Rival Realms
Other realms are not scenery. They grow, scheme, trade and march, and they do it by the same rules you do, kept lighter. The GM creates rival realms as the story needs them; this chapter is how they act once they exist.
What a rival tracks
Each rival keeps its own Empire file, but only these values matter between seasons:
- Rank, realm Stability and Legitimacy.
- Treasury band: Poor, Steady or Rich, instead of an exact figure. A rival's income is its rank's typical income.
- Field Power: the total Power of its armies.
- Temperament: one of six, below.
- Relationship with you, −5 to +5, kept on the Relations tracker.
Which rivals act each season
At the Rivals step, up to four rivals act, chosen in this order: those at war with you; your liege and your vassals; neighbors whose relationship is −2 or worse or +3 or better; then any rival with an open thread involving you.
Temperament moves
Each acting rival rolls d6 on its temperament's table. Add +1 if it is Rich and −1 if it is Poor. Aggressive temperaments (Expansionist, Treacherous) also add +1 if your realm Stability is 3 or lower, or you lost a battle this season. Results below 1 count as 1 and above 6 count as 7.
| d6 | Expansionist | Mercantile | Pious |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | consolidates: builds a holding | builds a Market or Port | builds a Temple |
| 2 | recruits 2d4 companies | offers you a trade route | sends envoys: +1 relationship if you share its faith |
| 3 | demands a border site or toll from a weaker neighbor | undercuts your luxury prices (your trade −10% next season) | preaches against a rival faith in your land (+5 unrest where it is strong) |
| 4 | raids your weakest border settlement (a thread at 2) | offers a loan or a grain pact | asks you to fund a shrine or Work (refusal −1 relationship) |
| 5 | fabricates a casus belli on you or a neighbor | funds a faction inside your realm (that faction +1 loyalty to them) | calls a holy cause against a heretic realm |
| 6 | declares war on the weakest neighbor within reach | buys a vassal's loyalty with gold (your vassal −1 loyalty) | founds a great Work (Legitimacy +5 for them) |
| 7 | declares war on you if its Power exceeds yours | seeks a marriage or alliance with you | crusades: declares holy war if it has a claim |
| d6 | Cautious | Treacherous | Honorable |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hoards (Treasury band up) | feigns friendship: +1 relationship | keeps every pact; +1 relationship |
| 2 | fortifies a border settlement | starts an intrigue on you (stage 1) | trains its armies (veterancy up) |
| 3 | seeks a defensive pact with you or a neighbor | bribes one of your officers (loyalty −1) | offers to mediate one of your feuds |
| 4 | builds an Academy or Granary | sows dissent in your most restless settlement | answers an ally's muster |
| 5 | recruits 1d4 companies | breaks a pact if breaking it pays | challenges an insult: demands a duel, an apology or reparations |
| 6 | asks you for a non-aggression pact | backs a revolt or pretender in your realm | declares war only with a just cause, and announces it a season ahead |
| 7 | joins a coalition against the strongest realm | stabs: declares war on you while you fight someone else | defends the weak: joins the defender in the nearest war |
The GM resolves each move with the normal rules: costs paid, rolls made, threads opened. When a move makes no sense (raiding with no border), take the next row down.
Coalitions
The great powers watch climbers. If you rise two ranks within 8 seasons, or take three or more settlements within 4 seasons, every rival at relationship 0 or worse rolls d6. On 5–6 it joins a coalition against you: its members share wars and get +2 on joint battle rolls for 8 seasons.
Rival growth (year-tick)
Each rival rolls d20:
- 1–3 decline: Treasury band down, or it loses a settlement to revolt if its Stability is 2 or lower.
- 4–15 steady.
- 16–19 grow: Treasury band up, or it gains a settlement.
- 20 rise: it climbs one rank, if its Legitimacy allows.