Milhamah: Fighting Words
When a war of words goes hot
As we work on the second demo release for the “Milhamah” video game, this time we’ll be focusing on the inventory system. And that means making and equipping more items. Here is the Hiatus Helmet that I sketched last month, now in color. Next week I’ll reveal a video devlog that shows how I create and color my work digitally!
Happy Hanukkah!
The Refaïm are a tribe of barbaric ghost giants from the netherworld, Sheöl. They came back from the dead to oppose the ‘Ivrit Revival Movement. Besides their enormous size, they boast top-notch healing skills. So naturally they formed a covenant to serve as medics for the Bavel Macrostructure.
The Refaïm comes from the רפא shoresh root and family, and it will eventually appear in the Milhamah RPG and video game. My next sketch will make healing item that will be in the video game’s first demo!
The Qorë Partridge, aka the chukah or the desert partridge, is one of Em Qeriah’s helpers in the Arqah Archives. These birds are responsible for delivering maps to the spies, troops and agents who are fighting Bavel on the battlefield. They’re also good at sending coded bird call messages, since Bavel doesn’t know how to monitor or censor them.
The Qorë wears a pumpkin headscarf, a microphone headset, antiglare glasses and a shoulder case for maps. For navigation purposes, it also wears a pendant that resembles a map compass rose.
Expect this bird to appear in “Milhamah: Fighting Words” soon!
Shelomoh Mashlim is the complementizer part of speech in “Milhamah: Fighting Words.” He is a low-level bureaucrat who works for the provincial government in ‘Ir Risshum (formerly Yerushalayim).
When Mashlim is not at his depressing pay clerk office, he is at peace and glows with an iridescent halo. He tries to be perfect employee, diving into work wholeheartedly to complete it on time.
But the Bavel Macrostructure breed corruption. And as Mashlim’s work culture grows more corrupt, so do the policies. Local suppliers get ripped off in a sea of bribes. Managers scoff at even the concept of counting numbers. Embezzlement, graft and grifting overflow.
Amid all this, Mashlim tries to be sincere and diplomatic. But even his repository of folk wisdom, parables and fables leave him empty for answers. So he keeps his head down and tries to escape attention. His glow dims. And he waits patiently.
Though this crisis threatens his serenity, he hears rumors about this Holy Tongue Society. And suddenly, a new future is possible: one where he rules instead of taking orders, and metes out some payback of his own.
Mashlim’s powers are based off the שלם shoresh root and its family. He is good at tuning into his teammates to complement and synergize their attack. His Opal Glow dazzles opponents, and his ability to meditate on wisdom gives him high willpower against mental and spiritual attacks. His demeanor can also calm and pacify enemy aggression, especially when amplified by his bardic poetry.
Yavin Beinoni is the participle in the Holy Tongue Society. He reports to Pelë Po’al and leads a division of skirmishers called the Beinayim. Based on the נון shoresh root and family, these soldiers are equipped with a dividing machete. They also wear a brain helmet full of leaves and fruit, which helps them blend in with vegetation.
While these warriors are only average in combat, they are experts at jumping into the fray and are insightful at keeping the enemy off guard. They often double as intelligence agents.