Posts from Bets.

Large.

The world is one, so there shouldn't be many conflicting storylines. There should be 7 units per faction. Well, never mind, you decide.

Well, I could write a strategy and take, say, my Black Dragons, or Iron Golems, or Warriors of the Conflux!

The question isn't about "quickly churning out" a race, but about creating a good, worthwhile race in a short amount of time.

RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSESRACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES RACES CLASSES

Lock, why?

or even Irnov, warriors of the Conflux!

I didn't mean it that way.

The question is not about "creating a race," but about creating a good, worthwhile race in a short amount of time.

Well, the race was conceived in an hour while I was brainstorming the backstory of the Otherworld.
You can defeat an enemy even without attacking; the main thing is to know them well...
The Irni are the oldest inhabitants of the Otherworld. No one knows where they came from or who they are, but the fact remains: the Irni exist, and they are very dangerous. A harsh fate awaited the Irni in the cruel Otherworld; they were driven from their home into damp and rotten caves. After this terrible event, the Irni swore to take revenge on the ETL, and they kept that oath for a long time...
The Irni, the most powerful of the peoples of the Otherworld (excluding the Blacks), founded the Order of Assassins, renowned for its strength and dedication to the cause.
Basic unit
Lizard
A wild monster found by the League of Avengers, or the Irni, in the underground lakes, turned out to be quite obedient. It fiercely fights for its masters, is immune to fire and water magic attacks, is not very strong, but very fast and determined.
Upgrade
Deepwater Lizard
Found at the very bottom of the deepest lake in the dungeon, thanks to its love of water, it was able to understand the simplest secrets of water magic and, compared to its upper counterpart, possesses the "jet" spell (I'll explain the power of this spell later).

Bugargo
"Bugargo" (meaning "secret" in ancient Elvish) is what the Avengers call the distant relatives of lizards – mini-dragons. These monsters are not subordinate to anyone, but for a good piece of meat, they are ready to tear anyone's throat out. Very strong, but quite cowardly.
Upgrade
Ganirgo (meaning "danger" in ancient Elvish)
"Ganirgo" is interesting because of its proximity to large dragons. This small creature is just as majestic and graceful, and compared to "Bugargo," it doesn't destroy the enemy but poisons it.

Spawn of Skvarn
The Spawn of Skvarn is an Irni who has dedicated his life to learning from the powerful mage-assassin. Frightening in appearance, he brings death from a great distance. The huge length of the damage area is compensated by its weakness.

Upgrade
Fanatic
Fanatic is what the most loyal of Skvarn's spawn are called. Cruel and terrifying killers have lost their long-range damage power over time, but their blades are imbued with the poisonous blood of "Ganirgo" and inflict such damage that the enemy cannot withstand it for 2 minutes and dies a painful death.

Elite unit
Irni Warrior
The Irni Warrior is a serious test for any merchant or rich man who has not brought guards with him. Strong, but accustomed to walking without armor, and unfortunately for him, has a poor physique, and therefore poor defense.

Upgrade
Warden
The Warden is an Irni warrior in retirement, terrifying with his battle scars, frightening every opponent, and compared to his former self, he wears strong armor, but its weight makes his attacks weaker.

Cult Lord
The cult of worship of Skvarn is very influential among the Irni, and its Lord is the closest friend of the ruler. The Cult Lord terrifies everyone, even with his costume, reducing the enemy's initiative. This warrior retained his poisoned blade from his past, but also has a magic staff, thanks to which he has no penalties in melee combat.

Upgrade
Shadow
After death, the cult lord is reborn as a shadow traveling through the world created by Skvarn. But the strongest of them break back into the Otherworld, where they become the strongest of the cult fanatics.

Rotten Dwarf
Rotten Dwarves are traitors to the mountain Brotherhood Empire, terrible spies, hiding in the dark corners of houses, and then reporting to the ruler. These spies are almost invisible and strike from nowhere; the enemy will not know who attacked them.

Upgrade
Brother of Darkness
The time comes, and darkness engulfs the Rotten Dwarf. From now on, he is a Brother of Darkness – eternally calm and motionless. If before he could not run or walk, he could teleport, but now he is carried between battles by servants, and in battle, he emits dark vapors that destroy everything that disagrees with his life theory...

Champion
Assassin
The Assassin, a warrior of the mysterious order, is terrible and mighty... He hides in the darkness, confident that every murder serves a good purpose, but in reality, he is only a weapon in the hands of darkness... But his faith is his strength...

Upgrade
Brother of Mercy
And so, the assassin realizes that he has brought much pain and transforms into a healer with strong armor and confidence in the power of light on earth. His attack is not strong, but his allies, the Brothers of Mercy, can live forever.

And that's the race...

The word RACE is spelled with one "S"!!!!
P.S. Who are the Irns?

Read what is written there.

It just says that they exist... Seriously...

Well, the Irn are simply conceived as a mystery, an unknown, and that's why I didn't come up with a definition for them. They are just so terrifying that they scare everyone, and no one wants to deal with them...

Why did you flood the thread - I thought I was the only one who could write here?[U]

Added after 35 seconds
[/U]Alright, since I gave my word and accepted the bet - I'll post, why not? What is there to think about for so long?
I apologize in advance, I am a poor storyteller, so I might not be able to explain what I've come up with very well.
Anyway, listen.

The history of my race begins in the Silver Cities. Until now, this page of history had been torn from the chronicles of the Mages, but now the time has come to tell you how it actually happened.
The wizards of the Silver Cities once reached unprecedented heights in the creation of new species. Their experiments mixing human and demon led them to victory over the armies of the Inferno, brought to them by the results of their experiments - the orcs. However, after the victory, the orcs were rewarded with slavery and were declared non-humans, and such experiments were banned.
However, there remained one wizard who could not abandon the idea of breeding a new species and violated the ban. His name was Selhet.
All the work in the Silver Cities was performed by gremlins, and he had long been observing this race, which had also appeared as a result of an experiment. Selhet wanted to develop this experiment. The thought that gremlins could be of more use if they were more human haunted him, and one day he decided to cross a human and a gremlin.
The experiment was successful, and a new species of beings came into the world - the Squats. Despite their beastly appearance - yellow eyes, sharp teeth, pointed webbed ears - they were, after all, largely more human. Short in stature, with coarse, grey-tinted skin, they looked like no other people inhabiting Ashan.
When the condition of the first squats who survived the experiment became stable and they spoke for the first time, their first word was "Father".
Selhet was very pleased.
At first, he kept the results of his experiment, which were nine squats, a secret. However, he soon realized that his creations exceeded all his expectations.
Taking the best of both species, the squats demonstrated good physical endurance, high intelligence, superior logic and memory, as well as an innate inclination toward engineering, working with complex mechanisms, and alchemy, inherited from the gremlins.
When Selhet realized that a true miracle had occurred, he brought his children out of the "darkness" into public view.
Initially, the mages reacted to the squats almost aggressively, and Selhet could have been thrown into a dungeon for violating the ban. But his creations were already fully capable of speaking for themselves and soon brought him honor and fame.
The Higher Gremlins, as they were called, became the best designers and alchemists in the Silver Cities, modifying most mechanisms, such as golems, or discovering such formidable weaponry as gunpowder. They were also the first to invent steam engines, skillfully mastering the principles of their operation. The mechanical clocks of the squats, a miracle never before seen even in the Silver Cities, became a luxury item and appeared in the homes of all self-respecting wizards.
The best squat engineers began to be accepted not as servants, but as worthy members of society.
However, the golden age of this race was coming to an end.
Among those who sincerely admired the genius of squat engineering, there were also many who viewed technical progress very negatively. Many mages were against most of the squats' inventions, calling them artificial and dead pieces of iron. In the opinion of many mages, such technologies, should they become widespread, could disrupt the balance of power in the world of Ashan. They claimed that everything that is not magic is not of nature. And what is not of nature is evil and a foreign element in a harmonious world.
Many of the mages were deceptive, pretending they cared about the balance of power. In reality, there were many who feared that squat technologies could reach a level where magic would take a backseat. The mages feared losing their power and influence.
Eventually, a group of opponents of "animism" - as they called the squats' ability to animate inanimate objects using technology rather than magic - deceitfully claimed that the squats were preparing a rebellion and wanted to stage a coup in the society of the Silver Cities. It was stated that the squats rejected magic and were trying to replace it with science, technology, and alchemy.
One of the rulers of the Silver Cities, a longtime opponent of the aging Selhet, acted on the side of the conspirators. With the support of his authority, many believed the lie, and the squats lost all their rights and privileges in society overnight. Remembering the fate of their predecessors - the orcs - the squat population decided to flee the Silver Cities, though some groups started rebellions, thereby only exacerbating the situation and playing into the hands of the conspirators.
The rebellions were suppressed, and the rebels were killed. Along with them, those who failed to flee in time were executed. Others were thrown into dungeons or quarries.
Those who managed to escape became lost across the territories of all Ashan, forever harboring a grudge against all mages, except for one single person - Father Selhet.
Building their refuge-cities in the most remote places of Ashan, the small squat race continued its path of development and gained the opportunity to advance their mastery of engineering and alchemy further and further. With contempt and hatred, they view wild nature and magic, placing their technology at the service of military goals in order to protect themselves and defend their place under the sun.

Yes, I wanted to prove that you have an excessively easy task.

Now about the units, the castle, etc.

Squats live in shelter-cities, which are most often built near mountains. Their castle is a kind of mix between an Orc and Dwarf castle. There are many buildings, like those that mine mercury on the map. Many laboratories, workshops, construction sites with ropes and pulleys. Steam hammers clang in the shops. Lots of smoke and soot. There is a steampunk style, but within the framework of the Heroes series.

As for the units. There are very many technological features. There is primitive own firearms; gunpowder is actively used. The steampunk element is also strongly present, which the race is adapted to.

Units:

Squat Miner.

The lowest layer of same Squat society, doing all the dirty work. Usually, this is work in mines or other extraction sites. For their inventions as well as for alchemical experiments, Squats desperately need resources and valuable ingredients.

A Squat Miner is an ordinary squat dressed in light armor, with a pickaxe which he uses as a weapon. Nothing interesting — the starting unit.

Upgrades to a Squat Demolisher.

Miners very often have to deal with explosives. Either they need to clear a cave-in here, or blow something up there....
In principle, a slightly better-dressed squat with special abilities:

He can plant mines, roughly like a Goblin Trapper. He also knows how to place powder barrels under the walls and gates of enemy castles and destroy them by exploding them.

The next unit is the Fighter Mechanic.
Squat Mechanics are a more advanced and numerous layer in Squat society. Perhaps the most numerous, since everyone there is a mechanic except for the fools who toil in the mines.

Dressed in medium armor and armed with two iron gauntlets. A melee fighter, accordingly.

Upgrades to a Squat Engineer.

Engineers differ from mechanics in that they not only understand mechanisms but construct them themselves.
Armed with two steam fists or pneumo-fists. In short, those iron gloves that basically hit on their own. Alas — I don't know how to explain it to you in detail.

Next unit — Squat Thrower.
Squats do not find it necessary to use technology where it is not needed. In their time, they abandoned the use of Gremlin arquebuses and Squat Throwers use ordinary slings. Their rate of fire is high; they are simple to operate. They hurl spiked balls with them. If one hits you in the head — it won't be pleasant.

Upgrades to a Squat Bombardier.
Everything same, only instead of balls they now throw grenades. Like those thrown by grenadiers in the 17th-18th centuries. A simple little bomb with a fuse.
They have a passive ability "shrapnel". That is, part of the damage hits an enemy standing nearby.

Next unit — I don't know what to call it... I'll just call them — Icarus or Icari.

These are Squats who have something like a Leonardo Da Vinci invention on their backs — that is, wings like a hang glider, but there is also a rocket on the back. Thus, with its help they fly up and then glide.
Used for scouting territory and sudden attacks.
Armed with who knows what — there are many options.

Upgrade to who knows who. Still need to think about this.

Next unit

Mechanical Warriors.
A very interesting unit.
Essentially, these are exoskeletons in a fantasy genre. That is, armor with pneumatic drives and a steam engine on the back, in which a Squat is encased. The unit is quite large — roughly like Orc Chieftains in the fifth part. Very high defense stat. Armed with a hammer and shield.

Upgrades to Mechanical Knights.
Everything same, only the armor is thicker and better. The hammer is now single and two-handed. And there is an option to overload the steam engine on the back, which allows increasing speed and attack power for a certain time. That is, one can move more hexes and hit harder.

Next unit.
Gunners.
Squats armed with steam cannons. So that they could carry such a hulk with them, alchemists specially pump these warriors full of various reagents, after which they increase significantly in size. In short — they are huge brutes with cannons.

Upgrades to Cannoneers.
Same thing, only everything is better.
Plus a feature. When firing, the penalty to shooting is activated not when the enemy is far away, but when the enemy is close! This is because the projectile must gain speed; that is, the further the enemy stands, the better and the more damage.
At close range, they have an activatable ability to fire grapeshot. It covers a whole sector in front of them, wounding their own as well, but it's a terrifying thing at close quarters.

Last unit.

Mechanical Giant.

This is a marvel of Squat military engineering. A huge, armored assault machine. A massive robot, roughly equal to a Cyclops in dimensions. Inside the body is a control center — a cabin. A Squat pilot sits in it. The body is almost round, with thick legs and large hands with big fists protruding from it. The head is almost ornamental, as it isn't needed.

Upgrades to
Mechanical Destroyer.
This is just everything — thanks to alchemy, the Squats were able to mix the metal from which mages forge their yellow golems (forgot the name of the metal) and the metal from which dwarves forge their armor (also forgot the name).
The result was some kind of ganturium — a metal very strong and impenetrable by magic.
A machine made of such metal fears neither strikes nor the most destructive spells.
The Mechanical Destroyer is armed with a flamethrower instead of one hand. (in the hand — a flamethrower). Setting something on fire is an activatable ability. Instead of a fist on the second hand, there is a spiked ball — so the second hand is now like a mace. Additionally, he can launch this ball, as the ball is on a chain and returns to its place. Also an activatable ability.
Breaks walls, gates, etc., and so on

Guys — I also wanted to tell you about the race skills and magic systems as well as special buildings in the city, but I've been writing for an hour, I'm long tired, I'm lazy and I have to go to work.

That's it for now.
I came up with all this in an hour before bed yesterday and in 40 minutes while standing in a traffic jam today.

Added after 32 seconds
Oh — alright — I'll finish writing it so the picture is clear right away.

So — as for magic.
Like Orcs, Squats have no magic. They are its opponents.
There is alchemy. Here, Squats are masters.
Now then — I haven't decided yet. Will alchemy consume resources, like Dwarf runes, or will mana points need to be spent on it...
In any case, I'll say right away — Squats level up in Knowledge, not Sorcery.

So, how does alchemy work? Elementary!
It is the same magic, just under a different sauce.

I want to say that the mount of the Squats... is a Cyclops!
Yeah — a mutant cyclops of a special breed, high on alchemical reagents. Very obedient and loyal. Aggressive only when necessary. The Squat hero sits on its neck.

So, when something needs to be cast, the hero simply takes a large flask with something green inside from his bag, for example, poisonous gas. He gives it to the cyclops, and the latter throws it at the enemy like a goblin. As a result, the flask breaks, the enemy breathes the gas and we get the effect of the "Plague" spell. That is, the enemy is poisoned.
The same goes for most other spells — you can cast Berserk or Vampirism too. These are all just different gases and reagents.

Now about the specialized skills.
I am currently inventing everything based on the fifth part.
So — there are three race skills...

First — repair. Allows the hero in battle to heal\restore the number of creatures in a squad of Mechanical Warriors, Icari, Mechanical Destroyers, etc.

Second — signal rocket. There are two options here.
Either the hero will use it in battle on an enemy squad so that it takes more damage.
Or the hero will use it on the map to open the fog of war in a required area.

And third — alchemy.
The hero can, by spending some resources on the map, simultaneously increase their luck, attack, defense, or movement points by making the necessary reagents.

Regarding special buildings in the city.
This is a recycling\assembly workshop — it allows at the beginning of each week to assemble a certain number of free units from those who died in battles during the week.
The second building comes after the market, as it is an advanced version... It is the Alchemist's Laboratory. Here, several unnecessary resources can be turned into a necessary one. For example, from one stone, one mercury and sulfur, make a gemstone or crystal. And vice versa. Sometimes it turns out to be more profitable than trading at the bazaar.

And upon finding the Tear of Ashan, the city naturally receives — the Philosopher's Stone!
Which gives seas of gold from lead and other perks.

Oh — that's it, I'm very tired.

Thanks everyone!.

Added after 4 minutes
Guys — sorry that the second half is haphazard and with mistakes etc. — writing very fast! I have to run — read it — I'll be back in the evening — we'll discuss!!!