The Lore

[LucasBlitz]

While the 3.0 campaign seems to give a better understanding of the world of Balor, how is the lore structured? Is it the cliche Good vs Evil where the humans fight off anything that looks different than them or is it WoW styled where if you pick the Alliance (Humanoid) you at first think the Horde (Non-Humans) are the bad guys but once you play the Horde you realize through the storyline that the Horde are also the good guys fighting for their own just cause?

[Cosmic]

From the few bits and bobs of lore I've read it seems like the Shadow faction all come from different realms and have been been unified by the Man of Shadows to invade the human realm of Balor through mysterious portals. I know the undead faction are looking for more organic resources to drain, in order to prolong their immortality, but I'm not sure what the other factions are aiming to gain in the invasion. So on the face of it looks like good vs evil, yet many humans are also being manipulated by the man of shadows and the shadow crystals the human heroes are using might have some sort of corrupting influence. But yeah, it'd be great if we got more lore because the few bits and pieces we've got at the moment sound really intriguing (I especially like the story about Dakrath and the Shadow tribe, just a shame they went and picked a card art for him that looks nothing like the high ranking Death Knight he's meant to be).

Of course by the time we get the campaigns there's a good possibility all that planned lore might've been forgotten -_-

Also I'd love to see what a Man of Shadows card would be like. Hopefully it might be some kind of legendary in the new set. I expect it to be totally overpowered and badass in every way!
Also more Aldmor tribe support! Man, I can't stand all this waiting!

[LucasBlitz]

Mlargh that's dissapointing. The whole Good vs Evil thing is so flatlined and one dimensional. "Bad guys kill stuff good guy defends" I actually like Dakrath's art
by Thien Nguyen.
I thought the lore would be centered differently since allies like Howlfang are really just diplomats and such turns out this isn't the case.

[Cosmic]

Oh cool, hadn't seen the full image before! Yeah I like Dakrath's art too, just a shame he looks more demon-like than undead-like, but that's up for debate. Well it's not like the shadow faction are evil for evil's sake. It's more a war for the natural resources of Balor, since it's a lot nicer than many of the other realms. But yeah, on the face of it is good vs evil unfortunately, although I feel like there is more at stake than that and really everyone is being manipulated for the Man of Shadow's own mysterious goal (I might be going into speculative territory here though). I ought to go back and read everything again though. You've got my lore hype train running again after I'd tried my best to make sure than it was left in the junk yard to rust!

[Preybird]

I too want more lore. Id love to get the opportunity to write some more for the game!

Like you Lucas I wouldnt want it to just fall into Good vs Evil. As with the tale of Dakrath I want to display infighting and issues within both the human and Shadow camps (particularly Shadow, they are so many disparate forces brought together under a supposed common goal). Id also love to see some proper histories for the main heroes, why only they can use the Shadow Crystals etc.

Man, i need to write some more fan fiction.

[LucasBlitz]

Exactly because say if we incorporated QM as a lore or maybe even the campaign (Imagine Zaladar fighting off Infernus or Dakrath over some petty argument) then that would mean the Shadow fight against themselves as well as the Human. I for one would believe it to be a nice twist to have something like a Shadow in the human faction and a -Human in the shadow faction to further explore the conflict that the factions have against themselves, each other and the man of shadows

[tman507]

Human in the shadow faction

See Belladonna. She is actually an Irumian traitor who joined with the shadows.

As for Shadows joining the Humans, not entirely sure if all are like this, but any creature-like human ally (e.g. Sandworm or Marshland Sentinel) could always have the possibility of originally coming from a shadow world (although I have no idea which if any actually do at this point).

[XanteseZerylliom]

Aren't Logan and the other minotaurs slaves of the Ravagers? If so, freedom could be a very big incentive. In that case, it's not so much "bad" as desperate and willing to do an awful lot to achieve a goal. (Note: Villains tend to be folks who are very goal-oriented and are willing to do whatever it takes to get there. They are very driven to achieve for themselves. Heroes, on the other hand, fight for the good of all and are usually bound by a sense of duty to not harm others or let them be harmed. Not always true, of course, and the SE heroes, especially the Shadow Heroes, ought to have a reason to be called such. In this case, they likely combine attributes of both hero and villain, doing whatever it takes to achieve the common good for their homelands and people.)

[Ganjamus]

Where exactly are the Shadow holing up?

[tman507]

Aren't Logan and the other minotaurs slaves of the Ravagers?

I think they're slaves to the Wulven actually.