How to discover lore in the game?
Seek and you will find, or die trying.
There are several avenues we can use to allow players to piece together the past and learn about the forces that are at work all around. Obviously, we will post bits and pieces on the website along with concept art and even screenshots, and whatever appears there is canon, absolute facts about various topics from the history of the world. And then, some things will be revealed or hinted at through forums like this. In Discord or elsewhere.
The full spectrum of how lore is revealed in the game is something that will be evolving as we implement features that are planned pertaining to that. As the Alpha starts, the things that you can use to start piecing together the history of the world are item and NPC names, descriptions, names of places, different types of old structures, and visual queues as you delve into the enemy's strongholds.
Oh… and the books! Read, and you will find.
A lot of the questions in this section had to do with books, what books are in Pax Dei, how we will use books, and how we will learn from books, so I would like to repeat here what I have said on this previously;
The inspiration we have taken from books in medieval times:
Libraries in early medieval times were incredibly valuable, storing the treasures of the mind.
Entering a library was a privilege given to few, and more often than not, books were chained to the desks, to make sure they would not be carried away.
Certain important libraries operated under a Papal directive, forbidding people to remove books from them, on pain of excommunication.
Entering a room full of books gave a promise that not only were you in the presence of great minds, but also in the house of great rulers who understood the meaning of knowledge.
Books and the texts within them were often believed to have supernatural qualities, divine or otherwise magical.
Manuscripts were full of intertextual layers, symbols, and illustrations that often said alternate stories and contained hidden meanings or messages.
Making books before the advent of paper was a huge undertaking and expensive.
As you can perhaps deduce from the inspirations, we have thought a lot about this, and there are grand plans in place for books in the game, almost none of which will be in the Alpha. And even though we, as a rule, do not want to talk much about upcoming features right now, I feel this is something we need to outline a bit better, in order for things to make sense.
I cannot at this moment promise when or how exactly books will be implemented, but here are some bits that may jog your imagination, as it does ours.
Ideally:
Owning a good library should be impressive, for a reason!
You should be able to glean all sorts of lore snippets and recipes from books.
Books should not be a wall of text you need to read through.
Books should be involved in appointment play.
Books should be a part of crafting.
Books should be an element of the economy.
Yes... We love books
The concept of books
The role of books
The power of books
The promise of books
The magic of books
The mystery of books
Books!