My name is Egor, and I’m a narrative designer at WATT Studio. In this developer diary, I’d like to talk about how we create characters for our game Tsarevna.
In Tsarevna, the lore never appears out of random ideas. When we design characters and creatures, we start with research — Slavic rituals, mythology, ethnography, and historical sources.
This approach helps us build a world that feels like a complete system where everything has roots: fears, legends, and beliefs about life and death.
In this diary we’ll talk about the creation of one of the game’s enemies — the Upyr Warlord.
Connecting the Character to the Game World
In traditional Slavic beliefs, the difference between a “pure” and an “impure” dead person was determined not so much by their actions in life, but by the nature of their death.
There was a distinction between “one’s own death” and “unnatural death.”
If a person died peacefully from old age, having lived their full life, they were considered to have died a proper death. Such ancestors could even become protective spirits for their descendants.
But violent or premature death was considered unnatural. It was believed that in such cases the soul might fail to find peace.
These restless souls were associated with demonic beings. Many creatures of Slavic folklore were believed to originate from such deaths.
This concept became the foundation for one of our enemies — the upyr.
Creating a Spirit
According to Slavic beliefs, a person has two souls: a heavenly soul and an earthly soul.
When a person dies, the heavenly soul ascends to the sky, while the earthly soul may remain near the body. If the earthly soul fails to leave during the funeral rites, the dead person may return.
But they return not as a human — they become a restless spirit or walking corpse.
An upyr is neither alive nor dead. It casts no reflection and no shadow, because only the earthly soul remains.
Its existence is a constant attempt to fill the emptiness left by the missing heavenly soul.
Because of this, the upyr feeds on the blood of the living — since blood was believed to contain life force and even the soul itself.
But today we are not talking about a common upyr.
We are talking about the Upyr Warlord — the commander of the undead.
Once he was a famous war leader who died on the battlefield. His life ended suddenly and violently — an “unnatural death.”
To prevent such a warrior from returning as the undead, burial rituals included many protective measures: preparing the body, placing amulets, and performing the rites in the correct order.
All of this was meant to help the soul safely pass into the afterlife.
But something went wrong.
The Image of a Fallen Warlord
Because of his status, the Warlord was buried with full military honors. His weapons and armor were placed in the burial mound so he could continue his warrior’s path in the afterlife.
Many elements of his equipment are inspired by historical prototypes.
His helmet resembles pointed Slavic helmets discovered in archaeological sites such as Gnezdovo and Black Grave.
It is accompanied by a mail aventail, a typical element of early medieval armor.
His body protection combines lamellar armor, chainmail, and plate bracers, reflecting strong Byzantine influence on Slavic military culture.
His shield and shoulder plates are made from fragments of a bronze bell. Bells played an important role in ritual culture — they warned of danger and accompanied funeral rites.
The Warlord’s weapon is a heavy spear with a crossbar beneath the spearhead. This design prevented the spear from penetrating too deeply and helped control distance in combat.
The Importance of Color in the Warlord’s Design
Funeral symbolism continues in the character’s color palette.
The Warlord’s main colors are:
White
Red
Gold
White in folk culture is closely associated with death. It is the color of burial clothing and mourning rituals.
The key white element in the Warlord’s design is his face mask, inspired by funerary masks discovered in archaeological sites of the Ural region.
Such masks symbolized a change of status. Once the face was covered, the deceased symbolically ceased to be human and entered another state of existence.
Red, in many rituals, was considered the opposite of white.
If white symbolized death, red symbolized protection from it.
Red threads were used to tie coffins, bind the body, or wrap the arms of the deceased. It was believed that this helped the soul safely pass to the afterlife and prevented the dead from becoming restless spirits.
Gold was seen as a metal of the otherworld and was associated with the god Veles, the shepherd of the dead.
In the Warlord’s design, gold appears in bell fragments and amulet pendants. Similar pendants are often found in Slavic burials and served as protective charms for the dead.
And this is how the design of one of our enemies — the Upyr Warlord — was created.
If you enjoyed this deep dive into our design process, add Tsarevna to your wishlist and follow our developer diaries. We’ll continue sharing how the world of the game is created.
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