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Yes, indeed there are. ***WARNING — long post**** 07/02/2015, 20:20:10 |
This isn't an exact answer, but it goes some way towards it. This is the shorter of the two explanations I've seen; I don't have a record of the longer one. What follows is Ralf’s Reply to the question: "The story line:how do all might and magics go together?" posted by Lazygamer on May 12, 2000 at 12:41:06: The missing link is that HoMM I doesn't have a very detailed back-story. But, if you read the letters in the correspondence that appears in the back of the manual, and construct a fuller history of 1-5, you'll notice a connection. Also, there is a MAJOR link between MM III and MM VII Here's the whole thing: Corak is either an Ancient, or a constructed servant of the Ancients. We really don't know who or what the ancients are yet, but judging by the GOOD ending to MM VII, we are on the threshold of finding out. Now, the Ancients used to spend a lot of time "seeding" the galaxy with microcosms –– small biospheres supporting life. In fact, in the first 5 MM's, all the planets are flat, and in fact are strategically placed life support systems. We don't know why they did this. About 900 years ago (if my memory of MMVII serves me) the ancients got in a horrible war with a race called the Kreegan. A large part of the galaxy was cut off from the direct influence of the Ancients, and fell into barabrism and
Many of these worlds had "guardians", appointed agents of the Ancients who were sent to guide the microcosmic little flat planets to their appointed place in the galaxy. Now then.... as the story begins, Sheltem, the Guardian of Terra has gone funny in the head.
Somehow, Sheltem escapes and goes on a rampage. Corak begins his long quest to track him down and neutralize him.
In MMII, Sheltem winds up on Cron and starts to drive it off course and hurl it into it's sun.
Next, in MMIII, Sheltem arrives back on Terra which is where the whole mess started.
MM IV (Clouds of XEEN) opens on XEEN, and our new party of adventurers defeats an evil undead lord calling himself simply, "Lord Xeen".
MM V opens. Sheltem is up to his old tricks, masquerading as Alamar again and driving planets off course to fly into their suns. The dragon pharoah summons our party and they perform many tasks to set things to right. Eventually, they discover Corak's shuttle, and the stage is set for the final showdown of Corak and Sheltem. You seek out a "soul box", a device which can contain Corak's essence so that you can smuggle him into Castle Alamar without Sheltem being aware. Once you arrive, you release Corak, and he finally has a chance to confront Sheltem face to face. It is obvious that Sheltem has grown very strong "in the ways of the force" and is going to win this battle.... but Corak grabs Sheltem and initiates his own self-destruct mechanism, destroying them both. So ends the
(The extended 'World of Xeen' ending doesn't figure into the grand scheme too much, so I won't comment on it here.) Next up would be HoMMI. Per the letters, someone apparently named Morglin Ironfist was involved in a power struggle on his home planet and his lineage was usurped by his cousin. Morglin failed to make a successful coup and therefore ran for his life with a small retinue that was loyal to his line. There are a number of hints dropped that this may be the Lord Ironfist from Castle White Wolf on Varn, or perhaps one of his descendants. Note also, that MM VI has one subplot featuring a Lord Kilburn, also named in MM I. And MMI begins in the town of 'Sorpigal',
HoMM II is the next scene in the story, the succession wars. Morglin's sons, Archibald and Roland have a little tiff over who is going to inherit the throne. It's all family squabbles, nothing hugely important to the overall story. At the end, Roland wins and Archibald is turned to stone and imprisoned in the library of Castle Ironfist. MM VI picks up again with the big picture, and makes it much bigger. The Kreegan, after 900 years of fighting the Ancients in other parts of the galaxy are finally making a push towards this region. They land in Enroth and in Erathia and start a reign of terror. MMVI takes place in Enroth. Roland is defeated in the opening battles and is captured, not to be seen again in Enroth for a LONG TIME. His wife, Catherine of Erathia has heard of her father's death and has departed for home and doesn't hear of this issue for some time. Their son, little Nicolai, is left in charge.
HoMM III follows up from MMVI and largely takes place at the same time. The Kreegan and warlocks have overrun Erathia and made quite a mess of things. Catherine arrives for her father's funeral and discovers that the land has a bit of trouble. She takes up the banner of Erathia and begins a successful campaign to push them back. The warlocks make a pact with the Necromancers to ressurect Catherine's father as a lich and lead the war against Erathia. It's a bloody mess, but eventually Catherine wins the day, lays her father to eternal rest, pushes the Warlocks back to Nighon, and forces the remaining Kreegans to hole up in Eoful. In all the turmoil, the re-awakened Archibald sneaks into Deyja, the land of Necromancers just north of Erathia, and begins rebuilding his influence in the world. MM VII opens with the strongest link between the original five games. The shuttle carrying the 8 member party from MM III - which missed XEEN completely - finally crashlands off the coast of Antigarich (the continent which contains Erathia, Eoful, Avlee, Nighon, Bracada, and Tatalia.) At this time, they have a split. 4 of them decide to seek out the wizards of this world and offer them their technology and see if they can rebuild a gate to the ancients.
MMVIII opens. Apparently, we were a little too slow to defeat the Kreegan menace. Someone among the ancients seems to have a "Scorched Earth" policy. That is- do NOT let the kreegans have a planet under any circumstances. If the locals can't defeat the Kreegans, destroy the planet. The planeswalker, Escaton, who appears to be another automaton like the original Corak, is dispatched to destroy our planet. He appears in the third continent on this world, Jadame, and opens portals to the 4 elemental planes.
At the end of MMVIII, The Ironfist Dynasty is back on track and the Kreegan (and all of their side effects) are finally beaten down. Also, we have the Gateway from MMVII opend for the first time in many centuries. My guess is that MM IX will draw us directly into the Kreegan/Ancient war. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Ralf |
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