GT: What has been happening in the world between The Disjunction and
the time in which the game is set?
IH: History has continued, however with the introduction of magic and
spirits it is a slightly less familiar version. Chaos reigned, and spirits of
light and darkness were spread to the four corners of the Earth. As you would
expect, many things are now different about the Earth. The Americas became a
deadly, untamed wilderness and the conquistadors that ventured there were
quickly consumed by Aztec gods come to life. Necromancers stole undead secrets
from the Egyptian Pharaohs and created an enormous undead army that threatened
to conquer the civilized world. Dragons were born, and roamed the globe,
challenging the human population during the vastly modified Fourth Crusades.
During the current game time of 1588, there has been increased unrest in the
world. As you join this version of history, Spain is preparing to unleash the
Armada against England in their pursuit to free the world from magic and magical
spirits.
GT: How large will the game’s world be? How closely will it resemble our
world in the 1500s?
IH: Rest assured that there are plenty of things to keep you busy as you
make your journey through the game. In general, the player will start off in
Spain, and go up through France and beyond. During the initial design of the
game, we wanted to provide a European flavor to different locales and settings
that we were visiting. Even though the Disjunction blasted apart many things in
Europe, and all over the world, we wanted to make it seem like the player was
actually there in a rebuilt section of the country. So, there will certainly be
familiar elements from the 16th Century, however they may not appear quite as we
remember them. Remember, the destruction occurred 400 years before the current
timeline in the game, so the inhabitants of this alternate history have had a
chance to rebuild many parts of the country, as is evidenced by Nueva Barcelona
which rests on old Barcelona.
GT: What is the setting at the start of the game and how does the
player’s character fit into the story?
IH: The player will join the game in Spain, just as the Spanish Armada is
about to be unleashed on England. The player finds their character imprisoned by
the Inquisition for possessing a magical taint. The opening of the story covers
both this imprisonment and the players fortuitous escape, after which the game
actually begins. The player’s first goals will be to join one of the power
factions in Nueva Barcelona both for protection and to make their mark on the
world. The early missions you perform for your power faction lead to far greater
quests which ultimately determine the fate of all Europe.
GT: Will the game feature a single quest or a series of quests? Will
there be optional quests as well?
IH: The game will feature over 100 quests, lots of which are optional.
Some of the quests play a large role in determining the path that the player
will follow through the rest of the game. For example, early in the game the
player can choose to follow one of four distinct paths by aligning themselves
with one of the main factions. This choice dictates many of the quests that are
available to the player for that portion of the game. As for the quests
themselves, we are trying to include many different types of quests and, as much
as possible, are trying to have multiple ways of solving each quest. Where
possible, we will have a dialogue, a combat, a sneaky, and/or a magic way to
solve a quest.
GT: What races can players select for their character?
IH: The four races are Sylvant, Demokin, Feralkin and Human. Each of the
races begins the game with different statistics and have some race-specific
traits that they choose up front and can obtain race-specific perks along the
way. Sylvants are among the most magical of the races. As direct descendents of
parents with magical spirits, they possess unique physical traits such as
metallic colored hair or skin. Demokins are part of a fiendish ancestry and
often display obvious physical traits such as pointed ears or sharp teeth.
However, they are sometimes clever enough to blend inconspicuously with
pureblood humans. Feralkins display clear signs of a magic ancestry passed down
from some bestial spirit. They exhibit a large physical stature, pointed teeth
and, sometimes, clawed hands which make them easy to find in a crowd.
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