Pictures of the Spiral: Krokotopia

These pictures are from around Krokotopia, including the Upper Zigazag and Kembaalung Village.

 The next installment will be Marleybone!

Balance & Krokotopia: Their Relation with Ancient Egypt

Balance and Krokotopia

A Guide to their relation to Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt: a vast desert filled with towering pyramids and intricate beliefs. What a civilization they were! It's clear to see the relation of Krokotopia and Balance to Ancient Egypt, but we are going to look deeper, far past the obvious, to see the hidden relations KingsIsle has made for us to discover! 

Balance

Balance is a school that draws from the others and infuses it's own magic. But I bet you'd be surprised at how accurate Balance magic is when you compare it to Ancient Egyptian magic!

Magic

• Comparison of magicians and magic to schools of magic, not including balance (yet)

The Egyptians had many types of magicians:

• Elementalists
• Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind
• Storm & Ice are sometimes considered Elemental
• Necromancers
• Death Magic
• Diviners
• Charm Makers
• Healers
• Statuary

You'll notice that a lot of these are schools of magic in Wizard101. Could it be possible that Egyptian magic influenced basic Wizard101 principles?

So here is where I'm going with the types of magic and Balance...

• Elemental magic- let's use Fire, Ice and Storm.
• Elemental schools are the first part of the infusion of balance and other schools.
• Spells like Elemental Blast, Hydra, and Elemental Blade use Elemental Magic- which is Egyptian
• The description of each type of Elemental Magic perfectly describes the Wizard101 equivalent
• Necromancy, Death Magic, and Healers
• Death and Life Magic in Wizard101
• Necromancy and Death Magic Combined is the Wizard101 Death School
• Healers: What the Life School is centered around
• Chimera, Spirit Blades, and Spirit Blast use Necromancy, Death and Healing magic
• Statuary

• This magician creates figurines, or shabti, to help in battle
• Myth and their minions

Magicians summoned creatures, used avatars, and spells. They battled and dueled other magicians. Magicians used wands, staffs, and even amulets in battle.

Avatars were a version of the gods that helped empower them... Could this be a relation with auras?

Direct Relations of Egypt and Balance

Balance appears to be a desert themed school, centered around desert creatures and Egyptian culture.

Creatures of the Desert

• Scarab
• Scorpion

Desert Event

• Sandstorm

There are 3 spells that are related to Egypt:

• Scarab
• Judgement
• Ra

Scarab

• Sacred creature
• Symbol of Khepri, the Scarab God, who is an aspect of Ra in the morning
• Very common in Egypt
• Many amulets, jewelry, and hieroglyphs are of scarabs

Judgement

• Winged lady holding balance scale and possible khopesh
• balance scale- market place
• khopesh- Egyptian sword
• This is either the goddess/being/creature Ma'at, Goddess of Order (balance)
• Or Isis, Goddess of Magic.
• Both are winged
• I think it is most likely Ma'at, since she is the Goddess of Order, which is balance, which embodies the school.
• The only way Isis could be considered is because she is the Goddess of Magic, and she is winged- but with rainbows, so that potentially eliminates her.

*The goddess Isis is not related to the group of terrorists who's name is coincidentally the same.

   

Judgement

    

Ma'at                           Isis

Which one is Judgement?

*Note: a major difference is the head dress*

Ra

• Sun God
• King of the Gods
• Patron of Pharaohs
• In Ra's spell, he holds a staff and an ankh, which is historically correct
• He uses the sun to do damage, which is also correct since Ra is the sun god
• Ra spell: Ra appears as part bird; Gods had animal forms, and were also represented with an animal head.
• His animal is a falcon
• Almost the entire spell is historically correct with a little twist
• His head dress is incorrect
• Other minor incorrections

     

Miscellaneous

• Niles the Balance tree is named after the river Nile
• The Balance School is in Krokotopia
• Krokotopia

Krokotopia: land of the pyramids, restless spirits, enslaved manders and angry kroks. Sounds a lot like Ancient Egypt, right? Ancient Egypt, land of the great pyramids, tombs, enslaved people, and gods. Very similar indeed. But did you know there's more in common then meets the eye?

Obvious Similarities

• Pyramids
• Hieroglyphs
• Desert Environment
• "Krokosphynx"
• NPC names
• Location names
• Titles of NPCs

*I'm not going to expand on these because they are self explanatory

Less Obvious Similarities

• Marleybone explorers: Marleybone is like England, and they did explore Egypt and excavate it
• Mander slaves: could be similar to the Hebrew/Jewish people being enslaved by Egyptians
• Some hieroglyphs actually resemble real ones:
• Eye of Horus
• Ankh
• Misc. that are just Krokotopian versions of the real one
• Temples
• The Krokonomicon
• Necronomicon

The Zigazag Dungeons

These dungeons have a whole lot of direct references to Ancient Egypt! Some you may be able to pick up, others, you might not.

• Apep The Snaky One- Represented as a snake
• Apep, aka Apophis, was the snake God of Chaos
• Ammit the Devourer- Represented as a krok
• Ammit the Devourer stood beside the scale of Ma'at and ate the wicked souls after judgement
• She had the head of a crocodile, torso of a lion and hindquarters of a hippo
• Anubis
• God of the underworld/dead, guided the dead souls
• Mentioned in quest dialogue
• Ammit's location on the scales
• She is located on The Scales of Judgement
• Ammit stands on one side of the scale
• Battle her on this scale
• The poor manders are also there, awaiting the judgement of their hearts
• The other scale has a feather resting on it
• This is The Feather of Truth
• Hearts are measured against this

This will be updated as more similarities are made.

Sources

• The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan
• Ancient Egypt Online
• Wizard101 Central Wiki
• Wizard101.com

Originally posted in Wizard101 Central > Guides on April 29th, 2015.

If you have made a similarity or contradiction to this guide, PLEASE leave a comment for others to see! I may add some similarities that have been brought to my attention!

Rise & Destroy Crossing Over to 101 Games

Rise & Destroy is KingsIsle's best mobile game so far. Although many people play it, I feel that the game hasn't gained a lot of exposure. Even with the Frankie Fourarms pet, wizards were reluctant to play. The game has a few glitches, and definitely needs some tuning up.

Something I keep on thinking about is how they said that R&D was not related to both Wizard101 or Pirate101, yet they recently did a promotion that got you a pet for Wizard101. Though this did gain the app a lot of attention, I don't think that it truly boosted interest in the game. Players breezed past the three levels required to earn the pet, then never really got hooked on the game.

In my opinion, I think KI will once again run a promotion to complete "x" levels and get free item. This time, i think it will be for Pirate101. Pirates have been starved of any substantial content for way to long, and are on the brink of quitting for good. In order to both promote R&D and to maintain hope in Pirate101, a cool, valuable item (such as a pet) will be a reward for completing levels. 

In short, after KI expressed clearly there was no relation (in terms of winning codes) between the app and it's two games, they created a relation. I would hope they would do more promotions with Pirate101 to keep interest from dipping down to a point where the game would end, Hopefully Rise & Destroy will grow and offer great rewards for both games. 

Here's one more crazy theory: What if the rewards worked in reverse? Maybe you have to get to a certain level or complete a certain task from an in-game NPC. You would be able to get rewards for Rise & Destroy. This would be another great way to cross-promote.

I really think that promotions involving Rise & Destroy are not over and could be getting better. I feel that promotions will involve both Wizard101 and Pirate101. 

Do you think Rise & Destroy will cross over to the 101 games through promotions? What other methods do you think KI would use to promote their games? 

Mirage Coming 2016?

Prior to an earlier development, it is now possible that Mirage is the next world.

***As of October 14th, 2016, KingsIsle, via KingsIsle Live, announced that the next world will be Mirage. Though this post contains some false content, its current purpose is intended to contribute to theories on this world. Please ignore some of these statements, as they are likely not going to be part of the world. However, some information is true. For your convenience, all correct information has been highlighted. Also, please note that this post was written on January 13th, 2016.

As if a new world couldn't keep us satisfied, Wizard101 is already working on its next world! (And I meant that in every way with love) Though many have speculated, one world is constantly getting the spotlight. And that world is Mirage.

For those who aren't part of the Twitter community, you'll maybe be shocked to know there's an accurate spoilers account that's revealed something very, very interesting. The beginning quests of Mirage!

For Pirate101 players, Mirage is old news. (sort of) It's an Arabian world that possibly also draws on themes of Krokotopia and Zafaria. Who can't wait until I do some sort of history post on that?

**"A Whole New World!" is the name of the first quest, which is referencing (you guessed it) Aladdin. It would be cool to see a lot of references to Aladdin in Mirage. I wouldn't be surprised if some quests reference One Thousand and One Nights, since Wizard101 tends to pun and reference often.

Mirage is ruled by cats and possibly inhabited by other creatures of the Arabian, Egyptian, and African regions.**

Is Mirage coming to Wizard101? It's already here! There's two distinct features that are clearly, utterly, obviously Mirage: Sultan's Palace and NPC Nalia Dunestrider! Sultan's Palace is not Krokotopian because a Sultan, in it's literal meaning, is Muslim ruler. Islam originated in the Middle East, which confirms Mirage. Nalia Dunestrider even told us she was from Mirage.

So if Sultan's Palace is, theoretically, of Mirage origin, are we going to see a new bundle? I would like to think that we are, but perhaps KingsIsle will do something it hasn't done before... Re-introduce the bundle. Perhaps it will be improved, but it would make a lot of sense if they brought it back. It would be easier to use old content then make a new one, and an improved bundle is a draw to players.

I feel that this world will be very fun to play at and learn about. And if I ever make a history post, it will be very fun to write!

Though it's very early to say much about Mirage, I think its safe to say that we are once again heading out to sandier places.

** These items were fake (written for a prank -- which was the earlier development) - I left them there because I feel I should keep as it is the core of the post.

New Witch's Hoard Pack

The new Witch's Hoard Pack has been released in Wizard101. The new pack, going for 399 crowns, is a Polaris and Ice themed pack! These are the items KingsIsle highlighted:

• New Waddling Witch Hut Mount
• New Wildwood Yeti Pet
• Ice Floe Siren Pet
• New Seal Team Equipment and Weapons
• Polaris-themed Housing Items
• Animated Pingouins Housing Items
• Much More!

The Waddling Witch's Hut is the most highly-sought after item in the pack. It's unique appearance is a draw to many players. This is the first pack mount that gives stats! Along with 40% speed increase, the Waddling Witch's Hunt gives 2% Power Pips chance!

The gear in this pack is also very unique in appearance. The stats, however, do not impress me. Waterworks, Hades, and Darkmoor gear are more useful in the upper levels. For upper level wizards, I would not stress trying to complete the set. For mid and lower level wizards, this gear is pretty good, considering it caters a small bit to every need. Since this gear doesn't seem to specialize in a certain style of fighting, Balance wizards may benefit the most from this gear. In my opinion, all equipment is best as a supplementary piece or to fill in a missing part of a set.

This pack is bursting with Polaris furniture! If your favorite world is Polaris, this is an excellent pack. Some new items worth mentioning is the Polaris Music Player and animated Pingouins items. Looking to decorate your Polarian Shipwreck? This pack is sure to please. I think the biggest draw to this pack is the furniture. ***currently all pack furniture is No Auction.

Other cool items in this pack include the pets! Dropping the new Wildwood Yeti and Ice Floe Siren, this pack is a must for pet collectors! It's also dropping first generation hybrids and old pets, such as the Ice Cat and Ice Bat. (Rhyme not intended)

Get your super COOL Witch's Hoard Pack today! Best of luck!

Looking Ahead

Happy New Year! Finally, 2016! I must say, 2015 was a great year. I started my blog, we got tons of new content... but that is all in the past! It's time to look forward, and on the subject of my blog.

I started my blog on July 1st, 2015. Since then, it's gone a long way. Today is my 6 month blogoversary! I'm not going list out all my accomplishments just yet... I'll save that for my 1 year. Instead, I'm going to tell you what to expect from my blog in the coming year, plus some other topics.

The Purpose of Nordic Champion

As some of you may know, I tweeted a little about the purpose of my blog. But there's more to elaborate on.

The purpose of this blog is beyond writing guides, news, parodies, and stories. You may have noticed that I connect the real world with the game. Ever since I started the game, I was always trying to find the real-life equivalent in the game. When I would find it, I would always be able to understand the game better and for some, figure out the inspiration of a world. (Cough Cough Dragonspyre) 

I feel that when I incorporate the game and real life together, you can understand the game on a deeper level. I don't mean to be your history teacher, I just find this stuff interesting. And hey, it doesn't hurt to know something. Maybe you'll be on a game show and win $1,000,000 because you knew that Ymir's four sons are Nordri, Sudri, Vestri, and Austri. 

Wizard101 is a story that can be studied, just like a piece of literature. And if you were studying a book, you may look into the time period and gain a little knowledge about the story. By doing this, you understand the story even more.

Obviously, I also write guides. I want to make the game a little easier, especially in places where I've had trouble. I write the Ymir stories and Parodies to entertain you. I think that it's a refreshing change from History, News, and Guides. 

I think when this is all combined, my blog can deliver for every audience. I feel that my readers gain a little extra from my blog. I enjoy writing everything and enjoying my knowledge. I look forward to this year!

Looking Ahead

This year, I am going to advance my blog forward. I'm planning on changing some cosmetic parts, such as a header. I would like to add a Twitter gadget. I will remain a .blogspot.com blog. 

Here's what I will try to do:

• Giveaways
• More posts
• Guides, Ymir, and History
• Parties or Meet-Ups

Here are a few goals of 2016:

• Better connection with the community
• More comments on my posts
• More views; 1,500 a month
• 12,000 by July 1st
• Followers/Friends: Check the gadgets on the right to join or follow my site.
• Better looking blog

I hope I will achieve all, if not many of these goals.

Cheyenne Caster

My wizard, Cheyenne Caster, is level 83. She is an Archmage Sorcerer in Saltmeadow Swamp, Azteca. I will likely graduate from Ravenwood in 2016. She hasn't been progressing lately because she focused on crafting Watchtower Hall. If you would like help, let me know! I can't guarantee I'll be on or have membership, but if I am, I'm willing to help or find you help. Just drop an email to me through the contact form.

Have an Amazing Year!

-Cheyenne Caster, Nordic Champion