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REINVIGORATING THE WEST &
UNVEILING THE SECRETS OF THE EAST
FEBRUARY 2025 BLOG: CONCEPT ART UPDATES
Welcome, adventurers of Eldinar! I hope everyone is having a fantastic start to 2025! As many of you in our Discord community have likely noticed, we've been making a greater effort to involve you in the development process by polling and gathering feedback on the kinds of updates you'd like to see from Team MythWard. We take great pride in delivering the content you want, and your input helps shape the future of Conquest of Eldinar. This initiative will continue throughout 2025, so be sure to check the Official Polls section of our Discord server at the start of each month to cast your vote on that month's content drop!
Without further ado, my name is Corey Kemper, and I’m the Creative Director of Conquest of Eldinar. As requested, today I’ll be unveiling new concept art, featuring character design overhauls, deeper insights into the world of Eldinar, and even a few teasers for possible new additions to our already epic faction roster...
GONASHA
The Golden One. The Magnanimous. The God-Pharaoh. Gonasha.
This guy is a legend—I love him so much! What you're looking at here is the hero unit of the Zenaris faction. I previously did a brief sketch of his face, but this full concept art pass gave me the opportunity to dive deeper into his lore and fully realize his character design.
Gonasha is a schemer, a manipulator, a master of deception. He is no god—he isn’t even gold-skinned! It’s all makeup, prosthetics, and jewelry. He understands human psychology intimately, weaponizing aesthetics and charisma to convince his followers of his divinity, then bending them to his will. An egotistical megalomaniac obsessed with self-image and vanity, he is both captivating and terrifying.
He is an extremely fun character to witness in action—just wait until you see him in-game and watch his story unfold!
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NANEERA
Naneera was an exciting one to redesign, for sure. Believe it or not, when you're a solo artist designing an RTS with 16 factions, time isn't always on your side. That’s my excuse for saying that, while I’m incredibly proud of the 140+ character designs I’ve created for Conquest of Eldinar, not all of them are perfect from the start. Naneera is a great example of this.
Her original design made her look more like a battle mage. And while, yes, she is adept in the magic of the Green Seers, above all else, she is a fierce warrior. As her story developed over time, I realized her design needed an overhaul—so here it is! I’m extremely confident in her new look, which takes many of the Catan’ii aesthetic elements and elevates them, making her identity as Queen of the Catan’ii and a formidable warrior unmistakable.
MORGANNA
Now, I have something very interesting for you guys—Morganna Faenor is what I would consider a "lore character." For the time being, she doesn’t play a significant role in Conquest of Eldinar’s gameplay, but if we haven’t made it obvious enough, the world of Eldinar is a vast storytelling sandbox that extends far beyond the game itself. With a canonical timeline spanning over 7,000 years, we hope to explore its rich history in future videos, games, comics, and even movies!
Morganna, in particular, is a mysterious sorceress devoted to uncovering Eldinar’s deepest secrets. Upon her enigmatic arrival in Caldeon a few years ago, she quickly earned the favor of Lord Daine Blackwall of Ashstone, who granted her the title of Dark Magistrate. Her uncanny mastery of black magic, along with her insider knowledge of various factions' weaknesses, intrigued the ruthless butcher of the Eastern Front—so much so that he now keeps her close, heeding her counsel on distant threats.
Speaking of Morganna Faenor, she ties in perfectly with our next character spotlight: Zerenax Aegorys, the Scorned Prince. Why? Because when the Dragonix suddenly returned to Eldinar for the first time in over 5,000 years, they acted swiftly to unite the realm.
You see, their king, Vogen Aegorys, had foreseen a dark fate approaching Eldinar—a force unlike anything the world had ever known. A divided world would stand no chance against the coming apocalypse. Determined to prevent this catastrophe, Vogen sent a magical message in fire to the various factions, warning them of the Dragonix's impending arrival. His message was clear: their return would be peaceful, and their purpose was to discuss unifying the world under one banner.
But when the xenophobic Daine Blackwall learned that his hold would be among the first to receive Dragonix diplomats, he turned to the Dark Magistrate for help in devising a plan to execute these foreign invaders. At the time, little was known about the Dragonix’s weaknesses or abilities, but Morganna presented a curious solution—enchanted obsidian crossbow bolts, specially crafted to pierce their legendary armor. And so, when Vogen Aegorys and his royal guard entered Ashstone in good faith to begin negotiations, they were met with betrayal. A dozen soldiers fired upon them from the rafters, butchering the King of the Dragonix and shattering all hopes for a peaceful unification. Upon hearing the news, Zerenax Aegorys was consumed by rage at mankind’s ignorance. No longer ignoring the warnings of his mother, Melaundra Drufal, he re-built the Dark Flight—an elite regiment of merciless Black Dragonix Warriors—and began his vengeful warpath across Eldinar. His goal: to avenge his father and force all kingdoms into submission.
Vanash is easily one of my favorite characters, and it’s about time he received a truly unique design to reflect his incredible story. Once an abandoned Goruk hatchling, Vanash was discovered and taken in by members of the Brugon Tribe—a wise and majestic group of blue-scaled Chii’turug. They raised him for years, teaching him their ways and helping him master his insatiable appetite.
But everything changed when a massive Goruk Chii’turug force descended upon the Brugon lands, cannibalizing and slaughtering his adopted family. This horrific event filled Vanash with hatred for his own kind, branding him an outcast in the lands of Crageth. His new design reflects both his past trauma and inner turmoil—he marks his scales with blue paint, an attempt to obscure his Goruk identity while honoring the Brugons who raised him. Around his neck, he wears a small carving of a Brontosaurus, a gift from his adoptive parents before they perished in the Goruk raids.
But Vanash’s story doesn’t end here—there’s so much more to uncover. Where did he find his legendary Tyrannotor mount, Brunakka? How did he come to lead the Chii’turug? And why are they invading the outside lands? These mysteries and more will unfold as Eldinar’s future is revealed.
Now I know what you're thinking, Goruk's? Brugon's? What the hell are all of these names and what do they mean? How many different Chii'turug tribes are there? Well I whipped up something special related to the Chii'turug for our concept art pass! Look below to get an understanding of the various different Chii'turug tribes, what their sub-species look like, and what regions of Crageth they control.
Potential NEW Factions for Conquest of Eldinar
Anyone who’s been around our community long enough knows I haven’t been shy about mentioning the Silver Sons. These guys are canon, and they’re more or less the unofficially confirmed 17th faction. That means if Conquest of Eldinar’s launch goes well, you can bet we’ll eventually get around to adding them—most likely as post-launch DLC. From the very beginning, Eldinar was envisioned as a limitless sandbox, a world where any faction your imagination could dream up could be seamlessly integrated into the setting.
The Silver Sons have played an integral role in Eldinar’s history, being closely tied to one of its darkest chapters. The same dark curse that gave the Sivor’ie their vampirism and granted the humans of Mordun command over the dead also transformed many Silver Sons mercenaries into lycanthropes. I’ve always been a huge fan of werewolves, and I’ve been chomping at the bit to bring them into Eldinar—to see how they stack up against dragons, elves, samurai, and more. But at some point, I had to draw the line at 16 factions and say, “Enough is enough—anything beyond this point is DLC.”
So hey! help me make this game a success, and we’ll push forward to Faction 17 and beyond! This world is begging to be explored.
One last tease! This time, it’s the Cindecar Orcs. These devious ritualists are canon, with deep historical ties to the Black Orcs of Orgath. In fact, High Warlord Dargol himself may have inadvertently played a role in unleashing the recent tidal wave of the red menace now invading the Molten Legion’s southern borders. But who exactly are the Cindecar? Why do they worship the Orcish Fire God, Arugoz? What do they seek? Who leads them? And why do they harbor such hatred for the Molten Legion? You’ll find out. Eventually…