Stormwaltz 2016 Q&A/Question 28

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Question 28: Viamontians and Rennaj

September, 2016 - [No Link]

Q: 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 map from Beta has a region labeled “Viamont,” and another race called 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?

A: 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, that design looks Yalaini Empyrean - a blend of Neydisa Castle up top with the floating Sentinel Spire below.

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?

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:



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."

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.

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.

Chris "Stormwaltz" L'Etoile