Call of the Kings

he setting of the game is high fantasy in a medieval world where feudal Empires rule the continents, and the noble Houses are engaged in a vicious contest for survival and power.

It is a time of turmoil and with the old emperor at the brink of insanity and leaving no heir, all the nobles of the Realm realize that they have a legal claim to the Imperial Throne. Personal power struggles and treason leave everything - the economy, government and social order - in chaos. The goal of Call of the Kings is to win the Imperial Throne, take control of the Empire and hold it successfully against the other players. To accomplish this, each player controls a noble family of heroes and retainers. Players must rebuild the economy, and fund an army, by creating commerce in their towns, establishing trade routes and political alliances, building monopolies and collecting revenues from vassals.

The stats of a hero are the following:
- Attack: A measure of how easily the hero hits a foe.
- Strikes: The number of attacks the hero has each month.
- Defense: The defensive capabilities.
- Bravery: Valor on the field of battle. High bravery makes the hero less likely to flee.
- Health: The number of hits the hero can take before being defeated on a battlefield.
- Speed: Movement on the map. Depends on terrain.
- Stealth: High stealth and small army size will decrease the risk of being spotted.
- Perception: High perception and large army size will increase the chance of spotting enemy armies.
- Leadership: You will need heroes with good leadership to get a disciplined army that does not flee in every skirmish.
- Titles: You can give titles to heroes and train their skills to increase their power.
- Mana: The amount of energy available to use on magic laws and special abilities. It is regenerated by one point per month.
- Spell Laws: There are twelve different Laws available. Laws like Way of Nobles, Art of War and the Code of Assassins are not considered magical but their special abilities need mana and sometimes gold to be used just like the true Spell Laws like Law of Fire and the Law of Earth.
- Inventory: If the hero has magic items they will be listed below the hero in the hero view. Items can be dropped or transferred to other heroes.
- Ability Points: Each time a hero gains a rank of experience the hero will gain one ability point to be used on different profession abilities. Ability points are spent to increase stats and gain magic laws.
- Experience: The hero gains a rank (+ 1 mana per original Magic Law + 1 ability point) when experience increases the rank of the hero.

THE FAMILY PATRIARCH AND MATRIARCH - Every player starts with a head of the family - either male or female. The Head of the Family has no Upkeep and is the hero the player starts with in his stronghold when entering a game. Only the gender is different between the Patriarch and a Matriarch. Every Patriarch has a few heirs when entering a new game and the heir with highest royalty will inherit his title if he dies of old age. The Patriarch gets the monarch or vassal title when he enters a game and thus becomes one of the heroes with highest leadership. The surviving family members are always transferred to the next game along with a few selected mercenary heroes.
The Patriarch may create and command armies.

HEIRS - Initially every family gets four heirs of random gender. They can be hired cheaply the first time you enter a game. Heirs start weak but get more powerful when their rank increases and when they are equipped with items and given skills. Their price and upkeep increases with their power. If the patriarch dies of old age the eldest heir will claim the title and become the new patriarch or matriarch.
If you do not need some of the heroes in your noble family and do not want to pay their upkeep you can move them to a town and retire them by clicking the retirement icon in their list of options. One to six turns later they will appear as a hero for hire in towns where you have constructed a family keep. During retirement you do not have to pay their upkeep. When they retire in this way they will leave all their equipped items in the town.
The heirs may create and command armies.

GETTING MERCENARY HEROES - To get new mercenary heroes you must construct buildings to attract and train the heroes. Low experience heroes can be bought when you have the correct building type. Random high experience wandering heroes can be attracted to your towns by building inns, taverns, hotels, brothels, military academies, coliseums and other buildings with attraction.
Depending on your game account you may save some of your mercenary heroes if you survive a game. If you survive a game you may be allowed to bring one of your mercenary heroes with you out by saving him/her. If you win the game you can save more heroes. The saved mercenary heroes can be bought in your towns like your nobles in the next game you enter. If you decide not to buy a saved hero into the game he will stay available when you enter the next game too.

MERCENARY - BARBARIANS - The barbarians are traveling warriors and mercenaries. The misdeeds of a few have brought down the name of "barbarian" on all of them. They are weak spell casters but they all know the Law of Nature and they are very cost effective muscle. One of their specialties when training is increased health to absorb more attacks. The barbarians consider themselves mighty heroes and they tend to prefer a lifestyle above average people. You need a Grand Hotel to recruit Barbarians.

MERCENARY - DRAGONKNIGHTS - The dragonknights are skilled monster slayers. They yield some magic related to Air and wear powerful weapons and armor. They are weak magicians but very cost effective muscle and their skills slaying dragons make them valuable in battles against kingdoms which use dragons in their battles. Dragonknights are fearsome fighters and they easily gain more strikes in combat. You need a Gatehouse to recruit dragonknights.

MERCENARY - CRUSADERS - These religious knights travel the lands and hire their services to those who can pay them. They are powerful warriors and they are skilled in the Law of Spirit which is related mostly to healing and resurrection. You need the Maidarian Temple to recruit priests, crusaders and shamans.

MERCENARY - WIZARDS - The wizards are skilled in more than one of the magic laws of Khadoria. They are poor fighters but their spells can make armies more powerful and add options, which make them indispensable to any successful commander. When gaining ranks they can be trained to know more magic laws. You need the Tower of Wizardry to recruit Wizards.

MERCENARY - ASSASSINS - Trained in the dark arts of murder, these sinister people know of all kinds of poisons, tricks and traps. They have the knack of slipping past body guards to attack important heroes and heirs. Some lords use the fear of the assassins to intimidate their own troops into submission thus reducing the cost of hired mercenaries. They have knowledge of the Code of Assassins which may send anything from the head of a horse to a raid by ninjas to the bed chamber of your enemy. You need an Assassin Guild or Assassin Stronghold to recruit assassin heroes.

MERCENARY - TACTICIANS - All troops need skilled commanders and officers to guide them on the battlefield. The Officers and Tacticians are skilled in the Art of War and their skills make them able to change troop formations, setting ambushes and excavate tunnels under castle walls. Advanced tacticians may learn the Art of Artillery that will make them able to use artillery to target specific enemies. You need a Keep to recruit Officers and a Military Academy to recruit Tacticians.

MERCENARY - DAEMONS - These fallen heroes were once great warriors, but they all fell to the hunger of the dark and arcane arts of black magic. Their physical form has been warped and corrupted and everywhere they go they inspire only horror and terror. They wield the Law of Darkness and the mightiest of them also know the secrets of the Necromancers. You need a Temple of Torgul to recruit the minor daemons. The Arch Daemons will only work for a few of the races.

DRAKES - These hideous beasts were bred by Torgul during the early days as a weapon against the other gods and the powerful elven and human kings of Gormoril. After the wars which led to the fall of Gormoril and the downfall of Torgul, the drakes were destroyed except for a few which scattered and hid. It is the descendants of these beasts which now haunt the races of Khadoria. Only the bravest and most powerful heroes can best the drakes in open battle. Once in a while the Egg Hunters succeed in their quest to steal drake eggs. They bring them back to the black markets where they�re sold for the price of small kingdoms.
Most of the races fear the drakes and will have their bravery lowered fighting side by side with a drake, but any player -good or evil - may purchase a drake if the price can be paid.