Orcs, Elves, and the One Cliché to Rule Them All

[Daynarr]

Ooook, now i have a headache.

[Morkilus]

Can you see Tolkein's elves making blood sacrifices, summoning devils, and calling lightning from the sky? The Dominions Vanir are so much more interesting, and the bonus is they're closer to the original myth. I'm having fun writing stories about the "elves" that dominate humanity and demand children for rituals, while coveting their numbers and fecundity.

I still can't figure out Abysia; I've lazily avoided them since I can't really conceptualize their flavor. Perhaps people want those fantasy standbys since they automatically create unit diversity with minimal imaginative effort; all the work has already been done. But with more ancient, diverse mythology you can always read up on a nation from hundreds of sources, not just stuff from J.R.R. and R.A. Salvatore.

[Nerfix]

So far Dominions is the only game with "lava people" I have played...

[Reverend Zombie]

Nerfix said:
So far Dominions is the only game with "lava people" I have played...

I think they were in Fantasy General(?), and are sort of a Dungeons and Dragons staple, no?

[Ed Kolis]

Dom2 lacks orcs, elves, and hobbits? Hmm, last I checked the Tuatha sure resembled elves (isn't "Sidhe" one of Tolkien's elf races?), and the Hoburgsmen are just another name for hobbits (Tolkien) / halflings (D&D) / hurthlings (ADOM)... the only thing really lacking is orcs
I still think that Clockwork Horrors should produce mecha-Horrors, though, not mecha-Hoburgsmen

[Vicious Love]

I ain't never seen no 'nother game with no Chinamen in it, is all. Plenty of flavor-of-the-month pseudo-Japanese titles, but absolutely none that do justice to a culture I consider at least as interesting as that of their sun-worshipping, bear-suckling neighbors.

I value originality in my games. Failing that, good use of genuinely interesting civilizations and mythologies is a welcome alternative. Dominions seems to have some measure of both, which puts it head and shoulders above nearly every other computer game out there at the moment.

[Psitticine]

Ed Kolis said:
Hmm, last I checked the Tuatha sure resembled elves (isn't "Sidhe" one of Tolkien's elf races

"Sidhe" is the term for the race of people who inhabitated the Otherworld after beinng chased by this one by the mythic ancestors of the modern Irish. They became the fey or fairie folk in time. The term literally means a sort of perfectly rounded hill that had a doorway in it. When the moon was right, you went in the doorway and, when you came out the other side of the hill, you were in the Otherworld.

Tolkien was inspired by both Nordic and Celtic mythologies. He fused a lot of what he liked from both, added some other elements, and gave it all a finish of his own.

[Nerfix]

Reverend Zombie said:

I think they were in Fantasy General(?), and are sort of a Dungeons and Dragons staple, no?

Well place emphasis on "I have played".

Though I haven't heard of DD lava people.

[Reverend Zombie]

Nerfix said:

Well place emphasis on "I have played".

Though I haven't heard of DD lava people.

And of course, the other way to parse Abysia is to make them even less "original," whatever that means: a race of demon warriors and their human followers.

Nope, that's never been done before.

[Endoperez]

And looking at the name (Abyss =~ hell), I'd say that Abysians are somewhere between humans and demons, or actually humanbreds and demonbreds. I just hope Abysia will get Blood-only Cross Breeding in DomIII... That spell's flavour is just so fitting for the whole breeding concept.


How many of you have played Illwinter's first game, Conquest of Elysium, which did have elves and dwarves, dark elves and draconians, human nations inspired by Middle-Age Europe, something Asian (), Roman imperium, and also classical mages: druid controlling animals, shaman controlling spirits, enchanter controlling items and statues, demonologist constantly sacrificing gold to have a chance of binding infernal forces, and necromancer losing his sanity when using his power, but having the chance to obtain immortality if he can clear his mind. Many things from that game are still visible in Dominions, and the changes are just as visible.

The better of the spirits Shaman controlled resemble later Horrors. Blood hunt is no longer automatic, but one still has to lower taxes to push into blood, and two nations are still clearly inspired by Rome. And while Ermorian necromancers don't sacrifice their sanity to call back the dead, the hordes are even larger, and the price isn't gone, it just is different. Even the shapeless things sometimes formed when dozens of corpses were available came back, in the form of the Eater of the Dead.

I wonder if DomIII will bring back other things from that old game. Not orcs or elves, but other well-known clichés... I presume most of you have noticed the mercenary group with Inquisitor leading huge number of Marignon pikemen. Well, imagine an independent army twice that big, with inquisitors and witch hunters in the lead, one of them seemingly prophet, Knights of the Chalice holding the read, all this under the name of Inquisition, attacking unexpectedly? Can you see it? What about the Four Riders?

Oh, there certainly are clichés I wouldn't mind seeing. I trust Illwinter can handle most any cliché well enough for it to fit right in to their world. As a good example, Vaetti could be said to be just smaller orcs. In Conquest of Elysium, they were even named Goblins. Still, I wouldn't mind a Vaetti nation, because Vaetti are more than just goblins. Similarly, I wouldn't mind seeing orcs under the name, costume and even culture Illwinter would dress them in. However, I'm not expecting a Vaetti nation, because unless they think it would work, Illwinter won't add it. I didn't except Moose riders, but I'm excepting Jotun Moose Knights more than War Bears.