Wyvern Rider description

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Gothyoba
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Wyvern Rider description

Post by Gothyoba »

As you may already know, the Wyvern Rider lacks any kind of unit description in mainline Wesnoth. This post is made to discuss the Wyvern Rider unit description to reach a concensus which can hopefully be added to the game. Currently I have proposed this unit description at https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/pull/7673:

To the Dunefolk, the Wyvern is an image of untamable fear that may ravage its enemies, yet also a creature to be seen with great respect. The Wyvern is even the central piece of the united Dunefolk banner. The Dunefolk who manage to tame the Wyvern are few and far between, greatly revered among their kind as great heroes, even being passed on into legend. These riders devote their lives to the Wyvern, herding whole packs of Wyverns in the mountains and hills near the desert. Even the riders themselves may form strong bonds with the Wyverns, sometimes almost become a part of the pack.

Some Dunefolk leaders may hire these people for their courts to show their great power and wealth. These royal wyverns are rarely sent to battle, yet when they are it is usually to show one's power and incite fear in the enemy, demonstrating that your forces are strong enough to have tamed the Wyvern.

What do you think of this? Does it fit in with current Dunefolk and Wyvern lore (I think it does, but I’m not sure), and could more be added/removed here? This doesn’t have to be added, and I’m also be open to completely different proposals to descriptions.

I’m not sure as to the full requirements to get this in the game, but I think a final concensus should at least not have any typos or grammmatical errors, expand on Wensoth lore, be fun to read and sound consistent with other unit descriptions.

Some older proposals for expanding lore in the south put the intersection between Dunefolk and Wyvern territory in the mountains near the Ashland Desert, which could be incorporated here (see this post for more info: viewtopic.php?t=52368). However, canonizing the Ashland Desert would require a series of other changes, and might not be recommendable until a Dunefolk campaign is introduced to mainline. However, adding it could provide a canonical framework to expand the south. You may post your suggestions below.

Other useful links to keep in mind on this topic:

https://units.wesnoth.org/1.17/mainline ... yvern.html - Wild Wyvern unit description
Last edited by Gothyoba on June 9th, 2023, 11:19 am, edited 8 times in total.
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Vyncyn
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Re: Wyvern Rider description

Post by Vyncyn »

keeing whole packs of Wyverns
keeing is not a nice word here. Maybe keeping, herding, taming, raising...
Yet even the riders may form strong bonds with the Wyverns, sometimes almost become a part of the pack
The "yet" makes it seem like a contradiciton of the previous sentence. I think it would sound better if you remove it:
"The riders may form strong bonds with the Wyverns, sometimes almost become a part of the pack."

Haven't read dunefolk lore yet, so not sure how it fits in that regard.
Overall I would say it's a good text. Fun to read & no errors that I could find (just a few suggestions)
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Gothyoba
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Re: Wyvern Rider description

Post by Gothyoba »

Thanks for pointing those details out, I have updated the original post and pull request, and solved another typo in the process. Keeing was a typo of keeping, though I have changed it to herding to be more specific.
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Re: Wyvern Rider description

Post by beetlenaut »

This is good, and has some imaginative expansion to the lore. There are still a few grammatical problems and some awkward phrasing though. Also, it doesn't sound quite like Wesnoth. This is my take on your work:
A wyvern is an untamable, ravaging beast that strikes fear into anyone who encounters one. However, it is possible to form a bond with these creatures, and there are Dunefolk who have managed to safely ride one. A potential rider must devote years to the task of being adopted by a pack, always knowing that a swift death awaits if they violate their current place in the social hierarchy. Those few Dunefolk who are finally taken aloft are seen as heroes to their clans. If they survive long enough, they often pass into legend.

Dunfolk leaders who want to be seen as powerful and successful often employ a wyvern rider or two, even if they need to forego other luxuries in order to afford it. Because of their worth, the riders are usually used to intimidate the enemy or carry out assassinations rather than lead the front-line troops.
I didn't include all of the flavor text (royal wyverns, the banner image, etc.) because those things belong more in a description of Dunefolk culture than a unit description. They wouldn't be relevant to a player who has just encountered one of these. I also removed the reference to "herding" as you don't do that with large predators.
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Gothyoba
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Re: Wyvern Rider description

Post by Gothyoba »

I like this. It is a well made proposal that is fun to read and better than mine, and it also sounds much better in the context of Wesnoth, though I would suggest some changes to your ideas. I think the text on Wyvern Banner could be added to the Dunefolk race description, as it was an interesting piece of possible lore. I wouldn’t say that the Wyverns are good for assassinations, as they are rather large, easily noticeable, and may cause other unwanted damages. I would say that it is likely most commonly used in battle to show of wealth, the same eay that it is used in the courts and palaces of rich leaders. Also, I feel like Wyvern Riders would most likely enter the pack by replacing the leader, similarly to the domestication of other social creatures. It is still possible for a pack to reject its leader, yet the stength the rider has shown makes this unlikely. Also, as another idea, maybe a note on where the Wyverns live could be added to the Wild Wyvern description. (Keeping in line with some older proposals, I would say mountainous or hilly region in the south, often near deserts. Maybe the Mountains of Peril could be a good location.) Thank you for your work, ideas and feedback.

I will be making the PR linked above a draft again to discuss these changes.
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Re: Wyvern Rider description

Post by beetlenaut »

Gothyoba wrote: June 9th, 2023, 11:13 am I wouldn’t say that the Wyverns are good for assassinations....I would say that it is likely most commonly used in battle to show of wealth
I don't care very much about the assassination thing, but assassins don't need to be sneaky. Some famous ones were quite bold. However, if a player is seeing a wyvern, it is not there to look expensive, it is going to be used. Neither the AI nor Wesnoth players recruit units to just show off their gold, so this doesn't apply to battle scenarios in the game.
Gothyoba wrote: June 9th, 2023, 11:13 am I feel like Wyvern Riders would most likely enter the pack by replacing the leader
But these are not horses or sheep or even dogs. Wyverns would live more like lions. Do you think a human could replace the male lion in charge of a pride? I can't imagine that working, and wyverns are far more deadly than lions. I think it's more likely that the human would have to approach very slowly and get integrated more like some humans have tried to do with gorillas and chimpanzees--which are also quite dangerous.
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Gothyoba
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Re: Wyvern Rider description

Post by Gothyoba »

beetlenaut wrote: June 11th, 2023, 5:47 am
Gothyoba wrote: June 9th, 2023, 11:13 am I wouldn’t say that the Wyverns are good for assassinations....I would say that it is likely most commonly used in battle to show of wealth
I don't care very much about the assassination thing, but assassins don't need to be sneaky. Some famous ones were quite bold. However, if a player is seeing a wyvern, it is not there to look expensive, it is going to be used. Neither the AI nor Wesnoth players recruit units to just show off their gold, so this doesn't apply to battle scenarios in the game.
While an assassin does not have to be sneaky, I think that using a Wyvern in assassination could be too much effort for most situations. Also, within Wesnoth, Orcish Assassins are quite sneaky, though this doesn’t have to be the same in all other cultures.
beetlenaut wrote: June 11th, 2023, 5:47 am
Gothyoba wrote: June 9th, 2023, 11:13 am I feel like Wyvern Riders would most likely enter the pack by replacing the leader
But these are not horses or sheep or even dogs. Wyverns would live more like lions. Do you think a human could replace the male lion in charge of a pride? I can't imagine that working, and wyverns are far more deadly than lions. I think it's more likely that the human would have to approach very slowly and get integrated more like some humans have tried to do with gorillas and chimpanzees--which are also quite dangerous.
As for using the Wyverns in battle, I think they would certainly be used, but rarely and carefully. If you loose a Wyvern it is likely a demonstration of weakness and perhaps even shameful, given the wealth associated with it, so you don’t want to send the Wyvern to every battle. When you do send the Wyver to battle, you don’t want to kill them, so they may be heavily guarded and carefully positioned. I think showing off wealth should still a part of this, given the cost of maintaining and keeping a Wyvern, but a not the only part of this. As for the Wyvern rider entering the pack, what you says makes sense and it also make things interesting.
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Re: Wyvern Rider description

Post by Gothyoba »

I will be removing this description from the PR linked above. Nemaara also suggested to work on a new concept for the description, as this kight not fit in with the rest of the dunefolk. In any case, it will be a long time before this description gets added so we might want to start to look into expanding the south as well, which could provide a basis for the Wyvern Rider description. Adding more lor ein relation to the interactions between dunefolk and wyverns could also be interesting. We might also want to think about where the wyverns liv. As suggested sbove, the moutnains of peril seem like a good idea. They are relatively consistent with other proposals, and would add more lore to a mountain range we know nithing about.
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