Thanatos, how does it sound? The name echoes in the ears, emerging from long forgotten times. The dark sinister world covered in night, overgrown with high old trees, which boughs are similar to the crooked limbs of old people. A traveler, who might be on his pilgrimage, is passing around.
STORY 1: You came into this world looking for your past and a calmness of your soul. You have traveled for years, blundering through Aclavia's hills and dales, when now you enter a very different kind of world, a world of quiet death. Here, near the Borders, everything seems strange and weird, people hostile, country dark and mysterious. But there is not only your past and your dreams what bother you, but it seems there is something hidden in the woods. People are afraid of something, and that isn't only the creatures of the North, which pass the Borders from time to time; it is something much more dangerous; they don't wanna tell you much; there are just hints in their speech what makes you think you should be worried about the mystery.
STORY 2: Moreover along the journey through the world you have seen weird ornaments of a two-headed dragon pointing somewhere far into the past. You don't know what they are about, but you find out here in the northern lands there can be some clues to this puzzle. You are aware you are so close to the Borders. The country of Selavia attracts you somehow, as if there is a connection between you and the god-forsaken world. People say there are probably some passages through the rocks coming cross the Borders.
WORLD: Gloomy dreary country, you should be very prudent, mad or brave to enter the woods. Not a city park, but a real wilderness. High cliffs, ragged rocks, murky corners. Better stay by the fire with a group of people, desperate like you, than to be alone, blundering among the trees. The solitary people will not live long. You should look after every movement, after every sound. The forests are dense and deadly; you never know what is behind you.
LOCATION: The country is situated into the lonesome northern corner of the kingdom called Aclavia, just at the Borders with Selavia. You may read about these two lands in my books of Thanatos saga and Cry in the Rain or The King Death Trilogy. See the links below. The Borders are very dangerous place, avoided by all reasonably people. And also legends have it there are lot of treasures hidden in the mountains left by the people, who weren't fast enough to flee south. In the last moment of their poor life they probably put traps in the vicinity of their passing so it is sometimes a madness to go for a trove.
PEOPLE: Desperate wild individuals in small groups, looking for something, longing for who-knows-what. Never believe anyone. Bad times born forlorn shy but strong people. They gather along the fires gazing into the flames, plunged in evil thoughts. As if the country has some dark influence on them. Someone has told once that if you look into the abyss the abyss will look into you.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
GENERAL: This is an alone-standing modification for the game Gothic II: Die Nacht des Raben. There should be four outdoor location: Towns, Woodlands, Mountains, and others. There will be an audio output, surely, for I believe a modification without speech is not so good, and I personally avoid such modifications. The modification will be initially in English with English audio output, but I give it freely for translation to any language. I think there is lot of people of many countries who can do a fine translation. I will better concentrate to continue the work on the mod.
STORY: There will be at least two parallel main stories. If you know me, you would know something about the stories. Just wander through my website and maybe you will get to know something. There may but don't have to be hints to the original Gothic story.
CHARACTERS: Everyone should have his own habits, will, and individuality. I don't want to create empty characters. Everyone may have his own past, interests, or duties. There will be also present characters from my books.
AREAS: I also decided that the first released version of the Thanatos mod will have only one area, and that is the Mountain area (therefore the starting area; in the former plans I wanted to have the Towns to be the starting area). The reason is that I want to release the mod the earlier the better. In the following versions I will slowly add more and more areas, so the mod will grow up from its childhood to who-knows-what.
IMAGES: The images No.1 to No.3 show two areas from the older project for test purposes only. Nothing more; it won't be a part of the final version of the game. You may use them in your own project if you want (with a note in credits). The ZENs and 3ds of these two areas are downloadable below. The following list is of all the images in the images section:
TEAM: The team of this project contains only one man and that's me. The advantage is that everything what I want I really do and I don't have to rely on other people; there is no danger of splitting of the team:). The disadvantage is that I have to do everything with my own hands. That's a lot of work you know and it's not simple. But the work goes good on.
RELEASE (of the first playable version): Not specified yet. It depends also on the interest of the Gothic community.
DO YOU WANNA HELP? Of course I might need help. It is not necessary, but possible. What I need at this moment are the VOBs, especially the trees, bushes, or anything of the landscape. Also small towers, posts, or houses can be useful. I looked through the Modder databank, but there's lack of these desired things. Also you might be willing to translate especially this webpage to your own native language. Feel free to do it; I might then add your translation here so everyone can read in his own language.
Small feature list:
General features:
Original language of the modification is English.
Please leave comments, suggestions, opinions, questions, or at least some word; feedback is very important for my project. If I see your interest I will work faster and probably better. If I see no reaction then it will be very demotivating. I think I have added lot of information to discuss. There are several possibilities how to do it. I opened some threads in several forums:
I put regularly news into the News section and update the progress.
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