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IntroductionDivine Right is a fantasy game dealing with the struggles for powerand territory between the various kings, queens, sorcerers, andother inhabitants of the continent of Minaria. Players begin asmonarchs of different kingdoms. As the game proceeds, eachplayer attempts to build fragile alliances of kingdoms long enoughto crush all opposition and win the game. Assassination andbackstabbing are popular pastimes in Minaria, and loyal allies maysuddenly abandon the field in the middle of a campaign through theuse of black magic, treachery, or skillful diplomacy.

More than just a game, Divine Right is a work of fantasy literature,in which the players control the destinies of nations. You organizethe alliances, seek out magical treasures, and lead your armiesand fleets into battle and sieges to plunder, and ultimately (if youhave been wise) victory. The game is divided into three levels ofplay: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. Make sure to master theBasic Game before moving on to the Intermediate and Advancedrules included which are on the accompanying CD-ROM.

Game Inventory

Map Board 6 Army Display Sheets14 Identity Cards 600 Counters (two sheets)22 Personality Cards 2 dice52 Diplomacy Cards CD-ROM12 Envoy Personality Cards

If any parts are missing, please check the CD-ROM forreplacements or write to:

Right Stuf InternationalAttn: Divine RightP.O. Box 71309Des Moines, IA 50325

Table of ContentsBasic Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Game Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Mercenaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2Army Group Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Queen Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

The Game Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3The Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Identity Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Personality Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Diplomacy Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Envoy Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Game Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Victory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Kingdoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Allied and Enemy Kingdoms . . . . . . . . . . 4Changing a Kingdom's Status . . . . . . . . . 5Activation of Kingdoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Deactivation of Kingdoms . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 confusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 forced peace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Inactive Kingdoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Fate of Player Kingdoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Game Turn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Player-Order Determination . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Random Events Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Replacements/Reinforcements . . . . . . . . 7Diplomacy Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Diplomacy Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Activation Attempts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Deactivation Attempts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Assassination Attempts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Dueling an Enemy Ambassador . . . . . . . 8Death of an Ambassador . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Banishing Ambassadors . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Forced Peace Attempts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Siege Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Declaring a Siege . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9"Inside and "Outside" of Castles . . . . . . . 9Intrinsic Defense Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Effects of a Siege . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Resolving a Siege (Siege Attack) . . . . . . . 10Modifying the Siege Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Ending a Siege . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Breakouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Besieger Displacement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Mixed-unit Siege Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Fleets at Sieges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Mixed-unit Combat During Relief . . . . . . . 11Besieging Neutral Castles . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Non-siege Attacks by Besiegers . . . . . . . 11

Movement Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Stacking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Movement and Terrain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Special Terrain Bonuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Terrain Effects Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Castles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Scenic Spaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Rivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Navigable Rivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Movement Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Enemy Units and Movement . . . . . . . . . . 13Fleet Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Fleets and Navigable Rivers . . . . . . . . . . 14

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Transporting Troops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Castle-Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Non-Castle Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Movement and Diplomacy . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Combat Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Making Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Modifying the Combat Roll (Odds) . . . . . . 15Ties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Which Units May Attack? . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Mixed-Type Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Effects of Terrain on Combat . . . . . . . . . . 16Retreat Before Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Advance After Combat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Amphibious Attacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16Relieving Forces at Sieges . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Hero Movement Bonus and Terrain Bonus 17Hero Combat Bonus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Hero Fate Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Shipwrecked Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Capture of a Non-Player Monarch . . . . . . 19

Special Rules for Select Kingdoms . . . . . . . 19Basic Game Optional Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Re-entry of Eliminated Players . . . . . . . . 20History and Geography of Minaria . . . . . . . 20Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Basic GameThe Basic Game is the most streamlined version of Divine Right.The Magicians, Special Mercenaries, and Magic Devices providedin the counters, as well as the special qualities of the Scenicspaces, are not used in Basic play. Once players have masteredthe basics of siege, movement, combat, and diplomacy, they willbe ready to move onto the evolving complexity of the Intermediateand Advanced games. These rules introduce new material andmodes of variant play.

In general, the rules of the Basic Game also apply to both theIntermediate and Advanced Games.

Rounding of fractions: any place in these rules where rounding isrequired require that fractions be rounded down, unless specificallystated otherwise.

Game PiecesThe multi-colored cardboard counters are the playing pieces (orchits) for Divine Right. In the Basic Game there are hero units andtwo types of combat units: armies and fleets. There are also anumber of other unit types, including ambassadors, magical itemsand more.

The Coat of Arms and color identify each separate nation ofMinaria. It appears on each type of unit belonging to that kingdom.

All of a kingdom’s forces are the same color. Mercenary units areblack and white; each player should record the ID Letters of themercenary armies and fleets he controls.

The Movement Allowance indicates the maximum number ofmovement points that a unit may expend in a single turn.

Terrain Bonus symbols mean the units moves faster than mostthrough certain types of rough terrain. See Special Terrain Bonus.

Basic Game Units and Markers

Monarch (hero) Movement Rate Coat of Arms Monarch Symbol

Regular Army Unit Movement Rate Coat of ArmsStarting Location Terrain Bonus Symbol

Regular Fleet Unit Movement Rate Coat of Arms Starting Location

AmbassadorMarker

CommonMercenary Army Movement Rate ID Letter Mercenary Army Symbol

CommonMercenary Fleet Movement Rate

ID Letter Mercenary Fleet Symbol

Army GroupMarker

PlunderedCastleMarker

Randomizer Chit

Queen Marker

MercenariesThe mercenary armies and fleets shown above are the only onesused in the basic game. They are designated “commonmercenaries” to distinguish them from the special mercenaries ofthe intermediate and advanced games. All common mercenariesbegin the game off board in the “mercenary force pool”. They aredeployed on the board through random events. Commonmercenaries that are eliminated for any reason are returned to themercenary force pool.

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Army Group MarkersDue to the difficulty of handling large stacks, the players may wishto use Army Group markers to represent unwieldy stacks on themap. Five marker counters are provided for each of six possibleplayers.

An Army Group marker deployed on the board corresponds to aforce of units stacked in the corresponding box on the player'sArmy Display Sheet. Any units that enter or exit the spacecontaining the Army Group marker may subsequently be added toor subtracted from the stack on the sheet. Any units in the DisplaySheet box may be placed into the space of the Army Groupcounter. There is no movement point cost for moving units to, ortaking them from, the Display Sheet. Because some units move atdifferent rates, it may be prudent to keep any slower-moving unitson the map and the other, faster, units on the Display Sheet,otherwise the slow units could be inadvertently moved at the samerate as the faster units. A good rule to remember is that an ArmyGroup Marker may move only as fast of the slowest unit in the off-map stack.

Queen MarkersMuch of Divine Right refers to monarchs as male in nature, but allplayers have the choice of having either a male or female (as givenon the Identity Card) as the monarch of their Kingdom. If a playerdecides to utilize a female monarch for his kingdom, the Queenmarker is placed on the Kingdom's identity card to designate thatthe monarch in play is the Kingdom's female ruler. All bonuseslisted on the kingdom's monarch unit apply whether the monarchis male or female.

In the basic game all non-player monarchs are assumed to bemale, and there is no difference in the basic rules between maleand female monarchs. Both of these points change in theadvanced game.

The Game MapThe game map depicts the continent of Minaria. A hexagonal gridis superimposed upon this map to regulate movement and combat.In these rules the hexagons of the map are referred to as ‘spaces’or ‘hexes’. Each kingdom is outlined and colored to clearly definenational boundaries. There are some areas that are ‘unclaimed’and do not belong to any particular kingdom.

Terrain features such as mountains and hills are also representedwith graphics and are explained in detail in the Terrain EffectsChart. Note that the deployment space for each kingdom’smonarch is outlined in white. This space is also that kingdom’sroyal castle.

MAP ERRATA: Each castle should have a defensive valueprinted on the map The following castles are missingthese values:

Aws Alzak – 4 Parros – 3 The Keep – 2 Zefnar – 3

Also, the Dark River appears to run through a hexside asit leaves Muetar. This is incorrect; the river at that pointis in the more southerly of the two hexes. It may behelpful to black out the blue portion of the river graphic inthe more northerly hex.

The CardsThere are four types of cards used in Divine Right:

Identity CardsIdentity cards feature the country’s king, queen, the name of thekingdom, the national coat of arms, the name of the Royal Castle,and the number of regular armies and fleets (if any) belonging tothe kingdom. The Eaters of Wisdom, the Storm Riders and theBlack Hand are not used in the Basic Game.

Personality CardsPersonality cards are paired with all non-player monarchs. Eachcard gives a brief profile of the monarch and lists what effects themonarch's personality will have on diplomacy, movement, combat,etc. Each is numbered.

ERRATA: Card number fourteen may be more easilyunderstood as having the following effect: if the monarch’s“kingdom of origin” is part of the alliance attempting toactivate/deactivate the monarch, there is a +1 bonus tothe diplomacy roll. If the monarch’s “kingdom of origin” ispart of another alliance, there is a -1 penalty to thediplomacy roll.

There is a misprint on Card number ten. It shouldindicate that this monarch may NOT lend a movementbonus to any unit.

Diplomacy Cards There are two types of diplomacy cards: Diplomatic Ploy andSpecial Mercenary. The Diplomatic Ploy cards list specialmaneuvers, functions, and tricks of the diplomatic art, and conferbonuses to diplomacy rolls. The Special Mercenary cards show thename of a Special Mercenary and the location of their deployment.All Special Mercenary cards should be removed from the deckwhen playing the Basic Game.

Envoy CardsThese cards are not used in the basic game. See intermediate andadvanced rules.

Game SetupSpread the map on a table. Carefully separate the Diplomacycards. Set aside the envoy and special mercenary Diplomacycards, which are not used in the Basic Game. Next separate the 14Identity cards and the 22 Personality cards. Go through the stackof Identity cards and remove the Storm Riders, the Eaters ofWisdom and the Black Hand; these are not used in the BasicGame. Shuffle the remaining Diplomacy cards and place them,face down, near the map. Shuffle the remaining Identity cards.

Each player draws one Identity card. The card drawn designatesthe home kingdom of that player. Players should note the color forthe kingdom they have selected and gather the matching units(monarch, ambassador, armies, and fleets). Read the playermonarch's Identity card carefully. It lists the number and type ofunits that belong in the kingdom's military (or ‘force pool’). Playersnow place their armies and fleets on the map according to thestarting locations printed on the unit counters. Monarchs alwaysstart in their kingdom’s Royal Castle. (Royal Castles are castlespaces with a white outline and an asterisk.) The ambassadormarker is placed on the player’s Identity card. If the player wishesthe kingdom’s monarch to be female, place a Queen marker on theidentity card.

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Some kingdoms have special rules that can be beneficial to theirtroops. Players should check the rules section Special Rules forSelect Kingdoms to see if any such rules apply to the kingdomsthey have chosen. It may also help to read the historical notespertaining to the kingdom in Geography and History of Minaria.

The Identity cards not chosen by the players represent "non-playermonarchs." The units of these monarchs’ kingdoms are not initiallyplaced on the game board. For the remainder of the game, playerswill attempt to use Diplomacy to ally themselves with thesemonarchs and their forces in the struggle for control of Minaria.Shuffle the Personality cards and, without looking, place one cardbeneath each of the remaining Identity cards. Any unusedPersonality cards are placed face down on the table near theDiplomacy cards. The selected cards give each non-playermonarch a distinct personality that is revealed later in the gamewhen an ambassador visits the monarch.

The turn counter should be placed on the Turn Indicator at thebottom of the map for turn 1. After each complete game turn hasbeen completed the counter should be moved forward. This willhelp players remember how many turns remain to the end of thegame and keep track of diplomatic banishments.

One randomizer chit for each player (numbered 1-6) should beplaced in a small container. Initial player order is determined byeach player drawing a randomizer chit from an opaque container.The player with the lowest number goes first.

The game is ready to begin.

VictoryVictory is determined one of two ways:

A) Eliminate (capture or kill) all opposing player monarchs

B) Accumulate the largest amount of Victory Points. The playerwho amasses the most points after 20 turns is the winner. VictoryPoints are awarded as follows:

Deed PointsPlundering Enemy* Castle 5 × castle’s defense strength

Plundering Enemy* Royal Castle 10 × castle’s defense strength

Capturing Enemy Player monarch 70

Killing Enemy Player monarch 70

Killing Enemy Allied Monarch** 40

Capturing Enemy Allied Monarch 30

*including those of enemy-allied non-player kingdoms** except by assassination. Assassinating a Non-Player Monarchgains a player no victory points at all.

Castle defense strengths are indicated on the board adjacent toeach castle. A player plunders enemy castles by successfullybesieging them. See Siege Phase, below, for the mechanics ofthis process.

In the Basic Game, the following castles do not exist and cannot beplundered: the Invisible School, the Tower of Zards, and the Keep.

Executing a Captured monarch (only possible in the case of non-player monarchs, and only if the captor has no castle in which toimprison him) gains no additional victory points. The points forcapture are retained, however. If a non-player monarch is capturedand then freed by their allies, or released by the captor, the victorypoints are still awarded to the captor.

If a player monarch is killed or captured, the player is eliminated,but retains any victory points he may have attained. See Fate ofPlayer Kingdoms, below. The player might still win the game,despite being eliminated, if he has the most victory points out of allthe players at the end of turn 20. An optional rule allows for aplayer to forfeit the victory points he has earned so far and re-enterthe game. See the Optional Rules section at the end of this book.

KingdomsThere are 13 kingdoms on the game board. The hexes thatcomprise each kingdom can be distinguished by being of the samecolor. Following is a complete roster of the kingdoms:

1. Ghem (The Dwarves)

2. Hothior

3. Immer

4. Mivior

5. Muetar

6. Neuth (The Elves)

7. Pon

8. Rombune

9. Shuccasam

10. The Trolls

11. Zorn (The Goblins)

12. Eaters of Wisdom

13. Black Hand

All land hexes outside of the kingdoms are considered unclaimedspaces. Note that the Eaters of Wisdom and the Black Hand arenot used in the basic game; the hexes of these kingdoms areconsidered unclaimed territory in the basic game.

Each player is allocated one kingdom at the start of the game.These are ‘player kingdoms’. All the others are non-playerkingdoms. A non-player kingdom is always either active (allied toa player kingdom) or inactive (neutral). Active kingdoms can bereferred to as ‘allied’ kingdoms, the kingdom of the player whoactivated them is referred to as the non-player kingdom’s ‘playerally’.

Allied and Enemy KingdomsIt is important to note that all of the player kingdoms in the gameare mutually hostile. They are never considered “allied” forpurposes of the rules, even if the players controlling the kingdomsare temporarily cooperating for some reason. An alliance consistsof a player kingdom and all non-player kingdoms that the playerhas activated. Likewise, all kingdoms that are members of oneplayer’s alliance are hostile to all kingdoms that are members ofother players’ alliances.

A player’s forces include the units of his own (player) kingdom,any mercenaries he has on the board, and the forces of any alliednon-player kingdoms.

A player’s forces may freely enter all hexes of all kingdoms in theplayer’s alliance. Additionally, large portions of Minaria, such asthe Banished Lands and the Blasted Heath are outside establishedkingdoms. No penalty is incurred for entering these ‘unclaimed’areas. All unclaimed hexes are tinted a light brown color. Aplayer’s forces may even enter hexes of enemy kingdoms with no

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special prohibitions or penalties (i.e., no “declarations of war” orthe like are required.)

Changing a Kingdom’s StatusRandom events and the diplomacy of players can activate akingdom. A kingdom can be deactivated through random events,diplomacy, the death of its own monarch, the death of its playerally’s monarch, and forced peace attempts. A non-playerkingdom’s status can change any number of times.

The details of attempting to change a non-player kingdom’s statusare described in the Random Events and Diplomacy rules sections.But whenever such an attempt succeeds, the procedures below arefollowed:

Activation of KingdomsWhen a kingdom is activated, the kingom’s monarch unit and all ofits available combat units are set up on the playing mapimmediately. The kingdom’s monarch is placed in the kingdom’sroyal castle, and each available combat unit is placed in thelocation specified on its counter. Available combat units consist ofthe kingdom’s entire force pool if this is the first time the kingdomhas been activated. If the kingdom is being re-activated, itsavailable combat units are all of its units that were on the board atthe time the kingdom was deactivated.

On the turn of deployment, units of a newly activated ally arelimited in their actions. They may only move within their ownkingdom, sea hexes, and into unclaimed “wasteland” hexes. Theymay only attack enemy units within their own kingdom. Insubsequent game turns they may move and fight normally.

Deactivation of KingdomsWhen a kingdom is deactivated it leaves its current alliance andbecomes inactive. The forces of a deactivated kingdom areremoved from the map. The Identity card and the Personality cardof the deactivated monarch remain together, and are returned tothe pool of inactive non-player monarchs. Any of the kingdom’sregular units eliminated while their monarch was active remaineliminated. Regulars may be replaced (via Random Events) onlywhile a kingdom is active. Should the kingdom be re-activatedlater, only those regular units who were alive at the time ofdeactivation will be deployed on the board. The previously-eliminated units may be brought back as replacements once thekingdom is reactivated.

ONGOING SIEGES A kingdom cannot be deactivated if one of its castles is currentlybesieged by another player who refuses to give up the siege. Thedecision to continue the siege or not is made the instant thepossible deactivation comes about. If the siege is abandoned, thebesieging units are displaced from the castle hex.

MERCENARIES AND DEACTIVATIONCommon mercenaries within a deactivating kingdom are removedfrom the board unless stacked with a non-deactivating hero orcombat unit. A common mercenary (regardless of location) is alsoremoved from the board if all the regular combat units stacked withit deactivate. As always, common mercenaries removed from theboard are returned to the mercenary force pool.

CONFUSIONConfusion is a special type of deactivation. If a monarch is killed,his kingdom deactivates and goes into a temporary state calledConfusion while a new monarch is selected. Discard the deceased

monarch’s personality card and shuffle it into the deck of unusedones.

Confusion lasts for a number of turns equal to the result of a singledie roll. The unit counter for the monarch is placed on the TurnIndicator Track according to the roll of the die. This represents theturn that the new monarch is crowned.

No ambassadors may work diplomacy with a kingdom during theperiod of Confusion. When a new monarch is crowned, draw a newPersonality card and place it, face down, under the monarch'sIdentity card. He is now available for diplomacy.

EXAMPLE: A monarch is killed during game turn 7, and 4 is rolledon the die. In this case, place the monarch on the Turn IndicatorTrack with four blank spaces ahead. The kingdom will be inConfusion for the rest of turn 7, and for turns 8, 9, 10, and 11. Onturn 12 a new monarch becomes available to ambassadors.

The restrictions given under ONGOING SIEGES, above, apply tothe imposition of confusion. If any besieger refuses to give up hissiege(s), confusion does not occur, a new monarch is crownedimmediately, (a new Personality card is drawn after the old one isshuffled into the deck) and the kingdom does not deactivate.

FORCED PEACEDuring his diplomacy phase, a player who meets certain conditionsmay attempt to impose a forced peace on a non-player kingdom.If successful, the kingdom deactivates immediately and themonarch's Identity and Personality cards are returned to the poolof non-allied non-player monarchs. Roll one die to determine thenumber of turns the forced peace will last. Place the kingdom’smonarch counter on the Turn Indicator Track the indicated numberof turns in the future. During a Forced Peace ambassadors cannotperform any diplomatic actions upon a kingdom. In this respect itis similar to Confusion.

As with all deactivations, any enemy units that are in a kingdomthat goes into forced peace have one Movement Phase in which toexit the kingdom (or be voluntarily eliminated) without DiplomaticPenalty.

The restrictions given under ONGOING SIEGES, above, apply tothe imposition of forced peace. If the besiegers will not quit theirsiege(s), the forced peace does not go into effect.

Inactive KingdomsWhile a player’s forces may freely enter hexes of friendly andenemy kingdoms, if combat units or heroes of any type cross aborder and enter the territory of an inactive (non-allied) kingdom,the violating player incurs a Diplomatic Penalty with that neutralkingdom.

A player attempting a Diplomacy Roll against a kingdom with whichhe has a Diplomatic Penalty receives a -1 penalty to his die roll.(See Diplomacy Phase, below). This penalty is imposed for therest of the game. Once a non-allied kingdom has been violated,any subsequent violations of its territory by the same player do notresult in further penalty. Active combat units within a kingdom thathas been deactivated have their next Movement Phase to leave thekingdom or else incur the Diplomatic Penalty. Units that are unableto leave in time may be voluntarily eliminated to avoid the penalty.

ACTIVATION OF INVADED INACTIVE KINGDOMSWhile a player willing to incur the diplomatic penalty may move his

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forces through hexes of an inactive kingdom, they may not enternon-plundered castle spaces of such a kingdom except to initiatea siege (see Siege Phase). If a player initiates a siege of aninactive kingdom’s castle, the violated kingdom immediatelyactivates and joins the alliance of another playermonarch–randomly determine which one. Even a kingdom inConfusion or under a Forced Peace will activate under thesecircumstances. In the case of a kingdom in Confusion, a newmonarch is immediately selected. Draw a personality card for himas usual.

Units of the kingdom that are to be deployed in the castle beingbesieged are deployed regardless of the siege. If any non-castledeployment space (including a plundered castle deployment space)is enemy occupied, the units scheduled to enter there may beplaced in any space of the kingdom.

After the units of the violated kingdom are set up, the odds of thesiege, or sieges, must be re-figured to determine if a state of siegestill exists (see Sieges).

Fate of Player KingdomsA player is eliminated from the game if his player monarch is killedor captured. When this happens his player kingdom immediatelybecomes an inactive non-player kingdom in Confusion. All of theplayer’s units are removed from play, including mercenaries. Allkingdoms allied to the eliminated player are deactivated. Theplayer’s kingdom is thereafter treated in all ways as any other non-player kingdom.

An optional rule allows for the player to forfeit any victory pointsand re-enter the game as the head of a new kingdom. See theOptional Rules section at the end of these rules.

The Game TurnEach game turn of Divine Right consists of player-orderdetermination followed by one player turn for each player. Eachplayer turn consists of five phases:

PHASE 1: Random EventsThe player rolls two dice, consults the Random Events Tableand performs the actions indicated by the dice roll.

PHASE 2: DiplomacyA) Draw a Diplomacy card - the card may be used or saved

for laterB) Pass or select one of the following actions:

1. Attempt to activate any non-allied kingdom 2. Attempt to deactivate any enemy-allied non-player

monarch 3. Attempt to assassinate any enemy-allied non-player

monarch 4. Duel an enemy ambassador

C) Resolve any attempts by the player to Force Peace onenemy-allied kingdoms.

PHASE 3: Resolve Ongoing SiegesA) If the player has any previously declared sieges, he

resolves them in any order desired according to the rulesfor siege combat.

B) If the player has any castles under siege by enemy units,and has combat units in those castles, they may makeBreakout Attacks to escape from the siege.

PHASE 4: MovementThe player may move as many of his units as he wishesincluding his own kingdom’s units, units of allied kingdoms,and friendly mercenaries. Units are moved over the spacesexpending one or more movement points per space. Units maybe moved in any direction or combination of directions, up totheir full printed movement allowance.

PHASE 5: CombatThe player declares which of his units will be initiating combatand what they will be attacking. All declared attacks arecarried out in any order that the player chooses, althoughattacks entirely by or against units of a suddenly deactivatedkingdom are cancelled.

After the first player has completed all phases, the next playerbegins his turn with Phase 1. This continues until all players havecompleted all five phases. At that time, the Turn Indicator is movedforward and the new game turn begins by the players drawing anew Player-Order Determination

Player-Order DeterminationFor each game turn, the players randomly determine who is tohave the first player turn, the second, the third, and so on. Thisdraw holds only for the present game turn; the order will bechanging from game turn to game turn. It is possible, therefore, forone player to be last player in one game turn and the first player inthe next, in effect having two player turns in a row.

To perform Player-Order Determination, take the 10 countersnumbered 1-10; these are the "randomizer chits." Count out onechit per player. At the beginning of each game turn, each playerdraws one randomizer chit. The player with the lowest number goesfirst, the one with the second lowest goes second, and so on.Players should keep their chits face up in front of them on the table.

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Random Events Phase Random events can bring additional troops to the field, raisestorms to damage fleets, enter new allies into the fray, or evencause the untimely demise of an important ally. Two dice are rolledby the player and their total is referenced on the Random EventsTable. The indicated event occurs immediately.

Roll Event Result 2 Untimely Death One of your allied non-player monarchs

dies. Determine randomly who dies.

3 Storms Lose one of your fleets that is not in a port.All heroes aboard an eliminated fleet areShipwrecked (see Heroes, ShipwreckedHeroes).

4 Mutiny Lose one friendly regular or mercenary unit.

5 Bad Omens The regulars of one friendly kingdom,chosen at random, will not attack in regularor siege combat, or initiate a siege thisgame turn. They will move, defend, andmaintain existing sieges normally.

6 Replacements Bring two eliminated regular units back intoplay in their deployment spaces.

7 No Event —

8 Reinforcements Bring 2 common mercenary units into playin any friendly Castle hex (port hex if afleet).

9 Epidemic Eliminate half of the combat units in eachfriendly stack containing 10 or more. If nostack contains 10 or more units, the playerloses one combat unit from his largeststack.

10 Replacements / Bring into play one common mercenary unitReinforcements or one previously eliminated regular

combat unit (player's choice). Place aregular unit in its space of deployment;place a mercenary in any friendly Castle (orPort if it is a fleet).

11 Desertion Lose one common mercenary unit.

12 Help from Afar One randomly chosen non-allied non-playermonarch becomes your ally immediately.The kingom activates normally. (seeKingdoms, above).

If it is impossible to comply with the instructions as given (e.g., onedoes not have the type of unit one is required to lose), treat theresult as "no event."

All gains and losses of units as a result of Random Events applyonly to the player rolling the dice. Replacements andreinforcements may not be given to, nor losses taken from, anotherplayer or his allies.

When selecting a random kingdom of a certain sort for events 2 or12, a fast method to select a kingdom is to place the ambassadorsof all of the possible kingdoms in a cup and draw one blindly. Notethat kingdoms in Confusion or Forced Peace can be selected forevent 12.

The player always chooses which unit(s) to lose in the case ofstorms, mutiny, epidemic, or desertion. However, in the case of anepidemic, if a player's largest stack must be selected (i.e., none ofhis stacks contain 10 or more combat units) and the player doesnot have one stack larger than any other, the player randomlydetermines which stack will be reduced.

Replacements/ReinforcementsReinforcements are common mercenaries (that is, not the SpecialMercenaries of the intermediate game) which are added to theplayer’s forces on the board. Reinforcements can only enter in anunbesieged friendly castle or, if a fleet, in an unbeseiged friendlyport (including castle-ports). Castles that have been plunderedmay be used by the occupying force (or the original owner, ifcurrently unoccupied) for the deployment of mercenaryreinforcements.

Replacements are previously eliminated regular units of a friendlyactive Kingdom that are returning to the map. A replacement mustenter at the deployment site named on the counter. If that space isoccupied by enemy units, or is under siege, that particular unit maynot be chosen to re-enter the game at that time. (Note that thisdiffers from the procedure for deploying a newly-activatedkingdom’s forces.) Castle spaces that have been plundered, butwhich are now free of enemy forces, may be used for deploymentof replacement units.

All replacements and reinforcements may move and fight normallyin the same player turn that they appear. The regular forces of akingdom cannot exceed the total number given for them on themonarch's identity card, although mercenary units may supplementthis total.

A player with no friendly ports may not bring in a fleet replacementor reinforcement.

DEPLOYMENT OF COMMON MERCENARY REINFORCEMENTSAs long as both mercenary fleets and land armies remainundeployed, the player may choose either type to deploy asreinforcements–although if he has no ports he may not receivemercenary fleets.

If all mercenary units of one type are on the board, the player mustenter a unit of the undeployed type. If he cannot deploy a unit ofthe type that remains (for instance, only fleets remain undeployedand he has no ports), he may instead ‘steal’ common mercenaryunits of the other type from another player’s forces. If a player isdue to receive a common mercenary unit and ALL commonmercenaries are on the board, the player may ‘steal’ units of eithertype.

Players cannot ‘steal’ units currently under siege or fleets that aretransporting enemy troops or heroes. In effect, having land units intransport protects the mercenary fleet unit from seizure.

Not all the units need to be deployed in the same space, but if theplayer has no available space for immediate deployment, noreinforcements are gained.

Diplomacy PhaseMore than any other aspect of play good diplomacy will prove thekey to victory. Diplomacy is defined as actions taking placebetween a player’s ambassador and non-player monarchs(ambassadors of non-player monarchs are not used). Alliances aredefined as existing between a player and any number of non-player

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monarchs. Temporary agreements between players are notalliances and have no enforcement rules.

Each player has one ambassador, which is kept off the board untilthe Diplomacy Phase. An ambassador represents not merely anindividual, but the entire diplomatic apparatus of the playermonarch.

Ambassadors do not move across the map; they are markers thatare simply picked up and put down in the space where thediplomacy is to occur. The ambassador is removed from the mapat the end of the Diplomacy Phase. The movement ofambassadors is in no way hindered by sieges or other activitiesengaged in by other units. Ambassadors are not heroes and neverneed to make a Hero Fate roll.

Diplomacy CardsThe Diplomacy cards list the maneuvers and tricks of thediplomatic art in Minaria. These are called diplomatic ploys andthey grant bonuses to the diplomatic roll. The Special MercenaryDiplomacy cards are not used in the Basic Game.

Before conducting Diplomacy, the player draws one Diplomacycard, even if that player's ambassador is dead. Diplomacy cardsmay be accumulated, but not be traded or transferred betweenplayers. A player may retain no more than four Diplomacy cards atthe end of a Diplomacy Phase. The player must discard any excesscards at that time. If all Diplomacy cards have been drawn, thediscard pile is reshuffled and the deck turned face down for reuse.

Resolving DiplomacyIn a diplomacy phase an ambassador may perform any one of thefollowing four diplomatic tasks:

1. Attempt to Activate any one non-allied non-player monarch. 2. Attempt to Deactivate an Enemy-allied non-player monarch. 3. Attempt to Assassinate an Enemy-allied non-player monarch. 4. Duel any one Enemy Ambassador

In addition to normal diplomacy, the player may attempt to sendenemy-allied kingdoms into a state of Forced Peace. See ForcedPeace at the end of this section.

ACTIVATION ATTEMPTSTo activate a non-allied, non-player kingdom, the ambassador isplaced in the Royal Castle of that non-allied non-player monarch.If the kingdom’s Royal Castle is occupied by enemy combat units,the ambassador may be placed anywhere in that kingdom.

The Personality card of the Kingdom’s monarch is then read outloud. Certain personality cards give bonuses or penalties to variousdiplomatic ploys. The player then chooses whether or not to use aDiplomacy card to aid his efforts. If he uses one, it is shown to allthe players. (In the Basic Game no more than one Diplomacy cardmay be played per Diplomacy Phase.) The player then rolls onedie and adds any modifiers appropriate to the Monarch and/or theDiplomacy card used. This is the Diplomacy Roll. If the result is a6 or greater after all bonuses have been added and penaltiessubtracted, the non-player monarch becomes an ally of the rollingplayer. This is called Activation–see Kingdoms, above. If aDiplomacy card was played, it is discarded. There is no restrictionon the number of times a kingdom may be activated anddeactivated.

DEACTIVATING A NON-PLAYER KINGDOMEnemy-allied non-player monarchs may be persuaded to neutralizetheir current alliance (deactivate) in a manner similar to activation.

To deactivate a non-player kingdom, the player announces hisintention and indicates which kingdom is the target of thedeactivation diplomacy. The player with the ambassador may playone Diplomacy card. Finally, one die is rolled. If the modified resultis a 7 or more, the monarch is deactivated and drops out of theenemy alliance. See the rules for Kingdoms, above, for thedeactivation procedure. If a Diplomacy card was played, it is thendiscarded.

Note that a kingdom that currently has any castles under siege maynot be deactivated unless all besiegers gives up their sieges (seeKingdoms). Also, a player may not attempt to deactivate akingdom whose monarch is held captive by another player’s forces(see Prisoners).

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTSOnly once during the entire game can each player attempt toassassinate an enemy-allied non-player monarch. The player’sambassador is placed on the intended victim. Diplomacy cardscannot be played.

One die is rolled for the ambassador and one for the victim. If themonarch rolls higher, the ambassador is killed. If the ambassadorrolls higher, the monarch is assassinated. If the result is a tie,neither is killed.

A successful assassination deactivates the monarch and theirforces (See Death of a Non-Player Monarch). However, no victorypoints are scored. After any unsuccessful assassination attempt,the ambassador (or his successors, if killed) is banished from thekingdom until the offended monarch dies.

DUELING AN ENEMY AMBASSADOROnce per game a player can have his ambassador duel with eachof the other players' ambassadors. Regardless of who makes thechallenge, ambassadors may duel each other only once. Theambassador counter is placed with the intended opponent. NoDiplomacy cards may be played. Both players roll a die. The playerwith the lower roll loses and his ambassador is killed. If the resultis a tie, both ambassadors are killed. An ambassador cannotrefuse a challenge.

Death of an AmbassadorEven though ambassadors represent many individuals serving indistant capitals, the "death of an ambassador" signifies adiplomatic catastrophe that throws the whole service intotemporary disarray. Two game turns must pass before diplomaticactivity may resume normally. Place the dead ambassador on theTurn Indicator three game turns ahead to represent the two turnsof inactivity (e.g., an ambassador killed in turn five cannot workdiplomacy again until turn eight). Any banishments incurred by oneambassador are passed on to all successors, although the inactiveturns are counted against the duration of these banishments.

Banishing AmbassadorsThe play of certain Diplomacy cards (Black Magic, Threats,Blackmail, and Crass Bribes) causes the banishment of theambassador if the Diplomacy Roll fails. While banished, theambassador may not attempt any of the diplomatic functions uponthe offended monarch or kingdom. The length of banishment is thenumber of turns equal to the modifying number on the Diplomacy

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card, plus one. Thus, if a player is unsuccessful with a +1 Threat,the ambassador would be banished from that kingdom for two fullgame turns. A side record of banishments should be kept.

Certain Personality cards may require the banishment of anambassador for other reasons. If a player manages to incur bothtypes of banishment at once, the terms of banishment are addedtogether.

Forced Peace AttemptsDuring the Diplomacy Phase a player may use political coercion toForce a Peace on any enemy-allied kingdoms whose Royal Castlehe has plundered and occupied or whose Monarch he holdsprisoner (see Prisoners). A player who both occupies a kingdom’sroyal castle and holds its monarch prisoner is not entitled to twoattempts per turn, however. Attempting to impose a forced peacedoes not require the player’s ambassador, and is conducted afterhis ambassador’s diplomatic activity for the turn is resolved.Player-kingdoms are not subject to Forced Peace attempts.

Roll one die for each kingdom on which the player is attempting toimpose a Forced Peace. Diplomacy cards may not be used andDiplomatic Penalties do not modify a Forced Peace Roll.

If the result is 1-4, nothing happens.If the result is a 5 or 6, the attempt was successful and thekingdom goes into a Forced Peace. Roll another die. The resultingroll is the number of game turns the Forced Peace will last. (seeKingdoms, above, for the effects of a forced peace.)

If an occupying player so chooses, he may instead make a normaldeactivation attempt on the kingdom with his ambassador. If thissucceeds, the resultant deactivation is not considered ForcedPeace. A player may not attempt to force peace on a monarch andattempt to deactivate him through normal diplomacy in the sameturn. (Although the ambassador is free to perform other functions.)

PREVENTING A FORCED PEACEAs specified in the rules for Kingdoms, a kingdom with one or morecastles currently under siege will not go into a forced peace unlessthe besiegers agree to immediately terminate their sieges. Also, aplayer may not attempt to Force Peace on a kingdom whosemonarch is currently a captive of another player unless that playeragrees to release the monarch.

Siege Phase[Designer's Note: The siege rules in the 3rd Edition of DIVINERIGHT differ in two major ways from earlier editions. First, it is nolonger necessary to have a besieging fleet to lay siege to acastle-port. Second, the manner of conducting sieges has beenaltered in a major way. Each castle space is now considered two-spaces-in-one (i.e., a space "inside" the castle, and a space"outside" the castle). During sieges it is permissible for stackswhich are enemy to one another to occupy the "inside" and"outside" of the castle spaces.

For players familiar with the earlier editions of DIVINE RIGHT, it isimportant to remember that the "zone of siege" procedurepreviously used has been replaced by the new system given below. Read the following rules carefully. Although the official rulesmention a "zone of siege" and even show diagrams, they wereincluded in error. Ignore them.]

The Siege Phase is the time to resolve siege situations that alreadyexist. No new siege situations can be created in the Siege Phase.

New sieges are created in the Movement Phase or in the CombatPhase (by means of advance after combat).

Enemy combat units cannot enter (inside) a castle/castle-port untilafter it has been besieged and plundered.

Declaring a SiegeTo declare a siege of a castle, a player must occupy the space ofan enemy castle. For him to be able to this,

A) No defending units inside the castle space may be "outside" thecastle. (See "Inside" and "Outside" Castles, below.)

B) The attacker must have a number of besieging combat units atleast equal to the intrinsic defense strength of the castle plus thetotal number of combat units inside the castle.

The instant that the conditions above are met and a player moveshis stack into the enemy castle space (either by movement oradvance after combat), he must declare that the castle is "undersiege." Enemy combat units cannot enter an unplundered castlespace (whether it contains enemy combat units or not) unless theyare able to declare a valid siege.

It is not possible for a stack to Retreat into an enemy castle spaceand then declare a siege.

Heroes may always enter an enemy castle, even if it is currentlyoccupied by enemy units (but see Hero Fate Roll).

"Inside and "Outside" of CastlesOnly one player can besiege a castle at a time. To besiege acastle, the castle space must be occupied by besieging units. It ispossible that enemy combat units may be already within the enemycastle space; these units must be eliminated, driven "inside" thecastle, or driven out of the castle space entirely before the friendlyunits may advance after combat to begin a siege. But remember,advance in this case is possible only if the advancing stack still hasstrength (after engaging in combat) great enough to meet therequirements necessary to declare a siege.

Enemy units defending the castle from "outside" are treated asordinary land units (i.e., the presence of the castle has no effect).If the defending units are declared to be "inside" a castle's walls,they do not prevent enemy entry into the space. Such defendingunits should be inverted to show they're "inside the castle's walls."Units can be inverted only during the owning player's movementphase. All units which are uninverted are considered to be outsidethe castle.

There is no additional movement cost for moving into or out of asiege situation, but such a status change can only be made duringthe owning player's Movement Phase, or through a Retreat,Advance After Combat, or Displacement.

Intrinsic Defense StrengthAll castles have a number printed on the space (e.g., 2, 3, 5) calledthe Intrinsic Defense. The intrinsic defense strength of a castle isonly useful in defense against sieges. It may not be used to makean attack nor added to the strength of friendly units defending thespace "outside" the castle.

CORRECTION: Some of the Castles on the map do not show anintrinsic defense strength. Their defense strengths are given in themap errata at the beginning of this booklet.

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Effects of a SiegeReplacements and reinforcements may not enter or re-enter thegame in a castle deployment space under siege. Combat unitsunder siege may not move from the space unless they have madea breakout attack.

The siege continues until the besieging force successfully plundersthe castle, becomes too weak to maintain a valid siege, or leavesthe castle space through movement, displacement, or retreat. Abesieging force that becomes too weak to maintain a siege isdisplaced at the end of the game turn. See below.

Resolving a Siege (Siege Attack)Prior to resolving any siege attacks, the besieging player mustpoint out all the Castles which will be attacked. If the player hasany units (or heroes) stacked with besiegers that the player doesnot want to be part of the attack, they must be immediatelydisplaced from the space before the Siege Roll is made.(CAUTION: the player must take care not to remove so many unitsthat he no longer has sufficient strength to maintain the siege.) Itis also possible to end the siege at this point by displacing one'sentire besieging force from the castle space.

Displaced units are regarded as unused units and are able to bemoved in the Movement Phase of the same turn. Any combat unitsthat take part in siege attacks may not be moved in the MovementPhase.

Once any desired displacements are done, the player resolvessiege combat for each besieged castle that he wishes to attack. Allcombat units that remain in a besieging stack must join in theattack. Roll one die:

Roll Result 1 The attack has failed. One besieging combat unit is

eliminated. Further, besieging heroes must take a Hero FateRoll. Captured besieging heroes are placed inside the castle'swalls with the defenders.

2-5 Nothing happens. The siege may continue as long as thebesieging forces are able to maintain the conditions of a siege.

6 The castle is taken and plundered. All combat units within theplundered castle are eliminated. All heroes in the castle musttake a Hero Fate Roll. A Plundered marker is placed on thecastle and the plunderer scores victory points. (This processrepresents taking a castle by its craven surrender, a cleverstratagem, or through treachery from within. Taking a castleby storm is detailed in the Advanced game.)

Units that have made a siege attack (successful or not) cannotmove or attack during the same game turn.

The Siege Roll is NOT required. It is sometimes strategically wisefor a besieger not to make such a roll, thus preserving the stack'soptions to engage in movement and/or combat in later phases. Ifno siege attack is made, the siege condition simply continues asbefore, except that the besieger has given up the possibility ofplundering the castle in that particular Siege Phase.

Modifying the Siege RollThe greater the attacking force, the better the attacker's chance ofsuccess. Divide the total number of attacking combat units insidethe castle space by the total strength of all defending units plus theintrinsic defense strength of the castle. Drop any fractions and

subtract one. The number remaining is added to the attacker's roll.However, a Natural Roll of 1 Is Always a Failed Attack.

EXAMPLE 1: 15 combat units besiege a castle with intrinsicdefense strength of 4. The castle has 3 combat units inside, givingit a total strength of 7. Dividing 15 by 7 equals 2.14. Rounding2.14 down and subtracting 1, leaves 1. Therefore, 1 is added tothe attacker's Siege Roll. Hence, a roll of 5 or 6 would plunder thecastle.

EXAMPLE 2: This time, the castle with an intrinsic defense of 4 has4 combat units inside, giving it a total strength of 8, while thebesieger again attacks with 15. (15/8 = 1.88). Dropping thefraction to 1 and subtracting 1 leaves zero. There is no addition tothe roll.

EXAMPLE 3: If only 1 combat unit was inside the castle (with anintrinsic defense strength of 4) defending against 15, 2 would beadded to the attacker's Siege Roll (15/5 = 3; 3- 1 = 2).

Ending a SiegeSiege continues until the besieging force:

A) Becomes too weak to maintain a valid siege situation

B) Voluntarily moves (or displaces) away from the space

C) Retreats from combat from the space

D) Is eliminated

E) Plunders the castle

Once a castle is plundered, it remains plundered for the rest of thegame. It cannot be besieged again, and units can no longer beconsidered “inside” of it. The hex can still serve as an entry pointfor replacements and reinforcements, however. Occupying aplundered castle hex with a combat unit makes the hex friendly forpurposes of entering replacements and reinforcements. Ifunoccupied, the hex is considered friendly to its original owner.

BreakoutsCombat units attempting to leave a besieged castle must first makea breakout attempt by attacking all of the besieging enemy combatunits in the castle space. The only exception to this is thatbesieged land units may freely come and go if the besieging forcehas no land units (i.e., is comprised entirely of fleets), and fleetsmay likewise enter and leave if the besieging force has no fleets.

Breakout combat is resolved in the besieged player’s siege phase.The combat is otherwise resolved in the normal manner, exceptthat all units, both land units and fleets, of the besieged andbesieging forces are totaled into a single attacking strength and asingle defending strength. (Normally fleets and armies do not fightone another–breakout combat is an exception.)

Win or lose, any surviving besieged units can then move out of thecastle in the subsequent Movement Phase. It is not required for theplayer to move all his units from the besieged castle.

However, if enemy combat units and/or impassable terrain occupyall the spaces around the castle, the besieged units cannot exit thecastle space. If they are unwilling or unable to exit the castle, theylose the right to do so until they have made another breakoutattempt in a later turn.

Besieged units that attack their besiegers in the Siege Phasecannot attack during the Combat Phase of the same player turn.

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Besieger DisplacementBefore any siege attacks are resolved, the player may voluntarilydisplace units from his besieging stacks to adjacent hexes, therebyfreeing those units for movement later in the player turn. He mayalso displace an entire besieging stack, thereby ending that siege.The displacement move itself is “free”; the displaced units havetheir entire movement allowance available to them during thesubsequent movement phase.

The displaced units can attack normally in the combat phase, andmay even enter a castle space and begin another siege. Note:besieging units that do not displace, but also do not make a siegeattack are eligible to instead attack adjacent enemy units in thecombat phase; they simply cannot move.

Should losses or the entry of a relieving force into a castle reducethe ratio of besiegers to besieged combat units (plus intrinsicdefense strength) to less than 1 to 1, the besieger must displacehis forces from the space at the end of the current game turn.Despite the reduction of forces, the siege condition continues topersist until the end of the game turn, except that a Siege Roll maynot be taken.

Sometimes enemy units in one or more adjacent spaces will barthe displacement described above. In such cases, the displacingstack would displace the enemy units that are blocking its route.Each player determines the route of his own units' displacement,but the stack of displaced besiegers must lose a number of friendlycombat units equal to the number of enemy combat units that it isdisplacing. (This represents losses taken by fleeing besiegersfighting their way out of encirclement.)

If the enemy units barring the stack's displacement are equal orgreater in number than the stack of displaced besiegers, or if thedisplaced besiegers have no unobstructed route of displacementdue to terrain or some other factor, they are not displaced but areinstead eliminated. Any hero located in a totally eliminated stackmust take a Hero Fate Roll.

A land unit may displace into a sea or lake hex only if an emptyfriendly fleet is available in the besieging forces to carry it.Displacing fleets may ignore land units in the space it displacesinto. It is allowable for enemy land units and friendly fleet units tooccupy the same coastal space after displacement. This should becorrected the next time that the player controlling the fleet moves.

Mixed-unit Siege CombatIn the Basic Game, fleets generally do not engage in combat withland units, and vice-versa. Siege situations are an exception tothis. When calculating strengths for initiating or maintaining asiege, or for modifying the siege combat die roll, all combat unitsstacked in a castle space during the Siege Phase are treated asundistinguished strength points.

Fleets at SiegesFleets are not required in the besieging of a castle-port, but theymay contribute their strength to both the defense of and attackagainst a castle-port.

Land units aboard fleets that are reinforcing a siege must debarkinto the besieged castle space to be considered as part of thebesieging force. A besieged player's fleets can freely enter and exitbesieged castle-ports and transport units into and out of besiegedcastle-ports, unless the besieger has at least one fleet in thebesieging stack.

The freedom of fleets in sieges is only a factor of movement. Afleet cannot be deployed as a replacement or reinforcement inbesieged castle-port even if is besieged only by land units. (Andlikewise in regard to land units when a castle-port is besieged onlyby fleets.)

Mixed-unit Combat During ReliefBecause relief combat is fought in the Combat Phase, army andfleet units may not attack one another in the course of reliefcombat. Relieving land forces may attack only besieging landunits, while relieving fleets may attack only besieging fleet units,unless the attack is amphibious (see Amphibious Attack).

EXAMPLE: A castle-port is besieged by two enemy fleets and sixland combat units. A relieving force consisting of four fleets andtwo transported land units attacks. The attacker does not wish toconduct an Amphibious attack, so he fights with only his four fleetsvs. the two enemy fleets (both the land units on the fleets and theenemy land unit are discounted). The combat is fought at odds of2 to 1. After the attack, the two besieging fleets survive, as dothree of the relieving fleets, and these three fleets now enter thebesieged castle-port (along with the two transported land units).Although the two arriving land units have not yet fought, they maynot initiate any further attacks during this game turn because thetime for announcing new attacks has passed.

Instead of launching an ordinary combat as given above, it ispossible that the relieving player may opt for the riskier AmphibiousAttack. The procedure for carrying out both Relief attempts andAmphibious Attacks is given in the Combat Phase rules section.

Besieging Neutral CastlesIf a player declares a siege against a neutral non-player castle, thekingdom in which the castle is located immediately becomes theally of a randomly-determined enemy player. Deploy the kingdom'sunits immediately. This will usually mean that some units will bedeployed in the very castle that is under siege, which is allowable.If this deployment increases the castle’s defense value to the pointwhere it is greater than the strength of the besiegers, the siege isno longer valid and the besieging units are immediately displacedfrom the castle.

Non-siege Attacks by BesiegersBesiegers may attack adjacent enemy units outside the castlespace without disrupting the siege. However, if the besieging stackhas already participated in a siege attack, it may not attack in theCombat Phase. (Remember, a player may deliberately refrain fromattacking in the Siege Phase.) If the combat results reduce thebesieging force to less than the number of units needed to maintainthe siege, they are displaced at the end of the game turn, endingthe siege.

Movement PhaseDuring the Movement Phase, the player may move any (or none)of his units, in any direction or combination of directions. Only thecurrent player may move units.

Units, or stacks of units, are moved together over contiguousspaces on the map. As each unit (or stack) enters a space, itexpends points from its movement allowance as determined by thetype of terrain in the space.

The movement allowance of a given unit is printed on the upperright corner of the counter. The movement allowance is the numberof movement points it may expend in a single game turn.

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Movement points cannot be saved from one turn to the next, normay they be transferred from one unit to another. Movementallowances can be increased through Hero Movement Bonuses.

StackingAll friendly combat units and heroes may stack together in theBasic Game. Friendly allied units from non-player kingdoms maystack with those of their allies and enter to defend a friendly castle.At any time, any player can examine the stacks of opposing playersto determine their contents.

Movement and TerrainEach type of space represents a particular terrain type. Each unitentering into a space must expend a certain number of movementpoints from its allowance. No unit may enter into a space unless ithas sufficient movement points to pay all of the movementexpenses for that space. All point costs listed below are per space.

Terrain effects are cumulative. For example, to enter a forestedmountain space, the cost would be six movement points (2 for theForest + 4 for the Mountain).

Special Terrain BonusesThe increased cost of certain types of rough terrain may bereduced if the moving unit has the appropriate special terrainbonus. There are three types of bonuses, mountain, forest andswamp. The mountain bonus means the unit treats hills as clearterrain and treats mountains as having a cost of 3 movementpoints. The forest bonus allows the unit to treat forest hexes asclear terrain. The swamp bonus allows the unit to treat swamphexes as clear terrain.

There are four ways that a unit may gain a special terrain bonus inthe Basic Game:A It is a unit having one or more bonus symbols (forest, swamp,

or a mountain) printed on the counter beneath its movementallowance.

B It is a unit led by a hero with such a symbol.C It is a unit inside the kingdom of its origin. All units possess

ALL terrain bonuses within their home kingdoms.D It is a unit led by a hero who is traveling through the terrain

spaces of his home kingdom.

Hero units may pass their movement bonuses on to land units theyare leading, but a combat unit cannot transfer its bonuses to othercombat units in their stack. A hero may "ride" a combat unit for thewhole length of its unassisted movement, and in doing so benefitfrom any terrain bonuses the unit might have.

A unit's terrain bonus may negate all or part of the penalties forcombined terrain. For example, a hill-forest space would cost aZorn unit, or a mercenary led by the monarch of Zorn (which hasboth forest and mountain terrain bonuses), only 1 movement point.

Terrain Effects Chart

Clear1 movement point

Hills Treated as clear2 movement points terrain to units with

mountain movementbonus.

Mountain Cost is 3 points for4 movement points units with mountain

terrain bonus. +1 tothe defender’scombatroll if he occupies amountain hex.

Mountain pass A defender’s combat2 movement points strength is doubled

in a mountain pass.

Forest Treated as clear2 movement points terrain to units with

a forest movementbonus. Note: Thereare two different mapsymbols for forests.

Swamp Treated as clear2 movement points terrain to units that

possess a swamp movement bonus.

Open Sea or Lake Only fleets may1 movement point enter . Land uni ts

may be transportedthrough such terrainby fleets.

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Isle of Fright Fleets may onlyenter if rescuing a

1 movement point hero. Land combatunits may not enter.

Sea Coast or 1 point for fleets.Lake Shore Land units pay thecost varies cost of the land

terrain in the hex.

Navigable River Fleets pay 2 pointscost varies if moving upriver; 1

if moving down-river. Land unitspay 2 MP’s to crossand must stopbefore doing so.See rules below.

River Land units add 1 pointcost varies to cost of other terrain in

hex if entering or exitingthe river valley. Fleetsmay not enter

Castles and Units may be “inside” orCastle Ports “outs ide” the cast le

itself. “Outside” is1 point always clear terrain.

See rules below.

Scenic Space Treated as clear terrain1 point in basic game. See

rules below.

CastlesCastles with asterisks are royal Castles. Hostile units may notenter the space “outside” an unbesieged castle except to initiate asiege. Once a siege is initiated, units friendly to the besieger mayenter and exit freely.

A friendly castle is any castle or port inside the boundaries of akingdom belonging to the player monarch or to that monarch'sallies. If plundered, the castle ceases to exist but the space stillserves as an entry point for replacements and mercenaryreinforcements. A plundered castle is considered friendly to itsoriginal owner for this purpose unless actually occupied by at leastone enemy combat unit–in which case it is considered friendly tothe occupying force. If a castle is plundered, it is considered

simply a clear space for movement purposes. Also see Castle-Ports, below.

Scenic SpacesAny named hex with a silhouette–other than a mountain pass orcastle–is a scenic hex (castles can be distinguished by thedefensive value in the hex, and mountain passes by the ×2notation in the hex). Scenic hexes are treated as clear terrain in thebasic game. Some scenic hexes have a dot at the top of the hex.(The picture in the terrain effects chart has such a dot.) Whenpresent, the dot indicates that the scenic hex is the entry locationfor a special mercenary in the intermediate and advanced games.

RiversRivers that travel through the hexes are non-navigable andimpassable to fleets. Land units pay an extra movement point toenter or leave such a hex unless moving “along” the river valley.This cost is over and above the cost of any other terrain in the hex.

Navigable RiversA navigable river is one that is exceptionally large and deep. Theyfollow a path along the hexsides of the board rather than travelingthrough a path of single hexes the way most rivers do. Fleet unitscan move along navigable rivers; when doing so they arepositioned in the actual hexes bordering the river. See Fleets andNavigable Rivers, below.

Land units are limited in their ability to cross navigable riverhexsides. They may not attack land units across such a hexside.They may never retreat across such a hexside. They may onlycross such a hexside during movement if they begin the movementphase next to the hexside to be crossed (they must stop to preparea ferrying operation.) Even then, the crossing is accomplished withan extra cost of +2 movement points Fleets may act to ferry landunits across a navigable river. See Ferrying, below.

The only navigable river on the board is the River Deep and the firsthex of the River Waning, connected to the River Deep. The exactbeginning and end of the River Deep are as follows: The hexsoutheast of Castle Lapspell is a coastal hex, the Deep rivercommences east of that hex, running to its furthest inland hexessouthwest of Pennol.

All other cases where one might question whether water forms anavigable river or a coastal hex are actually coastal hexes.Specifically: • The hex southeast of Addat is a coastal hex. • The Boom is a coastal hex. • The hex to the northeast of Adeese is a coastal hex. • Parros is not surrounded by a navigable river. It is an island

surrounded by coastal hexes. See the Rombune section ofSelect Rules for Special Kingdoms.

• Lake Carth, to the west of Pennol, is a small sea.

Movement RestrictionsLand units may not cross all-sea hexsides. Fleets may not crossall-land hexsides. All ports are considered to be coastal spaces andmay be entered by both fleets and land units. No unit may moveor retreat off the map.

Enemy Units and MovementCombat units cannot enter or stop in spaces already occupied byenemy combat units of their same type (land units / fleets). Theonly time this does not apply is in regard to sieges.

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Land combat units can enter coastal hexes and hexes bounded bynavigable rivers regardless of the presence of enemy fleets. If theystop in that hex the enemy fleet must leave during its nextmovement phase. However, land units may not cross a navigableriver controlled by an enemy fleet (see Fleets and NavigableRivers, below).

Fleets can enter coastal hexes and hexes bounded by navigablerivers regardless of the presence of enemy land units. They maynot stop in a hex containing enemy land units, however.

A Hero can enter hexes containing enemy combat units, but mustmust make a Hero Fate roll if he enters a hex occupied by anenemy land comabt unit or crosses a navigable river hexsidecontrolled by an enemy fleet.

Unlike many other games, units in Divine Right do not have ‘zonesof control’ extending into adjacent hexes, except in the sense thatfleets control all adjacent navigable river hex sides. This is due tothe small size of the armies of the era. A strength point representsthe equivalent of a thousand human soldiers and each space isabout fifty miles across. Therefore, units may pass through spacesadjacent to enemy units without penalty or delay.

Fleet MovementFleets are seagoing combat units. They may enter all-sea spaces,coastal spaces, friendly ports, and spaces bordered by navigableriver hexsides. A fleet in a port should be inverted to show that itis "inside" the port. Fleets expend 1 movement point per hex exceptwhen moving upstream in a navigable river, which costs 2movement points per hex.

Fleets and Navigable RiversA fleet which ends its movement in a navigable river effectivelycontrols all the navigable river hexsides of its hex. The river at thatpoint is blockaded. Enemy land units may not cross such acontrolled hexside. A hero unit may attempt to cross an enemy-controlled river hexside, but must take a Hero Fate Roll uponmaking the attempt. (Only one roll, even if enemy fleets occupythe hexes on both sides of the river.) Fleets moving in a river muststop upon entering a hex that shares an enemy-controlled hexside.

Example: If a fleet is in hex B, itcontrols the river hexsidesbetween B and E, and betweenB and F. If an enemy fleetwere in hex A or D, it couldmove to hex E but would haveto stop at that point. It couldmove to F on its next turn, butwould again have to stop. Theturn after that, it could freelyproceed upriver.

A fleet may act as a ferry across a navigable river, in that waynegating the existence of the river for friendly land units. A fleetacting as a ferry does not move, it merely allows land units to crossfrom one side of the river to the other without needing to stop orpay additional movement points (see Navigable Rivers, above).Any number of heroes may cross freely by fleet-ferry, but astationary fleet may only ferry a number of combat units equal toits movement allowance.

EXAMPLE: A fleet with a movement allowance of 8 can negate theexistence of the river for up to 8 combat units crossing the riverover the top of the fleet, but not more.

If a fleet has had to move to reach the desired ferry-position, it mayonly ferry a number of combat units equal to the unspentmovement allowance remaining to it.

For the purpose of ferrying land units, it does not matter on whichside of the river the fleet is physically located. If approaching theriver from the fleet side, the land units move over the fleet and tothe opposite bank. If approaching from the other direction, theymove from that bank into the fleet’s space on the other side.

Transporting TroopsFleets may transport land combat units and heroes by sea. Eachfleet may carry one combat unit and any number of heroes. Totransport a unit, the fleet moves into the coastal or port hexcontaining the unit to be transported and the unit embarks. Thefleet may then continue movement. Debarking is the reverse of theembarkation process. Fleets may transport land units up and downnavigable rivers; this is distinct from Ferrying, where the unitsmerely use the fleet to cross the river.

A unit may not embark or debark in a coastal space that containsmountains. Units may not debark in an enemy castle-port unlessthey meet the requirements to besiege the port. The fleetstransporting the units may be counted as part of the stack’sstrength for determining if a siege is possible.

Example: two fleets are transporting two land units. This stackmay enter a hex containing a strength 4 enemy castle and initatea siege. If land units are present “outside” the castle, this is notallowed. An amphibious attack would be the only way for the stackto directly enter such a hex (see Amphibious Attacks).

Embarking and debarking are accomplished at no movement-pointcost to the fleet. A fleet may continue moving, embarking, anddebarking land units until its own movement allowance is spent.Units transported by sea cannot move further during that turn.

Castle-PortsNot all castles bordering water are castle-ports. A castle-port isindicated when the castle silhouette does not extend completely tothe bottom of its hex. For instance Pennol, Muetar’s royal castle,is not a port. Adeese, Schucassam’s royal castle, is a castle-port.

The term castle-port is used when special attention needs to bedrawn to the space’s capacity for functioning as a port. All ruleswhich pertain to castles also pertain to castle-ports.

Players without friendly ports cannot add fleet replacements orreinforcements. A plundered castle port is still considered a port,and can serve as an entry point for replacement fleets andmercenary fleets. If unoccupied, it is considered friendly to theoriginal owner, if occupied by enemy units it is considered friendlyto them.

Non-Castle PortsBartertown and Freeport are non-castle ports. These are smallaffairs. Each may shelter a single fleet from a Storm random event.Additional fleets in the port space are not protected. Mercenaryfleet reinforcements may be entered into play at a friendly-controlled non-castle port.

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Fleets and land units enter at the cost of one movement point.Land combat units may freely enter a non-castle port occupiedsolely by enemy fleets. Doing so makes the port friendly to theoccupying land units (Essentially, for control purposes, landcombat units are superior to fleet units.) The enemy fleet isdisplaced from the space at the end of the Movement Phase.

Movement and DiplomacyMoving heroes and combat units into neutral kingdoms hasdiplomatic repercussions. See The Diplomatic Penalty.

Ambassadors do not move across the map like units; they aremarkers that are simply picked up and put down in the spacewhere diplomacy is to occur.

Combat PhaseCombat occurs between adjacent opposing units at the discretionof the current player. This player is considered the attacker and hisopponent the defender, regardless of the overall strategic situation.

A player must predesignate all attacks he will make beforeresolving any of them, but declared attacks may be resolved in anyorder that the attacker chooses. The result of each attack is appliedimmediately after the attack is executed.

Making AttacksA possible combat situation exists when the combat units of twodifferent players are adjacent to one another and the terrain doesnot specifically forbid combat (e.g., units on opposite sides of anavigable river).

To resolve an attack, the attacker and the defender each roll onedie. This is called the Combat Roll. The Combat Roll of both theattacker and defender can be modified by having superiornumbers, or monarchs with special Personality cards that assist (orhinder) combat. The player with the highest Combat roll is thewinner of the attack. The loser must remove the number of combatunits equal to the difference between the two Combat Rolls.

When taking combat losses, the owner of the units always decideswhich units will be eliminated. Land units aboard eliminated fleetsare also eliminated, but do not count against losses to be removed.

If all the defending units in a given space are eliminated, theattacker may advance some, all, or even none of the attackingunits into the space vacated by the defender. Should an attacker betotally eliminated, the surviving defending units cannot advanceinto the vacated space.

Modifying the Combat Roll (Odds)The strength of each combat units in the Basic Game is 1. Thestrength of an attacking or defending force is thus the sum of thenumber of combat units involved. Combat Rolls may be modifieddepending on the relative strength of the attacker and defender:

The combat strength of both the attacking and defending units aretotaled. The larger total is divided by the smaller total, and theresult rounded off to get a simple ratio such as 3 to 1. Therounding is always in favor of the defender. This means that if theattacking force is larger, round the result down. If the attackingforce is smaller, round the result up. Then simply add eachplayer's ratio number (e.g., 3 or 1 in the case of a 3 to 1 odds ratio)to their respective combat roll.

EXAMPLE 1: 5 units attack 3. Dividing, 5/3 = odds of 1.66 to 1.Rounding 1.66 down (in favor the defender) yields 1. The ratio is 1to 1. Add 1 to each of the player’s die results. (Note: In a 1 to 1situation, it is acceptable to ignore the modification and accept thestraight roll. It will not affect the outcome.)

EXAMPLE 2: 7 units attack 3. Dividing, 7/3 = odds of 2.33 to 1.Rounding in favor of the defender yields 2 to 1. Add 2 to theattacker's roll result and add 1 to the defender's.

EXAMPLE 3: 8 units attack 9. Dividing the larger by the smallernumber, we have 9/8=1.125 to 1. The fraction is rounded UPbecause the attacking force is smaller, meaning that the one isadded to the attacker’s combat die roll and two is added to thedefender’s roll.

EXAMPLE 4: 2 units attack 3. Dividing the smaller number by thelarger gives 3 to 2, or 1.5 to 1, which is again rounded up to yieldmodifers of 2 for the defender and 1 for the attacker.

TiesIf the modified rolls of both players result in a tie, then both theattacker and defender must lose a number of combat units equalto the unmodified number rolled by the weaker player. In such asituation the player with more units is never required to lose morethan twice the number of losses suffered by the smaller force.

EXAMPLE 1: A stack of 8 combat units attacks a stack of 4. It is a2 to 1 attack. Each player rolls a combat die; the attacker rolls a 2(which is modified, for odds, by +2 = 4) and the defender rolls a 3(which is modified, for odds, by +1 = 4). The result is a tie. Becausethe player with the fewer forces has rolled an unmodified 3, eachplayer would have to lose 3 units.

EXAMPLE 2: A stack of 6 combat units attacks a single enemyunit. It is a 6 to 1 attack. The attacker rolls a 1, and the defenderrolls a 6. These results when modified (by +6 and +1 respectively)to yield a tie of 7. The defender has only 1 unit to lose. However,because of the small size of the defender's casualties, the attackerneed not lose 7 units but can instead loose a sum equal to theother player's actual losses ×2. In this case 1 × 2 means that theattacker loses 2 units.

Which Units May Attack?Only those units belonging to the current player may attack. Unitsthat have moved into an enemy castle and declared a siege duringthat turn’s movement phase, or that have made a siege attackduring that turn’s Siege phase may not attack during the CombatPhase.

Land combat units that are aboard fleets may not participate incombat, unless a port is being attacked (see AmphibiousAttacks). Replacements and reinforcements that entered duringthe Random Events Phase may attack in the same game turn thatthey enter. Units of a newly-activated kingdom may only attackunits inside their home kingdom on the turn of activation. SeeActivation of Kingdoms.

Units may attack any (or all) enemy units adjacent to them, exceptthose that are "inside" Castles, those forbidden by impassableterrain, or navigable river. Only those units directly adjacent to agiven enemy stack may participate in an attack upon that stack.

If a stack attacks an enemy, all units in the stack must attack.However, just because opposing stacks are adjacent to one

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another does not mean that they must attack. Once a unit hasparticipated in an attack upon an enemy combat unit it may notmake any other attack for the duration of that Combat Phase. Nocombat unit may be attacked twice in the same player's CombatPhase.

EXAMPLE 1: To the left, A, B and Care friendly stacks. X, Y, and Z areenemy stacks. A and B may bothattack X, or A may attack X alone. Bmay attack X alone, Y alone, or both Xand Y together. C may only attack Z.

EXAMPLE 2: The units in stack A are enemies tostacks X, Y, and Z. Stack A could attack in one ofseveral ways: 1) Not at all, 2) Attack only X, only Y,or only Z, 3) Attack any combination of two enemy-occupied spaces, or 4) Attack all three adjacentenemy-occupied spaces as a combined defendingtotal.

Mixed-Type CombatIn the Basic Game, fleets and land units may only fight each otherin a siege situation during the Siege Phase or during anAmphibious Attack. In all other cases, the presence of one type ofunit is ignored by the other during combat even if they shouldoccupy adjacent spaces. Even so, they cannot indefinitely occupythe same space. Fleets which find themselves in the same hex asenemy land units must leave as soon as possible, except in siegesituations.

Effects of Terrain on CombatUnits defending in a mountain may add +1 to their combat roll.Units defending in a mountain pass have their combat strengthsdoubled. These combat bonuses are in addition to any othercombat bonuses that may accrue to the defending player (e.g.,those that come from heroes, etc.)

Land units may not attack across an all-sea or navigable riverhexside, nor may fleets attack across an all-land hexside. Ordinaryrivers have no effect upon combat.

Retreat Before CombatAfter an attack has been declared and before the combat dice arerolled, the defender may attempt to retreat to avoid taking losses.The ability to retreat is determined by the type of combat unit tryingto retreat:

Type of Unit: Retreats on: Human (most kingdoms, mercenaries) : 4, 5, or 6 Non-Human (Neuth, Ghem, Nithmere, Trolls) : 3, 4, 5, or 6

All fleets in the basic game are considered ‘human’ and retreat ona 4-6.

When a stack of units is attempting to retreat, test the type of unitwith the least chance of success first; if it succeeds, all other unitsin the stack are assumed to have successfully made their requiredretreat roll. If it fails, it must stand and fight, although if other unitsare present with a better chance of retreating they may make theirown roll to attempt a retreat.

A player cannot split up a force of similar-type units by retreatingpart of it. If any humans in a stack retreat, all of them must retreat.

If any elves in a stack retreat, all elves present must retreat.

Hero units do not retreat unless at least one friendly combat unitdoes so. Heroes basically ride a combat unit away during itsretreat.

EXAMPLE 1: Common mercenaries (always treated as humans)stacked with Elves from Neuth (non-humans) receive a roll of 5.Both groups may retreat before combat. If the player had rolled a2, the humans would be forced to stand and fight. The Elves couldstill roll to retreat without the mercenaries, if their owner so desires.

EXAMPLE 2: A mixed stack of Elves and Dwarves attempt retreatfrom an enemy attack. A retreat roll of 2 is rolled. Neither the Elvesnor the Dwarves may retreat from the combat situation. If theplayer had rolled a 3 he could retreat all of the elves, all of thedwarves, or the entire force.

Any units successfully retreating before combat must move to anadjacent space. All units of the same basic type (e.g., land or fleetunit) that retreat on a single roll must retreat to the same space. Astack with both land and sea combat units may choose to retreatto two different spaces, but must roll separate retreat rolls.

Units may not retreat into a space that contains an enemy combatunit, a non-plundered enemy or neutral castle (unless it is alreadybesieged by friendly combat units), or into any space occupied byfriendly units that are currently engaged in an unresolved attackthat same player round.

If no space is available for a stack to retreat into, no retreat cantake place regardless of the roll. The player may abort an intendedretreat even after a successful retreat roll. For example, if Elvesand Dwarves are stacked with human units and are able to retreat,while the humans' roll is an unsuccessful one, the player may optto keep the Dwarves, Elves, and the humans together to face theattack at better odds. Conversely, either the Dwarves and/or Elvesmay retreat, while letting the humans stay to defend the space.

If, after a Retreat Before Combat, a unit or stack is still adjacent tothe enemy units that were attacking it then the retreated unit(s)may still be attacked. No second Retreat Before Combat is allowed.

If, after a Retreat Before Combat, the retreated units are adjacentto a different enemy stack, one that has been declared to beattacking other defenders but whose attack has not yet beenresolved, the attacker may choose to include the retreated units inthe combat. Their strength is then added to the strength of theoriginally declared defenders in this second combat. The units maynot retreat again, although the originally declared defenders againstthis new attack may still attempt to do so.

Advance After CombatAttacking units may advance into a space occupied by a defendingforce that was entirely destroyed in combat. Attackers may alsoadvance into a space that has been vacated by defenders whohave performed Retreat Before Combat, although in that case notethat the advance counts as the advancing units’ attack for the turn.

Amphibious AttacksA player may make an amphibious attack on a body of enemycombat units in a port space or “outside” the castle in a castle-portspace. (The besiegers of a castle-port fall into the latter category.)But such landings are dangerous and should not be engaged inlightly.

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In an amphibious attack the enemy units may be attacked fromadjacent sea spaces by fleet units, either alone or in combinationwith any land units they are transporting. (This is an exception tothe restriction on combat by transported land units, and therestriction on land units fighting fleets.)

All enemy land and sea units in the space (the ones “outside” thecastle in the case of a castle port) defend against the attack. Inaddition, fleets “inside” a castle port can come “outside” to defendagainst the attack, if their owner desires. All losses to a mixed forceof land and sea units in an amphibious attack can be dividedbetween the two types of units however the owner desires.

Should the attacker lose an amphibious attack (e.g., take greateror equal losses), half, rounded down, of all the surviving attackersare then eliminated. This represents the difficulty of withdrawingsafely from a failed amphibious situation. The attacker mayapportion these losses as desired between land units and fleets.

In the case of units amphibiously assaulting a besieging force, theattacker may also add into the fray either the land or sea units“inside” the besieged castle. He may not add both, as these unitsare not really engaging in an amphibious attack themselves.Likewise, if things go badly they are not subject to the half-survivors-eliminated penalty of the previous paragraph. Theattacker may not add in beseiged units that made a ‘break out’attack during the siege phase of the same turn.

Fleets from inside a castle-port that ‘assist’ an amphibious attackagainst their besiegers return inside the port after the battle.However, fleets that came out of a port or castle-port to defendagainst an amphibious attack remain “outside” the port after thebattle.

After an amphibious attack all the survivors on both sides remainin place unless A) all defending land units were destroyed orretreated before combat or B) the attack was an effort to enterrelieving forces into a siege. In the first case the attacker mayadvance into the hex, possibly initiating a siege if the defenderswere “outside” of a castle-port. In the second case the survivingattackers may be immediately added to the besieged force. SeeRelieving Forces at Sieges, below. EXAMPLE: Four besieging Mivioran land units are in the space ofthe Rombuni port of Thores but are "outside" it. The Rombuni fleetstops adjacent to the castle with four fleets and four land units. TheRombunis may attack the Mivioran units at 2 to 1 (8 vs 4) bymeans of amphibious landing. If they destroy all of the Mivioranunits they may advance into the hex and be considered eitherinside or outside the port as they desire. If they do not destroy allof the Mivioran units they may nonetheless enter the castle as a‘relieving force’.

It is permissible to launch an “amphibious attack” against an emptycastle-port hex for purposes of advancing after combat into the hexand laying siege to the place.

Relieving Forces at SiegesRelieving forces may win the right to advance into the castle spaceand add themselves to the force "inside" the castle walls by movingadjacent to the besieging stack and attacking the besieging unitsin the Combat Phase. Any such attack is made during thebesieged player's Combat Phase. Win or lose, the relieving forcemay then advance into the castle to join the besieged force.

A force of land units attempting to relieve a besieged castle-portonly fights against the beseiging land units, should the besiegerhave both land units and fleets present. If the besieger has onlyfleets, land units may freely enter the castle-port.

Likewise, a force of naval units may ‘relieve’ a friendly castle-portbesieged by only land units by simply entering the port in themovement phase. They may transport land units and disembarkthem in the besieged castle as part of this movement. If thebesiegers DO have fleets, however, the relieving fleets must fightthem (and only them, not the besieging land units) in the combatphase to gain the right to enter the port. If the relieving fleets weretransporting land units, they may be disembarked once therelieving fleets have entered the besieged castle-port.

Note: this is NOT an amphibious attack. The land units are merelycargo and do not participate in the combat resolution. If the playerwants both the fleets and their transported land units to participatein the combat, he must make an amphibious attack as outlined inthe previous rules section.

If the besieging forces include both land units and fleets, a playermay launch two attacks on the hex, one by relieving land unitsagainst the besieging land units, and one by the relieving fleetsagainst the besieging fleets. He must do so if he desires to haveboth land- and sea-borne units enter into the besieged castle.(Naturally, if the player conducts an amphibious attack that is adifferent matter–all the attackers fights all the defenders in onebattle in that case. This provision covers situations where landunits are attacking by land and sea units by sea.)

The defending forces inside the castle may participate in the ‘relief’attack so long as they did not make a breakout attack during thepreceding siege phase. Land units in the castle may join in theattack of relieving land units, and fleets in the castle may join inthe attack of relieving fleets. Either type (but not both) may join inthe case of an amphibious attack attempting to relieve them, asoutlined in the rules given under Amphibious Attacks.

HeroesIn the Basic Game, all units representing individuals (as opposedto combat units which represent hundreds) are referred to as"heroes." Those that are eligible to lead troops are hero-leaders.All monarchs in Minaria, player and non-player, are hero-leaders.(In the Intermediate game there are some heroes who are notleaders.) Units led by a hero are granted the hero's movementallowance and terrain bonuses. Additionally, they are able to attackor defend with the aid of any combat bonuses granted by themonarch’s Personality card.

Heroes, by themselves, have no combat strength, but somemonarchs grant combat bonuses to accompanying combat units’combat resolution, if such bonuses are listed on the monarch’sPersonality card.

Heroes traveling alone can pass through a stack of enemy combatunits, or even an enemy castle, but must take a Hero Fate Rollwhen so doing.

Hero Movement Bonus and Terrain BonusMonarch heroes may confer their own movement rate to a stackcontaining other heroes, his own regular units and/or mercenaries.They may not assist in the movement of regulars of other friendlykingdoms.

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Some hero units have terrain bonuses on their counters (seeMovement). All monarchs have mountain, forest, and swampterrain bonuses when moving within their own kingdoms. Thesebonuses are likewise passed on to all units (except regulars ofother kingdoms in the case of monarchs) which are in the hero’sstack.

Units that are to receive these bonuses may not moveindependently in the same movement phase. Units that the playerdoes not wish to have benefit from the hero's bonuses should bemoved first. If a unit begins its move in concert with a hero, it maynot split off from the hero’s stack and move on its own. It maycease moving before the hero, but may move no further that turn.

If two or more heroes are in the same stack, only one of them maylead the unit for movement. If, for example, the monarch of Immerand the monarch of Neuth are in the same stack, each monarchcan only move units of its own country, and any mercenaries thathappen to be present. If mercenaries are present, they can onlybenefit from the movement bonuses of one of the leaders eachturn.

EXAMPLE: A stack of one regular troop unit and one mercenaryunit, both of which have a movement allowance of 5, is led by themonarch of the regular troops’ kingdom. The entire stack gains themonarch’s printed movement allowance of 7 and moves using allthe terrain bonuses the leader possesses.

EXAMPLE: If the monarch of Ghem with one unit and the monarchof Muetar with 2 units are moving through hills, the one Ghem(Dwarven) combat unit and the king of Muetar may accompany theGhem monarch, through up to 8 spaces of clear terrain and hills.Because the Muetaran monarch chooses not to lead, the Muetarancombat units are on their own and can move only 5 movementpoints, which would take them through just 2 hill spaces.

Units with their own terrain bonuses that use hero-assistedmovement lose their normal bonuses. Thus a unit which is able tomove through forest as clear terrain does not transfer this ability tothe hero leading its stack and may not use its own forest-terrainbonus if it is benefitting from the hero's movement bonus. Multipleheroes may not combine movement enhancements in any way.

Note, however, that a hero may forego leading troops and insteadbe ‘carried along’ by them as they move, thus indirectly gaining thecombat units’ own terrain bonuses. Outside of a monarch’s homekingdom, the terrain bonuses of other units may more than makeup for losing the enhanced movement rate the monarch wouldconfer were he leading the stack instead of being carried along byit.

Hero Combat BonusVarious factors give a hero a Combat Bonus. In the Basic Gameonly a monarch with Personality card 16 has a Combat Bonus.Many more such bonuses are present in the intermediate andadvanced games. When playing using those rules, only one hero(per side) may grant a bonus to the combat die roll. CombatBonuses do not apply to Siege Resolution Rolls unless specificallystated in a hero’s description. The hero granting the combat bonusis said to be leading the units in combat. A monarch may not leadregulars of another kingdom in combat. It is possible, though rare,for units to be led by one hero during movement and by another inan ensuing combat.

Hero Fate RollWhen a hero is in danger of being captured or killed, he must makea Hero Fate Roll. Whenever one of the following situations occurs,a die must be rolled for each threatened hero.

1) One or more units in the hero's stack are lost in combat. 2) The hero passes through a stack of enemy combat units

alone. 3) Enemy combat units land on or pass through a lone hero

(referred to as a "search.") 4) The hero begins his turn in an enemy stack and attempts to

leave. 5) A castle containing the hero falls to a siege. 6) The hero attempts to enter or leave a besieged castle alone.

(To enter/exit the space and the castle walls is a single roll, notone for the castle and one the enemy besiegers).

7) The hero attempts to enter or leave any enemy or neutralcastle.

8) The hero is inside an enemy castle at the beginning of theowner’s player turn.

9) The fleet transporting the hero is shipwrecked. 10) The hero attempts to cross a navigable river hexside controlled

by enemy fleets.

A "lone hero" means that there are no friendly combat units stackedwith the hero. Several heroes stacked together without friendlycombat units as escorts are equally vulnerable. A lone hero in anon-friendly castle space is always considered to be “inside” thecastle walls.

If a stack begins its turn stacked with an enemy hero, the playermust have the units expend movement points equal to the terraincost of the space in order to make a “search” and force a hero fateroll. Of course, this is only really a factor if the player wishes tothen move the units elsewhere after the search is conducted. (Timeis lost in the process of making a search).

Thus, if the space contains mountain terrain, at least one combatunit loses 4 movement points in conducting the search. (If the unitswere to use a friendly hero with a mountain terrain bonus to reducethe movement point cost of the hex to 3, then that hero must alsoexpend movement points in the search.)

THE HERO FATE TABLE Roll Result

1 Hero Killed2-5 No Effect 6 Hero Captured

Usually, a Hero Fate Roll can be forced on a hero only once perplayer turn. For example, if a hero's stack is eliminated in combatand the enemy advances on top of the hero, only one Hero FateRoll is made. However, on that hero's next Movement Phase,another Hero Fate Roll must be made at the beginning of the herosnext turn (for beginning his player turn in a hex with enemy units.)

Only one Hero Fate Roll may be required of a given hero duringeach enemy player's movement. (For instance, an enemy playermay not force seven rolls by separately moving seven combat unitsover a lone hero). However, a monarch that enters multiple hexescontaining enemy units must make a hero fate die roll for eachsuch hex he enters.

If a hero begins an enemy turn in an enemy castle, a Hero FateRoll must be made for the hero at the start of the enemy player's

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Random Events Phase. A lone hero exiting a besieged castle andpassing though a non-besieging enemy unit adjacent to it mustundergo two Hero Fate rolls. In fact, there is no limit to the numberof rolls that a hero must undergo for situations of his own making.

A lone hero may never be attacked. Aside from assassination (seeDiplomacy), the only way heroes may be killed or captured isthrough the Hero Fate Roll.

Shipwrecked HeroesA hero is either killed, captured, or shipwrecked if he is left withouta friendly fleet in an all-sea space.

A Hero Fate roll is made. The hero dies on a 1, and is captured ona 6. On a 2-5 (and on a 6, if no attacking or searching enemy fleetsare responsible for his plight), the hero is immediately placed onthe Isle of Fright. The castaway must remain there until picked upby a friendly fleet that moves into the space. Enemy fleets may notcapture a hero on the Isle of Fright, as there are too many caves inwhich to hide. In a similar manner, fleets may not unload combatunits there because of the many dangerous reefs surrounding theisland. Fleet movement into the Isle of Fright space is restricted torescue attempts. Ambassadors may still work diplomacy upon acastaway monarch's kingdom, since a temporary regency isassumed. (Any modifications to the diplomacy roll imposed by themonarch’s personality are ignored during this time.)

Until freed or rescued, a shipwreck causes the monarch's combatunits to suffer a -1 modifier on all (offensive) Combat and SiegeRolls in which they make up more than 50% of the participatingfriendly force. A non-player monarch is automatically removed fromhis place of exile should his kingdom be deactivated or go intoforced peace.

A hero castaway on an inland body of water is placed on theclosest non-port river space, lake shore, or coastal space of thesame body. If two spaces are equally close, decide randomly. Acastaway will violate a neutral kingdom if he is cast upon its shore,unless he is eliminated voluntarily.

Death of a Monarch If a non-player monarch is killed, his kingdom deactivates and goesinto a form of Forced Peace called Confusion (see Confusion,above). Discard the deceased monarch’s personality card andshuffle it into the deck of unused ones.

If a player monarch is killed, the player is out of the game and hiskingdom becomes a non-player kingdom. See Fate of PlayerKingdoms, above.

Capture of a MonarchWhen a non-player monarch is captured, he is immediately placedin the nearest non-plundered, non-besieged castle controlled by thecaptor. If the captor has no such castle, there are two otheroptions: 1) Execute the monarch immediately, or 2) Set themonarch free. In either case, the captor still gets the victory pointsfor the capture (see Victory).

A captured hero may not be transferred from one prison castle toanother, and is incapable of any offensive or defensive action. Thecaptor does not need to keep a combat unit at the castle–theintrinsic defense factor of the castle constitutes a garrison.

If a monarch is a captive, the monarch's combat units suffer a -1modification on the Combat Roll, should they make up more than

half of the friendly units engaged in a combat situation.

There are only three ways to free an imprisoned monarch: 1) Successful siege and plunder of the prison castle by the

prisoner's own troops or allied troops. 2) If the kingdom in which the prisoner is being held deactivates

in any manner, the prisoner is released and placed in thenearest friendly castle.

3) If the castle is plundered by units enemy to the captive, thecaptive is freed, but remains in place until his own nextmovement phase. Usually one or more Hero Fate rolls will berequired to evade the new enemy.

FREEING A PRISONERA captive who is voluntarily freed is placed in the nearest friendlycastle. If no castle is friendly to the freed captive, he is placed withthe nearest friendly combat unit. If there is no friendly combat unit,the owning player places the freed captive in any space that hedesires.

EXECUTING A PRISONERImmediately upon capture, or in any of the captor's subsequentdiplomacy phases, a prisoner may be executed. No additionalvictory points are awarded for such an execution, though thecapturing player still gets the victory points for the capture.Additionally, the player executing a monarch incurs a permanentDiplomatic Penalty of -1 in the kingdom of the slain monarch.

FORCING PEACE ON A PRISONERForcing peace on a prisoner is similar to forcing peace on akingdom due to the capture and occupation of its Royal Castle (seeForced Peace). Each and every game turn that a monarch isimprisoned, the jailor, during his Diplomacy Phase, may make aspecial roll to attempt to force the captured monarch into peace.This is also called the "Forced Peace roll."

A jailor may choose not to attempt to force peace on their prisoner,but instead attempt to work normal diplomacy on the captive withthe ambassador. In this case Diplomacy cards and penalties doapply, but that is the only function that the ambassador may dothat turn.

Only the jailor's ambassador may work diplomacy on a capturedmonarch. Deactivating a captive by using an ambassador isconsidered normal diplomacy and not considered Forced Peace.

CAPTURE OF A PLAYER MONARCHIf a player monarch is captured, essentially the same procedure isfollowed if he had been killed. His kingdom becomes a non-playerkingdom in confusion. All of his allies deactivate normally. Whenthe former player kingdom comes out of confusion, its monarch isstill the same ‘person’ as he was before, but in being captured andreleased he has lost sufficient standing among his fellow monarchsthat he can no longer function as a player monarch. His is takento be a lost cause, and not one worth championing. A personalitycard is drawn for the now non-player monarch when his kingdomcomes out of confusion.

Special Rules for Select Kingdoms

The TrollsTrolls have four separate locations on the map. They are acommon but somewhat disorganized race. Trolls are regenerative;in addition to any replacements they may receive via Random

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Events, they may replace one eliminated regular unit (if any) at thebeginning of each turn. The Troll is replaced at its originaldeployment space. If the deployment space is enemy-occupied, theregenerated units may not be brought into play that turn. Any Trollregulars lost through Random Events may not be regenerated inthe same game turn.

The Trolls have the only kingdom without a Royal Castle. Use thescenic space of the Face as a Royal Castle for diplomacy purposesand mercenary placement. The Trollish monarch may enter play inany of the four scenic spaces of the Troll kingdom.

Zorn (The Goblins)Most of the Goblins inhabit the kingdom of Zorn in the NithmereMountains. They are a tribal people dwelling in scattered goatpastures. Their units must be deployed on the mountain and passspaces of Zorn; only one may be placed per space, and no twomay be deployed in adjacent spaces. This rule must be followedboth when setting up and when bringing in replacements.

Ghem (The Dwarves)Dwarves, who own the kingdom of Ghem, have three widelyseparated locations determined by the availability of rich mines:Aws Noir, Aws Alzak, and Rosengg. Though separated, they are allrelated and will fight fiercely for a common cause.

HothiorDue to the vulnerability of their capital city of Port Lork, theHothiorans have engaged the best engineers to construct a heavychain on a boom to prevent the entry of unwanted ships.

"The Boom," sometimes called "Boarhort's Boom" after the kingwho authorized it, is located in the scenic coastal space next toPort Lork. This space is considered part of Hothior and it is adiplomatic violation for an enemy unit to enter it. In enemy turns,the Boom is closed, forcing enemy fleets to stop in the Boom spacefor one turn before entering the space of Port Lork. The Boom isopen to all fleets if Port Lork is under siege or enemy-occupied.

RombuneLike Hothior, Rombune has gone to extraordinary lengths in lateyears to protect its vulnerable quarters by engineering. TheRombunis have exaggerated the gradual sinking of the hinterlandaround Parros with man-made canals. Now Parros is effectivelysurrounded by a large moat.

A land invasion is still possible, but more costly. Crossing the canalspace sides of Parros costs an player 2 extra movement points,unless Parros is a friendly castle. Increase the combat roll of thestack defending outside the castle by +2, unless the invader attackswith the support of fleets (e.g., has sufficient fleets present totransport the attacking force, although no actual transport is done.This is not considered an amphibious assault.)

ShucassamIn the Basic Game the scenic space of the Obelisk is considereda wasteland space and not part of the kingdom of Shucassam.

Basic Game Optional Rules

Re-entry of Eliminated PlayersIf a player is eliminated, he can, with the unanimous consent of theother players, return to play as a new player monarch. He will start

over at zero victory points and must randomly draw a new playermonarch from the currently available neutral monarchs (includinghis former player kingdom). The player receives its full force poolfor deployment, even if the kingdom currently has unreplacedlosses from previous conflict. However, Plundered Castles remainplundered.

If there are no neutral monarchs available, the player randomlydraws a nonplayer identity card from the player with the largestnumber of allies. As before, the kingdom’s force pool restored to itsoriginal starting strength. Any hostile units are displaced from thekingdom’s deployment spaces to allow for normal deployment ofthe returning player's units.

If the player does not choose to re-enter the game, he keeps anyvictory points earned thus far. If he has the greatest number ofvictory points at the end of turn 20, the eliminated player monarchis the winner despite his death.

History and Geography of Minaria

The following is a brief summary of the most important events ofMinarian history and the background of its current heroes. Moreinformation is available on the accompanying CD-ROM.

Early HistoryLittle is known of pre-Cataclysmic Minaria outside of theinformation provided in a few surviving histories compiled in Lloroitimes. The Lloroi were a highly civilized race, more akin to thepresent day woodland Elves than to Men or Dwarves. Out of theearlier kingdoms and barbarian lands, the Lloroi forged a greatempire. Yet their drive to conquer was inspired more out of pride intheir culture than in any ambition for resources or military glory.

The two thousand year period following the conquest of Minaria isremembered as the classical period of Minarian culture. It was atime of great artistic and scientific development; a time of peaceand tranquility marred only by the long rebellion of the ScarletWitch King and occasional strife.

Then came the Cataclysm. Its causes remain unknown, althoughsome blame it on the results of the extensive magical researchconducted by the Lloroi in defense against the Scarlet Witch King.At any rate, the world literally turned upside down. Tempests,earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions, and giant meteoritestorms shattered the land and wiped out the Lloroi Empire. Whenit was over, barbarism overwhelmed the survivors and tribalwarfare raged among the ruins - the New Dark Age.

The highly civilized Lloroi were unable to adapt to the new world.What remained of the Lloroi ruling class swiftly dwindled intoinsignificance as short-lived barbarian kingdoms rose and fell in aseemingly endless succession. Fortunately, not all Lloroi culturewas lost during the centuries of the Dark Age. The people ofMinaria grimly fought to preserve what they could of the glory andwisdom of the past. In the last few hundred years, new andpowerful kingdoms have advanced upon the foundations laid by thework and sacrifice of their forebears, bringing about a new order tothe continent.

Eventually, eleven kingdoms and two sorcerous principalities grewup to form the political entities of the West. Most of these arefeudal monarchies, generally lacking the political and economicbase for territorial expansion. However, border strife and raids for

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plunder are common.

Recent HistoryMore than fifteen years have passed since the last documentedhistory of Minaria. In that time much has changed, but much hasalso remained the same. Despite many wars, the monarchs wecame to know a decade and a half ago all still reign; their virtuesand foibles are still the familiar ones. The long-lived Schardenzarbarely shows his added years, and the immortal Black Knight hasnot changed at all. Bilge Rat and Juulute are now more mature andseasoned heroes, but still vigorous and perhaps even morecunning.

The new continental map reflects some surprising changes, butmost are not changes, but actually corrections of old errors. Themost widely circulated map of previous days drew heavily from thecartography of Roebon of Boliske, who, though invaluable for theirresearches into the restricted Mivioran archives, used thequestionable materials of Kroysta of Beolon for charting much ofthe interior of the continent. Cartography is still an imperfectscience in Minaria, but the editors of the current chart have usedthe latest scholarship and are confident that it is more accuratethan ever.

Similarly, many names have changed slightly and some entirely.Some labels were outright errors based on garbled travel tales.Others represented foreign names for certain localities, which thepresent map editors have chosen to use translations of the areas'own inhabitants instead. The new map conveys more detail, andsome locations which have gone unnamed in past editions havebeen duly labeled based on the latest information. For example,though Mivioran traders have long called the great lake of Neuth"Lake Melting Star," the Elves themselves have always referred toit as "Star Lake."

A decade ago, a great earthquake in Eastern Muetar diverted themighty River Wanderer south, leaving a truncated stream thatlocals now call the Waning. Groat, once an island, is nowsurrounded by swamps. Though the Wanderer's course changehas impoverished large areas of Eastern Muetar, the loss has beenpartially made up by Muetaran industry dredging the Deep River toallow larger vessels passage for increased shipping.

The temporary upset of the Muetaran kingdom following theearthquake allowed Immerites to move on Irredentist claimsagainst the north shore of Lake Carth. They have not yetsucceeded in seizing the territory, but have extended the DisputedLands. On the other hand, while engaged against a weakenedMuetar, Immer suffered the loss of Choked Chasm Pass to theGoblins. This reverse redoubled the importance of Gap Castle asa fortress, which was accordingly strengthened.

Great changes have occurred in the vicinity of Shucassam andPon. The saline Sea of Zett, never so small as Roebon drew it, hasexpanded now that it is fed by the rerouted Wanderer River,extending it to Grugongi in the east and Jipols in the West. Luppi,reacting swiftly to opportunity, has improved the defenses ofGrugongi and built a fleet to safeguard the increased trade acrossthe Zett.

Meanwhile, the earthquake weakened the kingdom of Shucassamenough to allow the irreconcilable ethnics of Jipols to successfullyrevolt with the help of Rombune, effectively ending Shucassamitecontrol of the lands immediately to its north. Currently, Jipols is aprotectorate of Rombune, who has remade it into a port to allow

construction of a fleet to ply the sea of Zett. Increasing pressurefrom a reviving Shucassam has made Jipols more dependent onRombuni help and most observers regard its independence is asham and consider it a part of the Rombuni kingdom.

As a check against their great rival, Luppi of Pon has supportedRombuni influence in Jipols until Ponese ships began to sufferattacks by corsairs based in Jipols. Nonetheless, the Archduke'sambition causes him to support the independence of the free portof Bartertown, from whence Pon is able to draw richly upon thetrade of the south. To deal with enemy activity and to capture thiscommerce for its own, Shucassam has launched its own Zett fleet.The maritime feud between the three states grows ever more bitter.

Increasingly Mivior must answer to new challenges against itsmaritime hegemony. Independent shippers and smugglers diverttrade from its mercantile houses by way of Freeport in theWaterless Downs. Pirates, growing ever bolder, raid far and wide.The most vulnerable ports of Mivior's rivals, such as Parros andPort Lork, have been strengthened by military engineering and herneighbors are no longer intimidated so easily. Once the mostpromising of Minaria's kingdoms, factors beyond the ingenuity ofits leadership have allowed Mivior to stagnate to a surprisingdegree.

The Trolls, tired of defending fixed boundaries and strongholds withrestive troops, no longer claim exclusivity in Trollwood and havedismantled the rude walls of the Face. Its royal treasures, such asthey are, have been hidden in secret wasteland vaults. The Eatersof Wisdom and Black Hand, too, have wearied of acting in theuncongenial role of landed sovereignties. They have cut loose thesurrounding wastelands that they once jealously claimed forthemselves. Likewise, in times of national weakness, Shucassamis sometimes unable to exert its national claim to the entire lengthof the Old Caravan Road and failed to oppose brigands and evenentire armies moving between the Banished Lands and the Wastesof Vah-Ka-Ka.

Distinct groups, such as the Ercii, Ghouls, Selkies, Shadowolves,and Tail-People, have grown in prominence. Magic is also betterunderstood. Magic devices are catalogued and studied like neverbefore. Alas, curses have grown to be so common in Minaria as tobecome a social problem. Not even the will of the gods haveremained immutable; perhaps to counter the flood of evil magic,the divinities of the Temple of Kings are much more willing to loantheir precious gifts to rulers of noble heart.

Arguably, the greatest change inside Minaria is the breaking downof the old group mind-set that had for so long discouraged personalachievement. In this regard, the human race has shown the mostvitality. Increasing trade, wider disseminations of ideas, and theinspiring example set by Minaria's earlier heroes have contributedto this changing outlook. Now many men and women of ability areemerging from towns and villages, castles and forests, to write theirnames across the face of a continent.

But the changes are reflected even in the demeanor of thepeasants. New philosophies circulate amongst the humble. In partthe rising prosperity is responsible. Where once charitable orders,such as the cult of Huisinga, showed their benevolence bysupplying basic sustenance and medical care to the wretched, thelightened burden on the peasantry now allows priests andmissionaries the luxury of addressing higher abstractions,emphasizing the idea of the gods' love for the individual. Thechange is evident in the frequency that peasants flee the land to

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become mercenaries, vagabonds, or sailors. And it is also evidentin the waxing tension in rural villages. Where heroes appear toexploit the discontent, local risings will follow, as will their violentsuppression. There are changes without Minaria, too. In the West,the Ogres become even more intrusive, but somewhat moretractable. Minarian contacts with the southern subcontinent ofGirion grow ever closer. Pon, Rombune, and Shucassam outstripall others in capitalizing on the new trade and the culturalexchange, but stronger ties also tend to embroil the insularMinarians in the strange and violent doings of the southerners.

There are ominous rumblings in the East. Wyrms are nowpermanent residents along the southeastern borderlands, whereearlier their existence was only hearsay. Even more dangerous tothe border kingdoms are the Eastern Horsemen, spilling over thefrontier to lay waste far and wide. There are also rumors ofsomething worse behind the barbarians - a merciless empire-building in the Far East with a monarch possessing world-conquering ambitions and who, it is said, has already sent hisinsolent emissaries to Minaria's courts, demanding tokens ofsubmission and tribute.

Whatever else may be said, the end of Minarian history is not yetcome.

Kingdoms of MinariaTHE BLACK HANDSome say the Black Hand arrived from exile out of the east. Othersconjecture that it arose from the mausoleums under the Tower ofZards itself. Armed with a foul magic unknown to Westerners, andwith demonic aid, it repaired the ancient Tower and now throws asinister shroud over the Shards of Lor. The Black Hand has beenknown to go to war for one coalition or another, but prefers toremain alone in its tower, practicing death magic in a restrainedand culturally acceptable manner.

THE EATERS OF WISDOMSo-called for their voracious appetite for knowledge, the Eaters ofWisdom are a society of sorcerers and philosophers. They claima pre-Cataclysmic origin, but this contention is often debated. Still,it cannot be denied that the Eaters possess most of what remainsof the knowledge and history of Lloroi culture. The Invisible Schoolof Thaumaturgy provides the finest classical education to which ayoung Minarian noble can aspire.

The Eaters of Wisdom pursue a policy of secular intervention. Aselect few of their students are trained in high sorcery, for theEaters believe that magic can have a positive influence on themarch of civilization. It is this philosophy that induces them tointervene in the frequent wars that disturb the peace of Minaria.

GHEMThe Dwarves of Ghem are a race that dwells in scattered miningcolonies around Minaria. They prefer to tend to their own business,but will rally to their monarch if called. Dwarves are scorned inMinaria for their lack of culture, but are popular for their spendinghabits. A typical dwarf laboriously gathers a sack of gold or jewelsand then hurries to the nearest town that offers rich food, strongdrink, and tawdry goods. A day or two later, broke and overloadedwith costly junk, the dwarf scuttles back to the mine to pull moreriches from the earth, all the while dreaming of their next visit totown. But times are changing in Ghem, too, and an increasingshare of its economy consists of fine crafts, especially weapons,produced for sale.

HOTHIOREking out a living in the sandy land of Hothior has left most of thenative yeomen little time for high cultural achievement. Worse, theirthinly-populated nation is beset on every side by powerful rivalswho often come raiding and further impoverish the inhabitants. Forthis reason, Hothiorans are often deemed crude and backwards byMinarian standards. But adversity has made them a canny andenergetic people. The capital, Port Lork, is the center of a vasthorsehide tanning industry. Castle Lapspell is an even moreprosperous trading city. There the Yando Rivermen land theirwares and pay their duties, while its markets throng with merchantsfrom Shucassam, Rombune, and Mivior. Dikes have expanded themarshes east of the city, protecting that vulnerable flank andallowing new wet-land crops to be planted profitably in what wasbefore but poor pasture land.

IMMERThe kingdom of Immer rose from a hearty stock of hunters andtrappers who infiltrated from the south. Soon farmers followed thehunters and Immer expanded north, east, and west from the fortestablished early on at Muscaster. At length, the Immerites, inalliance with the Eaters of Wisdom, drove the local barbarians fromthe pre-cataclysmic fortress Castle Altarr and made it their capital.Today, fur trading has diminished, except among the Gorpin.Woodsmen, cattle grazing and placer mining in the River Rapidhave replaced the old ways. Immerites are known to be formidablefighters, as their armies get little respite from the invadingBarbarians from the north, raiding Goblins from Zorn, and battleswith the Muetarans, who hotly contest with Immer for the westernquarter of the Disputed Lands.

MIVIORThe tangled forests and high mountains of the interior have forcedthe people of Mivior into the business of the sea. From her thickforests the ships that dominate the commerce of the Great Sea arebuilt. A near monopoly of trade with the distant continent of Reikento the west has fabulously enriched the kingdom. Mivior maintainsthe largest war fleet in Minaria and controls the sea - unless two ormore enemies combine their fleets to challenge her. Its large army,with many marines trained in amphibious raiding, make Mivior adesirable ally and an opponent to fear.

MUETARThe kingdom of Muetar has been forced to maintain the largestarmy in Minaria. Often attacked on every side, the hearty yeomenof Muetar have developed a strong militaristic tradition, all to oftenat the price of liberty. The products of its rolling hills and fertilevalleys are carried to port by the famous barge sailors, therivermen of Yando or, more lately, picked up by seagoing shipsthat ply the arduously- dredged channels of the River Deep. Arecent earthquake temporarily weakened the kingdom and causeda loss of control in some minor borderland districts.

NEUTHOften called "Elfland" by its human neighbors, Neuth is the homeof the forest Elves. The Elves believe themselves to be betterendowed with intellect, noble spirit, and pure aspirations thanhumankind. A couple generations ago, this conceit impelled theElves to abandon their isolation and follow a fanatic monarch intoa ruthless war against their neighbors. After overrunning most ofthe northwest, the Goblins rose against them and collapsed theirshort-lived conquests. When the tide of battle turned, Ider Bolis, theElven capital, was sacked and the priceless ancient library wasclaimed as booty by the victors. Yet this very act of theft may beresponsible for the new enlightenment that is sweeping over the

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continent.

PONThe kingdom of Pon is a fusion of earlier mountain tribes androbber baronies. The powerful dukes of Marzarbol gradually drewthe disorderly inhabitants of the forests and mountains togetherand established a kingdom. The Ponese still favor their ancestraltrade of robbing and raiding their neighbors, but the growingstrength of Shucassam and Muetar have forced a change in theirways. The most recent addition to the coffers of Pon has comethrough southern caravan trade, bypassing the high imposts ofShucassam. This trade has been further enhanced by theexpansion of the Sea of Zett. Heap, once a despised backwater,has grown and gained wide prominence as a port of trade under itsolder, more honored, name - Grugongi.

ROMBUNEThe pirate hideaways on Skull Isle thrived for many years on thehapless merchantmen plying the Great Sea. However, as Miviorgrew to become the ruler of the seas, the independent piratecaptains were forced to unite and form an elected monarchy basedon the articles of piracy. Tradition and bribery have kept the thronein one family for the past two hundred years. The thick forest ofSkull Island supports a flourishing shipbuilding industry. Aprotectorate by marriage, the mainland city of Parros has securedcontrol of the important iron industry there for Rombune. Morerecently, Rombune has turned its attention toward the interior of thecontinent and has opportunistically seized control in Jipols. ThereRombune has built a fleet to ply the Sea of Zett.

SHUCASSAMMinarians call the materialistic Shucassamites the "people withoutgods." This is not precisely true, although their type of shamanism,the legacy of their nomadic origins, lacks the ceremonialsophistication of northern religions. Only the Holy Brotherhood ofPinboh, a military order of lepers, manages to work up any realreligious fervor. The realm of Shucassam is a toll gate across thecaravan routes from the north to the south. High taxes on thiscommerce allows Shucassam to support a large army and aluxurious way of life for its upper classes. Recently, the growth ofthe Sea of Zett has aided Shucassam's rival, Pon, by divertingtrade away from Shucassam's borders. In an attempt to stranglethe new route, a fleet, whose wood was brought from far away atgreat expense, has been built in Adeese.

TROLLSAlthough Trolls sometimes appear in mercenary units and performheavy labor for certain human masters, they generally prefer towander the wastelands of Minaria in nomadic bands. They canthrive where life would be next to impossible for other intelligentcreatures. Minarians tend to respect the Trollish hunting groundsand their sacred gathering areas: the Vale, the Crag, and theGathering. Their most sacrosanct gathering ground is, of course,the Face. All these locations serve as places where Trolls meet toargue Trollish matters or organize for war. The present Trolldynasty was founded by an exceptionally craggy-faced Troll whoclaimed the throne by the right of most closely resembling the holyFace.

ZORNThe Goblin kingdom of Zorn supports a large population of fiercefighters. Had the Goblins united earlier, they undoubtedly wouldhave controlled vast territories. Unfortunately, these aggressivenonhumans were long divided amongst themselves. Only the

growth of strong human kingdoms to the south and the appearanceof the Black Hand in the Shards of Lor brought the Goblins togetherin a common cause. Their capital is now a volcanic labyrinth knownas the Pits. Aside from extensive goat herding, the chief Zorniteeconomic activities are plundering, raiding, and enslaving theirneighbors.

The Ancient BattlefieldsThe sites of four pre-Cataclysmic battlefields are known to exist inMinaria. Said to be saturated with magic and the spirits of thedead, these eerie places are respected and avoided by most ofMinaria's inhabitants.

FIELD OF THE LAUGHING DEADHistory recounts how the unconquerable army of the Lloroi met itsdoom here at the hands of the ghost troops and the wizards ofKhos. It is said that the maddened souls of the slain Lloroi weresent into the spirit world from whence their maniacal laughter stilldrifts on the wind.

PLAIN OF BONESThis wretched place is the only known monument to the Woida, anancient people destroyed here and almost completely obliteratedfrom the memory of men. A crumbling scroll kept in the InvisibleSchool of Thaumaturgy recounts the exploits of the Lloroi heronamed Gappa, who was largely responsible for the downfall of theWoida. With great stealth, Gappa stole their magical safeguard,thus allowing their destruction by means of a hideous putrefactionspell.

THE WASTED DEADArmed with powerful magic, the Scarlet Witch King met the mightof the Lloroi Empire here in a test of strength. Six battles werefought across the same ground before the Witch King finallycollapsed in exhaustion and was seized and punished.

THE UNKNOWN ARMYSome believe this battlefield to be a product of the years of chaosthat followed the Cataclysm. Others, however, insist that the battleoccurred even before the Lloroi arrived from the East. There is noknown history or ballad that records who fell here or why theyfought.

CreditsGAME DESIGN: Glenn & Kenneth RahmanORIGINAL CONCEPT ART & DESIGN: Kenneth Rahman25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION MAP: Kris Kleckner, JamesSpanglerBOX TOP DESIGNER: Kris Kleckner with original art from KennethRahmanBOX BOTTOM DESIGNER: James SpanglerLAYOUT DESIGNER: Kris KlecknerEDITING & GAMEPLAY: Shawne & Kris Kleckner, JamesSpangler, Marc RayCopyright 2002, by Glenn Rahman, Released under license by TheRight Stuf International, Inc. Divine Right is protected under thecopyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproductionor other unauthorized use of the material or artwork comprising thegame is prohibited without the express written permission of GlennRahman.