Alganon Lore
This week at GDC we were fortunate enough to catch Mathew Anderson, the Quest
Online Community Manager for Alganon, and speak with him about the upcoming
MMORPG. There are several exciting things in store for the game and the Alganon Website, which will be entirely re-done in the coming weeks!. During our conversation we also touched on lore in Alganon. The game features a history-rich world that spans over five
millennia and eight unique ages. When you step into Alganon you are brought into
a world dominated by Deities that are representative of two warring peoples
known as the Asheroth and Kujix, Order and Chaos, respectively. They each have a
unique culture, skill set, and abilities. These two civilizations are battling
for dominance of the two largest continents in the world, Ardonya and Harraja.
Deities and Crusades
Deities and crusades play a large role in the world of Alganon, they are two of the foundational features of Alganon. Deities
play an important part in the game's history and the character's interaction
with the game by giving special training, powers, and rewards to those who
follow them. Crusades are massive missions assigned to the followers of certain
deities, often involving epic story lines and difficult assignments. Politics,
special skills/attributes, and aggro in Alganon are influenced by these deities.
If you're in an area that is hostile towards your selected deity the area will
be aggro towards you. If you've been following the game you've seen our Alganon
Exclusive Screenshots & Features post a few weeks back. We're very
excited about the game and have been told closed beta will begin April 1st...no
seriously, closed beta for Alganon begins April 1st with a core group of
fans/players. We've taken the first two timelines from the Alganon
World History page to get you started on the storyline and familiarize
yourself with the lore.
To find out more about Alganon visit the
About Alganon official page.
Be sure and signup for the Alganon
Beta!
Alganon World History:
The First Age: A Time Forgotten
Long ago, the world of Alganon was born unto the universe
as a gift to the gods. Out of respect to the universe for its gift, the gods
blessed Alganon by creating a master race of giants. These legendary titans were
known as the colossus-born, or Fek'zah in the ancient tongue, translating as
"the first". They were the children of the gods, and were said to be
towering creatures of such size and might they could move the very mountains
with their hands. They built magnificent cities reaching into the heavens, and
dug so deep into the planet they were able to drink from the very blood of its
core. When they were at war, entire continents broke apart, and the very center
of the planet shook with fury.
Masters of the world and all living things, rich with culture and a love for
their home, the colossus-born abandoned their gods, believing themselves to be
just as powerful. The gods had no choice but to strike down a number of the
colossus-born as a sign of their superior power, and to serve as a warning to
their children; they must worship their creators or suffer the consequences.
Unfortunately, the gods did not anticipate the response from their creation.
Pure focused rage towards the gods and what they had done consumed the massive
race. They tore the planet apart in blind fury as they fought to vanquish the
gods and erase every sign of them from the world, even if it resulted in the
total destruction of everything they had come to love and cherish.
Heartbroken with such a wave of guilt and sadness, the gods responded the only
way they could. They struck down every living colossus-born on the face of the
planet, destroying every creation built by their children. In an instance, the
massive cities, culture, language, magic, and love for Alganon held by these
giants was gone forever.d
The Second Age: Devastation
Alganon had been devastated. The damage was nearly
unmanageable. The gods considered abandoning the world, but the remaining
tattered remnants of life clinging on just to survive caught their already
wounded hearts.
The gods contemplated the source of their now lost children's demise; where did
they go wrong? They realized the biggest mistake had been in creating their
children as giants; nearly gods themselves - able to dominate the world any way
they saw fit.
The gods would not make the same mistake again.
It was decided they would create new races; tough, intelligent, capable races to
help rebuild the world. But this time, the new races must be smaller, more
appreciative and respectful of their life and the world around them, therefore
more fragile. These new races also had to be created with an innate need to
create things. Forests needed to be planted, cities needed to be built, oceans
needed to be cleaned, animals needed to be controlled, and most importantly, the
gods needed to be worshiped.
The gods created numerous species to test the result of different breeds and
environments. They populated the land, water, and air with both animals and
sentient beings of all kinds; however most of the sentient beings did not
actively work to rebuild the world to the gods wishes because they did not have
proper direction. The gods also learned they would have to create new races
physically built for specific tasks. Once they realized this, the gods began to
create their new children.
First, they created the Dronar. While tiny compared to their previous creation,
the Dronar were very large among the other races to come, a proud subterranean
dwelling race that would serve as the strength to help rebuild the world. The
gods gave the Dronar a passion for taking on large tasks and building
magnificent structures, all while harvesting the precious metals from deep
within the earth.
While the Dronar were efficient at building structures and harvesting materials,
they lacked the organizational abilities necessary to plan huge tasks. For this
reason, the gods created a new more balanced race known as the Humans. They were
smaller than the Dronar, more sensitive to their surroundings, and quicker to
think and act, yet lacked the drive of labor that the Dronar so cherished.
Humans then began to manage the Dronar and direct their work in order to
accomplish great tasks quicker and more efficiently.
The gods recognized that their decision to focus on industrialization had caused
a serious oversight in the world. Forests were being stripped, and lakes were
being poisoned. Realizing their mistake, they needed a race deeply attuned to
nature, the lands, all living things, especially the plants and animals. They
created the Sylvain, a proud tall extremely intelligent with a talent for the
magical arts. The Sylvain learned to work with the Humans and Dronar in peace as
the rebuilding took place, helping their friends understand the importance of
balance, magic and beauty.
As the population of the world grew and the dark ages slowly began to disappear,
the races flourished. At this point, the gods realized their words were not
being spread among the new children of the races as quickly as they would have
liked. For this reason, they created a race that would spread the word of the
gods and pay tribute to those who created them. Thus the Talrok were born, a
dark intelligent race, often compared to as the counterpart of the humans, their
mission; to spread the word of the gods across the lands and protect the god's
interests.
Unlike the other three races, the Talrok were much darker in nature, able to
engage in subversion and deception, which was acceptable to the gods as long as
it served their will. Over time, a mistrust for the Talrok by the other three
races began to form, but this mistrust was silenced as the gods would not hear
of any conflict between their new children.
As the races continued their expansion into unknown and ancient lands, they had
encounters with many species from the past, some from the ancient times.
Unfortunately, many of these encounters resulted in many deaths. For this
reason, the gods created a Guardian race that would focus on defending the other
races. They were to be a large tribal race that could withstand extreme physical
punishment from aggressors, and serve as a buffer for internal conflicts between
the races. Thus came the birth of the Ogres, a large muscular simple race
burning with the fire of combat and victory.
As the world began to reshape itself, it was soon apparent that one final race
was necessary to complete the balance of the five races. With the inert
deception built into the Talrok, the gods no longer trusted them as
unconditional servants. A buffer had to be created; a new race able to keep a
close eye on the other races, report any issues that the gods may want to be
made aware of, and was completely dedicated and would not stray from the path of
enlightenment. Endowed with an innate knowledge of ancient magic, the gods
decided to create the Vesperlings, a race that is still shroud in mystery to
this day. An all female race with unknown origins, they hold themselves as the
"chosen" of the gods since they have no memory of their birth,
therefore believing each must be created by the hand of the god.
While the gods were now complete in their task to create the new races, they
kept the history of the world from their children; afraid if they learned of the
past, they too would be overcome with either rage or fear.
The second age had begun. While there was some discontent, the new races began
to clean and rebuild the world by working together in their own way towards a
common goal, but behind the scenes a fracture of allegiances was beginning to
take place, paving for a very different future than the gods intended.
To read more visit the Alganon
World History & Lore page of Alganon.com.
Here's the original Alganon
Exclusive Screenshots & Features from a few weeks ago:
Clicking on any picture will take you to a full
size screenshot:
Key Features
Key features in Alganon include the introduction of MyAlganon, a method of
training skills offline called Studies, The Library, a Kudos system, Families,
and a Consignment system.
MyAlganon -
- Social network platform that will include news/forums/groups.
- A listing of your game accomplishments for all to see.
- Guild hosting and communication.
- Access to the Alganon Library.
Alganon Library -
- A complete game repository equipped with all you'll need to show off your
character.
- A complete collection of all lore related to the game.
- Specific quests made available to those who wish to help populate the
Libraries of Alganon.
Studies System -
- The ability to advance your character without being logged in.
- Allows characters to increase statistics and grow over time at the same
rate as hardcore players.
- Will provide a system for casual gamers to compete with hardcore gamers.
Kudos -
- Allow players to rate each other based on several criteria.
- Enhance the "Looking for group" feature, lets players search for highly
ranked players.
- Incentives being polite in game and having good karma.
Consignment System -
- Allows players to post for "wanted" items.
- Help pure crafters obtain the items they need without having to kill for
them.
- Allows players to setup and participate in player-based "Item Quests"
within the Consignment house.
Families -
- Families will have: family chat, family merchants, family statistics, and
more
- Families are race specific.
- Each family has a name and a history.
- Families have special Heirloom items that are specific to them.
To find out more about Alganon visit the
About Alganon official page.
Be sure and signup for the Alganon
Beta, closed testing will begin April 1st! We will be posting more
information as it becomes available about this new title!
