Hello all! I’m not dead! Well, probably. Anyway, today I come back from my long absence (3-4 months since my last post!) to present something I’ve been cooking up the past few days: An idea that will (should time and college permit) come to fruition in the near future! I present to you all, The Manaforged…Concept!
As you can clearly see, the concept isn’t very fleshed out in terms of design. I plan to have the final basic settler design finished sometime next week though. From this picture, you can clearly see three distinct features:
- Long ears - The race will have elf-style ears, but will not be actual elves.
- The purple hair - Purple is the standard color of all hair for the Manaforged, with slight variations from settler to settler.
- The blue-ish eyes - I figured a change from black would be nice. Not sure how it would look in game though, will check soon.
These features stand the Manaforged out from the two other races, The Ascendancy and Rayya’s Children. Alongside these graphic differences, there is an in-lore reason to explain these odd design choices. Ahem.
In one of The Ascendancy’s settlements, there lived a man named Silas Thorne. Silas was more than your average man, however. Secretly, he practiced the mystical art of thaumaturgy. In his quest for arcane knowledge, Silas discovered a book thought to hold the secret of life itself. And so, Silas studied this book night and day for months, until finally he thought he had unlocked the code himself.
One night, Silas began performing a ritual found inside of the book, able to bring life out of a rare metal, which Silas dubbed “Arcanite.” Performing this ritual cost him dearly, however. Perhaps he was missing a component, or was performing the ritual incorrectly, or maybe he was not even a great enough thaumaturge to complete it correctly, but the ritual backfired. A wave of magical energy erupted from the ritual’s center, passing through the walls of Silas’ study and into the village.
Once Silas realized what had happened, it was too late. The entire population of the village was gone. It was a wonder Silas himself was alive. More importantly, however, where the Arcanite had once been now stood seven human-like lifeforms. Their features were, off, to say the least. Their ears were pointed, their hair purple, and their eyes shone with the brilliance of the Arcanite used to create them. The ritual, Silas thought, had at least somewhat worked. Attempting to cover up his mistake, Silas used what magic he could to create a portal to a place far away from the Ascendancy - the heart of the jungle.
Silas shuffled these new people, the “Manaforged” as he called them, into the portal, along with a few supplies. He couldn’t just let his “children,” as he thought of them, die out in the wilderness. Into the last settler’s hands he gave the book that had led to their creation. It was far too dangerous to stay with him, after the accident he had caused.
In the jungle, each of the seven Manaforged appeared. Here, they reckoned, they would begin their new life as the very first, and potentially last, of their kind.
Alright! There’s that section down! Lets cover some other concepts before I end this post, such as:
How do I get new settlers?
Good question! In-lore, the original Manaforged were created with a strange metal called Arcanite. In order to gain new settlers, you must also do the same, using Arcanite as well as the provided ritual book, which is probably going to be a class talisman. (@Drotten do you know if it’s even possible to change the default settler gaining mechanic?)
What kind of entities and enemies will be in the jungle?
Good question again! Honestly, I don’t quite know at this point. I’ll probably make a post in the near future about it, as well as do a bunch of research into the jungle and see what I come up with. The whole jungle thing came to me on a whim. With all the trees in the jungle I don’t even know if it would be a good choice because of the camera controls. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!
Will there be other kinds of magic besides settler creation?
Absolutely! I haven’t narrowed it all down yet, but I at least plan to have some kind of transmutation mechanic in place, for crafting Arcanite and changing various things into various other things. Once ranged combat is added, I also plan to have some sort of battlemage or wizard. I’m going to try to not borrow much from my last mod concept, Arcanism. Again, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it!
Will you need help with art that’s not done in Qubicle? Or sometimes that IS done in Qubicle?
Definitely! I want to match Stonehearth’s style as close as possible, which means UI elements, the storybook race chooser thing (which is fantastic, if I must say), and splash screens. Sometimes, I might need help with something Qubicle related as well. When the need arises, I’ll send up the Artist Signal or something. If you think this mod sounds interesting and you’d like to help more long term - maybe even when I head back to college- feel free to PM me about it! (Credit will of course be given to anyone who helps contribute.)
Well, I think that wraps up this post! Thank you all for reading, and wish me luck on finishing this endeavor! The support I received for my last mod concept Arcanism (link above) was astounding and though it didn’t pan out in the end, I thank you all for giving me support on it. 
I’ll have a post up tomorrow or Monday giving some more insight into this mod. Until next time, everyone!
