ASSETS
Anything a regent controls that is not a province or a holding is known as an asset. The regent controls the expenditure of money, the building of castles, and the movement of armies. Assets don't contribute to a character's regency, but they can be a major factor in the success of the regent's domain. The most important types of assets are described below.
Able assistance
Regents are usually exceptional individuals, with multiple character levels.
Still, even the most skilled regent cannot know everything, or be everywhere.
This is where able assistance comes in.
Note that having any able assistance beyond advisers and hirelings requires that the regent possess the Leadership feat.
Advisers
Advisers are characters that have access to special knowledge or skills that
your regent does not. They are normally in the regents employ, but can also be
independent agents. Whatever their status, they are generally available to the
regent for many years. Promoting trusted and competent hirelings is a common way
of acquiring advisers.
Advisers are most commonly used for getting information. A
mail to the GM with the subject line (example):
Adviser – Marlae Roesone to High Mage Aelies concerning The Nature of the
Awnsheghlien, might yield important insights that the player lacks.
Followers/Hirelings
Followers are any kind of character hired or attracted by the regent. They
usually have specific skills that the regent needs. Engineers, assassins,
astrologers, adventurers, all are possible followers/hirelings. Regents without
the leadership feat will be restricted to hirelings, which generally have a
reduced loyalty as compared to true followers.
In addition, may regents possess a dedicated bodyguard of elite soldiers or have a band of adventurers as retainers. In addition to being accessible for advice, followers are more readily available to accompany the regent or his henchmen/lieutenants on adventures.
Henchmen (cohorts)
Henchmen (also known as cohorts) are the regents most trusted and loyal
servants. Childhood friends, army buddies, a favorite uncle, the old general,
are just some examples of possible cohorts. Henchmen are generally quite
skilled, and often have high competense with their fields. As your regent
advances in statue and importance, so will your henchman.
Henchmen are primarily a role-playing mechanism. They will, however, freely accompany the regent on adventures and/or conduct adventures on their own, which can be important. Henchmen are also suitable for use as administrators.
Lieutenants
Lieutenants are a special kind of henchmen that has been given broad powers to
act in the name of the regent. They follow the rules and guidelines of henchmen,
but have the additional ability to give a bonus on any Domain Action they are
assigned to assist.
The exact bonus will depend on the lieutenant’s level and skill, but the following guidelines apply; low-level lieutenants provide a +2 bonus, while high-level can give a +4 bonus.
Armies
These are the military forces at the characters disposal. See Armies & Warfare
for more details.
Auxiliaries These are troops lent to your regent by other regents, usually through alliances or vassalage agreements.
Levy and Militia
The levy is made up of commoners called up for military service. They have
little in the way of weapons or armor, usually little more than converted
farming tools. The least desirable of all troops, the levy nevertheless
represents a powerful military force.
Some realms train parts of the levy and provide them with proper equipment. While not as good as musters, they are far better than levy. In general, one third of the levy are militia instead.
Mercenaries
Mercenaries are swords for hire; professional soldiers who fight for the highest
bidder. While frequently quite skilled, they are not very loyal. Their greatest
strength is that they represent a pool of readily available soldiers in times of
need.
Musters
The core of your army will be made up of musters; units of professional soldiers
who serve no master but you. Trained, equipped, and maintained by your realm,
they can become quite skilled, and are also likely to be very loyal.
Courts
The courts are centers of power, settings in which the regent can engage in the
business of the realm. Each domain turn, the regent decides how large and
elaborate his court will be. Courts affect the use of several actions, including
diplomacy, dispatch, decree, and grant. An impressive (and expensive) court will
give a bonus to such actions, while a sloppy, unruly court will do the opposite.
Courts are always located in a specific province, although you are free to move your court about (many rulers maintain summer courts in provinces with cool weather) using the Travel in State action (Se Chapter 5: Domain Actions).
Embassies
Embassies are a special type of court that a regent maintains in a foreign
realm. Usually activated for only a season or two each year, they enable a
regent to conduct diplomatic actions more effectively with other regents who
happen to have a court or embassy in the same province.
Embassies are always located in a specific province. An embassy have the special ability to conduct an extra diplomacy action on you behalf, but only with regents who have either a court or an embassy of their own in that province.
Once built, an embassy can be activated on any turn by spending 1GB to initiate a diplomacy action as per the normal rules for the diplomacy domain action. The action uses the same court modifier as the parent court. This means that high-quality courts have more in return for using embassies.
Note that embassies, like other structures, have a maintenance cost (0,25GB/turn).
Fortifications
Special defensive structures that make a province more difficult to attack.
There are two types of fortifications; castles and fortified holdings (forts for
short). See Chapter 6: Armies & Warfare for more details.
Castles
A castle protects an entire province from attack.
Fortified holdings
Fortified holdings makes a holding resistant to attack and destruction.
Ley Lines
Ley lines are conduits of magical power, created by arcane spellcasters that
allows the transfer of magical power between provinces. Realms spells require
enormous amounts of magical power; a ley line allows a wizard to carry magical
energy from a strong magical area to a weak one in order to cast a realm spell.
Hookups Ley lines normally run for their province of origin to their destination province, without connecting any intervening provinces. Hookups allow a ley line to connect to additional sources along the way.
Extensions
Miniature ley lines connected to a larger parent line. Extensions have a
province of origin and a province where they link with the parent line. If the
parent line is disabled or destroyed, the extension is automatically rendered
inoperable, but does not dissipate as long as upkeep is paid.
Navies
Similar to armies, the navy is the regent's martial arm at sea. Navies are
described in the Ships & Sailing section.
Structures
Even a province (1) will contain a large number of roads, paths, barns,
churches, etc. Such structures are a normal part of every province. As a
province grows, so will the number and size of it structures, without it having
any effect on the game.
Some structures, however, are as large and grand as to be counted assets. The great Cathedral in Aerele is such a structure, as is the twin harbors of Ilien. These superstructures (pun intended) each have a specific effect on the game. For construction details, refer to the domain action page.
Treasury
The treasury of a domain is critical to a regent's success, since everything
costs money. The wise ruler always keeps a little gold back for a rainy day,
while a careless regent squanders it all away.
Regency:
You are a scion, a descendant of one of the ancient bloodlines. Being related to the gods offer tremendous magical powers, providing you with some of the abilities of the god from which you are descended. Should you be lucky or skilled enough to also be a regent of a domain, this is only the beginning, as a divine bloodline allows you to rule the land in a manner that sets you apart from lesser men.
For reasons unknown scion regents have a special connection to their domains, allowing them to draw power from them. This power can be used for your own good, or to further the cause of your domain.
Regency Points (RP)
Scion regents have a special score called a Regency Point (RP) score. It represents the divine power derived from the provinces and holdings you rule.
Gaining Regency
Every domain turn, you increase your Regency Point score by a number equal to your Bloodline Score or Domain Power, whichever is less.
If you ever ammass RP five times your Bloodline score, you start reaching a limit. Excess RP over that might go automaticaly into increasing your bloodline strength, or it might manifest itself in other ways. Or they might simply be lost.
Domain Power
Your Domain Power is the amount of regency all of your provinces and holdings can generate.
Spending and loosing regency
Regency Points (RP) can be spent or lost in a number of ways:
Instead of paying, you make grand speeches and promise good times after the lean.
You can always use 5RP in place of 1GB when paying for
units/ships. But be wary: army units will tend to get upset by this treatment in
the long run.
4. You can use RP to cast powerful Realm Magic.
5. You can lose RP if you perform poorly as a regent. If you fail to respond to
events, act against you alignment (or your realm's alignment) or if you lose
control of holdings or provinces, your regency can dissipate.
Regency Loss
At the end of the domain turn, after you have collected regency for that turn, events or actions that result in losses of regency take effect. Losses are cumulative, but you cannot lose more than 100% of your RP score. Also the following is only advisory for the GMs?, depending on the situation, we might at times use a step light penelties. For the ones who start really small, this will almost always be true.
Minor loss: Reduces your RP score by 10-25%. Examples of minor losses:
Major loss: Reduces your RP score by 25-50% and causes you to lose 1 point of Bloodline Score. Examples of major losses:
Great loss: Reduces your RP score by 50-75% and causes you to lose 1d3 points of Bloodline Score. Examples of great losses:
Catastrophic loss: You lose all RP and 2d3 points of Bloodline Score. Example of catastrophic loss:
1. Having your entire realm forcibly divested from you (must be at least be 3 provinces, or at least 7 lvls in total, or its a great one).
If you have good Karma coming your way, then that will also be spent to reduce these things.