Golden Xan

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Mar 30, 2019
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Hey everyone,

Apocalypse released a new weekly video titled "Map Exploration" where @Jalen.P gave us a little bit of lore behind some of the locations they have planned for the world of Deadhaus. I'm going to breakdown what I believe to be the most interesting aspects of the lore on this video.


1. At 0:40 - There are humans who live in the world of the dead. Jelrass is a city governed by a female Vampire. The humans there are grateful to that governor. Why is that? Does she protect them from other undead, or something else?

2. At 1:20 - Humans and undead doesn't see eye to eye in all parts of the world. There is a fort and a wall that separates the empire of men and the Deadhaus, and humans have attempted to invade Deadhaus for one reason or another through that fort.
On another note, Jalen says Fort Zaestra is a place where forbidden knowledge is kept. Odd choice of location considering how close it is to the borders of the enemy's empire. It is either difficult to move all those items to other locations or the undead are very confident in their ability to keep that location safe.
Perhaps that's where Warden Petruvius got Lichedom and other books from.

3. At 1:58 - It seems that the undead are not easily deterred by the traditional forms of weaknesses. You will be interested in this, @Roband. If anything, religious symbols and wards only antagonize the undead.
Jalen says "Travelers are not welcome in Charsk." But geez, I wonder who would want to travel there. Does that mean Deadhaus isn't completely cut off from the Empire of Men? Or that there is a lot of humans still living in Deadhaus' domain?

4. At 2:26 - A disease that makes humans and undead alike howl at the moon. Could this be an indication of a place where werewolves are formed? @Varik Keldun may be interested in that. This also means that undead, while not quite living, can still be affected by living things such as the ones that can cause diseases... unless it's a curse, not a disease.
But he also says they mutate into "grotesque monsters". Perhaps that is related to the origins of another House (Xenohaus, anyone?), or simply a particular faction, maybe not even playable.
Yet, the "few sane humans" who live in Duskridge pray to their "Death Gods". It seems that humans in Deadhaus have other kinds of deities they pray to, and perhaps that's why they live in Deadhaus. I wonder if the ones in Charsk worship these same gods.

5. At 2:40 - The undead, or what they were before they became undead, had to discover immortality. So it wasn't something that just happened, it was something that someone started, and apparently it was the first undead themselves.

6. At 3:10 - The undead also have their influence outside of Deadhaus, as Oss Kucrox serves as a statement to that. Some of them venture outside of their main region.

7. At 3:20 - Four important things here: First, giants may be able to have children with humans, as there are rumors of half-giants being present. That may have some relation to the classes we'll see in
Gigahaus. Second, there are religious cults that are not necessarily related to the main human religion, and they will surely have some impact in the story. Third, some humans have mastered magick (as was expected), and they will surely be differentiated enemies, maybe even the ones capable of exorcising phylacteries and damaging undead in their ethereal state of being. Fourth, some humans mutate with their use of magick, losing their minds and potentially becoming other kinds of beings themselves.

It seems that magick will be a good enough excuse for the more prominent enemies we'll face as Deadhaus.

8. At 3:50 - From my perspective, it looked like the whole narrative that Jalen was reading had been written by undead themselves, even though they are referred to in third person. The reason for this being that the undead would surely want to know more about their enemies' capital and would only disregard it if the humans were truly no treat... but if the undead can't gather information about their capital, then it means the humans are a threat of some level. That which you are not aware of can be your greatest weakness. It seems this passage is downplaying the importance of the humans.


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Speculations:

- Fort Zaestra seems to be a place built to keep things away. To protect the region of Deadhaus. But the undead doesn't seem to have that much reason to fear human invasions, so they were likely not the ones to build that place... Yet the Fort was built on Deadhaus' side, and not in the side of the Empire of Men. This suggests that, some time ago, the Empire of Men had different factions or groups and that they were antagonists to each other. The faction on Deadhaus' side was probably the one that embraced different deities, such as the aforementioned Death Gods. They were likely the precursors to the first undead.

It is also weird to imagine why Deadhaus would have secret knowledge kept in a place so close to their frontier with their enemies. It indicates that Fort Zaestra was indeed a defensive location used by military or religious personnel who adored the undead ways, and that Fort Zaestra was an outpost of theirs, where they likely practiced dark magick to protect against their neighbors.

- I still don't get why Charsk is a place where humans live in. With undead openly roaming the streets and slaughtering people for fun and food, it seems that the humans there either breed copiously or are not that much persecuted, because why would the people who live there insist in their inefficient religious beliefs and live on a rotten land such as that for long?

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That was all I could gather from this particular video. There were some locations that haven't been mentioned, but were still shown during the flyover, such as the Crimson Cult northwest of the Crimson Capital, the Wastes of Malice on the Gigahaus, Gigahaus itself, the Nudred Watch, Anu Maht and other marked locations and regions. I thought it was an interesting glimpse at the universe, and I'll be happy to see more when the time comes.


 
Which exact thing are we talking about, though? There was quite a few of them. :p
 
Ah yes, of course. Silly me. ^^
 
speculation on the Baroness, she is a noble vampire who, at bare minimum keeps her supply stocked, well fed, and safe. anyone WHO does speak out is next on the dinner table... whelp... yeah shes a vampire duh... i must have totally missed hearing that the 1st time around...
 
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about fort zaetras' possible secrect library...
what better way to lure enemies to fuel your cause then to let a rumor like that slip...
we can learn how to defeat the enemy if we can gain access to their library and learn their secrets...
maybe they can access the library but in doing so will just become liches or some other undead themselves,
maybe its just a ruse to draw the foolhearty in, a red herring.
or yes maybe deadhaus thinks themselves strong enough not to worry bout it.
 
- I still don't get why Charsk is a place where humans live in. With undead openly roaming the streets and slaughtering people for fun and food, it seems that the humans there either breed copiously or are not that much persecuted, because why would the people who live there insist in their inefficient religious beliefs and live on a rotten land such as that for long?

Have you ever heard of Centralia, Pennsylvania?
 
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I haven't. What's the story here? Any connections?
 
On the Charsk subject of things, they may not slaughter them that often. Perhaps its a like a monthly thing where the undead come through for entertainment. Not neccessarily constant slaughter but very open when it does happen.
 
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I haven't. What's the story here? Any connections?
The mines underneath the town have been on fire for half a century, posing an ever increasing risk that the ground just collapse (nevermind the risk of exposure to unhealthy gases escaping the ground, including the possibility that your house might fill up with carbon monoxide while you're asleep one night), but a handful of people are still living there, and can't fathom living anywhere else. And it's not like they couldn't move, they just don't want to.

Of course, I understand that your point goes a bit beyond that ('how doesn't the population just die out if the undead go hunt there for sport?'), but then again, it could be mindful hunting. Maybe the undead know more about sustainability than many humans are willing to apply :D
 
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3. At 1:58 - It seems that the undead are not easily deterred by the traditional forms of weaknesses. You will be interested in this, @Roband. If anything, religious symbols and wards only antagonize the undead.
Jalen says "Travelers are not welcome in Charsk." But geez, I wonder who would want to travel there. Does that mean Deadhaus isn't completely cut off from the Empire of Men? Or that there is a lot of humans still living in Deadhaus' domain?

They released some interesting info, my guess about humans is that there are locals are trapped there (too dangerous to attempt leave i guess?) or are trying to put some form of resistance, and maybe some humans manage to get into the undead territory through military blitzs or/and infiltrations from the outside taking advantage of unguarded/weak parts of the borders. There is also the chance that some other manage to enter and their presence is tollerated because they are potentially useful (like merchants or mercenaries).
 
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