Na-Swan-se’s account of her time living in the Khärn mountain dwelling of Khilma provides our scholars with much insight.

As I mentioned before, Na-Swan-se eventually learned enough of the brutish language to tell us some of their stories and customs. It is at this point that I will elucidate these.

But first it serves to explain what part in Khärn society Na-Swan-se took and how she came to occupy that position.

Her journey through the Rhoza mountains to Khilma can hardly be described, so harrowing it was.

Forced to climb the steep pathways without any covering or sustenance, Na-Swan-se eventually collapsed—able to proceed no further. So her captors drug her onwards behind the herd of Fadül.

She is not sure how many of Celem’s paths it was—she guesses five—when they came across the carved stone form of a snake bearing the same horns seen on most Khärn helmets. They were high in the mountains, where it takes two breaths for everyone here in Jotheim.

Bones lay strewn before the serpentine head, its mouth gaped open, a flickering of flames illuminating it within.

Na-Swan-se remembers watching all the Khärn stop, line up and lay prostrate before the serpent head. Then with great excitement they proceeded through the serpent’s mouth.

Our soldiers require no description of the journey into the Khärn home city based in the roots of those mountains.

It is a long and dark journey. The dark is not like the dark when Celem’s journey is done. The cold is not like the cold of the East Wind. Both are more like death.

The Khärn require no guiding light to navigate that deathly dark, so accustomed to the path they are. In their excitement they travelled with great speed—dragging Na-Swan-se and whipping the scared flock of Fadül which would soon be food.

Na-Swan-se believes she was close to entering Go-na forever.

But then the air grew warmer and a faint glow illuminated the rock walls.

The Durno soldiers schooled in Shinse verse speak better about the fearful Khärn lair than I can here. But even they have not seen all of it.

Na-Swan-se agrees with our scholars that it is highly unlikely the brutes had the technical capability of building the complex—the arena hanging by gigantic chains, or even the honey combed series of chambers running along deep inside, guarded by their metal gates. Who did fashion the city, lit and warmed by Skara’s molten bowels, remains a mystery.

Na-Swan-se says the boiling fiery bottom of this city was prone to rising at times, even covering the Blüt arena, but the rock would somehow never succumb to the heat. In fact, it remained cool to the touch…

X

Upon arriving in the Khärn arena Hrackamül began barking orders, gaining the attention of the residents, the hunting party the cowering, fearful flock of Fadül and, drug behind them, Na-Swan-se.

A stream of Khärn filled the chamber and behind them, born on a throne covered in skins and the skulls of dead Skaran soldiers of varying races, sat the fat form of a the Hrackakhärn.

Hrackamül grabbed the nearly lifeless form of Na-Swan-se, growled to his hunting party who kneeled towards the throne, and lifted Na-Swan-se up to the Hrackakhärn.

The Hrackakhärn inspected the prize offering much the same as the skinny Khärn had the day Na-Swan-se was captured. Sniffing and pinching, Hrackakhärn even licked Na-Swan-se’s skin [the power of the Khärn sense of taste and smell cannot be overestimated] as the crowd waited expectantly.

Na-Swan-se says Hrackamül uttered quietly in the brutish language to Hrackakhärn who crouched his head as he listened. He then paused, lifting a gnarled claw in the air for quiet.

Once he had it, he barked loudly, lifting Na-Swan-se up for all to see.

The crowd of brutes roared in unison. A chain with a thick collar was brought to the Hrackakhärn who took it and fastened it around Na-Swan-se’s neck.

She was then passed over to a tall rock column with a flat top, and the other end of the chain was fastened to it.

The crowd kept roaring, but already the great throne was turned and began heading back into the honeycomb of chambers.

A large and elegant looking Fadül was picked from the herd—a jagged blade was brought and the animal, lowing in complaint, was unceremoniously decapitated. The corpse was lifted up and brought in to the chambers behind the throne.

The feast had begun, but Na-Swan-se has no memory of it, chained to her pillar she curled up into a ball and fell fast asleep.

August is here and the SKARA team has been busier than ever improving the game.

We have just released the 0.5.3 build. Instead of loading two builds, we decided to basically merge the content planned for the 0.5.2 and 0.5.3 versions into one, so we are jumping from 0.5.1 to 0.5.3 to avoid confusion.

The result is a much bigger improvement in the game, we think. As usual, we look forward to your feedback.

Here’s a list of the improvements to be found in the version 0.5.3:

• Bug fixing: these kind of things are normally invisible but you will notice a difference.
• Thanks to popular demand, Keybindings and Invert Y camera options are now available both in-game and in the menu settings.
• New UI 3D scene. Now your character is always visible when navigating the menus.
• There are also new class skills for all characters:
  • Shinse gets Forest Wind to attack foes and escape from difficult, close-combat situations.
  • Khärn are now able to attract enemies thanks to the new ability, Rage Vortex.
  • Celea can now turn their shielººd into flames and hurl it, hitting enemies from a range. It then returns, like a boomerang.
• We have released the first iteration for our matchmaking system. Now it is easier to join and leave matches, find people to play with and avoid crashing out. We know this has been the biggest hurdle to enjoying the game, and we are working hard to fix it.
• New HUD: Health bar and shield bar have different behaviour and graphics now. This feature is not finished though, and we’ll implement more changes in the 0.5.4 version.
• Durno and Tamvaasa silhouettes are now visible in the Character Selection menu… and will be coming soon!
• XP and levels have been re-factored to make progression more balanced. This will wipe out all progress made thus far… sorry about that!
• Duels on Jaarvi are three kills based now, like some Versus games you may know… :)
• Groth is now visible during the first phase of the Coliseum. Watch out at about the 5 minute mark of your match for him to be released.

We also look forward to hearing from players who have tried the game and anyone who has an opinion or idea about its development. get in touch with us in the forums or on social.

See you on the Battlefield!

Pablo and the SKARA Team

It was not long before the Khärn hunting party, having captured a sizeable herd of Fadül, began to turn back towards the mountains from which they came.

Rising up out of the sheltered rocky area near the lake they journeyed for several passages of Celem to the places filled with statues and ruined buildings that, according to Shinse lore, was built by their ancestors, the Zem.

Near that place is a flowing water much like the Aren that crosses our lands and brings life to Jotheim. There, the Khärn stopped.

Na-Swan-se says she was allowed to go into the flowing water, though it was colder than the East Wind at the time of Celem’s departing. Submerging herself, Na-Swan-se heard a familiar sound—her people’s Toki, a system of sounds used to communicate.

Looking up to the rocky moors—hardly a thing grows in this land—Na-Swan-se recalls seeing some of her kin: they had seen her and though they did not move a muscle, they were making the unmistakeable noises fabled to be out of the range of Khärn hearing.

Na-Swan-se washed and washed, waiting for her kin to act. Finally the brute holding her long cord yanked on it angrily to come back.

As she was moving slowly to the dry land—Shinse long Wakat filled the air, raining down on the Khärn encampment.

The attack took the Khärn by surprise; many were pierced.

Even so, they quickly gathered their weapons to retaliate, scaling the rocky moors with an eagerness akin to hunger.

Na-Swan-se does not recall the battle, for as soon as it began, she dove into the flowing water. The Brute had let go of the rope so she was freely making her way downflow. It was so strong she remember hardly being able to keep her head up above it for inner wind.

Further and further she went, though her swimming only grew more desperate.

Suddenly, with a great sweep of the flow just ahead, she was stopped. The flow swept violently over her, dragging her downwards.

Na-Swan-se says she remembers thinking the rope had been caught in a crevice. But then she felt herself being pulled against the current.

A familiar claw-like hand grasped her limb and hauled her up out of the flow, like a shivering Waachi.

It was Hrackamül, his red Brute’s eyes gleaming.

He growled something and then struck Na-Swan-se into the place of Go-na.

The next thing, Na-Swan-se says she remembers was being tied up against a post in the old way. Across from her, hanging from poles, were the corpses of her kin.

The Khärn bustled about preparing to leave. They ignored her anguished crying. Na-Swan-se says she had almost forgotten the feelings of home, so deep she had buried them inside her spirit. Seeing her kinsman trying to save her brought those feelings painfully back.

But she would have little time for grief. The Khärn were readying themselves to enter the Rhozha mountains before the East wind became more violently cold in the period of Celem’s absence…

XX

Earlier, I wrote of the Blüt and the fact that Na-Swan-se was the subject of this first example of Khärn brutality.

Later, she learned, mostly by observation, that the Khärn who had saved her was in fact a lieutenant of the great Khärn chief, called Hrackakhärn. As lieutenant, the big Khärn enjoyed many benefits, he slept closer to the fire, mated with whomever he wished and ate bigger portions. He was also obligated to find Hrackakhärn gifts.

Na-Swan-se would be such a gift, but not before the hunt was over.

The lieutenant, whose name was Hrackamül, took Na-Swan-se into his possession. From that time on, no Khärn dared touch her, unless they desired a Blüt.

XXX

The legends of Khärn brutality are difficult to overestimate. We Durno recite them as a matter of course to make sure young ones never wander away alone.

There are of course the tales of the Khärn disemboweling enemies alive with their claw like hands and jagged weapons. This method of killing on the battlefield is meant to awe the enemy into submission.

Khärn are also known to drink fermented blood, and among many of our scribes it has been debated whether this is why the Khärn are so large in size and ferocity.
The testimony of Na-Swan-se at this point allows us to clarify much about these people.

But first, let the account of her journey continue.

XXXX

Na-Swan-se, in the possession of Hrackamül was required to do things that demonstrated her slave status (none of which, surprisingly, involved violations of her body).

No, Na-Swan-se on this point is very clear: Khärn lust for blood, not bodies, when it comes to other races. That is why they are not known to keep prisoners alive.

Na-Swan-se later understood that Hrackamül kept her alive thinking perhaps she would serve as a special delicacy to be enjoyed by Hrackakhärn in their mountain home.

The duties she was required to perform included preparing Hrackamül’s food (cooked food on the hunting trips is a major luxury for Khärn), keeping his weapons clean and sharp and entertainment by the fire at night.

Na-Swan-se’s first time “entertaining” the Khärn almost took her life. A serious nature, Na-Swan-se did not take to dancing and making sounds, which is what the Brutes desired from her.

The period of darkness increasingly brought more cold. The Brutes had built a larger than normal fire to offset the fierce wind off the plains. The Khärn sat around it in a tight circle, grunting with each other in a bored manner. Finally a small fight looked like it would break out. Hrackamül—in no mood to watch a Blüt—barked loudly and went over to the post where Na-Swan-se was shivering uncontrollably.

Hrackamül yanked on her rope so hard she was knocked over, and drug her towards the fire.

With a slap of the rope Hrackamül pointed at Na-Swan-se to stand, which she did, trying to cover the fear and shame in her face with the mask of calm used by all Shinse—they call it Go-na—and prepared for whatever was to come next.

The Khärn no doubt seeing what Hrackamül meant, began to call and chant enthusiastically. Hrackamül began barking and gesturing wildly at Na-Swan-se. when she did not move, he became angry.

So Hrackamül whipped the cord binding Na-Swan-se, aimed for her feet.

Na-Swan-se, agile as ever, leapt before the cord could thrash her.

The Khärn hooted with great pleasure, so Hrackamül continued lashing Na-Swan-se’s feet, one side at a time with increasing rapidity.

Finally Na-Swan-se could no longer take the torture. She leapt high in the air, somersaulting around her outstretched, and bound, hands. At the same time she jerked with her hands on the rope.

The move must have surprised Hrackamül, for the rope came lose from his grip.

Na-Swan-se remembers the sudden freedom of movement caused her head to swim with a deep and powerful feeling. It brought her to a fever pitch. She said with its power, and better judgment, she might have escaped captivity altogether…

…But instead her anger made her want revenge. She swung the rope, cracking it like a whip—choked on a battle cry and lunged for the nearest Khärn dagger. With luck, she did grasp one off the gurdel of a smaller brute near the circle.

Using the dagger, she sliced free her hands and began moving around, the dagger and a length of the rope in her hands.

The brutes made a great deal of noise. Little did Na-Swan-se know at the time it was because they were enjoying the show—even Hrackamül.

Then Na-Swan-se’s blade sliced at a Khärn shoulder. The wound was deep and the Khärn shrieked in pain.

This caused even more uproar in the crowd. The smaller brute pursued her with the blind blood rage the Khärn are so well known for. Na-Swan-se tells us the Khärn word for it is near to their word for Blüt, but uses a guttural sound we do not cover in the Durno alphabet—I have invented the character ʛBlüt.

Na-Swan-se says the brute pounced after her in the open space, but since she was quick she managed to keep out of his reach. This happened several times before finally the brute, panting, watched her, the crowd cajoling him.

The brute’s movements became slower. At one point he made as if to pounce, but stopped himself. Na-Swan-se says she jumped high into the air to avoid him and was caught—the Brute had successfully calculated where she would land. In the jarring impact, Na-Swan-se says she lost the dagger and her inner wind.

Gasping for air, she felt her time had come. And still, she had the length of cord in her free hand. Before the brute could press her limbs to the ground, Na-Swan-se succeeded in wrapping the cord around his neck. Grasping the ends of the cord with both hands, she pulled and pulled. Na-Swan-se says at that point she was beyond sight and hearing and feeling—in the place where Go-na comes from and where all Shinse believe they go upon leaving their senses.

But of course, Na-Swan-se came back, only to find the brute’s dead body sprawled over her and a ring of curious brute faces above.

Na-Swan-se says after that, the Khärn treated her better—like we might a favored Hrônd. They fed her from the hunts and tied her by one limb instead of both.

But Hrackamül never left her alone, and if ever she made to struggle, he would inflict a fearsome beating upon her body, just like he did regularly with the other brutes.

…Na-Swan-se awoke, a noose around her neck, tied to a post. Her hands were bound behind her.

Around her, lying on the ground by a big roaring fire were the hideous Khärn. We Durno are all familiar with their description—red-eyed beasts with brown colored hides for skin, scraggly hair, sharp teeth and extremely large muscular bodies.

Apparently this description fails to encapsulate their true ugliness.

Na-Swan-se remembers the sight being a most overwhelming nightmare. Though a youth of admiring strength, she passed out from the feelings.

She awoke to the feeling of her bonds loosening. A curious savage had undone her wrists and was engaged in an inspection of her limbs. It sniffed her hair, his rancid breath causing Na-Swan-se to gag. He pinched her skin and lifted her limbs one by one, inspecting her like our mothers inspect purchases in the market.

The Khärn had drawn his sharp flint dagger and was poised to dispatch Na-Swan-se, his hungry eyes flaming, when, with a swift blow that made the rocks tremble, a much bigger Khärn warned him off.

Na-Swan-se had not learned to decipher the Khärn language at this point, so her memory recalled only the brutish guttural barks and snarls that our Hrônd make – especially when they are hungry.

The smaller Khärn yelped and turned on the bigger one. They squared off for battle, while the other Khärn formed a circle around them.

Na-Swan-se says these are common amongst the Khärn as a means of determining dominance and resolving disputes.

In the Khärn language—for which I apply the Durno alphabet, since it is not written—these events are called Blüt. Na-Swan-se says they occur often and are a chief source of entertainment.

The Blüt commenced—since Na-Swan-se was inside the circle she observed everything about the rituals, some of which is supplemented by her life in the Khärn mountain city.

It may surprise, but when Khärn prepare for a Blüt, they shed all of their weapons. They place them on the edge of the circle, and turning to them is but one way for a Khärn to capitulate. This does not stop the brutes from using them, and depending on the mood of the crowd, determines whether a Blüt loser retains his life.

The Blüt then starts its intimidation phase. The two combatants circle one another, slapping parts of their bodies and making what are no doubt fearsome noises. This gets the crowd going—and helps determine the likelihood one way or the other on the fight.

It is up to the crowd when this ends—they cheer and bang the ground and make all kind of sounds until they wish to see the fight, at which point they fall silent.

This quiet is of an extremely eery nature, confirmed Na-Swan-se, and it shows the icier side of the Khärn personality. That first Blüt, Na-Swan-se said, began in such a silence. The smaller Khärn, who evidentally was what we might call the challenger, was the first to attack. He made a great lunge forward, arms locked in order to throw his larger opponent off balance.

The bigger Khärn had almost anticipated this move and jumped backward to avoid the blow while at the same time grasping and pulling the smaller Khärn farther forward. The pull ended with the larger Khärn delivering a sharp blow to the other’s face with his knee.

Na-Swan-se’s memory of this fight is better than later encounters she watched—though she did have much to offer about the techniques Khärn use whilst grappling each other.

It is brutal and unsparing, for though it doesn’t use weapons it does involve merciless beating.

Such was the way this first Blüt came to its end. The smaller Khärn flattened to the ground by the larger, who also slammed the younger’s face against it until it was but a pulp.

Na-Swan-se later understood that she ought to have been relieved. The fight determined whether she would be treated as food or not, but at the time the brutality was more than she had ever witnessed.

As ruthless as the Khärn are, they waste nothing. Na-Swan-se says the dead body was used as bait to trap the leaping Fadül of the plains. The idea of feasting on flesh that had recently consumed a brother did not seem to bother them…

This month we’ll release two consecutive updates. 0.5.2 patch should be live on Tuesday 14th and 0.5.3 will come by the end of July and brings several new features.

Build 0.5.2 will consist of several UI and game flow improvements, with general bug fixing and feedback problems, following some your suggestions.We have incorporated most of your feedback and requests into our task list - key bindings are being done as we speak and an option to invert the Y camera will follow.

Build 0.5.3 will introduce exciting stuff. 2 new class skills will be available for you to experiment with different combinations. Skills and how they blend together with your teammates’ skills will be crucial when playing Team Deathmatch.

A playable tutorial will be also released, plus a new 3D scene for the UI. We are also refactoring the way XP and points are earned and the way new skills and character are unlocked. To avoid account corruption we’ll need to wipe all the characters.

See you on the Battlefield!

Pablo