Naga History

Post by **Doc Paterson** » September 18th, 2005, 4:30 pm

A campaign that I'm currently working on will likely deal heavily with the Naga (not a Naga-campaign, just involving a main character who is a Naga.) I'd like to be as informed as possible on Naga lore and history, if, that is, there is much beyond the profile information. I've not encountered any campaigns that deal very heavily with them, though I did notice that there is a "Cave Naga" graphic in the Flight to Freedom images folder (very interesting....

).

If anyone knows where to find such info (if it does exist), could you link me?

Thanks.

scott · Post by **scott** » September 18th, 2005, 4:37 pm

I don't know of any, but you should try to get Benj to draw a map of what's east and southeast of Wesnoth.

Attila · Post by **Attila** » September 18th, 2005, 4:39 pm

I think the naga history is limited to:

Nagas are the long time enemies of the Merfolk, and in Asheviere's they time allied with orcs to finally defeat their opponents. They usually join forces with anyone willing to help them defeat the mermen.

(from the race descriptions)

And there used to be a Saurian campaign which had something to do with nagas. I played it a long time ago, so I don't remember what happened. I don't even know if you'll be able to find it any more.

Post by **turin** » September 18th, 2005, 4:43 pm

The best thing to do is read all of the unit descriptions for Naga units. That should be a decent source of information. But, you're basically on your own, which I would think of as a good thing, since it gives you more creative freedom.

Attila · Post by **Attila** » September 18th, 2005, 4:47 pm

Jetryl [url=http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/posting.php?mode=quote&p=77007]here[/url] wrote:Some people have been bugging me to get the naga done. I've finally had a moment to iron out a unit or two, so here you go. Comments are very, very welcome.

This line is a line of naga that do poorly in water. They are heavily armored, and strong (for naga), and carry a mace - they are also slower than the naga fighter line.

As I've said before, the naga are not a water race like the mermen. They can't breate water. However, their body shape makes them much better at traversing water than practically any other land-based race, so long as they don't wear anything that would hinder their movement/weigh them down. Thus they can at least challenge the mermen in water, unlike everyone else.

Stat suggestion:
35hp (vs 30 for the fighter)
5 moves, movement in water is like a land unit (no access to deep water)
10% resistance to physical attacks.
6-3 melee (impact)

Besides this, I'm going to make a line of naga archers that shoot poisoned arrows. After that, the naga should be decent enough for the campaign authors who have been bugging me to be able to use them as a stand-alone enemy in campaigns.

(Oh yeah - kudos to neo for the shield, which was salvaged from some old drakes)

Glowing Fish · Post by **Glowing Fish** » September 18th, 2005, 6:37 pm

Of course, the Naga originally comes from Indian mythology. Of course, WINIM, but you might want to start at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naga_%28mythology%29

to get some ideas.

Post by **Doc Paterson** » September 18th, 2005, 10:07 pm

Glowing Fish wrote:Of course, the Naga originally comes from Indian mythology.

Oh yeah, I know.

It's a shame they've gotten such a bad rap in the Wesnoth world. I wonder why exactly it is that they have this longstanding rivalry with the merfolk.

Post by **Doc Paterson** » September 18th, 2005, 10:16 pm

turin wrote:The best thing to do is read all of the unit descriptions for Naga units. That should be a decent source of information.

Yeah, I did that a while ago. Some items of significance from the unit descriptions:

- They operate under some sort of caste system, but apparently it's not very rigid, as it's possible to be "initiated into" a caste (the Myrmidon Caste for example).

-The second blade signifies a warrior of substantial merit; the young fighters must prove themselves worthy to weild it.

-They breath air, unlike Mermen.

Very interesting.....

Post by **turin** » September 18th, 2005, 10:27 pm

Doc Paterson wrote:It's a shame they've gotten such a bad rap in the Wesnoth world. I wonder why exactly it is that they have this longstanding rivalry with the merfolk.

Probably because there's such limited coastal areas (they don't live in the deep water), and so the two races compete for territory.

Arcamis · Post by **Arcamis** » September 19th, 2005, 4:10 am

Hmmm, why not make your campain center around an ancient betrayal the merfolk commited against the naga? That way you could fix up some of the bad rap. Also btw, if there's going to be a naga faction for this campain it should have a tiger unit (not a rider, but possibly a "Spirit Tiger") since naga originally come from India and SE asia. Naga strike me as being a more sophisticated race of people and therefore a simple explaination like a territory war doesn't seem to cut it for why the naga and merfolk hate each other.

ChowGuy · Post by **ChowGuy** » September 19th, 2005, 10:23 am

Hmmm, why not make your campain center around an ancient betrayal the merfolk commited against the naga? That way you could fix up some of the bad rap.

Here's a thought: The Naga of Indian lore are mainly underground dwellers, the keepers of magic, and the guardians of treasures. They're semi-divine, and generally linked to the cobra; while not particularly evil, but they're not particularly good either although thet are commanded to bite only the the truly evil or those who are destined to die anyway.

Although there are not, so far as I know, any magic using Naga units in BfW we haven't seen a wide enough selection of them as a race to say for sure what they might need for a full campaign, but as a back-story what if the Mermen (who also seem to have no real magic users) long ago stole the Storm Tridents from some them? It makes sense, since they would seem to have no logical way of having made them them themselves, and even though the Naga couldn't use them, they might have guarded/hoarded them for their own sake just as dragons may gather and hoard gold they can't spend.

Post by **fmunoz** » September 19th, 2005, 7:59 pm

The original Naga and Merman idea was...
(Never published before...)

That they were the two genders of same race...
So they really need each othe... but they are at war...
Fertilized Naga eggs becane merman but unfertilized ones became naga but only in a 90% of times... but nagas from unfertilized eggs are sterile.
Hatched babies from the opposite side are released by both parties...

So thats why I created only female nagas and only male mermen.

unsung · Post by **unsung** » September 19th, 2005, 8:35 pm

what the....?
*shakes head and blinks*

Post by **turin** » September 19th, 2005, 9:25 pm

Mermen do have real magic users. Look at the Mermaid Initiate & upgrades.

scott · Post by **scott** » September 19th, 2005, 10:22 pm

The mermaids are a late addition by someone ignorant (like pretty much all of us) of the intended backstory.

I don't really follow the biology of it though... are you saying there's a mating truce? If they don't fertilize, the naga are sterile and mermen don't reproduce at all. If they do fertilize, you get regular naga and mermen? They picked the wrong people to be at war with.