The soundtrack of Vagrus is of key importance in conveying the powerful atmosphere of the setting. Be it foreboding or hauntingly beautiful, the score by George Olah captures the essence of the ravaged world of the Riven Realms perfectly. Even more importantly, the majority of fans and influencers have told us that one of the most important parts of the Vagrus experience for them was the music.

We decided to revitalize an older series of posts that detailed companion skills and displayed some poses for these characters. This time we will take a look at the Dark Elf scout Renkailon in all his grim glory.

First and foremost, Ren was designed as a ranged-melee hybrid character with some really useful support capabilities. His damaging attacks are all Armor Piercing, which helps against armored foes quite a bit. Though Ren is not very sturdy, his high Evade stat allows him to avoid damage effectively.

Have you met the kingpin Skornar in the Prologue? He's quite the colorful sort. Good news is: he'll make his return in the main game as a Companion you can recruit! Ten years older and much grumpier, the warrior has a serious grudge against those who ousted him from Avernum's criminal underworld. Yet his story arc will involve much more than that, with the central theme of coping with growing old - not an easy plight for a warrior and leader such as Skornar.

This time we would like to introduce a brand new game mechanic to you that you will see quite a lot in Vagrus: the acquiring and delivering of news across vast tracts of wasteland. Carrying news between settlements not only makes sense from a gameplay perspective but has its foundations in-world, too, that is, comitati are known to have a vital role in distributing news and taking messages all over the continent of Xeryn.

'They may be called the 'Children of the Calamity' but make no mistake, dominus. These terrible creatures are far from being child-like. When you see one, do not hesitate; they won't.'

The fellow you can see above is called Harvek, one of the potential Companions you can recruit for your comitatus in the game. As it is probably evident from the design, he is no hero. In fact, Harvek has spent a lot of time in the cruelest, most dangerous penitentiary institutions of the Empire. It may have been for crimes he did not commit but there was certainly enough on his plate to justify the imprisonment nonetheless. Having survived the ordeal, he's now out to find his place again. Harvek is Tainted, that is, a human who has mutated into a new form due to a mysterious arcane disease. These mutations make him an extremely dangerous foe but his real value comes from his contacts in the criminal underworld.

Another non-human character joins our cast, this time a Dwarf! Dwarves are typically lonely, cranky, calculating fellows in the Riven Realms. Their homeland was utterly decimated in the Calamity and has remained uninhabitable ever since. All the magnificent achievements, inventions, and treasures of the mighty Dwarven kingdom went up in flames when it was engulfed in a volcanic cataclysm. And because the volcanoes are still very much active, there is little hope of reclaiming anything from the ruins. Most Dwarves were killed during the Calamity and today, only several thousand remain. For all intents and purposes, they are a dead race.

The reveal of our next character marks an important moment in artwork development: Renkailon is the first character who's not going to appear in the Prologue and thus is exclusively created for the main game.

As we've previously hinted at, parts of the game Vagrus has a narrator in the person of Agos the wanderer. An older man and a vagabond, Agos stumbles upon the player one evening on the road and begins telling stories of his travels (if you let him, that is). One such story is the Prologue that you can play through to be introduced to the world and gameplay at the same time, essentially playing through the story Agos is telling.

In Character design - Part 1 we talked about the types of characters in Vagrus, focusing especially on Companions and their roles in the game. Now it's time to move onto the topic of what exactly goes into the graphic design phase of these characters.