Editing Stormwaltz 2016 Q&A/Question 28 (section)

== Question 28: Viamontians and Rennaj ==
{{Turbine Developer
|      Date = September, 2016
|      Link = '''No'''
|  Question = When Asheron’s Call was first released, there were 3 playable human heritage groups - Aluvian, Gharu’ndim, and Sho. During the development of the game, however, there were plans for more. A [[:File:Beta Dereth.jpg|map from Beta]] has a region labeled “Viamont,” and another race called [[Unreleased Content#Rennaj|Rennaj]] were also mentioned. Do you recall any details about the Rennaj, the Viamontians as they were planned during beta, or any other races that ultimately were never implemented?
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I don't recall anything at all about Rennaj. I'm not even sure I've that name before now. But bear in mind, when I came in AC had already been in development for many years. There were a lot of early ideas that got tossed as the game's vision was refined. To me, [[:File:Zogblaster rennajcity.gif|that design]] looks Yalaini Empyrean - a blend of Neydisa Castle up top with the floating Sentinel Spire below.
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The Viamontians ("Viamonters" in the early docs) were always solidly based on Venice. They had been a small merchant realm with lethal internal politics, whose fleet and wealth gave them power out of proportion to their size. I suspect they were cut originally because the Aluvians were a more classical fantasy take on Europe, and how many do you need in one game?
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I do recall, because it was so unusual, that Viamontian troops had firearms. There's a painting that's been in the game since ship that shows Viamontian arquebusiers/musketeers in their invasion of Aluvia:
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[[File:0x05000003.png]]
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I alluded to those weapons a few times in things I wrote, but as with the Virindi, I described them using magical language. Because they sounded like thunder and threw off clouds of dark smoke, I had the Aluvians refer to them as "storm staves."
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The other Ispar nations I remember even less about, and I haven't reread the source material in a dreadfully long time. The Silverans were broadly intended to be "snow elves," sophisticated and rare. The Rouleans were Romans, a militarist empire on their way down. Milantos was supposed to be a dark and gothic realm of blood magic. Maybe the intent for them was something like Tevinter in Dragon Age? The last I recall - barely - is the Souia-Vey. They were a mercenary warrior culture, possibly intended to be Mongol-inspired.
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In the early development of AC2, there was serious talk about adding the Zefir as a playable race, since they were unusual and didn't have any lore to speak of.
| Developer = [[Turbine Developers#Chris "Stormwaltz" L'Etoile|Chris "Stormwaltz" L'Etoile]]
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[[Category:Stormwaltz Quotes]]