Jul as the antagonist, I can't imagine her waiting very long to try to sieze power.

Amazon Prince

Loren and Saren

Amazon views on men and slaves and a friendship between humans and elves

About Jul, she could be in charge now, but maybe wait some years to form another demon army, this assuming that demons will be the main evil even in the possible sequel

1. You set it almost immediately after the first game in terms of age. So 1-3 years later and Jul or another power rises up and everyone has to dust off and start swinging. Enough time will have passed to start seeing an impact, but you won't have to change too much art and everyone that was alive can still be alive (and sans babies or other things that would impact storytelling). This would be hard without making canonical ending(s) first of Loren being with either Saren/Elenor. Make it before babies and you don't have to worry about the Amazon prince not existing in the Elenor path.

2. Set twenty years in the future with different playables. The amazon prince if Saren/Loren or a new female amazon in power maybe? if it was Elenor/Loren though even the rise of a male amazon in the immediate future would cause a lot of strain on the amazons since they're radically and quickly changing a lot of their culture. Not every amazon would just go with that peacefully and be like 'you saved the world, so please, change our entire warrior culture! We are completely cool with that in an incredibly short time'. Hell Breza could even be the bad guy in this case or something. Some of the cast returning as party members and some returning as NPC's (mostly so there can be an impact from the first one in terms of what happens to everyone). That would be challenging unless you decided to 'choose' a canonical ending. And even then you'd need to choose two endings, one for Saren and one for Elenor's path. That would cause some crazy divergences depending on who was chosen and what happened for personal storytelling even if you kept it only to romancing Loren mostly because Saren/Loren make a Prince that could be the focus of the player character, but Elenor/Loren would make a... more Loren because she'd still be on the throne? A totally different person to follow around?

3. Set it hundred(s) of years in the future. Loren and the gang are almost mythical in the minds of modern people and have become something like the King Arthur/Robin Hood legends (a grain of possible truth buried under a lot of exaggerations). This could be really fun because you can also advance the society of the continent they live on. Want to keep it a level of fantasy magic? Okay, they could still be Conan/barbarian/dark ages villages and castles, or they could have advanced to a renaissance level and be in a weird age of magic!punk and mechanical devices (or industrial steampunk). You could reuse some art (with new clothes) though you'd have to commission all new art and backgrounds for a lot of it (and that would be expensive and time consuming) but storytelling wise it could be amazing. What's happened? Did Jul bide her time and decide to strike when people were at a peak of technology and culture, but had forgotten the demons and lessons of the past? Are the hero/heroine big fans of stories of old and want to find the hawk/I-forgot-the-name blade to fight off a new evil or because they're explorers and adventurers? Canon from the first game could be preserved with a simple opening survey since the 'truth' of what happened hundreds of years ago would be restricted to decaying parchment and local/regional legends so a player could select that they played Elenor, she romanced Rei or Saren, romanced Draco and it wouldn't affect more than one or two texts or pieces of lore the new players picked up.

This one goes against what you're asking for in that it would be either a different cast of characters (possibly on a different continent?) who are also fighting evil/demons (maybe that's where Jul goes to build her army?) at around the same time as Loren and her gang are doing it on their continent. Since no one is really talking to each other from different lands it'd be the same setting.



Or you can do a side story and pick a secondary character as the focus. For instance you can do Breza and a band of characters that follow her around while she deals with political/social/world adventures during/after the first game. She's probably not going to be happy with what happened back home and perhaps strikes out with a newly freed servant to do some scouting/find herself/be a diplomat/offer relief services after the war and adventures ensue. Now the players can choose, be a freed man/elf who she's not happy she has to cart around, or perhaps a local elf/human woman who is tied to her by royal decree who she is not happy to have to cart around. And then a wacky goblin sidekick/comedy character and perhaps a hot nomad male/female, some new dwarves and so forth depending on where she wanders to.



Or a side story with Jul as the main focus. You play an up-and-coming minion (hot goblin of course for maximum player enjoyment ) who has to help their mistress rebuild her empire and fight skirmishes amongst the other demons for total power. Hey Jul can say she's the new Demon Queen, but she's gonna have to earn that title, especially with goblins and other critters.

Since it's established in this universe that demons eventually become accepted in general society you could alternatively present a situation where Jul comes to redeem the demons in the eyes of the other people instead of being the big bad.

The history of Fost uncovered in the first game hints at two (at least) major plotlines in the area's history that could be expanded into a full game. The first would be the previous fight against Fost that left his armor split up and entombed. Since Loren the first is willing to show a bittersweet ending there's precendent in doing it again. You could have a younger Apolimesho leading a group of totally different heroes into an epic fight to blunt the first or previous attack Fost launches.

Another possbility is a story that covers Fost's initial journey since he obviously didn't start out as an empty suit of armor. He obviously started off as a powerful hero before his fall. What challenges did he face before falling?

like you'd know that Apolimesho daughter would die in the battle with Fost for example

It's okay to know in advance that someone is going to die. It's seeing them live that can be the amazing part. I would love to see Apolimesho's daughter especially if she's not treated as a victim or sacrifice, but as a capable party member/NPC that is working hard to fight Fost. Plus you already have a bunch of cast mates. Young Apolimesho, young two human generals and young Dark Elf Tobaar. Plus young previous Druid. No amazons though, unless you have an outcast/runaway who doesn't return since Loren's people weren't aware of what was happening/didn't participate the last time Fost got angsty.

I definitely don't imagine Apolimesho's daughter being a sacrificial victim, but more like a cool female wizard/apprentice that would fight until the end. As for the Amazons yes, probably none of them would take part in the game, maybe except for an outcast/runaway as you said.

steampunk future option. You tweeted that you were again inspired to do a steampunk game, and a Loren steampunk sequel would do double duty for Loren AND steampunk I mean, if you were planning on spending time and money on a steampunk game, might as well have the money do double duty, right?

Jul's side of things would be pretty interesting. I finished playing Christine Love's Analogue: A Hate Story and she managed to create some sympathy for a character who killed a whole ship full of people by slowly revealing a back story. And I do think that it would be a good bridge to the Spirited Heart series where demons are feared, but not all are bad. As I played Loren, I did find myself wondering what happened between Loren and Spirited Heart that made demons acceptable in society.

Loren hooks up with Elenor or Saren hooks up with Draco or Chambara or whoever or dies, she'd still do her Amazonian duty and have a baby-makin' session with one of the dudes in her harem. Or even if she's dissolved the harem in the name of equality, Amazons culturally have no problem with hooking up with guys they're not in love with for the sake of STRONG BABIES. I can see her being all, "Elenor my dearest, I want an heir, would you go out and look for a dude with good genetics who's okay with a one-night stand with the Queen?" And then the Prince has two mommies. Or just one mommy and a gravestone. Or one mommy and a badass war hero who stops by now and then with her boyfriend the grumpy elf to teach him how to use healing magic.



I'm assuming the Prince'd get healing magic from the same place Saren did. They had a lot of the same genetic stock after all. Heck, if Elenor's the PC, maybe Saren's the babydaddy anyhow. Or if Saren's the PC and just didn't hook up with Loren, maybe she asked him to donate his excellent heroic heritage for old time's sake. Even if they're bucking tradition in one area, there's no reason Amazons would suddenly swap over to what we'd consider a typical nuclear family structure.



tl;dr: Worldbuilding can be pretty darned flexible, and not going with Saren/Loren isn't necessarily a reason not to have a Prince about.



...On the other hand, a Loren with a lover/BFF who offed themselves in her place saving the world would presumably have a much different outlook than one who's a happy badass queen with her honeymuffin at her side.

"In the battle against the evil forces of Fost, we lost many, but one of them saved us all, tell me who?"

The player chooses between Elenor, Saren, Karen or Loren.

that Elenor died"

I think the next story should concentrate on uniting the demons (Jul) with the humans and elves. In spirited heart we have the three races co-existing under the rule of a king so somehow demons have to become OK and a monarchy has to be instituted. Assume that after Loren, the Amazons , the Humans and Elves become united and open up cultural and trade relations. They become much stronger but notice that the dwarves have been left out. This relates to my question in the Codex about the genetics involved between the groups. Jul is trying to form her army of demons but is being thwarted by the Goblins (remember Grog) and the Goblins basically reproduce like rabbits. The Goblins are also related genetically to the dwarves, and the dwarves have become jealous of the wealth being created by the Amazon alliance, therefore the Dwarves end up being allied with the Goblins. The Orcs also end up as Goblin allies.



The elves/humans are besieged by the Goblins/Orcs and a dark witch has a vision about a powerful weapon that will save them. The problem is the weapon is in Everburn. Our intrepid heroes travel through enemy territory to arrive in Everburn where Jul is battling the Goblins. In return for helping her she agrees to take them underground in everburn (with the intention of betraying them and taking the weapon). Underground they come upon the spirit of Polos daughter and a huge battle ensues between Polos daughter's spirit and Jul. The end result is that Polo's Daughter's spirit is fused with Jul and the two of them become a new being. Of course the new Jul is the weapon the witch was talking about. Big battles ensue afterwards with the result that the Demons become part of the empire and the Orcs/Goblins/Dwarves are defeated. There are some dwarves who did not go to the darkside however and their story is for the third saga.