Everything Before You Found Your First Tribe

You take one family — a single bloodline — and grow it from a Stone Age tribe into one of history's great empires: Roman, Byzantine, Mongol, Ottoman, and eight others. You raise cities, train armies, forge alliances, and choose the calling your empire will be remembered for. It all unfolds in one living online world that keeps running whether you're there or not — and never forgets what you did. Free to play, on your phone or your computer.

Yes, in full. A free player who logs in daily and coordinates with an alliance can reach the late game, build an empire, and compete in regional wars. Premium currency (Crowns) buys time-compression and cosmetics — never combat power, building caps, or empire identity.

PC and mobile (iOS / Android), one account across both. Log in on your phone during lunch, continue on PC in the evening. Your empire and your court are always exactly where you left them.

No. Your appointed court governs your nation while you sleep: they collect resources, repair walls, defend against attacks, and fight rebels, following the Offline Mandate you set. When you return, an Offline Governance Report tells you everything that happened.

No — this is a design guarantee. Your capital can be attacked and destroyed, turned into a Ruined Capital, but never captured. You then choose: Rebuild in place (expensive, keeps tier and identity) or Seek Refuge (safe relocation to the outer frontier, downgrades Empire → Kingdom but gives a 72-hour untouchable shield). Either way you keep your account, bloodline, tech, and cosmetics.

The quest chain is the story — narrative beats from your first campfire to your empire's final lock. The Quest Log is the checklist — over a hundred shorter objectives across six chapters, always showing what to build or train next. Rewards from the Quest Log are never auto-collected — open the log and claim them.

Progression runs on two separate tracks. City Tier (Tribe → Village → Town → City) tracks one settlement's own development, driven by its Capital/Town Hall level. Realm Tier (Chiefdom → County → Duchy → Kingdom → Empire) tracks your nation-wide political authority — one value per player, gated by a mix of your capital's City Tier and, from Kingdom onward, actual territorial expansion. A single city can develop fully without your nation being an "Empire," and vice versa. Every City Tier still unlocks exactly one new core system:

Realm Tier layers governance on top: Kingdom brings Ministers, Governors, a Spymaster, and the Kingdom Doctrine choice; Empire brings the Empire Path — your permanent identity.

City Tier advances run from 30 minutes (Tribe → Village) up to a multi-hour Town → City climb, gated by Capital Hall level, population, resources, and a timer. Speedups reduce any timer to a floor of 20% of base. Realm Tier advances from Kingdom to Empire aren't timer-gated at all — they require 3 total cities all at City Tier, plus investment in that city's Civilization Era Monument. Population and resource gates can't be bypassed with currency; your economy has to actually support the advance.

At Kingdom tier you choose Triumph (military — training speed, upkeep reduction, march range) or Prosperity (economy/governance — resource output, trade income, corruption reduction, legitimacy). It influences which foundation is cheapest and most effective, but doesn't hard-lock you. Switching later has a 7-day cooldown, 50k Gold, and −10 Legitimacy.

The three-age arc that defines your civilization permanently:

• Age 1 — Foundation: Roman, Persian, Egyptian, or Chinese. Reversible during a 14-day trial.
• Age 2 — Branch: Branch toward a sibling identity within your foundation. Reversible during a 21-day trial.
• Age 3 — Final Lock (permanent): Activates your full bonus package — one signature bonus plus supporting bonuses, all active at any building level — and your identity is what breaks the Level 10 ceiling on one building (Egyptian farms and Chinese/British markets reach 12, Roman/Ottoman/Japanese barracks and Byzantine walls 11) — grants your unique unit, building, and research, and applies one real weakness.

This is the only fully irreversible step in the game — see the full empire list.

No — Age-3 Final Lock is permanent. If your capital is destroyed and you Seek Refuge, you're downgraded to Kingdom and your identity bonuses deactivate, but your identity history is retained. Re-advance and re-lock to restore full bonuses without rebuilding cost.

Twelve, each the best in the world at one different thing — see the full Empires page for identity, weakness, and signature bonus on each.

No, by design. Every empire is the best in the world at exactly one thing and clearly weaker at another — no empire is the best at two. Byzantine has the best walls but can't chase a Mongol; Mongol is the fastest army in the game but can't hide behind a high wall. Your greatest strength always comes paired with a real weakness.

Every building caps at Level 10, for every empire, no exceptions. Identity comes from flat percentage bonuses instead, active immediately at any level — Egyptian Farms produce +20% more food, Byzantine walls carry +20% more HP, British tax collection is +20% more efficient. These bonuses are the only source of an empire's identity; you cannot buy, research, or event your way to one.

A deterministic round-based resolver — the server resolves up to 8 rounds from the same inputs every time. Key factors: the counter square (Infantry beats Cavalry, Cavalry beats Archers and Siege, Archers beat Infantry and Siege), terrain, morale (armies can rout before losing all troops), commander bonuses, supply, and empire bonuses. There is no single "power number" — composition matters.

Commanders unlock formation slots (1 per 25 Military skill, max 4), shaping which unit types get initiative or defensive bonuses. Set yours before marching; the defender's is pre-set by their Governor or garrison policy.

No — your court cannot attack real players while you're offline, a hard server rule. Offline, your garrison will defend, fight rebels that spawn inside your borders, and auto-repair walls. It will never march out against another player.

Survivors return home. Wounded troops (roughly 40% of losing-side casualties, 45% of winning-side) go to your Hospital for recovery. You keep all buildings, court, and progress — a lost battle is a setback, not a death sentence.

Yes, and they can loot it and reduce its Integrity to zero — a Ruined Capital — but there is no ownership transfer. The capital always stays yours. See "Can I get eliminated?" above.

1 city through City tier (your capital only), then 3 at Kingdom I and 5 at Kingdom II, rising to 10 by Empire III. Secondary cities are founded on valid tiles — that's live now. Taking a city from another player by continuous occupation is designed but waits on real multiplayer; today the world's other powers are AI rivals, and a rival capital is destroyed rather than captured.

Your capital has a fixed number of building plots — you can't build everything, which forces specialization. The budget grows with your tier: 6 at Village, 9 at Town, 12 at City, 15 at Kingdom, and 18 from Empire I onward. (The Town Hall, public square and watchtower sit outside that budget.) Colonies are lighter production outposts — they grow by rank and depot rather than carrying a plot budget of their own. The strategic question is always "what does this city become?" — breadbasket, fortress, trade hub, foundry, or research seat.

Yes, for a 40% resource refund (no Gold). Landmark and Monument buildings can't be demolished, and walls can only be upgraded or repaired, never removed.

Landmarks come from your Age-1 foundation choice (one military, one economic) and confer partial identity bonuses. Monuments are the Final Empire structures built at Age-3 lock — Theodosian Walls, The Pyramids, Royal Exchange, House of Wisdom — permanent and irreversible.

Food (population and army upkeep), Wood (buildings, walls, siege, caravans), Stone (walls, fortresses, landmarks), Iron (higher-tier units, weapons research), and Gold (upkeep, research, diplomacy, tribute).

Live in the build today: Stability (empire-wide governance health — expansion and heavy tax strain it, and low stability drags all output) and Loyalty (drifts toward 100 − your tax rate, and drives population growth). Both are on screen in the realm panel.

Designed, not yet built: Legitimacy (your bloodline's right to rule), Influence (spent on alliances, war and treaties), Corruption (siphons Gold, risks minister embezzlement) and Supply (how far an army can operate from friendly borders). They're in the design docs and not in the game yet — we'd rather say so than let you plan around a score that doesn't exist.

Live today: two things move goods. Caravans you send yourself — load Food/Wood/Stone/Iron for another power and it walks the road and delivers (see the trade & tribute questions below). And the Exchange, a real supply-and-demand market with price discovery, slippage and NPC caravans trading on their own, so prices move whether or not you touch them.

Designed, not yet built: standing city-to-city route links whose throughput decays with distance (−2%/cell, floor 30%, with Chinese empires breaking that floor), and enemies raiding, blocking or taxing routes through their borders. That network doesn't exist in the build yet.

Yes. Click any rival capital and load a caravan with Food, Wood, Stone or Iron. To an ally it's trade; to anyone else it rides as tribute that buys their goodwill and a lull in their raids. The carrier's duty is a flat 20% of the goods, paid in gold (send 100k → 20k gold). The caravan then physically walks the road, delivers, and returns empty — it can't be fought, since it carries cargo, not troops.

A rival that towers over you may demand tribute instead of raiding — answer it in your Reports: pay with a caravan, or refuse and take it as cause for war. You can also set up a standing yearly tribute in either direction: pledge one to keep a dangerous neighbour sweet, or demand one from a power you outmatch. Caravans then deliver on their own each year — and if the stores run dry it stops, and someone remembers the slight.

Your nation is governed by your royal bloodline — real characters with age, skills, ambition, loyalty, traits, and flaws. Before Kingdom they're Lords; at Kingdom and Empire they become Ministers, plus a Spymaster, city Governors, army Commanders, and Advisors. Every court member is born into your bloodline (or married in), ages in real time, and eventually dies — there is no eternal ruler.

Your court runs your nation within an Offline Mandate you control — posture, economic scope, resource ceiling, military stance, and alert threshold. Your court will never attack real players, declare war, execute royals, arrange marriages, or spend premium currency — hard server blocks, not policy.

When your Ruler dies, the throne passes within the bloodline per your chosen Succession Law (Primogeniture, Eldest-by-Competence, Martial, or Elective Council). If no eligible heir exists, a child-regency applies. Contested successions can trigger a Succession Crisis; high Stability and a good Spymaster suppress it. Your nation never has a true leadership gap — the heir is crowned instantly, even offline.

Corruption risk is a real character attribute — a high-risk minister in an economic role will siphon Gold over time, flagged in red in your Offline Governance Report. Counter with competent loyal ministers, Civil Service buildings, the Spymaster, and the Just trait (immunity to bribery).

One persistent, outward-expanding map on an invisible hex grid, rendered as a painterly landscape. Cities project influence borders in their owner's color; allied borders merge into a single shared region, enemy borders meet at a painted seam.

Controlling territory is directly valuable, not cosmetic:

Every 6 months the world re-zones — not a reset. No resources, levels, tech, identity, or social graph is lost. It classifies every player and region by recent activity, prunes dead regions to the outer frontier, pulls active alliances inward as a bloc, and opens a fresh frontier for new players. A whale cannot buy permanent map dominance; Convergence allocates land to active, organized players.

Join or form one. Allied borders merge into shared territory with shared inside-border bonuses. Members can garrison each other's cities, coordinate rally marches, run shared trade routes, and move inward together each Convergence.

No. If an allied army evicts an occupier from your city, it reverts to you, not the ally. Allies defend your holdings; they don't inherit them.

A bi-weekly 3-day event where alliances coordinate multi-city sieges and supply-line operations for alliance-wide buffs and Loyalty Tokens — the prestige currency for exclusive cosmetics and banners. It requires organization, not spend.

48 hours of continuous occupation for a secondary city — the timer pauses if contested but not evicted, and resets if evicted entirely. Cities inside allied borders take effectively 64 real hours (0.75× countdown speed).

Evict the garrison for an instant reversion, siege the occupier to pause the timer, call allies for an eviction, cut the occupier's supply, or wait out a Convergence that voids the hold.

The tile, walls, and all building levels — buildings never exceed Level 10 for anyone, so there's no cap to downgrade. What the new owner loses is the previous owner's empire-identity bonuses (e.g. Byzantine's wall-HP bonus) the moment it changes hands, unless they share the same final empire. Stored resources above the vault floor are looted; trade routes sever; the Governor flees home.

Speedup tokens, resource chests (subject to warehouse cap and supply), commander/royal chests (low starting competence — must be developed through play), builder/research/march slot rental, a VIP convenience pass, cosmetics, alliance banners, and the Season Pass. See the Fair Play section on the homepage for the full philosophy.

• Combat power or empire identity bonuses — Empire Path only, and every building caps at Level 10 for everyone, no purchasable exceptions
• Reduced march time, supply cost, or border penalties — distance is sacred
• Population, Stability, Legitimacy, or Influence
• An invincible capital — no purchase prevents the Ruined Capital outcome
• A way to skip logistics or governance risk

The Imperial Charter is a 60-tier, 8-week track that advances through play, not purchase. Buying the Premium lane unlocks better rewards for the same earned XP — you can't skip more than 10 tiers with cash. No season pass ever grants a unique unit or empire bonus.

No. A purchased commander enters at 20–40% competence, volatile loyalty, zero rapport, and no traits — roughly half the effective contribution of a developed bloodline commander. They must grow through play, and over-buying high-ambition, low-loyalty commanders actively raises your corruption and treason risk.

Completely. The server owns all resources, timers, movement, combat, borders, alliances, trade, Convergence, and purchases. The client only displays state and sends commands — there's no client-trusted value to spoof.

Nothing is lost. Combat resolves as a single deterministic transaction on the server at army arrival, not a real-time exchange. Your march continues, your battle resolves, and the result is waiting when you reconnect.

Yes — one account, two or more devices, seeing the same world state. The server is authoritative and the client reconciles fully on reconnect.

At launch the world runs as regional instances (NA / EU / Asia) for latency and blast-radius containment — separate, permanent persistent worlds, each running its own 6-month Convergence. Cross-region play isn't planned for launch.

• Start fast, not wide. The Tribe-to-Village advance is cheap — get to Town quickly so you can train troops and fight rebel camps.
• Protect your food surplus. Starvation kills growth. Keep at least a 1.3× food surplus and watch army upkeep as you train more troops.
• Join an alliance before City tier. Allied borders merge, giving inside-border bonuses across shared territory and protecting you during the Imperial Convergence.
• Your Governor matters offline. A disloyal, corrupt Governor can bleed your treasury while you sleep — assign your most competent, loyal bloodline members to critical cities.
• Don't over-extend before you have supply. Armies start losing troops once supply runs out outside your borders.
• The Empire Path is forever — take your time. Use the 14-day foundation trial and 21-day branch trial before you commit. The Final Lock at Age 3 is permanent.