Franchises require a very special approach to lore when you’re not the original creator. As a fan, you want to add something to the world you love that is faithful to its spirit, but meaningful enough so that it doesn’t feel like gushing fanfiction. This becomes even harder if a franchise is old (like Might and Magic) and has a complicated history (like Might and Magic). Heroes of Might and Magic as a series is a spin-off of the Might and Magic franchise and partially shares a world (MM6-MM8) with it — up until HoMM3, that is. Then an eschatological event happens, and HoMM4 takes place in a new world, as do the following games. Some inhabitants of the original Enroth escape to Axeoth from HoMM4, but HoMM5 is, in terms of grand cosmology, a kind of pure fantasy soft reboot of the setting in the world of Ashan. It is, of course, irrelevant to us as HoMM:OE is a return to Enroth. But the soft reboot happened for a reason. And that reason was, the HoMM community is very… split on the franchise’s origins. [h2]Are Demons Space Aliens?[/h2] This is because the Might and Magic universe isn’t fantasy — it’s space [i]techno fantasy[/i] about powerful high-tech races and ancient creatures terraforming a world that only looks medieval. The Might and Magic series explores this in full detail, but the [i]Heroes[/i] of Might and Magic sub-franchise conceals this aspect. Of course, it’s not like the original creators considered HoMM to be separate from MM lore-wise — quite the contrary. But the fact remains, in all of the Heroes games the sci-fi aspect was never ever made explicit. You wouldn’t know that the devil Kreegans from Inferno are actually a race of spacefaring aliens (a few hints in the campaigns notwithstanding), unless you search external sources, like the Might and Magic games or Internet sites, for this information. So a lot of players fell in love with Heroes without knowing about its roots. Naturally, this split the community. Some people enjoy the techno fantasy aspect. Others treat it as a sort of easter egg! But there are also people who heavily dislike the “techno” part — they rebelled against the original (unreleased) Forge faction in HoMM3, which was meant to represent this more technological aspect. A significant portion of the [i]Heroes[/i] of Might and Magic fans view it as pure fantasy. Which is one of the reasons the series moved to more traditional worlds in later installments. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45162246/23a684d1ebb2cee709722883f80bc8ed2abbcdea.png[/img] Now, dear reader, we suspect you have an opinion on the matter, whether pro- or anti-techno element. Since the announcement we’ve read a lot of passionate discussions on the matter, with mutually exclusive points made from both sides. To some people, removing the techno fantasy aspect is removing the DNA of the series; to others, adding it dilutes the Heroes identity and makes the world less immersive. Since we at Unfrozen are fans, our team is actually also split on the matter — some people enjoy the techno fantasy roots, others don't. And so the question is: how do we create a game that makes everyone happy? Is it even possible? [h2]Here Come the Tropes[/h2] Here’s a fun question for you: who writes unit or item descriptions in a game? More often than not, a sort of omniscient narrator/demiurg figure does — basically it’s the creators of the game saying, “This is the objective truth.” Games like Magic: The Gathering shift this tradition, utilizing in-universe quotes from characters for their flavor texts. And some games, like Hollow Knight, go even further — their artbook is presented as a bestiary written by an in-universe character who has a name and a story (and who can thus be mistaken — or at least has a clearly subjective view of the world). [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45162246/e4586683cee04580c499dc58c9f5a1b3309b314f.png[/img] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45162246/99e773815ae4611973a39703fc42a5cf7d32ef11.jpg[/img] The cool thing about Heroes of Might and Magic is that it’s a game about clashing worldviews. Factions are different on every level, from visual design to gameplay perks, and we emphasize that in Olden Era. So why not make their worldviews equally varied? Different people of Jadame may have different ideas on where magic comes from. Or how the world began. Or whether gods exist and what they do. Or what the movement of stars means. Instead of giving a definitive answer, why not use conflicting interpretations to our advantage? [h2]Subjective Narration[/h2] In Olden Era, followers of the Temple believe that the Sun is a magic chalice where all good souls go after death. This is why they preach self-improvement: the better you make yourself in life, the stronger your soul becomes, feeding their central object of worship. This is also why templars hate necromancers so much, as they tie souls to mortal remains in an unnatural way, denying them this bliss and obligation. Now, is the Sun actually a chalice? Do faithful souls [i]really[/i] go there? Do we [i]need[/i] an objective answer? https://youtu.be/M2anFK-Gwb8 From [i]Rashomon[/i] to [i]A Song of Ice and Fire[/i], stories with multiple narrators, subjective and unreliable, have been a great way to show conflict where each side has their own truth and no one feels like an objective villain. To an Alvar dark elf, the conflict between Temple and Necropolis might look ridiculous because they know that the sun is just an orb of fire in the sky. To a Murmurwood satyr, it makes sense, as they are equally convinced that all souls are sucked back into the world after death, but the Temple’s desire to inflate them artificially feels unnatural. No one is “objectively” right or wrong here, it’s just different worldviews clashing — over things more fundamental than a piece of land or a powerful artifact. We will, of course, mostly explore this in the campaign. But even in skirmishes or on the Arena, this trace of subjectivity is still present. All unit descriptions, for example, are written by an in-universe character, a scholar, who does his best to be impassive, but still comments on aspects of other cultures he finds questionable, and he can still be wrong. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45162246/e9a46093e17f7bfa41f0535353f348b1dd08fc6b.png[/img] [i]And yes, it’s an old minotaur[/i] In fact, New World Computing sometimes made good use of the “unreliable narrator” tropes. For instance, some people in Enroth think that VARN was a seafaring ship, or the whole deal with Kreegans being labeled as “devils” and their enslaved humans as possessed Demoniacs. All that said, there are aspects of HoMM:OE’s world that aren’t open to interpretation — like Jadame’s people, their social structures and politics. Or pure geography. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/45162246/5cbec6bf134c6249edb090ac68ca783ab5216971.png[/img] [i]WIP! This iteration of the map of Jadame is inspired by [url=https://www.deviantart.com/markonphoenix/art/World-of-Enroth-Jadame-667278393]an awesome fan version by Markon Phoenix[/url] — although it has changed somewhat since then.[/i] The largest volcano on Jadame is in Shadowspire, but it’s dormant. The ones to the south are active. These are undeniable facts. But it’s not necessarily possible to tell whether that was the cause of the new fiery power appearing in those parts of the continent (attracted and bolstered by the elemental force of the volcanoes, maybe?) or if the power boosted the volcanoes. Were the Wasp Nest insectoid inhabitants corrupted by this new force — or did they summon it voluntarily? Some of these questions will be answered in the story. But others will remain open-ended. Because everyone has their own truth. Follow news and updates: [list] [*] [url=https://discord.gg/unfrozen]Discord[/url] [*] [url=https://unfrozen.studio/]Official page[/url] [*] [url=https://x.com/Unfrozen_Studio]X / Twitter[/url] [*] [url=https://www.facebook.com/Unfrozen.official]Facebook[/url] [*] [url=https://www.youtube.com/@unfrozenofficial]YouTube[/url] [/list]