User:Turin

Here lies TVRIN TVRAMBAR, DAGNIR GLAVRVNGA

which is translated TVRIN, MASTER OF DOOM, SLAYER of the dragon GLAVRVNG

called also NEITHAN, GORTHOL, AGARWAEN son of ÚMARTH, THVRIN, ADANADHEL, and the MORMEGIL

which are translated the WRONGED, the DREAD HELM, BLOODSTAINED son of ILL-FATE, the SECRET, MAN-ElF, and the BLACK SWORD

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My name is Turin. I work on Wesnoth. I make campaigns. Making campaigns is fun. Yep. >_>

My main contributions are content-wise, but I do a bit of art also, such as that I've made for the Lavinians, the Kedari, and the Frost Elves. I'm no Jetryl or Neoriceisgood, but I'm trying to improve.

Nowadays, I spend most of my time on the Imperial Era forums, which deals exclusively with the Imperial Era, not with Wesnoth in general. When I'm not there, I'm usually browsing the forums and insulting people's ideas (when they deserve it). I also have a blog, Turin Speaks, which you may or may not find interesting.

Completed Projects

I have made four campaigns:

• campaign 1: The Eastern Invasion (in revision)

• campaign 2: Saving Elensefar

• campaign 3: The Sceptre of Fire

• campaign 4: The Fall of Silvium (still in progress)

I also have made assorted content (listed in order of creation) for the Imperial Era, which I maintain:

• Art for the Lavinian Legion

• Ideas and art for the Lavinian Bowman and Nemidian River Calf lines

• Art for the Kedari

• Ideas and art for the Marauder Fay and Marauder Boatsman lines

• Art for the Frost Elves

Current Projects

This is a list of stuff I am currently working on.

• Working on my newest campaign, Fall of Silvium

• Writing my next campaign, based on the life of Alfhelm the Wise (yet to be released)

• Maintaining and improving the The Imperial Era

Projects Turin Wishes Someone Else Would Do

(i.e. turin's wish list)

This is basically a list of stuff that I have the skills to do, but not the time, and stuff I think anyone else could do equally well. Consider it a list of suggestions for what you could do if you are out of ideas. ;)

• Rather large graphical tasks for the Imperial Era:
  • Make them for the Aiyira
  • Make them for the Dardanoi
  • Make them for the Orces Gentorum
  • Tcolor the Sidhe and Marauders
  • Animate all factions

• List of campaign ideas I find interesting, but don't have the time to pursue (most of these would be shorter campaigns, probably 6-10 scenarios):
  • Wesnoth related:
    • The Taming of the Wild could make for an interesting Loyalist-themed campaign, with the main enemy as orcs.
    • The ending of the Dark Age of Wesnoth, and the rise of Garard I, would also have to be a Loyalist campaign, but you would fight other Loyalists mostly.
  • Orbivm related:
    • The coming of the Frost and Wild Elves over the ocean, and their subsequent war with the Marauders, would be an interesting campaign, probably from the North Elves' perspective.
    • The invasion of the Western Mountains by the Lavinians would be interesting if told from the perspective of the Orcs.
    • The struggle between the Aiyira and the Lavinians has loads of potential.
    • The union of Arendia by Eran would make a good campaign, and I suspect Ranger M already has some ideas for something like that.

If you want more info on any of these projects PM me or post on the forums

Rants

Why turin hates drakes

I have three main problems with drakes:

One is, they were added for multiplayer, and it shows. They were added to Wesnoth's history only because it was felt they needed a home to justify their existence in multiplayer. And as it currently stands, they are on a secluded island in the middle of nowhere. They don't have an actual place in the WoW - they have somewhere we can hide them away, say 'look, they're not only in multiplayer, they have a place in the WoW too', and forget about them. They seem fake.

The second is, I believe that all good fantasy deals with human nature. And different races in fantasy are all embellishments of different facets of human nature, or what-ifs. Elves are, what would people be like if they lived forever and were more intelligent than the average man? Dwarves are an embellishment of the courageous, but also the greedy and selfish, parts of human nature. Orcs emphasize the non-rational in men. But what are drakes? They're just random dragons.

Finally, I dislike the origins of drakes. They are supposedly the sons of dragons, but we know that dragons still exist in Wesnoth when drakes do, dragons are rare and powerful, and there are only a few hundred of them in the WoW. I find it hard to believe that they would have descendants who greatly outnumbered them but are inferior to them in every way. Actually, I find it hard to believe that they would even have descendants.

Why turin does not want more factions

Actually, the title of this rant is false. Turin does want more factions. But he wants more GOOD factions.

Basically, I don't believe in originality, and I think that as long as we are going to be ripping ideas from other people, we should rip GOOD ideas. And most faction ideas are no good. If I see a good faction idea, I will support it wholeheartedly - but the majority of the time, the idea seems bad to me. And the standards are high. A faction has to have a place in the history of whatever world it is set in, be it the WoW, Orbivm, or the EoM; it has to have a good concept behind it (good examples, in my mind, are numerous. The Sidhe, the Marauders, the Lavinians, the Steppe Orcs, the Frost Elves, and the Kalifa all have good ideas behind them. Bad examples are easy to name, just grab any faction on the forums that never developed past the brainstorming stage); and it has to express that concept through the unit tree (an example of a faction I think fails at this, somewhat at least, is the Arendians). Most factions fail on the first two.

Why Orbivm is no longer part of the World of Wesnoth

There are a number of reasons why the Imperial Era was transplanted (and renamed Orbivm in the process - Imperial Era now refers to a specific time period in the history of Orbivm). Foremost among them was, I grew frustrated with the World of Wesnoth. It wasn't just the presence of the Drakes (though that did greatly irritate me). The whole world was just a hodgepodge of random STUFF. I tried fixing it up for a while (two years), but in the end, it just didn't seem to work. This makes sense; after all, it was originally created just to have somewhere to have the game take place in. The WoW just didn't age well.

The second reason was that the WoW seemed to be growing crowded to me. Even if it was a perfectly decent fantasy world (which it wasn't), there were all of these new factions wanting to get added to it. There were three eras located on it (default, the IE, the EoM), and a bunch more wanting a piece of real estate. I decided that, instead of keeping the Imperial Era on it, and thus forcing myself to keep the WoW clean from infestation, I would transplant the IE, and let these new factions try to make it on their own, without me blocking them.

Finally, I wanted (and still want) to try my hand at writing good fantasy - to create my own universe. The WoW already existed, and I couldn't mold it into what I wanted. There was too much inertia. The best solution seemed to be to get a fresh start.

If you want to help me, just check out the Imperial Era forums.

This isn't to say that I will no longer work on the World of Wesnoth. I will - I still like it, and want it to improve. I'll probably still write campaigns for it, and expound upon the history of it, etc. But I will also work on Orbivm. And probably put more effort into the latter than the former, since I see the latter as a more promising endeavor.

Links

My blog, Turin Speaks

The Imperial Era forums

My forum account