How did that PROMOTION_SUNDERED get there? I think I found a promotion in a trait tags once before, but was sure I'd fixed that long ago. I fixed that and have not noticed such issue again, but guess I should switch tot he assert dll for some more testing to be sure.
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I'm thinking of giving the new religions some new heroes in the next version.
For the Unblemished I have reassigned Arthendain from the Runes of Kilmorph, since all the lore on his is about him serving Sucellus and the Runes already have both Bambur and the Mithril Golem. I changed his art slightly, just replacing the Runes emblem with the Unblemished emblem. I am thinking about possibly giving him a new piece of equipment, the Plague Flask, that would have the ability to absorb unhealthiness cities caused by events like Blight and Pestilence. If captured by evil or non-Unblemished units, it could also be used to unleash a major pandemic.
For the Brotherhood of Wardens I just added Tristan the Ring, a new hero based on some lore Kael shared with me:
Kael on a Reddit Private Chat said:
Tristan the Ring
Patrian, Age of Magic, Spirit 4
Tristan was the greatest hero of the Brotherhood of Wardens during the 3rd rebellion. He was so instrumental to their cause that the Wardens constructed a ritual to preserve him in case of future need. In the centuries since, Tristan has been called when the Wardens are at their greatest need. Each time Tristan appears exactly as he was when the ritual was first performed. He has no memory of any of his prior manifestations, and doesn’t bear any evidence of injuries from those events. Even deaths during manifestations don’t keep him from being summoned again.
This is because Tristan is actually held suspended in the Isle of Birds. The ritual creates a duplicate manifestation of him each time.
Tristan always appears with living ivory armor with gemellus engraving as well as a palladium torc. He also carries a gemellus ring, called the Dhalia Band. The Dhalia Band maintains the connection with the real Tristan and strengthens the manifestation. In rare cases the manifestation has given the Dhalia Band to another.
If the Dhalia band is given away it remains after the manifestation is gone. Gemellus is a metal with an affinity to the Spirit dominion. It is typically found in small veins and all gemellus from the same vein maintains a bond with the other gemellus from its vein. It is a rose colored metal and preferred for wedding rings. Palladium has an affinity for force dominion and is frequently used in binding circles or circlets to enforce oaths. Summoned manifestations have a limited duration. No one knows anymore that they aren’t summoning the real Tristan, but yes, it would be possible to summon multiples at once or to summon then from different groups at the same time (but it has never happened). Gemellus' etymology comes from Twin; it’s intended to reference the bond between the ore coming from the same vein. I don’t know what the Dhalia Band does to the person that wears it, it would be a sacred symbol of the brotherhood. It would remain with the one who it was given to, never gifted to another, until it was buried with them. It is a connection to Tristan, for whatever that bond might grant them.
Tristan is a Paladin-like hero with access to every Spirit affinity spell. (I am currently using the Ljosalfar Paladin artwork with some minor color adjustments and the Brotherhood of Wardens Owl emblazoned on the shield.) He is not trained and cannot be resurrected but may be summoned by a new "Manifest Tristan the Ring" ritual that can be completed multiple times in Brotherhood of Wardens cities. When summoned by the ritual his duration is set equal to his effective supply of Spirit mana. (The unit's religion alone counts as 3 sources, not including actual any leader/civ bonsus or your true mana supply, so his duration would always be at least 3., This duration can be extended if there are enemies on adjacent tiles on the last turn before his expiration. That effect is handled through a PyPerTurn effect of the Dahlia Band, a piece of equipment with which he starts. The effect also hallows the ground, having the same effect on hell terrain as Angel or Blessed. The promotion grants randomly grants Courage, and when carried by a Brotherhood of Wardens unit without limited Duration it can be used to cast Manifest Tristan the Ring as an xml-only spell. (That version of Tristan would have 1 duration or 2 if you have the summoner trait, and would get summon perks based on the summoner's only promotion.) The code as already written does not allow a unit to take equipment from a limited duration summon, so I cannot easily implement the lore apprioriate giving it away before expiring. Instead he just leaves it behind when he expires or dies.
For the Foxmen was thinking of just having the Slyph Search grant +1 Adventurer point instead of +1 Wanderers, so you may get a heroic adventurer before being able to train ordinary Wanderers. Kael said he never wrote much deep lore for them and that they don't have any truly notable heroes. He recommended adding a special unique promotion that Foxmen units can get, which would randomly move on to a different unit of the religion. At first that sounded too much like Aeron's Chosen, but the idea is starting to grow on me.
For the Laeran Cord I of course have Gaelan. I found the old CIrcle of Gaelan icon in the Orbis mod art, so I'll be using that for the promotion Laeran units can learn from him.
The Cult of the Dragon does not need a new hero as it has 22 species of dragons, plus their respective dragon fanatics and wyvern riders, and the original dragon heroes.
For the Stewards of Inequity I have not decided on a hero yet, but am thinking of maybe Nietz the Bandit Lord.
For the Chainbreakers/Emrys Kael said I might want to consider using Gosea, but I think I'd need to give the Sheaim a new hero if I give her to the religion instead. I'm thinking maybe Averax the Cambion?
For the Occis I have added Danag the Faithful, one of the first vampires was sired by Alexis herself, who went on to found a highly religious Vampire Clan that considers murder a holy sacrament to Aeron. He of course has Vampire, Aeron's Chosen, and Body Affinity. I made it so that only Calabim-owned vampires can Feast in cities, but other civs can be raised to Vampirism by Danag and Feed on other unit.
I am still trying to decide whether to allow the new faiths to become State Religions and make these heroes abandon players without the right State Religion, or to allow players of other state religions have these heroes too.
I'm thinking I may change the summon perks of the Dimensional promotions from Combat promotions to Drill promotions, so they won't duplicate Aggressive Trait or Summoner promotion perks. Dimensional 1-3 could give Drill 1-3, and Dimensional affinity could give Drill 4 which of course would then allow purchasing Blitz.
I'm also thinking of maybe adding a Spell Extension IV promotion, only available to Chainbreaker units, granting Herald's Blessing (much like Kanna's Ring) since canonically Ceridwen's priests are known to have ways of capturing the power of Nantosuelta's Heralds. Or maybe I should make that what Channeling 3 is?
I decided I was not a big fan of the name Insurrectionist, and so changed the Chainbreaker's cleric back to Abolitionist (with the note that they want to abolish not only slavery but all social institutions including family ties). I am thinking now of just removing the unit, leaving the Shaim Emrys as the only Chainbreaker cleric and giving every unit of the Chainbreaker faith the Servile Revolt ability (possibly only available with the Liberty civic). The prereq for that ability would automatically make Slaves of this faith take up arms against their masters.
layer 9's alive status set to: 1
