Orbivm

This is the central information page for Orbivm, the collaborative fantasy world that is home to the Wild Era, Imperial Era and Feudal Era, and (currently) six campaigns for them. This page is designed to give a basic overview of the Orbivm project as it currently stands and provide a guide to prospective players and developers.

The Orbivm project is currently led by UnwiseOwl: if you'd like to contribute, send him a pm in post in one of the Orbivm threads on the forum.

What is Orbivm?

The Classical Era, which would later become the Imperial Era, was lauched for Wesnoth 0.9 on the 15th of August 2005, and originally consisted of a muiltiplayer era containing the Loyalist and Elvish factions as well as two new historically themed factions based on the Roman Legion and the Barbarian hordes, soon to be joined by the newly created (desert-themed) Aragwaithi. Over the following years the era grew from being strictly historically themed to include newly created Frost and Wild Elf factions as well as men, elves, orcs and dwarves of every stripe, a home for potentially interesting factions and their creators to make their own. After being transplanted to its own world, free of having to conform to mainline history and fitting around established canon (and Drakes), the focus of the project moved to creating a cohesive and consistent fantasy world and planning the growth and interaction of its peoples from the birth of the world to its final curtain call. Though much of this information is lost, on internet forums that now longer exists or in the heads of people that aren't part of Wesnoth any more, Orbivm lives on.

History of Orbivm

The history of the world of Orbivm, concerned chiefly with the known continent of Evrosia, can be divided into four distinct periods, three of which currently have playable eras. There's various pieces of lore hidden in the campaign and era files, but all the important stuff should be included below.

Saecula Fera (Wild Era)

It is not known how long the wild menn, a race of primitive orcs, have roamed Evrosia, for they have no means of recording their history and seldom live long enough to pass on their knowledge, but these prehistoric people spread over almost the whole of the continent, opposed only by each other, the harsh landscape, and the fearsome monsters that roam the wilds. Current version available from the 1.12 Wesnoth add-ons server.

• Development Thread

Faction: Wild Menn

The Wild "Menn" (the term 'menn' in Orbivm is used by humans (often derogitavely) to refer to the other humanoid races, the other races make no distinction) are in fact a race of primitive orcs, the original humanoid inhabitants of Evrosia. Little is known about them, the orcs having passed little history down to the modern age.

• Unit Tree

Faction: Monsters

The menn are not the only creatures that walk the continent. Nor are they the most dangerous.

• Unit Tree

Development

Current:

• Seeking maintainer

Future:

• Refer to 'future ideas' in the era changelog
• Implementing negative traits instead of positve ones
• Rebalancing the menn to decrease the overall power of the sparker line

Wild Menn Campaign: Dreams of Urduk

After the dreams of Urduk are disturbed by a vision of coming danger, he and his brother Rasduk lead the remnants of their tribe of Wild Menn away from their ancestral lands, through a wild land full of dangers, seeking a new home for their people.

• Development Thread

Status:

• Complete

Length:

• 5 scenarios.

Author:

• turin

Development

Current:

• Seeking maintainer, requires port to 1.12

Future:

• See 'future ideas' in the campaign changelog

Saecula Gentorum (Classical Era)

The Classical Era (once known as the Age of the Spear or Ancient Era) is a theoretical earlier era of the world as is existed before the arrival of the elves and the rise of the Lavinian Empire that we no real plans to implement in the near future, as most of the information about it that did exist was lost in the deep dark past. If you know where any information (particularly artwork) can be found, or are interested in implementing the era, please contact the Orbivm team. The information that is presented here is for historical purposes only.

Faction: Airiya

Persian-themed faction, eventually defeated by the Lavinians, they were defeated, but peristed in the Western Steppes.

Faction: Dardanoi

Ancient greek/maritime faction, eventually became a Lavinian client kingdom.

Faction: Dvergken

Early dwarves: invented the shield, had beserkers, didn't get on with men or orcs.

Faction: Keltoi

Celtish/Scottish themed faction. Precursors of the Marauders/Arendians.

Faction: Laviniani

Precursors of the Lavinian Empire, modelled on early republican Roman armies.

Faction: Nemidians

Desert dwellers whose strengths lie in their subterfuge and affinity with beasts. Became a lavinian client kingdom.

Faction: Orcish Horde

They're orcs, they're a horde. Eventually subjugated and almost wiped out 'in the wild' by the Lavinians.

Saecula Imperium (Imperial Era)

Development Thread

Faction: Arendians

• Unit Tree

Faction: Cavernei

• Unit Tree

Faction: Issaelfr

• Unit Tree

Faction: Lavinian Legion

• Unit Tree

Faction: Marauders

• Unit Tree

Faction: Orcei Gladiatores

• Unit Tree

Faction: Sidhe

• Unit Tree

Campaign: Epic of Vaniyera

After the dreams of Urduk are disturbed by a vision of coming danger, he and his brother Rasduk lead the remnants of their tribe of Wild Menn away from their ancestral lands, through a wild land full of dangers, seeking a new home for their people.

• Development Thread

Status:

• Complete

Length:

• 5 scenarios.

Author:

• turin

Walkthrough

• [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZorLYWvUD7VIhaXxKwzO8iQANlp_TaF0 Video Playthroughs

Development

Current:

• Recently ported to 1.12 by UnwiseOwl.

Future:

• See 'future ideas' in the campaign changelog

Campaign: Up from Slavery

After the dreams of Urduk are disturbed by a vision of coming danger, he and his brother Rasduk lead the remnants of their tribe of Wild Menn away from their ancestral lands, through a wild land full of dangers, seeking a new home for their people.

• Development Thread

Status:

• Complete

Length:

• 5 scenarios.

Author:

• turin

Difficulty:

• Normal

Development

Current:

• Seeking maintainer, requires port to 1.12

Future:

• See 'future ideas' in the campaign changelog

Campaign: Fall of Silvium

After the dreams of Urduk are disturbed by a vision of coming danger, he and his brother Rasduk lead the remnants of their tribe of Wild Menn away from their ancestral lands, through a wild land full of dangers, seeking a new home for their people.

• Development Thread

Status:

• Complete

Length:

• 5 scenarios.

Author:

• turin

Difficulty:

• Normal

Development

Current:

• Seeking maintainer, requires port to 1.12

Future:

• See 'future ideas' in the campaign changelog

Campaign: Alfhelm the Wise

After the dreams of Urduk are disturbed by a vision of coming danger, he and his brother Rasduk lead the remnants of their tribe of Wild Menn away from their ancestral lands, through a wild land full of dangers, seeking a new home for their people.

• Development Thread

Status:

• Complete

Length:

• 5 scenarios.

Author:

• turin

Difficulty:

• Normal

Development

Current:

• Seeking maintainer, requires port to 1.12

Future:

• See 'future ideas' in the campaign changelog

Campaign: Gali's Contract

After the dreams of Urduk are disturbed by a vision of coming danger, he and his brother Rasduk lead the remnants of their tribe of Wild Menn away from their ancestral lands, through a wild land full of dangers, seeking a new home for their people.

• Development Thread

Status:

• Complete

Length:

• 5 scenarios.

Author:

• turin

Difficulty:

• Normal

Development

Current:

• Seeking maintainer, requires port to 1.12

Future:

• See 'future ideas' in the campaign changelog

Saecula Foederum (Feudal Era)

After the fall of the Lavinian Empire and the ensuing power vacuum, new groups rose to prominence. The feudal era is a respresentation of that period. The period is not very developed in terms of history, so there's a lot that could be built through new campaigns. There's been a playable version of the era for a long time, but it's not complete and it's not balanced.

• Development Thread

Faction: Aragwaithi

Descendants of the Arendians and Marauders that remained in the North, the tribal Arigwaithi warriors maintain the old Elvish truces with the High Elves, which makes them frequent targets of the Droch Fae, they hold lands approximating the old boundaries of Arendia.

Faction: Ceresian League

Descendants of the Maruders that moved south, the Lavinians and the Dardan remnants, the city-states of the Ceresian League have joined together for mutual defence, and have adopted the Marauder fascination with magic and mysticism.

Faction: Clockwork Dwarves

Increasingly pushed to the margins of livable space by expansionist neighbours, the clockwork dwarves rely on technology to survive, and thrive, in harsh environments. The rise of the clockworks will be told one day in the re-written Gali's Contract.

Faction: Droch Fae

The Droch Fae are the increasinly xenophobic descendants of the Sidhe, withdrawn from all interaction with other races and the High Elves that they consider blood-traitors, the Droch Fae have morphed into an Elvish death cult devoted to the destruction of all other humanoid life. The Droch Fae were never finished being built, and are not currently playable.

Faction: High Elves

The High Elves are the product of the reunification of the Issaelfr and most of the Sidhe (there's a campaign idea right there!). They occupy much of Marauderdom, Lavinian Silvia and the Stormkeep Forest.

Faction: Kedari

The Kedari are descendants of the Airiya, who bided their time after their defeat by the Lavinians, and their slave-race, the Ainsarii, may be descendants of the Nemidians.

Faction: Khaganates

After escaping from Lavinian captivity, the Orcei Gladiatores mixed back in with the remnants of the Orcish Horde to the West of the continent and became the Steppe Orcs. Extremely tribal, they largely fight amongst themselves, but their rare moments of unification strike fear into the hearts of those of the other races.

What Can I do?

Want to get involved? Great, drop us a line! The best way to find something to do in Orbivm is to download the eras and campaigns and look at the changelogs, as most contain lists of future features to be included. Below is a list of general tasks that we'd love help with, and the Orbivm team would love to help train new people to try their hands at these roles.

Era maintenance

• Wild Era
• Feudal Era

We're actively looking for maintainers for these eras. They offer a good baseline of work already completed and partially explored ideas, but have plenty of scope for further development for ambitious maintainers if desired.

Campaign maintenance

Maintaining an Orbivm campaign is a matter of porting to new versions of Wesnoth, fixing any issues that arise (support is available), responding to any user feedback, and improving any and all aspects of the campaign as desired. The following campaigs are available for interested maintainers:

• Dreams of Urduk (Requires a 1.12 port and ongoing maintenance)
• Tale of Vaniyera (Requires ongoing maintenance)
• Up From Slavery (Requires a 1.12 port and ongoing maintenance, potentially could be converted to an MP campaign)
• Alfhelm the Wise (Requires a 1.12 port and ongoing maintenance)

Campaign development

It's been a long time, but we're always interested in new campaigns utilising the Orbivm eras, if you're interested in making one. An Arendian or Issaelfr campaign would be boss, but feel free to try out something in the Feudal Era too. If you're short on ideas, I have a little folder of them somewhere, hit me up and I'll see if I can find something in there for you.

Sprite Art

New sprites and animations would be appreciated anywhere that they're missing or you can do better than we have currently, but the particular focuses at the moment, in approximate order of priority, are:

• New Orcei Gladiatores sprites (Amorphous is working on this!)
• Missing/incomplete animations for the Sidhe/Marauders/Lavinians
• Faction-specific flags for the Imperial Era.
• New sprites for the Issaelfr
• Arendian unit animation
• New Wild Monsters sprites
• Missing Wild Menn animations
• Droch Fae Sprites

Portrait Art

Portraits, no need to meet mainline standard, would be appreciated anywhere that they're missing, which is pretty much everywhere, but the particular focuses at the moment, in approximate order of priority, are:

• Units protraits to represent campaign heroes (Lavinian Tribune and Imperator, Sidge Veiledblade and Thunderblade, Marauder Warrior/Thain and Seeress, Cavernei Runemaster and Monitor, Orcei Samnis and Gallus)
• Orcei portraits (freeforestify has made an amazing start)

Terrain Art

No don't have very heavy terrain needs, but the following, in approximate order of priority, would be very welcome additions to the current tileset:

• Ruined Elvish castles/keeps
• Lavinian (Roman Style) castles/keeps (stone fort style)
• Lavinian (Roman Style) camps (wooden palisade style)
• Lavinian (Roman Style) forums (buildings/walls in a roman column type style for representing Lavinium itself, etc.)

Playtesting

We always want playtesting! Download any Orbivm add-ons, have a play and give us some feedback in the appropriate forum thread. If you want something a little more directed: for campaigns, try of Tale of Vaniyera, our most recently updated campaign, or Alfhelm the Wise, the campaign that needs the most work; for multiplayer, try out the development version that is packaged with the Imperial Era, how it compares to the main release, what changes you like and don't, and what else you'd change if you were maintaining it. A list of features for testing at any point is stored in the era changelog.

Creative Writing

If you'd like to put your writing skills to good use, try updating the text of Tale of Vaniyera (particularly the Epilogue), Up from Slavery, Dreams of Urduk, or the unit and faction descriptions in the Imperial or Feudal eras.

Translating

We've not done translations of Orbivm before, but we'd love to try, starting with either Tale of Vaniyera or the Imperial Era itself. Translations might not be properly supported yet, but we're keen to work closely with you to make this part of the project a reality, we'd losve to have the Imperial Era in languages other than English.