Creating a Faction

[Admin]

Players start with:
- City containing 1 District (Random Resource)
- 1 Farming village (Good Soil) or fishing village (fishing grounds)
- 2 villages (random resources)
- 15 gold
- 15 divinity
- 3 Population
- 6 Unit Templates (Land or Ship)(Levy Templates are free)

All random resources are based on terrain. If you start in the mountains you'll have a high change of finding stone, gold, or iron. Start on the coast and you'll be likely to find fish or whales.

Players also have 15 Buy Points with which they can buy additional starting resources for their factions. Late players have the option of requesting extra Buy Points to make up for lost time. Points can be spent on the following items:

Additional Hero
7 Buy Points to begin with an additional Hero

Improve Hero Rank (+1 rank)
5 Buy Points to give a hero another skill rank

Additional District
7 Buy Points to begin with an additional district

Additional Village
5 Buy Points to begin with an additional village

"Locked" Resource
Specify what resource you want available at a given settlement. Your choice should make some kind of geographic sense (no wood resource in the desert please).
5 Buy Points

Extra Divine Power
12 Buy points to begin with an extra power

Extra Unit Template
2 Buy Points

Palisade
4 Buy Points

Construct
May purchase a Temple, Mint, Ironworks, Stoneworks, Trading House, Trade Port, Sawmill, Barracks or Naval Port if you have the space.
3 Buy Points

Extra Gold/Divinity
2 gold or Divinity for every buy point.

Extra Population/Stone/Iron/Wood
1 stone, wood, Iron, or population for every buy point.

Negative Buys
You can pick one negative buy if you'd like. These are very useful to moderators as ways to cause drama and pull your kingdom into the story and action. These are of course starting problems. You may eliminate them or develop others through roleplaying as the forum progresses.

Enemy Deity: Some deity hates your faction and deity and will stop at almost nothing to destroy them. They will often provide blessings and incentives to your enemies to try and plot to bring about your destruction.
+5 Points

Flawed Leader: Your starting Hero has a randomly selected negative trait.
+2 Points

Enemy Hero: Thee is a great Hero and enemy of your people who made it to the new world somehow. They wish for your destruction, and will do whatever they can to cause your downfall. They will serve your enemies and try to influence your neighbors whenever possible.
+3 Points

Internal Unrest: Heretics, dissenters, or rebels make up a sizeable portion of your population. They want to change the way things work and overthrow the current government, and will do whatever they can to cause trouble.
+3 Points

Enemy Faction: There's an NPC enemy faction (usually a relatively small one) that is your enemy. They dislike you and will seek alliances and means to destroy you or protect themselves from you.
+ 4 Points

Here There be Monsters: Demons or Monsters have either followed you or already infested the area where you settled. They will threaten travelers and explorers, attack undefended settlements and make life dangerous until dealt with.
+ 2 Points (Unintelligent)
+ 4 Points (Intelligent)

[Admin]

Creating a Faction

RESOURCES

Stone
Used for major constructs and some settlements such as walls and fortresses

Iron
Required for some weapons and armor

Wood
Required for ships as well as some constructs and military components

Food
Necessary for population growth

Population
Used for settlement growth and unit recruitment.

Gold
Money. Used for everything

Luxuries
Boosts the effective power of your trade routes.
+1 Gold from trade routes for every Luxury Good you control.

Not all resource sites coincide directly with the resource above. Resource Sites include:
Sacred Site (+1 Divinity/turn)
Fertile Ground (+6 Food/turn or +Luxury(Cash Crop))
Good Ground (+4 Food/turn)
Difficult Ground (+2 Food/turn)
Fishing Waters (+4 Food/turn)
Sparse Waters (+1 Food/turn)
Gold Ore(+3 Gold/turn)
Silver Ore (+2 Gold/turn)
Pearls, Game, Gemstones, etc. (+Luxury Goods)
Fine Stone(+1 Stone/turn)
Iron Ore (+1 iron/turn)
Lumber (+1 wood/turn)
Coral Reef (+luxury Coral, danger of large ships grounding)
Whale Route (+2 Food/turn, +luxury Whale Ivory)

POPULATION GROWTH
Every Village and City District consumes 1 point of food/turn.
8 points of food converts to 1 population.

SETTLEMENTS

Village
- Provides 2 Regiments of Levies if raised
- generates +1 gold/turn in taxes
- harvests attached resource
- Every Village costs 10 Gold and 2 Population

City
- generates +3 gold/turn in taxes for each district
- Has 3 Construct slots in each district
- Each district provides 3 Regiments of Levies if raised
- harvests attached resources
- Each district costs (5 gold, 1 stone and 1 population) X (the number of total districts in your Faction.)

DEFENSES

Outpost
A small outpost with wooden walls and basic defenses such as a ditch and spikes. Excellent for holding back raiders and surprise attacks, but will not stand up to large armies or siege weapons.
6 Gold, 1 Wood to construct
-1 Gold/Turn upkeep
Garrison: 200
+2 Military Slot

Fortress
A fortress with stone walls and a center keep. The walls house barracks and other infrastructure necessary to support a strong garrison and other forces.
10 Gold, 2 Stone to construct
-2 Gold/Turn upkeep
Garrison: 500
+4 Military Slots

Stronghold
A great stronghold with enormous stone walls and strong towers mounted with siege weapons. A moat or ditch surrounds the walls, sometimes protected by an outer wooden palisade. Only a determined assault will take such a stronghold.
18 Gold, 6 Stone to construct
-3 Gold/Turn upkeep
Garrison: 1,000 (1 Regiment)
+6 Military Slots

[Admin]

RACES

Humans
-- Devout: Human Shrines and Temples provide an additional +1 Divinity/turn
-- Corruption: Human factions have a penalty defending against espionage actions.

Elves
-- Long Lived: All Elven heroes start with an additional rank.
-- Slow Lives: Elves gain population at 10 food instead of 8.

Dwarves
-- Stone-craft: Dwarves get +1 resources from all mines (gold, silver, iron, stone)
-- City folk: Dwarven villages cost 12 Gold and 3 Population to found.

Sylph
-- Fey Wings: Sylph units who wear Medium, Light or are Unarmored may fly short distances.
-- Iron Allergy: Sylph cannot build Ironworks constructs.

Orcs
-- War Fervor: Orc units have a significant morale bonus in combat.
-- land-bound: Orcs cannot recruit professional naval units.

Goblins
-- Populous: Goblins gain population at 6 food instead of 8
-- You're Whose God?: Using Divine Powers costs 1 more Divinity for goblin Deities.

Gnomes
-- Gnomish Trade: Gnomes gain +2 gold/turn from every trade route
-- Small Stature: gnomish soldiers have a penalty in combat.

Giants
-- Massive: Giants Move at heavy cavalry speeds on open terrain, are more resilient and have oversized weapons.
-- Resource intensive: Each city district has 2 construction slots instead of 3. Giants cannot use cavalry.

Centaurs
-- Horse-folk: All centaur units are automatically Light Cavalry and pay no cost for the component.
-- You call those feet?: Centaur cannot recruit infantry.

Avians
-- Avian Flight: Avian units who wear Leather or are Unarmored may fly regional distances.
-- Brittle Bones: Avians take greater casualties in battle and injured Heroes have a harder time recovering

Lizardfolk
-- Old Ones: The first Lizardfolk Hero begins with the Mage or Seer trait. Subsequent heroes have an improved chance of gaining the trait upon being recruited.
-- Primitive: Lizardfolk cannot build or maintain any siege weapons beyond Balista (including catapults and trebuchets) and cannot use the Catapult or Fire Siphon Ship components.

Merfolk
-- Semiaquatic: merfolk can swim long distances, fight as infantry in water, and exploit resources in shallow water.
-- Water-bound: Merfolk settlements must be built adjacent to rivers or bodies of water.

[Admin]

Each god has a Source and several Powers. A Source is a means by which a god gains or loses power.

Each deity has 1 Source, an alternate means through which they gain Divinity and power that can be used when a faction does not have the time to worship at leisure. Sources are usually doubled-edged swords, requiring some sort of risk or sacrifice in exchange for their power.

For example, the Valor source rewards players for taking risks and fighting against superior numbers in battle.

Each deity also has 4 Powers they may choose. Powers are ways your deity can influence the world and aid their followers, or smite their enemies.


SOURCES

Sacrifice - +2 Divinity for each point of population sacrificed. +5 Divinity for each rank and/or special ability a sacrificed hero has. Sacrifices may be from your own faction or prisoners from another, but sacrifices must be made at a temple.

Strife- +1 divinity for every 1,000 (or 1 population) deaths and injuries by violence where your faction is involved. Includes casualties taken by your faction and applies to all casualties, not just soldiers. +2 divinity for every enemy Construct you destroy.

Monument - Can construct 1 Monument in every city district for 2 Stone and 12 gold. Monuments grant +1 Divinity every turn, an additional +2 Divinity upon construction, and do not take up a construction slot in the district.

Festivity - For 5 Food and 15 Gold you may throw a Festival. Each festival grants +3 divinity and an additional +2 for every luxury good owned.

Valor - +1-3 divinity for fighting a battle (1 for a Skirmish, 2 for small battle, 3 for major battle), +2 divinity for every 1,000 troops the enemy outnumbers you by (if you are outnumbered).

Contemplation - Heroes get +2 Divinity/turn from Piety instead of +1/turn. All heroes may spend a turn Contemplating their Deity (doing nothing else) to gain another +2 Divinity.

Pilgrimage- +3 divinity when you discover a Sacred Site and +1 divinity/turn for every Sacred Site you control. Also gain +1 divinity/turn for every trade route you have with a faction that controls a Sacred Site.

Trickery - Gain +2 Divinity when you take a Subterfuge action that has potentially dangerous or unpleasant consequences for your Faction. Gain another +3 divinity if that action succeeds.

POWERS

Raise Dead - May raise 1,000 freshly-dead enemy units as a regiment of undead, with quality equal to what they had in life. If no fresh dead are available, you can raise old dead with generic Levy quality. Costs 3 divinity, plus 1 point of divinity per turn as upkeep.

Curse - Strike down an enemy hero with a crippling curse for 5 Divinity. The curse can be directly applied to an enemy hero if you can overpower the hero's deity. Alternately, the curse can be applied to an item or poison that strikes the hero when it is ingested or carried by them. Cursed heroes have -1 Rank in all categories and are significantly easier to kill or injure. Removing the Curse requires either a great quest or medicine (plot point), or a ritual costing 25 Divinity and putting the hero out of commission for 1 turn.

Phylactery Ritual - May turn heroes into Liches for 15 divinity. Lich heroes cannot be killed by mundane weapons, do not age and have improved combat prowess, but cannot be resurrected if killed.

Resurrection - May raise dead Heroes (or others, if you want) for 8 divinity, provided you have their corpse and they died within the last 3 turns.

Healing - Your deity spreads divine healing among your wounded. Costs 3 Divinity. If used directly after a battle, reduces casualties and accelerates the recovery of injured units. Can also be used to instantly heal a wounded hero, but will not replace a lost limb/heal sight/other major injuries.

Possession - Your deity possesses one of your Heroes for a short time, channeling enormous power through them. All of your Hero's ability ranks are doubled for a short time and gains godlike powers tied to their current traits. When the possession ends your Hero dies and cannot be resurrected.

Mindgrip - Your deity invades the mind of an enemy hero or regiment for a short time, causing them to obey your commands. More disciplined minds have a chance of resisting the effect. 5 Divinity.

Projection - Your god guides the spirit of one of your heroes out of their body. Your hero goes into an immobile trance while the spirit is free to roam. The spirit may visit any location under the god's influence or that the caster has seen, but which is not in another god's area of influence. The spirit may also (at notable risk) travel to the divine realm or attempt to possess the body of another person. Cost 3 Divinity.

Empower Champion - Temporarily empower a Hero with divine inspiration to aid them in their actions. The Hero you choose gains +[I] rank in a skill of your choice for every 10 Divinity you spend, up to +[I][I][I] at 30 Divinity. This bonus lasts 1 turn.

Blessing/Curse of Fertility - Bless your people with fertility and health or curse an enemy with sickness and loss for 8 Divinity. Blessing decreases food cost for population growth by 2 for 2 turns and counteracts the effects of disease. Cursing increases the food cost for population growth by 2 and has a 10% chance of causing a plague each turn it is in effect.

Bountiful/Poor Harvest - Bless or curse a region's harvest for 6 Divinity. When blessed all food-producing constructs and villages in the region provide +1 food for 3 turns. When cursed, they provide -1 food for 3 turns.

Blessing/Curse of Productivity - Bless or curse a settlement's resource production for 5 Divinity. If Blessed the settlement produces +1 of that resource for 3 turns. If cursed, it produces -1 of that resource for 3 turns.

Divine Forgery - Your smiths can enhance the power of artifacts by infusing them with divine power. For 10 gold, 4 iron, and 10 Divinity you may boost the power of a magical artifact, giving it another trait or rank and making it so that your deity always knows the location of said item. The additional power or trait is related to your deity's other powers and the purpose of the artifact. Spending extra Divinity may result in additional bonuses, but Divine Forgery may only be done once.

Weather Mastery - Your deity can command the weather in an area for a short time, clearing away clouds, causing rain and hail, shrouding the land in mist, evoking great winds, or even causing a thunderstorm to strike down enemies. The Divinity cost scales with area: a small area such as a battlefield or city costs 10 Divinity, while an entire region costs 25 Divinity.

Obscuring Mist - Your god shrouds a settlement in a magic mist, removing it from the mortal world for a short time. The settlement produces no taxes or supplies for the turn and units cannot move to or from it. Units who are already at or can see the settlement can still interact with it. Costs 12 Divinity to obscure a Village, or 12 Divinity per district to obscure a city (you must obscure an entire city for the power to take effect).

Earthrend - Rend and shape the earth with powerful tremors within a small area, creating fissures, pillars of earth or some other shape. Costs 6 Divinity.

Hellfire - A bolt of hellfire descends from the skies above, striking an area with burning flames. Costs 4 Divinity.

Unlock Potential - For 15 Divinity you may commit a ritual which allows your deity to enhance the potential in a HERO. Depending on your deity's nature and Hero's traits the Hero will gain ranks or traits that enhance something he is already skilled in. A Warrior may become incredibly strong, while a mage might gain new spells or more power. Spending more divinity may increase the boost your Hero gains, but Unlock Potential may only be used once for each Hero.

Scrying - For 3 Divinity your deity can give you an image of a Hero or Location you can name, revealing their actions and surroundings for a short time.

Speaking Vessels - Your deity provides you with a set of vessels that can be used to communicate. The vessels take the form of some object no smaller than a person's fist (such as an orb or mirror). All vessels are linked together and can be used for instantaneous and secure communication between them. You automatically have a vessel in any settlement with a temple or Sacred Site, and you can create additional vessels to carry for 3 Divinity per vessel.

Divine the Heart - Your deity empowers priests to recognize the intentions of men they gaze upon. Provides a large bonus to catching or stopping subterfuge attempts within your Faction for 1 turn. 4 Divinity.

Golem Servitors - Your priests may infuse a spark of divinity into inert matter, creating a Golem. You may recruit the Golem training type (golems have no morale and have the same movement/combat bonuses as giants, but cost gold, iron and divinity to "recruit")

Angelic/Demonic Aid - For 8 Divinity, call upon your deity to send a host of their servants to fight for you. The exact nature and equipment of your Host depends on your deity's other powers, but you will receive a regiment of either 1,000 elite units or who will fight for you for 1 turn. You may only have 1 regiment called at a time.

Last Stand - Your deity's presence stokes the resolve of your people in a desperate strait, inspiring them to fight to the end. For every 5 divinity you spend you may inspire a single regiment (1,000 soldiers) fighting against a superior number of enemies. For the rest of the battle these troops are unbreakable, and will follow any orders, including charging superior enemies or fighting to the death.

Intercession - Before battle you may conduct a ritual calling upon your deity to intercede and protect a Hero or regiment of soldiers. For the rest of the turn, this unit fights as if its skill were one level higher and takes slightly reduced casualties in combat. 4 Divinity.

Divine Visage - Your deity makes their presence known on the battlefield through some great act, inspiring their followers. Costs 5 Divinity. Slightly improves the morale of all troops on the battlefield.

Divine Protection - Your deity is skilled at blocking the power and influence of others. Every turn you have 3 points in your Counter pool automatically.

Teleport - You may teleport a small group of people (20-30) from one location to another. If you have a teleportation ritual set up in both locations the action is automatic. If you only have a ritual in the launching area then there is a risk of "missing" that increases with distance, and if another god controls your target area their Protection can stop the spell - potentially killing or banishing all involved. Costs 8 divinity.

Gate - Your deity opens a gate between two friendly temples for 1 turn. The gate is roughly as wide as a normal road. Your units, or those of enemies, can use the gate freely until it dissipates. 10 Divinity. You cannot cast Gate

Holy Light - A burst of holy light brightly illuminates an area and blinds those within it, while also causing great damage to any undead or demons in the location. Costs 4 Divinity.

Miasma - Cover a modest, tactical area with a dark miasma that chokes, and disorients anyone in the area and clouds their vision. The miasma burns the flesh of angels and similar creatures. Costs 4 Divinity.

Distant Step - Spend 3 Divinity to bless a Hero or Regiment with the power of distant step, letting them move at great speeds for a brief moment.

Midas' Touch - Through an elaborate ceremony a priest may call upon divine power to turn mundane objects into solid gold. You may spend 3 Divinity to produce 1 Gold.

Ferrous Touch - Through an elaborate ceremony a priest may call upon divine power to turn mundane objects into solid steel. You may spend 4 Divinity to produce 1 Iron.

Medusa's Touch - Through an elaborate ceremony a priest may call upon divine power to turn mere earth into quality stone. You may spend 4 Divinity to produce 1 Stone.

Polymorph - With your deity's blessing a select few can polymorph into the shape of another race. The Polymorph lasts for 1 turn and applies to enough agents for a single subterfuge action. Maintaining the Polymorph costs 3 Divinity/turn after the first. You may polymorph agents into specific people if you can capture those people for reference before using the power.

Illusion - Your deity creates an illusion to baffle for enemies. For 6 Divinity you may conjure a large, lifelike illusion such as a regiment of soldiers, a warship, or a small hedge of trees. The illusion cannot interact with people physically and a seer or skilled priest may see through it.

Camouflage - A regiment of units melds into the terrain, becoming as one with it and nearly impossible to detect. Costs 3 divinity/regiment (1,000 units) and there must be terrain that is easily melded into, such as thick foliage or a rocky slope.

Natural Deity - Your deity connects with a natural environment and influences it to aid your faction. Foliage and vines move aside, food is easy to find, and paths are always clear to see. Choose one type of terrain such as plains, rivers, coasts, swamp or forest. Soldiers can move through that terrain without penalty and meet their supply needs with foraging. When founding Villages in this terrain you have a slightly increased chance of finding more resources.

Nature's Wrath - Your deity causes the land to rise up against an enemy. Rock-slides occur as they pass by, trees fall in their path, and food withers and dies before it can be foraged. Enemies within the region suffer increased attrition and reduced movement speed. 5 Divinity.

Second Source - You gain the first bonus from a second source of your choosing, but not any additional bonuses it provides. (e.g. Valor will give +3 Divinity for fighting a battle, but not for being outnumbered).

Custom Power - You may suggest a single custom power for your deity if you wish. Custom powers are subject to review and approval by Moderators and may be modified to fit balance issues. All powers are active: requiring some kind of expenditure to cause an effect.

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