Hi survivors!
It’s been a while since we launched our last playable Arena so we are extremely happy to share with you the progress on our upcoming new map: Atash, the fighting pits at the desert of Pieso. This map is kind of an open secret since we already streamed some matches on our first layout on our Twitch channel but it feels good to make it official and share some awesome concept art with you.
The first layout of the new map as shown on Twitch
First of all, what is Atash? Let’s check the Lore to see what has been written about this location:
“The Celea are tribal conquerors who came from the distant South after their land burned before the Cataclysm, invading most of the southern area of Skara. They brought fear and war with them, but also their ancestral rituals, ceremonies and even creatures from their ancient setting.
Back in their lost land, the Celea used to run a specific ritual of war and dance in the desert: celebrations that lasted for entire days and nights in which they inhaled a drug coming from a purple bush, throwing this weed into the fire to inhale the purple smoke and fall under a frenzy that allowed them to dance and fight for hours without resting.
B/N Thumbnail: looking for the right atmosphere.
When they invaded Skara, they found a familiar place in the Pieso desert: this extensive territory was perfect for them to grow their precious purple bushes that contain the drug they consume. So they built improvised settlements to celebrate their rituals and inhale the purple smoke while playing drums, dancing and fighting all night.
The ritual of the Celea involves fighting through Duels celebrated on closed improvised arenas. They surround a corridor with ember and ashes and two warriors enter the fight… to the death. No escape is possible since the ember can kill any fighter, and the entrances are blocked by pits filled of spears and other dangers they improvise (improvisation could be also a key word for this map: all the elements are built within days if not hours, so they can move to a different area once they have consumed all the purple weed available)
These fights congregate quite a lot of fellow Celeanni, who are often dancing, playing drums or spectating the fights while they inhale the purple smoke. Several fires burn in the surroundings of the arena as they can’t stop consuming the drug. A massive amount of purple bushes grow there as well: they built these arenas near the plantations so they don’t need to travel to collect them while the ritual develops.
One of the art iterations for Atash’s ambience
Excess would be a quite accurate word for these rituals: the Celeanni literally cannot stop getting the drug, dancing and fighting. Only dance or victory will stop their participation in the ritual, that will often last until all the purple bushes are consumed… or most of the fighters die “
Next week we will show you the creative process for the art creation of this map. Stay tuned!