Balauria

World, buildings, research and camps

Every era generates a new map of 201 × 201 tiles with biomes, ruins, NPC camps and the Balaur's lair at the centre. Settlements stand on the map; armies travel across it at the speed of their slowest unit, and distance is time.

Twenty-eight buildings — resource works, storage, the keep and walls, barracks for every category, the market, the archive, the hospital, the shrine of aether — grow level by level. The archive researches twenty technologies in three branches. Camps of four kinds spawn around you, grow stronger and drop materials and companions. From a keep of a certain level you may found colonies on free land.

  • Ancient RuinsBroken halls of a forgotten age around Balaur's lair. The ground still remembers fire.
  • Ashen PlainsGrey flats under a pale sky, dusted by old eruptions. Easy to settle, hard to defend.
  • BlackwoodDense dark forest where the trees grow taller than any keep.
  • Crystal WastesShards of glassy stone jut from barren ground. Aether hums here.
  • EmberlandsCracked red earth that never fully cools. Rich in ore.
  • FrostmarchCold uplands of frozen rivers and stubborn people.
  • Hollow CoastShores and inlets eaten by the sea, full of wrecks and caves.
  • MistfenMarsh and reed under a fog that hides more than it shows.
  • Storm HighlandsWind-scoured peaks where lightning strikes daily.
  • Verdant ReachThe last green valleys. Fertile, peaceful — and coveted.

Buildings

  • TimberworksSawpits and drying sheds that turn the surrounding woods into timber.
  • StoneworksA terraced quarry cut into the nearest cliff.
  • Ore RefineryPits, bellows and slag heaps that wring metal out of the rock.
  • Harvest TerracesStepped fields walled against the ash winds. Feeds your people.
  • KeepThe seat of your settlement. Each level speeds up all construction.
  • WarehouseRaises how much timber, stone and ore you can store.
  • GranaryRaises how much grain you can store before it rots.
  • Aether ShrineGathers aether from the old ley stones and keeps a small reserve of it.
  • MarketLets merchants trade your goods with other settlements.
  • ArchiveScribes and maps. Speeds up research.
  • BarracksTrains infantry. Each level trains them faster.
  • War LodgeStables, pens and riding yards for each race's mounts and war beasts.
  • SanctumA guarded hall where mystics and specialists are trained. Needs a working Aether Shrine.
  • Siege WorkshopCarpenters, smiths and mad engineers building the machines that break walls.
  • ArmoryForges better weapons for every unit you field.
  • HospitalHealers save wounded soldiers after every battle, at home and on campaign — as many as there are beds.
  • WallsStone walls that strengthen every defender of the settlement.
  • WatchtowerSpots enemy scouts before they see too much.
  • Cliffhold BastionVeskari only. Fortress cut into living rock: every level hardens the walls and deepens the cellars.
  • TidewharfThaleen only. Piers, fish-racks and trading boats. More grain, bigger market deals, heavier cargo.
  • HeartgroveDrennai only. A sacred grove that yields timber willingly and whispers when strangers approach.
  • Ember CrucibleCindrel only. A forge that never cools. More ore, and every soldier is armed faster.
  • Storm PaddocksOrrun only. Open highland pens where beasts are broken to the saddle. Mounts train faster, herds move faster.
  • Star SpireQuillari only. An observatory tower that gathers aether and sharpens every scholar and mystic.
  • Ossuary of BargainsHollowen only. Where the dead are kept close. Fallen soldiers return more often, and the dead eat nothing.
  • Great GearworksBrasswrights only. Hissing assembly halls that speed up all construction and siege engine production.
  • Deep VaultVaultari only. Frozen storehouses under the settlement: huge extra storage that raiders struggle to reach.
  • Wyrm AltarWyrmkin only. An altar of fused scales. Heroes learn faster and Balaur's spawn fear this place.

Technologies

  • ForestryWoodcutters learn which stands to fell and which to spare.
  • MasonryBetter wedges and chisels split the quarry faster.
  • Crop RotationFields rest in turn and yield more every season.
  • SmeltingHotter furnaces draw more metal from the same ore.
  • Vaulted StorageStone vaults under the stores hold more of everything.
  • Preserved StoresSalting and smoking: your people and soldiers eat less grain.
  • Guild EngineeringBuilders' guilds share cranes, plans and tricks.
  • Trade ChartersSealed charters lower the market's tolls.
  • Caravan WheelsIron-rimmed wheels let each merchant carry more.
  • Surveyed RoadsMarked roads and waystones: everyone leaving here travels faster.
  • ScholarshipCopyists and teachers: every later study goes faster.
  • Ley AttunementThe shrine's keepers learn to listen to the ley lines.
  • Master CraftsMasters of every craft: all production rises.
  • Forged WeaponsBetter steel, sharper edges: the whole army strikes harder.
  • Tempered ArmourMail and plate that hold: the whole army defends better.
  • Field MedicineSplints, salves and stretchers: more wounded saved, more beds.
  • FortificationButtresses and murder holes: the walls defend better.
  • Pack MulesEvery army brings more goods home.
  • SiegecraftEngineers who know walls: siege engines hit harder.
  • SpycraftYour scouts see more and your watch catches more.

Camps

  • Bandit campCutthroats and deserters who prey on the roads. They keep what they steal.
  • Wolf denGrey wolves led by a scarred alpha. Among the bones lies what travellers carried.
  • Bog covenWitches of the marsh and the things they call up from the mire.
  • Barrow of the deadOld graves the Balaur's breath has woken. The dead guard their grave goods.

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