The following was recorded by Hertión, Scribe for King Talénes V of the Court of the Eagles. It was related to him by the Shinse woman Na-Swan-se. Her testimony clears many mysteries we have had regarding the mountain brutes known as Khärn. She is the first known survivor from their settlements.

For the sake of fidelity, the scribe has kept many details of her story intact.

Part I

In the period of time when Skara becomes colder, before Celem reduces the length of his path when ice and wind bring stiffness and death. That was the time when the savages from the mountains descend to the plains to pillage and burn.

Na-Swan-se says she was not yet of age. She had never left the island in lake Nagaco, where her people dwelled, and ever since she was old enough to watch the Na-Shime depart the island on watercraft she wished she could join in—like the young Na-Shime.

So as often as she could, Na-Swan-se asked to go along. She practiced the arts of the Na-Shime, catching the waachi, throwing the long wakat and running along the shore north of Nagaco with the other young Na-Shime. She outpaced them all every time, such was her strength.

This did not escape the Elder Na-Shime, who watching in surprise. They said—she is as strong or stronger than any of our young Na-Shime, why should we not make an exception to our customs? But Na-Swan-se’s matriarch said No, the customs must be maintained, or the fabric that makes the Shinse strong will begin to unravel.

Na-Swan-se felt a great shame at this. For though she was in the form of a Na-Shizu she did not feel like one.

So Na-Swan-se decided, if the elders and the Matriarch would not permit her to join the hunting party, she would go alone to prove to them her strength far surpassed even the bravest Na-Shime.

In the cover of darkness, when Celem slept, she selected all the tools she would need: a long wakat, a short wakat and all the dried Waachi she could find, wrapped in a hunter’s blanket. She put them in a watercraft and left for the far shore…

To try to keep better track of our bug reporting, we have recently made a google form to fill out.

Here is the link to the feedback form (below)

Of course, feel free to keep informing us on these forums and in the Technical Support. And let us know what you think of the form and if we can improve it in any way.

We are happy to announce the arrival of Skara 0.5.1! This is a first glimpse at the real deal. What came before was really more like a demo. A helpful demo, where we were able to create our combat system and try out tons of features, but a demo all the same.

Now Skara feels like a game.

Players create accounts, can choose characters and see progression. It’s a proper skeleton with some of the organs. Now we just need to add muscles and some skin-not to overdo the metaphor!

Highlight of New Features:

Every character has their own special abilities, making gameplay a lot more fun and tactical.

It is now possible to personalise fighting styles by picking the character and their special abilities.

Let us know if there are any balancing issues, and generally what you think of them.

New Character: Khärn

The Khärn are more like a tank character than ever before: Slow and Strong. We definitely look forward to seeing how players use their abilities. We think they are pretty well balanced against the Celea and the Shinse, but this is something we aim to perfect.

Again, feedback will be useful!

New Arena: Zem Moorlands

We brought in a dedicated Team Deathmatch arena: the Zem Moorlands, and, we think you will agree, the results are pretty spectacular.

We’ve enjoyed trying the Team Deathmatch experience here in the studio, and we look forward to hearing what you think.

If you find any bugs, inexplicably fall through the floor, or whatever else, let us know!

NEXT STEPS: Match times, Streaming & Development Schedule

We are thinking about holding dedicated times to play Skara to help make it easier for players to find each other. Let us know if you want to create an official play time and we will do what we can. For now, if we are playing, expect to find us around 7pm CET time.

Please feel free to stream your gameplay! This is the best way to spread the word. If you are interested in having your stream hosted on the official Skara Twitch channel, get in touch.

Our development schedule continues apace. The last two characters are currently being modelled, we have new class skills in the works, and lots of plans for improvements to the UI and much more.

Got a question? Want to know more? Get in touch! We are active on social media and will try and respond to emails sent to [email protected]

See you on the battlefield,

Pablo

Here’s a look at the new features now available to try in the first full-alpha release of Skara on Steam Early Access.

Check out the various character class skills on display, from the Shinse transportation and invisibility, to the high powered attacks of the Celea and the Kharn. Also see the new maps and the new weapons on offer. Skara is making progress and not looking back!

Last weekend we launched the full alpha version of Skara on Steam. The game we have all envisioned is really taking shape now and we can’t wait to see your reactions!

Here’s a list of new features we would like to highlight:

Class skills

This took the most work to implement, but we think you will agree that the result was worth it.

Gameplay is now a lot more fun and tactical. It is now possible to personalise fighting styles by picking the character and, soon, their passives. Read through the tutorial to get an idea of how these new features work. It will take a few matches to unlock them.

New Character: Khärn

The Khärn are more like a tank character than ever before: Slow and Strong. We definitely look forward to seeing how players use their abilities. We think they are pretty well balanced against the Celea and the Shinse, but this is something we aim to perfect.

As usual, feedback will be useful!

New Arena: Zem Moorlands

The Zem Moorlands got a makeover, and we think you will agree, the results are pretty spectacular.

We’ve enjoyed trying the Team Deathmatch experience here in the studio, and we look forward to hearing what you think.

If you find any bugs, inexplicably fall through the floor, or whatever else, let us know!

NEXT STEPS

Whether you have participated in our pre-alpha Early Access or not, now’s the time to give Skara a try.

And of course our work continues. We plan on releasing an update to the alpha every two weeks, fixing bugs, adding more features, and generally improving the game.

Which is where you come in.

>If you notice any problems, think something isn’t working as well as it should, want a particular feature sooner than others, or just want to say hi, get in touch! We will remain very active on our Steam community page and our forum. Failing that, send us an email: [email protected]

Hope you enjoy playing your game. See you on the Battlefield!

Pablo and the Skara Team

[Scribbled together on crumpled sheets of vellum]
[I]Brought to my cell, window, top floor of the Tower, facing West, cannot see Val. Cramped cell, cold at night, no blankets, fresh air. Able to watch western approach to City and setting of the two lights. [II]Alone. No neighbors. Below, petty thieves and violent offenders. Town at peace. Acceptance of new leadership. Fear of reprisals? Too many thoughts [III]Quiet—two suns heat cell. Smoke trail in distance. Small group of farmers head West carrying packs. Call but they do not look up. [IV]food once a day with water, otherwise silence. Smoke trail moves to left. Hot—again. [V]scouting group leaves West early. Carrying lots of supplies. Again no response to shouts. [VI]Attempt to communicate with prisoners below. Only catcalls and gibberish. Smoke disappears [VII]few return from West with one wounded, heavy battle. Monsters? Tired fearful movements. Smoke reappears in evening—closer. [VIII]ignored by guard. Val noisy. Watch Retainers train far to the left. Led by Decimon—who doesn’t look at tower once. [‘I] hungry all the time. Try to sleep and exercise. Favorite task—writing, but fear losing space. Smoke ####### [‘II]awake early today—saw large figure on hills far away. Pale skin and horned helmet, disappeared again. Retainers train all passage now. Tried to warn guard—no answer. [‘III]Attack Before passage begins, sounds below—growling and barking. ######### alarm wakes prisoners, their howling cover sounds of battle. Outcome uncertain, smell smoke, hear screams in city—last into the darkness, parts of Val. lit by fire. Assailants break into tower, slaughter prisoners below. Lay quietly in a corner and wait, but nobody comes to the top. They are unchecked. Retainer groups occasionally heard, rarely seen from vantage point. Fear for the utter destruction of Val. Celem, help! [‘IV]the new passage begins in smoke and silence. Barbarians leave in night? Weeping and mourning stirs Val. later—but otherwise all is peace. I shout hoarsely for help, nothing. third passage without food or water. [‘V]early passage column of Retainers disappear West. Otherwise-Nothing. [‘VI]desperate for water—forced to drink own fluids. Hot in passage, cold in darkness—a drastic change for Val weather. As darkness comes, single Retainer scout returns from West. [‘VII] Too weak to stand, only can scribble this ################ [‘’I] I can only guess it has been one passage since my last writing. I woke to supply of food and drink. First clouds seen since the Catastrophe, cover Two Lights, aid in sleep. [‘’II] Construction of Watch Tower in progress to West. Sounds of industry in Val—construction and market.a steady stream of laden carts pulled by citizens carrying grains from the West—from Royal storages or perhaps one known by Decimon and not myself. [‘’III]repeating facts keep me sane, limit words to what is real instead of thoughts: no sign of help, Decimon firmly in control of Val—number of Retainers down, though still numerous. No Tamvaasa in sight. Scouts appear and disappear out window towards West. ############### South? Stump of my inscriber left. [‘’VI] smoke seen in distance—enemy camp? [‘’’II] Watchtower calls alarm, figures chase in its shadows. Sounds of skirmish: Northern Savages unsuccessful [‘’’III] skirmishes continue every darkness. Do not last long. [‘’’IV]begging guard to speak—ignores me. [‘’’V]last of the inscriber and last words. Loyalty’s cost is #########.