Yesterday Mythic entertainment has, as anticipated, released a slew of announcements about their plans for the next few months. As expected they officially confirmed the coming of the Slayer and the Choppa, as introduced by the usual funny podcast included in the monthly newsletter.
In the end, looks like I was right again (I might even get used to it...), and Mark Jacobs & C. Had a lot more up their sleeve then the two new melee DPS.
Since I talked a lot about the two new classes in my previous post, let's see about the rest of the announcement. The coming of the Choppa and the Slayer is part of what has been defined the first "Subscription Based Expansion" (IE: an expansion that you get for free by being a subscriber) for Warhammer Online: Call to Arms.
This isn't the first time Mythic follows the politicy of releasing free expansion sized (or at least quite a log bigger than normal content patches) content additions to their games. We already saw something like that on Dark Age of Camelot with Foundations and New Frontiers, and I have to say that's a policy that I always appreciated and that I'm happy to see applied to Warhammer Online as well.
The expansion will buiuld up between the beginning of march and june, trough several live events (another element in Warhammer Online that I really like) that include the opening of another limited-time scenarios like Reikland Factory was, themed about a chaos tower spiraling over the chaos wastes (the Twysting Tower), and culminating with something that will make several old DAOC fans happy.
Most of you, looking at the picture I used for this article, will probably guess that such treat has something to do with the undead, Egyptian undead to be precise. Well, yes. It does: the climax of the Call to Arms expansion will be the opening of a massive RvR Dungeon/Zone (IE, a dungeon/area in which the factions fight each other and in which domination is determined by RvR itself, like Darkness Falls in DAOC) themed on the Tomb Kings that dominate the desertic area named "The Land of the Dead"
Since well before the release of the game, during the endless discussion about what races would have beenthe most suitable expansion in Warhammer Online, I and a few others have been arguing that the Tomb Kings would have made the perfect NPC race to be added as the "hosts" of some big PvE/RvR zone. They are strictly neutral, and wouldn't fit the ranks of destruction well (and even less they'd fit Order of course), but their lore is probably one of the most fascinating of the whole Warhammer background. While i was pretty sure they would have seen the light in this form, sooner or later, i most definitely didn't expect to see them this early into the game's lifespan, and I have to say that being wrong on that makes me quite happy.
Those of you that don't know the Warhammer lore in depth are probably wonder who the Tomb Kings are, and what this Land of the Dead is, so I'll tike my time to explain.
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About two and an half millennia before the birth of Sigmar and of the Empire, far in the south of the old world an ancient and powerful civilization was settled in the land of Nehekhara (As you know, the Old World is very similar to our Europe, Nehekhara was situated in a location similar to our Egypt), divided between an host of powerful city-states the most powerful of which was Khemri, which extended it's influence above all the others, and to which they paid tribute.
Such power had been created by Settra, the first priest-king of Khemri, a mighty general that extended his dominion well beyond the land of Nehekhara. His costant obsession, though, was the thought of his own mortality. He instructed his priests to find a way to overcome that limit. They traveled far and explored misterious lands, but they couldn't find a solution to the riddle, finally deciding that eternal life was beyond their power. They did, though, discover means to extend their life in order of centuries, though this made their bodies frail and decayed, while being still alive, they took up the name of Lich-priests.
In the end, full of grief, Settra died, and was entombed in a mighty pyramid, as his priests promised him that they would find the way to wake him up again to eternal existance.
After Settra's death, the domain of Nehekhara saw a long period of power and domination, as it's mighty armies of chariots found no rival, and it's many kings extended their influence well beyond their borders. Still obsessed by death, they too had themselves entombed in enormous pyramids, and soon the necropolis cities of the dead surpassed and engulfed the dwellings of the living.
The power of Nehekhara, though, was destined to fall. One cursed day, the brother of the king, named Nagash, became High-Priest of Khemri. He was jaelous of his brother's power and while corrupting the powers of the other priets, he plotted to take the throne for himself. He eventually killed his brother, and became king and high priest at the same time.
Nagash's thirst for power was impossible to quell, and he summoned the darkest creaturest to do his bidding as he delved deeper and deeper into the foulest secrets of sorcery. He starved the entire region by imposing terrible tributes in gold and slaves to build the biggest pyramid of them all, made of black stone.
It didn't take long for the other kings of Nehekhara to decide to declare war on Nagash and Khemri, in an attempt to free the land for the sorcerer's influence. The sorceries of Nagash had gone past the limits of death, and entered the world of Necromancy. For the first time in history an human being summoned the dead from their graves and had them march in a mighty army of undead warriors.
In the end, though, even the terrifying undead couldn't win against the combined armies of all the kings, Nagash was defeated, but not destroyed, as he managed to flee to the north.
Centuries passed, and the kings of Nehekhara prospered again. But the legacy of Nagash wasn't gone with him. The queen of Lahmia drank dark elixhirs inherited from Nagash himself, mixed with blood, and she was tainted by corruption. Soon her and her court became the first vampires. Their corruption was so evident that King Alcadizzar of Zandri had to declare war of them, and driven them away from Nehekhara, destroying the power of Lhamia. They fled to Nagash, that was rebuilding his power in the north and welcomed them as his captains.
Again, as the power of the vampires strenghtened his armies of the undead, Nagash sent his minions to move war on Nehekhara. Again king Alcadizzar sent for the armies of all the city states and faced the mortal enemy of his people. Again the mighty general pushed back the minions of Nagash and ultimately defeated them in a series of bloody battles.
Nagash was so enraged by this further defeat that sworn to gain vengeance against Nehekara at any cost. So deep was his bitterness that he decided to strip his former homeland bare of all life. He polluted the river vitae, on which Nehekhara's survival heavily depended, so irrevbersible was the spell, that from then on it had to be called Mortis. Alcadizzar sat on his throne, forced to watch as his kingdom grow bare and as his people starved to death. His court, his friends, his family, even his wife. Finally, he was captured, and sent to rot in a dungeon under the fortress of his mortal enemy.
Eventually Nagash surged forward, dark energies so powerful that had no equal in history were unleashed in a final ritual of damnation. Every single living being in Nehekhara, plants, animals, men and women withered like it aged 100 years in a few seconds and died, falling to dust and bones.
As Nagash was lost in his dreams of victory, ready to raise the entire population of Nehekhara as an host that no mortal would have ever stopped, some misterious, cloaked creatures penetrated in his dungeons and freed Alcadizzar. Having given him a blade of power they sent the maddened king to battle with the ancient Lich King. The clash that followed was epic, and finally Alcadizzar prevailed. He cut down Nagash and fled the fortress carrying his crown, never to be seen again.
As the power of Nagash faded away (even if some say he's just resting, waiting to return to wreak havoc upon the lands of men), Nehekhara was left as a lifeless desert. But life was soon replaced by undeath.
The Liche priests, still surviving trough the ages, finally found the eternal life they seeked through the vile ritual that killed everyone else. The kings, and their minions, entombed through the ages in the great pyramids awoke as well. While the countless skeletal warriors that stirred from death were little more than mere puppets, the kings had been preserved by the rituals of the Liche priests through the ages, and woke up with their consciousness and memories intact, lost in horror as they saw the withered remains of their bodies and the ruins of their once great civilization.
Soon the ambition that urged them to conquest in life, led them beyond the horror of death, as they rallied their armies once again to conquer what had been theirs, and much more.
For two days the battle raged between hundreds of long dead kings, as many had been entombed in a millennia with their retinues, until the mighty doors of the first pyramid opened and Settra himself, the first king, strode forth, followed by thousands of skeletons of his personal guard. He walked on the battlefield unmatched and soon overpowered the other kings, establishing his dominion, and starting his new raise to power.
That was how the ancient and mighty Nehekhara became the Land of the Dead...
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This, of course, was just the short and quick version of the lore that will fuel the Call to Arms expansion. It's truly one of my favourite parts of the warhammer lore, and, for the ones of you that are already familiar with the deeper details of the lore included in Warhammer Online, it links very neatly with the story of the Mourkain civilization that can be found in the Marshes of Madness and in the Badlands, born from the retreival of the crown of Nagash that Alcadizzar took after cutting down the bane of Nehekhara.
Personally, I can't wait to see the Land of the Dead in Warhammer Online. If it's half as good as the backstory that will give birth to it, we're in for a lot of fun.
And Yeah, if someone is wondering, the true, original Lich King is Nagash, not some worthless icy wuss in some other game :D
Sunday, February 1, 2009
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Great post, Superb information....Thank you
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