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Where does the Warlord originate from?

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makemeunreal
OldUnreal Member
Posts: 543
Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2013 7:51 pm

Where does the Warlord originate from?

Post by makemeunreal »

This thread might have died, but the topic is very alive as of now.

A Short Essay on the Origin of the Skaarj Warlord
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The Skaarj Warlord is one of the most iconic enemies in the retail game, sporting a colossal stature and demon-like wings. The Warlord oversees the mining operation on Na Pali and crosses paths with the player two times during the original campaign. The first fight takes place in a cave under the Nali Castle, where he teleports away but finally meets his demise when the player infiltrates the Generator.

The newly recovered design documents/proto-manuals offer us a glimpse into the early stage of the Warlord's development. (Last revised: 12/10/1996)
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While the retail model has an overall muscular-armored-bat-like appearance, this one looks a bit leaner and has no armor on his upper body. He holds his weapon in his right hand while the retail one is left-handed. Kinda like that pink-demon stuff from Doom.
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It also lacks the final model's iconic wings but does have a horn on each side of his head those of which look towards, curves a bit to the median-sagittal plane and descends while doing so.
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The document states that the mesh is ready to be used, but was untextured and unanimated at the time. The poly/vertex count reassures this fact. (Please note that the horns got removed in favor of the wings, and the different head shape.)
Retail Warlord - Polys:511 - Vertices:262
Horned Lord - Polys:507 - Vertices:255

I hastely removed the wings, and the skin-folds from the back of it's head, made his shoulders a bit narrower, and also removed the shoulder plates that were sticking out.
Also made the posterior part of the skull a bit flatter to give it a more menacing look. (I have a gut-feeling that the Horned Lord would have a flatter skull.)
The overall shape of the head got a bit leaner. Also removed the tusk like structures.
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The general shape of the prototype's head is also very different from the retail's.

The next step was to take a look at the retail gibs as they seem to belong to another model. I was hoping that the further investigation would reveal more.
The gibs use 2 lower resolution textures. These sport a greyish-light-brownish color scheme, similiar to the color palette of the "Iron-Underweared-Skaarj". Being a medicine student, I have a fair medical knowledge at my disposal which I could use to give an overthinked explanation to the pale skin. I don't want to elaborate on the topic tho, we all know what I am refering to. It seems unlikely that the creators thought about this tho as every other gib in the game has a fresh reddish blood-muscle tone to them, and they left the skin untouched.
It's also worth mentioning that the textures seem to have these "rectangular" parts in them that came from other textures. (They got copied over with a rectangle-selection-tool.)
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The second gib texture shows the same rectangular "copied-over" parts. (wing)
Please note that the wing is not the same as the one on the retail texture. We can also see a blackish-leathery part, which will be on the Leg-gib.
I am sure it's not just a hastely pieced together part, as it seems to fit the leg well.
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Let's take a look at the gibs themselves.
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The hand does not have a glove on it while the retail model does.
The foot is much smaller, and "hoove"-like. The texture is different, and fits the gib model well! Please note that the retail model's sole is untextured while the gib has a proper, well fitting sole texture. The foot uses the "rectangular, different part" from the gib texture.
The head has one of it's tusks broken. Please note that the tusk looks a lot like the alpha skaarj's. The Warlord has brown tusk-like offshots, while the gib has one that actually is colored like a bone/tusk.
The leg is thinner, and has a black texture with a line running down on it's side. (Leather?!)

The overall stature, and the hoove-like gibs gave me an idea. What if the minotaur model from 1995 is the real proto Hornlord? The great grandfather of the Warlord.
Retail Warlord - Polys:511 - Vertices:262
Minotaur - Polys:456 - Vertices:256
The hand gib is 100% identical to the minotaur's hand.
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Comparisons of the overall statures.
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A comparison between the retail feet gib and the Minotaur's hoof:
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It's basically the same model, a bit modified tho.

Let's see how strong the overlap is between the models:
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One of the most identical areas is the region around the scrotum. The overlapping is almost 100%.
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Another strong point:
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All of this makes me believe that the Hornlord is the result of the minotaur's direct evolution. The models are of the same origin.
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Leo T_C_K
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Posts: 3660
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:24 pm

Re: Where does the Warlord originate from?

Post by Leo T_C_K »

GamesHarder posted this already :
viewtopic.php?p=101528#p101528

Maybe you guys could have coordinated a little better lol.

Either way is this really offtopic worthy? Its about Unreal.

Also, how is warlord formed? (a reference to "how is babby formed" meme)
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