Twelve claimants, and no two play alike. Each carries two abilities: a legacy that is always true of them, and a signature: one order that is theirs alone, used on a cooldown, and loud enough that the whole realm hears it. A rival’s card on the Lords screen (d) shows both, and whether their signature is ready. Nothing here is hidden from anyone.
Last abbess of the burned Hearthmother convent, now a claimant with a relic sword and a following that would walk into fire for her (several already have). She wars gently and governs fiercely.
Keeper of Hearths (legacy). Hearthshrines cost half. All your provinces gain +2 order each season, and your troops fight +8% harder defending them.
The Great Vigil (signature, every 7 seasons). Every province you rule gains +10 order at once, the parishes tithe 4 gold apiece, and newly conquered folk forget their grief.
One night, every hearth in the realm tended by someone who prays like she means it.
Crowned once as a boy in exile and once by his own hand over a dead usurper. Aldric believes the Ember Throne is his by blood, and treats the war as an extended coronation.
The Old Blood (legacy). Your capital yields +3% gold. Banner Knights cost 5% less.
Royal Muster (signature, every 25 seasons). A full company of Banner Knights musters at your seat, at once and without cost. The first muster of a chronicle waits 12 seasons.
The Old Blood calls; the old families still answer. Mostly out of habit, which is the strongest reason there is.
The last marshal of the old palace guard, who held the Cinder Gate for three days after the Sundering. He fights defensive wars by preference and finishes them by principle.
Stonefast (legacy). Walls cost 30% less, and walled provinces pay +6 gold in gate tolls. Your troops fight +14% harder defending your own provinces.
Stand Fast (signature, every 9 seasons). Every province you rule defends +25% until your next season, and attacks you launch from your own ground strike +18% harder: a held gate opens both ways.
No speech. He walks the wall once, and the wall understands.
A farrier’s daughter who claims the dawn itself knighted her, and has the battlefield record to make theologians nervous about dismissing it. Marches early, sings terribly, wins often.
Dawn Crusade (legacy). Your troops fight +12% harder against Umbra lords.
Dawn Oath (signature, every 13 seasons). Swear a crusade against one lord: your attacks on them strike +18% harder for 3 seasons.
She swears it at sunrise, loudly and off-key. By noon the whole realm knows whose walls are next.
Matriarch of the crag-holds, who watched the lowlands burn from her mountains and sent down blankets, not banners. She joins this war reluctantly and intends to end it economically.
Deep Holds (legacy). Mountain provinces yield +8 gold. Cragguard may also be raised in hill provinces.
The Deep Roads (signature, every 7 seasons). This season your armies march one province further: the under-mountain ways open.
The mountain keeps roads it never mentions. Guests use them once, blindfolded, and arrive very surprised.
The moors have always had a witch; Maera is merely the first to inherit a war along with the title. She reads the realm’s health in bog-water and finds it feverish. Her prescription involves fewer lords.
Fen-Cunning (legacy). Moor provinces yield +12 gold. Spells cost 25% less Emberlight. You begin knowing Scrying Smoke.
Fen Lights (signature, every 9 seasons). Lights walk your borders for 2 seasons: every province you rule defends +18%, attacks you launch from lit ground strike +15% harder, and everything bordering your realm is revealed.
Follow the lights, the children are told. The lights lead soldiers somewhere else entirely.
Warden of the deepwood shires, older than most treaties and fonder of trees than of the people who sign them. Slow to anger; geological, once angered.
Old Growth (legacy). Forest provinces defend +15% harder and yield +4 gold. Greenwood Wardens cost 25% less.
Greenwood Ambush (signature, every 9 seasons). This season your attacks strike +18% harder wherever the battle touches forest, theirs or yours.
The wood goes quiet a day before. Woodcutters know to take a holiday.
Mistress of the salt-road guilds, who can price a war to the copper and has decided this one is, regrettably, a sound investment. Her fleets carry wool, grain, and consequences.
Salt Roads (legacy). Harborworks yield +4 extra gold. Sailing between harbors does not end an army’s march.
The Embargo (signature, every 11 seasons). Close the salt roads against one rival: their provinces yield 20% less gold for 2 seasons.
No fleet, no fuss. One letter to the guilds, and a realm discovers what it imports.
It is said the Duke has never broken a contract, and that this is entirely a matter of drafting. Owns four castles, several lords’ debts, and at least one of everyone’s secrets.
Everything Has a Price (legacy). Demands and tribute bring +15% more gold. Shadecloaks cost 20% less.
Call in the Debts (signature, every 11 seasons). Every living rival immediately pays you a cut of their treasury: 4% against one rival, gentler per head as the table grows. None of them thanks you for it.
The appendix, gentlemen. Nobody reads the appendix. The appendix reads you.
Nobody remembers inviting Lady Vex to court, and nobody has managed to make her leave. Wars, in her view, are decided in pantries, bedchambers, and margins. Battles merely announce the result.
The Long Ear (legacy). Your heroes gain +2 guile on quests. Sow Discord costs half. You begin knowing it.
Whisper Campaign (signature, every 7 seasons). A rival province bordering your realm loses 15 order, at once.
Three dinners, one funeral, and a rumor with excellent posture.
Buried by enemies three times, to widely acknowledged lack of effect. Morrikan speaks of the Sundering as a door left ajar, and of the dead as constituents. His rallies are quiet but extremely well attended.
The Open Door (legacy). You may raise Barrow Revenants in provinces with a barrow. Your armies are immune to terror.
Open the Doors (signature, every 21 seasons). The dead answer at every barrow you rule: a company of Barrow Revenants rises at each (−12 order there). Without a barrow, one still answers at your seat. The first opening of a chronicle waits 10 seasons.
Constituents, he calls them. They vote in ranks.
Where armies march, crows follow; Vaelia simply reversed the arrangement. A warlord of the ruined east marches who found her calling the day the realm broke, and has been thriving on the pieces since.
War Feeds Her (legacy). Winning any battle plunders +15 extra gold. Wolfshead bands never raid your lands.
Marked for the Crows (signature, every 11 seasons). Mark one lord: for 3 seasons, every battle you win against them is plundered threefold.
The crows learn a new sigil. They are quick studies, and always hungry.