Wartales Lore Q&A

Having recently announced Wartales, a gritty open world mercenary RPG, Shiro Games now brings us this lore-focused Q&A that shares a thing or two about the game's world and setting, the big players and key events. Check it out:

Hey Mercenaries!

Welcome to the first in a weekly series of Q&A's with our development team that will give you an exclusive look into the world of Wartales, it's development history, the future of the game, some exclusive looks at concept art and upcoming content and more as we build towards our release into Early Access later this year!

In this first Q&A, Shiro Games COO Nicolas Cannasse delves into the lore of Wartales and answers some of the more prominent community questions about this strange and hostile universe that we've found ourselves fighting to survive in.

Read on to find out more...

What were the main inspirations for the world and setting of Wartales?

"I’ve always been interested in medieval low fantasy settings, which are well illustrated in first seasons of Game of Thrones or several fantasy books. At first I wrote a more post-apocalyptic back-to-the-roots universe, but then we wanted it to feel more medieval while still being our own universe, so we got back to rewrite the medieval times including the old Roman Empire, the Plague, Christianism, etc. but by giving each of these topics a twist that makes it different from the history as we know it."

Can you provide some more information on the Edoran Empire (who they were, why they fell, etc…)

"The Edoran empire has a long history. It was originally a Holy Kingdom created by the Lightbringer. But Edor, a genius general with a lot of charisma, took control of it and started a military campaign that turned the kingdom into a global empire. That didn’t go very well with all the neighboring countries, especially the Harag where a lot of resistance took place.

The Plague that emerged in these troubled times caused great casualties and saw the fall of the empire. But it’s still recent history so the world has not forgotten what happened during the war."

You’ve mentioned a plague in some interviews, can you elaborate on this? Does it still exist in the world?

"The Plague propagates through Plague Rats, which are infected with a disease that can turn humans into Pestiferous. Once contaminated, the human can only eat meat, which is expensive in the world, and failing to do so will turn him or her into some kind of savage beast until it it is able to feed again. While an isolated case is not a problem, a whole village can turn into ashes if the number of infected grows quickly. A cure does exist but is very expensive and only available through the black market.

The reason why the Plague started during the war and its source is one of the many mysteries of the world."

What are some of the key events that led the world to the current situation?

"The world at present times is composed of five kingdoms which have a long common history and various events in the past that led to the current situation.

The Edoran war of aggression was one of the most recent conflicts, but there were many others, such as the arrival of the Island People that landed on the Belerion shores after being chased from their freezing lands, or the Ancients' history that can be uncovered by discovering and exploring their tombs throughout the world."

Thanks for joining us and make sure you keep an eye out for next weeks Q&A!

Don't hesitate to leave us a question on any of our social channels, Discord, or on our Steam forums, and we'll see if we can get it answered in one of our future articles!

Thanks again for all of your support and feedback so far, you guys have been amazing and we can't wait to share the game with you all.

- Shiro Games