Portal:News/IRC Transcripts/02 July 2010 1

02 July 2010 developer Q&A with Nicholas McDowell and Morgan Lockhart - Lore leads for the Guardians and the Defiant factions, respectively, for Rift: Planes of Telara. Terms used on the wiki have been converted to article links to assist in understanding.

<%missdoomcookie> Okies, so, the first thing we are going to do today is talk a little more about the dragon cults.
<%missdoomcookie> Then we will take some questions.
<%captaincursor> First, since this has come up. House Aelfwar.
<%captaincursor> They are the cult of life.
<%captaincursor> They are a breakaway faction of the high elves
<%missdoomcookie> Apparently, this offends Paradosi.
<%captaincursor> Under one of the main characters in our game, Prince Hylas.
<%captaincursor> They seek to destroy civilization and remake the world as a primordial jungle.
<%captaincursor> The cult is full of elven tree huggers, the faerie court as well as big creatures.
<%captaincursor> Also treants.

<%captaincursor> Greenscale is the dragon associated with that cult.
<%captaincursor> it's kinda wrong to say he's the "leader" of it because he's more of a beast, and if victorious would hunt the creatures of the world, devouring all that he came accross
<%missdoomcookie> So, the Blood Storm at one time traveled together. Before they came across Telara, they were a pack that wandered the cosmos, consuming worlds.
<%missdoomcookie> There was only ever at best a tentative peace there, however.
<%missdoomcookie> Among the Blood Storm, there were always rivalries and dislikes.
<%missdoomcookie> And once they started fighting over Telara, that only intensified.
<%missdoomcookie> One of the strongest of these is the rivalry between Greenscale and Maelforge, the dragon of fire.
<%missdoomcookie> The cult of fire is known as the Wanton.
<%missdoomcookie> These guys are insane pyromaniacs. They set things on fire just to watch it burn.
<%missdoomcookie> Maelforge is the embodiment of chaos, and so are his followers.
<%missdoomcookie> Naturally, you can see how that might conflict with greenscale's goals. :)
<%missdoomcookie> And so their followers are always clashing.
<%captaincursor> Akylios is the water dragon. The dragon of secrets and magic
<%captaincursor> His followers are known as the Abyssal. They're the evil mages and priests.
<%captaincursor> They're the ones that the seek out the dread rituals of sacrifice, summon forth demons and cast horrific rituals.
<%captaincursor> They're easy to mistake for Defiants ;-)

<%missdoomcookie> All of the Blood Storm have different views of how the world should look
<%missdoomcookie> Greenscale wants it to be a giant jungle. Maelforge wants it bathed in eternal flame.
<%captaincursor> Telara has the power to keep Regulos at bay.
<%captaincursor> They can rule there free of his destructive influence
<%missdoomcookie> Yeah, none of the Blood Storm are as powerful as Regulos
<%missdoomcookie> Though this segues into the next cult niecly
Braen> Because it is a nexus?
<%missdoomcookie> nicely*
<%missdoomcookie> Because his closest rival is Crucia
<%missdoomcookie> She is the dragon of the Plane of Air
<%captaincursor> Though together they can keep him at bay. But these periods of cooperation don't end up lasting long.
<%missdoomcookie> She was also once his mate
<%missdoomcookie> And she was the first one who rebelled against eating Telara, and the rest followed
<%missdoomcookie> Her power is one that consumes minds
<%missdoomcookie> So that her cult, the Storm Legion, is essentially a hive mind
<%missdoomcookie> She can't directly control the movement of everyone at once
<%missdoomcookie> But once touched, you're never the same
<%missdoomcookie> And those who are under her influence for too long eventually become an embodiment of her will
<%missdoomcookie> She (in addition to now being particularly hated by Regulos) has a long standing feud with Laethys, the dragon of the Plane of Earth.
<%missdoomcookie> Laethys has a similar, but different sort of power.
<%missdoomcookie> Her influence is corruptive. Those who are touched by her become overcome with greed.
<%missdoomcookie> Her followers tend to be those who prize wealth and resources. The noble who is content to hoard all the food while his vassals starve.
<%captaincursor> The Golden Maw was voted most likely to stab their allies in the back.
<%missdoomcookie> It's true.
<Braen> Is hat the cult name?
<%captaincursor> Rich people, doing bad thing to get richer.
<%missdoomcookie> Yeah, her cult is the Golden Maw.
<%captaincursor> And then there is Regulos. The destructor, the dragon of extinction, the devouring snake.
<%captaincursor> He brings an end to things.
<%captaincursor> His cult is the Endless Court.
<%missdoomcookie> Life is a noisy, complicated, horrible thing
<%missdoomcookie> He yearns for the quiet of the void
<%captaincursor> Who does his will in exchange for the blessing of eternal undeath

<Hanlo> Was Regulos stopped halfway through eating telara? The planet looks broken from what i've seen

<%captaincursor> Or perhaps that's a vision of things to come.
<%missdoomcookie> So yes, obviously Regulos, and the threat of extinction, is the biggest threat to Telara. :)
<%captaincursor> Regulos is responsible for the Shade and the waking of the other dragons from their imprisonment.
<%missdoomcookie> But you are going to confront the agents of all of the Blood Storm.
<%captaincursor> He's also warred with the gods.
<%missdoomcookie> Though their ambitions are various, and their particular flavors of doom very different, they all want bad things.
<%captaincursor> If any of the dragons were to achieve their goal that would spell doom for Telara. But if Regulos wins, it's all over.
<%captaincursor> And now let's open to questions.
<%missdoomcookie> And now, questions!

<%missdoomcookie> Oh yes, don't spill them out
<%missdoomcookie> Send your questions to the mods and they will give us questions :)

Question from Ayonyx: will players be able to align with any of these 'factions' beyond their initial faction choices at character creation?
<%missdoomcookie> The bad guys?

<+Ayonyx> yes.

<%captaincursor> The one who would end the game?

<+Ayonyx> yes

<%missdoomcookie> That's not planned.
<%captaincursor> So you'd be sucessful in your raid and the dragons get released and the game would end for everyone?
<%captaincursor> Not at this time.

Question from Ayonyx: why is the blood cult fighting over telara?
<%captaincursor> Power

Question from Raevin: This is for either Nick or Morgan... Is it possible, from a lore standpoint, for someone to have been a Guardian or Defiant before, but then are brought back as another race in the opposite faction?
<%missdoomcookie> The gods would not bring back Defiants as Guardians.
<%captaincursor> We're dealing within the constraints of very clear race/faction bindings.
<%missdoomcookie> They are pretty cheesed with us.
<%captaincursor> So not at launch.
<Raevin> but could the Defiants manage to bring back someone that used to be Guardian?
<%missdoomcookie> So no, not at this time.

Question from Alaraca: Or even a dislike between gaurdian races due to a dispute between two Vigil gods that each race look to? Or between say the Bahmi and the Eth as to which technology to use to reach their goals?
<%missdoomcookie> So no, not at this time.
<%missdoomcookie> People are complicated beasts.
<%captaincursor> From an RP standpoint maybe?
<%missdoomcookie> You are going to find people fighting over things, big and small
<%captaincursor> But we don't have a lot of ingame support for that.

Question from Alaraca: Can you give us some back story behind the Highelf war with the Dragonian, and Orcri, as mentioned inthe Highelf backstory and Purifier history? In terms of did they ally together at the same time or were they seperate wars?
<%missdoomcookie> Well, we do have quest content where Defiants are squabbling with Defiants.
<%missdoomcookie> There are a lot of little stories.
<%captaincursor> That was from a longtime fan I'm guessing.
<%captaincursor> As the name of the game has changed, the IP also changed a lot.

<Alaraca> ive just been wondering about those races for a while now
<%missdoomcookie> The Purifier history didn't have anything to do with that particular conflict.
<%captaincursor> The orcri war with the elves isn't part of the lore of the game.

<Alaraca> it mentioned a war with the dragonians
<%missdoomcookie> It was intended to take place during the Blood Storm Wars
<%missdoomcookie> Clashing with dragonians that were minions of Maelforge
<%captaincursor> Dragonians are still in, but not very sympathetic to anyone these days.

Question from Maxxy: What types of quests will be lore driven? Or will you even have those?
<%missdoomcookie> I tend to think the content of most of the quests are lore driven
<%captaincursor> All quests are lore driven
<%missdoomcookie> The lore gives them their story and content
<%missdoomcookie> If you mean something more specific... let us know :)

Question from squid808: How will the lore be handled in game such that there strikes a nice balance of not having to read small books in word balloons but still keeping players knowledgeable?
<%captaincursor> the content designers have been really good about wanted to make quests based on the lore of the game
<%missdoomcookie> There are going to be a lot of events that are lore driven
<%missdoomcookie> I think both Nick and I believe in visual storytelling
<%missdoomcookie> So hopefully we can achieve that in events and so forth :)
<%captaincursor> Lore is a framework. Not a destination.
<%captaincursor> On one hand it is there to give you the context of your actions in game.
<%captaincursor> Why are you killing this guy? What are you ultimately striving for?
<%captaincursor> It's also there to inform the other designers about how to tell their stories.

Question from Braen: when can we expect more guardian infoz?
<%missdoomcookie> Soon ;)
<%captaincursor> If they want to tell a story about a fallen knight how do they express it
<%captaincursor> An upcomming games convention
<%missdoomcookie> :D

Question from anagain: I hope this fits with lore: are we going to be able to find and own readable books in Telara? Can we write our own books?
<%captaincursor> read yes
<%missdoomcookie> Write, we will not be launching with something like that
<%missdoomcookie> But I would throw a fit if we didn't have readable books :)

Question from Ciovala: Can you answer if there will be instanced (ie private or small group perhaps) quests sometimes, or something along the line of 'phasing' used to show progression in an area within a quest line?
<%captaincursor> We are aiming for a public experiance.
<%missdoomcookie> Our world is dynamic. You will see progressive content.
<%captaincursor> But we will have quests and activities geared towards you and your friends.
<%captaincursor> or at least you and the people you put up with to game.

Question from Braen: Since the Bahmi are from a people from the Plane of Air, that means there could also be other races that could be potential PCs in the other planes. Is that plausible?
<%missdoomcookie> The Bahmi are a great example of how not everyone from the planes is evil
<Braen> Well spoken form a Defiant...
<%missdoomcookie> So yes, that is plausible

Question from Sythe: What is the process you go through when creating lore for Rift? As in what lore and cultures and experiences do you draw from to create the stories in the game.
<%missdoomcookie> That's highly varied.
<%missdoomcookie> My personal approach is to start out big.
<%missdoomcookie> What is the major context?
<%missdoomcookie> And filling things out from there
<%missdoomcookie> And I think every writer draws from everything they have
<%captaincursor> I like doing reasearch and learning something new.
<%captaincursor> I onced researched the way that insects make honey just to name a quest drop from that disguisting toothed bug monster you saw in the old videos
<%missdoomcookie> Ditto. It's a great excuse to research.
<%captaincursor> but it used meat instead of pollen
<%captaincursor> The gristleary
<%captaincursor> that quest though has been lost in the mists of time.
<%missdoomcookie> Sometimes, things are entirely fanciful, but at other times we do based it on real world examples.
<%missdoomcookie> Linguists may note that Bahmi names draw heavily from Mongolian

Question from Kalbuir: Do the two of you already have plans for progression of the lore, from say launch to possible expansions? Will the story/Lore progress like we often miss in other MMO's.
<%missdoomcookie> The lore and story will definitely grow
<%captaincursor> We will be progressing the lore.
<%captaincursor> Though it's a tough thing to do with progression.
<%missdoomcookie> The Blood Storm is not a threat that will end soon
<%captaincursor> The people who come into the game still need to know how things started
<%captaincursor> So you have to balance finding ways to progress against having to completely redo a zone.
<%missdoomcookie> There will be twists and turns
<%captaincursor> Damn time/space continum
<%missdoomcookie> Hehe
<%captaincursor> but we have various forms of dynamic content
<%captaincursor> so look for story progression to come from that.

Question from Geekcheck: What other ways outside of quest delivery will the lore be delivered? Will we get a Tome of Knowledge similar to the one seen in Warhammer Online, albiet better?
<%captaincursor> We have ways of storing stories you pick up thought the game.
<%captaincursor> It won't exactly be a tome of knowledge, but people interested in lore will be able to seek out what they crave

Question from Alaraca: Will there be any hatred between the races of the factions other then Ideology like a hatred between highelfs and bahmi over territory or something of that nature with races yet to be revealed?
<%captaincursor> We will find ways to increase the hate (we're villains remember)

Question from Maxxy: Will there be Lore historical weapons or armor in the game?
<%captaincursor> We've been discussing this with systems.
<%missdoomcookie> There are definitely some racial conflicts. The Guardian/Defiant conflict is new. People always find ways to conflict, and so you will see the traces of age old conflicts.
<%captaincursor> We'll see if gets beyond the conversation phase. Everyone seems to want to. We'll see if we can pull it off.
<%missdoomcookie> But systems is very keen on lore
<%missdoomcookie> As evidenced by them working with us to give the souls such beefy lore
<%missdoomcookie> They are as excited about the soul lore as we are :)
<%captaincursor> Though it goes both ways

Question from Ayonyx: The ideological differences between The Defiant and The Guardians surely has caused some conflict between the two sides, are there any ongoing conflicts or struggles in the world that persist at all times?
<%captaincursor> We'll hear an idea of an awesome class, that would be fun to play. So part of our job is to allow space for it to be.
<%captaincursor> Port Scion
<%missdoomcookie> Yes
<%missdoomcookie> Everywhere, but Port Scion is the best example
<%captaincursor> I can say no more.
<%missdoomcookie> Both sides blame the other for it's loss
<%missdoomcookie> But yes, no more will be said of that

Question from Teljair: Will we see any Rift books?
<%missdoomcookie> We have a comic book coming out soon.
<%missdoomcookie> The first issue #0 will drop for free at San Diego Comic Con. :)
<%missdoomcookie> The miniseries will be available in comic shops this fall
<%missdoomcookie> You're going to see the moment of the Guardian/Defiant split, and why it happened.
<%missdoomcookie> I won't ruin anymore
<%missdoomcookie> But it rocks :)
<%captaincursor> You can also blame marketing for getting us an awesome comic.

Question from Kalbuir: Will the comic books be availible for digital DoomCookie purchase for EU? I assume they won't be availible in EU?
<%missdoomcookie> Digital doomcookie (download) purchase?!
<%captaincursor> We don't have the full details on that yet. But I've certainly been bugging them about it.
<%missdoomcookie> Yeah, we are the writers, we don't do the distribution :)
<%missdoomcookie> But we have been bugging them to make that happen

Question from Geekcheck: What is the current relationship between Aedraxis Mathos and Regulos? Is he merely a pawn of Regulos or just corrupted by him and continues to have his own agenda?
<%captaincursor> We want you to subscribe to our game to find out.
<%missdoomcookie> Yeah, we aren't going to tell you guys everything ;)
<%captaincursor> We're glad to tell you the beginning of the story
<%missdoom

cookie> The prologue, if you will

Question from Paradosi: At the moment we know of 6 planes, and most of them are elemental. However, the Vigil seem more like a holy element, so perhaps will there be celestial planes in the future?
<%missdoomcookie> We have announced six planes. ;)
<%captaincursor> The Vigil is something that is greater than mere elemental forces.

<%Abigale> Ok, Folks.... I hate to end this. But Nick & Morgan are limited on their time and have to be going. If your question didn't get answered, feel free to post it in the lore forum. :)

Original unfiltered logs.

Portal:News/IRC Transcripts/02 July 2010 1

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