[WernerTWC]

Hans-Jörg Knabel, Storywriter of g4/Arcania wrote and will write some shortstories about the Tavern of the "Cleaved Maiden", these will introduce you into the world, some characters, rumors and facts of the world of g4.

New parts should arrive kinda monthly (not exactly), in this first part we will be introduced to Murdra, the landlady of the "Cleaved Maiden".

If you have directly questions to the author, he will answer questions on the SB-Board, in this thread:
http://forum.spellbound.de/phpBB3/vi...hp?f=32&t=4975

For discussions you can use this thread.

Enjoy:
http://www.worldofgothic.com/gothic4/?go=shortstories

BTW.: New Artworks can be found.

[Little Einstein]

a great lil taste of G4´s story

luving it

[Demonium]

Even if a statue with a head cut in 2 pieces is sick, and even if places like "Orc forest" and "Blood Valley" sound spooky, i can sense a mysterious, spooky, interesting atmosphere...

This spooky tavern and heads split in half, remind me the church of Diablo 1
and some flesh eating demons from Diablo1 like "Butcher".
It doesnt reminds anything from Gothic 1...
But i like it

As i said before...i think that G4 will be a very good game...but i dont think that it will remind Gothic...

[vivaxardas]

The first story does not make too much sense already. Xardas was like THE VILLAIN in G3 (marcs, normardians, village people, orcs - everybody knew his name and what he has done), and 10 years later people do not remember his name! It would be like people in USA won't remember the name of Osama bin Laden, or Hitler, or Lenin for Russians, any other great villain (I am not saying that Xardas is evil, but you need to see his actions in perspective). It would make sense after 50-60 years probably, but after just 10 years it does not make any freaking sense.

[Articuno]

Hey hold your horses guys!

How do you get these ideas so fast? It's just an irrelevant,boring little story. How do you jump to those conlusions? You may think Gothic series is dead since G3 but WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING REALLY about the new game. Why do you want to hate it so early?

Look we all want it to be as good as old games but you can rate it bad just from a sentence from this story. What is that about American people?

Some of you guys have strong prejudice. It's not useful and reasonable. Just stop it please...

[Dsteel]

What is that about American people?

Some of you guys have strong prejudice. It's not useful and reasonable. Just stop it please...

hah, im american.

but basicly the main reason a lot of the people here arent having high expectations for g4 is because its being made by jowood/spellbound....not PB.

but in the case of vivixardas he wasnt talking about the game to be, but about the story in which this thread was made for.

[Powaz]

Even if a statue with a head cut in 2 pieces is sick, and even if places like "Orc forest" and "Blood Valley" sound spooky, i can sense a mysterious, spooky, interesting atmosphere...

This spooky tavern and heads split in half, remind me the church of Diablo 1
and some flesh eating demons from Diablo1 like "Butcher".
It doesnt reminds anything from Gothic 1...
But i like it

As i said before...i think that G4 will be a very good game...but i dont think that it will remind Gothic...

I have the same feeling.
But I also feel there's a huge mistake in this story!

»The orcs are beaten, he says. And he has come with many tales of a nameless hero and Xardas the mage. «

[TeLovesc]

One thing is certain : i`m gonna play the game just to hear the tales about the nameless hero

interesting ideea , and it would be nice to see those fellows sitting around the fire ,warming up ,telling stories ,and one night ,some stranger with a long beard would come into the taven ,and that would be the nameless hero . And he could start telling stories about Khorinis , Jarkhendar ,Myrtana and so on ,and never tell about his true identity until the end :P

[alyn26]

Awesome. Dark and misterious...

[Ksardax]

Yea & dark. Climatical article

[Mikael Grizzly]

The first story does not make too much sense already. Xardas was like THE VILLAIN in G3 (marcs, normardians, village people, orcs - everybody knew his name and what he has done), and 10 years later people do not remember his name! It would be like people in USA won't remember the name of Osama bin Laden, or Hitler, or Lenin for Russians, any other great villain (I am not saying that Xardas is evil, but you need to see his actions in perspective). It would make sense after 50-60 years probably, but after just 10 years it does not make any freaking sense.

Uh, wut?

Xardas wasn't THE villain - he basically disappeared after the conquest of Faring, far in the northern ice wastes of Nordmar - Orcs and Hashishin were a more immediate, powerful concern than some mage up north.

That, and you are trying to apply modern standards to a medieval society. Get into your skull that the world of Gothic doesn't have Internet or anything that allows fast and easy information transfer or storage. Hence, Xardas drops from the public awareness.

[Normarian]

Nice indeed.Like a dark and misterious old tavern...

[vivaxardas]

Uh, wut?

Xardas wasn't THE villain - he basically disappeared after the conquest of Faring, far in the northern ice wastes of Nordmar - Orcs and Hashishin were a more immediate, powerful concern than some mage up north.

That, and you are trying to apply modern standards to a medieval society. Get into your skull that the world of Gothic doesn't have Internet or anything that allows fast and easy information transfer or storage. Hence, Xardas drops from the public awareness.

Ok, let's see... Fire magic was the weapon that was gving an edge to Myrthana. Xardas succesfully nuked it - act of terrorism by any standards, and people have lost the war, and have been enslaved by the orcs. (By the way, the war with the orcs began when orcs invaded Myrthana, and people were on defensive. So by our medieval standards it falls under St. Augustine's category of just war, and Xardas would have been burned at the stake for his actions). Something hard to forget, and definitely gives a reason to remember a name of a guy responsible for this. As I remember G3, a lot of people all around Myrthana knew about him - paladins in Farig, willage elder in Ardea, mercs, orcs, fire mages. Medievals did not have an internet, but they did not have too much to read (or to watch TV) either, and the biggest entertainment was to learn about news, and discuss them. Also not everybody was literate, and memory was more important.

Also, as I remember from G3, there was a small body pile-up near and inside of Xardas' tower. There were enough people around to get him. Hashishin were of no direct concern to Myrthana, but orc invasion was a direct conseqence of Xardas' actions. Medievals were not imbeciles, and less forgiving then we now. If it were to happen in real life, every chronicle would have this event, and every peasant would have remembered his name.

I really love Xardas, because he is so freaking commited s.o.b. He did a right thing, but people would see it only in centuries.

[Mikael Grizzly]

Ok, let's see... Fire magic was the weapon that was gving an edge to Myrthana. Xardas succesfully nuked it - act of terrorism by any standards,

No. Terrorism is the weapon of the weak.

The orcs were strong, and Xardas removed the only weapon that was keeping the remnants of Myrthana alive - fire magic didn't give Myrthana any kind of edge - most of the continent was already under Orc occupation and Faring and a few other fortresses were the last remaining pockets of resistance.

and people have lost the war, and have been enslaved by the orcs.

By the time Xardas contained rune magic, humans have already lost the war.

Something hard to forget, and definitely gives a reason to remember a name of a guy responsible for this. As I remember G3, a lot of people all around Myrthana knew about him - paladins in Farig, willage elder in Ardea, mercs, orcs, fire mages.

So basically people who had a reason to know about him. The common folk didn't know, nor did they care - daily survival was more important to them.

Commoners make up a majority of the world's population, remember.

Medievals did not have an internet, but they did not have too much to read (or to watch TV) either, and the biggest entertainment was to learn about news, and discuss them.

And what makes you think that Orcs didn't strictly regulate the flow of information? The nameless hero isn't representative of the awareness of the common populace - he's a hero, a warrior, a mercenary. Not a slave or a farmer fearing for his and his family's life.

Also not everybody was literate, and memory was more important.

Not everyone cared.

Also, as I remember from G3, there was a small body pile-up near and inside of Xardas' tower.

You remember wrong.

There were enough people around to get him. Hashishin were of no direct concern to Myrthana, but orc invasion was a direct conseqence of Xardas' actions.

What? The orcs were already on mainland Myrthana, before Xardas lended them a helpful hand.

Medievals were not imbeciles, and less forgiving then we now. If it were to happen in real life, every chronicle would have this event, and every peasant would have remembered his name.

Bullshit. Medieval perception was different from ours, and peasants were more concerned with their daily life than the great world. It's hard to care about some mysterious magician if you're trying to cultivate your crops while war rages through your countryside.

[vivaxardas]

All right, Michael, whatever. I do not like to argue. For me the beginning of the story does not make sense already, and that's why I would prefer not to involve Xardas in all this at all. Just give a new story in Gothic universe, like Elder Scrolls do. But some people (may be many people) will be ok with this. Anyway, I'll buy and play this game anyway.

About body pile-up: I had it. Three bodies before NH destroyed artifacts, and five or six more after. They were outside of the tower, and on the floor of the first level. People definitely were out to get him.

[InvI1992]

ok,so here's my opinion:

The Names of the places and names of the people in the g4 are NOTHING like the names of g1,g2 and g3!
I mean...come ON!Murdra???Stewark with Setarrif???
Kill me with a chainsaw pls!!!§kotz§kotz
This also means that g4 wont be like the previous gothics...and i mean the whole atmosphere situation!

[Mikael Grizzly]

Let's think why is that:

Because it's a completely different geographic region?

[Normarian]

Personaly I don't think that names are so important to the gothic atmosphere, and don't think the names are that bad

Medievals did not have an internet, but they did not have too much to read (or to watch TV) either, and the biggest entertainment was to learn about news, and discuss them.

If you are from a country where many people still live like in the medieval ages in many villages (they use horses for transportation and landworking and have houses made from wattle and straws) you will see that gossip si the basic and most important occupation of day to day peasants(when they are not working the fields)...oh and boozing in taverns.I mean if you arrive in a village the next day averybody knows who you are, and what you eat that morning . But i think this is not so important, and many people from that time would mangle such an exotic name as Xardas is.

[Dsteel]

If you are from a country where many people still live like in the medieval ages in many villages (they use horses for transportation and landworking and have houses made from wattle and straws) you will see that gossip si the basic and most important occupation of day to day peasants(when they are not working the fields)...oh and boozing in taverns.I mean if you arrive in a village the next day averybody knows who you are, and what you eat that morning . But i think this is not so important, and many people from that time would mangle such an exotic name as Xardas is.

booze+gossip= mutalated names, such as the difference between xardas and wardas

[Little Einstein]

ok,so here's my opinion:

The Names of the places and names of the people in the g4 are NOTHING like the names of g1,g2 and g3!
I mean...come ON!Murdra???Stewark with Setarrif???
Kill me with a chainsaw pls!!!§kotz§kotz
This also means that g4 wont be like the previous gothics...and i mean the whole atmosphere situation!

oh come on the names have never been important theres a guy named Steve in G3 for god sake