Round Table of Arkain

[CosmicBard]

Grofzag: "Hey, Sas. Could you maybe come down and help us? It's quite a rough battle, and we're doing all this to save your sister y know."
Sasrogarn: "Fine!" *summons two wolves and sends them forward, puts down a Serpent Ward in a position where it can't hit anything and places a Lightning Shield on Grofzag
Sasrogarn: "There! Now go and murder them for me! Bye!"
Grofzag: "... how in the world did we become friends?"

 

[nchp1903]

They're friends, alright. Friends with lots of one-sided benefits.

But you know what? I have an idea to make him more useful. Give him a 1% chance to summon Progaderas (I forgot how to spell his name), every time he cast Volcano.

 

[Karmondia]

They're friends, alright. Friends with lots of one-sided benefits.

 

[nchp1903]

After spending quite a while trying to find speedrun strategy, I've found a few things that can be potentially useful in everywhere except speedrunning.

Spoiler: Pillage

- This is a well-known one. If you destroy Redfist's house by sneaking to the back, then this will happen during the cinematic.

- If you don't skip it, however...

- And you can do all of that while avoiding the Knights. So if you skip the cinematic and do a bit of microing to help Rangul survive, the rest can escape without having to fight the Demons.

Spoiler: Allies

- By skipping the second cinematic at the right time, Salana and friends will be stuck in the Demon's base without Gardon's help.

Spoiler: Defense of Home

- Same as above, if you skip the cinematic at the right time, the Elves will become a very tight-knitted community.

Spoiler: Item Shops

- In The Bull and The Wolf, you have full access to the Arcane Vault, which can be used to buy items for Zoia, Blen, Aedale, Harmos and Dorbric. A few items I think can be used to cheese levels, but I have yet to have any results.

• Staff of Sanctuary/Ivory Tower: Quick teleportation combo, but useless if tower can't be built.
• Mechanical Critter: Can be used to activate trigger without fighting, so can be good for Pacifist runs, but the way enemies react to those Critters are weird. Sometimes they attack, sometimes they ensnare then go away, sometimes they don't do anything at all.

- In Rise of the Clans, you have the Goblin Merchant to buy item for Rath, Rangul and Dogran.

• Potion of Invulnerability/Invisibility: Can be useful for sneaking.
• Staff of Teleportation: If you can give a bunch to Rath, then it can be useful in later mission where you play at him, as he can then give it to Sas (which should pair really well with Feral Spirits), Grofzag, Zairmak and Gorthog. Or, if I think a bit further, to give it to Amari, so that in the very far future, she can give it to Blen/Gardon, if that alliance is still a thing in True Story.

- Tomb of Relics has nothing of importance, so no one should give an f.

Also:

Spoiler: Saphira said the funny word

 

[Shar Dundred]

In The Bull and The Wolf, you have full access to the Arcane Vault

Ah. Gotta remove that.

 

[nchp1903]

(Oh god. What have I done.)

Orb of Fire stacking is no more. But at least I still have old save games with old cache data, so only the new players will suffer this loss.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Orb of Fire stacking is no more

Only the damage is stacking, not the orb effect.

 

[nchp1903]

I know too, but it's like a Claw of Attack +5, so it's still good af. The visual effect of all 6 of them spinning around the weapons is a cherry on top.

Big numbers are always fun to watch. Orbs + Imperial Edict + War Aura + Command Aura gives exactly just that.

 

[Ahman]

It's been awhile since we last got a chapter XD

 

[DD Mikasa]

It isn't coming till march so I remember reading.

 

[Kasrkin]

Shar will be back in a few weeks, I know everyone's missing their Arkain Industries patented medicine of pain.

 

[swarmlord1231]

I have made the only correct faction tierlist

 

[Shar Dundred]

To think that the Orcs were universally hated before the Second Orc Book.
Damn I'm good.

 

[Karmondia]

To think that the Orcs were universally hated before the Second Orc Book. Damn I'm good.

I mean, I still hate Rangul and Rath, but the new characters that were introduced (Amari, Grofzag, etc.) are among my favorites. I said it before, but I'll say it again, you are incredibly talented, Master of Arkain. You should make a real book (I know... we've been here before), I would buy it, and I'm sure others would as well... but of course it's all up to you! I just know that I can't wait to play the Second Book era. I'm starting to have AIWS, which stands for Arkain Industries Withdrawal Syndrome.

 

[CosmicBard]

What's funny is that Shar most likely intended Rangul to be the "audience insert" character in the first orc book, but it accidentally shifted to Vanessa at the end, which has put the orcs in a very bad light, cus from her PoV, most of them were short sighted and overly hateful jerks. But I'm happy that he kind of recognized this, and made Amari the main character in the second one (who shares a ton of similarities with Vanessa, both with their personalities, their goals and their worldviews, plus they both got a ton of hate from other orcs in the past). In a way, it was a repetition of what was done in the second human book, as Blen, the somewhat boring character was replaced with the interesting fan favorite character, Gardon as the main guy.

If this demonstrates one thing, it's that recognizing both your failures and your successes at the same time is the way to achieve great things (which is not as easy as it sounds, so I really applaud Shar for actually succeeding at it).

 

[Mvicio]

To think that the Orcs were universally hated before the Second Orc Book.
Damn I'm good.

Now there are more likeable orcs both during the first books era with The destroyer and Hortnog, even iszog and the second books era with Amari, grofzag and Zairmak. You also gave us the most hated character in Arkain and the most loved villain during the orcs storyline.

Everyone had a really big character improvement.

In a way, it was a repetition of what was done in the second human book, as Blen, the somewhat boring character was replaced with the interesting fan favorite character, Gardon as the main guy.

It´s a pity that we couldn´t see Ornasion take the spot for the undead as Gardon and Amari did.

 

[swarmlord1231]

Also Shar idk if you forgot or something but the boar and bear regiment aren't on the faction sheet and neither are their leaders on like the character sheet, I was kind of confused since I couldn't find them there lmao.

 

[nchp1903]

Also Shar idk if you forgot or something but the boar and bear regiment aren't on the faction sheet and neither are their leaders on like the character sheet, I was kind of confused since I couldn't find them there lmao.

I'm thinking the Bear/Boar Regiment isn't significant enough to be on tier list, at least for the time being, since they don't have enough depth or screentime to be compared to the factions.

The leaders don't appear much either. Fergon of the Bears is already, well, Fer-gone thanks to Rangul. And the guy who leads the Boar Regiment (Tarm Luthran, according to the wiki), I don't think he even appeared in-game at all. Although, to be fair, I don't think that someone who lets his men abuse Permanent Invisibility is likable.

It´s a pity that we couldn´t see Ornasion take the spot for the undead as Gardon and Amari did.

Unless Ornasion somehow regains his full demonic power and wrestles back control from Aridon, then it's highly unlikely that he'll be half as interesting as Amari or Gardon, because he'll just be another guy who pledges himself to Aridon's will. His design and gameplay are nice though.

I'm starting to have AIWS, which stands for Arkain Industries Withdrawal Syndrome.

Same over here. Replaying old chapters doesn't feel the same, unless with some gimmicky challenges, and even then, ideas run out pretty quickly.

It's like waiting for dad to coming home with his milk. Except this time, it's Shar coming back with playable Rolling Bearmen a new Legends of Arkain chapter (or chapters, preferably).

 

[swarmlord1231]

I'm thinking the Bear/Boar Regiment isn't significant enough to be on tier list, at least for the time being, since they don't have enough depth or screentime to be compared to the factions.

They do appear on the tier list, by faction sheet I mean the actual sheet of all the different factions you can read about here on the forum

Legends Faction Sheet

Here you may find information about the factions of Legends of Arkain. Links: Humans of Arkain Orcs of Arkain Undead of Arkain

www.hiveworkshop.com

 

[nchp1903]

Damn. I mistook between the two. But then again, that Faction Sheet is '''probably''' out-of-date, since its last edited date is Oct 25, 2020. Lots of things must have changed since then.

 

[Kasrkin]

I don't think he even appeared in-game at all. Although, to be fair, I don't think that someone who lets his men abuse Permanent Invisibility is likable.

He's only appeared in the meeting flashback so far.

 

[DD Mikasa]

Unless Ornasion somehow regains his full demonic power and wrestles back control from Aridon, then it's highly unlikely that he'll be half as interesting as Amari or Gardon, because he'll just be another guy who pledges himself to Aridon's will. His design and gameplay are nice though.

I am pretty sure he didn't mean it as in Ornassion ousting Aridon from power, he meant it as in Ornassion taking the spotlight and being the "leading" character of the undead kinda Like Gardon did for the humans and Vanessa did for the orcs.

 

[Navy45]

Unless Ornasion somehow regains his full demonic power and wrestles back control from Aridon, then it's highly unlikely that he'll be half as interesting as Amari or Gardon, because he'll just be another guy who pledges himself to Aridon's will.

However, if the True Story follows where the SUB seemed to be going (with Aridon steping back to "contemplate"), then many undead characters will get the chance to act somewhat independently (I think there was a short story about Edoarus having some fun in Rengar and Krom wandering in Arkain). They will still serve Aridon's interests but hopefully they will get to do so in their own way.

 

[CosmicBard]

That would not only make the story more interesting, but it would also be a decent character arc for Aridon, as he realizes that sometimes, it's fine if others can make decisions without him influencing it (though "sometimes" is definitely the keyword here). He could definitely have some moments where he goes "Well, this wasn't exactly what I would have wanted at first, but honestly, it seemed to have worked out very well in the end. I'm quite pleased" or something like that. Now, this isn't necessarily something that must happen, but just allowing his underlings to have free choices on certain occasions is enough. And those underlings each have very different personalities, so there are a lot of ways that things can go.

 

[Paul Emirique Ibanez]

does the choices still affect the gameplay in the true story? Van Durce still condemned Greymoore even though I didn't attack his scouting party during the assault of the darkmind clan

 

[Shar Dundred]

There's still some choices left that affect the story and gameplay - i. e. Lera.
Mind you that Blen also always got imprisoned in the SHB, no matter what.

Van Durce shouldn't mention his forces if you didn't attack them.
The other questionable acts performed by Greymoore were still enough to justify imprisonment.

 

[CosmicBard]

I guess that's also why he destroys the Wolf Regiment base in Betrayal now (and because it made much more sense than having that weird Aedale base, and those random orc attacks). It just simply felt dumb that Blen and Harmos got imprisoned for not noticing Genethas' betrayal early enough, yet Gardon, Merlon, Salana, Lerrig, Daric and a bunch of others from the Lor conflict got away scot free (ok, Gardon and Merlon technically got a huge loss too, but they weren't sent to jail). I guess you could justify it by saying that the evil emperor has played Van Durce to kill Blen because he was a threat, but then you'd realize that he gave Gardon, and all of his henchmen a chance, even though they're much more dangerous and unhinged than Blen or the Grey Guard, and he clearly didn't like Gardon as a person.

The point is that things were a bit messy with the Arkain lore before, and I'm really glad that the True Story is cleaning things up. I just wish that Blen's death won't happen off screen again (I mean, the part where Van Durce slaughters him and his men), if he's going to die like he did in the Second Human Book, that is. You gotta give more honor to main characters y know.

 

[Championfighter25]

I think the AQT mentioned Greymoore's fate in the true story will differ from what we've seen in the original books, so no death by Rath or torture.
As long as it's not something like being killed by one of Aridon's servants, I'll be fine with whatever it is.

 

[Shar Dundred]

Hehe.

 

[nchp1903]

I think the AQT mentioned Greymoore's fate in the true story will differ from what we've seen in the original books, so no death by Rath or torture.
As long as it's not something like being killed by one of Aridon's servants, I'll be fine with whatever it is.

Being killed by Aridon's servants mean that he'll become Undead. And since Undead Blen sounds cool, I'm totally fine with that.

Maybe Galareth will mess with his head a little bit, so that when he's reanimated, his paranoia will be pushed to the extreme. He's already quite a one-dimensional character, so might as well make him one-dimensional in an interesting way.

Hehe.

This is scary.

 

[Championfighter25]

Hehe.

Those words are scarier than everything the Ardoz Nexus has done since their inception.

Being killed by Aridon's servants mean that he'll become Undead. And since Undead Blen sounds cool, I'm totally fine with that.

Maybe Galareth will mess with his head a little bit, so that when he's reanimated, his paranoia will be pushed to the extreme. He's already quite a one-dimensional character, so might as well make him one-dimensional in an interesting way.

I don't see what kind of purpose he'll serve in the undead, except just being another servant of Aridon. The only story arcs you could do with him in a scenario with this are with Dorbric, Zoia, Harmos and maybe van Durce.
I think the true story covered his weakness of being one-dimensional side well. He's constantly surrounded by characters who are more interesting than him (Dorbric, Zoia, etc.) so a first-time player may not notice it as much.
This is not really a good excuse for his character, but being the most normal and least over the top character slightly makes him stand out, even if it's only slightly.

 

[Enki555]

If Shar's words are true, this scenario is likely: Maybe Aridon will send agents to infiltrate prison and save Blen who is barely alive from torture. Since Edoarus won't fight Salomar, perhaps Aridon can send him to butcher guards and escort Blen just like what happened to Salana. It won't be a stretch to say Watcher needs him to fight Empire and possibly keep track on Aedale due to Lisara being a threat to his plans. Just like Salana, he will be alive instead of undead as Greyguard follows the living human obviously.

 

[Shar Dundred]

If you REALLY want to know what happens to Blen... you have to wait for a future Act.
No, not telling you which one.

 

[Axmand]

Sorry people to use this thread to ask (stupid) question, which version of W3 are you using to play this campaing???

 

[Navy45]

Sorry people to use this thread to ask (stupid) question, which version of W3 are you using to play this campaing???

1.29.2 is the recommanded version.

 

[CosmicBard]

I'm seeing a bit of inactivity here, so I'm gonna spice things up with a faction tier list for the roles that they all would have within a zombie apocalypse. Though keep in mind that I'm not an expert in zombie apocalypse related media (I've seen like, 4 seasons of The Walking Dead and the 2 Zombie Land movies, and that's about it), so I may have missed some niches that certain factions could fit.
The zombies don't belong to Aridon or any of the other undead nexuses. And they're taking over absolutely everything, so cross-race alliance, along with big gangs is not impossible (even though in canon Arkain, it most likely would be)

Guess I could also do one for the characters and the roles that would play within a zombie apocalypse story, though there would probably be some overlaps with my Faceless invasion list, so maybe not.
I could also make a list about which factions would end up together, but that could really go anywhere based on how the story is written.

 

[LISBOAH]

I'm seeing a bit of inactivity here, so I'm gonna spice things up with a faction tier list for the roles that they all would have within a zombie apocalypse. Though keep in mind that I'm not an expert in zombie apocalypse related media (I've seen like, 4 seasons of The Walking Dead and the 2 Zombie Land movies, and that's about it), so I may have missed some niches that certain factions could fit.
The zombies don't belong to Aridon or any of the other undead nexuses. And they're taking over absolutely everything, so cross-race alliance, along with big gangs is not impossible (even though in canon Arkain, it most likely would be)

View attachment 396507

Guess I could also do one for the characters and the roles that would play within a zombie apocalypse story, though there would probably be some overlaps with my Faceless invasion list, so maybe not.
I could also make a list about which factions would end up together, but that could really go anywhere based on how the story is written.

Wrong!
The Redfist should be: The guys that will sacrifice the gang if that means the zombies get wiped out for good.

 

[CosmicBard]

That feels like much more of an Ironfist thing to do. They would be willing to throw literally everything at the zombies, but that would also most likely include themselves, which is why they ended up going into the "destroyer" tier.

The Redfist would most likely just continue hunting the orcs. Their leader is completely insane, and he'd most likely be ok with leaving literally everyone else to die just so he can kill all of the orcs (and his warriors follow him blindly no matter what, so he would drag a lot of manpower along with him). I could absolutely see them sabotaging the main gang for their advantage though, and if it includes even just 1 orc, they would simply attack its members on sight.
If they would actually succeed at wiping out the orcs, then yeah, they would most likely be extremely unhinged when dealing with the apocalypse too, and they would be absolutely ok with sacrificing others (though at least they wouldn't use goddamn mind control amulets to motivate them, only their alpha male energy).

 

[Shar Dundred]

Speaking of Ironfist:
Thanks to the amazing @johnwar, the Ironfist Triumvirate of Captain Herdon, Lieutenant Tormin
and Sir Ferdal will receive their own unique models in the next update!
And there's more! Lieutenant Claire will too! The question is: Did you see her yet?

Stay tuned for the next update!

PS: Any graphical issues above are because I scrolled in too much when making the picture, the models have none of these.

 

[Paul Emirique Ibanez]

I notice during my recent gameplay of the pride of the empire. When I destroyed the bull regiment's base early, Lerrig will not retreat and will stay on the whole game.

 

[nchp1903]

After snorting a ton of Black Lotus, I'd decided to make this cursed version of Pillage.

There are still some typos and unchanged dialogues, but hey, nothing's perfect.

 

[Championfighter25]

After snorting a ton of Black Lotus, I'd decided to make this cursed version of Pillage.

As they say:

''Crack your allies, bone curse your enemies'' - Kromillionaire grindset, probably.

Anyway, if you want to do something even more cursed, put Ornassion in Night Hunt, because everyone's favourite undead dreadlord that charges into battle will definitely have the patience to hide and assassinate, instead of just destroying everyone in direct combat.

 

[nchp1903]

As they say:

''Crack your allies, bone curse your enemies'' - Kromillionaire grindset, probably.

Anyway, if you want to do something even more cursed, put Ornassion in Night Hunt, because everyone's favourite undead dreadlord that charges into battle will definitely have the patience to hide and assassinate, instead of just destroying everyone in direct combat.

Welp, stealth is optional anyway. Might need to take some creative freedom here with the cinematics and custom abilities, so it'll take a while.

 

[Kasrkin]

Hmm, seems like Shar was right on the money for this one race swapped has to happen after all.

Rath as Blen for the truly cursed experience.

 

[Shar Dundred]

The Truest Story of Arkain is now the official title for the race swapped version.

 

[Kasrkin]

The thought of the orc islands covered in blight is just hilarious.

 

[CosmicBard]

When it comes to a race swap, I'd imagine it more like Xetanth's swapping of the original campaigns (with the exception of the night elves being traded for demons):
The clans would now be made up of humans.
The Empire would consist of the undead.
The nexuses would now be demon nexuses.
And the invading legions are now orcs.

It's kinda fun to imagine all of the factions and how they would change. Like how the Elven Army would now be the Dark Elven Army, while the actual Dark Elves are Demon Slaves, while the Demon Slaves are all the extra races of the Tribal Dominion, and so on.
Some of the chapters also sound extremely funny, like how "Slaves of the Demons" would now be called "Slaves of the Orcs", as you'll be controlling the Dreadlord called Edoarus, to steal the Sign of Life from the Bloodhand Legion and their centaur/troll/gnoll/bearnman/goblin/ogre slaves, while being assisted by Saphira, the undead ranger who was turned into a succubus after the raid of Amari's Grey Guard, via a ritual done by the eredar lord, Rahandir.
It's a huge cycle of weirdness, and I'm all for it.

 

[Shar Dundred]

I never played or watched any of Xetanth's creations, I only know a tiny bit about them.

If race swapped Arkain really does become a thing, it will be more like the one created by Synergy
for StarCraft 2 with the characters being replaced instead of the names remaining the same but using
different models or races etc.

 

[nchp1903]

The clans would now be made up of humans.
The Empire would consist of the undead.
The nexuses would now be demon nexuses.
And the invading legions are now orcs.

I can already imagine Gardon leading his people to safety by Dwarven airships, after their islands are invaded by Galareth and his Ardoz Nexus.

Or you know what? Since we're already going crazy, we might as well bring back undead Vanessa, or non-generic Veringar. Would be fun.

I never played or watched any of Xetanth's creations, I only know a tiny bit about them.

If race swapped Arkain really does become a thing, it will be more like the one created by Synergy
for StarCraft 2 with the characters being replaced instead of the names remaining the same but using
different models or races etc.

So the Truest Story of Arkain might actually be a thing but Books of Night Elves are not. That's sad.

But yeah, my little edits are mostly inspired by Synergy, fyi.

 

[Kasrkin]

Before our release of the new Dead Mountain defense I'd like to show you guys how it used to be, very detailed and showing off what some of the nexus were doing/were about. Unfortunately very very crash heavy except to as of 2022 only me.

And the Splecir as a screenshot because I confused purple with the blight.