Minnakht
Known Hero
Green eyed monster
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posted July 20, 2011 08:50 PM |
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Edited by Minnakht at 19:41, 26 Jul 2011.
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GUTTER
"The foundation is one thing that remains after any incident"
This gathering of assorted, lowly races went unnoticed by all of the major races, hiding away in various marshes and badlands of Ashan. Still forgotten, a society began to brew there much like moonshine in a vat. Eventually, denizens of the so far unnamed, undisturbed country chose a leader for all of them, and the lands began being an actual country. It’s still known as the Sewers of Ashan, and the cities are known as Gutters, compared to the actual gutters of more grand cities, where all waste gathers and disappears from view.
Inspiration: Originally, it was meant to be a boring faction, similar to H3 Citadel and H4 Asylum – yet another instalment in the ongoing line of swamp factions. I think it turned out to be different.
Associated Colours: Dark green, dark brown.
Symbols: A splatter and a grate, put together. They kind of look like a key.
Country / kingdom:
A marshy area somewhere in Ashan.
Capital city:
The city where the first leader has been chosen serves as the capital city, and its name is Eksak.
Worship
Such concepts as great gods haven’t crossed the minds of Gutter races for most of their existence. Only recently, Sylanna and Shalassa have been chosen to be worshipped, although in a twisted aspect that assumes a deep bond between the two. They have only one temple, located in Eksak, and its defining characteristic is that it’s basically a huge plain of mud and a mud-covered statue of the two dragons. However, replicas of that temple are planned to be built in every Gutter. Aside from that, the local religion is a pagan one with lots of minor deities.
The recent events
There never were any events of note in the Sewers of Ashan. Even the election of a leader went unnoticed on the global arena. The Sewers only started counting as a faction when they organized their first attack at the neighbouring lands, what snapped other factions out of constantly overlooking them. During the years, they’ve grown to become a formidable enemy and country, despite their original position.
Gutter warfare: "It'll take us more time to die off than them."
The creatures forming the Gutters’ army used to be small scattered tribes occupying various marshes of Ashan. They’re used to defending their positions by any means available to them, usually from beasts they couldn’t tame. Their terrain was a major asset in the process – they’re used to harsh conditions of waterlogged, soft ground and illness-ridden everything.
* Military strengths:
Very resilient and regenerative, lots of disruption and slowdown.
* Military weaknesses:
Rather slow themselves, very organic
* Racial ability: Black Sludge – Every melee attack of a Gutter creature has a good chance to place a simple disease on the enemy, which lowers morale and deals damage over time.
CORE
SWAMP TROLL – PUTRID TROLL
Swamp Trolls are not very related to other breeds of trolls. They’re relatively small, covered in dirty brown fur, and not very intelligent, usually using clubs, fangs, rocks and claws in battle when in their wild state. Still, their natural talents make them valuable allies for the Gutter society – that is, there aren’t many things that said society doesn’t consider valuable for itself...
Trolls are small creatures.
Goddamned Regeneration (Basic & Upgrade): "Trolls most often die of old age." A wizard has captured a few trolls for his own pleasure. No matter how many wild animals his experiments entailed, the trolls eventually were alive once again, even if temporarily covered in bite marks. Only the single troll that was eaten by a tiger didn’t make it.
About two turns after it's killed, every single troll has a 25% chance of coming back to life - the chance is rolled separately for every single one. If the check fails, it's rerolled next turn. The ability doesn't work when the corpse is restricted from resurrection in some way.
Polearm (Basic & Upgrade): "I’ve trained for months to do this, but that savage just picked up my halberd and instantly did just as well." Trolls have a natural proficiency with various polearms, no matter their actual form. The gift’s source is unexplained, possibly hinting at some deeper origins of Trolls that no one wants to explore. Either way, those Trolls that serve in Gutter military are equipped with various bardiches, halberds, anything they can get their hands on – and use those weapons with deadly skill. Those weapons can’t be used with their true potential in a close-up fight – pounding with them from a distance is the way to go, especially since it lets trolls avoid a counter-strike. Not that Trolls can’t mount retaliation themselves – close up, claws and fangs are more than enough.
Trolls can attack from a square away. Works like H4's Long Attack ability Pikemen had. Trolls can also attack from close up, although at a slight damage penalty.
Neurotoxic (Upgrade): The serrated fangs of Putrid Trolls flow with a foul-smelling liquid that causes paralysis and brain rot in the affected. In their snarling, animalistic close-up attacks, the enemy often gets bitten at least once, and that’s when his fate is already sealed – unless a medic offers his aid, the soldiers will move sluggishly, slowing their entire unit down, then suffocate and die.
Enemies attacked by Putrid Trolls are poisoned, lowering their movement distance. After about two turns, the poison also starts decimating the enemy unit.
Rotting Aura (Upgrade): Putrid Trolls don’t look too well. It might be the stains of mold on their fur; it might be the smell, even worse than a usual Troll’s and bad enough to stand out in the Gutters themselves. But worst of all, whatever’s causing those problems also starts affecting any enemy that comes even remotely close to the Troll – a general rule is that if you’re close enough for the Troll to cleave your head in half with his bardiche, you are also close enough to contract Troll illness. It seems that non-swamp races take much stronger effects from it, slowly decaying until nothing remains but their bones. It’s very contagious, with the afflicted being also more than capable to spread it further, but, luckily, easily curable.
Enemies in a radius of two squares of Putrid Trolls are infected with an illness. It simply deals damage.
GREEN CRONE – SWAMP HAG
Those creatures resemble small, old, hunched, green-skinned women dressed in overbearing amounts of rags. They have a natural talent for witchcraft and an affinity for magic – yet another thing deemed valuable by the Gutter military. Crones reproduce by kidnapping children, gender irrelevant, from all other more or less sentient races, which undergo metamorphosis by ingesting some kind of a secretion from the Crone herself, turning into yet another Crone. The grossing-out process exemplifies the general atmosphere of the Gutters.
Experienced Crones are honorarily called 'Swamp Hags'. True Green Hags are one of the few swamp races that did not pledge allegiance to the Gutters, claiming they're powerful enough to live on their own, a claim that might have been actually true. It's possible that Green Crones are somehow related to them, or even their creations as a slave race of apprentices and servants - but one set free. However, no true Hag identifies herself as a Swamp Hag - because of that, the title is not an irritation for them, and makes distinguishing between the two easier.
Crones are small creatures.
Witch’s Potion (Basic & Upgrade): Crones tend to live in trunks of dead trees. Logically, a tree has to be large enough to fit a proper living room inside. However, such large trees are exquisitely rare in nature. That’s not a problem for a Crone. The recipe for a growth potion is one commonly known in any Crone tribe, and said potion causes a living object to be wracked by spasms before starting to gradually increase in size. The potion’s effects wear off over time – that’s why the trees Crones live in are dead even before being hollowed out. The potions are commonly used in the military as well – larger, more resilient units are one thing every commander likes to have. Disclaimer: Units don’t actually start taking up more space on the battlefield, the potion just increases the amount of flesh they have, so they can take more punishment.
Increases an affected unit's HP by 10% every turn. Or less.
Magic Broom (Basic & Upgrade): In battle, a Crone uses not a weapon, but a simple staff, much like any other kind of mage. The staff has many withes tied to it, making it also suitable for sweeping the Crone’s house floor. However, the most important part is not that mundane utility, but rather the other enchantment on the staff – one that causes it to bypass mundane defences when used to smack an enemy, and one that causes magical energies to strike the enemy in the process.
Crones have a magic attack.
Flight (Upgrade): As the tradition goes with Croness, those experienced enough to bear the honorary title of 'Swamp Hag' are allowed to cast the final enchantment on their brooms – one that causes it to be capable of serving as a steed. And a great steed it is, for it’s capable of carrying the rider even above ground.
Hags fly on brooms.
Witch’s Curse (Upgrade): "My crossbow suddenly behaved as if it was alive... and as if it was a massive jerk, at that." Swamp Hags have access to a special spell of theirs, using either malicious spirits or dark energies – no one really wanted to delve into the exact workings of it. The curse affects inanimate objects, whichever ones the Hag wants to target, to make them just as malicious. Cursed equipment resists being taken off, literally welding itself to the wielder, and has a tendency to break easily, cursed projectiles often go astray, only sometimes hitting the intended target, cursed food turns out to be rotten inside. Enemy armies are yet to learn how annoying it is to fight against Swamp Hags... so they overreact at their possessions suddenly starting to be uncooperative.
Reduces an affected unit's morale, and, if it's a shooter, each creature in the unit has only a 50% chance to hit. Affected enemies lose damage and defence when hit.
Regenerative Potion (Upgrade): The growth potion is also improved for better military use. The improved version, when applied, doesn’t cause just growth, but also mending of wounds and even some cases of resurrection. That makes it less desirable for keeping a tree giant and dead, but more desirable for keeping soldiers large and alive.
Units affected by Witch's Potion also regenerate.
Weakenstrike (Upgrade): Swamp Hags can't match true Green Hags in strength. Magical prowess is another category, but one in which the rivalry is closer. Swamp Hags have learned a method of reproducing one of the Green Hags' abilities - weakening enemies by touch. The enchantment is yet another one added to the Hag's broom, and has the nature of a magical disease, although a non-contagious one.
Lowers damage of units hit by Hags in melee.
LEPERCHAUN – LEPERCHAUN MAGICKER
Those sad, leprotic-looking, top hat-wearing midgets are remains of a formerly much grander race. Leperchauns have an unhealthy obsession with gold, the reasons of which are unknown, and still possess surprising magical powers despite their degeneration. Tools used for gardening are their weapons; mostly due to the fact they always seem to get their hands on some. Leperchauns are stronger than their looks suggest, and a spade swung by one is a strong, heavy blade fit for rending both soil and flesh apart. Pruning shears are deadly stabbing weapons in their hands as well.
Leperchauns are small creatures.
Teleport (Basic & Upgrade): "Those cowardly gnomes disappeared before we could do a thing!" Leperchauns use the least honourable of tactics when attacked. Depending on how prepared they are, they can escape sooner or later, even to the point of vanishing before the enemy starts an attack if the attack is expected. Repeated teleports aren’t possible for them, and Leperchauns resort to standard retaliation if attacked consequently.
When attacked in melee, Leperchauns avoid 40% of damage (90% of it if defending) and move to a random spot on the battlefield. Works once between Leperchauns' turns.
Mugger (Basic & Upgrade): In an amazing show of dexterity and thieving skills, Leperchauns always manage to mix a little wallet-snatching into their attacks. The enemy has bigger problems than being poorer in the middle of combat, but that’s not the important part. As soon as their jacket pockets are padded with gold, Leperchauns suddenly find out they have layer of heavy metal protecting them from harm – the more gold they steal, the thicker said golden breastplate is. After a battle, Leperchauns are convinced to give up the stolen gold in one way or another, aiding their commander’s coffers.
Leperchauns' defence rises with each of their attacks. After a battle, you obtain gold.
Teleport Control (Upgrade): The reason why Leperchauns don’t use teleportation more often is because they don’t know where they’re going to end up afterwards. That dilemma is one they study in order to become Magickers, helping them gain a greater understanding of magic. Leperchaun Magickers are experienced enough to freely control their destination when teleporting, and strong enough to perform the magick more often – because of this, they move freely around the battlefield in that manner, bypassing all possible obstacles, and still can teleport away from an attack should a need arise.
Magickers move like H4 devils - teleport to anywhere on the battlefield. When Teleport ability of theirs triggers, they also get to teleport anywhere they want.
Thief of Fate (Upgrade): Another magick Leperchaun Magickers rediscover when advancing is their bond with luck. Their ancestors could grant a target good luck with a snap of their fingers – sadly, Leperchauns have no such ability. However, they can tear good luck away from enemies – along with their gold – and give it to those in need, including themselves.
Enemies hit have their luck lowered. Random allies have their luck increased by the same amount in total. Larger amounts of Leperchauns steal more luck.
Teleother (Upgrade): “Now those cowardly gnomes disappeared US before we could do a thing! Oh the iron...” Leperchaun Magickers have developed a tactic even less honourable than their usual antics, an amazing feat considering how low of a blow the original one is. When attacking, their amount of multitasking is tremendous – they kill enemies with gardening tools, steal their gold, their luck, AND teleport them away, all before the enemy can retaliate. The enemies don’t have teleport control themselves, and end up wherever the magick decides to stow them.
Enemies hit by Leperchauns are placed in a random spot of the battlefield.
ELITE
MINETAUR – MINETAUR ARTISAN
Minotaurs, in general, can be described as bull-headed humanoids with a penchant for mazes of twisty like passages, all alike, and enslaved by dark elves. The description is mostly true for the minotaurs that live underground. However, a tribe of minotaurs was exiled in years gone by for blasphemous thoughts regarding precisely their usual habitats.
That tribe renamed themselves Minetaurs, consisting of those of their kind that disliked twisty passages and dug straight tunnels through earth. Minetaurs, fully aware of the ‘mining’ pun in their name, travelled over the surface of Ashan before finally finding rest in the still-forming community of the Gutters. Their mining prowess and memories of elven government were a tremendous asset in forming of the new kingdom. Minetaurs could dig through the aquifer covering all of the marshes and discovered vast clusters of iron ore underneath, what allowed them to supply pretty much all of Gutters’ army with proper equipment, including themselves.
Minetaurs use their pickaxes in battle. Those tools were originally made for breaking through solid stone with nothing more than their users’ elbow grease. Considering that, it’s no wonder they’re great weapons as well – the long, curved, pointed heads pierce through enemies’ vital organs with ease, as well as break armour and bones, both of those much less resilient than stone walls.
Minetaurs are small creatures.
Breaker (Basic & Upgrade): "We make holes in things." That laconic statement of a Minetaur expresses their job everywhere all too well. Their pickaxes rend through soil, stone, wood, armour, flesh, castle walls – anything. Given enough time, a unit of Minetaurs can lead an army through any obstacle. Enemy armour stops doing well after being torn up by pickaxe strikes, and doesn’t do much in protecting against them either.
Minetaur hits lower defence of enemies by a small amount, and ignore a large amount of it themselves.
Inspirational Bravery (Basic & Upgrade): The spirit of a Minotaur is an unchanging part of any of them. Minotaurs never falter, never surrender, in a battle they’re always happy to fight no matter what happens. Having brought knowledge needed for running a kingdom from the dungeons, Minetaurs are held in high regard in the Gutters. Local units serving in a single army with Minetaurs try their best to maintain the same unfaltering spirit, idolizing the always-happy-to-slaughter, pickaxe-wielding warriors. Sadly, non-Gutter units don’t share such high opinion about Minetaurs...
Minetaurs have always positive morale. Allied Gutter units resist 70% of morale-lowering-effects power, or 100% if they happen on the Adventure Map.
Repairman (Upgrade): All of the Gutters’ units metal equipment (save for the Leperchauns’ gold pieces and farming tools) was made by the Minetaurs. It possesses good quality, but like any other kind of equipment, it tends to suffer various kinds of wear and tear, especially when actively used. The users themselves can’t really perform maintenance, and that’s where Minetaur Artisans step in. They know how to repair swords, scurgari, armour, halberds – again, anything - and keep improving the designs as well with all their crafting experience. Even war machines are included in their schedule – as long as there are any Minetaur Artisans in an army, its inorganic equipment is going to be in mint condition and ready to slaughter both before and after a battle, no matter how much damage it suffers throughout one.
Trolls, Leperchauns, Drakelings, Minetaurs and Sewer Giants have slightly increased attack when Minetaur Artisans are in the army. Leperchauns, Drakelings, Minetaurs and Crones/Hags have increased defence, too. War Machines are restored after battle if destroyed.
Crossbow (Upgrade): To pass the test and become an Artisan, a Minetaur has to obtain steel, wood, and meat of a large animal. He has to extract sinews from the meat and turn them into elastic string, fletch the wood into a stock, smith the metal into parts and assemble a crossbow out of all that. The test is passed when a sheet of parchment, placed behind a thick steel breastplate, is pierced by an examiner-supplied steel bolt shot from the crossbow from a large distance. Successful Minetaurs are dubbed Artisans, and their crossbows are included into their equipment, obviously as a supplement to the pickaxe, not a replacement – to be used for shooting further valuable targets, often armoured. It is truthfully said that the Artisans’ steel bolts hit just as hard as their pickaxes, and no mundane piece of armour is very effective against one.
Minetaur Artisans are shooters, and do not have a melee penalty. Their ranged attacks are included in Breaker ability.
COMPOST CRAWLER – EXPLOSIVE HEAP
The Composts are the Gutters’ first foray into the world of magically engineered beasts of war. A standard Compost is a huge, shambling mound of vegetation, arguably alive despite rotting, but not possessing any major organs. Its typical behaviour is simply engulfing a target and letting various acidic secretions of their bodies do the rest, which are also sprayed around should such a thing be needed.
Composts are large creatures.
Engulf (Basic & Upgrade): “We were surrounded! The thing was behind us, and in front of us, and to the sides, and above... even underneath!” Those are the words of a sole survivor of a Compost Crawler’s attack. Before his companions could cut them a hole to escape through, he spent entire minutes inside it, being digested alive along with a few of his friends. It was impossible for them to escape from within unassisted, even though they tried and their attacks always managed to hit the monster – it was like shooting a barn from inside the barn, after all.
Activated ability. The Compost moves to the target and becomes a 3x3 or 4x4 creature, in middle of which the target is placed. Acid (or water/earth damage, I guess) damages the internal unit on its every turn.
Organless (Basic & Upgrade): “How can we even kill those things?” Asked a different soldier when faced with Compost Crawlers. That was actually a good question. A normal living being has a heart, a throat, lungs, blood – it needs to breathe, it needs the blood. Letting the blood flow out or puncturing a major organ, like a liver, is usually enough to kill something. Compost Crawlers, however, have no blood, no organs – a normal soldier is stumped trying to find a point to aim at in one, they have no eyes to blind or gaze into, no limbs to cripple. Reports say a Compost Crawler was considered dead when it was chopped into little, scattered bits, at which point it stopped moving, and the entire process took a long time.
Composts are immune to Blind and have a lot of HP. Any other effects that rely on limb-crippling or the like also don't affect Composts.
Acidic(Basic & Upgrade): Compost Crawlers attack by melting their targets with acid produced in copious amounts, whether it’s inside them or just sprayed onto enemies outside as retaliation. The acid does more than just melt flesh – it also corrodes even metal. Many soldiers were surprised at how their weapons and armour became a pile of rusty junk after encounters with those – the only ones that weren’t surprised were those saved from inside the Compost, too busy being happy to be alive to notice the state of their equipment.
Enemies taking acid damage from Composts have their attack and defence lowered. Select, heavily-armoured units also have their movement lowered.
Acid Spray (Basic): However, only Compost Crawlers are the ones that spray acid onto outside targets. Explosive Heaps don’t produce nearly as much acid, using it solely for internal, engulfing attacks.
Compost Crawlers deal acid damage when attacking or retaliating.
Rocket Jump (Upgrade): The Explosive Heaps are named so because of the fact that most of their acidic secretions are replaced with a very volatile gas, which they can ignite at will. The gas has many uses, the first of which is a most peculiar method of transportation available to them. Not many soldiers got to see the manoeuvre, but it was described as an otherworldly sight – entire ranks of Explosive Heaps detonated their gas under themselves, launching themselves into the air. Seconds later, only a select few of lucky soldiers avoided death by being crushed underneath tons of rotting weeds, and that’s how the tale was first told.
Activated ability: Target a 2x2 area. Units in that area are dealt heavy physical damage and are displaced to neighbouring tiles. Explosive Heaps move to that area. They also take a small amount of damage.
Master Belch (Upgrade): Another use of the gas is a more fiery one. By not mixing it with air, the gas can be kept from exploding. When expelled in a jet, the gas turns into a plume of flame, scorching all in its path. This is the Explosive Heaps’ favoured method of retaliation.
Heaps deal Fire damage when attacking or retaliating.
Explosive (Upgrade): Finally, the gas is used for the most common use of an explosive in warfare – taking enemies with the user. When an Explosive Heap feels it’s close to death, it ignites all of its gas stocks at once, engulfing everything unlucky to be nearby in a roaring explosion, sending small bits of pungent organic waste everywhere. Survivors claim that throwing an Explosive Heap into a propeller large enough would have similar, equally demoralizing results.
Enemies standing next to an Explosive Heap when it dies take Fire damage and have lowered morale. Snow hits the fan.
DRAKISH RANGER – DRAKISH MINDCRAFTER
The race of lizardmen is one also present on the swamps of the Sewers, and one that has been there for the longest time at that. The leader of all the Sewers is a lizardman himself. However, their military representation is something more – to popularize the new religion, lizardman soldiers are routinely blessed by priests of Shalassa and Sylanna. The clerical magic causes them to ascend, and from that point onwards, they’re known as Drakelings, children of dragon gods – their scaly hides and general draconic-reptilian looks make that so much more believable. Drakelings use a long forgotten, exotic throwing weapon unique to their kind, as well as curved swords in battle.
Drakelings are small creatures and shooters without a melee penalty.
Reptilian Metabolism(Basic & Upgrade): Drakelings are cold-blooded creatures, dependant on the outside heat rather than their own. That is not much of a disadvantage, however. The first encounter of the Gutters’ armies with demonic hordes went surprisingly quickly – Drakelings, hit by multiple fiery spells, seemed to speed up out of all the heat, and the battle was quickly won, albeit not without some losses on the side of exhausted, overstrained lizardmen. Cold has the opposite effect on them – Drakelings become sluggish when their temperature falls low, but to a ridiculous point where even their wounds seem to open less enthusiastically under attack.
When exposed to Fire damage, Drakelings gain an Initiative and Movement boost. The boost stacks. Each boost after the first one also deals damage over time to Drakelings. Water damage causes Drakelings' Initiative and Movement to be lowered. Each lowerment after the first one causes a defence boost. The two effects cancel out when together.
Caustic Spittle(Basic & Upgrade): The most striking difference between a Drakeling and a normal lizardman is the Drakeling’s racial ability, granted to them by the ascension. Drakelings can force their glands to produce larger amounts of saliva, what doesn’t do much more than making them hungry, then spit it at a target. The action doesn’t require much additional effort from a Drakeling and as such is often tied into their usual attacks, should the target be in range. The acid is just as potent as acid of a Compost Crawler, corroding both flesh and metal.
Drakelings, when attacking a target that's 4 or less tiles away, perform a second attack that deals low acid damage and lowers enemies' attack and defence.
Bolas (Basic): The usual weapon of a Drakish Ranger is a scurgar – a heavy, anchor-shaped piece of metal, hurled towards the enemy with the sharp, crescent-shaped part going first. However, the other tribal weapon can also be thrown at enemies – metal balls tied together with long leather straps, which wrap around the limbs of enemies upon hitting them, tying them like cattle and rendering them unable to move for some time.
Activated ability: Rangers perform a ranged attack that deals 10% of the usual damage, but disables the enemy for one turn. Some creatures are immune, some are stopped only from moving or only from attacking, depending on if their limbs are needed for those actions.
Mindcraft (Upgrade): The more experienced of Drakelings develop an affinity for telepathy, possibly granted by the ascension as well. Their abilities are not the strongest, but more than enough for military uses. Reaching out to minds of enemies in beams, Drakish Mindcrafters can confuse them with ease and deal them pain with less ease, destroying their brains and nerves. That is, if there are any... In an emergency, a Mindcrafter can choose to reach out to minds of every single living being in a quite large radius to apply his powers, what has saved a few squads of them when they were surrounded.
Activated ability that targets a straight line and doesn't choose its targets, much like Mages' Magic Attack from H5. Mindless creatures are immune. The ability either causes confusion, causing units to have a chance to attack a random target, or simply damage. Alternatively, the ability can target everything in a 3 square radius from the Mindcrafter.
CHAMPION
MUD GIANT – SEWER GIANT
Just about the most important discovery was made by the Gutters’ priests fairly recently. The mud from the temple of Eksak turned out to be saturated with tons of magic power, drawn to the holy place by the power of belief of thousands of inhabitants of the city. The priests ran their experiments on the mud, eventually arranging it into a roughly humanoid shape on the temple’s floor. And that was when the mud sparked to life, forming the first Mud Giant. Since then, the temple has been producing those as often as possible – the first one, known as the Mud Titan, is the capital’s guardian, but the next Mud Giants are incorporated into the military on a regular basis. Their sheer size and very elemental composition are their most valuable assets, and the Mud Giants are not much worse than the wizards’ Colossi in terms of raw strength. In terms of combat potential, they might even be the better ones.
Giants are large creatures (duh).
Free Flow (Basic & Upgrade): The sheer size of Mud Giants lets them simply walk over all obstructions. Their flowing feet can accommodate to any terrain they want to walk over, and they aren’t affected even by moats. Only city walls form barriers high enough for a Mud Giant to not be able to be stepped over, and solid enough to not let said Mud Giant flow through a crevice. Mud Giants routinely trample enemy units in their passing, a tactic even the lowliest of the lowliest think the Wizards should have incorporated into standard Colossus movements.
Ignores non-castle-wall obstacles. When walking over enemies, deals damage to them.
Hurl (Basic & Upgrade): The Gutters’ society knows the value of teamwork. Alone, each tribe was a small, squandering gaggle, not worthy of interest of other nations. United, the Gutters are a faction that stands an actual chance at conquering. The Mud Giants, despite being huge, mystical beings, also understand the general idea. Castle walls might be too high for a single Mud Giant to step over, but a pair of Mud Giants can work together to help one of them over said wall. In larger groups, a few Mud Giants can even pick up one of their kind and throw him at a location, where he’ll land nearly unharmed, often sowing chaos in the enemy ranks as a huge glob of mud that just fell from the sky, now slaughtering soldiers by the dozen.
Activated ability. Targets a 2x2 area or a castle wall. If used on a wall, Giants walk to it, then their stack splits into equal halves, and one half is placed on the other side of the wall. If used on an area, the Giant stack splits 20% of itself off, and that 20% is placed in the target area. If the area was occupied, units in there take three times the usual walk-over damage and are displaced.
Elemental (Basic & Upgrade): Mud Giants are made purely of earth and water, joined in a single mass with properties of both. They are as close to a Mud Elemental as there can be, and all properties of an elemental apply to them.
Immunity to mind spells, some other spells and effects... whatever elementals are immune to.
Bogging Feet (Upgrade): "I’ve never seen the phrase ‘expanding territories’ in such a literal sense." The wizard’s words might sound like he’s bored. However, his army watched the happenings in awe, then in terror. Wherever a Sewer Giant walks, earth softens and moistens into a swamp, much like the one it came from. The effect isn’t limited to the area directly underneath one – it reaches terrain in a short radius around a Giant. The resultant bog is hard to pass through for the enemy, but doesn’t affect the units familiar with it – the army of the Gutters. Noxious haze keeps rising from the bog as well, a result of the Sewer Giant’s contamination with various waste – the Gutters’ army has built up a resistance to the haze with some help from the Hags, but the enemies have no such experience and tend to fall ill upon breathing it in a few times.
Area under a Sewer Giant and one square away from it turns into a swamp. This happens even when the Giant is moving, not only on the positions it stays for a while on. A tile of swamp takes 1.5 movement units to be crossed for non-Gutter untis. Said non-Gutter units also gain a damage-dealing and initiative-reducing illness upon stepping onto the swamp.
Actual Weapon (Upgrade): In a show of amazing forgetfulness, a tradition has been set that declares Mud Giants may not use a weapon. Sewer Giants are exempt from it, as the tradition is just a way of covering up the blatant oversight that included only thinking of weapons when Sewer Giants were devised. Either way, Sewer Giants use huge pipes in battle, made of iron and lead – iron on the outside to form a tough shell adorned with rust and spikes, lead on the inside to give immense mass to the pipe and make it horribly unsanitary. The pipes are used in huge, sweeping motions by the Sewer Giants, often hitting entire rows of enemies. The attack can’t single out friendly units, so they’ve learned to keep their distance from such a move being performed. Alternatively, when attacking a lone target, Sewer Giants can act like Trolls, using their colossal reach to pound down on a single enemy from above – making for a stronger attack that doesn’t even expose the Giant, standing far away, to retaliation.
Sewer Giants can attack over two empty tiles or one obstacled tile. They can also target the four squares in front of them if needed. Generally, Ctrl needs to be held down to trigger the four-square sweep.
HERO CLASSES
Vizier
The Viziers’ name comes from Vision – their motivation. Viziers can see their country’s future, knowing their conquest will be a key element in breaking it out of sickness and rural stagnation. They are not blinded by delusions of grandeur, but rather take them and use them as a driving force for own actions. Some Viziers are even haunted by memories of their ancestors, being constantly reminded how great their races used to be... and desperate to make Gutters as great.
Type: Might
Reputation: Neutral
Neutral Ability: Those Delusions
Blinds a target enemy unit for two turns.
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Marshal
Marshals are compassionate leaders - idols of their armies. Their knowledge of the marshes is unparalleled, and they don’t need much more than a single sight to know what ails their subordinates, solving conflicts before they have a chance to ruin anything. The trust between a Marshal and his army is one of the deepest that have ever existed, letting both parts of the pact achieve things the Marshal’s Vision entails.
Type: Might
Reputation: Tears
Advanced Ability: Subversion
Three random allied targets that have negative spells on them have opposite-effect spells cast on them. That costs the Marshal double the mana cost of curses removed that way.
Ultimate Ability: Pile
When an allied unit attacks an enemy that can’t retaliate, all allied units adjacent to the enemy also attack for half their usual damage.
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Magnate
Pleading devotion to Vision, Magnates share Leperchaun-strength obsession with land. In their minds, they’re going to need all the land they can get to build a new empire, and constantly fight in the name of conquest. Balancing on the edge of insanity, they manage to instill the same lust in the hearts (or, in case of Composts, some indeterminate places) of their soldiers.
Type: Might
Reputation: Blood
Advanced Ability: Target Acquisition
When a battle is led near a mine or dwelling, all allied units get general stat boosts. Castle sieges give much larger boosts. The entire army gets additional movement points after such a battle.
Ultimate Ability: Visionary Possession
Target enemy unit goes berserk for two turns. Usual berserk symptoms, known as not defending itself, apply.
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Witch Doctor
The magic users of the Gutters generally study with Hags. Not blessed with Vision, the gloomy atmosphere of their lands affects their minds and envelops them wherever they go. Still, their abilities of performing true magic are valued enough by their country to let them lead armies.
Type: Magic
Reputation: Neutral
Neutral Ability: Deadly Air
At the start of a battle, every enemy creature has a chance to be infected with yet another damaging illness. Every following turn, a much smaller chance of infection is rolled again.
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Miracle Worker
Eventually, some Witch Doctors manage to break out of their depressing, filthy reality. The change happens under heavy influence of the new religion – ascending Witch Doctors become fervent priests of Shalassa and Sylanna, their magic turns more clerical in nature as well. Miracle Workers do all they can to save, preserve and create life in the Gutters, helping the country in any way they can.
Type: Magic
Reputation: Tears
Advanced Ability: Shambler
Adds a (second, most often) stack of Compost Crawlers or Explosive Heaps (whichever is present in the army) to the current battle on the caster’s side. They do not count as summoned, but disappear after the battle ends.
Ultimate Ability: Miracle
Restores a still-living target allied stack to a nearly pristine state. All spell effects are removed, unit health is set to maximum minus one, and the number of units is set to original amount minus one. Those units keep being alive even after the battle ends. Usable once per stack, once per several turns.
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Grime Lord
The other fate that awaits Witch Doctors is failure to change their lives, turning them into Grime Lords. Those gloomy magic users seek only destruction of their enemies, obeying their leader without a shred of enthusiasm. Both sides of any conflict dislike them, their enemies also fear them, as their methods aren’t used to leaving survivors.
Type: Magic
Reputation: Blood
Advanced Ability: Disease Amplification
Effects of each illness of the enemy are multiplied by the amount of illnesses on the enemy. Additionally, Leperchauns count as inflicting tetanus with their attacks.
For reference: Black Sludge, Putrid Troll illness, Hag weakening, tetanus, Deadly Air illness, Sewer Giant haze
Ultimate Ability: Double Trouble
Applies a random additional curse to all enemies for each disease they have on themselves.
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