Alternative mod for Bogarus - is it needed?

[Wrana]

I've posted some thoughts on Bogarus faction here:
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...=&fpart=5&vc=1
The question is whether mod with more correct representation is needed? Or it'll be redundant, as Late Avalon already has a combination of Nature magic with stealthy troops, etc.
Thank you for any thoughts on this.

[Endoperez]

See my reply to the other thread. A differently-themed slav nation would fit in nicely, but modeling it too closely off of Bogarus might affect it badly if/when Vanarus appears.

B0rsuk was going to do one a long time ago. Here are some excerpts from his posts around Christmas 2005. These were posted in "Dominions 3 Wishlist" thread.

- a slavic nation (100% pagan). If it won't come with Dom3, I will do my best to mod such a nation. The main problem is that slavic/pagan culture isn't described in many records, and the Church tried its best to erase it. Still, lots of info can be found. Slavic people often worshipped warlike gods (like Svarog or Perun - althrough it's not sure if Svarog was a god of his own or merely a prefix of older god Rod. In that case Svarog Rod would mean "mighties Rod" or similar). Slavic people were known to ocassionaly join raiding parties with vikings. There was a widespread belief in supernatural entities, you can even say demonology. There was lots of minor supernatural beings, many of them dangerous).
Without too much research I can say that army would be based around teams/parties of 15-20 or so people. This means not-so-great commanders.

As far as magic goes, witches were supposed to have great knowledge of charms, curses, herbalism, shapeshifting, divination, demonic pacts, and healing. Witches were often feared, but also respected, mainly because they were able to heal the sick. Translating to Dominions language - a bit of Astral magic, nature/earth, possibly Blood.

One of national heroes would have to be Baba Yaga. Capitol magic sites could include Lysa Gora (Bald Mountain), a place where witches were supposed to gather ocassionaly and meet devils (djabel), demons etc. But I don't think limiting witches to capitol would fit very well - they often lived in alone in the woods.
Nation-specific spells could be some summonings - there were dozens of demonic beings to be afraid of.

Kristoffer O's reply:

Slavic myth is interesting, but I havn't done any research on the matter (not since an ars magica campaign a couple of years ago). So there will not be a slavic nation in dom3 at release, but I have considered adding one as a patch or mod later on.

Shameless self-promotion: Motivated by Kristoffer's reply, B0rsuk has begun researching slavic culture a while ago. Stuff from before christianity. ...
But here's short summary of what I found:
-tribal structure similar to democracy or even anarchy. MOst importand decisions were made by elders. Words describing rulers come from other languages. Priests were respected, but didn't have excessive power.
-many worshipped gods, most important of which was probably Perun, god of fire, sun, thunder, and warriors. There are other fire gods, too. For this reason sunday is a holy day. It's still a holy day because Church had tendency to overwrite pagan holy days. Sources say all slavs worshipped sun and fire. (fire magic)
Affinity for nature, it was also very important for ancient Slavs. Wise women possessed good knowledge of herbs and healing (...) (nature magic)
Deep belief in fate, curses, charms, "evil eye", fate...One of major gods - Weles/Wolos dealt with oaths, mysticism, spells... Don't get on a bad side of a witch, or she'll curse you. (a bit of Astral magic)
- worship of warlike gods - they weren't exactly most peaceful of nations.
- national heroes will include Baba Yaga for sure, possibly Likho, too.
- lots, lots of spirits and demons - ones associated with homestad, wilderness...

I think the Fire that was worshipped was more the fire that keeps the dark away, the fire that provides warmth and the fire that cooks the food than the fire that burns everything on it's path. Nature with minor fire would work better in that regard, or perhaps N/F mages with healing abilities.

[Wrana]

As BOrsuk had his idea about 3 years ago, I think I'm clear of infringement
I certainly think that additional thoughts on mod should be mostly here - or I risk to not get them... But as for your quote - I certainly understood Kristoffer as meaning the same Vans - especially as I know that historically Normans founded a Russian ruling dynasty..
Also, as Vanarus is named as predescessor, I may almost safely use Ivan Grozny's age as a model. It would also be more in tune with other late-age factions, many of which are modelled on the same 16th century. If I have time enough, I may try to make also a sectant/Cossack-based faction. These will probably get a lot of stealthy troops... %)
Any other thoughts?

[Endoperez]

B0rsuk is still around. You might want to ask if he got his project going, or if he'd be willing to help now.

But yeah, his whole idea was originally to make a mod because the official nation (Bogarus) wasn't even named then.

[Wrana]

ready. Will post in 1-2 days. Sorry for using existing sprites - I'm not good enough at graphics... Does anybody want to take part?

[Endoperez]

If you can find existing sprites that aren't used, or are only rarely used in the era you use them in, it's good enough. Especially when it's just humans, who mostly look the same any way.

Making some minor changes isn't that hard, if you have some program which can be used to edit .tga files or can convert between image files easily.