Flowerpot Games

The starting races in SoN

It’s already 3 weeks into 2010 so I figured I take a little break and give a quick introduction to the six races that will be available to players to play in the initial release of Shadows of Nightside.

This will just be a quick overview to give some idea of what’s in store. The plan is to eventually do full write up on each of them, but I don’t yet know when.

Some of the info that follows has been discussed before, but this is the first time it’s all been in one place.

ok .. enough rambling .. read on …

3 here .. 3 there

As the title says, there will be six choices for starting race in SoN.
Three will be aligned with the Darkness and strive to spread Koraz’s Shadow across all of Nightside. The other three will be aligned with the goody-goodies that want to stop the Darkness.

The forces of Darkness

On the side of the Darkness we have:

The Humans:
Once staunch defenders of the Light, greed and depravity corrupted them, where they now fight under Koraz’s shadow.

Physically, they are your typical humans. You know … like most of you.

The Grakl:
The Grakl are a subspecies of troll also known as Rock Trolls.

They have a deep-seated enmity towards dwarves. This enmity can be traced back to the fact that the Grakl were (and to a lesser extent still are) hunted by Dwarves, not only because they share the same terrain, but also because the Grakl’s liver is a Dwarven delicacy. The Dwarves also use the Grakl’s intestines to string their short range but powerful crossbows.

The average Grakl stands just over seven and a half feet tall and are much heavier than they would seem, weighing in at over 2000 pounds for a mature male.

They are mostly hairless, with coarse scraggly dark hair starting on their heads and trailing down their necks and spine. Their skin is tough and leathery, their coloring mottled and ranging in shade from light gray to dark brown.

The Goblins:
The goblins are relatively new to the continent of Zinnia. Brought here to fight in the Shadow’s horde, many thousands died in the third shadow war. The survivors were abandoned once they were no longer needed.

Goblins are typically shorter than humans, averaging 3′-6″ to 4′-0″, and weighing 70 to 80 pounds. They are hairless, with snake-like skin that ranges in color from pale yellow to pea green. Their large, pointy, bat-like ears make their heads look small.

The last hope of the Light

The Dwarves:
In the history of Nightside, before the shadow of Koraz began to consume all it fell on, the dwarven clans (called hains) numbered in the hundreds and reigned (spread/lived/ruled) from coast to coast and continent to continent.

Players starting as dwarves are members of Hain Stonehammer.

Through foresight and planning, the survivors from Hain Stonehammer were able to escape total defeat at the Battle of Kessel and evade detection long enough to return to their mountain home.

Although they’ve been hunted by the Shadow’s Darkness and the hordes of Koraz, the dwarves of Hain Stonehammer have managed to keep their mountain home hidden and undetected … for now.

The Snow Elves:
After the 3rd Shadow War, the Elven defenders were defeated and broken. On the run from the victorious horde, they retreated to their forest home. However, their respite was short lived as the forest was assaulted by the shadow’s horde, led by the circle of darkness.

Forced to flee, they managed to stay a half step ahead of the Shadow’s horde and found themselves in the wasteland of the frozen north. With no where else to go, they did their best to settle in, using their magic to recreate their forest home in the frozen tundra.

Having to adapt to their new home, these new snow elves are slightly shorter and thinner than their parents, with skin that ranges from pale blue to white. Their hair tends towards the blond and gray vs. the old brown.

The Narshe:
The Narshe Gnomes are unique to Nightside, being the only known sentient mammal to lay eggs instead of live birth.

The Narshe are the largest of the gnome races, standing between 2.5 feet and 3 feet tall and weighing between 60 and 80 pounds at maturity.

Unlike their cousins, the Forest, Lawn, and Mountain Gnomes, the Narshe Gnomes are semi-aquatic, being equally at home on land or in the water. Another difference from their gnome cousins, the Narshe have a short tail. This broad, flat tail is used to help navigate while swimming.

Things to come

Well .. I hope that whets your appetite.

As time allows, I’ll try to post more detailed info about these six and maybe even some of the concept art we have so far.

And there’s also that side project I mentioned awhile back. Things are progressing nicely and we hope to make an official announcement some time in February.

Stick around .. things are starting to grow in the Flowerpot

Related posts:

1. Races of SoN ~ The Goblins