Ashrem
Oh Wise One
The Luminescent (formerly Dwellers in Darkness )have been observing your city’s growth, and see that your technological advances and the power of your magical denizens may finally offer them a way to return to the reality they left long ago and share the new magics they have discovered in the dark world. In return for your city offering them a place to which they can return, they offer to bring unique new magical techniques and their experience with working in the darkness to your magical city.
Their first act will be to train your spellcasters in the construction of the black hole portal, which temporarily hides your city from the sun, removing the light from your city so that it is in twilight and allowing them to visit, so that together you and they may work to return light to their people and yours. The Black Hole also serves as a collection point for the new magical materials they will teach you to manipulate, starlight and moonlight, allowing you to build up a supply of these magical resources for use in advancing your city.
Their experience in capturing the faintest light of distant stars and the moon lets them teach you new methods of construction, including roads that glitter and sparkle with starlight, casting a soft illumination about them on all the buildings of your city.
Edit: Adding list of potential elements to fit the theme
(possible event to launch the new race/chapter)
Soon after the arrival in Elvenar of the Dwellers in Darkness, the magics they bring will begin to spread through the land, just in time for a great eclipse that lasts for two to four weeks and results in a worldwide celebration in which some of the resulting constructions will be infused with Starlight, lending an ethereal air to the buildings that are left behind by this event.
Their first act will be to train your spellcasters in the construction of the black hole portal, which temporarily hides your city from the sun, removing the light from your city so that it is in twilight and allowing them to visit, so that together you and they may work to return light to their people and yours. The Black Hole also serves as a collection point for the new magical materials they will teach you to manipulate, starlight and moonlight, allowing you to build up a supply of these magical resources for use in advancing your city.
Their experience in capturing the faintest light of distant stars and the moon lets them teach you new methods of construction, including roads that glitter and sparkle with starlight, casting a soft illumination about them on all the buildings of your city.
- (Roads are added immediately before the portal, and a quest to upgrade them confers soft illumination on the city when it is plunged into near darkness at completion of the Black Hole Portal (first quest is to replace a minimum number of roads))
Edit: Adding list of potential elements to fit the theme
- Comets
- shooting stars
- Firefly-like beings/avatars
----------------------------------------------------------------------I love all the story stuff, but I've been thinking more about the mechanics of it since that's a little more in my wheelhouse.
Guest race buildings:
Luminous Street:
These replace existing roads in your city and increase your Luminescence casting light upon adjacent buildings. Additionally, productions from workshops that are adjacent to luminous streets release Lumens, a resource needed to feed the guest race buildings.
(Luminescence is like culture for settlement buildings similar to prestige from the Amuni chapter and is required for building all settlement buildings)
Refracting Pyramid:
Lumens produced by buildings from around the Refracting Pyramids pass through them and are released as Spectral Light.
(Refracting Pyramids can only gather Lumens from 1 building per level starting at level 2)
Reflecting Pool:
These reflective surfaces use light from the moon and stars to provide a passive source of Lumens for your Refracting Pyramids.
(these do not count towards a Refracting Pyramids limit)
Focusing Lens:
Focusing Lenses within range of a Refracting Pyramid redirect the Spectral Light as Radiance into the Void Portal
(Larger Focusing Lenses are able to capture more light from Refracting Pyramids that are further away, and more effectively send it into the void from a greater distance)
Void Portal:
This is the gateway between your city and the Luminarians(Luminari?). As The Void absorbs more and more Radiance the Luminarians are able to bring more of their people through and with them their knowledge of new technologies until eventually the void becomes infused with so much light that they are able to complete their escape from darkness.
The heart of the new city design challenge is that having all of your workshops bunched together is no longer effective and you need your settlement buildings spread out as much as possible for maximum effectiveness. Also, the limits of the settlement buildings range make having the Void Portal at the center of your city a more effective strategy than shoving your settlement in a corner as we often do.
Notes:
- If the gathering radius of 2 Refracting Pyramids overlaps, they cancel each other out and are unable to gather Lumens.
- If there are more Lumen producing buildings within a Refracting Pyramid's radius than it can handle it shuts down and is unable to gather Lumens. E.g. If you have 3 workshops inside the radius of a level 2 RF, the RF will not collect Lumens from them or Reflecting Pools.
- If a building is moved during production, the production continues, but it will not create Lumens similar to how moving a set building resets production. This prevents players from constantly swapping buildings around to game the system.
- Buildings produce Lumens in a similar way that making beverages/toolboxes gives medals in the challenges event, but scaled based on the level of your workshop
- A Luminous street must at some point touch the void portal for it to be effective on a workshop
- Radiance is not a resource in the traditional sense. It is not consumed by unlocking technologies but rather has a running total, and you can unlock technologies once certain thresholds are met.
- Radiance, Lumens, and Spectral Light all decay.
(possible event to launch the new race/chapter)
Soon after the arrival in Elvenar of the Dwellers in Darkness, the magics they bring will begin to spread through the land, just in time for a great eclipse that lasts for two to four weeks and results in a worldwide celebration in which some of the resulting constructions will be infused with Starlight, lending an ethereal air to the buildings that are left behind by this event.
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