Hello, and welcome to another Insyaa Dev Diary!
I’m AdamT, a fairly recent addition to the Insyaa team, only joining them around this December after making a few Kanolowelen flags and helping out with organizing what was actually still needed for Insyaa to be in a releasable state. After this I jumped straight into working on the Yenbenmirra gameplay loop, picking it up from the great Scamp who you might already know from the last update as the creator of the 333rd Empire’s mission tree amongs a bunch of other cool stuff. Even though I decided to pick up finishing, fixing and even somewhat revamping the whole gameplay loop of the Yenbenmirra, I had no previous knowledge of their lore at all. Luckily the few bits I learned while lurking around were so interesting that I had no choice but to dive deeper into the ancient tomes (some scattered google docs) and learn all I could. Before we start, I’d like to thank Hoia, Astera, Eick, and all the other lovely members of the Insyaa team who came up with and helped flesh out all the cool stuff that drew me to this truly unique continent.
Talking about Astera, they did also help me write the more in depth lore bits of this dev diary, so without further ado, let’s start with their introduction to these strange lands known to the Yenbenmirra as Djekogmirra:
Many years before the current time, Danguranga was healthy. Her streams bountiful, her mountains rugged and her forests lush. This would not last however, as death would rise in the east. The titanic death that is Yeyalwa (the underworld) would sweep out, desecrating her body, killing her slowly. It was only the Three Gifts which would protect the Yenbenmirra, the Children of Water, who fight on in her stead further.
The Yenbenmirra are one of the indigenous groups native to mainland Insyaa, finding their home in the western lowlands of Djekogmirra. Following the faith of Dunborgula, they believe the planet Halann to be their mother Goddess - Danguranga - and that she is under attack from the Hinuiflora and Holohana from Yeyalwa. The titanic flora and fauna are kept at bay with their peerless magic capabilities, amongst the most practiced in Flamesong across the entire continent.
Yenbenmirra flags created by me (AdamT), based on native Australian pointillist art.
In game, there are 10 larger tribes racing against each other in a fierce competition to be the ones to collect the most Mechanim and finally wake them. Who will you choose to lead and help achieve their dream of a united realm for the Children of Danguranga that is Bomowoka?
Their end goal might be the same, but each tribe has their own methods of helping Danguranga and staying on top of the others, be they the cunning tribe of Dhandenmoongerra, the proud hydra tamers of Gokogarrad, or the dauntless warriors of Wayula.
To collect all Children of Fire, you must travel far and wide, visiting lands where they lay dormant while also keeping the tradition of Ritual Burning alive.
The Dunborgula faith does not reward those who simply stand by while Yeyalwa still threatens their home so you will not gain any passive Church Power and for the first stage of every Yenbenmirra game your main source of this precious resource is going to be this decision.
The cost stays the same but the amount of religious power grows by 25 for each tribal land you own.
You might be wondering, what good is this Church Power if there’s nothing to spend it on? Worry not dear reader, for there are of course unique Religious Actions you may spend your hard earned resources that may help you in your journey.
These actions range from the core part of any Yenbenmirra game, that is collecting the Children of Fire, but you may also choose to forge a stronger bond with your neighbouring Taga’ala or Charkuchin nations, rewarding you with various goodies that make life in the lowlands a lot easier. You might also want to expedite how fast you’re gaining tribal development as the game goes on and you start settling, we of course got you covered there as well
Religious Actions available before the formation of Bomowoka.
As you can see there are some extra effects associated with each of these actions if you fulfill some extra requirements. These requirements are simple, just understand the meaning of the Gift of Fire, Water and Mountains that the Goddess blessed her children with.
But what does this mean gameplay wise?
Well, you see, each tribe has their own way of taking care of the land Danguranga blessed them with but they generally fall into 3 categories:
The followers of Rivers Above all, who fully open up to the help of outsiders and turn the dangers of nature against their foes. The followers of Rivers of Earth who value security above all, and are also the most prone to live largely sedentary lives. And finally, the followers of Rivers of Fire, most ambitious amongst the Yenbenmirra, perhaps sometimes to their own detriment, but still they are ever resolute and unbreakable.
The neighbouring Charkuchin who follow Aycha Alpa also have similar schools one might invite scholars from, and later in the game when the religion that is Mumambarra is born they will also have their own schools of thought. If you do not want to become friends with the other tribes, you can still invite any of the Aycha Alpa scholars to understand the Gift of Mountains, or Mumambarra ones if you wish to learn about the Gift of Fire.
If you do not care for friendship and alliances, or the worst fate befell all your fellow Yenbenmirra and the Charkuchin, you might want to visit the Sacred Sites that dot Western Insyaa so you may gain access to the scholars associated with them. However, some might be a little harder to claim than the others.
There are a few more actions you gain access to once you form the great nation of Bomowoka and reform into a more organized federation but we’ll let you discover these on your own. But while we’re at it, let’s talk a little about the three stages of any regular Yenbenmirra run, including the migratory, settled and reformed stages.
You might have noticed two things in the previous picture. First sadly being the lack of unique stuff associated with the Yenbenmirra Federation government reform compared to the other two we showed. This is because they are planned to have some unique mechanics for the Ranger special units that represent their Hinui Hunters; however, their post Bomowoka implementation will be a thing for our next update.
But this brings us to the other thing that you most likely noticed, and that is the fact that the Yenbenmirra indeed have access to the Ranger units you might have met while playing in the far away Deepwoods as the Wood Elves. Similarly to how they represent highly skilled survivalist specialized in utilizing the deep unforgiving forests to their advantage, these rangers, or as we call them Hinui Hunters represent the most skilled warriors of each Yenbenmirra tribe, adapted to surviving incursions deeper into hinui infested lands where they slay monsters and burn away their corruption. As your collection of Children of Fire grows so does your fame, and with fame, the amount of Hinui Hunters you can recruit increases as well.
The fearsome Hinui Hunters might give you a small edge against your foes, but they alone won’t save you forever. As you might have gathered by now, you start as a native migratory tribe, utilizing the native american migratory mechanics, but with a twist. The systems of Ritual Burning and collecting Mechanim should provide you with plenty to do before you settle.
Do not worry if you are unable to collect the Children of Fire before the other tags, there's always other options. From more diplomatic to more… forceful methods.
There are 5 levels of Children of Fire Collection. Will you be able to collect them all?
If you manage to gather enough Children of Fire and you have the necessary reform progress you may settle down wherever you’d like and begin the second stage of your run.
While settled, your main goal still remains getting more and more Children of Fire but also enough land to become the greatest tribe in the lowlands. You may do this by manually settling provinces or by taking it from others in war, though the first option might prove a bit costly once you’ve already expanded a bit.
This is also the time when you can finally start embracing Feudalism through your Charkuchin friends who start with this institution or the Taga’ala if they were brave enough to venture into the Gene Pillar embedded in one of their great hinuimangroves.
Screenshot of Djekogmirra and its surroundings around the 1550s.
Lastly, once you collected thousands of your flame born brethren and have proved to be the greatest of the Yenbenmirra, you may form the nation that is Bomowoka. In this stage you will bring the rest of the lowlands under your federation's protection as you welcome the newly awakened Mechanim into your great family.
Screenshot of Djekogmirra and its surroundings around the early 1600s.
You might also remember us mentioning a new religion being born at the same time that is Mumambarra. This is the faith of the Mechanim in the region, as they adopt their position as the Children of Fire, siblings of Water and Mountains, and stand with them in vigilant defence of their homeland.
You united the lowlands and claimed the title of Bomowoka, but it is not yet time to celebrate, for there are others who covet the Garden of Danguranga and wish to claim it for themselves. In most games players are expected to form Bomowoka around the early 1600s, a mere 50 years before the weakening of the Kiamoa brings strange men to the shores of Insyaa from beyond the storm.
And with that we arrive at the end of this dev diary, but fret not for there are still a few things we want to show before we open the Stormwall to you all. You might have already caught a glimpse of the Children of Mountains, or as others would call them, the Charkuchin, but there is so much more to them than what we showed today.
Ancient citadels grow ever taller as monstrous hinuibirds pray on the innocent, so make sure to tune in next Wednesday for their own dedicated dev diary, where we’ll talk about the great citadels they dwell in and the dangers that wait for them outside.
May Danguranga protect us from the monsters that lurk in the skies...
