Another 'Magic' race, based on Chinese/Japanese mythology . Chinese Mythology isn't really done in a lot of games. Can you imagine a Chinese Dragon flying around? Would be quite a contrast to those seen in the Alin, I reckon .

And I'm all for Dinosaurs in the game! :P

There were loads of suggestions in GD. Vampiric Medieval, Greek Mythology and Japanese Origami caught my eye. I'll edit the topic post with suggestions

I agree in an Asian mythology race. But I like to see the mystic Aria as the race. I have heard a legend that the people who called themself Aria invaded India and created the hinduism.
An army with human infantry and cavalry, mixed with blueskinned, six-armed half-gods and a few monsters.
A race with less magic then Alin, and no steampunk or advanced Alien tech. Just highly competent soldiers and warlords.

since i've said this about 15 times on various forums now...

chinese = yin and yang army, dark soldiers, blue/white robe wearing priests etc

thats the really short version

apart from that there are nordic legends, thor, viking berserkers

and also the whole atlantis thing (another alien race crafting a magnificent city out of their own technology for humans in opposition to the cuotl? they could have weak troops that can be upgraded into the best in the game or something)

What we TRULY need now, is a TRUE celestial race. I vote for the Christian Mythology. A nice addition would be angels, demons and Knights ;D

Angels and demons in the SAME race??? I don't think that will fit in. I like the idea of Far-Eastern Chinese/Japanese magic race.

Agreed, Glass mage, on the japanese/chinese thing. I would LOVE to tear through my enemies with samurai and giant origami.

A new faction could be the faction mother of all, that hid thousands of years ago somewhere underground. Or maybe just a bunch of bad dudes looking for a good fight, or my fav that Greek mythology thing(I know what you're thinking, I just loved AoM, especially the atlanteans...)

But to go along everyone else maybe a race based on ninjas and samurai, with their codes of honor and such, maybe they could be the other race with a melee infantry unit like the alin...

[This message has been edited by Czin_Minion (edited 05-24-2006 @ 10:25 PM).]

I hope BHG is seeing this.

Enough with dragons, give us origami!

i'd say the top contendor would have to be the chinese/oriental style, since thats the last major architectural style left in our world, and each of the races has a distinct link to our world, only they're more of an alternate reality

origami soldiers would be cool and all but...

...elder salamander lol?

Let's look at it from another point of view. We've already seen a magical race, a technical race, and a religious race, right?

What other sources of strength can a race be based around?

Perhaps a barbaric race based on people and animals as a source of power, with tough hand-to-hand infantry and all sorts of crazy enormous animals?

How about "none of the above?"

1) Vampires are VERY overdone.

2) Greek mythology might be a bit awkward when you already have not only a European based civ, but another Medittearean civ (Vinci, modelled on Italian city-states). Besides, Age of Mythology already did them.

3) Samurai VERY overdone as well.

4) China has some promise, but think one Asian culture might be more interesting.

No offense to anyone, but here is an idea that has been mentioned before. Anyone ever heard of the "Kahan?" They were going to be the forth race, but were removed.

The culture would have been based on the Mongolians. Mongolians are VERY bad-ass historically. Even moreso than all the historically inaccurate samurai, vampires, and the like combined. Folks like Genghis Khan are just awesome, after all. (The title "Khan" is the obvious source of the civ's name.)

The Kahan likely would have built cities on the backs of giant creatures. However, this was hard to balance. Some influences of theres did make it into the game: the Berserker infantry, the Berserker Rider cavalry, and the Spiritchief (IE Yontash's class). If you open the editor and look at the "Empty civ" you can see a Kahan city guard would have looked. (Guy clad in furs).

Originally, Yontash was going to be one of their heroes. Even Yontash's in-game description mentions "Far beyond the Cuotl jungles" or something along those lines.

The ideas for a master unit would be cool: Perhaps a city-carrying beast could be "unleashed" and rampage around. The master unit would likely be on land, as well.

Ice magic, I think, would have played a large part in their military. There were going to be originally from the frozen "Kahan Wastes" (mountainous area above and between Cuotl and Alin lands).

Another idea:

A Polynesian based civilization with Lovecraft influences. (Google "Call of Cthulhu" or "Howard Philips Lovecraft" if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

They would likely have mind control and water related powers. (Might serve as a problem, as there is not supposed to be any naval combat and programming navies into an expansion or mod would be a pain.)

However, perhaps units might be giant sea creatures and boats encased in magic spheres/bubbles of water so they can "move" around on land, and air units resemble flying Easter Island style stone Moai heads.

Ideas for a name would be "Mu" or "Lemuria" after fictional lost continents, or even "R'lyeh" for a direct Lovecraft reference.

These are my personal preferences for if they (or any modders) put in a 4th civ (and balance it well): 1) Kahan, 2) Mu/Lemuria/R'lyeh, and 3) Chinese or Korean based nation.

Indian might also be interesting, but they might be "too close" to the Alin in terms of "architecture" and might end up looking like Alin minarets+smoke stacks (might be interesting, might not).

A Korean based nation might have a special power relating to entrenchment and strong fortification, perhaps tunneling.

Interesting ideas JaveHarron.

I fully agree with you when you say that vampires and samurai are extremely overdone. Besides, from the examples presented by Shala (Dr Jekyll, Frankenstein, etc.) I think it would be more a gothic horror (victorian) civilisation than properly vampiric medieval. Gothic horror already borderlines steampunk (mainly Frankenstein), and for that we have the Vinci.

I also agree that a Lovecraftian civilisation would be cool, but I think it would suffer the same curse of the Indian one: it would be too close to the Cuotl. The Cuotl are a bunch of mesoamerican indians being manipulated by aliens whom they worship, while that civ would a bunch of polynesian tribes being manipulated by alien gods whom they would also worship. Too close themes.

the new army i think would have to be oriental some how, as if you think about it, thats the last majorly different architecture type left really, and so far all the races are drastically different in arcitecture

You make some good points. But you have to agree that Gothic Horror, Japanese Samurai and Origami and Greek Mythology really suit the "Legends" theme.

The thing is, the Alin aren't 100% Arabian Nights. BHG took the theme and created an entire race without using any of the true creatures in the books.

There were never Clockwork men in Steampunk before RoL. There were never Desert Walkers in Arabian Nights before RoL. BHG take a general theme and recreate it completely.

The ideas I have listed are possible themes that BHG could work races out of. I have also listed the possible themes of heroes that I think would be apppropriate.

Well lets see, we have the power of technology, magic, and religion, the only other power that also as an effect in this world is cold hard cash, soo maybe we could have marauders (viking mithic aggressiveness), and then choose a theme to create units.

I think technology, magic, religion, and government-based with a king race.

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Because magic makes such a huge effect in this world

I don't know. I don't like to base them by that logic.

There is not "magic" but many mysticism and unexplainable things happen in this world :P

Ho. I posted up an idea for a feudal japenese race, with samruai, ninjas and devastating paper monsters.

So I will go for that one.

Id like to suggest a a celtic forest nation though. Light units but strong druids and religious powers

Samurai/origami, Gothic Victorian horror, and Greek mythology DO seem legendary... Just not RoL type. RoL used a lot of cultures you don't see a lot in fantasy. Only east Asian culture is left untouched. Of East Asian cultures in computer games, Japan was the most used one. So, cross them off the list.

Likewise, we have 2 tech civs and 1 magic civ, so we would need one more magic civ to balance them out.

I haven't read Arabian Nights, but there were clockwork automata in steampunk well before RoL. (Look up a computer game called Arcanum and a book called "Perdido Street Station" by China Mieville.) Arcanum is an RPG about a steampunk Industrial Revolution in a Tolkein-style fantasy world, where tech and magic were polar opposites. (Tech worked by reinforcing the physical laws of the universe, while magic bent them at will.) It's an awesome game, though graphics are fairly dated.

PSS, suffice to say, is one of the most (if not THE most) awesome modern fantasy books out there. The writer, China Mieville, even can give Neil Gaiman a run for his money. If you haven't heard of either, head down to your local bookstore and check it out. PSS takes place in a dystopian steampunk metropolis where magic (called thaumaturgy in the novel) is more looked on as simply a science. Such an awesome writing style and setting.

One idea for the Kahan: While mobile cities would be a nightmare to balance, here's another idea: Mobile structures. Let's make up 3 unit types for the Kahan: Ice (basic), Wind (air), and Stone (siege). Being nomads, they can break apart their structures into units called "Caravans." Each caravan is a bunch of small guys with a beast of burden (likely those yak things). When the are damaged, one of the small guys falls (much like infantry). Likewise, any damage in caravan form is 'carried over' when it redeploys into a building. And damage incurred as a building carries over to the caravan.

One idea might be their cities produce Caravans, which can be used for trading, mining, or building. Kahan might not need circles, but their units would likely be tough (say roughly around Vinci, but less powerful than Cuotl and more powerful than Alin). One tech track idea would be "Pillage" where they can gain resources form destroyed units (similar to Vinci scavenge, but more dependant on ENEMY units killed, or even buildings destroyed). Perhaps Kahan structures resemble Flintstones type buildings, only with Mongolian flavor.

Here's another idea: Caribbean/West African based nation with necromancy and "voodoo" based units. They can be horror magi-tech steampunk. (For instance, a steam engine that burns human souls instead of coal.) However, that might be too close to Vinci.

Another idea might be a Korean style nation that treats magic like technology. Units relate to rocketry, turtles, and the like.

Tiben mythology with yetis and wind horses (for more info look up tibet myth on wiki pedia thats wat im doing now )

now this is a cool beast: Tarasque, Legend has it that the creature inhabited the area of Nerluc in Provence, and devastated the landscape far and wide. The Tarasque was a sort of dragon with six short legs like a bear's, an ox-like body covered with a turtle shell, and a scaly tail that ended in a scorpion's sting. It had a lion's head, horse's ears, and the face of a bitter old man.

[This message has been edited by Electrical storm (edited 05-26-2006 @ 04:28 PM).]

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Now that is just sick...

So we have religion, magic and science. What else? The power of Communism! Long live Comrade Lenin, Hero of the Proletariat!