HwKeeper
The official Heroes VI website has published answers to the questions the developers have received over the past weeks. From them you will learn some new details about the Shades of Darkness expansion, and a few words are also said about Heroes 7.
A Russian translation is presented below.
1) Will it be possible to use all of the Dynasty features from vanilla H6 in Shades of Darkness?
Yes, you will be able to do so if you already own Vanilla H6.
2) Are there any plans for a possible Heroes 7 game?
There are always ideas and discussions about a next Heroes game, we are always thinking about what we could do with it in the future. Right now, it’s still too early to discuss a next installment, but when the time will right, you will be the first to know ;)
3) What do you think about possible developments and additions to the usual terrain types? Do you plan to add some new ones in a possible new game or to work on the ones you have?
Nope, unfortunately that notion was not heavily developed in Heroes 6. So we don’t have much room to iterate on those. But it’s definitely a notion we would like to make a strong comeback if we make a new Heroes.
4) Do you see any of H6 lore elements as potentially problematic for future developments, or you're happy about how it turned out?
On the contrary, the lore elements that were developed for Heroes 6 opened up a new world of possibilities for our writing / art / design teams. For instance, there were a lot of discussions about the afterlife in Ashan – the soul’s progress through the Void to the Moon (Asha’s resting cocoon), the principles governing reincarnation, etc. This led us to develop further the concept of the Void and create exciting new creatures, artifacts and abilities related to it (that you can discover in Shades of Darkness, H6’s standalone expansion, but also in Duel of Champions, and – when you get the chance to play it – in Heroes Online).
5) Did Sandro really die from Cyrus's hands in Lorekeep?
Sandro’s physical form has been destroyed by Cyrus. But if you read the biography of the city of Lorekeep in Heroes V, you know Sandro’s spirit form still haunts the ruins of Lorekeep… So knowing him, it’s possible he’ll find some way to come back one day :-)
6) What happened to the hydras and shall we hear about them again in future?
While hydras don’t appear in the line-ups of Heroes VI, they are still part of the bestiary of Ashan and might return in a future game.
7) What are your views on adding completely new creatures and even factions?
Adding a tenth faction to the world of Ashan is something that is forbidden by our “Universe Commandments”. However, we only mean by that the main races / nations. So there’s a lot of creative freedom for adding what we call “sub-factions” or “minor factions” (for instance the Crimson Wizards who are a split-faction of Academy, the Pirates who are a Neutral minor faction, etc.). As for adding new creatures, we have guidelines to justify the presence of any given creature on Ashan. Because of the “9 factions” rule, we will not add new civilized races like Halflings or Gnomes (for instance), but there’s a lot of room for unbridled creativity in some Creature categories like the Spirits, Constructs, Undead, Beastmen, etc. For instance, we could decide that Rainbow Fairies (Spirits), Starsilver Surfers (Constructs) or Wererabbits (Beastmen) exist in Ashan, and that would fit the rules of our universe :-)
8) Will Raelag's sister Eruina be featured in Shades of Darkness?
While she doesn’t play a role in the story, Eruina is one of the “tavern” heroes in Shades of Darkness.
9) What happened to Azkaal after the events of H6?
He seemed to be destroyed, but in the epilogues he's still bound to Kirill. Kiril might have decided to destroy Azkaal with the power of the Invisible Library, but since he decided to keep the Library and move it to Sheogh, he also kept Azkaal. We believe Kiril came to enjoy the power Azkaal brought to him, a bit like Bruce Banner never really get rid of the Hulk.
10) Why do centaurs and manticores have horns in Ashan?
And seeing how the jaguar warrior upgrades into the panther warrior, are panthers somehow different (and stronger) than in our world? There are many different versions of the Manticore in mythology. Some of them have horns. We felt it made a cool creature design so our Manticore has horns too. Centaurs (and Orcs) sometimes have horns due to their Demon blood. Our artists did several sketches for the centaurs, with and without horns, and we felt the horned version worked better. For the panthers, I think we first have to rectify something about panthers in general. People have a tendency to use the word panther solely as a synonym to leopard. In truth, the word panther refers any cat of the “panthera” genus: lions, tigers, leopards and jaguars. So even in the real world, a panther is not necessarily smaller or weaker than a jaguar, they can be the same animal. Many creatures of Might & Magic are inspired by various mythologies: pre-colombian tribes of South America often believed the black jaguars were stronger and more dangerous than the “normal” jaguars, and in Ashan, this myth is actually true :-)
11) Seeing how Belketh turned out to be an angel, could you tell us more about the disciples of Sar-Elam and their respective races?
Belketh was not directly a disciple of Sar-Elam, but a disciple of Sar-Shazzar (who was a disciple of Sar-Elam). Being nearly mythological figures in Ashan, the actual race and genders of the seven disciples remain shrouded in mystery. The only certainty is that they all belonged to the Elder Races (Angels, Faceless, Dwarves, Elves, Nagas, Humans) as the Orcs, Vampires or Beastmen did not exist at that time, and Sar-Elam would probably not accept a Demon as a disciple…
12) The Dragon Knights are supposed to be an order, but seeing how Cate operates on her own, was there really no one to stop her? Do Dragon Knights interfere with each others' plans?
Do they have a codex of sort which allows or prohibits their actions? Dragon Knights are indeed an Order with a Codex that regulates their actions, but their main concern is the preservation of the Cosmic Balance in Ashan. They act only when Chaos or Order becomes too extreme. Cate had an agenda of her own, that sometimes conflicted with her Order. But her superiors decided to no to interfere because her actions were mainly beneficial, rather than harmful, to the preservation of the Balance.