Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.

This likely won’t make the final cut into the game because it’s too much for new users. But for those of you interested in the lore of Elemental and how races, factions, and allegiances work under the covers:

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In beta 1Z and beyond there will only be three included races: Men, Trogs and Urxen.

But for those of you in the current beta, we have it sub-divided out much further.

The race of men long ago were split into two parts – west and east.

The west fought the Titans and lived on the fringes of civilization due constant wars with the much more powerful Titans and their allies. The east served the Titans until Amarian (the Emperor) rose up with the might of his empire in the east and allied himself with the Elas’nir in the final battle. After the cataclysm, the remnants of his empire fled to the west to escape from the wrath of the Fallen and the Krax (men who remained loyal to the Titans).

Amarian’s people aren’t a race per se, they’re really just a collection of people from the east and hence aren’t particularly distinct.

On the east, there are two distinct races.  The Mancers and the Ironeers.   The Mancers are by far the most common with Altar, Capitar and Tarth (once part of Capitar) of that race. In later days, Altar becomes a predominantly Amarian but that story is for a different day.

But like I said, in the actual game, we are going to treat races as species and have just men, Trogs (Fallen), and Urxen (Fallen).

There are other races in the game (Dragons, Trolls, Sions, Darklings, etc.) but they aren’t social or numerous enough to make a playable race.


Comments (Page 2)
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on Apr 08, 2010

Why the decision to drop Wraiths and Magnars?

The post is about the races of Men, and has nothing to do with the Fallen.  Wraiths and Magnars are factions of Fallen, and will presumably be comprised of Fallen races (either Trogs or Urxen).

 

on Apr 08, 2010
Id like more race's for the Kingdoms I mean the Empire has 2 race's thats discrimination towards the Kingdom and all those other Kingdoms Mancers,Ironeers(I agree with Aractain its a funny name),Altar,Capitar,Tarth,Gilden and Amarians this is just teams of the Human race hell warcraft 3 has more races(Humans,Night Elfs,Undead,Orcs) at least add Elfs to the Kingdoms some variety for making a custom race I mean "Hmm which race shall i choose Human or Human so many choices so little time" at least add more races for the customization you dont have to make more teams.
on Apr 08, 2010

I'm in the add more races camp also - With distinct differences between them. There should be at a minimum be 6 distinct races (even if there is just minor differences like some of them being "sub-races") with 10 total civilizations. Ideally there should be 8 based on the chart above.

While the game will still be somewhat fun with just 3 races, it will be significantly less so than it could be. Granted this will require more time being spent on art assets, and developing differences.....but in my opinion it's worth it.

on Apr 08, 2010

I would like to see more races too. I prefer the usual elves, dwarves, orcs and dark elves.

It will require not only more work on art, but also a lot more work on balancing. I wonder if this is this the reason for not adding more races.

 

on Apr 08, 2010

I'm pretty sure Elves (and all their variations,) Dwarves, Gnomes, and the stereotypical Fantasy Setting Races are something they're trying to avoid.  Elves don't seem like they'd fit in E:WoM either, at least not to me.

Kingdoms, Sub-races and the like are the best way to go IMO.  Whole new races as playable would still have to fit within the games lore, and considering the world of Elemental is supposed to be relatively desloate, I don't see there being that many.

Personally, I'd say 5, tops.  On the other hand, as the game proceeds and is further developed, I may change my mind...

But hey, Civilization only ever had one race...  At least we're getting three (at present,) so there's that at least.

And if you're argument to me mentioning Civ is, "Yeah, but each Civ had flavor," then don't bother.  They're all human, the special units didn't add that much flavor, and the Civ Specific Bonuses didn't really matter unless you sucked at the game like I do or played on a very high difficulty.

Speaking of, Civilizations should fall into one of three categories IMO.  Human, Fallen, and Dead.  (Read: Non-existant.  This isn't Civilization.)  If you -did- add any, it would have to be Titans methinks, and only that.  Just my opinion though.

on Apr 08, 2010

I expect that multiple other races will be modded in very quickly.

on Apr 08, 2010

cleflar
I expect that multiple other races will be modded in very quickly.

Very quickly? Someone will have to make 3D models for these races as well....

on Apr 08, 2010

Tarth and Capitar being similar is fine for me. Capitar can be the Diplomatic Beuracrats of the Mainland (including crusades), and Tarth can be the rebel pirates and archers ... similar to renegade banditry and the wilds.

The Altar/ Amarian is kind of confusing so I won't touch it at the moment,

and Gildar being their own race is good as well.

Thats 3 races so far ... although adding in Krax its at least 4 main races.

Then for the Fallen, Trogs and Urxen are fine, although I thought Magnar was a really cool idea, and it would be nice if Magnar remained. Wraith would be fine as a faction, although I guess they can just use another race .... a split from their former race in that they specialize in Stealth and the Shadows. Probably a form of Air magic ... used to pollute the air with dust and poisons. (might need an earth shard/ some earth spells).

So thats 3 main races for the fallen as well.

Subraces can increase the number if needed, although these main 6 races (mancer, Ironeer, Krax) (Trog, Urxen, Magnar) would be fun to have (as variety in Art assets and Base skills). Sure maybe the division is based more on lore than game mechanics ... but if Magnar are going to be "dark elves" then I would highly prefer that they have a unique race (similar to how Gildar are a unique race).

on Apr 08, 2010

So, no beta 1.z today? Everytime the fiction appears on the release day, the release is postponed.

on Apr 08, 2010

It went up at 1AM...  So probably before Draginol even went to bed for the night...  So for him it was still yesterday...  Kind of like me right now, having not slept yet.  =P

Edit: The Original Post I mean, not the build.  >.<

on Apr 08, 2010

Ya I say keep em too! Diversity is good! Its not confusing. Heck I would like to explore around the world and find information on the backrounds of these races. That would be cool! (Look at Dragon Age its got lots of tid bits laying around.)

on Apr 08, 2010

From a thematic perspective, I like what they're doing with races. There's no good reason people would be highly united 100 years after a civilization-destroying event, and a lot of reasons why they wouldn't be. With only 10 factions, there should be fairly limited racial selection. I also like that they've avoided elves and dwarves and the typical fantasy races. There's a whole host of preconceived notions that goes with these races that tend to reduce them to charicatures and/or joke material in most computer games. Elemental is trying to tell their own, serious, story and I appreciate that.

From a gameplay perspective, there's no real need for additional races other than visual distinction. Players already get bonuses/gampelay differences from: A) the side they choose (Empire v. Fallen) - affects style of building, what type of land is considered fertile, and whether you have life or death magic, the faction they choose, C) the soverign they choose. Not only would racial bonuses add another level of complexity to an already fairly complicated system, but the faction bonuses already cover the same ground. A faction is always of the same race, so there's no functional difference between faction and racial bonuses.  Also, given that they are aiming to make it so that anyone can intermarry and children take on the characteristics of their parents, there's some good reasons to limit the number of races - especially when trading children in arranged marriages is going to be a fundamental aspect of diplomacy. I'll pass on the dwarf-elf and gnome-elf hybrids, thank you very much. Interbreeding with the Fallen is going to be scary enough without the "good guys" getting in on it also.

on Apr 08, 2010

I'd like to see the other races returned also, but I am willing to wait for an expansion in that regard.

 

 

on Apr 08, 2010

This is the tree for men. Not The Fallen.

on Apr 08, 2010

In other words, there will be another Tree for the Fallen, perhaps one for each fallen race.  A whole forest.

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