The Crows Who Stole Christmas - December 2022 Release Video (Patreon)

Happy Holiday Season, dear Heroes Infinite Subscriber!

And so it is that time of the year when we all want to think about cuddling in front of a fire, sipping hot chocolate or mulled wine while snow falls outside and Christmas is getting nearer.

But what if there was a dark power lurking at the edge of Christmas, ready to destroy its magic?

A Dark Tale of Christmas

When we ran a poll about what you guys wanted for the December release, a big majority was focusing on a dark version of Christmas. There were also many asks for more or less obvious references to pagan traditions, eastern, northern, and celtic mythologies. There were also quite a lot of requests for druidic characters and woodland creatures.

So, I thought: “Why not take all of these ideas and build something with that?”

And this is how the story and characters of this month's release were born. In all traditions, Christmas is linked to the Winter Solstice when the days finally start to get longer again, as the sun starts its ascension towards summer and the rebirth of life.

But what if, somewhere in the farthest reaches of Winter, there was a dark force waiting for the sun to be at its all-time low to kill the hope of new life once and for all and make sure that Winter never ends?

This is how I came up with the idea of a crow-worshiping force that would rush through fields of ice and snow to come and steal Christmas forever.

The Main Characters

As you can see in the video, some of these characters are shamans and warriors worshiping these dark gods and some are magical entities that embody some unique traits of a dark Christmas mythology.

Shill is a dark spirit who appears to people who have lost their ways amidst frozen forests/ Shining a warm light from her lantern, she guides them to the welcoming warmth of her magnificent fur coat and the comfort of having found their way again. But she is just a Siren of the Frost, and all this warmth is just an illusion and her prey, hoping for comfort, will disrobe and fall in her arms just to die in a frozen stupor.

The Ankou is a French character from Brittany’s legends. He would fit perfectly in our dark tale of Winter. It is said that on the last day of the year, the very last person to die before midnight will become the Ankou for the following year, turned into some sort of undead spirit, he will be tasked to gather the souls of all the people who will die in the coming year. And so he shall roam the land in his cart, piling up dead bodies as the year passes on.

Krempess, the Whipping Father (Père Fouettard in French) is also a French traditional character. He is somehow the French version of Krampus. He is supposed to come on the night of Christmas and distribute sacks of black coal instead of gifts to people who behaved badly, and to whip them throughout the night… He is, in a way, the negative version of Santa Claus.

Karcass, the Ghost of Christmas Lost is of course inspired by Dickens’ story of Scrooge and the three Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. But here, I thought that we would have a much darker Ghost, the one that would come to remind you what it could be if Christmas was lost forever and there would never be hope for the renewal of life.

Finally, I thought it would be fun to have Santa’s Daughters turned completely chaotic and psycho, riding a sleigh pulled by something that would feel like a corrupted version of Santa’s Reindeers.

Scenery and complementary ideas

Now, put all this in the amazing Dead Christmas Forest that we designed for you and you can build a very one-of-a-kind Christmas/Shamanic/Chaotic adventure.

And, of course, if you like this set and would like to expand it, you should definitely take a look at our  Land of the Frost release, as well as our Vikings Gods and Heroes and our Winter Fairies releases. You’ll find plenty of stunning troops and characters to build your very own unique dark winter tales.

So sit back and enjoy this amazing video in full screen. Then please make sure to tell us and share with the community which are your favourites and what you’ll be using them for.