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Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
3rd April 2019
A character you might already have met in the First Undead Book and the Second Orc Book
has been added to to the Character Sheet: Haran'tel-kazor, the Nerubian Overlord!
In addition, I'd like you to know that I intend to upload a small update for the Second Orc Book
at the end of the week, fixing all bugs that have been found until then. After that, I am going to
take a little break from mapping. I will, however continue writing scripts for the next campaign & also
try to focus a bit more on the Character Sheet and the currently not available Faction Sheet.
MAYBE short stories too.

Stay tuned for future updates! And watch your graveyards...
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
10th April 2019
The following characters have been added to the Character Sheet:
Humans & Allies:
- Lord Marin
- Sir Praxeus "The Holy Bastion" Braelon
- General Salana Woodhunter
- General Selior Cleavehand

Orcs & Allies:
- Vanessa

I currently have 10 characters left that I want to add to the Character Sheet.
After that, I will see if I can finally get to the never released Faction Sheet.
Enjoy the new entries & stay tuned!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
12th April 2019
The following characters have been added to the Character Sheet:
Humans & Allies:
- Horgar Whitebeard
- Lord Korras Retka
- Queen Renova
- Salomar the Healer
- Scarlett Retka
- Prince Toraes of Kerrel
- Vail
- High King Zarin Hammerfall

Orcs & Allies:
- Lokar the Crusher
- Oneeye

Demons:
- Urshan

As you can see, I have added 11 instead of 10.
The list I had so far for unfinished characters had not included characters that would appear
in the Second Undead Book - now you also got Urshan, a demon you will meet in the Second Undead Book!
As time goes by, I am going to add more characters to the sheet, but I wanted to finish the ones
that were already "known" characters first. Expect more Undead but also Dark Elves and other races!
Stay tuned & enjoy!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
23rd April 2019
Today we have quite some stuff to talk about!
I am currently tinkering on the factions for the Undead Race Mechanic: Armies of the Dead.
I have completed the script unit rosters and currently tinker around with the rest of their techtree.
At this particular moment, I have rosters for 6 (!) factions to pick from in the Second Undead Book.
Do not worry being overwhelmed by thiss massive amount of factions, they will be introduced to you
in chapters dedicated to them. No exact details on the tech trees yet because we are still in early
planning phase and things are bound to change.
I am also thinking up ideas for the Undead Race Mechanic: Undying Craft, but not too much progress here yet.
In addition, there has been some work done by me on the Faction Sheet, but it will take some time before
I can present the results - I would prefer writing a bit more beforehand.
Last but not least, I'd like you all to know that I am currently writing on a short story dedicated to a
beloved (and by now dead) character that is being missed dearly. I cannot tell you when I will release
it, but I am sure it may draw a tear to some eyes. Or skulls, if you are undead.

So, yeah, this is the kind of stuff I am doing while I am still on my break.
I will soon return my full attention to Arkain, don't you worry. ;)

To finish this news post off, I'd like you to participate in the thread I am linking here, telling me about
your favorite books/campaigns so far - and why you chose them!
Name your book!

Now I'll go to rattle me bones.
Have a nice day!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
1st May 2019
Undying Craft
Today we are going to take a closer look at the Undead Race Mechanic: Undying Craft for the Second Undead Book.
Recently I found myself looking a lot at this mechanic and after putting much thought into it
(and creating over 30 items) I have decided to change the concept of it to make it more appealing.
Originally, Undying Craft was supposed to allow you the creation of items that were (mostly) not
connected to any of your characters and either simply nice items or even artifacts, with the faction
you choose also affecting what kind of items you had available.
While I really liked the idea behind this, it turned out to be less appealing than I originally thought.

So, I decided to change it a bit, making it less tedious while also giving it a deeper meaning.
Instead of items that may have no connection to anyting, I have decided to instead make all
items introduced by this new system connected to the playable characters in one way or another.

Let me explain what I mean by this.

As in the other Second Books, all of your characters still have specific items that they start with,
however some of those can be upgraded and new ones can be added!

I will give you a few examples so that you may understand what I mean - and also show you
a few characters you are going to control, but I am sure you already knew that for at least some!
I will of course not show you EVERYTHING yet, that would take away the surprise.

Let us start with our favorite sarcastic lich, Rahandir Drakeskull!
Rahandir starts with an item that contains his very Spirit Essence!
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This item GREATLY reduces the time it takes to revive Rahandir if he falls in battle (by about 2/3).
Sounds neat? Well, it is upgradeable!
If you play your cards right, Rahandir can create a Phylactery to contain his spirit essence.
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In addition to greatly reducing his revival time, this item is also giving Rahandir the ability
of directly deny death by coming right back after his death.
This makes it extremely hard for your enemies to get rid of Rahandir and allows you to call
for more Fists of Ice if necessary!

However, in addition to this item, Rahandir can also gain two NEW items!
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Let us start with the Gauntlets of Mastery.
Being a magician of supreme power and possessing a clear mind, Rahandir is capable of crafting
an item that not only further improves his skills as a caster by increasing his Intelligence while
also enabling him to take control of summoned units.
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The second item Rahandir can create from scratch is the Book of the Undying.
This book allows the lich to call upon the champions of the balance of Arkain - the powerful
Spirit Legionnaires -to serve him in battle while also increasing his maximum amount of mana.
This additional mana can be used to call upon even more Fists of Ice!



Next, let us move on to the sinister undead dreadlord Ornasion the Destroyer (if you didn't
know yet that he was going to be undead, you skipped the other Second Books so shush,
stop reading and play them!)
Ornasion starts the campaign with his Damaged Orb.
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Having been damaged in the previous fight, this orb has lost most of its power, in this state
it only allows Ornasion to attack Demons.
Therefore, it is highly recommened to repair it so it can be Ornasion's functioning Orb again!
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Repairing the Orb has quite its benefits! Not only does it increase the damage dealt by Ornasion,
it also gives him a chance of 20% to deal double damage. This greatly improves Ornasion's power
in a 1v1, especially if combined with his other items!

Like Rahandir, Ornasion also can create two new items.
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Given his new status as an undead, Ornasion's old armor no longer fit him and therefore Ornasion can
have the Armor of the Destroyer forged anew.
This armor not only gives Ornasion a great boost to his armor, it also grants him Immolation, making it
not only hard to hit him but also very painful to stand next to him!
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The other item Ornasion can obtain is the Soulkeeper.
This item contains the soul of an enemy of the Destroyer (hence the name) who can use this item
to not only increase his hit points but also to heal himself! This in combination with an armor that makes
it hard to hit him and an orb that makes him a terrifying duelist, turns the already powerful Ornasion
into a foe to be reckoned with!



Finishing off the examples here will be Queen Keera, the undead elven queen!

She does not have as many items at her disposal as Ornasion or Rahandir but these two simply are characters
with quite a few items to choose from (not all characters will have as many), so I think it is a good choice for the end.
Keera starts the campaign with her Crown of Agony.
full

This is the very crown Keera was buried with. Before her death, Keera was haunted by the many mistakes
she had made both as queen and as person. This agony has been channelled into her crown and now increases
her mana while also giving her access to the Finger of Death, turning her enemies from the inside out.
full

In addition to her crown, Keera was also buried with her weapon which can be turned into the Harvester of Souls.
Harvesting the souls of her fallen victims with this weapon, the Harvester increases Keera's hit points and also
gives her a powerful life stealing attack, making her incredibly tough for an Agility based hero.

So, that was it for today. I could of course list more items like the swords of the ruthless Sir Edoarus or the armors
of the vain Lady Meya or items for other characters, but that will all come in time.
I am currently working on finishing the two race mechanics for the Undead (most of the items are done, finishing
the different undead factions will be more work). Once that is done, I will get to the creation of the maps themselves
so that we can finally start the beginning of the the end of the Second Book era.
Stay tuned!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
2nd May 2019
While working on the Undead Race Mechanic: Armies of the Dead, I have come to realize
it will probably take a while until I have any more interesting news for you as the creation
of the six factions will take some time, especially since I want to thoroughly plan them all
first before actually creating them.

Therefore I have decided to tease the Undead Race Mechanic: Undying Craft a bit more.
In the hidden tag below you can see all icons & names for the (current) character-related
items that have been created by me for the Second Undead Book.
Their lore and stats are missing purposefully here because I want them to be left to your
imagination for the time being. All shall be revealed in time.
Note that most but not all of the listed items are part of the race mechanic. Why I share
them then? To tease you! :p

Stay tuned for further updates!

Also, the Current Project Showcase has been updated!
Be sure to check it out!



full
Rahandir's Spirit Essence

full
Rahandir's Phylactery

full
Gauntlets of Mastery

full
Book of the Undying

full
Damaged Orb

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Ornasion's Orb

full
Armor of the Destroyer

full
Soulkeeper

full
Crown of Agony

full
Harvester of Souls

full
Sign of Unlife

full
Scepter of Death

full
Mask of Illusions

full
Ring of Damnation

full
Cloak of the Avatar

full
Heart of the Dead Mountain

full
Blade of Kal'ragar

full
Exectuioner's Greatsword

full
Beheader

full
Justice

full
Plate of the Executioner

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Armor of the Executioner

full
Edoarus' List

full
Nightfall

full
Nightsong

full
Shield of Darkness

full
Shield of Horrors

full
Black Cuirass

full
Tome of Arachnids

full
Black Lotus Crystal

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Ancient Gem

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Rune of the Spider

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Ice Crown of Spider Kings

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Spider Ring

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Painbringer

full
Harbinger of Ruin

full
Crown of the Frost Mistress

full
Deathbreeze Necklace

full
Fury

full
Vengeance

full
Gift of the Warmonger
 
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Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
6th May 2019
The Rise of the Shadow Update
"I remember how they were all long gone when I returned to this realm.
My shadows, my race... destroyed. I also remember the pain I felt when I learned of it...
So many were lost." - The Master of Shadows

Today our friend known as "Lord Brian the Fallen" has decided to make his presence known to
those few who were still unaware.
Both the Second Human Book and the Second Orc Book have been updated to show the influence
he has in both of them. The Second Human Book made some people hate him, the Second Orc Book
on the other hand shows why he did what he did and that there is more to the mysterious mentor than
meets the eye apart from being more shadow than man.
For those of you who fear a massive amount of shadows running around the campaigns, you can relax,
the changes are not THAT severe. They are quite minor and mostly visual for the final chapters.

In the hidden tag you can see what exactly the changes look like and in the changelogs below that you
can see which chapters are actually affected, along with the other changes that have been made.
Of course there are more changes than just that, for details look at the changelogs.
The screenshots for the Second Books have been put in different spoiler tags for those of you who may
not have played one or the other Second Book yet and/or want to be surprised in one but not both of them.

Screenshots:
zyainorupgrade-jpg.322286

thedominionupgrade-jpg.322279


Changelogs:
Chapter Seven:
- The items you get from Larine if you chose Salana are now the ones from Chapter Six instead of Chapter Five

Chapter Twelve:
- Replaced the building models used by the Dominion to better showcase their new organisation
- Changed the names of some edited buildings

Chapter Thirteen:
- New model for Orie Redfist
- New model for Red Mages

Chapter Fourteen A:
- Replaced the building models used by the Ironfist to better showcase their new organisation
- Replaced the models used by Peasants and Militia
- Changed the names of some edited buildings

General:
- War Mills now use the BETA model & icon of the Orc Lumbermill
- Rock Golems now require a Spirit Lodge instead of War Mill

Chapter Six:
- Replaced the building models used by the Darkmind Clan buildings to fit both the weather and their "renegade" status
- Added slightly more snow terrain

Chapter Thirteen:
- New model for Orie Redfist
- Replaced the building models used by the Dominion to better showcase their new organisation
- Changed the names of some edited buildings
- Cannon Towers are no longer available
- Orc Watch Towers have been upgraded:
* Higher gold cost
* Weaker version of the Cannon Tower attack against ground units in addition to the attack against air units
- Pig Farms have been replaced by Burrows for Clockworkers
- Spirit Lounge is no longer available but also not needed as all caster upgrades are already researched

Chapter Fourteen:
- Replaced the building models used by the Dominion to better showcase their new organisation
- Changed the names of some edited buildings
- Cannon Towers are no longer available
- Orc Watch Towers have been upgraded:
* Higher gold cost
* Weaker version of the Cannon Tower attack against ground units in addition to the attack against air units
- Pig Farms have been replaced by Burrows for Clockworkers
- Spirit Lounge is no longer available but also not needed as all caster upgrades are already researched

Chapter Fifteen:
- Replaced the building models used by the Dominion to better showcase their new organisation
- Changed the names of some edited buildings
- Cannon Towers are no longer available
- Orc Watch Towers have been upgraded:
* Higher gold cost
* Weaker version of the Cannon Tower attack against ground units in addition to the attack against air units
- Pig Farms have been replaced by Burrows for Clockworkers
- Spirit Lounge is no longer available but also not needed as all caster upgrades are already researched

Epilogue:
- Slight dialogue adjustments (including a scene at the end where Aridon uses the REAL name of the Master of Shadows)

 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
26th May 2019
"Hey Shar, you haven't been posting much for a while now, are you gone or just not doing anything?"
Hell no, Gary the fictional user who does not exist, I have been active behind the scenes of Arkain!
As mentioned in the earlier news posts, the Undead Race Mechanic: Armies of the Dead takes
a lot more time to finish than you might think, given that I have to create several undead factions
while also trying to make them NOT bare bones or copies of each other!
However, I want to use this opportunity to show you some of the stuff I have been doing in the last few days!

In the hidden tagbelow you can see the first WIPs of Chapter One of the Second Undead Book!
It takes place on the Dead Mountain, however, not the Dead Mountain you may remember from
the First Undead Book, no, the Undead have increased the defenses of that "cursed mountain"
to make it an absolute PAIN to invade!
full

full

full

Man the Undead really are heavily guarding the Nerubians, aren't they?


"But Shar, I thought you didn't want to use old maps again!"
I am not directly re-using an old map, Gary, I am re-purposing it as in heavily changing it, making
it very different from the map used in the past.
In fact, it would actually be easier for me to just create a new map instead but I wanted to use
the same map because this IS pretty much the Dead Mountain we all know and love - though I
think that several of the living characters of Arkain may disagree and would love to destroy the place
instead but that's another topic!
So, yeah, the map will be somehow familiar, but it will be heavily edited rather than simply re-used.

Also, I didn't want to do that, but I decided to show you one of the factions for the Undead today:
The Skeleton Legion
full


Note that I may not show all the undead factions the way I am doing it here, I wanted to keep it a
surprise but due to the fact that it takes so long to finish everything up for the first chapters to be

released, I thought wthis to be some kind of compensation. RATTLE ME BONES!

The Skeleton Legion starts out with weak units that are easily massed but then turns
into a faction with access to some of the most horrifying skeleton monstrosities in existance.
You can either drown your enemies in a sea of bones or smash them with giant monsters.
Or even go a step further and infect them so that they will join your armies...

The Skirmisher
The first skeleton you will send into battle. Weak but also very cheap and easily massed.
It pretty much serves only to drown your enemies in sheer numbers but can also be
upgraded to be a little less easily killed.

The Poacher
Like the Skirmisher, this unit is rather cheap and weak and can be upgraded, but provides
ranged support. The Poacher and the Skirmishers are the units you can go for when you
lack resources and time - or when you want to field your army as quickly as possible.
Like the Skirmisher, the Poacher can be upgraded to be slightly more useful.

The Shieldguard
This is your first unit that does NOT die quickly. Your bread and butter (or bone and sinew?)
infantry unit that can form a potent frontline to protect your other units. They can also be
upgraded to receive less damage from both spells and magic and gain even more armor.

The Vulture Rider
What's scarier than a skeleton on the ground? Right, a skeleton in the air! The Vulture Riders
are your first flyer unit for the Skeleton Legion, excellent at providing ranged support for your
ground forces or protecting the slower Frost Wyrms. They can be upgraded to gain an ability
that allows them to deal more damage.

The Skullmancer
The Skullmancer is your primary debuffer caster for the Skeleton Legion. While his starting
abilitiy helps keep your units alive rather than harm enemies, he will later throw skulls at your
enemies and disrupt their own spellcasters.

The Bonemender
Your primary supportive caster, the Bonemender can be used to keep your skeletons much longer
in the heat of battle. He is the kind of caster you want around when you want to both buff
and heal your units.

The Skeletapult
Your siege unit, the Skeletapult, starts throwing ordinary rocks at your enemies but an be upgraded
to fire plague bombs instead to further weaken your enemies.

The Annihilator
This terrifying monster created by necromancy, the Annihilator, is an absolute BEAST in battle.
It can endure much damage and will go toe-to-toe with even the most powerful Demons and will
not only cause much harm, it will also be capable to stun them when upgraded.

Frost Wyrm
Frost Wyrms, we all know & love them (or hate them if you just played the final mission of
the First Orc Book or had lots of bad luck in Chapter Twelve of the Second Orc Book).
Your heavy assault flyer for the Skeleton Legion. Not much to say, they are still the same
terror they were before.

The Plaguebringer
While not as impressive looking as the Annihilator, the Plaguebringer is actually one of if
not the most dangerous units of the Skeleton Legion. It exists for one purpose only: To spread
plague and pestilence. It will also infect enemy units to even further increase the number of
skeletons at your disposal. Their scythes bring both death and plague upon all who stand in their way.

This is it for today, stay tuned for future updates!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
30th May 2019
Today, I will show you some of the changes I have made to the map for the first chapter of
the Second Undead Book - and also a small teaser!

As you have already seen in the last newspost, the Undead have been doing some serious
improving of the defenses of the Dead Mountain and built their fortresses on it.
However, these fortresses are more than simple fortresses (if you can call a fortress filled
with armies of living dead that attack anyone who gets close "simple"), they are the main
bases of the different undead nexus!
But enough talk, let's take a look, shall we?
full

The Ejara Nexus has been moved to the area formerly occupied by the Nerubian rebels - and they are also using the Nerubians for breeding to create more undead!
You may remember the Ejara Nexus, though they have not appeared a lot so far, so you may not.
full

The Zirr Nexus also didn't have a lot opportunities to shine so far, but as you can see here, its nexus (the one that gave you Banshees) is active and stronger than ever!
The bookshelves are filled with knowledge that would never get into the hands of mortals, a forbidden library with knowledge forbidden to all who are not dead.
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The Rohir Nexus, the one that was probably the hardest to activate in the First Undead Book, guarded by Orc artillery and on the height of a mountain, the one that gave you Crypt Fiends back then, has appeared on several occasions in the other books.
The Undead of the Rohir Nexus have now built the mountain into a fortress, making it even harder to take this place.
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The Ardoz Nexus has not yet made an appearance in the other books, but their nexus is the one that gave you access to Meat Wagons.
As you may see here, unlike the other nexus, they not only have cages but also corpses lying around for reasons we will go into deeper later!
full

The Scarec Nexus is another nexus that you have not encountered yet, however, it has changed its appearance a lot since it gave you access to Necromancers in the First Book.
Unlike the aforementioned Ardoz Nexus, it has no cages but instead a lot of corpses and skeletons!
full

Last but not least, your old base, the core of the Splecir Nexus. Probably the most famous of the nexus due to being the one with the most appearances.
It is heavily guarded as it is not only the nexus mostly used by Aridon but also the one that guards the entrance into the depths below the Dead Mountain.

"Where are the Lenira Nexus and the Kezzar Nexus?"
A good question, Gary the fictional user who still does not exist! They both do not exist at this story point, that is why they are not here yet!


In addition, I would like you to know that I am going to do something I have been asked a lot, especially when the different Undead Nexus first appeared:
Explain the difference between the different nexus apart from color!

As a matter of fact, I plan to write a short story to further elaborate on that topic, giving
the nexus a bit more personality.
And no, don't worry, they are all loyal servants of Aridon!

On other news, I am still working on the factions of the Undead, the fact that I want six is still
taking a lot of time and I will take all the time I need to make things right rather than fast!

For those of you, who enjoy everything Arkain related & like Let's Plays, I highly recommend the
YouTube channel of @Jayborino!
He has started his Let's Play of the Second Orc Book on Tuesday and will according to his schedule
release the next episode tomorrow at 12:30 PM EST (Use Google to check the time of your time zone).
You can watch his first episode of the Second Orc Book here.
He has also played the other campaigns of Arkain that have been released so far, if you have not seen them & are interested, check his playlists!

If you are not into his content or YouTube or Let's Plays in general, worry not, I will give you new content
in the form of news or even the short story soon!

Stay tuned!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
1st June 2019
Only a small newspost today regarding The Official Arkain Timeline [SPOILER].
As some of you know, the timeline had been written when I had decided the Second Human Book
to be the last WC3 campaign that I created. As that is no longer the case, there are some things
that need to be changed as the events of the Second Orc and Undead Books are hardly mentioned
in it at the moment.
I do not plan to make any major retcons or anything, I do however plan to fix some story events
and add missing ones to the timeline.
Some things, like me deciding to turn a certain mercenary into a bigger character than he was supposed to be
during the planning stage, have had more impact than originally intended and therefore change
some things - this is something I have grown to like when it comes to development, despite having
written a script that has all what I want to happen in it, things like pretty much the entire character
arc of that certain mercenary come during development instead of before it.
"Does that mean that you had his family butchered for fun during the creation of a map?"
...Shut up Gary.

Well, that's it for news for today, I will go back to the Undead Nexus and ask them if they want to torture Gary.

Stay tuned!
 

Kasrkin

Hosted Project: LoA
Level 26
Joined
Apr 6, 2014
Messages
804
8th June 2019
Ladies and gentlemen I'm bringing you a special news report curtsy of the main news thread.

I am stepping down as Arkain's lead tester and co-director, perhaps, this may be permanent but with these kinds of things you can never really tell. It could be a few months or never but I have enjoyed my time immensely with the project and I got a great friend out of it. Even though we argue sometimes but hey all friends do. My apologies that I didn't make it to the five year anniversary in August either, we've had a lot of people come and go over the years now but I thank you for all the support.

So let me say it simply, I'm going on hiatus to resolve some stuff. I'll still be around hither and thither but for now someone else has to handle the gameplay.

Thanks for putting up with me all these years.
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
15th June 2019
The Lands of Arkain Update
full


Today the Second Human Book of Arkain has received another update.
While there are no changes to the campaign and its maps themselves this time, there is a different
change - a HUGE one.
Thanks to the Hive user @Rhapsodie who took a lot of time to draw a TON of great maps of the
Second Human Book - you can see one of them above! I liked them quite a lot so I asked if he could
draw more so that I could edit them to use them as loading screens.
The result of his work (I only cut and resized the pictures, and cropped them to be used as loading
screens, he did literally everything here) is this update. Big shoutout once more to @Rhapsodie for
the great effort he has put into this! In my opinion, the new loading screens are absolutely fantastic!

Note that "Choices of Humanity" and the Epilogues do not have any new loading screens.
Choices of Humanity is only there for your choices so it does not need such a thing and the Epilogues
simply take place in way too many different places to be put on a single loading screen.

You can view the unedited loading screens here!

Enjoy the update and stay tuned for news regarding the Second Undead Book - there will be some shortly!
 
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Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
23th June 2019
The new short story "Nexus of Old and New" has been added to the Tales of Arkain, explaining ow exactly
the nexus differ from each other. I am sure you will find it rather interesting to read how
the "mindsets" of the Undead are apart from Aridon being their one and only real ruler!

In addition, today the Undead Race Mechanic: Armies of the Dead has been changed.
Its new name is now Undead Race Mechanic: Nexus of the Dead and you will soon see why.
During the creation of the first chapter of the Second Undead Book, the work on the several
undead factions and the progress of writing the "Nexus of Old and New" short story, I came
to the conclusion that, rather than creating six full factions (which I am still going to add in
a very very different way at some point in the future unrelated to the Second Undead Book
),
it would be more interesting to flesh out the nexus not only by story but also by gameplay.
Instead of choosing a faction at the beginning of the game, limiting you before you even know what
you are up against, I have instead decided to create something of a hybrid of the Human Race Mechanic
and the Orc Race Mechanic.
Similar to the leadership boni, you will now be able to research upgrades, however they will not
improve existing units, instead they will replace them with new units and/or also add new units
to your tech tree.
This research is not going to replace existing units. Else upgrades for these units would be
a waste of resources & since some units are going to be replaced by more powerful units
with higher cost, it would be a way to "cheese" your way through the unit costs, and after
the issues in the Second Orc Book, I don't want to see that happen.

That's all for today, enjoy the short story, let me know what you think & stay tuned for more
updates in the future!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
25th June 2019
After a long time of consideration, I have decided to do something I have not really done
before.
As you know, when I release a demo, it usually consists of the prologue and the first few chapters.
That will still be the case, I intend the first demo release to be the Prologue and at least two chapters.
However, within the next few days, I will release the Prologue as a teaser trailer for the Second
Undead Book! It will be released as a single map so no use trying to browse the object data for campaign spoilers... :]
I will not tell you too much about it apart from the fact that it will focus on everybody's favorite
Watcher of Arkain and is called "The Eternal Watch"!

Stay tuned!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
20th July 2019
A new version of the Second Orc Book has been released!
Check out this post to see the changes - I am sure some will not be happy with some changes
but several had to be made for torture I mean balance!

I have been rather inactive lately due to being occupied otherwise and I still am,
but work on the Second Undead Book will continue as soon as it is possible & I will keep you updated!

Stay tuned!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
26th July 2019
Today, the long and eagerly awaited Faction Sheet has been added to the forum!
Currently, you can learn a bit more about eight factions of Arkain but many more are going
to be added in the future, including factions that have not appeared in any of the campaigns
but have been mentioned in the short stories of the Tales of Arkain!
Take a look at the Faction Sheet and feel free to share your thoughts in the Round Table of Arkain!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
27th August 2019
Alright, it has been quite a while since the last time I have given any "meaningful" report on
the progress of the Second Undead Books and I understand that some are starting to wonder
about it.
Apart from the fact that I an very occupied with other more important things than video games,
However, the Second Undead Book will be finished in its WarCraft 3 form.
I am still optimistic that it will be releaed long before the release of Reforged.

However, before I can fully concentrate on the next new chapter of Arkain from the perspective
of everyone's favorite Watcher and his beloved henchmen, there are things I need to take care of.
I intend to release an update for the Second Human Book and the Second Orc Book within the
next few weeks.
This update will try to fix most if not all issues brought to us by the bugs in Blizzards' 1.31.1 patch.
In addition, it will bring more bug fixes, and both gameplay and visual improvements.
Whatever chapter could this hail from?
full

As soon as this update drops, you can be sure that news regarding the Second Undead Book
are not far.

Stay tuned, the battle for the Dead Mountain is not far!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
25th September 2019
Once again, some time has passed since the last newspost. I will try and make these
more frequent again but I will not make a newspost when there is nothing to report.
Today, there is quite a few things I want to bring to your attention - and some things
that I want you to give your opinion on.


Update for the Second Human Book and the Second Orc Book
In the last newspost, I have shown you plans for an update of the Second Human Book
and the Second Orc Book.
After spending quite some time with the update, I have decided that I should delay its release.
The reason is, among other things, that there are things planned for the time after the Second
Undead Book (more on that later) and I intend to combine one of these with this update.
Also, I believe that people are more interested in (finally) seeing something of the Second Undead Book
than "yet another update for a campaign they have already played a few times". ;)
Therefore, the update teasered in the last newspost will be delayed.

The update itself will contain new AI units and buildings, all possible thanks to the great work
of @Ujimasa Hojo.
His work has been a great support for the creation of Arkain so far and will even play a bigger
role in the future. While he is not a member of the Arkain project, I owe him and his models my
greatest respects for making so many things possible, like the unique look of the Ironfist
and the Tribal Dominion in later chapters. His work will also heavily shape the planned update.

Another thing that I would like to bring back after having abandoned it after the First Books is
boss fights for characters like Renald van Durce, Gardon, Duke Redfist or Kersidar.

The Second Undead Book
Full production of the Second Undead Book is continuing, but its release will be different from the other campaigns.
While I have released the other campaigns step by step, adding new chapters as time goes by,
I will make it a little different for the Undead Book. I will release a demo with a few maps and then
heavily focus on the campaign in its final form rather than releasing many more demos.
This serves to make the full release feel more meaningful, as in you have not already played
most of it prior to release.
I may change my mind during the creation process, but I would prefer trying it this way first.
Also it gives you people even more reason to anticipate the full release. ;)

The Race Mechanics
One of the reasons you have not heard too much from me is not that I had any problems with the
Second Undead Book but the race mechanics were giving me headaches - which is why I have edited
my plans regarding them in the last newsposts a few times now.
I will continue with them for now just the way they were supposed to be included, but in the distant
future I may decide to change my plans regarding them. Especially the Orc Race Mechnic is something
I am not very satisfied with in its current form and the Undead Race Mechanics already have been
heavily changed from what they had been supposed to be in the beginning to avoid overcomplicating
things. I have found myself considering to simply give all races the current Human Race Mechanic to
give the different heroes more meaning and character while also doing something for replayability.
I dare say that, at least for the two existing race mechanics, the Leadership Boni is the more
interesting one. This is why I want to wait with the final decision until more of the Second Undead Book
has been done.
Considering the number of endings I have planned for the Second Undead Book, I am sure it will have
some playability either way. :)

The Future of Arkain
I know that many have been wondering for a while now what is coming after the Second Undead Book:
Third Books, timeskips, a single story continuing afterwards, events hinted at in the short stories, another Behind the Scenes...
I will just say that there are currently no plans for "Third Books". I have quite some nice ideas for the
future and many prototype scripts lying around.
Before moving onward to the future, however, I will make sure to wrap up the series that we had so far
in the best way possible after the Second Undead Book is done.
The heroes of the Arkain Books are not done with you yet. :]
Gardon has a necklace with your name on it, Amari has a message for you and Aridon has some secrets to share!
Stay tuned!

Feel free to use the Round Table of Arkain to share your thoughts regarding this post & tell me what you think! I am all for an open discussion as long as everyone stays polite!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
10th December 2019
The short story "Troubles of the High King" has been added to the Tales of Arkain.
Feel free to share your thoughts in the Round Table of Arkain!

There are several other short stories in progress but they are not yet fit to be released - I will release
them soon, I just wanted to give you this one now as a little "foretaste" if you will. ;)
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
30th December 2019
Happy Redfistday!
Today is the day of the release of the "Father Redfist Update" for the Second Human Book and the Second Orc Book,
the day when Redfist goes from house to house and brings his gifts to everyone!
Apart from fixes that should cover several issues caused by Blizzard's bugs and other fixes and
tweaks, this update adjusts several models for the different factions presented in Arkain.

This includes but is not limited to:
The Pyrrean Army
full

Given Pyrru's status as a peninsula, many of the people of Pyrru are born sailors and either part of its great fleet or at the very least used to serve in it.
Many soldiers of Pyrru, loyalists and rebels alike, once were part of its navy and their armor design is often identical to the armors used by the Pyrrean Marine.

Mayor Kent and his elite guards

full

With Toran being the kingdom where the original Zyainor originally started its conquest, a few Toranites still use the old armors of their Zyaise ancestors - or armors forged to look like the armors of old.
Mayor Kent, being a distant descendant of a family of loyal servants of the old rulers of Zyainor who only changed sides at the very end of the war, still wears his armor with pride despite (officially) holding
no loyalty to the fallen dragon worshipping nation.


The Noble Knights of Salria and their Pikemen
full

Being a nation with powerful and noble but also proud and arrogant knights, Salria is a master of breeding. Both its armies and its wizards ride into battle on horseback - the war against the Centaurs has
further increased the need of a powerful cavalry. The Knights of Salria call themselves the best knights of Arkain even though some would say that the Knights of Kome are superior to them - which is
considered an outrageous insult by Salrian Knights.
The war against the Centaurs has also made several leaders of the Salrian Royal Army rely on pikemen and spearmen rather than regular infantry to stop any cavalry charge as effectively as possible.
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
29th January 2020
As Warcraft III: Reforged has been released for about 19 hours now, I have decided to make
some things public about how Arkain will continue from now on.
Before we get to that, however, I have to say this:
Reforged has (currently) no Custom Campaigns button/option. It is unknown if they are
going to add it later or if they really do not plan to add it again.

Therefore, if you have the option, I highly advise against updating your game right now
if you want to play custom campaigns like the Arkain series. The Reforged update
overrides
your original game.

I hope they will add it since the Campaign Editor is still in the Reforged Editor (I have been
gifted the game so I could take a look at i) AFTER I had made a backup of my game since
it overrides the original game) but it is also possible that they simply forgot to remove the
Campaign Editor yet so I am not betting on that for the time being.
We will have to wait and see how this plays out.
I can assure you that, despite me now owning Reforged, nothing has changed regarding this.
I do NOT plan to adapt the campaign for Reforged. If Blizzard actually does not add Custom
Campaigns to Reforged, I will continue to mod on 1.29.2. If what we are dealing with here is
indeed just a rushed release, I will try that I can at the very least allow people to play it in
the Classic graphics of Reforged. I still do not plan to move onto Reforged. I do not see the
benefit - updated graphics are hardly a reason since so many user created models would not
fit in anymore.

Now that we have that Reforged stuff out of the way, let us return to Arkain itself.

As you know, I am currently working on the Second Undead Book. I still can't give an
estimated release date, however. It could happen much faster or much slower than expected.
I still plan to only release the Second Undead Book when it is completed. The campaign is under
heavy development, some mechanics do not work as intended and therefore may be changed while
other mechanics and the story benefit from further improvements.
As for how it continues afterwards: The story is not over!
As you may know, I have already been writing short stories for the time after the Second Voidwar,
in the Tales of Arkain thread - and the story is
of course far from over: The Empire is still out there, the Kingdom of Kerrel refuses to bow to
Zyainor, the Tribal Dominion have built a new home and have found structure, the Undead and the
Demons... Well. Who knows what they have been up to, hm? Maybe future short stories do! ;-]
All teasing aside, before we go into new territory with the story, there is one last thing that must
be done: The canon storyline.
As you know, the three different campaigns always tended to confuse people who were new to the
series - which is understandable as it is not the usual way to create campaign series in WarCraft 3.
At the same time, when starting to create the world "after" the events of the Second Books, rather
than continue to think in three different timelines, I started to combine the storylines into one single
timeline to decrease confusionand create a full universe rather than keeping all three (which is why
a Third Books series is unlikely to happen, it might still happen, I am not writing it off, but
it is unlikely to happen soonish).
By that I mean that I want to create a single timeline not just with the short stories to keep everyone
guessing eternally. Whatever could I do to do that? Let me not just tell you, let me SHOW you.

full

The Legends of Arkain - The True Story. A compilation of all prior campaigns with various overhauls and
improvements all over the campaigns. I have not yet decided how this will affect the choice system.
The choices have always been a vital part of Arkain and while they might have the potential to cause
discrepancies within the lore, I think they are an important part of what makes the "spirit of Arkain" so special.
Therefore I would prefer to keep them in some fashion if possible.
The True Story will not just be a combination of all campaigns, of course (even though I am going to require
a LOT of time and effort to make everything work properly). There will be a lot of improvements and changes
that I am sure you will like to see. Especially the First Books will benefit from these changes.
To summarize: After the Second Undead Book there will be The True Story of Arkain. After that... the story continues.
The races of Arkain have conflicts to deal with - both against each other and among themselves and against outside
threats. Even those who were long forgotten or believed to be gone make preparations. One war is over, others are
yet to come.

There will be more short stories coming in from time to time, especially from those who have not had their own written
story in the Tales of Arkain yet. The different sheets will continue to be updated as well.
I am far from done with this universe. :)

Stay tuned!

Regards,
Shar
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
30th March 2020
Those of you who are active in the Arkain forum may already have read me stating this, but
I am now also going to put this here in the News thread because I do not want such information
to be kept from those who are interested in the progress of the project:

I will be honest with you, the Second Undead Book has done nothing but annoy me so far.
I had to delete several maps due to enormous unfixable bugs & design flaws and even the
few that remain are not in the best state (as in, bugs, gameplay issues, etc) which is one of
the reasons why I have put WC3 modding temporarily on hold.
During its prodution, the game also suddenly ceased to function for a period of time (I have been
able to fix that one pretty fast however).
Right now, the Second Undead Book is REALLY not my favorite campaign to work on.
Therefore, I am currently unable to give you any estimates regarding its release at this point

Despite this, however, I would like to point out that Arkain is still being worked on. The damn
thing doesn't leave me alone even when playing other games. :p

There is one thing, however, that I would like to know:
As stated in my announcement of the 29th January 2020, I plan to release the "True Story of Arkain"
(I will not go too much into detail here as you probably already read all about this and if not, it is
literally two posts above).
Due to this, I wonder what people are more interested in: The Second Undead Book or the True Story.
By this I do not mean to say that "If more people want the True Story rather than the Second Undead
Book, I will not release the Second Undead Book" although this is something that would make me ponder,
I won't lie.
For this, I have created a strawpoll (been a while, hasn't it?).

Regarding the short stories:
I consider putting the post-Second Books short stories on the backseat due to, well, them taking place
AFTER the Second Books, a time period we have not reached yet storywise.
At the same time, I have noticed that the Round Table of Arkain has reached over 500k
views
, making it the second most viewed thread on the entire website despite being not that old of an
thread (for reference, the one and only thread with more views is from 2011, the Hive was way more
active back then than it is today) which is absolutely amazing and makes me want to "celebrate" somehow.
I was caught completely off guard by this when I randomly noticed it earlier today. I will think of something.

Stay tuned & stay safe!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
4th April 2020
The strawpoll is still going and I have to say, I am actually surprised by the current statistic,
especially since it was pretty much even at the beginning.
While I expected the Second Undead Book to get more votes, I did not believe it to be such
a difference - I would have been more surprised if the True Story had been the one with more
votes still.
I am still pondering about this - the poll is of course still going.

Anyway, in other news:
@DD Mikasa has created the Characters of Arkain thread to discuss the Arkain characters
and their developments.
He had this idea to help fill the time until the release of the next campaign and I like this idea.
This week starts off with talking about Gardon Bloodclaw himbloodyself.
Join his thread and use this opportunity to talk about the characters you find interesting!

Stay tuned!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
10th April 2020
The choice has been made.
After finally having been able to make Chapter One of the Second Undead Book playable without
it having regular crashes to desktop even after already having lost several maps to bugs and
the like, I have decided to complete the Second Undead Book and work on the True Story
of Arkain after that.
The support for the Second Undead Book has also been stronger than I originally imagined.
I was certain it'd be more popular than the True Story - but not by THAT much.
The strawpoll was not the main reason for me to make this decision, but if the interest in
the Second Undead Book would have been rather lacking, I might have made a different decision.
I'd like to point out, by the way, that I highly appreciate the large number of people who voted
in this poll - and in all the others.
The high number of views, downloads, votes etc. just shows that the project is still popular
and I really enjoy seeing this.
Don't get me wrong, however, Arkain would live on regardless. I didn't let Reforged's release
discourage me, I wouldn't let numbers do that either.
The Age of Arkain is far from being over!

So, I have already shared two ingame screenshots from the Second Undead Book in the New Content Discussion [SPOILER]
and I am going to share them here as well - along with a WIP from Chapter Three of the Second
Undead Book.

One important note:
@Kasrkin is BACK as the tester of Arkain! Give him a warm welcome for he is going to suffer

a lot in the next few weeks/months!
The second screenshot has been made by him. :)

full

full

full


In other news:
@DD Mikasa has created a poll in the Characters of Arkain thread to talk about which character should
be discussed next. Make sure to participate in the poll & the thread!

Stay tuned & stay safe!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
20th April 2020
Today there is quite a few things to share!
First of, I have relased a new short story in the Tales of Arkain "The Iron Fists".
Ever wondered what happened to the Ironfist itself after the war? Read from the point of view
of an Ironfist veteran soldier to find out!

Also, Chapter Three of the Second Undead Book has been finished & work on Chapter Four has begun!
We're back on the roads and pave the way for the Second Books - one last time!
Also, the discussion about the Characters of Arkain from @DD Mikasa is now about Rahandir
Drakeskull. Take a look and join in!

The Second Undead Book is going well & you have some stuff to read - enjoy!

Stay tuned for further updates!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
27th April 2020
As work on Chapter Four continues to be productive, I have decided to share some screenshots
from Chapter Two and Chapter Three!

We're going deep!
full

full

full

Also, the Characters of Arkain [SPOILER] thread is currently discussing the character Krom,
your favorite neighbourhood skeleton assassin!
Give it a look, new characters are being discussed there every week!

Stay tuned for more news!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
27th April 2020
Your eyes do not deceive you: A SECOND newspost on the same day after having been so silent
for such a long time?! I know, but I felt like this deserves its own post:
A new entry has been added to the Tales of Arkain thread.
This time, it has been written by @Jayborino and it is about a very special paladin, giving insight
into the mindsets of the paladins before the great showdown between the Golden Guard and
the Ironfist!
Big shoutout to @Jayborino for writing this!

Check it out!
 

Kasrkin

Hosted Project: LoA
Level 26
Joined
Apr 6, 2014
Messages
804
3rd May 2020
ANN is back with a special news report.

Ladies and Gentlemen we have decided to participate in the Quarantino event by @Jayborino. Due to recent changes in the event this also means the chapter we are submitting is available for public download. This will not be the norm but still we encourage all of you to have fun. The chapter for the event is chapter three of the Second Undead Book. Arkain Industries would like to thank you all for sticking with us.
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
4th May 2020
Ladies and Gentlemen,

today we bring you Chapter Three: Elves of the Deep of the Second Undead Book - both as
our submission to the Quarantino event hosted by @Jayborino and also as our little teaser
for the Second Undead Book at the very same time!
It is but a small taste of what the full release of the Second Undead Book will bring you!

You can find the map in Downloads.
Feel free to discuss it in the New Content Discussion [SPOILER] thread!

Enjoy this little teaser chapter and stay tuned for further updates!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
29th May 2020
With work and testing on Chapter Four having finished, about a third of the Second Undead Book
has been completed.
I am quite confident that the remaining maps will be made faster than this but of course I can
not give a release date.
What I CAN give you, however, is a short look at the next chapter - I hope you like it when things
get hot!
full


Stay tuned for future updates!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
3rd June 2020
The short story "The Bone Mine" has been rewritten & added once again to the Tales of Arkain.
For those who did not know: It was previously released but removed again because I as not happy
with it. Now it is back in its new, improved form with the Dundredian Seal of Approval - enjoy!

Feel free to share your thoughts in the Round Table of Arkain!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
21st June 2020
Today I have released the 3.00 versions of the First Books. As work on the Second Undead Book
continues, I have made some "preparations" for the First Books being included in the True Story
of Arkain.
Details on the updates (which also include hints at the first changes for the True Story) can be found here:
First Human Book of Arkain
First Orc Book of Arkain
First Undead Book of Arkain

Stay tuned for more news!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
30th June 2020
Production of the Second Undead Book continues to be successful. Another chapter has been
finished - no sneak peak this time, I think leaving some things to your imaginination is not the
worst thing. ;-)
I will only say that it features a good old friend.
Work on Chapter Six will soon begin, stay tuned for more news!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
7th July 2020
Work on Chapter Six is going well. While the cold did not bother the Undead anyway when
encountered in the past, I wonder how Ornasion feels about entering more... temperate forest
regions, meeting up with a certain undead elf lady whose guilt runs dark and deep who has not
been playable yet...
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
2nd August 2020
Ladies and gentlemen,

it has been quite a while since our last newspost.
A lot has happened since then and today we have some very special news for you.
As you know, we had finished 5 chapters and were working on the sixth. However, sadly,
there has been a major problem. This problem had already been there much earlier,
but due to the fact that the later chapters had not been reached yet, it was not really
"present" - so no, this problem here has nothing to do with the other problems that the
Second Undead Book had already caused in the past.
The problem is the script of the Second Undead Book in total. I am very unhappy with it.
The script of the Second Undead Book has been the ONLY script I have COMPLETELY rewritten
from scratch. I have often changed things during production or prior to it, but the Second
Undead Book has been the only one to be COMPLETELY rewritten. And, it has been rewritten
SEVERAL times.
A lot of the planned chapters felt kind of "unneccessary" since we established some sort of
canon already.
Everything related to undead Vanessa is kind of falling under the table in the long run,
both in the True Story and already now since we all know that Vanessa turning undead is
not going to be "real".
This is however not the only problem. The script in itself has other issues regarding consistency
and playable characters. I tried rewriting it (again) but could not get myself to do that.
I was sick of the Second Undead Book. Don't get me wrong, I love the chapters I created for
it so far, but the campaign itself just caused nothing but trouble and even the damn script
cannot live up to my expectations - it would just cause more harm to the lore of Arkain than
enrich it. Of course, I could just remove all the chapters/parts of the plot that cause issues.
That leaves us with the current build of chapters and... not much else.
Therefore I have made the following decision:
Rather than dump the whole thing, I have taken the existing maps, added an Epilogue and
rounded the story up. This means that the Second Undead Book will be 5 chapters and 3
interludes (including Prologue and Epilogue). Yes, that is significantly shorter than any other
Second Book. I know.
However, does this mean the end of the Undead being a playable faction in the great scheme
of Arkain? Of course not!
As you know, after the Second Undead Book, there will be the True Story of Arkain coming up next!
The True Story of Arkain will feature not only tweaks, improvements, overhauls, but even more than that!
Some missions will be cut, I will be completely honest. For example, Chapter Four of the First Orc Book,
going with Rath and Rangul to the ship. The mission is not cut because I am too lazy to convert it, it is
going to be cut because it gives about no value to the story and the world of Arkain.
However, other missions will receive an overhaul. I will not go into detail yet, but an example for
this is going to be Chapter Two of the First Orc Book. Here it is more of a story than a
gameplay overhaul,
with different characters being part of it, but again, I will not go too much into detail yet.
Also, there will be new maps. One particular map will take place in Salria, a great battle
between the Orcs and the Bloodstone Dwarves.
I also intend to add missions for the Undead into that mix to give them enough presence in the
Second Book "era".
I also still intend to write short stories for the Undead.

I know this is not what the majority wanted, we had the discussion if the Second Undead Book should
be completely dropped in favor for the True Story of Arkain in the past and I am sorry for that, but
it would not do any of us any favors. It would only hurt the universe of Arkain and I do not feel like
completely rewriting the entire goddamn campaign yet again.
And of course there's always the option of retroactively adding things to the SUB when we're
actually satisfied with them.

Ornasion will still get his time to shine, do not worry about that. ;)

In other news:
The Second Undead Book has been finished. However, it will not be released yet.
@Jayborino is currently recording a Let's Play of it, having been given exclusive access
to the Second Undead Book for the time being.
You will see new episodes about it see on his YouTube channel, starting this Tuesday, with episodes
being released each Tuesday and Friday.

Why have I done this when in the past I have even released demos mid-production regularly?
Well, the reasoning behind this was not that I want you to wait or force you to watch his
videos or anything.
I want to release something else along with the Second Undead Book (no, not the True Story, I am
not THAT crazy yet... I mean, yes, maybe I am, but I will not release the True Story at the same time, unlike the Undead I have a life to live!).
This still takes time to create and I want to use @Jayborino's Let's Play to have something for you
to enjoy during this time. At the same time, of course, I want @Jayborino and those who watch his
videos not to be spoilered by anyone - something that has sadly happened in the past.

I know not all of you will agree with me on this, but you will see that this is in Arkain's best interests.
I will keep you up to date with @Jayborino's Let's Play and also let you know if there is anything new.

The war is far from over.
Stay tuned!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
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Messages
5,870
4th August 2020
The short story "Aftermath of the Second Voidwar" has been added to the Tales of Arkain.
It brings to you the first short story taking place shortly after the Second Voidwar from Gardon's perspective.
It also includes an interesting message from a well-known "shady" individual...
Enjoy!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
16th August 2020
Ladies and gentlemen,

as you all know, the release of the Second Undead Book is at hand. Today, I am going
to give you an actual date:
The Second Undead Book will release on the evening of the 28th of August 2020 (CET).
Alongside with it, there will be the release of Behind the Scenes of Arkain Vol II!
But wait, there's more! At the same time, I will release several short stories related to our
Undead friends!
Stay tuned!
28th of August is going to be the day!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
28th of August 2020
Ladies and gentlemen,
the time has come.

The Second Undead Book, last of the Second Books, has been released!
As you know, it is quite shorter than the other books - I will not repeat the reasons for it,
they are stated in a previous newspost.
Anyway, in order to kind of make up for this, I have added a total of nine (!) short stories to
the Tales of Arkain - all of them related to either the Undead or characters that have appeared
in the Second Undead book.
The new short stories are:
Where Angels Cry, Responsibilites, Old Hatred, Fallen Queen, King of Ashes, Twisted Justice,
Mistress and Slave, The Last Laugh and Eternal Beauty.
Feel free to share your thoughts in the Round Table of Arkain!

Furthermore, I have released the second iteration of Behind the Scenes of Arkain!

Enjoy!
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
6th September 2020
Ladies and gentlemen,
today we will take a closer look at one of the Imperial Regiments. You know & love them since
the Second Orc Book but do you REALLY know them? No, because I have not really given them
the treatment they deserve! Until now!
Today I give you the first entry of the Imperial Regiments - the Wolf Regiment!
Why I am doing this? Am I just giving you some lore for an AI faction? Will they have a bigger
role to play in the True Story - or in the future after that? Who knows!
Special thanks to @deepstrasz for helping with that wolf shield!

The Wolf Regiment

full

"The Wolf is on the hunt."
Legends say that an Imperial general of the well-renowned Wolf Regiment was once bitten by a
mysterious dark wolf. Despite all efforts of the army's most prestigeous magicians, the bite did not heal.

The general lost consciousness. When he awoke, a week later, he was half-human and half-wolf.
A werewolf, a monster that needed to be put down. But he had retained his humanity and continued to
serve the Empire, having become an even better fighter than ever before and gaining the ability to tame
wild wolves.
The truth is, however, that the Werewolves are a result of Imperial research - a well-documented research.
In an attempt to create better soldiers, Imperial scientists and magicians mastered lycantrophy and turned
human soldiers or even peasants into fierce beasts - however, the Werewolves were by no means mindless
beasts. They lost all memory of who they had been before having been turned into their new forms, but their
memory was quickly replaced with unwavering loyalty towards the Empire. The Wolf Regiment had already tamed
wolves to be their dogs before, so some assume that the Werewolves were tamed just the same way.
In some backrooms there is rumor that criminals are often given this treatment to put them to use for the
Empire. Since they lost their memory in the process, the Werewolves never know who or what they were before
being turned into their new form - and they don't really care.
Despite all rumors, the Wolf Regiment is a fierce, strong and reliable force to be reckoned with. Despite their beastial
appearance, the other regiments of the Imperial Army had little to no issues working with them - because whenever
the wolves were unleashed, the enemies of the Empire should better shake in fear.
Unlike the main part of its infantry, the elite of the Wolf Regiment and its leader, General Zoia, were still human.
However, one should not underestimate them only because they lacked the beastial appearance of their brothers in
arms - only those who were strong both in will and arms were able to climb the ladder and the black knights of the
Wolf Regiment are among the most powerful (and most humorless) knights of the entire Empire. General Zoia is considered
to be a brutal, ruthless leader who prefers unconventional tactics - which is a given since most of her army consisted
of bloodthirsty werewolves and normal wolves bred only to do battle. It is said that she has high respect for General Gardon
Bloodclaw. They share a few characteristics - and he had managed to tame a direwolf which was both impressive and
unusual.
 

Shar Dundred

Community Moderator
Level 72
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
5,870
7th September 2020
Ladies and gentlemen,

today I would like to adress a very delicate matter. You all know them, you all love them.
Some would like me to fill all of Arkain with them, others would like to burn me alive for their
sole existence. I am of course talking about Demonlords behind trees, probably the least
favorite surprise to be found behind trees out of all things I have ever put behind trees.
Anyway, we all had our fun and it is time to give them some more meaning in the True Story.
So no, I am NOT going to remove them. BUT I will make THEM suffer MUCH more than they
make YOU suffer!
Rather than them just giving experience and items, they will give you... more. Willingly or not.
It is time to give you the chance to get some real payback. What is better than killing a Demon?
full
full

... Forcefully conscripting them!
Watch them turn into the mighty Vanguard or the terrifying Death Lord to serve your cause!
Ancient powers of light magic and death magic are being unleashed, overpowering even the
dark magics of demonkind. Use them as you wish. Bring them to the onslaught and let them
slaughter both their former brothers and your other enemies as you please!
Do not pity them for remember all the pain they have brought before you PURGED them of their
evil!
 
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