I feel that the major factions in Endless Legend pulled from western mythology to much in their art design and culture. I guess it's my Civ background kicking in, but I like playing against/with a set of factions pulled from different areas of the world.



Wild Walkers = Elves

Broken Lords = Vampires/Medieval Knights

Necrophages ~ Undead

Vaulters - Could be in a modern science fiction novel

Ardent Mages - I think this faction seemed different even though they are called mages and wear long robes.

Roving Clans - Have a middle eastern feel to them. However, these type of cultures have been part of western culture for thousands of years

Cultists - Another faction that seems quiet different from popular western mythology. However, they do have that cultish look.

Drakken - I feel this faction could have easily pulled inspiration from other areas of the world.



I count 6 out of the 8 factions with really strong western influence. I enjoy the mechanics of this game but these 6 factions leave me wanting more differences to Endless Legends' look and history. Here's to hoping that future expansions will pull more inspiration from the Far East, India, Africa, and the Americas.

You have some points there but i think they are already unique enough while matching the whole atmosphere. They are are great and just fit when you look at the big picture. Just want to point out that there is already alot of variety (not only gameplaywise) while matching the connection to each other and Auriga. I guess its more about personality to give differences then diffferent culture influence.

I like to think the Endless universe is a great "what if" scenario. Like, what if humanoids existed in another galaxy far away from us? What would they be like? So far the themes and cultures in EL are great examples of the possibilities:



Wild Walkers : Elves, Celtic influence

Broken Lords : Medieval Knights/Vampires

Necrophages : Undead/Insectoids/Militaristic (Could have used Aztec themes with these guys)

Vaulters : Remind me of Lord of the Rings and Norse themes for some reason (maybe cuz of the Winter theme + Axes combination?)

Ardent Mages : I think appearance was inspired by Theatrical and Circus art performers (not specific to a particular culture... maybe Buddhist and Byzantium?)

Roving Clans : Middle Eastern + Gypsy + Mongolian (The triple threat! ) These guys have great atmosphere.



I think Cultists and Drakken are not meant to be identified with real-life human cultures cuz they are not even humanoids. Cultists are Robotic (possibly inorganic lifeforms?) while Drakken are Reptilian (Although Drakken clothing design could have been inspired from Southeast Asian cultures? The Drakkenlings remind me of the ancient Nubians for some reason)



Also, future factions are most likely gonna be more extreme and non-humanoid than the current factions. That will add even more variety imo.

Underwater, Espionage and Winter factions are being suggested for example...

How unique the Endless legends factions are is one of the things that first drew me into the game. You can't simply equate them to normal fantasy tropes without being childishly simplistic. On the other hand, They are not so arbitrarily random and 'culture forced.' I feel like forcing culture into a faction for the sake of it is a bad idea.

WW are elves with dwarfish tendencies.

Broken Lords are the undead.

Necrophages are natures revenge.

Vaulters/Mezari are time travelers without electricity.

Ardent Mages are tantric sex yoga practicing sadists.

Roving Clans are middle eastern used car salespeople that love insects.

Drakken are guilded dragons that talk too much.





There is plenty of uniqueness here.



Now lets add the minors and....



Everything is new again!





Cultists are pinoccio religious freaks who are bent on genocide.

MetroRanger wrote:
How unique the Endless legends factions are is one of the things that first drew me into the game. You can't simply equate them to normal fantasy tropes without being childishly simplistic. On the other hand, They are not so arbitrarily random and 'culture forced.' I feel like forcing culture into a faction for the sake of it is a bad idea.

Endless universe is unique, and attractive precisely because it's not a copy paste of existing civilisations (like in Civilization franchise)



Sophons are the Roswell-like alien, cravers are more like traditional insectoid alien (Alien franchise)



United empire are the terran faction from Warhammer 40K/starcraft

pilgrims are their rebel/mystic side



Only Horatio Hisho and Amoeba are truly unique to this universe



The point of this is : Endless faction (legend AND space) don't have to be related to an existing culure on earth. all it have to be is to be coherent with the univers itself

I think everyone here missed the point of my suggestion. Uniqueness is not the problem with Endless Legend. I just feel the unique elements are pulled from the same general area which which makes the factions feel somewhat bland when viewed with each other. Bring me a legend like the Endless. Now that's a story that felt fresh to my ears.

I think they're great! But I'm surprised that nobody else considers Vaulters to be tall Dwarves....

Probably because the delvers are already the dwarf faction in this game.