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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted October 13, 2013 06:02 PM |
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Edited by Elvin at 18:07, 13 Oct 2013.
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@ShardofTruth
Yes but it is unlikely that they could ever be apart in an academy lineup. Spirits, constructs and beastmen ARE academy!
And you are right about sea elves but they seem too minor a faction to have their own lineup. Hard to make a faction out of a sea elf crew  I'd love to see them as neutrals though.
EDIT:
I have edited the subfactions to remove clans and major houses. Added BlackSkull orcs in strongold because they are sufficiently different and could work as a theme. Also added a few things on necropolis' nethermancers (Ariana's order of the void).
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H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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DIEGIS
Supreme Hero
power of Zamolxis
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posted October 13, 2013 07:02 PM |
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A new heroes game without proper multiplayer option will fail greatly., and when I say "proper multiplayer", I think all of u knows exactly what I mean!
Toh is dead, game as well, UBI's not 
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dacian falx behind you
-knowledge itself is power-
www.cabinet-dentaire-malaunay.fr
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Storm-Giant
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
On the Other Side!
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posted October 13, 2013 07:38 PM |
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xerox said:
I LOVE the idea that Defense raises retaliation damage. It has really interesting implications for gameplay and just makes sense.
Seems a very interesting idea, I like it.
xerox said:
Of these, I like the Wolf theme the best. They really do look awesome. I wouldn't like Crusader because I feel that the "overzealous worshippers of Elrath"-theme has already been done to death in both H5 and H6. The Light Magic should still be there (unless set far in the past or future), but the emphasis is on the military. So less fancy white/gold armours and more warlike, rugged aesthetics please! Since we're not getting Fortress (its hardly in demand), I wouldn't mind if it got a little industrial too. I guess the main problem there is that unless set after DM, it's hard to motivate why there are cannons before H5. But that's what retcons are for!
I'd also love to see a less zealot-minded Haven. But no cannons
xerox said:
I think essential H7 factions are Haven, Necropolis, Academy and Stronghold. After that, it's a fight between Sylvan/Sanctuary and Inferno/Dungeon.
Exchange Sylvan with Stronghold and I totally agree
DIEGIS said:
A new heroes game without proper multiplayer option will fail greatly., and when I say "proper multiplayer", I think all of u knows exactly what I mean!
Toh is dead, game as well, UBI's not
Yes yes, we know that. But this isn't the place to rage against Ubisoft, thank you
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DIEGIS
Supreme Hero
power of Zamolxis
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posted October 13, 2013 09:07 PM |
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Edited by DIEGIS at 21:08, 13 Oct 2013.
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its not a rage dude, just in case ubi decided to make new game - better if they sell franchise though - they need to be told about sim turns!
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dacian falx behind you
-knowledge itself is power-
www.cabinet-dentaire-malaunay.fr
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted October 13, 2013 10:38 PM |
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Give it a break Diegis, that's all you ever talk about You don't need to convince me and this thread has nothing to do with that so such posts do not serve a meaningful purpose. But if you have something to say on the topic I will be happy to hear it.
____________
H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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Simpelicity
Promising
Famous Hero
Video maker
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posted October 13, 2013 11:46 PM |
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Did we all play the same H6? Haven wasn't zealoty at all in that game. None of the prominent characters had much zeal in them. Slava was accepting. Anton started off an idiot but went his father's way. Gerhart is a jerk with no interest in religion.
There were few really devoted people in there overall, most people were concerned about themselves, not religion, and the angels lost a lot of holiness in the process too, with Uriel an' all.
As for what factions are a must, I'd say to use what you need for whatever story they have in mind, but it's not exactly how they work. They had the fans choose the SoD faction and then wrote the story around it. Not the way I'd do it.
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xerox
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 14, 2013 01:12 AM |
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I was refering to the theme of the faction aswell. And H6 was undoubtly more focused on (light) magic/religion than its predesscors with Sun Crusaders, Glories, Angels and Vestals. Aswell as the white/gold aesthetic.
____________
Over himself, over his own
body and
mind, the individual is
sovereign.
- John Stuart Mill
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Dave_Jame
Promising
Legendary Hero
I'm Faceless, not Brainless.
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posted October 14, 2013 04:04 AM |
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Simpelicity said:
Did we all play the same H6? Haven wasn't zealoty at all in that game. None of the prominent characters had much zeal in them. Slava was accepting. Anton started off an idiot but went his father's way. Gerhart is a jerk with no interest in religion.
There were few really devoted people in there overall, most people were concerned about themselves, not religion, and the angels lost a lot of holiness in the process too, with Uriel an' all.
Well more then half of the bad-guys were fanatic angels, who ploted a revange for centuries, Breeded humans to surve their own purpose, and we had so much talk about "holy" things it hurt. We even got a braindead inquisitor who spoke of nothig but cleansing by light and fire. Imho H6 did better in beeing zealotic then the H5 corny "Griffin eternal".
The Angels did not lose any of thier holiness. They all belived what they were dooing was the will of their god. Serah belived it was in the name of good she had to sacrefice herself. Uriel belived that the breeding of celestial and the use of his student and lover to kill her father was for the good of his race. And Michael? He took over the comands of the Haven army only to continue in a war that ended centuries ago.
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Simpelicity
Promising
Famous Hero
Video maker
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posted October 14, 2013 05:29 AM |
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Dave I think you are misled by the fact that they are angels. Them saying it's in Elrath's name does not make it motivated by religion. That's like saying the first crusade was in the name of God only. For most of the rank and file it was, for those who organized it, it was just land, glory and influence. Same thing here. Angels can say what they want, in the end, they're just looking out for themselves, and religion is a convenient tool to get people to do things for them. Easy to use tool, since they ARE angels, they've got that credibility going.
Self-preservation and vengeance, that's the motivation of the angel villains. NOT religion, regardless of what they say. And the other lower-rank angels just follow blindly because they can't see the light any more than their more "enlightened" brethren. No holiness to be found anywhere I look.
Haven had the ONE inquisitor, who died almost instantly (in the necro campaign first map). There was also this other woman inquisitor with Slava, but she learns wisdom. Hardly an over abundance of zeal, especially compared to H5. That one inquisitor the What's-her-name-succubi uses? Man that guy was painful.
As for the military, they lost the priests and gained the glories. The knights also because some kinda light ghosts or something. It does lean more towards religion, or at least Elrath's light. None of the characters carry that conviction though, no matter what they say. That's all I'm saying.
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted October 14, 2013 08:00 AM |
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H6 lineup was more magical and light-based, almost to the point it hurts your eyes. Priestess, glory, even a rider that turns his steed to light. I think the glories were overkill.
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H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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DoubleDeck
Promising
Legendary Hero
Look into my eyes...
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posted October 14, 2013 08:49 AM |
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Elvin said:
There are two major storylines unresolved, the Dark Messiah and Void cycle. It would be easier to conclude one of those than jump to another timelike, like the Shantiri era. The Void cycle cannot end in Duel of Champions campaign as Sandro and his void team are still alive 100 years later, in Shades of Darkness. It is quite possible that it will be continued in H7 or in another game and a more likely choice than the Dark Messiah which more or less involves demon hordes invading everything. In Ubi's place I wouldn't want to go there, there have been too many demon invasions already
I would like H7 to continue from where Dark Messiah left off. This would be around 980 YSD.
I remember in Dark Messiah though, the player had the option of using the Skull of Shadows to lock Kha-beleth away forever, or destroy the Skull and free him….maybe for H7, the Skull should be destroyed, so as to have a fresh storyline with no Demon Overlord trying to invade Ashan again. Let the storyline have the demons rebuilding a new Lord, the Dark Messiah, but for this to be a sub theme rather than the main one…
Hmmm, think I want to play Dark Messiah again…
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JollyJoker
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 14, 2013 09:42 AM |
bonus applied by Elvin on 14 Oct 2013. |
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Defense raising retaliation damage makes no sense at all, because a retaliation is an attack, even it's a counter-attack. The logical conclusion was, if retaliation damage was modified by defense, then then it would have to be compared with the initial attacker's ATTACK as well.
No, attack is attack and defense is defense, and there are enough ways to boost retaliation damage with skills or abilities. We must not make things needlessly more complex without gaining something, from it, and this isn't gaining - it might, however, be a singular unit ability.
Quote:
There are two major storylines unresolved, the Dark Messiah and Void cycle. It would be easier to conclude one of those than jump to another timelike, like the Shantiri era. The Void cycle cannot end in Duel of Champions campaign as Sandro and his void team are still alive 100 years later, in Shades of Darkness. It is quite possible that it will be continued in H7 or in another game and a more likely choice than the Dark Messiah which more or less involves demon hordes invading everything. In Ubi's place I wouldn't want to go there, there have been too many demon invasions already.
Elvin, you know that this is just not true. You can easily avoid that:
Ubisoft has managed to completely waste the Inferno faction anyway, because there is no point in including them anymore, as long as all they can do is find a way to portal into Ashan, pillage, plunder and destroy a bit along the way and then being defeated and turned back, especially since they cannot exist on Ashan regularly (when Asha "rules" over Ashan). Which means, the faction has no perspective in any era before the Dark Messiah. Until then, the Inferno is not a faction, but a locust plague.
Therefore, whether there are Hellfire Demons or Lava Demons or Shapechanging Demons - who cares, if there is no way to sensibly give them proper faction status outside of the time of an eclipse?
I also hate the backwards way to tell a story - whatever happens before the events told in HoMM V - we know their result. We know of the ultimate schism between the Necromancers and the Academy, we know that the Nethermants will have no success with whatever plans they might hedge with Void or not, we know, that the Griffins will rule Haven and that the Elrath belief will stay strong, and we know that Dwarves will end up having a dull line-up.
So in my mind, telling the (rather boring) Void thing (that cannot succeed anyway, except that there are probably SOME out there, wishing it would succeed so that Ashan would be annihilated) would not be cool - and at least a sizable part of that things is done in Heroes Online anyway.
Sadly - we also know that the Empire as a political entity will survive until HoMM V. As a political entity I find the Empire pretty interesting as such, but I would rather seem them as an Alliance instead of an Empire with one ruler faction. Like with the Greek or Italian City States. This would also pave the way for more down-to-earth campaigns and allow interesting campaigns with way more varied and even "experimental" human factions.
This would even allow - maybe as an expansion - something like an "Empire faction model kit": every human clan had specific optical set (trimmings, crest and so on), and every human clan had a slightly different line-up, with obviously the animal involved in some way: Griffins for the Griffins, some kind of wolf for the Wolf, a Bull for Bull, a Unicorn for them and a Greyhound unit for them (can't allow the French being taken by the Demons, can we?); in addition there might be a special human soldier unit for each clan, which would mean that after the expansion, when picking the human faction to play, you would have a second pick for clan, tuning things in an innovative way.
This is of course not really possible, as long as the Empire exists.
In my opinion there is a serious boredom factor involved, with the situation cemented that way. You've got to SMASH stuff once in a while to get a new perspective, and if I had any say in this, which I haven't, of course, but IF I had any, I would let the Dark Messiah succeed in finding a way to let the walls of Sheogh crumble and the Demons exist in Ashan regularly (which is actually the main thing: find a way for them to continually exist on Ashan!).
Of course they might lose their will to destroy everything mindlessly, just for the sake of destruction along the way.
You do NOT have to have the invasion routine again - the DM success may have been bought with a severe loss. Sheogh being down, there wouldn't be any rebirth there anymore. Sheogh might have been destroyed in the process, allowing only a small horde of survivors to cross and "change".
Game might start with the Inferno having gained a foothold somewhere in the Empire, and the Empire crumbling into the clans again, building alliances, wherever they find them.
Under these conditions the ORCS (all demon-blood creatures) might undergo a change as well, this way or that way, some of them maybe even allying with the Demons and the Necros against the Silver Cities, while the Elves might try to re-unite into one mighty faction to take advantage and rule over Ashan.
You know, some kind of role change might be of interest.
So in THIS thing, you had Stronghold, Inferno and Necropolis against the Academy, a split Human faction, part of whom might enter into Alliance with the Academy, and 2 Elven factions trying to come to terms with the past in order to rule over what will be left if the above war is settled, Dwarves and Sanctuary watching as the potential fire brigade coming to the rescue.
Mind, that's just an example. The main thing is, that HoMM is not a TV show with one episode each week. Release years were 1995, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2011 - I guess that 2015 might see the next installment, and if the story is taking place in the past, I expect things to be boring like hell, since it will look like we go through the same thing again.
If you look at the changes from HoMM 2 to HoMM 3 to HoMM 4 and HoMM 5 - they were pretty massive each time. HoMM 6 brought the Sancturay at least, but the rest was more or less a copy of HoMM 5, although less of it. If things in HoMM VII take place before HoMM V in the time line, then HoMM VII can only become a mix between HoMM 5 and HoMM 6.
Since I consider HoMM 6 to be a dead end, I would logically expect them to leave that dead end and break new ground.
I might be dead wrong, though.
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Dave_Jame
Promising
Legendary Hero
I'm Faceless, not Brainless.
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posted October 14, 2013 11:19 AM |
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Well One thing we did not considere yet is the fact that Ashan is a planet, and Thallan is just one of its continents. Even if it is boaring for Heroes Settings. The Free parts of it can be used for some good settiings. Like the Deep moutains, Sahaar or the free cities.
But we can also explore new lands. Like we did in Heroes III
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JollyJoker
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 14, 2013 01:48 PM |
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It's not Ashan as such I have a problem with, but the backwards story-telling and the dead end the Inferno is stuck in.
In HoMM 5 they are a locust plague that comes and goes with the eclipse, in HoMM 6 they are the same, and in any time period except the Wars of Creation, they can only be the same, making them redundant, no matter their actual line-up.
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xerox
Promising
Undefeatable Hero
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posted October 14, 2013 03:28 PM |
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Edited by xerox at 15:37, 14 Oct 2013.
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I agree JJ and had the same proposal in my old "Xerox's H6" ideas (Kha-Beleth betrays Urgash, escapes Sheogh and builds an independent demonic state). But that is just another of the reasons why it might make sense to leave Inferno out of the next installment. Is it really essential for it to be in the spotlight in every Heroes game set in Ashan? It was never considered essential in the NWC games. It only existed as its own faction in one of them!
____________
Over himself, over his own
body and
mind, the individual is
sovereign.
- John Stuart Mill
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Locksley
Promising
Famous Hero
Wielding a six-string
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posted October 14, 2013 03:51 PM |
bonus applied by Elvin on 14 Oct 2013. |
Edited by Locksley at 14:02, 21 Jan 2014.
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The geography of Ashan with the (falcon/griffin/unicorn) Empire in the middle and the other factions around is necessary to mention, because it has a lot of influence on which factions will appear in the games.
Heroes 5 used this geography + massive demon eclipse + Markal's thirst for revenge and power to include all factions in one big mess. The geography only works well from a game perspective when it's World War and the Empire can act as one nation. That's the only time the story allows us to have all factions we want.
Heroes 6 otoh focused on a conflict between two duchies, which spread to the south east (Hashima, Heresh, Pao) when the heroes fled or hunted the traces of dark magic when looking for the library. The fight against invading demons during the Eclipse had no real role in the story, the Eclipse was just the challenge the Angels made plans around - and these plans were what sparked the conflict between Griffin and Wolf Duchies, i.e. the real story. Kiril's quest had NOTHING to with the demon invasion of Ashan, he just took the chance to leave Sheogh when everybody else was doing it.
This focus on two duchies in the south east instead of a World War made it possible to limit the number of factions even if demons invaded everywhere. It would've been cool if they took the chance to make the Wolf Duchy more like those cards on page one.
(Since the Empire is by far the largest country they're the best for start making sub-factions. Orcs are geographically split already, while all the others are very unified. Perhaps the Necromancers can, due to becoming increasingly oriented to the Empire over time go from Egyptian (H6 Academy subfaction) to become more Medieval/Gothic (in h5 and later).)
The story Jolly Joker came up with and his thoughts abouth introducing the duchies as playable factions that are Same But Different is interesting.
***
- EDIT - These ideas are explained in greater detail in other posts. On page 8 (and on page 10) I have given examples of how the duchies could differ from each other and reasons to why Necropolis should be different (Egyptian or Gothic) in different games. My post on page 11 is about why it's Haven that is most suitable to split in sub-factions or duchies.
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I think a post apocalyptic story should be split in two regional parts, North and South, which just like H6 could create limited stories happening in a world where something bigger (eclipse, angel scheme) is going on.
1. The original release could focus on how the Unicorn and Stag Duchy try to create stability in the Northern parts (war with the Raven duchy? and rebellious counts) of the new Unicorn Empire, while demons leave Sheogh to settle in the Dwarves' and Dark elves' underground lands, and also plunder the Empire and Irollan. It's the classic Everybody vs Demons but with more focus on Imperial politics and some border disputes that make the war complicated.
Factions: Inferno, Fortress (much better on the official m&m site than in H5), Dungeon, Sylvan, Haven (2-4 duchies with different colors and some creature variations).
2. An expansion could cover events in the South. Bull, Wolf and Greyhound duchies try to gain indepence and grab former Griffin land, and there are plundering Orcs everywhere. When the Necromancers come hunting for demons, and when the Silver Cities in response to this threat (and possibly influenced by demon cultists) also invades there's a big mess, but since the problems in the North has been settled the Unicorn Duchy Alliance can come South and restore the Empire.
Factions: Strongold, Academy and Necropolis + more duchies.
Early edit: I can't believe I wrote this when I gave up reading A Game of Thrones after three books, when the wars started to look endless and new complications were introduced on every page and the story lost any direction it still had and became pointless. This story doesn't have to be that complicated. I'd also like to add that a Heroes game should focus on persons; what happens to Freya, Duncan, Wulfstan, Ylaya and Zehir, or to new protagonists in their factions (like Vein in Anastasya's faction). Who will lead the Necromancers after Arantir? Etc, etc.
This map looks nice but isn't it incorrect? Didn't the Falcon dynasty disappear, and in H6 Bull duchy was next to Heresh while Irina invaded the Wolf Duchy on the South coast. So far the Raven Duchy is too far away from any interesting neighbours to have a role, a Northern story could bring them into the game.
However, I don't think any post apocalyptic game will come soon, not until Ubisoft has run out of ideas (Heroes 4 came when the developers thought a new start was needed) and solved most of the story lines they have started or hinted at. These include:
- Void story - Some kind of alliance against Sandro and his fellows.
- Rise of the Demon Sovereign - what will happen to Kha Beleth and Kiril? A part of the void story?
- Civil war between Wizards and Necromancers. Wild guess: Kha Beleth becomes sovereign thanks to demon cultists among wizards and the Asha-friendly Necromancers tried to stop this?
- The split between Elves and Dark elves & The war between elves, humans and dwarves (but this is an unlekily release since SOD was the campaign about the early dark elves).
- There were many Heroes 5 scenarios about historical episodes, some of them may become campaigns, but perhaps they'll never be more than H5 scenarios
When looking at the Ashan history time line I think this is the most interesting setting for Heroes 7:
Quote:
751 - 770 YSD Purge of the Necromancers - Civil war in the Seven Cities
Jealous of the power acquired by the Necromancers, the Wizards of the Seven Cities initiate a large-scale persecution, ranging from the seizing of their properties, to banishment, to the spectacle of public executions
A long and gruesome civil war ensues. The ancient cities are destroyed and much of the land is rendered uninhabitable.
756 YSD Death of Vaniel
Vaniel is succeeded by king Alaron, whose eye is turned outward from the forest. Slowly, he re-establishes stronger contacts with the other races.
Alaron provided aid to the Wizards of the Silver Cities in their wars against the Necromancers, and encouraged traders to come to the elven borders.
771 YSD Foundation of the Silver League
Survivors of the Seven Cities establish the Silver League (the second kingdom of Magic) in the lands to the south. Necromancers flee east to the haunted valley of Heresh.
A game about this would be a nice way to focus on both the North and the South at once. Both Academy and Sylvan come back, we also get Necromancers (and Inferno if the civil war started when necromancers tried to prevent demon cultists among the other wizards from helping KB). Perhaps the Dark Elves and/or demons were involved in Vaniel's Death (i.e. Kiril visits library to stop KB but spreads more chaos in the West than he intended?)? Perhaps we get to see the Desert Orcs? The Empire would definately be involved in such dramatic events along both the southern and western borders. But dwarves and nagas would probably not be included.
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War-overlord
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
Presidente of Isla del Tropico
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posted October 14, 2013 04:45 PM |
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Would love to add my thoughts to this once I has the time.
But for now, let me only say to:
Locksley said:
This map looks nice but isn't it incorrect? Didn't the Falcon dynasty disappear, and in H6 Bull duchy was next to Heresh while Irina invaded the Wolf Duchy on the South coast. So far the Raven Duchy is too far away from any interesting neighbours to have a role, a Northern story could bring them into the game.
This map has since been retconned in the Ashan Compendium, and it includes most things you list.
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Vote El Presidente! Or Else!
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DIEGIS
Supreme Hero
power of Zamolxis
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posted October 14, 2013 07:09 PM |
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Edited by DIEGIS at 19:10, 14 Oct 2013.
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oke Elvin, as u say
____________
dacian falx behind you
-knowledge itself is power-
www.cabinet-dentaire-malaunay.fr
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DoubleDeck
Promising
Legendary Hero
Look into my eyes...
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posted October 14, 2013 07:14 PM |
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Nice post Locksley 
I would liek to see H7 being post Dark Messiah with the story where Kha-beleth gets sealed forever with the destruciton of Skull of Shadows. That way no more eclipse-demon invasion story...
There would need to be a central theme that is evil (like a typical Tolkien story)...and demons do fit into this very well.
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Gnomes2169
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Duke of the Glade
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posted October 14, 2013 08:02 PM |
bonus applied by Elvin on 14 Oct 2013. |
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Elvin said:
There are two major storylines unresolved, the Dark Messiah and Void cycle. It would be easier to conclude one of those than jump to another timelike, like the Shantiri era. The Void cycle cannot end in Duel of Champions campaign as Sandro and his void team are still alive 100 years later, in Shades of Darkness. It is quite possible that it will be continued in H7 or in another game and a more likely choice than the Dark Messiah which more or less involves demon hordes invading everything. In Ubi's place I wouldn't want to go there, there have been too many demon invasions already
And as for the factions involved, I would bet on sylvan and academy to be in from the beginning. Poor guys didn't make it into H6 
Or perhaps we could see both story lines resolved in the same game. After all, the time of the Dark Messiah will plunge the realms into chaos no matter the Messiah's choice, and a permanent invasion of the demons and shattering of their ancient prison is exactly the distraction any survivors of Sandro's cult need to rise up and make their move, probably revive Sandro or awaken his soul by retrieving his skull and telling him to stop playing dead and then once again attempt to rip open Ashan to escape into the infinite once more.
Heck, we might just see a faction or neutral creatures that are basically lovecraftian horrors to signify the Void making its move. After all, while most members of the cult are necromancers and undead are nice and everything, your endless hordes pale in comparison to the raw power of beings made of literally nothing and beings that come from places beyond time, space and sanity. Honestly, a Void faction would be an addition that I would like to see, and hopefully one that would fit in with the Ashan lore as it stands (I would think that it does based on how much they tried to build up the Void in H6/ DoC).
Some things that might make the setting of Ashan much more dark and enjoyable... even if it accidentally ___ the planet. Or not so accidentally, as the case may be... If the Dark Messiah chooses to break the prison, the demons will not lose, since they will be able to die, instantly be revived and then flood back onto the battle field as an endless tide, eternally. It would make them into much more powerful antagonists and actually makes sense from a lore standpoint... so even though it is a stereotypical card for Ubi to pull at this point, the conclusion that it reaches can be vastly different, and the story that goes with it can be a desperate, hopeless tale of bitter defeat after bitter defeat, instead of the endless sweeping victories we have now. Add to that the possibility of the Void surging, and you have one very nasty free for all indeed... and a setting that would actually be interesting to play through till the end, if I do say so myself. 
Regardless, I'm going to be saying that, no matter what, we will be seeing Haven, Inferno, Necropolis and Dungeon if H7 comes out (Ubi has doted so much on those four factions that it would be impossible for them to not be in a game...) with competition for remaining spots going to (In order of appearance by my guestimation) Stronghold/ Academy/ Sylvan/ Sanctuary/ Fortress. Stronghold being the first because Ubisoft has not yet made a game without it (H5 they were present in an expansion, H6/ DoC they were a core faction) and Fortress being last because... really no one likes fortress except the most avid fortress players (lore wise and lineup aesthetics = snoozeville).  Finally, if Ubi has any sense of being awesome (debatable), then there is a slight chance of there being a Void faction.
If I had to guess possible gameplay themes, then for all of the possible factions it would be:
Haven: TANK TANK TANK + Buff (Do I actually have to say more?)
Inferno: DPS + Numbers (High damage, speed and attack swarms that drop like flies)
Necro: ZOMG NUMBERS + some revives/ debuffs (Basically a fusion of the H5 necromacy that bolsters troop count after battles and the H6 magic focus)
Dungeon: Burst DPS + Stealth (More destructive magic than in H6, but with the same general creature themes)
Stronghold: Diverse abilities + DPS (I'm thinking that fortress, while being physically powerful once again, could easily focus more on the diversity of their creature's abilities, to match the general diversity of their possible creatures.)
Sylvan: Burst DPS + Buffs (Like dungeon, the forest elves would likely be very powerful in the first round or two of combat before the enemy has a chance to really cut down on their numbers, but heroes would likely be more focused on improving their creatures through light magic than blowing up their enemies through destructive.)
Sanctuary: Battle tempo + Buffs (With their ice and light theme, Sancuary seems like the faction that would choose when and where their creatures engaged enemies on the battlefield, making them amazing tempo setters wile also giving them access to powerful defensive buffs.)
Fortress: Tanking + Formations (From what we saw in H5, the dwarves are a turtling faction with some decent offensive might in the form of light and runic magic, but beyond that they had the unique ability to be buffed by other creatures of the faction standing beside them on the battlefield, making formation synergy a massive boon to the dwarven faction. Likely, we will be seeing a return to this system if we see Fortress ever again, though this I hope that there are bonuses for different arrangements on the battlefield or follow up attacks to add tactical depth to the dwarves...)
Void: Global debuffs + Horrors/ lingering damage (The Void would basically be the best school for breaking down enemies in every way possible, from its nightmare-spawned lineup to possible magic schools, this faction would likely specialize in lowering the effectiveness of any army to astronomical lows and would probably rely more on poisons/ suffering to bleed their enemies dry than bursting damage or overwhelming creatures.)
Of course, these are just idle speculations... but I would not be surprised if I was right on at least one or two accounts.
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Yeah in the 18th century, two inventions suggested a method of measurement. One won and the other stayed in America.
-Ghost destroying Fred
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