In Vai, magic flows through all things. For millennia, it was beyond the reach of man, but as time crawled by, the Craftsmen emerged. Braving furious storms and terrible flames, these men and women harnessed the magical forces of nature into crystals called aethers. With aethers, magic gave birth to machines both wondrous and terrible, and Vai changed forever.

Earthshard is the story of three people who never wanted to meet. Aaron is an apprentice Craftsman learning to harness the magical forces that flow through the world of Vai and desperately trying not to die in the process. Laurel is a mechanist intent on seeing the world aboard an airship, but trouble keeps her tied to the ground. Ricand is a veteran doing his best to simply drift through life, but he cannot ignore the drums of war.

Unfortunately for them, a woman working in secret has created something new, an impossible aether that will shatter the balance of power in Vai, and a dangerous fanatic will do anything to take it.