Greetings Wielders!
The time has come for us to unveil a new Faction DLC. (Or at least the store page!) Up until the actual release, we will be doing monthly behind-the-scenes devlogs, with insight into just about everything your hearts can desire about our upcoming faction.
But you don’t have to wait for those devlogs to get to know Yulan. Why not start right now? There is no time like the present, as the saying goes. You will, of course, find much more information neatly listed on the store page, but we wanted to highlight a few things you’ll get with this new DLC.
View game page With each of our Faction DLCs, we have tried to make them stand out, to be just a little bit different while still feeling like a natural part of the world. We want the Yulan experience to feel distinct. One of the ways we achieved this was by creating the Houses of Li, Sheng, and Xuan.
For those who have followed the game since the very beginning, you might remember that there has always been an idea to create a faction called the Dynasty of Roses. That concept eventually evolved into Yulan. And while there are no roses, there are plenty of magnolias, which also became the faction symbol.
We are having a great time working on this faction. There were seeds and a foundation to build on, but unlike Vanir and Roots, Yulan has been more of an exploration in design. That gave us the opportunity to create something new, drawing heavily on inspirations such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chinese dynasties, myths, stories, and a good number of movies and books (Carl especially liked The Monkey King). The work has been a good mix of fun and challenging, and the final unit lineup speaks for itself.
And this isn’t even all of the units, well, all variations at least.
Some of you have probably already guessed it by now, as we’ve dropped enough hints already. Yulan will have several upgrade options for some of their troops. Each House has its own Essence focus, giving you the option to choose which Essence you want to lean into depending on your playstyle.
Will you focus on one Essence, or will you diversify as you conquer more settlements and mix things up for that tactic you have planned? Li stands for Order, Sheng follows Creation, and Xuan focuses on Arcana.
So which units get these upgrade options? It’s easier to say which ones don’t. The fiery bird Feng, the mercenary cavalry Riders and their fox-like companions, the Hu, will not have branching upgrades. The rest, the citizens of Yulan (and a dragon-like creature called Tian), will.
And all of these will have different abilities, fitting to their Arcana.
A faction DLC is, of course, more than just new troops. Yulan also includes a trio of connected story-focused maps. These let you discover the playstyle of Yulan, introduce its Wielders, and place the faction on the Aerbor stage. The story focuses on the reawakening of an ancient threat, long thought to be under control: the Tree Mothers and their sentient creations. We will also learn more about the conflict between the different houses and meet a ton of rebels that needs to be put down, all in a days work. For these three missions you will be playing as the House of Sheng a house that likes to enjoy the good things in life and embrace Creation as their Essence.
One of the main feedbacks from our earlier factions has, after all been that we should focus more on stories, and Carl has been busy working on just that these last months. 
The Conflict against Roots is going to be a core part of the story.
What is Roots doing in Yulan? Where does Yulan fit into the wider lore? Will we see the new faction test its strength against our old factions? All of these questions will have their place in the new faction Tale.
There is, of course, more. New map entities, Wielders, a new biome, new music, and five new Conquest maps to showcase everything. One of these maps will be available to everyone, letting you face the might of the three Houses whether you own the DLC or not.
It's important to defend what really matters!
If you want more information, there is plenty we haven’t mentioned here. We don’t want to keep you from visiting the store page and reading up on it yourself. And we will, as mentioned, go deeper into Yulan in the upcoming devlogs.
We can’t wait for you to try Yulan out on the battlefield. What do you think about our newest faction? Do you have a must-have idea for us? Let us know in the comments!
/Anders and the rest of Lavapotion