Chronicles of Elyria Hype Round Two!

Hello again gamers! I got so much feedback on my Chronicles of Elyria Hype blog I decided to give you a second one. Since the game in development is celebrating their kickstarter anniversary, this is the best time to jump in on the fun.



More on The Land

When last I left off, I was talking about the land. I wanted to keep going on that topic for a moment. I didn’t go into enough detail on a few points. Every server is unique, thanks to the politics being player run and the land itself being player managed. What I mean by the land being player managed is that not only did the server members vote on how their map would look but we the players are responsible for conservation of resources. We also pick the locations of settlements. The names of places are decided by the players. When we discover new locations, we will be allowed to name them, as well.







Classes and Progression

Next, let’s talk classes. There is no defined class system but rather a skill tree. As you do things, you fill in your skill tree. Let’s say you want to be a farmer. The more you tend your garden, the more you will fill in your skill tree for that skill. But if you buy and care for livestock, you will fill in a different place on the skill tree. Each character will also have a calling. If you discover your calling it will lead you on a path to a quest that will reveal your grand destiny and allow you to leave your mark on the world in a big way. In addition to this, whatever ‘class’ you go with for your character, whatever thing you have them doing, will contribute to the world through research and technology breakthroughs that can be taught to others. It won’t be instant gratification; it will take time and work to do great things in the world. There is no single path to progression and no single path for your character to walk. Your birthday does matter, by the way. Astrology will play a big role in showing you the path you are destined for. You can walk your own path, sure, but your destiny is something to consider for sure as it can lead to big rewards.



What happens to your character when you log out? They keep living. At the start of your time in Elyria, you jump into the body of a npc and claim that character.  Alone the same lines, if you have a child it will be a npc until your other character dies and you use a spark of life to
jump into their body.



Your character is dynamic. They will visibly age and change as they go through life. Every behavior of your character is considered as they change. Physical fitness is a dynamic in the world you might want to think about. Sedentary characters will see themselves grow fat while physically active characters will see the development of muscle. Eventually your character will grow old and die permanently. Your soul will live on through another character when you use your spark of life. This means you will relearn certain skills faster in your next life. An alchemist will learn alchemy again faster in their second life. This will lead you eventually to obtain godly levels of skill in a particular area.



Families are important. They are your support system. When your body is damaged and you are left unable to move, your family can be contacted at a far to come in and take care of you. The very presence of your family will boost your ability. You can either join a NPC family or a player run family (Which is what I plan to do). There is no tutorial in the game so you will rely on family to help you learn the world. Your family’s reputation is shared by those who wear the name. Your family and their social class effects how others in the world interact with you.  You can also start your own family and bring in people you know to play as your family members. You can produce children through child contracts as same sex or opposite sex couples. You can also designate an heir to inherit everything upon your death.



NPCs and AI

The NPCs in this world will be everywhere and interact with you like other players would. Your neighbor might even be an NPC. They go about their lives like a player would, plying their trades and raising families. They will react to the world around them appropriately as well. They will even require food, water, and rest like the players will. They will do their best to fulfill their needs even stooping to theft in desperate times. Which makes it all the more important that players who run kingdoms, duchies, counties, and settlements make sure that the environment does not become one of desperation for the common people. NPCs will seek to improve their lives, as well. They will also pursue interests such as religion and art. NPCs probably won’t be able to advance a society or even keep it going without the players.



Creature AI is very impressive. The ecosystem is delicate, and the resources can be depleted, causing the creatures to seek out people to prey on out of desperation. They will react on the predator and prey hierarchy that we see in the real world. The ecosystem will always seek to balance out. Creatures will reproduce naturally. Keep this in mind when out hunting.



Contracts will be used to offer quests to player characters. Other players, NPCs, and offline player characters will all be capable of offering quests. Once the quest is completed, it will no longer be available in the world. However, there will always be plenty of others who can offer up quests. NPCs can even take on quest offers. Completing quests will, naturally, grant payment and reputation. When you log off, remember your character will continue to live via scripts but no real advancements will be made without you playing the character.



Conclusion

Whoo! That was a lot more information covered and we’re still not even done by a long shot. I think I will keep writing these things to cover information on the game and hopefully it will help you undecided individuals make up your minds on if you want to buy into it or not. I have because I love all the concepts that are going into this game. I can tell it is a labor of love and starting to come together.

If you do decide to join in on the fun you can visit this link https://chroniclesofelyria.com and use my friend code 8A0728 to sign up. I will be playing on the NA-West server in the kingdom of Blackheart, Drakeolm duchy, in the Hammerbull Dominion county. As my mayor and family leader make their decisions on where exactly we will settle within that I will update you guys. I leave you guys with a special treat, a legend I wrote for a contest on the forums.



The Wolf Mann
Before people began to settle the world, we wandered, following the wild animals we hunted into warmer places in the winter. Some of the animals we hunted were dangerous and would defend themselves. A pack of Brudvir hunters managed to corner a herd of Dryas Elk. A buck stepped to the front and managed to gore several hunters, one of them died of her wounds. Back then, parents would keep their small babies with them, strapped to their backs, or with another adult back at their camp. This time, she had the baby with her and not a single person noticed, being high from the adrenaline of the hunt. They did not take her body, finding it proper to leave her for the wolves.

Of course, the resourceful wolves found the freshly dead body, having smelled the blood and come running as soon as the hunters were gone. They began to take part of the meal and heard a crying. Beside the Brudvir womann was a mann pup. The wolves took pity on the orphaned pup and one of their mothers who recently gave birth took him in, raising her beside her own pup. Even though he learned slow and aged even slower, the mann pup fit in well with the pack.

Many years after he had been adopted by the pack, the mann pup began hunting with the pack. On one hunt, they ran into traps set by mann. The Mann of the wolves watched as his brothers and cousins began to fall into pits, get their legs caught in snares, or be tangled in nets. Angry that the forest was attacking his family, he saved them from the traps, breaking all of the traps he could find. As they hunted, they continued to find traps and he continued to disable the traps until they had hunted enough food for everyone.
The next day they returned to hunt again and all of the traps were reset. Someone had to be doing this, some other creature. He decided to stay behind and get to the bottom of it. He hid in the brush while the pack went back to their den. It wasn’t long before a mann came to check his traps and angerly found they were empty. Now that the mann of wolves realized who his opponent was, he could attack. He jumped from the bushes, lunging at the nearest hunter. The two of them fought hard but in the end the hunter retreated.

The hunter returned to his people and told stories of a wild Brudvir living in the forest attacking people and disabling his traps. Many people laughed at him, but the stories spread. Hunters who would later go into those same woods would also be attacked and return with their own stories and warnings about the wolf mann, some of those stories more outrageous their the original. Some of them claimed he was part wolf or must have been turned into a wolf by a bite from the wolves. In truth it was that Brudvir pup whose mother was killed on a hunt. The kind wolves raised him as one of their own and now he was returning the favor by protecting the pack. So next time you hear a story about a wolf mann, remember the lad from this tale and consider for a moment if the stories might be about him or maybe another person with a very similar story.