Featured prominently in the center of the Torment of Velious expansion artwork is a familiar foe, Rallos Zek.
The latest episode of The EverQuest Show talks to Tom Tobey about rebuilding Rallos Zek and the struggles of a 20 year old game.
Rallos Zek, the god of war and also known as the “The Warlord,” is a critical character in the story of Norrath. He was one of the first gods to take an interest in Norrath, along with Tunare and Brell Serilis.
While a part of the original creation story of Norrath, Rallos Zek doesn’t officially appear in-game in EverQuest until the Planes of Power expansion (though you see his avatar in the Scars of Velious). He is the final end boss of the Plane of Tactics, and an opponent in Phase 5 of the Plane of Time.
For the 26th expansion for EverQuest, Torment of Velious, the Darkpaw Games team was tasked with rebuilding and reanimating the god of war.
The new model was created by Dave Brown, artist for EverQuest and EverQuest II.
Tom Tobey, animator for EverQuest and EverQuest II, was tasked with reanimating the god. And it’s not his first run-in with Rallos.
I’ve animated him for EQ1 and then I redid him in EQ2. Then EQ1 needed some changes just this past year.
Those files don’t exist anymore. The files for the animation and the model. They’re lost somewhere.
So we rebuilt him again. But we rebuilt him, trying to emulate how he was in EQ1. The model is bad-ass. It’s really great.
Dave Brown posted some screen shots and an interactive model of Rallos Zek, on his ArtStation profile.
The newer Rallos Zek model has more more detail than the previous Ralloz Zek model from years ago.
The ogres, giants, orcs and goblins all owe their existence to the god of war, as he created them to populate and conquer the lands of Norrath.
He is the “father’ to several lesser Zeks, including his sons Tallon and Vallon Zek. He also takes on the role of rather to Rolfron Zek, god of the kobolds, and Sullon Zek, his adoptive daughter.
The EverQuest Show 