The Settlers of Light: Story Development

[AfterDawn]

This thread is my plea for advice and suggestions on further developing the storyline for a campaign I have picked up called "The Settlers of Light ". Its story presumably picks up pretty close after the events of Invasion From Unknown (IftU) which itself inherits its plot from Under the Burning Suns(UtBS) which I loved.

As it stands the campaign has a conclusion but most of the story is chopped up and somewhat incomprehensible which I can assume is a result of not enough missions and yet to be inserted bits of plot related dialogue. Despite that here's the story from what I gathered.

Some Background

- The Aragwaithi, humans who formed a kingdom /oligarchal society to the north after the Fall, have sent a small contingent of warriors to settle the "ancient" ruins of Elensefar. Anthenmyr is the man delegated to lead the settlers to the site of Elensefar and has to defend their claim to the rubble against bandits and Orcs. The operation seems to be part of a larger Aragwaithi plan to resettle the south thus extending their control to the detriment of the Dark Legion which everyone agrees is evil anyway. There is also a somewhat unclear undertone of perhaps finding a way to defeat the nemesis of all civilization from the stories of IftU and UtBS, Uria. But don't worry none of the scenarios involve finally defeating her or finding a way to do so.

Some Story

• Anthenmyr and co. arrive in Elensefar and immediately fights off bandits and orcs.
• The Aragwaithi then settle in and encounter a band of Ceresians. (Note: I have no idea what a Ceresian is besides the fact that the race appears to be entirely human. I have never seen a campaign that deals with who they are or when they appeared in the wesnoth world but I can only assume their creation occurred at a time relatively close to the Aragwaithi; i.e. after the fall. Any more information on this obscure race would be much appreciated). Then the Chaos Legion shows up and attacks and is defeated.
• Anthemyr goes west to secure a better water source than the little stream that flows north of the ruins and runs into a Chaos Legion outpost. More battle ensues and Anthemyr is forced to flee further west.
• Anthemyr meets a friendly Ceresian named Ricardo (honestly I have no idea what the Ceresians are doing on the continent) and has to defend him and his band of... non Ceresians from an army of, you guessed it, Chaos Legionaries.
• Towards the end of the battle the leader of the group of Legionaries somehow makes an earthquake (I assume) which creates a tidal wave that threatens to drown everyone on the battle field. This means that Anthemyr, along with his new ally Ricardo, has to flee again but this time back east towards Elensefar.
• Anthemyr then meets a mysterious stranger who helps them kill some orcs and then disappears.
• When Anthemyr and his warriors make it back to Elensefar some plot developing dialogue ensues. Ricardo mentions he encountered a band of shady elves. He explains that they ranted about some new cult they were apart of and based on a dream their chief just had were now headed down into some caves fairly close to Elensefar.
• Naturally Anthemyr decides to investigate these caves.
• Once in the cave he finds that the new Elvish cult is based on some self proclaimed goddess named uria (if you've played UtBS then you probably saw that coming). What's more is that band of Elves aren't fully united under their new cult and that they are currently involved in a power struggle. Anthemyr then decides to help the Elves that are kind of freaked out by their friend's new found fanaticism and he resolves the conflict by sealing up the exit to the cave and heads back to Elensefar.
• Back at base Anthemyr receives a message that the Union couple have come to meet with him and are waiting in some forest to the east. Now the very beginning of the story does mention that the Aragwaithi attempted to create a "new" union couple in order to have some way to fight off Uria's forces knowing that it wouldn't be able to kill her since the prophecy about the Union couple is broken... or something. Anyway this is further confusing b/c the hastily gathered council in the forest only has one of the union members with them, a woman named Alora.
• Moving on, the council decides they want to combat the urian forces brewing but are interrupted when orcs attack.
• Orcs are defeated and the story progresses to the next scenario where Anthemyr stumbles upon some woman being "attacked" by chaos Legionaries. after killing off the assailants the "mysterious stranger" from earlier re-appears and reveals that the seemingly helpless woman is Uria herself. Uria gets angry and inadvertently sends everyone to inferno. The End.
• Just kidding, the Mysterious stranger then reveals he's the master of darkness. I don't really know what to say about this it just confuses me.
• They meet some dragons then some dwarves and eventually make it out of inferno to find that Elensefar is under attack from a coalition of corrupted elves and Chaos Legionaries. Battle ensues, Elensefar is saved and the game ends. not joking this time.

Its obvious that the original creator didn't have enough time to fully flesh out his ideas and its looks like there were probably more than a few extra scenarios that were intended to be added but were never gotten around to. Therefore I apologize for poking at it a little bit but taken at face value the story of this campaign is actually pretty amusing.

Some Summary (in case you don't want to read my really long outline)

-- As a basic summary the story seems to be about how the Aragwaithi want to accomplish two things, defeat the Chaos Legion and kill Uria. In order to do that it looks like their government decided to try and wrest control of territories to the south from the Chaos Legion while searching for some information on how to actually kill Uria for good. Elensefar apparently holds the answer to both problems. But really, the only thing the characters manage to accomplish is settle a small oasis village and defend it from various enemies. Also since the original union couple has been broken (though I assume Elyssa from IftU is still alive) there is no official way to defeat Uria except to create a sort of artificial couple which then can only really stop her minions... or something. The main characters do meet a self proclaimed master of darkness (even though I believe that title only belonged to the "original" master of darkness who is now dead) who claims there is another way to kill Uria besides through the power of the Union except we never find out what that other way is. So in the end, the current story of SoL follows very closely after the events of IftU without being as epic. Which is fine because epic is not really what I want to go for.

Thoughts on UtBS and IftU

Now before I talk more about what I want lets talk about the two parent stories UtBS, and IftU.

- Both occur under the dominating plot device of a post-apocalyptic Wesnoth and both introduce two new elements into this frightening new world. UtBS gives us our arch nemesis Uria and IftU gives us demons and the union.

- Personally, I preferred UtBS because I felt the disaster that Wesnoth had become. Everything had turned to desert, the land was filled with the dead, the foundations of civilization shattered, even the Orcs were having a hard go of trying to scratch out a living in the wasteland. The old world was gone, and more tragically, forgotten.

- In the case of IftU the old world was not forgotten. The main characters were elves who managed to carve out a new, but much the same, civilization in a hidden valley. In fact two of the characters you meet were alive long enough to remember everything there is to know about Wesnoth and her history. Where in UtBS there didn't seem to be any organized race around, IftU introduces us to an entire land of people that fled to the north after the fall called the Aragwaith.

- I'm not suggesting that IftU was written poorly, on the contrary, there's some pretty nice drama and character development that flows through out the story and everything pretty much makes sense. Whatever doesn't make sense was probably meant to stay ambiguous (like the Union). However I want to try and stay closer to the feel of UtBS (i.e. a world in the midst of an apocalypse).

With all that said, I want to do two things with the story.
1) explore the desperate existence of the people trying to survive in the lands that once held the prosperous coastal city of Elensefar.
2) focus on the settling of New Elensefar and its final breaking from the Aragwaithi country.

Also I want the old world of wesnoth to stay as a forgotten thing as I can make it so that means I want the characters to know nothing about Elensefar. Which leaves me with the problem of explaining why anyone is going there in the first place. That's fine, I'll adapt the idea as I need to so long as the characters aren't walking around as if the fall of Wesnoth happened two weeks ago. To be honest I don't really know what the time gap is between the Fall and SoL's storyline but I assume it would take a couple of generations for the total destruction of Wesnoth and the formation of what is known as the Iron Council.

Ok, as I mentioned above I need help fleshing out the story so here is the basic outline for the revised story of Settlers of Light.

- Begining: finding and settling Elensefar (naturally, some fighting will be involved)

- Middle1: scenarios dealing with surrounding nomads/bandits/orcs
- Middle2: fighting undead
- Middle3: Chaos Legion Time!

- End: besieged by and or epic battle with Chaos Legion.

As far as character development goes I have no idea what to do. I'll probably keep the two main characters Cryssa and Anthemyr but I don't really know what to do with them yet. What I do know is that this is a story about a bunch of people trying to stick one more flag in the sand for the sake of bringing some semblance of peace and security in a land caught in upheaval.

All ideas, advice, and help are welcome and greatly appreciated.

(Campaign development thread here, to all those interested)

[revansurik]

I never played this campaign to the end, but if I remember it well, it originally took place over 50 years after the Chaos Emperor defeat. What puzzled me then was that it made no reference to the events of After the Storm; I supposed SoL came out before AtS, but still, it was confusing. And, if SoL happens little after the end of IftU, I think it is a bit weird that the Aragwaithi are trying to make a new Union: I'm imagining them asking the original Lady of Light, Elynia, who is alive and well at the time, about the secrets of the Union, and she would then promptly tell them it can no longer be created. Now, I'll repeat: I haven't fully played SoL, but from what I read from your synopsis, this would be my two cents: it is known that the Union prophecy is broken, so the Aragwaithi attempt to recreate it seems to tell that they're a bit desperate; I don't know how the "Lady of Light" Alora was chosen, but couldn't this whole "Union re-creation" be a plot by an Aragwaithi lord (they're an oligarchy, right?) to gain more power and influence amongst his people, taking advantage of their fear and insecurity? This "Lady of Light" would be just part of the scheme. As for the Master of Darkness... Maybe he's just calling himself like this as a way of showing his antagonism towards the "Lady of Light" and the plot behind her; from what I read in the synopsis, he seems like a rogue figure anyway, maybe an Aragwaithi exile, etc. As for this new way to defeat Uria... If you wish, I could give a suggestion of what this new way could be; if you're interested, please PM me (I won't say it here because it is related to a campaign I'm making, and that would be a huge spoiler).

Also I want the old world of wesnoth to stay as a forgotten thing as I can make it so that means I want the characters to know nothing about Elensefar. Which leaves me with the problem of explaining why anyone is going there in the first place. That's fine, I'll adapt the idea as I need to so long as the characters aren't walking around as if the fall of Wesnoth happened two weeks ago. To be honest I don't really know what the time gap is between the Fall and SoL's storyline but I assume it would take a couple of generations for the total destruction of Wesnoth and the formation of what is known as the Iron Council.

Maybe the Aragwaithi have heard old tales of a great and prosperous coastal city which they don't know by name (Elensefar); and, in their quest to restore order to the world, they thought of building a great and prosperous city over the ruins of the legendary coastal city (Elensefar) because of the symbolism it would have (the good old times are coming back!). Also, you could hint at the legendary coastal city being Elensefar, without calling it by the name.

1) explore the desperate existence of the people trying to survive in the lands that once held the prosperous coastal city of Elensefar.
2) focus on the settling of New Elensefar and its final breaking from the Aragwaithi country.

By 'breaking' I understand 'separating from the Aragwaithi country'; in this case, maybe the "Union plot" I mentioned above can be used as reason for this separation: the settlers, aware of the plot thanks to the 'Master of Darkness' revelations, would decide that they wouldn't be part of that farce, nor obey corrupt, power-hungry lords.

Hope I was of help

[Lord-Knightmare]

To my viewpoint, Settlers of Light takes place a few decades after the events of After the Storm.

I enjoyed playing the campaign cause I liked the Aragwaithi faction a lot and it was the only campaign that featured the faction as an all-time playable. But, I had quite negative views for the story. Questions began to appear in my mind:-

How on Irdya could the Aragwaith settle south (Empire lands) when there was an epic war going on between the New Northern Alliance and the Chaos Empire? In addition, the Aragwaithi population was significantly reduced as their capital city was devastated by the Empire. I don't blame the campaign author as he was unaware of these events which were revealed in After the Storm - Episode 3 (released after the Settlers of Light and still in development).

So, I suggest you add the following background to the story:-

Spoiler:

A faction Aragwaith soldiers have grown sick of the new Supreme Lord's rule and decide to escape with their families from the North and settle where it is relatively peaceful. They are led an elderly Aragwaithi Lord (Anthemyr's father). Due to the ongoing war between the Northern Alliance and Chaos Empire, these settlers are forced to deviate westwards and are forced to make a crossing at the Continent's Western edge. During the crossing, they ambushed by orcish barbarians and the Aragwaithi Lord and the other veterans hold the enemy at bay, while the youthful population crosses into safety. This results in the death of Anthemyr's father and the remaining soldiers elect Anthemyr as their leader. A few days of searching the surrounding waste, they find the ruins of a city inhabited by nomads. Anthemyr takes a handful of fighters and sets out to claim it for his people.

This could solve the beginning of your story outline. And I have a few suggestions for the 3 middle parts.

- Middle1: scenarios dealing with surrounding nomads/bandits/orcs

Remove the Ceresians, they appear in Feudal Era - an add-on created eons ago and set in the world of Orbivm. So, they have no significance in Irdya. Desert Elves cannot be used as Kaleh (protagonist of UtBS) took all of them to Quenoth Isle.

Middle2: fighting undead

A like this . Perhaps make the enemy ancient lich a former Aragwaith who had indulged in necromancy. And, now, he wants Anthemyr and his people to be his underlings.

And, is the new Union couple really necessary? Replace it with something more interesting, like the discovery of elemental magic. Now, there's something the Chaos Empire could want.

- Middle3: Chaos Legion Time!

Hell yeah!
The Chaos Empire's scouts notice New Elensefar and decide to send an army to devastate the Settlers.

As far as character development goes I have no idea what to do. I'll probably keep the two main characters Cryssa and Anthemyr but I don't really know what to do with them yet. What I do know is that this is a story about a bunch of people trying to stick one more flag in the sand for the sake of bringing some semblance of peace and security in a land caught in upheaval.

Make a Cryssa a love-interest of Anthemyr. Or, perhaps she could his sister. Either way, keep her close to the main protagonist.

I hope I gave you some light about the timeline or story plot.

[Astoria]

Hello, original creator here.

If you're struggling to understand the plot or don't get it, I understand it.
When I wrote TSoL (wrote as in: I started making scenarios without a plan) I have very little experience with writing a storyline and making it interesting, I just "did stuff". In my opinion this makes the story poorly written, and I think I could have done it much better if I took time to write the story before making any of the scenarios.

Not too long ago, I thought about the same thing AfterDawn is doing right now: rewriting parts of the story and making the campaign "better". But, after thinking for a while, I decided it would be better if I would start over from scratch. Not remaking the campaign, but making a new one, with more attention to story and less rushed. Do I think you shouldn't try to improve TSoL? Not at all, I actually encourage you to do it, but realize the story might need a major overhaul to actually make it good and interesting.

I actually went ahead and put my new project on UMC-dev, in case anyone wants to follow the development: http://wesnoth-umc-dev.svn.sourceforge. ... ids_Tears/

Good luck with your project,

bumbadadabum.

[nickanc]

Reading your ideas, it seems to me that:

• You want your story to be coherent with AtS, IftU and UtBS.
• This campaign seems to be about some Aragwaithi setting up a new home (as UtBS), rather than about the ultimate destiny of Irdya (as IftU or AtS are)

Starting from this assumption, I have some thoughts about carrying on the plot.

On Ceresians: background suggestions

I have no idea what a Ceresian is besides the fact that the race appears to be entirely human. I have never seen a campaign that deals with who they are or when they appeared in the wesnoth world but I can only assume their creation occurred at a time relatively close to the Aragwaithi; i.e. after the fall. Any more information on this obscure race would be much appreciated.

It seems to me, but I may be wrong, that the Ceresians first appeared in Feudal Era (http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php ... 3&start=18 ). I dont know if they were imported from somewhere else, or if they were original of Feudal Era, maybe some mantainer of Feudal knows. It is common to import faction from an era to another: the Aragwaithi themselves were originally invented within IftU/Extended Era, but, since they are a good faction, they have been imported in Feudal (and their background changed) due to their fitness with a role in Feudal.
Anyway, because of the assumptions at the beginning of this message, I would suggest Ceresians not to come from a place outside Irdya (better leaving otherworldly beings to AtS and IftU, in order to mantain coherence and avoid the "ultimate destiny of the world" theme) but come from somewhere else in Irdya. I have a little idea:
As of http://wiki.wesnoth.org/Timeline_of_Wesnoth and some dialogues between Haldric and Jessene, in the campaign "The Rise of Wesnoth", humans colonized the Green Isle and lated Wesnoth continent because of the growth of orcs and liches' powers: they wanted to rule over humans and some humans fled, firstly on the Green Isle, then founding Wesnoth. Now, imagine some people remained there, on the Old Continent or on the Green Isle, fighting Orcs and Liches. During Wesnoth golden age, stories about the wealthy Weldyn spread all over through the sea, Old Elensefar's sailors covered all the oceans, so that there were rumors of great civilizations far in the East. Then, many years after IftU, the humans who remained fighting on the other side of the Sea were exhausted (maybe Uria is up to something there, I leave everything to your imagination...) and outnumbered and some of them fled through the sea, in hopes of finding traces of the old civilization. These humans in millennia changed, and so here you are Ceresians!

Dont kill Uria!

As a basic summary the story seems to be about how the Aragwaithi want to accomplish two things, defeat the Chaos Legion and kill Uria. In order to do that it looks like their government decided to try and wrest control of territories to the south from the Chaos Legion while searching for some information on how to actually kill Uria for good. Elensefar apparently holds the answer to both problems. But really, the only thing the characters manage to accomplish is settle a small oasis village and defend it from various enemies. Also since the original union couple has been broken (though I assume Elyssa from IftU is still alive) there is no official way to defeat Uria except to create a sort of artificial couple which then can only really stop her minions... or something. The main characters do meet a self proclaimed master of darkness (even though I believe that title only belonged to the "original" master of darkness who is now dead) who claims there is another way to kill Uria besides through the power of the Union except we never find out what that other way is. So in the end, the current story of SoL follows very closely after the events of IftU without being as epic. Which is fine because epic is not really what I want to go for.

Uria's defeat (or partial defeat) is the major plot of AtS. I suggest to avoid this, I think it is better making the Aragwaithi succeed in some littler goal, e.g. disbanding some chaos forces and securing New Elensefar. Better dont recall Elyssa: in what we have of AtS3, it seems she will have a good role in ending AtS.

I hope these suggestions will help you!

[Flameslash]

Wait... there's fan made content of fan made content now?

[AI]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... Fanfiction

[AfterDawn]

Thanks AI, that was rather enlightening.
Yes, I suppose this is what has really drawn me to take on this project. The ability to, with the collaboration and cooperation of myriads others, generate a whole world and history that almost seems to strong-arm us, its supposed creators, into bringing it to life.

A faction Aragwaith soldiers have grown sick of the new Supreme Lord's rule and decide to escape with their families from the North and settle where it is relatively peaceful.

yes! that's very good though I'm going to take some more time to think about it. My reservations regarding it being that I'm not sure how to approach the character Anthenmyr. I'm not sure yet if I want to make him a new ruler coming to grips with the challenge of leadership. I've seen it a couple times before in Wesnoth scenarios so making it shouldn't present too much of a difficulty (it certainly solves the character development part of my story ).

Perhaps make the enemy ancient lich a former Aragwaith who had indulged in necromancy. And, now, he wants Anthemyr and his people to be his underlings.

Thank you so much. I'm definitely very inclined to this idea. Part of my motivation for a struggle with a lich lord has to do with my attempt at exploring life in the wesnoth desert. Life for people in in the desert should be hard and one of the challenges that was posed to the quenoth elves (as revealed in UtBS) was fighting off undead. I figured this threat would also exist for anyone else trying to survive out in the wasteland and Anthemyr would then attempt to unite them against their evil lich overlord.

The Chaos Empire's scouts notice New Elensefar and decide to send an army to devastate the Settlers.

Yep. I imagine that's all the motivation the chaos empire really needs anyway .

Make a Cryssa a love-interest of Anthemyr. Or, perhaps she could his sister. Either way, keep her close to the main protagonist.

Yeah, I'm still wavering on what to do with Cryssa. My heart tells me make her the love interest but I know I don't actually have the skills to make a believable love story. In fact I'm not sure I've ever seen a love story in any of the wesnoth stories. IftU (which I finished recently) had one (sort of) but that was because the couple already had history. I imagine developing one would pose a more daunting task than presenting a loving relationship that has already been established.

it originally took place over 50 years after the Chaos Emperor defeat

I missed that part (went back and yes this story is supposed to occur 50 yrs after) and I don't think I want to keep that true. A lot can happen in 50 yrs and the story also implies that the leaders (I assume the iron council) are dead thus ending, sort of, the Chaos Empire even though Uria is still living. Since I would like my story to occur when the chaos empire is still fully functional I'll probably ignore that and cut down the time gap.

a plot by an Aragwaithi lord (they're an oligarchy, right?) to gain more power and influence amongst his people, taking advantage of their fear and insecurity

Lord nightmare' suggestion is somewhat similar to this as it also allows me to explain why the Elensefar settlers would get angry with the Aragwaithi government, kingdom, council or whatever it is. So yeah, I'm basically planning to go with a premise like this.
I would like to assume that Aragwaithi, in whatever form their society decided to take, are inherently a divided people; at least that was the feeling I got when I first saw them in IftU. In contrast I feel like the Chaos Empire naturally create unity under one god wherever they go. I think if I was able to express this it might add an interesting bit of irony to the story.

@nickanc
Yeah, I was still hoping to get the ceresians in there some how since I really like their skins so I might use your idea. After that though I'm not sure how I'll fit them into the story.

OK, Thanks everyone so far for the suggestions! I'm really a coder not a writer so all ideas are welcome until I've actually written them into the campaign.

[AfterDawn]

Ok, Here's the premise of the story as I've decided to go with it.

Beginning:

In the wake of a brutal conflict that ignites between the Aragwaithi people and the Chaos Empire (sometime during IftU) a large group of disgruntled peasants along with a company of Aragwaithi war deserters prepare to flee south into the wilderness. In hopes of escaping the clutches of the landed nobility the peasants hire the deserters as mercenaries, seeking to escape the terrors of the Chaos Legionaries and their demon allies, who agree to lead them through the desert to the coast. With them follow a group of curious magic practicing cultists who insist they serve the powers of the light and seek the truth and secrets of the old world.

Yep, pretty good if I say so myself.

And here's our cast

• Anthenmyr: Fled family farm to join up with a lord's army and the rest of the Aragwaithi war machine. Now he is amongst the ranks of his fellow mercenaries after deserting in the midst of battle.
• Ricomer: A newly minted mercenary captain who led the troops in a mutiny against their lord commander after the clearly insane, madman of a noble ordered them to charge into a line of fire wielding demons. Ricomer was the very man who severed the head from the megalomaniacal lord and, though very proud of that fact, finds further tenure as a citizen of the Aragwaithi people unbearable due to his infamy. Now he leads his men into the desert to escort a mob of sorry peasants for the promise of some small measure of wealth and glory.
• Valent: Exiled lordling who lost his family in purge against Urian cultists. (not quite sure what to do with him yet, I just thought he might be interesting to have around).
• Cryssa: One of the cultists serving the light hoping to re-discover the many secrets the great golden age has now hidden under its wreckage. Her family became to devoted to the cult when she was very young until her village was destroyed many years later at the outset of the most recent conflict. She spent some time together with a small band of her coreligionists bringing what comfort she could to the people of the devastated countryside but now she seeks to uncover the truths that lie in the howling deserts.
• Odases: Leader of the small band of cultists who serve the light and de facto leader of the entire exodus. He preaches fervently to the disenfranchised people of the Aragwaithi lands and all eyes look to him for what measure of guidance and hope he offers. Though the smiling captain Ricomer carries the swords Odases holds the hearts of what has become a couple thousand frightened people.

Remaining bits to elaborate on

• - Middle1: scenarios dealing with surrounding nomads/bandits/orcs
• - Middle2: fighting undead
• - Middle3: Chaos Legion Time!

Thanks for everyone's help so far! (Be sure to comment if what you think I've come up with is disgustingly terrible... and or awesome... or if you're feeling neutral about it. Thanks )

[Lord-Knightmare]

Yes, I like the way the plot is coming along.

Yeah, I'm still wavering on what to do with Cryssa. My heart tells me make her the love interest but I know I don't actually have the skills to make a believable love story. In fact I'm not sure I've ever seen a love story in any of the wesnoth stories. IftU (which I finished recently) had one (sort of) but that was because the couple already had history. I imagine developing one would pose a more daunting task than presenting a loving relationship that has already been established.

True story. I tried adding a love theme in my lastest campaign but ended up in killing the female character.

Well, Good luck developing a masterpiece...

[Kanzil]

I'd say that you shouldn't bother with the love story-they're very difficult-and concentrate on the story arc as a whole. Due to the vastness of your storyline, concentrating on a single person beyond a quick outline of their character probably isn't advisable, as you so rightly pointed out. Perhaps a more mellow character is required to counteract the fervor and fire of Odases, Valent and the like? If you'd like any help with the history or writing, don't hesitate to ask me.

[AfterDawn]

I suppose I should have seen this coming but it seems I may have inadvertently changed my original vision for the characters. I've also added in two new characters into the mix because... why not? I know the cast was already looking a little large so I apologize for now increasing the size.

Ricomer: I originally wanted to make his character a little grimy but instead he's just a calculated leader who has no qualms with killing.

Rugalean: NEW ADDITION, he's a mercenary, second in command to the captain, who really is just a mouthpiece for Ricomer. He's there to help clarify some of the actions of Ricomer and the company as well as act as a convenient way to convey relevant information.
Merius: OTHER NEW ADDITION, also a mercenary who acts as my cliched cynic character. He's good for balancing out Rugalean by often challenging Ricomer and some of the other characters as well as behaving regularly immoral (fun times ).

I found I needed these two characters really to help me spit story and info at the player so I put them right in.

Anthemyr + Cryssa: Unfortunately these characters are practically none existent plot wise at the moment even though I intended them to be lead actors. I plan to rectify this later on by giving them bigger roles as the story progresses but no promises. For now just accept they exist .

Odasys: still our cult leader but now he's a self proclaimed prophet (because its more dramatic). He's not the firebrand preacher I intended but as I started writing him in I found I couldn't really make him sound convincing without turning him into a psychopath. Also I wanted him to be intelligent and methodical which I feel are more attributes of prudence than they are of fanaticism, so oh well...

Valent: Yep, still have no idea what to do with him. I'm planning on introducing him in scenario 2 so any advice between now and its completion would be greatly appreciated. I may have to cut him out all together as I don't really see him providing any purpose to the story right now which means he would just be another hero character the player has to try and keep alive for the rest of the campaign, obviously not ideal. (Oh Valent you held such promise ).

[taptap]

Kick out the desert elves. Why should you have two desert going factions on the same side? (Or use them as opponents with some made up reason.). It doesn't make much sense from the playing perspective and reduces the overwhelming complexity of the story somewhat. I stopped playing TSoL when I suddenly had Aragwaithi, Elves and Desert Elves and all the talk about the union and the lady of light (although I do like IftU).

I wouldn't worry about Ceresians too much, they can be a local group split off from the Chaos Empire or whatever. It is not necessary and impossible to have consistency in all available UMC - especially with Orbivm Eras. Personally I would take Khalifate units (except the healers) instead of Ceresians, but if you like Ceresians I wouldn't worry about them being from another era. Chaos empire isn't default as well after all.

I also agree with the suggestion to make sth. else than "the union" and beating Uria the center of the campaign. Repeating IftU / AtS story in another campaign won't satisfy in the end, it is debatable whether the story works well in IftU and AtS, but even then it won't work twice. The small band arriving somewhere and trying to carve out a new home for themselves and new friends has so much story potential in itself that you won't need AtS-like interstellar (hypersuperlative of high) fantasy on top of it. Size the story down and it will become much more manageable.

If your story starts with desperate peasants, hiring people and escaping the war... you somehow miss an opportunity by starting scenario 1 in New Elensefar already after the long treck through the wastelands.

Consider making a story without a main hero and his love stories but a set of heroes (the original 7) sent out on different missions? This might make recall list control for such a long campaign more manageable and you only get full access to all recall lists for the final battle.

Cryssa is too much Anlinde.

[AfterDawn]

Kick out the desert elves.

I'm under the impression that the desert elves have in fact left the continent In UtBS so yeah... I don't plan on bringing them into this campaign whatsoever.

I also agree with the suggestion to make sth. else than "the union" and beating Uria the center of the campaign. Repeating IftU / AtS story in another campaign won't satisfy in the end

My thoughts exactly. which is why I'm completely changing the story.

If your story starts with desperate peasants, hiring people and escaping the war... you somehow miss an opportunity by starting scenario 1 in New Elensefar already after the long treck through the wastelands.

There's something fishy about this comment. Which version are you playing? I recently finished my first scenario which does start the story before they make it into the desert. I probably should have mentioned that I uploaded the newer version to the server already (unless you have in fact downloaded the newest one in which case we have much bigger problem) so sorry for any confusion.

Consider making a story without a main hero and his love stories but a set of heroes (the original 7) sent out on different missions?

I'm not entirely sure how I would go about telling the story this way. I could perhaps get the chance to explore the characters more deeply this way but I'm also afraid I might over complicate the story with a lot of plots. (Any more thoughts on the matter?)

Cryssa is too much Anlinde.

Too true, I'm thinking I may have to rework her character altogether...

[taptap]

There's something fishy about this comment. Which version are you playing? I recently finished my first scenario which does start the story before they make it into the desert. I probably should have mentioned that I uploaded the newer version to the server already (unless you have in fact downloaded the newest one in which case we have much bigger problem) so sorry for any confusion.

I did indeed only play the original campaign ages ago to some point where the story and gameplay became too confused for my taste (after the desert scenario with the odd triggers, where suddenly normal elves showed up in addition to the desert elves) not any updated version.