Posts from Inferno capital: Biara’s and the Overlord’s Stronghold.

Greetings. Ever since I first consciously played the Academy of Magic campaign mission – Hope of Zehir – I've been troubled by a question:
What exactly were those two cities on that map?

I'll share my thoughts and assumptions here, supporting them with information from the game. Feel free to correct me and share your own assumptions.

So, let's begin. On this map, we have two "so-called cities." Biara's Citadel and the Demon Sovereign's Citadel.
According to lore, the capital of Inferno is the city of Ur-Hekal (source: Ashan Wiki, etc.), and in Heroes of Might and Magic V, it's Ur-Hikon. I will use both names; please don't correct me.
And here's the immediate question: which of these two cities is Ur-Hikon?

Here's what I've found:

1) The first thing we learn from the video is that Biara took refuge in Ur-Hekal (in the video, they pronounce it Ur-Hakale; in the subtitles, it's Ur-Hakone). Therefore, 1 point in favor of Biara's Citadel being Ur-Hekal.

2) Next, we read the description of the "Capture Biara" quest. It states that "The road to the Demon Sovereign's Palace is blocked by the capital of Shi'o – Ur-Hikon, where Biara has taken refuge..." and further, "Capturing Biara and opening the way to the Demon Sovereign's palace is the first task for the heroes." Another point in favor of Biara's Citadel, suggesting that it is indeed the capital of Shi'o, and not the "city" called "Demon Sovereign's Citadel."

3) We read the description of the "Biara's Citadel" object: "It (the city) serves as an outpost, guarding the road to the Demon Sovereign's citadel..." Here, it seems that they are simply telling us that the Demon Sovereign's Citadel is not in the city, but somewhere behind it. 0 points for both.

4) If we try to attack Biara's Citadel before the other heroes pass through the garrisons, the game will display the message: "First, all heroes must break through to Ur-Hikon." A point in favor of Biara's Citadel.

5) By digging around in the editor, we learn that the names of the objects of these two pseudo-cities are "bcitadel" and "scitadel," each having its own. This doesn't clarify anything. 0 points.

6) By digging around in the map files, we find files that define the characteristics of these two "cities" for scripted battles. Their names are Ur-Hekal (Biara's Citadel) and SovereignCitadel. Considering that the correct name of the capital is Ur-Hekal, this gives a point to Biara's Citadel.

7) We read the description of the "Demon Sovereign's Citadel" object: "Ur-Hikon is the capital of demons and an abode, and at the same time, the prison of the Demon Sovereign. This city is the heart of the fiery infernal realm..." Here's where the confusion arises. If Ur-Hikon is Biara's Citadel, as we were told earlier, why are we told that it is the Demon Sovereign's Citadel – Ur-Hikon? Still, 1 point in favor of the Demon Sovereign's Citadel.

Let's count the points: 4 points for Biara's Citadel and 1 for the Demon Sovereign's Citadel for proudly being called the capital of Shi'o.

Therefore, I conclude that Biara's Citadel is Ur-Hikon, and I don't know why it's called her Citadel. Perhaps Biara rules the city on behalf of the Demon Sovereign, or her citadel is located there. And the Demon Sovereign's Citadel, i.e., his palace and castle, is located behind Ur-Hikon, on a mountain. So, Biara's Citadel, also known as Ur-Hikon (Ur-Hekal), is a city, the capital of Shi'o, while the Demon Sovereign's Citadel is a castle, the palace of Kha-Beleth. The only thing that confuses me is the description of his castle, which suggests that it is also the capital. I have a theory that his castle is located in Ur-Hikon, i.e., in the capital. But, since this is a game, for gameplay mechanics, the battle in the city, i.e., the battle for the capital and the assault on Kha-Beleth's palace, were made into separate cities – a game convention, so to speak. However, this theory slightly contradicts the description in points 2 and 3, where it is said that the capital of demons (Ur-Hekal) serves as an outpost. It's strange to call an entire city an outpost if it is where the protected object is located. Also, if you read the description of the second quest, "Meet the Demon Sovereign," you will see that "...Biara once again betrayed, showing the heroes the way to the Demon Sovereign's palace..." which confirms the fact that his castle is somewhere not in the city of Ur-Hikon.

That's all. Write what you think about this, all the pros and cons, whether you agree with me, or if you have your own versions and assumptions about this? I would be glad to know your opinion.

(P.S. Please moderators, don't judge me for the fact that the topic is in the Overlord section; I noticed this after I created it, remembering that this map was in the original game)

What if these two locations are actually the same demon city, according to the lore?

I mentioned this hypothesis in my conclusion. That all the battles take place in Ur-Hikon. The battle with Biara takes place in the city itself, while the battle with the Overlord takes place directly in his palace. It was implied that the palace is located somewhere within the city. But this is just an assumption.

Have you played Heroes 7?

No.

Then I'll put it this way: in Ashan, there's a Free City - Hammerfall. It's located southeast of the Duchy of Wolves, on the coast of the Jade Ocean. So, on the maps of Heroes of Might and Magic VII, as well as in the campaign for the Haven faction, the city is presented both as an environment consisting of walls, houses, and other buildings, and as three (or four) objects, which are essentially the cities themselves (technically), but according to the lore, it's all one city.

It's a game convention. That is, as I understand it, you lean towards the version that the city itself wasn't shown at all, and the castles on the map are simply buildings within it? Well, that's also a good version, if I understand you correctly.

Yes, I'm leaning towards that version. But I could be wrong too.

There probably isn't a right answer. But your version is convincing, if we assume that the garrisons are also part of the capital city of Ur-Hekal. By the way, their script names are: town1, town2, town3, and town4. That's quite telling…

Scripts are purely a technical aspect. Many units and hero names in the data have different designations than what we ultimately see in the game.

Nevertheless, the developers try to name objects in a clear way, rather than using a random set of characters, like UID. So, they do convey some information, however minimal.

I agree, but only partially. For example, do you know which hero is hidden in a file whose name contains the word Jazaz?

Nebiros. And I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation: demons used to have different names, as well as portraits, and then Ubisoft said to change them, but they didn't recompile the engine, or something like that.

To change the script names of heroes, recompiling the application is not necessary – the information is taken from the files. This means that the developers were either too lazy, didn't have time, or simply forgot and didn't bother.

You don't need to recompile the application to change the script names of the heroes – the information is taken from the files. So, either the developers were lazy, or they didn't have time, or they forgot and didn't bother.

The reasons are not that important, the point is that they simply didn't want to change them, and not because they wanted to name the objects in an incomprehensible way, just for fun.