Perhaps my most favorite moments of the Fanguard in San Diego was spending a precious few moments with the authors of the lore. Most were brief encounters in hallways and such. But everyone seemed pretty excited to talk about the lore as a break from the topical game mechanics, balance, et al. This article is culled from many brief conversations over the course of the weekend.
Fanguard, as Nenjin has reported, was a highly informative event. Anyone who has followed Sigil Games Online since its inception knows how excited this crack team of developers is about its debut title Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. I don't think you can really appreciate this passion until you have met with them and watched their faces light up and animate as they talk about it. These guys love what their doing and as I found out in San Diego- the lore authors are no exception.
As some know, the lore is written by various staff members with a penchant for storytelling. Unfortunately for us this part of their jobs is secondary to their primary roles such as community management, technical operations, production, and production. Fortunately for us, however, they LOVE the secondary aspect of their jobs. When they can eke out the time, we all benefit. As I pen this article, Vanguard:Saga of Heroes is still in early beta stages. Currently, The Safehouse Book of Telonian Lore exceeds 450 pages. Not bad for a "secondary" job description, eh?
One interesting note is the difficulty of creating a back-story for Telon without pigeonholing time in respect to the live game. We have a rough understanding of a timeline in Thestra through the lineage of the kings of Targonor. We also have the undead siege of Targonor as an event that marks Thestran life before and after. Qalia, while still relatively sparse in lore, reflects the Cataclysm which seems to permeate a change in era. We also see a civil war of sorts that fragments the Qalian people. One would assume that Kojan will follow suit when we starting seeing the words of their people.
Knowing this, we will have no concrete knowledge of where we will be “dropped” into Telon. As players we have a vibrant world with legitimate preconceptions of the lands around us. As developers, they have a culture rich back-story to build on without being too hobbled by what the players “know.” We all know how discombobulated we story geeks become when we feel let down by what we assumed to know.
I think most can agree that the many literary styles of writing are a boon to the lore. My personal favorites are the epistolary writings. Glimpsing a world through a seemingly incongruent cast of characters’ biased eyes- in their own words- is a unique perspective that really draws you in. Be it the symbiosis of the Telonites or the interweaving of one tale to the next- it is an effort by design according to Michael Butler. We are becoming intimately aware of the Telon population- from the pastoral ponderings of an unlikely Halfling hero to the military stratagems of a monarch under siege.
In the event I didn’t thank any of the developers that took some time to speak with me in their busy schedules- thank you! Your lore writing efforts are appreciated. We hope to see more soon. Also, a big apology to Steve Williams for not giving proper credit to him in The Safehouse Anthology. I will correct that in the next revision. For those not aware of Steve’s efforts, he is responsible for Chronicle of the Shieldbearer and if I’m not mistaken, The Abandoned Soldier.
Lore news/rumor to look out for…
So here's to another great year of storytelling. I know I am looking forward to it and the many Fanguards to come.
