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This thread will outline the roadmap for modernization of the Massive Races, as part of an ongoing thread we produced a while back where there was some more open discussion about the race changes. This thread is less so much an open discussion and more so an informational thread used to inform the players what plans are ahead of time, and why. These changes are rather final, and while some minor after implementation modification may occur, we don't see a reason to change course at this point. So without further ado, the list. Anything that states "Locked Down" means they will unlikely ever face a rewrite:
Claith Culture Ailor
Eastern Races including Wulong
Lusitian
Saivalthar & Wolathar & Shendar
Lampar & Rashaq to Varran
Maiar
- Ailor
- Heartland Ceardian = Locked down.
- Highland Ceardian= Locked down.
- Claith = Is facing a full rewrite to make them less about slave surviving barbarians.
- Velheim= Locked down.
- Colonial= Locked down.
- Ithanian= Locked down.
- Leutz-Vixe= Locked down.
- Anglian= Locked down.
- Alt Regalian= Locked down.
- New Regalian = Locked down.
- Dressolini= Locked down.
- Imperial= Locked down.
- Daendroque= Locked down.
- Etosian= Locked down.
- Lusitian = May be merged into Daendroque.
- Vladno= Locked down.
- Ch'ien-Ji, Guo-Ji, Huon-Ji = Facing a full rewrite to reintroduce them as the Sihai Race. Is currently undergoing development. While the aesthetic will remain "Oriental", the language and make-up of the race is changing drastically. Incorporated in their design will be the reworked Solang Race and a revived bird-like subrace.
- Dwarf = Locked Down, but may face content expansions that might change minute details.
- Qadir = Locked Down.
- Solang = Being removed and merged into Sihai.
- Songaskia = Locked Down, but some of the subspecies may be shuffled around to accommodate for the Dragon update that was produced a while back. Their race still relies on old Seraph based lore.
- Wulong = Being removed from lore altogether.
- Elves
- Altalar = Locked Down.
- Cielothar = Locked Down.
- Avanthar = Locked Down.
- Drowdar = Locked Down.
- Shendar = Locked Down, but will face a massive cultural expansion soon.
- Isldar = Locked Down, but may face content expansions soon.
- Saivalthar = Being removed and merged as a clan into Shendar Lore.
- Wolathar = Being removed and merged as a clan into Shendar Lore.
- Yanar = Locked Down.
- Lampar = Being removed from lore altogether in favor of Varran crossbreeds.
- Maiar = Either being removed from lore altogether, or remade into a different design.
- Maraya = Locked Down, but may face content expansions soon because the race is weak in its desing.
- Allar
- Al-Allar = Locked Down.
- Mu-Allar = Locked Down.
- Sa-Allar = Locked Down.
- Zu-Allar = Locked Down.
- Es-Allar = Locked Down.
- Cro-Allar = Locked Down.
- Varran = Locked Down, but will be interbreed able with Ailor in the near future for half breeds.
- Slizzar = Locked Down.
- Orc, Jurr, Garr = Locked Down, but Jurr and Garr will never be released.
- Url = Locked Down.
- Rashaq = Being removed from lore altogether in favor of Varran crossbreeds.
Claith Culture Ailor
Claith Culture has been a long inhabitant of Massive Lore, but has always been very weak. It is one of the earliest written cultural lores, which despite reworks, has barely held up against the more intensely developed cultures. In many ways, the early concepts of Claith were designed when our lore writing team was still in its early amateur stage, which resulted in a weird culture that nobody really wants to play unless they specifically want to be genuinely stupid savages. The Claith rework should move them further away from Highland Ceardian culture and develop its own distinct style when it does come around, while keeping the general ginger aesthetic.
Eastern Races including Wulong
The Eastern Race rewrite is already ongoing where the Ch'ien-ji gene pool is being expanded massively, they gain their own unique lore niche that is magic-like, but not quite. Additionally, Wulong as a monkey race is being removed in favor of a more human-like and less crp-godrp prone eastern monkey-like race based on Dali cultures. This rewrite will most likely be the first one to be released when it has gone through processing.
Lusitian
Lusits culture is underplayed and inherently very similar to Daendroque culture. We'll either incorporate it or pretend it never existed, because the latter would have very little effect on the world lore as a whole.
Solang
The Solang had a prize winning concept that was unfortunately marred with slavery, something that is niche to rp and likeable to some, but abhorrent to others. Since there are effectively no Solang players left (and since their design was also inhereted by Rubah Songaskians), the race will essentially disappear in favor of an Eastern monkey-tail race with the same abilities, but without slavery.
Songaskia
Songaskia rely on old Seraph based lore even though we made the switch to Dragons as of recent. Some of the lore doesn't quite work because of that: The random flux of physical characteristics, the slitted pupils and the iris colors. A small change that was already passed through recently was the iris color change, some other minor aesthetic changes may be imparted, but we don't expect the actual removal of major parts of content.
Saivalthar & Wolathar & Shendar
Saivalthar and Wolathar have long suffered being the strongest and most unique race designs among the Elves, but also the most extreme, thus garnering very little popularity. As much as their races exist fine on their own, we have come to the conclusion they could seriously benefit the Shendar lore if they become part of a greater Shendar triad that breaks the Shendar out of their old "muh sacrifice barbarian Elves" and creates an actual functional civilization of "Evil Elves" that didn't regress into barbarism after the collapse of the Empire. The Aesthetic and design of these Elves will likely be salvaged, but changed a bit to suit a more greater Shendar design.
Lampar & Rashaq to Varran
Lampar and Rashaq have long been problem races. The Lampar are public enemy #1, their race almost purely existing to just annoy others around them and disrupt roleplay in a lore compliant way by just climbing on people or attacking them with slapstick comedy. Rashaq on the other hand were a badly implemented race that was rushed through with little to no forethought. The intention was originally to end the Kleinfolk and phase in the Rashaq, but even this failed. As a compensation for the loss of the "semi-furry" races, we're likely going to open up Varran crossbreeding with other races. This should result in similar but not quite the same half lings that don't need their own race page but still present an interesting design on their own. This change is merely waiting for art at this point. As soon as our concept art has designed a general look for Varran half breeds, we are go-ahead with the removal of Kleinfolk and Rashaq.
Maiar
The problems caused by the Maiar are particularly close to me. I personally love the Maiar and think they are one of the greatest races in our lore because of Evolutionary Physiology, a design that in my head strikes as a very simple concept, but that on paper actually just gets abused and misused to create crp-god characters. Evolutionary Physiology was always meant to be quid pro quo, meaning it was supposed to have drawbacks with benefits and vice versa, but most players seem to not understand the nuances of "is predator, fights a lot, therefor big muscles" which should be compensated with "body makes big muscles, but becomes more stupid as nutrients go to movement instead". The intellectual flux is often completely missing, and there seems to be no real realistic way to really make that clear without producing a really complex system of resource management. As such, it pains me to say, but we may eventually decide to have Maiar go down the same route as Thylans: To imply they still exist in lore and survive in the seas, but to make them unplayable. Alternatively, we may end up revising the entire race to make them more human-like as a mermen race, but this is still up in the air. We haven't really made a solid decision on it yet.