The Sultans of Qud: Part 1
Qud is a layer cake of fallen civilizations. If you've read the Baccata Yewtarch's influential history book, "Frivolous Lives", you know that the past 1,000 years were dominated by minor humanoid kingdoms and Girsh attacks. Before that was the Age of the Eaters, when the mysterious progenitors ruled from lofty spires now buried under shale. In particular, the lives of 5 great sultans have been preserved through cultural artifacts and oral tradition.
- Each game now includes a procedurally-generated history from the Age of the Eaters.
- There are 4 historical sites located throughout Qud (more to come in future patches), each one at a different degree of difficulty that corresponds to its location on the world map. Their names, descriptions, locations, contents, historical significance, and look & feel are procedurally-generated and different each game.
- Historical sites are populated by cults that worship a particular sultan. Each cult is a coalition of members from other factions, most of which favor the sultan due to some event in Qud's history. The 5 cults are different each game, and each one functions as a faction. You can view your reputation with the cults on the Reputation screen.
- Historical sites contain relics. Relics are powerful items that were generated during the course of history. Many of their properties are new effects and are based on the circumstances of their creation.
- Shrines to the former sultans are located throughout Qud. They depict significant events from the sultans' lives.
- New mods: painted and engraved. Painted and engraved items also depict events from the histories.
- Sometimes, looking at a shrine, painted item, or engraved item reveals the location of a historical site. If it does, you get a quest to visit that location.
- Sometimes, looking at a shrine, painted item, or engraved item reveals the location of a historical relic. If it does, you get a quest to recover that relic. The relic locations aren't revealed on the map; they are individual levels that exist inside some historical site.
- We added a guaranteed sultan shrine to the upper right corner of Joppa. Looking at this shrine reveals a nearby historical location that's usually appropriate, though challenging, for the early game.
- Added some new creatures, furniture, and traps for the historical sites. We'll be adding more in the coming weeks.
- A few additional notes:
- The historical dungeon maps are generated via a new method that produces tremendous variety from themed templates. They take longer to generate, and we haven't optimized the algorithm yet. We'll improve its speed in the coming weeks.
- There's a lot going on behind the scenes to generate the histories and the historical sites, and there are definitely bugs. Please report them and we'll fix them!
- We'll be adding more unique features to the various types of historical sites in the coming weeks. We'll also be adding more sites, mechanics, and a story arc that integrates this into the main quest in Part 2. Stay tuned.