The Calamity burned down the great forests, tranquil glades, and neat hedges of the region that is now the Searing Plains. A part of it, what is today called Smolderbone Flats, used to be a series of large lakes and islands surrounded by these forests. During the cataclysm, the lakes became sour and salty in a matter of hours and everything in them died. Today even the traces of them are gone. What remains is a barren, infertile, salty flatland that is only inhabited by weird monsters that thrive in such environments: salamanders, fire lizards, even fiery elemental creatures. 

Here's another short video on the combat of Vagrus for you to check out!

This time, apart from the new combat background, enemies called the Cinderborn are shown in action. These smoldering undead inflict fire damage over time effects with their attacks.

So the big news is that the game's title is finalized at last! For now. :D

Check out the title reveal short video!

The word vagrus is the same pseudo-Latin that most of the Imperial Tongue used in the game (as it hearkens back to the Roman Empire in material and immaterial culture). It meant 'wanderer' or 'vagabond' in Imperial, but nowadays it only refers to the men and women who lead a comitatus across the wasteland. It is short, easy to remember, and easy to be associated to the English word 'vagrant' (which also originates in Latin).

We are happy to report that last month we made a lot of progress on the combat of Vagrus. Thus, we thought to give you a sneak peek.

In the short video, where Crifta and her goons take on the player characters, you can see a new combat background and several characters that are now fully operational in combat. Projectile mechanics also work now in combat, for the most part (as you can see when Crifta fires her deadly bow). The UI has been improved a lot as well, including the addition of the UI segment of the vagrus itself (top left corner). Here, players will be able to boost their characters in a number of ways spending Resourcefulness. Often, spending it is the only way to prevail in tough situations.

After the Dragon Lords arrived and descended upon the broken continent in the wake of the Calamity, they settled down in the middle of the landmass and cast their ancient magic on an area large enough to comfortably sustain their nests and broods. The magical energies crushed the plains and physically elevated the region, molding it into spacious highlands and great mountain ranges, as well as carrying up earth and ore from deeper below, thereby banishing the fallout of the Calamity, making this land fertile once again. Thus, the Dragonlands were born.

Avernum is the most important city in the Northern Searing Plains. The reborn Empire moved back to the scorched and abandoned region soon after the Calamity and found it ideal to settle because of the new resources that can be found in the vicinity: salt, rare minerals, and even obsidian. Thus, Avernum was built at the center of the Smolderbone Flats. The city mostly lacks the religious apparatus of large provincial settlements, but has a fairly large military presence there under the direct control of the Prefectus, its governor. Rumor is that due to its backwater status, the city of Avernum follows Imperial regulations more loosely, and it has become essentially the private kingdom of the reigning Prefectus.

As we promised few weeks back, we have put a significant effort into improving our hero combat and we are now happy to present you, dear patrons, an update on how far we've got.

Most importantly, we created a new UI and removed the placeholder at the bottom of the screen.

We have also added new characters and skills that they can use. Like in the second example, Sedarias strikes two Charred corpses at once with his Cleave skill.

We are extremely proud and happy to announce that our core team grew with a brilliant graphic designer, Szonja. We have been looking for a character artist for quite some time to ramp up our progress on that front and Szonja proved herself to be the best fit by miles with her unique style and open-mindedness.

Her main task is to bring our hero and enemy characters to life and help us with shaping the user interface as we enter Pre-Alpha stage with more parts of the game added each day.

We have a marvelous journey ahead and could not imagine any better traveling companion than Szonja. Welcome aboard!

Here's a second look of how the comitatus (caravan) led by the vagrus (the player) moves on the world map. It is still pretty early stuff, a lot can and will change, but it should give a good idea of how things will work. A few thoughts on the movement mechanics that might further clarify what you can see in the video:

Sedarias posed mightily on the Patreon high-resolution wallpaper reward back in January 2018. Now it is time unveil him to the public. Enjoy!

Meet Sedarias, one of the characters who can join your travelling company in the game. He is an Imperial human serving the Ordis Negras Solis (the Order of the Black Sun). Sedarias was knighted after a period of squire service under an infamous knight Konarius. Knights of the Black Sun worship Sergorod, God of Malevolence and Vengeance, and Ahskul, God of Death. The Order itself was created to bring the two clergies of these competing new gods closer in cooperation for the good of the Empire. Having been around for over 600 years, Ordis Negras Solis is the first and most powerful of the Imperial knightly orders. Its members are picked from the best soldiers, nobles, and warriors of the Empire.