OT: The ambiance and setting (part 3)

[Omnirizon]

I think your right, Illuminated. It seems Mari is deliberately Iberian, and the HRE wasn't involved in France Spain like I was thinking they were.

France is so entirely hybridized, its hard to find anything essential about it without having one foot in Man and the other in Ulm; i'd say the gravity of these two nations would draw away a lot of what might be "French".

Still, I'm thinking about an environment of haughty aristocracy and a priesthood of political intrigue. Here the priests are more a political entity interested in the central state, rather than the divinity. This would set it apart from Man who are a little more separate from the continental priesthood, and from Mari who are in bed with it; however it does have a bit of the theme of Ulm. But unlike Ulm which is fractured with infighting, le Midi nobles have always faced the a central state, to the point of absentee landlords who would rather spend their time in the capital than tending their estates.

I might draw imagery from Poe (Masque of Red Death), the stories of Notre-Dame, vulgar peasant fairy tales, and wandering and aloof orders of gypsies. I'd like to read about Merovin-Carolin and whatever-gians, to see if I can place the lineage of le Midi with some narrative that already exists in dominions.

[Omnirizon]

PS

Oh, and for an epithet, and little opening quip, I like this quote:

The Fourth Age: Angel of Progress

His face is turned towards the past... The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole that which has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. This storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.

-Walter Benjamin

or something like that. a history of war, nations in wreckage, propelling into a jaded future.

EDIT: oops, i meant to edit, not quote.

[JimMorrison]

You know, I like that image, really. le Midi need not be a powerful nation, as a "nation". The feel of it could be based off of gypsies, winemakers, gourmands and connoisseurs, people who value culture and recreation above war and politics. Indeed, you could let what little is left of Pan, lend into le Midi, providing a basis of strong Earth and Nature magic, along with reliance on stealth and subtlety, and rounded out with a newly bolstered priesthood.

[sector24]

You could rely on the "mythology" of France which is essentially the stories of Charlemagne and the 12 Paladins, and the national epic Song of Roland. Just replace the word "saracen" with "Abysian" or whatever nation you want them to be eternal enemies with. And advance the timeline 400 years.

[Lavaere]

whats going to happen with the areas of Italy, Greece, Turkey. Since there was the undead rome and byzantine nations. Also since your adding a france, will you also be adding a eastern europe/russia type nation

as after reading this, it sounds very interesting

[Omnirizon]

i don't know about adding this other stuff.

the addition of France, while still very tempting, has been pushed aside. I realize that ultimately it is unnecessary for the game itself. dominions doesn't really have a mechanism for identifying 'europe', only some europe inspired nations. further, some bits of frenchy knightly chivalry seemed to be seeped into marignon. without a way of signifying europe, there isn't much purpose for providing the continental connection between Ulm, Man, and Marignon. A French nation could be added as extra content, but I kind see now that a lot of my initial reasons for wanting to add an explicit France are really irrelevant for the Dominions style.

besides, i've got my hands full thinking of how to bring existing nations into a Renaissance setting. i don't want to work to much on any of that until i've got ONE nation added to see how it will all work out. when I make a first playable release, it will likely only feature one nation.

i'm getting close to that though. i'm expirementing with random recruitment methods. i do want nations to recruit troops and keep track of recruited troops, even assigning troops to commanders. in a real way, each unit is embedded in its commander, unlike typical roguelikes were everything is generated independently. rather than generating single monsters, it will have to generate a commander(s) and their units.

unfortunately, school is now back in session and time is short, so development has slowed to a crawl.

[Wrana]

As I said, they ARE in a Rennaissance setting already - at least most of them. You may also think of "Ermorishness" time as a period equivalen to real world Black Death - also right in the beginning of Rennaissance...
An idea of making "ancien regime" France out of Pangaea was quite good, too, I'd say - especially considering a fad for satir-nymph relationships and Amurs in Barocco period...
About continental connections - I'm not sure, but I feel that Dawn of Dominions map provides something like an "official location" for various nations in EA. Then, Marignon is formed in the region where Marverni was and Pythium in former Sauromatia lands (as indicated by hydras)... Of course, Man isn't present here but there are clear indications in background text that Tir-Nan-Og, Fomoria, Man and Eriu are the same archipelago...