Issue eight introduction
The E3 is over and editors from various sites have already started to release their impressions of The Chronicles of Spellborn. As most of you know, we did not have a big booth presence in Los Angeles this year. Our focus was on a sort of press-speed-dating event called Efocus, which takes place the night before the E3 begins, and behind-the-scene meetings with existing and potential business partners. The feedback from all parties has been extremely positive and we are now eagerly anticipating the reactions of our community once they get their hands on TCoS.
This newsletter is again packed with exciting stuff for your reading and viewing pleasure: a wallpaper designed for people with two screens, an exclusive insight into the lore of the destruction of the Empire of the Eight Demons and the announcement of our upcoming Dev Chat.
Go, grab yourself a drink and enjoy the 8th installment of our newsletter.
- Andreas “Thee Nailros” Bettermann
TCoS Dev Chat 3
We’re going to bring you a Dev Chat every two weeks until release. The third session of the series is scheduled for Saturday the 27th of May at 21:00 CEST. Each chat will be held in Q&A format with our QAbot open to receive questions slightly before and during the chat. To participate or read along, you have to join #spellborn-qa on our irc server: irc://irc.tcos.com. More details about the network and services are available on our website. A log from each Dev Chat will be made available on the forums after each session.
The upcoming chat will focus on quests in The Chronicles of Spellborn. Our lovely content lead 'Lady Landmine' will be present to answer your questions.
Lore - The destruction of the Empire of the Eight Demons
Few in the Enclave of the Five Sacrifices are well educated about the events from the Age of Mummujoxuru. The humans living today are distant descendants of the Awakened (those who survived the destruction of Mummujoxuru and rose from a long sleep to find themselves in the Spellborn world), but even though recorded Enclave history begins then, very few remember the tales of their ancestors. Usually, people refer to Mummujoxuru as “the Ancestor World” or “the Empire of the Eight Demons.” It is unclear whether the name Mummujoxuru actually translates into the latter or if the name was invented by the scholars of the Enclave at a later date.
According to the Sekk-Sotyll scrolls, Mummujoxuru was an empire ruled over by gods and god-like beings. They created many races to serve them, and held sway over a massive world of temples, palaces and cities created by sorcery. The scrolls are vague when detailing the role humanity played in this empire. Though the scrolls repeatedly mention how the emperors of Mummujoxuru forged servitor races to tend to their every whim and desire, they do not mention whether humanity was brought into the universe by their magic, or was conquered and enslaved.
Most prominently portrayed in the Sekk-Sotyll scrolls are the Mumia and the Vailyrians. The name “Mumia” refers to the eight godlike masters of Mummujoxuru. They remain nameless and the scholars who study the Sekk-Sotyll writings refuse to search for accurate names or descriptions of the Eight, warning that such a study could endanger the unity of the Enclave. The Vailyrians were the draconic demigods who served the empire and the Eight. They created hundreds of races for the Mumia and were instrumental in the ultimate destruction of the Ancestor World.
Summary of the Sekk-Sotyll scrolls, as presented to the High Houses by the scholar Ruat Sabium in year 632 after the Awakening.
The Uracopeia
(Period: Unknown)
This is the earliest period of Mummujoxuru, referred to in the Sekk-Sotyll scrolls as “a time of conquest and sacrifice.” A few scholars believe that there was a time and a world that preceded this one, though apparently it had nothing to do with the Ancestor World. Only hints and rumours from this period have survived.
The Epoch of the Mumia (Period: Unknown)
After the Uracopeia period came the time of the Mumia: the Epoch that saw the rise of the Eight and their dominance over the Ancestor World. The Sekk-Sotyll overtly exaggerates the exploits of the Eight, and the descriptions of their creations, battles and quests must be discarded as divine propaganda. Yet it points to a fundamental kernel of knowledge: the Mumia did not found Mummujoxuru.
The Epoch of the Vailyrians (Period: Unknown)
The Epoch of the Vailyrians began with the Mumia creating the Vailyrians and ordering them to make the empire “rise beyond the moons and suns”. The stories in the Sekk-Sotyll scrolls detail at length many hundreds of Vailyrian prodigals setting about the creation of even bigger cities, palaces and temples for the Eight. This is also the very first time in the Sekk-Sotyll scrolls that the Mumia or the Eight are referred to as “the Eight Demons”. It is impossible to determine who the authors of the scrolls were, but their use of the term “demon” implies that either there was already an undercurrent of rebellion or that the term was used as a title of worship and/or deference.
The Time of Night’s Dawn (Period: Unknown)
During the Time of Night’s Dawn the first signs of chaos and instability were revealed. Though the Sekk-Sotyll is quite poetic in describing the god-like benevolence and power of the Eight, one can quite clearly discern that the Mumia had lost interest in the daily affairs of their accursed paradise and had left the Vailyrians and servitor races such as the Vhuul and the Urvhile to their own devices. This is also the first recorded mention of the Eight High Houses of Man.
The Era of Black Chaos (Period: Unknown to 0)
The Sekk-Sotyll is fragmented at best when detailing this period. There are increased numbers of references to political struggles, rebellious battles and uprisings by the High Houses of Man. This is also the first time that the daevi, the offspring of the Eight and humans, are detailed. Described as creatures of power and inheritors of incredible mythical talent, the daevi are marked throughout the texts as fearful of their immortal parents and innocent of any crimes against the servitor races. These traits ultimately drove them to seek an alliance with the High Houses. This alliance led to a full uprising against Mummujoxuru, the Mumia and the Vailyrians, resulting in the shattering of the Altar of the Undying and the destruction of the Ancestor World. [Note from R Sabium: This last part is taken from the Book of Awakening, a chronicle written by several powerful champions of the High Houses, as the writings of the Sekk-Sotyll stop long before this period.]
Multi screen wallpaper
Those of you lucky enough to have your computer hooked to 2 screens should definitely check out this special multi screen TCoS wallpaper made by Environmental Artist and Interaction Designer Niel 'Keyser Soze' Vredeveldt. You can download the wallpaper in different sizes from the selection of links below.
The wallpaper is available in 3 sizes. For each size you will need to download part A and part B.
2048x768 A, 2048x768 B, 2560x1024 A,2560x1024 B, 3200x1200 A, 3200x1200 B.
Fansite corner
The crew of TCoS @ MMOz.com has made us aware of their site and we are more than happy to welcome them to the ranks of our ever-growing group of fansites. In the last weeks new entries of our exclusive developer blogs have been sent out to all involved Recognized Fansites. Be sure to pay them a visit and read up on the latest happenings! We also released a new video showing our very own Romano Molenaar recording sounds for the Cavedwellers. Head over to your favorite RFP site and check it out.
FanArt Submissions
In this section we show you how you can get that immersive feel of TCoS’ universe thanks to FanArt submissions provided by our members. If you’ve got some creative juices flowing in you, make sure to submit your own work on the forums!
Wallpaper artists in our community come from diverse horizons, and one of them is siluman from Germany. These neat and refined wallpaper you may find here will surely enlighten your desktop and imbue it with this particular TCoS feeling.
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Another artist showing us his skills in drawing is pockejocke. You may definitely want to take a look at his drawings, and appreciate the shading and details of his creations. Hop on here to discover these. |
Forum Highlights
Discuss the possibilities of a crime system in The Chronicles of Spellborn: Thread
Share your feelings about Context-sensitive Action Scenes: Thread
Chat about the ability to play for a short amount of time: Thread
Recent News
The TCoS website updated on an almost daily basis. Some of the more recent news items can be found below.
TCoS: E3’s Biggest Surprise! on TenTonHammer.com.
TCoS Dev Chat Log #2 about the Warrior classes.
MMORPG.com previews TCoS on the E3!
TCoS Contest
Every even numbered issue of our newsletters features a contest with great prizes!
In this round we ask you to guess the number of triangles used on the creatures named Cavedwellers. Please keep in mind that a typical 4-sided polygon is made out of 2 triangles! The person(s) guessing the right amount (or getting closest on the actual count) will be awarded with one of our exclusive T-Shirts. Woot! On the picture to the right you can see one of the Cavedwellers. Although actual measurements have never been done, the typical mature Cavedweller is about 3 feet in height.
To submit your guess, simply send an email to forums@tcos.com with the subject line “Newsletter 8 Contest”. Don’t forget to include your real name and forum name! The contest closes on Friday the 26th of May 12:00 CEST, so make sure to get your best guess in. Please note: Every person can only submit ONE (1) entry for this contest.
The winners of the newsletter issue 6 contest will be revealed soon!
Closing Comments
That’s the end of our 8th newsletter! We hope you enjoyed the new material presented in this edition and look forward to see you all at on our forums and chat! Don’t forget to send your entry for the contest in on time! And don’t forget:
What Lies Hidden . . . Must Be Found.
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