the game was released as freeware by Mike Lawrence, the author, on his own website (which no longer exists), around 1998 I think. I found it on 2004 while looking for him as I wanted to buy his previous game "Dungeons of Kairn". I didn't know Aethra was so popular (in fact, I never played it), so I thought it would be good to announce that the author released it in good faith for all people to enjoy.
The game file can be downloaded here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vzyykj0bhebs6iw/aethra.zip
At first it might look as if this is the shareware version, but if you look in the ingame manual, it should say somewhere that it is the registered version (it will also tell you not to distribute it, but that message no longer applies).
The full game included a spell list, which can be downloaded here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2jpvakitxg...sspelllist.zip
The pack also included some tool to edit the save files, it looks like it was done by another person, but it was also hosted on Mike Lawrence's site. Here's the file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/f8pl61epa1...sUGEmodule.zip
Too bad I didn't think at the time to keep a copy of the website. I can no longer find it.
Even though the author didn't keep a copy of the full version of Dungeons of Kairn in his site, he had a more recent version of the shareware version (v.1.2), so I'll share it. The only copy I own might have one party already created, which you can delete inside the game if you want to start fresh:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v55u5id3g2c9vbo/kairn12.zip
Hope I helped someone!!