In Etheria’s first season, players were introduced to the island of Etheria. The world consisted of four nations: Everfrost, a Nordic-inspired civilization who commanded ice and snow; Snowkeep, a medieval kingdom with the power over fire; Zavia, a Greek nation with god-like strength and speed; and New Irithyll, a dark gothic nation of vampires scorned by the world.
Etheria was watched over by the Aetherium, a goddess who granted the ancient suffering nomads their powers and the ability to avoid death through reincarnation. She inhabited the Nexus, a tower that contained all the knowledge of the world, with her champion Archivists. Each year, the Aetherium hosted the Ascension - a competition where the best warriors of each nation competed in a test of skill and strength to see who would become the Aetherium’s next champion, her personal guard. The winner would receive enhanced powers and the losers would lose a bit of their life force to provide power to the Aetherium for some unknown, godly purpose.
After 100 years, a new Ascension was announced, one that would have four champions from each nation instead of one. The Aetherium was growing weaker, and she needed more power.
Over the season, it was revealed that the Aetherium was using the power of the Ascension to seal her brother away in the Ether - a realm of darkness he had learned to harness and retaliate against his sister with. The people of Etheria began to turn against their goddess, and her brother grew more powerful. He unleashed a plague on Etheria to create his Etherborn, twisted individuals infected with the power of the Ether that sought to take his sister down and bring him back to the land of Etheria.
The people of Etheria were unable to eliminate this threat.