The Wight King(WIP) - Chapter 6 added (12/01/2023)

So would we be correct in assuming MC is a Harbinger of sorts?

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Interesting how orks, who are usually associated with savagery, were the source of two ancient forms of magic. That tells me they were, at one point, the height of culture and magic. That’s probably something they would love to rub in the elves’ faces.

What makes druidism/shamanism different from arcane/divine magic? If you squint really hard, you could probably draw some correlations. I look at druidism as a more “primitive” form of arcane magic, and shamanism the root of divine magic. The former is about using and shaping the world around you, but instead of the arcane you rely on raw, primitive forces. The other is using the object or entity of your faith to conduct miracles, but instead of gods, you call upon the spirits.

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In some ways, perhaps they are similar, but they are not quite the same.

“Height of culture” might be pushing it but you’re not wrong. The orks were pioneers during the early days of mortals, they grew powerful fast and their strength let them focus on other things than survival, letting them develop faster. Back when mankind cowered in the dark corners of the world and the elves were still the dragons’ little pets, the orks walked around like they owned the place.

Beside, to orks “savage” does not have the same meaning. Orks have always strived for a balanced way of life, between order and chaos, between savagery and civilisation. What other species or culture might see as savagery or primitive behavior, to an ork could be totally normal. Their reputation comes in great part from ignorance and a lack of will from others to understand them.

That’s a very good synthesis. The difference between arcane/divine magic and its ancestors is not something I could clearly define but basically, people changed and as their perception of the world and of magic, their understanding grew, magic changed with them, or they had the insight to conceive new forms of magic. As time went on, people discovered new ways of expressing magic, sometimes by accident, sometimes through research.

Don’t hesitate to ask if you have more questions, it’s an interesting subject to me, but hard to talk about in details without something to frame the discussion.

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I’m curious as to what is the relation between these ancient forms of magic and our Wight King. Can we choose our preferred specialty or is it more of a lore curiosity at this point? If we had a scale, which branch of magic would be considered the most powerful, or the most versatile? Which one would be the most effective against a Wight King and its army?

Also, a bit of a side note, but is there something akin to mind/illusion magic? It’s one of my favorite schools of magic in fantasy settings; glamours, mind-breaking, live puppets, memory and dream manipulation, altered perception, etc. :stuck_out_tongue:

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There’s no direct relation, more like what I was writing before I decided to talk about that was in relation to old magic and it made me want to talk about it. There are a few magics you’ll be able to choose from, necromancy is the obvious one but there will be others something like five in total if things go as planned, but if I let you pick up some things from other kind of casters it will mostly be small things because you won’t be a trained druid or shaman regardless.

It’s hard to say, because power takes different forms, but in term of raw destructive power, in general a sorcerer or a druid would be it. But again, a witch could be just as destructive, simply in other ways. A powerful archwizard could also be far stronger. It really depends on the individual rather than the class.

In term of how many things they can do, witches, clerics and wizards are probably the most versatile, but there are things they can’t do that others might. Clerics can have radically different powers depending on their allegiance, wizards have a nearly limitless potential when it comes to making complex and unique spells… But it’s another thing that can vary a lot depending on the individual, some sorcerers have trained enough to be able to use so many different styles of magic they would put many wizards to shame. Some people are sorcerers AND wizards despite how difficult it is to learn two different forms of magic.

Not all undead are vulnerable to the same magic, but most are weaker to divine magic. Against a wight king, a weak divine mage won’t be much help though. Paladins excel at fighting undead and demons, the Light is more efficient than most clerical abilities, except for purifying powers.

But there’s no one solution that makes it an easy win regardless, using weaknesses is all well and good but it’s not enough. Especially when the enemy will use YOUR weaknesses too.

The undead have absolutely horrifying ways of fighting the living.

Yes, absolutely. Bards are unchallenged when it comes to illusions and manipulation. Their magic is feared because of what it can do to your mind but also what it can do to your very reality. The most powerful bards could trap you inside worlds of their own creation, make you go berserk or dominate your mind, they can completely change who you are to the point no one would recognize you… And the worst is that it works with almost any form of artistic creation and that you might never even realize they’re doing that to you. That is why bards are so dreaded and why bardic magic is forbidden almost everywhere.

Others can also use illusion and such, but the bards are the best at it by far except for witches that specialise in it.

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What about power levels I mean numbers. I played a game called Zambian and it was pretty cool to have a power level they are not many games with power levels it adds a little excitement

Dont know if i spelled the game name right

No. I don’t like power levels, especially not in numerical form. It feels way too arbitrary to me to summarize a character’s abilities with a number. I can get over it in other stories but I don’t want that kind of thing to be part of this universe.

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He has a power level of 11 but that’s on a scale of 3-9 so it could be better

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so i tried looking through the forum but i couldn’t seem to find the info in any of the replies(not that im too lazy and totally gave up the search after going through a couple hundreds replies heh).so what we know rit now is that the heirarchy goes wight king > wight lord > wight knight.so r there any other undead beings beside these that work alongside the big WK? aside from the decaying grunts who would be the bulk of the fighting force.and i was also curious as to what or how its decided that a person gets turned into a lord or knight.and since one of the characters in the character list is a fully sentient wight lord what does it mean for the others do knights and our other minions r also fully sentient? and if so will we have to worry about their loyalty too?also can u describe how exactly r the wight knights different r they like basically an elite fighting force something like Death knight from overlord insanely powerful for any normal fighting force to handle?what would be the power difference between one and the other and finally can or will we be able to use necromany to bring back powerful warriors or champions to serve us?
let me know if some the questions r too spoilery for u to answer or u have already done so!! apologies in advance!! anyways love ur demo good sir!! ^^

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Yes you’ll be able to recruit or raise different kind of undead. Vampires, liches, husks and skeletons, dullahans, revenants and other.

Wights are risen mostly at random, they are awakened by the avent of a new wight king and it’s unknown whether there’s anything that can be done to force an awakening. But they tend to be powerful heroes who died relatively recently with extreme negative feelings, the betrayed, those whose ambitions were unfulfilled, those who died with a lifelong grudge, in general they are those who are the most likely to be risen. They can also be people the wight king had powerful attachments to during their life, a rival, a lover, a nemesis, a family member, a close friend or such.

Undead are more or less sentient, it depends on the way they are raised, how powerful they are, how long they were dead etc. Weak undead tend to be more dependent, but they can actually develop sentience by growing stronger.

Yes, even as the sovereign of the dead, they won’t just do anything you want. You can force them, but it’s not a foolproof solution.

Wight knights were usually champions, they’re not raid bosses but they all have their unique abilities and are almost impossible to kill. They won’t take on entire armies alone, but they are heroic units who can turn the tide.

Wight knights can be anything, warriors, archers, mages, some are even more monstrous. So they abilities and power can vary a lot. Wight lords are usually stronger than knights, but the difference is mostly about command, wight lords share some of the wight king’s powers and can lead other undead and strengthen them.

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Is this sort of what happened in chapter 3? That abyss place?

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say im curious does this wight king is similar to lich king from the wow or entirely something different ?

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Not exactly. When a bard does his thing, you cross over to a subplane of their creation, all of you. When the Wight King reached the Obelisk, only their soul was sent to the abyss while their body was on the other side.

They’re both undead overlords, that’s about it. The lich king is a spooky spirit that possesses people, unlike the wight king’s curse which turns you into the wight king. I’m not a loremaster of warcraft, but from what I remember playing the games they’re pretty different.

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1.) Since the MC died 20 years ago, how are they not a skeleton?

2.) Is it a coincidence that the dreadspire was near the location of the MC’s sarcophagus?

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I think that’s what I said initially, but it was closer to 10 years for the MC. As to why they didn’t rot, Wight Kings are constantly regenerating during torpor, unless they didn’t have any flesh left in the first place they won’t turn into skeleton on their own during the slumber before their awakening.

The MC was put there because this place was basically abandoned and out of the way, it used to be a crypt for heroes and kings but fell into disrepair as the deep woods grew closer and the region became more and more dangerous. The presence of Dreadspire is also not an incentive for people to stay unless they’re desperate.

In the days the story take place, Dreadspire is avoided more because of the innate fear humans feel when they’re relatively close but also by superstition. When everyone who goes to check out the place never comes back, people start steering clear of it.

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Hey, not so long ago @Cicada of their own volition went through the whole thread and decided to compile some bits of lore together in a sort of glossary. We thought it might be interesting to new readers, or even people who were there for a long time but may have missed some posts or do not remember something.

Here it is. A disclaimer though, Cicada did not discriminate between the very first messages in this thread and the latest. Most of the older posts are absolutely unreliable, and to take with a grain of salt. This thing expanded and evolved a lot since then.

As a general rule, if two posts contradict each other, think of the most recent one as the one you can believe.

I will link this in the first post too, for ease of access. Thanks to @Cicada for that.

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intresting thought paladin like capabilities
any the wight king has?

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If you’re asking whether the MC can use unique paladin abilities, they don’t know them. But there are things paladins can do that the wight king can as well, infusing a weapon with magic for example. Paladins share many abilities with other warrior and divine caster classes on top of their unique ones.

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any unique capabilities that the wight king has?

anything that others have that are supposed to be unique that they have mimicked?

anything that has been discovered and copied over time by other groups and classes?

how are you doing today?

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It depends a lot on the Wight King, they don’t all get the same powers. Though there are a few they share, like innate ability to use necromancy, invulnerability to some forms of magic, durability. But a lot of abilities each wight king develops are personal.

Most champions have unique abilities that they developed through their experience as warriors, but it doesn’t mean they are the only one that possess that kind of ability, it’s just their own version. Technically you could develop any kind of abilties, but they will never be exactly the same as another’s.

Wizards are the homework leechers supreme. But for example, many of the abilities paladins use are derived from powers that the first paladin possessed, or that of other leaders of the order that came after him.

Fine enough, trying to adjust to my new life as the guy capitalists yell at when their shitty system comes crumbling down on them through sheer incompetence. I can fix a lot of things but I can’t fix neoliberalism. XD

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