High Men: Humans. These particular humans are the most advanced culture of humankind on Caldrean, capable of high medieval technology and magic. Humans have a little bit of everything, except offensive wizardry. Despite being the 'vanilla' race, I actually recommend we play humans because they can build great temples, research institutions and mercantile institutions to make lots of wealth. They also have a decent breeding rate, which helps expansion. That said, what they lack in weaknesses they lack in strengths.
- All around civilised race. Balanced.
Grey Elves: Pretty much wood elves. After the great schism that tore the High Elf civilisation to smoking, tattered ruins this sect of elves decided they'd had enough of the follies of civilisation and returned to the woods. They now live in tree cities amongst the forests and do rather well there, with bow and arrow and magic at their disposal. Mobile, ranged units are the mainstay of this race, and being elves they provide magical power from population. Unfortunately, they don't really do roads and have a notoriously poor breeding rate - they're squishy, too.
- Rangers, lots of mana, few children. Hit and run tactics favoured.
Draconians: A long time ago, a dragon and a human - never mind. Draconians are descendants of dragons and the first race to walk the surface of Caldrean, and they are all the better for it. They tend to be strong, sharp and wise - and they can fly! Like elves, their draconic heritage gives their master power based on the population of their cities, and they train talented mages of their own. Unfortunately, while a dragon-human cross does produce a race that lives hundreds of years, it doesn't produce a fertile line of offspring, so draconian births are rare. While all their units can fly, each has three 'figures' per unit rather than four, so they get less attacks in per round of combat. They have also inherited their draconic ancestors' greed, independence and bloody-mindedness and they really do not get along.
- Flying wizards and melee, lots of mana. Fractious, terrible population growth, smaller armies.
Orcs: Waaaagh! Orcs don't live long, and they like to shorten that lifespan with bloody violence. As a culture they place high value on pillaging and low value on retirement plans. They breed like rabbits and send their children off to die like lemmings, so their armies are cheap to field and quick to train. Because of their prevailing warrior culture, all orcish units can raid, gaining bonus gold when capturing or razing cities. Unfortunately, they consider books, scrolls and all ranged weapons un-orcish and tend to eschew them, so there is a noted paucity of scholars and a complete absence of archers in orcish society.
- Cheap, plentiful shock troops that make lots of money in war. Breed like rabbits. No ranged units, terrible research and magic.
Dwarves: Booze-fuelled sociopathic craftsmen. They live and sleep by their forges and make excellent craftsmen, and their meagre talent for spellcasting is instead fuelled into enchanting things with magic runes and building constructs to fight in their stead. Unfortunately, dwarves tend to be somewhat overly focused on gold, alcohol and metalworking to care about stopping their children from just jumping in the forge, and large numbers of their nobles suffer 'unfortunate accidents' alongside the many citizens who are beaten to death for insufficient production of adamantium nose-plugs. They are also, frankly, short and cannot move quickly, and this is reflected in their units.
- Craftsmen and engineers, excellent production bonuses and powerful, tough units. Poor population growth due to callousness and carelessness caging GCSs, and slow units.
Dark Elves: The other surviving side of the High Elf schism. When everything went to hell and the High Elven Empire was nothing more than a glassy wasteland pock-marking Caldrean, the Dark Elves fled to one of the other planes and hid amongst foetid swamps and caves. Needless to say, everyone went a bit crazy and ended up worshipping giant cave spiders. Then the slavery started. Then the gimp masks for the slaves. I wish I was kidding. Now that things have died down a bit, the vast majority of Dark Elven society is actually made up of slaves from other races, primarily human, who are pressed into service to build the roads and cities of the elves and to serve as cheap, expendable shock troops in their wars. The actual Dark Elf population is tiny, and their already poor elven birth rate is further hampered by all the violent blood sacrifice to the giant cave spiders. Their units are fragile, they have barely any population growth and their cities are plagued with unrest. On the plus side, all that brutal sacrifice of the weak and the underclass has turned the surviving Dark Elven population into a race of arcane demigods, extremely magically adept and able to provide you that power both indirectly from population and directly through spellcasters.
- Brutal dominatrix society. Huge slave underclass for cheap shock units, minimal population growth, violent revolts common, and fragile units on the field. On the other hand, god-like mana production and plentiful spellcasters.
Myrodants: Insect people. Long ago, a termite and human - never mind. Actually, not very long ago a wizard actually created the Myrodants in some sort of freak magical accident involving a maiden and what was probably an ant queen, and since then they've been an absolute plague upon the world. Each hive is ruled by a sentient queen, assisted by a small circle of sapient advisers and generals, and served by a massive underclass of mindless drones. The lack of identity and single-minded purpose has its upsides in terms of vast production capacity and strict obedience from the underclass, but because the drones can't really follow complex orders their ability to construct complex structures is limited. The complete lack of original thought stifles research and spellcasting, and expecting other races to mindlessly obey the way drones would is a recipe for violent rebellion.
- Hive society. Myrodant cities have very low unrest and high production, but if the capital is Myrodant all other race cities will suffer violent unrest as they are forced into slavery. Excellent production, cheap armies and fast growth, but little magic and they cannot construct advanced buildings.
Unhallowed: The legions of the dead. Sometimes spirits pass through the plane of Shadow on their way to the life beyond. Sometimes the shadow gives them a second chance. The Hallowed play a very different game to the other races. As anathema to life, they are in constant war with the living races and cannot even take them as slaves. They cannot even live on the same land; in order to survive they must found their cities on corrupted tiles, twisted until they produce negative energy instead of food. At the start of the game, only the plane of Shadow begins entirely corrupted (and the surrounds of Unhallowed cities), so they have to fight hard to claim usable land. On the flip side, the dead are all aligned behind the same goal - sustaining their immortality - and so suffer no unrest. They also do not care for gold and therefore do not collect it - instead of gold and food they gather negative energy and use this to support all of their units. The dead are also necessarily rather potent fighters, having already been through death once as is.
- The undead. Powerful units, eschew gold and food for negative energy and no unrest. Stuck in constant war with all other races, cannot have slave cities and need corrupted tiles to survive.
The Cleric: The Cleric is a master of Life Magic, devoted to the gods she serves. Her magic, while light on summons and direct damage (save against the undead), offers healing and protection that few other schools can offer. Her strategy relies upon having potent armies that she can back up with healing, supported by a healthy network of fertile, fecund cities. Her spiritual focus inspires others, and the gods have blessed her with more power from worship, both from temple worshippers and the laity.
Up to 9th level Life spells, Pious (100% more Power from religious buildings), Mystic (+0.1 Power per 1000 population.)
The Necromancer: The Necromancer is a master of Death Magic, spending his hours in crypts and libraries. His magic draws upon the power of the shadow plane and is often about negation, whether it be curses, damage, death spells or raising twisted mockeries of life. His experience with the dead has given him a practical knowledge of animation, and he can often recover suitably intact corpses in the field. Additionally, his long hours in the libraries have made him an efficient researcher. His strategy is one of the attack, converting his foes into more fuel for his army, supported by masses of cheap summons and a core of powerful elites.
Up to 9th level Death spells, Necromancer (10% chance to raise any slain enemy unit as a unit of Zombies), Sage (10% bonus to Power spent on research).
The Hydromancer: The Hydromancer is the undisputed master of Water Magic. Her magic draws more from ice and waves, includes a healthy amount of meta-magic and an excellent mixture of summons, direct damage spells and enchantments. Quite a balanced school, her strategic is one focused on developing her magic. Lots of libraries and siphons to collect research and magic will help her out.
Up to 9th level Water spells, Mastery: Water (15% cheaper research and casting for Water, harder to resist, more starting spells).
The Pyromancer: The Pyromancer is a master of Fire. His magic draws power from destruction and flame, and his spells are second to none for sheer destructive ability. He can also muster several other offensive spells, some nastily damaging summons and some mind and body-altering enchantments, but even his boons come at a violent price. His experience is hard-won, often on the field of battle, and he has developed ways of casting at a distance that are more efficient than his fellows, but the hardships of his life have dulled his sense of the suffering of others, burned up in his quest for glory. His strategy does not depend upon a strong army so much as a hardy one, able to carry his focus to the field where he can obliterate them with limitless arcane power. For this sorcerer, lots of mana is vital as he will burn it away as fast as his foes.
Up to 9th level Fire spells, Mastery: Fire (15% cheaper research and casting for Fire, harder to resist, more starting spells), Battlecaster (50% less distance penalty for casting costs in battle), Butcher (100% more population loss when conquering cities).
The Geomancer: The Geomancer is a master of Earth. Her magic draws power from rock and stone, and her spells focus a lot on resilience, endurance and sheer stopping power. Her summons are rarely interesting, but make up for it in sheer violent capacity, while her master of the land lets her shape and terraform it to her will. Her experience with valuable metals and minerals has also left her very experienced at seeking them out, and she has spent more than a little time at the forge shaping them. Such is her connection to the earth that she has mastered the secret of turning mana into gold - and back again! Her strategy is a patient, defensive one; building up a small, powerful army that can be bolstered magically, especially one of heroes that can be equipped with magical artefacts, and waiting for her enemies to come to her before crushing them. With the power to shape the land to her will, she can afford to wait - all the time her foes delay, her lands grow only more fruitful.
Up to 9th level Earth spells, Geologist (20% more production bonus from mineral ores), Alchemist (can transform gold into mana and back again at 100% conversion), Artificer (magical artefacts are 25% cheaper to produce).
The Aeromancer: The Aeromancer is a master of Earth. His magic draws power from wind and electricity, and his powers focus on mobility, speed, flight and storms. He can summon aerial creatures, and benefits from hit and run tactics. The Aeromancer suffers from a terrible sense of pride and vanity, spending vast sums on his appearance and day to day care, to the point of neglecting spirituality. His relationship with the gods is a sour one, and a sourer still with his treasury, but he more than makes up for it with supreme magical prowess - his brilliant studies have unlocked in him true oracular vision - the power to see all the planes, all the time. His strategy is a light-footed one; engaging the enemy far from his home cities, striking at them where they are unprepared and using his advanced mobility and perfect sight to balk his enemy's plans before they can begin.
Up to 9th level Air spells, Cartographer (Map of the starting plane), Planar Cartographer (map of all the planes), Omniscient (can see all the planes, all of the time), Opulent (10% penalty to Food, Gold and Production), Heretic (50% penalty to Power from religious buildings).
The Biomancer: The Biomancer is a master of manipulating living things. She is a transmuter of flesh, healing and supporting or cursing and weakening, and she holds the power to transform the land from a desolate wasteland to a blooming paradise - or vice versa. Her strategy depends upon her armies, as she has almost no ability to perform direct damage upon a foe, but excellent abilities to transform or empower her own troops and cities.
Up to 9th level Biomancy spells, Mastery: Biomancy.
The Augmenter: The Augmenter is a master of support. He strengthens things through magic, be they armies, cities or himself. His spells are about improving existing abilities or adding new ones. His long practice with enchantments has left him skilled at their application, and his cities are well-run as a result of his blessings, being especially wealthy. His strategy favours a large, magically supported empire that has the production capacity to support powerful troops that he can empower further. With little damaging ability again, he must rely upon troops to win his wars.
Up to 9th level Augmentation spells, Merchant (+1 gold per 1000 population), Enchanter (research and cast enchantments 20% cheaper).
The Destroyer: The Destroyer, apart from having a cool title, is a master of sheer violent destruction. She lays waste to all in her path, not discriminating by element but simply picking the most devastating spells from each. She is brilliant, potent and unbearably cruel. Twisted far worse than the hardships the School places upon its students, the Destroyer has suffered horrors no woman was meant to bear and has come out not only merciless but enamoured of torture. She is feared by her enemies and despised by her subjects, and she doesn't care. All they are to her is more fuel for her spells. Her strategy is simple enough - acquire mana, lots of mana. Rain death from above, below and the next plane on. Nothing matters but fuel and the capacity to spend it.
Up to 9th level Destruction spells, Mastery: Destruction, Battlecaster (50% less distance penalty for spells in tactical combat), Archmage (10 additional spellcraft and 50% bonus to all power spent on improving casting skill), Butcher (100% extra population lost on conquest), Tyrant (10% more unrest in all cities except the capital).
The Guardian: The Guardian is master of protective magic. He focuses on defense, casting spells that protect troops and cities from physical harm, guard them against the influence of magic, conjure guardians and even interfere with enemy spellcasting. As might be expected, his strategy is a defensive one, turtling up and building high-walled cities while strengthening armies and perhaps sending a handful of carefully picked, bolstered champions to do his dirty work. He is a simple soul, devoted to his people and thus eschewing material wealth. He has spent his years educating his eventual replacement, a champion who fights in his cause, and has developed some skill producing artefacts to assist her.
Up to 9th level Protection spells, Mastery: Protection, Mentor (start with a low-level Hero), Artificer (25% less cost for producing magical artefacts), Ascetic (can only stockpile up to 1000 gold).
The Mentalist: The Mentalist is a master of the mind. He can use his skills for aid or harm evenly, inspiring troops to fight harder and citizens to work for longer, while rendering foes unconscious or simply enslaving their minds. His strategy is as balanced as his school; build up a reasonable number of cities, build up a reasonable army, inspire them to fight - and then seize control of their foes and add them to his ranks.
Up to 9th level Mentalism spells, Mastery: Mentalism.
The Summoner: The Summoner is a master of the planes. She doesn't need armies - she can create them with a thought. With her powers, the summoner can bring creatures from other realms to her own - everything from slimes and pixies to terrible lizards and genies - and binding them into her service. She doesn't need to worry about spending gold or food on footsoldiers. All she needs to worry about is having enough mana to crush the world beneath her army's scaled feet. As a mistress of the planes, she has seen wonders far beyond gold and jewels, and such things have little appeal to her now. She can find routes between worlds that others would miss, both for travel and for summoning, and she can pluck the magic from the very hearts of her subjects. For a summoner, her strategy is to focus all domestic matters inwards - all production devoted towards more magic, more power - and where conquest is concerned, her magic will manage the rest.
Up to 9th level Summoning spells, Mastery: Summoning (15% cheaper spells and research), Summoner (10% cheaper summoning spells), Mystic (0.1 Power per 1000 population), Gate Master (can travel between worlds via nodes, not just gates).
The General: The General is a sorcerer by convenience, not calling. She is a noble of her kind, raised to rule and to conquer, not to sit around waving a magic wand. Instead of focusing on magic, she learnt how to manage estates and troops. Her troops gain experience slightly faster, can attain a higher level than those of other sorcerers and gain more loot from pillaging, her cities are better at organising colonial expeditions, she can get more out of her land, her cities produce more wealth and she has a loyal protege that she is training to command. Unfortunately, a martial upbringing her left her short on compassion and with little time for religion; her conquests are more brutal and the gods frown upon her. She has a limited magical ability to alter, augment and protect her troops, and she is better at researching and casting enchantments as a result. Her strategy is the one a mundane general would choose; build up a stable, heavily defended empire with conventional troops, and be ready to attack when the opportunity presents.
2nd level Augmentation, Biomancy and Protection spells, Enchanter (20% less research and casting cost for enchantments), Enlightened (5% experience gain bonus for troops), Expansionist (50% reduced cost for settlers), Geologist (20% more production bonus from mineral ores), Mentor (starts with a low-level Hero), Merchant (+1 gold per 1000 population), Pillager (100% more gold for razing cities), Warlord (units can gain 2 more maximum levels), Butcher (100% extra population loss when capturing a city), Heretic (50% less power from religious buildings).
The Artificer: The Artificer is less focused on casting as on empowering magical arms and armour. He is completely devoted to his art, to the point where reason and mercy are beyond him. He has lost all care for gold for himself, but the demands of his forge cripple his people, he turns a blind eye to the abuses of soldiers, pays no heed to the gods and is thought not even to believe in them and demands the same work ethic from his people to the point where any birth rate is off-set by emigration from his rule. The benefit of all these prices paid and his single-minded devotion is a library of knowledge perfectly suited to artifice. With years of training at forge work and the ability to turn his much-ignored gold into mana, he can produce very nearly any artefact he turns his mind to, given enough time and materials. He also starts with one luckless test-subject, ready to be sent out into the world to see if the Artificer's creations get him killed or not. The artificer's strategy relies upon well-protected settlements with an adventuring party of heroes sent out to deal with any real threats, armed to the teeth with magical equipment.
5th level Biomancy, Augmentation, Protection, 1st level Destruction, Alchemist (can transform gold into mana and reverse at 100% conversion), Artificer (25% reduced cost for forging), Mentor (starts with a low-level hero), Ascetic (1000 max gold), Butcher (100% more slaughter when capturing towns), Heretic (50% less power from religious buildings), Opulent (10% less Food, Gold and Production), Prude (10% less Population growth).
The Desperate Generalist: The hard mode. This man professes to be an archmage. In point of fact, he is a vile, twisted little imp of a man who couldn't claim such power if it hit him with a brick. He is a godless fool, cruel, prudish and yet gluttonous to the point of bringing his people to the brink of ruin, so out of touch with bureaucracy that anything more than a modest treasury is embezzled outright by his advisors, cruel and petty, and universally despised by his subjects. Worse, while he does have some skill with casting, he has spread all of his research out across the six effect schools, leaving him a poor jack of all trades and master of none. Appropriately enough his worst skill is in mentalism. This man's strategy is one of flailing around in desperation, trying to seek out more knowledge from the world to which he was banished. [If this is chosen, we will play on a Large world, as the only way to gain more spell levels is by investigating dungeons, and this will generate more. In theory, he could become a true archmage.]
4th level in Protection, Augmentation, Destruction, Summoning, Biomancy, 3rd level in Mentalism, Archmage (50% more effect to power spent improving spellcraft, 10 more starting spellcraft), Ascetic (1000 max gold), Butcher (100% more slaughter when capturing towns), Heretic (50% less power from religious buildings), Opulent (10% less Food, Gold and Production), Prude (10% less Population growth), Tyrant (10% more unrest in all cities save the capital).