Posts from Hive of Races

Easy: Haven (solar chariots, priestesses of the sun), Water (mermaids, krakens, water snakes), Egyptian (scarabs, various elephants), Finnish (Erhenjagers, giants, warriors of Ragnarok)...
P.S. I would advise you not to create new factions, but rather to help those that have already been discussed in separate threads, if possible.

The Evilpit faction is a mysterious and sinister force inhabiting a mysterious giant sanctuary, invisible to all other inhabitants of Ashan, located beyond the upper layers of the atmosphere. Deov, the Lord of Fear who rules the Evilpit, is powerless until Horror, Pain, Fear, and Despair triumph over Selflessness, Bravery, Fighting Spirit, and Confidence in any region of Ashan. Then, a flow of incredible power splits a section of the surface, forming a ghastly gorge covered from above by a fog almost impenetrable to the Sun. At the bottom of the gorge and on its walls, a sinister city grows—a bridgehead for the servants of Eternal Fear and Despair, ready to subjugate all of Ashan...

Units (dwellings in parentheses).

Fear Slave (Dead Village) - once he was one of the inhabitants of
Ashan, but he yielded to the fear that possessed him and swore
allegiance to the Evilpit. Now his spirit is dead, but the body continues to live and
faithfully serve Deov. A sword scarred with notches and scratches
does not cause much harm, but the proximity of a Fear Slave can lower
the fighting spirit of a level 1-2 warrior fighting against him.

Fear Summoner (Fear Village) - the strongest Fear Slaves
become his Summoners. His slave's robe is reinforced
with chainmail rings, and his sword is sharpened. In melee combat, he is capable of
striking the fighting spirit of level 1-4 units.

Flashes (Thornbush) - a cluster of will-o'-the-wisps endowed
with the instinct to seek life and destroy it with fire. They have 60%
defense against physical attacks. They cannot detect the dead,
therefore they are completely useless against undead.

Blinding Flashes (Dry Thornbush) - in melee combat,
they are capable of blinding a living opponent. They have 75% defense against
physical attacks; they are useless against undead.

Serpent (Old Tower) - it is very fast, thanks to which it is capable of
attacking with its long, sharp venomous teeth without
fearing an immediate counterattack. It is the venom, acting
short-term but painfully, that possesses the primary striking
power. However, a very low defense rating makes the serpent very
vulnerable to subsequent attacks.

Mage Serpent (Terrible Tower) - an evolved serpent
that has grown a pair of crooked three-fingered paws on the sides of its head. With their
help, it makes passes, casting a
strange purple fire upon the enemy, which allows it to attack from
a distance.

Bird of Evil (Ghastly Cliff). A bird of prey resembling a huge
half-rotten eagle, but it is not undead as such. It tears
victims apart with its long crooked claws and beak.

Bird of Bloodlust (Bloody Cliff). While tearing the victim apart, this
terrible bird eats its flesh, healing its own
wounds.

Water Witch (Sinister Waterfall). A wrinkled, hunchbacked old woman
who dwells in bodies of water capable of covering her completely, but
comes ashore to commit her terrible deeds. Her external
elderly frailty is deceptive—she is very hardy, although almost
useless in melee combat. But from a distance, she strikes the target
with an acid cloud that affects the victim's health for
some time.

Deep Stalker (Cold River). An even more wrinkled witch, but with
a more deadly acid cloud.

Terror Cat (Misty Cave). A giant feline monster,
fast and very aggressive.

Nightmare Cat (Cave of Screams). Even more aggressive
than its "unadvanced" relative, capable of attacking with teeth
and claws twice per turn. And its scream is capable of striking
nearby opponents with terror.

Deov's Gatekeeper (Gates of Fear). A wingless copy of Deov.
A giant monster that tears victims apart with clawed and
muscular paws.

Deov's Child (Gates of Despair). An exact copy of Deov, capable of flying
with huge dragon-like wings, tearing apart and
lowering the fighting spirit of the entire enemy army.

_________________

Just a few hours ago, I mapped out a bonus system for EvilPit:

The forces of Deov are hostile to all Ashan factions, including demons and necromancers. Their world is essentially an otherworldly one for Ashan, and all bonus structures on the map that increase morale, fighting spirit, mana, etc., reject EvilPit armies. The EvilPit troops derive all the above from the fears and bitterness of their enemies' defeats. Specifically: after a battle ending in an EvilPit victory, the amount of experience and the ratio of losses on both sides are calculated. Based on this data, bonus points are awarded, which, upon reaching a certain numerical value, are exchanged for morale, fighting spirit, and mana.
If enemy warriors experienced fear or a decrease in morale and fighting spirit during the battle, the bonus points are multiplied; the more troops were subjected to the corrupting influence and the higher their level, the greater the multiplier. Thus, it is extremely useful for an EvilPit "hero" to have Fear Slaves, Fear Summoners, Nightmare Cats, and Deov's Children in their army.

By the way, regarding heroes: EvilPit has the Nightmare Lord and the Cardinal of Horror. What they are and what their essence is—I haven't worked that out yet, but everything is ahead.

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A couple more structures:

Sinister Pool - increases the growth of Water Witches and Deep Stalkers (available only after upgrading the main building to Cold River).

The Reverse of Horror - lowers the morale and fighting spirit of troops attacking the castle, increases bonus points for EvilPit forces after the battle.
The Reverse of Horror is an altar burning with a ghastly blood-purple flame. The smoke rising above it forms a horrific cloud over the city, in which a distinct incorporeal substance in the shape of an eye is outlined.

What an idea! The Nostromo spaceship is falling!

What racial ability do you suggest?

I actually liked it. Of course, I wouldn't play as such a faction (God forbid!), but it would be satisfying to defeat it. I can especially imagine the Child of Devo trying to tear apart a lava dragon, and getting scalded by its boiling hot breath. It would be quite a battle! Survival 2, the idea is not bad. Keep thinking and developing it.

Ugh, I'll have to pick up the... brush again. I wanted to write about a new race for the King's Bounty. Where should this new race live? I've been looking at the map of Ashan and can't come up with any new ideas after the mountain people race, but since you're asking, I'll try to come up with a new race.

Specifically for TibWar, here's an idea for a new race: Ice Elves. Many will immediately criticize it, saying it's a complete disaster, as there are already Light and Dark Elves. However, this is actually one of the main races that are frequently featured in fantasy books. The race's ability would be ice magic. For such magic, we'd need to come up with about ten spells. And also, an ice attack. As for the backstory: during one of the wars, one of the elven clans fled from their enemies far beyond the dwarves' territories, heading north. There, they were met by the tenth dragon, the son of the water and air dragons (I've forgotten their names). He responded to their pleas and granted them the ability to not fear the cold. Soon, the elves, who called themselves Ice Elves, settled throughout the far north, subjugating the creatures there (mammoths, ice wolves, ice lions – such creatures existed on Earth during the Ice Age, as well as giant polar owls). And when a difficult time came, the dragon Glacionius (for now, we'll call him that) summoned them to help their Light Elf brethren. If you want, you can create the race yourselves; if it's approved, I can describe everything in great detail. I'm waiting for your feedback on the idea

Shevriel, I'm all for all three options. I've often thought about such a race, or at least a few neutral factions. Well done for daring to suggest it.

Thank you for the support. In that case, I will gradually post information about the race, testing both units and abilities, with the aim of creating something truly unique. First, I will post ideas for the units. For simplicity and more reliable feedback, I'll start with units that have a single upgrade
1. Polar Owl - a large bird. Actively defends the territory near its nest. It was tamed by the Ice Elves (hereafter IE). Abilities - flight, blinding (in nature, these birds always aim for the eyes), downy armor - reduces damage from ranged attacks by 25% (a real fact, their down is very thick)
Upgrade: Polar Eagle-Owl - more health, higher speed. Abilities - flight, blinding, downy armor, strike and return (the enemy always retaliates in this case)
2. Pathfinder - any IE is excellent at reading tracks in the snow, finding the enemy, and hiding from superior enemy forces if necessary. An elf dressed in a warm fur cloak, moving on skis. Weapon - a long dagger. Glacionnius gave him the ability to escape the cold, so he can magically transport himself onto the blade of the magic dagger, inflicting freezing wounds. Ability - freeze (reduces enemy speed and initiative by 15%).
Upgrade - Arctic Archer (name and idea borrowed from the Heroes 3 expansion In the Wake of Gods). Possesses a large bow, shoots without loss of damage over distance. Ability - frost arrow (reduces enemy speed and initiative by 15%) plus deals one-time ice damage equal to 5% of the total attack power.
3. Yeti (or Bigfoot) - immediately found common ground with the IE, regarding them as the embodiment of gods. Guards the dwellings of the IE, helps them in hunting and defense. Weapon - club. Ability - family (since yetis do not differ much by gender, both males and females are taken into the army; therefore, during rests they engage in procreation. Pregnancy in females is not very visible, but the number of Bigfoots increases by 5% every week).
Upgrade - Berserker Bigfoots. Embittered by their own, Bigfoots become so crazed that they attack any enemies, and armor does not stop them. Ability - strong attack (armor is reduced by 50% against them), pain of loss (every time their squad decreases by 10%, 1 point is added to attack power for the duration of the battle)
4. Snow Lions (prototype - dark elves rode lions or white tigers, plus during the ice age on Earth there were lions, slightly smaller than cave lions and with white fur). Fearsome predators, yet they were tamed by the IE. Abilities - licking wounds (a cat has seven lives, and ice lions have even more; they recover their health before every battle), gripping claws (specifically for warrior types like goblins or centaurs - when the enemy tries to flee after a hit, the lion grabs the victim with its claws, holding them in place and dealing additional damage).
Upgrade - Lion Rider. An IE who has befriended this proud beast is more of a hunting companion than a master. Striking with his blade, the elf not only deals iron damage but also transmits cold to the opponent. Abilities - ice blade, gripping claws, licking wounds.
5. Ice Golem - not only mages were capable of creating golems, the IE followed the same path. Ice is, of course, more fragile than iron, but when carefully compressed, especially in large quantities, it deals massive damage. Using magic, the elven creators specifically lower the temperature of the golems as much as possible, thereby ensuring they freeze enemies upon impact. Abilities - paralyzing freeze - upon hitting, there is a 30% chance to freeze the enemy for 3 turns; then, for all units attacking the frozen, the "shattering ice" property applies - the enemy is so frozen that they do not retaliate, but every hit is increased by 15% due to the breaking of the ice-turned warriors.
Upgrade - Ice Creation. It is even colder, so paralyzing freeze is increased to 40%. Plus a new ability - resonant explosion - when the last unit is destroyed by a hit, the ice of the Ice Creation enters a special resonance and shatters into small pieces; 20% of the enemy's damage is put into this explosion against the group of Ice Creations, and it affects an area with a radius of 1 cell regardless of whether friendly or enemy units are standing there.
6. Mammoth - giants that have roamed the tundra since ancient times were quickly and successfully tamed by the IE, but were not exploited; rather, like the ice lions, they were friends. Therefore, they agreed to enter battle. Ability - subcutaneous fat (damage from arrows is 25% less, plus ice magic damage is 35% less), tusk attack - damage to all enemies located in the cells in front of the mammoth.
Upgrade - Herd Leader. Gray and huge even compared to their kin, these males are the first to enter battle. Ability - subcutaneous fat, tusk attack, trample (if an enemy unit stands in front of the attack target, the herd leader runs through their ranks, trampling them with total damage equal to 10% of the total damage dealt by the herd leader).
7. And finally - Ice Dragons or children of Glacionnius - created in his image and likeness. Possess ice breath. Ability - ice breath (damages the unit behind the target), paralyzing freeze (in 20% of cases), flying creature, ice exhale - an activated ability that reduces the initiative and speed of enemy units by 15%, plus deals 5 damage per Ice Dragon unit.
Upgrade - Ice Wyrm - an ice dragon with even colder blood. Same abilities, except ice exhale deals 7 damage instead of 5, plus the ice defense ability - the Ice Wyrm's scales are covered with a layer of ice, which reduces damage from ranged attacks and Chaos Magic by 30%.

Later I will come up with alt-upgrades and I look forward to your opinions. In my opinion, it's an interesting and original race with more or less new and unique units

Where are the elves? There are only beasts here. And having only two tiers for the main creatures of a faction seems a bit lacking.

Actually, the elves are represented by two units – scouts (arctic archers) and snow lion riders. Overall, that’s all there was in the books. And taking units from other races isn’t the best approach either. What if I created a unit like Arcat priests and called them ice priests? It wouldn’t be very original. Here, I focused on ice and the abilities of the units. The mages also have only level 4 mages. And everyone is happy!

So, a race of rangers and lion tamers has managed to tame mammoths and dragons? No... At least let there be dragon riders; that would be original.

Yes, I agree, one of the alternate upgrades will be exactly like that. Beautiful dragon riders. It's just that mammoths look like elephants and could easily have been subdued, while the dragons joined according to the will of their father, Glacionius. By the way, I myself think the name of this dragon sounds unnatural, what do you think? And thanks for the idea, I'll add it. The main thing is that they don't object!

Can I add my idea here? I was thinking about it last night and today, and a crystal came to mind. I want to see the ice castle as a crystal. As an individual hero ability, I suggest ice magic. Naturally, 5 levels. From this, it follows that: we should remove the owl, the ranger, Bigfoot, the riders, and raise the golem to the fifth level, and place the crystal guardian there. A mage who can cast some chaos spells (like Ring of Cold) and ice spells. Guys, what race doesn't have a mage?

Understood. And as a unique feature, something from the ice magic spells. The Owl was, of course, a unique idea – a flying unit of the first level, but if the community wants an ice mage, no problem. Just one "but" – I would like to put it on the 3rd level. Why? Simply because the High Elves have a Druid of the 4th level, the Dwarves have an Arcatk Priest of the 5th, the Dark Elves have Witches of the 6th, and the Mages have Mages of the 4th. There are no mages of the 3rd level yet. And they could be a little weaker in terms of hit points or have a small stat increase. In any case, in its race, I would like to create something that DOESN'T EXIST IN ANY OTHER RACE. I hate repetition, and the uniqueness and originality of a race is one of the main factors that I can organize to bring it to life in the game.