The future may not be read with impunity. The threads of destiny for a person are wrapped through the days of their lives, known only to the omniscient beings known to their followers as the Fates. The secrets of the Fates are hidden from the eyes of mere mortals and only those with the gift of Mythos may begin to lift that veil. For the Odani people, as servants to the Fates, the gift of foresight is passed down through the female line. From Mother to Daughter, the ability to see that what will be has allowed the Travellers to remain healthy, wealthy and wise. Of course, it has the added benefit of staying one step ahead of any authorities that wish to limit their nomadic lifestyle.

The Odani camp moves from the outskirts of neighbouring towns across America, never staying more than a few days at any location. On arrival, the extended families of the Odani set up their stalls with attractions and shows to entice locals to part with a few dollars in the name of entertainment. The highlight of the Odani Traveller’s arrival is the dazzling performances beneath their canvas tent. Colourful, exotic and always greeting visitors with a toothy smile, the demeanour of the Odani is designed to beguile the public.

In the Shadow War, the knowledge of the Fates combined with skilful misdirection is one of the Odani’s strengths which, they hope, will enable them to survive the ruin of humanity. To this end, it is often the case that a handful of local people will go missing shortly after the wagons of the Odani leave town. Usually, such disappearances go unreported and unremarked. Those that vanish are often from the fringes of society or have led a difficult life up to that point. The gift of the Odani means that the fate of their victims are already known to the travellers from the moment they meet them. Each of the disappeared would inadvertently or directly contribute to some great calamity in the Odani’s future. But destiny is a fickle creature and for each life taken and each doom averted, a new ill omen seems to materialise cursing the Odani to redouble their efforts in the face of this oncoming storm. If there is one thing the Odani are learning over the generations, it is that you cannot cheat the Fates.

One of the most respected families within the Odani are the Calderas. The patriarch, Max Calderas, commands loyalty and respect from his children as well as the other families in their community. Known simply as ‘Pop’ by his closest kin, Max has the appearance of a veteran strongman, now gone to seed. His fierce appearance is undercut by his disarmingly charming demeanour, making him the ideal frontman for their show. His charm quickly evaporates should his family be threatened or the Fates demand action.

Talia is Max’s wife, although she is often mistakenly assumed to be an older child due to her beguilingly youthful appearance. The blessings of the Fates are plentiful on Talia, able to command spirits and see into the future. A teller of fortunes to the public, while everyone leaves amazed by what they’ve seen, these powers are assumed to be an elaborate trick. In reality, Talia command spirits at the behest of the Fates, with many in thrall to her as servants. Pali is a small and mischievous imp who is seen simply fetching and carrying, though its insatiable appetite makes the devouring of any incriminating evidence a deliciously simple task. Amran is, in contrast, a tall and emaciated figure with pale skin and black teeth. Amran’s elongated limbs make it look a lot bigger than it really is, but its slashing claws can be devastating to anyone unlucky enough to stumble across it.

The Calderas children are as varied as the Fates, with monstrous Caleb and bewitching Nyssa often called on to serve the family’s interests in the Shadow War. But it is Stefan, the eldest and most like Max, who has been marked as the future leader of the Odani. Like his father once did, Stefan performs as a strongman. An enormous man with a shaved scalp and handlebar moustache, Stefan is content, for now, to spend his time lifting weights or caring for the various stray animals the Odani acquire on their travels. Such pastimes are set aside when the family is threatened, Stefan is an intimidating opponent, but he is well aware of how valuable his enemies’ assumptions can be. Often, the strongman plays as a distraction for his youngest sister Vida to resolve matters more subtly with a knife in the enemy’s ribs from behind.

The Odani Travellers Faction Starter Set builds seven multi-part resin miniatures;

• 1x Max Calderas
• 1x Talia Calderas
• 1x Stefan Calderas
• 1x Pali
• 1x Taka
• 1x Amran
• 1x Vida Calderas
• 7x Base

Like the Custos Crypta, the Silver Venators have arrived in the middle of the Shadow War to find they are in a world much removed from their own. The Venators are a coven of huntresses who travel the angles of time as their master's demand. Each Venator is entrusted with a silvered key, an object attuned to their own Mythos energies. With their key, the Venators can travel through a narrow passage of 120 degrees or less through the gates of time. Using the knowledge of their masters, the Venators emerge from that same corner at the preordained point in the past or future.

The Silver Venators serve the Y'th, temporal beings who dwell in a library-realm beyond time itself. In that omnipresent place, the Y'th have witnessed the regular flow of time and can see how this Shadow War threatens to irrevocably twist that which should be impermeable. The actions of the Old Ones and their followers threatens to undo all that should come to pass after the 1920's. For the Y'th, their past is humanity's future and one which must be maintained at all costs.

Brigid Macleirigh and her followers Rebecca Bateman and Anna-Maria Goeldin, were spared the burning torches of witch trials in ages past and brought by the Y'th to their realm. They were trained, modified and equipped in order to face the Shadow War as agents of order. The Y'th know simply how things must be. The Silver Venators are the precision instruments by which the true flow of time is maintained.

The followers and agents of the Old Ones must be countered whenever possible, powers and dark rituals that prolong life or otherwise twist and cheat fate are abhorrent to the Venators. Knowing that the Venators are on their trail, often the enemies of the Y'th will go to extreme lengths to remove all sharp angles from their places of power and will try to eliminate all reflective surfaces to deny the Venator's use of them.

Though distasteful, often the Venators find themselves dealing with more mundane targets. The driver who's foot slips on the pedal, slowing their vehicle and avoiding the animal in the road that would have killed him must still meet his fate. The surgeon who cheats death and survives the trenches of the Great War must still die before he can go on to affect hundreds of lives. All of these must be hunted down by Silver Venators in order to restore the flow of time and bring order to the chaos caused by the Shadow War.

The Silver Venators are mortal and must often rely on mortal means to stalk their prey. Though able to translocate through time as required, they cannot move through distance save for conventional means. Moving swiftly to acquire their prey, the women wear hooded dark robes beneath which silver accessories gleam and they brandish brightly polished weapons. An impressive sight, but there is a reason behind this appearance. The Venators' ability to travel through the angles of time is linked to reflections and it is by utilising reflections such as those of a blade or bracer, that their Mythos can manifest.

When a target proves elusive or is alerted to the approach of the Venators, the huntresses can resort to spiritually marking their quarry. Though physical contact is initially needed, once a target is marked in such a fashion, the Venators can exert considerable Mythos to call on a Tyndaly'th Hound. These are guard creatures of the Y'th and such beasts are built for the hunt. When hunting their prey the Hounds can materialise through any mirrored surface in the immediate presence of the target. When a Hound is about to manifest, it materialises first as a shadow in the reflection, becoming more distinct before the very reflective surface warps to form the dreadful foulness of the creature. Once they have brought down their prey, if the Venator's cannot intercede in time, the Tyndaly'th use their long, hollow tongues to drain their victim's body-fluids, leaving vile blue pus or ichor as their spore. Even a Venator might fall prey to a Hound if they inadvertently find themselves between the creature and its quarry or if the rite to summon them is performed imperfectly. This makes the Tyndaly'th a dreadful and difficult weapon of last resort.

The Silver Venators Faction Starter Set builds six multi-part resin miniatures;

• 1x Brigid Macleirgh
• 1x Anna Maria Goeldin
• 1x Rebecca Bateman
• 2x Tyndalyth
• 2x Portal
• 7x Base

Augusta, Maine was a sleepy city with a low crime rate that was dealt with at a leisurely pace by the municipal police department. That is until one winter, when a spate of vicious crimes hit Augusta leaving a bloody trail of destruction in their wake. Murders, beatings, rapes and numerous muggings were perpetrated by what appeared to be a small gang of deviants. More crimes were committed in the first three weeks of the spree than had been recorded in the previous three years. Worse still, the gang proved to be incredibly elusive despite the best efforts of Lieutenant Jim Dugan. With a string of commendations to his name from his time in Chicago, Jim was expected to break the gang within a week. Three months later, the stress was really beginning to show on Jim and his team.

Reports from surviving victims were confused and in some cases totally unbelievable. Accounts alternated between the attackers being hulking, inhuman brutes and yet others claimed that they simply vanished after the incident, something that was seriously being considered due to the lack of success in tracking down even a single member of the gang. Oliver Driver, the department’s dog handler, was added to the team in an attempt to use his two faithful hounds in the city’s service. Even the highly talented noses of Storm and Shadow were unable to get a trace on the perpetrators of these ghastly crimes. In the face of mounting public pressure, Jim needed results and was becoming desperate.

Jim Dugan followed a hunch that led him and his team to a set of abandoned freight houses on the banks of the Kennebec River. A lead from his undercover officer, Florence Delaney, had put five of the initial crimes in that area and Jim wondered whether the gang had been operating further afield over time. Sure enough, with his team in tow, Lieutenant Dugan finally discovered the gang had been using a rotting attic as their hideout. It was unsurprising, with the stairs having long disintegrated and the attic completely inaccessible, that the location had been overlooked in the initial investigation.

Bursting into the hideout, the police officers stumbled across the suspects enacting some sort of bizarre ritual. Candles covered the floor and walls, blood was daubed on the rotten floorboards in intricate patterns. In the horror and confusion, Florence Delany fired a burst from her Thompson machine gun and all hell broke loose. In the ensuing firefight, not a single member of the gang, who later were revealed to be called the Son’s of Belial, walked out of that warehouse alive. The injured and the dead were consumed by a raging fire that engulfed the structure. Despite lacking any solid evidence in the aftermath, the crimewave that had gripped Augusta immediately ended and commendations for the whole team were readily issued.

But it is a fool who thinks that an ancient power like the chiropteran god Belial would not punish those who had slaughtered their acolytes and disrupted their rituals. In that moment, every member of Jim Dugan’s fateful team was touched by Belial and marked as his playthings. Each officer was cursed so that they could only exist as things shifting in form, somewhere between the winged creatures of Belial’s realm and the darkened aspects of the people that they once were. At first, these transformations were uncontrolled and painful, but over time many of the department learned to control them and even use their newfound strength and abilities in the line of duty as they continued to try to serve the city. Such is not the purpose of the Bat God, however, and as the police under Jim Dugan’s command respond to criminality with their newfound preference for brutality and lethal force, they unwittingly continue to carry out Belial’s great plan in the Shadow War.

The Brotherhood of Belial Faction Starter Set builds seven multi-part resin miniatures;

• 1x Jim Dugan
• 1x Florence Delaney
• 1x Dan Flack
• 1x Maria Marquez
• 1x Oliver Driver
• 1x Shadow
• 1x Storm
• 7x Base

The story of the Custos Crypta begins in the year 700 BCE at the height of the Kushite Empire when the authority of Pharaoh Neferkare Shabaka was considered absolute. Shabaka was said to be blessed by the ancient Egyptian Goddess Khepera. It was in Khepera’s name that Shabaka ruled, from Nubia to the Nile Delta and a blood sacrifice was made daily in his name. For this tribute, the Kushite Empire was gifted the service of the Custos Crypta, a sentient insectoid species that acted as both guardian and custodian of Shabaka and his people. But time and the treachery of humankind are the only constants in this world and Shabaka was murdered by his nephew Taharqa. The remaining Custos Crypta were entombed alongside their Pharaoh in the pyramid at el-Kurru, there to remain for the rest of eternity. At least that was the plan…

The Crypt Guardian was the last of its kind to survive the overthrow of Shabaka. Though thought dead by the primitive priests at the time, the Guardian had instead entered into a state of cryptobiosis and its desiccated body was interred alongside the slain Pharaoh. When the pyramid at el-Kurru was excavated by George Reisner and his team in 1919, the Guardian was taken as a curio back to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. It was late one night that Sara Heriot, a researcher, made the mistake of spilling a glass of water onto the Guardian’s inert form. Though initially, it appeared no harm was done, by the following morning, the Guardian had vanished, revived and now enacting the will of Khepera once more to ensure her servants are triumphant in the Shadow War.

The Crypt Guardian extends its influence through humanity by way of mentally compelled servants. Sara Heriot and her colleague Victoria Taylor were swiftly brought under the control of the Crypt Guardian on its reawakening. Though utterly dedicated to the whims of Khepera, regrettably any initiative or higher reasoning is stripped away by the process which limits the Custos Crypta’s use of such enslaved pawns.

Crypt Grubs are the larval form of the Custos Crypta and the most numerous of the creatures to be encountered. Usually tasked with all manner of menial tasks, when fed a specific blend of proteins and secretions they rapidly evolve into their required final form. One such final form is evolved for long-distance infiltration and observation, perfect for fighting the Shadow War. The Crypt Sham has a passing resemblance to a human silhouette when at rest. When in low light or illuminated by solitary street lamps, a Crypt Sham can stand in such public spaces and observe a target for hours without arousing suspicion.

The Custos Crypta Faction Starter Set builds six multi-part resin miniatures;

• 1x Crypt Guardian
• 1x Victoria Taylor
• 1x Sara Heriot
• 2x Crypt Grub
• 1x Crypt Sham
• 6x Base

Naturalists and biologists will say that Nature is a living thing in perfect balance. But what they do not realise, is that such harmony has only been reached through the influence of the ancient force known as the Wyld. This power was worshipped in its own right in ages past and even today can be found in the roots of many more… sanitised religions. The Wyldborne still remember the old ways, however, and all the raw power that comes from those who walk in its shadow.

Dorothy Good was raised in the Old Lore along with her sister, Mercy. Her mother would have had it no other way. When Dorothy was of age she began to listen to the Wyld in the forest. As the woodland willed her to, Dorothy laced the family soup with the fungi she had foraged the previous night. All of them fell deathly ill and, as promised, her parents quickly succumbed to the toxins. But for Dorothy and her sister, they awoke changed. Now the forest speaks to her every night. The Shadow War has begun and the Wyld has such plans for the Wyldborne…

The serpents Blood and Nadrageel visited the Good home the night after her parents died. Nature wastes nothing. Once the reptiles had fed, the sacrifice Dorothy had made to the Wyld bound the snakes to her service. Blood has become virtually inseparable from Dorothy, while his sibling (mirroring Dorothy’s relationship with her own sister) prefers to hunt independently and alone. Even so, at a glance, Blood and Nadrageel know when their mistress needs them to hunt down and hold someone fast… and when to feed.

A literal avatar of the Wyld, Sernos is a terrifying amalgam of beast and nightmare. Known in antiquity as ‘the Goat’, Sernos has stalked the shadowy forests since before mankind could form words to name him. Waxing strong as the Wyld is nourished by the 20 million dead from the Great War, now that Dorothy has begun to gather the Wyldborne, Sernos answers the call.

The barrow-witch Mercy Good might be the older sister, but she lacks the temperament to lead the Wyldborne. Mercy is all aggression and primal fury. She revels in murder and bloodshed wherever it might find release. Only the call of the Wyld compels her to serve alongside her sister, though the same voices that drive Dorothy to plot and scheme do nothing but fuel Mercy’s rage.

Loren is a Nuckalavee. These mythical creatures have a rapacious hunger which causes them to hunt deer and other prey in the deep forests. Stepping between shadows and preferring to hunt by moonlight, Loren is nonetheless a capable member of the Wyldborne. Strong and perceptive, Loren understands the power of the Wyld all too well. As long as her voracious appetites are sated, she can be relied upon to fearlessly attempt any task that Dorothy Good may require of her in the Shadow War.

The Wyldborne Faction Starter Set builds five multi-part resin miniatures;

• 1x Dorothy Good & Blood
• 1x Mercy Good
• 1x Loren
• 1x Nadrageel
• 1x Sernos
• 5x Base

It is a great and noble thing to devote a life to the pursuit of knowledge. Some are obsessed with knowledge for its own sake and push the boundaries of understanding within their chosen field of study. However, there are those who seek the power to dominate others through their knowledge. Chester Barreman is a man such as that. Even in his youth, Chester had an interest in history, more specifically in ancient civilizations and their religions. He was fascinated by the various interconnected beliefs of people across the globe stretching as far back as the written word, hieroglyphs or even cave paintings allowed. It was only as his studies matured that he realised he was at the beginning of a very dangerous path. A path defined by a single word: Chronozon.

Chronozon is the dweller in the abyss. The demon of time and chaos was said to be the last great obstacle between the adept and enlightenment. Barreman knew in that moment that he couldn't just know more about Chronozon. He had to know everything. The young scholar's obsession with this powerful demon became all-encompassing and acts that would have been abhorrent to him only months earlier, were now acceptable in his journey down the path. The sacrifice of his sanity was so subtle that Chester was not even aware that he had crossed the line. It became the norm for him to barely recognise his own reflection, instead seeing Chronozon staring back through dark soulless eyes.

As Chronozon's mark settled on him, Barreman became more strong-willed and charismatic than ever before. His sanity returned for periods of time long enough to attract followers and instruct them in the way of the demon, though at times the abyss walks free of Barreman's soul and manifests itself in terrible glory. Led by Barreman's protege, Lydia Heron, the followers of the Path wear masks bearing the symbol of the abyss, all the better to purge their own identity. Barreman has taught them that Chronozon's function is to destroy the ego, which allows the adept to move beyond the abyss of occult cosmology.

Chester has refined a ritual that allows, through a sacrifice of a servant's lucidity, a spawn of Chronozon to be brought through to this reality. This demon of dispersion recognises Chronozon's mark on Barreman and follows instructions as well as those whispered from the abyss by its master. A creature of the umbra, the spawn is the abyss in cold bestial fury, sweeping through any environment in a blur of vorpal teeth and claws.

As Chester Barreman walks the Path of Chronozon, he has become aware of the larger struggle between the awakening gods of old and their mortal pawns. This Shadow War is fought not between armies and nations like the conflicts of men, but as something more subtle and insidious. In such a struggle for supremacy, how can the erudite servants of Chronozon fail?

The Path of Chronozon Faction Starter Set builds seven multi-part resin miniatures;

• 1x Chester Barreman
• 1x Spawn of Chronozon
• 1x Lydia Heron
• 1x John Talbot
• 1x Elizabeth Talbot
• 1x Edward Carter
• 1x Jane Carter
• 7x Base

Shaken by the echoes of the millions dead in the Great War, doors that were once sealed are now opening and horrors that have been slumbering for millennia are awakening...

Mythos is an exciting narrative skirmish game with brand new superbly detailed 35mm miniatures. Engage in twisted head-to-head confrontations in casual play or create epic campaigns using the narrative guide, as the competing factions wage a shadowy war against each other and the wider world.

As the world rebuilds after the Great War, the carnage has caused long-forgotten dark gods of ancient power to begin to awaken. Those touched by these Old Ones have formed rival cults and now move amongst an unsuspecting world preparing for their Master's return...

Down the centuries, humanity has given different names to the notion of drawing upon the power of Mythos. Names such as magic, arcana, shamanism and down through the ages such forbidden knowledge has been learnt, lost and is now rediscovered. But can monsters and myths really stand up to flamethrowers and machine guns? The hubris and industry of mankind collide with occult mysticism in this thrilling and atmospheric miniatures game.

The Mythos Rules and Gubbins Box contains all the tools you need to play. Just grab this box and your favourite Faction Starter Set (or two) and you are ready to start exploring the dark, mysterious world of Mythos.

The Mythos Rules & Gubbins set contains;

• 1x Rule Book
• 1x Torrent Template
• 4x Dice
• 8x Objective Tokens
• 12x Condition Tokens
• 26x Wound Tokens
• 26x Madness Tokens

Servants of the Sunken Pantheon, the Hidden Ones make their home in coastal towns and villages around the world. Through corruption and interbreeding, the Hidden Ones irrevocably link their community to the sea and to Dread Father Dagon, Deep Mother Hydra, and the other ancient deities that they worship. The rise of sterile cities has forced the Hidden Ones further into the shadows and has pushed them towards the isolated communities where it is easier to go unnoticed. The families can prey on their neighbours, considering them little more than talkative sheep ready for slaughter. Food is not an issue for these ancient bloodlines that hide amongst the rest of us, and their numbers are growing with each cycle.

Typical of such tainted communities are the fair (but fishy) folk of Dunsmouth, Rhode Island. The authority on almost anything in town is a putrid hag known as The Dunsmouth Witch. Steeped in ancient wisdom, none know of her true origin, but the Witch has certainly lived in Dunsmouth for over a century. Popular gossip has that a century earlier, a much younger and fairer looking woman, mourning her stillborn son, walked into the sea in the hope of swift oblivion. She returned carrying a crying baby boy, a gift from the Sunken Pantheon. That son grew up tall and strong, the blessings of the deep apparent beneath his rain-soaked sou'wester. Any threat to the Hidden Ones is sure to find The Dunsmouth Witch or her son, The Fisherman, close at hand. The Fisherman is a gruff and violent man. Never seen in town except when the tide is high and death is at hand. All too often the spectre of The Fisherman is the last thing a victim sees before a gore-encrusted boat hook sweeps down to usher in oblivion.

Those who are steadfast in their devotion to the Sunken Pantheon are often blessed with offspring touched by the abyss below. These hybrids pass for humans except when confronted with fire or certain words of power. There are some children of the Hidden Ones who are not of such mixed heritage. The Angler is one such creature, born to a human mother but with no trace of mankind in its flesh. The Angler is both a child of Dunsmouth and progenitor from the deep. A true Deep One.

Loyal to the Mother and Father, Molly Malone, is desperate to find such favour. The Malone family have served the Sunken Pantheon for generations. Youngest of twelve siblings, Molly feared that there would not be a way in which she herself could bring further honour to her lineage. She thanked the stars for that night that the Witch sought her out and gave her this important duty. The titanic crab, Click-Clack, must be lured out from the harbour when needed. The pails of human offal that Molly must acquire for such a purpose is her privilege to collect from the sleeping homeless and itinerant visitors to their fair town. An immense crustacean from the dark caverns of the deep, Click-Clack is often found clinging to the underside of the town's trawlers. There the creature lurks, journeying out to the fishing grounds and feasting on its tithe of the catch before returning to the town each night to answer the call of the Dread and the Deep.

The Hidden Ones Faction Starter Set builds five multi-part resin miniatures;

• 1x The Fisherman
• 1x The Dunsmouth Witch
• 1x Click-Clack
• 1x Molly Malone
• 1x The Angler
• 5x Base

Knowledge is power, so the adage goes. To the adepts of the Priory, this is a literal truth as they have been curating their knowledge of Mythos for generations. It is the power by which humanity will be saved from the predations of the Old Ones.

Over the millennia, shamans, soothsayers, skalds and scholars held the keys to the power of Mythos but were unaware of its greater purpose. Those fortunate few used it sparingly and merely glimpsed behind the curtain to barely retain their sanity. As humanity became increasingly arrogant in their own manifest destiny, this precious lore of Mythos was discarded in favour of technology, and the illusion of safety created by our increasingly modern world. So the Priory have been charged by their mysterious coordinator Madame Adrestia to remember the old dangers that still lurk in the shadows and to fight it at every turn.

The Priory is an ancient institution with its members operating around the globe in roaming self-contained groups known as Cells. Contact between Cells is almost unheard of and membership and recruitment to each Cell is the responsibility of each Cell Leader. Professor Zachary Lazarus has led his Cell for over a decade. An expert in the arcane and occult, it is Lazarus who receives the telephone calls from the enigmatic Madame Adrestia, to plan the Lazarus Cell's next mission. Lazarus has a formidable will and distinctly Bohemian tastes, often found talking in earnest to his cat Zeus. More curious is that the creature seems to understand the detail of the Professor's discussion and obliges with various acts of infiltration and observation for the Priory.

The anarchist-archaeologist Abigail Halsey is an invaluable member of the Lazarus Cell and her discoveries and research are often instrumental in overcoming many of the challenges they face. It was Abigail who discovered the journal of Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel and the Mythos secrets for creating the Golem Maharal. This fifteen-foot tall animated clay monstrosity provides the muscle for the Lazarus Cell on their missions. What Maharal lacks in subtlety it more than made up for with brute force!

Bertie Smythe was a decorated pilot over the Western Front when a dawn encounter in the clouds left him a changed man. He will not speak of what he saw that early morning, nor of the fate of his squadron. Wielding a flamethrower, it is hard liquor and endless cigarettes that fuels his determination to right this unspoken injustice. Weapons such as Bertie's require constant maintenance, as does much of the Cell's equipment. Fortunately, they can rely on the mechanically minded Kitty Page, the most recent recruit to the Cell. Kitty joined the Cell after their mission in Providence against the Path of Chronozon. Though still learning much of their war against the fell powers, Kitty is comforted that their mortal adversaries seem to be as susceptible to bullets and burning as everyone else in the Cell is, except Maharal of course.

The Priory Faction Starter Set builds six multi-part resin miniatures;

• 1x Kitty Page
• 1x Zachary Lazarus
• 1x Maharal
• 1x Zeus
• 1x Bertie Smythe
• 1x Abigail Halsy
• 6x Base