After reading the other user's inspiring suggestions, I'd like to input my own speculation about each possible combination, having in mind that most probably, only a handful of new additions will ever be implemented. I think that some would be more interesting than others, benefiting from having a more different potential play style than the base game will offer. Also, there is plenty of room for interpretation on where a specific theme should fall in regard to its composing affinities. This is not a dogmatic, but a speculative chart. Some of this you will recognise form the previous suggestions, which I've shamelessly incorporated.
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- Harmonious (Order + Chaos) - Following the Gray Guard specialisation of AoW3, this would be a society that focuses on universal balance and the cleansing of magic. Would excel in dispelling magic, and get bonuses for staying in a neutral path. Probably skewed towards melee and defensive strategies. Could be Buddhist monk/ascetic themed.
- Theocractic (Order + Astral) - The Theocrat class made culture. A focus on rigid clerical hierarchy, sacred magic, and good allegiance. Improved support and magic units. Picked if you want to double down on the angelic theme.
- Mechanist (Order + Materium) - The Dreadnought made culture. A focus on machines, steampunk and strong aversion to magic. Improved ranged and tech units. Would need something unique to avoid overlap with Industrious.
- Imperial (Order + Shadow) - The definitive pick for the overlord theme of subjugating everyone else. A focus on vassals, morale control and slave workforce/soldiers. Could benefit from multiracial armies and expendable units.
- Anarchic (Chaos + Chaos) - The most unruly of the combinations, they would focus on extreme aggression, maybe RNG and melee units. Clashes with the city building aspect of the game, so it would probably require too many unique mechanics to be thematically interesting.
- Wild (Chaos + Astral) - Wild Magic specialisation made culture. Probably more viable than anarchic. Focus on the boons and dangers of magic, with a summoning and rng focus. Could benefit from having extremely diverse armies. Themed around creation and destruction. Magical and ranged focused.
- Mercantile (Chaos + Materium) - Gold, gold, gold! A society that focuses on income generation, trade deals and hiring mercenaries, with improved irregular units and sellswords. They could be able to buy allegiances of both neutrals, bandit camps and other empires.
- Erradicator (Chaos + Shadow) - A society that is hellbent on destroying everything by any means possible. War and subterfuge are equally valid. They should be destructive, and not be interested in vassalage. Think the Swarm that consumes. Typical world-ending threat that won't even engage in diplomacy. Probably melee focused.
- Artificer (Astral + Materium) - The magically inclined Mechanist counterpart. Focused on enchantment and creating magical weapons, buildings and Wonders. They see value in the synergy between science and magic. This is the culture you pick if you want the strongest equipment in the game. Emphasis on melee and support. I think of runes, golems and the like.
- Animist (Astral + Nature) - The culture with ancient totemic/spiritist values. They strive to please and coexist with the magical and natural elements of their environment. Focus on magic summoning and support. Could have an easier time requesting help from magically-inclined neutral parties on the map.
- Occult (Astral + Shadow) - The secret society/dark cult culture. Obsessed with strong, ancient and dangerous magic, could have bonuses for research and more events for discovering ancient magic/weapons. With a focus for schemes in the world map, and debuffs and status effects during combat.
- Nomadic (Materium + Nature) - A culture that values material things but not at the expense of freedom and nature. Yet another culture that would require strong investment in mechanics, but would be extremely flexible. Can move cities around and has an easier time exploring and moving on the map. Temporary bonus resources after settling, which diminishes over time and creates incentives for moving again.
- Rogue (Materium + Shadow) - Good old misdirection, lies and schemes. A society where the most cunning sits at the top. A more refined and nuanced version of the barbarian despoilers. Focus on DoTs and ranged during combat. Easier time manipulating others during diplomacy.
- Primal (Nature + Nature) - Classical druid/nature loving society. Focus on animals and evolution, taming neutral beasts, and with bonuses for protecting/allying neutral points of interest on the map. Has a harder time building things, but they are carbon footprint free and 100% organic.
- Corrupted (Nature + Dark) - The evil take on the primal culture. A culture that wants to extend their corruptive influence over the land, and sees such corruption as the natural state instead. Think infections, poison and maybe even mutation, so something like Xenoplague secret tech from Planetfall.
Now, some of this may actually overlap with as of yet unrevealed tomes, but maybe that's fine for the developers, or maybe they could try to make these cultures as generic as possible, to serve only as a framework that gets expanded upon adding new tomes. Regardless, I think that it wouldn't be difficult for them to come up with many new viable combinations of affinities, so I can't wait to see what potential expansions might add.
In any case, I'd love to see the exploration of asymmetric mechanics whenever possible, or ones that shy away from simple % changes, as my ideal would be that each culture pushes you to play a bit differently both on the overworld and during combat maps.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
See you around here.
Edited for improved clarity, and some typos.
