Here’s a short video clip from the Midland Road area, built with Sixesthrice’s terrific Wild Woods tileset. This one shows how I was able to use the (very conveniently walkable) roof of the Midland Inn as a “landing pad” to facilitate travel to and from the area.
Here’s the opening scene of The Miracle Worker, Act II – Mission to Rayche. Just click the image to launch a five minute video clip. (Warning: it’s about 150 mb, so be prepared to wait a few minutes for it to download.)
Here’s a rough map of Southern Rayche, the setting of Sanctum of the Archmage 3: The Miracle Worker, Act II – Mission to Rayche.
Although I hadn’t originally planned to use NWNCQ or any of the original Bioware tilesets in Sanctum 3, I finally decided that I did have some areas that I needed them for. After some work on them I have to say that I’m very pleased with the result. Here are a couple of screenshots to show why. 🙂
Seven years ago, the throne of Carlissa was usurped and the kingdom overrun by the Warlord Zomoran, also known as the Black Magus. The stories told by travelers and refugees were all the same: that the Warlord somehow managed to summon an army of demons willing to serve him, and launched a surprise attack on the capitol city of Lannamon. King Danor and the entire royal family were brutally slaughtered, and Zomoran took the throne for himself.
Instead of joining together to overthrow the usurper and destroy the demon threat, the other nations of the eastern continent resolved to make peace with the Warlord. Lulled by reassurances that he had no designs on expanding his kingdom, and afraid of standing against his demon army, each of them reluctantly made terms and treaties with the new ruler of Carlissa. Some voices were raised in warning that the Magus could not be trusted, and that an army of demons could not be expected to remain a peaceful neighbor, but few heeded them.
Lacking a strong leader who could unite the other nations against the Warlord, the lands settled into a watchful detente. In Carlissa, Zomoran worked to solidify his iron grip on the kingdom, while a small but determined resistance formed to oppose his brutal regime. Bands of demons roamed the countryside at will, spreading terror and death, hunting the resistance and their leaders. And more demons were brought into the world to swell the ranks of the Magus’ army — to prepare for the day when it would march forth again, this time to conquer not just a kingdom, but an empire.
Sanctum of the Archmage is the story of heroes who fought to bring peace and freedom once again to the Kingdom of Carlissa, and their epic struggle to unite their world in a crusade to defeat the Warlord and his infernal allies. Coming from many different lands and backgrounds, they all had one thing in common: an uncompromising refusal to submit to evil. And as they soon learned, their struggle was only one part of a wider conflict, of a cosmic war between good and evil that had been going on for thousands of years.
Enter the Sanctum of the Archmage Writing Projects Site
Copyright Notice. Copyright 2007, all rights reserved.
I’m in the process of starting to migrate the Sanctum of the Archmage Website and Blog to a new domain, and upgrade them to use new software. Although I still have some work to do in customizing the look (such as experimenting with themes), my new game development blog, The Sanctum, is now online:
The New and Improved Sanctum Blog – https://andarian.net/TheSanctum
The existing sites at andarian.net are still available, and will be at least until I’ve fully completed migrating them to the new domain. All new blog posts for the Sanctum project, though, will be on the new site.
Andarian
Author, Sanctum of the Archmage
Welcome to “The Sanctum,” a blog created for information about the ongoing “Sanctum of the Archmage” writing projects. More information about these projects can be found at my website. As described there, portions of the project are being developed as a series of novels, and others in the form of custom modules for the Neverwinter Nights Computer Role-Playing Game (CRPG).
I’m currently in the process of migrating my old blog and website to it’s new home here on andarian.com. That process will likely take a while, and in the meantime you can still find information on my old website:
Andarian
Author, Sanctum of the Archmage
Here’s a new screenshot from Sanctum of the Archmage 3: The Miracle Worker, Act II – Mission to Rayche. This one uses a fantastic new tileset custom developed for the series by the very talented Estelindis.
I was thinking that players might enjoy a story “teaser” from the next chapter. Here’s the text of a book of lore found in Sanctum of the Archmage 3: The Miracle Worker, Act II — Mission to Rayche, titled “The Legend of the Defender.”
Many thousands of years ago, a great war between the Gods and the Demons came to the world. The Demons had opened a door from the realms of hell itself, and their armies threatened to overrun the earth. In those ancient times most of the world was wild and unsettled, with the exception of two great centers of civilization. These were the Kingdom of Nuracinth (now the Northern Plains), which was ruled by humans; and the realm of Eldacinth (now the lands of Elde and Carlissa), shared by the elves and faeries.
The world then was still under the active protection of the Gods, and the army of Heaven prepared to meet the Hordes of Hell in battle. The races of the time were asked to fulfill their oaths of obedience to the Gods and to stand beside them in the Great War. Although men have long forgotten them, the elves still remember The Faeries, who commanded powerful magic but refused the Gods’ call. They retreated to the land of Faerie, and wove the sparkling curtain around it to forever cut themselves off from the rest of the world.
The other races were afraid and hesitated to fight. The Demon Horde began to ravage their lands and many were killed, until the Goddess Tianth finally saw and took pity on their fears. She appeared to Calindra, a simple warrior woman from Rayche whose spirit was true to the Gods and filled with courage and faith in The Divine. She spoke words of hope to her, and gave to her The Shield of the Defender, allegedly forged from a shard of the goddess’ own heart.
Inspired, Calindra rallied the elves and men of the time to stand with the Army of Heaven, and they met the Horde in the heart of Nuracinth. The Kingdom was devastated by the war and remained barren for a thousand years, and even now only the hardiest of nomads can survive there. But the Army of Heaven prevailed, and Calindra — protected by the magic of the Shield — herself slew the Captain of the Horde. Thus the Demons were driven forever from the face of the earth.
Over the next thousand years the Gods left the world to return to the Heavens. Before they left, they established the Church of the Divine as a covenant with those who had shown their faith by standing with them in the Great War. They promised that they would always hear and answer the prayers of their clerics, who to this day wield the magic of the Divine in the Gods’ name. Because of this covenant, the races of men and elves have become known as The Children of the Gods, or simply The Children for short.
The Kingdom of men had been devastated by the Great Battle, and in its aftermath the rulers of the lesser realms that remained vied for dominance. Calindra had become a hero among The Children, and she tried to use her influence to help unite them into a new great kingdom. But the leaders and statesmen of Ancient Nuracinth were gone, and the rulers who remained were men of lesser stature. They tried to use Calindra to their own advantage, and to expand their power by drawing her into their petty wars and intrigues.
Dismayed, Calindra eventually left them to return to her homeland of Rayche, there to wander the countryside as an adventurer. She vanished from the knowledge of history, her final fate unknown, and the shield vanished with her. But according to the legend, it still lies somewhere in the world, in the last resting place of Calindra the Defender. And it waits for the day when its power will be called upon once again to strengthen the hearts of the people against a great evil.
After some last-minute tweaks, the Sanctum of the Archmage version 3.4 update is finally online, and the Vault pages have been updated to include the new links. The major change, as I’ve blogged about recently, was the addition of Chico400’s NWNCQ, which significantly upgrades the appearance of the Bioware default tilesets. The update also contains a number of additional features (including some new high-quality player-selectable heads, some new special abilities for Robin, and some new items), and of course a number of bugfixes.
Here are a couple of new screenshots to whet your appetite (for more, see my earlier blog post here):
