Imperial Multiplayer Era - version 0.17 released

[Ranger M]

Somewhere before I heard that they were the warroirs that were left behind when prince haldric went east to found Wesnoth. And that they grew strong fighting the orcs/undead, and developed a very strong faith.

However this was before I joined the forums (probably on the wiki, and posted as a possible explination for them, maybe? Either that, or I dreamed it)


a place for them should really be found, It would be a shame not to include them. maybe they live east of the Lavinian empire, and then they defeat the Westfolk after that has fallen many years later. (could be explained in a holy crusade against the undead maybe?) Would make sense and give them a bit of background.

[Cuyo Quiz]

Timeline seems to say otherwise:

It was then when Aragwaithi come, at the beginning functioning as the mercenaries. In about 800 YW Akladians appeared from the east

Unless the wiki timeline is changed, or history creation polished and restricted in some way, things like this can get more common. According to the WesnothHistory, they arrived after 750YW hailing from the Old Continent.

We really need some clean redifining. We could easily get make them fit in the Prehistory, where Humans and Orcs habitated the Old Continent, then blow it all up and explain the Imperial Era as the diverse reconstruction after the Aragwaith and some big baddie that first used the Dark arts (were rediscovered by the Wesfolk) fell into decadence. But A New Order seems to get in the way, right?.

EDIT: turin, could you explain me difference between Estfolk and Wesfolk?, FactionHistory confuses me.

[Chris Byler]

One idea that occurred to me: what if the Imperial Era represents not the apex of Lavinian power, but a later state of decline (i.e. not the Romans under the Julio-Claudians/Good Emperors, but more like the Byzantines under Justinian, or even later)? A Pax Laviniana wouldn't be a very interesting setting from a wargame perspective. An empire in decline, with barbarians at the gates and young kingdoms splitting off, is a much richer setting.

This whole thing would probably take place to the east/southeast of the Lower Hills (let's say they eventually become a nearly impassable mountain range which I'll call the Great Mountains unless someone thinks of a better name). I.e., the previously unmapped and unmentioned eastern half of the Great Continent. The time could be almost anything since the Great Mountains effectively close off all contact between Wesnoth (the kingdom) and the Eastern Lands - Mal-Ravanal lived in their western foothills (i.e. the Lower Hills) for a while, but didn't cross them. The Northern Forest might or might not reach far enough to also be in contact with the Eastern Lands, but if it did, the elves probably wouldn't tell anyone anyway. Humans could have reached the Eastern Lands during the Prehistory from even further east - at some point, "further west of the Green Isle" and "further east of the Eastern Lands" meet at the origin point of humanity in the Wesnoth world.

Perhaps the Marauders live in the eastern fringes of the Northern Forest (if it does go over or around the mountains), placing them north of the centers of Lavinian power at about the latitude of Wesnoth, with the old borders of the Empire stretching a bit further south to a more tropical latitude with extensive deserts (including Nemidia, which is still loyal to the Empire; Mazurid lands, which are independent; and beyond that, wilderness inhabited by the Kedari and ifrits). The Aragwaith could live in the eastern foothills of the Great Mountains - either a nation that was never fully part of the Empire, or one that broke away as it started to collapse. This puts them in a good position to discover a pass through the Great Mountains (or have one opened up by an earthquake or something) and make contact with Wesnoth about 800 YW as stated in the wiki timeline. I can't find the Taki in the factions forum, but the Arendians could fit in a lot of places - the strong horse emphasis implies a steppe/plains habitat, possibly similar to Mongolia or the North American Great Plains.

So basically we have the remaining Lavinians surrounded on all sides by a combination of nomadic/barbarian groups (Marauders, Kedari, Arendians) and breakaway former provinces/client states or independent nations (Aragwaithi, Mazurid) - any of which can fight each other too, of course. Interesting times indeed.

One more thing: the wiki description of dwarves states that they came from the east across the mountains. Why did they leave the Great Mountains? Maybe terrain isn't the only reason nobody wants to cross the Great Mountains - they could be volcanic, or home to extraordinarily dangerous creatures like dragons, or even both (there's precedent for the idea of dragons living in or near volcanoes). The Aragwaithi have a Dragonhunter unit... During the Prehistory or a few centuries BW, the dwarves could be driven out of the Great Mountains by these hazards, eventually settling in the Northlands.

[turin]

Why can't the lavinians represent the empire at its apex AND the empire in decline? The armies would be basically the same at both times. It isn't like we have different factions for Wesnoth in 10 YW and 600 YW...


Anyway, the Imperial Era takes place on the Old Continent. That's across the ocean from the great continent.


I should probably go through and erase anything from the WesnothHistory page that doesn't fit...


Once I get that map finished, things will be much clearer.

[Chris Byler]

Ah, I didn't know that you had already placed it on the Old Continent. That throws most of the specifics of that post out the window. Oh well - any way of fitting them into Wesnoth-world (there doesn't seem to be an elegant way to distinguish between the nation and the world it inhabits) is probably fine, there is so much space on the world that is barely hinted at, if that. The rest of the Great Continent (south and east of Wesnoth especially), the whole Old Continent, the Green Isle after YW 1, possibly other continents... worlds are big.

In fact, an earlier draft of that post mentioned that the Lavinians could also appear in a classical era with several other historical-based factions that haven't even been started yet (Peloponnesian Greeks, Macedonians, Carthaginians, classical Persians, Mauryan Indians, maybe some kind of Egyptians), but I cut that part for length (and because developing one era at a time is quite enough).

Ultimately I don't have that much interest in Wesnoth history (there goes that ambiguity again, am I talking about the history of one country or the whole world?), I like the factions for their different gameplay styles and combinations of units/abilities. History may make a lot of difference when writing a campaign, but I don't put much importance on it for a MP era.

[unsung]

To avoid confusion I think "wesnoth" should mean world and Great Continent should mean things in relating to the country of wesnoth (or anything else in the mainline).

Unless saying the king of wesnoth. Those things outght to stay the same.

[JW]

On the topic of renaming the World of Wesnoth:

Perhaps a name for the planet could be brainstormed? Is this something that the developers would be against?

If this is something that may be pursued, then a new thread should be started on the topic.

[Temuchin Khan]

On the topic of renaming the World of Wesnoth:

Perhaps a name for the planet could be brainstormed?

Earthnoth (just kidding)

Mithnoth

Elfnoth

Faernoth

[Cuyo Quiz]

Let's aim for something more like a "term", instead of an actual name. I'm sure the population don't believe they have seen everything in the planet, so sages/researchers must have a term for the whole of the world, even the unknown parts, instead of an actual name.

[JW]

All concerns about naming the "World of Wesnoth" should go here.

This thread is about the Imperial Multiplayer Era.

[turin]

There is now an SVN repository up for the Imperial Era.

This has many advantages. It will make adding new graphics, editing stats, etc, much easier, because anyone with access can do it (instead of everything being funneled through me). It allows anyone who wants to to take a look at how much we've progressed since the last release. And, it makes the project much more formalized.


To get an anonymous checkout of the current SVN on Linux (this will probably work on a Mac also), do

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svn co http://opensvn.csie.org/ImperialEra imperial/

This will create an up-to-date version of the Imperial Era in the directory imperial/, relative to your current location when you type this in.

To get a registered checkout (which allows you to commit changes to the repository), you first have to ask me for one. Then, do this:

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export SVN_SSH="ssh -l LOGINNAME"

Where LOGINNAME is the login you told me you wanted. Follow that with

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svn co https://opensvn.csie.org/ImperialEra imperial/

(Note the https:/, not http:/).
It will prompt you for a password. Input the one you told me you wanted.


After you have this set up, you just have to do

Code: Select all

svn update

In the directory imperial/ in order to update to current.

Current project members:
Turin
Disto
Ranger M

[turin]

Here's a map of the Old Continent, as I see it.


Now, for a few comments by me on the map.

1. You'll notice that the Aragwaithi are not on this map. Why? Because I'm not sure where to put the Aragwaithi on the Orb. Do they belong on the Old Continent? Or perhaps on the Great Continent somewhere East of Wesnoth? I just don't know. I don't think they fit with the rest of the factions on the OC.

2. The Kedari are also not on here. The reason is, they are the sucessors to the Aiyira, and live in the same location. But, are we getting Aiyira graphics any time soon? I was going to try to work on them, but it didn't go anywhere. Any now that we have the Saracens and the Kedari, I'm not sure we need them. What are opinions on replacing the Aiyira with the Kedari?

3. The Dardanoi have no graphics, but I want to keep them there, since IMHO they occupy a good place on the continent, and aren't about to be shoved out of the way by another faction.

4. The Sidhe Elves and Frost Elves are here. I haven't gotten confirmation or denial about their going into the Era, but this is where I see them going if they do go in.

5. Hopefully my placement of the Arendians doesn't conflict with anything Ranger M did.

[Ranger M]

just one quick mod of that and I'm very happy.(red area is the bit I changed)

[Cuyo Quiz]

On replacing the Airiya with the Kedari: I would rather have the Aiyira, seriously. They have a better distributed tree, and if the graphics are done, having robe-wearing units should be more varied and interesting for the era. But of course, i just LOVE the Airiya.

EDIT: What is the status of the Dardans, anyway, and their relation to Wesfolk?.

Another thing i've been thinking about, is that user-made factions should not have TC. I liked the way armies looked like real soldiers with realistic clothing without using schemed colors to represent their allegiance. And some armies just don't look good in TC, like the Lavinians, other color than red for them would be a shame.

[turin]

On replacing the Airiya with the Kedari: I would rather have the Aiyira, seriously. They have a better distributed tree, and if the graphics are done, having robe-wearing units should be more varied and interesting for the era. But of course, i just LOVE the Airiya.

True, but... the graphics aren't done.