Skeletons, Skeleton horses, Ghosts

[Fistandantilus]

Back in 2016, Tyron made a post (screenshot provided) mentioning several undead-type mobs appearing during the nighttime cycle. Earlier, I posted a suggestion about fishing and necromancy, which got some pushback from people saying it wouldn’t fit the lore. That left me wondering—why exactly is that the case, when undead mobs have been discussed before and Jonas literally built an eldritch machine god?

It makes me feel like I’m missing some key piece of lore—a book, a note, something—that explains this resistance. Or is it simply that many players aren’t as involved in the lore and story development side of the game? Honestly, the lore is what drew me in to begin with. Some lore videos popped into my YouTube feed, and before I knew it, I was hooked as a proud Vintarian.

So here’s my question: what part of the lore am I missing that makes people so opposed to the idea of magic? Between the Rot, Rust World, the third unnamed dimension, the machine god, and the previously mentioned undead enemies, it really doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch. Can somebody fill me in with in-game evidence or something?

 

[Fistandantilus]

P.s. Also I am curious if any lore about the Traders has been filled out? obviously their must be larger cities due to the dialogue they have about living alone and on their own being preferred. Thanks yall.

[LadyWYT]

5 minutes ago, Fistandantilus said:

So here’s my question: what part of the lore am I missing that makes people so opposed to the idea of magic? Between the Rot, Rust World, the third unnamed dimension, the machine god, and the previously mentioned undead enemies, it really doesn’t seem like that much of a stretch. Can somebody fill me in with in-game evidence or something?

The first chapter of the story was introduced in 1.18. Drifters were the first nighttime monster added to the game, and were added in 2017.

That Tyron bit is from 2016, which suggests that he was considering more stereotypical fantasy elements like skeletal/necromantic monsters as a possibility. However, the game design ended up going in a different direction, with fewer fantasy stereotypes and a larger focus on realism with steampunk and Lovecraftian/eldritch horror elements sprinkled in.

 

10 minutes ago, Fistandantilus said:

It makes me feel like I’m missing some key piece of lore—a book, a note, something—that explains this resistance. Or is it simply that many players aren’t as involved in the lore and story development side of the game? Honestly, the lore is what drew me in to begin with. Some lore videos popped into my YouTube feed, and before I knew it, I was hooked as a proud Vintarian.

There's quite a lot of lore to uncover in the game, and while none of it yet goes into specific detail about the monsters and other supernatural phenomena, I will also note that pretty much none of it refers to magic, necromancy, undead, or other traditional staples of fantasy. There are, however, several references to real world historical elements, as well as a lot of steampunk technological elements and references. The monsters themselves are referred to in passing, but it's not explicitly stated where they came from, or exactly what they are, although there are some strong implications...

Spoiler

It's heavily implied that the monsters, much like the player, used to be human at one time, and were turned when Jonas activated his Grand Machine.

 

13 minutes ago, Fistandantilus said:

P.s. Also I am curious if any lore about the Traders has been filled out? obviously their must be larger cities due to the dialogue they have about living alone and on their own being preferred. Thanks yall.

Yes and no. It's implied that the traders might be derivative of the Hanseatic League, but it's not for certain. For the most part, they are just the more adventurous of the human survivors, seeking their fortune by braving the wilderness and facilitating trade between the few settlements in existence. As for the settlements...there might be a proper city or two out there, but I wouldn't expect anything very large or grand. Most of humanity was wiped out in a past calamity, and the remnants that remain are mostly gathered into small villages that are very few and far between(only one settlement currently implemented).

[Krougal]

@LadyWYT beat me to it, but I was gonna say it was probably before they came up with their storyline, since that sounded like Tyron hadn't really thought too much about it at that point and was just spitballing. Was kinda generic MC stuff, just missing zombies (creepers would get you sued).

Much as I like traditional fantasy races (I mean Tieflings and Dragonthings, WTAF? I'm a 1st edition guy) and monsters, sometimes it is nice to just have something different.

While I loved Acheron's Call, the huge variety of original monsters were a challenge to keep track of, vs like Everquest which was pretty generic DnD classics and easy to know what was what.

I can see you aren't going to let this go, but I think you shouldn't get your hopes up. I'm sure mods will start popping up if nothing else. Or make your own, and then you can have everything you want.

[LadyWYT]

One thing I did forget to mention in my initial post--evil spiders did get added to the game, after a fashion, in the form of locusts.

41 minutes ago, Krougal said:

creepers would get you sued

If it looked like a copy/paste of a creeper, sure. Otherwise, I think there could possibly be an enemy that has a similar attack pattern, since we have blasting powder and bombs in the game. Would I really want or expect to see something like that in the game though? Eh...not really.

[ifoz]

2 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

If it looked like a copy/paste of a creeper, sure. Otherwise, I think there could possibly be an enemy that has a similar attack pattern, since we have blasting powder and bombs in the game. Would I really want or expect to see something like that in the game though? Eh...not really.

Bomb-headed shiver.

[ifoz]

Anyway more seriously, VS' worldbuilding just wouldn't work for a lot of traditional fantasy elements and creatures.
We have a lot of lore about alchemy, prima materia, temporal 'magic', but nothing that would explain having living skeletons, or zombies. It's a world with a very specific kind of magic, rather than "magic can do anything and be used for anything".

Just ignore that one of my own VS characters is meant to be a kind of living skeleton......