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Episode 19 – Revenant Concepts 3

social_art_banners_the-incarnate-process_022616episodes_episode-text_019Revenant_Sillos3

LONG POST INCOMING. This is a very revealing post however, a lot of information was discussed.

For the final round of Revenant Silos, we were given a real treat!

Below is the response to the Revenant silhouettes:


Jason Allen
Jason Allen

These are bad ass Dylan. I really like seeing your interpretations of the character descriptions. I think once we have Apsu and Engur concepts we will continue to explore a few more of these like you said.

The Ylem symbol is reserved for Apsu. But seeing the symbol on the right gives me a good idea. I have nailed down the Revenants. Discovering their appearance will be a process, I will most likely have Dylan create 3-6 more concepts.

Posted

Dylan Pierpont

Dylan Pierpont

Hi Guys!

So here’s the latest round of Revenant sillos. You’ll notice #1 is a similar composite to what Jason created last week with some additional alterations for varieties sake.

#2 is a balanced between hard and soft materials (effectively armor and robes). And #3 is entirely soft fabric. This was an idea brought up earlier about how the Revenant might not actually need armor in order to perform their function. I like where #3 is going, although I’m not entirely sold on the head choice. I thought that might be a talking point for you guys on any of these designs, really. Because the Revenant aren’t entirely ‘human’ I think we still have some room to play with their facial appearance.

Also, I thought I remembered this being covered in a previous conversation, but is there a specific Revenant character associated with each individual King? IE: are we going to need to create a separate Revenant design for every King, or are we choosing one Revenat design to represent all Revenant? I have an idea that could work for the latter, but I’m not sure I understand the context in which this art work is going to be used, so I’ll refrain from mentioning it until I know it’s appropriate.

As always, let me know if you have any comments, questions or concerns.

Cheers!

Posted

Jason Allen
Jason Allen

Dylan,

These are really cool. Fantastic work as always. I am still undecided which one to go with, I like the chains you added to number 1, I think the lanterns are cool but might make the other-worldly, fringe dimension harder to convey. Number 2 is really good, having no eye portal in the helmet is striking and makes for an interesting consideration. I also like number 3’s wardrobe a lot, the shoulder-neck piece and the wrist-cuffs are my favorite components. I agree with your thought of not being entirely sold on the head piece; however, the inspiration behind why you may the head this way is exactly what I’m talking about for making the Revenant though, they are very much NOT human – at all.

That being said I will take this time to describe in detail whats really going on with these Revenant:

These kingdoms and events are within Empyrnea, which is in Pneuma Mundus (we would call Pneuma Mundus the fourth dimension here in Corpus Mundus – our dimension). The force that had made this possible was the manipulation of Ylem by Apsu, who also discovered the nature of Ylem being able to be focused into separate concentrated forms of energy (magic) called Dire, Aria, Egis and Pyre; Black, White, Green and Red respectively. These became known as the focuses (or foci). These magicks pervade Pneuma Mundus within the presence of Ylem, and is a form of living energy that can direct outcomes in Empyrnea, especially through their creations of Scions and Sentinels, higher dimension creatures. The foci are also present in every person as well, you could think of it as a possession but its not in a negative way, it would be more like a visitation. This is an energy that everything in this dimension needs to have within it in order to stay in Pneuma Mundus, its like the air we breath here, everything in Empyrnea needs it and without it would die or worse, fall back to Corpus Mundus. This focus that is present in living people I call their “soul passenger”. <NOTE TO READERS: This is not what we call the energy living inside the ascended anymore – it was a placeholder; it is now simply referred to as Ylem Energy>

Whenever someone is born in Empyrnea, they already have a “soul passenger” present within them. This is what gives every Empyrnean their eye-color (depending on which focus they are). The “soul passenger” can be re-focused just like any other Ylem energy, this is their form of “baptism”. Typically if a couple has a child that is not the focus of the parents they will have a baptism to re-align the childs “soul passenger” to the proper focus color.

When someone in Empyrnea dies, the actual soul moves on just as we can assume it does here in Corpus Mundus. HOWEVER, the “soul passenger” is just a form of energy and actually doesn’t “die”, but since it has gone through the experience of death, it gravitates back to Ylem to be “purified” and re-focused to be then infused into someone else as their new “soul passenger”. The medium that the “soul passengers” flow through when returning to Ylem is a Fringe Dimension <NOTE TO READERS: This is called “The Traverse”> (lying just outside Empyrnea’s perceivable dimension). Do not confuse a “soul passenger” as being a persons soul, the persons soul moves on to Omega Mundus. A “soul passenger” is literally JUST a driving force of living energy from the Ylem gemstone, it is just energy.

Apsu discovers a way to bottleneck the migration of the “soul passenger” energy departed from the dead, preventing it from reaching Ylem. He knows how to do this because, when he dies defeating the Wayward Sentinel he sees it for himself before being brought back to life by the philosophers stone*.

These “lost soul passengers” begin to concentrate into larger pools of energy according to the focus it was aligned to when its host died. After some time of this happening, the concentration of energy began to take form into an actual entity: This is the birth of the Revenant. Apsu discovers he can control the Revenant. He is a hardcore manipulator.

With all that said, I can now demonstrate the context of what is going on in the game. The Kings all have their own “soul passenger” as well, but these guys are surging with their focus energy, far beyond that of any other Empyrnean to be sure. As the kings die in the Immolation Chamber (the arena combat) Apsu captures their “soul passengers” just like anyone else’s. However, this amount of focus energy from a departed king is incredible, so as soon as that focus energy is infused with its appropriate Revenant (Dire, Aria, Egis or Pyre Revenant) it is SO INTENSE that Apsu is literally able to pull the Revenants out of the Fringe Dimension and into the actual chamber. The whole point behind all this sacrifice in the chamber is for Apsu to collect all 4 of the kings “soul passenger” energy into the Revenants, and then (spoiler removed), giving him inconceivable amounts of power, so that he may attempt to ascend to Omega Mundus, and take the Omega Stone.

This description got much longer than I thought it would, but now I believe can answer your questions more accurately:

Is there a specific Revenant character associated with each individual King?
No, each Revenant is a collection of concentrated “soul passenger” focus energy. It is the summation of multitudes of peoples departed soul passengers, of which the Kings soul passengers also become part.

Are we going to need to create a separate Revenant design for every King, or are we choosing one Revenat design to represent all Revenant?
We know what the Ylem Revenant looks like (spoiler removed). For the other 4, they all will look the same, it helps with showing that they are being manipulated (spoiler removed). So I think that since these 4 will look the same all we need is to probably have one simple design difference to express Dire, Aria, Egis, and Pyre Revenants. The easiest way to do this would be color.HOWEVER! I’ve been wanting to mention this for some time but until now haven’t been able. What would be KICK ASS is if that shining light in the Revenants face was actually the GLYPH SYMBOL FOR ITS FOCUS. So that means we would need 4 symmetric Glyphs (individually symmetrical) that look good to represent each focus: Dire Glyph, Aria Glyph, Egis Glyph, and Pyre Glyph. Let me know your thoughts on this, between you, Anthony and myself we may all need to work on deciding who will design the glyphs.

You said you have an idea that could work for choosing one Revenant design to represent all Revenant. WHAT SAY YOU?!

Posted 2014


Jason Allen
Jason Allen

Here are some Glyphs I made that I think would look good if they were represented as the glowing light in the face of the Revenants.

Two of these are obvious adaptations of symbols that you have already demonstrated in the Revenants.

Let me know if these could be used (two you already have) by forming them into your own style. I also will include the psd.

Aria Glyph
Dire Glyph.
Egis GlyphPyre Glyph
Heres the lineup of glyphs presented a better way

Glyph lineup

Posted 2014


Dylan Pierpont

Dylan Pierpont

Ok. NOW I have a clearer understanding of the Revenant’s purpose. Thanks for the lengthy (albeit informative) description! Definitely helps this next part.

So initially this is what I thought I remembered from our first meeting:

On the physical playmat we would have the chosen King represented. So for instance, Player 1 is using the Kynazarr playmat, Player 2 is using Eloden, etc. Once all the kings die in the Immolation Chamber, the player’s flip over their playmats to reveal their king’s associated Revenant character. (Again, this was just my loose memory from our first meeting, so if I’m completely off here try not to be alarmed, haha)

BUT! I just wanted to be sure. Because if the Revenant was being depicted as a single design, what I thought we could do instead is something similar to the Azkaban movie poster. One main Revenant figure flanked by a few others behind it to show additional design language.

I suppose a follow up question is how do you plan on using the Revenant artwork? Was I correct with the reverse side of the playmat idea or did i just make that up? And if not on the playmat, then where?

As far as the symbols being unique for each of the 4 Revenant, I think that’s a great idea. It’s subtle and effective. The design work for each symbol might be an area that you and Tony would be more comfortable with. I could do design stuff all day and they would all end up looking the same to me. But tony has a way of creating unique and memorable icons that will stick with the viewer. My only critique is that it MIGHT be helpful to hold off on the symbols designs until we have a finalized concept for the head and body of the Revenant, because whatever symbols we end up creating will have to conform in some way to whatever head/body shape we come up with. Might not be the biggest issue in the world so long as the symbols are roughly the same dimensions, but food for thought at the very least.

Posted


Jason Allen
Jason Allen

Yes what you said is correct, with one slight detail. Anytime a king dies, that player flips over their player mat and they are now Revenant, its immediate; they immediately are back in the game on the next turn, so they literally have no down time. Essentially though you want to survive by killing everyone else as long as possible so as to not become Revenant, but even if everyone has died and their are no surviving kings remaining, the game still continues as the Revenants battle it out. At this point if you die as Revenant you just keep coming back as that Revenant.

I would love to see this idea you are talking about that is similar to the Azkaban movie poster. As soon as I saw this idea you presented I saw three Revenant looking at me, in my mind, the two in the back turned their heads to look forward along with the one in the middle. Pretty awesome. To do this I imagine you are thinking there would be subtle differences in the design of the heads? Maybe there is a head, but no face which is replaced by the light symbol, and some Revenant have the hood and another the mockery of a crown? I’m just throwing ideas out there at this point, but I like the direction this conversation is going. I would love to have 4 distinct Revenant, albeit they are all obviously the same “species” (for the lack of a better word) which is visually noticeable.

I suppose a follow up question is how do you plan on using the Revenant artwork?

The Revenant artwork will be on the reverse side of the player mat, you remembered right. They will also be used as promotional material ESPECIALLY if you were to do a poster version of the 3 Revenant like in the Azkaban poster with perhaps a king ascending in the background behind them. Would be an awesome thing to see.

BTW Last night we recorded an entire play session as well as a segment that breaks down all of the game components and how they relate to each other. Once Luke (our multimedia guy) gets that posted I will be sharing it with you and Anthony. You wouldn’t have to view the whole play session, but the separate video that details all the game components and essentially describes the rules of the game would probably prove useful. I’ll let you know when its on the drive.

Posted


Dylan Pierpont

Dylan Pierpont

To do this I imagine you are thinking their would be subtle differences in the design of the heads? Maybe there is a head, but no face which is replaced by the light symbol, and some Revenant have the hood and another the mockery of a crown?

Yep. Exactly. Nothing major. Just little things to show some variation among the 3. Love the idea for a separate promo poster of the 3 Revenant and a king ascending. I can already tell that would make for a killer illustration. <NOTE TO READERS – …it did 🙂 >

As for the playmats I now know we will have an individual Revenant representing each of the 4 foci. Check!

Looking forward to the video. Will be interesting to see the game in-action for the first time.

Posted

END EPISODE # 019


Stay tuned for EPISODE # 020: Focus Glyph Mockups which will be posted soon!

Thank you for stopping by!

© 2016 Incarnate Games Inc, Ascended Kings, Omega Mundus series, the Incarnate Games logo,  the Ascended Kings logo and all associated marks, names, foci, characters, models, environments, illustrations and images from the Ascended Kings and/or Omega Mundus series are either ®,™, and/or © Incarnate Games, Inc 2013-2016. All Rights Reserved. Used under exclusive copyright rights by Incarnate Games Inc.

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