@The Doctor
in Achaea where those centaurs run free if you went left passed Pholus and keep going until you reach the ruins of a greek home and a cave to your right there is a girl standing there she has no name, has dark grey hair and is wearing white and blue clothes that are like the ones where you create your pirate. Why is she there?
I'm pretty sure she's not there by design - likely a placeholder that didn't get cleaned up. I'll look into it.

@Kai Alcott
Did Mooshu have a civil war a hundred years ago?
If they did in Wizard they did here. I'm not really sure how the Emperor came to power - that's the Wizard lore guys' domain.

@Merciless Morgrin
"I have confirmed your theory - the random perturbations of El Dorado's Stormgate are no accident - they occur by design."
The wording here reminds me of Kane's Grand Design. Coincidence? Or is this related to Kane's ultimate plan?
That would be telling. The secrets of the Grand design and El Dorado will be revealed. All in good time.

@The Vagabond
Blind Mew, I gotta ask: The Armada already have their fingers in Mooshu, Marleybone, a teensy bit of Cool Ranch, Valencia, and who knows how many other Realms of the Spiral. My question is, since both Morganthe from Wizard101 and Kane have been going at it for a while now, since I know they will never ally themselves together, will one eventually seek to destroy the other, due to both desiring complete dominion over the spiral? Furthermore, the Council of Light from Wizard 101: will they ever have to face the clockwork menace?
That's a good question. If Kane plans to take the whole Spiral, he'll have to deal with them eventually. I hope to go into some depth on that in the future. As for Morganthe, hopefully some wizard will take her out for him.

@awesomepirate540 (continued)

11.Could you make a place based off of Scotland and one of the creatures there would be deer?
Albion is a close fit for that. If ever we go there, Deer would make a pretty cool set of inhabitants. I cannot comment on whether or not we'll see Albion any time soon.

12.Could you make a place based off of American history?
Well the Old West is technically American History . There are some plans to look into other eras.

13.Could you make a Shakespeare Companion/NPC?
Not sure how good a fit this would be, given our era in Marleybine is more 19th century and 17th. I'd expect to see something like him pop up in Wizard sooner than our game.

14.Could you make a place based off of Germany (in Hitler's time -1919)?
Hitler was around in 1919, but his ascendency didn't come until much later, in the late 20's/early 30s. Naziism is a touchy subject - I'm not inclined to do a direct analogue there. Now, a society being overshadowed by a ruthless, militaristic power that plans to change the world and sweep away old culture that doesn't suit its vision? You saw more than a little of that in Aragon, as i recall.

@10F1Musketeer
First, are you going to make a Belle Starr character in the Magnificent Seven named Bell Starr who is a cow/bull?
Wow, good idea! I'm not sure how much additional development Cool Ranch will get - our stories are told there. Still, if ever we go back, that's a good pun that got away.

Second, in the future, is the Eagle Mercenary going to promote? Or are any of the other high-leveled Aquilan Eagles (including Serpent Augur) going to have another promotion? Because if they are, I know what they're going to promote into because I've already seen their promotions.
You have indeed. Yes, they will promote. Give them time.

@KrokenGuy
I've been noticing that when we meet Phule, and he speaks to us, none of our companions make any comment like they normally would, and no in game character even acknowledges that Phule exists. Almost as though he's just a figment of our imagination... Any significance in that, or is it just to add to the creepiness?
Creepiness. Also, early on we weren't sure how chatty to make your crew. Phule is real, don't you worry.

Also, I've noticed that I've been connecting Kane's Court of Elites in my mind to Avery's Court- the class trainers. It would seem that there are five in each court, one of each class. Is this at all significant?
Fond as I am of symmetry, I wouldn't read too much into it. We wanted an elite of each class, and we had to have a trainer of each class. Not only that, but any game developer will tell you the coolest numbers are definitely 3 and 5. (I'm also fond of 60)

@10F1Musketeer
Blind Mew, is there going to be a world based off of medieval times (Renaissance, middle ages, etc.)?
Valencia has more than a dash of the renaissance, but on the whole we're focused on later eras - medieval worlds are much more Wizard's purview than ours.

@KrokenGuy
Hi Blind Mew. I just got the quest to heal Free Ranger, and I'm wondering why I have to buy a Chapter in Book 9 when I'm in Book 7.
I expect there's a short cut working against you. Talk to One-Eyed jack - it shouldn't be this way.

@CaptainFlint193
Cool name!

1. Any update on whether Lunden's Bridge is going to be used?
Not at this time, though future promo quests would serve as an ideal time.

2. I recall someone on the threads mentioning a theoretical Mine of the Windstones in Aquila? What are the chances of us going to such a location to retrieve a windstone? Might be a bit easier than, oh, I don't know, raiding Fort Basset...
I've always toyed with the idea that Windstones are a finite (if really numerous) resource. They were produced in Aquila, but the secrets of their making are lost (or not achievable in modern times). Besides, why would i ever want to make Windstone acquisition easy?

3. If you could sum up Old Scratch's next promotion in a few (vague) words, what would they be?
Spooky. That, and a consequence of past decisions.

4. Is Monkey King due for a promotion?
Yup. The trick is making something appropriately cosmic...

5. What do you define as a "major update", if you don't mind me asking? A world? New furniture/gear? A mix of several aspects?
A major update is anything that calls upon a lot of work from us - a new Book, or a new system, new card packs, that kind of thing. They will often have mixed components (a system and some content, that kind of thing).

6. I remember you saying a WHIILE back that Book 18 was gonna be a doozy. Care to give us a hint as to why?
The art department won't be happy.

7. How far ahead are you in the storyline compared to us as we play it? So, while we are defeating Ophidians in Book 14, are you one book ahead in development? Two?
I'd rather not go into too much detail here. The whole story is outlined, but in terms of books, and content has to get mapped out before art and implementation can begin. But, it's hard to quantify how far ahead we are - it varies Book to Book. I get lots of emergent issues to deal with.

To be continued.

"@The Vagabond
Blind Mew, I gotta ask: The Armada already have their fingers in Mooshu, Marleybone, a teensy bit of Cool Ranch, Valencia, and who knows how many other Realms of the Spiral. My question is, since both Morganthe from Wizard101 and Kane have been going at it for a while now, since I know they will never ally themselves together, will one eventually seek to destroy the other, due to both desiring complete dominion over the spiral? Furthermore, the Council of Light from Wizard 101: will they ever have to face the clockwork menace?
That's a good question. If Kane plans to take the whole Spiral, he'll have to deal with them eventually. I hope to go into some depth on that in the future. As for Morganthe, hopefully some wizard will take her out for him. "

For some reason, I thought instantly.. "Too many pies, not enough fingers!" I'm not sure if I'm hungry for pies or I'm eager for an ultimate showdown between Kane and Morganthe.

On a serious note, will we ever encounter friendly robots? Like Data who was on our side vs Lore who was not in "Star Trek: The Next Generation." I still would love to have a friendly one as a companion, even though you said it's impossible and your reasons were good. What if it would look, talk, act different, so we wouldn't connect it to the Armada army and we could separate the two that way? I'm sure Kane is formidable and we might need a bit more help in defeating him. I can imagine the friendly one would help us that way since he/she would have extra strength and power than we do. I can even imagine the Toymaker making one for himself and just left it in a corner or kept it a secret like a companion for himself. But when we meet him or something, he'd say "hey, you need more help, so why don't you take my companion robot?" Something along those lines.

Also, will you eventually explain in depth how we activate stormgates? I mean, we get a windstone and then we put it in that windstone page? Then what? Does the thing on that page do something? Would love to see an mini movie of the machine on that page sparking up and shoot a beam at the stormgate making it open or something. So we'll go "AHA, so that's how that thing works!" Also there seems to be gears or latches on it, am curious what they do.

@MizzyPirate13

1) I would first like to ask, where do you find all these amazing people to do the voices of everyone?! It's simply stunning in the range of them! Even for small parts! Wow!
Here in Austin we're blessed with a vibrant theatre and film scene, as well as a number of video game studios. As a result, there are a LOT of great actors we can work with. I'm very proud of our voice content, and love the contributions they make to the game. We also draw a lot from our own staff - Boochbeard, Gandry, Blind Mew (he said modestly), El Toro, Old Scratch, and many others are all voiced by Kingsisle employees.

2) And how do you come up with all the cool looks for the characters?
Careful work with the Art department - as soon as we in Content/Design come up with the idea for a character, we usually have a pretty good idea based on their world and story concept how they ought to look. We write an initial vision document, which we pass off to the Concept Art team. They doodle them until we're both happy, often adding really cool aspects we hadn't thought of. Themn the character gets passed to the 3D artists, who often have some refinements of their own, and who sometimes make changes based on the technical requirements of the game itself.

3) If El Toro is a takeoff of Zoro, that got me thinking, what about a character later on in the game, (after you get El Toro), based off The Lone Ranger?! I mean, if the description for El Toro is someone who wheres a mask and fights for justice, why not do the other masked crime fighter that there are many stories about? What do you think?
Waaaaaay ahead of you.

@FieryLukeSilver

At the end of Aquila, the note says to find this "Calistrago G" (I think that's how you spell it), but it doesn't exactly say where... (Sorry if they already said it, I'm having troubles remembering the story because it was so long ago *cough* *cough*)
Oh he does say it, and his answer is the huge hint I've often alluded to on there forums as to where we're going next. Raise the question out of this thread (which will remain locked for a while except for me) and I'm sure somebody can illuminate you.

@DarlingDestiny
1. Is Monquista based off of Spain or France, or is it a combination of the two? While the name "Monquistador" (not sure if I spelled this right) is obviously a play off Conquistador from Spain, and they have the right superior attitude as Spain did during that imperialistic time. But then one day I had the sound on, and the French accents through me off a bit. Unless my mind is completely playing tricks on me, as I usually don't play with the sound on, and I'm simply remembering this incorrectly. Though I also don't know much about politics during that time period, could the civil war we start, be a reference to the French civil war?
Monquista is Spain, as you correctly deduce from Monquistadors and the Latin American-style colonization in Skull Island. As for the accents, we were seriously aiming for Spain, down to the Castilian lisps some of the elite have. Your mileage my vary, but I think we did a pretty good job.

As to your second question, It's so long it gets a post of its own. To be continued...

@DarlingDesinty (contined continued)

Cool Ranch is the North American counter part. Although the time periods don't match up quite right it seems, as the expansions "out west" did not occur till much later. Of course this is a game, so what does it matter, but it makes me curious where the settler chickens first originated from.
The time frames don't line up at all, but that's how we roll sometimes. The Chickens all come from "back East." Wherever that is...

Then Velencia I would guess is Italy, though I'm not sure the armada matches up with any real "villain" in history during that time.
Valencia is primarily Rennaissance italy, with a dash or two of Imperial Spain thrown in. No, the Armada are definitely their own thing, though some elements of them are drawn from more modern sources.

Mooshu is Asia, but I don't see any events that occur there matching up with history of that time. It does tie in with the Wizard story of Malistaire though.
A mix of China and Japan. The Japan portion (in Khotan) is based loosley on the Sengoku period, when all the Samurai lords were fighting the fill the vacuum of imperial power. True, the Emperor is not dead, but he's at least out of the picture. Our China is much more mythical.

Aquila is Greece, unfortunately I haven't quested that far yet, so I don't know much of the story there.
There's more than a touch of Rome too - it's really our Classical Mythology world. I hope you enjoy it when you get there!

@DarlingDestiny (coninuedx50)

4. I just started work towards a degree to get into game production. I'm going more towards the game art (I've always been absolutely in love with concept art and the idea of creating some of the beautiful graphics I see in games). And I actually have Wizard101 to thank for starting me on this track. Before I discovered the KingsIsle games, I thought video games were just boring.. Car racing games and whatnot (no offense if you like car races). But now I can't get enough of the creative and interactive worlds, stories, and characters that make up a good game.
Why, back in my day, there weren't no high falutin' college degree in video game makin'! Ye just lucked yer way in, and blundered on with no idear what ye were doin, like the rest of us! Heh, angry old man digression over. In all seriousness - I'm glad you're following your dream, and humbled to have had a part in such a momentous decision.

So I have a couple questions for you, as part of the game creating team .
A) You said earlier that you originally wanted to become a Social Studies teacher, what changed your mind? I was originally debating over teaching art, possibly at high school level, before deciding on this career path.
A lifelong friend and gaming buddy (DnD stlye games, that is) aked me to come write fiction for his "graphical MUD." I really needed a job at the time, and it turned out part time/freelance couldn't cut it - I went full time. The cool part? I get to still indirectly teach a little history, byt throwing lots of references in and giving fans the dish on where I got them from. If I can inspire just one player to go read up on some of the things we touch on, all my work is worth it. Also, a lot of the stuff you find in history is even stranger and better than fiction!

@CutlessClark
I understand this next question will probably get a "that would be telling" so my question is not designed for an outright answer, but for more of a "it is possible" or a "not going to happen at all". So here it is... When i was looking at the map of Marleybone I noticed that there is sort of a mainland where Big Ben resides. Will we ever enter this mainland, or meet the Queen ( which I presume lives there)?
That bit with Big Ben is actually an island close to the coast - it's the Marleybone that appears in Wizard101. Given the technical barriers to getting our games to mix, and the unsavory story compromises involved in you going there and finding no Wizards, going to Marleybone City (as we call it in Pirate) is highly unlikely. Meeting the queen, however/ Not outside the realm of possibitiy, but I'd have to come up with a good way to make that work.

@Trimond297
Well, what I mean is, from the times I've heard the voices of Gortez, Deacon, and Lieutenant Smollet, for examples, they're those characters that have had performed some same written lines, but have vocally revised them during the course of the game's update to make them sound more better than before... Not to criticize, mind you. Just stating out my opinions. At least... well... that's what I figure from my perspective.
I getcha. On this one I think we'll agree to disagree, as we sometimes do.

Maybe so, Blind Mew, but to me, I think she should have said "Whoever that was, went up to the Rafters!". It was clear to me that she didn't see the ghost's shape when she said that line, which led me to think of how that line should be revised. Just thinking.
I see your logic, but I still think the line works as is - after all, a glowing, transparent though still humanoid shape could well be a "whatever' - I figure she did see him. Changing the line would be a bit of a hassle, so I'm content to leave it as is.

If I know how the Armada works, once they have found a Map Piece outside of Valencia, they deliver it to Kane in Cadiz... He should have told the Pirates that they were far too late to wrestle the Map Piece from him, if that's what they were attempting to do, which was kind of the point of that idea at the time, at least. That would be the reason why.
Well, he had all your time in Subata, ,Port Regal, and Marleybone to deliver it, and there is a Stormgate direct from MooShu to Valencia. He's had more than enough time - I figured he thinks it goes without saying.

@Bearkat904 (continued)

3. Speaking of puppet shows, when Catbeard is telling us about how Polaris betrayed Napoleguin, Valencia started a skirmish in Napoleguin's backyard, and Marleybone arrested him, did Rooke lead the Armada and that admiral guy in the War Room that constantly gives us missions to do in Marleybone lead the Royal Navy in that battle?
That all happened a while ago - before your Pirate was born. I'm not entirely sure Rooke existed back then. As for the general staff of the Royal Navy, it's possible Admirals Kearns and Doggett were in charge, but just as possible they've been promoted since then.

4. Suppose we got crazy and have Cao Tzu get killed off by the Armada so that we wouldn't get to El Dorado after we piece together the whole map. Would we go see Old Ambrose and Gamma themselves in Wizard City? After all, in the letter that Marco Pollo sent to Merle, Pollo did mention that both Ambrose and Gamma could translate the map as well.
I was thinking that you've already learned all you need to know from Cao Tzu - as you get more pieces, you'll be able to translate them yourself, no Ambrose or Gamma requiring. As to some final reversal that blocks your path to El Dorado even after you get the whole Map, well, that'd be a heck of a plot twist wouldn't it?