Some questions to Illwinter, not urgent at all

[Nerfix]

Where did Gifts from Heavens get it's name?

What was the "weird 3D dominions" project you mention in the manual?

[Kristoffer O]

1) Dunno. Seems fitting I suppose.

2) I havn't read the manual for some time, amd I don't have the printed one yet, so I can't answer theis atm.

[Fate]

I hope it is ok to quote these 2 sentences, Shrapnel. If not, feel free to edit them out. The quote is:

"...After a half year or so we decided that we [KO and JK] wanted to make a new game instead of making small changes to Dominions [:PPP].

We started on several ideas, including a strange 3D version of Dominions..."

That is from a great intro by KO himself! And the rest of the manual is very informative, thank you to all who helped.

I was also interested in the idea of a 3D dominions (space dominions coming next?).

[Nerfix]

The best part of the manual is this one though:

"There is an Amber Clan backstory that is essentialy to playing Dominions 3, it plays such a pivotal role in the game everyone should know it if they truly wish to get the maximum amount of satisfaction out of the game. Here it goes: The Amber Clan Tritons mainly frolic, this has made them powerful. While frolicking they liston to whale songs, this has made them magicl. When they occasionaly do not frolic they fashion items made out of the amber that is so prevalent in their special provinces, this has given them the name The Amber Clan Tritons"

- Johan Osterman

[Meglobob]

I like quotes like these personally:-

'Early age man is not present in the released version of Dominions3. It is a nation of tuatha and sidhe called Tir n'an Og and will appear with one of the updates to the game.'

For several reasons.

1) We r going to get even more nations to play, as if 50+ is not enough.

2) I remember playing a adventure game called Tir n'an Og, on the spectrum 48k.

3) I really, really want to see what the tuatha and sidhe were like before man came along to destroy them.

I really like the wheel of time books, I do hope they bring the series to a conclusion thou.

[Fate]

I would also like to see if the Tir n'an Og explains Chelms's "curse" at all.

[Foodstamp]

Tir na nog is a theme used in alot of games. It is the capital city for Hibernia in Dark Age of Camelot. If I remember correctly, it is the name of a place in early Celtic Mythology where the Tuatha de Danaan lived (Or retreated to behind the veil?). Other notable places included Tir na Mbeo and Magmell (Summer fields?).

As excited as I am about the tir na nog nation, I am also super excited about the Fomoria nation. The Fomor were the Celts version of the Juton in a way, and the mythos behind both this faction and the Tuatha will lend alot of unit/nation spell ideas.

With the addition of those two nations, we will have a fleshed out Celtic/Briton myth model that will feel as complete as the current Norse implementation.

[Nerfix]

Fomoria eh?

[HoneyBadger]

Tir n'an Og is indeed a Celtic myth reference. It means either "Land of Many Colors" "Land of Eternal Youth" or something similar along those lines. It's one of the "faerielands" or underworld/paradise, along with Annwn (Annwfn), the Welsh underworld, ruled by Prince Arawn. Another is Mag Mell trans "plain of joy", the Irish paradise. The Greeks have Hesperides, the garden at the end of the world, and the Elysian Fields (paradise). The Russians, comparatively, have the island of Buyan, which can mysteriously appear and disappear, and where many strange things occur. Koschei the Deathless--a sort of unkillable troublemaking mischief-god, more in the vein of a dirty old Zeus than a Loki or a Christian Devil--keeps his soul on this island, inside of a needle, which is inside of an egg, inside of a duck, in a hare, in an iron chest, buried under a green oak tree. The Irish and the British also have several "sacred isles", such as Avalon-itself a faerieland, and an island where the sheep are either white or black, changing color as they move from one side of the island to the other.
Pretty much every culture we humans have ever come up with has stories about some form or another of faerie or dwarf, from the house spirit Domovoi of the Russians, to the Norse Duergar, to the Hawaiian Menehune-superb craftsmen of small size who live in the jungle and dine on bananas. Dahomey-once a kingdom in what is now Benin, in Africa-has the Aziza, a beneficient race of faeries who live in the forest and give good magic to hunters. The Aziza also provide practical and spiritual knowledge.

The Fomor (Fomorians) were supposedly the original "race" in Ireland. Misshapen, and often gigantic, they were ruled by the elderly-but nonetheless awesome-Balor "of the evil eye" who could kill by just looking at his foes, but was so enfeebled that he had to be lifted up with ropes and pulleys when it came time to do battle. The Fomorians basically represented chaos and evil, and had been extant on Ireland as a "people" since before the first Partholanian invasion. The Partholanians are devastated by a plague and Ireland is next invaded by the Nemedians. All 8060 Nemedians die mysteriously-possibly as a complication resulting from close interbreeding, as supposedly the Nemedians were descended from one man, Nemed son of Agnoman, four other men and four women. Next to arrive is Semion, son of Stariat, from whom three tribes, the Firboigs, the Fir-Domnan, and the Gailoin--together known as the Firbolgs, are descended. The Firbolgs together seem to represent a less-than-totally-successful race of people, in that they are generally represented as inferior and/or servile. The first real conquerors of Ireland show up next, and they are the Tuatha de Danaan-trans "the folk of the god who's mother is Dana". Now, I've read that they were named that as a corruption of Latin, basically the Romans were saying the Tuatha (people (of Ireland)) were the children of their (the Romans') goddess Diana. We do have a goddess in Ireland though named Brigit (Brigid or Brigido, Christianized into "St. Brigit"), and she may have been one of the principle gods, being the daughter of Daghdu "The Good", another giant who's battle-club was apparently so large that it had wheels on it. Daghdu (Dagda or Dagdu) may have been a holdover god from a very primitive time, as he seems to be the most crudely represented and most basic-but also most primal-of the Irish gods. Now, the Druids and Bards of Ireland tended to represent the Tuatha de Danaan as scholarly warrior-poets who studied the arts as well as science (such as it was in those times) and magic. The "common" people of Ireland, however, revered them as earth-deities over agriculture, fertility, and nature. The Tuatha initially try to make peace and live in harmony with the Firbolg, but the Firbolg refuse and battle the Tuatha on the Plain of Moytura. The Firbolgs lose and are relegated to County Connacht, where people claiming descent from the Firbolg still survive. Nuada of the Silver Hand is king of the Tuatha at this point, but his hand is cut off, and this prevents him from continuing to be king. The Tuatha continue to have problems with the Fomorians, however, who are apparently much more dangerous than the Firbolg, with more numbers, better leadership, and all the advantages of being evil misshapen giants of primordial evil. Lugh of Many Talents then shows up on the scene, ultimately defeating the Fomorians. There's an excellent source of information about this at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mlcr/mlcr03.htm, from which I borrowed and distilled much of the above information, adding a bit here and there from my own studies. I also did some quick research in the Wikipedia, which is as fine a place to learn something as I've ever come across. Cheers!

[Nerfix]

Oooh, interesting. Thanks.