Debugging a Bug
For as long as the Heroes of Might and Magic series has been popular, it drew heavily from mythology, folk legends, alchemy, and botany to create a unique blend of flavours, biomes, and realms that we all love to this day. For the past 25 (soon to be 26!) years, the Inferno faction — consisting of demons and its various allies — have been often acting as one of the villains of the story or the agents of discord working in the background of the plot. Some of the other very well known threats were King Archibald, Sandro or Kilgor, whom you should be familiar with if you played the campaigns of the previous Heroes games. However, the Inferno faction has its own background story and timeline, and as we chose to return to the world of Enroth, we were fully aware that we could not present the demons exactly in the same way, as seen in Heroes III. “Why?”, some of you may ask. The reasons are:
- The event that kickstarts the Inferno presence in Enroth and Antagarich — Night of Shooting Stars and subjugation of Eeofol — happens centuries after the events of Olden Era;
- As seen in the RPGs Might and Magic 6 and 7, the primary focus of the invasion were the continents of Enroth and Antagarich, with no notable information about its moves in Jadame;
- By the time of the RPG Might and Magic 8, there’s no devil presence left whatsoever on Jadame, indicating that they were completely wiped out across the continent (if they have ever been there at all).
However, even though we cannot bring the same faction, we didn’t want to completely wipe away the menacing demonic presence and sought an opportunity to add some, through the elements that already were present in the universe, but have never been fully explored before. Like that we proceeded with creating a fresh villain through the primitive, half-sentient tribes of wasps found in Might and Magic 8. This way we could build a new faction from scratch whilst remaining dutiful to the lore. Why, when so many other cultures thrived, were they barely a nascent people? Did something happen to them? Why are there no other insectoid tribes? Can we tell more?
With that in mind, we got to work and started creating a faction that’d feel Jadamean and diabolic at once. Creating a town of insects is fairly simple, but the Hive isn’t just a faction full of bugs — it’s also a cult for the demonic master, whose essence courses through every insect and every follower of His; their lives forfeit to His will. This isn’t unprecedented in the history of Might & Magic either — we’ve seen similar work before in past stories with the Cult of Baa forming around the worship of devils. As a result, we ended up with a mixture of occultism, body horror, and heavy lore references combined into one well-oiled machine.
Hive’s uniqueness in Olden Era
As the Hive, you will have access to every minion at their disposal — from the lowest larvae to the mightiest queens. Hive’s playstyle is intended to act as a monofaction, encouraging you to play with an army consisting primarily of Hive units: the more different types of insectoid units you have by your side, the stronger they are. This is further reinforced by their faction ability, which allows them to summon larvae cocoons, the HP of which is based on the total health of your Hive army — the cocoons also act as obstacles blocking pathways. After hatching, said larvae are ready for combat as a temporary summon. This ability can be further improved through the faction’s laws.
These synergies should point the Hive players towards focusing on their own units rather than mixing their army with other factions’ units. However, the choice is yours and you can always follow your own instincts.
What makes Hive stand out is their adaptability to their opponents: some of their abilities scale with the enemy unit’s tier (the higher the difference between the Hive unit and their prey, the higher the damage), while others — such as Mantes — can cycle between one of three abilities to use every round. Certain units, like the Waurmos or Locusts, can devour corpses to renew and empower themselves — a skill your heroes can also learn.
With a focus on overwhelming forces and keeping the hivemind together in one army, we hope that Hive’s unique playstyle will be enjoyed by these players who prefer to solve their challenges through direct confrontation — tough love, as they say.
However, that’s not all — for those of you who wish to learn a little bit more (we can’t tell you all the spoilers!) — we found this disturbing entry in Kelarr’s private study. Has anyone seen him lately?
Villainous Sightings — Diary of an Inquisitor found in Kelarr’s study
Day 310 of Suncrown Expedition
We spotted a smaller group of these hellish insects roaming a few miles east of the nearby ruined village — Castellatus, I think — and collecting timber and stone whilst guarded by bulkier variants of the foraging bugs. Captain Fairwind suggested a direct attack, while they were low in numbers and not accompanied by anything larger, I rejected the idea: if I had to guess, these monsters were trying to build something. But what? Need to investigate. Gave orders to track their moves.
Day 322 of Suncrown Expedition
I was right! This blasted vermin is trying to build a nest to the northeast of Castellatus, close to Chimera Falls. I would have given an order to destroy them before it could be completed, but one of the scouts reported there were humanoids among them? Could they be under someone’s control? I must know more. Will join the next scouting party myself.
Day 325 of Suncrown Expedition
We arrived at the construction site of the new hive. The reports were true — there is indeed a humanoid presence among these bugs. I looked through the spyglass to monitor the figure ordering them around: they looked like an elf with a dark complexion and fleshy, hair-like growths. Then, a sudden burst of fire caused another unfamiliar being to appear. At first, I couldn’t make out words, but when it spoke, its voice echoed across the area. My gaze was fixated upon them. They beckoned me forth with each word, like a fly drawn to the flame. I heard the elf say she “will enact the devil’s will”, yet these scouting oafs didn’t hear anything from either of those creatures. Who, in the name of Chalice, is that person who commands them both? I’ve never heard of a kingdom nor any rulers with such a title. Could they be some invaders from the East? Hard to tell. We’re heading back to the main camp, but I can’t help but feel some sort of… thrill? I’m getting too old for this.
Day ???
I can’t stop thinking about that creature. It invades my dreams, asks me to embrace it. I see myself smoldering in the flames and enjoying them, asking for them to boil my soul like a nest of growing larvae waiting to burst from within me. I no longer see the Chalice as the path to redemption — it’s a lie meant to lure us away from our Master! I’ve already poisoned the supplies of these fools who didn’t listen to the Song. I… I need to be closer. I must return to the hive. I… We… We shall bring glory to this land… the writing is no longer eligible and smeared with a mixture of blood and goo.
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