1. Cleaved Maiden

[EDL]

Hi there,

during the next months you will find short stories on the web that deal with the tavern known as "The Cleaved Maiden" and are written by our author Hans Jörg. You can find the first chapter of the stories right here: http://www.worldofgothic.com/gothic4/?go=shortstories. This thread has the purpose to ask questions to Hans-Jörg and he will answer them from time to time.

Please stick to questions, this is not the place for discussion around the stories. We will delete every post that is not a question to keep this thread the way it was intended to be. Thank you.

Have fun!

-EDL

[Hampu]

Why do you continue to bring up "He has no rings on his fingers"?

[Vontrippen]

When can we have the next story?

[Hans-Jörg]

Hello everybody,

here are some answers for our English section:

Why do you continue to bring up "He has no rings on his fingers"?

Murdra was just sitting next to a handsome man who wore many rings on his fingers. In other words: She was sitting next to a handsome, rich man. Now she returns to the kitchen where her jealous husband is waiting. Murdra is angry and realizes the difference between the handsome, rich man sitting in the taproom and her husbund who is neighter handsome nor rich very clearly. This is refelcted in her thoughts: "No rings on this one, Murdra thought angrily."

But ... I'm just beginning to interpret my own story ...

When can we have the next story?

The second part will be published around October the 6th most probably. But it will be announced when we know it for shure.

Cheers,
Hans-Jörg

[Vontrippen]

How many stories we can have after murda?

[Hans-Jörg]

Sorry, Vontrippen, this answer comes a little bit late, but here it is:

At the moment we have no clear number in our minds, but we aim for a nice little series that tells the most important story strands that take place between Gothic 3 and Arcania and introduces the region the new game is located in to everybody. If possible, we will try to deliver one short story every month until the release of the game. But we will see. Maybe you will get some stories less or you will get some stories more.

[Hampu]

Where do you get your inspiration?
Are places in your stories going to make it into the game?
When will the next amazing story come out?
Will you include a book of all these short stories in the game box?

[Hans-Jörg]

Hi everybody,

before I start answering the questions I would like to congratulate all those who have discovered the quote from Kingdom of Heaven. I tried to prepare a little riddle for EDL, but obviously it has been much too easy . Next time I will try Kant, Hegel or Wittgenstein. That's gonna be much harder .

Where do you get your inspiration?

Well, I get my inspirations from many sides. I am reading many novels (especially fantasy), and I am watching many movies and series. The real life is a pool of inspiration, too. Especially if you are living in a small village like I do. If you would know my village and the street I'm living in, you would discover Murdra quite soon

Are places in your stories going to make it into the game?

Yes, for sure. One day, you will walk through the Valley of Blood, travel to Thorniara and Setarrif, visit the Cleaved Maiden for an ale or two. But if you do so, be aware. Murdra has a very notched rolling pin and a scary broom

When will the next amazing story come out?

I'm just working on it, and then it has to be translated. End of the first week of December seems to be realistic. We will announce it within the Spellbound newsletter.

Will you include a book of all these short stories in the game box?

Seems to be an interesting idea, but we haven't discussed this matter, yet.

[Hans-Jörg]

Hi everybody,

new questions, new answers

When does this story take place? During Forsaken gods?

Yes The rumors are referring to the initial situation of Forsaken Gods. So, the nameless hero is not a king yet. I wanted to give a hint at which time this Maiden story is playing. Of course it takes some time for the rumor to get to Argaan.

Okay now I've read it and I can say that it's dumb, sorry Spellbound I don't like it. It seems that everyone knows that the hero is nameless, everybody knows of his deeds and etc. It kinda destroys the Gothic feeling to me.

Maybe I’m writing a little special about rumors and the nameless hero, today. Hopefully we will be able to translate it before Christmas. A little word in advance: You are right. If Gothic would play in a realistic medieval setting, there would be no rumor about the nameless hero and the situation at Myrtana at all. In this case, we would not be able to tell you what happens in the time between Gothic 3 and Arcania. Would this be better? More Gothic?

And why is everone callin' him nameless hero! It's just stupid, he's the king now so why don't people say like "Oh there's a new King, Rhobar III, but I never heard that Rhobar II had a son... strange... Well who understands the King shit! Give me another mug of ale!"

Well ... The actual story plays at the beginning of Forsaken Gods, not at its end. So, the nameless hero is not a king yet, and nobody can call him Rhobar III.

Cheers,
Hans-Jörg

[Hans-Jörg]

Hey,

here are some reflections on postings EDL has sent to me.

These short stories are wonderfull reading indeed. They really capture the right mood so to speak. You can sense and almost smell how rich gameworld it is, with a culture and history. Lots of back lore proves that you are taking this game seriously. Its great how the characters and happenings in these novels seem so gothic-like yet feeling fresh and unique. Shadowbeast for example was a gothic shadowbeast..heck I could regognize it's attack pattern from the text and already picture it what it looked in the gameworld or how the king's men drank ale joyfully inside while now knowing what was on loose . I also enjoy this perspective you have chosen. It was a clever move to have these sneak peaks through the eyes of ordinary people and how these novels center around their ordinary lives. Makes everything feel plausable. You have good writers in your team and I hope you can bring the same quality of writing in arcania too.

I’m very glad that you like the stories and the perspective I have chosen. In my opinion this perspective is very important for the game. I believe that we need this ordinary people perspective to make Arcania a Gothic tale. Gothic began as a prison story, and the prison setting had a forming influence on the whole series. With Gothic 2 the story left the prison, but in its heart it remained a prison story. With Gothic 3 the Gothic world became bigger and more complex, but you can still feel the prison influence of Gothic 1. In my opinion, this results from the ordinary people perspective PB has chosen for the game. That’s the reason why we will stick to this perspective for Arcania and the Cleaved Maiden News.

Story is great, the armour seems too...oriental.

The Setarrifian armors are indeed a little bit oriental, but the question is: Are they too oriental for a Gothic game?

To judge them correctly, we need to have a closer look at the Setarrifian culture as a whole. When we began to design the Setarrifian culture, we went through the former parts of the Gothic series looking for in-game links the Setarrifian culture could be based on. We discovered some ancient ruins spread over the Gothic world (Khorinis and Varant), and we decided to use these ruins as the basis of the Setarrifian culture (please see the Gothic artbook for reference as well). The idea behind it was that Setarrif has been an empire with settlements on the continent long, long time ago. The empire declined, but the ruins remained.

After this decision, our artists made new sketches of the ruins based on the Gothic references they had available. The main question was: How would the design of the ruins most probably have looked like if Gothic 2 and Gothic 3 were made with some advanced technical possibilities game developers can make use of today (more detailed textures, etc.)?

After that, our artists began to rebuild the ruins creating the architectural style of the Setarrifian culture.

Then, they began to develop the whole culture (weapons, armors, heraldry, flags, everyday objects, etc.). In my opinion, they made a very good job And I personally think that the armors, buildings and all the other aspects of the Setarrifian culture still to be disclosed really fit nicely into the universe.

Cheers,
Hans-Jörg

[Stelmach]

Hans:

When can we expect more of your superb writing on "The Cleaved Maiden"?

When can we get some video?

When can we get a demo?

When can we get our hands on this gorgeous game?

ALL WHO WANDER ARE NOT LOST .... BUT A MAP DON'T HURT!

[Raconz]

Hans:

When can we expect more of your superb writing on "The Cleaved Maiden"?

The 7th part is called "The Stranger" and it will be released soon

When can we get some video?

When can we get a demo?

When can we get our hands on this gorgeous game?

ALL WHO WANDER ARE NOT LOST .... BUT A MAP DON'T HURT!

Nice questions :p Can't wait to see the answers

[Hans-Jörg]

Hey everybody,

I'm very sorry. This time you had to wait pretty long for my answers. But here they are, finally (well it's only one ).
Before I start: Many thanks for the many congratulations after the birth of my son He's doing fine.

When can we expect more of your superb writing on "The Cleaved Maiden"?

Thank's for the flowers
The new story is already written, translated and approved. EDL just told me that it will be released today. This time, I wrote the story together with Andre Bixenmann (aka Hârkon). He is the community winner of the German story contest. Many thanks to him. He did a great job

When can we get some video?
When can we get a demo?
When can we get our hands on this gorgeous game?

Nice questions :p Can't wait to see the answers

Well, unfortunately I cannot answer these questions. I'm sure JoWooD will announce these things in time.

Cheers,
Hans-Jörg

[Raconz]

In one of the stories we had the chance to see Thorus. Are we going to see more of the old hero's friends in the upcoming stories ? ( like Lee, Milten, Diego, Gorn ... )

[EDL]

In one of the stories we had the chance to see Thorus. Are we going to see more of the old hero's friends in the upcoming stories ? ( like Lee, Milten, Diego, Gorn ... )

I think I can answer that with a yes.

-EDL