The Altaz Mariners

The Altaz Mariners is a user-made campaign by jb and Bob_The_Mighty. It is a two-player campaign with non-linear progression, meaning the player is partially-free to play the campaign in the order they prefer, and RPG elements. The campaign takes place in an original setting where most of the world are the sea and the player controls two mariners named Largo and Hugo as they travel from island to island in search of revenge against their older brother Marco.

• Current campaign version: 3.6.0
• Available in add-ons servers: 1.8 (v1), 1.10 (v2), 1.14 (v3), 1.16 (v3), 1.18 (v3)
• Available translations: French

Gameplay

The player control two sides during the whole campaign, one led by Largo (side 1, red) and one by Hugo (side 2, blue). While recruiting, recalling, and upkeep work like in normal Wesnoth, the player's sides can't use standard village-based income and must collect gold through completing quests, finding loot, and selling loot. The campaign has RPG elements in form of a quest log and an inventory for quest items.

The campaign consists of the "World Map" scenario which serves as a hub where the player controls the mariners' ship to travel from island to island, and all the other scenarios which follow a more typical Wesnoth format where the player controls their leaders and recruits/recalls to move and fight. These scenarios can be accessed by visiting an island in a hub or through a random encounter on the sea. Island names are labeled green, yellow, orange, and red, ordered by how difficult the island's scenario is (green is near-unloseable, red is a heavy battle).

After the first battle scenario, there is not set order on which island has to be visited first, although terrains such as deep water (when the player hasn't bought a better boat) and the storm in the south prevent some islands to be visited until the player is ready, and some choices may change the effect of visiting an island. Some islands are mutually exclusive and are set on the campaign's start, meaning the player needs to restart the entire campaign to get a different island.

Scenarios

• "World Map"

Prologue

• "The Altaz Mariners"
• "Formative Years"

Islands

Islands listed together with a slash between them are mutually exclusive.

Act I

Islands that can be visited with the initial cutter (which can't cross deep water in the world map).

• "Altaz Gaol" (first island)
• "Dahazi Beach"
• "Elixion"
• "Farmville"
• "Hideout"
• "Judro Pits"
• "Port Rutt"

Act II

Islands that can be visited after the player buys a dhow to cross deep water, but before the storm barrier can be crossed.

• "Blade Point"
• "Greystone Port"
• "Hellenia"/"Isle of Neafsey"
• "The Ivory Tower"
• "Lantos"
• "Lludwyn"
• "Morteau"
• "Reef Town"/"Thurh Gar"
• "Royal Palace"
• "Slavenia"

Act III

Islands that can be visited after crossing the storm barrier.

• "Avalon"
• "Fort Liberty"/"Fort Liberty Sewers" (final island)
  • "The Coastal Battery"/"The Crossing"
  • "Throne Room"
• "Solant"

Sea encounters

• "Abandoned Ship"
• "Goblin Mutiny"
• "Floating Library"
• "Orc Ship"

Epilogue

• "Victory Celebrations"

Characters

Player characters

• Largo: Leader of side 1. A modified version of Thug. Brother of Hugo and Margo who seeks revenge towards the latter.
• Hugo: Leader of side 2. A modified version of Poacher. Brother of Largo and Margo who seeks revenge towards the latter.

Companions

• Kashmir

Antagonists

Pirates

• Marco
• Hilldon

Royals

• King Tylon

Storyline

Three brothers--Largo, Hugo, and Marco--have been traveling the seas as pirates since they are young, causing enough trouble that King Tylon puts a bounty on them. Marco decides to sell out his two brothers for a prize, leaving Largo and Hugo to rot in Altaz Gaol where they build up anger and desire for vengeance against their brother.

After a year of imprisonment, Largo and Hugo manage to break free of the gaol by convincing their ogre guards to turn against their bad boss. Now free men again, the brothers amass better ship, gold, and troops in their vengeance quest, but the way to the south where Marco is is blocked by a storm. Using an orb acquired from the Brotherhood of Ice, the brothers reach the south of the map.

However, it turns out that the islands in the south is being invaded by drakes, which has led Marco to align himself with the elves of Avalon as they are all have been doomed by King Tylon who has the Brotherhood of Ice create the storm so that the drakes can't go north, leaving Marco and the elves to die. Largo and Hugo agree to put their revenge aside and help the elves take down the storm by assassinating the Brotherhood's leader Frozenheart, but they are captured by the royals. Marco sells the brothers out again to save his own skin, but the brothers survive the royals' attempt to throw them to the nagas and find their way back to Avalon.

Largo, Hugo, and the elves of Avalon agree that they need to take King Tylon down. With the help of allies they gather during the adventure, Largo and Hugo coordinate the assault of Fort Liberty where the king is, personally killing him and getting revenge on the imprisoned Marco along the way. As a new government is installed to replace Tylon, the brothers slip away satisfied, although the drake danger still looms.

Due to the nature of the campaign, the above synopsis only covers the guaranteed storyline that reaches the final victory. The details of the story and optional subplots can be found depending on the campaign's initial setting and the player's choices.

Credits

Authors

• jb: Concept and Story, Map Making and Battle Balancing, Narration and Music
• Bob_The_Mighty: Concept and Story, Coding and Dialogue

Others

• Bear: Potraits
• AnnieSpambot: Playtesting
• Blarumyrran; Playtesting
• mikeanthony: Playtesting
• DarkHorse: Playtesting
• vghetto: Playtesting

See also

• Forum link