Thanks for the reminder Arch. I've updated the first post now. The only thing which is not updated is the faction diagram with new images.
Sounds are another thing which will need to be completed at some point. I will need a variety of voices for that.
I've always wondered why you made this, because Magic is already dark..........
Magic isn't really overtly evil. Destructive, sure, but not necessarily evil. Some people might think of Tech vs. Magic as good vs. evil, but I think of it as more like order vs. chaos. Technology is predictable and follows a set of rules (i.e. physics), whereas magic is more of an intangible force, unpredictable and chaotic. Just my take on things.
I think the whole Tech/Magic thing was an interesting take in medieval Europe. Some pockets of people
literally believed the Devil lived in the forest. This is actually the irony of the Salem witch trials, because the Puritans were so scared of the evil in the forest, but there was evil all around them (and to be clear, not necessarily in the form of witches) !
The first time I played a real game in Glest, I had my speakers turned way up, and I sent a couple archers into the forest to attack my enemy. When I neared the Magic base, two Battlemages emerged. It freaked me out! The sounds they made were so
unnatural. This, to a lesser extent, is a simulation of what medieval people were afraid of: gatherings in the forest. Some of these gatherings were called
Sabboths]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_the_Year]Sabboths (sabbats). Sabbaths usually involved dancing, singing, and inappropriate sexual conduct. And they were sometimes also worshiping archaic deities, like Dionysus. This, by the way, was how the Church declared all of these things evil (sexual promiscuity, dancing in the woods, magic, summoning, etc.) Remember, though, that forest people weren't the only ones who tried necromancy. I doubt you would call Jesus evil for breathing life into
Lazarus of Bethany.
Anyways, the idea of Dark Magic is that what Magic is for Tech (scary and mysterious), Dark Magic should be this for Magic. Dark Magic is the evil twin of Magic.