The Anvil of Crom: Dreaming up expansion destinations

So how does a new Age of Conan expansion grab you? Well let's not get carried away just yet, but Funcom game director Craig "Silirrion" Morrison did drop the barest mention of a hint on the official boards this week. Responding to a post that asked about the size of AoC's dev team, Morrison said that "we are looking at the next new location (still under wraps, sorry no clues there right now)." Taken in the context of explaining why Funcom has development teams flung to the far corners of the earth (Norway, China, and Canada if you're curious), it says very little about where the game is headed.

It is a good sign, though, one indicative of the fact that Age of Conan is a bit healthier than the legions of fail-trolls would have you believe. In this week's Anvil of Crom, I'd like to indulge in a bit of good ol' fashioned speculation as well as a healthy amount of wishful thinking. Join me after the cut to see where Hyboria's next expansion might lead us, and add your two cents in the comments.

Whether you love Robert E. Howard's works or dismiss them as pulp lit and thinly veiled misogyny, there's no denying the Texas-born writer laid down a nifty foundation for a game world. Hyboria is as vast as it is multicultural, and Funcom has already proven that it has the chops to translate the written word into starkly beautiful virtual landscapes. Age of Conan's original incarnation was a study in contrasts; from the snow-capped peaks of Atzel's Approach to the steaming jungles of Tortage, nearly every kind of terrain, eco-system, and ancient imagined civilization was represented in some form or fashion.

The Rise of the Godslayer expansion added a far-eastern flavor to the proceedings, but there are still a ton of possibilities left when it comes to building new zones, cities, and explorable environments. I present, in no particular order, my own wish list for expanding Funcom's version of Hyboria.

Arenjun

The fabled "City of Thieves" rests in the shadow of the Kezankian Mountains in the lands of Zamora. Aside from the fact that the dastardly label excites my inner D&D geek like few phrases can, Arenjun is also home to the Tower of the Elephant, an iconic location from the Howard story of the same name (which is considered one of the best Conan stories by many fans).

The Tower of the Elephant opens with a seedy bar brawl that makes the scrap in the Mos Eisley cantina look like a Jane Austen-style tea party, and while Age of Conan does feature its share of ramshackle taverns and red light districts already (particularly in Tortage), a vast, sprawling city populated almost entirely by rogues, rascals, and renegades is kind of a no-brainer.

Larsha

Sticking with the Zamoran theme, the destroyed city of Larsha is also ripe for MMORPG exploitation, particularly as a possible raid or dungeon-based location. The ruins of Larsha lie west of Arenjun, and in L. Sprague de Camp's The Hall of the Dead novelette (based on a Howard synopsis), Conan stumbles upon the City of the Fallen God during his flight from a pursuing mercenary assassin. After joining forces with his former pursuer to fend off the re-animated corpses that stand between them and untold riches, Conan leaves his ally for dead and barely escapes with his life.

Larsha is also described as an ancient city where the giant kings who helped build it remain behind to guard their fallen empire from looters. If that doesn't scream MMO setting, I don't know what does.

The Isle of Iron Statues

Unless you count Tortage, Age of Conan currently lacks a sizable remote island location. There are a couple of noteworthy instances available to players who choose to take the long way to Khitai, but as fun as they are, these stop-overs are rather limited in terms of exploration and repeatable adventure. In typical Funcom fashion, though, the smallish zones are beautifully rendered to the point that leaving is something of a disappointment, and I'd love to see an expansion that features some sort of large lost island locale.

One starting point might be the Isle of Iron Statues, a remote location far to the west of Zamora in the middle of the Vilayet Sea that bisects the Hyborian continent. Originally featured in the 1934 short story Shadows in the Moonlight, the isle is home to giant apes, pirates, and various and sundry dark forces, all of them encountered by Conan as he joins up with a rogue's gallery known as the Red Brotherhood (which sounds like a pretty sweet name for a faction).

Iranistan

My final choice for a new expansion locale is necessarily large. While the previous three entries were either cities or small islands, Iranistan is an entire nation-state in the same way that Stygia and Aquilonia are in the current game. If Howard's (and Funcom's) Hyboria can be said to have real-world analogs, Iranistan would certainly qualify as the Middle Eastern/Persian Gulf equivalent, and as such it would be a welcome addition to the game world.

While Stygia is clearly a nod to Egyptian and north African architecture and culture, Persian influences are few and far between in Age of Conan. Iranistan offers numerous possibilities in terms of terrain and world-building, from the extensive wilderness (much of it arid and populated by tribes of hunter-gatherers, nomads, and bandits) to the canyons, gorges, and plateaus that Conan travels through during his time with a Kozaki warband.

The 1955 novel The Flame Knife features a particularly memorable location known as the Gorge of Ghosts, which plays host to a skirmish between Conan's company and a band of assassins known as the Sons of Yezm.

Finally, the Iranistan capital city of Anshan would serve as the perfect backdrop to new quest lines, faction choices, and solo or 6-man instances. Much as I appreciate the scope and grandeur of the current game's Khitai wilderness and frontier outposts, Funcom is clearly in its element when designing cityscapes. Old Tarantia, the Commons, and Khemi remain on my short list of the best MMORPG cities ever created, and I'd love to see what AoC's devs could do with a Persian-flavored metropolis.

So while the expansion is pretty far off at this point, it's never too early to dream, amirite? Until next week, I leave you with a scene from what I hope is the best little smuggler hangout in Arenjun.

Jef Reahard is an Age of Conan beta and launch day veteran, as well as the creator of Massively's weekly Anvil of Crom. Feel free to suggest a column topic, propose a guide, or perform a verbal fatality via jef@massively.com.