2010/12/07

Dying Sun's Campaign Guide

Content Index:

1. Introduction
2. Factions
3. Avatars

Introduction

It is where playable civilizations are collected. Civilizations, their style, the Sovereigns...

Factions

Here comes the initial list of the different factions for Dying Sun. The list could change as the different Phases go. Those are the major factions planned for the 1.0 version. Things could change, of course, and some be dropped in favour of others or new ones added. But trying to keep it "simple" and leaving the most complex factions (Pandora Roku, I'm looking at you) for later. There are no minor factions yet but there are currently 12 new races, 4 of which are in so there can be Champion NPCs that do not belong to the major factions (like Orci).

Factions can be from remants of one civilization to just a group of people that sticks together to survive and/or promote other interests. For now, here is a little description of each before The Shine (the event that initiated all the actual mess in the world).

Aettryneland

A land of dark weavers, Aettryneland has been a thorn in the good people of Everdream's side for many centuries. Backed by the dark magics and undead minions, they have remained untouched despite their practices being scorned by the rest of human lands. Their power is such that not even the Orci armies dare to attack them.

Coeur de Glace

This elven faction didn't exist before The Shine.

Corona de Veralux

The proud kingdom of Corona de Veralux has been the center of The Dreamer's faith in Everdream for centuries, keeping as their duty to keep the lands free of the dark taint from Maere and any threat to The Dream. Different Orders of Paladins and Inquisitors work to hunt down any menaces in any land that recognizes the authority of The Dreamer's Church.

Helle Königreich

Helle Königreich is a land of proud people that managed to stablish a deep relationship with one of the most impressive creatures of Everdream: dragons. This noble and peaceful kingdom has found itself in a decades long war against their closests neightbours due to some lineage disputes. Despite the advantage that the different Orders of Dragon Knights suppose for Helle Königreich, they have remained aside from the conflict for reasons unknown, dragging unnecesarily the conflict.

Kingdom of Greyfang

This ancient kingdom has a long and proud military tradition that has been put to test endlessly for centuries by Orci invasions, internal strife and skirmishes with Aettryneland. Despite all their troubles they have managed to survive and thrive where others would have surrended and lose hope.

Moyen-Uni

The most ancient elven kingdom that humans know of, Moyen-Uni is a secret hidden deep in the extensive forest in which it lays. Surrounded by human lands and with occasional incursions by monsters from The Forgotten Empire's desert or goblins that have evaded Greyfang's patrols, the most common encounter that one can hope to have with one of the elves of Moyen-Uni is based on arrows flying from the woods.

Scarlet Empire

This human faction didn't exist before The Shine.

Tao

This human faction didn't exist before The Shine.

Avatars

The Avatars are people able to weave their dreams/wishes into The Dream. They are different from the normal weavers (casters) in that they show unnusual talents that can make a difference in a dying world. In game terms, they are Elemental's Sovereigns. For the people of Everdream, they are representation of The Dreamer's power.

Alicia, Blood Empress

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Anselm, Dragon Knight

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Bérénice, Warlady

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Caldwell, King

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Elena, Paladin

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Otaku

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Randolf, Earl

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Yvette, Ranger

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2010/12/07

Kind of information that will go here. Updated whenever there is something worthy of update. It might end with downloable files if some lists get too long. That or extra posts to continue this Sovereign's Guide. Unless stated otherwise, it's a work in progress so don't get too attached to anything yet!!!

Currently I have taken out the information that was here and temporarily reduced the Index. I plan to update this with some solid information and from there, add as needed and update old info when something happens that makes it necessary. Please, be patient with me. Thank you.

Sovereign's Guide

Content Index:

1. Everdream
2. Avatar Creation
3. Magic types

Everdream

Little map about some of the factions prior to The Event and after it. The map represents a small part of the world but focused on the area of interest for the mod. Work in progress blah blah blah.

Avatar Creation

Races

One for each of the faction plus four extra ones usable for new Avatars if the player wants.

• Human (Veralux)
• Human (Greyfang)
• Human (Kiku) [belongs to Tao faction]
• Human (Helle)
• Human (Aettryneland) [undead]
• Human (Scarlet)
• Elf (Moyen) [based on Wraith]
• Elf (Glace) [based on Wraith]
• Human (Arcano) [doesn't have a faction]
• Human (Kwabys) [Maere touched, doesn't have a faction, based on Quendar]
• Dwarf (Stein) [doesn't have a faction, human as placeholder so not very dwarvish]
• Orcus (Sjal) [doesn't have a faction, based on Urxen]

Professions

• Barbarian
• Blood Empress
• Courtier
• Diplomat
• Dragon Knight
• Elven Ranger
• Fallen Paladin
• Glacial Warlady
• Lord of Death
• Scribe
• Tao Agent
• Veralux Paladin

Talents

• Beautiful
• Blood Focus
• Chi Flow
• Dark Focus
• Dark Knowledge
• Piety
• Silver Tongue
• Spell Resistance
• Young

Weaknesses

• Old
• Weak

Magic types

These are the magic types in Dying Sun:

• Attor (Aettryneland)
• Blood (Scarlet Empire)
• Chi (Tao)
• Faith (Corona de Veralux)
• Mana (Coeur de Glace, Helle Königreich, Kingdom of Greyfang, Moyen-Uni)

Those who use mana stick to the standard magic books but those who use a different type of magic are to have their own spellbooks. Some spells may repeat themselves "in essence" (healing, for example) but the idea is to slowly develop magic that reflect the faction's playstyle. For who prefers to stick to the more open traditional approach, the idea would be to stick to the factions that use mana.

Factions being able to mix more than one type of magic is still in the air.

New Spellbooks

New spellbooks added (as everything else in the mod: work in progress):

• Paladin. Based on healing, buffs, some divine damage (based on Charisma) and angel summoning.
  
  

2010/12/05

Kind of information that will go here. Updated whenever there is something worthy of update.

Monster Manual

Any species/race that appears in a faction will have members of that species/race appear as random monster/encounter.

Angel

Attor Angel

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Battle Angel

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Light Angel

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wow that's pretty impressive....

(And minor updates to some of the previous posts with info.)

Can I add you to the list yet? Considering the amount of planning you've done, I'd say this is past the "hypothetical" point, but that might just be me

So ... a Mass reduction of Pop-Caps, Max Pop-Growth, and Availability of food?

Maybe you could have winters that last 10-20 turns, and it just be "mildy frosty" the rest of the time.

As such, you would probably never have giant armies, with most units being party or company ... and the focus being more on adventure and Magic rather than Mass-Scaled warfare or Empire building.

You could probably have plagues that pass through the land, killing off cities and armies (or 40-80% thereof), as well as regular Infestations of Undead and Demons that need to be cleared.

Perhaps two endings ... one is that the Sun dies and the other is that a God is released into the mortal realm.

If the Sun dies, then basically the game is over (time victory??) ... and if a god is released into the world, it becomes an Always hostile NPC that kills all life ... starting with the faction least favored by the race that summoned it.

These are merely wildly speculative suggestions, of course. But the idea (I think?) that could be portrayed is that you are constantly struggling to survive, and often times you simply die (or barely hang on). Many global disasters, a few localized disasters, lots of quests that you can gain some temporary benefit from completing ... and Demonic Bone Dragons that you "might" be able to recruit but will turn on you at any given moment (however it will only eat peasants, it promises)

This looks cool, gives me hope that I can get one together as well I just have not fleshed it out that much. Too much Beta testing not enough focus!

This sounds awesome.

Well, it's not like I ever had the power to actually prevent you from adding it, right? We could always justify it saying that the top image of the thread is the actual splash screen of the mod (which is true). I'll keep considering it hypothetical until Beta 5 though.

Certaintly that's the idea. At least to the beginning of the game. Factions should be able to develop techniques/magics that help with those. In the original Dying Sun thread, The Red Tower had developed a new kind of food resistant to frost using their arcane knowledge and power. That allowed them to sustain their population, trade with other factions and attract people to join them (most as slaves though).

One of the things to consider would be a weather system but that seems quite more complicated that even the Dungeons idea. And I mean a good weather system. As it could have a relation with what Sovereigns can do (if they are like in Elemental), it'd be better to have Sovereigns totally defined in their role before delving into the weather realm.

In any case, a simple weather system should be included anyways to simulate the harsh conditions in a way similar to what you suggest. Maybe that would be more than enough, who knows. The world suffered a great climate change at first but when the game starts, it has become more gentle and actually allows people to do more things (which doesn't avoid that slowly the weather will become worse and worse again as the sun slowly dies).

I'd not like to prevent "mass" armies or empires from happening. This also depends on how the Sovereigns are finally done though. If they are like in Elemental things are quite different. Alain, the human cleric from the original Dying Sun thread, could turn his lands into plains (defeating the ice and snow that cover most of the world). In those conditions, resources and populations are easier to have and develop.

If Sovereigns aren't designed as Elemental's then things are more limited. Yet, there is magic so given time, Sovereigns would develop magics that could help their domains. They could achieve effects of "reviving the land" like Alain by building a "Summer Obelisk" in a city that would generate a magical field that would change the type of land.

But even with all those conditions and even not wanting to prevent mass armies/empires, they certaintly shouldn't be so big as in a normal game. But the whole first part of the game should be more exploration oriented, with little parties going "out there" to do quests, little "armies" fighting for the few good lands naturally available...

The idea of applying the ancient chinese curse of "Living interesting times" is too good to ignore. The Sun dying and being the end of the world is quite important to the theme. I blame one of the stories of Erekose, the Eternal Champion. So "Doom Clock" is in and the only way to prevent it is with a Quest (other victory types are possible but the Sun imposses a turn limit to each game, a limit that should vary according to map size and options in game generation).

About Gods going nuts can be considered altough right now I feel wary of divine presence in the game. I feel like somehow it'd be best out of it (Demonic at best) but to ignore a whole Power Source of the D&D system and all the good things that divine beings suppose...

Basically that's the idea. But allowing some growth as factions claim resources, good locations and develop techs and magics. A huge 64-bit map with a dozen of dudes for each faction during the whole game doesn't sound too fun. And Sovereigns are heroes. If their actions cannot change the world, it's not D&D.

And suggestions are welcome even if speculative and/or crazy. That's why I share this with you all now.

Yay for double post but here I go!

Big questions of the day:

What is a Sovereign

While Heroes are the distant stars in the night sky, Sovereigns are suns. But who are they? What do they do?

The definition of what a Sovereign is and what he can do has a quite serious ripple effect in many of the other systems of the game.

Sovereign creation

Purely D&D rules or more in Elemental style? Pure D&D eliminates all the traits/weaknesses. I certaintly don't want that. I think that a hybrid of character designed like in D&D (or as close as possible) with some "Background Points" to purchase equipment and traits would be best.

Dinasty system

I like the dinasty system but I have never known what to do about it. If Sovereigns are like in Elemental where their dead means game over, then the dinasty system would work quite similarly to the original. And for important quests would allow a more personalized experience as they would be designed with specific Sovereigns in mind (with defined personalities, interests...).

But if the death of the Sovereign doesn't end the game, we can use scions as succesors (inheriting powers or whatever if needed). And I don't dislike the idea either. A whole lineage of elves trying during generations to revive the sun sounds fun in my opinion.

Essence

Does the Sovereign have Essence at all? Can he "revive" the land? If he is just a Hero like the ones he can recruit, the dinasty system would be better with succesors. If he has Essence and can do things like in Elemental, either system in the dinasty system would be fine. But the Essence would need some kind of explanation. The magic system simply isn't like in Elemental so it'd imply some kind of external influence. In the original Dyin Sun thread, Alain, the human cleric, for his power from his God Bane.

I'm considering Sovereigns as mundane people but that during the creation process you can pruchase traits that define how much and why he is special (compared to the rest of Heroes). Maybe we can purchase a "Chosen of the God" trait that actually allows the Sovereign to have Essence and imbue the land, like the paladin Hasken from the original Dying Sun thread. Or maybe an "Infernal Pact" like Bryseis that would work similarly. So it'd not be just buying traits to see if your Sovereign is good making babies or trading but also determine things that set the Sovereign appart from the rest of the world (other Sovereigns aside) and make him the leader of him faction.

But if there is Essence and succesors, then it'd be a matter of seeing if the "power" gets inherited or not.

Classes and Powers

Sovereigns, like Heroes, have a class. They can be fighters, wizards, monks... But they have something that sets them above the average Hero. So if he has Essence or whatever power allows him to do extra stuff, how does that power affect the powers he gets from his class?

A Sovereign with Essence wouldn't be able to use to imbue other Heroes (no need to be channelers to cast spells in D&D). It could be used to imbue the land and seems logical that to do other things like boosting his other mundane powers. Like spending 1 Essence point in combat to reset the "cooldown" of per encounter and per day powers. Or to increase the damage or duration of the powers. And maybe the Sovereign can actually imbue other Heroes/Leaders/troops but to increase their level magically instead of giving them the ability to cast spells (unless I create some kind of spell/powers associated to the Essence thing... worth considering, I suppose).

Power Research

Ok, this is going to be weird. Researching spells doesn't make much sense due to the fact that Wizards gets them without problems. Or if I force them to only be able to learn from spells researched, I'd be in a situation in which a Wizard levels up faster that what my research can produce and have the wizard underpowered in comparison to fighters, for example. And although other Power Sources have more accesible powers (martial supposes training, psionic is similar, divine is granted, and primal more or less granted), it'd seem weird/unfair to have just a whole system for just one Power Source.

Maybe there shouldn't not be just Spell Research (should be called Arcane Research anyway) and have research for every power source. Arcane Towers would produce arcane spells (due to research), barracks would produce martial feats (due to training), temples would produce divine spells (gathering favours from the proper God), monasteries would produce psionic techniques (due to training and meditation) and... er... well, primal would get its powers from somewhere (some kind of "park"? ), I suppose.

Problems of the idea?

• Instead of a bar for spell points, it would need a bar for each power source (Arcane Points, Martial Points, Psionic Points, Divine Points, Primal Points... and still Shadow and Elemental power sources to get released by Wizards of the Coast in 2011). Where do I fit all that in the screen??? Maybe substitute the bar for Power Source icons that when hovering the mouse shows you the current state of that research and how many points you have accumulated.
• Still the problem of Heroes leveling faster than what the research can cover. Maybe they earn "Power Points" at level up that they can spend whenever there are powers available to buy what they need (without visiting any coty, to make it easier).
• Maybe too much stuff to keep track of. Maybe better have powers researched by the normal Research tab (War would unlock martial and psionic ones, Magic would unlock Arcane and Divine ones and Quests would unlock Primal ones). But in the end it could be worse because you can only research one at a time while with the bars all of them get points each turn if they have the proper buildings.
• I don't know if there is enough to research. There are plenty of powers in the books (no access to magazines so those doesn't count, and will only be working with Wizard of the Coast books unless something really cool from another publisher is found) but not sure if enough and how I could pace it. I'll have to sit down and make an example with the Martial power source to see how I could implement it.
• A Fighter doesn't use the same powers as a Warlord even if both are of Martial origin. But it'd be hell to track their researchs separatedly. And I think that unnecesary. They can use the same type of buildings and bars for research. And when the bar is full players can buy the type of power they want for the class they decide.

Man, I don't want to imagine all the hours of learning to code a semidecent AI so it can use all this stuff.

Very well, you're going on the list now!

Not the list!

Would be cool if between this week (that is being gentle with me) and next one I could have here all the details of the most important systems/problems/ideas. Once done, I'd go back to lurking and keep working in silence while knowing that people can come here and get an idea of what I want, would like, and things that I have to consider to be ready for Beta 5.

That said, something I wrote two months ago (with a little update) plus a temp list of monsters that could be in Dying Sun (far for being complete but it's based on Monster Manual 1 and some of my favourites) and the first faction (with placeholders in names):

Questing with style

Despite being a TBS game, Elemental is going to have a Quest system that should be abused as much as possible to flesh the world and civilizations used for the mod.

I consider to create quests to be something difficult. I mean varied, entertaining, meaningful and interesting quests. I like to tailor my quests specifically for my players (up to certain point), which means that they try to be story driven (related to things they have done and/or that can make their characters evolve) even if more often than not they are action packed (yes, that includes the main fighter of the group, while in a solo adventure, solving an encounter with bandits peacefully... to later change his mind to pursue and kill them ). A TBS is... different.

In an RPG quests are the way to tell a story (be it a John Woo one or a Spielberg one). The objectives of the game are to have fun, create a story and hopefully achieve some personal interests of the character you play (be it to become a God, to be rich, to avenge your family...). In a TBS you play to have fun. The part about creating a story is somehow lost in the sense that you cannot create dynamically one. At best you can create one that players will live during each game and that branches in some points to offer replayability and a feeling of being able to choose. And the game is played to win it too. Instead of a group of players working together for a (sometimes) common goal, in a TBS you have a group of players working against each other. RPGs are (when it works well) cooperative games, TBSs are competitive games. So to the usual difficulty of designing quests, I have now the added difficulty of their RPG nature altered to fit a TBS.

Quests cannot be cooperative (more than one player). At least not most of them. If possible, it'd be nice to have some cooperative quests for those moments in which players join forces for a common goal (although single player, multiplayer could get ome benefits from this). Also some competitive quests when two players are face to face. They should be circumstances dependant (if 2 players are allied..., if 2 players are at war...) but I'm not sure of how can it truly work. When should quests trigger? How often so it doesn't become predictable and/or boring? What happens if the trigger dissapears while the quest has been advanced?

Individual quests should be of two types: general and specific. The general quests would be open to any player (once per player usually) and should have some varied effects (good or bad depending of the result). The most basic one would be "Go to X and kill Y" (best suited for extra experience and money) or "Go to X and talk to Y" (this type would seem appropiate to start/continue a quest chain or to reward the player with some map info, tech...). From a Dying Sun point of view, they could be "Go to Frozenheart and raid the Castle of Bones." or "Go to The Red Tower and talk with the Archimage Lorem Ipsum.". The specific quests would be related to factions and/or Sovereigns. It'd be nice to have some tied to some of the default Heroes.

All that said, Quests in Dying Sun should provide one or more of the following:

• Experience for the involved
• Money for the faction
• Magic item for the involved
• Artifact for the involved
• New technology for the faction
• New power for the faction
• Special power for the involved (D&D based or not)
• Another new Quest
• Chain to another Quest that follows the current one
• Lore (not as reward though!)
• Story advancement (campaign?)
• Mundane equipment
• Information about a location the map (data, position under the FoW...)

Quests should be only doable by Sovereigns and Heroes. Some could involve combat (This is D&D!!! ), some sort of skill check (they should have skills like the ones of the RPG: Diplomacy, Athletism...) or something like that. The Quests related to the Quest Victory should be only doable by the Sovereign.

Potential list of creatures planned and/or wished:

• Angel
• Balor
• Dragon
• Dragonborn
• Drow
• Dwarf
• Eladrin
• Elf
• Goblin
• Golem
• Ghost
• Ghoul
• Human
• Lizardfolk
• Orc
• Rat
• Shadow
• Skeleton
• Tarrasque
• Tiefling
• Vampire
• Warforged
• Wolf
• Zombie

There are some ideas of factions (some are already mentioned in the original Dying Sun thread, maybe with some makeup). I have given priorities to them to those who I really want for sure at this moment and based on the classes they would be using (Priority: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta...).

There is only one Priority Alpha faction, which will come with two Sovereigns. Most of the basic work wil be done just to make it work and, most probably, won't be any other faction until this is totally done. One of the Priority Beta ones could be started earlier for control purposes (France is actually quite similar to Vizcaya, so most probable candidate if that was to happen).

Priority Alpha

Vizcaya

Purpose:
First faction. Used to introduce the first changes to the game and first tests. Basic humans like in Elemental. The theme would be of a warrior like people which has developed, as consequence, some specialization in combat and equipment. Classes to use by their Leader, Heroes and Sovereign: Guardian Fighter (sword and shield) and Archer ranger (Bow). Those two classes introduce the first Power Source: Martial. They also give the faction a Defender and a Ranged Striker.

They should excel at combat, be average in city building/research and penalized in diplomacy. So the character system would be changed, the combat system too, first custom tech tree, first dealings with diplomacy and other character skills, first power source and it's implications (with two different classes for a better view point).

Theirs would be the duty to make sure that the combat system can be made, how to be made and how it works. As well as the new Sovereign creation process (partially at least), skills, new traits... Once They are done, it's only a matter of adding more things that would follow similar implementations (other power sources) and create new systems to adapt other systems or to improve existing things.

I wish this was as easy to do as to write.

Role: Martial Defender.

Expertise: Combat.

Species

Human

Race

White

Hair

Brown

Skin

"White"

Aligment

Neutral

Leader/Hero/Sovereign Classes

Guardian Fighter (Martial)

Archer Ranger (Martial)

Sovereign:

1. Name: Tatiana Arantzazu
2. Species: Human
3. Race: White
4. Aligment: Neutral
5. Class: Guardian Fighter

Sovereign:

1. Name: Antxon Urrutia
2. Species: Human
3. Race: White
4. Aligment: Neutral
5. Class: Archer Ranger

The day I have to update properly this thread, heads are going to roll... mine first?

Altough I write mods for fun, I'm still thinking of making this. But boy, aren't there some radical changes in it! As only during Beta 4 I'll be able to see exactly how things go, for now is still some speculation. Therefore, I don't want to spam you with it.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, I have something that I have been tempted to post in the ideas section for some weeks but... hmmm not sure if it fits there. So I post it here, even if it's just because is part of some things I have been writing for my little tiny puny humble mod. Don't take it at face value and/or set in stone, ok? Just showing some silly ideas.

The legibility may be a bit hard, sorry for that but I fear it's on purpose. You can always highlight the text?

Aettryneland

"Do not fear what you control."
Lady Aeronwy of Aettryneland

"There are fates worse than to be forgotten, like clinging to The Dream plagued by Attor.
Dama Elena de Veralux

If any land outside the Maere deserves to be considered the land of nightmares, that would be Aettryneland. Not even the lands under the violent domain of the Brand Själ Klan or those under the ruthless control of Coeur de Glace produce such a pure fear as Aettryneland.

For centuries, the noble class from Aettryneland have had the absolute control of their nation and prevented other powerful enemies, like the blood thirsty Brand Själ Klan, to attack them by the use of powerful magics fueled by Attor. Of unkown origin, some speculate that it is originated from the Maere itself, this death magic allows its practicioners to bring dead bodies to life, corrupt living beings into twisted monsters or even infest the land with its taint. With vast armies of zombies, powerful Death Knights and the feared magics of their Weavers, Aettryneland can stand even against the powerful Church knowing that they won't dare to move against them.

• Aettryneland uses normal human beings as troops.
• The Sovereign has access to Attor, which allows him to use necrotic energies to do necrotic stuff.
• Some channelers can have access to Attor too.
• Champions can be imbued with Attor. The effects on channelers if to give them the ability to cast necrotic spells. Non channelers become automatically undead.
• Channelers with Attor, necromancers, can become powerful undead through powerful magics.
• It's possible to tie some places to wherever the real origin of Attor is. This makes those buildings to produce Attor like farms produce food for citizens. Necromancers produce Attor in the same way, based on their Attor power. Some artifacts, created or found, provide Attor too.
• Minor undead types like zombies, require a constant flow of Attor or they are destroyed permanently. This means that the quantity of undead troops that the necromancers can control at the same time is limited by the total amount of Attor their faction has. Undead Attor upkeep rate depends on the type of undead.
• Mayor undead types (Sovereign and channeler necromancers basically) are self reliant and they don't have an Attor upkeep. Some powerful undead being may have an Attor upkeep though.
• Necromancers can use spells to turn living people/units into different types of undead.

Coeur de Glace

"Bow down and die because we are the harbingers of doom!"
Bérénice Neigerouge

"Frostbite seems a more tempting option that to be bitten by the Winter Fangs."
Hermana Aurelia, Orden de la Rosa

People survived as they could after The Blink. The elves, of the now known as Coeur de Glace, didn't just survive but embraced the destruction that fell upon the world.

Unlike their cousins of Moyen-Uni, the Winter Fangs don't hide from the world. They only hide to ambush their preys: everyone else. This ruthless elves want nothing but to destroy all the opposition to the new situation. It is the end of the world as it has been known for millenia and they will make sure that nothing and no one can prevent it from happening. Ruthless, dedicated and cannibals, the elves of Coeur de Glace are a scourge slightly better than the orcs from the Brand Själ Klan.

• Gold: They doesn't use it. Items that would normally cost Gold have instead a Materials cost. They may collect Gold from quests or even trade (they value it poorly though) but they don't use it in their internal economy. Units have their upkeep based on Materials too.
• Food: In the arctic enviroment in which they survive, farms are quite difficult to keep producing food. They have developed Blood Gardens and Blood Farms that allows them to produce food that resists the frost. These buildingas require as part of the construction price to sacrifice a number of citizens.
• Arctic land: Altough the arctic land is their favored terrain, the Sovereign must spend some Essence to make the place suitable for their use. This cost in Essence is lower than for other factions, just 2?, but is necessary to allow other buildings like Blood Gardens and Blood Farms.
• Stealth: All units with this skill are invisible to opponent units/cities/structures in the main map unless in short range (3? tiles).
• Keen Perception: All units with this skill ignore the Stealth skill of opponent units.
• Children of Winter: All units with this skill receive less damage from Ice sources.

Funnily enough, this is the first time I've seen in a game that the druidic/natural/pro-wildlife faction not actually use gold. Makes sense.

If I'm allowed to say it, it makes sense. Not them or orcs or other similar factions should use Gold.

In fact and if possible, all the factions at the very beginning shouldn't use it. With time, some research and some cities, some factions could go beyond and start using structures and units that need Gold. But I somehow see strange that a newly reborn society will jump directly to use Gold. Time and testing will say more about this topic.

Meanwhile, and why not, I may as well post some edited stuff of what I'm currently working on about setting and mechanics. Faction abilities are out for now but their main purpose is to create different playstyles (there goes balance...): Orcs not doing diplomacy except with goblins, Aettryneland raising armies of undead, Greyfang being my first faction as the "vanilla" faction, Pandora Roku being an only war faction...

Later reality and skill will prove which ones can be done and how they evolve but so far there they are (there should be more done though, especially minor factions).

Resources

The resources used in "Dying Sun" are:

• People: used to fill your cities and make them to level up, to draft them as soldiers or to fuel the darkest of magics.
• Gold: used by many factions to buy items or to pay troops.
• Wood: used for buildings, weapons and boats.
• Stone: used for buildings.
• Food: used to get more population.
• Leather: used for buildings and armours.
• Iron: used for buildings, weapons and armours.
• Adamasium: used for weapons, armours and magic items.
• Astraium: used for weapons, armours and magic items.
• Maereium: used for weapons, armours and magic items.
• Crystals: used for magic items.
• Shards: used for magic.
• Horses: used for merchant caravans and military units.
• Winter Wolves: used for military units.
• White Bears: used for military units.
• White Tigers: used for military units.
• Dragons: used for military units.

Some resources are limited and will be depleted over time. A wheat farm may last forever as long as it's in a grassland terrain, but an iron mine would eventually run out of iron. (that eventually should be able to be tweaked during game selection)

Reviving the land

Reviving the land is serious business. Such feat can only be achieved by an Avatar spending Essence and using powerful magic.

Altough cities can be placed anywhere, certain types of buildings cannot be built or won't work in the arctic enviroment. Avatars of enough power and with the proper research, can create artifacts that magically change the weather in their area of influence to that of the Avatar's desire. These artifacts can be created by Pioneers but they need the sparkle of an Avatar to activate it.

If the artifact is somehow destroyed, lands in the former area of its influence will return to their default type.

Areas of dominion

There are two type of areas around a city: the area of influence and the area of control.

The area of influence reflects a more cultural influence that the city has in its sorroundings. It can expand in very long areas over time as the city increases in Prestige. Other faction units can enter it without causing, normally, a war.

The area of control is the area that it's under the direct military control of the city. This area expands according to city size and military buildings in it but it won't expand as much as the area of influence. Other faction units can only enter this area by declaring war.

Weather

Normal terrain is arctic which means slower movement rate (even with roads). About 1 point less (minimum 1).

Due to lower temperatures, all units receive damage each turn they spend in arctic terrain (2 points of damage). Population in cities is also affected unless there is proper shelter or the placement offers some kind of natural protection (1 citizen dies each turn or -1 Prestige). Certain skills, equipments and buildings can partially counter the effects of cold.

As random event, temperatures could drop more than usual and increase the penalties mentiones before (lowered movement even allowing units that cannot move, more damage for units, less Prestige in cities...). It could happen also the opposite (not very probable though).

Communication

Not many people know more than one language so it's not possible to start diplomatic relationships with those that don't share a common language. And that's supposing that the other faction is interested in diplomacy at all (don't bother with the orcs of Brand Själ Klan unless you are a goblin from the Små Jävlarna Klan or another fellow orc).

New languages can be learnt by factions using the Diplomacy research tree.

Corona de Veralux

• Alias: Zealots
• Race: Human
• Aligment: Good
• Language: Spanish
• Terrain: Grassland

Helle Königreich

• Alias: Dragonriders
• Race: Human
• Aligment: Good
• Language: German
• Terrain: Grassland

Kingdom of Greyfang

• Alias: Defenders
• Race: Human
• Aligment: Neutral
• Language: English
• Terrain: Grassland

Reino Arcano

• Alias: Heretics
• Race: Human
• Aligment: Neutral
• Language: Spanish
• Terrain: Grassland

Tao

• Alias:
• Race: Human
• Aligment: Neutral
• Language: Japanese
• Terrain: Grassland

Aettryneland

• Alias: Necromancers
• Race: Human
• Aligment: Evil
• Language: English
• Terrain: Dead

Moyen-Uni

• Alias: Hidden Folk
• Race: Elf
• Aligment: Neutral
• Language: French
• Terrain: Grassland

Coeur de Glace

• Alias: Winter Fangs
• Race: Elf
• Aligment: Evil
• Language: French
• Terrain: Arctic

Haus der Schwarzen Stein

• Alias: Stone Folk
• Race: Dwarf
• Aligment: Neutral
• Language: German
• Terrain: Dead

Brand Själ Klan

• Alias: Maere Scourge
• Race: Orc
• Aligment: Evil
• Language: Swedish
• Terrain: Dead

Små Jävlarna Klan

• Alias:
• Race: Goblin
• Aligment: Evil
• Language: Swedish
• Terrain: Dead

Pandora Roku

• Alias: Living City
• Race:
• Aligment: Neutral
• Language: English, Spanish, French, German, Swedish, Japanese
• Terrain: Arctic

Haha, all the swedish are evil. Makes me happy.

You might want to revise the name "Små Jävlarna", it would translate to "little buggers" rather than the direct translation of small devils which you might have intended. "Little buggers clan" is what I would translate it to, this might be what you want but it sounds odd to me. I suggest something like "Små Vättars Klan" since "en vätte" is a mix of goblin and fairy from swedish folklore. If you want to I can translate the swedish for you.

Very nice looking and ambitious by the way.

Once I can start doing real modding and develop things, I plan to beg for translations instead of depending on Google Translator. And hopefully no one will get wrong ideas because their language is used for Faction X or Faction Y (we all know that Ikea is evil tough :P).

I'll be happy to help out in any capacity I can, (ie. writing, proof reading, tile design, mod design, no programming though.) if you decide you need any. =p

I'll certainly be happy to do any testing for you. ;D

Ikea is not evil, it just efficient. "There is no evil nor good. Only the dead and the standing."

"Småjävlarnas Klan" Might be the closest thing to the meaning of little bastards clan without using the "oäkting" which literally means bastard like in bastard child. But I assume this isn't the bastard you were looking for.

Those wiley Swedish, with their sustainable energy policies and endemic saunas. Why can't they be more 'Merican?

Once I have really started working on the mod (not that all these walls of text and planning don't count), I'd consider about asking for collaborators. But first I must have started messing with code because it'd mean that I have something solid to show (posts are very nice but mean nothing unless there is stuff to back it up) and what exactly the mod is about would be already and truly defined (so people can really be sure if the mod actually interests them*).

As for the little bastards, I suppose it's the same "bastards" as in "Inglorious Bastards". Basically, these goblins took as clan name the "nickname" that the humans of Greyfang used on them.

* trust me, although the Soul of the mod is the same, the Flesh has nothing to do with the original one (taking some risks with it too). Once Beta 4 hits, I'll be able to decide some important details about the Bones.

And we want everyone to think the environment is our biggest concern. Oh yes... We're not developing and selling weapons for money. The NWO has higher plans.

I think "Småjävlarnas Klan" is the most suiting in that case Wintersong. But then again without a functioning mod, the finer spelling is low priority. Agree there. There are a few much more comical things that the people would call them, but those might not be very fitting.

And you have already gotten me interested by these posts.

What comes next is totally silly and therefore I post it here instead of the Ideas section. I simply wish that, even knowing that I'll be able to tweak screens as I want, the default character creation screen was more like that of Titan Quest.

Altough in that game the character creation was more simple that the brain activity of a dead rat, the screen was certainly cool and epic (imho). Instead of having our character framed inside of a parchment (as pretty as it may be), I'd prefer him/her to stand in some 3D ruins or something like that and... well, see pic as example.

I certainly find it more appealing, if I'm allowed to say so.

I should remember to add to my internal task list that I'll have to redo all the frakking screens... with extra work if I have to add/remove things. And that will be the easy part compared with the rest!!!

On a more "on topic" note, in the next two or three weeks (free time pending... *crosses all the fingers*) the first posts of the thread should/could be updated with some solid info (including shocking news!!! *prepares a bunker to hide*). Then you all should be able to really start judging if this mod really can (potentially) interest you or not.