Today we decided to focus on character design & level setting. It was decided as that I already knew a lot about the Templars & the Naepoleonic era British Army that I would design the Templar & the Mercenary.
First off I shall start with the Templar as the concept art for him has been started. My original idea for the Templar was to have the shining knight sort of hero type that most people like to see as the hero in a story but I thought that there could be an more interesting dynamic if he was an anti hero of sorts. He will do good & he will do it by any means necessary even if that means being evil himself. The player will be given choices like after defeating a group of bandits do you kill them & potentially ridding the world of the problem forever or do you let them go & see if they change their ways? This would create an inner battle within the player that they should be doing good but how far should they be willing to go to achieve the goals for good of the world that they are playing in.
Below is how the Templar was initially envisioned as a clean cut knight as any self respectable Templar should be.
As you can see this was a very basic concept design but for all intents & purposes it portrays the image we thought we wanted. After some thought I decided that I would change the Templar from a hero archetype to an Anti-Hero Archetype to add another layer to the characters as with an Anti-Hero there is some much more possibilities for internal conflict not only within himself but within the group if the others don't approve of his actions.
Below is the revised version of the Templar in all his Anti-Hero rule breaking glory. From the ripped cloths to the blood smeared cross painted on his chest with the blood of all the heretics he has cleansed over the years.
As you can see here there still needs to be some work done but this character is a lot less appealing in the sense that you can tell that he is dangerous & is potentially unstable. From the start I had an idea in my head on how the Templar's helmet should look. It should be a rounded medieval style helmet with a cross for the eye slits coming down into a round Roman style helmet at the bottom. Below is a picture of hoe the helmet will look.
Now that I have got most of the Templar's concept art out of the way I shall go on to tell his back story & a little of his history.
A high ranking member of the Knights Templar he has been given garrison over an area that has high heresy levels. This is due to his outstanding combat record & faith to the Order during the crusades he has fought many battles & killed many men which has led to him questioning his beliefs. He has started to break the rules of the Order to get his mission done, many believe this has left him mentally unstable but no one will question the methods of such a esteemed knight. All he ever wanted to be was a Templar his family where devout followers of the faith & as a boy he grew up listening to the tales of the brave knights. With such an upbringing it was only natural that he apply to become a knight & as such he has a fanatical love for the Order & it's rules. The Templar will often break the rules of the Order to punish heretics but he see's this as an evil necessity & as penance for this he practices Mortification of the Flesh.
Now we have a overview of the Templar's personality & how he balances the good with the evil I shall tell you about some of his history.
The Templar looked out across the land he could see town after town, Infected with heresy a growing hatred rose inside him as he headed towards the first town. He always got angrier the closer he got to heretics & non believers . He ordered the army to head on past the first two villages & set up camp there, they would need to start to interrogate & cleanse those who would not convert to the ways of the faith. This was not their main objective though it was a pleasant distraction for the battle that would be raging as soon as the heretic army found the courage from whatever pagan idol they worshipped & attacked. The questioning began there & then, they did not wait for sunrise to begin. By the time the sun was up there had already been over 30 executions of those who would not submit to the faith. The Templar looked up into the face of the young woman as he gently slid his knife from out of her gullet. He watched the life drain from her face & heard only her gargling blood as she choked & bled to death at the same time. Just as this happened a trumpet sounded in the distance. This was the scout's signal that the enemy approached from the south beyond the river which gave the Templar's army the upper hand in the terrain as they had to traverse the river & come up the hill to get to the Templar's Army. As he positioned himself at the brow of the hill, he could see the heretic filth in all it's abysmal glory. These men were nothing more than farmers & hired mercenaries united under the banner of the heretic Arch-Bishop.
"I can smell the poison within them, I can sense the false promises of their pagan idol, I can feel the empty prayers that these filth spew out in venomous fashion to the false god the worship, though I am a fair man I shall give them the chance to repent as our holy father decrees, the chance to become pure & rid themselves of that poison" The Templar 1126
The Templar's world is going to be like it was in the middle ages with the same types of people & social structure that existed back then. There will be lots of small villages & settlements that need "cleansed" in the Templar's eyes as they will be places of heresy, this will be detailed in the architecture of the buildings & the darker colours that will be used to indicate that the Templar deems this place to be unholy. In contrast to these places will be the "cleansed" towns or the Christian towns that will be bright & colourful full of life & happiness. As it is still the middle ages there will be a varied mix of people from the peasants right up to nobility with everything in between. This should give a excellent & varied NPC cast that you can interact with. The layout of the land will be the same as it is within the other three era's except that there will be more small settlements & farm holding type areas.
I will be writing more up about the Templar & also the Mercenary shall fill my next blog .
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