple, and they choose whom to follow.
• A believing island holds without a bridge, but it does not hold towers: the prayer of those who live there keeps it in place; those who pray do not fight.
• The character of the God counts only on those who do not fight: the followers watch how the God treats people, not how they win battles.
• The same prayer to all temples: the wind does not choose a temple, and neither do the gods when they ask.
• Houses are born on their own and great houses repair the temple: the followers stop and build, and bring stone to the temple.
• A house that is hit means mourning: like a bridge or a Veiled one lost.
• Cirro acts on his own: he is a breath of Volana; the wind goes where it wants, you can only teach it the way.
• Cirro learns from “Good job” and “No”, but does not get stronger: he watches his God to understand what God they are; of the first breath he has one thread left, always the same.
• The hand throws only rock, never wind: the young God has a small hand; the wind arrives on foot, with the Veiled.
• Signs call the miracles: the gifts of the gods are called with the God’s sign.
• Islands that are looked after grow, the ones left behind dry up (v24): the wind holds the islands; where people live, it brings up more rock.
• The temple grows with the village and does not go back (v24): the same people raise the houses and the temple.
• Great miracles open with the third stage (v24): the gods give them to a God, and you know a God by their grown temple.
• The Free world has no enemy (v24): it is the home sky, and its wind is enough for one.

The tale in the game

The first time you start the game, it tells the beginning of this story, then Refolo offers “Learn to play”. You can watch it again from the main menu, under “The Tale”. A tap goes forward, “Skip” goes to the end. The first time you open the Route of the Winds, a prologue sums up the journey; you can read it again from the “?” on the map.