LordCrash

Update #24 : Announcing the Final Countdown Apr 23, 2013 Incoming! We have been very busy the last couple of days. I know, as if we couldn't get any busier, right, but we took it to busiest! We've been playing a pre-alpha version of the game together with many a journalist, and the results start coming in. Not only does this help our Kickstarter campaign, it also spreads the word about Divinity: Original Sin. Another huge morale boost if the pickiest of gamers actually like the game! Jesse Cox, One Moderately Funny Gamer, but also pretty famous Youtube star, was bent on trying about anything: "Swen tries to walk me through it with the patience of a saint. I attempt to test that patience :P" See whether he succeeded here: Angry Joe, featuring even spikier hair as usual, said: "I went from not interested to CAN'T WAIT". Watch his unbridled enthusiasm as he tries to take on one of the toughest fights in Cyseal, and screams in horror as the undead gather around to tear him limb from limb: Jamie Dalzell wrote a hands-on report on games.on.net. "A developer, its Kickstarter backers, and the challenges of niche development. Hand in hand, 'til the end." A good read! http://games.on.net/2013/04/hands-on-with-divinity-original-sin-an-impressively-free-form-rpg/ Announcing The Final Day In the final four hours of the Kickstarter campaign, Swen and David will be playing Divinity: Original Sin together, live on twitch.tv. Will they co-operate? Or compete? They will listen to your suggestions and take your questions while playing! After the live playthrough of Divinity: Original Sin, Larian Studios will host a small party to celebrate the success of Kickstarter, featuring Kirill Pokrovsky playing live. We will keep the twitch.tv cameras rolling! Tune in to our twitch.tv channel this Friday, at 13:00 GMT, 14:00 CEST, 5:00 PST, 8:00 EDT Swen and David will be playing for four hours. The celebrations, with Kirill on the piano, will start at 17:00 GMT, 18:00 CEST, 9:00 PST, 12:00 EDT Reminder: Twitter AMA Don't forget: later today, Swen, David and Jan will be hosting a Reddit AMA at 18:00 GMT, 19:00 CEST, 10:00 PST, 13:00 EDT. David didn't want this picture to be used, but it's actually the best one there is... Which is saying a lot ) In Closing If I see someone running around with a fishing rod in Divinity: Original Sin, I'm sure they don't want to use it as a weapon. . There will be another update later today featuring...!

The alpha will probably be available in August/September, the beta in October and the final gold version in November (that's the overall plan at least...)

Update #23 : 600K!!! Roll credits! Wait... what? Apr 22, 2013 600K!!!Thank you everybody! The feedback and support you've given us has been truly amazing. You are a fantastic audience and it is true pleasure to be making games for you. You can rest assured that we'll do our very best to give you a gem of a RPG. You deserve nothing less!!! As promised, we're accelerating the update pace now that we approach the end of our campaign and so here's update 2 of today. The next stretch goal is now in reach. Let's go for it!!! Short preview of what's comingIn the coming 72 or so hours, we'll bring you a cavalcade of neatly lined up, and in no way hastily made, updates Each plumed with the feathers of pheasants and presented in perfectly clipped standard English! To prepare your eyeballs for the ocular delights we have in store for you, here is a small preview of what's to come, in ! Glorious Kirill in glorious HDSome of you may have missed the Kirill live concert a couple of days ago. it was a magical moment, and while nothing will capture the feeling of experiencing it live, some images in full blown high definition may help. Here is the behind-the-scenes-high-definition version of Kiriill's first performance on Twitch TV! Bellegar is still champing at the bitThe number 4000 looms large in the future of Bellegar, but we could still use a bit of a push to get there. So please, for the sake of Bellegar (and our designers and writers) like our facebook page or if you have already, invite your friends and family. We're sure they won't mind helping you get a better game! Divinity:Original Sin on YoutubeOhmwrecker - The Masked Gamer played Divinity:Original Sin with David, our omnipresent producer. The session was split in two parts, and this is part 1. Even if It says quick look, this one takes over 50 mins In ClosingStrap in, more is yet to come! But please, !

Kirill's piano concert now in HD on youtube! Enjoy one of the best composers/pianists in the video game industry!

Recording of the twitch.tv livestream with PCGames.de (unedited yet): http://www.twitch.tv/larianstudios/b/394288171

1. part of a playthrough with Ohmwrecker which is mostly about exploration and basic game introduction (2. part will be mostly about combat):

Another pre-alpha playthrough on youtube with Quill18:

Update #22 : Starting the end-game Apr 22, 2013 Updates inbound! As we're approaching the end of our Kickstarter campaign, we're giving it everything we have to reach those stretch goals. With less than 45K$ to go to the next stretch goal, and a lot of media attention appearing, we'll be upping the update tempo for the last days of our campaign. Remember - if you or your friends invest now in Divinity: Original Sin, you'll reap the rewards already this fall in quality and quantity of gameplay. So if you know somebody with an interest in RPGs, please let them know about our campaign. We'll make it worth your while! Two new digital tiers New 80$ digitial tier This tier replaces the sold out 65$ tier and the main features are a digital version of Dragon Commander, a digital duo pack of Divinity:Original Sin, all the Developer's Cut materials as well as Kirill's soundtrack. New 28$ digital tier This tier will replace the about- to-be-sold-out 25$ which includes a digital copy of Divinity: Original Sin. Live Let's Play with PCGames.de today at 17:30 GMT+1 Swen and Mháire, the hostess of PCGames' Kickstarter show "Shut Up And Take My Money", will be playing the game together later today at 17:30 GMT+1. The live stream will be in English so everybody is welcome to join. Watch via our website, via twitch.tv directly or via PCGames.de ForceSC2Strategy gameplay summary A well edited gameplay video summary appeared on ForceSC2Strategy last night, giving a good overview of gameplay in Divinity: Original Sin in 20 mins. Matt Chat retrospective of Divine Divinity Matt Barton posted a new "Matt Chat" video about Divine Divinity. It's a pretty cool retrospective video and you'll find many similarities with Divinity: Original Sin. Reddit Ask Me Anything tomorrow! David, Jan & Swen will be hosting a Reddit AMA tomorrow Tuesday April 23rd at 18:00 GMT, 10:00 PST, 13:00 EDT. We'll be answering questions for a couple of hours so be sure not to miss it.

Sad but true. The quality of the Divinity series is really high but it was always more the underdog compared to the much better known D&D classics.

Update 20 : Overview of add-ons and reward tiers Apr 20, 2013 No new content in this update. Instead a handy list of add-ons and rewards, as requested by the Weresheep Of Original Sin. Shipping physical goods All physical goods ship free if you are in the US or Europe. If you live in Europe, you need to select US shipping when you pledge. We'll know from your address that you're in Europe, so don't worry. If you already added an extra amount to your pledge to cover the shipping cost and live in Europe, you can remove the shipping cost by using the "manage your pledge" button. Dragon Commander inclusion Every tier above 95$ as well as the 95$ digital tier receive a copy of Divinity:Dragon Commander. The physical 95$ tier does not get a copy of Divinity:Dragon Commander. Lower tiers can get a copy Divinity:Dragon Commander by adding 40$. Divinity: Original Sin Add-ons Digital add-ons (Require base tier pledge of $25): Divine Divinity Digital Version (HD): add $5 Weresheep Forum Badge, In the Credits as a Weresheep, a hint: add $6 THE Hint concerning the Weresheep: add $666 Digital Artbook featuring the Art of Divinity Original Sin: add $8 Digital Map of the World of Divinity Original Sin: add $8 Digital Soundtrack of Divinity Original Sin: add $10 Extra Digital Copy of Divinity Original Sin: add $20 Beta Access for Divinity Original Sin: add $20 Alpha Access for Divinity Original Sin: add $50 (includes beta access) Fanday Ticket: add $150 Divinity Anthology (digital): add $20 Divinity Dragon Commander (digital): add $40 Physical add-ons (Require physical tier at $65 or higher): Cloth Map: add $25 Signed Poster: add $25 T-Shirt Weresheep Logo: add $25 T-Shirt Divinity Original Sin: add $25 For those wondering how to get add-on(s) on Kickstarter, you must add the amount over your base tier selection. Select your tier - or leave your current tier selected - and then change the amount in the top box that is your total 'Pledge Amount' to cover the cost of the add-on(s) Tier overview For those wondering which add-on(s) come with which tiers, you can re-check your tier rewards here: In closingThis is not getting enough views. Nor is .

It's just a concept art.......

Hm, I think that's a VERY MINOR point.....

Update 19 : Looking Back Already, And Looking Forward Apr 19, 2013 Reflections What an exciting couple of weeks we've been having. We've been telling a couple of journalists, that didn't believe us, that we had no idea if this campaign would even reach its goal. "Oh come on," they said. "You're just in it for the stretchgoals. Everyone takes half of what they actually want as a funding goal!" Well we didn't. We were really amazed to reach our goal so fast, and happy to reach our first stretchgoal. The success of this Kickstarter does give us a morale boost. It tells us that we're making something that people are looking forward to, and are supportive of. In his blog, Swen looks back on the past couple of weeks of running a Kickstarter campaign, and what we have learned from this. Read it here: http://www.lar.net/2013/04/19/one-week-to-go/ A Kickstarter's Anthology Thomas also made a digest of all the things we've done in the last 3 weeks. An amazing trip in video format that made all of us smile. So here is a compilation. A collection if you will. Our greatest hits. Our best of. Our gold records. I'm taking this analogy too far so here's the video. GamersDissent Etalyx from GamersDissent has posted his longest video yet. That's what happens when you get to preview an RPG! We have been playing together with a couple of people this week, and it is already lots of fun to play this with someone that hasn't seen the game yet. If you haven't seen it yet and you have an hour to spare, give this playthrough a look, or a listen, that works too. You'll hear that we were genuinely having fun. Live Stream On PCGames.de We're going into overdrive next week. Well actually, it already starts tonight. We're doing online coop playthroughs with Youtube channels, independent journalists, and magazines, such as Games.on.net, Kotaku, RedPandaGamer, Jesse Cox, Quill18, DenOfGeek, TotalBiscuit, Gamer.no, Jeuxvideo.com, Angry Joe, Gamespot, GMBox, Kanobu... We will announce when they're online and here's the first announcement: We will be playing live with PCGames.de this coming Monday at 17:30 (GMT+1 with daylight saving) so that's: 19:30 in Moscow 17:30 in Berlin 16:30 in London 11:30 in New York 8:30 in Los Angeles Kirill's Concert On Youtube We know some of you are waiting for the recording of Kirill's concert on Youtube. It's coming. We will post the full edit with high quality video material next week. We want to thank everyone that watched the live stream on our twitch.tv channel. If you missed it, and you cannot wait for the Youtube version, it's still available here. In Closing An update about reflections. But also of what is to come. We'll probably have to stay up all night... Stay tuned

Update 18 : Community Input, Kirill Live Tonight, 3K Likes Apr 18, 2013 Community Input It's sometimes held against us, but we think very highly of our fans and our community. We end up calling NPCs after them (hi Arhu), we create encounters with them (hello Shrimpo). We also don't just take their feedback for granted: we often find valuable ideas in their posts, ideas that we implement, changes that we do make... Divinity: Original Sin will not be treated differently. We are for instance taking another look at the RPG system, taking your feedback into account. We are reading your forum posts, your comments on Kickstarter, your private messages and emails, and even if we don't always find the time to answer, we do pick out the things that we think are important or fun. Here are two examples. Burning zombies The following message was sent to Swen, and unfortunately, it will not be implemented as a surprise, it will just be implemented. "Sorry for two PM's in one day, this idea I want hidden and made as a surprise if you like it enough to implement. (...) fire can burn the skin off a zombie and they become a skeleton. When they became a skeleton, their traits and attack methods changed to that of a skeleton. Their HP remained where it was from the initial attack of the fire or previous attacks. The fire would simply burn off their skin over a few attack rounds (...) Since so much detail has gone into this, that would be interesting to have implemented." Thanks to this successful Kickstarter, we can give monsters more interesting behaviours, more specific attacks and powers (and weaknesses), so why not create this effect for the zombies? As it turns out, an unknown scribe had already reported on this in his "Source User's Guide To Adventuring". What a coincidence! Excerpt from "A Source User's Guide To Adventuring" "One of the more nasty encounters you can have with the undead, is to be attacked by zombies. Many make the mistake of underestimating these dim-witted corpses and very often they are regretting their hubris as their innards are being drawn from their shredded bellies. Zombies are slow, yes, but they are highly resilient to most weapons you can carry, and -neither fearing nor feeling pain- they'll pursue their prey relentlessly. My advice would therefore be to play a little trick on them that makes these putrefying pests a lot easier to deal with. The trick? Fire! If you are versed in the basics of Source wizardry, conjuring a searing fireball is easy as pie, so cast a barrage of flame and admire your handiwork as the flesh burns right off your assailant's bones. It won't be defeated just yet, but it will be a zombie no longer! You'll now be fighting a skeletal warrior, and you can imagine how much more effective your trusty war hammer, mace or mallet will have suddenly become!" Visuals: Ambient, Bloom, Fog, Contrast Last month, someone posted an animated image on the Larian.com forum, comparing our lighting and color settings to what he thought they could be, or should be. Our art director, Koen Van Mierlo, dived in, and had the following to say: "While working on the lighting and colors of the environments, I had to take into account the speed of the characters and the pace of combat. I had to make sure the visuals were not interfering with game play: I had to strike a good balance between clarity and nice looking visuals. We noticed that high contrast imagery was hard to read and was affecting game play too much; so we decided to go for less contrasted environments. Combat and movement speed have since changed a lot, and this meant that certain decisions regarding game play and visual clarity were not necessarily valid anymore. So after reading the forum post of Xodetaetl, Swen asked me to reiterate on the lighting to see if it would be possible to increase the contrast. So that's what I did. Now that we have more time to iterate over the game, thanks to this Kickstarter, I tried out different settings. I ended up toning down the ambient settings, decreasing the bloom, tweaking the fog distance settings and tampering with the contrast values." Here are the results of his tamperings. Before: After: Before: After: Before: After: Here are URLs to the full HD screenshots of the above: http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Cave_A_Before.jpg http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Cave_A_After.jpg http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Church_Before.jpg http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Church_After.jpg http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Cave_B_Before.jpg http://www.larian.com/kickstarter/Lighting_Cave_B_After.jpg Kirill on Twitch TV Don't forget! In exactly two hours, Kirill will perform a live concert especially for you. You don't need a ticket, you don't need to go anywhere, it's streaming live over this wonderful thing we call the internet. You can follow the live stream on the following URL: http://www.twitch.tv/larianstudios Or if you can't make it, we will post the video on our Youtube channel later: http://www.youtube.com/larianstudios Bellegar En-Counter Yesterday, we hit 3000 likes on our Larian Studios Facebook page. That means: 3 encounters with Bellegar in Divinity: Original Sin. Can we make that 4000? And in closing Not all fan input will make it to the game. Because sometimes... you really are... Sick Things... (But that's okay. So are we.)

So you haven't donated yet? Heh, the game looks interesting but I feel a bit burned from the last two kickstarts Ive donated to so Ill probably wait until release, read the reviews, and then pick up the $25 digital version. The game will probably be available for about $40 on release (David from Larian stated that in two videos, for example the gameplay video on Gamers Dissent). The $25 is a special price for kickstarter backers. So you would make a good deal to pledge for it now.

So you haven't donated yet?

@Indira Ok, you were faster this time. But you have to include the videos.

Update 16: With 9 days left to go the Phantom forest grows... + New movie 9 days left!!! We have 9 days left to make it to the next Stretch goal. Given how other Kickstarter campaigns went, there's a really good chance that we'll make a few more stretch goals in the last couple of days, but obviously we're going to need your help. For instance, If less than half of you bring in a friend to play Divinity: Original Sin with, we're already at our next stretch goal, and that's a very cool one So please spread the word. Also, don't forget - we have cool add-ons(bottom of page)! In case you missed it, here's an overview of our stretch goals. The next goal which we hope to reach is the Personality Traits and Talents goal: This goal will see us introduce traits and talents that further define your party members. They will help you in combat, in dialogues with NPCs, and in all kinds of other interactions. You get to choose some at character creation, by exploring the world, and occasionally through leveling up. For instance, Animal Empathy allows you to talk to animals. Slippery Eel allows you to evade attacks of opportunity. Interdimensional Touch lets you send items to far away party members but also to your Homestead on the Shelter Plane At The End Of Time. And like this, there will be many more. Essential stuff really, so please help us out. More than meets the eye We told you yesterday, and we'll tell you again today. There's more than meets the eye in Divinity: Orginal Sin. Yesterday was all about hidden dungeons, today it's about the art in the game. If you think you already know what Divinity: Original Sin is going to look like... think again! The Phantom forest grows...For every 1000 extra backers above 10000 backers, we'll add an extra level to the Phantom Forest lair. There was much rejoicing in our comments section today when we achieved the first extension, but that may soon change... Why? Well, here's a fragment from a torn and frayed manuscript we found... I must put this to paper or go mad! What have I done? No god can save my sanity - not one of them; not even seven ... Infernal fool that I am, I entered Phantom Forest ... the shire of shadow more tenebrous than fabled Tartarus. It must have been the whispers that seduced me. It must have been the promises that came rustling through the leaves. No sooner did I hear my deepest desires echoing in the dark, than I perceived them in the undergrowth, right there for the taking. Entranced, I wandered forth, my hands set firm like claws - reaching ... It was so close at first, but never did I quite draw nearer to my goal as I stumbled along fallen branches, dead and deformed. Lost was I, in sense and time, but still I persevered. At last the moment came. All my desires afore me! Yet when my fingers were about to claim their long awaited caress, darkness fell within darkness and two eyes caught my gaze; two eyes more black then the furthest and most starless reaches of the cosmic wastes that surround us. Frantically I turned and ran. Dashed like a madman while behind me, above me, beside me, the whispers beset me once more. I dare not write of what I heard. I cannot if I tried. I have heard cruelty incarnate bare its soul. Long as it lives, death holds no fear. Then suddenly ... sunlight. The dark's lust for prey must have made it spring its trap too soon. I escaped to tell my story. But why would I recount a tale of horror that would make the very flowers wither, should they catch wind of what I saw? Let only this piece of pitiable parchment be stained by the inescapable agony that is ineffaceable memory. O gods, what have I done? I entered Phantom Forest ... The manuscript continues, and repeats these ramblings again and again. Are you really sure you want this dungeon to become even bigger...? In Closing We have a truckload of things we want to tell you still, but do let us know what questions you still have about Divinity: Original Sin. We'll try to give you an answer!

Yeah, I stil hope that they/we reach all stretch goals. They would really improve the game....

Update 15: Homestead Built, Expanding The Lair, More Than Meets The Eye, Kirill Live Homestead Built! Yes! You did it! The first stretchgoal has been successfully reached! The more we thought about it, the cooler all the features over at the Shelter Plane at the End of Time have become, and the more anxious we are to actually play around with them! So what else is there? Of course, our next stretchgoal is in sight: talents and personal traits. But wait! There's more... Expanding The Lair More Than Meets The Eye Kirill Live This Thursday First Fansite Spotted Expanding The Lair From now on, for every 1000 backers that we gain, the lair of the monster beneath Phantom Forest will become deeper and deeper. (This means, we start counting at 10'000 backers.) Or in the words of Jan, our writer extraordinaire: "As you travel onward beyond the woods of Luculla, it doesn't take long to reach the outskirts of Phantom Forest: a vast, towering woodland shunned by almost all that lives. Once entered, a few steps suffice to be engulfed in absolute nocturnal darkness that even the eyes of a cat would have great difficulty in piercing. Armed with a torch one might proceed, but it requires an iron will not to turn and run in fright when beholding the torturously contorted grimaces that seem to slither through every coarsely barked trunk. Dead bodies hang from twisted branches, silent and still, for not even the winds dare penetrate the foreboding canopy of Phantom Forest." Phantom Forest, not for the weak of heart... "Neither do the forces of evil that threaten our heroes, for it is said that deep within its reaches a creature lurks that is so cruel the world knows not its like - not even the sinister Engineer that shall plague the Marked One centuries later can compare with the shadow that stalks this distorted wood. And yet, it is there that the key can be found to unravel an essential piece of lore of infinite value to those who seek to control the Source..." The lair of this nightmarish beast is a labyrinth riddled with death, puzzles and mystery. It's up to you however, to decide just how extensive this lair will be. For every thousand extra backers that pledge from here on out, a new level full of pitfalls, threats and riddles will be added! Hyperion doesn't even come close - The lair of the unspeakable... With your help, the depths of Phantom Forest will become the stage of an unforgettable adventure, and to those that walk in unprepared, certain grisly death! More Than Meets The Eye In the following video, we want to show you how, just like in the previous Divinity games, something seemingly small and trivial can unravel a whole new world in Divinity: Original Sin. Or how one lonely lamenting ghost above ground unlocks an entire society of ghosts living underground... (Minor spoiler alert.) Kirill Live This Thursday As a reminder, Kirill will be playing LIVE this Thursday. You will be able to ask questions during and after the concert and we'll let Kirill answer after the concert. Join us at www.divinityoriginalsin.com: 7:00PM CEST (Central European Summer Time, also known as Belgium Time to us) That's 9:00PM in Moscow, 6:00PM in London, 1:00PM in New York, and 10:00AM in San Francisco ;-) We will be streaming this concert live but we will also record this and later on upload it to our Youtube channel. First Fansite Spotted Something started growing here in our Kickstarter comments section, which has started to lead a life of its own. After watching , some people were wondering if the sheep would actually fight back, and one thing lead to another... So apparently, without us even realizing it, there are Weresheep in Divinity: Original Sin. We had no other choice now but . The Weresheep Guild now has its own website where they are gathering as much data as they can about Divinity: Original Sin. Bookmark it ) The logo of www.weresheep.net And In Closing At Kickstarter, everything always has to go up. Up, up, higher and higher: backers, pledges, rewards... It feels weird, but we wanna get that dungeon going .

Update 14: Stretch goal ahoy, Designer Talk, Join the Forums It's Sunday and the sun is finally shining here. What better way to start the day than a small Divinity:Original Sin update? Stretch goal ahoy! With a bit of extra support, it looks like we may make our very first stretch goal today! In case you missed out on the description of our first stretch goal - The Shelter Plane At The End of Time – here are 3 out of at least 7 reasons why you want us to make this: The Transcript of Unravelled Destinies: See what consequences your actions have on the future of Rivellon, while you’re playing. The Coffers That Have No Bottoms: You can pretty much pick up anything that looks like it can be picked up in Divinity:Original Sin. Now you’ll have a place where you can store it all. Secrets Galore: There are some really juicy secrets to be found on the Shelter Plane. It would be a pity if they remain secret. Maybe you’ll even discover whatever happened to this fellow… For even more reasons, check out the update we did on the Shelter Plane. Join the forums – leave your mark! A lot of people underestimate the impact of their comments in our forums. We often involve forum posts in our discussions at Larian, and it’s fair to say that several of the better features in our games were born from forum discussions and many more features were improved as a direct consequence of a post there. We also love getting feedback - it makes us better at our jobs. That’s why we’d like to invite you to participate in the discussions on the Divinity: Original Sin forums. These forums are the place where discussions are going to continue post-Kickstarter and they are visited daily by many developers at Larian. Drop a note on the forums if you have an idea for something you’d really like to see in Divinity: Original Sin. You might be surprised at our willingness to pick it up. Designer talk Ever wondered why most multiplayer “RPGs” feel "dumbed down"? We tried to make a video about what's involved when you try to make one that's not "dumbed" down, but even that turned out to be complicated In closing This update is a bit shorter than usual, not only because it's weekend, but also because we're all watching this . Have a great sunday!

Cool, thanks for the information. I'm morte interested in the singleplayer campaigns but the information about the gameplay and graphics sounds promising.

Still no explanation? The two new games are set way before Divinity 2. If you want to know how the story of the Dragon Knight ends up you probably have to wait for another Divinity game (perhaps Divinity 3?)

Update 13: 5K left to go, New Update Theme, The History of Rivellon & a shout out! In this updateBetter reward pages Only 25K left to go to the next stretch goal The update song to end all other update songs The history of Rivellon (with some pictures) Shout out for the cool Battle Worlds: Kronos from King Art games Better reward pages There unfortunately are limits to what we can do on the Kickstarter pages, and one of those limitations is that we cannot modify the text in the rewards to include all of our additions. That's why we set up mirror pages where you will be able to find the right descriptions for each reward, in different languages. Have a look, you might have missed some cool stuff when pledging Only 25K left to go to the first stretch goal Since we already collected $5 331,39 via Paypal, the counter is now only 25K away from our first stretch goal: Your Homestead At The Shelter Plane At The End Of Time! If you missed yesterday's update, be sure to check out why you really want this. The update song to end all other update songs For two weeks some backers have been driving us crazy with their update song, pushing us to release update after update. We wanted to do something with said song in retaliation but it turns out that would be copyright infringement. So we asked Kirill, our house composer, to come up with something new. This is the same Kirill who will be giving an exclusive piano recital with Divinity themes here btw. All that's left for us to do now is get our animators to make some dancing weresheep, and our revenge will be complete The History of Rivellon By Jodocus Lipsius, Court Historian - Printed by Ye Olde Presse, Verdistis - As a member of the Prancing Seahorse gentleman's club of Aleroth, I am proud to present this little historical summary of mighty Rivellon. May the reader find elucidation among its pages, few and incomplete as they are. What knowledge I have I share; I can do no more. Note on the abbreviations of time: AR: Anno Rivellonis. The ancient way of identifying specific years. AD: Anno Deorum. How we count years now, in honour of the Seven Gods. WARNING! For those readers who are unfamiliar with these events, but intend to learn more about them by means of interactive scrying stones, I issue a SPOILER ALERT! No need to thank me. 8800 AR - Dragon Commander So long ago did these events take place that they may well be sagas rather than truths, but ancient souls swear they happened as described beneath. I leave it to my lectors to make up their minds for themselves and separate what they think is reality from what they think is fiction. When Rivellon's first emperor Sigurd was killed by his own children, a bloody war for the throne began. The entire world was said to be in danger of destruction, for rumours persist through time that all battles were fought with giant machines and airships of incredible and devastating power; technology long lost - perhaps merely a fable. In the end a Dragon Knight - and son of Sigurd - prevailed. Details are few and far between, but my research indicates that he had the backing of the legendary wizard Maxos. If so, what a mighty pair these two must have made! The Lost Centuries Almost nothing is known of these lost times. One can only deduct that the empire united by the aforementioned Dragon Knight must have fallen or slipped into decadence. Did it stand for a thousand years? Two-thousand? We may never know. During these lost times one cataclysmic conflict did most certainly take place: the prolonged and brutal Wizard Wars. I shall elaborate a bit more on these events further down the time line. 4 AR - Original Sin Sadly I must confess that once more my knowledge about these long forgotten times is diminutive at best. Very little is known about the strange and spectacular events that befell two so-called Source Hunters. Nevertheless, if one can put faith in the fragmented stories told by old wizards, they both prevented and set in motion events that changed the destiny of fair Rivellon herself. I'd sell my soul to know more, but those damned mages are so damnably reticent! Zandalor knows all, of that I am sure, but not even two carafes of spiced elven wine stir his tongue to speak of what happened back then. Something must have! Shortly after, we even changed the way we count time! AR to AD ... Was it truly just to honour the gods? The history of this world; I swear more of it is secret than is known. 100 AD - The First Rise and Fall of Chaos In this black year a new enemy attacked Rivellon, more vicious than anything that came before. It was called Chaos and it had been worshipped and brought to power by sinister forces at work ever since those times Zandalor refuses to talk about. Might there be a link? This is mere assumption on my part, but we all know what they say about smoke and fire - and when thick smoke curls up out of the wizard's pipe as he gives me that stern stare of his when I press him upon the subject, I do start to suspect evil and intricate doings. But this is neither here nor there, so suffice to say that after long, brutal battles, the enemy - personified by the demonic Chaos Lord - was defeated by dwarven armies. They alone safeguarded the world from succumbing to Chaos during these times and still deserve lavish praise for doing so. 611 AD - The Second Rise and Fall of Chaos The Chaos Demon had been defeated centuries before, but an insidious wizard by the name of Ulthring (how Zandalor glares when the name is mentioned) had rallied the wounded demon and amassed fresh armies anew. This time Rivellon would have surely fallen had it not been for the Sacrifice of Seven: empowered by the Seven Gods, a human, a dwarf, an elf, a lizard, an imp and an orc gave their lives so that the Lord of Chaos would be defeated. Among them was Duke Ruben Ferol, and it was his apprentice Ralph who walked away from the battlefield with Ulthring's sword: the ill-fated Sword of Lies. 1218 AD - Divine Divinity Alas it seems that Chaos can never be finally beaten, for even though centuries passed, its nefarious influence remained awake - and plotted. (Let me interject that finally we come to those parts of our history with which I am much more familiar and my narrative will be the more elaborate for it.) I'm sorry to say evil festered from within: humans, loyal to the Damned Hordes, sought not only to ensure the return of their dark master, but to give his Demonic form human semblance, so that rather than to destroy Rivellon, he would come to rule her. This group, known as the Black Ring, were close to achieving their goal and would doubtless have succeeded had it not been for both the tireless vigilance of Zandalor and the startling fate of an adventurer named Lucian. This adventurer, guided as he was by the forces of good, exposed the Black Ring’s sinister schemes and when the time came willingly underwent a daring ritual that infused him with the powers of the Seven Gods who feared that Chaos could threaten their very existence. So the Divine was born! Leaving but grim corpses in his wake - and aided as he was by a dragon; the Patriarch - the avatar of light followed the enemy to its stronghold, nestled deep beneath the desert wastes of Yuthul Gor, where he stalked and killed every Black Ring elder until finally he and their diabolic leader, the Demon of Lies, stood snout to face. The fiend smiled and told the Divine he was too late: the transfer was complete and the Lord of Chaos would walk again. Indeed, behind him, on a large altar lay a newborn infant, a shell of innocence wrapped around a soul of utter corruption. The Divine’s sword saw the Demon dead, but despite being able to put an end to the vast plague that had almost brought Rivellon to her knees, he could not bring himself to kill the child. 1218 to 1233 AD - The Youth of Damian Lucian named his 'son' Damian, and for years the Damned One, unaware of the terrible forces that brimmed beneath his boyish exterior, grew up under the Divine’s tutelage. Until he met Ygerna. Sent to seduce Damian by her father, the Black Ring necromancer Kalin, she befriended the young man, who was instantly infatuated with her. Not only did she return his affections, but also his long slumbering powers. They practiced innocent spells at first, but later on more sinister magic, rarer incantations, and, most dangerous of all, they unravelled forbidden knowledge. For some time, Damian's Divine foster parent was blissfully oblivious of Ygerna’s ominous influence on his son, until evidence connected her to Kalin, whom he had recently executed. When questioned she confessed that she supported his rotten stratagems, the most important of these being the renascence of Damian’s dark, dormant powers. After hearing such hideous testimony, Lucian had no choice but to execute Ygerna in turn: the Black Ring never enjoys clemency, whatever the circumstances. Under the eyes of the wise, but worry-plagued Zandalor, the Divine’s sword severed Ygerna’s head from her body. Yet, at that prophetic moment, while Ygerna’s blood was still claiming more territory on the floor, Damian entered and gave voice to a spell that utterly stunned even that mighty ensemble: the spell of Soul Forging. Before anyone could react, Damian turned back and seemingly disappeared. The Divine knew his son would from then on be his greatest foe and understood that Damian had already realised a great deal of his black potential: he who can Soul Forge, is a stupendous adversary indeed. The Damned One walked again. As Lucian and Damian gathered their armies, Zandalor contemplated the repercussions of Damian’s acts. A Soul Forge is an exceptional enough event in its own right; a Soul Forge with a soul as it dwells amidst the few fragments of time between life and death, was unprecedented. Uncertain of the consequences for either him or Damian, he entrusted Ygerna’s body to the care of embalmers, forgoing the usual ritual burning of Black Ring corpses. 1233 AD - Damian Is Banished To Nemesis Within days, the Black Ring and Divine Paladins clashed. Damian though, had eyes for Lucian only: he would show him the same kindness he had shown Ygerna. What he did not know was that the Divine was ready for him. He would lure his son to a Rift Temple and, if all went according to plan, banish him to another dimension. Blinded as he was by his all-consuming wrath, Damian did not realise he was being drawn into a trap and soon he was locked away in shadow haunted Nemesis. The Divine returned to Rivellon, glad that the threat his foster son posed was eliminated, yet strangely mournful because he realised that despite the evil that had taken hold of him, Damian’s spur-of-the-moment Soul Forge was essentially an act of love. 1238 AD - Beyond Divinity The Damned One however, made the best of his situation in Nemesis. He bode his time, grew in stature and power, until he did what most thought could not be done: with the help of a duped paladin who knew not it was Damian he was fighting with side by side, he broke free from his prison dimension and initially overran the surprised Rivellonian forces. 1238 to 1300 AD - The Rise and Fall of Damian and the Divine His thoughts were still wholly focused on one thing: to destroy the Divine and so revenge Ygerna. The war changed the face of Rivellon: for years it raged and one catastrophic event followed the other. Where once there were mountains there are now flat scorched plains and picturesque farmlands have been pushed up and turned into jagged cliffs. Nevertheless mankind faced its infernal foes with remarkable courage and tenacity. A decisive reason for their stubborn optimism was the new forged alliance between the Divine and the now very rare, but still immensely powerful Dragon Knights, the last and elusive proponents of Dragon magic in the Demon-swept realms. Throughout the climactic battle, the scales of victory could have tipped either way. But then the unthinkable happened: one of the Dragon Knights betrayed and slew the unsuspecting Divine. During the confusion that ensued, the Paladins started to fight Dragon and Demon alike. Luckily Zandalor was able to rally the troops and so narrowly avoid disaster. Damian, who had already lost much of his forces and had seen his revenge materialised, ordered his army to abandon the field. His dominion over Rivellon could wait. And besides, he had other things on his mind. The war ended, but the fighting never stopped. Enraged by the betrayal of the Dragon Knights and the death of the Divine, humanity saw the foundation of the Order of Dragon Slayers, which specialised in the eradication of the Patriarch's chosen few. With Maxos gone and the Patriarch unwilling to intervene, their already very small number dwindled fast until ultimately only one remained: Talana. 1300 AD - Divinity II - The Dragon Knight Saga Talana was hunted without pause and without remorse, but when she was finally tracked down and mortally wounded by the greatest of Dragon Slayers, Commander Rhode, she yielded all her powers to a young Dragon Slayer recruit who thereby became the last Dragon Knight. It became his goal to kill arch-nemesis Damian by means of resurrecting Ygerna with whom he was soul forged. During the course of his quest it was revealed that the Dragon Knight who killed the Divine was mind-tricked by Damian and that the Dragon Slayers' hunt for Dragon Knights worked to his advantage. When he'd be back, he'd no longer have to deal with these fearsome foes. As it would turn out, the mystery Dragon Knight who assassinated the Divine was not the last one to fall for a ruse, for the Dragon-Slayer-turned-Dragon-Knight too was tricked, by no other than Ygerna this time, who, claiming to be Talana, led him to her from the very netherworld – the Hall of Echoes – so that he would resurrect her. Believing this would kill Damian, the Dragon Knight did so, but soon discovered he was duped and found himself imprisoned in a realm beyond time and space: the Plane of Hypnerotomachia. All worked out well for Damian who had unsuccessfully tried to resurrect Ygerna as well. But that was not the only thing he had been doing, for Damian knew his history and knew of the legends of Sigurd's empire. During the glory years of the Dragon Slayers he had been doing more than sit around and plan a next campaign: he had been researching the technology used by Maxos and the Dragon Knight to unite an empire so many thousands of years ago. The result was still a far cry from what this technology had once been, but nonetheless the crude, but imposing Flying Fortresses he had constructed were a force to be reckoned with and he lost no time deploying them against the human capital of Aleroth. To protect the city, Zandalor employed desperate measures: he conjured a shield around the city which effectively safeguarded it from harm, but to be able to do so he first had to harvest this shielding magic from around the prison of a Chaos wizard by the name of Behrlihn who had been rotting away in his dungeon deep beneath Aleroth ever since he was incarcerated after the Wizard Wars. Behrlihn, omnipotent in many ways, knew everything that had happened in the world despite his being locked away, and now that he sensed the disappearance of the shield, he immediately travelled in mental form to the Plane of Hypnerotomachia, something he could not do when the guarding magic was still in place. Here he found the lost Dragon Knight and no other than the Divine, who was in fact still alive and likewise imprisoned by Damian. Behrlihn made a deal with the Dragon Knight. The latter would release the former's physical self from underneath the besieged city and in return Behrlihn would both free the Divine from his other-worldly captivity and give the Dragon Knight the Eye of the Patriarch, a mighty object that could destroy the armada of Flying Fortresses around Aleroth. And so the Dragon Knight was free once more to roam the city in search of ways to free the dread Chaos wizard. In the end, the Dragon Knight freed Behrlihn who gave him the Eye of the Patriarch, but refused to free the Divine. Armed with this powerful object, the Dragon Knight set out to defeat the fleet of Flying Fortresses which turned out to be commanded by the freshly resurrected Ygerna. The threat above Aleroth was obliterated, but the fight was not over. Ygerna and Behrlihn spirited themselves away to the Plane of Hypnerotomachia and pulled the Dragon Knight in with them. At last there followed the final confrontation between these three and soon both Behrlihn and Ygerna lay dead. Their lives and their powers had been undone and consequently the Divine was freed. Aleroth and indeed all of Rivellon rejoiced, but Damian remains alive to this day - and in a sense he remains undefeated. The future - unlike Zixzax the Imp Historian claims - has yet to be written ... I want this on my tablet! We like turn-based games. We also like strategy games. And we also like friendly developers. When you find all three of these combined on Kickstarter in one project, you just know that you have to back it. Battle Worlds: Kronos is such a game. It's already funded and is now well on its way to its second stretch goal. We know these guys personally and they are good developers, so if you like turn-based strategy games, you really should back King Art Games. I certainly want to play this on my tablet! In Closing You should listen . And . And .

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