New Content Discussion [SPOILER]

[Shar Dundred]

Probably.
The next two acts combined will have 13 chapters, concluding the First Book era.

 

[Boriss]

The new means of earning money in chapter four act two is strictly goldaxe related or is it for the other two options as well?

Playing as undead, icon says "hire satyr hellcaller", icon shows the fleshcutter

 

[Enki555]

Okay, so here is my review and observations regarding Fresh Breeze:
-After playing as human and finishing the mission, some models of the heroes were absent though their lines were playing normally. Really liked the Dragon regiment techtree and their sea drakes are nasty! They were, however, pathetically frail against vulture riders. Now I regret I haven't trained them like crazy in Salria mountain mission. I think sea drake should have some sort of armor upgrade to compensate for its high cost and somewhat frailty. Chevaran is now a decent demi-hero, and charrizan (I forgot the name xD) unit... I think it should have the ability to differentiate from other units (mbe some sort of paladin spell that increases armor and damage etc). Merlon, Aedale and Salomar trio is the deadlist ever to exist in Arkain (no pun intended). If well-managed, they can take a whole army.
-Playing as undead, there was a bug about fleshcutter (it was named as satyr hellcaller and its ability description was wrong). Despite that, the introduction of Ardoz was a nice boon. I liked Galareth's skillset and he is damn fanatic; perhaps barbarians of Ardoz all share this trait? Also, Largoth is now less willing to make a ruckus (fitting for him), and thank goodness he spared undead base. The best way to win this mission is spam twindragons to snipe ships and shipyards (they've high magic and siege damage), and train harbingers to snipe down air transport in open sea and repel nasty sea drake invasion.
-Playing as orc... it was difficult. Orcs had an army disadvantage as their main base was buildingless. And attacks from undead, knights of kome, imperials, and sea drakes were terrible. I thought fishmen were going to join orcs and it was grossly mistaken. Reedfin tribe was all hostile! I thought Gorthog was gonna tame them or bribe them into alliance. Also, his hydra ability had zed's icon and it should be changed. Also, sea giants being tameable? Hmm... Can Gorthog tame Demons or Humans if he wished?
-I also noticed the pattern that whenever the race was chosen, all other bonus allies it had when as an opponent was removed. This was probably for balance reasons. The main Ardoz base having Zirr and Scarec allies kinda made me jealous. Same for humans having imperials, knights of kome, and dragon regiment stuck together, and orcs fully in league with Skullblade and deathbreeze. Also, nice to see Kazardius xD. This naval mission was quite a ride, and overall nice execution. Good luck, Shar!

 

[Mvicio]

I have to play with orc yet, but i´ll explain my opinions about the other 2 races.
-Undead. Easiest rute. You have 3 bases from the start and fully tech. First appareance of Galareth, that ogre/dude is the best. Is really fan to hear, also we have Baldgoth with us... great.
I´ll be 100% honest, i didn´t use most of the Ardoz Nexus at all. This mission was: Using dragons+ships and Galareth to free repair.
Also i didn´t expected both the dragon regiment and the Skullblade clan to attack us, i thought we wanted to take them by surprise so the attack from the dragons and wyverns was unexpected.
I thought Largoth was going to kill the base, but since Galareth retreat with his forces he would be "alive". Glad that no.
Kazardius model is neat, and algo Galareth have a new prey... who could it be? Maybe the cherrizans or the demons.

-Human. I think the orc one will be the hardest, since you start with a base in the human island, and two easy goldmines. The fishmen didn´t bothered to attack me. The addition of the cherrizans... well lets say they are useful.
Thanok really "Like" the sea dragons, yep, 100% he´ll be friendly with the dragon regiment.
The tech from the dragon regiment is neat, the sea drakes are really useful, althought the lizards and dragoons didnt have his time to shine on this mission.
Why the Hydra-Red Dragons-Catapults can´t swim? they are hydras. I suppose Ramerius send the silly ones.

-Orc. Hardest rute, the orcs have too many enemies. The undead can be deal with Since the scarec send flying units and the Zirr can be deal with only towers, but Both merlon/Aedale/Salomar and the KNIGHTS OF KOME can destroy your base unless you are prepared.
You need either Sas or Grofzag to defend the sides (with an army) to make sure you can build ships. So unless you stop the air transports beffore reaching you are really fucked (i did learn after a couple restarts, just take the middle with destroyers destroyers and more destroyers until you can make a separate ship army).
Sasrogarn is afraid of Galareth... well i suppose i can understand, you see and undead giant ogre leading an army and wanting to take your eyes... i would be afraid too.
You should change Gorthog ultimate icon, it shows zed but is an hydra (nice ult btw).
About the SkullBlade clan tech tree was... better than i expected, both the grunts and the hunter are useful, the dragon lancers are as strong as Redfist hunters, the sea monsters were useful and the wind raiders were just them. I suppose Gorthog will tame more and more things if left alive.
I was also expecting the fishmen to join us by bringing Gorthog, then they would suicide against the dragons and the knights of Kome but well. It would be a nice touch.

Overrall. Really nice chapter Shar, i´m glad with your work here. Keep it going.

PD. I suppose the next chapters (after the interlude) will be GREAT Salomar and Aedale adventure, the siege of kome, Blen helping Gardon and then Aridon cleaning their mess. Maybe the mountain mission with vanessa, possession, and then the final FB mission of each one.

 

[DD Mikasa]

Eh this one felt underwhelming as a chapter to play with, I played as the humans and the orcs,

Lemme start first with two bugs I noticed first and foremost the Hydra pet of Gorthog (or whatever is his name) has a mana bar despite not having a single ability to cast, secondly the Green undead base the one where Baldoth and The distinguished Ogre gentleman reside after launching the first attack on me did not revive Galareth and did not rebuild to ever attack again they simply keep their existing units and waited around until I killed them.

Now from what I noticed there doesn't seem to be any huge difference between which side we choose in terms of the objectives, which I guess its understandable due to the fact all the characters encountered on this chapter need to live on and push the plot forward...My question is tho, how is Sasrogarn gonna be exposed for the useless lil shit that he is now that the Admiral surviving the fresh breeze is cannon, I think one of the main points that alienated even Grofzag and turned him against Sas was him claiming to have killed Merlon, wonder how shar will solve this one in the grand scheme of things, even though admiral or no admiral Sas is one big crying baby and a great deal of orcs know that already.

From a units perspective, we got to play with the skull blade variant of the orcs, they seem like a variation that's more offensive that defensive in terms of Orc unit stats, it looks like unlike the other orc factions that employed champions as their heavy units the skull blade has sea giants (or where they unique only for this mission since it had a lot of water in it) over all I saw nothing wrong with their roster, its the basic orc roster but still decent at what is supposed to do. Also yay the unmounted Wyvern Riders are back!

As for the Dragon regiment the human counterpart of the orc skull blade clan...Felt underwhelming to say the least with the exception of the thunder lizards who are decent beefy ranged units who can interrupt targets. Their dragoons, sea drakes and the siege red hydras seemed pretty underwhelming, The dragoons as a tier 3 human unit have nothing unique to them (even their upgrades are just stat improvement) the Sea drakes seem pretty enticing at first with their 4 production value until you realize that they have 1 armor do magic damage and any tower worth their salt decimates them in seconds, thankfully though the orcs defensive structures have heavy armor instead of fortified one, so yeah quite spamable but mess up for on second and you'll lose like half of them. The red hydras should be called the red turtles, slow movement, slow attack speed, mediocre damage (And I know this is done to counterbalance the fact that as organic units they can be buffed, BUT still man...)


All in all the map was kinda cool, not as hard as other chapters, not as engaging not as fun, kinda surprised that there weren't any special side quest for the Murloc village to the far east of the human side of the map, I mean I understand that the orcs are still on "we are the best race and we don't need any other race to help us" phase of the story but if I remember they tried to ally Murlocs way way before they were in a pinch and getting vanquished by edgy boys in crimson red.

 

[Hardric62]

Now from what I noticed there doesn't seem to be any huge difference between which side we choose in terms of the objectives, which I guess its understandable due to the fact all the characters encountered on this chapter need to live on and push the plot forward...My question is tho, how is Sasrogarn gonna be exposed for the useless lil shit that he is now that the Admiral surviving the fresh breeze is cannon, I think one of the main points that alienated even Grofzag and turned him against Sas was him claiming to have killed Merlon, wonder how shar will solve this one in the grand scheme of things, even though admiral or no admiral Sas is one big crying baby and a great deal of orcs know that already.

Well, for one, she can rises up the blatant backstabbing which led to her exile, and the likely fact Sasrogarn played his part of that famous raid way up. And there is Kome Castle, where he snatches the awesome hammer Grofzag deserves. I dare say the opportunities for Sassygan to do showboating for achievements other did is far are far from exhausted. Besides, The way Shar talked about the situation, the game might be a bit different from what SOB did. Maybe there'll be a short-lived civil war over the issue before he crumbles and Amari takes top spot over him and whatever too-old-fashioned orcs might back him up against Sis.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Thanks at all for the feedback so far, please keep it coming.

I am going to make slight adjustments for the Orcs' difficult start and also make Gorthog consider to adopt some new
creatures. No, he is not going to tame Humans.

The Fire Hydras don't swim anymore because SOMEONE messed up in their creation and turned them from water
creatures into fire creatures when trying to turn them into dragons. I am not looking at the Dragon Regiment AT ALL.
What I will probably do is a) make them move a bit faster and b) experiment with giving them a magic attack against
units while keeping their siege attack against buildings, making them more versatile than other siege units.
Also might need to make the Dragoons "louder".
Sea Drakes are absolute beasts against enemy infantry, they can literally melt them. They are of course vulnerable - and
the Scarec Nexus won't get tired of reminding you of that.

I am aware that the mission is not a "grande finale" as the final mission of Act One was and as I said, I am looking into that,
but I still think Act Two overall was a good act (it is not over yet, the Interlude will still come).
I very much enjoy working on the True Story & look forward to the third act while also fixing all issues of Act Two
and giving Gorthog more pokeballs.

 

[Mvicio]

Well, for one, she can rises up the blatant backstabbing which led to her exile, and the likely fact Sasrogarn played his part of that famous raid way up. And there is Kome Castle, where he snatches the awesome hammer Grofzag deserves. I dare say the opportunities for Sassygan to do showboating for achievements other did is far are far from exhausted. Besides, The way Shar talked about the situation, the game might be a bit different from what SOB did. Maybe there'll be a short-lived civil war over the issue before he crumbles and Amari takes top spot over him and whatever too-old-fashioned orcs might back him up against Sis.

Not only that. If you play with either humans or undead you see Sasrogarn in the farthest island, just surrounded with his men like the coward he is (he can´t trust the other clans). Gorthog said he wasn´t an effective leader (despite being Rangul´s son). Also Grofzag took the Stronghold and the main force to attack the humans (and defend from the undead) and prepared the forces to rescue Vanessa.
Gorthog probably thinks better of Grofzag than Sasrogarn (probably during the missions we have Sas and another chieftain he´ll be humilliated like with Zairmak in SOB)

Moreover, if he tries to take the old raid in which he got the scepter of healing for his father as an excuse. Ephrog was there, he knew it was Amari´s doing, not Sas.

All in all the map was kinda cool, not as hard as other chapters, not as engaging not as fun, kinda surprised that there weren't any special side quest for the Murloc village to the far east of the human side of the map, I mean I understand that the orcs are still on "we are the best race and we don't need any other race to help us" phase of the story but if I remember they tried to ally Murlocs way way before they were in a pinch and getting vanquished by edgy boys in crimson red.

I´ve thinking, the orcs added the murlocs to their ranks AFTER redfist destroyed the islands.
One of the stories said that redfist was weeks early than the golden guard (and the islands were burned by that time). And the first time we see the murlocs as Orcs´s allies was after the golden guard arrives. So that could take a couple of weeks.

 

[DD Mikasa]

I´ve thinking, the orcs added the murlocs to their ranks AFTER redfist destroyed the islands.
One of the stories said that redfist was weeks early than the golden guard (and the islands were burned by that time). And the first time we see the murlocs as Orcs´s allies was after the golden guard arrives. So that could take a couple of weeks.

Oh if that is the case then that would explain the total indifference towards the Murlocs of both Merlon and the Orcs.

@Shar Dundred

Eyo chief are Murlocs sentient beings on the arkain universe ? Their chieftain spoke a pretty fluent common language

 

[Shar Dundred]

Eyo chief are Murlocs sentient beings on the arkain universe? Their chieftain spoke a pretty fluent common language

Yep.

 

[Championfighter25]

Act two, Chapter 7

• Galareth is confused, but he's got the spirit.
• Gorthog will probably regret getting on Sasrogarn's bad side, but also probably not.
• Galareth's intelligence stat should be increased. It being his main stat and him having more strength instead doesn't feel right.
• Some dialogue lines could be added when the Humans or orcs discover or get attacked for the first time by the undead during the playable part of the mission.
• The Gezarrin could be moved to the barracks. He doesn't strike me as a unit that should be in the Altar of Emperors. Also, at least to me, he doesn't seem so powerful to be limited to 3 trainable units at a time.
• The Thunderous Presence upgrade hotkey should be Z instead of X.
• Aedale and the Gezarrin in the Altar of Emperors share the same hotkey - A
• Salomar and Merlon share the same hotkey in the Altar of Emperors - L

 

[Boriss]

I dont know if this belongs here, but I would love to see a little more detailed changelog for the missions where the player can pick one of multiple factions to play as. Adding which faction option is affected by what change etc.

 

[Mvicio]

@Jayborino Are you going to be playing the true story missions when Shar finish an act?

 

[LISBOAH]

Act Two Chapter Seven

-Merlon, watch out. That lower officer can smash you like a bug, literally
-Of course Thanok has issues with the "Dragon" Regiment. What do they know about what true dragons are?
-Galareth brought too much expostion while he talked if you ask me

Guess who I played first? XD
Don't worry, I will play with the others later on

-In the Slaughterhouse, the Fleshcutter is called Satyr Hellcaler and doesn't have the W hotkey
-The Shipyard doesn't have the hotkey X
-When I destroy the Orc fleet and shipyards, the update instead says that I destroyed the Humans'.
-Galareth's Plague shouldn't be able to affect Mechanical units. How can a plague affect machines?

Poor Kazardius. He has to deal with Galareth and try to fix his mess.

 

[LISBOAH]

Now I will try Act Two Chapter Seven with the Orcs

-In the Barracks both the Hunter and the Dragon Lancer have the same Q hotkey
-The War Drums upgrade in the Bestairy doesn't have the X hotkey
-Gorthog's Ultimate ability summons a hydra, but the icon is the one of a wolf
-Trenfae, Gothog's pet has MP, but no abilities that require it
-Pity Gorthog doesn't give any comments regarding the Dragon Regiment
-Damn, why do the Undead have access to more units than we do if play as them?

 

[LISBOAH]

Now time for Act Two Chapter Seven for the Imperials
-Found no issue besides the ones already posted by others
-Question. Why the faction we are playing is the only that doesn't have access to aerial transport units?

 

[Shar Dundred]

-Question. Why the faction we are playing is the only that doesn't have access to aerial transport units?

Because you have transport ships.
The AI sadly cannot use those without triggering so I have to give them aerial transport units instead.

 

[Mvicio]

End of Act two.
-Lerrig is Genethas´s lapdog now.
-Gardon wants to control Vanessa, but did nothing yet, that won´t change i think.
-The other Castle Kome prisoner is 99% the orc captured from the darkmind clan, i think it was Inara.
Either she left with Gardon, or she´ll been rescue when the orcs overwhelm the knights of Kome. That would be a future darkmind clan leader after Rath´s Demise.
-Nothing to speculate from Aridon´s side. Is the mountain getting colder?

 

[LISBOAH]

Just watched the end of Act Two
-Poor Cleavehand. Always being compared to Blen. Shar, I demand that you make the Sin of Wrath inside Selior's mind even stronger! XD
-While Genethas is the true traitor, he makes a good point. Gardon gives orders and all, but doesn't go into details. He didn't even tell where Blen and Harmos were off to!
-Well, Lerrig is already under Genethas' thumb and together they are off to kill Aaron.
-Daric was unto something. Genethas truly is a veteran of the First Void War, but he is also the only general that survived it. And they know that one general betrayed mankind. You would think that at least someone besides Gardon would find it suspicious
-That talk between Gardon and Vanessa reminded me of Star Wars
Vanessa: Your overconfidence is your weakness.
Gardon: Your faith in your friends is yours.
-Poor Theoden. My mother always said to never give promises that you may not fulfill. XD
-Yes, if you keep following Largoth you will eventually find his master. He and Largoth are close, really close, so close that you could say it would be very hard to distinguish them

Given the amount of arrogance displayed by so many characters in this part, in hindsight, its title should be "Pride comes before a fall".

 

[Tryce09]

Given the amount of arrogance displayed by so many characters in this part, in hindsight, its title should be "Pride comes before a fall".

I glad that i dont the only one who see that. A this point Shar must be made the Golden guard even more arrogant to stand up the imperial's force arrogance.
By the way the arkain people lacks of modals? Nobody can speak without be interrupted, they are so rude that i find funny.

PS: IDK if vanessa is a giant women or Gardon is a dwarf

 

[LISBOAH]

PS: IDK if vanessa is a giant women or Gardon is a dwarf

Perhaps both?
Vanessa was raised among orcs and Gardon's energy during growth was probably used more on his brain than on his muscles, which could explain why he is one of the smartest characters.

 

[Tryce09]

Perhaps both?
Vanessa was raised among orcs and Gardon's energy during growth was probably used more on his brain than on his muscles, which could explain why he is one of the smartest characters.

You probably are right, vanessa was raised as a warrior(and spy) unlike her sisters that are mages.
I want to add a few things:

1) Birran prescense in castle kome maybe explain why the imperial force outside the castle has a blood shield (and maybe those are in fact iron fist soldier rather the imperial regular army)

2)

Spoiler

Blen supported Gardon rather that Genethas surprised me, the "general of the empire"short story"Zoia speak that blen is a traitor so i believed that he will support genethas and give the golden guard a validate reason to kill him, but now his death will be unfair and "maybe" to made him a scapegoat of Lerrig unwilling treason. (Blen was a commoner so is a aceptable target)

 

[LISBOAH]

2)

Spoiler

Blen supported Gardon rather that Genethas surprised me, the "general of the empire"short story"Zoia speak that blen is a traitor so i believed that he will support genethas and give the golden guard a validate reason to kill him, but now his death will be unfair and "maybe" to made him a scapegoat of Lerrig unwilling treason. (Blen was a commoner so is a aceptable target)

Spoiler

Who knows what is going on inside Zoia's head. She hated Blen, so she could have come up with some paranoid theory that blames him for everything.

Also, I love that Blen is arrested by the Golden Guard for supporting Genethas and/or not seeing his betrayal and yet Lerrig doesn't suffer any punishment for outright supporting the traitor in either case.

 

[FOEHN]

I wonder what our choices(well, what's left of it) will do for us because certain things Shar clarified made me worried, like letting Salana be Elven queen and we get Larine and her forces or we stop Aedale corrupted too much and so we can save Merlon. Judging by the progress of the story AND what Shar said about some future choices I don't think we will have that luxury anymore. Sad since those were some of my favourite features.

And Blen? Still being fond of him after all this time I hope he may have better fortune this time... will Shar give us the surprise we got from Second Orc Book?

Oh, since I brought this up, I also wonder how much of Second Orc Book's stories will be 'canon', since many of it contradicts with Second Human Book which was, at the time, 'the canon'.

 

[Shar Dundred]

-Nothing to speculate from Aridon´s side. Is the mountain getting colder?

The cold never bothered Aridon anyway.

Shar, I demand that you make the Sin of Wrath inside Selior's mind even stronger! XD

Denied.

You would think that at least someone besides Gardon would find it suspicious

Kenos does not trust Genethas.

-Poor Theoden. My mother always said to never give promises that you may not fulfill. XD

He tried. XD

Given the amount of arrogance displayed by so many characters in this part, in hindsight, its title should be "Pride comes before a fall".

Wonder how Prideblade feels about that.

A this point Shar must be made the Golden guard even more arrogant to stand up the imperial's force arrogance.

Challenge accepted.
Maybe.

PS: IDK if vanessa is a giant women or Gardon is a dwarf

What @LISBOAH said though I will look into it to make sure she is not "too" tall.
Had to adjust her model several times since she usually stands next to Orcs.

Gardon not being "too tall" (not as in being a dwarf but as in being not like say that mountain of a man Dorbric) is intentional.

Spoiler

Blen supported Gardon rather that Genethas surprised me, the "general of the empire"short story"Zoia speak that blen is a traitor so i believed that he will support genethas and give the golden guard a validate reason to kill him, but now his death will be unfair and "maybe" to made him a scapegoat of Lerrig unwilling treason. (Blen was a commoner so is a aceptable target)

Who knows what is going on inside Zoia's head. She hated Blen, so she could have come up with some paranoid theory that blames him for everything.

Also Zoia really does not like Blen for reasons that will be explored as time progresses.

Oh, since I brought this up, I also wonder how much of Second Orc Book's stories will be 'canon', since many of it contradicts with Second Human Book which was, at the time, 'the canon'.

Well, Merlon is currently quite alive, despite having lost his fleet.
However, the Second Orc Book is by no means completely retconned now.

 

[FOEHN]

Kenos does not trust Genethas.

Ha, thought so. He's lore clearly indicated he wouldn't be fooled thst easily.

Second Orc Book is by no means completely retconned now.

That's all I needed to know. Thanks.

 

[LISBOAH]

My review of Chapter One of Act Three:
-Aveen is like me, except I prefer books and games rather than animals XD
-What does "thero" means? Is that an affectionate nickname?
-Finally someone that likes Cleavehand!
-I guess Aveen is aware of Selior's jealousy towards Blen
-I would like to see a few comments from Harmos about the Gloomleaf units stationed in the Ironfist base. They are on a corrupted forest and Gloomleaves are some sort of corrupted humanoid treants
-At the start of the mission we have too many units for us to select all at once. If we count Zed, we have 3 units in excess
-Sure Gardon, the Ironfist will "keep an eye"...
-Raszar: "... are the the incarnation..." --> "... are the incarnation of..."
-I love that Raszar says that we have few chances of reaching his hideout, but I found a much harder time reaching the corrupted fountain. The forces in the eastern side of the map are stronger than the ones in the western side if you ask me
-So Kersidar is the one resposible for the Forgotten Ones' release. Oh if Ornassion finds out...
-Raszar no longer serves the one Kersidar speaks of. So the Forgotten Ones were the servants of Tregakh, just like how the undead serve Aridon?
-Well, the humans should feel lucky that Kersidar didn't chose to deal with them himself, I guess...
-So Margazar is the final boss of the mission. That is fine by me.

 

[Mvicio]

Chapter one, act three:
There is a lot of information here.
-So Aveen likes Zed, mira trueshot also likes Zed, did any archer officer fall in love with the wolf?
-Aveen doesn´t want to talk to Blen, maybe She thinks that Blen will help the traitors? Or maybe killing Van Durce Soldiers is canon and that´s why.
-Nice detail in the ironfist base, we can find Claire, Sir Fedal with his soldiers and Herdon/Tormin with his new tree allies. Maybe they are the ones that would try to cleanse the fountain?
-So the Bearmen are passive against the humans that leave them alone. A neutral race pretty much like the Centaurs, also i suppose that we killed all the corrupted ones.
-We kill a Random Dreadlord instead of Margazar, but Margazar still is from the bloodrinker Legion instead of Souleater.
-Cleaning the map with both zed and the fire golem is rather easy.
-I didn´t like the forgotten ones, but they served Largoth. Kersidar knows this so i speculate that Kersidar was alive when the Demon God crushed Largoth, that´s why he knows him.
-Gardon and Blen immediately refuses to have a talk with Kersidar, so there is no way that Gardon choosing Ebira´s pact in the future is canon. 100%
-Margazar as final boss, but we kill him so that means that is no undead?
-Also, since Margazar is "dead" and no one is following him. That would be Aridon´s mission, or maybe we don´t get to play with Aridon at all.

What does "thero" means? Is that an affectionate nickname?

We know that Gardon is Theodor´s (the emperor) bastard brother. So maybe is a nickname from "Theodor´s Brother" = Thero.
Or maybe Aveen knew Gardon´s father or something.

I love that Raszar says that we have few chances of reaching his hideout, but I found a much harder time reaching the corrupted fountain.

Maybe he had a detachment of Forgotten ones as a soldiers, but Kersidar and Margazar killed them all. Or he was just naive.

Well, the humans should feel lucky that Kersidar didn't chose to deal with them himself, I guess...

It was a waste of his time. A common trait on Dreadlords.

 

[LISBOAH]

-Gardon and Blen immediately refuses to have a talk with Kersidar, so there is no way that Gardon choosing Ebira´s pact in the future is canon. 100%

Unless Gardon is to realize that the Souleater Legion is tougher than the Bloodrinker Legion and that agreeing to her pact will make it easier.

-Margazar as final boss, but we kill him so that means that is no undead?

He could pretend to be dead. Him being an undead demon would make it easier for him to do so.

We know that Gardon is Theodor´s (the emperor) bastard brother. So maybe is a nickname from "Theodor´s Brother" = Thero.
Or maybe Aveen knew Gardon´s father or something.

Maybe...

Maybe he had a detachment of Forgotten ones as a soldiers, but Kersidar and Margazar killed them all. Or he was just naive.

He probably underestimated the mortals.
Kersidar wouldn't risk any demon from the Bloodrinker Legion see him and report it to Ornassion. The demons are invading the kingdoms, and Kersidar is out there releasing more enemies that could threat the invasion. The Souleater Legion could suffer repurcossions for this if word was to spread...

It was a waste of his time. A common trait on Dreadlords.

He will regret it much later...

 

[Mvicio]

Unless Gardon is to realize that the Souleater Legion is tougher than the Bloodrinker Legion and that agreeing to her pact will make it easier.

Zyaise people wouldnt follow someone Who make a deal with the Demons. Too much Risk for Gardon, also in that moment he had the support of the undead Nexus.

He could pretend to be dead. Him being an undead demon would make it easier for him to do so

Yep. Also would make it easier to ambush the forgotten one with Aridon and join the undead afterwards.

He probably underestimated the mortals.
Kersidar wouldn't risk any demon from the Bloodrinker Legion see him and report it to Ornassion. The demons are invading the kingdoms, and Kersidar is out there releasing more enemies that could threat the invasion. The Souleater Legion could suffer repurcossions for this if word was to spread...

Unlike the empire and the kingdoms. Even the leader of the forgotten and his forces are any threat at all to the Demon legions.

He will regret it much later...

Moral from Arkain: Deal with the problems at proper time.


About the traitors. We know Genethas is one. But i'm not sure about Prideblade. Kenos and Aveen are safe i think.

 

[Rhapsodie]

About the traitors. We know Genethas is one. But i'm not sure about Prideblade. Kenos and Aveen are safe i think.

Prideblade seems to be a smart guy, I doubt he would fall for Genethas's lies

 

[Enki555]

Well, it seems Gardon's inner circle is always destined to be the most charming (Talking about Zed in this case). If the transmogrification spell (wolf to human variant) was possible, it's certain Gardon's harem theme would follow well in his trustees. Oh, yeah; maybe Aveen knows a thing or two about Gardon's heritage, so maybe... maybe Gardon should better be involved with her to possibly attain Imperial influence.
Margazar could've been slain in the failed siege mission mentioned in his bio, and Aridon might have paid a visit to the spot; subsequently raised him. He then possibly returned and continued newly as a double agent.
Oh, well... Just had the flash of an idea. Maybe three more nexus? There are a total of 9; which is the number of completion in numerology. However, the last and the most popular number of fullness is 12; specifically in all zodiacs, and even 24 hours of a day is multiplied by 12. So, it won't be a stretch for the undead to have a total of 12 nexus at the end of a true story and be permanently fixed at this amount in all future stories. One for fallen tribal dominion. One for fallen crusaders (imagine it to be comprised of golden guard and redfist). One for, as implied, fallen of Dark One's minions. Aridon raising the forgotten to gain more intel about Tregakh, and intentionally making this nexus to make mockery for Largoth is entertaining. Leader, of course, could be fallen Raszar. I'm sure he would like to discipline those 'perfectionistic' thralls by humility in undeath.

 

[Mvicio]

Prideblade seems to be a smart guy, I doubt he would fall for Genethas's lies

i´m trying to think of more traitors despite Genethas. Blen, Gardon, Selior, Dorbric, Fergon, Zoia, Salomar and Merlon are safe.
I think Aveen and Kenos are safe, Prideblade i doubt it. Genethas is 100%, and Lerrig don´t even question it.
Maybe some Mercenary commander. Or maybe some Kingdom general.

 

[LISBOAH]

i´m trying to think of more traitors despite Genethas. Blen, Gardon, Selior, Dorbric, Fergon, Zoia, Salomar and Merlon are safe.
I think Aveen and Kenos are safe, Prideblade i doubt it. Genethas is 100%, and Lerrig don´t even question it.
Maybe some Mercenary commander. Or maybe some Kingdom general.

We also have to take into account the possibility that some generals might have been brainwashed and may be acting like sleeper agents.

 

[Hardric62]

Well, that new mission was an interesting one. Was funny to be able to go through it with the hero squad, but I managed to fit some micro of the spellcasters in for once. I also got to use WorldEdit Magic on the different variants of Revenants not directly available yet after looking at the Scourges and Lesser Revenants during Slaves of the Demon, and I do think their presence gives a nice bit of identity to the Splecir Nexus. And I liked that bossfight sequence far more than the Rahandir one to be honest. Maybe because it felt far more manageable for a more... average player let's say. Pretty curious of how the fight with Genethas will shape up later... And pretty eager to see what Kome will look like with their new shiny new models. They'll be remembered each time I'll use an Orc Shieldbearer afterwards.

 

[Championfighter25]

Chapter 1, act 3:

• Aveen can definitely come off as a strange cat.
• I remember Harmos saying how they should find the leader of the undead and destroy him. Kind of sad seeing that line gone, though it was way too comedic and I understand replacing it with the more serious one.
• I would normally not approve of Kersidar's behaviour towards Margazar, but since he saved us from a previously pretty hard boss fight and left him to fend for himself, saving us extra difficulty, I'll let it slide this one time.
• In my 1st attempt at the Margazar fight, Harmos died, but the mission didn't end in a defeat screen. Instead, it allowed me to continue, I beat Margazar and then the mission didn't proceed to the next part.
• Another weird bug happened in my 2nd attempt when I quickly skipped the cutscene before the Margazar fight. Everybody, including him became invulnerable and I had to restart.
• I like how Raszar escaped. Now it will feel much more natural once Aridon decides to finish him off.

 

[DD Mikasa]

We also have to take into account the possibility that some generals might have been brainwashed and may be acting like sleeper agents.

Believing a demons words especially Kersidar who is a known "politician" seems rather risky to me, genethas could be the only Traitor among the generals and kersidar just said that to sough more discontent among the imperial ranks, its not like they got along even when there weren't talks of a traitor among their ranks, imperial generals seem to hate each other as much as the Orc clan leaders did before Rangul united them.

As for how the civil war would play out, if we were to go by the first human book ending it seems like Genethas will have by his side the Royal Fist+The mercenaries (even though Darric did show reason in not fully believing Genethas) and the Bull regiment, after all the southern base supporting genethas did sport the teal color. Now it could be that that mission would be totally remade and we'll have a totally different map and two totally different factions within this civil war, However as it its show even by the meeting I would assume a couple of generals would be neutral in this conflict, for example Aveen clearly stated she needs to be on the front lines to keep the army from falling apart since Selior seems incapable of leading the united front another general would have to take Lering's spot and the Bear regiment would be the Brown vanguard force we had to face during the orc's final mission on the first book, so at least 3 more generals would be outside the conflict, Aveen, Bear Regiment Guy and a third guy (or it could be that its Aveen that will take lering's spot on the last orc mission from the first book, so in that case we'd have Aveen, Bear Regiment.

Also the paladins with Salomar were featured on the last orc mission of the first book, if we were to take for granted that Salomar would stand by Gardon then another general of the imperial army would have to take his spot that maybe could be the Salrian General that has been send to support the imperials.

But id say it is to early for us to speculate which generals will stand by Gardon and which generals will stand by Genethas, for now the only obvious thing is that The bear regiment will fall their leader will most likely die and be raised as an undead and its regiment will likely scatter, and Selior will also perish in defending the front lines against orcs.

 

[LISBOAH]

Believing a demons words especially Kersidar who is a known "politician" seems rather risky to me, genethas could be the only Traitor among the generals and kersidar just said that to sough more discontent among the imperial ranks,

This reminds me of that scene from Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones where Count Dooku tells Obi-Wan that the Senate is under control of a Sith Lord named Darth Sidious...

Also the paladins with Salomar were featured on the last orc mission of the first book, if we were to take for granted that Salomar would stand by Gardon then another general of the imperial army would have to take his spot that maybe could be the Salrian General that has been send to support the imperials.

That is if Salomar survives his trip with Aedale.

 

[Tryce09]

Well, time for conspiracy theories!

The next text is result by my imagination evidence!

Spoiler

Every regiment and their leaders show in the second orc book will survive, and probably side with gardon or stay neutral, there no way that they survive after side with Genethas (Lerric is a special case) and I still believe that Blen was made scapegoat because was peseant and Harmos was blame because is from the kingdoms to save the "imperial reputation" (or maybe both were guilty by association to some demonic little girl)

The battle in the frontline happen hours before the imperial civil war, that why Lerric after run away from the battle pick up his soldiers and retreat, only to see Gardon vs Genethas and support the later.
The Falcon and Phoenix were defeated but manage to escape, the bear regiment fall, the dragon regiment lost many beast(because like the bears, they were ordered to deploy more units) but maybe prideblade survive or not, they face Zairmark and Grofrag(?), the frontline have a firemage that was friend of harmos, Salomar will die (in the ruins) but the orcs will face a batallion of paladins.

There is a last regiment, the boar regiment, we saw their leader in salana's flashbacks but never in person nor in the generals war council, so... Maybe they are traitor too, or they will die horrible by the orcs in the frontline or demons(surprise attack) or the undead because they looks like bandit hunters or support units rather direct fighters.

 

[Mvicio]

As for how the civil war would play out, if we were to go by the first human book ending it seems like Genethas will have by his side the Royal Fist+The mercenaries (even though Darric did show reason in not fully believing Genethas) and the Bull regiment, after all the southern base supporting genethas did sport the teal color. Now it could be that that mission would be totally remade and we'll have a totally different map and two totally different factions within this civil war, However as it its show even by the meeting I would assume a couple of generals would be neutral in this conflict, for example Aveen clearly stated she needs to be on the front lines to keep the army from falling apart since Selior seems incapable of leading the united front another general would have to take Lering's spot and the Bear regiment would be the Brown vanguard force we had to face during the orc's final mission on the first book, so at least 3 more generals would be outside the conflict, Aveen, Bear Regiment Guy and a third guy (or it could be that its Aveen that will take lering's spot on the last orc mission from the first book, so in that case we'd have Aveen, Bear Regiment.

Probably the third guy is Prideblade, he was ordered to send more beast to cover the bears. So it´s most likely that he will be there.
Also we know that Kenos was in that battle, since we had the short story and he met Zairmak, Another ancient being.

Also the paladins with Salomar were featured on the last orc mission of the first book, if we were to take for granted that Salomar would stand by Gardon then another general of the imperial army would have to take his spot that maybe could be the Salrian General that has been send to support the imperials.

Salomar will probably die. If the paladins join Gardon maybe some of them are corrupted by the ironfist, like the elven archers.

There is a last regiment, the boar regiment, we saw their leader in salana's flashbacks but never in person nor in the generals war council, so... Maybe they are traitor too, or they will die horrible by the orcs in the frontline or demons(surprise attack) or the undead because they looks like bandit hunters or support units rather direct fighters.

Maybe, their mission was to clean the borders from beasts and orcs. Getting a reputation, maybe he is another traitor, either from the demons or the undead.

 

[DD Mikasa]

@LISBOAH

OHHH yes you are right that totally slipped my mind that Salomar can be killed by Largoth.

@Mvicio
Yes it could be prideblade too, now that you mentioned it it would make sens!

 

[Hinata28]

A

Well, it seems Gardon's inner circle is always destined to be the most charming (Talking about Zed in this case). If the transmogrification spell (wolf to human variant) was possible, it's certain Gardon's harem theme would follow well in his trustees. Oh, yeah; maybe Aveen knows a thing or two about Gardon's heritage, so maybe... maybe Gardon should better be involved with her to possibly attain Imperial influence.
Margazar could've been slain in the failed siege mission mentioned in his bio, and Aridon might have paid a visit to the spot; subsequently raised him. He then possibly returned and continued newly as a double agent.
Oh, well... Just had the flash of an idea. Maybe three more nexus? There are a total of 9; which is the number of completion in numerology. However, the last and the most popular number of fullness is 12; specifically in all zodiacs, and even 24 hours of a day is multiplied by 12. So, it won't be a stretch for the undead to have a total of 12 nexus at the end of a true story and be permanently fixed at this amount in all future stories. One for fallen tribal dominion. One for fallen crusaders (imagine it to be comprised of golden guard and redfist). One for, as implied, fallen of Dark One's minions. Aridon raising the forgotten to gain more intel about Tregakh, and intentionally making this nexus to make mockery for Largoth is entertaining. Leader, of course, could be fallen Raszar. I'm sure he would like to discipline those 'perfectionistic' thralls by humility in undeath.

Actually, the Forgotten had different master other than the Fallen Four. As Aridon said, these creatures were just Isekai'd there from another world not Arkain.

Aridon raised enough Nexuses.
Splecir (elite troops), Zirr (mages), Ardoz (mad scientists), Rohir (secret agents), Scarec (all bones), Ejara (slavers).
He added 3 new ones: Lenira (Dark Elves reactivated), Kezzar (all Demons), and Daviliad (fallen Elves). So he had enough firepower to match up the enemies on his path.

Margazar, well we know very soon his true allegiance were.

Lastly, all rangers love wolves. Who ranger hated these lupine creatures? Well, except Soap MacTavish.

As we see on the original, and now in true story, we conclude that with or without Demonic influences, Rodan Empire and the Kingdoms of Arkain will be in chaos, due to politics.

 

[Shar Dundred]

As we see on the original, and now in true story, we conclude that with or without Demonic influences, Rodan Empire and the Kingdoms of Arkain will be in chaos, due to politics.

So you are saying that the Demons and/or dark/ancient powers are bringing stability?
I am not making fun of the statement or anything, that's an interesting theory.

 

[Championfighter25]

As we see on the original, and now in true story, we conclude that with or without Demonic influences, Rodan Empire and the Kingdoms of Arkain will be in chaos, due to politics.

An argument can be made that the kingdoms united to fight a common foe. (I say that loosely, because they still tried to screw each other regardless)
And without the demons, the human part of the continent wouldn't be as unified as it is now.
The Tribal Dominion would probably not exist too.
I'm not sure about Rodan. They seem pretty stable and while we won't know for a while, didn't seem to be heading towards a disaster.
I assume when you said that, you were talking about the Van Durce alternate ending? And how he may have caused a lot of trouble to its stability with his crusade?

 

[LISBOAH]

So you are saying that the Demons and/or dark/ancient powers are bringing stability?

An argument can be made that the kingdoms united to fight a common foe. (I say that loosely, because they still tried to screw each other regardless)
And without the demons, the human part of the continent wouldn't be as unified as it is now.

Let's be honest. If there wasn't a demon threat, the kingdoms would be kiling each other the Empire would only come from across the sea in order to conquer them.

People might put aside their differences when facing a mutual enemy, but these differences are still there and they will remember them the moment after the enemy is defeated.
It constantly happens in our world and it obviously occurs in Arkain. In the Second Human Book, right after the Demons were defeated, a Cold War between
the Kingdoms of Zyainor and Kerrel ensued, both waiting for the other to do the first move. Nevermind that they were fighting demons side by side a few days ago.

 

[Mvicio]

Let's be honest. If there wasn't a demon threat, the kingdoms would be kiling each other the Empire would only come from across the sea in order to conquer them.

That's 100% correct

Maybe they would fight the orcs but they wouldnt be united. Only Torran and Pyrru would fight the orcs along the knights of Kome.

And without the Demons the undead would still remain unnotice.

 

[Ebanu8]

When politics proves the greatest threat and not the external threats. At least Gardon did Arkain a favour with his goal of unification.

 

[Mvicio]

Not sure if i have to post this here or in the round table but anyway.

Since the release of act 3 ch 1, i´ve been thinking who could me another traitor and i might have found one.
It would be Prideblade, the general from the dragon regiment. Why?

-Kersidar said that was more than one traitor, we know that one is Genethas but i think he wasn´t lying about that one.
-The line of defense is being held by the bear regiment (whose leader dies), Cleavehand (who dies) and his dragons as support, among others. So it made me think that either Prideblade dies defending the line or he betrayed the humans while the orcs attack (that would make that infernal mission as orcs a bit easier), making the way easier for his demon masters, also the beast could be easily controlled by the demons like the humans do.
-He is one of the generals that don´t have a short story, Dorbric, Aveen, Kenos and even Lerrig had one, so they survive and still are soldiers of the empire.
-He was a golden guard soldier that took over the regiment, and Van Durce´s Golden Guard was the faction that defeated the demons of Rodan, so maybe during that attack he was corrupted by the demons.

So i´m not 100% sure about this one but Prideblade may be another traitor among imperials

 

[DD Mikasa]

Eh if the arrogance of the Golden tin heads has one benefit to it, it would be that their pride alone would not let them being controlled by demons, through out the human books we have never seen Golden Guards being manipulated by demons (apart from that secret base we get the option to destroy during the first human book, but I think they weren't even Golden guards they were agents of the emperor) its an interesting theory nevertheless but trusting demon words especially Kersidar's words, that I would not advise to anyone he is basically the Arkain's version of a modern day politician.

Ofc there could be demonic controlled golden guards that shar is saving for a plot twist but in general I have the idea that despite being generally obnoxious arrogant twats golden guards aren't a bunch of traitors, I mean they do seem competent when their judgment is being clouded by their inflated ego.

 

[Mvicio]

Eh if the arrogance of the Golden tin heads has one benefit to it, it would be that their pride alone would not let them being controlled by demons, through out the human books we have never seen Golden Guards being manipulated by demons

They were corrupted by the undead in Toran´s capital. So they can be controlled by external forces.

Also, it´s just a theory. Maybe Prideblade knew that he had to take control of the Dragon Regiment once his father leave the army, and didn´t became a proper golden guard prideful arrogant bastard, making him the perfect target for the manipulation of the demons, destroying a regiment and weakening his enemies.