Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE)’s Tucson studio, formerly the Octopi, LLC development team, announced the ninth PoxNora expansion, adding exciting new features like player avatars, 70 new runes, and a bevy of new gameplay mechanics and options. Development work on this expansion for the popular online strategy game, titled Ancient Awakenings, is well underway, with release scheduled for Feb. 24, 2009.

 “With Ancient Awakenings, we’re bringing long-awaited features to players of PoxNora,” said Dan Kopycienski, director of development for SOE Tucson. “We’re expanding the rune dock, adding a ton of options for both our free and paying players, and we’re also adding an avatar mechanic that turns players’ shrines into strategic units, so they can turn the tide of a game going awry.”

In Ancient Awakenings, prophecies from thousands of years past speak of ancient warriors who would come down to aid their subjects in battle. These mighty demigods, sealed in stone, awaited release into our world. Each nation would see an ancient warrior revived, and with each revival, that nation would receive powerful allies. The titans, the elements, the heroes and the guardians would clash, bringing cities to the ground and raising cities to the sky. All of this would lead to something terrible. The prophet said that a silence would swallow warriors and Nora, with entire nations slipping into a dark void. Perhaps this fate can be averted. Time will have its say, as it always does.

Ancient Awakenings Features:

New Runes – Ancient Awakenings features more than 70 new runes to collect, including 40 champion runes across 26 different races and eight classes. Ancient Awakenings also introduces the “Undertortoise,” a champion rune inspired by the PoxNora player community.

Meet the Avatars – Ancient Awakenings introduces the “avatar” game mechanic. Player shrines can now transform into strategic units that gain multiple levels of experience.

Rune Dock Enhancements – The default rune dock will be increased from 20 runes to 30 runes, allowing users to create more versatile battlegroups. Rune docks will also be sortable, giving players an easier way to find the rune they are looking for.

New Campaign – Ancient Awakenings features a new campaign consisting of four encounters to help introduce the avatars and their story.

New Trial Options – New players can choose a preconstructed battlegroup to play for no additional cost. These battlegroups cannot be traded, but, for the first time, each champion in the battlegroup will be able to gain up to 50 experience points, allowing new players to experiment with champion upgrades. At any time, these players can purchase the deck for $9.99 (plus applicable taxes) and retain any experience and upgrades they have earned.

Ancient Awakenings will be available on Feb. 24 at www.PoxNora.com.