GWENT (Witcher) Lore

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GWENT (Witcher) Lore

Hello guys...I've just joined beta today. :) I found the game great and with a huge potential.
I come to you to make a suggestion i couldn't find to this very day on any card game.

Please, invest in lore.

Allow gamers to help you if necessary in this task, but please make a good ground on the lore of this game. I've never played Witcher before on my life so I'll have to catch up on the lore...

Who are the Northern Realms? The Monsters? And all the other factions?
How about the world? Some lore about the status quo?

I know it can be a lot of work...but if it can't be done on the game itself...make it on a page of your choosing. A wikia...anywhere. :) Just make it.

For the sake of a consistent vibe on the game, lads. It will pay off in the long run. And it will be a long run...and I will be by your side playing this good game to the end. :)

Thanks for this great game. I liked it from the start.

Cheers and good gaming for all of us! o//

 
Welcome to the Forums!

Personally, I agree that the developers could stand to include a bit more background lore for newcomers.

For reference about the world of The Witcher, you can check out the
Official Witcher Wiki. It is a useful resource for general lore, both from the games, and the books upon which they are based.
 
Just want to say to aegiskare that yes, it would be nice to have all of that, but a personal note to you, my friend... play some of the other games! You won't regret it, they are fantastic! I can't say I'd recommend starting with the first one, though... unless you are a wiz with a mouse/keyboard set-up as there's no controller support, but starting with the 2nd one (Assassins of Kings) you will DEFINITELY learn about the different factions portrayed in GWENT. The RPG is just full of political intrigue... and some of your decisions even make a bit of difference in the politics of the world.

A side note to CD Project Red... a controller remaster of the first game would be a great seller these days (some of us just can't play it as is)! Especially with how well TW3 did and with the TV show coming up... Jus' sayin'. ;-)
 
If you haven't played The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, I highly recommend you do. It's a very good game and will learn a lot about the lore, which is amazing. Many of the characters cards in Gwent are directly from The Witcher 3. It is a very big game, and will take a while to complete, but so worth it. Also Gwent is a mini game in The Witcher 3. By being on their mailing list (news letter) and owning Gwent and The Witcher 3 in GOG, I was given their first 2 games for free in the past. Otherwise you can probably look up each individual faction and card name on a wiki, but that won't do justice to the stories of the characters portrayed in the game.
 
I haven't read any of the books, but I've played both Witcher 2 and Witcher 3, so I'm quite familiar with the lore.

Nilfgaard is akin to the Roman empire, with enormous military power, great tacticians and strategists, and the biggest country in the Witcher universe.
Emhyr Var Emreis is the emperor of Nilfgaard, Morvran Voorhis is one of his military Generals, and John Calveit is the emperor after Emhyr.

The Northern Realms are a combination of countries that are basically always at war with each other. Some of the countries include: Temeria, Aedirn, Redania, and Kaedwen. Though some of the countries are later conquered by Nilfgaard.
Foltest is the king of Temeria, Radovid is the king of Redania and Henselt is the king of Kaedwen. Prince Stennis is the heir to the Aedirnian throne. Vernon Roche is Foltests leader of the Temerian special forces - the Blue Stripes. John Natalis is the head Temerian General.
Thaler is the head of the Temerian intelligence, and Dijkstra is the head of the Redanian secret service.

Skellige is a combination of Islands; Ard Skellig (the biggest island), Spikeroog, An Skellig, Hindarsfjall, Undvik, and Faroe.
Skellige politics is comprised of multiple clans with their respective Jarls. However, they do have a king, but the Jarls are still mostly independent.
Clan an Craite - Jarl Crach an Craite, with his children Hjalmar and Cerys. Harald the Cripple of an Craite is also the former king of Skellige.
Clan Brokvar - Jarl Udalryk
Clan Tuirseach - King Bran, with his wife Birna Bran, and his son Svanrige
Clan Heymaey - Jarl Donar an Hindar, Priestesses of Freya are also mostly gathered on Hindarsfjall - the clan's island, and Morkvarg is there too
Clan Dimun - Jarl Holger Blackhand
Clan Drummond - Jarl "Madman" Lugos, with his son Blueboy Lugos
There's also Clan Tordarroch, but not much is mentioned of the clan in the games, since the clan's home is the isle of Undvik, which is inhabited by monsters, with the former inhabitants driven away.

The Scoia'Tael, meaning "Squirrel" in the elder tougne, is a band of nonhumans (Elves and Dwarves), fighting as bandits against the racist and opressive inhabitants of the Northern Realms. The Scoia'Tael have no formal government, but the group is led by Iorveth. Iorveth's second in command is Ciaran.
Even though the Scoia'Tael is just a group of bandits, many of the characters in the Gwent faction are actually political leaders of elven or dwarven states, but aren't a part of the Scoia'Tael. Some even condemn the Scoia'Tael (For example, Brouver Hoog)
Eithné is the queen of the dryads and the ruler of Brokilon
Francesca is the queen of Dol Blathanna and a powerful sorceress

There isn't much politics behind the Monsters faction, yet there are still two distinct types of "monsters." The Wild Hunt, and regular beasts. The Wild Hunt is an elder race (elves) from another world. Their king is Eredin, with Imlerith and Caranthir as some of his generals. Ge'els is also a part of The Wild Hunt, though he only harnesses political power (he doesn't ride with The Wild Hunt, but he commands about one third of the Wild Hunt's forces). Avalla'ch comes from the same world as the Wild Hunt.
The rest of the beasts appeared in the world of the Witcher during The Conjuncton of Spheres. Basically an astral communion, some magic and *poof*, monsters appeared in the world.
Most of the monster cards are regular mobs in the Witcher games, with some Silvers and Golds being bosses.

Most of the faction mages don't actually associate themselves with that faction. Usually, it's actually the opposite. Sile de Tansarville, Phillipa Eilhart, Vilgefortz and Fringilla Vigo actually worked against their assigned faction, though some mages are loyal, like Dethmold for example, Henselt's Advisor. Though most of the mages are independent, or loyal to the Lodge of Sorceresses. Some of the "mages" aren't even mages. Gremist, for example is a Druid and a drunkard, but never a mage.

I hope this helped. I tried to avoid spoilers as much as possible, if you're gonna play the Witcher games, you're still going to be as clueless and oblivious as to what's going to happen next as anyone else.
 
Fantastic summary, DannyGuy!

Actually... this post should be it's own starter thread and pinned somewhere. Make it so, Mods!
 
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