Helios



Summary : Keepers and forgers of powerful artifacts, they seek champions among the lesser nations of Auriga to become their holy warriors and fullfill their destiny.



Lore : Some say they are ageless, some that they don't even have a physical body. Countless rumors runs about the whose they name Helios.

What is certain however is that secretive order is reluctant to wage war against others and prefer delving into the old places of Auriga. Their armors and weapons are renowed but even those fine equipment is nothing compared to their revered holy clothes. Originating from forgotten times and patiently restaured and reforged they instill both fear and awe among other nations.

But the Helios don't think they are the ones to don the clothes. Each one of them is given to the most meritant of individuals after elaborated rituals and championships where every neighbouring villager can enter. Once they become part of their holy order, the newly knighted heroes fight with zeal for their new masters.

Are they the best hope for Auriga dwellers or just sinister manipulators... only time will tell.



Gameplay :



Can find artefacts in ruins.

Can organise rituals* in their cities and get elite minor factions units and heroes.

Holy champions let them gain influence with minor factions villages and may call them to help if their masters are in danger.

* rituals are startedin the production queue like units and structure, and they may require influence and other ressources (strategic and luxury)



You've defended your brethen against their enemies, guided them through the worst winters, child. And now you've shed your blood and faced death to be granted this honor. But by wearing this armor you will now forget about past loyalties and answer only to us. Know that the greatest perils will be ahead of you...



Note : their look is not set in stone, I just wanted to convey they don't put themselves forward as they are the armorers of divine warriors.

Decided to add another technology to the Beckoning Pride to make it easier to upgrade minor faction units. I think that's enough ideas to match the basic gameplay concepts of the other major factions.



I do still kind of worry that letting a faction buy units/speed production with non-specific resources is way too complicated an idea for programming, given how many different resources there are.

My two cents for this competition and my apologies if you have been choked by my English level:





The Nârigas







“Sistersss! In name of the empresssss Muccccilinda! Open this doors and give us all your wealthssss. A very simple choice: surrender or die! SssiSssiSssi... ”

A very big snake in front the monastery's walls of Saint Mongoose



History



The Nârigas are a specie of ophidian humanoids who lives in the depths of Auriga's jungles. They lived hidden from the rest of the world during many winters. During this time, for many people in Auriga, the Delwers or the Bos were better known than the Nârigas.



Nâriga's society maked History after a great civil war. The new Empress Mucilinda banished the rebel warriors from the jungles. To survive in this new environment, the fugitives took advantage of their natural strength of super-predators : they devoured the encountered unfortunate tribes and claimed their lands. Some smarter people coaxed Nâriga's warriors with food and gifts to turn them against their enemies. Over time, many of them return in their native country covered with all of the gifts to make amends by Empress. These victories encouraged others Nâriga to begin a life of adventurers. They brought back unknown wealths from villages further than previous expeditions. Thus began the great diaspora and the rise of the Nâriga's empire.



The Nârigas people are opportunistic warriors and traders. Their clanic society is based on clientelism. To have good relationships with a Nâriga gifts, flatteries and services rendered are recommended. Some people consider them unreliable because they don’t value the concept of “contract”. It's not easy to understand for a foreigner but... if you give a very generous offer to a Nâriga, he will think that you want a quick trade accord. Or he might take this as a compliment on his talents or the quality of his goods. He will never think to have a moral debt, and, at the next transaction you must renegotiate the deal. However, they are honorable creatures and reliable mercenaries.



Design :



Nâriga's cities are composed of towers sculpted like the one of the Khmer. Each clan controls a small group of them where live this members. Even if they aren't built like castle, their main halls are opened to the street by small doors. This configuration also presents a significant strategic advantage to resist to a riot or an other clan. In the towers, the atmosphere is regulated by slaves who maintain a fire under big cauldrons of boiling water. The latter is collected in a well or, when it is possible, in underground river below the clan's habitation. Between the towers, terraces and forum give places where the Nârigas are basking in the sun and trading together.



Nâriga fighters wear a cuirass (on the thorax and the shoulders) and often armbands. Their favorite weapons are curved swords and bow. But some warriors, like emperor's guardians, use the terrible "snake sword" (cf Ivy's weapons in Soulcalibur): the opponents must choose between the blade's long range and the poison of Nâriga's warrior bite.



Concept:



The Nârigas are a minor faction and a major faction.



Nâriga's minor faction isn't in the world map at the beginning of the game. It is deployed by the Nâriga's major faction. Like a classical minor faction, it gives a bonus when their villages are pacified and assimilated: bonus to market-place or trade routes and one of the Nâriga's major faction unit.



The Nârigas are an expansionist faction during the first part of the game. In a second time, they have a gameplay opened to war or diplomatic relationship with some bonus concerning the trade. This faction favor the extension of its territory (less expensive settlers, special watchtowers...) rather than the growth of its cities (city expansion more expensive, penalties on food which is produced during the winter).



The Nâriga's major faction can attack villages of minor factions and replace this population with Nâriga's minor faction with a settler. The village become a pacified Nâriga Village. Furthermore, Nâriga can also attack the pacified villages by other major factions. A Nâriga village located in the territory of another faction provides bonuses to both faction which controls the region and the Nâriga faction. If some factions may be happy to see their villages pacified without any cost, the fact to see your assimilated faction destroyed can be a good reason to make a declaration of war.



As cold-blooded creature, the Nârigas suffer more of winter than other species. Consequently, Nârigas units can't healed outside a hexagon of cities or watchtowers.



Clan loyalty : All pacified Nâriga villages always give their bonus to the Nâriga faction in addition to the owner of the region.



The reason of the strongest : The Nârigas can always attack minor faction villages (pacified or not). A Nâriga settler can replace a minor village pacified by war with a Nâriga village.



Commercial network : +5 happiness in all cities of Nâriga's faction for each other faction who have assimilated the Nâriga's minor faction.



Spirit of Adventure : +1 free location to assimilate Nâriga's minor faction . The Nâriga settlers are slightly cheaper.



Clan's tower : The watchtowers and the Nagira's minor faction village (which are in a Nâriga's region) count as a city extension. Watchtowers and city extensions are more expensive than normal.



Cold-blooded race: During the winter, the Nâriga units can't be healed outside a hexagon of cities or watchtowers. Nâriga units suffer an initiative penalty. Additional penality on city's food production.

Nosferatiel wrote:
Have a look at the old screenshots AmpliMath posted.

Adventurer_Blitz wrote:
i have a digital copy of the art book, its really pretty but i'm not sure how you get one now.

Hey, turns out I got the digital artbook with Disharmony! Sweet!

I got through the first 15-20 pages of posts and I think I made this a bit unique compared to similar faction ideas, but obviously feedback would be great as this is a first pass.



The Lost and the Hidden



Background Story:

The Lost and the Hidden don't call themselves that, rather it's an insult used against them by others. They have actually lost their heritage over their many years. This is a result of two things. The first is that their physiology is not well-adapted to the climate of Auriga, preferring a warmer and more humid biome and causing them to grow up weaker than they should. The second is that, in their frequent movement to avoid changing climates and predators they prioritized the practical over the spiritual, often adopting local cultures and customs to appease whoever are their newest neighbors. As a result they are happy to settle wherever there is space and prefer trade and diplomacy to fighting. They have a similar knack for discovery to the Vaulters, being the opposite side researcher coin: they look for ways to best change to suit their environment rather than changing their environment to suit them. Their goals aren't really anything sinister in lore, they just want a place to live and are fine with sharing.



Gameplay Idea:

Generally the idea is that these guys have been kicked around and are weak and sickly because of their lack of adaptation to Auriga, but once they can overcome their environment their become stronger to reflect how they would be in ideal conditions. They focus on adaptation research (like environment suits), so their units are either weak for their price or strategic resource-expensive and strong. They prefer to fight most of the game with minor faction units because 1. They get a more than the average factions and 2. They can take advantage of the better base stats of those units compared to their own people.

• Water Affinity - The Lost need an exceptional amount of water compared to most life to thrive. As a result, they gain bonuses to FIDS (probably food and industry to reflect the healthier pop) when they have a city with river or water tiles inside its borders and a negative otherwise. Paradoxically this means they have a limited navy as they are amphibious and can tolerate salt water (although not live in it).
• Free-form districts - Happy to build enclaves in other towns rather than needing to only build out, districts may be built from any existing pacified village or Lookout Tower (upgraded watchtowers). Note that attacking a region will still have to be directed at the main settled city and only directly connected districts will allow force deployment (central barracks).
• Deference to Minor Factions - Begin the game with the ability to assimilate a second faction via unique faction tech (probably via early quest). Reduced Expansion Disapproval in provinces with assimilated factions (minor factions have a larger say in regional government). Assimilation is cheaper in influence compared to other factions.
• Travelers - Lack of long-term shelters and cities promotes nomadic lifestyle. Focus on trade and roads
• Shallow Early Military - Start with only the ability to build settlers and flyer (lorewise are like geckos - climbing/amphibious). No unit tech until tech 3. Basic units are below-average in every way.
• Tech-Focused Military - Unique faction tech provides improved armaments compared to other factions due to their focus on environment suit research. This makes minor faction units quite dangerous mid-late game.
• Exceptional city defense - early focus on city defense to reflect the paranoia of a group that is used to be forced out of regions finally settling down.
• Happiness-focused Heroes - Heroes focus on unit buffs and happiness. Very weak in combat until properly upgraded (see tech bullet).
  
  

Feel free to tear this down or say it's too close to someone else's idea, I'm just keen on getting a faction like this in-game to play

Faction Name: Pheonica



Background: Hailing from the rocky, desert coasts of the great mid-planet sea in Auriga, the Phoenican are a race of seafarers and superb traders. At the height of their power, the Phoenicans had cities and colonies all over the coasts and seas of Auriga. This rapid expansion has caught the attention of the Necrophages and the Broken Lords. The Broken Lords feared that their influence and commerce may be affected by this expansion, while the Necrophages just see them as easy targets. Due to this expansion and colonization, the Pheonican population has become spread out across Auriga, save for their seat of power. Due to this, the Pheonica rely mostly on mercenaries and minor factions that have been assimilated in their exploration and colonization. A great war broke out between the Broken Lords and the Pheonicans, greatly crippling their coffers. Then the Great Quake happened. Seeing this as a sign from their gods, some of the assimilated factions rebelled and refused to serve and aid the Pheonicans any longer. Seeing the weakened state of the Pheonicans, the Necrophages have begun to move towards the Pheonican borders. Pheonica must regain their support from the minor factions and rebuild their economy and fleet, before it is too late.



Basic gameplay idea:

-Since the Pheonicans are great traders, they should get some kind of boost from trade routes(the more trade routes they have, the larger the boost, to a degree?).

-The Pheonicans rely heavily on minor factions for their military, so they get an extra slot for minor faction assimilation; they also rely heavily on mercenaries, they get that part of the marketplace once Rookery is researched in the tech circle

+Because of the reliance on mercenaries and assimilated factions, they pay 50% less upkeep for mercs and assimilated faction units, but pay 150%(or maybe 200%) the upkeep for Pheonican units

-Due to their tradition of seafaring, the Pheonicans get some kind of bonus for ships that they build

-Because of past strife between the factions, Necrophages and Broken Lords have a diplomatic penalty with the Pheonicans, and vice versa.

-As colonizers, they receive less expansion disapproval, but gain population disapproval at a quicker rate.

-The Peonican units are:

+Sacred Band(infantry) - Spear and aspis wielding soldiers of the Pheonican military. They are the elite of the Pheonican military, as they were drawn from the Pheonican warrior class and nobles. They were only used as a last resort, until now.

+Sacred Cavalry(cavalry) - Similar to the Sacred Band, these are the elite of the Pheonican military cavalry.

+War Behemoths(Titan-like unit) - Similar to the War Elephants that were employed in the Carthaginian army, these behemoths can charge over and break any infantry formation. Generally they go in to battle with a driver and two archers riding on them.





I based these guys off of Carthage(if that was not apparent enough), I hope that this gave some extra ideas to anyone who sees it ^^



If this already overlaps with a previously submitted idea, I apologize, as I have not had the chance to read through all of the submissions, as I am in the middle of finals week... I did not mean to hijack or copy someone's idea, I just did not have time to properly research all of the submissions made before mine.

Wow, amount of competitors is climbing still.. I'm starting to feel stressed xD I feel like I might have put too much effort into writing my original post and will be disappointed when it doesn't do well in the poll. So many competitors, so hard to stand out... Ah well, I'll just have to think positively.

ResonanceMask wrote:
Wow, amount of competitors is climbing still.. I'm starting to feel stressed xD I feel like I might have put too much effort into writing my original post and will be disappointed when it doesn't do well in the poll. So many competitors, so hard to stand out... Ah well, I'll just have to think positively.

I know man. I spent five hours on my proposal and I feel like it will be a waste...

Rave wrote:
I know man. I spent five hours on my proposal and I feel like it will be a waste...

You shouldn't think of it as a waste! Creation is a form of art, and if your ideas have inspired even one person, even if that person is yourself, then it's already not a waste





No-one has even mentioned my submission, but I'm still pumped from thinking it over, and it has me charged to start designing again.

I think your idea is rather good and that it could work with some more fleshing out. My only addition besides that is that it doesn't really break boundaries with its concept and a thicker back story with newer ideas would be amazing.

0Ray wrote:
Hi ! Here is my idea. Since i'm a dev tem member, i will not take part to the contest. This is just a free idea, so feel free to use it, stole it and improve upon it. Cheers !

Flayers already enslave minor factions and see them as resources. Not out of lazyness though. Still, feel free to draw them

I'ts possible to make more than one proposal?

Nope.



I edited my post to precise what I meant gameplay wise as Helios "rituals" . There are already a lot of nice ideas and I really wanted to mainly only convey the general pitch for this faction.

Poor people from Amplitude, I wonder how they'll handle this popular challenge ^^

@Gnouman: One entry per user.

ResonanceMask wrote:
Wow, amount of competitors is climbing still.. I'm starting to feel stressed xD I feel like I might have put too much effort into writing my original post and will be disappointed when it doesn't do well in the poll. So many competitors, so hard to stand out... Ah well, I'll just have to think positively.

Rave wrote:
I know man. I spent five hours on my proposal and I feel like it will be a waste...

Tsk, tsk, tsk.

Reagord wrote:
You shouldn't think of it as a waste! Creation is a form of art, and if your ideas have inspired even one person, even if that person is yourself, then it's already not a waste

This.



People will vote for the weirdest one because of anti-standard-fantasy feelings, or pick one solely based on minor faction mechanics, or based on the name, or... but if you had fun developing it, that's most important. If you happen to reach other people, even if you don't get their vote because there is lots of awesome proposals, even better. You had no faction in game before the event so in the worst case scenario, you will still be without one.



It worries me a bit how much some people polish their proposal, or fully flesh it with stuff like units. But as long as they are having fun and take it well if their proposal isn't selected, that's ok. It's also possible that I'm not taking this seriously enough and that I should remove wiggle room to mine and add all the stuff that I haven't written about (for extra "selling point") but whatever. I'm doomed anyway for not proposing something alien/innovative/inspiring but I had fun with it.

It's all about having fun even if i only get one vote for the Sorex other than mine own, it would have been worth it.

I have only 1 regret, that i cannot draw or design something to visualise my faction.

Eh, I'll just shrug if my idea is at bottom of the poll. I'm weird person like that who is worried about stuff beforehand, but afterwards it doesn't matter anymore. Going to exam? Beforehand: "Omg, I'll will fail badly D:" During and afterwards: "Huh, so whats next for lunch?"

Dark Ones

Backstory:

The Dark Ones come originally come from a small island called Rapture. Dark Ones were created before they were born. A wizard was isolated on the island with his small retinue when he came upon a pool of a black like substance with properties similar to tar. Noticing that the wildlife avoided these pools, he decided to do some experimentation on them. However, before he even had the chance to carry out a single experiment, his guards decided that what he was doing was morally wrong and tossed him in instead of the wildlife. They weren’t exactly nice themselves. So the first Dark One was spawned. Using its’ psionic powers that the guards had no experience against, he deceived them until an opportunity struck in which he converted his former captain of the guard. She was rendered defenseless by his magical and psionic talent. After her the rest of the crew fell one by one before they even had a chance to leave. That wizard and all who were put through the process had dramatic changes in perception and personality. This more than likely had to do with their new psionically enhanced minds. Twisted by this substance, the new race started to build a society with the help of their new workers (see Plaxes below). This fortress became the heart of a new race not yet seen by the world. Dark Ones have almost never been sighted by other races, however, Dark Ones have been gearing up for war, as a race of elites, they find themselves better at almost everything they do, but this is offset by the fact that the race has extremely low birth rates.

Leaders:

Thrax:

That wizard from ages past seems to have extended his life even beyond the normal life of a Dark One. His name was Aramacus Difkaal, but he has taken a new name for his new form and new rulership: Thrax. He has seemingly unlimited magical and psionic power, although he has neglected his physical body to the point where he is only as strong as a normal human (Dark Ones tend to be about twice as strong as humans). Thrax has only been challenged for rulership once; nobody considers it a possibility after seeing Thrax’s power in action. Thrax does not make friends and makes demands, not requests. He sees himself as sort of the ultimate life form and treats others as beneath him. After all, no one has proven him wrong yet. Thrax has occasionally disguised himself with magic throughout the ages to learn of the outside world so as to have the upper hand on his enemies when the time comes. If he can know more about them than they know about him (nothing), then victory will be that much easier. His motto, if any, would be “knowledge is power”.

Geitz:

Geitz rose through the military ranks by showing exceptional physical strength and prowess. This was even more unlikely because of his weaker magical and psionic talent. Geitz learned to use those powers in defense while his mighty scythe does the talking. He has earned a name for himself as “The Reaper”. The Reaper has a very hard time understanding the concept of mercy, slaves are always in high demand but the Reaper is famous for not taking prisoners. Nobody knows if the Reaper is even aware of his title, as no one is foolish enough to mention it around him. Nobody understands how he has kept in Thrax’s good graces for all this time either, especially after wiping out perfectly good slaves. Perhaps it’s his militaristic prowess, not only as a warrior, but as a tactician and leader. Whispers tell that perhaps Thrax plans on making his move, and soon.

Description:

Dark Ones stand about 8 feet tall on average with muscular builds. They appear very humanoid in shape, with glowing eyes. Dark Ones tend to look very menacing to outsiders and rightly so. Dark Ones are mute; in fact the only noises that ever escape their lips are grunts and war cries. They make up for this with their psionic communication, which strangely enough uses very human voices, if a bit gruff. Dark Ones have a dark blue black skin and tend to survive colder temperatures more than most. Their fortress in Rapture is said to go deep enough to see a river of lava flowing underneath. Dark Ones don’t have noses and cannot smell. Their glowing eyes afford them a form of night vision but their overall vision is slightly worse than humans would be. Dark Ones are at home in heavy battle armor. Dark Ones consider themselves more important than other races and are perfectly willing to sacrifice some of their magical abilities for the protection heavy armor provides. Their armor styles are borrowed from other societies and thus have no distinct styles of their own. Dark Ones are named so because of their skin color and the fact that their blood runs black, like char and is very syrupy. Those that drink their blood get a temporary high, they feel very light headed and tend to get more aggressive. A description from experience would be that the user felt like her head was swimming, transported to a vast ocean in which it is very hard to float in. These affects wear off in a couple of hours thankfully.

Society:

Dark Ones use plaxes (almost there) a lot for manual labor. Dark Ones tend to oversee these lesser races and use their magical and psionic powers to accomplish otherwise impossible tasks. Dark Ones tend to be harsh to those below their station, not because they hate them, but because they fear them. Dark Ones live in their esteemed fortresses which have the best defense strategies in the world applied to their designs. Their fortresses could be considered a work of art; they are the biggest and most impressive of Dark One achievements. Dark Ones steal children of other races and breed them in the pits for faster spawning of Dark Ones: their natural reproduction process is simply too slow. If any of the other races saw the pits, they would most likely consider them a crime against life itself, conditions in the pits are very bad to be modest. Because of these snatchings and the rare Dark One sightings (probably in the act of snatching), the other races tell stories of a creature known as the boogeyman.

In Dark One society, females tend to be slave drivers and focus on the economic side while males tend to focus on the militaristic side of things. Dark Ones tend to not communicate very often, preferring silence. They talk to each other when they need something, but idle chatter (telepathically) is rare. Dark Ones are egotistical and obsessed with their “Perfect” bodies. Dark Ones tend to maintain themselves physically, mentally, and magically every day on their own if not through their work. Dark Ones are omnivorous, borrowing farming techniques from the other races and adapting them to their island, both above and below ground. Although their diet consists mainly of meats. Dark Ones require lots of sustenance to keep up with their needs, as the population increases, solutions of the magical kind have been invented. However, food has been and possibly will always be a problem. All Dark Ones have considerable psionic talents. However, few achieve great magical power. Most have moderate power, but expanding magical power to great heights has shown to be tough and extremely rewarding as those who do earn prestige and rank in Dark One society. With the exception of the Reaper, all high ranking officers have considerable magical talent.

Dark Ones don’t really believe in gods, focusing on their own supreme abilities. The closest they would consider to a god would be their leader Thrax. Dark Ones believe honor and truth to be very important and respect those who give respect and earn trust. They may plan on conquering peoples such as these in the future, but those societies will come last and make good allies. This sense of honor comes from Thrax himself, who was betrayed by his disloyal companions, he realized that truth has a place in society and that it is in fact very hard to function as a group without. Thrax himself is very paranoid and suspicious of others however, and is not afraid of manipulation.

Minor Faction

Plaxes

A Plax is basically a giant bug, more specifically a giant beetle. Plaxes were beetles that lived on the isle of Rapture before Thrax civilized the place. Thrax put these beetles into the char pits and Plaxes are what came out. Plaxes have gained minor intelligence from their massive transformation. Plaxes minor psionic capacity makes them perfect workers for Dark Ones. The Plaxes minor psionic power act like radio towers to the Dark Ones, making them almost effortless to control. Plaxes are also fanatically devoted to Dark Ones for giving them their intelligence and also from the stories Dark Ones tell them, most likely to keep them in line. Plaxes can form hive minds, meaning they give up some of their individualism but act as one synchronized organism. This makes them absolutely astonishing workers, they can even march perfectly without a single day of practice and they never complain. Probably one of the scariest things to consider about Plaxes is that they have no fear. Plaxes have been stranded on the mainland, allowing them to breed outside of Dark One control. Plaxes, as insects, breed at insane rates. Plaxes are about 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide. Plaxes are very strong for their size and their pincers can be used as deadly weapons. Dark Ones use them as sort of attack dogs sometimes, only in massive hordes.

Dark One faction statistical information

• Extremely well defended fortresses

• Low populations

• High food consumption rates

• Expensive units and structures

• High militaristic Strength

• Terrible at diplomatic relations

• Science and research bonuses

• Teleportation Upgrade? (in golden age, the Dark Ones can combine their psionic and magical powers to create otherwise impossibles) don’t know if this would be too overpowered, I was thinking along the lines of only through fortresses

• High Dust consumption

• High resource collection bonuses (industry and dust collection only)

• Weaker villages

• Units tend to be well defended and have good versatility as ranged and melee

• Some of the most powerful units in the game available

Could some one read the Forgotten Ones agein. Page 2. I have done massive CHANGES thanks to the rumors that there will be some wizard faction coming up from Amplitude but now my faction is pretty damn unique and has large and unique use for minor factions now wich it lacked. I will still change some things in the text. and sry for the grammers i have terrible flu right now....

where do we vote and can we vote for more than 1?

Voting doesn't start before 9th day and we don't know yet how it will work.