The Sharduk are a savage, cruel, and opportunistic people who are notorious for raiding all the more civilized lands bordering their vast, barren territory, the Great Eastern Desert. When designing these tribal marauders, we went for a versatile damage-dealer enemy type that - when left unchecked - can work itself up to a huge threat.

The Veles Gladiator enemy is an arena combatant in traditional Imperial gladiatorial arms in the Veles tradition, which was modeled after lightly-armored, mobile spear-wielding warriors from the ancient times of the Third Age. This mirrors how a peculiar kind of ancient Roman gladiator was also following a precursor military unit's doctrine - although in this real-world parallel, the arena fighter in question was quite different from our Veles. Still, our design was based on historical sources, albeit tweaked to fit the dark fantasy setting of the Riven Realms better. The enemy itself is a quick, evasive warrior that can work well in concert with heavier frontline fighters like the Murmillo.

Ash rangers are people of the Forlorn Waste, a vast desert of grey silt and ash that most denizens of the continent consider uninhabitable. This ranger is ready to prove them wrong and to sink a barbed spear carved from Quru shell into his prey.

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The most recent patch (Codename: Perky) brought with it a major Event UI overhaul but we did want to mention all the other Quality of Life improvements we managed to squeeze into the update, too. So, let's jump in and see what changed!

Comitatus UI

Assassins (and Handjari Assassin variants) in Vagrus are lethal enemies from a Tarkian background or training. Since their stealthy abilities do not translate well to the direct combat in-game, we opted to arm them with skills that emphasize their deadly techniques, use of poisons and battle drugs, as well as their flashy, acrobatic fighting style.

The province of Tark was formerly a sovereign country conquered and assimilated into the Empire. It has always been a region of vast deserts and arid mountains. Its people are a hardy folk who were already adapted to a life in barren lands, which allowed them to easily adapt to the many new deserts on the continent after the Calamity. Thus, a lot of them are natural explorers and traders - but quite a lot of them are mercenaries.

Handjari assassins are known far and wide for their cruelty and precision. This one is about to lunge into lethal motion after measuring its victim with a keen eye.

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Hey everyone,

we thought we would share with you a glimpse into character art work that has been coming along for a while now. You may have noticed that common enemies in-game (like certain outlaws or Orc warriors) have received new variants when it comes to looks and well, this is how it began - concepts and outlines and ideas that ended up reworked until we picked the three or four we thought would be best. We believe that these small but significant variations give a lot of diversity to the roster of your more common foes and we hope you feel the same! Have at them!

Hirelings are new kinds of allies we have recently added to the game. They are in effect companions but can only be hired for a limited time - for a steep price. They have no story of their own because they are only meant to represent nameless mercenaries, rounding out the abilities of your companions or making up for something you are missing in your comitatus. You always hire these henchmen from certain Factions.

The dreaded Cinderborn are forever smoldering due to the curse that struck them down in the first place. Although their idle animation may look slow and sluggish, they can lunge into action with alarming, fiery energy.

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Our crowdfunding campaign is LIVE at Fig.co. Get instant access to the Early Access now!