.com.unity Forums
  The Official e-Store of Shrapnel Games

This Month's Specials

BCT Commander- Save $8.00
winSPWW2- Save $5.00

   







Go Back   .com.unity Forums > Illwinter Game Design > Dominions 3: The Awakening

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old April 24th, 2009, 05:45 PM
the Vanishag's Avatar

the Vanishag the Vanishag is offline
Corporal
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Cloudcuckooland
Posts: 134
Thanks: 31
Thanked 41 Times in 15 Posts
the Vanishag is on a distinguished road
Default Review of Dominions 3 at Gameology

Hi, I'm a doctoral candidate at the University of Florida, studying Visual Culture. I mostly do Comics/Graphic Novels and Computer Games. As a gamer, I love Dom 3. As an academic, I just finished a lengthy paper about Hinnom/Ashdod/Gath. It's on-line at Gameology, a kind of blog+ for Games Studies.

In case anyone is interested, the title is The Kohen Gadol has Horns: the Fates of the Giants in Dominions 3, and the direct link is: http://www.gameology.org/node/1642

In brief, it traces some of the important themes, names and images in the nations of the Giants all the way to the Dead Sea Scrolls (which might - or might not - be a surprise to the designers of Hinnom, Ashdod and Gath).

Thank you all,
Tof

P.S. - I also posted a piece of fan art I drew (ink & watercolor) for Agartha's "Ageless Olm" Pretender on deviantART. Direct link: http://vanishag.deviantart.com/art/A...-Olm-120342326

Last edited by Annette; April 27th, 2009 at 04:34 PM..
Reply With Quote
The Following 12 Users Say Thank You to the Vanishag For This Useful Post:
  #2  
Old April 24th, 2009, 06:59 PM

Trumanator Trumanator is offline
BANNED USER
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Tacoma WA, USA
Posts: 1,314
Thanks: 103
Thanked 72 Times in 50 Posts
Trumanator is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Review of Dominions 3 at Gameology

Very interesting! The mythology behind those nations has always interested me. Are there any parallels to the Abysian invasion that drives back the giants, and ultimately destroys the twin cities of Ashdod?
Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Trumanator For This Useful Post:
  #3  
Old April 24th, 2009, 09:28 PM

chrispedersen chrispedersen is offline
BANNED USER
 
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 4,075
Thanks: 203
Thanked 121 Times in 91 Posts
chrispedersen is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Review of Dominions 3 at Gameology

Talk about mythology.. the abysians destroying the giants is *definitely* wishful thinking.....
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old April 24th, 2009, 10:18 PM

P3D P3D is offline
Sergeant
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Reno, NV
Posts: 353
Thanks: 10
Thanked 14 Times in 6 Posts
P3D is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Review of Dominions 3 at Gameology

Quote:
Originally Posted by chrispedersen View Post
Talk about mythology.. the abysians destroying the giants is *definitely* wishful thinking.....
Fire resistant Giants, to make it more interesting.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old April 24th, 2009, 10:47 PM

Illuminated One Illuminated One is offline
First Lieutenant
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: In Ulm und um Ulm herum
Posts: 787
Thanks: 133
Thanked 78 Times in 46 Posts
Illuminated One is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Review of Dominions 3 at Gameology

Great stuff.

It always amazes me how much freaky stuff is still lingering in christian/jewish theology.
Heck, about Canabilism and Blood magic ... "This is my body ... This is my blood".
Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Illuminated One For This Useful Post:
  #6  
Old April 25th, 2009, 01:59 AM
Kristoffer O's Avatar

Kristoffer O Kristoffer O is offline
General
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Sweden
Posts: 4,463
Thanks: 25
Thanked 92 Times in 43 Posts
Kristoffer O is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Review of Dominions 3 at Gameology

Nice text!

There was some additional inspiration from the rephaim texts and canaanite religion. R'p'm and the ditanu were deified dead kings and were associated with the dead. Thus Ashdod is more of a mythological mix than the others. The concept of r'p'm giants is quite prevalent in middle eastern mythology. Some even wants to equate the ennunaki of sumerian myth with the biblical and canaanite giants. I couldn't resist the sumerian setting entirtely, so the archers and chariots of Hinnom are sumerian/assyrian in design.
__________________
www.illwinter.com
Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Kristoffer O For This Useful Post:
  #7  
Old April 25th, 2009, 02:28 PM
the Vanishag's Avatar

the Vanishag the Vanishag is offline
Corporal
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Cloudcuckooland
Posts: 134
Thanks: 31
Thanked 41 Times in 15 Posts
the Vanishag is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Review of Dominions 3 at Gameology

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kristoffer O View Post
There was some additional inspiration from the rephaim texts and canaanite religion. R'p'm and the ditanu were deified dead kings and were associated with the dead. Thus Ashdod is more of a mythological mix than the others. The concept of r'p'm giants is quite prevalent in middle eastern mythology. Some even wants to equate the ennunaki of sumerian myth with the biblical and canaanite giants. I couldn't resist the sumerian setting entirtely, so the archers and chariots of Hinnom are sumerian/assyrian in design.
Thanks, Kristoffer. I the deeper I got into my research, the more I realized how pervasive these myths were: it used to be that (some) scholars thought the Biblical Giants were imported from Greek myth (Kronos and the other Titans), but it's actually a really complex interconnected mesh of myths that go WAY back.

I even ran across the website of a ultraconservative talk radio host who has constructed a conspiracy theory by syncretizing all the different giant myths! If he'd shed the paranoia, he might almost be able to make something of it. (If you're curious, here's the link:http://www.stevequayle.com/Giants/index2.html).

In response to Trumanator's post, I don't know of any historical or mythological connection between Ashdod and Abyssia, though there may be some link through the ancient Near- and Middle-Eastern nations that influence both of these groups. Kristoffer?
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old April 25th, 2009, 05:10 PM
PsiSoldier's Avatar

PsiSoldier PsiSoldier is offline
First Lieutenant
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Douglasville, Ga
Posts: 604
Thanks: 26
Thanked 20 Times in 10 Posts
PsiSoldier is an unknown quantity at this point
Default Re: Review of Dominions 3 at Gameology

I once did a persuasive speech for a speech class I was taking on the Nephilim and how Demons had had sex with human women to give birth to Giants. Its a funny thing to argue with people and tends to blow most Christians minds especially when you start quoting scripture.

The best argument Ive heard against it is the Bible verse that says people will be like the Angels and will not take husbands or wives once in heaven. Which most people take to mean that there will be no Male or Female but it could just mean exactly what it says which doesn't actually state that there will be no male or female and simply says they will not have husbands or wives. Which means that the Fallen angels could indeed have been Male. And they tend to argue that Son's of God simply means Men. But yet that doesn't explain at all why their offspring would have been giants...

Anyways if your ever bored its a fun conversation to strike up
Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to PsiSoldier For This Useful Post:
  #9  
Old April 25th, 2009, 05:13 PM
Edi's Avatar

Edi Edi is offline
National Security Advisor
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Posts: 5,425
Thanks: 174
Thanked 695 Times in 267 Posts
Edi is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Review of Dominions 3 at Gameology

Abysia is an original creation of Illwinter and is tied to Hinnom, Ashdod and Gath in the internal Dom3 world history. Abysians burn the city of the Talmai to the ground, depriving Ashdod of its most powerful knowledge and later escaped Abysian humanbred slaves are accepted as refugees by the Gadite tribe of Gath and interbreeding leaves the Gadites with 40% fire resistance instead of them being normal humans.
Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to Edi For This Useful Post:
  #10  
Old April 25th, 2009, 06:22 PM
JimMorrison's Avatar

JimMorrison JimMorrison is offline
Lieutenant General
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Utopia, Oregon
Posts: 2,676
Thanks: 83
Thanked 143 Times in 108 Posts
JimMorrison is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Review of Dominions 3 at Gameology

Quote:
Originally Posted by Edi View Post
Abysia is an original creation of Illwinter and is tied to Hinnom, Ashdod and Gath in the internal Dom3 world history.
Woah woah woah!

Are you trying to tell me that the Bible doesn't have references to a race of fire/magma beings that engage in human sacrifice, and become crossbred with demons in a misbegotten bid at world domination?

So disappointed, I was going to go buy it just for that.
Reply With Quote
The Following User Says Thank You to JimMorrison For This Useful Post:
Reply

Bookmarks

Tags
academic, fan art, review, scholarship

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 11:26 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©1999 - 2024, Shrapnel Games, Inc. - All Rights Reserved.