Golden Xan
Moderator
Staff member
Mallius Odium
Immemorial
Ageless
OG 2020
Grim Scribe
Magus
Vampire Scholar
- Mar 30, 2019
- 349
- 620
- 138
Hey everyone,
Some of you may have noticed or heard that the Undead Classes was updated with new class descriptions for the Liche, Revenant, Vampire and Ghoul. There's also a button under each of their images which opens up a page written by Alaric von Beller, Grand Inquisitor of the Thacean Empire.
If you haven't read them yet, go check them out. But what I'd like to point out are the interesting tidbits of information that we may be able to take from them.
- "Liches are the only undead that create themselves"
That means other undead are either created by accident or forced into becoming undead by some mean. It does not surprise that Liches would think highly of themselves, they had to endure a lot to get to this point, not just in willpower and determination but also pain, suffering, sacrifices and knowledge.
- "these elite spellcasters can conjure and compel lesser undead on the battlefield, call plagues and pestilence upon the living, or even wield otherworldly spirits as spectral ordinance"
That seems to be a hint of the kind of powers the Liche may have. Necromantic abilities, raising other creatures to fight for them. Plagues and pestilences, the use of diseases. "Wielding otherwordly spirits as spectral ordinance", manipulating other being's essence. This is something I will refer on its Narrative Depiction.
- "their souls are consumed to empower the very magick that struck them down."
It seems that while the Vampire gains more blood by killing enemies, so does the Liche gain more Mana by consuming them. It might be a trend in gameplay that you are rewarded by defeating more and more enemies in combat.
- "preferring to pursue in death what they did in life–the Truth."
We already expected this, but it seems the major motivation for the Liche's groups will be the Truth, something enigmatic that I'm sure will be prevalent in many, many stories in Deadhaus.
And on the Narrative Depiction "Of Liches":
- "Some cling to the gods, yet it was these very gods that allowed this evil to befall us."
This suggests the Thacean Empire, or humankind in general, depended on or prayed for multiple gods. That gods had a hand in the making of Deadhaus and many other events, we could be sure of, but it is interesting to see the perspective of the enemy.
- "Tools and weapons have been crafted from my research, antidotes and salves derived from my reports."
This might be an implication that humans will have undead-focused weapons, weapons that are more than the medieval kinds we have seen in our world. Some of them might hint at the magickal (we know that humans can become Liches in the pursuit of power, so there must be human wizards), some of them might have technological advancements unexpected to us.
- "I was in the Sunken Woods"
I looked for this place on the map. There was none. I also noticed that the map has "Thaecan Empire" written on it instead of Thacean.
- "It was a Will-O’-Wisp, a spirit of the marshes."
This suggests that there might be creatures and monsters that we can encounter in the world other than humans and giants. That might also mean we may be able to interact with them...
- "I saw the orb of the Will-O’-Wisp begin to waver and shift closer to the corpse. It seemed as if the spirit was compelled by some soundless command, and though it struggled against the call, ultimately its form dissolved into swirling fires that streamed into the lantern."
This goes back to what I pointed out in the Class Description, "wielding otherworldly spirits as spectral ordinance". The Liche must have been collecting the spirit to use its powers... or to use it as ammunition. If the latter is the case, it's likely there will be a considerable amount of encounters with neutral creatures in the game.
- "but my thoughts were overwhelmed, as if a hundred voices had begun to whisper at once. [...] Even as I write this, I can remember how part of me wanted nothing more than to obey the call, as if the part of myself that remained to me had been pushed into a tiny corner of my own mind."
Liches can control the minds of individuals. That was something I did not expect. We did hear it implied that by having something's True Name it would be possible to command them, and that might have been the case with toe Will-O'-Wisp, but is it reasonable for us to believe that the Liche could see or already know Alaric's True Name to control him such? Maybe he was exerting some kind of alternate power. I can only speculate.
- "I saw a vision."
This was the most unexpected thing, for me. The Grand Inquisitor ought to be either known in Deadhaus or, at the very least, recognized as a prominent individual. Either Deadhaus really doesn't have an interest in fighting the humans to the end (they might need them, after all), or that Liche wasn't working for Deadhaus' goals, or maybe keeping Alaric alive was more important for some other reason. I expected the Liche to take him then and there and use him. You'd think the Liche ignored him, but that is not likely. He must have done something to Alaric that he des not know. I have some theories:
- "and in the deepest throes of their fury can even overpower giants"
That is bloody impressive. Overpower how? Sounds like Revenants will be leaping the world, if that is to be true in terms of raw strength.
- "In the crucible of war, a revenant finds strength, for each blow fuels its need for vengeance."
Sounds like the Revenant is a foe that you do not want to meet face to face.
- "I was at Fort Zaestra when it was taken by the dead."
That's the Fortress right before Deadhaus Gate:
- "And there it stood, the Revenant, wreathed in violet flames that gave no heat."
Giving no heat might suggest the Revenant has no fire powers, it seems. Unless they are magickal. But I don't think so. It's still cool, though.
- "a spear that lodged into a gap in the Revenant’s armor, but it gave no indication that it felt any pain."
Seems like that he is not gonna be suffering much knockback in combat at all. Not that this guy was any threat. But what a menace!
- "grabbed the guard by his face, and in one motion, shoved his head into a wall so that it splattered like a meat pie."
The Revenant is much more monstrous than he initially seemed to be, to me. He's gonna be pleasing to play as.
- "especially without my implements at the ready"
Alaric mentions his implements a few times. I suppose this is his alchemy kit. What could he do against a Revenant, that is a brute? Maybe the humans have explosives, or perhaps things that target specific undeads' weaknesses.
- "but how do you destroy that which is fueled by destruction? "
To me, this helped solidify how monstrous the Revenant is meant to be.
- "The vampire clans compose the aristocracy within Deadhaus."
I wonder what was the first undead kind. Something tells me it was a Revenant, but the Vampires seems to be the ones that have fared well the most in unlife. There must be a good reason for that.
- "from clouds of mist to monstrous wolves to moldering dragons"
@Varik Keldun can die happy, now, knowing that if he becomes a Vampire he will also potentially become a wolf.
- "Those few prey that have escaped such encounters describe them as a blur of whirling bloodshed…"
The Vampire did have some rushing abilities that we've seen, but both the Narrative Depiction and the Class Description seem to indicate that they are meant to be even faster in combat, possibly the fastest class in the game.
- "and rode down the mindless thralls that sought to warn their master."
If this is representational of what we'll have available in-game, it looks like that:
a) Vampires will be able to create other undead or perhaps living servants;
b) They may live in your dungeon or personal crypt.
- "But then at once a portion of the stone wall blasted apart"
This is perhaps even more impressive a force than the Revenant bashing a wooden gate open. Yet, we know the Vampire is not meant to be as physically strong. That must mean he made use of a magickal blasting power of some kind.
- "and a figure leapt out of the gap, over our horses"
We don't know if jumping will be an in-game feature, but it would seem that the Vampire can leap quite far.
- "Under the light of day, it could not change its form to elude us"
This is no small weakness. If Vampires cannot transform during daytime, is there any other restriction that they may suffer when the light of the sun is upon them? This is a dynamic that may force people to change their playing style and make things more challenging.
- "It was still swift enough to outpace any man, but on horseback we were swifter."
At full charge speed, a non-warhorse runs about 88 km/h. The fastest man recorded on Earth was clocked at 44.64 km/h.
- " 'I invite you in,' "
I could almost hear it. To me, I imagined his voice as somewhat ethereal, provocative and slightly gravely. This felt more horrific than any previous depiction of the Vampire we've seen.
- "My chimes were left in the fallen satchel. I could not strike them to ring through the vampire’s voice."
It's official. Bloody humans have specific anti-undead tools to handle specific powers. That might be an interesting challenge in the game.
- "then Deadhaus would have my secrets"
Not sure when this was written, but in the same year Alaric met the Liche, which took control of him. That is why it was so weird for him to not be captured, turned, or otherwise. I'm sure it will make sense at some point and we'll find out what happened.
And now we come to my actually favorite description so far:
- "But for those who partake of the flesh of their own kind, a door is opened and a ritual begun."
A thrillingly different beginning to undeath. Not that I'd be eager to do that, but it's just... different, special. You turn undead by eating human flesh. I wonder if that would work for other beings that are not human and eat their own.
- "As the union of spirit and host strengthens, ever more flesh is required."
I believe this speaks highly to the position of the Ghoul in the Trinary Archetype System: it sits between Physical and Essential. Half Physical, half Essence. Half human, half spirit. Isn't this amazing?
- "Should the host fail to sate this monstrous hunger, the spirit will abandon them."
Does this means there is a way to save a forming Ghoul from undeath? I suppose if that were to happen, no body would sustain itself in that Ghoul form as described. The host would likely die. I believe the rest of the description indicates as much.
- "To the living, and to many undead, Ghouls are but mindless scavengers, but to a Ghoul, the rest of the world are just picky eaters."
I loved that part. It's somewhat funny, and somewhat horrific.
- "All accounts I’ve read on Ghoul behavior suggest that they are purely instinctual creatures"
This is clearly not the case. But the story does not explain to us how intelligent this particular Ghoul is. I believe this is either a fledgling Ghoul or one that is not particularly the brightest of them, yet definitely more cunning than Alaric expected.
- "Perhaps it was climbing over the walls?"
Perhaps it was digging a hole on the ground every day, but I think climbing walls is nice and I would like to see that in the game.
- "The concealed trap was found some feet away, as if it had been purposefully tossed aside… but surely not!"
As in the Class Description, Ghouls can see well in the dark, or may have other senses to help them. Because I don't believe a Ghoul is very much attentive when it is hungry.
- "If something snagged a string with sufficient force, the distant bells would ring."
This suggests that no, the Ghoul was not coming through the ground. Climbing is more likely.
- "One of the damned guards got caught in one of the damned traps trying to chase it."
I was surprised this guard didn't die then and there at the hands of the fleeing Ghoul. Maybe for a short snack.
- "Having very little patience left from being consistently outsmarted by something that goes about on all fours, I simply invoked imperial decree."
It was funny to see Alaric's frustration.
- "And on the fifth night, I was awoken by a clanging and howling."
It might be that the Ghoul knew to some extent what it was getting into, but it had no choice because of how hungry he was. If I were the Ghoul, I would have gone after Alaric's party instead of the corpse.
To me, that update was amazing. I loved the new class descriptions. They are the deepest piece of lore we got so far, very clear and detailed, and left me wanting more in the end. I especially liked the Liche's and the Ghoul's due to the their length--more information to digest.
Did you miss more information on the Revenant and Vampire's Class Descriptions as well?
What did you think of those stories? Let us know below.
Some of you may have noticed or heard that the Undead Classes was updated with new class descriptions for the Liche, Revenant, Vampire and Ghoul. There's also a button under each of their images which opens up a page written by Alaric von Beller, Grand Inquisitor of the Thacean Empire.
If you haven't read them yet, go check them out. But what I'd like to point out are the interesting tidbits of information that we may be able to take from them.
That means other undead are either created by accident or forced into becoming undead by some mean. It does not surprise that Liches would think highly of themselves, they had to endure a lot to get to this point, not just in willpower and determination but also pain, suffering, sacrifices and knowledge.
- "these elite spellcasters can conjure and compel lesser undead on the battlefield, call plagues and pestilence upon the living, or even wield otherworldly spirits as spectral ordinance"
That seems to be a hint of the kind of powers the Liche may have. Necromantic abilities, raising other creatures to fight for them. Plagues and pestilences, the use of diseases. "Wielding otherwordly spirits as spectral ordinance", manipulating other being's essence. This is something I will refer on its Narrative Depiction.
- "their souls are consumed to empower the very magick that struck them down."
It seems that while the Vampire gains more blood by killing enemies, so does the Liche gain more Mana by consuming them. It might be a trend in gameplay that you are rewarded by defeating more and more enemies in combat.
- "preferring to pursue in death what they did in life–the Truth."
We already expected this, but it seems the major motivation for the Liche's groups will be the Truth, something enigmatic that I'm sure will be prevalent in many, many stories in Deadhaus.
And on the Narrative Depiction "Of Liches":
- "Some cling to the gods, yet it was these very gods that allowed this evil to befall us."
This suggests the Thacean Empire, or humankind in general, depended on or prayed for multiple gods. That gods had a hand in the making of Deadhaus and many other events, we could be sure of, but it is interesting to see the perspective of the enemy.
- "Tools and weapons have been crafted from my research, antidotes and salves derived from my reports."
This might be an implication that humans will have undead-focused weapons, weapons that are more than the medieval kinds we have seen in our world. Some of them might hint at the magickal (we know that humans can become Liches in the pursuit of power, so there must be human wizards), some of them might have technological advancements unexpected to us.
- "I was in the Sunken Woods"
I looked for this place on the map. There was none. I also noticed that the map has "Thaecan Empire" written on it instead of Thacean.
- "It was a Will-O’-Wisp, a spirit of the marshes."
This suggests that there might be creatures and monsters that we can encounter in the world other than humans and giants. That might also mean we may be able to interact with them...
- "I saw the orb of the Will-O’-Wisp begin to waver and shift closer to the corpse. It seemed as if the spirit was compelled by some soundless command, and though it struggled against the call, ultimately its form dissolved into swirling fires that streamed into the lantern."
This goes back to what I pointed out in the Class Description, "wielding otherworldly spirits as spectral ordinance". The Liche must have been collecting the spirit to use its powers... or to use it as ammunition. If the latter is the case, it's likely there will be a considerable amount of encounters with neutral creatures in the game.
- "but my thoughts were overwhelmed, as if a hundred voices had begun to whisper at once. [...] Even as I write this, I can remember how part of me wanted nothing more than to obey the call, as if the part of myself that remained to me had been pushed into a tiny corner of my own mind."
Liches can control the minds of individuals. That was something I did not expect. We did hear it implied that by having something's True Name it would be possible to command them, and that might have been the case with toe Will-O'-Wisp, but is it reasonable for us to believe that the Liche could see or already know Alaric's True Name to control him such? Maybe he was exerting some kind of alternate power. I can only speculate.
- "I saw a vision."
This was the most unexpected thing, for me. The Grand Inquisitor ought to be either known in Deadhaus or, at the very least, recognized as a prominent individual. Either Deadhaus really doesn't have an interest in fighting the humans to the end (they might need them, after all), or that Liche wasn't working for Deadhaus' goals, or maybe keeping Alaric alive was more important for some other reason. I expected the Liche to take him then and there and use him. You'd think the Liche ignored him, but that is not likely. He must have done something to Alaric that he des not know. I have some theories:
- The Liche manipulated Alaric's mind. Either he implanted something in his memory or thoughts, or he stole a piece of information, or perhaps erased something from his memory.
- The Liche inserted himself in Alaric. If his body can somehow share the Liche's soul, or perhaps one of its wards, he may have hidden something in Alaric's essence.
- The Liche might have seen his future or a connection between Alaric and another, maybe even more powerful entity, and decided to leave him be, either because he is going to be useful in the future or because it was dangerous to mess with him.
- Perhaps the Liche did not disappear... from the location, only from Alaric's sight. He could be invisible in front of him.
That is bloody impressive. Overpower how? Sounds like Revenants will be leaping the world, if that is to be true in terms of raw strength.
- "In the crucible of war, a revenant finds strength, for each blow fuels its need for vengeance."
Sounds like the Revenant is a foe that you do not want to meet face to face.
- "I was at Fort Zaestra when it was taken by the dead."
That's the Fortress right before Deadhaus Gate:
- "And there it stood, the Revenant, wreathed in violet flames that gave no heat."
Giving no heat might suggest the Revenant has no fire powers, it seems. Unless they are magickal. But I don't think so. It's still cool, though.
- "a spear that lodged into a gap in the Revenant’s armor, but it gave no indication that it felt any pain."
Seems like that he is not gonna be suffering much knockback in combat at all. Not that this guy was any threat. But what a menace!
- "grabbed the guard by his face, and in one motion, shoved his head into a wall so that it splattered like a meat pie."
The Revenant is much more monstrous than he initially seemed to be, to me. He's gonna be pleasing to play as.
- "especially without my implements at the ready"
Alaric mentions his implements a few times. I suppose this is his alchemy kit. What could he do against a Revenant, that is a brute? Maybe the humans have explosives, or perhaps things that target specific undeads' weaknesses.
- "but how do you destroy that which is fueled by destruction? "
To me, this helped solidify how monstrous the Revenant is meant to be.
I wonder what was the first undead kind. Something tells me it was a Revenant, but the Vampires seems to be the ones that have fared well the most in unlife. There must be a good reason for that.
- "from clouds of mist to monstrous wolves to moldering dragons"
@Varik Keldun can die happy, now, knowing that if he becomes a Vampire he will also potentially become a wolf.
- "Those few prey that have escaped such encounters describe them as a blur of whirling bloodshed…"
The Vampire did have some rushing abilities that we've seen, but both the Narrative Depiction and the Class Description seem to indicate that they are meant to be even faster in combat, possibly the fastest class in the game.
- "and rode down the mindless thralls that sought to warn their master."
If this is representational of what we'll have available in-game, it looks like that:
a) Vampires will be able to create other undead or perhaps living servants;
b) They may live in your dungeon or personal crypt.
- "But then at once a portion of the stone wall blasted apart"
This is perhaps even more impressive a force than the Revenant bashing a wooden gate open. Yet, we know the Vampire is not meant to be as physically strong. That must mean he made use of a magickal blasting power of some kind.
- "and a figure leapt out of the gap, over our horses"
We don't know if jumping will be an in-game feature, but it would seem that the Vampire can leap quite far.
- "Under the light of day, it could not change its form to elude us"
This is no small weakness. If Vampires cannot transform during daytime, is there any other restriction that they may suffer when the light of the sun is upon them? This is a dynamic that may force people to change their playing style and make things more challenging.
- "It was still swift enough to outpace any man, but on horseback we were swifter."
At full charge speed, a non-warhorse runs about 88 km/h. The fastest man recorded on Earth was clocked at 44.64 km/h.
- " 'I invite you in,' "
I could almost hear it. To me, I imagined his voice as somewhat ethereal, provocative and slightly gravely. This felt more horrific than any previous depiction of the Vampire we've seen.
- "My chimes were left in the fallen satchel. I could not strike them to ring through the vampire’s voice."
It's official. Bloody humans have specific anti-undead tools to handle specific powers. That might be an interesting challenge in the game.
- "then Deadhaus would have my secrets"
Not sure when this was written, but in the same year Alaric met the Liche, which took control of him. That is why it was so weird for him to not be captured, turned, or otherwise. I'm sure it will make sense at some point and we'll find out what happened.
And now we come to my actually favorite description so far:
A thrillingly different beginning to undeath. Not that I'd be eager to do that, but it's just... different, special. You turn undead by eating human flesh. I wonder if that would work for other beings that are not human and eat their own.
- "As the union of spirit and host strengthens, ever more flesh is required."
I believe this speaks highly to the position of the Ghoul in the Trinary Archetype System: it sits between Physical and Essential. Half Physical, half Essence. Half human, half spirit. Isn't this amazing?
- "Should the host fail to sate this monstrous hunger, the spirit will abandon them."
Does this means there is a way to save a forming Ghoul from undeath? I suppose if that were to happen, no body would sustain itself in that Ghoul form as described. The host would likely die. I believe the rest of the description indicates as much.
- "To the living, and to many undead, Ghouls are but mindless scavengers, but to a Ghoul, the rest of the world are just picky eaters."
I loved that part. It's somewhat funny, and somewhat horrific.
- "All accounts I’ve read on Ghoul behavior suggest that they are purely instinctual creatures"
This is clearly not the case. But the story does not explain to us how intelligent this particular Ghoul is. I believe this is either a fledgling Ghoul or one that is not particularly the brightest of them, yet definitely more cunning than Alaric expected.
- "Perhaps it was climbing over the walls?"
Perhaps it was digging a hole on the ground every day, but I think climbing walls is nice and I would like to see that in the game.
- "The concealed trap was found some feet away, as if it had been purposefully tossed aside… but surely not!"
As in the Class Description, Ghouls can see well in the dark, or may have other senses to help them. Because I don't believe a Ghoul is very much attentive when it is hungry.
- "If something snagged a string with sufficient force, the distant bells would ring."
This suggests that no, the Ghoul was not coming through the ground. Climbing is more likely.
- "One of the damned guards got caught in one of the damned traps trying to chase it."
I was surprised this guard didn't die then and there at the hands of the fleeing Ghoul. Maybe for a short snack.
- "Having very little patience left from being consistently outsmarted by something that goes about on all fours, I simply invoked imperial decree."
It was funny to see Alaric's frustration.
- "And on the fifth night, I was awoken by a clanging and howling."
It might be that the Ghoul knew to some extent what it was getting into, but it had no choice because of how hungry he was. If I were the Ghoul, I would have gone after Alaric's party instead of the corpse.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To me, that update was amazing. I loved the new class descriptions. They are the deepest piece of lore we got so far, very clear and detailed, and left me wanting more in the end. I especially liked the Liche's and the Ghoul's due to the their length--more information to digest.
Did you miss more information on the Revenant and Vampire's Class Descriptions as well?
What did you think of those stories? Let us know below.
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