SotA Translated to German First! New EDELMANN House Tier Available! Grace Period Available for Duration of Quo Vadis Conference This Week!

In celebration of the thirteenth annual Quo Vadis German game conference, Portalarium announces that German will be the first non-English language supported by Shroud of the Avatar!

Richard Garriott is delivering a keynote speech at this year’s Qua Vadis conference, and as a special nod to our German backers, SotA introduces a new pledge tier, the “Edelmann” Housing Pledge Tier, which includes a special German village house, the unique, in-game title of “Edelmann,” a unique Deutsche Dogge pet (or should it be a Dachshund…we’ll let the community decide), and a special ability to brew (and teach) a unique German beer that adheres to the Reinheitsgebot, or “German Beer Purity Law” of 1516. SotA will engage the community to submit and vote on visual images for the German Village house, with the team selecting the most popular image to integrate into the game.

In conjunction with the German game conference, we are extending the grace period for the original Kickstarter Pledge Tiers and prices through the rest of this week! We’re also adding an entirely new pledge tier designed specifically for our German community! Check out these awesome rewards:

$550 EDELMANN TIER – The Edelmann Village House Tier contains the following:

  • INCLUDES ALL THE REWARDS FROM DEVELOPER TIER
  • Your in-game avatar will receive the honorific title of “Edelmann” to be proudly displayed for all to see (title visibility controlled by player)
  • Rent free, Village Level House Deed, transferable between players
  • A special, commission free Vendor!
  • An upscale, German Edelmann’s home (German home styles to be submitted and voted on by community)
  • A waterfront, German-style Cabana, sitting on stilts, in the water, attached to your Village property by a bridge (**Village waterfront lots available to Village, Town, or City property deed holders; higher value pledges have lot selection priority over lower value pledges**)
  • Unique Beer Brewing Ability adhering to the German beer purity law, Reinheitsgebot.  Only you will be able to teach this unique beer formula to others!
  • An animated, German Automaton house decoration (we are inspired by the Rathaus-Glockenspiel in Munich)
  • Unique, in-game, Deutsche Dogge house pet (or maybe a Dachshund)
  • Special Founder Level plaque as a digital, in-game decoration for your house
  • Printed Shroud of the Avatar novel signed by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott!
  • Printed Village Property Deed, hand signed by Richard “Lord British” Garriott

There will also be an all digital version of the Edelmann tier available for those that do not want physical goods shipped to them:

$545 EDELMANN – ALL DIGITAL TIER – Contains only the digital rewards of the Edelmann Tier



26 Comments


  1. Gunga Din

    Sounds really cool. First Bayern and Borussia Dortmund destroy the Spanish Teams and now they get a German Style house. Its good to be German today :)

    I think this is a great idea to invite a particular community. Maybe we can get more countries involved and make villages really interesting.


  2. SoftRunner

    I attended your Keynote today in Berlin. Great talk and I as a German think it’s a great idea to have some new rewards with German flavor of course. However $550 is quite a bit too much for me to handle.

    1. uk_ukuk_uk

      Yes… was great. I also had the chance to (video)-interview him… and I have to agree with you, 550$ are way to much




  5. Robert ReiseRobert Reise

    Nice update! Our friends in Germany have been wonderful supporters. They deserve it!

    1. EriadorEriador

      I also think that its great, but finally I dont know wich method of “lenguage” selection are they using.

      1. EriadorEriador

        I mean, if they are using the statistics of the countries of our pledges… I’m supporting korean!? :O


  6. FireLotusFireLotus Post author

    An update from Gorn!

    Hey Everyone – Dallas “Gorn” Snell here, Executive Producer for SotA. The team has been discussing these very important issues that all of you have surfaced since we published the latest update. Richard has been linked in to these discussions even though it is 2:00 am in Berlin where he is a keynote speaker at the Quo Vadis Game Conference. We greatly value all of you, the early Kickstarter backers, that have made it possible for us create Shroud of the Avatar! And as befits your early-backer stakeholder value to this project, all backers during the 30 day campaign that concluded on April 7 will have priority property selection over any and all backers that came after April 7. Additionally, all tiers above the new Edelmann tier (Knights, Barons, etc.) will inherit the rewards from both the Edelmann tier and the Citizen tier! All of you that backed us during the Kickstarter campaign are the VIP’s making this game possible, and we can never thank you enough! You have our deepest, heartfelt appreciation for your support, and ongoing collaboration to make Shroud of the Avatar the best game it can be!


  7. KambriusKambrius

    Congratulations to the German speaking fans. I do think, historically speaking, the Japanese should really get some love from SotA, just because they took Ultima fandom to a whole other level in the past.


  8. DuffreyDuffrey

    I’ve backed during kickstarter campaign and plan to upgrade to a house-tier (Citizen, Edelmann or Knight). Will l have the same priority as a backer that pledged that amount at once during kickstarter campaign?



  10. Shades2585

    WOW If I had the money to upgrade to that I would. Maybe when the “layaway” idea gets going I could. Until then…

    I lived in Germany for several years and greatly enjoyed it. I loved the half-timbered houses and the painted Bavarian houses.
    Here is a google link to images for any who don’t know what I’m talking about.

    https://www.google.com/search?q=bavarian+house&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Jjp5Ub7jGobe8ASgi4DADw&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=918#imgrc=_

    Will the book be in German or will we be able to choose the language? I would prefer to choose.

    I think a German Shepperd would be better.

    I think that different regions on the map should have access to different styles of house from history. A German, Italian, Spanish, etc. If you are not in that region you can pay more to have someone come over from that region to build it.


  11. Stoniar

    if I am an early backer that upgrades now to the edelmann tier, does that mean that I lose the priority property selection? I like the idea of brewing a unique german beer.

    And as befits your early-backer stakeholder value to this project, all backers during the 30 day campaign that concluded on April 7 will have priority property selection over any and all backers that came after April 7.




  14. Helge

    Greetings from Cologne/Germany.

    The Edelmann tier sounds cool, but 550$ ? Sorry I guess nearly no one would ever pay so much for ONE PC Game.

    German Dogge fits.. Dachshund ? Never seen one in Germany.

    My suggestion:
    German Shepherd or as we say: Deutscher Schaeferhund (ae=ä)
    If you take a large one, the Edelmann would feel like the “Starks Childs” in Game of Thrones ;-)

    1. Duke Crachazz

      You’ve never seen a “Dackel” in Germany? Might want to open your eyes when you walk outside lol :P

      And $550 is not for “ONE PC GAME”. You will receive all 5 future parts of SoTA + all the in-game swag, and finally your pledge is not for buying the game but more to help the developer financially to create the best game possible…

      So it’s more a donation, for which you receive all future games/episodes/parts of SoTA, in-game swag and LB’s undying gratitude. ;o)


  15. baron corisco ☆ MGT470☆ the parched cangaceirobaron corisco ☆ MGT470☆ the parched cangaceiro

    i hope they support portuguese and or spanish in the future as most brazilians don’t speak english very well..



  17. SinclairSinclair

    @Helge Dachshund is a “Dackel”. A small thin dog with a high of 25 cm ^^

    @Portalarium
    Please, no Dachshund. I think a German dogge fits better in a medieval environment and this kind of animal is more impressive than a Dachshund (with a body high of around 70-80cm in real life). A Dachshund looks funny, but for a 500$ Tier i would like to have a German Dogge :-)

    Btw. a dogge is one of the oldest known dog types and you can follow their history back to the ancient Assyrian (4000 B.C.).

    1. SinclairSinclair

      + It looks like Richard Gariott has been paused and influenced in bavaria :-) I know they love their Dachshund for hunting, but i think his impressions are not representative for the entire German country. The bavarians have its own culture – which i like – and their culture is known spread all over the world, but as i wrote it is not representative for Germany.


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