Les Chiens de Guerre

English Area => Hell Dorado - Background => Discussion démarrée par: Melvin le Juin 15, 2007, 17:39:23



Titre: the Background
Posté par: Melvin le Juin 15, 2007, 17:39:23
What Im most curious to currently, is the fluff (background story.) of the game/world of hell dorado.
anyone here speaks both french and english "fluently" ? :)

a bit of a who is who and when and where thing actually.


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Chrysalis le Juin 15, 2007, 18:20:13
Ok, I'll try to deliver some info.

In 1634, mankind fights for power, for money or glory. There are terrible wars, there are bloody conquests and there are dramatic religious issues too. Because of all those things, a portal leading to hells opens...

Instead of being upset by such an event, some men see a great oportunity in this "New World". Settlers, soldiers, people of the church or heroes take the road to this newfound place, looking for hope, for fame, for violence sometimes or simply for a piece of land.

However, this land is not a desert...Here are demons who will not abandon their land without fighting. There are also other humans, coming from the mysterious eastern part of the world, who seek the end of their philosophical quest in Hell. There are also the Egarés, who broke free from the chains of their demons masters, and fight some kind of guerilla to survive.

I tried to make it short, some parts are kind of translations of the stuff you can find on the front page of the official site. Hope it helps! :D


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Gaixo le Juin 15, 2007, 18:57:17
Is there really only one portal? Any clue as to where it's supposed to be located? Just wondering how central it is to the two human factions.


Titre: Re : Re : the Background
Posté par: Breten le Juin 15, 2007, 19:06:23
Is there really only one portal? Any clue as to where it's supposed to be located? Just wondering how central it is to the two human factions.

If I recall correctly there is definately more than 1 portal.  From what I recall about the fluff, instead of the 30 years war (I think) ending, they find a portal to hell.  But what they don't know is the Saracens ( I think them) found a portal 200 years ago.


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Chrysalis le Juin 15, 2007, 19:33:23
There are also hints at Odysseus finding/opening a portal in the greek mythology from what I remember. I also think they refer to the same greek hero (Odysseus) as "the Audacious", and it sounds like he would be an active character in the fluff.

It also makes me think that in one short text about the Egarés, a man says that they are very ancient men who are also very wise. In fact, the time seems to freeze once you are in the hells, so there could be people coming from aeons ago (like greek heroes). By the way, it sounds like the Egarés were once men (or women) who spent so much time in the hells that they mutated...

Another important point about those hells is that there are 9 of them. Like in Dante's Inferno.


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Jalikoud le Juin 15, 2007, 19:38:07
Welcome  :D !

There are three portals in eastern Europe  in the dawn of XVIIth century : Magdebourg, Séville ( Spain) and La Rochelle ( France).

Alamut portal ( used by Saracen) has been opened in the middle of XIIIth century by Hassan Ibn Al Sabbah, master of the Nazarit sect ( and historical character ;)).

A little bird told me that others are still unknown  ;).


Titre: Re : Re : the Background
Posté par: biohazard le Juin 16, 2007, 07:55:59
There are also hints at Odysseus finding/opening a portal in the greek mythology from what I remember. I also think they refer to the same greek hero (Odysseus) as "the Audacious", and it sounds like he would be an active character in the fluff.

It also makes me think that in one short text about the Egarés, a man says that they are very ancient men who are also very wise. In fact, the time seems to freeze once you are in the hells, so there could be people coming from aeons ago (like greek heroes). By the way, it sounds like the Egarés were once men (or women) who spent so much time in the hells that they mutated...

Another important point about those hells is that there are 9 of them. Like in Dante's Inferno.

You are right on all counts. As you may see by their weapons and armor, Egarés came in hell a loooooong time ago.

CROC


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Chrysalis le Juin 16, 2007, 08:31:46
In fact, when I think of greek mythology, three names of heroes come to my mind, who went to the hells and came back: Orpheus, Odysseus and Aeneas. The story of Orpheus seems to take place long before the tales of Odysseus and Aeneas, but those last ones have one common point: they were important characters of the trojan war. Here we have another time of great battles, quests for glory and thirst for power: it would be easy to think that doors to hells also opened then. We can imagine that men decided to explore this land, just as the men of the XVII century do it, and got trapped because the doors closed unexpectingly. Hense their name, "Egarés" or "Lost Ones"...But those are only thoughts coming from my troubled mind, nothing official here :D

And one last thing: I wonder where the name "Bran Carnoth" could come from (I mean, speaking of lost civilisations). Although the character was obviously created by Asmodée, it resounds either like a hebrew name (-oth, like in Behemoth, or demons names like Astaroth) or a lovecraftian creature (Azatoth, Yog-Sototh, etc...).


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: aidan st james le Juin 16, 2007, 10:50:36
Bran Carnoth was a celt, long years ago... ;)


Titre: Re : Re : the Background
Posté par: Chrysalis le Juin 16, 2007, 11:05:35
Bran Carnoth was a celt, long years ago... ;)

There are many Bran among the celts, but I didn't find infos about this Carnoth name...Any source about this?


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: aidan st james le Juin 16, 2007, 11:17:20
It was not a real historical character, not in this name  ;D Maybe you can seek the Crennach name it's the same....


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Melvin le Juin 16, 2007, 14:18:30
thanks for the reactions
Interesting fluff, gives alot of freedom for the future.
I hope this will (if more factions come.) mainly stick to more exotic influences. an indian army ruled by Ganesha (in his general of the celestial armies incarnate.)
fantasy incas/mayas.. and all beautifully sculpted, excellent ;) ofcourse thats getting ahead of things.

on the greek stuff, mythological character ofcourse,but Dionysus also took a journey to hell and got back (I believe taking ariadne with him.), ofcourse the greek hell isnt necessary comparable to a demon-infested hell (apart from tartarus, wich neither of the mentioned characters visited :))

so what about the envoriments ? in the previews were some beautiful tabletops, but is it all the typically modern(and pre-church) hell idea, lots of rocks, very chaotic etc.
or are there also more jungle like locations, seas and rivers etc. ?


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Jalikoud le Juin 16, 2007, 16:15:25
There are four settings at the moment : Frozen Wastes ( snow and ice), Burning Hell ( Lava, rift, pit and so on), Necropolis ( huge and doleful plains with some monuments here and there...glommy stuff too ( bones field, hungry undead), and Howling Plains ( with stygian winds).

One of the rules' parts is dedicated to " Terraformation" : in a nutshell, you can "create" your table instead of placing terrain features arbitrarly. Each player has some tokens of various amount and must place them in turns, face down in one of the nine sections the table is divided by.

At the end of this phase, we should untap the tokens. The higher win and may place any terrain features allowed by the settings. All terrain features have a cost : for example, if your game use the Frozen Wastes setting. You Put a 4 points coins in one of the nine sector and your opponent put a two points coin. When you will put the face up, the coin of your opponent will be discarded and you will be allowed to place terrain features in this sector for a total of 4 points. For example, un Prism of Power ( 4 points) or an hill ( 1 point) shrouded by a Frost Frog ( 3pts).

There are 0 points tokens in order to bluff your opponent.

All terrain features have various rules : it can be dead simple ( block line of sight, miniature will move slover...) but it may be very surprising ( simple soldiers gain a small boost but Officiers and Indepandants lose a bit, Lemure cannot cross this type of feature as they are afraid of it, etc, etc...).

If both of you place the same token on the same area, things can go awry : you created a "conflict zone". There will be no terrain features at all in this area, but, at the beginning of erach turn, there is a chance that someting really strange ( and generally unpleasant  ;)) happens somewhere on the battlefield.
For example, in Howling Plains setting, you can have to cope with a rain of giant scavenger maggots or a sudden defeaning chorus of the fallens.

Hells are really unpredictable and these rules attempt to reflect that.





Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Selenio le Juin 16, 2007, 16:42:18
Ugh...

I've just received my own Helldorado Rulebook this morning but I cannot start reading it right now... damn physiology exams...

I knew some things about the background but I'm reading things here that seem to be even more interesting than I thought. Odysseus, the Égares having been human beings, portals everywhere and "everywhen" in earth... damn exams...

Selenio.


Titre: Re : Re : the Background
Posté par: Magic Dave le Août 02, 2007, 22:32:56
and La Rochelle ( France).


i hoilday out that way. Guess i have to keep my eyes open :o

no sounds really good, just posted in the general area looking for some more info, but as for background this is great stuff. cant wait for an english rulebook.


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Bork le Août 03, 2007, 17:58:10
i really love the background and fluff for this game. i really like the concept that time freezes in hell effectively so peoples from other times/cultures etc could just as likely be around, and the idea that its the ancient greeks makes it even better. having oddysseus or aeneas etc turning up with a bunch of greek warriors would be fantastic and would i imagine be extremely popular. a really nice idea for another faction  ;D


Titre: Re : Re : the Background
Posté par: Chrysalis le Août 03, 2007, 20:04:11
i really love the background and fluff for this game. i really like the concept that time freezes in hell effectively so peoples from other times/cultures etc could just as likely be around, and the idea that its the ancient greeks makes it even better. having oddysseus or aeneas etc turning up with a bunch of greek warriors would be fantastic and would i imagine be extremely popular. a really nice idea for another faction  ;D

My guess is that people from ancient times are already there as the Lost. We know that time freezes when you get in hells, but it's also said that people change when they are there. I don't know if those changes depend on the demon master you follow, or if it's because of what you did in your past life, or simply because of where you come from. At first I thought Corvus = Romans, Squamates = India, Insects = ??? (very old ones? Greeks & co?), but now I'm not so sure...


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: lapiaz le Août 03, 2007, 23:13:19
YEAH!!!  like  Spartan in HELL  :-\  maybe not
I think is time for my medicine


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Bork le Août 03, 2007, 23:18:28
TONIGHT WE DINE IN HELL!!.....er again

that would be interesting. it looks like its open to imagination really. which is good because it leaves things open for future faction ideas in the future.


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Chrysalis le Août 03, 2007, 23:25:51
In the book, there is a man guiding the Lost & some humans allies to a ruined city, they call him "Audacious" (Audacieux in french) because they don't manage to pronounce his true name (Odysseus). He wears the legendary boar helm  :) However, I wonder why he didn't change while he was in the Hells. Maybe there is some secret... Maybe there are others like him... ::)


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Bork le Août 03, 2007, 23:36:20
s'very interesting indeed.


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Anconeus le Août 13, 2007, 08:50:00
While I don't have a rulebook and I'm semi-clueless about the French language, I did pick up a little from the English rules...  In the description of Religion, Buddhist is mentioned as one of the religions.  So I wonder if that is a sign of an Asian themed army?


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Chrysalis le Décembre 05, 2007, 14:08:40
In fact there is just an asian-type demon in the rulebook. Nothing about a whole faction yet...

And I'm not sure I would like to see samourais and ninjas in this game.


Titre: Re : Re : the Background
Posté par: Anconeus le Décembre 07, 2007, 02:20:13
In fact there is just an asian-type demon in the rulebook. Nothing about a whole faction yet...

And I'm not sure I would like to see samourais and ninjas in this game.

I can see your point there, although I'd be okay with it if they were historically based and not Hollywood versions.  A Chinese or Mongol army wouldn't be so bad either.


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: mEdwards le Décembre 07, 2007, 07:23:53
IMO, an Asian themed faction or army would be a viable option as historically there were a number of wars that took place in China and Japan that could have opened a portal to hell. However, the question does have to be asked, do you have to believe in heaven and hell for the portal to appear or would one appear once the conflict was great enough?  :-\


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: 2.0 le Décembre 07, 2007, 16:14:01
I have one background question on the Lost Ones.  I realize they are kind of a breakaway faction or rebel faction off of the Demons, but why are they listed as Atheist on their cards?  Atheism doesn't believe in the existence of gods/heaven/hell.  The Lost Ones obviously know there is a hell, shouldn't they be more Agnostic if they want to drop their religion altogether?


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: mathieu le Décembre 07, 2007, 17:13:27
The reason is actually rule-related as answered by Geof in this (http://arch01.forum.helldorado.fr/index.php?topic=861.0) thread: the game term 'Atheist' is also loosely used to describe agnostics because they didn't want to introduce two terms that'd have identical in-game effects.


Titre: Re : Re : the Background
Posté par: Bob le Décembre 07, 2007, 19:37:49
Atheism doesn't believe in the existence of gods/heaven/hell.  The Lost Ones obviously know there is a hell

Once something can be checked by experience, it leaves the mystic sphere to enter the rational one. Hell exists as Earth exists. There is no point in believing in Hell or not when you can just go and see for yourself. Your definition of atheism is this world's definition, not HellDorado's one.


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: 2.0 le Décembre 08, 2007, 02:35:00
Good points, thanks!


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Vorenus le Juin 18, 2008, 16:40:12
I don't know too much about christian mythology, but I was kind of wondering about things like the relationship between the damned the lost and the demons.
Why do the damned fight for the demons, surely they'd want to help the humans and escape their damnation.  Do they simply have no choice?  Are they insane?  Do the demons offer some kind of promotion?
I was under the impression that certain stories implied that some angels or demons had once been human, so could the damned maybe graduate to become demons once powerful and evil enough?
Also, why are the lost's subraces so different from the demons, I know it says in one piece of background that they follow a different path of evolution, but is there any information on what defines these paths?
I'm not really sure how much information there is available at the moment, so I won't be suprised i some of these questions are unanswerable.  I just like to speculate, and it'd be nice if someone could give me better information.


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Silveri le Juin 20, 2008, 13:18:50
From what I've read from the translated fluff is that the damned are used as a slave workforce by both humanity and demons. Humanity is using its own ancestors as an inexhaustible workforce. [speculation]Most of the damned probably aren't powerful enough (lack the willpower) to oppose its masters, be it humans or demons. "Why oppose? The situation will probably go from bad to worse no matter what I do..."[/speculation]


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Sakana le Juillet 30, 2008, 11:33:42
Do you have that feeling, that demons are related to cardinal sins ( Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Pride). If I'm right , then when be relest of guys like Lucifer, Belphegor or Satan/Amon :)

If you wanna know more : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Deadly_Sins


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: Silveri le Juillet 30, 2008, 12:12:05
I'd suppose that Asm wouldn't release the "big guys" due to them well... being too big for the game... also.. if I my gut feeling is correct, they might be also be more of less a legend than actual figures active in hell these days or demigods or whatnot. I for one certainly wouldn't entertain the idea of a prayer that summons a hand of Gork Satan/God to the gaming table that crushes infidels.


Titre: Re : the Background
Posté par: lapiaz le Août 05, 2008, 15:10:55
i think the door to hell opn on the fringes of hell  so as the colonization is only on his second year  and the big guys not even  know what is happening . or maybe there is no big  bosses at all ....


Titre: Re : Re : the Background
Posté par: Worm le Novembre 05, 2008, 18:21:30
i think the door to hell opn on the fringes of hell  so as the colonization is only on his second year  and the big guys not even  know what is happening . or maybe there is no big  bosses at all ....
Lucifer is here, but he's still Samael. Some Arch-Devils are mentionned, they are working for their own sake. There was no reason for them to do otherwise at the beginning, and for the moment the Angels, Fallens or not, are the only one willing to preserve the whole hell.

But when settlers will reach the center, there'll probably meet the one who's ruling the City of Dis and his lieutenants. And I'm pretty sure he'll be smarter than the other, and far better prepared to welcome the visitors...  ;)