Orbivm

This is the central information page for Orbivm, the collaborative fantasy world-building project 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 a pm, post in one of the Orbivm threads on the forum, or head over to the repository at https://github.com/UnwiseOwl/Imperial_Era.

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. Most up-to-date 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

Style:

• Skirmish

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)

The heart of the world of Orbivm, the Imperial Era features three human races, two elvish, and one each of dwarves and orcs. During this era, the Eastern part of the continent of Evrosia is dominated by the Lavinian Empire and their superior legions, while the North is occupied by their allies the Arendians, the Issaelfr and their allies the Marauders, and the more insular Sidhe elves. The IE is currently home to five campaigns as well as bieng actively developed as a multiplayer era.

• Development Thread

Faction: Arendians

The Arendians are horse-lords living on the Western steppes of Evrosia. A life of constant battle has developed a military-focused society where warriors are trained from a young age. There used to be a campaign set in Arendia, but it fell into disrepair a very long time ago.

• Unit Tree

Faction: Cavernei

The Cavernei are a dwarvish race with similarities to the mainline Knalgans, but with a greater emphasis on the military uses of runesmithing. They get a campaign too, in "Gali's Contract"

• Unit Tree

Faction: Issaelfr

The frost elves live on the fringes of the habitable lands of Evrosia, the main continent of Orbivm, and have become inured to difficult conditions and tuned in to their Fae natures. They don't have a campaign yet, but you could always write one.

• Unit Tree

Faction: Lavinian Legion

Based on the Roman Legion, the Lavinians have strong, versatile melee units in the legionaries and a range of support classes sourced from amongst the Lavinian population and various subjugated races. The legion are strong in the plains but weak when fighting in forested areas. The Lavinians are featured in "Fall of Silvium".

• Unit Tree

Faction: Marauders

Based on the Germanic peoples that eventually conquered Rome (hint, hint), the Marauders are equally as at home in the hills, forests and swamps of their homeland. Their hard-hitting melee units are practicalyl unstoppable during the night-time. The Marauders are the stars of the "Alfhelm the Wise" campaign.

• Unit Tree

Faction: Orcei Gladiatores

The orcs have been captured gladiators slaving away in the Lavinian arenas for generations.The life of an orc in Orbivm is harsh and brutal, just like the orcs themselves. The tale of the uprising of one such group of Orcs is told in "Up from Slavery".

• Unit Tree

Faction: Sidhe

The Sidhe are a group of forest-dwelling elves whose focus is stealth and fleet movement. Their mages are able to channel the lightning itself, and their various other units move almost as fast. The Sidhe feature in "Tale of Vaniyera".

• Unit Tree

Campaign: Epic of Vaniyera

The expansionist Lavinian Legion, led by the Imperator himself, has invaded the northern forests of the Sidhe. It is up to the young Vaniyera to push its armies back from the border...

• Development Thread

Status:

• Complete

Style

• Skirmish

Length:

• 5 scenarios.

Author:

• Oreb/turin

Difficulty:

• Intermediate

Walkthrough

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

Development

Current:

• Ported to Wesnoth 1.4 by UnwiseOwl.

Future:

• Complete development to allow for translations
• See 'future ideas' in the campaign changelog

Campaign: Up from Slavery

Well, the orcs don't know exactly what year it is. They are captives in the imperial city of Lavinium, gladiators performing for the emperor Optus Maximus. All it will take, however, is one orc to lead his people to freedom. The Samnis called Sparxus may be that orc.

• Development Thread

Status:

• Complete

Style

• Skirmish

Length:

• 7 scenarios.

Author:

• turin/Brutorix

Difficulty:

• Intermediate

Development

Current:

• Seeking maintainer, requires port to 1.12+
• Available on Wesnoth 1.10

Future:

• See 'future ideas' in the campaign changelog

Campaign: Fall of Silvium

You are Caius Regilius, a Tribune of the province Silvia, located in the north-most reaches of the Lavinian Empire. You reside in the city of Silvium, capital of the province, on the border with the northern barbarians. This is the height of the Lavinian Empire - but the Empire has overextended itself. The city of Silvia lies north of the mountains of Arendia, and is sandwiched between the Marauders and the Sidhe... war is inevitable, and the province of Silvia will almost certainly fall.

• Development Thread

Status:

• Complete

Style

• Skirmish

Length:

• 8 scenarios.

Author:

• turin

Difficulty:

• Intermediate

Development

Current:

• Currently being ported to 1.14+. Expected availability _{late 2012, September 2015,} 2018
• Available on Wesnoth 1.10.

Future:

• See 'future ideas' in the campaign changelog

Campaign: Alfhelm the Wise

This is the tale of Alfhelm, called by some the Wise, son of Alfric Conqueror. This is the tale of his victories over his enemies, and his rise to power in the clans of Marauderdom. This is the tale of his journey south and his destruction of the Lavinian Empire. And this is the tale of his demise in the dark forests far to the east of his homeland.

• Development Thread

Status:

• Complete

Style

• Skirmish/Small Battle

Length:

• 15 scenarios.

Author:

• turin

Difficulty:

• Intermediate

Development

Current:

• Seeking maintainer, requires port to 1.12+
• Available on Wesnoth 1.10

Future:

• See 'future ideas' in the campaign changelog

Campaign: Gali's Contract

The Thunderblades were forged centuries ago - a monument to the skill of the dwarven craftsmen and the magic of the Sidhe stormlords. But now, Alfhelm the Wise, king of men, travels east, and he desires a new weapon - one that can overpower the legendary swords of the Sidhe. The dwarf Gali will gladly make one for him, for a fair price, but there are some who would object.

• Development Thread

Status:

• Complete

Style

• Dungeon Crawl

Length:

• 7 scenarios.

Author:

• turin

Difficulty:

• Intermediate

Development

Current:

• Port to 1.12+ soon to be in development, expected to be completed by _{late 2015} 2020.
• Available for Wesnoth 1.10

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 representation 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 Aragwaithi 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 increasingly 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 bade 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 campaigns 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
• 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 portraits to represent campaign heroes (Lavinian Tribune and Imperator, Sidhe Veiledblade, Marauder Warrior/Thain and Seeress, Cavernei Runemaster and Monitor, Orcei Samnis and Gallus)
• Story art for campaigns, starting with Tale of Vaniyera.
• Orcei portraits (freeforestify has made an amazing start)

Terrain Art

We don't have very heavy terrain needs, but the following, in approximate order of priority, would be very welcome additions to the current tile-set:

• 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 we're making the .pot file available now. 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 love to have the Imperial Era in languages other than English.