Jennifer Bullard Interview

[Avonu]

A short interview with one of NWC team member and a few answers to some questions.

Interview with Jennifer Bullard

[Xdarkon]

I am glad some of answers are clearly explained, no rumors

[Pol]

That was great read!

[Angelspit]

Mara is a cutie!

[GreatEmerald]

Wow, the ones taking the interview didn't screw around! And got some fantastic answers, too!

This, well, changes the view of things a bit. Most was confirmation of what we suspected was true, but there's still quite a lot of new information.

So in the alternate timeline where Kastore got his way, everything would have turned out the same, but with him instead of the Kreegans causing trouble. That's interesting, because the Kreegans didn't go anywhere at that point IIRC. So in-universe, it would probably have been a melee-a-trois.

It's good to know that they generally tried to tie things in; maybe now some of the uncertain identities could be sorted out. I don't think that Sandro from XEEN is the same Sandro from Enroth, of course, but for some of the more uncertain ones, this could make a difference.

So the Ancestors are the original colonists of Enroth. Interesting. thinking about what we know about it, where did they land, on Enroth or Antagarich? The Tomb of VARN is on Enroth, but the colonial government (Bracaduun) seems to be on Antagarich. And if they were indeed part of the colonial government, them cursing Tarnum into eternal life of servitude under them is a very interesting twist – he was punished for destroying the remnants of the colonial government. Though this also raises the question of what state the Ancestors are in. Are they locked outside the existential plane, and that's why they can't intervene personally? It would make sense, because that way they could still influence the world by proxy, Tarnum. But if they can bring Tarnum back into the existential plane, why can't they bring themselves back? Perhaps their power outside of it is greater? At the same time, we see that the Ancestors themselves are also immortal, because after all this time they are still alive just as they were before, just in a different plane, by the looks of it.

Speaking of which, what of Gavin Magnus? We don't know of any other power besides Ancestors (and the Ancients, I suppose) that could make someone immortal like that. So it would make sense that he, too, was made immortal by the Ancients. It would be fitting if he was made that because the Ancestors tried to preserve as much of the colonial government remnants as they could. And Gavin Magnus did follow the orders from the Ancestors as well, although it seems that they were rarely given.

So the guardian of Enroth is Corak. So what is Melian, then? Maybe the guardian of the VARN that seeded Enroth?

The answer about Kalibarr is a bit unclear to me. So the Fiery Plane is Enroth? And Kalibarr was kidnapped, so does this mean he went through a portal, but the Kreegans teleported him back, or something? Or was he held captive before the Reckoning, and the Kreegans made sure he survived?

The Kreegan/demon answer is also a bit confusing to me. So the original demons from MM1-5 are retconned to be Kreegans, but the whole Inferno allegiance is still unclear. Hell Hounds aren't Kreegans, fair enough, but what about Demons/Horned Demons and Devils? Were they actual Kreegans, or were the Kreegans always in the background? Given Lucifer, I'd think the former is true.

So the Creators are an unaligned power. That's interesting. That could mean that we have another melee-a-trois there.

And non-HoMM non-Chronicles non-MM games are not canon, that's good to know.

[Xfing]

While the answers were very satisfactory, the questions in my opinion were for the most part underwhelming. I would have asked stuff like:

- have Kastore & Co survived the Reckoning and if so, what were they up to later
- What was the plot outline for the Forge campaign, what did the missions entail, what would have become of the Lords of Harmondale and the kingdom
- what was the impact (if any) of the good Terrans completing the Gate, as it was the canonical ending
- what were the already drafted plots of potential future titles.

Still, this interview was a good job. And more importantly, it shows that NWC people can be contacted and asked stuff. I will probably attempt to contact the lady myself to satiate my curiosity.

[GreatEmerald]

While the answers were very satisfactory, the questions in my opinion were for the most part underwhelming. I would have asked stuff like:

- have Kastore & Co survived the Reckoning and if so, what were they up to later
- What was the plot outline for the Forge campaign, what did the missions entail, what would have become of the Lords of Harmondale and the kingdom
- what was the impact (if any) of the good Terrans completing the Gate, as it was the canonical ending
- what were the already drafted plots of potential future titles.

Well, those questions probably wouldn't get that interesting answers. For the first, they probably didn't survive, or got locked in a dungeon somewhere. For the second, it was mentioned that it was the same campaign as in AB, with names swapped. For the third, it's not likely they gave much thought about it, since it was supposed to not be the canonical ending. And for the fourth, if there were any, they would be pretty vague and not well-developed.

[Xfing]

So much wasted potential. The eight Terrans and MM7 overall were storytelling gold

[MMXAlamar]

Speaking of Heroes IV stuff, you guys might enjoy this. I was talking with Terry Ray awhile ago about doing some of the writing for Children of the Void when we were planning to have the game take place following MM9 and Heroes 4.

Conversation with Alamar and Terry Ray, 5/6/12

Terry: Yeah, Gauldoth was always my favorite I always thought Tawni (the pirate) would make a good bad guy.

Alamar: I was also curious about your plans for Iranese [proposed name of the continent in Heroes IV]. Jennifer told me that Lysander was supposed to conquer it, but that's pretty much it.

Terry: Yes, Lysander's own goals never seemed finished. I pictured him going in either two directions - good or bad. You see, I wrote him with just enough arrogance that he might one day be corruptible. The purest Heroes, I always thought, were Waerjak and Elwin. Oh, and Emilia. I enjoyed most of those characters.....Emilia, I thought, was the true Queen Catherine.

Alamar: What are your thoughts on [a marriage between Lysander and Emilia]?

Terry: Yeah, I could see them married. Let's say Lysander gets a little too comfortable with his power. Emilia would be the one to notice....and the one to try to call him on it. Probably the one who would fight him too. She always has a good moral compass where she thinks about the little guy. Lysander, he focuses more on politics, knighthood, honor....and then the little guy.

Alamar: Did you have anything planned for the Ancients or Kreegan?

Terry: Not the Ancients. The Kreegan were like a dwindling force in our world. Gauldoth used them sort of like a superpower uses a smaller country's forces to pad their own to diminish the losses. Gauldoth recognizes the ambition of Kreegans. Wherever he is in control, you know he will make sure they are kept in check, both in power and in numbers. If the Kreegan were a major bad-guy force, Gauldoth might....I mean might....work against them because he knows they would never accept the Half-Dead. Here's another spoiler....I kind of thought someday that Gauldoth would have the hots for Emilia.

Alamar: I wanted to ask you, who is the God of Death? The one that Kalibarr called “master.”

Terry: Simply, a being of destruction. I pictured him as beyond a normal god. I pictured it as two opposites. Sort of like, there was an entity who gave birth to everything - and that was the Big Bang - and there is an entity who is trying to cancel it all out - the God of Death. He really isn't a god though. Just like people cannot fathom a god, gods cannot fathom these two beings.

Alamar: There are some fans who misinterpret him to be Necros, who is a character from Crusaders of Might and Magic. Necros traveled to Axeoth through the Fiery Realm.

Terry: Yeah, I know. When I was writing everything, I pictured doing several heroes and slowly bringing that guy out.....however, I kept him vague just in case people wanted to do something else with him. So, Necros could certainly be the God of Death.

Alamar: This could be a fantastic storyline thread for Gauldoth to be the hero!

Terry: He was always my favorite “hero.” He's not really a bad guy....a little warped, but I think he truly can love. In the end, he does not want people to be destroyed, or everyone to be turned into zombies, or anything like that. But he does want power.

Alamar: Do you think he'd wage any major wars against other kingdoms on Iranese if provoked?

Terry: Always when provoked, and then he would wipe people out totally to assure the protection of his own but he is, above all else, practical. Too often, bad guys are psycho or stupid. I made Gauldoth neither of these.

Terry: The God of Death tried to use Gauldoth the first time.....I kind of see him trying to use Lysander the second time because it would be unexpected. However, I know some people who like Heroes like their Heroes to be heroes. What do you think about that? Lysander vs. Gauldoth....but in the end the two flip their roles from good to bad. Lysander will always consider Gauldoth a bad guy.

Alamar: Would the player choose one side?

Terry: That would be up to game design.....although, you could have them play both until the last point of the story.....where they would have to play the good guy (Gauldoth) as he saved the universe yet again. Could even have a love triangle going on with Emilia in the middle.

[Talin_Trollbane]

So the guardian of Enroth is Corak.

Uh, no, Corak was sent to replace Sheltem as the Guardian of Terra (Might and Magic III plot) by the Ancients since he went bananas.

although it is possible that Terra was remade into Enroth (the planet of MM6-8) AND that there might be several Corack clones around, but i thought that was just fan speculation?

[Arret]

So the guardian of Enroth is Corak.

Uh, no, Corak was sent to replace Sheltem as the Guardian of Terra (Might and Magic III plot) by the Ancients since he went bananas.

although it is possible that Terra was remade into Enroth (the planet of MM6-8) AND that there might be several Corack clones around, but i thought that was just fan speculation?

From the MM7 Light ending: I am "A" Corak, not "The" Corak. The Corak you saw crash was not me, and he may very well have died in that crash. Then again perhaps not. We are very hard to kill.

We have known for a while there are several (at least) Corak colones running around.

[tolich]

Melian is still planet's guardian. Corak guards but Beta-5 station.

[Avonu]

Indeed. Corak from MM7 good ending protect WebStation Beta 5 and only it. He can't go anywhere even if he wants to help rebuild civilizations on these all planets.
He has his directives and he has to obey them.

Enroth Guardian is Melian.

[Talin_Trollbane]

So the guardian of Enroth is Corak.

Uh, no, Corak was sent to replace Sheltem as the Guardian of Terra (Might and Magic III plot) by the Ancients since he went bananas.

although it is possible that Terra was remade into Enroth (the planet of MM6-8) AND that there might be several Corack clones around, but i thought that was just fan speculation?

From the MM7 Light ending: I am "A" Corak, not "The" Corak. The Corak you saw crash was not me, and he may very well have died in that crash. Then again perhaps not. We are very hard to kill.

We have known for a while there are several (at least) Corak colones running around.

dont worry bro, you will always be the Guardian of my heart.

*wink* *wink*

[GreatEmerald]

Indeed. Corak from MM7 good ending protect WebStation Beta 5 and only it. He can't go anywhere even if he wants to help rebuild civilizations on these all planets.
He has his directives and he has to obey them.

Enroth Guardian is Melian.

Thinking about it, couldn't Melian be a Corak?

[Avonu]

I doubt it.
Melian was created and sent to Enroth before Silence. As you can see, it is "a living computer". The Corak was activated not long ago before MM1 and, has full human/elf-like body, which was not only biological (skeleton, flesh, blood - as you can see in MM5 climax) but has also personality module, as you can read from Corak's journal in MM5.
Besides these all, Corak from Beta 5 Webstation was forbidden to leave that place, while Melian was on Enroth beneth Free Haven since before Silence.

One side note: You can see different Guardians types with each new MM game. Melian was the earliest model - he is living computer (something like HAL-9000 or various Star Trek computers). Escaton is next step - he's machine which looks like human (he obvious was based on Data from ST). Sheltem, Dragon Pharaoh and Corak(s) are living beings with flesh and blood (Terminators or more like human Cylons).

[XEL II]

One side note: You can see different Guardians types with each new MM game. Melian was the earliest model - he is living computer (something like HAL-9000 or various Star Trek computers). Escaton is next step - he's machine which looks like human (he obvious was based on Data from ST). Sheltem, Dragon Pharaoh and Corak(s) are living beings with flesh and blood (Terminators or more like human Cylons).

There isn't really any indication as to which ones of them were "new" or "old", and one or two thousand years is a small amount of time for a civilization like the Anicents. It's not stated that there's anything technologically new in biological Guardians.

All in all, think of them as different models of the Guardian type of mechanism, coming in different forms and appearances. Escaton is never called a Guardian in MM8, and his job is indeed rather different from Corak's, Sheltem's, Melian's and Pharaoh's. Although he can be described as protecting Ancients' worlds, only on a cosmic scale.

[GreatEmerald]

I doubt it.
Melian was created and sent to Enroth before Silence. As you can see, it is "a living computer". The Corak was activated not long ago before MM1 and, has full human/elf-like body, which was not only biological (skeleton, flesh, blood - as you can see in MM5 climax) but has also personality module, as you can read from Corak's journal in MM5.
Besides these all, Corak from Beta 5 Webstation was forbidden to leave that place, while Melian was on Enroth beneth Free Haven since before Silence.

I don't see how the time is relevant. Of course the Ancients sent things to planets before the Silence, that's obvious, nothing surprising there. Corak the Wise is still around after the Silence, but then we don't know where the action takes place. The Silence didn't come to all planets simultaneously, after all. And it does make sense for guardians to stay after the Silence, too.

We also don't know if being forbidden to leave the station has any bearing on the status of Guardian. In fact, do we even know he was indeed forbidden to leave it? Didn't he mention that he can't leave the station as in travel to other places, not necessarily to go for a walk on the place he is in at the moment?

And then there's always a chance that there is another Corak on Enroth.

[XEL II]

It's obvious that the Corak Jen's referring to is the one from Webstation Beta 5.

[Demilich]

There is always a chance that Coraks hiding under every bush along the road... I need to contact my psychoanalitic asap or stop thinking about really absurd theories based on nothing. 'Cos Xel is right: words of Jennifer are pretty clear.