Nov 09 2015 -
Welcome to Krailos!
 orth  of Oramond, behind the towering mountains, a spectacular wilderness has been sculpted by the relentless forces of wind and water. Welcome to Krailos!
Landscape and HistoryKrailos is mainly a desert valley with sandstone formations that glow in luminous shades of red. The raging sea crushes against rugged shores in the west. In the east, the hot and dry climate has given life to huge cactus forests. Old ruins are scattered in the northern parts of Krailos. It is a picturesque, yet unyielding scenery. Mysterious, treacherous, dangerous. A sophisticated society once thrived in Krailos. The inhabitants of this vast land were known for their advanced architecture and philosophy. Maybe inspired by the intense hues of red and orange that Suon and Fafnar illuminate when they cross Krailos on their relentless chase, they worshipped both deities equally. Over time, though, the equilibrium shifted in favour of Fafnar and her fiery and destructive temper was adopted. In the end, the highly-developed republic fell victim to the immorality and unfaithfulness of its members. New rulers rose from the ashes of this advanced culture. Brutal and ferocious, with little respect for the weak. Amidst the chaos, their great strength and formidable resilience helped them to seize the moment and break free from their chains of slavery. And so it happened that the ogres became the new masters of Krailos. Ogres: Appearance and Nature  With their monstrous and coarse appearance, ogres easily scare off young and rather inexperienced visitors. They are massive, even corpulent creatures but are still very muscled beneath their thick skin. While their chunky hands and rather primitive mind prevent them from handling bows or crossbows, their physical strength allows them to wield enormous clubs, hatchets or to throw large boulders. Most ogres are bald. They rarely have facial hair; horns on their foreheads are much more common. Ogres mature more quickly than humans, reaching adulthood at the age of twelve. Also, it may be difficult for the untrained eye to tell males and females apart. 
Generally speaking, there are three main types of ogres to be found: brutes, savages and shamans. Most outsiders would describe any of them as ugly, horrendous, or simply "ewww". (Rumour has it that the latter may be considered a compliment among ogres, mind you, dear readers!)Ogres are not really dumb. You can best describe them as simple-minded and straightforward. A good fight and a hearty meal are enough to keep an ogre entertained and alive so why bother with complex and boring topics such as politics or sustainability? They are impulsive, quick to anger and the concept of subtlety is totally unknown to them. They thrive on conflict and prefer to settle things through some well-placed strikes and painful blows. And they do think that wooden clubs and heads fit together perfectly. Even more so if the club is adorned with spikes or studs. Due to their formidable strength, their hunger for food and their lust for battle, ogres have developed decent hunting skills which they mainly use to hunt down clomps. These massive woolly creatures that roam the plains are an important resource for meat and fur. Ogres: Communal Life  Krailos is a tribal nation which is divided into several different ogre tribes. A tribe is usually led by the toughest and strongest ogre of a group. While male ogres tend to be more ambitious here, it may also happen that a particularly violent and domineering female, an ogress, claims the title. The chieftain is supported by a shaman, who is usually a renowned member of the tribe. If the shaman is female, the two are often, but not necessarily, a couple. The chieftain is responsible for all war matters and decisions about the hunt. Overt dominance struggles for leadership are rather uncommon in an ogre tribe. Still, occasional challenges of a chieftain's authority may happen. In order to climb up ranks, the elimination of competitors is considered a well-proven and time-saving way. A shaman focuses on spiritual and social affairs of a tribe, which include rites of passage as well as annual rites concerning the seasons and certain weather phenomena. Moreover, ogres worship the Great Hunger, a spirit-like being that, according to ogre belief, will eat up the entire world if not fed regularly. Therefore, they often perform rites of sacrifice to feed this entity. These ceremonies usually take place if Great Hunger's stomach is rumbling (which may be known as earthquake in other parts of the Tibian world). Apart from that, ogres only care for the here-and-now.
While some ogres have retained a nomadic lifestyle, most ogres live in tents or huts in small villages. There is also one somewhat larger settlement. Goblins, dworcs or corym are often kept as slaves in cages. These creatures occasionally land up in Krailos' as stowaways aboard stranded ships. No matter if settled or nomadic, wherever there is an ogre, at least one open fire pit will be close by. While meat in all its forms is an all-time ogre favourite, their culinary skills are debatable at best, abysmal at worst. This may be influenced by the fact that humans and even elves are known to have ended up in an ogre's cooking pot, and eventually, in his belly. Therefore, they are also referred to as "man-eaters". In addition, most ogres also have a sweet tooth. A tasty honey comb or a freshly baked cake may even cause them to flash a smile. Almost.  The different tribes are independent from each other and conflicts among two or more tribes occur frequently due to the ogres' belligerent nature. The drying of Krailos' scarce lakes and rivers is the biggest real threat to ogres at the moment. However, the tribes and their current chieftains are too obsessed with fighting each other to understand the devastating impact an increasing water scarcity may have on them. Ogres tend to distrust strangers and avoid them in the best case. They consider foreigners a disturbance which may easily lead to outright hostility when they come face to face with them, especially in combination with an empty stomach. Nevertheless, a single ogre tribe has shown some sort of interest in trade with foreigners lately. Who knows, they may even accept the help of bold strangers if it allows them to spend more time on their favourite activities instead of having to deal with decreasing water supplies, goblin revolts or preparations for Great Hunger's next feeding. Dev Q&A With Krailos, the forthcoming winter update will introduce a new area that is waiting to be explored. To give you a glimpse on the ideas behind and the making of Krailos, Eudocia, one of Tibia’s game content designers, has shared some background information on the creation of this new area with us.
Where did the idea for the name Krailos come from? It was effectively an onomatopoeic decision. We tried to imagine a word in ogre language, a word we thought ogres would use, something that could be associated with them. We wanted it to sound rather rough and a bit guttural on the one hand. But on the other hand it should not be too intricate. Why ogres? What fascinated you about them so that you decided to add them to Tibia? Ogres are a classic species in the fantasy genre, similar to elves or orcs. So far, they were unknown in the world of Tibia and we thought it would be a gain to make them part of our world. We liked the mixture of grim aspects (the ogres are brutal warriors and man-eaters) and rather funny elements such as the ogres’ liking for food, especially sweets. What inspired you?  Concerning the environment, we were mainly inspired by images of huge cactus trees and the steppes in Africa, but also by the red rock formations of the Tatacoa Desert and the colourful waters of the Caño Cristales river in Colombia (even though we decided to change the water into salty sediments and incrustations). Concerning the ogre culture, we took an animistic and shamanic approach, creating a wild and primal tribal culture. What were the biggest challenges you faced when designing Krailos? The biggest challenge was to create a new race with primal and even brutal tendencies that is not too similar to Tibian orcs or trolls, for example. The ogres should be a distinct new race, not just a slightly modified copy of something else. On the other hand, it was challenging to design a completely new type of landscape for Krailos that could convey a unique feeling. We hope that Tibians will enjoy exploring both Krailos and the ogre culture. And so our teasers come to an end. The start of the winter update test is close and we are looking forward to meet you on the test server and to read your feedback! See you on Testa and Testera! Your Community Managers | ||||
