AW: What characters can we play to explore this world?
TR: We create a team of four. There are nine classes of characters, each with different abilities, different profiles. They’re mainly divided into fighters and mages. The first one is the barch, or the barbarian. He’s not especially intelligent, but he’s very strong. He’s excellent with hammers and axes.
The second one, the jachtôrz, is a skilful hunter and tracker. He shoots a bow and uses a slingshot and knows his way around poisons and antidotes. The dulas, also called kùñda, or cunning, is clever and wily. He’s skilled at throwing daggers, and in the future we also want to give him the ability to open locks. The knight, the ricarz, fights with a sword, on foot or on horseback. His shield features a griffin, a reference to the Pomeranian emblem. Thanks to his armour, he can take more damage. The free peasant, the leman, is excellent with two swords.
The four remaining classes use magic. We have a book in which we unlock more tabs over time. When we cast a spell, we must go to sleep for it to renew itself, but it’s impossible to fall asleep when there are monsters around. The first representative of this class is the mag, a priest of the god of the underworld, Veles. His spells are ritualistic and ghastly. He can, for example, summon a cage that grows out of the ground and encloses the monsters, allowing us to pass by them without difficulty. The kùtin can cast combat spells, fireballs, and freezing projectiles. All character classes refer to Kashubian beliefs, but kùtins really functioned in Pomerania, e.g. in Gdańsk as diviners. If someone wanted to cast a curse on a neighbour, they could turn to a kùtin. On the other hand, the żérca, a priest of Perun, casts defensive spells, auras, shields and heals the other members of the team. Finally, my favourite class – the gùslin – draws power from the natural world. He’s actually a combination of a druid and a witch. He creates potions and poisons and has the ability to make roots grow out of the ground to immobilise an opponent.
I think there’s something for everyone. We’re in charge of a team of four, which each character should complement. This configuration makes a huge difference – it changes the gameplay. It would be hard to play with four barbarians, for example. Some items will only be usable by one character, e.g. the jachtôrz can’t carry a heavy hammer, whereas a knight can. Team members stand in a square – two characters in front and two behind. The characters in the second line can’t use cold-steel weapons, but they can use bows, spears, and spells.