The Empire of Sol (Era)

[X-Codes]

By and large, the elven nations have kept to themselves. They have tended to their woodlands and remained neutral in the majority of great moral conflicts that have come to their world. That said, there have been a few abberations. A small cult of sun-worshipping elves was uncovered and eventually banished from Elven lands Convinced that they have received the blessing of their god, they have since moved out into the rolling plains making up the Heartlands of the human civilizations and convert them, by force if necessary. Eventually the new Empire expands across the Heartlands and extends it's influence across the world. Now the Prophecy of Ascention has been uttered and the Empire seeks to bring themselves closer to their god by fulfilling it.

Factions:
The Empire of Sol- Powerful offensive nation centered around strong magical attacks and highly mobile spies and windriders. No level 1 units capable of taking much punishment, however.

The Heretic Alliance- Human nations that do not worship Sol, and as such suffer animosity with the Empire on multiple occasions. They have banded together to match the Empire's power, and take a more balanced approach to military tactics and organization.

The Darkscales- Enigmatic race of small reptilian humanoids. Physically deficent, but capable necromancers and artificiers through which they obtain their physical labor as well as their frontline military. Majority of units are relatively inexpensive, but melee attacks are weak with the exception of Effigies, which are expensive, and Skeletons, which can only be raised by slaying enemies.

The Wild Elves- The elven nation that expelled the original cult of Sol.

More to come.

EDIT: This was not originally the first post of this thread. See my next post for the original thread purpose.

[Neoskel]

This is encouraged. Imperial Era and Feudal Era are both set in a world called Orbivm which is separate from Wesnoth. Era of Myths is also possibly (well i certainly hope so) going to be set in a separate world than Wesnoth.

Please please do develop new worlds. (<-closest thing to puppy dog eyes i could find)

And it seems to be in the proper forum AFAIK.

[tsr]

There have also been full-blown-mods (spacenoth, storms of steel, etc?) which try to not only make new units, but also terrain and somewhat game-mechanics.

/tsr

[Darth Jordius]

Yes, if all campaigns and eras were based on Wesnoth it'd be pretty boring very soon. Creating another world gives you the chance to create the history, the creatures, and allows others to submit ideas or factions that they couldn't get implemented in Wesnoth.

[Devrailis Colandore]

I am currently writing a campaign for a world that is entirely separate and distinct from the Wesnoth universe. You can find the thread in the second page of the Scenario and Campaigns subforums (I haven't updated in a while).

I asked a question similar to this when I posted my campaign and the reception that I got for world's which are separate from Wesnoth seems to be mixed. Some people don't mind and other people would rather not bother with them, so I would peg it down to personal taste. I do think it is entirely reasonable to assume that most of the support for campaign development, art, etc... would go to the mainline since that is Wesnoth's main focus, but I don't see anything stopping you from making your own settings if you're willing to put the work and effort into it.

The Imperial/Feudal Era is the only major setting that I know of that is separate from Wesnoth and more importantly, is still being worked on and still around right now. I believe Era of Myths is still part of the Wesnoth universe, but is either set in a different time era, different geography or both.

[megane]

I believe Era of Myths is still part of the Wesnoth universe, but is either set in a different time era, different geography or both.

IIRC the current consensus is that the EoM is set long after the Fall, far to the southeast of where Wesnoth was.

[Kestenvarn]

I've commented in the past that more campaigns should attempt this, since trying to work all of them into Wesnoth proper only makes the history more convoluted and contrived.

[DarkenShroud]

I wouldn't mind seeing a D and D campaign/world/scenerios made. Could make a war of the lance type setting or scenerios from Dragonlance, or even a Battle for Helm's Deep scenerio from The Lord of the Rings. Could even go as far as making the entire storyline to the War of the Lance, or the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I mean all the character types and races are pretty much there for the using already. Would just need to edit a few things and perhaps create a few factions (Easterlings/Haradrim/Mordor Orcs/Uruk Hai) Etc. I have yet to explore the actual toolset as of yet, but it wouldn't be to bad of a idea if anyone has the capacity and capabilites to do so. Not sure if this toolset is anything like the one for Neverwinter Nights which I am familiar with already. And I'm horrible at scripting, but with the NwN toolset you really don't need to be a scripter to create worlds. But I am good at giving ideas, and making a basis as to what there should be included. I would love again to see some D and D/Lord of the Rings type campaigns/factions/and scenerios if anyone is up to the challenge. Which it would be, but its definetly doable with the right people on the job.



Anyways I'm new around these parts and seen this as a interesting thread to start my forum posts. I'm a big fan of the Dragonlance campaign setting and Lord of the Rings in general. I could so see someone coming up with both kinds of settings and worlds in wesnoth. I mean I have the ideas, but I doubt I have the capabilities to proceed with these ideas. But again it seems doable, if anyone needs ideas? Feel free to pm me if ya want examples of ideas in creating this type of world and the factions/races within. I'm more then willing to help with ideas, and what should be included in these types of projects.

[Devrailis Colandore]

I wouldn't mind seeing a D and D campaign/world/scenerios made. Could make a war of the lance type setting or scenerios from Dragonlance, or even a Battle for Helm's Deep scenerio from The Lord of the Rings. Could even go as far as making the entire storyline to the War of the Lance, or the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I mean all the character types and races are pretty much there for the using already. Would just need to edit a few things and perhaps create a few factions (Easterlings/Haradrim/Mordor Orcs/Uruk Hai) Etc. I have yet to explore the actual toolset as of yet, but it wouldn't be to bad of a idea if anyone has the capacity and capabilites to do so. Not sure if this toolset is anything like the one for Neverwinter Nights which I am familiar with already. And I'm horrible at scripting, but with the NwN toolset you really don't need to be a scripter to create worlds. But I am good at giving ideas, and making a basis as to what there should be included. I would love again to see some D and D/Lord of the Rings type campaigns/factions/and scenerios if anyone is up to the challenge. Which it would be, but its definetly doable with the right people on the job.



Anyways I'm new around these parts and seen this as a interesting thread to start my forum posts. I'm a big fan of the Dragonlance campaign setting and Lord of the Rings in general. I could so see someone coming up with both kinds of settings and worlds in wesnoth. I mean I have the ideas, but I doubt I have the capabilities to proceed with these ideas. But again it seems doable, if anyone needs ideas? Feel free to pm me if ya want examples of ideas in creating this type of world and the factions/races within. I'm more then willing to help with ideas, and what should be included in these types of projects.

These ideas have been mentioned before, especially with respect to Lord of the Rings. It won't happen, because both D&D and LoTR are protected brands under copyright and as Wesnoth is under GPL, you simply cannot use material (storylines, names, etc...) from those settings.

If you really want a fantasy setting that is distinct from Wesnoth, just create your own. Even if you are not the world's best coder (I know I'm certainly not much of a programmer myself), that doesn't mean you can't try creating a world of your own and finding someone who might be interested in working with you.

EDIT: Coincidentally, a LoTR thread is up and should illustrate just why it's a bad idea. And with regards to D&D, Wizards of the Coast can be unforgivingly vigilant with protecting their copyright if they feel its been violated. I wouldn't go near it with a ten-foot pole.

[scienceguy8]

Okay, let's go over this again.

Yes, there exists mods out there for popular video games, and some of those mods are based on copyrighted material. Still, those mods exist. Why? We can classify mods into four different categories:

1. The mod is small and not well known. Either the copyright holder doesn't know about it or does not considers it a threat to his or her profits.

2. The mod contributes to the video game that it mods, for instance, modding Half-Life 2 to create a new storyline set in the same universe.

3. The copyright holder actually believes the mod contributes to the popularity of the source material and thus decide to leave it alone. Who knows how often this occurs.

And occasionally, but not often:
4. The modders are sent a cease and desist letter by the crack legal team of the copyright holder. See MGM's reaction to a Stargate-themed mod for the Source Engine.

Since Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema are making so much money from The Lord of the Rings, it is quite likely they have hired a team of lawyers specifically for the task of finding and suing the heck out of those who would cheat them out of their hard-earned millions. If you can wait about 70 years for the copyright to run out (if it runs out by then, it could be extended), then you can make a mod.

[X-Codes]

Alright. I'm going to re-name the thread and start posting my ideas for my era.

Here is the original post for reference:

What if we wanted to create a world other than Wesnoth and develop for that world by making campaigns for the Battle for Wesnoth game? I'm curious as to how receptive people would be to it as well as where such discussion would go.

[Neoskel]

Would the Darkscale skeletons work with a variant of Plague? I.e. A 'necromancer' unit with a plague attack that makes skeletons instead of zombies or something. Seeing as theres only elves, humans and 'saurians' (thats an assumption) art wouldn't be too much of a problem, someone made a skeletal saurian on the forum somewhere, but you'll need to give it weapons and make the higher level versions.

[Devrailis Colandore]

Hey X-Codes, I like what you've done so far, but I'd like to offer a few suggestions and requests on worldbuilding, you can take them or leave them as you will.

First of all, I understand that you want to create a setting that is not Wesnoth, and I've seen people stumble on this point before, but creating a setting with an "elf" faction and a "human" faction, and an "undead" faction with magic and medieval kingdoms, and then calling it something other than Wesnoth will not erase the fact that it will still feel functionally very similar to Wesnoth even despite the setting. Why don't you try adding something else that will make your era unique to Wesnoth? The way I see it, if someone looks at your story universe and can't immediately tell it apart from Wesnoth, then you haven't differentiated it enough. Your Empire of Sol seems different from anything in the Mainline, but your other factions feel awfully similar based on their descriptions.

Second, I know elves are popular (and familiar!) and all, but is it necessary for them to be in every fantasy setting out there? The fact that you are willing to take the time to worldbuild tells me you have the imagination, so why not push it further and create something more distinctive? You could try making up your own race, it would be more work but if you're willing to put the time into fleshing it out, it could turn out quite well. Of course, elves are popular so you by no means need to oblige.

Third, think about the feel of your setting. Is it going to be feudal, Western European? Why? A lot of fantasy settings out there are just a rehash of medieval Europe with Elves 'n' Dwarves, throw in the odd dragon and mad sorceror, and presto, ready made world! With an entire world of history out there, there's a veritable goldmine of cultures and social settings that you can create, but for some reason, the same tired old vein keeps getting picked at.

Fourth, perhaps people do this for simplicity, but most races tend to be of the "People of Hats" variety. All elves look roughly the same, have the same religion, same culture, same beliefs, attitudes, etc... I can see that you're moving away from that with your elves, but are all of your lizard people going to be evil, born evil, practice necromancy, and so on? (I make this assumption seeing that they're necromancers). What about factions that contain members of reach race, and have factions actually differentiate themselves more through beliefs or goals, rather than by race? It's easy to say that this faction or that faction is based on this or that religion, ideal, etc... but then making most of the faction members all human or elves or whatever just ends up defeating the purpose and turning it into elves vs. humans anyway. What about all or most factions having a mix of races that perform different purposes?

Fifth, and this is more of a personal request!: Making the Human Faction the "Mario" (balanced, can deal with everything, no strengths, no weaknesses) is an old and tired cliche. If you must have a faction that acts in such a role, why not let it be another race? Cool fact of the day! - Humans are not in fact not baseline when compared to other animals. The human body is capable of a greater agility that many animals are just not capable of, and furthermore, humans have perhaps THE highest endurance capability out of all large land animals. The average human is capable of walking non-stop longer and further than almost any other land mammal of our size.

I know this is your setting and you've probably thought it out already, and I'm not asking you to change anything you don't want to, and I do know that you haven't posted everything that you've planned, but I thought I'd take this chance to make some pointers. I do like what I've seen and I'm glad that you're attempting to create something new in any case, best of luck.

[X-Codes]

Would the Darkscale skeletons work with a variant of Plague? I.e. A 'necromancer' unit with a plague attack that makes skeletons instead of zombies or something. Seeing as theres only elves, humans and 'saurians' (thats an assumption) art wouldn't be too much of a problem, someone made a skeletal saurian on the forum somewhere, but you'll need to give it weapons and make the higher level versions.

Thats exactly the plan. The Darkscale "Necromancers" (haven't decided on a final name for them, would probably be something along the lines of Overseer or Animator or both at different levels) would come with a weak (6-2ish, maybe 3-3) plague-like attack and create skeletons. Unlike walking corpses, however, the skeletons wouldn't have the plague-like ability themselves.

Also, as for differentiating the races, I think I know what you're getting at. That said, the elf and human factions are the only ones I see as "traditional" factions ATM. The Empire and Darkscale factions are not Elf/Undead factions. The Empire has no traditional Cavalry (a powerful but very fragile flying-lancer type takes it's place) and no archers whatsoever (there are, however, several varieties of magic-using units, some with strong melee attacks, some that heal, and others that B.S.U.). Also, as explained above the Darkscale faction isn't undead, but rather has some undead units in it's repertoire to support it's swarm tactics.

Now, the setting is a valid point. I do have another idea, but thats another idea completely, and with my current technical capabilities I just couldn't capture the feel of the setting within the game. I am not, however, opposed to possibly thinking up a new idea and implementing that one instead (in fact, your suggestions have already gotten me started).