Ophidia has been hinted at for many years now, the aim here is to collect these hints in one place and see if a picture of an army emerges.
While wish listing is fun, this thread is for things that have been hinted at. Please.
In Rise of the Celestians it is revealed that Ophidia and Ahmun (now the Empire of Dust) both have, in the origin of their civilization, the insidious uraeus. Serpent-like folk that are an ancient (prehistoric even before the celestians showed up) enemy of the elves. Which may mean serpent and desert themes for the army.
Guarding old structures in the desert where the Ophidian God-Kings meet are gnoll-like âguardiansâ - perhaps some kind of heavy infantry with stats akin to orc or herd units.
Djinn are desert spirits, that were made from Shobik- I suspect flying large infantry, possibly with spells like windblast.
The Twilight Kin Lore in Clash of Kings 2024 gives some details on Ophidia, as the Mouth of Leith is in the desert, these include:
Uraeus are described as eager to âmaintain tiesâ with Twilight Kin, meaning that there are still surviving uraeus and they appear to be in some control of Ophidia.
My guess for these (if they get to the table top) would be a spell casting hero. Maybe units of snake-folk?
Speaking of possible undead factions or sub-factions; there is mention of a vampiric âTetsumo Shogunateâ.
Vampire samurai, anyone?
What did I miss? Have you spotted any hints in other books?
I think of Ophidia as pretty much a kingdoms of men equivalent but they make use of necromancy.
If KOM can cover various kingdoms and cultures, with the same stats, itâs hard to see how the human Ophidian troops wouldnât share those stats.
The undead and djinn component ⌠EOD skeleton stats and enslaved guardian stats seem obvious equivalents. Maybe some tweaks but only in the way nightstalkers differ from the twilight kin bound equivalents.
Max Mini make various desert themed âoasisâ ogres, giants, genies and temple jackals that kind of sound like they could fit in an Ophidian army.
I must admit I envisaged the God Kings as human magic users, but if they are actually reptilian then at least there youâve got a unique unit.
Overall, while as an EOD player I would be interested to see more on Ophidia, it is hard to see how they wouldnât just be a Kingdoms of Men / EOD theme list.
I would prefer Mantic to do something like go further afield and maybe do one of the other cultures mentioned in the last COK if they did a new army. Maybe tribals living in the ruins of Kong, or one of the Eastern themed empires, or these underground Morlocks the Twilight kin interact with.
But another way of looking at it is that thereâs enough armies and they should just go back and try to reboot elves, and make them interesting the way they did halflings and dwarves (the dwarves in lore terms moreso than models maybe).
Iâm just re-reading the KOW sourcebook, and the EOD section does seem to imply that the God-Kings, at least back in history were human.
The great journey had taken its toll and the young realm,
now called Ophidia, was desperately vulnerable and short of
man-power. Aghast at the decision they had to take, the new
God-Kings finally decreed that once again necromancy must
be used to return their people from the grave
Thereâs a reference shortly after to the âsad eyesâ of the God Kings.
So, on the basis that weâve got fairly negative, human emotional states being referenced here, these God-Kings donât sound like repitilians, who youâd assume wouldnât care that much about human followers.
On the other hand, the description of the God Kings is certainly ambiguous /mysterious in the Undead sectionâŚ
Mightiest of all are the God-Kings. Little is known about these enigmatic
beings but rumour has it they are interred along with their
warriors and servants, all of whom are mummified alive so
that they might serve their lord in the afterlife.
Are they âbeingsâ as in humans who have crossed some necromantic rubicon to become more or less than humanâŚ? Or yes, could they be something elseâŚ
Canât see any reference to uraeus within the KOW lore book.
I would observe that the word uraeus relates to Egyptian cobras, at least according to wikipedia, so there could be a clue there.
What race is Zuinok Iceblood, the character necromancer â is he one of these uraeus, Iâm assuming so?
Who said they were uraeus?
In Rise of the Celestians, the God Kings are mostly, but not all, human magic users that unnaturally extend thier life. At least one is a lich/cursed Pharaoh and another is a djinn.
Uraeus come up in Rise of The Celestians and the Twilight Kin lore in Clash of Kings 2024.
Yes, I have COK 2024. The line about the uraeus is quite ambiguous as to their role, although I donât have it in front of me.
By the KOW lore book I was referring to the KOW World of Pannithor background book. Thereâs a decent section on âOphidia, land of the deadâ in it. Just observing itâs silent on the uraeus / reptilian presence in Ophidia, from what I can see.
Ophidia used undead as labor, so making their basic footsloggers Skeletons would make sense. Djinn could/would just be air elementals, maybe with options to make them âangry Djinnâ or something.
Cavalry and larger units would leverage living humans for complicated warfare. I would think an army with low surge compared to Undead/EoD would be good.
