Where Khalifate is

[SkyOne]

The topic title used to be "How Khalifate reached in Wesnoth?"

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related links of this thread:
The Battle for Meridia by TSI
Khalifate feedback thread by Wintermute
Khalifate Unit Descriptions by Skrim
Khalifate Unit Naming by mameluke
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Hi,

A new race, Khalifate, has been added on the newest development version, 1.9.6. It is always nice to see new units on BfW.
However, I am actually a kind of out of ideas how they came to Wesnoth. It seems they do not look like coming with Haldric I from the Green Isle, and there is no race-descriptions on the file, yet.

They may came from the east or south of Wesnoth later by riding horses? Or they just designed for MP-play? I have tested them in one and a half scenario on own, and they seem attractive units (although my computer crashed on the second scenario with 1.9.6 ). I will appreciate if somebody responses here.

#(if anybody has already made a thread like this on any forums, please PM me. I will delete this post in the case. )

Thanks.

[Skrim]

AFAIK there is a great desert to the south of Wesnoth according to the geography page, farther south than the Aethenwood. The Khalifate probably live there and in other hilly and desert regions to the far south and southeast.

How they got there is unknown. It is however certain that, indeed, they are not the same as Haldric's people - not descendants of the west-north, not part of Wesnoth. They'd probably come into contact with Wesnothians though if Wesnoth grew farther south and east, and would probably be known to the Wood Elves of Aethenwood as well I'd guess.

[pauxlo]

There is some description about the factions south of Wesnoth in the Battle for Meridia thread (of which the Khalifate is the most north one, I think).

[SkyOne]

AFAIK there is a great desert to the south of Wesnoth according to the geography page, farther south than the Aethenwood. The Khalifate probably live there and in other hilly and desert regions to the far south and southeast.

How they got there is unknown. It is however certain that, indeed, they are not the same as Haldric's people - not descendants of the west-north, not part of Wesnoth. They'd probably come into contact with Wesnothians though if Wesnoth grew farther south and east, and would probably be known to the Wood Elves of Aethenwood as well I'd guess.

Oh, I see. They don't really live inside of Wesnoth. Yeah, it makes sense, and doesn't effect existed mainline campaigns much.
Thanks, Skrim. I appreciate it.

There is some description about the factions south of Wesnoth in the Battle for Meridia thread (of which the Khalifate is the most north one, I think).

Aaah, thanks, pauxlo. That is almost like the race-description. I probably cannot use them if they keep the definition like that because I wanted to use some of them in the third century of Wesnoth.

This line is from Geography of Wesnoth in the Far North:

To the east lie the Unaligned Tribes of the Wild Steppe, who fell out of the control of the Clannate, instead roaming with wild human barbarians and clashing with the High Elves of the North Plains (known as North Elves in human lands).

Those human barbarians could be Khalifate although they are lawful units...

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Another from Geography of Wesnoth (of the southern land):

-The Southern Land-
This is the land to the far south of wesnoth.
Notable cities:
Serrul: a peaceful city that excels at sea trade.
Varrant: a prosperous trade city.
Kesh: a powerful military city.
Azen: capitol of the Azgar (a Expansionist clan with a strong military force)
Notable land features:
The Ashland Desert: a long and hot desert that leads to Wesnoth.

Actually, I have been curious whose cities they are.
Those cities fit with Khalifate, don't they?

[Deusite]

Cattle and beasts of burden were found dead in the fields, and men went missing from their houses, with no clues but a thin stream of black blood. At first the settlers suspected raiders from the great desert, but when they sent scouts east they found nothing but a small mountain range and miles of swamp.

Based on that, I suspect they're from some large desert in the Wesnothian interior south of the Estmark hills. That is, of course, assuming that fluff already exists.
Arabic doesn't have a 'v' sound

[Crendgrim]

Well, since the Khalifate are part of the "Battle for Meridia" project as mentioned before in this thread, I think they belong to that area. And in the "Geographical reconciliation" by elidell there already exist a first map sketch for that area: http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php ... 31#p480131
Maybe it's possible to locate the Khalifate there in the South of Wesnoth to fit the "history" of the Khalifate development process (afaik it fits, at least).


Crend

[SkyOne]

Varrant: a prosperous trade city.

Arabic doesn't have a 'v' sound

Aliee...
But nice to know. Thanks.


Actually, this is the conclusion of this thread so far. Thanks, Crendgrim. :

Well, since the Khalifate are part of the "Battle for Meridia" project as mentioned before in this thread, I think they belong to that area. And in the "Geographical reconciliation" by elidell there already exist a first map sketch for that area: http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php ... 31#p480131
Maybe it's possible to locate the Khalifate there in the South of Wesnoth to fit the "history" of the Khalifate development process (afaik it fits, at least).

Now, hopefully, UMC creators are able to get some ideas to start creating Khalifate campaigns (even just to install them).
As my opinion, the novice level is a kind of nice for players recently.

[thespaceinvader]

NB: the Battle for Meridia is NOT canon. It may never be canon. It's my own work, and is not official in any way.

That being said, it does present a location for the Khalifate to originate from, and I do have a reasonable idea of a potential story hook for them to appear in Wesnoth - essentially consisting of the desert between being far too vast to cross on foot, and the sea between having until recently been uncrossable because of some hazard which the Khalifate recently defeated. They send a trade envoy, a campaign happens, Wesnoth (probably the Northern Alliance or Elensefar, actually) sends one back, and the Meridia campaign happens.

Resurrecting Meridia is in my sights now, with the Khalifate in mainline. I just need to get myself back into gear.

[Scaeb]

There is no desert which cannot be crossed... (It might happen, that no great civilization can emerge, but people always find ways to cross it. The Sahara, but also Gobi was crossed in ancient times already for trade).

[thespaceinvader]

There is now

That being said, I'm not averse to the idea that it couldn't be crossed until... someone managed to cross it.

[Crendgrim]

Well, maybe it just wasn't crossed because it's been very hostile to life.
There may have lived the last fire dragons or other evil creatures.


Crend

PS: congratulations to 8'200 posts

[PandaClaws]

I have tried to make some lore on them in my thread. Might be interesting to read through. (I am planning to expand on this even if it never goes mainline)
Sorry for necroing by the way.
The Khalifate

Not much is known about the mysterious empire in the South. Either way, the things that are known could be very useful in case of a war. Small pieces of information were continuously gathered by talking and in some cases even torturing travelling traders who hailed from these lands. A drastic course of action perhaps but a necessary one as no-one is allowed to pass their borders. Unlike many other desert civilizations they are not nomads. Having built large cities around water sources instead. The Khalifate is ran by the military, this is necessary as it can only maintain its lifestyle due to its many slaves. Emperors are elected by high-ranked officers and the military constantly tries to keep a tight grip on the religion's power. Because from what information they could gather from captured traders it seems that the people believe that each emperor has a tiny piece of god within him. Something that according to the priests makes the emperor a demi-god. Ofcourse the officers know this and thus strive to keep the priests' power in check since more power for the priests equals more power for the emperor, which could mean change...

[powershot]

How exactly does it matter?

[PandaClaws]

Yeah, you are actually right. At first thought I expected this to be a general "Khalifate info-dumping" thread. Anyway, I forgot to mention that I meant the Ash Desert or whatever it is called.

[AI]

There is work being done on the kalifa elsewhere, which isn't finished yet.