Realism, Grayness, and Moral Ambiguity
In the recent iterations of fantasy, few stories have become synonymous with the genre quite like A Song of Ice and Fire and its immensely popular television adaptation Game of Thrones. George RR Martin has solidified his status as one of the greats of our time, perhaps having become to some the 21st century version of JRR Tolkien or CS Lewis. Martin himself compares his characters to those created by the late Tolkien, albeit rejecting their archetypal nature. Throughout his novels, he maintained commitment to writing characters that he deemed as realistic and multi-faceted, admitting on multiple occasions that he loves to write characters that are, at best, rooted in moral ambiguity. At their worst, Martin’s characters exhibit some genuinely rotten qualities.
Sundergard’s Lore Development Team focused on blending both Tolkien and Martin’s perspectives of character development and world-building. The battle of good and evil is an age-old narrative for a reason, and in gaming, this moral clash remains an immensely popular theme. However, in an effort to create provocative depth and genuine intrigue, characters must be complex and flawed. For example, an exiled king seeking his throne again is likely to do so out of bloodlust, vengeance, and a thirst for power rather than pursuing the greater good for his people. In life, selfishness is often woven into many of our decisions and actions, and we view the inclusion of such unfavorable qualities as an important part of developing the characters in Sundergard.
Simply put, the world in which we live is not black and white; therefore, Sundergard is not either. Complete moral grayness, or the lack of unadulterated good or pure evil, will not characterize the numerous companions that inhabit this faraway land. Rather, they are made up of moral shortcomings, a desire for self-preservation, unmitigated wickedness, or, in rare occasions, ardent righteousness. We consistently reached for the stars in the richness and scale of the lore, while also recognizing that there exists a natural limitation in that it is a mobile game in which most of the gameplay and story will ultimately be dictated by the players. In order to allow for more creativity in gameplay, we aimed to create scenarios that force decisions that are not definitively good or bad or right or wrong, but instead prompt a player to confront the repercussions of each choice.
A key decision in our desire to maintain realism in Sundergard and make the gameplay feel original yet familiar was to exclude magic, mythical monsters, and the like. It is far too easy to win battles against hordes of enemies when you have a fire-belching dragon at your disposal. The inclusion of the overtly fantastical would have drawn attention away from what makes Sundergard unique. In this world, much like our own, battles are won and strongholds defended by the blood and sweat of soldiers and the strategic prowess of their leaders.
The realism that is such a crucial part of the world we’ve created and the characters that reside within can be found in the depiction of clothing, weapons, and armor. We determined that those who inhabit these lands would have access only to resources and materials commensurate with what would have been available had they existed in history. There is no magic with which to create full plate armor in the dark ages of Sundergard. We have adopted the mindset that limitations are not necessarily a bad thing. Instead, they can force us as creators to be more innovative in our creation of interestingly human yet appealing character concepts while focusing on accuracy and consistency. The creation of the lore of Sundergard has largely been about striking a delicate balance between fantasy and reality.
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