War and Peace
War is the most expensive thing a realm can do, and it starts and ends by rule, not by mood.
Going to war
Declaring war costs 2 Authority, sets your relationship with the target to −5, and needs a casus belli:
| Casus belli | How you get it |
|---|---|
| Claim | your dynasty holds a claim on the target's title or land |
| Broken pact | the target broke a pact or truce with you or your vassal |
| Insult | a natural 1 in negotiation, a refused duel, or a relationship of −4 |
| Reconquest | the land was yours within the last 20 years |
| Defense of a vassal or ally | the target attacked someone you are sworn to |
| Holy cause (Faith and Oaths) | the target's faith is outlawed or heretical in your realm |
War without a casus belli costs −10 Legitimacy and −1 realm Stability, and every realm that hears of it takes −1 relationship with you. Allies at +4 or +5 answer your muster; allies at +3 roll d6 and come on a 4+.
The war score
Each war keeps a War Score from −100 to +100 (positive favors you) on the War tracker.
| Event | War score |
|---|---|
| Battle won | +10 (+20 if you won by 10 or more) |
| Siege taken | +5 × the settlement's size rank |
| Each season you hold an enemy settlement | +2 × size rank |
| Enemy capital taken | +25 |
| Enemy ruler or heir captured | +30 |
| Blockade held for a season | +5 |
| The same against you | the same, negative |
War exhaustion: from the fifth season of a war, each side loses 1 realm Stability per season in which it didn't win a battle or take a siege.
Making peace
Either side may offer terms at the Act step (1 Authority, an envoy). A term costs war score; a side accepts automatically if the score in the offerer's favor is at least the cost. A rival also accepts when its realm Stability is 3 or lower and the score is 10 short or closer.
| Term | Cost |
|---|---|
| White peace (all occupied land returned) | 0 |
| Reparations: one season of their Collect | 15 |
| Tribute: 10% of their Collect for 4 seasons | 10 |
| Cede one settlement | 10 + 5 × size rank |
| Release a vassal or occupied land | 20 |
| Press a dynasty claim (title passes to your claimant) | 25 |
| Vassalize (they must be two ranks below you) | 50 |
| Ransom of captives | below |
A signed peace is a Pact and brings a truce of 4 seasons. Breaking a truce counts as a broken pact twice over: −6 relationship, −10 Legitimacy.
Ransom: a captured noble is worth 500 gp × their rank's tier; a ruler or heir is worth one season of their realm's Collect. Mercy (releasing captives freely) gives +1 Legitimacy and +1 relationship.
Mercenaries
Any Town or larger with a Market has free companies for hire. Each season the GM rolls the companies available: d6 in a town, 2d6 in a city, 3d6 in a port city or great city. On each 6 rolled, one company is elite.
- Hire (1 Authority): pay the muster price plus kit, ×2 per company, up front. They arrive within a month, regular grade unless rolled elite (elite cost ×4).
- Upkeep is ×2, paid monthly while they serve. They use no manpower and draw no pop.
- Contracts run in whole seasons and are kept as Pacts.
- Unpaid for a month: d20. 1–8 they desert; 9–14 they plunder where they stand (+10 unrest, and a thread at 2); 15+ they wait one more month.
- Disbanding in your own land: 1 in 3 become a bandit thread at 1.
Battle
Quick battle: each side rolls d20 + commander rating + morale, plus:
- +2 if its Power is at least twice the other's (+4 at three times);
- +1 or +2 for terrain;
- the defender adds the settlement's Defense when fighting from its walls;
- −1 per missing kit.
The winner loses 10% of its Power; the loser loses 20% + 5% per point of margin. A loss by 10 or more routs the army: it retreats one settlement and can't fight again this month.
Tactical battle (optional): three rounds. Cohesion = Power × 10, Defense 12 + armor, damage = attacker Power × d6. An army breaks at 0 Cohesion.
After a win, choose one:
- Pursue: the loser takes +10% losses; you get spoils of 100 gp × its companies lost.
- Pillage: gold equal to one season of the nearest settlement's tax; it loses one tier of a holding and you take −2 Legitimacy.
- Mercy: +1 Legitimacy; prisoners become leverage for ransom.
Sieges
- Invest: surround the settlement and cut its supply. It eats from its stores, then starves. Each season of siege also adds +20% to the attacker's food requirement.
- Batter: once per month, roll d20 + siege Power ÷ 5 (round down) vs DC 10 + the settlement's Defense. Success lowers Defense by 1, or by 2 on a margin of 5 or more. At Defense 0 the walls are breached.
- Storm: a battle in which the defender adds its remaining Defense and its garrison's Power. Storming without a breach is −2.
Aftermath
- Ravaged holdings: a battle on the land costs one holding tier; a pillage costs two. Repair costs 400 gp × the tier lost.
- War debt: unpaid wages become a debt clock.
- Veterans: companies that survive a war form a veterans faction (loyalty +1 if paid in full, −2 if not) with a trouble thread at 0.