Commerce in the Riven Realms is held by the iron grip of Trading Houses through official monopolies or the control of locations that produce valuable goods. A simple merchant who deals in smaller quantities of wares can not begin to imagine what profit these factions work with, especially compared to what the actual manufacturing or harvesting costs. Yet there are considerable expenses involved in these operations, too. If the hardships of travel over the accursed wastelands were not enough by themselves, factions regularly wage bloody wars for resources, mostly in the shadows but often openly as well out on the frontier - and these are astonishingly expensive.

'Ah, Larnak, the city of contradictions. It sits in the middle of the hottest, driest desert of the continent and yet you could not find a more damp and dark place. The reason is, of course, the presence of the vast underground lakes around which the settlement was built. The waters are sacred to the desert-dwelling Sadirar tribes and yet these days the Imperials use them as industrial ponds to grow their precious brightkelp. But that is not the strangest thing to see in Larnak, oh no. For that reason, take in its wonders but tread lightly, good master.'

Hey there, vagabonds of the wasteland! We wanted to drop this short video of the Faction rewards here to give you an idea of what to expect. Fabulous treasures, useful equipment, and even magic items, not to mention persistent buffs to make your life in the Realms easier.

Should the darkness cruelly whisper,

Call upon a kindly sister

Sister, sister, blood drops glister

Revoke now your cruel dark whisper

- From an Imperial children's rhyme

Kindly Sisters are members of the Nosferatis Sisterhood, a coven of mystics and sorceresses who delve into the deepest, darkest arcane secrets one can think of. The organization is one of the Pillars of the Empire, a religious order that serves the realms in an important capacity, although in the case of the Nosferatis, most Imperials have no idea what this service entails - except that it is most ominous. The wise seem to believe that it involves espionage, magical warfare, and arcane research. Members of the coven worship Bal-Ur-Kaal the Demon Prince and Ahskul, King of the Underworld, which is quite telling in and of itself.

The vagrus's ability to change the type of beasts their comitatus uses has been planned to be added to the game from the beginning but it had to wait until now for a couple of reasons. The first being that there were a number of other, more important, things to be added before and also because changing between two types only would have been a bit lackluster, but the third type was locked behind content that we got around to just now (and will be available with the addition of Larnak).

We've got a bit of an announcement on our hands, folks! As it happens, you are about to get a new, previously unannounced companion for your travels in the person of Nedir, the lovely (but cruel) lady you can see on this character art image. It's no easy task adding new companions to the game but it is certainly rewarding to create them - we hope it'll be equally fun to find Nedir and have her as a member of your team. So who is she and what does she do?

This short video was made to give you a rough idea how the new comitatus equipment screen and system were changed for the next build. Categories have been revamped, with new ones added into the mix. Deputies have an impact as well, opening up new slots when assigned.

Wraiths are a race of subterranean humanoids who have adapted to the utter darkness and cramped spaces of caverns. Hairless, pale, and small of stature, they do not seem much of a threat but underestimating them often proves lethal. In-game, you can come across their enemy version in cities as well as members of an outlaw group. Sometimes you can even encounter enemy groups made up solely of Wraiths.

Hey Folks,

this patch is a beast in all sense. So many new features and changes have been added that if you ever considered starting a new play-through, this might be the perfect time for it. A shedload of tweaks has been applied to make the early game a little more forgiving (without making the late game easier), and we look forward to your feedback on the direction of these changes.

With the addition of tons of new equipment for comitati, we have recently arrived at the point where a redesign of the equipment system became necessary. The new mechanic allows players to use these items in more diverse and specialized ways. New types of equipment, like armaments, tools, and animals are also added while we iron out the older list as well to make it more consistent and interesting. Another change is that Deputies will now be linked to equipment in a new way - they will open up extra slots for certain types when assigned to their post, further deepening the system. Now you'll be able to make use of more equipment at the same time and come up with combinations that better suit a large variety of situations in game.