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Old 03-21-2001, 08:17 PM   #1
Sazerac
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Prior to Wizardry 6, the Wizardry games were set in the mythical world of Llylgamyn, a city of wonder, magic, and learning. Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord introduced two notorious NPC's: Trebor the Mad Overlord and his arch-nemesis, the dark wizard Werdna. Your quest was to find the amulet that Werdna had stolen from Trebor and return it to its rightful(?) owner (because Trebor had stolen it as well!)

In Wizardry II, Llylgamyn has taken a turn for the worse as the Staff of Gnilda, divine artifact of protection for the city, has been removed because of the evil rampant in the city. Your quest is to reassemble the ancient armor of the Knight of Diamonds and reclaim the staff, restoring it to its place in the Temple of Gnilda.

Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn had your characters embark on a quest to retrieve the Orb of Llylgamyn from the Dragoness L'Kbreth. The orb was required to keep the city from being destroyed by elemental forces run amuck. To do this, your characters had to travel both the paths of Good and Evil to regain the Orb.

Wizardry IV: Return of Werdna was a side-game, not really related to the main saga, but was more of a "deathmatch" game. It had little or nothing to do with role-playing as much as it was an action game with RPG elements.

Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom once again returns to Llygamyn. This time, the fabric of reality of the universe is unraveling; the problem being that the elemental forces in the Heart of the Maelstrom, the center of all beingness, are out of control. Your job: to travel into the Maelstrom, retrieve the Gatekeeper (a demigod of sorts who has been lost in the rift), and battle an evil being known as the Sorn who is abetting the rip in reality and thus flooding the world with chaos.

(Wizardry 5 was the first of the DW Bradley Wizardry saga).


From the inside cover of Wizardry 6: Bane of the Cosmic Forge's manual:

"Llylgamyn is not what it once was.

The kingdom has fallen and its people have moved on.

Five generations after the defeat of the Maelstrom a new King was born. So loved was he that the royal family was once again granted merit in the political system of Llylgamyn. Eventually the council decided to dissolve and to restore exclusive rulership royal family.

It was not long for the true colors of the King to shine through. Rumors quickly spread throughout the kingdom of his alliance with demonic beings, and his dabble in the dark arts. His queen was whispered to be a perverse harlot, torturing men of the kingdom for her own pleasure. In an attempt to gain more power, the King joined forces with an unknown wizard. Together they began to wage magical war on other planes of existence. During one of their battles they became aware of an artifact of amazing power.

The Cosmic Forge.

The Cosmic Forge is a magical pen of divine power. No one is sure of it's origin, but it is said then whatever words were written with the pen would we woven into the fabric of the universe, and thus would become reality.

The King and the Wizard managed to obtain the pen, they scripted things so unspeakable that no man can attempt to even imagine the horrors. Fortunately the two soon became jealous of the power that they had discovered, and they engaged each other in an epic battle.

Legends say that the lights of magic could be seen flashing in the windows of the castle, and the very ground shook. Eventually everything fell quiet, and neither the King nor the wizard were seen again.

That was nearly one hundred and twenty years ago. The kingdom is no more, it's name is remembered by very few. No one know what happened to the king, the wizard, or the pen. But now, a group of adventurers is about enter the ancient castle, and all that is about to change...."


Thus your characters set out into the Bane Castle, the remnants of Trebor's ancient fortress from Wizardry I, to reclaim the Bane Pen for the Lords of the Cosmic Circle. It is this Wizardry that first starts the saga from which Wizardry 8 will take its story.

As you solve the mysteries of the storyline, you learn that the King and Queen were anything but happy together; he wanted power and immortality, she was a harlot who delighted in sado-masochistic torture and was a lover of snakes. (Elements of Elyssia from WW here...) Xorphitus, the Wizard, also sought power, and made an allegiance with the Bane King and Queen.

After they obtained the Cosmic Forge, the King used it to script that he would become Immortal. Xorphitus used it to script that he would know all things in the Universe. The Queen used it to script that the "Demon Girl" (Rebecca, the King's illegitimate demonness daughter) would be murdered, and the Wizard's apprentice used it to script that he and the Queen would be lovers.

But the pen carried with it a Bane: that whoever wrote with it outside the Cosmic Circle would suffer its writing as a curse. The curse was such that you got EXACTLY what you wanted...and quite a few things you didn't.

The King wanted Immortality, and became a Vampire. The Wizard wanted to be all-knowing; so he gained all the knowledge of the universe; but since all knowledge is duality, he was split into two beings, both insane and ineffective from that point onward. The Queen's writ came to mean herself (a "demon girl") and she fell on her own knife, killing herself. The hapless apprentice who wanted to be the Queen's lover was turned into a Snake! (Remember the queen loved snakes).

So, having resolved the storyline, you meet with the shades of all the major characters (shades except for the King and Rebecca, who are immortal), and have to make some decisions: Do you believe the Queen's story that the King and Rebecca are evil, or do you believe the King and Rebecca to be the "good guys"?

This determines the multiple endings of the game. To date, there were four documented endings to Bane:

1) Believe the Queen, kill the King and Rebecca, and get the Cosmic Forge.
2) Believe the Queen, kill the King and Rebecca, ignore the Cosmic Forge, kill Rebecca's brother the dragon Bela, and escape in a spaceship.
3) Do not believe the Queen, side with the King and Rebecca, and get the Cosmic Forge
4) Do not believe the Queen, side with the King and Rebecca, ignore the Cosmic Forge, and team up with Rebecca's brother Bela the dragon (escaping in a spaceship).

The next post will document Wizardy 7's storyline, taking it up from this point.

-Sazerac
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Old 03-21-2001, 08:36 PM   #2
Sazerac
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To continue: (from the Manual from Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant):

"With the disappearance of the Cosmic Forge, a pen with the power to alter destiny, the Cosmic Lords had temporarily lost their ability to completely control the fate and destiny of the Universe. In an unexpected occurrence far out in space, a Miner’s ship, lost due to a navigational malfunction after being attacked by space pirates, stumbled upon a small world which was uncharted on any map of the known galaxy. As it so happens, the Cosmic Lords were aware of the presence of this small planet and had safeguarded its existence by using the Forge to prevent any discovery by outside worlds. Once the Forge was stolen by the Bane King and Xorphitus the Wizard (the story of Bane of the Cosmic Forge) the planet’s obscure position in space could no longer be protected from discovery.

When the Miner’s vessel returned to its own home world, news of the discovery began to spread. It was rumored to be the Planet of Phoonzang, "Lost Guardia" by legend, and the secret resting place of the famed "Astral Dominae," Phoonzang’s only known record of his final and greatest discovery.

The legend of the Astral Dominae dates back to a prior millennium. It tells of a great artist and scientific genius, Phoonzang, and his discovery of some deep secret, rumored to regard the power of the universe and of life itself. Phoonzang decided this secret was too powerful for anyone else to know, for if it could create a universe, it could also destroy one. So, he was faced with a choice: either destroy his discovery, his life’s work, or hide it in such a way that it would not fall into unscrupulous hands. He opted for the latter, knowing that a day might come when the secret could be safely revealed and the universe could ascend towards a new destiny.

The legend continues that he created a stellar globe, called the Astral Dominae, and encrypted his secret therein. Using the power of his secret, he created a new world, Guardia, designed to safeguard his work. He himself had become a god, for his was the power of life itself, and as he created the planet, he also created creatures to live there and to protect his secret. Entombing the Astral Dominae somewhere on this world, he made a map, consisting of many parts and then spread the parts throughout the lands of his world. Convinced that his secret was secure, Phoonzang disappeared forever.

With the discovery of the lost planet, Lost Guardia, news traveled fast that the legendary tomb of the Phoonzang’s last work, the Astral Dominae, was a reality. But while there are many who might covet the great secret, only a few have the power and resources to undertake its recovery.

One of these is an enigmatic traveler of the stars, known only as the "Dark Savant." Navigating all frontiers of space in his legendary black ship, not much is known of the Dark Savant except that he is considered by most worlds to be one of the most powerful entities alive, pledging alliance to no one but himself.

At the forefront of all known Galactic worlds, two rival species dominate the space trade. First, the militaristic Umpani - a lawful race of stout pachyderms who, while considered to have the greatest assemblage of military war power in the Galaxy, are known to be fair and reliable traders. Second, there is the feared and unscrupulous T’Rang - a repulsive spider-like race who will do anything if the buyer is willing to pay the price. While the T’Rang can never be fully trusted, they still manage to control the greatest trading network in the galaxy, surpassing even that of the Umpani. The T’Rang will stop at nothing to procure what they seek, and have always fulfilled their contracts, no matter how dirty the deed.

Naturally then, the Umpani and the T’Rang are strict competitors and strongly detest each other. It is suspected by some, however, that certain alliances exist between the two that prevent any third parties from entering the space trade picture, thereby strengthening the suspected cartel which, in turn, keeps the prices of their wares profitably on the high side.

There is a rumor that the T’Rang are actually in the service of the Dark Savant, who has held a long standing contract with them to find Phoonzang’s missing world. Naturally then, if the T’Rang are involved, the Umpani won’t be far behind. For it needn’t be said the affair would bode them no good fortune should the T’Rang obtain the Astral Dominae … no good at all.

There is one other, Vi Domina, a young girl with a reputation of being a rather fierce and deadly warrior, and who is also rumored to be a far distant descendant of Phoonzang, himself. Her lineage was traced by the T’Rang to repay a favor to the Dark Savant, and she was taken into his custody shortly thereafter. It is unknown whether her connection to the Dark Savant is willing or coerced, but it appears the Dark Savant believes she may hold some yet unsuspected key to unlocking the secret of the Astral Dominae.

The lands are also populated with a variety of native sons, and although they appear to be simple and primitive, there are indications that a great technical civilization may have evolved on Lost Guardia in the ages since the planet was created by Phoonzang. It is not known what role, if any, they may play in uncovering the Astral Dominae, or what secrets they may hold for those who venture in from outside worlds. And, with the startling appearance of the travelers from the stars, some have begun to suspect that their own legends may be unfolding, and the prophesied end of their world is at hand.

These are the players then, that inhabit the world of Lost Guardia, and play a role in the quest for the Astral Dominae. Thus it is that our party of brave adventurers shall set foot on Lost Guardia, and themselves seek out the truth of the Astral Dominae."

To start Wizardry VII, if you imported characters from Bane (Wiz 6), you would start from 1 of 3 positions:

Endings 1 and 3 (from the post above) where you get the Cosmic Forge end with a strange being known as Alethiedes coming in and grabbing the Pen from you. In the beginning of Wizardry 7, he tells you that he is an emissary of the Cosmic Lords, sent to retrieve the Bane Pen and restore it to the Cosmic Circle. He tells you what has transpired (the above story) and then takes you to Lost Guardia. Your party starts just north of the Orchid field, east of Dionysceus (the Dane tower).

Ending 2: (where you kill Bela): Your spaceship is intercepted by none other than the Dark Savant himself. He places you in the charge of the T'Rangs, whom he has sided with, and deposits you just to the east of Nyctalinth, the T'Rang stronghold far to the northwest of Lost Guardia.

Ending 4: (where you side with Bela): Bela takes your group to Lost Guardia, where he drops you off just south of Ukpyr, the Umpani stronghold (Bela is friends with the Umpani). He then takes off again, never to be seen in the game (too bad, it'd have been fun with a dragon sidekick!)

A fourth starting point is just south of the Orchid field, for new parties who were not imported from Bane.

Your quest: to find and retrieve the Astral Dominae, either for Alethiedes or for the Dark Savant, whomever you have teamed up with.

Throughout the travels in Lost Guardia, you meet all the races of beings present on the world; the Dane, the Munk, the T'Rang, the Umpani (which are extremely like the "Giff" in the Forgotten Realms D&D universe, IMO), the Gorn (a race of FRIENDLY orcs!), the Rattkin (which were carried over to Wizards and Warriors), and the Helazoid, descendents of the ancient race of the Higardi.

Using your wits and the clues Phoonzang left behind, little by little you gather the necessary tools to find the Astral Dominae. You are aided by a strange warrior-girl by the name of Vi Domina, who gives you a homing device so she can find you and so you can call her. When you find the artifact at last, calling her will also, unfortunately, call in the Dark Savant who has gone insane over obtaining the orb and starts fighting your party. After defeating him, Vi Domina asks the fateful question: "Did you find a ship?"

This is the key to the endgames. Answering "Yes" will end the game in the City of Sky. Answering "No" (lying, in effect, since you had to find the ship to get the keys to get the Astral Dominae) will end the game in New City.

The four endgame sequences for Wiz 7 (and what Wiz 8 will be based on) are as follows:

1) Say "Yes" to Vi Domina, go to City of Sky, meet the resurrected Dark Savant, who challenges your party for the "GLOBE" or the "GIRL". Choosing the "GLOBE" will send your party into indefinite suspended animation in darkness. (Death? Who knows until Wiz 8 comes out?)

2) Say "Yes" to Vi Domina, go to City of Sky, meet the resurrected Dark Savant, who challenges your party for the "GLOBE" or the "GIRL". Choosing the "GIRL" will save Vi Domina's life, but the Savant escapes with the globe. The game ends with your party and Vi Domina chasing him deep into space.

3 & 4) Say "No" to Vi Domina, go to New City, meet the resurrected Dark Savant, blah blah...if you choose "GIRL" this time, after the Savant departs, the door bursts open and Umpani and T'Rang forces burst in, fighting one another. The 3rd and 4th endgames depend on whether you decide to side with the T'RANG or the UMPANI. Ending 3 sides you with the T'RANG, defeat the UMPANI, and go with them on their spaceship chasing after the Dark Savant. Ending 4 sides you with the UMPANI, defeating the T'RANG, and go with them on the Umpani ship chasing after the Dark Savant.

No doubt Wiz 8 will also have a 5th starting posiiton for those who didn't go through Wiz 6 and 7.

Allegedly Wiz 8 takes place on Domina, the birthplace of Phoonzang and the Astral Dominae, the legendary home of the Higardi, and is located on the edge of the Cosmic Circle. That is where the new saga begins.

-Sazerac

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Old 03-22-2001, 05:10 AM   #3
Davros
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Thanks for that Saz - never played any Wiz till the upcoming eighth - glad to soak up some background.
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Old 03-31-2001, 08:10 PM   #4
Balgin
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Thanks for that one Saz, now I won't feel so left out. Damn, why is it that nearly all first person fantasy game writers seem to insist on giving us a spaceship or saying "now, this is a blaster" (I think we all know who the culprits are). I don't want to wave guns (to predictable due to velocity, arrows are much more random and can inflict slower painful deaths) or have to chant Star Trek names backwards as passwords (MM6). Oh well, I'm sure that I can still enjoy it anyway.

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Old 04-01-2001, 03:12 AM   #5
Sazerac
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Aha, Balgin, so that got to you, too? (The backwards Star Trek names). Well, it's well known that most of the game designers at NWC are Tekkie "geeks." If it's any consolation, Wizardry treats the sci-fi element a lot better than "here's some blasters, now that's all you can use." You can get through the whole game (Wiz 7) with nothing but normal "medieval" weapons. I was not insulted by the presence of sci-fi elements; they downplayed them and just used it as an explanation for some of the events that occurred. Wiz 8 will probably be similar in its scope, especially since all the same classes are being used. It's still a medieval fantasy milieu, just set in a different world with some technology.

And, yes, I fairly hated the blasters, and was rather insulted at the idea of "Star Trek" names in MM6. I mean, you'd think they'd have been more original. After I found two of the name codes, I figured out the others without having to go over that ridiculously huge dungeon (VARN, I think?) to find the others.

Well, that's why I'll always prefer Wizardry over anything NWC puts out.

-Sazerac
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Old 04-01-2001, 07:58 AM   #6
skywalker
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Thank You Balgin!
My sentiments exactly. There is nothing worse than just going along in a nice Medieval Fantasy and them trip over some ridiculous Science Fiction type piece that seems to be shoehorned into the game. It's like sleeping and dreaming and then being awakened abruptly by someone pouring water on you.

If I can I will try to ignore the SF elements and focus on the fantasy in the game (if it is at all possible).

Mark
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Old 04-03-2001, 06:58 PM   #7
Balgin
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Don't worry, I'm currently writing an unfinished sci fi story (writers block for the last seven or eight years ), in wich the backwards estimating Imperial measuring farmer types finally overthrow the oppressive precise metric evil scum, by doing unpredictable things then (in a subtle twist at the end) are seen millenia later, worshipping the technology that they overthrew, perfoming the ritual of the sledgehammer and the door control pannel in a form of ancester worship (they where originally outcast from the tech society for refusing to conform to the "new way" of life). It's in the works as I'm also writing a good fantasy yarn about a Knight trying to stop a war in a Arctic, Dark Ages setting (a possable sci fi joke is an evil sorceror who might insist on using his "new metric" measurements but shall be destroyed by his own magic, but his metric madness is optional).

However, the above sounds so appetising that I want to ask one very big question: where can I get Wizardry 6 and 7 ?

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Balgin, the Dwarf

[This message has been edited by Balgin (edited 04-03-2001).]
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