Hello everyone!

Last week, I shared with our supporter  some of the progress on Archie's work composing the new song for Kalyskah's main menu. He's finished, and I want you to listen to it, keeping in mind that this song tells the story of the game's prologue!

It might feel like it starts and ends suddenly, but that's intentional because, thinking about the Main Menu, we asked him to make it as a loop.

Thank you very much, and take a look at more of his work, he's AMAZING!
https://www.instagram.com/archiebentoncomposer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BR4H4rfjS0

The way Kalyskah would describe Ilreth would probably be:

Ilreth is an extremely loyal person, but also completely fanatic when it comes to protecting the ones she cares about, having no moral compass to stop her from doing the most heinous crimes if it's to save a beloved one.

So let’s dive into the life of one of the most complicated and morally ambiguous characters in Kalyskah lore:

The high-elf Ilreth Baequianea was born in the kingdom of Danú in the year 10,860 Before Fionn, according to the Dragonian Calendar of her world. Meaning that she wasn’t much more than 300 years old when the Prologue story happens in Kalyskah.

For centuries, her family coexisted with a nearby human village. The elves often hosted extravagant balls, grand dinners, and lively festivals, offering the humans a glimpse of their opulence and sharing moments of joy. Despite this generosity, the humans harboured deep-seated envy towards the elves' wealth and seemingly eternal lives. One night, consumed by greed, they conspired to raid the estate. In their desperation to seize the elves' riches, they murdered Ilreth's parents.

Still a young girl, Ilreth was spared thanks to the intervention of an elvish count named Elrand, who was visiting her parents' home that night. The king of Danú exacted harsh punishment upon the humans responsible, reclaiming the lands they had stolen. However, there was little left for Ilreth to return to. The castle she called home had been reduced to ashes, and though she inherited a significant amount of gold, it could not replace her family or the lifestyle she had lost.

Elrand took Ilreth under his care, bringing her to Lindara, the elven capital in the neighbouring kingdom of Bourges. The pain of her loss festered into a deep hatred for humanity and in Lindara, a city where humans were often treated as little more than servants, labourers, or even slaves, only deepened her disdain. To Ilreth, humans were a flawed and inferior race, unworthy of the generosity her family had shown.

Amidst the grandeur of Lindara, Ilreth discovered a passion for magical artefacts. She became particularly fascinated by the Iathori Crystalas, powerful gems that fuelled the city’s magical energy, and the many wonderful and enchanted items crafted by elven artisans.

Despite her growing disdain for humankind, she enjoyed the company of dwarves and other beings.  While their lifespans were brief compared to the near-eternity granted to elves, their perspectives and ingenuity would instil her to ask questions and continue her amateurish researches about such objects.

Adulthood and another taste of human greed

When Ilreth came of age, she used her inheritance, combined with additional support from Elrand, to enrol in Lindara's Magic Academy. There, she refined her skills and advanced swiftly as an artificer, blending the structured knowledge of the academy with the practical insights she had gained from dwarven craftsmen.

After completing her initial studies, Ilreth quickly earned a reputation as a rising talent among artificers, crafting artefacts such as her own gauntlet and amulet, which shielded her from physical harm. However, her ambition extended far beyond simple mastery. She aspired to join the University’s prestigious inner circle, a position reserved for those whose research redefined the boundaries of their craft. To achieve this, Ilreth needed to produce groundbreaking work that would surpass all expectations. Despite her disdain for humanity, she recognised the necessity of venturing beyond Lindara's familiar confines. Setting aside her pride in favour of intellectual curiosity, she began travelling the wider world, seeking inspiration and knowledge wherever it could be found, even in human lands.

In the year of 10.560 BF, her travels led her to the kingdom now known as Three Wolves, where she became embroiled in the devastating conflict sparked by a red dragon named Vassiris. Raised by silver dragons and accepted as one of their own, Vassiris seemed destined for a peaceful life among his adoptive kin. However, his story took a dark turn when he fell in love with a human. Ambitious and power-hungry, a group of humans sought to exploit the dragon’s blood for a ritual. Using his lover as bait, they lured Vassiris into a trap, successfully completing their ritual at the cost of the human’s life. Though Vassiris escaped, the betrayal shattered him.

Grimm’Arch, the silver dragon who had raised Vassiris and served as the leader of the dragons, urged him to forgive the humans and move on. Enraged by the plea for mercy, Vassiris turned on his adoptive father, killing Grimm in a fit of fury. His actions ignited a war that would fracture the unity of the dragons. Vassiris declared his intention to enslave all non-draconic races—humans, elves, and any other beings he deemed lesser. In response, Grimm's son, Bill’Arch, rose to challenge Vassiris, leading a faction of dragons who sought to protect the humanoid races from annihilation.

The escalating conflict divided the dragonkind into bitter factions, with some supporting Vassiris' vendetta and others aligning with Bill’Arch and the silver dragons who championed coexistence. The chaos engulfed the lands of Danú, spreading destruction across kingdoms. Witnessing the devastation and recognising the futility of remaining amidst such strife, Ilreth seized the opportunity to flee. Cloaking her departure in the guise of furthering her research, she left the continent entirely, driven by both fear and ambition. Her journey ultimately led her to Thulgatha, a land steeped in ancient ruins, forgotten knowledge, and artefacts of immense power, where she hoped to uncover secrets that would solidify her place among the greatest artificers of her age.

Upon arriving in Thulgatha, Ilreth was startled to discover that the majority of the population was human. Despite their greed and what she regarded as the filthiness of their ways, she grudgingly acknowledged that they were far more civilised and technologically advanced than the people of her homeland. During her travels, she encountered a peculiar man who called himself Michael the Wise. Unlike most humans, Michael possessed an unusual awareness of time, akin to the elves' eternal sensitivity to its passage. He understood the value of patience and craftsmanship, qualities that earned Ilreth’s respect.

Michael revealed that he worked for a woman named Kalyskah Karnstein, the owner of a university in Thulgatha. He invited Ilreth to collaborate on his research into the Iathori Crystalas, or as the people of Thulgatha called them, "Star Crystals." During her time there, Ilreth uncovered truths about the crystals, learning that they originated from the stars and that they were tied to a plane called The Primal Earth. However, her work was frequently disrupted by the tumultuous environment of the university. Most shocking was the discovery that Kalyskah and Michael, along with many of the university’s other members, were vampires. She had long talks with a vampire named Laver, a fellow elf about the stars and elven origins, but back then, they were still strangers.

Ilreth was offered the opportunity to become a vampire herself but refused. As an elf, her immortality rendered such a transformation unnecessary, and she found the idea unappealing. Nonetheless, she was unfazed by the cruelty of the vampires and even used her time among them to release some of her lingering hatred toward humans, particularly when the vampires sacrificed them to a beast called Gremmnoch.

Drawing on the knowledge she gained during her time with the vampires, Ilreth discovered that the Star Crystals could be used to travel between worlds. With Michael’s assistance, she devised an elaborate method to harness their power for interdimensional travel, testing it first on animals. Guided by her unrelenting curiosity, she eventually learned that all worlds are mere reflections of an original plane known as Primal Earth.

Obsessed with understanding how the crystals connected to this first world, Ilreth began organising an expedition. However, her plans were thrown into chaos when Kalyskah’s university…… Oh, sorry about stopping here. You’ll learn what happens next in the prologue 😉 

Ilreth wields her powers intertwining her intellect with subtle supernatural abilities, that even though aren’t match to the innate magic vampires have, still allows her to be a threat to her foes. Her mastery over crafting artefacts ensures that, planning ahead, she is usually prepared for any situation. Each artefact she creates reflects her magic’s visceral nature, bleeding with primal energy and exuding a mixture of elven and dwarven craft. She never leaves home without four key artefacts: one for protection, one for active violence, one for escape, and a fourth tailored to her current needs.

Her signature weapon is a scythe filled with runes, enchanted to drain the vitality of her foes, allowing her to fuel her magic without risk. Though not skilled with weapons, her unnatural dexterity and quick reflexes make her a formidable combatant. Despite her capability to handle threats, Ilreth prefers to avoid combat altogether. Her cadence of speech and  somewhat diplomatic approach when she recognizes someone is a threat, helps her resolve situations before violence becomes necessary. 

Ilreth’s approach to conflict has evolved over time. Back when she started studying with Amara, the Enlightened of the Storm of Death, she used enchanted gems to reanimate corpses as zombies. But as necromancy grew politically dangerous, she adapted her methods. Now, when brute force becomes unavoidable, she crafts stone golems using the same principles of adding a crystal as their core. 

Her innate elven magic, boosted by her studies as an artificer, allows her to transform objects and environments to her advantage by hitting whatever she wants to transmute with her tools. Her artefacts amplify her abilities, creating subtle manipulations and environmental traps that leave enemies at a disadvantage.

Her strategies are calculated and layered, focusing on anticipating threats and planning ahead so she can precisely manipulate the outcomes. Ilreth views conflict not as a test of strength but as a game of strategy to dominate the battlefield. Her ruthlessness fuels her work, ensuring her allies are prepared and her enemies are outmatched.

I hope you enjoyed this reading, and if you'd like, leave in the comments what character do you want to learn moe about next!

We all wish you a Happy Christmas and hope your dreams come true, the same way you are helping our dream to come reality!
This year brought some major setbacks as we transitioned the game to Unreal 5. The lesson we learned this year was patience. As things started falling apart in Unreal 5, we took a deep breath and assessed what was wrong. Realising we were building a house on sand, we stepped back and started reworking from the basics. We conducted countless tests, implemented new ideas, and explored the technologies that would work versus those that wouldn’t. Then, we went back and redid features using what we’d learned. The result is that, despite some issues still present in version 0.26.1, it’s probably one of the most stable versions we’ve ever released. We see problems like armour clipping through clothing or controllers not behaving as intended, but they no longer scare us. We understand now that the foundation was flawed, and that’s exactly what we’ve been fixing.
We managed to hire an amazing level designer who guided us in improving performance by reworking our shaders, adjusting the level of detail of our assets, and implementing technologies to load the world in smaller chunks.

We also brought on someone new who will be working on different variations of Kalyskah’s soundtrack next year. Our programmer has created a branch from the main project to rework the base classes. On the animation side, we travelled to another area here in Brazil to motion capture the cutscene, and we’re now polishing it using Unreal’s proper workflow. This involves a rig that allows us to animate cutscenes directly in the engine, rather than constantly bouncing back and forth with Blender.
And there’s so much more. I can’t express how happy I am to see that, through all this tortuous path, you stayed by our side, offering feedback and ideas for the game. Many of your suggestions have been noted and will be implemented once the refactoring is complete.
As we finish reworking the game’s foundation, we’ll return to implementing new features and building the storyline bridge between the prologue and the legacy content. This will reveal what happened to Kalyskah’s temple and how it ended up in the state seen in the latest demo.
Thank you so much for your support! Kalyskah is more than a game to us—it’s a project we’ve poured our hearts into because it’s the medieval vampire-erotic game we’ve always wanted to play. Having people like you backing us and helping to make this dream a reality gives us the strength to push through sleepless nights and endless research—with a smile on our faces!
Once again, have a wonderful Christmas and an amazing New Year!