"Aion is a visually stunning massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) where your character wields devastating powers and sweeping wings to explore a celestial world of breath-taking beauty and epic adventure. It features cutting-edge imagery, gorgeous environments, and a unique fantasy world. Your character plays a pivotal role in the fate of Atreia, where the enemy is not only the other player faction but a deadly ancient evil as well.

About the World
Aion takes place in Atreia, a stunningly beautiful and world split in two.

Once connected by the Tower of Eternity, Atreia was sundered by an ancient cataclysm. On your journey to bring salvation to the world, your character will traverse the inner surface of Atreia, exploring lush lands, floating islands, chaotic voids, and many other amazing vistas.

Each half of the shattered world is inhabited by one of two playable divine factions: the Elyos and the Asmodians. Isolated by the Cataclysm that broke Atreia apart, each side has brooded for centuries on the catastrophic events of the past. Their hatred for each other has only intensified.

Many centuries after the Cataclysm, fragments of the destroyed Tower began to float mysteriously in the air, and investigations revealed unstable portals that opened into a dimension of darkness and wonder where fragments of the Tower drifted. This place was named the Abyss. Within the Abyss, the once-lost power of flight is now commonplace. The Abyss is where Elyos and Asmodians contend to fight an epic battle for supremacy.

As the Elyos and the Asmodians uncovered new, more stable portals to the Abyss, they encountered a primeval terror that they had known only in storybooks: the Balaur. Banished to an unknown dimension during the Cataclysm, the Balaur are the ancient enemy of all the peoples of Atreia. The Balaur's continual war on humanity led to Cataclysm. Now they have returned, the survival of both races and Atreia itself is more uncertain than ever.

Aerial Combat
After centuries of isolation, the two factions, Elyos and Asmodian, discovered portals into the dimension between the split halves of the world: the Abyss. Some humans rediscovered the power of flight after they ascend to become Daevas. Daevas have wings and the ability to fly. While this ability is somewhat limited in their own lands, they found that mastering flight was a necessity in the Abyss.

In the chaotic Abyss, attacks can come from any direction. Daevas become masters of flight, and must continually upgrade their flight power with Aether-infused feathers in order to stand against the dual threat--that of the opposing faction and the Balaur--in the Abyss.

You'll learn what it's like to fly in Aion.

PvPvE
PvPvE stands for "Player vs. Player vs. Environment." The story of Aion is rife with conflict between factions. Elyos and the Asmodians harbor centuries of hatred. They are now at war with each other, with nothing less than the fate of their entire people in their hands. Large fragments of the Tower of Eternity floating in the Abyss that separates the two halves of the shattered world serve as battlefields between these two factions. Players will venture into these areas through portals they discover as they attain enough experience.

The factions constantly battle for control of fortresses and artifacts within the disputed areas of the Abyss. Each of these victories garners bonuses and special resources to the winning side, and player characters can only obtain certain items from vendors operating out of these controlled areas. In addition, player characters can accumulate points and special ranks by defeating other player characters and can use these points to acquire better equipment.

The Elyos and the Asmodians are not just battling each other in the Abyss, however. A third faction, the ancient enemy known as the Balaur, also fights for control. Depending on the situation, players may end up battling the Balaur as well as other players, or there may be times when the Balaur can ally with one faction and fight the other. Other lethal denizens of the Abyss may also come into play in this constantly changing skirmish. This ever-changing give and take of multiple forces, enemies, and alliances of convenience is the heart of Aion's PvPvE system.

Ascension
Characters in Aion begin as talented but normal humans who are fated to become more than human. Many of the humans of Atreia dream all their lives of ascending to become Daevas. Only a scant few attain that dream.

At level 10, characters in Aion mystically evolve into Daevas. They feel the power of Aether infuse them, priming them to ascension. During the Ascension Ceremony, they become Daevas and gain their wings, immense powers, and immortality to aging. Characters select a subclass at this time, also.

Becoming a Daeva is a rare gift that brings with it a heavy responsibility to protect the humans of Atreia and Atreia itself. Daevas are the first line of defense against invasions from the Balaur and the Daevas of their opposed faction. The people of Atreia revere their Daevas almost as demigods.

Classes
Choose from four starting classes. When your character becomes Level 10, choose a subclass to specialize your character.

Character Customization
NCsoft has designed Aion to give you a wide variety of character customization options. Players can easily shape their character's face and body structure with a multitude of sliders to manipulate nearly every aspect of their physical appearance. They can also choose from a range of hairstyles, facial hair types, and skin tones.

With item crafting, you can not only make your character weapons, suits of armor, and other items, but you can also alter how these items appear in the game with dyes and other modifications. You can even visually mimic another item. The crafting system in Aion is robust and will be familiar to fans of the genre.

Character customization is not limited to appearance. Aion uses a Stigma system--a way for a character to use skills and abilities that do not belong to that character's class. Though you may choose a particular class path, your play style is not limited to only what that class can do. "