World

The world map is divided into regions. Every region has a city and two villages. Hovering over a city's number of books will list what books it possesses. Armies are also visible on the map and can be attacked by independent and suzerain kings.

When two armies meet on the world map a battle icon will appear above them. Clicking on it will display a comparison between the two armies, and in the middle a balance of power bar that shows which army is more powerful and by how much. You can then choose to play out the battle automatically, fight it manually, or retreat.

Certain actions on the world map require either an adult lord or a messenger. Sending a messenger costs 1 Paper.

Independence

Kings can be suzerains, independents or vassals.

• Suzerains are lords that have vassals.
• Independents are lords which are neither vassals nor do not have vassals.
• Vassals are lords that have a suzerain.

Vassals cannot attack cities of other kings or demand tribute from them, cannot raid villages and must pay Gold to the suzerain that scales with the vassal's city population. Anyone who attacks a vassal will severely worsen their relations with the vassal's suzerain. When the suzerain king dies all its vassals become independent.

The player always starts as a vassal.

Villages

Every province has two villages, which will tribute one resource to the province's city every 4-6 days. The tribute must be collected manually with a lord or messenger. Which resource is paid by each village is chosen at random at the start of the game.

Independent and suzerain kings can raid a village to take half of the produced tribute and capture slaves. Villages have a number of defenders armed with Daggers that will fight back if raided and if the village is in the province of another king it will reduce relationship between the two kings by 20.

The owner of a village's province can pay 400 Gold to double the province's migration for 5 days and 100 Gold to halve the province's migration for 5 days. These actions are started by selecting a village but affect every village in the region.

Bandit camps

Every game will start with a bandit camp south of the city and additional bandit camps can appear if enough peasants leave to join the forest banding. Unless they are destroyed or bribed the forest bandits will periodically attack the city. There are two ways of handling bandit camps:

• Attack and if victorious the camp will be destroyed and you will gain loot, +5 relationship with neighbors and +7 relationship with the Bishop. If there are prisoners in the camp they will be freed. Hovering over the Attack button will show the possible Gold loot.
• Bribing costs 60 Gold and prevents attacks on the city and the growth of the bandit camp for a week. This action requires a lord or messenger.

Bandit camps in the province of another king may send offers. Accepting an offer reduces relationship with the province's king by 7 and the bandits can later use the Gold to gain more bandits.

• Hiring Bandits costs 350 Gold and gives 7 bandits with a Combat skill of 5 and no weapons
• Sale of Slaves gives slaves and costs 12 Gold per slave

Diplomacy

There are multiple kings you can interact with on the world map by clicking on their cities. You can interact with specific lords in another city by choosing "Lords" from the action menu.

Politics are actions that will change the diplomatic relationships between two cities.

• Offering to the King costs 10 Holy Rings and will improve relationship between the two kings by an amount determined by the giver's Persuasion skill.
• Peace Treaty requires an army that is not several times smaller than that of the city's king's.
• Withdrawal from Vassalage is only available towards the suzerain lord. If the suzerain is significantly weaker they will grant independence. Otherwise they will attack the city in a few days. If their army is defeated you will become independent, otherwise you will remain a vassal. Reduces relationship with the suzerain king by 20 and with all neighbors who dislike you by 10.

Send the guest will make the selected lord go to the selected city and interact with the lords present.

Trading with another city is only possible when the desired city makes a trade offer, which will be displayed above the city in question, and also requires positive relationships and a lord or messenger. The prices are always better than those of the Holy Caravan. The prices will be adjusted by a further 3% for every point of Trade skill difference between the two kings. Trading will increase relations by 5.

Independent and suzerain kings can plunder cities. This will steam Gold from the city but will also reduce relationship with its king by 50 and with all other neighbors by 20. The bishop will also have worsened opinion of the king.

Marriage is only available if the relationship between two kings is at least +5. The bride has a price that scales with the strength of her house.

Dark Deeds

Dark Deeds cost 100 Gold and require cutthroats to be present in the city. Their success depends on the number of cutthroats that the sender can persuade to undertake the deed. Whether they succeed or not they will reduce relationship with the city's king and all neighbors who are not friends.

• Lord's Assassination attempts to kill an adult lord in the city and reduces relationships by 30.
• Kidnapping a Lord attempts to kidnap an adult lord and reduces relationships by 20.
• Library Robbery attempts to seal all books from the city's library and reduces relationships by 10. It has twice the success chance of other Dark Deeds.
• Hall Robbery attempts to steal 200 Gold per convinced cutthroat and reduces relationships by 10.