HoMM3: Day of Reckoning New Year update

Happy New Year, everybody! It is time for another DoR update, one that should have come earlier, soon after Christmas, but I wanted everything to meet our expectations for this promo material, so there was a little delay due to that. You’ll find out why specifically at the bottom of the update.

The Nisse and Tomte

First of all, we have to thank you, the community, for the feedback given. We have always said that feedback is important and we take it into consideration, and it is true. There was plenty of feedback that this particular creature as well as certain aspects of the town are too reminiscent of Winter holidays. Since this was also not really our intent when making the Palace, we have decided to replace or rework most such elements, with most of that endeavor having been handled in November of last year.

Palace consistently features various Norse and winterland creatures, but there is usually a clear distinction between the two. However, the Nisse might be the only exception. While it is a Nordic creature from Europe, from more or less the same area that was once occupied by vikings, it is in fact a post-viking creature, with it being debated to have appeared as early as the 13th century and as late as the 17th century.

In Day of Reckoning, the Nisse are short humanoids, native to Vori. Merry little folks, they dabble predominantly in matters such as stargazing and the crafting of related equipment. Protective and conservative by nature, they also make for great guards. They stand out from other races such as the dwarves through the fact that, in spite of their big beards, their skin is always smooth and young, as are their facial features for the most part.

This particular creature slot faced the most debate during the town’s inception. Kobolds and Red Caps were some of the most commonly mentioned candidates, but in the end, we decided to go with something that has clear connections to the winterland and would have not been controversial for various reasons (such as the Kobold, which would have been an awkward fit due to its evil and draconic angle, among others). The Nisse is a little humanoid with enough room to be distinctive from other such races, and is associated with the necessary tropes.

The worlds of Might and Magic and DnD are host to various races of short humanoids. While one could simply just brand them all as variations of dwarves, that is not really true. Halflings, for example, are roughly just as short as dwarves, but hardly sport any beard, do not wear shoes, and often have curly hair. Gnomes, on the other hand, are physically more similar to dwarves, but have a stronger affinity for Magic and more natural things, rather than Might, mining and the forge (with the Red Dwarves having even created primitive robots). Thus, they are also somewhat closer to the garden gnome and elf (miniature ones) interpretations than the classic Tolkien-esque dwarves found in both MM and DnD are.

These little folk enjoy adorning their houses with ornaments and keeping them safe, and this also translates to a sentiment of protecting their island and inhabitants as well. As such, it is not uncommon for a Nisse to work as a guard when it comes to military matters. The ones with stronger sentiments towards Vori’s Ancient heritage also make it a duty for themselves to grow in their rank and position in order to become the guards of Iduna’s own ice palace or the capital in Larhana.

This more or less summarizes the lore background of the creature, in DoR. But why have we chosen this direction? Physically, there was a need to distinguish it from other short races such as the dwarves and gnomes. Both of these creatures often sport beards and have wrinkled skin, their age showing remarkably depending on the individual. So we had to do something at least different enough with these little fellas. Representations of Nisse and Tomte with young facial features, Nils Holgersson in Selma Lagerlöf’s book “The Wonderful Adventures of Nils“, as well as themes of immortality and timelessnes associated with Vori back their physical traits.

There was a bit of a debate regarding the weapon they should wield, also in order to avoid overlap with certain creatures’ weapons, some of which even inside the faction itself. The concept art featured some sort of fancy, ice pick-poleaxe weapon with little real life parallel. It was the only thing that significantly changed after the creature was remodeled, until it became a more relatable poleaxe weapon of sorts.

And, to close it off, a nice, updated creature evolution chart and…. a game cutscene! This is not meant to be part of the main Palace campaign (but a secondary one), and the text is somewhat of a placeholder, as it contradicts the lore in some regards (for example, Falagar was stationed on Enroth for a good while, and the adventurers in MM6 refered to him as more of a fatherly “granddad”), but nevertheless, we hope you’ll enjoy it! And of course, it is still prone to changes.

-by FirePaladin