History VideoGame / TalesOfMajEyal

* OurDemonsAreDifferent: ''Ashes of Uh'rok'' reveals that the Demons were once peaceful and enlightened aliens, but were intimidated by the Sher'tul into depowering their god, allowing the Sher'tul to place portals on their planet for trade... which worked out pretty decently until the Spellblaze turned the portals into [[EarthShatteringKaboom magical bombs]], turning their home of Mal'Rok into a [[FireAndBrimstoneHell charred, shattered wasteland]]. Ever since, the Demons have been obsessed eith taking revenge on not just the Sher'tul (believing the accident to have been deliberate betrayal), but anyone they suspect of carrying their "taint", which unfortunately for you includes all the mortal races.

* OurElvesAreDifferent: They come in High Elf (Shaloren) and Wood Elf (Thaloren) varieties, but only the Rhaloren (Shaloren renegades) actually act like they're better. The rest of the Shaloren mostly try to keep their heads down to avoid another crusade.

** The ogres of the Conclave Vault [[spoiler: were created when the various soldiers therein popped themselves into the ogre transformation tanks so that they could remain in stasis until the Conclave found them. Some of the transformations went bad, and the transformed humans were left as nothing more than "ogrish masses."]]

* FantasticRacism: Not a major plot of the game, but it exists. Halflings and yeeks are old enemies--especially since the halflings originally ''enslaved'' the yeeks (and the first orcs, too!)--and everyone hates the [[OurElvesAreBetter Shaloren]] (especially their Thaloren kin). In the BackStory, halflings and humans were enemies, but since the marriage of Toknor and Mirvenia, they've been allied together.

* GeniusBruiser: Ogres' might goes without saying, but despite being stereotyped as DumbMuscle, they are also ''more'' intelligent than humans in many ways, not less. While they do prefer simple and direct solutions over complex ones, they are more cunning than humans when it comes down to it, their magical proficiency is equal to that of the [[OurElvesAreBetter Shaloren]], and due to the need to maintain their magically-enhanced bodies, they are Maj'Eyal's foremost rune masters.

* OurElvesAreBetter: They come in High Elf (Shaloren) and Wood Elf (Thaloren) varieties, but only the Rhaloren (Shaloren renegades) actually act like they're better. The rest of the Shaloren mostly try to keep their heads down to avoid another crusade.

* ProudScholarRace: The Shaloren are [[OurElvesAreBetter immortal high elves]] with a vast talent for magic, and most of them choose to remain aloof from the affairs of the shorter-lived races.

* ShoutOut: The name of the final quest is another BabylonFive reference. This time it's Deconstruction of Falling Stars.

An attempt to recreate the game from scratch, avoiding some of the development problems of the 2.x line, started and stalled out. In the meantime, the author and primary developer got married and vanished off the face of the planet, leaving development of the new 3.x line in doubt. Around the same time, a script kiddy broke into the forum's admin account, wiping them clean of ten years worth of posts - with no backups.

However, in 2010 development was restarted after the Author returned, resulting in the 4.x line - a complete rewrite of the game. Moving away from ''Tales of Middle Earth'' to ''Tales Of Maj'Eyal'' to avoid the possibility of a second Cease and Desist letter, as well as making the HighFantasy elements (fireballs and teleportation spells) make more sense, the game is currently going through a development version of WikiMagic.

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Most notable for the Bulwark and the Sun Paladin, who each have a number of shield-based attacks and abilities. Other classes (like Wyrmics and Curseds) sometimes will use shields as well. The Skirmisher class specializes in using sling and shield at the same time, and uses Cunning as the requisite for the shield. This results in a halfling with 18 Strength carrying around a shield bigger than he is.

** The Writhing One class is a worshipper of such an entity, and becomes an earthly mirror of their dark patron. [[spoiler: There's a hint that they're drawing their power from Amakthel, the creator of Maj'eyal and the Sher'tul. Amakthel is dead, but that hardly stops the Writhing Ones.]]

** The Writhing One class is a worshipper of such an entity, and becomes an earthly mirror of their dark patron.

* BlackMagic: [[BloodMagic Vim]], {{Necromancy}}, and [[ThePowerOfHate Hate]]. All of these ''can'' be [[BadPowersGoodPeople used for good]], but they're all fueled by murder and have connections to [[{{Hell}} the Fearscape]].

* BodyHorror: Common among the weirder forms of magic in Maj'eyal

** Writhing Ones transform themselves using rediscovered Sher'tul magic. Their off-hand becomes a tentacle that can shift into more tentacles, their face turns into something horrific (with a tentacle tongue)...And they use some kind of WeirdnessCensor to hide all of this from others.

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Most notable for the Bulwark and the Sun Paladin, who each have a number of shield-based attacks and abilities. Other classes (like Wyrmics and Curseds) sometimes will use shields as well. The new Skirmisher class specializes in using sling and shield at the same time, and uses Cunning as the requisite for the shield. This results in a halfling with 18 Strength carrying around a shield bigger than he is.

** ''Forbidden Cults'' brings us [[PowerBornOfMadness Insanity]], magic based on alien forces, entropy, and [[CombatTentacles tentacles]]. The Demented do increasingly random damage with their attacks as their Insanity meter gets higher.

* BodyHorror: The vast majority of the enemies in the [[PunnyName Deep Bellow]] are this. [[spoiler: They used to be a dwarven expedition which got corrupted by the presence of Amakthel. The boss is the transfiguration of the foreman's ''mouth''.]]

** In many different types - about one for each of the (numerous) power types. Arcane Blades channel regular old magic though their melee attacks, Wyrmics use the power of nature to emulate dragons to things like [[BreathWeapon breath fire/sand/ice/lightning]], Reavers use [[BlackMagic corrupting magic]] to give people diseases and then hack them apart, Sun Paladins sustain themselves through the power of the Sun, Cursed sap their enemies' will to fight with their [[ThePowerOfHate hate]], Temporal Wardens use [[TimeMaster Chronomancy]] to achieve a high-speed, high-mobility combat style, and Mindslayers use PsychicPowers to enhance their abilities and fight with telekinetically-wielded weapons. With ''Forbidden Cults'', you get Writhing Ones, who turn their off-hands into CombatTentacles.

** There are also [[LostTechnology devices powered
by "unknown forces"]] and about the only thing we know about them is that they're not any of the others, that they're not any kind of arcane magic (at least so far as the Ziguranth can tell), and that the [[{{Precursors}} Sher'Tul]] made extensive use of them. It's unclear whether these are all the same kind of magic or whether it's a catch-all for "magic we don't understand."

** There are also [[LostTechnology devices powered by "unknown forces"]] and about the only thing we know about them is that they're not any of the others, that they're not any kind of arcane magic (at least so far as the Ziguranth can tell), and that the [[{{Precursors}} Sher'Tul]] made extensive use of them. It's unclear whether these are all the same kind of magic or whether it's a catch-all for "magic we don't understand."

* The Parasite race is lifted wholesale from ''VideoGame/DeadCells,'' being a decapitated corpse being piloted by a PuppeteerParasite.

* WasOnceAMan: [[spoiler: Tantalos the Abomination and the sher'tan were once Steam Giants, now transformed by the Sher'Tul High Priest into monstrous creatures.]]

* DreamLand: The Solipist class operates under the assumption that Maj'Eyal is the dream of a god, and that [[SharedDream mortals contribute to this dream in some way.]] Solipists, being supposedly aware that reality is AllJustADream can manipulate it by using dream logic "IRL."

* EldritchAbomination: It shouldn't be much of a surprise that the Horror super-class of monsters is this. The noteworthy part [[spoiler: is that the fabled {{Precursors}}, the Sher'Tul, were ''themselves'' Eldritch Abominations created by Amakthel expressly to ''conquer the world'']].

* DreamLand: The Solipist class operates under the assumption that Maj'Eyal is the dream of a god, and that [[SharedDrean mortals contribute to this dream in some way.]] Solipists, being supposedly aware that reality is AllJustADream can manipulate it by using dream logic "IRL."

* UnwinnableByInsanity: